Borrowing an idea from the real estate industry, Amsterdam’s sex workers decided to have an open house!

“It is especially interesting for women. If they learn what we do here they will realise it is not a big deal if their husbands or boyfriends want to come here.”

Hmm. Or, perhaps the boyfriends and husbands are taking them for training?

“I am here because my wife was interested in coming along,” said 63-year-old Evert Rijnders from Haarlem.

His wife Jos added: “This has been a chance to look behind the scenes, and some things have definitely surprised me.”

Yeah, that’s a word all right. Surprising. But hey, it’s just another taxpaying industry. Rick Perry and the Texas Republicans are working on it now.

Amsterdam’s window-prostitutes are self-employed taxpayers, hiring their own windows at around $130 per night.

Such an advanced civilization.

“There are millions of them and many are in trouble. Some are abused by clients or pimps and it is important for them to know that they deserve respect.”

That’s right, they just need a little R E S P E C T and all will be well. Want a glimpse of America’s future? Hop over to Amsterdam on Open House Day.

to be liars…

Caught in the act with her lover, Tracy Denise Roberson — thinking quickly, if not clearly — cried rape, authorities say. Her husband pulled a gun and killed the other man with a shot to the head.

On Thursday, a grand jury handed up a manslaughter indictment — against the wife, not the husband.

Thank goodness for the grand jury system - they got this one right. The police charged the husband with murder.

In a case likely to reinforce the state’s reputation for don’t-mess-with-Texas justice, the grand jury declined to charge the husband with murder, the charge on which he was arrested by police.

That’s right - Don’t Mess With Texans. We have guns.

The December night before the shooting, Tracy Roberson sent LaSalle a text message that read in part, “Hi friend, come see me please! I need to feel your warm embrace!” according to court papers. LaSalle apparently agreed.

Note to self - do NOT respond to text messages about warm embraces.

Click pic for story.

Because it works.

Shaquanda Cotton, the 15-year-old black Texas teenager who spent more than a year in the state’s distressed juvenile prison system for shoving a teacher’s aide to the ground (assaulting a 58 year old woman, refusing to accept guilt, refusing a misdemeanor and refusing probation), prompting questions of racial bias, was ordered released today by the Texas Youth Commission’s newly appointed conservator.

That’s why. More money for the professional race cryers comes flying into their coffers.

The Lamar County DA spokesman nailed it:

“Apparently, cases that get the most public attention can grab the ear of state legislators who can simply order people to be freed from incarceration,” Hubbard said. “That sets an alarming precedent.”

Good luck Paris High!

I never had a slice of pecan pie before this week.

Wasn’t trying to avoid it; just never had one.

But a focus-group client on Monday order Pappas Barbecue for their staff, and it came with a pecan pie.

They left a lot of left-overs.

So on Tuesday, I ate a slice of pecan pie.

Holy crap does it taste good.

I’m eating the last slice right now.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

UPDATED–Something I just learned–don’t eat a slice of pecan pie right before you go home. You won’t be hungry for the wonderful dinner your wife cooked for you, and she will be upset.

Also, if you are going to eat a slice of pecan pie right before you go home, don’t blog about it, because that makes it impossible for you to lie to your wife about the fact that you aren’t hungry for dinner.

Also, I’ve been informed that the reason why I never had a slice of pecan pie before this week is because my wife knows it is bad for me, so she never kept one around the house.

After today’s dinner-ruining debacle, I expect to never be given access to one again.

Maybe we need to have a PieHaHa.

Since we can’t depend on the MSM to tell us the truth about what is actually going on in the field in Iraq, we have to find alternative sources of information. If you are curious about what is going on, I recommend Michael Yon. Yon is not affiliated with any news organizations. He is a blogger and depends on reader donations to pay for his expenses.

His most recent dispatch is RUBS #2 (Raw, Unedited and Barely Spell-checked). (I can so relate to that!)

I just ran across this email posted on Hugh Hewitt’s site. It is from Colonel Don of the USMC who is currently in Ramadi. I don’t think you can read this without having some sort of heavy duty emotion. How can you not choke up a little with a couple of lines like this:

I’m thankful for the good food we eat here in our field dining facilities. As my 1st Sergeant said, “they feed us like it may be our last meal.”

I’m thankful for a clean, dry bed to sleep in.

It puts things in perspective doesn’t it?

I think this is a wonderful letter with Easter right around the corner…

Will the environmentalist whacko’s stop at nothing? A little girl standing in the middle of the tracks about to get steamrolled? Where’s the left wing compassion? What would the reaction be if little Shaquandra Cotton were placed in the middle of the tracks? The only group I’ve heard complain about it is the railroad workers union.

Readers comments from Fri - Thu that caught my eye.

In the category of “I’m Perplexed, Why Are Some People Liberal?” goes:

hamous Says:
March 26th, 2007 at 8:35 pm e

Oh, some of my best friends are liberals. Really! Misguided is a good description for many of them. There are many different reasons why people are “liberal”, which I guess in itself should give us hope for a few.

There are some that grew up in the South when conservative sometimes meant racist. Their parents and grandparents were Democrats. Of course most of those racists were Democrats but that somehow gets lost.

Then there are people that genuinely think they are helping those that can’t help themselves and believe its the government’s responsibility to save them. They are naive and don’t realize that a large percentage of those folks could actually help themselves but choose not to.

A third group consists of socialists, communists, anarchists, etc. They want nothing less than the destruction of our country as we know it.

The fourth group are, in my opinion, the most dangerous. They are the guilt-ridden, rich, white people who have the money to enable the third group. They refuse to recognize the motives of that third group. They are consumed with guilt because they have money and others don’t. But they don’t have the willpower to give it away so they empower the socialists to take it away from them.

And of course, there are the Victicrats. The world owes them a debt that can never be repaid but they will damn sure try to get it.

hamous Says:
March 26th, 2007 at 9:22 pm e

I thought of another type of “liberal”. This is probably the biggest group. He’s not really a liberal, more like an opportunist. He doesn’t really give a damn one way or the other but, “Hey, they’re giving away free money down at the Democrat Plantation! If I don’t take it someone else will.”

In the category of “Business Tax? What business tax?” comes this reminder:

Lawrence C. Says:
March 29th, 2007 at 7:44 am e

Well, now we’re hearing some rumblings on the Business Tax. State Comptroller projects shortfall before the first dollar is even collected. Ogden wants to “close loopholes”. Norman Adams says the tax will produce $10-15 billion per year. Business tax revenue stream tied to the infamous “PROMISED” property tax cuts(much ballyhoo, not much substance). What’s a taxpayer to believe? What say you Norman Adams?

In the category of “Helping the Trailer Park Guys Understand the Problem” comes:

Shannon Says:
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:35 pm e

Sales tax collected on six pack of Miller Lite:
$ 0.3125

Number of six packs needed to be sold to collect 1.1 billion dollars spent on illegals in Texas?

Thirty Five Billion, Two Hundred Million

Drink up, hombre.

Read more

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The Chron has an op-ed today from Patricia Bernstein, a Houston writer who contends that a resolution pending before the legislature for a formal apology for slavery simply doesn’t go far enough, because it doesn’t encompass the lynchings and Jim Crow.

I’ve always been of the opinion that apologies like this are silly and insulting; we’re a government of, by, and for the people, and thus our current government shouldn’t need to apologize for wrongs committed generations earlier, particularly when the apology amounts to little more than a divisive political stunt.

However, Bernstein justifies her proposal thusly:

Why is it so important to remember and memorialize the evil acts of the past when the same funds could be used to feed, house and educate people today? Why should we apologize for deeds committed by others long dead? Precisely because we are the only ones left to do it and someone must. And because our white ancestors, and ultimately we, benefited economically, socially and culturally from the mistreatment of others. Black Texans of the time, and ultimately their descendants, suffered and were deprived.

Bernstein first says that we have to apologize because “someone must.” Well, if nobody with a shred of culpability remains, that apology will be hollow and meaningless. Moreover, I’d like to think that the more than 500,000 men who gave their lives during the Civil War — which was largely faught over slavery — is more of an apology than words could ever give. As for Jim Crow, years of government spending and Affirmative Action take the pressure off any need for an apology.

Bernstein’s second point is that whites today still benefit economically from black subjugation and blacks today are still harmed. I don’t really believe this, at least not to the degree Bernstein apparently does. In any case, it’s hardly true for everyone. Many whites grew up poor or at least lower middle class, and have since “made it.” Many whites (like myself) at least have fathers who grew up destitute and yet managed to become successful — all over Jim Crow was over. You can’t easily attribute any racial benefit in these cases.

Besides, when is the upper threshold on the claim that whites are benefited and blacks are still harmed by past discrimination? It has been 43 years — more than two generations — since Jim Crow ended. When it has been more than 60 years, will we then be able to say that the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow have nothing to do with black poverty? In Grutter, Justice O’Connor posited that there would come a time when Affirmative Action would no longer be justified, placing that threshold at 2028. What should be clear is that this claim has a shelf life, and it’s getting stale.

Moreover, the black community needs to face the fact that its greatest problems have developed since Jim Crow ended. The high black illegitimacy rate developed after the 1960’s. Furthermore, a massive spike in black-on-black crime has developed since then. Black culture has gone from blues, jazz and rock to rap and hip-hop music that almost uniformly glorifies crime and the drug culture. These aren’t directly attributable to Jim Crow, either. Perhaps instead of looking backward to slavery and Jim Crow, it would be more fruitful if we looked for solutions to current problems.

Are you a woman?

Work for a small business?

Use a laptop computer?

How’d ya like to make $90 bucks?

Here are the details:

Woman ages 25-40 who work for a small businesses (approximately 9-25 employees) are needed for a computer software usability test. Must not have participated in a focus group or product test in the past 6 months.

90 minute interviews will take place at Hill Research in The Woodlands on either April 3, 4, or 5.

Call 281-363-3840 ext. 126 and leave a message, or email your interest to info@hillresearch.com. Please give the name of your company and two good phone numbers where you can be reached. There is a short phone interview to see if you qualify.

If you are selected and participate, you will be paid a $90 honorarium. Even if you know you don’t qualify, feel free to refer someone you know who does.

And regardless of your gender, age or employment status, feel free to go to www.hillfocus.com to register in our confidential database. Information is kept strictly confidential and is never used for marketing purposes. Registered participants are first to be contacted for future projects for which they are a good fit.

I’m registered… just waiting to get called for the “pizza and beer” focus groups.

Politicians are the ultimate purveyors of frustration. Take for example, Rep. David Swinford, (R) Dumas, chair of the House State Affairs Committee. On the one hand, he offers up a very good idea:

Swinford’s bill would take away border-security dollars from agencies that adopt so-called “safe haven” policies that prevent police from asking about immigration status.

“Anybody that doesn’t want the law enforced, I don’t have an understanding of that,” Swinford said.

Nor do I, Mr. Swinford, nor do I. And I hope your bill passes and we shut down every single one of those stupid taxpayer funded aiding and abetting sites. Good step forward.

Why then do you want to take two backwards? The Dallas Morning News quotes you as saying:

A powerful House committee chairman plans to kill dozens of immigration-related bills, saying he doesn’t want legislators to waste time debating proposals that are divisive, unconstitutional or have the potential to induce long court battles.

“Good try, but we aren’t in the immigration business,” said David Swinford, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee.

Unfortunately, Rep. Swinford, we ARE in the ILLEGAL immigration business. Not by our choice but nonetheless, we are. I understand your desire to get along, not have divisive meetings, heck, we all want to be good guys. But in politics, the get alongers get sent down the road while the dividers rule the roost! Don’t you get that?

It’s bad enough that you don’t understand that we are in the illegal immigration business. But for you to schedule Mexican consulate officials for testimony ahead of American citizens shows how out of touch with reality you and other Republicans have become.

Mr. King and Mr. Swinford said that they recognized Farmers Branch is a lightning rod but that they had to prioritize members’ requests and get a cross-section of opinions on the issue.

Included on the list of invited witnesses are city officials from border towns such as McAllen and El Paso, Mexican consulate officials, a bank president from Laredo, elected officials, immigration advocates, groups opposing illegal immigration and judges.

You gotta be kidding me!

Concealed Handgun License Training– New licenses $100 (classes approximately every other week), recertification $80 (done weekly). Price includes all range fee, fingerprinting, notary work and photographs. Basic training available for persons who want a license but have little or no experience with a firearm. Ask about special group classes. Contact Austin Arrington 281-948-8373.

——————–

Get paid to tell us what you think– Register to participate in one of our focus groups; earn money telling us what you think about politics, your community and consumer goods. Click here to learn more and sign-up!

——————–

——————–

Dawn Wolf Design– LST’s full-service graphic designer of choice. Talented, professional, competitively priced; a generous LST volunteer, we could not recommend her more highly. | 713-781-8900 | website

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