Merry Christmas!

Essie's going on Christmas break.  I'll be back January 1, 2014.  May God's richest blessings be yours as we celebrate the birth of the Babe in Bethlehem, and may the new year hold health, happiness, and prosperity for you and yours.



Guess she just always looks that way.

The photographer who took the embarrassing photos of our President yukking it up and doing selfies with the attractive blond Danish Prime Minister at a memorial service insists that Michelle was not upset. Does that mean she just naturally looks like a shrew?

We just want to be tolerated.

Remember the homosexual mantra from several years ago . . . "we just want to be tolerated"? As Barney Fife used to say of the speeders around Maberry . . . "You give them 40 they'll do 45; you give them 45, they'll do 50; you give them 50, they'll do 55. . ."

Barney had a valid point. Now, we must not only tolerate the queer U.S. citizens, but, according to Sam Fuller of Dallas, we have a mandate to "ensure the basic safety of gay Iranian refugees."

Homosexuality is against the law in Iran. Other governments are turning away the perverts who are trying to flee on the basis that those people could just hide their sexual orientation. I don't see a problem with that, since they are the ones who keep carping on what goes on in their bedrooms is their business. Keep it in the bedroom, and who's the wiser?

But Sam says we need to treat them the same way other victims of human rights abuses are treated. Seems to me the U.S. is treating them that way. Maybe Sam doesn't know about Pastor Abedini. Saeed Abedini is an American citizen. He was arrested in Iran in 2012, tortured, charged with being a Christian, and imprisoned. And what has our President done to free Mr. Abedini? Nada, zilch, nothing. Even when our Secretary of State lowered our standards to negotiate with Iran, neither Mr. Abedini's release nor the release of at least two other Americans being held by this terrorist Islamist state was brought up.

But I can guarantee you, if the plight of queer Iranians is brought to the attention of Obama, we'll start pressing for their rights. Heck, we might even bring one of them over here for a selfie op with Obama.

"Iranian gays facing a crisis." The Dallas Morning News; December 13, 2013; p. 24A.

UNFAIR!

Rene Cantrell thinks the homeless shelter that's been allowing her to stay without charging her a dime is unfair.

Rene says that last September, she found herself homeless. I can't imagine that. Does one just wake up one day to find that the house is gone? Is there no clue that that possibility looms? Rene may say she lost her job -- did she not have an emergency fund stashed back? Rene may say that a natural disaster took her home -- did she not have insurance? At any rate, Rene "found herself" homeless.

She went to a homeless shelter and was given a place to sleep. The second day she was homeless, she got a part-time job. Good for you, Rene! Now comes the complaint. She says that a couple of weeks ago, she came back to the shelter to find that it was full, and they did not have a bed for her. The rules are first come, first served except for those with full-time employment.

She says that every time she walks out the door, there is the possibility that she will lose her spot. She thinks the shelter should "understand" and break the rules for her. The flip side of that, Rene, is that if they break the rules for you, that means some other woman loses a place to sleep. How would you feel if you were next in line, and someone who didn't qualify for a bed under the house rules was given the last bed? I think Rene has the common affliction of today -- an entitlement attitude.

Rene says she is "so thoroughly disgusted." So am I, Rene.

By the way, I have no way of knowing if it's the same Rene Cantrell, but there are a couple of arrest records for someone by that name. Seems as if that Rene has sticky fingers. Wonder if that could have anything to do with a person finding herself homeless.

"Work or stand in line?" The Dallas Morning News; November 23, 2013; p. 26A.

How many times do they have to be reminded?

Robert O'Neill of Denison is one of those who equates discrimination against queers with discrimination against race or gender.

Once again, Robert, race and gender are not sins. Sexual perversion is. They are not the same.

"Inequality by any other name." The Dallas Morning News; November 24, 2013; p. 2P.

Why would we let groups like Urban League and ACORN run Obamacare?

Kathleen Sebelius admitted to Senator John Cornyn that it was possible for convicted felons to be navigators for Obamacare. It's almost a sure thing that will happen when they select the navigators from scandal-ridden organizations like the Urban League and ACORN.

I can't imagine that anyone was surprised when earlier this month a video of navigators urging clients to lie was released. The receptionist in the video tells the cigarette-smoking client, "You lie because your premiums will be higher. I always lie on mine." The Urban League of Greater Dallas explains it away -- the fraud "represented her personal opinion, not that of our organization." It wasn't an opinion! It was advice given by a representative of their organization.

In another video, the navigator trainees tell the client not to list his income from odd jobs. The client has not reported the income on his tax return, so he's cheating the rest of us on two fronts -- no taxes and getting subsidies to which he is not entitled.

The Urban League says it will investigate the "full context" of what occurred. I don't see how you could put this in any context that would make it legitimate.

Tim McKinney, chief executive of United Way of Tarrant County, said, "It's unfortunate that the video pointed out some ill actions by other navigators." I guess so -- nobody likes to get caught with their hands in the cookie jar! But those of us who view it from the side of footing the bills for these frauds find the video to be most useful in rooting out this corruption -- and that is most fortunate!

"'Navigators,' in video, urge applicant to lie." The Dallas Morning News; November 13, 2013; p. 3A.

Let the bank robbers stay!

We’ve been bombarded with stories about the poor illegal immigrant families who will be split up without immigration reform. We’ve been told that these people just want a shot at the American dream, that they are good for our economy, that they are hard workers, and that we’re heartless and insensitive if we expect them to follow the laws of our land.

I feel very safe in saying that you won’t see those fighting for immigration reform holding up (no pun intended) Luis de la Garza as an example, even though they’ve done so many times before. In fact, Luis, himself, has been on the frontlines demanding fairness for those who don’t play fair themselves. Unfortunately, we also caught Luis at the front of several bank teller lines making unauthorized withdrawals (armed robbery).

Luis is the infamous Mesh Mask Bandit, so-named because of the strange mask he wore. Luis is an immigrant rights activist, and he’s admitted to robbing 18 banks. Who knows how many others he’s knocked over.  Luis’s friends say he came here with nothing and made something of himself. “He seems to be a good businessman,” says Hector Flores. I guess most anybody can be successful if they can just run down to the bank and withdraw as much money as they want from other people’s accounts.

Public records on Luis tell a little different story about his success. He has had several federal tax liens and judgments against him. He pleaded guilty in 2005 to failing to file a corporate tax return. He was given probation on that conviction. In 2009, a $25,844 federal tax lien was filed against him. In 2007, a bank foreclosed on a house he owned. Then he lost his Farmers Branch home (valued at more than $331,400). Kind of makes you wonder what he did with all that money he stole.

“Mesh Mask Bandit enters guilty plea.” The Dallas Morning News; November 20, 2013; p. 1B.