What a smart 4-and-5/6-year-old!

I had never heard of Michelle Williams, but evidently she's some sort of celebrity. She was quoted in the "People" column of the newspaper this week.

She's speaking of her little daughter when she says, "When she was four, she would say 'I am four and half,' 'I am four and five-sixths,' 'four and seven-eighths,' because all the increments mattered."

Either Michelle has a math prodigy on her hands, or she's stretching the truth a mite. How many four-year-olds do you know who understand the concept of fractions? Most of them just hold up four fingers when you ask how old they are. The only understanding they have of time is that Christmas and birthdays are always a long way off. If this child is saying, "I'm four and seven-eighths," I'll wager it's because mom told her to say it, and the child has no clue what she's talking about.

"People." The Dallas Morning News; December 31, 2010; p. 3E.

New Year's Resolutions

I hope the first New Year's Resolution of our new Congress is to beef up border security. I hope the second is to quit worrying about being politically correct when it comes to criminals -- those illegal aliens who flaunt our laws and take advantage of the hard-working, tax-paying, English-speaking citizens of this country.

I'm sick of the news media trying to make us feel sorry for illegals. Take, for example, Felipa Leonor Valencia. Felipa was involved in an automobile accident in Georgia. She was not at fault for the accident. She is, however, illegal and has no drivers license. The New York Times feels so sorry for her: "The crash led Valencia. . .to 12 days in detention and the start of deportation proceedings -- after 17 years of living in Georgia."

My reaction? Well it took long enough to catch her! She's been living here and driving around illegally for 17 years!

Proponents of laws allowing illegals to get drivers licenses say that it only makes sense -- they will have to demonstrate that they are capable of driving safely and get insurance then. Are we nuts? That's like saying, "Let's give the bank robber the combination to the safe. That way, no one will be injured because he won't have to use dynamite to blast the thing open."

Lord, give us some people with a little common sense in 2011!

"Risking more than a ticket." The Dallas Morning News; December 10, 2010; p. 6A.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Essie is going on Christmas vacation for a couple of weeks and will keep her opinions to herself during that time. But she'll be back January 1 ready for a healthy, happy, prosperous (and opinionated) 2011.

In the meantime, God's blessings on each of you for this Christmas season and may the new year bring you your heart's fondest desires.

How many chances?

Jose Ramos and Mark Soliz shot a delivery truck driver in Ft. Worth, critically wounding him. Then, they tried to rob a Lowe's employee at Lake Worth. They shot at him, too. They then went to Godley, Texas, where they robbed and killed a 61-year-old woman in her own kitchen. Jose Ramos has 18 previous charges and is wanted in Travis County for parole violation. Soliz has at least 12 previous charges. Veronica Garcia is disgusted. Ramos and Soliz shot up her house the week before they were arrested. "It's ridiculous," she said. "After 10 charges, you'd think they'd keep them locked up." Wonder how many other chances they'll get?


Billy Twayne Gibson is a registered sex offender. His criminal history includes aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault of a child, aggravated robbery, unlawful carrying of a weapon, and compelling prostitution by force or threat. He was deemed a sexually violent predator by the courts. For some unknown reason, our system of pardons and paroles let this man out of prison and put him in a halfway house. He cut off his tracking device and disappeared. The police considered him armed and dangerous. He was captured in Florida on September 3. How many more chances should he get?

Lonnie Franklin, Jr. is charged with 10 murders. He has been dubbed the Los Angeles "Grim Sleeper." Turns out he's been arrested at least 15 times in the last 40 years. I thought in California, it was supposed to be three strikes and you're out. He's been convicted of burglary, car theft, firearms possession, and assault. His probation officer urged he receive a maximum sentence, but the judge ignored the advice. At least one of his murder victims was killed right after Franklin was released early from jail because of overcrowding. How many more chances should he get?

Bobby Joe Stovall finally ran out of chances -- maybe. He was sentenced to life in prison for his 9th DWI conviction. But we all know that a life sentence means he'll probably be out by the time the ink is dry on the judge's signature. Stovall also has convictions for burglary, credit card abuse, possession of a controlled substance, theft, and making alcohol available to a minor.

A University Park man was caught recently videotaping a 9-year-old boy playing a saxophone. In 1980, he pleaded guilty to two child sex abuse cases. He was sentenced to seven years' probation in one and two years in prison in the other. He violated probation and was given a five-year prison sentence in 1983 over an assault on a 14-year-old boy who was attending a swim meet at SMU. In 2006, police filed a child sexual assault charge after they were contacted by a person who said the man had assaulted him 10 years earlier. That case resulted in a hung jury, because the victim was a high school student at the time, and some of the jurors were not sure how old he was when the assault occurred. He has no charges filed against him in the videotaping of the 9-year-old. According to police, that is not a crime. How many more chances should he get?

"Police identify men accused in crime spree." The Dallas Morning News; July 4, 2010; p. 9B.
"Murder suspect evaded notice." The Dallas Morning News; July , 2010; p. 10A.
"Man gets life sentence for 9th DWI conviction." The Dallas Morning News; August 12, 2010; p. 3A.
"Man with video has long record." The Dallas Morning News; December 3, 2010; p. 1B.

Let's get the terms right.

In a special session of the Senate December 4, Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said that the Republicans were intent on giving billions of dollars to the rich. She was talking about their opposition to the Obama tax increases.

Let's get this straight, Claire. What the Republicans are intent on is letting those people keep the money they've earned. They don't intend to give them a single dime.

Similarly, there was a photo in the paper of a rally outside the offices of Senator Chuck Schumer. One uninformed class-envious nut held up a sign that said, "Our holiday wish: No millionaire bailout." OK, clueless, let's get this straight. We are not talking about bailing out millionaires. We are talking about resisting the urge to confiscate the money they've earned in order to give it to those who haven't earned it.

Now let's get one other thing straight -- we are not talking about tax cuts here. No one is going to pay less in taxes next year. We are talking about not increasing taxes. That's two different things. If you don't think it is, then you can let them not increase your taxes, and I'll take a tax cut. That should make us both happy.

"Broad tax cut deal is sought." The Dallas Morning News; December 3, 2010; p. 1A.

How's that Obamacare working for ya?

According to Merritt Hawkins, a health care research group, 16% of doctors in a national survey of 2,400 said they plan to go to a cash-only practice within the next three years. Yeah, I can see how health care is becoming more affordable under Obamacare.

"Blue Cross-Texas Health spat may raise patient costs." The Dallas Morning News; December 3, 2010; p. 1A.

Is Andrew for real?

Andrew Goldsmith wrote a letter to the editor. He invites us to "picture a school that is half-empty. . .a school district laying of employees . . .school districts that stop placing orders with vendors . . ." He says that's what will happen if we ship out all the illegals. "We can only hope that these hard-working, tax-paying immigrants don't take the rhetoric of fanatics seriously and leave the state. . ."

Well, Andrew, let's picture hospital emergency rooms that are not so crowded with Spanish speaking illegals that American citizens can't get the care they need. Let's picture Texas school districts saving the estimated at least $1 billion it takes to educate a bunch of illegal kids whose parents return nothing in taxes. Let's picture highways where drunk Mexicans aren't killing our citizens. Let's picture the jobs that will be open to citizens when there aren't illegals getting paid under the table. In case you weren't aware of it, Andrew, illegals pay no taxes, but they do draw benefits. They are a drain, not an asset.

"Picture the impact." The Dallas Morning News; November 26, 2010; p. 24A.