This is an illustration I did for CLOUT. Also available is this hi-res version for download to your desktop. Print it out to show people and help stir interest in our cause for next week’s vote. Leave it on your desk or pin it up at work and educate people when they ask about it.

You can also use it as your desktop theme. Distribute them in your neighborhood with maybe your phone number or e-mail address written on the back side (or CLOUT’s/LST’s web address).

Be creative!!!

The fact that the pontiff is ill enough to receive his last rites doesn’t speak well for his chances of living much longer:

Pope John Paul II was given the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church late Thursday night as his health deteriorated, a Vatican source has told CNN.

The sacrament does not necessarily mean that the pope is dying. Last rites — also known as the sacrament of the sick or extreme unction — are commonly given to people who are seriously ill as well. The pope received the sacrament after he was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981.

Well, as Matt said — he is tough as nails.

An Italian news agency is reporting that Pope John Paul II’s health condition has worsened:

The Vatican did not immediately comment on the report, which said doctors had to intervene because of what was described as a "worrying" drop in the pope’s blood pressure, but a spokesman later said the Pope has a high fever because of a urinary tract infection.

The Pope is reportedly being given antibiotics for the infection.

CNN quoted an unnamed Vatican official who described the situation as serious and said the Pope had received the last rights or the sacrament of the sick, which is not necessarily an indication that John Paul is in any immediate danger of dying.

An Australian newspaper says that Vatican sources are less optimistic:

"We are on stand-by for anything," one priest who works in an important Vatican department said.

"Hardly anyone thinks the situation will improve but everyone is hoping for a miracle," he said.

"I know the Pope is very disappointed with the progress of his rehabilitation and would like it to be much faster," said another source, a Vatican monsignor.

"This is a new phase in this papacy," the source said, adding the Pope would most likely have to face what looks set to be "a permanent state of precarious health".

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Holy Father is tough as nails. Don’t write him off just yet.

Rest in peace, Terri.

A life was suppressed
Was justice denied?
Death has exalted
While a nation cried.

The weakest among us
Protection deserved?
The right path laid out
How far have we swerved?

What hope for the future?
When all round seems lost
To push back the darkness
Will we bear the cost?

By Jeremy Weidenhof

Click pic for story.

Folks, here’s an example of someone in a persistent vegetative state, with a demonstrated lack of higher cognitive function and a minimal level of consciousness. This person has been lingering in an institution for decades. While the patient may appear to communicate, we really just see primal reflexes, not evidence of brain activity. It’s just the same rudimentary moaning over and over.

I’m talking, of course, about Chronicle editorial cartoonist Clyde Peterson, aka "CP Houston."

I beg the Chronicle’s editors: please, let this poor soul go. Pull the paycheck tube.

John DeLorean may be dead as a beaver hat, but his cars live on in the Bayou City, thanks to a local entrepreneur:

In 1997, Stephen Wynne, then a DeLorean mechanic based in Houston, purchased the inventory. Sixty-five tractor-trailers drove the goods from Ohio. Wynne bought the rights to the DeLorean name and logo, and the original engineering drawings, and thus the DeLorean Motor Company was reinvented, with Wynne as the new president.

"Half of our business comes from selling parts, and the other half comes from repairing and restoring old DeLoreans," Espey says. He says they service 30 or 40 cars at a time in the 40,000-square-foot facility. DeLorean owners ship their cars from all over the country for work.

The Houston company has no relation to the original founder other than haggling over patent rights and forwarding media requests.

It has outgrown the reputation of its notorious predecessor, Espey says. "Ten years ago I’d pull up to a gas station and people would ask if there was coke in the trunk," he says. He’s heard all the cocaine humor imaginable, he admits. ("Nothing sucks up the white lines on the highway like a DeLorean!")

That last joke is pretty funny.

If any of you are interested in buying a DeLorean or restoring your old one, stop by the refurbished DeLorean Motor Company.

Mr. Fusion not included.

Is that a cat sleeping on your head?

Buh-bye:

Ted Koppel, who has anchored ABC News’ "Nightline" since its inception a quarter-century ago, said Thursday he will leave the network when contract expires at the end of the year.

No word yet on the professional future of his rug.

We have received an overwhelming number of inquiries into who people should contact to demand a formal investigation into the revelations LST has made concerning FISD’s interactions with GCAD.

The good news is that an investigation is already underway. TX Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office has had this letter in its possession for over three weeks, and the matter is under review.

What you can do, however, is encourage them to pursue the investigation– not just into FISD and GCAD, but into the statewide practices of tax entities and appraisal districts.

Doing this is a little tricky– the AG’s office gets tons of phone calls on a wide variety of issues, and while the staff is polite and helpful, they have been trained to try to fit you into a particular "box" on their organizational chart. If you don’t fit perfectly, you’ll wind up in the wrong place or be told you need to call the Galveston Co. District Attorney, the State AG doesn’t handle this sort of thing, etc. etc.

So follow these instructions to the letter and you should be fine:

• Call the AG’s office toll-free at 1-800-252-8011. (Para Espanol, por favor, primer numero uno ahora.)
• Tell the switchboard operator– using this exact language– the following:

"Hello, I would like to speak with a public information officer about encouraging the Attorney General to pursue an ongoing investigation."

NOTE: Don’t bother telling the switchboard operator what the investigation is about, how outraged you are, how your appraisal is too high, how your bunions hurt, or anything else. You are only going to complicate things and make it more likely you will be sent to the wrong "box".

• You will be transfered. Once you connect with a public information officer, give them your name and city of residence. When they ask you the nature of your call simply say the following– word for word:

"I am calling to encourage the Attorney General to pursue his ongoing investigation of the interactions between FISD and GCAD, and to encourage him to expand his investigation into the possibility of similar actions taking place between taxing entities and appraisal district statewide. Thank you."

NOTE: Again, say nothing about what happened in your last appraisal protest hearing or about your neighbor’s barking dog; they don’t want to hear it, they can’t do anything about it, you will only complicate matters.

• If the public information officer tells you this isn’t the right number to call, the AG doesn’t handle this sort of thing, etc., simply tell them:

"I appreciate what you are saying, but that determination has already been made. The investigation is already ongoing in AG Abbott’s office. I am simply encouraging him to pursue further a matter he is already looking into. Thank you."

Leave us a comment here at LST to let us know how your phone calls are going.

Terri Schiavo has died:

Terri Schiavo died Thursday morning around 10 a.m. EST after her parents had plead with her husband Michael Schiavo to allow them to be at their brain-damaged daughter’s bedside in her final hours, a spokesman for the family said.

Schiavo died heading into her 14th day without food and water amid what could be the final legal setback for her parents after the U.S. Supreme Court refused again to hear their plea to reinsert Schiavo’s feeding tube.

It looks like Terri Schiavo has died.

Her parents and family were denied access during her last moments. Michael Schiavo did not allow them in with Terri.

Very Sick.

They don’t literally say that, but sort of.

AusChron: Halfway to Nowhere

Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, is selling HB 1006 as a fed-up taxpayer’s dream – one that would force an automatic rollback election each time a local taxing entity raises taxes by more than 3%, effectively capping not just appraisals but local revenues at that rate.

[snip]

One of the state’s leading economists, Dr. Ray Perryman, has provided some high-octane data for the Association of Counties, the Texas Municipal League, and the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, to help drive home their opposition to both sets of proposed caps. In his March 16 testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Perryman cited several studies that detail the adverse consequences of putting local government in a "straight jacket."

Dr. Perryman provides data for TAC, TML, and the TCUC? He must be smarter than us.

Not. Bringing up those organizations amongst Houston Republicans is not going to get you far anymore.

Is there anything more restrictive than a straight jacket? That’s what we need. Like a straitjacket, shackles, and a muzzle.

Austin Chronicle: Lege Notes

Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, and Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, continue to beat the state income tax drum, though the concept does not appear to be gaining any traction. This week, the message was that appraisal creep could easily devour a 50-cent property tax cut in only four years. On the other hand, a midrate income tax, such as the one used in Kansas, could generate $34.6 billion in revenue, making the current struggle over $5.4 billion in property tax reductions look rather paltry by comparison. Under the Texas Constitution, two-thirds of that total revenue, $23.1 billion, would have to go to reduce property taxes, and the remaining $11.5 billion would go toward education. Local school district tax rates would be somewhere around 15 cents, and 70% of Texans would see net tax reductions. While neither Rodriguez nor Shapleigh claim strong support for the measure, Shapleigh says some businesses, and even a few Republicans, privately support a state income tax. Under the constitution, voters would both approve the tax and set the tax rate and any increases to that tax rate. The constitution does not require a supermajority to send an income tax referendum to the voters. – Kimberly Reeves

I am shocked, shocked, that Democrats would use this opportunity to agitate for a state income tax.

Me personally, I’d be willing to discuss replacing property taxes with an income tax, but for one major sticking point. In order for that discussion to take place, we’d have to have a level of trust with the elected officials in Austin. I’ve always been suspicious of them, but this appraisal cap debacle has radicalized me. I don’t trust any of them as far as I can throw them.

We have to starve the beast. Kinky, here’s your chance.

Nationally respected political pollster (and my former boss) Dr. David Hill of The Woodlands has been monitoring the public debate over Terri Schiavo:

The more I read and listened, I concluded that pro-Terri sentiment expressed a broad and robust Christian worldview while opponents expressed a narrow ideology without much intellectual horsepower. Mainly, opponents seemed content to say the Christians are wrong and should lose.

Years ago, Christian scholar C.S. Lewis noted this dichotomy in the 1940s. In an essay titled “The Abolition of Man,” Lewis describes conflict between advocates of natural law or universal moral codes and relativists such as Friedrich Nietzsche.

Because the relativists don’t believe in any sort of objective truth, Lewis reasoned, they foster tyranny. In his view, relativists changed the question from “Which policy is more just?” to “Which group has the most power to impose its will on society?”

The Christian worldview is a robust platform for opinion formation for former liberals and conservatives. It informs Christians about their purpose in life and responsibilities to neighbors and communities. It even suggests which policies are most just. It organizes and constrains sloppy thinking.

The shallow and tyrannical ideologies of those who argued for allowing Schiavo to die so they could win had none of that. At least I couldn’t hear it last week.

(Hat-tip: The Hill)

Make sure to read to whole thing to learn why Blacks vote overwhelmingly for Democrats but tell pollsters they are "conservatives".

We reported yesterday that the pope might need a feeding tube for nutrition. It’s in:

Pope John Paul II is getting nutrition from a tube in his nose, the Vatican said Wednesday, shortly after the frail pontiff appeared at his window in St. Peter’s Square and managed only a rasp when he tried to speak.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the step was taken to "improve the pope’s calorie intake" and so he can recover his strength. It was unclear when the tube was inserted but it was not visible when John Paul made his appearance.

The tube is not the only source of nutrition for the pope, a Vatican official said on condition of anonymity.

Please pray for the Holy Father.

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