All Hail The Obamas!

Cynthia Papa of Fredericksburg says she wants to "recognize and credit the president, Michelle Obama, and the entire Obama administration for bringing recognition to the obesity epidemic." I guess Cynthia was one of the few people on the planet who didn't know, until Michelle told her, that being overweight wasn't good for you.

Cynthia encourages us to "look around, people." She wants us to see all the changes for which the Obamas are responsible in the food industry:

• Manufacturers are packaging in smaller portions now. Do you suppose that's a cost-cutting measure rather than a response to Michelle's edicts? Personally, I don't like paying for 1/2 gallon of ice cream but carrying home only 3 pints.
• Fast-food restaurants have expanded healthier choices. Again, do you suppose that's because there's a market for "healthier" food? I do find it amusing when I see someone order a "healthy" salad then drench it with 1/2 cup of dressing.
• The U.S. Government has re-established the food chart. In case you didn't know Cynthia, the food chart never went away. Michelle has just revamped it. It's still the same principle -- eat a variety of healthy foods including lots of whole grains, and limit sugars, starches, and fats. But since you didn't know obesity was not good for you until Michelle told you, I suppose you didn't know anything about nutrition, either.

Cynthia concludes that all this helps us live happier, healthier, more productive lives. Really, Cynthia, do you honestly think the guy who wants a bacon double cheeseburger will settle for a fruit plate of brown apple slices, sour grapes, and mushy bananas? Do you really think someone who's going to eat a pint of ice cream will limit himself just because the carton is smaller? Do you really think people are going to drag out the food chart before every meal? No, Cynthia, all this has done is cost us more money and fool gullible people like you into thinking skinny Michelle's Kool-Aid is a great drink.

Perhaps I'd credit the Obamas with a bit more sincerity on health issues if the President didn't have a cigarette habit. That's what we call "Gag at a gnat and swallow a Camel."


"Obamas lead on health issues." The Dallas Morning News; October 24, 2011; p. 10A.

Occupy Update

One hundred and thirty Occupy Chicago protesters had to add to their name. They are now members of Occupy Chicago Jail after they refused to leave a city park when it closed.

Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York -- the ones protesting greed -- may have to change their name to Occupy Occupy Wall Street. It seems they don't want to share their food with the part of the 99% even lower on the social scale than themselves. They're perturbed that homeless people have been showing up to partake of their food.

“We need to limit the amount of food we’re putting out” to curb the influx of derelicts, said Rafael Moreno, a kitchen volunteer. So for three days, they'll serve nothing but brown rice instead of the usual organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad. Now that really sounds like a menu for the downtrodden, doesn't it?

So, my conclusion is that these people want equity in the sense of increasing their own wealth by taking from those who have more, but not in the sense of sharing what they have with those less fortunate than they are. There's a word for that. It's called hypocrisy.

"Chicago protesters defy order to leave city park." The Dallas Morning News; October 24, 2011; p. 4A.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/zuccotti_hell_kitchen_i5biNyYYhpa8MSYIL9xSDL#ixzz1cChymrg7

When will they learn - you just can't help some people?

Richard Antwine, 49 years old, committed suicide last November in Dallas. Reporter Kim Horner and the do-gooders of the city say this is evidence that we must do more to help the homeless. But let's look at Richard and the services he was offered.


The reporter admits that the taxpayers spend millions each year in sheltering, incarcerating and treating the mentally ill. Richard was a crack cocaine and alcohol abuser. Miss Horner excuses this as a "common way of trying to relieve the symptoms of depression." Hmmmm - could it be that she has the cause and effect backward?

Anyway, Richard was jailed in 2009 for missing a meeting with his parole officer -- his lawyer says it was because he was in Terrell State Hospital at the time. He was released after a month in jail. Antwine insisted he wanted to do the right things, but he violated parole again by giving a false address and using drugs, and he was jailed again in July 2009.

When he was released in April 2010, he was sent to a halfway house. He stayed out past curfew in July, violating the terms of his parole, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He disappeared from the halfway house after picking up his disability check. Yes, hardworking taxpayer, we bought drugs and alcohol for Richard while he was violating his parole.

The claim is that we failed this man, yet the mental health clinic that would serve his needs has no record of him seeking help. That's probably because the clinic was housed in the same building as his parole officer -- someone he surely did not want to run into.

It seems this man was offered everything he needed -- psychiatric help, a place to stay, money to live on. Neither you nor I nor the system failed this man. Some people just can't be helped.

"Shut out by the revolving door." The Dallas Morning News; November 23, 2010; p. 1A.

Will God remember?

Frank Kameny died October 12. If you don't recognize his name, you are not alone. I didn't know who he was, either. His obituary says he was a gay rights pioneer. He's "famous" for being queer and getting fired from a government position because of it in 1957.

In an AP interview in 2009, Kameny said he wanted to be remembered most for coming up with the slogan "Gay is Good." I feel sure that, on October 12, 2011, God remembered.

"Gay-rights pioneer fought for, witnessed changes in society." The Dallas Morning News; October 13, 2011; p. 8B.

Look what I found on page 9.

Buried way over on page 9 of the newspaper, I found this little tidbit. Steve Spinner is an Energy Department adviser and a former fundraiser for Obama. His wife's law firm represents Solyndra. In an email pushing for the Department to approve the loan for Solyndra, he says, "How hard is this? I have the Office of the Vice President and White House breathing down my neck on this. They are getting itchy to get involved."

Funny. Now they're getting itchy to get uninvolved.

Incidentally, if this were President George W. Bush and one of his fundraisers, do you think it would have been on page 9?

"Ex-Obama fundraiser urged loan." The Dallas Morning News; October 8, 2011; p. 9A.

Presbyterians pound another nail in our coffin.

Presbyterians recently ordained their first openly gay minister, Scott Anderson. Anderson was a Presbyterian minister from 1983 to 1990 when he told his congregation about his sexual proclivity. He said a couple in the church learned he was gay and "tried to use that against him." Perhaps they weren't trying to do anything "against him." Perhaps they were just taking a moral stand.

The church constitution did have a requirement that clergy live "in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." But that old fuddy-duddy rule was eliminated last year because of the trend in society toward accepting same sex relationships. Maybe they should be less concerned about what society accepts and more concerned about what God accepts.

"Presbyterians to ordain their first openly gay minister." The Dallas Morning News; October 8, 2011; p. 6A.

Maybe she jumped.

An Oklahoma woman has been sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison for murdering her baby. The 10-day-old child was found drowned in a washing machine. The mother pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and child neglect. She says she put the baby in the bassinet and has no idea how she got into the machine. Gosh, maybe she climbed out of the bassinet, toddled over to the machine, and jumped in.

"Woman sentenced in daughter's death." The Dallas Morning News; October 7, 2011; p. 3A.

The Liberal Spin

The Democrats never cease to amuse me with their spin. Of course, they are in adamant opposition to the laws requiring voter ID. In Texas, they say, there are more than 600,000 voters who will be affected by this legislation, because they have no drivers license and no state ID card. Those people will be disenfranchised.

No, they won't. They can easily get a state issued ID card -- if they're legal, that is. And therein lies the rub. I'm thinking that a large proportion of that 600,000 should never have been enfranchised in the first place. And that's evidence that we desperately needed this legislation.

"600,000 voters may lack needed ID." The Dallas Morning News; October 7, 2011; p. 3A.

The Occupy Idiots

By now, surely you've heard the reports of the idiots "occupying" Wall Street and Main Streets across the country. You've heard the stories of this genteel, intelligent crowd defecating on police cars, fornicating in public, running around with no clothes on, relieving themselves wherever they want, and piling up trash in public parks while they chant about corruption and inequality.

I have a few questions for the crowd. In one photo, a woman has her two school-age children at the protest with her on a Thursday afternoon. Why weren't those children in school? One of them holds a sign that says, "Big business is stealing my future." I don't think she has much of a future if her mother pulled her out of school for something this ridiculous. It's the mother who's stealing her future. The other child holds a sign that says, "How will I pay my debt?" I don't know -- go to school and learn, then get a job? You certainly won't pay it by standing around on a street corner holding stupid signs.

The newspaper reports that the top 1% "captured" more than half of all family income growth between 1993 and 2008. Even if that number is true, which I kind of doubt, who did they "capture" it from? Do you suppose it's money they earned by hard work, innovation, risk-taking, and wise investment? Surely that could have had nothing to do with it!

One protestor said her daughter "deserved as good an education as the wealthier communities." Why? My neighbor has nicer things than I do, and he can afford to send his kids to private school. Does that mean I deserve those things too?

One protestor had a large tattoo of Che Guevara on his chest. Che was the Argentianian Marxist who played a large role in the Cuban Revolution with Fidel Castro. He believed that economic inequalities were an intrinsic result of capitalism, and the only remedy was world revolution. Che was eventually executed when he tried to foment a revolution in Bolivia. Just the sort you want your children to look up to.

Some of the protestors are people complaining about having to repay student loans. I realize that it cost a huge amount of money to go to school now, but I have to wonder how many of these people made the best use of their time? Benjamin Vail is 29, and he graduated in 2008. That means he was 26 when he graduated. If it took him 8 years to graduate, that could be why he owes more than $60,000. Did he not realize when he took that money that he would be expected to repay it? At least his wife learned basic math in college. She said, "With my $40,000, we now have $100,000 in student debt." And she's surprised about that?

Martha O'Brien complains about CEO's making $15 million or $20 million a year. As long as the government isn't bailing out their companies, I don't care. It's no skin off my nose. Martha says they could be spending that money on keeping jobs in the U.S. They could, but it's their money. How would Martha like it if I told her how to spend her money?

Other protestors claim they want jobs. If that's the case, why are you here instead of out pounding the pavement? Yet I heard one man say he took time off to come for the protest and another say that he quit his job to come protest. Now that makes a lot of sense -- quit your job so you can go protest because there are no jobs.

And the biggest question of all is, do you really believe you're changing things by standing around out here griping because some people have more money than you do? If you really want to do something, go home and get a job. If you can't find a paying one, take a volunteer one until you can find something else. Many a volunteer job has turned into a paying one. But I forget, that would require that you take some personal responsibility, and you all seem to be out of that.

"Hundreds march in Occupy Dallas." The Dallas Morning News; October 7, 2011; p. 1A.

If you ignore it, it will go away.

A couple of years ago, a government panel told women they no longer need those pesky mammograms. Now that same panel is telling men they no longer need PSA tests. Of course, this is all a lead-up to when Obamacare has completely taken over the health care system. If they've already told us we don't need these lifesaving screenings, then they can logically say they're not going to pay for them.

The panel's conclusion is that, "Unfortunately, the evidence now shows that this test does not save men's lives." That is, of course, except for the ones who have early stage prostate cancer. "This test cannot tell the difference between cancers that will and will not affect a man during his natural lifetime." So, do you want to take a chance that yours is one that won't affect you? Or do you want to be treated and get rid of it?

The panel admits that there is little doubt that the test helps identify the presence of cancerous cells in the prostate. But, it says, a vast majority of men with such cells never suffer ill effects, and anyway, there is no proven benefit to earlier treatment of such an invasive disease. That sounds like a bunch of hooey to me. I wonder how many men on that panel get PSA testing? How many of those men do you think would say, if the test were positive, "I'm not worried. The vast majority of men don't have any ill effects, and there's no evidence that if I get treated it will help."

The panel threw out some statistics. From 1986 to 2005, a million men had surgery, radiation therapy, or both after high PSA. Five thousand of them died soon after the surgery. That amounts to about 1/2%. So 99.5% survived the surgery. That sounds like pretty good odds. Ten thousand to seventy thousand suffered "serious" complications such as blood in the semen, impotence, and/or incontinence. I question the large discrepancy in that number. They couldn't narrow it down any closer than 60,000? That sounds like sloppy work or incompetence or trying to make the evidence fit the theory. At any rate, let's give the panel the benefit of the doubt and say there were 70,000 with serious complications. That's 7.4% of the survivors. That means 92.6% of the survivors had no complications. If you take the whole pool you began with, 88% survived the treatment with no serious complications. That's still pretty good odds. I guess men think differently than women, but I'd rather be impotent and incontinent than dead.

So ladies and gentlemen, I don't care what the panel says -- go get your mammograms and PSA's!

"Avoid prostate cancer test, panel advises." The Dallas Morning News; October 7, 2011; p. 1A.

Will they not say you are mad?

What would you think if you went to church, and there was a heavy metal band on the stage? The bass player has a blond mohawk. He bangs his head as he pounds his bass. Another band member "growls" into the microphone. That's church at St. John's United Methodist in Corpus Christi. The pastor and band say they started this service because they wanted a "church scene where everyone can feel welcome." I don't know about you, but I'd be extremely uncomfortable there. It puts me in mind of the Apostle Paul when he was admonishing the church about having a decent and orderly service. He said that if everyone did what they wanted, and "there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?"



The heavy metal band says people don't go to church because they are judged. Translation: I don't like for my sin to be pointed out. They say that's not what church is supposed to be. But if the church doesn't talk about sin, how will anyone realize he needs a Savior?
 
Taylor Anne Burnham said she enjoys the spiritual experience she gets from the service and the music. I question whether the experience is all that spiritual. "It's life-changing to be here," she said. Yeah, I've heard that before, too. I knew of a music minister in our town who went on several mission trips, claiming each was a "life-changing" experience. Mr. Essie May and I used to kind of snicker, saying that man had had more "changes" than a baby with diarrhea. Evidently, though, the changes weren't enough. He left town after having an extra-marital affair with a married member of the church. Now he's leading the music at another church. Maybe he can invite the headbangers to perform there.
 
"Let us bang our heads in prayer." The Dallas Morning News; October 9, 2011; p. 3A.

Is it discrimination, or is it that blacks happen to be committing the crimes?

There was an interesting article in the newspaper recently about FBI Agent Don Sherman who is in charge of the John Wiley Price investigation. The headline insinuates that his investigations are based on race, yet the article seems to affirm the exact opposite. By all accounts from those who know him well, he is an extremely fair man.

Juanita Wallace of the NAACP doesn't see it that way. She says, "Their [the FBI] primary interest is diluting the political strength of certain people, specifically the blacks and minorities. Just because the FBI is going after you does not mean you're guilty." That's very interesting, Juanita, given that the FBI is an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the head of the U.S. Department of Justice is Eric Holder. And the last time I looked, Eric Holder was black. Are you saying, Juanita, that Mr. Holder is a racist?

The author of the article states that "many are troubled that nearly all the elected municipal officials prosecuted for corruption have been black." Has it occurred to "many" that maybe the black ones are being prosecuted because they're the ones that are corrupt? It's not nice to prosecute innocent white people just because there's evidence that a bunch of black ones are committing crimes.

The attorney for John Wiley Price's executive assistant, Dapheny Fain, said, "He presumes criminal conduct and then goes about trying to find it." Perhaps there's a reason he presumes criminal conduct. If you see a group of county employees driving $75,000 cars and living high on the hog, and that same group of employees' names and the names of their relatives and friends keep popping up on the owner lists and boards of companies that are getting lucrative county contracts, I'd say there's probably something rotten in Dallas County. Don Sherman would be shirking his responsibility to the citizens of the United States if he turned his head the other way.

"Agent reviled and revered." The Dallas Morning News; October 9, 2011; p. 1A.

This is what a jobs bill should look like!

Hooray for the Texas legislature and Governor Rick Perry. It will now be easier for bakers to get started in a business.

People who want to sell their pies, cakes, cookies, and other baked goods may now legally operate out of their home kitchens if they sell less than $50,000 annually. The only regulations they must abide by are that the food must be labelled with the name and address of the baker, and it must carry the warning that it has not been inspected.

Professional bakeries are crying foul. No regulation means possibly contaminated food, they say. But if the food is marked with the disclaimer that it has not been inspected, the customer knows that's a possibility. And as one home baker said, "A license doesn't make a clean kitchen. And the lack of license doesn't make a dirty kitchen." Besides, most of these bakers sell their wares by word of mouth. If a friend of mine says, "I know this lady who bakes delicious cakes for sale," I'll probably go buy one. But if the baker I've never met before comes up to me and tells me she sells cakes, I probably won't buy one.

Another complaint of the professionals is that the home bakers don't have to spend the money for professional equipment, and they, therefore, have an unfair advantage over them. But the home bakers can produce only so much -- hardly enough to put a professionally equipped bakery out of business.

If a home baker doesn't have seed money for all the bells and whistles that are required for a professional set-up, she can now bake from home and save the money she needs to expand. And when she does, she will employ other people. Are you listening, Obama? Because THAT'S a true jobs bill!

"Law is icing on cake for home bakers." The Dallas Morning News; October 10, 2011; p. 1A.

You must hire this person.

Hidden in Obama's jobs bill is another job killer. This job killer would ban companies with 15 or more employees from refusing to consider or offer a job to someone who is unemployed. Doesn't matter if they're qualified for the job or not, if they're unemployed and you don't hire them, they can sue. So what will I, as a business owner do? To protect myself, I'll just not advertise any jobs or hire anybody else until that inane provision is dropped.

"Unemployed fighting job discrimination." The Dallas Morning News; October 10, 2011; p. 4D.

A Case for the Death Penalty

Thomas Creighton Shrader was obsessed with his girlfriend. She broke up with him in 1974, but he refused to believe the relationship was over. In July 1975, he showed up at her mother's West Virginia house demanding that his ex-girlfriend get in his car. When she refused, he drove away, but returned with a high-powered rifle. He shot the lock off a door, entered the house and shot Howard William "Rusty" Adams Jr., a family friend visiting while on leave from the military. Prosecutors believe Shrader mistakenly thought Adams was the new boyfriend. Shrader then shot the mother as she and her daughter tried to flee. Both Adams and the mother died from their wounds.


Shrader pleaded guilty in January 1976 to both slayings and to unlawful wounding. He was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole. He escaped from prison less than 6 months later. The ex-girlfriend and her family were forced to flee as the lunatic eluded capture and stalked her. He was later captured and pleaded guilty to escape. His punishment? A big old year added to his life sentence.

Even in prison, he kept up his harassment of the ex-girlfriend, suing her for refusing to marry him. She and her husband finally left West Virginia to escape.  He continued to write to her family members trying to find out where she was. After all this, the lunatics on the West Virginia parole board let him out in 1993.

Somehow, he found his ex-girlfriend in 2008 and resumed the letter writing and phone calls. The ex-girlfriend's husband believes there were multiple attempts to find them beforehand -- for example, someone had tried to get his military records, and someone had called making inquiries about their children.The recurrent theme in the 2008 and 2009 letters was that everything that had happened was her fault, and if she came back to him, he'd forgive her and everything would be OK. He knew her children's names, and he told her in one letter, "In the name of Jesus I claim you and your soul in future lives.You have been running from me since July 1975. By that I mean running away from seeing me and being with me to actually confront your real and true feelings for me . . .Running won't do you any good this time. It's time to face the piper." Shrader's attorney claims the letter may be "distasteful," but it's not threatening. Really? From a man who's already killed your mother and friend and stalked you for more than 30 years?

Not to worry, West Virginia will revoke his parole and he'll have to serve out that life sentence. Not quite. He's been sentenced to 19 years in the federal penitentiary for interstate stalking. No mention of what West Virginia intends to do on the old murder convictions. Would you feel safe if you were the ex-girlfriend, her husband, or her children? If you answered that question honestly, then you have to be in favor of the death penalty. Nothing short of that will insure that family's security.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x1221460679/Family-seeks-peace-after-killer-stalker-sentenced

We just want tolerance.

Remember when the gays said all they wanted was tolerance? They're pretty much "tolerated" in this country, and now they want us to "recognize and honor" them. According to Nathaniel Batchelder of Oklahoma City, his niece is "happily mothering her newborn baby with her married (female) partner in London." I don't know whether the partner is married to his niece or to somebody else. He says they're not challenged by "anti-gay hysteria," and that America is slowly growing up to recognize and honor gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender people. Which brings up a question: when is this country going to fall to its knees and repent of its anti-morality hysteria?

"A kiss is just a kiss." The Dallas Morning News; October 6, 2011; p. 12A.

What fools these mortals be!

Jabraylon Bables had a short and troubled life and endured a death that is heartbreaking to contemplate. Jabraylon was 16 months old when his mother's boyfriend, convicted felon Carlnelus Delaney Simmons, dropped him into a pot of boiling water. Jabraylon's father, Byron Bables, is also a convicted felon.

This was not Carlnelus's first murder. He killed a man in 1994 during a fight outside a South Dallas bar. He was sentenced to 15 years, and was released in 2007. In 2009, he was charged with dealing PCP from his apartment. Jabraylon's mother (and I use the term loosely) knew Simmons was a convicted murderer and a drug dealer, but she left her sons with him anyway. "That was way before he knew me," she says. "He treated Jabraylon like he was his," she claims. If that's how he treats his own children, I do hope their mother has better sense than Jabraylon's does!

Jabraylon's mother makes the case for forced sterilization. Even when confronted with the evidence and with her critically injured child, Jabraylon's mother said Simmons was a "good person." Lord, what fools these mortals be!

"Toddler dies 5 weeks after being scalded." The Dallas Morning News; December 14, 2010; p. 1B.

Why You Don't Have a Job?

The nutcases protesting on Wall Street have no clue what they're protesting. A reporter the other day asked one young man, "What are you doing here?" He adamantly replied, "We're here to see capitalism replaced by a more just and equitable economic system!" "What would you replace capitalism with?" asked the reporter. The response was a total deer in the headlights look. The young man glanced to his right and his left for an answer from his fellow seekers of economic justice. They were all looking to someone else for the answer, too.

A laid-off truck driver from Kansas City, Steven Harris, was camped out by the Federal Reserve Building there. When asked why he was there, he said, "I've felt this way for a long time. I've really just kind of been waiting for a movement to come along that I thought would last and have some resonation (sic) within the community." He's just "been waiting" for a movement? He's unemployed, presumably with plenty of time on his hands -- if he felt that strongly, why didn't he start one? Maybe we've hit on why he doesn't have a job -- he's just "been waiting."

"Wall Street protests spread." The Dallas Morning News; October 4, 2011; p. 7A.

The Wrong Solution

Diane Harper says after many years of uncertainty, she now opposes the death penalty on economic grounds. The example she provides is Randy Steven Kraft.

Kraft was apprehended in California in 1983 with a dead Marine in his car and a coded list that indicated he had killed at least 66 other men. Remains of many of those have been found. He was convicted in at least some of those murders and sentenced to death.

He still sits on death row, appealing his convictions. Harper says it cost the taxpayers over $2 million for his original trial. All his appeals over the years have compounded that amount. Her solution is to abolish the death penalty and sentence him to life without the possibility of parole, thereby saving the taxpayer the money expended on appeals. According to her theory, then, we should never have tried him in the first place, because it cost too much.

I have a better solution. There is no doubt the man is guilty -- rarely is the murderer caught with the body in his car and with a document listing his other victims. Let's limit appeals to evidence which logically contradicts the verdict. Get rid of all the nit-picking technicality appeals. Carry through the execution swiftly. Dead men cost the taxpayers nothing.

"Crime cases persuaded me." The Dallas Morning News; December 15, 2010; p. 20A.

Ethical?

Would you sell one of your children, knowing that you would probably never see him or know what happened to him or know anything about the family he lives with? How about three or four of your children? How about a dozen? How about 150?

That's the ethical question of the day. As children of sperm donors try to find out about their pasts, they are discovering they have dozens of half brothers and sisters. Those who conceive by anonymous donors have only a father's code number to give to their children . Many of these children have reached adulthood and have a natural curiosity about where they came from. In their searches, they are encountering many other people with the same code numbers. In one case, 150 children have this family connection. There may be many others -- when a woman has conceived through donor sperm, she doesn't have to report it. In fact, it's estimated that only 20% to 40% volunteer the information.

Which raises all sorts of other questions. What if two of these children, not realizing they are brother and sister, meet and fall in love? It's not beyond the realm of possibility -- many children of the same donor live in the same general area. What if the sperm donor has some sort of quirky or defective gene that has been passed along to all these children? Will we see strange epidemics begin to crop up?

One donor says that it is "unfair and reprehensible" that labs are allowed to use sperm from a single donor so freely. I don't know that I find it any more reprehensible than selling one's potential children to the lab in the first place.

"From one sperm donor, 150 children." The Dallas Morning News; October 2, 2011; p. 7A.

Is there a link?

"Don't ask, don't tell" is history, and gays can serve openly in the military. We've trained all the military personnel to be sensitive. And now the Defense Department has issued a new rule: military chaplains are "allowed" to officiate same-sex marriages. I don't expect it to be long before that ruling is changed to military chaplains "must" officiate same-sex marriages. Remember -- all they want is tolerance.

Interestingly, the page opposite the one carrying this article had the headline: "Americans' income dips for first time since '09." Coincidence? I think not. I don't understand why our officials are so blind that they don't see that our country started its downhill slide when we started catering to perversion.

"Same-sex weddings approved." The Dallas Morning News; October 1, 2011; p. 8A.

I don't fear being deported.

A group of Dallas ISD parents are upset and complaining. The charge is that their children are being mistreated at Ebby Halliday Elementary School, a predominately hispanic school. Whether or not their allegations have any merit, I don't know. But one thing did catch my eye.

Debbie Martinez is a parent and the spokeswoman for the group. She says that many of the parents have not spoken out before because they fear deportation. Hmmm -- if you're in this country legally, why would you fear deportation? If you're in this country illegally, and you don't like the education your children are receiving for free, then why don't you go back to where you came from?

"Parents at elementary allege kids mistreated." The Dallas Morning News; September 30, 2011; p. 1B.

An absurd tradition bites the dust.

Death row inmates are probably not real happy with Lawrence Brewer. Lawrence is the heartless, demented, idiot who dragged a man to death in Jasper, Texas. For the last meal before his execution, Lawrence ordered:

• 2 chicken fried steaks with gravy and onions
• a triple meat bacon cheeseburger with sides
• a cheese omelet
• a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup
• a pound of barbecue with a half a loaf of bread
• 3 fajitas with fixings
• a meat lovers pizza
• 3 root beers
• a pint of vanilla ice cream
• peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts

That's enough to feed a dozen or more people. But the last meal request is a tradition, so even though he couldn't possibly have eaten even half that stuff, the taxpayers bought it for him.

For once, I agree with a Democrat. When Senator John Whitmire found out about the menu, he said, "Enough is enough. . . I have always questioned why you would take the worst criminal we have and cater to him or her. Brewer commits the most heinous crime you can imagine, and you let him choose not one, but multiple things. It's just nuts." He informed the TDCJ in no uncertain terms that they could voluntarily end the practice, or he would see that legislation was passed to do so.

So when Lawrence Brewer deservedly bit the dust, so did this ridiculous tradition.

"Murder's over-the-top order ends tradition of last meal." The Dallas Morning News; September 23, 2011; p. 1A.

WIST

I'm joining the texting language bandwagon. I'm adding to LOL, and ROFL, BTW, CU LTR, and all the others. My contribution is WIST -- wish I'd said that.

WIST: "As a conservative, I would gladly be more compassionate in giving to others if they used my tax dollars as a safety net rather than a hammock." -- Allen Barseth, Plano TX

IWY -- I'm with ya, Allen!

Paris News funny for the day: In a photo caption, Driekavious Furtch "kicks away while repelling down a climbing wall." I don't know about you, but I am repelled by proofreaders who don't know the difference in "repelling" and "rappelling."

The Streets of San Francisco

Did you know that it is legal to wander around the streets of San Francisco in your birthday suit? They had a naked rally there last month. A few dozen men walked around the neighborhood with no clothes. Some of them held signs that read, "Get your hate off my body." How stupid can one be? Had I been there, I'd have held up my own sign: "When you get your ugly body out of my sight." The rally was the lead-in event to the annual Folsom Street Fair, the world's largest leather and fetish event -- a really fun place to take the family!

A City Supervisor has proposed legislation that would require clothing in restaurants. It would also require those who choose to wear no clothes to carry a towel to place between their bare bottoms and any public seats. I kid you not, the Supervisor's name is Scott Wiener.

Heather Flynn was heading to a nearby theater to see The Little Mermaid when she stumbled upon all the naked men. She was accompanied by her 7-year-old daughter.

This is a good example of what happens when you let gays control things. And they call Las Vegas Sin City!

"Nudists take their cause to the streets." The Dallas Morning News; September 25, 2011; p. 2A.

We haven't worked in 2 years -- let's have a baby!

I wrote a few days ago about being "poor" in America. Here's a "poor" family -- and until they smarten up, I see little chance that their financial situation will improve.

Kris and Jim Fallon live in Palatine, Illinois. Neither has had a job in over two years. They've lost their house and their car. Kris cries and says, "It's like there is no way out." Oh -- did I mention they have a 4-month old baby? As long as they keep making stupid decisions like that, she's right -- there is no way out!

Incidentally, the article doesn't say, but who do you suppose paid for birthing that baby?

"Faces of poverty." The Dallas Morning News; September 19, 2011; p. 15A.

If you get a dinner invitation from Anastacia . . . BEWARE!

Anastacia Marx de Salcedo is a food writer. When I read this essay, I couldn't believe my eyes! I question what makes this woman think she can intelligently write about food.

Anastacia says she was making a large pot of  shrimp gumbo to serve for a friend's going-away party. After she added 5 pounds of kielbasa to her 10 quarts of bubbling chicken stock, she noticed a "gray, bubbly and slightly fetid" layer of scum. But she was busy, so she just kept on about her chores. When she was ready to add the shrimp, she says she did "what any desperate hostess would do under the circumstances." She ladled off the stinky scum, added the shrimp, and served the toxic mess to her guests while she, herself, did not partake of the "completely putrid" concoction. She's just lucky none of those guests ended up going away permanently!

She says she noticed that most of the guests left their gumbo half-eaten or untouched. Gosh! I wonder why!

I guess I've just never been that desperate, and I certainly hope none of my friends have been. I'd have run down to the deli and had them put me together a sandwich tray and a fruit and veggie tray, bought a cake at the bakery, and apologized to my guests that my planned meal had gone awry.  I would think this story was completely made up, but I know someone who was invited to a friend's house for supper one day. As the hostess served them the roast, they noticed she wasn't having any. When they asked her why she wasn't eating, she said something to the effect that, "Oh, I think that meat is spoiled."

The moral of this story: If the hostess isn't eating it, I'm not, either!

"I served putrid gumbo, and no one got sick." The Dallas Morning News; August 21, 2011; p. 4P.

I plead the Fifth.

I see where Solyndra executives asserted their Fifth Amendment rights at the Congressional hearing on the possible shenanigans between them and the Obama Administration. Isn't pleading the Fifth just another way of saying, "I'm guilty as sin, but under the law, I don't have to tell you I am"?

Here's a prediction -- the trail will lead to the White House, and we'll being hearing the Fifth Amendment a lot.

And on another note -- more than $700 million went to another green power company this past week. One of the big guys in that company is Ronald Pelosi. That name ring any bells? He's the brother-in-law of Nancy Pelosi.

"Solyndar execs to take Fifth in probe of loan." The Dallas Morning News; September 21, 2011; p. 6A.