politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.
Both surgeries are done. The doctors feel they were successful but they believe Sally will lose the vision in her left eye. She will likely be on a vent for the next few days and will remain in the hospital for the remainder of the week.
There are several needs to consider for the family…
If you’d be interested in helping with any of these areas or others please give me a call or drop me an email.
Loads of elections going on around Texas today.
Get out and vote! Don’t let your opportunity to have a say get taken away.
Texas seniors have a big vote to cast to decide on their future property tax rates.
Ellis County voters are voting on a $53.785 million bond package for future county facilities.
And cities across the state are electing new city council members and school board members.
Be sure you go to the polls and be sure you know what you’re voting for before you cast a blind vote. I could tell you how to vote and I’ll be more than glad to answer any questions you have but I’d rather you make an informed decision on your own. Look at all the facts, ask questions and then vote (hopefully you’ve already been doing the first two).
And just a reminder for those in Ellis County/specifically Waxahachie, you’ll need to go to separate locations for the county and city elections. In several places the school board and city elections are combined but you’ll need to go to the county polling place to vote on the senior and county issues.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson takes the humorous approach to his Presidential campaign ads.
What do you think?
Ok… just one more post today. I couldn’t resist.
This is also from Vince: Oh, yes. We’ve got a juvenile prison system in a state of disaster, a department of transportation out of control with its “gap†estimates, and more…and the House will debate whether or not to make the pledge more Jesus friendly.
Capital Annex has even more on HB 1034. I appreciate Vince’s great coverage.
In a runaway vote, the Texas House voted on third reading this week to pass HB 1034, the bill by Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) that would essentially destroy the historical integrity of the pledge to the Texas flag in favor of making it more Judeo-Christian friendly.
Here’s how the third-reading vote went down:
HB 1034 was passed by (Record 983): 124 Yeas, 12 Nays, 2 Present, not voting.
Yeas — Alonzo; Anchia; Anderson; Aycock; Bailey; Berman; Bohac; Bonnen; Branch; Brown, B.; Brown, F.; Callegari; Chisum; Christian; Coleman; Cook, B.; Cook, R.; Corte; Crabb; Creighton; Crownover; Darby; Davis, J.; Delisi; Deshotel; Driver; Dukes; Dunnam; Dutton; Eissler; Elkins; England; Escobar; Farabee; Farias; Farrar; Flores; Flynn; Frost; Gallego; Garcia; Gattis; Geren; Giddings; Gonzales; Goolsby; Guillen; Haggerty; Hamilton; Hancock; Hardcastle; Harless; Harper-Brown; Hartnett; Heflin; Herrero; Hilderbran; Hill; Hochberg; Homer; Hopson; Hughes; Jackson; Jones; Keffer; King, P.; King, S.; King, T.; Kolkhorst; Krusee; Kuempel; Latham; Laubenberg; Leibowitz; Macias; Madden; Martinez; McClendon; McReynolds; Menendez; Merritt; Miller; Morrison; Mowery; Murphy; Noriega; O D’ay; Oliveira; Olivo; Orr; Ortiz; Otto; Parker; Patrick; Paxton; Pena; Phillips; Pickett; Pitts; Puente; Quintanilla; Raymond; Riddle; Ritter; Rodriguez; Rose; Smith, T.; Smith, W.; Smithee; Solomons; Strama; Swinford; Talton; Taylor; Truitt; Turner; Van Arsdale; Vaught; Villarreal; Vo; West; Woolley; Zedler; Zerwas.
Nays — Allen; Bolton; Burnam; Castro; Chavez; Cohen; Davis, Y.; Hodge; Howard, D.; Miles; Naishtat; Thompson.
Present, not voting—Mr. Speaker(C); Mallory Caraway.
Absent, Excused—Eiland; Isett; Martinez Fischer; Moreno.
Absent — Gonzalez Toureilles; Hernandez; Howard, C.; Lucio; McCall; Pierson; Straus; Veasey.
As Vince pointed out, Austin Democrat Valinda Bolton had an excellent statement of intent, and I wish all House members saw things the way she did on this:
I am and have been a Baptist all my life, and the concepts of religious liberty and separation of church and state are firmly ingrained in me. Roger Williams who lived in the 1600s is widely viewed as the father of Baptist life in America.
He gave up a very powerful position in England and came to the colonies, fleeing religious persecution. However, even in the colonies he faced persecution because he wouldn’t worship as the leaders prescribed. In fact, late in his life he was banished to an uninhabited island and expected to die there. When, by God’s grace, he prospered there, the leader of the colony sent him a scathing letter demanding to know why he hadn’t just gone ahead and died as expected.
Roger Willliams risked everything for what he believed. I have not been asked to risk as much, but my belief in religious liberty is that it is worth fighting for. It would be very easy to vote yes on this bill to avoid being seen as voting against God but I am very confident in my Christian faith and my relationship with God. I will be voting no and voting for religious liberty.
Vince also shares another exchange between State Rep. Riddle and State Rep. Hochberg:
REPRESENTATIVE HOCHBERG: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, thank you, Ms. Riddle. I’m just trying to get clear in my own mind, because I’m going to have constituents ask me about my vote, of course, one way or another, and I voted with you last night.
REPRESENTATIVE RIDDLE: Thank you.
HOCHBERG: And I expect to vote with you today. Tell me why you picked out, you said last night that you were trying to essentially conform our pledge to the national pledge, and if I m’ misstating what you said, please clarify that for me.
RIDDLE: No, that, I think, is what I made very clear, that in our national pledge, we say, “one nation under God.†I felt like it was altogether right and appropriate for us to have in our state pledge, that we would say, “one state under God.â€
HOCHBERG: We also, in the national pledge, if I’m not mistaken, say, “with liberty and justice for all.†You didn’t include that in your bill, I don’t believe. Was there some reason that you didn’t include that, but you did include the “under God†part?
RIDDLE: No.
HOCHBERG: No? Would you take a third reading amendment to add, “with liberty and justice for all?â€
RIDDLE: No.
HOCHBERG: Because?
RIDDLE: I think that the way we have it now, it reads smoothly, it says what we wanted it to say, and I think that we voted on it yesterday, and I think that we have a consensus that basically says what we want it to say.
HOCHBERG: Okay, but you’re basically trying to pick up the religious piece from the national pledge and just move it down to our state pledge. Is that fair?
RIDDLE: What I said yesterday is that it simply mirrors the national pledge in that area.
HOCHBERG: It mirrors the religious part of the pledge.
RIDDLE: This pledge is, in fact, unique to Texas, and we’re not trying to replicate the entire pledge, but there are parts of the pledge that I thought we could put in it.
HOCHBERG: And why did you think that that particular part was appropriate to replicate rather than the other?
RIDDLE: That is the part that I thought of. I didn’t even think about the other, sir.
HOCHBERG: And so why would you be opposed to the “with liberty and justice for all†part, isn t’that important, too?
RIDDLE: We’re in the third reading.
HOCHBERG: I just thought of it.
RIDDLE: You just now thought of it?
HOCHBERG: I did, ma’am.
RIDDLE: You just now thought of it?
HOCHBERG: I did, ma’am. I really did. It was a little late last night, ma’am, it really was. Had I thought of it then, I really would have brought it up to you then, but I didn’t, and so I guess what I’m trying to understand, because I don’t want to mess with the purpose of your bill, and I don’t want to put a point of order on your bill, I don’t want to do any of that stuff. If the purpose of your bill is you’re just trying to do the religious part of it, I understand that. If the purpose of your bill was to mirror the federal pledge to the national flag to the star-spangled banner, then it’s not getting that, because you’re missing an important part. I want it to serve whatever purpose you said that you think it’s supposed to serve.
RIDDLE: Well, I didn’t think of the other, our pledge is unique to Texas, and I think that we have it the way we want it, but next session, if you’d like to put that in it, then I welcome you to do that.
Read more…
Capitol Annex has a transcript of the interesting questioning of State Rep. Riddle by State Rep. Burnam over HB 1034 – which would add the phrase, “One State Under God” in the Texas pledge.
REPRESENTATIVE BURNAM: You know it’s a bill that doesn’t have very many words in it, Ms. Riddle.
REPRESENTATIVE RIDDLE: I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you.
BURNAM: It is a bill that doesn’t have many words in it.
RIDDLE: It has three words.
BURNAM: But it is as fundamental as when the pilgrims stepped on the rock at the founding of this nation and I have a lot of questions that I need answered. Do you know that in the bill analysis it’s stated that your bill will acknowledge “our Judeo-Christian heritage�
RIDDLE:Yes, sir.
BURNAM: I’m sorry?
RIDDLE:Yes.
BURNAM: Thank you. Are you aware that Native Americans that lived on this land did not have a heritage based on Judaism or Christianity?
RIDDLE:Yes.
BURNAM: Are you also aware that within the last few decades, our country has become vastly diverse, in regards to culture and religion?
RIDDLE: That is true, and I think we all understand that. All this bill does—
BURNAM: Is it also true that today we are citizens who are Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Baha’i, Zoroastrian,Wiccan, etc.?
RIDDLE: What this bill does, yes, I’m aware of those things, but what this bill does, it simply replicates, mirrors our national pledge.
BURNAM: Ms. Riddle, are you going to allow me to ask a question?
RIDDLE: When you say our national pledge, you say “one nation, under God.â€
BURNAM: Ms. Riddle I know what the bill says. I have other questions.
Fun stuff. Read more.