Headlines and Comments

Here are some headlines from yesterday to busy to really comment. These are what I found interesting
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7
Article 8

Today In history

Actually several different days but here are some of the better ones

FBI Founded Today
US Post Office Founded

July 22, 2003
QUSAY AND UDAY HUSSEIN KILLED:
Cannibal and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is caught

Celebs--do they really deserve our attention

Marriage a Joke among famous A few lines from the article

Don't feel sorry for Christie Brinkley.
Feel sorry for her children, and so many others whose celebrity parents change "significant" others as if they were still teenagers.
I'm not sure when marriage became a game of musical chairs, but it seems that celebrities and wedded bliss, with a few exceptions, do not go hand in hand.
And let's be honest, that's what marriage is to celebrities — an exercise. Fame is not conducive to marriage. Kid Rock couldn't even date Sheryl Crow, and we know what happened to Crow's subsequent relationship with Lance Armstrong.
The point is, celebrities do seem to make a mockery of marriage, whether they do it intentionally or not.
But why should marriage be any different? They make a mockery of money, with their lavish lifestyles, private jets and Beverly Hills mansions, and then go on to preach about world hunger and environmental conservation.
They mock personal demons by throwing themselves into rehab for eating disorders, drug addiction, alcoholism, sex addiction, usually when the ratings for their TV shows are in decline or the box office receipts for their latest movies are in the toilet.

I mean this guy is right on track. Why should their problems be any more important that the common man?

A lot of their children are hopelessly lost, because they have no real family life. And that's a shame.
Ban gay marriage? How about we ban multiple marriages?

I say he is correct, however we need to ban celebs from getting married, I mean what happend to the days of Paul Newman and his wife of what 35+ years?

Then there is this story Pregnant Celebs posing nude I mean this just shows how desparate they are for our attention... Let's just start to ignore them 100% of the time

Today In history

MORE GENERAL INTEREST
64 A.D. Fire of Rome
1925 Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
1969 Incident on Chappaquiddick Island
AMER. REVOLUTION
1792 Naval hero John Paul Jones dies in Paris
AUTOMOTIVE
1948 "The Maestro" makes Formula One debut
CIVIL WAR
1863 Assault of Battery Wagner and death of Robert Gould Shaw
COLD WAR
1945 Charges of communists in the U.S. Army raised
CRIME
1984 Twenty-one people are shot to death at McDonald's
DISASTER
64 Nero’s Rome burns
ENTERTAINMENT
1939 Sneak previews of The Wizard of Oz
LEAD STORY
1936 SPANISH CIVIL WAR BREAKS OUT:
LITERARY
1929 Hunter S. Thompson is born
OLD WEST
1914 Singing Wobbly Joe Hill sentenced to death
PRESIDENTIAL
1947 Truman signs second Presidential Succession Act
VIETNAM WAR
1955 Soviet Union agrees to grant Hanoi economic aid
WALL STREET
1996 Johnson makes bid for Prince
WORLD WAR I
1918 Allies begin major counter-offensive in Second Battle of the Marne
WORLD WAR II
1925 Mein Kampf is published

LST TLA list

Ok , for the past year or so I have been trying to keep my hands around the TLA's that are flying over at LST.... Well I finally have decided to get them down in print so here is the first draft and any and all additions are welcome...

• MMM™ Much Maligned Moderator - Usually reserved for Squawkbox Noise who participates in the discussions.
• BHH™ Brew Ha Ha - Official Lone Star Times social gathering. Usually organized by the CPO™. Good Times and friendships are forged at these events, and usually we have a cowbell.
• CPO™ chief party officer - the Official Title of Matt "Zilla" Bramanti and if you need more info than that you do not know Matt.
• YWWISMH™ You wonder why I shake my head - tag line of Headshaker resident blogger and middle of the road critic of both sides..
• NIGYSOB™ Now I Got You SOB - nasty comment sent to Moderator, or about other blogger
• LLWM™ Liberal Left wing Media - Enough said
• TIC­™ Tongue in Cheek
• SNJTD™ Smarmy New Jersey Truck Driver - one description of Smacktle, only one of many which can be posted in public, most cannot be repeated. He also is known as captain cowbell..
• ISMHLYKW™ - I Shake My Head Like You Know Who
• DOTI™ - Defender of the Indefensible - Courtesy of Headshaker. When someone stands up and tries to support something that is beyond reason or common sense...
• RINO - Republican In Name Only - Name for Republicans who more often than not side with the liberals in the legislature and fail to live up to the conservative platform. Both State and Federal republicans can be RINO's
• Eskimo Pie™ - The belief that things can be broken down into black and white solutions. hence making it as easy as Eskimo Pie....
• IAOCD™ - I am one confused Dude - The comment that drops when someone starts to spin a really twisted yarn.
• APWWITTWOTBL™ -And people wonder why I take the words of the Bible literally
• LSIG™ short for Lobbies and Special Interest groups, the bane of current Texas politics.
• TYSMIHA™ - Thank You Sir May I Have Another- The famous line Kevin Bacon utters in the Initiation Ceremony scene of Animal house.
• CAB™ - Crazy Assed Blondes enough said...
• LWOLST™ - Lovely Women of Lone Star Times - Description of those of the "more gentle sex" who visit LST. Not always the kind and gentle motherly figures, but good people...
• WLOLST™ - Wonderful Ladies of Lone Star Times - Different version of previous item
• YWWPTYAL™ - You Wonder Why People Think You’re a Liberal.
• ISMHLC™ - I shake my head like Clamspanker
• GILTTBAHS™ - Gee I Love to throw things back at Headshaker...
• NYKWHSHJ™ - Now You Know Why He Shakes His Johnson
• NCDTOD™ - neoconservative Debate Tactic of “Deflection”
• YNKYMGWYWF™ - you never know, you might get what you wish for.
• PODS™ - Practitioners of Double Standards
• EODS™ Enabler of double standards
• DLWM™ - Declining Left Wing Media
• AYWWTCYB™ And you wonder why they call you BushBots™
• LID™ Liberal in Denial
• YPOSAHMFBP™
• HSIAACAMM™
• YWWIANTLBSTLC™ --You wonder why I am not the least bit sympathetic to liberal causes
• YWWIDLTTR™-You Wonder Why I Don’t Listen To Talk Radio
  

Other Blog bylines...

• I’m never posting here again!™
• Period, end of story™
• Interesting™

Standard Blog TLA's and MLA's

• TTFN Ta Ta for now
• TTYL Talk to you later
• LOL Laughing out loud
  

Callegari responds to CLOUT Lawsuit.

Well I'll give Mr. Callegari credit. It may have taken 2 e-mails to get a response, but I now have a response from him with regards to the CLOUT lawsuit. Now of course he will not in the open agree or disagree with the suit, but he does make his views a lot more clear than some of the responses that I have seen so far...

Today's headlines

England to ban girlfriends and wives. I mean are you going to keep a man from enjoying that...

Astros finally make a deal to improve offense

Fantastic Babe Site

Klinsman Quits could USA job be in his future?

FIFA Rankings changed.. US, Mexico suffer for playing inferior competition.... US if they are serious about being a world power in Soccer needs to get into the same fed as Brazil, Argentina, and all... better opponents means better team. Plain and simple.

NBA salary cap inplace, let the feeding frenzy begin.

Another Astros trade story.. see local spin...

City weighs 10 p.m. weekday curfew

I think that the City of Houston is doing a good thing with this..

Youths younger than 17 would be required to be off Houston streets at 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends under a proposal to tighten the existing midnight curfew.
The proposed ordinance, approved Monday by the City Council's Public Safety Committee, is expected to go to a full council vote next month, likely with the support of Mayor Bill White.

Even a democrat can come up with and support some good things.

Many of the crimes committed by juveniles, as well as crimes in which teenagers are the victims, occur during the two-hour time frame that would be covered under the amended ordinance, said Houston Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Mike Thaler.
HPD issued about 500 curfew citations during each of the first three months of this year, the most recent data available. Last year, 3,781 tickets were issued, while at least 6,000 were issued in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

The funny thing is they would be generating more income this way and still doing a service to the community..

The existing ordinance, in effect since 1991, applies to those younger than 18. The change to 17 makes the city's curfew age consistent with Harris County's.
Under the amended law, curfew would be 11 p.m. on weekends and nights before school holidays. The curfew would last until 6 a.m.
Current law also includes a daytime curfew while school is in session: It's illegal for school-age youths to be in a public place between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on weekdays. That would not change under the proposal.
Exceptions to the evening curfew can be made for teenagers in emergencies, or if they are accompanied by parents, attending school, religious or government-sponsored functions, or working.

see this is reasonable legislation and it works to make enforcement across the metro area standard.

Then you have the comments for

Sabrina Yarbrough, an 18-year-old senior at Booker T. Washington High School, told council members during a public comment period Monday that she supports the change.
"It's a good way to keep kids out of jail and to have them in the house at a decent time so they don't get in too much trouble," she said. "What are you going to do after 10 anyway?"

And against

"I don't agree with it," said Damien Anderson, 17. "Some of us know how to act in public."
In the committee vote Monday, Council members Toni Lawrence, Sue Lovell, Carol Alvarado and Garcia recommended that the full council approve the amended ordinance.
"These young people understand what it is that we're trying to accomplish," Garcia said. "They may not agree with it, but they respect it."
Councilman M.J. Khan voted against the change because he isn't convinced that HPD has the manpower to enforce an earlier curfew, he said.

Now I think young Mr. Anderson is missing the point, it is not the ones that know how to behave that are being targeted, it is those that do not have the sense to behave them selves.

It is sad that government has had to step in where parents once stood. My folks enforced that sort of curfew on me till I was 18 and out of High School. I lived, and I believe that I am a more responsable person because of it.

Happy 50th anniversary to the Federal Interstate Highway system

We need to sing Happy birthday today is the 50th anniversary of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System

ON Tuesday, the United States will become more geographically stable than it has ever been. It will have been 17,126 days since the admission of Hawaii to statehood on Aug. 21, 1959.
The longest previous span between expansions of the nation was the 17,125 days between the admission of Arizona on Feb. 14, 1912, and the admission of Alaska on Jan. 3, 1959. Since then the nation has become, in a sense, smaller through the annihilation of distance and, to some extent, of difference.

A conservative Republican president, who grew up in a Kansas town where hitching posts for horses lined unpaved streets, launched what was, and remains, the largest public works project in the nation's history — the Interstate Highway System. Its ribbons of concrete represent a single thread of continuity through the nation's history.
With that program, Dwight Eisenhower, the 13th Republican president, helped heal the wounds of the war won by another general, U.S. Grant, the second Republican president. That war was related to "internal improvements," as infrastructure projects such as roads and canals used to be called.
In 1816, South Carolina's Rep. John Calhoun — then a nationalist; later, a disunionist — introduced legislation for a federal program of internal improvements. The legislation passed but President James Madison vetoed it because he thought Congress was not constitutionally empowered to do such things. So, prosperous Northern states built their own improvements while the South sank into inferiority and increasing dependence on slavery.

The military handicap of an inferior transportation system was one reason the South lost the Civil War. Another reason was the industrialization of the North. Its transportation system (the Erie Canal, railroads) cut the price of shipping a ton of wheat from Buffalo to New York City from $100 to $10, and the difference between the wholesale price of pork in Cincinnati and New York plunged from $9.53 to $1.18. Suddenly, workers flooding into the North's cities had more disposable income to spend on the North's manufactured goods.
The first Republican president began his public life as a 23-year-old candidate for the Illinois General Assembly by telling voters of Sangamon County his "sentiments with regard to local affairs," the first sentiment being "the public utility of internal improvements."

Leave it to George to give us a solid history lesson as well as one in economics

No legislator more ardently supported the IHS than the Tennessee Democrat who was chairman of the Senate Public Works subcommittee on roads. His state had benefited handsomely from the greatest federal public works project of the pre-war period, the Tennessee Valley Authority, which, by bringing electrification to a large swath of the South, accelerated the closing of the regional development gap that had stubbornly persisted since the Civil War. This senator who did so much to put postwar America on roads suitable to bigger, more powerful cars was Al Gore Sr. His son may consider this marriage of concrete and the internal combustion engine sinful, but Tennessee's per capita income, which was just 70 percent of the national average in 1956, today is 90 percent.

He also exposes more hipocracy from those on the extreme environmental left.

The IHS — combined, as Fortune magazine's Justin Fox writes, with another bright idea from 1956, the shipping container — made America's distribution system more flexible. This benefited manufacturers, foreign and domestic, especially in America's hitherto lagging region, the South. This is one reason there is a thriving Southern-based automobile industry (BMW in South Carolina; Mercedes in Alabama; Honda in both Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; Toyota in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky). Furthermore, the South is home to some of today's "big box" retailers — Wal-Mart (Bentonville, Ark.), Home Depot (Atlanta) — as well as FedEx (Memphis).
American scolds blame the IHS and the automobile for everything from obesity (fried food at every interchange) to desperate housewives (isolated in distant suburbs without sidewalks). Nikita Khrushchev, during his 1959 visit to America, told Eisenhower, "Your people do not seem to like the place where they live and always want to be on the move going someplace else." Eisenhower knew that wherever people are going on their nation's roads, they are going where they live.

/hat tip George Will.. Read the article makes some fantastic points about the full circle of politics...

The K.I.S.S. Platform for America

1) We pledge to secure our borders and eliminate illegal immigration.

2) We pledge to develope an immigration plan that will allow those that want to enter the USA for legal activities will be permitted to do so in easiest/shortest time possible

3) We pledge to eliminate pork spending in the budget.

4) We pledge to redesign the federal welfare programs so they assist those who have the desire to better themselves and become productive members of society

5) We pledge to elimimate unfunded mandates that would be passed down to the local governing entities.

6) We pledge to follow the guidelines provided in the Constitution of these United States as far as what the federal government will do.

7) We pledge to examine the current revenue generation system that is in place and work to create one that both provides sufficient funding for federal programs but also minimizes the impact on the public's personal finances.

8) We pledge to enforce the laws that are currently on the books, and not try to write any new legislation if current laws can do the job.

9) We pledge to place before the citizens of the USA the following amendments for the Constitution: a) A roll back and restriction on the earnings and pensions of members of congress. b) A cleanup of the current tax code and limits upon changes to that code
c) changes in how long federal judges can serve before having to go either step down or be reconfirmed before the legislature.
d) providing for a line item veto ability on all spending bills for the president.

This is the Platform of my party...

What is wrong with this picture

Ok, what is wrong with this photo.... This is from this article, The people in the civilian clothes are the IED trigger men. Now if these SOB's were so anti-western civilization why are they wearing what obviously is US type clothes... These people are so brainwashed that they do not even know which side is up. I mean here is a perfect example of where the war on terror needs to focus. Not on the civilians but on the HateSpewing, power hungry Imans who are preaching this crap. The general public in most Muslim countries WANT what we have and in most case are willing to PAY for it. But until we shut down the hate factories we will continue to be fighting this war.

Hat tip Michael Fumento.

Challenge to everyone

Ok I frequent several other blogs and have posted this question there and nobody has dared answer me. So here it goes I am throwing down the gauntlet with regards to the dead horse discussion about what we are doing in IRAQ and Afghanistan. Here is my original post

To all who say we are losing in Iraq. I have one question for ALL of you… WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENT.. And you cannot say that you would not invade. That is not an option. I am giving you complete control of all that was done in IRAQ since the first shot was fired. Please tell me what we have done that is wrong and how you would correct it.

It comes down to this… I really believe thatYOU DO NOT HAVE AN ANSWER. Plain and simple. It is up to you to PROVE ME WRONG

It is really simple answer my question, give me an alternate solution to what is going on there. Can that be so darn hard?

Glad to see an athlete doing all he can to stay clean and sober

Hat tip ESPN.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Vikings receiver Koren Robinson knows he'll always be under scrutiny while living life as a recovering alcoholic. These last few days, however, have been a little over the top.
Reports surfaced late Thursday night that Robinson had voluntarily checked himself into a rehab facility to seek further treatment. The term "rehab facility" carries with it a certain stigma that led some to believe he could have suffered a relapse.
Nothing could be further from the truth, Robinson said Friday afternoon.
"People hear rehab and they say, 'Oh no, he has problems,"' Robinson told The Associated Press in a phone interview from South Carolina. "I'm not in rehab. I'm still doing good. I'm still not drinking. I'm still working out. I'm still Koren, the cheerful, happy guy you all saw last year."
Robinson said he did not check himself into a rehab facility and did not have a relapse. Rather, he said, he is merely attending some relapse prevention classes in preparation for the start of the grueling NFL season, which affords the Pro Bowl kick returner little time to work on maintaining his recovery.
It's standard operating procedure for Robinson, who is doing everything he can to make sure that the alcohol problems that plagued him in the past do not return.
Robinson spent 28 days in an alcohol treatment facility last year after being cut by the Seattle Seahawks for several reasons, many of which Robinson attributed to alcohol abuse. He was in the facility during training camps last season and signed with the Vikings shortly after checking out.
The 26-year-old enjoyed a storybook season with the Vikings last year, emerging as the team's most dangerous receiver and making his first trip to Honolulu as a special teamer. He was a pillar in the locker room, being voted by his teammates to receive the team's Ed Block Courage award as well as receiving the Korey Stringer Good Guy Award for his cooperation with the local media.
The Vikings rewarded him with a new three-year contract in March that includes $5.5 million in guaranteed money.
"I just want to make sure I'm good for the season before I put myself back in that lifestyle," Robinson said. "In the NFL, when you lose, you feel real down and when you win, there's a lot of celebrating. I'm just making sure I'm bulletproof and being proactive."
Robinson said the relapse prevention classes help him "tune up" his recovery efforts and "reiterate stuff so that it's fresh in my mind. I just use that so I won't put myself in predicaments that would be bad situations."
During the season, "you don't really have that to-yourself-time," Robinson said. "You have a lot going on where you can't put that stuff in your personal life on the front burner. You can't deal with it."
That's why he's seeking that little extra help now.
The young receiver reflected on his struggles often during last year's renaissance, acknowledging that they will always be with him.
"It just made me a totally different person," Robinson said. "I like how everything turned out. I'm happy. My family's good. I want that. I need that. I have to do what I can do to keep that, whether it's relapse prevention classes, talking to family, talking to friends. Whatever."
But life is good for him now. He's due to be married July 22 and will arrive at Vikings' training camp in Mankato at the end of the month as the team's No. 1 receiver.
Both Robinson and his agent, Alvin Keels, expressed frustration that his approach was made public. They see it as just another step toward maintaining his sobriety.
"Certain words were misconstrued," Robinson said. "I just didn't want anybody to see those reports and get it twisted that I screwed up. ... Tell everyone I'm still good. Everything is all right. I'm looking forward to the season, having a great year and bringing a Super Bowl to Minnesota."

A Fathers Prayer

Every night I check on you when you are sleeping
into your room I move trying to keep you from waking
I look down into your crib to and see you there
slowly my hand touches my lips and I pass a kiss
my hand moves slowly carefully down to feel you breathing
I hear you sigh feel you breath see you move
it is then that I can go knowing you are safe for the night
I say a prayer every time l leave you behind
I know the lord is watching over you
and every time I come home and see your smiling face
I know that the lord has blessed me for one more day
These days go by so fast and furious
it seems like only yesterday when you were born
I know that the time that has past can never be recaptured
I only have pictures and memories
the day you rolled over, the day you crawled, the day you stood up
the smile you always seem to have on
the bright eyes you have when you have awakened from a nap
the red eyes when you are not happy
the big sigh when I rock you to sleep at night
the wet shirt that I get when you are given a bath
the giggles as you chase the cat
the squeaks, and da-da and ma-ma, and all of the other sounds you make
the unconditional love that you have towards me
the unconditional drive that I have to protect you
the dirty shirt I get from feeding you dinner
the joy I get from seeing you grow
as you get older daddy will not seem wiser
but always remember that
no matter where you are
no matter what you do
you will always be daddy's baby girl
and I will ALWAYS LOVE YOU

Daddys Charge to a big sister

The days go by to fast,
The months passed
The years flown by,
I sit her now thinking back to the day you were born
The day my life became that much more full
Full of joy
Full of happiness
Full of surprises
Full of laughter
Full of games
Full of LOVE
Every day after work no matter what you are doing
When I come home you remind me that it is all worth it.
The long hours at the office
The long hours doing the chores
The long hours every night where I lay down and wonder if I am doing a good job
What I do know is what others tell me.
I hear that you are:
A good little girl,
I hear that you are:
So very quick to learn
I hear that you are:
So very polite and considerate towards others.
I hear all these things and I see them my self and realize:
that you are not the helpless little baby I held in my arms so long ago.
But you are a wonderful smart little girl

It seems like forever in the past, that day you were born,
It seems like we have experienced everything: but I know there is so much more than
The time in the hospital, the scraped knees, all of the visits to the doctor, every time I wondered if there was something that I forgot to do that caused the problem, Our time together, getting kolachies, or McDonalds, Those days when mommy was “teaching the teachers”, or the week that Mommy was out of town and it was just the 2 of us alone but together.
Through it all you always have had a hug and a kiss for daddy when we would get back together after a day apart.
I have no regrets about the past,
I have many dreams about the future
I hope to be able to share them with you as time goes by
Our Family is growing
You will soon be the big sister
Just remember
That no matter what happens
You are my first-born
You are my pride and joy
You are my inspiration for now and forever
I know that you will be the best big sister you can
And I will ALWAYS LOVE YOU

Love

Daddy

How Time Flies ( A fathers thoughts to his daughter on her 1st birthday)

It is hard to believe that a year has passed since I first held you in my arms.
You have given me so much joy and happiness that I cannot express.
I can only look back, smile and pray that I have been a good father.
I know I am not perfect, and I do make mistakes, but the mistakes I make
are ones of love and caring and trying to do the right thing
How time flies it seems like:
It was only last month that we brought you home from the hospital
How time flies it seems like:
It was last month that we rushed you to the hospital again because you were sick
How time flies it seems like:
It was only last week when you started to recognize me when I looked at you in your crib
How time flies it seems like:
It was only last week when you first started to move around the house,
first rolling like a ball
then scooting like an inch worm
then crawling
now walking all over and getting into everything that your little hands can reach.
How time flies it seems like:
It was only yesterday that I held you in my arms, just moments after you were born,
a tear ran down my cheek,
a tear of joy not of sadness
a tear of excitement not of depression
a tear of hope
a tear of love.
How time flies it seems like:
It was only last night that I held you in my arms and said a prayer that the lord would help me be the best daddy I can.
I know that in the years ahead you will continue to make me smile, laugh, cry, yell at you, yell for you, and test my patience.
But I also know that you will always be my baby girl
and I will always love you.

Happy First Birthday Christina.

Love Daddy.

Today's headlines

NYC Terror plot foiled

More bad guys captured and killed in IRAQ

Is Iran's president in over his head?


Here we go again Conservative

Liberal...

Today's comics and headlines

Mario Williams buys Patricia Slade's House

N.Korea's saber rattling getting wanted results

New York Court refuses to recognize Same-Sex Marraige

Iran agrees to return to table for more nuclear talks

Zarqawi Refused Wife's Request to Leave Iraq

Money transfers for those with Arab names being delayed

Was Iraq involved with the Taliban you decide

Michelle Malkin takes here shots at North Korea and their Missle launch

Breaking: Decision reached on Yale Taliban; Update: Talibanned

Hamas trying to limit press coverage in Palestine

John Corzine - D Governor of New Jersey shows his true colors

State Board Takes up Hot Topic

The Texas State Board of Education is stepping into a minefield that needs to be navigated. According to a Houston Chronicle article the board is going to look at

The State Board of Education, an elected body with a history of fierce ideological debates about textbook content, now wants to put its stamp on the curriculum that guides the instruction of 4.4 million Texas schoolchildren.

At its meeting Thursday, the 15-member board is expected to scrap a curriculum revision process dominated by teachers and the Texas Education Agency and discuss a new timetable for revising the English reading and writing standards.

Many on the board want to replace a student-centered curriculum that calls on students to use their own attitudes and ethics to interpret texts with teacher-centered instruction that emphasizes the basics of spelling, grammar and punctuation

Gee, and I thought that is what we were supposed to be teaching them in English class. It is time to get some common sense into curriculum and teach the 3 R's again. Enough of this what do you see, how do you feel. We have developed a generation of students who cannot think on their own, let alone be able to hold an intelligent conversation where it is point, counter point

It was a fight social conservatives on the board lost in 1997, when moderates and liberals adopted the curriculum for all subjects. Now, with social conservatives expected to have a majority on the board for the first time after the November elections, the plan to rewrite the English standards is viewed by some as the opening shot in an effort to put a conservative imprint on the state's curriculum.

Maybe we will get back to teaching subject matter instead of teaching to a substandard test.

"This is really going to be the big battle in public education over the next few years — what is it our students are going to learn," said Dan Quinn, a spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, a group that monitors the state board for influence by the religious right. "We could see a lot of textbooks that are based on personal and political beliefs of a majority of the state board rather than on facts that students need to learn."
Quinn said that though it's unlikely that the English curriculum discussion will veer toward any political ideology, the effort could set the stage for 2008, when science standards are up for review.
The board defeated efforts to weaken the discussion of evolution in biology textbooks in 2003, but Quinn said that if the science curriculum is rewritten to include religious-based ideas such as intelligent design, the books will follow suit.

I checked out the TFN Website, and I will let you all draw your own conclusions.

Board member Don McLeroy, a Bryan Republican who is pushing the effort to change the reading and writing standards, denied any agenda to inject religion into the Texas curriculum.
"That's a false thing to worry about," said McLeroy. "You never heard me interject religion into anything, and I'm a very religious guy."

McLeroy said his only motive is to make the learning standards more understandable for teachers and parents. He wants to implement a back-to-basics curriculum that could drive achievement on reading and writing tests.
"Texas standards are not grade-level specific, most of them are noise. They can't be measured and are just a bunch of fuzzy words," McLeroy said.

State law gives the board authority over curriculum content standards, called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS. It is one of the few duties left to the board, which has seen some of its authority over textbooks stripped by the Legislature.
Board member Mary Helen Berlanga, a Corpus Christi Democrat who often clashes with conservatives about textbook content, said she believes McLeroy is leading a "good-faith effort" to help students learn. But she also said as the process moves forward, "we're going to have to be very watchful."
The education agency is revising the standards subject by subject. The board accepted the math revisions proposed by the TEA last year.

One criticism voiced at the session is that the TEKS are too student-centered, often asking students to use their attitudes, behaviors and ethics to interpret texts. For example, students in fourth through eighth grades are expected to "describe mental images that text descriptions evoke" and "compare text events with his or her own or other readers' experiences."
McLeroy calls such standards "fuzzy English" and wants to expunge them from the state's curriculum. He said such standards can't be measured on state tests.
Board member David Bradley, R-Beaumont, voted in 1997 in favor of an alternate set of standards that was heavier on the basics of spelling and grammar. Critics said the alternate standards would wind up micromanaging teachers by dictating what and how they must teach rather than giving them the flexibility to determine how to reach individual students.

I could sit here and bitch and moan about Texas education, what is missing, and what needs to be done. It would do no good. What I do suggest is you contact the Texas Board of Education, either here or through this page with their individual e-mail addresses. And when you do contact them make sure you are polite and to the point . Basically we need to get away from feel good teaching that does not provide today's students with the skills to survive, let alone thrive in today's world.

Ken Lay Dies of Massive Heart Attack

Ken Lay passed away this morning from what is being called a massive coranary. Below are links to several news sources that have reported the story

Houston Chronicle
CNN Money
Newsday.com
KFDM - Dallas
Ludwig von Mises institute
Political Gateway
UK Telegraph
KTRK Ch 13- Houston

Now some quotes from those articles

It was even anticipated that when Lay went on trial, he could charm the jury into believing he was innocent of all the charges. He had been known in Houston business circles for his folksy, homespun ways.But on the witness stand, Lay came off as irritable, combative, and defensive.He defended a luxurious lifestyle. He had given his wife, Linda, a $200,000 yacht for her birthday, even though he had personal debts of some $100 million.After the trial, one juror remarked that she felt Lay's character was "questionable."Lay maintained at his trial that Andrew Fastow, Enron's former chief financial officer, and others were responsible for any false information about the company and that they had put together a complex web of investments that defrauded investors.Jeffrey Skilling, who was Lay's co-defendant in the fraud trial, was also convicted.Fastow was convicted and is serving a 10-year jail sentence.The damage left in the wake of the Enron scandal was massive.More than 5,000 jobs were wiped out after the company's bankruptcy, as well as $1 billion in employee pensions. Investors have claimed in lawsuits losses of $25 billion.

Here is a man who was described as one of "the smartest men in the room" yet at his trial claimed that he knew nothing of what was going on in his own business. That may have been true, as his profile increased he spent more time in Washington and abroad than he did in his office.

Community lay at the centre of his life. He belonged to enough civic and philanthropic associations to fill three pages on his website, and is widely credited with Houston's downtown revival. He and his wife, Linda, donated millions to various causes and they played key role in several civic issues, including passage of a referendum that brought a new ballpark for the Houston Astros.
"I thought Ken was visionary for Enron, visionary for the city," former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier testified at the trial.
Depite being one of America's highest paid bosses, he was revered by the Enron employees before the scandal. They saw him as the father figure in the corporate family - a friendly face who never forgot a name.

Yes Ken did contribute to the community significantly, however when it comes down to brass tacks, he should have spend less time being the social, and political darling for the press and more time running his company.

Prosecutors made much of the extravagant lifestyle Lay continued to lead as Enron neared collapse. Lay was unapologetic, saying he had worked hard, was generous to the community with what he had earned, and was living the "American dream".
As he testified: "I've not only pursued the American dream, I've achieved it. I suppose we could say the last few years, I've also achieved the American nightmare."
To the end, he remained a fiercely family man. During the trial, he always held hands with his wife.

More of his arrogance and pride speaking. He never learned or remembered the lessons that his church and family, taught him growing up.

He called Enron's fall that left thousands jobless and, in many cases penniless, "the most devastating and heartbreaking tragedy of my life."

He was heartbroken and yet at the same time he and his wife kept living the same life style, and on top of that had the arrogance to claim that they were on the verge of bankruptcy.

But most people who had been in the courtroom throughout the trial were not so shocked. While Lay's conviction seemed unlikely at the start of the trial, the surprising weakness of his defense, the surprising strength of the prosecution, and a surprisingly hostile performance by Lay himself on the stand increased the odds of a conviction considerably.
In an odd parallel to today's events, some observers blamed Lay's defense problems on the heart problems suffered by his lead lawyer, Mike Ramsey, who was absent from most of the trial after having surgery.
There is also no question that Enron's collapse, the trial and the conviction were all enormously stressful and painful for Lay.
"You are twisting in the wind and it consumes your every waking moment," says a former energy trader who also faced criminal charges from the industry scandals following Enron's collapse.
In the weeks since the end of the trial, a strange question has been rumbling in the background: Was it conceivable that Ken Lay wouldn't appeal? An appeal is standard operating procedure after a criminal conviction, but there were whispers that Lay would not do so.

The true Ken Lay came out when he was on the stand. He demanded a certain level of behavior, and if he did not get it you were out. A perfect example of their results driven culture at Enron was the annual employee evaluation. The bottom 20% of rank and file employees were release each year no matter what. That sort of cut throat mind set could only lead to people overstating results. Which in turn results in false numbers up and down the line.

I am glad that Enron is gone, it was the poster child for the greed and arrogance of the late 90's that flowed through this country, all the way to the president of the USA.

My sympathies go out to the Lay family for thier loss, however the US Tax payers win on this one because there will be no more $$$ spent on him, in any way or form.

Comic Strikes a chord

How dare she actually write things that people would want to read. I just love the liberals who want things handed to them.