As if the left didn’t have enough ammo about hypocritical Republicans, we now get this:
But, but….we need that! Didn’t you hear that California is now allowing men to marry men! And women to marry women! Stop it! We need an amendment! Right?
Well…maybe. But what we don’t need are these two cosponsors:
Heh. Gonna be a rough November boys and girls.
A Harris County grand jury decided today that Joe Horn should not be charged with a crime for shooting two suspected burglars he confronted outside his neighbor’s home in Pasadena last fall.
The decision to clear Horn of wrongdoing came two weeks after the grand jury began considering evidence in the case, including Horn’s testimony last week.
UPDATE BY BRAMANTI: Laurence Simon weighs in on this story, as only he can.
In case you missed it on Friday, feel free to perform an exorcism without fear of being sued for your efforts!
Justice David Medina, writing for the majority, said that while Schubert’s argument regarding physical injuries might be tried without mentioning religion, her case was mostly about her emotional or psychological injuries from a religious activity that was sanctioned by the church.
For the court to impose any legal liability for engaging in a religious activity “to which the church members adhere would have an unconstitutional ‘chilling effect’ by compelling the church to abandon core principles of its religious beliefs,” Medina wrote.
“Religious practices that might offend the rights or sensibilities of a non-believer outside the church are entitled to greater latitude when applied to an adherent within the church,” Medina wrote.
He went on to say that when claims involve “only intangible, emotional damages allegedly caused by sincerely held religious belief, courts must carefully scrutinize the circumstances so as not to become entangled in a religious dispute.”
Interesting.
Sheriff Keith Korenek said 44-year-old Patrick Scott Bigelow took keys from a female correctional officer on Sunday and got out of the jail.
Investigators said Bigelow had outside help and a getaway car.
Waller County sheriff’s deputies said Bigelow kidnapped a man at a Fayette County convenience store at about 6 a.m. Monday. The man was released in the Hempstead area at about 8 a.m. Monday, officials said. He was tied to a tree, investigators said.
Bigelow, who is from the Katy area, was being held on robbery charges.Anyone with information about Bigelow’s whereabouts is asked to call the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office at 979-968-5856 or their local law enforcement agency.
UPDATE: Okay, you can relax now, this thug is back in custody. After robbing 2 banks.
Looks like the “first black President” is having a hard time adjusting to the thought of a possible second black President:
Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama’s victory over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support.
…
A senior Democrat who worked for Mr Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends Mr Obama could “kiss my ass” in return for his support.
…
But his lingering fury has shocked his friends. The Democrat told the Telegraph: “He’s been angry for a while. But everyone thought he would get over it. He hasn’t. I’ve spoken to a couple of people who he’s been in contact with and he is mad as hell.“He’s saying he’s not going to reach out, that Obama has to come to him. One person told me that Bill said Obama would have to quote kiss my ass close quote, if he wants his support.
Bill Clinton, the Norma Desmond of politics: You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!… All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.
The oldest town in Texas joins the growing movement to prohibit smoking in most public places, including outdoor patios.
Effective Tuesday, July 1, smoking in all of Nacogdoches’ public buildings, workplaces, offices, bars and restaurants will be prohibited, punishable by a fine up to $2,000 in municipal court. With the new law in place, Nacogdoches joins other East Texas communities like Marshall and Tyler and at least 20 states that have banned public smoking in the name of health.
Private homes, fraternal organizations, tobacco retail stores and a percentage of hotel and nursing home rooms are excepted from the law, but all other businesses, including their outdoor patios and areas 20 feet from public entrances, must comply with the ordinance.
Ah, I can already breathe easier!
This picture has it all. Sorta like presidential candidates.
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A few days ago, it was suggested that I write a post analyzing Colorado’s new law, signed by Governor Ritter, extending anti-discrimination protections to cover sexual orientation. This law has been given a lot of attention nationwide, mostly due to Focus on the Family being against it. It has been described as a power grab by the homosexual lobby, and yet another attempt to shove the agenda of a 1-2% minority down the throats of the majority, thereby further tearing down the moral fabric of our society. Or something like that.
Dr. Dobson seems to think that all this bill will do is make crazy queers pop up in bathrooms all over the state, where they can prey on our children. The proponents of this bill say that it will simply extend protections to a group of people that have been discriminated against in many facets of life. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.
So, let’s take a look at the bill itself:
SB-08-200: Concerning the Expansion of Prohibitions Against Discrimination
(That there is a PDF file, so if you don’t have Acrobat, go get it)
First, we get to this controversial bit, defining “sexual orientation”:
“SEXUAL ORIENTATION” MEANS A PERSON’S ORIENTATION TOWARD HETEROSEXUALITY, HOMOSEXUALITY, BISEXUALITY, OR TRANSGENDER STATUS OR ANOTHER PERSON’S PERCEPTION THEREOF.
OK, well, that seems pretty complete, but what in the world is “transgender status” and what is “another person’s perception thereof”? Read more
Fear will make you do some weird stuff. Now that I have overcome the throbbing in my big toe from jumping straight up and backwards and stubbing my toe on a lawn chair, can someone please tell me what kind of snake this is? This critter is about 4 feet long. I have never seen a snake with this type of markings before. BTW, he is still doing whatever snakes do after they startle me and get away with it. I think he and I will just let by gones be by gones.
Hi Squawk. Scared ya did I?
Click the pic for a larger (300kb) image
UPDATE:
I emailed Clint Pustejovsky (www.texassnakes.net) and asked him just what this critter was. He was kind enough to repond.
I have been featured on lonestartimes.com in the past. Now for the snake, it’s a nonvenomous buttermilk racer and very common in your area of Texas. You may have never seen one due to their speed.
So there ya go, now we know.
My neighbor just returned from the vet with his dog, Dodger, that was attacked by two pit bulls. A torn ear, deep gashes in the back of the neck, legs that should have had surgery will be allowed to heal as best they can and $479 worth of stitches, are the injuries this dog will have to recover from these “misunderstood, loving dogs“.
Dodger was tied up in his backyard, inside his fence and these two pitbulls came in through an open gate and attacked without provocation. The only reason Dodger is alive is my neighbor heard the commotion and “effectively removed the threat”.
Suffice it to say that my voice is now added to those that believe these dogs need to outlawed and removed from society.
UPDATE
Just for the record, the pitbulls were not strays. Both animals had collars and tags.
Jew-blogger eats damn good apple
by David Benzion · 06/27/2008 2:30 pmI just finished eating one of these new-fangled “Jazz” apples, and holy crap was it good.
I mean I literally just spent five minutes focused on nothing but how good this apple tastes… my office fell away, I stopped poking around the Internet, my work and troubles left my mind… I just kept thinking about how freakin delicious this apple was.
Mrs. Benzion informs me it was picked up at HEB… and I am not to eat any of the remaining ones, and they were purchased for Boy Benzion.
We’ll see about that.
EDITOR’S NOTE
The following op-ed by Cheryl Johnson (hubba hubba),
Galveston County’s Tax Assessor-Collector,
first appeared in the Galveston Daily News,
and is reprinted below with author’s permission.
————————-
Every year, county appraisal districts mail notices of appraised-value changes to millions of property owners across the state, which prompts protests by unhappy taxpayers.
Even with fewer values than usual increasing in Galveston County this year, hundreds of property owners attended classes to learn how to be effective in the protest process.
I know because I taught those classes, and attendees confirmed what seems to me to be obvious — the system needs to be changed.
In 2006, the Governor’s Task Force on Appraisal Reform traveled the state collecting information on problems associated with our property tax system.
Today, interim committees in both the Senate and House are studying the same issues.
Why? Because many property owners are still mad (even after enormous reductions in school district tax rates) because their values increased and it became apparent that savings would be temporary at best.
Sadly, few are willing to take a leadership position in order to establish a permanent remedy — it is easier to study and debate the issue than it is to correct it. What a waste of time and money — their time, our money.
The solution is simple — adopt a property-tax system based on acquisition rather than market value. Starting with current values as a base, values would change when sold to the sale price. To provide for inflation (or recession), values could increase (or decrease) annually based on the rate of inflation (or recession) or two percent, whichever is less.
The limit should not apply in certain circumstances, such as when additions are made to properties or in the event of catastrophic losses. Seniors and the disabled must be allowed to retain their current tax benefits and, in the interest of maintaining community stability, families should be allowed to transfer their homestead property to heirs without a change in base value (as long as it remains a homestead).
Hubba hubba!
The result? Taxpayers would no longer be angry each spring because appraisal notices woud not be arriving in the mail. Legislators would stop hearing complaints from constituents and, finally, be able to get on with important state policy decisions.
Fiscally, in excess of $300 million paid by local governments to fund appraisal districts would no longer be needed. The Comptroller’s Property Value Division would no longer be conducting ratio studies, and school districts would cease spending thousands of dollars defending failed ratio studies.
The result? Less government and lower taxes.
Is an acquisition-value system fair, uniform and constitutional? Yes. It provides predictability for property owners, increases community stability, and everyone is treated equally (after the initial assessment at the time the law takes effect). The United States Supreme Court, in Nordlinger v. Hahn, 505 U.S. 1 (1992), presented compelling arguments to support the constitutionality of an acquisition-value tax system.
Statewide, voters overwhelmingly support changing our system, and the time has come for permanent and sustainable change. Let’s solve the problem instead of placing yet another temporary Band-Aid on a gaping wound. We deserve a better system than the one we have today. We have been taxed into awareness and we want solutions — now.
UPDATE: Cheryl (hubba hubba) sends along this addendum:
FYI - A move from market to acquisition based value for the property tax system would be a correction to the current flawed system. I am, however, in total agreement with Senator Dan Patrick regarding the need to completely replace the property tax system with a consumption tax. Completely….not both….completely.
Interesting. I received my weekly email from John Kerry asking for money to take over the U.S. Senate and it had a glaring omission: Rick “The Shameless One” Noriega was no longer listed. Instead, Sen. Kerry listed Al Franken of Minnesota, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mark Begich of Alaska and Jeff Merkley of Oregon as the candidates being promoted.
After reading the latest “policy” position from The Shameless One, I think I understand why. Is this guy nuts? He actually said:
“We must have a bold vision and move toward energy independence. We can’t rely on what Mr. Cornyn says — that somehow we’re going to drill our way out. To say that would lower fuel prices is disingenuous. We can’t even get that oil for seven or eight years.”
Not only did he say that, he said it in West Texas. Yeah, that’ll pick up a few votes. Even worse is this:
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Rick Noriega has said several times this week that the solution to high gasoline prices is to drill for more oil in Iraq, not in pristine American wilderness or coastal areas.
Why is that worse? Because The Shameless One has based his entire campaign on yanking out troops out of Iraq immediately. Now he wants to take their oil? How are we going to do that without our troops? And is he now saying that he would support a military invasion over oil?
But wait! His campaign is saying he was just joking!
“He was clearly joking,” Noriega spokeswoman Holly Shulman said this morning.
Oh really? Then why did he repeat this proposal 4 times? Does this sound like a joke?
“Let’s go drill in Iraq right now, where we have had our sons and our daughters spilling their blood and we are sitting on those oilfields,” he told a caller on the Midland station’s Morning Drive program.
“Why are we going to use our … limited resources that we have control over, within our own nation, vs. what we are sitting on [in] these oil fields over there?”
Some joke, eh? He also wants to make Texas as crowded as New York City - forget drill here, drill now, pay less, The Shameless One wants you to move closer to work!
On the Midland radio program, he advocated conservation and predicted people would “start moving closer to their workplace.”
Does that mean we should also take Sheryl Crow’s advice and use one sheet of toilet paper?
Sheesh, this guy should have stayed in his protected state rep district. Letting him roam the streets is very enlightening, isn’t it? Check out his energy policy:
“We must make a serious effort to invest in clean, alternative, renewable sources of energy including wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass.”
That’s fine and dandy but don’t you find it strange the he doesn’t mention oil or gas? In Texas? Methinks he is already processing some biomass.
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