Not to be outdone by his Galveston counterpart, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt rushed right out to get his own high quality publicity photo. The results are in, and they are stunning.

Actor and director Tim Robbins, hater of all things Bush, is producing a play based on George Orwell’s 1984. While in Greece to promote the Athens debut of his work, Robbins took the opportunity to bemoan the current occupant of the White House.

"We have right now a media that is willfully ignoring the high crimes and misdemeanours of the president of the United States," the star of Hollywood hits including "Mystic River" and "The Player" told reporters.

"Clinton lied about a b***j**, and got impeached by the media and Congress," Robbins said. "(Bush) got us into (the Iraq) war based on lies that he knew were lies. … His war has recruited more Al-Qaeda members than Osama bin Laden could ever have dreamed for … yet no one in the media is calling for impeachment," he said.

One might conclude that Mr. Robbins finds U.S. media coverage of the President too soft-pedaled for his tastes. He goes on to compare President Bush’s tenure as America’s Chief Executive to Orwell’s grim vision of a totalitarian society.

Robbins pointed out similarities between current US policies on terrorism and the authoritarian society described by Orwell. "Unfortunately, the book and the play is [sic] more relevant now than it ever has been," he said. "(It) talks about continuous warfare as a means to control the Western economy, and as a way to control rebel elements within society through the use of fear, constant fear. In my country we seem to be sanctioning renditioning of innocent people without trial … put them in jail without telling anyone … and torture them out of suspicion of what we think they might do," Robbins said.

"This is exactly what Orwell was talking about when he spoke of thought crimes," he added.

Mr. Robbins appears to occupy that Michael Moore Neverland where the Twin Towers still stand and conservatives commit offense by merely existing. In the real world, however, terrorists have killed thousands of Americans, equality under the law has been turned on its head by politically correct “hate crime” laws that really do punish thoughts, and the supposedly evil Patriot Act was reauthorized by both parties in Congress.

The question seems to be whether Mr. Robbins’ bleating espouses actual belief on his part, possible mental instability, or simply an effort to endear himself to fellow rabid Leftists in the entertainment business. His vitriolic style certainly does not lend itself to the winning of converts to his point of view. For those not yet convinced, Robbins hopes to produce a film version of his play in the fall.

E-mail the author or leave a comment below.

Concerning our earlier post regarding her Tax Freedom Day event, Galveston County Glamour Girl Tax Assessor-Collector Cheryl Johnson writes:

FYI – I personally paid for the photo shoot prior to taking office from which my “glamour shot” photo was selected by my husband as being the best of the bunch. This photo has driven local Dems over the top and, sadly, fiscal conservatives have tended to complain that the local government paid for such a thing. The government didn’t—I did.

And the world is a better place for it.

Picture funded by the Free Market

——————–

Picture funded by Government

No such thing as a free lunch indeed.

This just in: at least one Republican was willing to cross the line and make a last minute stand against the governor’s new tax bill.

Senators this afternoon failed to get the votes they needed to bring up House Bill 3, the business tax overhaul that appears to be on the fast track to the governor’s desk.

Senate rules require support from twothirds of the senators (21 members) to bring up a bill. Today, a measure to bring up House Bill 3 for final passage received only 20 when Sen. Mike Jackson, R-LaPorte, raised two fingers, signaling his "no" vote.

Jackson had voted to bring the bill up on Monday, when it passed.

As the Austin-American Statesman reporter notes, this "setback" — or reprieve, depending on your point of view — may only be temporary. While there is no word yet as to why Mr. Jackson changed his mind, you can bet Perry and Dewhurts will be applying the pressure. Jackson apparently received a summons to the principal’s office immediately following the vote:

After the vote, Jackson spoke with several colleagues before walking toward Perry’s office with a Perry aide. He declined comment.

One would think that the only major newspaper in the world’s energy capital wouldn’t make mistakes like this:

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., staged an unsuccessful five-hour filibuster demanding that federal royalties on gas from federal lands be raised from the ceiling of $55 a gallon.

One would be wrong. Our buddy Dr. K-Dubs has much more.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) had a brilliant editorial yesterday on National Review Online. Here are a few highlights:

What would a day without illegal aliens really be like? Let’s try to imagine it.

Hospital emergency rooms across the southwest would have about 20-percent fewer patients, and there would be 183,000 fewer people in Colorado without health insurance.

OBGYN wards in Denver would have 24-percent fewer deliveries and Los Angeles’s maternity-ward deliveries would drop by 40 percent and maternity billings to Medi-Cal would drop by 66 percent.

Youth gangs would see their membership drop by 50 percent in many states, and in Phoenix, child-molestation cases would drop by 34 percent and auto theft by 40 percent.

Read the whole thing.

It’s like the lyrics to John Lennon’s "Imagine," only the complete opposite.

Courtesy the liberal Austin blog Pinkdome:

Announcing a broad property tax relief plan yesterday, the House and Senate also announced plans to eliminate public education grades K-12 in the State of Texas. This sweeping proposal now awaits signature by Governor Perry.

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst claimed that private funding for those children seeking education would be available and the state would provide some tax relief to those that home school their children. Speaker Craddick echoed this sentiment and added his proposal also included job-training for the outsourced teachers and administrators of the existing public education system.

Texas is the first state to eliminate public education. Legislators finally agreed on the proposal when they realized most Texans are stupid whether they go to school or not, so better use of those resources is in the best interest of future oil-drilling projects in the Gulf.

If you have a child in public school, you are encouraged to call Tom Craddick’s office for alternative sources of education or job-training programs.

Some may call this satire.

I call it a shining vision of what hopefully might one day be.

The editors of our beloved hometown rag really shouldn’t venture into foreign affairs, because they always come off looking really dumb. Here are a few excerpts from Monday’s editorial:

LAST week, after a series of public strikes and almost three weeks of bloody protests, including a rally of more than 100,000 marchers through the capital of Katmandu, Nepal’s King Gyanendra finally consented to allow his 27 million subjects to be led by elected representatives.

It’s unclear where the Chron got that population figure. The CIA pegs it at more than 28 million.

On Thursday, he named a prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, 84 and in poor health, as the next prime minister.

Named a prime minister as prime minister? That’s just crazy enough to work! Of course, the sentence should have read, “he named a former prime minister…as the next prime minister.”

Parliament reconvened Friday for the first time in four years, and legislators proposed a cease-fire with the Maoist rebels as well as elections for a constitutional assembly.

On Thursday, the Maoists announced a three-month cease-fire.

Which is it? Did the legislators propose the cease-fire, or did the Maoists announce it? Who knows? Not the Chronicle’s editorial board, apparently.

That would be a relief for a nation torn by their strife, but it’s doubtful that transition is sure to be bumpy.

Who writes this stuff?

While we are all rejoicing in the good news for Andrea Clark, there is one small caveat you should be aware of:

-snip-
She still has very serious health problems and is facing gallbladder surgery possibly as soon as tomorrow.

Please keep Andrea in your prayers and know that your prayers, calls, emails and letters helped save her life. The family is grateful for all you have done.

Lanore Dixon,
Sister of Andrea Clark

That’s right, even though Andrea is getting better by all possible metrics, she is still a very sick women.  She is facing surgery tomorrow.

Please keep her and her family in your prayers.  If you have a moment, please try to go by the "Care Pages" and leave her a "get well" messages. (Instructions on how to do that, here.)

Thought some of you might be interested in attending an event being hosted this Wednesday evening by Cheryl Johnson, the Glamour Girl Tax Assessor-Collector of Galveston County:

Tie a string around your finger and remember to join me and special guests Paul Bettencourt and Edd Hendee celebrate Tax Freedom Day this Wednesday, May 3rd from 5-8 pm at the Gulfway Plaza in La Marque (I-45 and Delany Road–the old La Marque Outlet Stores).
 
The Tax Foundation formally announced April 26th as the official day we finally started working for ourselves instead of the government!  This is three days later than 2005 and 10 days later than 2004.  Government, sadly, is taking a bigger bite every year.  But–don’t despair–share the pain with taxpayers across the County!
 
Entry is free for the fun.  Bread and soup (for us poor folks) will be available for a small donation or free with a spoon (no plastic please).
 
Sponsorships and silent auction items are welcome and may be delivered after Noon at the event location.

Paul and Edd better get their beauty sleep.

Andrea’s sister Melanie Childers writes in an e-mail to ProLifeBlogs:

How am I doing? I am doing FABULOUS! My sister, Andrea, is GETTING WELL. Her white blood cell count has been down to normal for the FOURTH day in a ROW now, and she has been able to get off of the blood pressure raising drugs that she has had to be on for MONTHS. She is doing GREAT. Her new doctor … has also halved the amount of pain medications that she is taking, so that she can talk to her family. He says that her condition is "serious," but that she does have the ability to get much better.

The futility proceedings are stopped now. Because this new doctor took over her case, it is all stopped.

I’m so happy I don’t know what to think, or say, or do. Not only is my sister NOT going to be put to death by St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, but it also looks like she is RECOVERING from her heart surgery, finally.

John Hawkins over at Right Wing News however makes a good point, she may very well be recovering, and she might soon be out of the woods, but she is still in very serious condition, and the hospital is having another Ethics comittee meeting as I type. Anything could still happen. Let’s keep her in our thoughts and prayers shall we?

UPDATE

According to John Hawkins, there is some excellent news coming out of the Ethics Committee meeting:

 Folks, we have excellent news out of the meeting this morning! According to Jerri Ward, a doctor by the name of Matthew Lenz, who disagrees with the medically futile designation, has taken over Andrea’s case and the hospital is cooperating with him. That means Andrea is no longer in danger of having her life support pulled by the hospital.

To everyone who called, put out the word, or did anything at all on this case, great job! You have undoubtedly helped save Andrea’s life. Score one for the good guys!

He’s right, we fought the good fight and won. Let us hope Andrea is able to do the same now.

… if anyone in Texas elective government actually gives a crap what you think… the answer is "No".

Liberated Los Angeles, 2012
Mexifornian children tour the "Es Uno Gringo" exhibit
to learn what life was like before La Revolution…

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