False Premises

You certainly have to watch people with an agenda. They'll throw out a false premise to make a point and trust that you will just accept what they say as gospel truth.

Here's an example of what I mean:

"The assumption that straight people are better than gay people is incorrect." ~ Zach Wahls, the 21-year-old son of two mommies.

I'd like Zach to point out anyone who has based his beliefs on homosexuality on the assumption that straight people are better than gay people. I don't think he can do it. What Zach has done is substitute "better than" for right and wrong.

This is the same tactic Democrats use when they say that Republicans don't want poor people to have health care. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that Republicans rightly agree that Obamacare isn't the solution for insuring that poor people have healthcare -- that Obamacare will, on the contrary, eliminate jobs for poor people and cost them more than they can pay; but all those poor gullible liberals accept the false premise without question and will swear up and down that Republicans are heartless.

Here's another quote: "Much is rightly made about the Republican War on Women. But the Republicans are fighting a more deliberate battle against the poor. It is audacious, insensitive and ugly. Republicans have clearly decided that the War on the Poor is good politics." ~Jeff Madrick, Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow.

Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?

So the next time something is thrown out there as a fact to bolster a liberal agenda, examine it with a critical eye. Chances are, it's not a fact at all, and we should hold the feet of these purveyors of untruth to the fire by making them back up what they say!

"Fallout spreads for Scouts." The Dallas Morning News; September 30, 2012; p. 1A.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-madrick/republicans-poverty_b_1837962.html

I'm offended, too, Jonathan.

Jonathan Capehart recently went to his aunt's funeral. He wrote a column telling how offended he was at the pastor's funeral sermon. I'm offended, too, Jonathan, but I hardly know where to start. So I think I'll just take your offensive comments starting at the beginning.

Jonathan says, "I took a stand against religion-based anti-gay bigotry while sitting in the front pew for my aunt's funeral in North Carolina recently." I find it offensive, Jonathan, that you call God a bigot because He says your lifestyle is an abomination. Perhaps it is you, Jonathan, who is the bigot. Where is your toleration for people who have different spiritual views than you?

Jonathan says, ". . . the guest eulogy gave way to a harsh sermon about who can and cannot get into the kingdom of heaven." Unfortunately, some people find the truth offensive and harsh, Jonathan, and I guess you just might be one of them. Generally, these people find the truth especially offensive and harsh when the shoe fits their own feet.

Jonathan says, "Now, I can't speak for the whores, drunkards, adulterers and thieves who might have been present, but this openly gay man was enraged." You know what enrages me, Jonathan? That whores, drunkards, adulterers, and thieves usually have no problem owning up to the fact that what they are doing is wrong, and they usually exhibit some shame for their behavior instead of having pride parades while queers insist they are doing nothing wrong and flaunt their behavior in our faces and call us bigots for speaking the truth.

I am condensing and paraphrasing Jonathan's next paragraph because of its wordiness. What it says is that the pastor implored those who had not found redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ to do so. He gave his own testimony and said that if God could save a sinner as awful as he was, then He certainly could change any of them caught in the same cycle of sin. Jonathan took this to mean that somebody had put a bug in the pastor's ear about his perversion, and the pastor was speaking directly to him. Leave it to a queer to think that his aunt's funeral is all about him and not the deceased. No, Jonathan, most likely the pastor wasn't even aware of you -- this may hurt your feelings, but I daresay most people have never even heard of you. What you were experiencing is called consciousness of guilt.

Jonathan says that the preacher is terribly misguided when he says that homosexuality is wrong -- it is a God-given trait, says Jonathan. So, Jonathan, can you give us the scripture reference for God giving out that trait? I can give you the ones that say the preacher is right, but I'm quite sure you can't reciprocate. Is pedophilia a God-given trait? How about a proclivity for having sex with one's own mother? I find it offensive, Jonathan, that you think you know more than the Creator.

Jonathan says we shouldn't put up with scripture when it is employed to "strip the humanity of gay men and lesbians. So the pastor's every word was an affront to who I am." I don't think you understand the Bible at all, Jonathan. The scripture doesn't strip the sinner of his humanity -- it tells him how all too human sin really is. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" the prophet wrote. I guess Jonathan picks and chooses which parts of the Bible he will put up with and which parts he won't. Extremely convenient, isn't it? Sorry, Jonathan, but if the scripture is an affront to you, guess who's on the guilty side.

Jonathan says he had vowed not to shake the pastor's hand, but being the gracious man that he is, he did shake his hand and "use the opportunity to make my displeasure known." "Your sermon was offensive to me. I need you to know that," Jonathan told the pastor. That sounds similar to what the mob said to Jesus as they nailed Him to the cross. To be blunt, Jonathan, your crass behavior is offensive to me, and I need you to know that.

Jonathan is very proud of himself. Jonathan says he is not an especially religious person (no kidding!). But no one, he says, is going to say that he and other queers are less-than in the eyes of God and not hear about it from him! You know what, Jonathan? God finds that offensive, and He needs you to know that.

"Pastor's anti-gay sermon demanded response." The Dallas Morning News; August 21, 2013; p. 19A.

From the WIST File

Marilyn Bodily of Rowlett comments on the thousands of people who stood in line to get free school supplies, haircuts, vaccinations, and other goodies at the Dallas mayor's Back to School Fair:

"We need to open our middle-class eyes and realize that too many of these families could afford these services on their own, but they get us gullible middle-class people to help them so they can use their money for other things they believe they are entitled to or want."

"Determine who's truly needy." The Dallas Morning News; August 21, 2013; p. 18A.

The more I see, the less I like.

I started out as a fan of Governor Chris Christie, but the more I see of him, the less I like him. I didn't like him playing nice-nice with Obama after Hurricane Sandy and acting like Obama was going to make everything OK again. I didn't like him lowering the state flags to half-staff to laud Whitney Houston - a woman who died of a drug overdose. What kind of example does that set for our children?

And I don't like his attitude about homosexuality. He just signed a law that bars licensed therapists from counseling gay teenagers that they can change. Christie says he believes that homosexuality is not a sin. I wonder when what Christie thinks began to supersede what the Bible says? I wonder when Christie got his therapist license? He obviously thinks he has more expertise than a licensed therapist since he's telling them what they can and cannot do in their practices.

Christie says, "Government should tread carefully into this area." I disagree. Government shouldn't tread into this area at all!

"Gay conversion therapy banned." The Dallas Morning News; August 20, 2013; p. 6A.

Talking Points?

I think the Democrats have sent out a talking points bulletin. I posted on August 13 about Elizabeth Walley's letter to the editor in support of Obamacare ("Liberals . . . Sheesh"). Here is an exact quote from Elizabeth's letter: "Why anyone would be against us having affordable health care is beyond me."

And lo and behold, I pick up the newspaper August 15, and there is a letter from Donna Schmidt supporting Obamacare: "Why anyone would want to deny someone this basic right is beyond my understanding."

Sounds very similar, doesn't it? Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

http://letterstotheeditorblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/pro-and-con-sen-ted-cruz-needs-to-keep-his-hands-off-of-obamacare-cruz-energizes-and-inspires-fractured-conservatives.html/

"ACA need hit home." The Dallas Morning News; August 15, 2013; p. 16A.

Kudos to Judge Holmes!

Ever wonder why we have a lot of crime committed by repeat offenders? There are several reasons ranging from lenient sentences to jail overcrowding rules to lax probation officers.

Kudos to District Judge Tracy Holmes. She is outraged that Dallas County probation has failed to report to her numerous probation violations, and she's calling them to task for it, ordering an audit of the department.

"This is a failure of supervision in the field. It's extremely dangerous for Dallas County," said Judge Holmes when problems began to come to her attention. Holmes' concern was aroused when she found 34 cases of probationers repeatedly drinking and/or using drugs without the probation department reporting to her. One of the most ridiculous cases involved Richard Lee Barrett. He was on probation for his 3rd DWI. Over 18 months, he saw at least eight different probation officers. He tested positive for alcohol more than 30 times (once registering .102 at 7 o'clock in the morning), but the officers never reported him. 

In fact, the evidence indicates that the officers never even read his file. If they had done so, they would have noted a letter from the judge to Barrett's doctor saying he was not allowed to take hydrocodone even with a prescription. When Barrett tested positive for hydrocodone, he told the officer he had a prescription, and the officer's supervisor said it was OK.

At any rate, Judge Holmes discovered all this information and handed out a maximum prison sentence to Barrett. "I cannot risk the lives of the citizens of Dallas County." Well said, Judge Holmes!

"Drug use, probation audit is ordered." The Dallas Morning News; August 15, 2013; p. 1A.

The Saddest Thing a Parent Will Ever Say

Lurlean Smith is the mother of murder victim Toya Smith and the grandmother of murder victim Tasmia Allen. Both were killed by Smith's ex-boyfriend, Erbie Bowser.

Despite the protestations of Erbie's friends that he was a gentle giant, Lurlean knew better. "He's an evil, deceitful person," she said. Then she said the saddest words a parent will ever utter: "If my daughter had listened to me, she'd be alive today."

"Victims' relative says suspect 'evil, deceitful.'" The Dallas Morning News; August 10, 2013; p. 1A.

We're going to the cats and the dogs.

This sounds like an urban myth, but it was reported in a reputable newspaper. Dogs are being trained to sniff out ovarian cancer. Using blood and tissue samples donated by patients, the University of Pennsylvania's Working Dog Center has started training three dogs to sniff out the signature compound that indicates the presence of ovarian cancer.

Wow! Now when we ladies go to the doctor, we can ask for DOG scans to go along with our CAT scans.

"Dogs learning how to detect ovarian cancer." The Dallas Morning News; August 10, 2013; p. 8A.

And you, too, Mr. Reid.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (he who says paying taxes is voluntary) said that he hoped those who opposed Obama were doing so "based on substance and not the fact that he's an African-American."

I can pretty well assure Mr. Reid that virtually no one opposes Obama because he's half black. It's his policies we find so odious. But I'd like to say that I do hope that Mr. Reid and his Democrat friends support Obama based on substance and not on the fact that he's an African-American.

"Reid's remarks about GOP, racism faulted." The Dallas Morning News; August 10, 2013; p. 6A.

From the WIST File

"With due respect, the secretary [of Health and Human Services] and our president are missing the point: It's not that Americans don't understand Obamacare, it's that we understand it all too well."

 ~Governor Rick Perry

And this is why only real men should serve in the military.

And now the truth comes out. Bradley Manning gave classified military information to Wikileaks because he was a homosexual and was beginning to identify as a woman instead of a man. That bit of information comes from his own defense witness. Captain Michael Worsley is a clinical psychiatrist who had sessions with Manning in Iraq. He and another "expert" say this condition contributed to Manning's endangering our national security.

And did Manning join the military out of a patriotic desire to serve his country or out of a desire to provide for his financial security? No, he joined the military because "I thought a career in the military would get rid of it [his homosexuality or gender identity crisis or whatever you want to call it]."

I have news for Manning -- our military is not there to cure perverted fruitcakes of their ills! And that's why we should have real men who know they're men protecting us.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/bradley-manning-apologizes-for-espionage-defense-cites-rough-childhood-gender-disorder/

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/bradley-manning-picture-woman-email-breanna-gender-identity
 

Where is the outrage?

I guess by now you've all heard about the hapless rodeo clown who had the temerity to make fun of Barack Obama in his rodeo act. I expect any day now to see the video of the secret service perp-walking him into the federal pen. Where may I ask, is the first Amendment?

And where is the outrage over the 1,890,000 Google hits on "George Bush parody"? Where are the calls for firings of those responsible for the 2,220,000 Google hits on "Mitt Romney parody"? And where are all the women's rights sisters calling for apologies for the 1,200,000 Google hits on "Sarah Palin parody"?

Seems awfully quiet out there.

"Fair bans clown over Obama stunt." The Dallas Morning News; August 13, 2013; p. 4A.

Delusional, nuts, or a monster? You decide.

Schandrila Schlesinger's disabled teenage daughter was taken to the emergency room in a very pitiful condition. The child has cerebral palsy. She is 15 years old. When she was admitted to the hospital, she weighed 49 pounds. She is on life support because Schandrila withheld her seizure meds, and according to the police report, the child was in a "persistent uncontrolled seizure . . . and prolonged unresponsiveness." Schandrila says that she has "never really been a fan of medication." That's interesting considering she's posted a profile on salesspider.com claiming to be a cartified (sic) pharmacy tech. I checked Texas professional licenses, and she's not "cartified" in Texas for any kind of profession.

Despite her daughter's awful state, Schandrilla says, "I know I've done everything that I knew to do, and it seemed to be working." Yes, working so well they had to put the poor child on life support!

So is this woman delusional? Is she nuts? Or was she trying to kill her daughter through neglect? I really don't know, but it's obvious that whichever one it is, she should never regain custody of the three younger children CPS took when they discovered the teenager.

And the capper to all this is that we're paying the grandmother to provide in home care for this child (or at least that was the case a couple of years ago). Where was she in all this?

"Starved, disabled girl's mother regrets condition, not action." The Dallas Morning News; August 14, 2013; p. 1B.

http://www.dfwchild.com/Thrive/features/146/Shelter-From-the-Norm

The Case Against Altering the Records

I don't like deferred adjudication or any other program that allows a person's criminal record to be expunged. There should be very few reasons for cleansing a person's record -- the main one being that evidence surfaces that exonerates him of the crime for which he was convicted.

The case in point is Erbie Lee Bowser. Bowser is the fruitcake who went on a killing spree last week, killing his ex-girlfriend and her daughter and his ex-wife and her daughter. This man was a special education teacher and coach in a public school! Even after he threw a grenade into his ex-wife's house, his friends and co-workers talked about what a "gentle giant" and what a great, friendly, loving man he was.

But Bowser had a criminal past. It was domestic violence crimes, but it's hard to find out just how criminal, because his record was erased through a program for convicted veterans -- a program he lied to get into. The program is supposed to be limited to those whose crimes are related in some way to the veteran's exposure to combat conditions. Despite his claims that he served in Desert Shield and Somalia and had a Purple Heart, the closest Bowser ever got to combat was a Hawaiian beach. Don't they check these things? Evidently not.

If his record still existed, would it have saved the lives of those four people he murdered? Maybe not, but it should have insured that our public school children were not exposed to a violent man. Then again, the public schools don't have such a hot record of thorough background checks, either.

"'Gentle giant' held in slayings of 4." The Dallas Morning News; August 9, 2013; p. 1a.

We don't protect them at our house . . . we squash 'em!

Have you ever heard of the Braken Bat Cave meshweaver spider? Well, he cost you some money -- about $15 million.

A $15 million highway construction project was begun in San Antonio in the spring of 2012. About six months and $2 1/2 million into the project, someone discovered that the project ran through the spider habitat. So the project was scrapped.

Not only was taxpayer money wasted, but the aborted project contributed to the bankruptcy of Ballenger Construction which held the contract. One can only assume that this chain of events filtered down to Ballenger's creditors' creditors who in turn had to make up their shortfall somewhere. It's impossible to know how many Texans suffered adversity because of what most of us consider to be a pest.

The newspaper headline on this article was also interesting -- "Rare spider forces scrapping of San Antonio highway work." No, the rare spider didn't force anything. Some environmentalist wacko did the forcing at our expense.

Endangered species or not -- if Mr. Meshweaver decides to take up abode in my house, he won't be protected. We squash 'em around here!

"Rare spider forces scrapping of San Antonio highway work." The Dallas Morning News; October 3, 2012; p. 4A.

Remember when?

Remember when we had to bail out all the banks and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they had been "encouraged" by the government to make mortgage loans to less-than-creditworthy individuals?

Guess what? Obama wants to do it all over again. He wants to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a system that would put the private sector at risk for loans while at the same time getting a guarantee that the system "would still ensure wide homeowner access to popular 30-year mortgages at fixed rates." That means lend to anybody who walks in the door. And here's the catch to the making the private sector the risk-taker part: "The government would still be involved, both in oversight and as a last-resort loan guarantor." That means that once again, in a few years, you and I will be footing the bill for people to live in houses they can't afford.

The headline says that Obama calls for lending changes, but it sounds like more of the same old failed policies to me.

Disgusting, isn't it?

"Obama calls for lending changes." The Dallas Morning News; August 7, 2013; p. 1D.

Liberals . . . Sheesh!

Elizabeth Walley of Mesquite has made Essie's blog before (See "I'm appalled, too" from June 6). And it's a safe bet she probably will again.

This time she wants to know why anyone would be against us having affordable health care (Obamacare). Well, Elizabeth, I don't know that anyone is against affordable healthcare, but Obamacare is something altogether different. The better question is why should I pay for your healthcare? You seem to be doing OK -- you donated more than $8000 to the Obama campaign and hosted an inauguration party. Eight thousand pre-Obamacare dollars would buy you some pretty decent insurance.

Then Elizabeth tells us that individual rates are lower than expected for states that have received bids for their exchanges. Well, not exactly. The Forbes website reports:

"Last month, progressive pundits were trumpeting news out of California that the cost of health insurance under Obamacare in that state was surprisingly low. It turns out, however, that [the reports were] uncritically regurgitating California’s misleading press release. In fact, the average 25 and 40-year-old will pay double under Obamacare what they would need to pay today, based on rates posted at eHealthInsurance.com. More specifically, for the typical 25-year-old non-smoker, the average Obamacare 'bronze' exchange plan in California will cost between 64 and 117 percent more than the cheapest five plans on eHealth. For 40-year-old non-smokers, it’s between 73 and 146 percent more."

Elizabeth says that millions of currently uninsured Texans will be eligible for tax-credit supported health insurance, and she can't wait to see the rates. Yeah -- and I can't wait to see how much my tax rates and my premiums will go up to pay for these insurance tax credits for people who aren't taking care of their own business.
 Elizabeth says of herself, "I'm a passionate Obama supporter, a neighborhood organizer for OFA in my part of town. I'm a Democratic precinct chair, active member of my Democratic club (DACED) and a member of the Dallas League of Women Voters. Besides making sure President Obama is re-elected [she posted this before the election] and gets a good congress to support him in his next term, I am working actively to promote voter registration and education, the lack of which is at the root of our problems today, I'm convinced."

So, that tells you what we need to know about Elizabeth's biases -- all Hail, King Barack!

"ACA offers hope to many." The Dallas Morning News; August 7, 2013; p. 20A.

Is it any wonder the youth of today are immoral?

Who is really at fault in this scenario?

A 16-year-old girl hears screams coming from her mother's bedroom. She calls for help from a couple of friends, and they go into the bedroom and beat the stuffing out of a man.

Turns out that the man who was beaten was mom's boyfriend (9 years her junior), and they were just having loud sex. So the daughter and the friends are charged with assault and conspiracy. Evidently, this wasn't the first time the couple shamelessly exposed this teenager to their decadence.

The boyfriend said, "Once in a while, things would get loud, and her daughter had expressed her disliking of it." Did mom take up for her daughter? Not quite -- "Now they have to learn a lesson," she said. Nominate that woman for mother of the year!

By the way -- since the girl's name was not used in the article, I couldn't find out what has happened to her since. I did find some information on one of her co-conspirators, and he is certainly no angel. This was not the first person he had beaten. But the point remains that if the mother possessed even a speck of moral decency, the beating would never have happened in the first place.

"Boyfriend beat up after sex screams misinterpreted." The Dallas Morning News; July 3, 2009; p. 9A.

It's Essie Time!

Sometimes, you just have to wonder. Apryl Brown, old enough to know better, didn't like her flat rear. When she was a child, people called her "Pancake Butt." So when a lady wandered into Apryl's beauty salon and told her she could give her some injections to round out her heinie, Apryl deemed it "divine intervention" and jumped at the chance.

She went to the lady's house where the procedure was performed. A week or so after the injections, Apryl's newly rounded pancake became hard and very painful. Apryl "eventually" went to a doctor. The doctor removed the injection material -- construction silicone purchased at the local home depot type store. Then Apryl developed a staph infection and ended up losing both her hands and feet to amputation.

Apryl, having earned this Essie Award, now knows the difference between divine intervention and incredible stupidity.

"Women disfigured, killed by injections." The Dallas Morning News; August 6, 2013; p. 8A.

Sad story, but does the media have it right?

This is a very sad story. Little Logan Stevenson had leukemia. He was just two-years old. He died this week. He was featured in a news story last Sunday.

According to the media, Logan's mother and father knew his time was very limited, so they married early (ahead of their July 2014 date) so that he could be included in the wedding pictures. Their wedding was last Saturday. I say Logan's mother and father married late rather than early.

Remember the old ditty -- "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage"? Too bad it's become -- "First comes sex, then comes living together, then comes baby, then if we think it will work, we might make a commitment, but it's complicated so we might just give up and start the whole process over again." Sorry it's not as catchy as the simple "First comes love  . . ." but I don't have time to sit here and make all that complication rhyme.

"For couple, dying boy is best of men." The Dallas Morning News; August 4, 2013; p. 4A.

Media Bias?

The Dallas Morning News front page headline blares: "Cruz made $1M while running for Senate in 2012." Just reading that, do you think there's a scandal involved? I did. My heart sank, because I voted for Cruz and I think he's someone we desperately need in office. I was so disappointed.

But then I saw the tiny sub-head which reads: "No rules broken by top-flight appellate attorney."

Cruz is a well-known attorney. It's probably not unusual for a Harvard Law School graduate to make a million in a year. The News had to grudgingly admit he didn't violate the law or any ethics rules, so why is this a story?

I'm now watching for the story on how much Wendy Davis makes in her practice . . . but I'm not holding my breath.

"Cruz made $1M while running for Senate in 2012." The Dallas Morning News; August 5, 2013; p. 1A.

The Second Amendment works!

A lady who works at a bank in Columbus, Texas, was abducted along with her husband last week. The robbers made her take money from the First National Bank, then they forced her and her husband into their pickup and made them start driving.

The husband had a surprise for the robbers. He had a gun in the truck. And he used it. He killed one of them, and the other is in critical condition. I suspect that if the husband hadn't availed himself of his Second Amendment rights, the news report would have been "Bank Employee and Husband Found Slain."

"Man fires back after robbers take him, wife." The Dallas Morning News; August 4, 2013; p. 3A.

Exhibitionists?

Let me just get this out of the way first:

1) I am not a prude.
2) A mother breastfeeding her baby is a perfectly natural thing to do -- God made us that way.

Now for the point of this post:

Have you heard about the "Big Latch On"? It was a synchronized breastfeeding event held by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action. Evidently, they got a bunch of lactating women to get together in very public places to have a big nurse-in. There was a photo in the paper of this woman at the Dallas City Hall event raising her hand to indicate to the organizers that her kid was "latched on." Hallie, the mother, sports big ornate tattoos across her shoulders and down her upper arms. I do hope she's not passing along hepatitis to her little boy. 

Breastfeeding in public doesn't offend me if the mother is discreet. I am, however, offended by women who flop out the boob in front of God and man right at the restaurant dinner table. I am also offended by the ones who make no attempt to cover up even when other people's children (or my husband and other men) are close by.

"But it's a natural function," these brassy women proclaim. Yes, it's a natural function, but so is eliminating our bodily wastes, and we don't do that in public.

And I am most certainly offended by a "synchronized," "let's all bare our chests together" event. That is not about feeding a hungry infant. That's about being an exhibitionist. If you want to do something synchronized, join a swim team.

"World Breastfeeding Week." The Dallas Morning News; August 3, 2013; p. 2B.

That's pretty good for "Ya' want fries with that?"

Fast food workers are demanding $15 an hour as a minimum wage. For a 40-hour work week, that translates to $31,000 a year. That's pretty good pay for knowing how to say, "Ya' want fries with that?"

I saw a photo of some of the protesters -- one held up a sign saying he was a new age slave. Give me a break! If you don't like the pay at fast food restaurants, get an education and go work somewhere else. "Give us a living wage" another sign said. Minimum wage jobs were never intended as career choices -- they're for teenagers, first jobs, and people who just want a little extra money. If you've been making minimum wage for more than three years, the problem is not your employer -- it's you! You're probably the one making my sandwich who isn't smart enough to comprehend "no cheese and no onions."

You may not do with your property what you choose to do!

There is a trailer park in downtown Dallas that's been there for many years. The owners of the park have decided to sell it. They notified their tenants last June that they needed to move out by August 31. The tenants shouted that wasn't fair, so the owners gave them until January 31 and offered each tenant up to $2000 in moving expenses.

"No fair!" the tenants shout as they protest with signs that proclaim "No!! Nos Vamos!" That's the Spanish equivalent of "Hell, no! We won't go!" "We want to be treated like decent human beings! That offer is insulting!" the tenants declare. I don't know about you, but way back there when I was a renter, I never had a landlord who gave me six months notice that I needed to move, much less gave me $2000 to do it.

The news says that the protesters had their toddler children with them. The children were understandably scared when the police arrived to make sure the demonstration didn't get out of hand. Sonia Brink, one of the maltreated tenants, said, "The kids ask me, 'Are we going to live in the streets?' It makes me sad; it makes me cry." Her children did not come up with that "live in the streets" quote by themselves.

So, Sonia, if I were you, I'd be looking for a new home instead of trying to tell someone else what he can and cannot do with his own property! Are you people so helpless and stupid that you don't know how to go about finding a place to live? Or are you just looking for a more lucrative handout?

"Trailer park residents protest at owner's offices." The Dallas Morning News; July 31, 2013; p. 8B.

Why am I paying to take care of your children?

Jennifer King is on the board of directors of Head Start of Greater Dallas. She is upset that the sequester has dug into its funding. She said it has permanently (I'm not sure why she thinks it's permanent) lost the ability to "serve 360 low-income children in Dallas County." She says this loss of high-quality early childhood education, provided at no cost to eligible families, means parents must find other care, perhaps of a lesser quality and certainly at a higher cost.

There's that lie again -- at no cost. If it's truly at no cost, then a drop in funding won't be an issue, because no funding is required for something that doesn't cost anything. Anyway, what's so bad about a parent taking responsibility for his own children? Why should I be paying to provide "high-quality" programs for someone who has children he can't afford to properly care for? Why shouldn't he be the one to bear the "higher cost"? And why is he entitled to high-quality programs in the first place if he can afford only lower-quality ones?

Gimme, gimme, gimme!

Who knew there were that many diseases?

What's Obamacare doing for you? Well, it may delay your medical billing so much that you'll die before you ever get a bill. Obamacare increases the number of medical billing codes from 17,000 to 150,000. It will take insurance clerks years to get through all those codes to generate a bill. Who knew there were that many diseases out there?

Am I denying you your religious freedom, or is it vice versa?

John Knutson of Dallas says that if the Catholic church refuses to pay for contraceptives for its employees on the basis of Catholic doctrine, it is guilty of denying those employees their religious freedom.

 

John is full of baloney. Let's look at it this way. Let's say I don't drink on religious grounds. I invite John out to dinner. I tell John that I'll be happy to pay for any non-alcoholic beverage, but I won't buy him an alcoholic one. If he would like a mixed drink of some sort or a beer or a shot of whisky, he certainly won't offend me if he buys one himself. John then turns to me and says, "If you don't buy me a beer, you are denying me my religious freedom!"

 

No, John, I am not denying you the freedom to drink whatever you want. But if you force me to buy you a beer, you are denying me my religious freedom! Think about it!

 

"Not all employees are Catholic." The Dallas Morning News; June 23, 2012; p. 18A.

A Very Convenient Selective Memory

Anthony Hill was recently sentenced to up to 45 years in prison for aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated robbery. Last March 18, Hill and an accomplice spotted a lady sitting in her car in Lake Highlands. They pointed a gun at her, took her purse, and forced her to lie down in the back of the car. They took her to several ATM's in an attempt to get more money from her. While driving around, they saw Ryan Lusk sitting in his car. Hill demanded money from him, then shot him. The bullet went through Lusk's kidney, his liver, and one of his lungs before it severed his spine.

In his defense, Hill says he was high on cocaine, PCP, and marijuana, and he doesn't remember much from that night. But, miracle of miracles, the one memory he does have is that the gun went off accidentally. Even if that were true, it doesn't get Ryan Lusk out of that wheelchair. I would suggest that Mr. Hill not be allowed out of prison until Ryan Lusk can walk again. And if Ryan Lusk dies without ever regaining his mobility, well, I guess Mr. Hill would just have to rot in his cell.

"Gunman gets 45 years in robbery." The Dallas Morning News; June 22, 2013; p. 1B.