According to prominent Muslim scholars, it’s OK if she was beaten as a child

(Hat tip to Strategypage.com) It seems the Islamic faith is more…uh, “advanced” than us infidels on the topic of domestic tranquility. To learn more, click here.

Yeehaa, it’s time for a good ol’ fashioned Texas Jihad down at City Hall. On Wednesday, 2/14, noon, at the main entrance between the water fountain and the building, Americans for Prosperity will take their Texas Taxpayer Trust Tour to Mayor White’s steps. Unfortunately, the Texas Municipal League has decided to characterize this as an Anti-City Jihad:

A radical fringe group known as “Americans for Prosperity” (AFP) has embarked on an odyssey it calls the Taxpayer Trust Tour.

Ah, yes, protesting high taxes will almost always get you called “radical” in the eyes lobbyists trying to get more money from taxpayers.

AFP has vigorously pursued legislation that would reduce the current appraisal cap, enact restrictions on local government revenue, and otherwise do serious harm to tax equity and local taxpayers. City officials, working individually and through TML, have opposed these misguided efforts.

Yeah, city officials have been known to oppose tax cuts from time to time. But those radicals just keep pushing.

an AFP spokesperson said, “It’s time for local government officials to start representing their constituents.” The implication, of course, is that elected city officials aren’t representing their constituents

Uh, yeah. You’re a smart one to figure that out.

like all misguided extremists who are unable to foist their ideas on others, they wish to silence their critics.

Exactly who was it that called them “radicals” on an “anti-city Jihad”? Oh, that was TML. Nevermind.

What do you say LST’er’s? Wanna meet down at City Hall on Wednesday and join the Jihad? High noon. Showdown. Don’t miss it.

In his column today, Loren Steffy slams a Houston-based insurer for an option backdating problem. In Chron fashion, it’s not particularly timely, since the matter at hand was resolved months ago:

Consider the case of Houston-based insurer HCC, which said in November an internal probe found it improperly dated options awarded to executives and directors back to 1995.

Its founder and chief executive, Stephen Way, and general counsel, Christopher Martin, resigned. The investigation found Way retroactively priced his own options to coincide with low points in HCC’s stock price. The tactic boosted the value of the options as HCC’s stock rose.

This is a situation where the company handled the problem in a tough and correct manner. HCC launched an investigation, gave the country’s best lawyers and forensic accountants carte blanche to pore over everything, and made tough decisions.

Last week, a shareholder sued the company over the backdating practices. The suit claims Way’s stock sales alone were almost $120 million, some of which came from the improper options grants.

Because investors suffered no apparent losses, the lawsuit asks simply that the company void the stock option plans for the officers and directors. It also wants those executives and board members to return their proceeds from stock sales — which it claims topped $183 million — to the company.

Don’t you have to have suffered damage to sue someone? This is like hiring an ambulance-chaser to sue a driver (and all the driver’s colleagues) for not causing an accident.

Despite that fact that the company has gotten rid of two major executives, including its founder, Steffy continues to make unfounded blanket allegations:

If they were willing to fudge a simple accounting entry, if they couldn’t tell investors the truth about when they awarded options, what else might they be willing to withhold or misrepresent?

Whatever the answer to that question is, it doesn’t matter. They’re gone, no longer managing the company.

But hey, Steffy had to write about something this week, right? And what better topic than taking old news and overinflating it in a smear job? That’s what Houston’s Leading Information Source™ does best.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My father is CEO of this company, and assumed that position after Way’s departure.

Yeah, this is a really great idea.

The Minutemen plan to conduct surveillance on city construction sites Saturday and recruit volunteers for a month-long border watch in April.

That is a brilliant freakin’ idea. Put a bunch of loud mouths with concealed carry licenses and let them surround a bunch of construction workers. Yep, brilliant. And exactly how are they going to “catch the illegal’s”?

“We have some people who work undercover at the sites,” she said.

They will take note of any cash changing hands at the site, people driving cars with Mexican license plates and anyone who walks to work.

So now the Minutemen think it’s il-freakin’-legal to exchange cash in public? Or walk to work? What’s next, they gonna surround my house, send in an undercover neighbor and see if I’m grilling fajitas?

Minutemen, go home, your 15 minutes of fame are up. I thought your mandate was to watch the border. Not my grill.

The Lufkin (TX) Daily News (LDN) Editorial Board is ready to make bold statements about Gov. Perry’s executive order to mandate the HPV vaccine to 11-12 year old girls.

1. They think that the reason Gov. Perry issued the order may be “because it gets his name in the paper.”

2. They think the order might be the result of the “huge lobbying effort by the vaccine’s manufacturer, Merck, which stands to gain billions,”

3. They note that “the disease is transmitted only through sexual intercourse,”

4. They argue that cervical cancer is “not that prevalent in the United States,”

5. They ponder if Gov. Perry “overstepped his constitutional authority by issuing executive orders not authorized by state law…,” and

6. They believe it would be a “good idea” for Perry to rescind the order.

So, what is their final verdict on the vaccine mandate?

We’re not opposed to the order, as long as it includes one thing: the opportunity to opt out.

Uh, no, none of those. Rep. Warren Chisum (R) has instead decided that the high school students in our schools must be able to study the history of the Old and New Testament eras:

(b) The purpose of a course under this section is to:

(1) accommodate the rights and desires of teachers who wish to teach and students who wish to study, as applicable, the Old or New Testament;

Hey, Warren, got a question for you: ever heard of a church? I am absolutely, positively 100 percent certain that one of the thousands of churches in this state would be happy to see a teenager walk in their doors asking to study the Bible. And the history surrounding it. For that matter, they would just as well love to have teachers walking through their doors to study the Bible.

It really irks me when politicians try to cram their version of religion down the throats of the taxpayers. I do hope the fine citizens of the state help pull Rep. Chisum out of his hole.

 Once again, LST commenter’s have provided a ton of fun and sometimes serious reading material this past Friday - Thursday.

Trademark of the week goes to fink1 for Astronaughty™.

Thought of the week goes to:

texpat Says: February 6th, 2007 at 12:59 pm e

It would be much easier if people would actually read what others wrote and determine if it is a statement of fact or an opinion. It would also be useful to try to bring to bear some reason and logic and stop confusing issues. Intertwining related, but non-parallel issues, only serves to obfuscate the greater picture.

Some of the comments made by LST readers that caught my attention this past week were:

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In arguing against busting the Texas Constitution’s spending cap, here’s what my senator, Dan Patrick has to say:

On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee approved SJR 13, a proposed constitutional amendment that if approved would explode state government spending by more than $15 Billion. To make the constitutional amendment to bust the spending cap more attractive, the resolution was written to add seniors and the disabled to the property tax cut measure of 2006. While senior’s groups, like the AARP, are in favor of a property tax reduction measure that include them, they are opposed to being used as political cover for a bill that busts the spending cap.

According to the Legislative Budget Board, there will be $5 Billion in available revenue this biennium before the constitutional spending cap is triggered. Covering seniors in the property tax cuts would only use $200 - $300 million of the available money.

“In 2006, I was the first one to sound the alarm that seniors and the disabled were left out of the property tax ‘cuts,’” Patrick offered. “However, leaders chose to come back and fix it later rather than fixing it then,” Patrick added. “Now we know they needed the senior’s political cover to complete the tax shift,” Patrick concluded.

“The gig is up, our constituents know the ‘great business and property tax shift of 2006′ did not reflect a reduction in taxes collected or state spending,” Patrick advised. “In fact, the reverse is happening. If SJR 13 and the proposed state budget is approved, the state will be spending 17% more in this budget than the last,” Patrick commented. “The people who voted for me didn’t want me in Austin to spend more of their money, but less. That is why I can’t and won’t vote to bust the constitutional spending cap,” Patrick remarked. “Over the next few days, I will use my voice in the media and on the Senate floor to point out these facts,” Patrick concluded.

Amen, Dan.

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