Let This Be Known

by Rafael Pineda •

Whether the subject is property rights, privacy, or preventable dangers, the need to unite in the wake of corruption and question authority remains constant.

Benito Juarez, President of Mexico, said, “Respeto a lo ajeno es la paz” (“Respecting others’ property  is peace.”)  I wish some of the draft-dodging leaders of our country would have learned that.  When the Twin Towers fell, it was nothing but a crime.  Those who were trying to rescue the victims from the wreckage of September 11^th suffered from exposure to chemical-laden ash, causing severe diseases and people who are still dying.  The people that are running this country have committed a bigger crime.  We must not let this go; the whole world knows what has occurred.  There is a saying:  “Nadien sabe que lo tiene asta que lo perdido.”  (“No one knows what they have until it is lost.”)  Something can be easily stolen or destroyed, and we must consider this when contemplating the situation with the Edwards Aquifer, unfortunately.  There have been about four or five recent train wrecks in San Antonio, carrying chemicals right through downtown.  Here in Uvalde the same principle applies.  The underground Uvalde pool is very shallow, therefore can easily be polluted.  The situation here is even worse than that of San Antonio, just an accident waiting to happen.  

Another saying says:  “Por su propia mano muere asta la muerte le sabia Gloria.”  (“For he that dies by his own hand, even death tastes like glory.”)  War is being instrumented as a business; that’s all there is to it.   We could build a loop here around Uvalde, removing all traffic on East and West Main Street.  Constructing another street west and east will endanger our underground water by channeling hazardous materials such as nuclear waste through here.  The same principle applies to the railroad tracks, which are also in a very poor place.  The Uvalde pool is not very deep, and we are all asking for a terrible nightmare by ignoring the threat of possibly poisoning the water in Uvalde.  If such an event should occur, the contamination would reach all the way to San Antonio.    We are made in God’s image.  I feel strongly it has been more than proved, because we have a universe within our own selves.  Some cells are a hundredth of a millimeter in width, and if all the cells in a persons body were lined up end to end, it would go around the earth about 25 times.  This is on Ripley’s Believe It or Not.  Our human body is 75 percent water, and the amount of ocean on our paradise planet is about the same.  I feel our supreme being allowed each and every one of us to be responsible for one’s self, and no one else’s.  We are not even responsible for our children’s behavior or our parents’.  We are our own selves, each and every one of us.  We are unique in that we have spirit, a soul, and our supreme being is a spirit, so we are created in this image.  My grandson is studying and writing about global warming.  Mt. Kilimanjaro used to be covered with snow, at least to the tree line.  Now the mountain has very little left.  There are signs all over, blatantly screaming that global warming is real.  The air here in Texas is being heavily polluted by nuclear plants, coal plants, oil refineries and vehicles.  At a public meeting, the installation of catalytic converters on lawn mowers has already been suggested, as well as laws stating no running lawn mowers on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday in San Antonio.  At the time they were bombarding the daylights out of
Afghanistan.  The news paper reported 150 million tons of bombs dropped per day, and for two months they dropped them.  I told everyone there I think we are killing ourselves, not just Afghani people or Talibans, we are killing planet Earth, our only paradise which provides our home.  That is why I say for those that kill themselves, even death tastes like glory.  

One of our forefathers once said that history repeats itself.  Another one made a statement that you can fool some of the people sometimes but you cannot fool all the people all the time.  That is exactly what has occurred.  We’re not buying no bull, at all!  This is why we have just begun to fight, again.  Right now it is not the time to fight against our leaders, its time to turn the people around and talk to the people.  Present the case to the people, so they can back us up, and then from there we will fight.   I am willing to pay the ultimate price if need be so that we can have laws and justice, so we can live together.  Yes, I fear death but I fear more not fighting for a just cause.   Pertaining to the rights to properties in the great state of Texas, the House of Representatives had a question about councilors having control of the aquifer in Louisiana.  This is Texas, Jack.  Texas is unique because it protects the rights of people in the future.  Our leaders take an oath of office to carry on the laws of this nation.  Property rights can become corrupted no different than the laws for the crooks with drugs.   A smoke screen involving endangered species has been developed to control the water and make certain people rich.  There are no present laws allowing the governing of underground water.  The water belongs to the land owners above the aquifer.  If we allow the aquifer to be governed for the sake of the salamander, San Antonio will be allowed to freely pump the water out from under us, and then sell it back to us with tax.   

In the mean time, consider threats to dry us out, invoke the endangered species act, and set meters to regulate the aquifer.  All this combines together into a big white elephant.  The big white elephant wants to scare the people that own land above the aquifer by making threats and this and that.  After they get the by laws passed, they get control of the aquifer, the water, in turn making them rich because they can tax the hell out of the people that are aquifer water users.  This right is guaranteed under the constitution of the state of Texas.  All land owners are entitled to land water and mineral rights.  It belongs to the people.    By scaring the people in turn will cause the situation to bottle neck into where they’ll have to face the government.  And ask if they can have full control of it.  Saying it would be the most sensible thing.  But truly it’s just a way of making ownership of something that doesn’t belong to the government.  It belongs to the land owners only.  Under the constitution of the State of
Texas.  There’s a lot of money to be made from paying for the right to drill a well.  There’s big money in selling water. In the future even the ranchers will have to pay for their water In the long run not at the present it’s not just the idea of having the right to control the flow of the aquifer, the reason I’m saying this is because they have a big crack in their smoke screen. They already tried to put meters on residential neighborhoods and subdivisions so they’ll have to pay $15-25 a month and all they have to do is put a well, if it’s dry hole well they’ll hold the bag, if it’s productive well the state owns that water so you have to pay see.  If the pump brakes down the state loses it’s revenue, the minute you fix it your back to paying the state.  That’s the whole enchilada right there.  The farmer will have to pay  thereby they got the paper worker, by regulating the farmer all the produce it was 50 cent it will probably drop to 25 cents.  For each head of cabbage, a substantial raise.  The people that consume the products are throughout the United States not just Texas, will all have to pay higher prices and the state makes more money.  They are not satisfied with the lottery they want big money so they can spend big like spending they just recently done going after the aquifer.   Thank all the Texas people that are here.  Thank you ladies and gentlemen for listening, although, do not agree with them.   By controlling the aquifer, they will then have control of the people controlling their products.  They will have the multitudes of people well controlled in that form and also like milking a cow that’s why I call it the golden goose, you just keep making money.  That’s all they want.   

Smoke screen: pass by laws; in turn gain the right to tax the aquifer’s water. They can’t do it legally without due compensation and in order to steal it, this is the reason they put that smokescreen.  The aquifer is not in severe danger now.  Extremely costly to pump water to San Antonio!  I don’t think it will hold water.     I hope to god this nation of our ancestry of first Americans will heal in the name of our supreme being, if not let it be his will and no one else’s.  

Rafael Pineda

a free running spirit

Worker abuse in Uvalde

by Andrea Theisen •

I honor work.   

I come from the era of no minimum wage; of a time when if you worked in the fields, everybody drank water out of the same bucket – with a tin ladle – and if you had to ‘use the facilities’, it was too bad, because there were none.  I worked constantly since the age of 13 to my late 50s, so I believe that I know the employment market pretty well.  I have had good jobs and bad jobs, but what they have all had in common is that I have never been cheated out of money by my employers.  Which is why I feel compelled to state the following:  some employers here in Uvalde are cheating some of their workers and it is time that something to be done about it.  I have recently known of a person who was ecstatic about being hired by a fast food place. This person has reported for work on time, done heavy lifting without benefit of a safety belt, mopped and cleaned and in general, done everything that has been requested.    

However, this person has been made to clock out while viewing training videos and while work slows down; when work picks up again, this person is allowed to clock back in.  To make things worse, each paycheck reflects less hours than actually worked.  Questions regarding the lower than expected pay brings about a convoluted explanation that does not make any sense. 

I understand that these types of unfair labor practices happen often here in some of Uvalde’s fast food places, especially making workers sign out.  Needless to say, I find this very disturbing. When I have tried to convince this person to report these abuses, fear has been expressed not only about the loss of the job, (a job is a job, after all) but that no one else here in Uvalde will ever want to hire them again! (Which I agree is a distinct possibility.)  I called the Department of Labor in Washington, DC and was told that making people sign out and wait is against the law and that charges could be brought if the person was willing to sign a statement. 

According to them, if the work is slow, they can be asked to clock out, but they have to be given a definite time as to when they can clock back in and they can leave the premises; they do NOT have to sit there.   At first, I was tempted to call the San Antonio TV media so they could do an investigation report (I still might do that), but first, I want to give a chance to these places to respond. 

These managers and owners know who they are.  I want to be reassured that they will comply with the law.  I would like to see all people who run fast-food places to write to our two newspapers and vow to find out if this practice is going on in their place of business and that they will take steps to stop it.  People do not need to be fired.  They just need to treat their workers as they would like their own children to be treated at work.   

I ask parents or guardians who know of these abuses not to stand by and let this continue.  I ask our own media to look into this.  These kids are trying to work, instead of resorting to thievery or selling drugs.  They deserve better.   We, as citizens, have an obligation to speak up and demand corrective action.  Our media has an obligation to look into this. 

Right direction, wrong map…

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Hi and welcome!

I hope you’re enjoying the weather, despite the fact it’s being indecisive and can’t seem to make its mind whether it wants to rain or clear up, but that’s typical for this time of year, innit?