Prosecutor presents legal hearsay in sexual abuse case

Waco – An 8-man, 4-woman jury reacted alternately with disgust, then incredulity as they listened to hearsay testimony from a therapist who described the effects of repeated sexual molestation on a 6th grade student who was allegedly assaulted by his female teacher in 2007.

19th District Judge Ralph T. Strother ruled the testimony from Licensed Social Worker Elizzabeth Timmons admissible under new rules of criminal evidence based on recent case law. A proven expert witness who treated the boy in 2010 for depression and post traumatic stress disorder, Ms. Timmons said the effect of the experience rendered his affect unacceptable to complete school work or live normally, even while being home schooled.

In response to direct examination by lead prosecutor Lisa Hoing, Ms. Timmons told the Court that the effects of the sexual abuse that she observed in her treatment of the victim matched the allegations of complaint he related to her.

Children who have been abused by an adult – particularly an authority figure - often have trouble with normal development, have low self esteem, and do not progress in school. Some develop aggressive behavior patterns. “It depends on the child,” she said.

Boys are much more reluctant to talk about their experiences than are girls, she said, “because sexual abuse doesn't happen to boys.”

In her testimony, she alleged that Ms. Rush performed oral sex on the boy on at least two occasions, once when she had him washing dishes at her home in return for baking him a pan of cupcakes, and another time when she had him cleaning leaves out of her swimming pool. In both cases, she said she had learned from the boy, the teacher was squatting before him and somehow loosened his trousers to perform the impromptu sexual act.

In each case, she testified, the boy said Ms. Rush told him if he told anyone, they would both be in trouble.

On another occasion, she rode behind him on a 4-wheeler and put her hands in his pants as they rode.

“He didn't do well in school because she did not have him perform any school work,” Ms. Timmons alleged.

As a PE teacher, Ms. Rush often had her victim go back inside the building to perform some errand for her. She kept him after school and devised tasks for him to perform at her home. Through manipulation and letting him out of school work, she slowly isolated him from other kids.

In many cases, there is an extensive period of grooming in which the child is slowly isolated from other people and kids of the same age. Look for inappropriate gifts, extravagant and expensive activities, and a heavy dependence on the suspected abuser.

When defense attorney Susan Johnston took over in cross examination, she asked questions such as just how did the woman loosen the 13-year-old boy's trousers, how did she arrange to have sex with him when her children were present in her home, and was it her testimony that all boys who are promiscuous are victims of sexual abuse.

“I don't know that I'm testifying about promiscuous boys,” Ms. Timmons replied.

She asked in reference to the oral sex incidents, “Did he ejaculate?” The therapist's answer was, “I don't know.”

“Would you want to know?”

“Not necessarily.”

The therapist acknowledged in answer to a question that it is true that her patient had actually been depressed for a much longer term than since the time of his alleged molestation by the teacher when he was 13. His biological mother left the family when he was in the second grade. The incident has had a long-term effect similar to that attributed to the alleged crimes of Ms. Rush, she agreed.

Ms. Johnston also obtained her agreement that during her treatment of the boy in 2010, "You were not acting as an interrogator - a detective."

The line of questioning had a visible effect on jurors. They shifted their body language from one of aggressively leaning forward with outraged and quizzical expressions on their faces to leaning back in their seats, their gazes averted as she hammered at the witness and the hearsay testimony.

Ms. Timmons agreed with the lawyer when she made the statement, “Sometimes inappropriate things happen that don't mean anything sexual.”

As the cross examination drew to a close, the attorney asked her if she was aware that the allegations of complaint lodged in 2007 do not match those made during her 2010 treatment of the boy, who is now 18 and has a child of his own.

When prosecutors objected to the question for cause, Judge Strother promptly sustained their objection, and the defense attorney passed the witness.

Here are some warning signs of sexual abuse gleaned from Ms. Timmons' testimony:

* In small children, a regression from efficient toilet habits to a loss of control.

* A sudden loss of interest in school work.

* Obsessive isolation from family, friends and schoolmates.

* Secretive ways around adults. If the perpetrator of the offense is an adult, it was an adult who let the child down; therefore, there is a lack of trust of adults.

* An “outcry” about some ill-defined problem, often just partial in its scope, in which lots of key information is excluded and a lot of questions go unanswered.

* An inability to be in a healthy relationship.

Symptoms include shame, guilt, anxiety, depression, and sometimes aggression toward others, hypervigilance, promiscuity, an avoidance of all sexual contact.

Again, she said, “It depends on the child.”

Stocks soar on news of Fed easing credit crunch

The Dow-Jones average zoomed more than 300 points higher in early trading today on news of worldwide monetary easing of the European Union's monetary woes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was adding 391.5 points at 11,947. The S&P 500 was up 38.4 points at 1,234, and the Nasdaq was rising 78.4 points at 2,593.

The Federal Reserve and central banks of western nations announced credit easing moves to monetize debt and bolster economies of troubled nations.

Central banks throughout the EuroZone will lower the pricing on all existing temporary US dollar liquidity swap arrangements by 50 basis points. The new rate will take effect on Dec. 5.

China's central bank said Wednesday that it will cut the reserve requirement ratio for lenders by 50 basis points starting Dec. 5. The move, the first since Dec. 2008, is expected to help bolster China's economy and increase liquidity as the markets in developed nations remain unstable.

The rate cut may also signal that China will consider loosening its monetary policy in the future. Markets were becoming optimistic about the possibility that the Asian superpower will once again come to the rescue of the global economy.

Standard & Poor's lowered the credit rating of most major banks due to worries that they will not be able to withstand the credit crunch should the European nations' credit problems cause a worldwide cascade, tightening non-existent money supplies and causing havoc with commercial transactions, payment of corporate bills and meeting payrolls.

Drugs, legalization...and Republicans?

Consumers principle 'financiers' of drug cartels

By Allan Wall

The drug war in Mexico continues, with all its violence, mayhem and loss of life.

Among the various factors contributing to this disastrous situation is the growing demand for illegal drugs on the U.S. side of the border. To put it another way, American narcotics purchasers are the principal financiers of the Mexican drug cartels.

This has led some to ask if the U.S. government's War on Drugs is really the best strategy. Is the War on Drugs exacerbating the problem? Does it drive up the price of illegal drugs, thus making them more lucrative? Higher prices, in turn, provide bigger profit margins to those who smuggle and sell narcotics.

Is drug legalization or decriminalization an answer to the problem?

In the United States, the pro-legalization and anti-legalization sides do not correspond to the left/right political spectrum. There are leftists and right-wingers on both sides of the debate.

Currently there seem to be more prominent Republicans than Democrats favoring or leaning toward some form of legalization.

Since opposition to Big Government is a tenet of American Conservatism, it is possible to make an argument for drug legalization as being compatible with Conservatism...(click here for full article)

Flores offers hope after Super Committee's failure

Washington – Dis. 17 freshman Republican Representative Bill Flores, R-College Station, told constitutents there are two ways to cut the deficit following the failure of the SuperCommittee to come up with $1.2 trillion in budgetary cuts over the next 10 years.

“There was just no middle ground,” he said, summing up the debacle.
People should be mindful that the Senate adheres to a Big Business vision of making the economy grow while the House is motivated by a “Small Business, Main Steet, Ronald Reagan” ethic in which you reduce government spending, cut taxes and reduce government regulation.

So far, the Obama Administration has introduced some 410 new administrative rules – 4 times the number proposed by the Bush Administration during its first two years.

He compared the performance of the Roosevelt Administration during the years 1936-38 with its massive government spending and thousands of new government regulations with the Ronald Reagan years of 1981-84, during which the GOP ushered in a new era of reduced spending, reduced regulations and a strong defense commitment.

“All we have to do here in Washington is look to history on how to get us out of trouble.”

You can cut spending in three key areas – Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which total 6 times the Gross Domestic Product at about $100 trillion.

Better than that, you can completely restructure the tax code by eliminating the loopholes that favor one industry over another and cutting corporate income tax from 35% to 25%.

Nothing was done in the budget process to affect the Social Security and Medicare programs for those who are 55 or over, he reminded his listeners during a telephone Town Hall talk. People who are 54 and younger were to be introduced to a new Medicare plan that would have emulated Medicare Part D to subsidize their medical expenses.

It didn't matter, he reminded them, because the budget failed in the Senate, which has failed to pass a budget for the past 2½ years. There is no other solution that problem than a politically expedient solution of voting the rascals out. He told voters in an earlier meeting that it will take 10 new Republican Senators to break the Senatorial logjam that saw 21 out of 25 Republican-authored bills stymied in a balky Democratic Senate.

How do you cut spending?

“Cuts are one way to fix the federal government, but the other way is on the revenue side.” That calls for a complete rebuild of the revenue stream.

For the details, he advised his questioners, go to House.Budget.gov and read over the “Path to Prosperity Budget” proposed by his colleagues on the House Budget Committee.

Asked about redistricting and the federal judicial panel's new maps, he said of the voters suddenly returned to the District 17 boundary, “I never wished you out of the fold.”

Though he is mindful that the process has dealt a certain blow to GOP hopes, he followed up by saying “I will run in whatever distric is ultimately decided. The map that's been drawn is OK with me.”

Commissioners oppose “tickler” file on contracts

Two up for election told to get info themselves



It is an axiomatic element of all power relations that information is power, in and of itself; withholding information is power cubed. - The Legendary Jim Parks

Waco – It is a matter of some curiosity that Ken Bass, the purchasing director for McLennan County, does not have the information necessary to review contracts four to five months before they expire.

For some similar and unknown reason, the McLennan County Commissioners' Court split 2 to 2 on the question of a tickler file that would show when all contracts are up for renewal, among other items needed to review all such agreements made on behalf of the tax-paying public.

Certainly, it is not a matter of secrecy, facts about public contracts are part of the public record, requests for qualifications and requests for proposals are advertised publicly, and the announcement of bid awards are a matter of public knowledge.

“I want to find a way to come up with a system where the members of the Court will know when we have contracts coming up for renewal 4 to 5 months in advance...How's that coming along?” Commissioner Kelly Snell asked County Purchasing Director Ken Bass.

Mr. Bass replied, “A lot of the time, I don't know anything about the contracts that are coming up.”

Files that are used to keep track of that kind of information are called “tickler” files in the legal profession; they are not uncommon in the offices of General Counsel for corporations of all types. Such files contain information as to exactly when the statute will have tolled on a legal complaint, the exact date upon which an answer to a lawsuit must be filed without having to accept a summary or default judgement from the Court, or exactly when pleadings and pre-trial conferences are scheduled.

Naturally, legal departments of governments and corporations keep detailed records of the details of contracts in tickler files that will alert their staff and the management of the organizations such as board members and key executives exactly when contracts will expire, why and when time is of the essence, and the full particulars of default and penalty phases attached to the stipulations of the agreements.

Mr. Snell explained that often contracts are placed on the Court's agenda at a time when there is not adequate time to review the documents or to hunt a better bidder or service provider – at a lower cost or otherwise.

Mr. Bass appeared to be confused by the request. He indicated that the task is outside the scope of his duties, that he simply does not have all the information necessary to fulfill the request, or does not understand what information is sought.

“I think what Mr. Snell is talking about are professional contracts that might cost us a lot of money,” said Commissioner Joe Mashek.

Mr. Mashek has often called for the creation of a County Attorney's office that would be attached to the office of the District Attorney, an appointive position staffed by legal counsel who reports to the entire membership of the Commissioners' Court, and not solely to the office of the County Judge.

Mr. Snell, who has made similar statements in support of a County Attorney's office in the recent past, added, “Any contract that is coming up, we need to take a look at it.”

Both of their Precincts will hold re-election contests in the March primaries and the General election of 2012.

In the absence of County Judge Jim Lewis, his administrative assistant Lynne Lockwood explained to the Court that “It's going to take time” to gather the information and put it on a retrieval system. She asked Mr. Snell what he envisioned. He said he would like to have the information on something like Microsoft Excell or a similar spread sheet readily retrievable and loaded with reports at least 4 to 5 months in advance on the particulars of contracts up for renewal, review, or renegotiation.

Presently, the only way to obtain much of the information sought is to summon the County's attorney, a gentleman who is working on a retainer agreement. Many times, he is unavailable for a minimum of a week and they must wait until a subsequent meeting of the Commissioners' Court to obtain the information they seek, said Mr. Snell.

County Judge Pro-Tem Lester Gibson, who is also a County Road Commissioner, displayed opposition throughout the discussion. He said the information is readily available if one just hunts it up.

At one point, he said, “You just want someone else to do it for you.”

Similarly, Commissioner Ben Perry voiced the opinion that the information is readily obtainable if one just takes the time to request it.

But Mr. Snell and Mr. Mashek insisted that many times they have been told by both Mr. Bass and Judge Lewis when contracts come due that “We're running out of time.”

Texas law does not require a public entity to take the lowest bid, but it does require the decision makers on public boards, commissions, executive departments and the like use their discretion to select the best bid.

It is an information intensive task, to say the least.

(The Legendary can only apologize for the poor quality of this video made difficult to view because of buffering issues)

Don't y'all think this outlaw bit's done got out of hand

Defense act could give military criminal powers

President authorized to suspend civil liberties

Democratic leaders in the Senate are attempting to rush through a National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1867) which includes controversial provisions which could open the door to authorizing the military to detain United States Citizens within the US and hold them indefinitely without charge or trial.

They could even potentially face military justice instead of trial in a civilian court, with no regard for their Constitutionally protected rights.

Earlier this month Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) attempted to negotiate a compromise with Senate leaders which would have changed sections 1031 and 1032 of the bill to protect the rights of citizens, but their suggestions were rejected in committee and they and other civil libertarians in both parties are now supporting Senator Paul's amendment to strike those sections entirely from the bill.

The ostensible goal of these provisions of the bill is to make it easier to prosecute terrorists and their allies, but ambiguities in the wording and a section which allows the President to override some of the restrictions in the bill open the door to an unprecedented use of the military to detain and even try US civilians.

The Republican Liberty Caucus has launched a write-in campaign to support the Paul amendment and wrote of the bill:

"You may think that this sort of insane legislation which totally undermines our Constitutionally protected rights can’t be real. You may find it hard to believe that most Republicans are supporting it. You may not think this could happen in your America. Yet this outrage is entirely real."

Representative Justin Amash (D-MI) has been an outspoken critic of the bill and was one of only five Repubiicans to vote against it when it passed the House in May. Sen. Amash points out that “The President should not have the authority to determine whether the Constitution applies to you, no matter what the allegations."

Read more: http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/defense-bill-includes-authorization-for-indefinite/#comments#ixzz1f6QVLTzq

Egyptian military complicates first-ever vote

Parliamentary elections will last six weeks


Cairo – People dragged their elderly relatives to the polls on this second day of parliamentary voting to avoid a punitive fine of about $85 U.S. if they don't vote, or if they cast absentee ballots.

News reports attribute the massive turnout on Monday to this factor alone as long lines separated by gender – men with men and women with women – wait patiently to cast their ballots.

The ruling military junta threw the complicating monkey wrench in the gears during the often violent and always frustrating 10-month transition from the rule of 30-year dictator Hosni Mubarak and the current chaos of a military junta in which the popular vote will extend over a six week period in each of 27 provinces – divided into thirds – with a runoff held in each one a week after the first round.

If that's not complicated enough, voters are required to pick two individuals and one alliance or party slate. International power brokers are watching with keen interest because Egypt has long served as a counterweight in the complicated balance of power between radical Islamist nations and the more moderate Arabian Peninsula states which produce a huge percentage of the world's petroleum.

The mechanics of the situation have apparently left most of the nation's 50 million eligible voters confused and undecided.

Most are in agreement that the primary issue at hand is whether this ancient land of the Pharaoh will remain a secular nation, or revert to an Islamic theocracy.

Muslim Brotherhood operatives are swarming the polling places, whispering in peoples' ears to tell them how to vote in the complicated process. Reportedly, their fliers litter the ground near every election site. Handicappers favor their influence and predict they will have a heavy influence in the outcome of the elections, which won't be completed until March.

People leave the polls scratching their heads, not sure just what they accomplished, though it's agreed that this is the first-ever and cleanest chance they've ever seen to change matters to their liking.

Dr. Mohamed Badie, chairman of the Brotherhood, accused the Egyptian security police and the military of serving as a "hidden hand" to stoke the flames of the violent protests that occurred in advance of the parliamentary elections.

Dr. Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt after the collapse of the Ottoman Adherents believe in Islamic jihad as both a political and a religious doctrine. They actively work to promote both. Mr. al-Banna was a devout supporter of the politics of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in the thirties as that regime rose in power to provoke World War II and impose a "final solution" in the attempted extermination of European Jewry.

Extreme violence has rocked the major population centers of Cairo and Alexandria as Arab Spring protesters occupying Tahrir Square and other key urban hub areas engaged security police and regular Army troopers in demanding an immediate ouster of the military forces that dominate the revolutionary political atmosphere.

Many thousands of people have laid down their lives fighting the soldiers, who are heavily armed with firearms, munitions, tear gas, body armor, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and communications gear supplied by theU.S. military, with little more than rocks and sticks. They use their cell phones and the social network to marshal their forces and have occupied their headquarters grounds for more than a year.

Report: Fed lent big 6 banks nearly $8 trillion

Bush Administration officials kept in dark

Think the TARP bailout was a big deal with its $700 billion bailout of the big six banks deemed “too big” to fail.

Think again.

A report which surfaced today following extensive litigation shows for the first time the true dimensions of the Federal Reserve's largesse to the nation's largest banks.

It totaled $7.77 trillion in loans – loans that were kept secret from the public – and kept confidential because Chairman Ben Bernanke did not wish to create a “stigma” for the institutions in the public eye.

The nation's six largest banks, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Morgan Stanley accounted for 63 percent of the average daily debt to the Fed by all publicly traded U.S. banks. They netted some $13 billion in profits as a result of the loans at a time when homeowners were losing their property at a tremendous clip to foreclosures and the prospects of having a career evaporated for most Americans like water in a desert mirage.

A total of 29,000 pages of information detailing 21,000 separate transactions released under the Freedom of Information Act after lawyers wrangled the information out of the super secret private banking institution shows that at one point, Bank of America owed the Federal Reserve some $86 billion for loans it took in just one day. (click here for a news report on an audit the Fed bill pending in Congress)

Even the Fed's top executives were unaware of the true amounts involved.

Gary H. Stern, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 1985 to 2009, who says he “wasn’t aware of the magnitude.”

According to published reports, most high ranking officials of the Bush Administration were unaware of the magnitude of the bailout loans.

Unlike the TARP funds, these funds had “no strings attached,” according to Brad Miller, a North Carolina Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.

The issue could very well unite the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street protesters, according to a Senator who has sponsored a bill that would limit the size of individual banking institutions.

“When you see the dollars the banks got, it’s hard to make the case these were successful institutions,” says Sherrod Brown, a Democratic Senator from Ohio. “This is an issue that can unite the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. There are lawmakers in both parties who would change their votes now.”

Hard times in the land of plenty...

some got it all, and the rest - ain't got any

Hard times causing a return to string-banding of yesteryear

Tokio Store – Al Cinek cues up Omar and the Howlers, a full-tilt boogie blues band from Austin, blasting out “Hard Times in the Land of Plenty” over his laptop. Listen to this, Jim. He pops his fingers. "Listen, man."

The refrain cuts like a knife through the Sunday evening quiet of the old beer joint. “Some got it all, and rest – ain't got any.”

Earlier, he showed The Legendary the “line of demarcation,” an imaginary boundary that runs down the middle of the front porch of the 100-plus year-old venue that has served cold brewskis to thirsty Texans since at least 1872.

Twice denied an on-premises beer license because of neighbors who complained about loud music and hog-riding fools on Harleys, the Navy veteran runs the skinny down in ceramics in the dialect of high glaze, making it clear it's time to make a move, see what happens, bust it on out. Deal with it.

He's got that ornery look in his eyes, the one that says something is fixing to happen.

“Next Sunday is musician's reunion,” he says. “There ain't no telling who will show up.”

He points to a picture of Billy Joe Shaver that hangs over the bar. “Even old Billy Joe could show up and play all his songs. Wouldn't that be something?...He's overdue.”

The point is that no one knows, and that's what makes Sunday jams in country Texas beer joints and road houses fun to behold and even more fun to attend. It's a fine old tradition, this thing of going to the store in your neck of the woods - just to see who will show up. "It's just like when Deryl Dodd showed up here. No one knew who he was. They knew when he got up there and started playing."

Omar and the Howlers have said they wouldn't mind coming to play the Tokio Store, knowing its history of standing up to McLennan County authorities and claiming a beer license when the clique tried to deny it.

Hard times never got harder, but it sometimes has its moments.

“I walked up to him at the Republic of Texas Rally and said, 'Omar, I can't afford your band.' He said, 'Don't worry, Al. One of these days, I will play the Tokio Store.'”

It's the kind of thing those who ride Milwaukee iron would just love. This band plays Jimmy Reed songs such as “Big Boss Man” out of South Dallas and Deep Ellum, and Bo Diddley lick-log lolapaloozas off the scalding asphalt of the Delta and east Texas' piney woods, tunes like “Who Do You Love?”

“I strings 47 miles of barbed wire,
wears a cobra snake for a neck tie,
got a brand new house by the roadside;
it's made from the rattlesnake hide.

“It's got a genuine chimbley up on the top
and it's made from the human skulls.
Come on, take a little walk with me, honey,
and tell me, who do you love?”

There are other songs like “Mississippi Hoo Doo Man” to consider, plus the fact that Jimmie Vaughn and Omar have spent time together working out the kinks, running down the road and laying down the blues. Will they show up?

“You never know.”

One thing for sure, it will be loud. Jumping. The air will be filled with the gasoline-rich odors of Harley exhaust with its potato, potato, potato rhythms and the smell of hot oil, the dusty and vaporous miasma of the darkness on the edge of town - where anything, anything - can and will happen.

Be there – next Sunday, a week from today, at beer-thirty, eightish.

Yay-us!

Toy run from Bubba's in Hewitt to Tokio - breakfast at 10 a.m., kickstands up at 11.

Det. Mike Ruppert on Truth, Lies, Cocaine, and 9/11

How important is drug money?

Who benefited, and why they did so, from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. This veteran narcotics and homicide detective from the L.A. Police Department makes a cogent presentation similar to one in which a prosecutor would seek a Grand Jury indictment.

The offenses? Murder, smuggling, collusion, conspiracy, money laundering, wire fraud, drug-dealing and influence peddling - to name a few.

All these have been carried out against the People of the United States in order to perpetuate a false economy propped up by drug profits. End game is a one-world government designed to enslave the people of the entire planet, according to Mike Ruppert, publisher of "From the Wilderness" news service.

Black Friday sales increase by $1 billion

Biggest sales revenue increase since 2007

Merchants nationwide reported Black Friday retail sales are up 7 percent over 2010 figures. Sales of $11.4 billion rose nearly $1 billion, according to Shopper Trak, a Chicago-based marketing information service that tracks 25,000 outlets across the U.S.

Oakland Wal-Mart shoppers fought over 4gb memory cards and a few Kodak cameras

Conversational vocals in a lyric mode...

Seeking sign of microbial life on Mars, blasting off...

Cape Canaveral - It's been a long time coming, and it's going to be a long time gone, but there she blows, headed for the red planet to look for sign of microscopic critters who may have possibly lived on the surface of Mars.

Behold, your Uncle Sam a-strut, doing what he does best at the Air Force Station on Cape Kennedy, Florida.

Every building a temple, every song a prayer...

Don't quit now, man. Keep on, steady rollin', man.



You might put it this way:



Any which way you do it, it comes out the same:



One for the road, Sonny! Here we come...

We live together as men, or we perish together as fools.

1. We will NOT obey any order to disarm the American people.

The attempt to disarm the people on April 19, 1775 was the spark of open conflict in the American Revolution. That vile attempt was an act of war, and the American people fought back in justified, righteous self-defense of their natural rights. Any such order today would also be an act of war against the American people, and thus an act of treason. We will not make war on our own people, and we will not commit treason by obeying any such treasonous order.

Nor will we assist, or support any such attempt to disarm the people by other government entities, either state or federal.

In addition, we affirm that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to preserve the military power of the people so that they will, in the last resort, have effective final recourse to arms and to the God of Hosts in the face of tyranny. Accordingly, we oppose any and all further infringements on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. In particular we oppose a renewal of the misnamed “assault-weapons” ban or the enactment of H.R. 45 (which would register and track gun owners like convicted pedophiles).

2. We will NOT obey any order to conduct warrantless searches of the American people, their homes, vehicles, papers, or effects - such as warrantless house-to house searches for weapons or persons.

One of the causes of the American Revolution was the use of “writs of assistance,” which were essentially warrantless searches because there was no requirement of a showing of probable cause to a judge, and the first fiery embers of American resistance were born in opposition to those infamous writs. The Founders considered all warrantless searches to be unreasonable and egregious. It was to prevent a repeat of such violations of the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects that the Fourth Amendment was written.

We expect that sweeping warrantless searches of homes and vehicles, under some pretext, will be the means used to attempt to disarm the people.

3. We will NOT obey any order to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to trial by military tribunal.

One of the causes of the American Revolution was the denial of the right to jury trial, the use of admiralty courts (military tribunals) instead, and the application of the laws of war to the colonists. After that experience, and being well aware of the infamous Star Chamber in English history, the Founders ensured that the international laws of war would apply only to foreign enemies, not to the American people. Thus, the Article III Treason Clause establishes the only constitutional form of trial for an American, not serving in the military, who is accused of making war on his own nation. Such a trial for treason must be before a civilian jury, not a tribunal.

The international laws of war do not trump our Bill of Rights. We reject as illegitimate any such claimed power, as did the Supreme Court in Ex Parte Milligan (1865). Any attempt to apply the laws of war to American civilians, under any pretext, such as against domestic “militia” groups the government brands “domestic terrorists,” is an act of war and an act of treason.

4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state, or to enter with force into a state, without the express consent and invitation of that state’s legislature and governor.

One of the causes of the American Revolution was the attempt “to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power” by disbanding the Massachusetts legislature and appointing General Gage as “military governor.” The attempt to disarm the people of Massachusetts during that martial law sparked our Revolution. Accordingly, the power to impose martial law – the absolute rule over the people by a military officer with his will alone being law – is nowhere enumerated in our Constitution.

Further, it is the militia of a state and of the several states that the Constitution contemplates being used in any context, during any emergency within a state, not the standing army.

The imposition of martial law by the national government over a state and its people, treating them as an occupied enemy nation, is an act of war. Such an attempted suspension of the Constitution and Bill of Rights voids the compact with the states and with the people.

5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty and declares the national government to be in violation of the compact by which that state entered the Union.

In response to the obscene growth of federal power and to the absurdly totalitarian claimed powers of the Executive, upwards of 20 states are considering, have considered, or have passed courageous resolutions affirming states rights and sovereignty.

Those resolutions follow in the honored and revered footsteps of Jefferson and Madison in their Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, and likewise seek to enforce the Constitution by affirming the very same principles of our Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights that we Oath Keepers recognize and affirm.

Chief among those principles is that ours is a dual sovereignty system, with the people of each state retaining all powers not granted to the national government they created, and thus the people of each state reserved to themselves the right to judge when the national government they created has voided the compact between the states by asserting powers never granted.

Upon the declaration by a state that such a breach has occurred, we will not obey orders to force that state to submit to the national government.

6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.
One of the causes of the American Revolution was the blockade of Boston, and the occupying of that city by the British military, under martial law. Once hostilities began, the people of Boston were tricked into turning in their arms in exchange for safe passage, but were then forbidden to leave. That confinement of the residents of an entire city was an act of war.

Such tactics were repeated by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto, and by the Imperial Japanese in Nanking, turning entire cities into death camps. Any such order to disarm and confine the people of an American city will be an act of war and thus an act of treason.

7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

Mass, forced internment into concentration camps was a hallmark of every fascist and communist dictatorship in the 20th Century. Such internment was unfortunately even used against American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Whenever a government interns its own people, it treats them like an occupied enemy population. Oppressive governments often use the internment of women and children to break the will of the men fighting for their liberty – as was done to the Boers, to the Jewish resisters in the Warsaw Ghetto, and to the Chechens, for example.

Such a vile order to forcibly intern Americans without charges or trial would be an act of war against the American people, and thus an act of treason, regardless of the pretext used. We will not commit treason, nor will we facilitate or support it.
8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control” during any emergency, or under any other pretext. We will consider such use of foreign troops against our people to be an invasion and an act of war.

During the American Revolution, the British government enlisted the aid of Hessian mercenaries in an attempt to subjugate the rebellious American people. Throughout history, repressive regimes have enlisted the aid of foreign troops and mercenaries who have no bonds with the people.

Accordingly, as the militia of the several states are the only military force contemplated by the Constitution, in Article I, Section 8, for domestic keeping of the peace, and as the use of even our own standing army for such purposes is without such constitutional support, the use of foreign troops and mercenaries against the people is wildly unconstitutional, egregious, and an act of war.

We will oppose such troops as enemies of the people and we will treat all who request, invite, and aid those foreign troops as the traitors they are.

9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies, under any emergency pretext whatsoever.
One of the causes of the American Revolution was the seizure and forfeiture of American ships, goods, and supplies, along with the seizure of American timber for the Royal Navy, all in violation of the people’s natural right to their property and to the fruits of their labor. The final spark of the Revolution was the attempt by the government to seize powder and cannon stores at Concord.

Deprivation of food has long been a weapon of war and oppression, with millions intentionally starved to death by fascist and communist governments in the 20th Century alone.

Accordingly, we will not obey or facilitate orders to confiscate food and other essential supplies from the people, and we will consider all those who issue or carry out such orders to be the enemies of the people.

10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

There would have been no American Revolution without fiery speakers and writers such as James Otis, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and Sam Adams “setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”

Tyrants know that the pen of a man such as Thomas Paine can cause them more damage than entire armies, and thus they always seek to suppress the natural rights of speech, association, and assembly. Without freedom of speech, the people will have no recourse but to arms. Without freedom of speech and conscience, there is no freedom.

Therefore, we will not obey or support any orders to suppress or violate the right of the people to speak, associate, worship, assemble, communicate, or petition government for the redress of grievances.

— And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually affirm our oath and pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. - Oath Keepers -


Furthermore, affiants sayeth not. Reprinted as a matter of conscience.

- The Legendary, an adherent to the Oath.

Happy black Friday. The tyme is now...

Parking lots of Wal-Mart stores nationwide were jammed with cars at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day when electronics sales began. There were no available parking places to be found. Best Buy stores experienced a similar rush of customers.

Dylan - the complete "60 Minutes" interview

You know, the one old boy was from Oklahoma, and he had painted on his guitar, "This machine kills fascists." The other old boy was a yankee, and he had painted on his guitar, "This machine surrounds fascists and makes them surrender."

That's when The Legendary up and said, “Hell's bells, man, I ain't never seen anything quite like this, here.” Jim said, "Dog my cats."

That's when I jumped on the raft with Jim, and I just lit out. We are still headed for New Orleans where Jim can really be free. Some kind of free, y'all. That's right.

Y'all look like y'all be walkin' uphill all the time, y'all

Deep Ellum to Kansas City & Return





Those who would trade essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty, nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin, printer

Arizona solon collecting donations for border fence

Phoenix – Decrying what he terms as inaction by the federal government to secure Arizona's border with Mexico, a state senator has so far collected $225,000 in private donations to build a fence along the border.

He proposes to build the fence using prisoner labor paid at 50 cents per hour. Funding will come from a state-run website launched last summer to solicit donations from private sources.

Experts say the funds collected so far are about enough to erect a half-mile of the kind of barrier that would keep illegal immigrants from climbing over it and into the United States.

Senator Steve Smith, a Republican, says he doesn't care. Though the supplies to build a fence that covers the border from state line to state line would cost $34 million – about $426,000 per mile – Sen. Smith points to an effort to “show the world the resolve and the can-do spirit of the American people.”

A rival, former Democratic Sen. Alfredo Gutierrez, says “You're going to get 50 yards of fencing if that.”

Handle me wtih care

Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized...

Been beat up and battered 'round
Been sent up, and I've been shot down
You're the best thing that I've ever found
Handle me with care

Reputations changeable
Situations tolerable
Baby, you're adorable
Handle me with care

(Chorus)
I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care

(Bridge)
Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on

I've been fobbed off, and I've been fooled
I've been robbed and ridiculed
In day care centers and night schools
Handle me with care

Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized
Overexposed, commercialized
Handle me with care

(Chorus)

(Bridge)

I've been uptight and made a mess
But I'll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh, the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care

Turkey Day twin play -

"Sing it sweet, Leon" - Pappy O'Daniel

Judges' new congressional map favors Democrats

(click image for larger view)

San Antonio - If adopted, a new Congressional District map proposed by a U.S. District Judge would potentially eliminate as many as 6 Republican seats.

Judge Orlando Garcia, an appointee of President Bill Clinton who came to the federal bench in 1994 from the 4th Texas District Court of Appeals, adjusted the work of a largely Republican Texas legislature in order to represent the increases in Hispanic population over the past 10 years.

One of the big winners in the new plan is U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat whose District 25 seat would remain safely within the confines of south Austin in liberal Travis County. Under the legislators' plan, District 25 would extend from the Tarrant County suburb of Burleson in Johnson County to the north shores of Austin's Lake Travis and the hill country Hays County community of Spicewood to its west.

Mr. Doggett is a former Texas Supreme Court Justice and a member of the “Killer Bees” liberal Democratic caucus who denied quorum in Texas Senate sessions dominated by conservative Republicans by hiding in a parking garage across the street from the capitol building.

A powerful Hispanic lobby, NALEO (National Association of LATINO Elected and Appointed Officials) said in a statement released on Wednesday, “Latinos accounted for 65% of Texas' growth last decade, which resulted in the state gaining four additional Congressional seats. The Congressional map enacted by the state legislature did not reflect this growth, and would have severely violated Latino voting rights. We are pleased to see the results of the court challenge that produced the new Congressional plan, and we urge the court to order these maps into law.”

A federal judicial panel will review Judge Garcia's work to determine if his plan will be adopted under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie, “We are pleased that Texas is on the road to fair elecitons in which the voters, rather than Republican mapmakers, will get to determine the outcome. The maps enacted by the legislature were an egregious example of Republican overreach and a complete disrespect of the changing Texas demographics.”

Republican officials will have until the end of this week to provide their ideas about how they would prefer the map drawn by Judge Garcia to be changed.

Additional detailed maps that show proposed changes to especially large counties and how Judge Garcia's plan would affect pairings of incumbents may be viewed by clicking here.

Your hy-tone conduct at Congressional hearing...

The congressman called the scientist "Mr. Rice," which is the name of the university where he is employed, and called his study "junk" science. You be the judge. The Legendary has no words.

Kid shoots his mom's attacker in the face with BB gun

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Police in Bellingham, Wash., say a 10-year-old boy defended his mother from an attacker by shooting him in the face with a BB rifle as many as four times.

The man accused of the attack rents a room in the woman's home and came home drunk and angry Tuesday morning. Police say he kicked in a bedroom door and started choking the woman.

Officers reported the boy hit the attacker with a board and then shot him in the face with the pump-action BB rifle as he grappled with the woman.

The woman and boy were able to flee to a neighbor's home and call for help.

The 45-year-old man was treated at a hospital and arrested for investigation of assault and making death threats.

Report use of nerve agents mixed with tear gas in Egypt

Cairo - Observers from the UN and other international agencies are reporting they suspect nerve agents mixed with tear gas are disabling rock-throwing youths rioting in Tahrir Square.

Crack military troops have replaced police officers who have held defensive positions encircling the Ministry of the Interior.

Published reports assert that all munitions and materiel used by Egyptian military troops have been manufactured by American defense contractors.

Protesters reportedly rejected a military offer to hand over power later next year following elections, as they did a similar offer from the civilian cabinet to resign immediately earlier this week.

Some 38 additional deaths have been reported today as the fighting continues to occupy Tahrir Square, labeled "Liberty Square" during the Arab Spring demonstrations that toppled the regime of Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.

International news reports attribute statements by moderate Islamic leaders from the Gulf states saying that renewed Sunni-Shiite internecine conflict will "plunge the Arab world into medieval conditions darker than the middle ages."

Texas Supreme Court suspends Aransas judge

The Texas Supreme Court suspended Aransas County court-at-law Judge William Adams with pay pending the outcome of the inquiry started earlier this month by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

According to an order signed Tuesday by the clerk of the state's highest court, Judge Adams agreed to the commission's recommended temporary suspension and waived the hearing and notice requirements.

The judge does not admit "guilt, fault or wrongdoing" regarding the allegations. A county court-at-law judge, he routinely rules on whether state child protective services authorities should place children in foster homes pending investigations of abuse and violence claims against parents.

Judge Adams' now 23-year-old daughter Hillary Adams uploaded the secretly-recorded 2004 video of her father beating her repeatedly with a belt for making illegal downloads from the internet.

OWS heckles Obama at Manchester NH high school

UPI, other media protesting Zuccotti Park eviction

The venerable broadcast news network UPI came down hard today, joining younger publications such as "The Huffington Post" on the ham-handed techniques employed by police in dealing with journalists covering OccupyWallSt occupation of Zuccotti Park. In an unprecedented news analysis, the organization gave its opinion of what is coming for a stalled American economy if business and political leaders don't begin to interpret the signs of a looming disaster. - The Legendary

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Occupy Wall Street may be out of Zuccotti Park but Americans ignore its message only at their peril.

Dispossessed by police from prominent venues around the country, the forces that inspired mass, albeit unseemly demonstrations haven't abated. The United States is rapidly fracturing into two nations -- affluent players in the global economy and a growing mass facing diminished circumstances for themselves and their children.

If forces marginalizing millions aren't addressed, America is headed for much worse than tent cities and baths in parks. Economic bifurcation into the super affluent and the poor will erode the institutions and values that bound together immigrants from many heritages, faiths and tongues into a single nation.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports about 100 million Americans -- one-in-three -- live in or perilously close to poverty. Many are working but rely on food stamps, government agencies and charity to feed, clothe and provide medical care to their children. Most have too few resources to see a dentist regularly or even subscribe to a daily newspaper. They rely on cars, often because decent housing is much too costly near their work and are forced to live too inconveniently from grocery stores, other services and multiple jobs to practically rely on public transportation.

Hardly all marginalized Americans are recent immigrants with poor English proficiency. Many are high school graduates or have been to college but can't land a decent, permanent job that permits skills building and initiates the climb to middle-class affluence. Many are older workers, whose positions permanently disappeared during the Great Recession.

The economy has changed and simply no longer needs these workers and that is nothing new. Stagnant wages, declining living standards and a shrinking middle have been in the headlines for more than a decade...

Million man march in Cairo to demand transfer of power

Cairo – When the men who have been camping in Liberty Square hoisted the giant Egyptian flag early today, they signaled that the offer by the nation's civilian cabinet to resign did not make much of an impression upon them.

They want the military to be gone, out of power.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters are fighting soldiers today in Tahrir Square. They are demanding word of a specific date upon which the military will hand over power to an elected official.

Extended violence has wracked the city center for weeks as protesters defy the military's orders to vacate the square and continue to camp out there. Police are firing shotguns loaded with tear gas canisters and bean bags. Often, the protesters, who are fighting with rocks and other impromptu weapons, pick up the tear gas canisters and throw them right back at the troopers.

A million man march is predicted for later in the day.

Sheriff's release policies have led to mistakes

Sometimes, the way things are done at the McLennan County Jail leads to problems. Mistakes are made that could prove fatal.

Sounds of freedom, raining over the black lands

The world can go to hell; I am going to Tokio. – Al Cinek

Tokio Store – Somewhere, there is a place where men have a serious interest in the lyrical quality of their picking, where they want to bring a vocal ring to their guitar.

It's a place where they discuss such items as which guitarist from the blacklands of the Texas prairie influenced which star – who stole what from whom – where that style wound up – and which tunes on what labels carried them on to fame.

It's not an untypical conversation in terms of Sunday afternoons in jazz clubs, blues joints, folk music haunts or rock and roll halls. Pickers, shouters, drummers and bass men gather on Sundays from coast to coast, jam to their heart's content, and the fans who come to dig the sounds have serious afficion for the mano a mano that inevitably happens whenever these men of the road settle in for a serious work-out.

The place is a little patio beside a a store that has been in business since 1858 selling cold beer, good country music, and a driving beat.

A place to dance on weathered board flooring, whistle, clap, jump, stomp, scream and shout.

Tokio Store.

A guitar-pulling, Sunday style. Yes.

And that's when a small combo tunes up, strikes the first chord, and the smooth baritone of a father-son duo like David and Butch Giddens, a veteran singer who can make like Lefty Frizzell or Merle Haggard at the drop a hat, backed by his son on Stratocaster, while Casey Kelley and lead picker David Doran “second” on an old song off the “190 Proof” album, “Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink.” Syncopated two-stepping beat, lots of picking that cries and tugs at the heart. Yes. The vocals, alternated with Casey Kelley's, sounds like they are coming clear and sweet out of the bell of a golden horn.

That's right. Yes, sir.

Mr. Haggard never did it better, and the sentiment is still the same. “My mind ain't nothin' but a total blank – think I'll just stay here and drink...” Those lyrics just lay up beside the beat, the melody, the voicings. Cooks.

They then swung into Mr. Billy Joe Shaver's “Honky Tonk Heroes;” thence to “It's another hot day in Texas;” “It takes foldin' money;” and Townes Van Zandt's classic, “Pancho & Lefty.”

Looking out at the much-needed driving rain storm sweeping through the deep creek bottom at the corner of “Old Railroad Road” and “Tokio Road,” one gets the idea it's not the first time the old place – established in 1858, as mentioned previously – has heard the folks getting loud.

Won't be the last.

Said David Doran, a picker with a white boy blues style smooth as silk, of a legendary teacher named Kenny Frazier, “He taught me things that, even now, come back to me at the oddest moments - stuff I'd totally forgotten.

“He would always listen, then he'd play it his way, and say, 'Get more lyrical with it.'”

He and Mr. Giddens, Casey Kelley, and an interlocutor have been discussing vocal stylings and brining the cry of the country voice into the lyrics of the guitar.

They mention legendary names like Hank Thompson and Lefty Frizzell, finish their brew, snuff out their smokes and get right back at it as the personnel in the jam changes, rearranges, and changes again.

Then there is talk of who wrote what and who gets to “put it out there” by consent of the writer – the sweetest recognition of all.

Casey Kelley had done a haunting ballad the night before at Papa Joe's in Lorena, a road house on I-35, something about a killing over a huge diamond ring - something it would take two years' work to buy - on a strange woman's hand, someone who wound up in the wrong place and got killed for her mistake. That's the beginning and middle of the story. Then there's the end, which is just as filled with horror.

The narrator's woman, upon whom he bestowed his ill-gotten swag, wears the ring to town and flaunts it. That leads to his arrest and conviction for the killing. As it turns out, the chilling truth is, he's singing ice cold hell from a prison cell he will likely never escape alive.

Silver daggers, the old triangle on the moors and heaths, the prairies and mountains – a little something called outlawry that followed us all over the ocean, through the mountains, and across the rivers - to Texas. Chuck Robinson wrote it, said Casey Kelley could “put it out there” - and there it is.

That's what you call a guitar pulling. Watch these columns for word of more such as this in the future in other locations anywhere - everywhere - up and down America's Main Street.

Sundays at Tokio Store. Worth the price of admission, which is nothing. Burgers, barbecue, cold brew – plenty of parking – and some very serious sounds, served up way out in the country near West, Texas.

Glowing orb in video game represents Eve's Apple

In the world of “Assassin's Creed,” the chief protagonist is a soul and time traveler from the time of the Great Caesar of Rome.

The mercenary Enzio has traveled to the world of 1502 A.D., fights his enemies with sword and spear in the alleys of ancient Eurpoean cities and the great halls of medieval castles; he enters various dimensions of the space-time continuum by placing a glowing orb in the midst of stacked cubicle shapes stored inside a special chamber.

“The glowing orb is the apple, the one Eve gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden,” explains Daniel Barkley, a Clifton 8th grader who is competing in the championship flight of a global competition to amass as many as 30,000 Microsoft points worth cash money in the world of gamers. They may be exchanged for game DVD's he and his friends play on the X-Box.

The orb – the apple - represents knowledge of the world.

“It was brought to Earth by aliens from outer space,” he concluded.

His ranking at this time is the 46th competitor in the world tournament currently under way. He has acquired 13 such games through just such competition, trading Microsoft points for the games at area shops and big box stores. He has been playing since he was 4 years of age, has amassed 15,735 career points - 670 in the current tournament in which he is competing - and still found time to qualify for the A-B Honor Roll twice in the 7th grade.

What would he like to do when he grows up to be a man?

“I want to work for Lion Head Studios or Rock Star Studios,” he says. Rock Star won the game of the year honors in 2010 for its creation, “Red Dead Redemption.”

It's all about a protagonist who quit roving and raiding with a gang of men who roamed the west in the year 1911 after the U.S. government gave him the option of either quitting the gang and becoming a government operative, or losing his family.

What creed drives young Mr. Barkley and his social set in the small world of “gamers”?

“We just think of everything electronic as to how we can entertain people – history, politics, even conspiracies.”

He met his girl in the cyber world of gaming. She is a young lady from the Dallas area of about the same age who competes alongside the boys for top honors. He carries her picture in his billfold, finds it hard to keep a proud grin off his face when he shows her picture; he sets it lovingly on the console and admires her countenance thus depicted.

Of course, she is lovely.

2:30 jam session at Tokio Store on Jim Lewis Expwy

Caressive puntry renaissance on the blacklands
The suburban West, Texas, watering hole we all refer to as Al's Tokio Store is hosting a jam session at the corner of Old Railroad Rd. and Tokio Rd., also known as the Judge Jim Lewis Expressway, at 2:30 p.m. today. Featured players include the Casey Kelley Bank and David Doran.

Cold beer, no cover, the prettiest women and the friendliest people you've ever seen. That's what I'm talkin' about.

- The Legendary

Former Chet Edwards staffer rebuts allegations

Candidate says he filed months before contract

Waco – Brian Scott, a candidate for Precinct 3 McLennan County Commissioner in the race to replace Joe Mashek, says the incumbent has attacked him falsely.

Mr. Scott is an employee of Insurors of Texas, a Waco brokerage that writes employee benefits coverage for local governments, and did so for McLennan County for many years. He came to work there in February after working in the Congressional offices of former Representative Chet Edwards.

Last week, incumbent Joe Mashek told The Legendary that when Insurors of Texas lost the McLennan County's business, the insuranc brokerage recruited Mr. Scott to run against him.

Mr. Scott says that is false and he produced papers to prove his point. According to a request for proposals, the McLennan County Commissioners' Court awarded the employee group health plans to Scott & White as a self-insured party using that organization as a third party administrator on July 19 and 26.

Mr. Scott told The Legendary that he filed to run for the office much earlier in the year. He made his treasurer's report as a candidate for Commissioner to the County Elections Office in May.

Both he and Mr. Mashek are natives of West. “I feel real sorry that he had to attack me that way,” said Mr. Scott.

In favor of a county civil service commission

In his plans for election to the office, he said he very much favors keeping local control of the County Jail and using employees of the County Sheriff's Office to staff the facilities.

In fact, he would very much prefer that the jailers and other officers be subject to a Civil Service Commission that would regulate their hiring, qualifications, and other administrative details of their employment.

On top of that, he would like to return to a customer service-based philosophy of dealing with constitutents who need the county's services with roads, health, records or any of the other thousand and one functions that county government performs for its citizens.

“Working with people is kind of what made me want to run for commissioner,” he said. “I could have gone back in the car business.”

His family for many years operated an automobile dealership in West.

Balanced budget amendment fails in House

No deficit cutting deal by 'supercommittee'

The item moved at 2 a.m. this morning by Associated Press – just as the bars were closing and the night owls were headed to the diner, the motel - or the house. - The Legendary

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rejecting the idea Congress can't control its spending impulses, the House turned back a Republican proposal Friday to amend the Constitution to dam the rising flood of federal red ink. Democrats — and a few GOP lawmakers — said damage from the balanced-budget mandate would outweigh any benefits.

The first House vote in 16 years on making federal deficits unconstitutional came as the separate bipartisan "supercommittee" appeared to be sputtering in its attempt to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions to head off major automatic cuts. The lead Republican on that panel said members were "painfully, painfully aware" of its Wednesday deadline for action and would work through the weekend.

The House voted 261-165 in favor of the measure to require annual balanced budgets, but that was 23 short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance a constitutional amendment.

Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the proposal, arguing that such a requirement would force Congress to make devastating cuts to social programs.
Most Republicans favored the measure, but there were prominent exceptions.

Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the party's point man on budgetary matters, agreed with GOP colleagues that "spending is the problem." But he added that "this version of the balanced budget amendment makes it more likely taxes will be raised, government will grow and economic freedom will be diminished."

Likewise, Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., said lawmakers should be able to find common ground without changing the Constitution, and he expressed concern that lawsuits filed if Congress failed to balance the budget could result in courts making decisions on cutting spending or raising taxes.

In all, 235 Republicans and 25 Democrats voted for the amendment, four Republicans and 161 Democrats opposed it. The other two Republicans voting no were Justin Amash of Michigan and Louie Gohmert of Texas....

Wacko from Waco tells it like it is...

Saturday night double play...

Though the moon ain't out, head on over to the twist and shout...
Mr. Shaver might not be there, and Elvis is a definite no show, but

Will play Papa Joe's at Lorena tonite
We talkin' about "a fit fat fiddle for a git gat gittle, a round rolly doughtnut with a hole in the middle... etc. - Now, punch, brothers, punch with care, punch in the presence of the pass-an-jare" - Mark Twain
Never know who's a'gon show up - Less Dense!

The raid on Liberty Square - by the Board Chairman

the raid on zuccotti park from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

Dig the yellow tape around Wall Street's crime scene

"Going Galt” when folks lose cabin pressure

A hedge fund operator recently shut down her business, then wrote her clients this “chilling” e-mail to explain why. - The Legendary

“I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not,” she writes. And then she unloads:

Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators.

"Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette..."

Mexican AG seeks extradition of 'gunwalker' suspects

Mexico City - Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales is asking the United States to extradite six suspects who are accused of providing firearms to the cartels in Mexico.

While Morales did not mention the 'Project Gunwalker' (Operation Fast and Furious) scandal by name, she indicated to Congress that the U.S. is holding 6 suspects--3 in Texas and 3 in California--who are accused of participating in a plot to arm Mexican drug cartels with guns from the United States.

Israeli commando to oppose veteran Rep. Joe Barton

Waxahachie – Itamar Gelbman has worked with some of Hollywood's top actors in his time, providing security and expert advice on filming action sequences.

An American with dual Israeli citizenship, he is a veteran of an elite special forces unit of the Israeli Defense Force Special Forces whose mission is so sensitive, even its Army nickname is not to be mentioned in print. The word is Hebrew, and it's not so different from our Marines' "Walking Dead" or "Zipporators."

We're talking real estate consultations and dirty deeds done dirt cheap for the sake of some ground upon which to stand. It gets that way, even on the best of days, when you face an enemy whose implacable hatred has compelled him to say over and over again that he is going to push you into the sea, run you out of your home.

"No one will ever understand the Muslim mind."

Needless to say, as a veteran of the fighting between Israelis and Arabs, he has found himself in some awkward situations, professionally speaking.

For instance, he was an airline seatmate to an individual who has starred in many hit films, won the Oscar, and gets respect from producers, directors and his fellow actors.

There's one problem. “He's very liberal and he's also very pro-Palestinian.”

It's a sore subject with the native New Yorker, and he flew all the way back to London riding shotgun with this matinee idol, all the while smiling and nodding at his remarks about how the Palestinians aren't getting an even break.

“I stopped doing celebrity security,” he says, ruefully. In fact, his competitors in that line of work routinely outbid him, and he thereby forfeits contracts to provide security for glitzy weddings, private parties and long trips taken by entertainers, actors, singers and other show biz types in favor of security services for corporations and professional organizations on missions in troubled mideastern locations.

He's no stranger to the fight, though the details of his soldiering have been highly classified. His professional services are an even more sensitive subject, he assures the interviewer.

In the fast approaching March election contest for his nomination as a candidate for District 6 U.S. Representative Joe Barton's seat, the battle looks like an uphill battle route over rocky ground.

How does he plan to get out the vote?

“Walking the blocks, making the calls.” He shrugs. “Asking them to vote for me.”

It's the way we get elected in Texas. You ask for the vote.

There is no other way to get it. This he knows.

He's got his work cut out for him. His opponent, Rep. Joe Barton, is a meat eater who came to Congress in 1984 following the six-term run of incumbent Phil Gramm when he left the lower chamber to bid for the U.S. Senate.

Chairman Emeritus of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, author of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and chairman of the House-Senate energy conference committee, Mr. Barton is far enough to the right that he once told former Vice President Al Gore during testimony before the Energy and Commerce Committee, “You're not just off a little, you're totally wrong.” He stated that “Global Warming science is uneven and evolving.”

In fact, he launched an investigation into two climate change studies from 1998 and 1999 and requested the source of the funding for the studies, something the Washington “Post” condemned as a “witch hunt.”

Angered by President Obama's delaying tactics on TransCanada's 1,700-mile Keystone Pipeline from Alberta to the refineries in Houston, he said, “We asked him to make a decision, not to wait another two years. That's bullshit.”

But that's all mild as yankee Picante Sauce when you compare it to what he said about the BP settlement. He called the escrow account the president negotiated with the British petroleum giant a “$20 billion shakedown.” Then, he apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward when he was summoned to testify before the Committee.

Of course, when he wound up apologizing for the original apology, the world kept on turning.

Asked about American energy companies' reliance on taxpayer funding for security in mideastern oilfields, Mr. Gelbman shrugged, but didn't have to think long.

This is something that requires two carrier battle groups on station at all times, brigades of U.S. Army troops and divisions of U.S. Marines standing by every day for many years, Air Force units at the ready and missles aimed to fire at the drop of a hat.

On the other hand, the petroleum companies account for payment of royalties to kingdoms, sheikdoms, principalities and revolutionary republics as “foreign tax,” and then collect foreign tax credits on their cost of doing business. He shrugged, thought a moment, and replied.

“For sure, the American people deserve economic protection.” He shrugged again
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For the record, petroleum companies pay an average of 41% corporate income tax rate compared to other corporations' average of 35%.

“If elected, I'm pretty sure I won't get put on an energy committee. I will probably be assigned to a military affairs committee.”

These are the words of a pragmatist. He knows the score.

With an opponent who started his career working at the Department of Energy, then served at the White House, he is a David going out in single combat to meet a Goliath.

He grins, shrugs, promises a more lengthy interview later this month. The Legendary will definitely be there. It doesn't get any better. This race is going to be good copy.