This was bigger than Rick Perry’s Prayerpalooza in terms of attendance. It should have been bigger in terms of news interest as well.
Some families camped out for hours to gain admittance into the Houston’s first-ever, citywide back-to-school event at George R. Brown Convention Center, where free backpacks, school supplies, uniforms, haircut vouchers, immunizations and fresh produce were provided.
Others were turned away.
“It was getting beyond capacity,” HISD spokesman Jason Spencer said. “If nothing else, it shows the need.”
[…]
Although planners didn’t know how many people would show up, they expected to serve at least 25,000 children, officials said.
Paid for with corporate funding led by Shell Oil Co. and Motiva Enterprises, dental and health checks were also available, as well as lunch and live entertainment.
Diane Mireles said her first priority was the immunization clinic for her two daughters, students at Oates Elementary School in northeast Houston.
“They needed shots to start school,” Mireles said, adding that she had no idea where else she would have gone for the service.
HISD Superintendent Terry Grier estimated the crowd at 100,000. Maybe someone should ask Rick Perry about that.
You know that Perry’s response will be “tort reform”
If any of the alleged poor people have flat screen TV’s, cable, cars, cell phones, etc, then they can pay for their own immunizations and school supplies and get over the sense of entitlement. They aren’t owed a thing by the rest of us.
Ross, your humor is hilarious. Obviously, you know as well as I do that this is a voluntary, charitable response by Shell and others to help needy children, which didn’t cost you or me a nickel. You are a great kidder!
It’s nice of the corporations to do that. Far better than having taxpayers shell out their hard earned cash. You missed my point. There is still a sense of entitlement from folks that don’t deserve help because they aren’t really poor, they just make bad choices. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be critical of those seeking help who own cars, own smartphones with data plans, have cable tv, have new flat screen tv’s, drive across the state to visit relatives, run their air conditioning at 72, smoke, drink beer, etc. Maybe they ought to change their priorities and put their kids first rather than trying to satisfy their immediate desires.
Ross,
That’s nice of you to conveniently forget that taxpayers yearly support big corporations to the tune of billions of their hard earned cash (i.e. taxes) to protect their corp interests worldwide through military intervention and other politic favors. If these oil corps wouldn’t make bad choices to be in an industry that they can’t survive in without tax subsidies, tax loopholes the size of Texas and literally military support then they ought to change their priorities. It don’t think its unreasonable for these corps to forgo their egregious boondoggles, huge executive bonuses, political donations/graft, tax dodging.
Corporate entitlement and welfare must make you sick too.
“There is still a sense of entitlement from folks that don’t deserve help because they aren’t really poor, they just make bad choices.”
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Are we talking about poor people or CEOs who run their companies into the ground?
You are talking about two completely different topics. Tax breaks for corporations don’t really have anything to do with the sense of entitlement common to many individuals. Just because corporations get a break doesn’t justify handing out money or goods to individuals.
Of course, you are presupposing that since a corporation pays less tax due to the way tax laws are written, that money is somehow coming out of the pockets of government, as if the corporate earnings are really the sole property of the State.
I was against the bailouts of the auto industry. I was perfectly willing to let the big banks fail, and I have no fondness for corporate executives that look on their companies as a personal piggy bank.
Oil companies would survive without the breaks, but you would see reduced investment in the US as they chase better returns elsewhere. Personally, I would prefer to have the major companies operating as much of the industry as possible, rather than small outfits that disappear when prices drop for a bit.