Are they smart enough to vote?

Leonard Pitts says that state laws that require a photo ID to vote are all about race. Blacks "live in the margins." "You have no driver's license because you have nothing to drive." I don't know about that. It seems that even those who live in shacks with leaking roofs and tumbled down porches usually have an old Cadillac in the yard along with a satellite dish on the roof and a big screen TV in the parlor. Leonard says, "You have no passport because you've never been out of the country." There are lots of white people who've never been out of the country, either. According to Leonard, "You have no other photo ID because you have no bank account. You work and get paid under the table, a wad of cash sliding from hand to hand." So Leonard thinks people who cheat the IRS and Social Security should be allowed to vote?

But, for the sake of argument, let's agree with Leonard on all these issues. These people have no photo ID's. My contention is . . . black, white, red, or yellow . . . if they're too stupid to apply to the state government which will provide a photo ID at no cost, then they're too stupid to vote anyway.

"Of course voter IDs are about race." The Dallas Morning News; January 9, 2012; p. 11A.

Guard your children!

An unnamed coalition of health and education groups recently released new education guidelines for public schools.

According to the guidelines, by the end of 2nd grade, students should use the correct names for the male and female body parts. I assume this entails showing them illustrations of said body parts. If I had a second grade child, I wouldn't want anyone besides me or Mr. Essie May teaching him or her about the parts of the opposite gender. I think that's just a wee bit early for someone besides family to be talking to them about such sensitive subjects.

By the end of second grade, these so-called experts say, students should "know that sexual orientation is the romantic attraction of an individual to someone of the same gender or a different gender." Does that sound to you like they're trying to make homosexuality sound normal? It certainly does to me. We need to go back to the time when second graders had absolutely no concept of sex except for little boys thinking kissing girls is icky.


By the end of middle school, they should be able to "differentiate among gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation." I guess that means they should be able to pick out a homosexual or a transvestite in a crowd.

By the end of high school, students should be able to "evaluate the effectiveness of abstinence." Well, duh! It's 100% effective!

If you believe that these guidelines are a legitimate attempt to provide information and not an ideological brainwashing exercise, as someone I'm quite fond of likes to say, "I have a nice Italian fountain on the Plaza downtown that I'd like to sell you."

"Beyond the birds and the bees." The Dallas Morning News; January 10, 2012; p. 12A.

Interesting Point

Greg Glennon of Garland raised a very interesting point about Obama's inconsistencies. Remember how he stood behind the unions in Wisconsin when the governor and legislature there cut benefits? Now what does he want to do? He's cutting the same benefits for the military. As Mr. Glennon says, "Put your life on the line, and the president reduces your benefits. Join a union, own a large bank  or build a 'green' product, and taxpayer funds are readily available."

" . . .And don't expect outcry." The Dallas Morning News; January 10, 2012; p. 10A.

How's that Obamacare working for you?

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, consumers nationwide are bearing more and more of the cost of health care, with millions losing their insurance and those still insured paying higher premiums and spending more out of pocket.

Thank goodness for Obamacare!

"Growth in medical spending slows as consumers pay more." The Dallas Morning News; January 10, 2012; p. 1A.

What does Richard Cordray mean to you?

In another power grab, Obama appointed Richard Cordray as the director of his new consumer protection agency. The appointment was made while Congress was not in session (according to Obama), because Obama knew that approval of Congress for this man was not likely. The appointment was probably illegal, but that's an issue for another post.

So what does this mean to you? Under the guise of protecting the consumer, this agency will begin regulating mortgage servicers, student lenders and payday-loan companies. According to the newspaper, some areas of consumer finance will remain outside the bureau's reach, but the very next paragraph in the article belies that statement. ". . .the consumer protection bureau can supervise only non-bank companies it defines as 'larger participants' in their markets." Notice the italics. The bureau, itself, gets to decide who and what it will regulate. We are fast losing our freedoms in the name of "protecting the consumer." The consumer better learn to protect himself before it's too late!

"Appointment expands watchdog's oversight." The Dallas Morning News; January 5, 2012; p. 2A.

My Jakadrien Turner Theory

Jakadrien Turner is the teenager who told ICE she was an illegal alien even though she was born and raised in the U.S. She was deported. Why would she tell them that?

Essie's theory: She had met some Columbian boy, either in person or over the internet, and she wanted a free trip to Columbia.

Remember, you heard it here first.

Sidenote: Jakadrien's friends need to make sure they stay in school. They all met her at the airport when she returned to the states. The newspaper photo shows one of them holding up a sign: "So glad your home."

"Deported girl back home with family and questions." The Dallas Morning News; January 7, 2012; p. 1A.

Crazy or Just a Publicity Hound?

Bob Jag shot his wife in the face six times in 1988. He now resides in the Texas Department of Corrections. Bob has three step-daughters -- the children of the woman he killed. They now run a movie production outfit in California.

They recently came to Texas to "mediate" with Bob about the heinous crime he committed all those years ago. They wanted to do a documentary about the mediation process. Maybe I'm a little clueless, but just what is there to mediate with a man who murdered your mother? At any rate, the sisters say they have been "re-victimized" by the TDC because they will not allow them to film the mediation.

If their real motivation is some sort of reconciliation with this man, why is it so important to them to film it? In fact, I can see that filming it could inhibit the man to confess and beg their forgiveness. And if they're really talented film-makers, don't you think they could re-enact these scenes for their documentary? Other documentary makers do it all the time. 

Kelley Whitis, one of the sisters, says that she went in without any expectations, and she's glad she did, because no apology from Bob was forthcoming. However, she said, she began to feel empathy for him. Really? A man who shot her mother six times? She said, "I saw a lonely and scared 12-year-old. I saw a little boy who had been lied to and manipulated by women . . . since he was a child. Because of this, he assumed all women would lie and cheat. He reached his wits end with my mother. Because she wanted to leave him, he decided no woman would ever leave him again." I don't know about you, but I think that either this woman is a publicity hound, or she's missing a whole bunch of her marbles!


"Sisters confront their mother's killer." The Dallas Morning News; January 8, 2012; p. 7A.