Texas Democrats: "You Must Be 19 To Buy Cigarettes"

You're old enough to vote and serve your country at 18, but you'd have to wait a year to buy cigarettes under a bill approved Thursday by the Texas Senate.

State Senate Carlos Uresti a Democrat from San Antonio whom is sponsoring the bill, was quoted saying "The further you can put this (legal age) off, there's a much better chance that people will not start to smoke,"

A person is legally old enough to vote. They are old enough to join the military and fight in a war. They are in most ways, legally an adult.

This is another case of lunacy running amuck.

If you are old enough to vote, fight in a war and do things that other adults can do, then you should be old enough to smoke.

Do I smoke? NO. Never have. Never will.

But if you are an adult, then it is YOUR CHOICE. This is another case of government wanting to get caught up in your lives.

Smoking is a nasty habit. I don't like to be around people who smoke, but it is their choice and if their smoking makes me uncomfortable, then I move.

The same goes with drinking. If you are 18 and considered an adult, you should be allowed to drink alcohol.

Do I drink alcohol? Not much. I have in the past, and I do enjoy a beer every now and then.

Do I drink hard liquor, NO, I don't. I can't handle it.

My choice not to drink (much) is my choice. A glass of wine or beer never killed anybody. In fact, I have read that it may be a health benefit. Moderation is the key.

My mother was an alcoholic and smoked her whole life. Both of these killed her in her early 60s. I have seen what it does and I want no part of it.

The bottom line is, in my humble opinion, that if you are of legal age to vote, be in the military, and fight in a war, you should be able to smoke and drink.

It is your choice, but do not expect any sympathy from me when you get lung cancer and liver damage. After all, you made the choice and you since you made an adult decision to partake of these "things" you might have to suffer the consequences.

This is another case of the liberals wanting more control of our lives.

More Guns Are Needed

To paraphrase Ted Nugent, "It was not too many guns that caused the massacre by Cho Seung-Hui at Virginia Tech, it was too few guns."

I have to agree. If just one person who was in the building had been carrying a gun, perhaps they would have dropped this loser.

A "No Gun Zone" are an invitation for wackos to walk in and start shooting. These guys are cowards and they choose these places because they know there will not be any opposition.

If he knew someone might have had a gun, maybe he would have had second thought, or maybe not. There is no way to tell.

One thing I do know is that if just one person had a gun, fewer people would have died. In addition, this loser might have been killed a bit sooner.

If someone would have had a gun, LIVES WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED.

Any person that cannot see that is blind in one eye and can't see out of the other.

I Am Back....I Have Not Been Silenced!!!

I am back...I have not been silenced.

The past days school days have been pure HELL for all teachers in Texas.

The past ten days have been a nightmare that all teachers in Texas dread.

In Texas, we call this hell and nightmare TAKS.

The TAKS test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The evaluation instrument that is used to determine if students graduate from high school.

It is all part of the "No Child Left Behind" program. The only thing I can say is it doesn't work. Teachers spend all their time preparing their students for TAKS. As a result, little time is left for true classroom instruction of the relevant subject matter.

I could write volumes about TAKS, but I will not. I will leave that to others. But I would like to explain where I have been and what I have been doing.

My time the past two weeks has been taken up by preparing my lessons in one last ditch effort to help my students pass TAKS.

I have been so tired when I get home that I have little time to post and even less time read what other have blogged.

With any luck, I will be able to post some this weekend and next week. Much has happened in the news this week and I want to posting my thoughts, read other people's blogs, and get back into the blogsphere.

It would have been easy to just blow off the TAKS preparations and let the student's scores "fall where they will."

In my right mind, I couldn't do that. Even though much of TAKS is ridiculous and many of my students couldn't care less about passing TAKS, much less graduating, I still feel the need to try.

My father told me many years ago if you agree to do a job, do the best you can; all the time.

If I didn't, I would not be able to look at myself in the mirror.

Don Imus: A Right To Free Speech

I was reading some of my favorite blogs this evening and came across an interesting post on "Angela's Right to Free Speech."

She makes some interesting statements about how Don Imus makes a comment as a joke and people are demanding he be fired.

She further states that some people responding on talk shows use the same comment and nobody flinched.

Rappers can use the same term (and others far worse) to describe women in their songs and videos and the same people that are complaining about Imus don't raise an eyebrow.

She made the following statements in her blog:

Black rappers degrade their culture and they are making millions off that degradation but nobody cares about that. Double standards and reverse racism are alive and well in this country people.

So a rapper can express themselves in a negative light and Imus can't attempt to crack a joke? Imus isn't a very good comedian but he does have a right to try and crack a joke if he wants to.

If a black person has the right to use those words then so do I. If Chris Rock can bust on "his people" then so can I. If freedom of speech applies in this country then that would mean it applies to Imus too, right?

I am so sick of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Tired of black people blaming history for their anger. Whatever happened to live in the present? Why do I have to pay the price for what some of our prejudice forefathers did back in the day that slavery was alive and well? I'm supposed to eat crow because I'm white?

She hit the nail right on the head. These people just like to stir things up to make themselves important and keep themselves in the spotlight.

You are so correct Angela. He cracked a joke...nothing more and nothing less. If he had been black, none of this would be happening now.

He should not be fired. If he is, it will show just much NBC caters to special interest groups and that that they care less about the silent majority.

So I will close in the venacular of the people making these complains about Imus..."YOU GO GIRL!!!

Astros Sponsors: Bank of America and CITGO

I was in Houston recently and visited Minute Maid Park to watch the Houston Astros play. I had not been at an Astros games in many years. In fact, I had only been to Minute Maid Park once before and that was when it had the name "Enron Field."

I like the park very much, and the fact that is was built on the site of a former train station is very nostalgic. I like the ambiance of older stadiums, and even though Minute Maid Park is a modern stadium, it had the feel of an older park.

As I was walking inside the park, I notice two advertisements that took me by surprise. The more I looked at them, the more I thought about them.

As I though more, I got mad. No, not really mad, but upset.

The two advertisements I saw were for CITGO and Bank of America. The CITGO sign was hanging high above left field. It was perhaps the largest sign in the park besides the Minute Maid sign that is located on the score board.

The Bank of America sign were small advertisements placed on the walls behind the seats.

What made me upset was the fact that these two companies are doing what they can to undermine the United States.

CITGO is a subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company. I have a problem with the prominence given to this symbol of a company closely associated with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, a self stated enemy of the American people.
Bank of America recently started allowing criminal aliens to have a checking account, credit cards, and other banking services without a social security number or standard types of identification. Many, myself included feel this enables criminal aliens to prosper in our country while breaking the immigration laws.

I wonder why the Houston Astros would allow two companies which are so against American ideals advertise in their ballpark?

I have a few ideas and will expound on them in future posts. For now, think about this, post your thoughts and comments, and I will do further research on this.

Disney To Allow Same Sex Wedding Programs

The Walt Disney Company will now allow same sex couples to participate in the popular Fairy Tale Wedding program it runs mainly at its two U.S. resorts and cruise line.

Marriage is between a man and a woman. It is an institution that is reserved for a man and a woman, not a man and a man nor a woman and a women.

What happened to the Disney of my youth? It is gone like many other things that made this country great.

I hope the money they get from these "same sex programs" helps hold their profit margin. It (their profit margin) will certainly drop because of myself and others who choose not to go to their attractions because of their misguided, profit motivated, and politically incorrect decisions.

What is going to happen next? Perhaps Mickey Mouse will decide he wants to marry Donald Duck.

N.J. School Portrays Christians as Terrorists

A New Jersey High School stages a mock school shooting and portrays the gunman as right-wing religious fundamentalists.

It figures that New Jersey is a center of liberal values. If the school had portrayed the gunman as Islamic fundamentalists, you know that some would be up in arms.

I am so tired of the Right taking hit after hit from those who wish to destroy this country. I am willing to bet nothing will be done the the principal and administration that allowed this to happen.

Gingrich: Bilingual Education Is Ghetto-Part 2

Newt Gingrich was on "The O'Reilly Factor" tonight. He responded to Bill O'Reilly's question about why he posted a response in Spanish on YouTube.

He said English should be the official language of the United States. O'Reilly said he knew Newt wasn't being mean spirited. Newt responded he wants to be able to reach everyone with his conservative views.

He clarified his statement that he meant people who do not learn the language of their country (English) where they live (United States), they are relegated to remaining in the ghetto.

I knew that what he meant. He is correct in his assertion that immigrants need to learn English. I agree 100%. Why would one CHOOSE to live in a country and not learn the native language? I have an opinion on that, but it is better leaf to a blog post in the future.

Leave it to the liberals to find a way to turn everything around. As usual they turn things around in order to turn people against conservative views. That is exactly what they did here.

I AM JOHN DOE

Join the movement. Texas Truth is!!!

I AM JOHN DOE

We can thank Michelle Malkin for this excellent manifesto. Link to her post here.

Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.

I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.

I am John Doe.

I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.

I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run.

I will act when homeland security officials ask me to "report suspicious activity."

I will embrace my local police department's admonition: "If you see something, say something."

I am John Doe.

I will protest your Jew-hating, America-bashing "scholars."

I will petition against your hate-mongering mosque leaders.

I will raise my voice against your subjugation of women and religious minorities.

I will challenge your attempts to indoctrinate my children in our schools.

I will combat your violent propaganda on the Internet.

I am John Doe.

I will support law enforcement initiatives to spy on your operatives, cut off your funding, and disrupt your murderous conspiracies.

I will oppose all attempts to undermine our borders and immigration laws.

I will resist the imposition of sharia principles and sharia law in my taxi cab, my restaurant, my community pool, the halls of Congress, our national monuments, the radio and television airwaves, and all public spaces.

I will not be censored in the name of tolerance.

I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderate clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about “profiling” or “Islamophobia.”

I will put my family’s safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.

I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.

I am John Doe.

Come on down to Texas....I am sure you will find many more John Does here. We will welcome you Texas Style, and show you what real Texas hospitality is all about when you dare to threaten our way of life!!!

Teachers Given New Discipline Powers

England has given teachers the power to handle students the way they should be handled

Speaking on behalf of teachers everywhere, I would LOVE to see this law enacted in the United States.

Click here for the story from Yahoo News and Reuters

Imagine what that would mean:

1. Teachers could actually teach.

2. Students and parents would be held accountable.

3. Our decisions would be backed by the law.

But you know, the liberal Democrats would never allow it.

As always, they would think we would be stifling the little “angels.”

Alas, We can always hope.

City readies "Boot the Mentally Retarded" Revenue Stream

This is typical of a liberal like Houston Mayor Bill White. I bet he was looking as a big paycheck for the city and possible political contributions from the developes he sells the land to.

Read the clip below. If this doesn't "piss you off," then nothing will.

The Houston Chronicle's Melanie Markley reports that the city is proceeding with plans to tear up its lease with a local non-profit group that houses the mentally retarded, so that it can deliver their prime River Oaks real estate to local developers (and enjoy a nice revenue boost):

For more than 40 years, it has occupied a prime chunk of public real estate near River Oaks caring for, employing and housing the mentally retarded.

But now the city of Houston is planning to sell the land to the highest bidder, meaning the nonprofit Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation has to find a new home.

The center's directors do not intend to go quietly. They have a 99-year lease signed with the city in the 1960s that required them to construct buildings and provide services for one of the city's neediest populations.

The 99-year lease, signed in 1963 by then-Mayor Lewis Cutrer, is not valid, city lawyers argue, because the city charter limits such agreements to no more than 30 years.

Center officials also worry that the move seriously will jeopardize the centrally located services they provide for roughly 600 Houstonians.

Most at risk, they say, are the nearly 200 adults living in a dormitory on the property. The center faces the task of building new living quarters or finding other facilities and homes that can take them.

We're thinking that it's not going to be very helpful to Mayor White's plans to run for statewide office when opposition researchers discover that he was the Houston mayor who booted mentally retarded people out on the street to help out real-estate developers (or, for that matter, that he was the Houston mayor who planned to finance his big freeway towing program partially on the backs of poor people whose cars were towed, confiscated, and sold by favored towing companies).

Here's hoping Mayor White rethinks this one. He can surely find some other ways to generate revenue.

Hank Hill Related to ZZ Top's Dusty Hill

I was watching "King of the Hill" this evening. I always watch the show, because it is about Texas and it is funny.

I love the fact that they actually use locations and places in the stories that are in Texas; Whataburger, DFW Airport, the Dallas Cowboys and many other locations and institutions.

Tonight they have Dusty Hill of ZZ Top on the show. They state that Hank and Dusty are cousins.

Hank's father is getting rid of his Cadillac and is going to give it to Dusty. Hank wants the car and a conflict ensues.

What I cannot believe is that Hank doesn't care for Dusty and ZZ Top. Maybe it is because he was born in New York City.

Dusty is filming a reality show and is using Hank, the car, and others in the show.

The car ends up in a demolition derby and Hank saves Dusty's life.

More and more, famous people are showing up in prime time cartoons like "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy." I guess that goes back to when celebrities were fighting to get on "The Muppet Show."

The best part of the show was when Dusty was spinning Bobby on his guitar.

When is comes on in reruns, check it out. It was great.

Gingrich: Bilingual Education Is Ghetto

Newt Gingrich was quoted in saying that bilingual education with “the language of the ghetto.”

His comments were made to the National Federation of Republican Women.

Citizenship requires passing a test on American History in English. Is seems to me that if you are a citizen, you must speak English. The why do ballots need to be in other languages?

My guess is so they can vote for the liberals and Democrats who want to have them under their control.

His statement makes perfect sense to me. I have always though bilingual education is crazy. Does any other country have bi-lingual education? I think not.

Click here to go the article on this issue.