Our friends across the pond in England have enacted fairly strict gun control measures in recent years in response to rising violent crime rates, and have an extensive network of cameras to keep a governmental eye on the populace. In fact, things are so peaceful in this now gun-free utopia that schoolchildren are sent to class in body armor to protect against being stabbed.

A 16-year-old London youth, fearing for his safety after a fight over a girl, has been given permission to wear body armor to class. The boy was allowed to wear a stab-proof vest under his uniform after the school and teachers reviewed the "exceptional circumstances" of the situation, the London Mirror said.

"I had a conflict over a girl and threats were made against me," the boy said. "Two guys I know have been stabbed — one ended up in intensive care. I don’t want that to happen to me."

Apparently replacing morality with gun control fails to curb the violent instincts of some members of “civilized” society. Meanwhile, those who would protect themselves with firearms from the depredations of the violent are disarmed by the government they entrust to protect them. Notes Thomas Sowell:

While England has not yet reached the American level of murders, it has already surpassed the United States in rates of robbery and burglary. Moreover, in recent years the murder rate in England has been going up under still more severe gun control laws, while the murder rate in the United States has been going down as more and more states have allowed private citizens to carry concealed weapons — and have begun locking up more criminals.

In America we have the Second Amendment to our Constitution which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. Unfortunately that does not always matter to those in authority. Ask citizens of Washington D.C. or other gun-ban municipalities if their rights are intact or their violent crime rates low. In New Orleans, an NRA lawsuit has been filed because officials confiscated legally owned firearms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Honest citizens, victims of the storm and the criminal among them, were thus deprived by their government of the means to defend their lives and property when they most needed it.

Further, American concealed carry laws have not resulted in a “bloodbath in the streets,” and the expiration of the so-called “assault weapons ban” has not brought full-scale military operations to our front yards as claimed by inflammatory anti-gun rhetoric. Instead violent crime rates have generally declined even as gun freedom has increased. More and more the ammunition in favor of gun control proves to be blank.

LST Flashback:  British knife control.

E-mail the author or leave a comment below.

People Endorsing Terrorist Acts.

Need I say more?

This just in.

“WASHINGTON (CNN) — A United Arab Emirates-owned company has agreed to turn over all of its operations at U.S. ports to an American “entity,” Sen. John Warner said Thursday.

Reading a statement from DP World on the Senate floor, Warner, a Virginia Republican, said the reason is “to preserve” the strong relationship between the UAE and United States.”

hat tip Hogfan

There are so many tea leaves to parse in this Kristen Mack piece on Senators’ initial reactions to Dan Patrick’s win that I don’t even know where to begin… but I will note this quote, which I found the most amusing:

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, says he looks forward to working with Patrick on issues where they agree and exchanging ideas on issues where they disagree.

"I may even be able to persuade him at least as much as he will persuade me," Ellis said. "The Texas Senate is a special place that encourages us all to look for common ground. Moreover, I like his margin of victory and his ability to mobilize people." [Emphasis added by LST]

I bet you do, Senator Ellis!

These sorts of Saddam Hussein-style margins of victory typically require the winning candidate to be (1) an ethnic minority; (2) a Democrat; and (3) running in a gerrymandered district designed to exploit those first two facts.

Come to think of it… if Bill Clinton could be America’s "First ‘Black’ President", maybe Dan Patrick could become known as Texas’ "Third ‘Black’ State Senator"?

The Houston Chronicle editorial board’s secular fundamentalism is on vibrant display this morning with a bewildering analysis that attributes the GOP primary election wins this week of both Tom DeLay and Dan Patrick to… their unashamedly conservative Christianity.

What is most bizarre is that the writer actually starts off their piece getting things right, via the time-honored intellectual tradition known as "stating the obvious":

In two of the most closely watched primary races Tuesday, Republicans chose a powerful politician, battling for his liberty and honor, and a brash newcomer… [m]any of DeLay’s supporters remember the federal funds he has been able to bring to the district, in part because he gained the respect of his Republican colleagues in Congress…  Patrick has promised supporters he will represent the grass roots and take back the Capitol in Austin from special interests and their lobbyists.

Exactly.

DeLay won because…

• GOP primary voters believed he was the target of illegitimate legal attacks and unfair political smears by partisan outsiders ("battling for his liberty and honor"), as well as his proven ability to deliver "constituent services" ("remembered the federal funds he has been able to bring to the district");

Patrick won because…

• GOP primary voters believed he would shake up business as usual in the legislature and wouldn’t lose his backbone once elected ("represent the grass roots and take back the Capitol in Austin from special interests and their lobbyists").

The End. No more analysis is needed. You’ve already stumbled upon the simplest explanation of reality.

Instead, we get this:

Their divergent lives make for pronounced differences in the candidates, but shared values and beliefs perhaps account for their simultaneous popularity with different sets of GOP voters… [b]oth make a point of projecting a set of values that appeals to the suburban, churchgoing, family-minded voters who pick the winners in Republican primary races, particularly in Texas.

After the mass murders at Columbine High School in Colorado, DeLay placed blame on the teaching of evolution in the schools. Patrick recently told the Chronicle editorial board that he believed the creation story in the Bible and thought it should be taught in the public schools.

Both candidates oppose a woman’s right to choose abortion — an issue that is no longer entirely moot due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

In a talk to a conservative group, DeLay recently said Congress was mistaken to allow the separation of church and state. He and Patrick both have indicated that government at all levels in the United States could stand to be more overtly Christian in its trappings and doctrine.

All of that may be true… but so what? Where is the proof that any of this is why they won?

Admittedly, I followed the Patrick campaign more closely than that of DeLay, but looking at his "Patrick Pact with Texas", I see the following six issues:

1. Reduce the appraisal cap to 3% per year on all residential property

Texans are being taxed out of their homes. We must end the stealth 8–10% annual tax increase on homeowners. If local governments feel a need to raise revenue, they should do so by raising the tax rate; not by hiding behind an automatic appraisal increase. Voters can then determine if the increase was necessary and if those elected officials are worthy of re-election.

4. Responsible education funding

School budgets and administrative positions have increased faster than student enrollment and classroom teacher positions. The legislature should require that 65% of school spending be dedicated to the classroom. We must focus education resources on the classroom instruction of our children.

2. Illegal immigration – secure our borders now

The Federal Government has failed to protect our borders as they are constitutionally required. It is time we use Texas taxpayers’ resources to protect our borders instead of providing services to those that entered this state illegally. It is time for Texans to protect the Texas border.

5. Legislators should put tax cuts before their own pension increases

Legislators found the votes to increase their own pensions in the last legislative session, but after two special sessions could not find the votes to reduce your property taxes or lower the appraisal cap. We should focus first on cutting taxes before we increase legislator’s benefits.

3. Reduce government spending now

We elected Republican majorities in the Texas House and Senate and expected them to be fiscally conservative. Our legislature has let us down. The most recent state budget includes a 20% increase in spending. We should focus on needs-based-budgeting, rather than revenue-based-budgeting.
 
6. We are the majority party and we should govern as such

I have called for an end to the so called "blocker bill" in the Senate. For years, this Senate tradition helped ensure civility in the upper house, but recently Democrats have used the practice to block meaningful legislation from being approved. We should end the practice of requiring 2/3 of the Senate to agree before a measure can be considered in the Senate.

Please note you will not find a single mention of the words "God", "Jesus", "prayer", "Inquisition", or "so-called ‘dinosaurs’" in the above text.

Which isn’t to deny that both Patrick and DeLay are very vocal traditionalist Christians, or that their publicly advocated faith is a large part of their political appeal to GOP primary votes.

I just find it interesting that the Chronicle’s editorial writers choose to highlight the importance of the candidate’s religious beliefs, while discounting the significance of the actual issues and positions they promoted during their campaigns.

So please, sleep easy Jeff Cohen– if I’m wrong, I promise that when the hordes of CLOUT Cossacks go rampaging across Meyerland next Easter, you are welcome to take refuge in my home.

Remember when Houston got the Fattest City Award?  Apparently there are some real fat Aussies in Australia.

Big loos for ‘fat’ Aussies

Sydney - Australians are getting so fat that toilet seats may have to be made stronger to bear their weight, the country’s standards association said on Tuesday.

The UAE wants to buy our ports and the Cuban wants to corner the toilet seat market.  When will it end?

Cuban invests in San Francisco toilet-seat maker

Mark Cuban, the wealthy Texan who sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1999, has reached out to Silicon Valley and invested in Brondell, a manufacturer of Japanese-style toilets that wash your derriere with all kinds of delicate sprays (see video here)

Okay it was Mark Cuban.  With all the political mud slinging that has been going on, maybe a fight over toilet paper is appropriate.

Toilet paper dispute overflows into fight

Charleston S.C.-An argument over toilet paper overflowed into a fight, sending one motel maid to the hospital and another to jail.

The maids at the Siesta Motor Lodge in North Charleston armed themselves with a plunger and mop after accusing each other of taking toilet paper from each other’s cleaning carts, North Charleston police said.

Now that I have flushed this out. A timely quote for the day.

Psychiatry’s chief contribution to philosophy is the discovery that the toilet is the seat of the soul.”
 Alexander Chase

ELECTION NEWS UPDATE

You might remember the story that Owen Courrèges broke last February:

Dem State Rep Candidate Admits to prostituting himself (for real, not just to labor unions)

Dallasnews.com confirms that Tom Malin, former member of the Dallas Citizens Police Review Board, gay prostitute and Mary Kay seller fell short in his bid for his party’s nomination for the Texas House. Malin garnered 45% of the vote in a two "man" race.

Congrats to LST reader Dave Meaders for getting the following letter published in today’s Dallas Morning News:

Re: "Incumbent, police veteran seek GOP nod – race for District 101 House seat is expected to be among the hottest," Sunday Metro.

Fred Hill said: "We just went through a regular session and two special sessions in which the whole idea was to reduce property taxes, and I voted for that every single time."

I refer you to his quote from the April 12, 2005, Texas House Journal, just before he helped kill effective property tax reform: "The time to kill a snake is when you’ve got the hoe in your hand."

He is trying to rewrite history. We have Fred Hill to thank for our property taxes remaining high and increasing at a greater rate each year. He led the vote to kill meaningful property tax relief.

Dave Meaders, Houston

It’s a start. But we are still waiting for a correction from the paper’s editor’s themselves.

Our original post got "buried" a bit in the Election Day swirl– so we’re reposting it here, for you to judge exactly how bald-faced was the lie that the Dallas Morning News has allowed Fred Hill to assert to the public within it’s news pages.

——————–

Originally posted 3/7/06, 12:33 pm

This bald-faced lie from Fred Hill is starting to have repercussions:

"We just went through a regular session and two special sessions in which the whole idea was to reduce property taxes, and I voted for that every single time."

Fred Hill, Dallas Morning News, 3/5/06

In our previous post on this subject, we encouraged LST readers to respectfully contact the Dallas Morning News and ask them why they allowed this demonstrable untruth to be published in their paper.

A caller to Edd Hendee’s show on KSEV this morning stated that he had actually spoken with the reporter who had written the article, and that he seemed genuinely unaware of the fact that what Hill told him was a lie.

We’ll take the reporter at his word.

Better yet, we’ll help him clear this whole mess up by providing him (and you) clips from his very own paper proving our point. [Emphasis' in bold added by LST.]

First– color us skeptical, but this recent endorsement of Hill by the DMN editorial board doesn’t exactly encourage us to think that the paper is interested in holding his feet to the taxpayer’s fire:

HEADLINE: Fred Hill has earned the GOP nomination

If Richardson voters like state legislators with independence and backbone, Fred Hill deserves their vote in the March 7 GOP primary.

Here is the most recent reason for our support of Mr. Hill: The nine-term member of the Texas House single-handedly saved cities and counties from fiscal calamity last year.

When Gov. Rick Perry and GOP House Speaker Tom Craddick pushed the Legislature to sharply limit local  property appraisal increases, Mr. Hill responded with powerful common-sense arguments, such as how the vote would cripple communities’ ability to pay for services like health care and roads. He was so convincing that the House, in a rare move, voted down the governor and speaker…

Dallas Morning News Editorial, 2/2/06

And it’s not like the anti-taxpayer implications of Hill’s moves haven’t been pointed out to the paper:

I am sure that all who are in local government love Fred Hill, too. He never met a tax increase he did not like. I talked to his office about the 48 percent increase in my property valuation. "Oh, we can’t cap the increase to 5 percent because that would hinder the local government in their operations!"

Sounds like an enabler for the out-of-control spending and mismanagement within DISD and the city of Dallas. Need more money for yacht trips, golf tournaments and car allowances? Mr. Hill is your man. Can’t keep on top of services like crime response and infrastructure repairs, but gotta have a suspension bridge over the Trinity or tax abatements? Mr. Hill is there for you, forcing the cost onto the homeowner.

David W. Tuthill, Dallas

Letter to the Editors of the Dallas Morning News, 2/6/06

What about the paper’s coverage of Rep. Hill during the legislative session? Were they aware of his anti-property tax relief actions way back then?

HEADLINE: House sends revenue caps bill back to committee

Cities and counties staved off another property tax measure they despise Wednesday.

Lawmakers sympathetic to local leaders first weakened a bill to limit revenue growth for local governments, then used a parliamentary maneuver to delay further House action.

The wrangling dealt Gov. Rick Perry a second setback on his tax relief agenda in two days. On Tuesday, House members rejected a measure that would have capped annual increases of property appraisals.

The measure sent back to the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday was a revenue caps bill. Its author, Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, said he hopes the panel will revise and return the measure to the full House soon. 

The bill, which Mr. Isett calls "truth in taxation," would increase the threat of rate rollback elections. He says that would discourage higher property taxes. Cities, counties and hospital, community college, fire protection and other districts say the bill would force them to cut services and increase fees. His bill wouldn’t affect school districts. 

"It’s a well-documented fact that there are those who don’t believe you can tax and spend enough," Mr. Isett said when asked why measures suppressing property-tax increases have stalled. "I am not one of them. But I serve with some of them."

Rep. Fred Hill, R-Richardson, a leading foe of the appraisal and revenue cap bills, said "cities and counties have a lot of strength" in the Legislature but haven’t flexed it. "The issue of appraisal caps and revenue caps is what has energized them," he said.

The day began with Mr. Isett agreeing to drop a proposal that rollback elections be automatically triggered if property tax revenues would increase by more than 3 percent from the previous year. In exchange, he wanted to lower how many signatures are required on petitions for a rollback election.

Mr. Hill objected.

"You might be able to get that in front of a Wal-Mart on a Saturday," he said.

The House approved, 73-72, an amendment by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, to reinstate the current requirement – 10 percent of the registered voters in a district.

Dallas Morning News, 4/13/05

The next day’s edition (4/14/05) highlighted this quote:

"The time to kill a snake is when you’ve got the hoe in your hand."

– Rep. Fred Hill, R-Richardson, moments before he struck the final blow on a bill to reduce the cap on increases in property appraisals

Far from "unaware", the paper’s editorial board was thrilled by Hill’s actions:

HEADLINE: On behalf of cities and counties, thank you, Fred  Hill

The next time you drive down the street, visit a public health clinic or call the police, thank State Rep. Fred Hill , R-Richardson. He turned the House away from a suffocating 5 percent cap on increases in annual property appraisals. Because of his legwork,  communities that depend upon property taxes to build bridges, fight crime and care for the sick can breathe easier. The tax cap was tempting, but it could have strangled the rest of us back home.

Dallas Morning News Editorial, 4/16/05

And another quote (4/28/05) highlighted in a Karen Brooks column:

"Mr.Speaker? I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. This thing just keeps coming back and coming back. I just wondered if you felt the same way."

– Rep. Fred Hill, R-Richardson, a leading opponent of the constantly disappearing and reappearing bill to cap local governments’ revenue increases

And another editorial!

HEADLINE: Voices of Moderation: Speak out against Austin — for Texas’ sake

Conservative Democrats and independent Republicans face the same predicament in Austin these days. 

They’re increasingly voting against bills that don’t seem right for Texas, or they are holding their noses and voting for them. Whether it’s financing schools, capping funds for local governments or arguing about gays as foster parents, the middle-of-the-road crowd finds itself out of step with the prevailing culture.

Republicans such as Fred Hill, Charlie Geren and Brian McCall and Democrats like Rafael Anchia and Helen Giddings certainly don’t yearn for liberal leadership. But as Austin shifts further to the right, independents can easily feel like legislators in search of a state.

That’s a feeling shared by this editorial page. We take no joy in opposing the Legislature on so many issues, but we find ourselves with no other choice.

We can’t stay quiet and allow legislators to provide insufficient funds for schools. We can’t step back and let lawmakers strangle counties’ ability to raise money for roads and health care.

[snip]

To some extent, these challenges require money. In other places, they only require thoughtful planning.

But one thing’s for sure: Picking issues that separate Texans by class, race, gender, sexual orientation or whatever won’t meet the state’s challenges. Nor will failing to provide enough money to meet real needs. Both, however, have become Austin’s norm.

Dallas Morning News Editorial, 4/30/05

Are you detecting a pattern yet?

But wait– there’s more!

HEADLINE: Delegation aids Dallas development efforts, kills damaging bills

Good defense proved an effective offense for lawmakers and lobbyists who spent the legislative session looking out for the Dallas area.

They managed to kill several bills that municipal authorities called potentially disastrous and, at the same time, helped further economic development efforts, formulate a regional transportation authority and secure funds for Parkland hospital.

"I guess we earned our money," said Rep. Fred Hill, R-Richardson and chairman of the Dallas-area delegation. "There are still things to be done, but this will go down as one of the best sessions we’ve had in a long time."

Mr. Hill played a big role in killing a cornerstone of Gov. Rick Perry’s property-tax relief plan – a cap on appraisal values and local revenue programs.

Dallas Morning News, 5/28/05

But the absolute creme de le creme is this mawkish profile by columnist Karen Brooks, which quivers with so much admiration for the balding slayer-o-property-tax-relief that it was actually republished in full (pdf) by the Texas Association of Counties in their official propaganda organ:

HEADLINE: For uphill battle, legislator was up to challenge

When state GOP leaders squashed the power and hid the staunch opinions of a Richardson state representative who was one of their biggest supporters, they thought they had shut him up for good.

But at the end of the session, Rep. Fred Hill outlasted them all. He won his cause; he made new friends; he took on the establishment here and back home.

And his calm, laid-back demeanor in the face of intense political opposition by some of the state’s most powerful politicians earned him a reputation as the veritable Steve McQueen of the Texas House.

[LST Editorial Insert: Blech.]

[snip]

What the GOP lawmaker’s political adversaries had tried to do was make him irrelevant. What they succeeded in doing was something else entirely.

They made a mountain out of  Fred Hill.

[LST Editorial Insert: Groan.]

This session, the 14-year veteran prevailed over Gov. Rick Perry by killing a cornerstone of his property-tax relief plan – a cap on appraisal values and local revenue programs.

[snip]

Appraisal caps seemed to crystalize [Hill's] strong hardcore belief in local control and community values. The report he wrote in October blasted the plan and was never distributed.

The bill by Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, landed in another committee chaired by a new leadership favorite.

So Mr. Hill teamed up with Rep. Mike Villarreal, a San Antonio Democrat young enough to be his son, rounded up support and killed it on the House floor.

Dallas Morning News, 5/26/05

This is the paper that carried this quote from Fred Hill in last Sunday’s edition:

"We just went through a regular session and two special sessions in which the whole idea was to reduce property taxes, and I voted for that every single time."

Fred Hill, Dallas Morning News, 3/5/06

The Dallas Morning News either needs to issue a correction, or come clean about their bias.

If they agree with Fred Hill that appraisal caps and revenue caps are a bad idea, fine.

That doesn’t give them the right to report as "fact" Mr. Hill’s assertion that he voted "every single time" to "reduce property taxes".

Click here to respectfully contact the Dallas Morning News and ask them to either correct the record or come clean.

We told you so…