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If he was a Republican, you'd be hearing:

- He's the son of a judge
- Went to boarding school
- Dodged burglary and DUI charges
- He married into a Billionaire family

But he's a Democrat, so nothing matters. Different standards. It's so important that he be judged by different standards the media won't even give you the information you need to make any other judgement.

You forgot:

He's an Irishman who was refused admission to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus:

El Paso Lawmaker Can't Join Hispanic Caucus

EL PASO — When El Paso voters elected Robert “Beto” O’Rourke to Congress last year, his supporters said they chose a fresh and progressive voice to champion issues critical to the border community.

...

O’Rourke, whose nickname is popular among Latinos, is not a member because he lacks Hispanic heritage. ...

There's also a history of voter laws being used to block black people from voting. But that was a long time ago and the parties have really mixed it up since then. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of idiots voting both ways, but in the same sense that ANY paperwork or regulation is viewed as harmful to business, people argue that ANY paperwork or registration is harmful to getting people to vote. And yeah, every election people are turned away in some states because they never registered, or failed to update, or their state was being an asshole.

The rest of your rant makes it clear that you're an idiot, but I will address this section just so that anyone reading it doesn't get the wrong impression.

Ah, little poopster is upset. You know what? Your words would have more bite if you hadn't started your own post with this line of your own:

Oh boy, you're really reaching. There's no law in Texas requiring you to post such signs. That's just bullshit.

Your words are indeed bullshit, but that wasn't what you meant, you were misrepresenting Hallux-F-Sinister's post. IOW, giving the wrong impression.

Sorry, but you're going to have to stop throwing stones when your own glass house is so easily shattered. You'll cut yourself on the shards.

You've basically just made all that shit up. The law says nothing like that; in fact it quite clearly states the opposite.

Oh, somebody quotes one portion of a law, but then fails to quote the section's of Texas Penal Code 30.06 and 30.07 which do demand these specifics:

(3) "Written communication" means:
(A) a card or other document on which is written language identical to the following: "Pursuant to Section 30.06, Penal Code (trespass by license holder with a concealed handgun), a person licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code (handgun licensing law), may not enter this property with a concealed handgun"; or
(B) a sign posted on the property that:
(i) includes the language described by Paragraph (A) in both English and Spanish;
(ii) appears in contrasting colors with block letters at least one inch in height; and
(iii) is displayed in a conspicuous manner clearly visible to the public.

Which means you've got a state-mandated standard to fulfill, if you want to post a sign, rather than personally deal with these crapsacks by telling them. Because who the fuck has time for that?

And they don't respect you because well, how dare you interfere with their precious rights. So they fucking do just what I said, because they're a bunch of gun-fags, and the police don't fucking care either. Because they're a bunch of corrupt bigots.

And then you end up in court, because some whiny gun-nut complains.

Oh sorry, you didn't realize that I knew it was a fucking legal case already. Documented and authenticated.

The sign law has nothing to do with anyone suing you and everything to do with regulating what constitutes a reasonable warning, so that you don't end up with situations where gun owners are being charged for disobeying a sign which they couldn't see.

IOW, just what Hallux-F-Sinister said. Providing Due Notice. Instead of acknowledging that, you offer your spurious objections, without apparently realizing I already caught you misrepresenting the previous poster.

Because as you've demonstrated, you're a fucking hypocritical shithead.

The thing is, the damn papers were filed in court. And not just in Texas. These kinds of things are happening in Missouri, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, North Dakota, Colorado and more. You could look them up if you wanted.

But go ahead, bury your head in the sand as you wave your pistol around. Fact is, you've got a .22 caliber mind in a .357 Magnum world. And some of us are packing real heat. We can call in a full blast from the Mark 7's off the Iowa.

And not blame it on a homosexual sailor just because some tard doesn't like the gays enough that he'll ignore the real problems.

Go watch the Caine Mutiny. Then realize at the ending, exactly who was full of crap.

About the only innocent parties were the Japanese.

He got $1.6 billion already for the wall:

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/23/donald-trump-border-wall-16-million-funding-restrictions-attached/

Illegal gun traffic goes the other way - from the US to Mexico. Which makes sense - the guns are made in the US, not Mexico.

Do any of the guns make their way back?

The answer, BTW, is "yes, yes they do, and sometimes those 'walked back' guns are used to kill American citizens."

Illegal gun traffic goes the other way - from the US to Mexico. Which makes sense - the guns are made in the US, not Mexico.

I couldn't find a good reference for "gun" violence, care to share your source?
And no, people don't always follow the law, but having a law gives you recourse, no law means no recourse.

Texas has been offering FREE voter ID cards since 2013. You're flat out wrong here. I get the whole student ID thing, because it does not necessarily prove you are a resident of Texas; for example, my wife is a student of SNHU and she has a student ID card - but we live, full time, in California and have never been to New Hampshire.

Regarding DACA, that would be heard if something wasn't done.

https://www.texastribune.org/2...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and officials from nine other states on Thursday urged the Trump administration to end an Obama-era program that’s allowed hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to live and work in the country without fear of being deported.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Paxton urged the White House to rescind the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. DACA applies to undocumented immigrants that came to the country before they were 16 years old and were 30 or younger as of June 2012. It awards recipients a renewable, two-year work permit and a reprieve from deportation proceedings.

You're telling me we should quit trying to demand abortion rights and try to get everyone on the same page first about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? .. The pro-life crowd must be opposed with legislative force, screw their beliefs.

I'm not saying you shouldn't fight; I'm saying you should begin to fight to win, instead of continuing the futile, losing strategy, which BTW, looks like it was copied from the other team's playbook. Are you sure they don't know something about the battleground that you don't? It looks like you're accepting their invitation to fight on their terms.

This matter will be settled either when a critical mass of pro-lifers die out

I think that's an unreasonably optimistic view. From what I've seen, pro-life isn't an old-people thing. Religion is taught and people are still doing it, today. Their ranks are constantly replenished, and if your idea of a good fight is in the legislature rather than in peoples' heads, then it means you are doing nothing to counter their advantage.

Look at climate change. .. uninformed voters root for their "team" and point to the charlatans, they have way too much political power

Now, c'mon, I can tell you know exactly how to fight that one; you gave it away with the word "uninformed." You know what to do, and you probably already know that you're eventually going to win. You can try the same strategy with abortion. It's harder because it's about values instead of facts, but values can be taught too. What is a person?

BTW, the ruling party in the US is the voters, really. We're just very easily manipulated, thanks to our intellectual apathy and cowardice. Arguing is exactly what is needed, so that people start voting better. Maybe you've just been arguing badly? I noticed your compelling "Bullshit, you're either being lazy or disingenuous" argument and .. if I'm going to practice what I'm trying to preach in this very paragraph .. let's just say that it revealed certain aspects of your personality which suggest you might be out-classed by most pro-lifers. But I don't think that means you shouldn't try! Practice makes perfect, after all.

No one is complaining about post-op transsexuals here. It's not about " transgender". It's about a penis in the vagina room.

I'm not sure that's true. From the bill "(1) "Biological sex" means the physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person's birth certificate."

A post-op transgender person's physical condition will not match their birth certificate. So under this law it seems a transgender person, who looks, sounds and acts like a man, should be using the women's bathroom. I'm not sure that's the outcome they are looking for.

Some people have a misconception of what a transgender person is. It's not a transvestite, or bubba from the local bar deciding he is a woman; mustache, beer gut and all. Transgender people most often look and act like the gender they identify as. That's kind of the whole point. Requiring them to use the bathroom that matches their birth certificate will result in men in the women's room, which is what this whole thing is ostensibly desinged to prevent.

If you're leaving a state that has high unemployment and a ridiculously high cost of living, amd high taxes, going to a state with low costs, high pay, amd low taxes, recognize that those conditions were created by policies.

Well, turns outs out California is doing great. Unemployment is only 4.9%, lower than Texas at 5%. What a huge difference!

Of course, Texas has a history of poverty and failing schools as well as a dangerous obsession with bathroom inspections.

Even Texas's own governor admits that the state has a problem when it comes to transportation and congestion. And in fact, the California High-Speed Rail project is not light rail, but like the Houston-Dallas link a inter-city connection.

Furthermore, no, Trumpcare does not grant states more freedom. Of course, it turns out, somebody who voted for it admitted they didn't read it.

Maybe that's your problem? You didn't read it, so you couldn't find out what was in it?

Too bad Texas is suffering from a failing education system and an obsession will bathroom inspections

Rocket scientists might just decide to stick with a state that isn't run by religious nutbars

If the GOP was dumb enough to try a coup d'etat by Constitution, they would find out that they don't run as much as they think. There is a reason why they lost the popular vote.

GOP won (by popular vote) 3/4th of state governerships.

Nope. Governorships are not allocated proportionally. Check out the raw numbers, you'll find it is a lot lower.

GOP won (by popular vote) 3/4ths of state legislatures.

Again, nope. Check out the raw numbers, it's heavily warped gerrymandering and voter discrimination. You'll have to do some work, but try the ones that have lost in court. Like North Carolina. Who also tried such a coup d'etat as already mentioned. It failed. Badly.

GOP won (by popular vote) the majority in the Congress.

Nope!

63,173,815 61,776,554 in 2016.
40,081,282 35,624,357 in 2014.
58,228,253 59,645,531 in 2012
44,827,441 38,980,192 in 2010
52,249,491 65,237,840 in 2008

Notice a pattern to it? Not quite what you think. They're still behind 2 million from 8 years ago.

GOP won (by popular vote) the majority in Senate.

Oh, you don't know how the Senate works do you? The Math works out in favor of the Democrats. By 23 million.

GOP won (via the electoral college) the Presidency.

Yes, exactly, relying on the electoral college shows where the GOP is failing.

Every election Democrats lost in 2016 except the Presidential election, was lost in a popular vote.

Oh my, you want to play that card? Turns out, that actually, when you look at the history, you're wrong. Check out the effects of gerrymandering.

Add in the illegal voter discrimination, the unlawful districts in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas, Alabama, and Florida, and the loss in their Arizona lawsuit, and it's not looking good for the GOP.

Yeah, I know you don't want to admit it, but the GOP can't afford a coup d'etat. They aren't winning. They don't have a wide swell of popular support. Frankly, they're lucky they didn't lose the popular vote for the House this time, if that had happened, they'd have really looked bad, the disproportionate representation is bad enough, but not quite

Depends on what you mean by welfare..... Free handouts for no purpose but to pay off one's supporters or buy votes? No, generally don't support that.... Free food and healthcare for abled bodied people who refuse to take responsibility? No, don't support that either and neither do most of my republican friends.

Lazy sponging disabled kids. They should pull themselves up by their bootstraps our should have considered things better before buying lousy parents.

https://www.texastribune.org/2...

That's just one example.

Supporting those who cannot work though no fault of their own and cannot support themselves? I'm good with that kind of welfare.

It really makes no difference what you claim to be for and against when you in fact vote for people who do remove welfare from people through who no fault of their own, could Newberry have supported themselves.

Not one links to an actual investigation showing proof that even a single citizen was unable to vote because of voter ID laws.

Don't, worry, the courts are blocking those impediments.

It's almost as if they're being prevented from malfeasance by some unknown means.

False. https://www.texastribune.org/2...

Unfortunately as it seems most people seem to have the same attitude as you towards "making a difference", nothing will ever change until a strong leader for change appears. Georgetown seem to have forward looking leaders. :o) http://www.texastribune.org/20...

As I read this article, I could instantly see how this looks just silly to people who populate the tech sector. It is easy to make snap judgements and laugh at the crazy, stupid, unwashed rubes living elsewhere. A wiser person would ask, "why do people in Texas feel the need to own, armor and heavy weapons? Is there something going on?

In a nut shell, people in Texas are scared. How would you feel if the Federal government were conducting war games in your state, for the express purpose of invading your ass if you get upidity? Ok, lets put it this way, remember all that awful rhetoric that rules the forums 10 years ago about how Bush was a NAZI and wanted to impose his views on you? How would you feel if he ACTUALLY then sent the U.S. army in to act out a scenario where California, Washington, and Oregon rebelled because they wanted more federal control over money, more liberal tax policies, and open borders? You see news reports about this, some blogs. You think it is crazy. Then, one day, you wake up to the awful sound of attack helicopters conducting a drill over your neighborhood. Yes, OMFG you would be crapping your pants and creating a shit-storm in the blogosphere....and you would be perfectly correct to do so.

The difference is that for all the rhetoric and sensationalizing, Bush never did such a thing. I doubt he even dreamed of it. On the other hand, Obama is conducting operation Jade Helm this summer. He HAS used the IRS to attack police enemies and change the election. He HAS threatened to shut down Texas airspace if the state passed an anti groping bill limiting the TSA from feeling up children. Admit it, under such an environment, no matter how rational you deem yourself, you would be nervous too.

The problem lies in the exaggeration of political views. In what should be a healthy debate over tax policy and building codes has turned into ball-sport where people think anyone who is not wearing your color of shirt deserves death. It is absurd. It is counter productive. It is destroying our civilization. Worse, it is very common here on good ol' slashdot. Ask yourself, have you said something like "I hate fox news?" or I hate Bush and republicans?" Hate is a very strong word. In fact, many enlightened liberals feel it is a crime. Why do you have such strong, murderous feelings over, someone who views the tax code differently than you. Isn't that a little extreme? You say you hate Fox news, and feel it is cool to say so? Why? Because you don't agree with all the viewpoints, and it challenges the narrative that you never do? Do you think the new sources you enjoy are really any less biased? Really?

I point this out because such thought is so common place on slashdot I find it heart breaking. When I first joined this forum, near 2000 it was a free and open forum where you were modded up by the strength of your argument and how well you defended it. Now, I have a troll moniker for simply not agreeing with destructive comments on the forums. If we are to survive as a society, we need to be intellectually honest. We need to face honest criticisms of our cherished beliefs with joy instead of hatred. In the crucible of conversation, we can arrive at better solutions. Living in an echo chamber or rage will lead to....

The point was, the water reservoirs could have been built with pumped storage in mind.

Well sure, if the land was a different shape...

But it isn't, so no... they couldn't have...

I'm not quite sure what is so hard to understand. Let me try simple words:

"there isn't enough water in the lake at the height that it is built to provide enough storage to be worth the trouble"

Or if they need another reservoir, they could keep that in mind.

Sure, they could... except... THERE AREN'T ANY HILLS TO BUILD THEM ON.

Sheesh...

And of course, that ignores the fact that we've been trying to build a new reservoir for 20 years now, but the problem is not technical, it is political.

http://www.texastribune.org/20...

"But environmental advocates and northeast Texas residents have argued that the Dallas-Fort Worth area needs to focus more on water conservation before embarking on expensive reservoir projects."

For frack sake, the damm enviromentalists are BLOCKING IT!

Yea, yea, conserve water, that's great. The Dallas area has added a million people in the past 15 years, but no new water sources. We'll add another million people in the next 15-20 years.

We need another reservoir, but the stupid fracking environmentalists don't want one.

This is why so many people have stopped listening to them, they are against EVERYTHING. There is no reasonable compromise with them.

I get that we need to conserve, I get that we can't just consume everything. But we have to be able to consume something. There is a happy middle ground there somewhere.

texas electric is fully within the borders of texas. not on the national grid. how can you blame texas for that?? http://www.texastribune.org/20...

I hadn't heard what you were talking about so I did this Google search which gives a lot of news media covering a study where survey results included people claiming both to be non-citizens and to have voted. I provide the link because it's entertaining (in a horrifying way) just how different the right- vs. left- wing media is covering the story. It is interesting for no other reason than that I've often seen voter ID laws attacked with the assertion that there is zero evidence of voter fraud, so it's surprising to see any evidence of voter fraud at all.

If you were paying attention, you'd see that legislation aimed at making sure that liars and illegals can't cast votes include provisions for photo IDs paid for by the state in question. Who, by the way, has no form of ID? You can't cash government checks without it. You can't use social services without ID. You can't sit at the library and use taxpayer provided computers and internet access without ID. You can't live in subsidized housing without ID, or get Medicare coverage (or Medicaid) without one. But thousands of people can cast votes without them, and millions in Colorado can now make a complete circus out of the idea.

I'm not going to address those specific reasons for needing ID, but even before that, there's a very important constitutional issue here: the 24th amendment forbids making voting a right contingent on paying a tax. Of course, it's up to the courts to decide whether the fee for government ID is a "tax", but it seems pretty absurd to claim that it isn't.

It turns out that people without ID are surprisingly common (all of the articles I could find at a quick glance were focused on Texas because their recent voter ID law has made a lot of noise). Looking for reasons why that would be the case, I find a lot of mentions of disable people who are unable to drive and people who are unable due to logistics or money* to obtain an updated ID and therefore are using an expired driver's license.

Here's a list of state ID costs from 2008. The $10.50 cost appears to still be accurate for Colorado. The situation for Maryland is more complicated. The $15 in that list matches the cost for a non-license state ID for under 18; it's $24 for over 18 but there's also a comment about it being free for people with qualifying disabilities. Anyway, food costs ~$3-5/person/day (assuming you are being careful with cost cutting and have the time to cook), so that comes out to a Colorado ID costing 2-3 person-days of food or a Maryland ID costing 5-8 person-days of food. For a poor person living paycheck-to-paycheck, that is almost certainly the computation they are making when they decide to get by without valid ID.

I don't know what makes you think that Republicans believe in pretty much any of the things you are asserting.

Go ahead and state your claim, and we'll see. So far you've earned 0 points for argument by farting upwind.

I'm up one citation on you, here's another: those officials resigned without charge, seems all them "tough on crime" Republican AGs just couldn't be assed do to jack shit. Bush's AG couldn't be bothered with it either. 3-0, suckah, show me where Republicans gave a damn about gay prison rape of boys or men.

Trillions on war in Iraq? Afghanistan? Ring any bells? Do I have to provide links to both the budgeted and non-budgeted costs of these wars? Fine then, Iraq alone totaled $823 billion up to 2011. All in all we're going to pay 4 trillion for Bush's little expedition. Damn Obummer for cutting them short!

War on drugs? Wow, where do I start? After decades of "winning" the "war on drugs" the GOP just reversed course last convention. So yeah, any day now, we'll be getting magic brownies at the local starbucks. It'll remain to be seen if they'll stay on this course, or if they'll turn their hypocrisy drive to maximum thrust and change direction again once they are in charge and are no longer using it as a states rights plank to beat Obama for refusing to stop enforcing federal law over states' legalization efforts. (I'm sure Boehner's got federal decriminalization on the agenda... somewhere.. right? Right? ... Bueller?)

While I'm on a roll, tell me, "as a Republican", which of these sentences you believe are true:

1) Unions force companies to sign contracts they can't afford.
2) Bankers force homeowners to sign contracts they can't afford.

Question 2:

Who deported more illegal immigrants? GWB or Obama? Go ahead, take your time. While you stick some plugs in to stop the smoke leaking out your ears, peruse the various tea party talking head blogs whining about how the Republicans are lenient on immigration, that might help you guess.

Lightning Round!

Who was the Republican bitch that thinks we're doing enough to deal with wrongly imprisoned innocent people, and that we should be happy to be paying our tax dollars to feed and shelter these people and paying even more tax dollars when the Republican prosecutors fighting to keep them in jail finally run out of appeals and the innocent get a huge check cut from the government? Did you answer Republican Joan Huffman? Quote: "Texas has done a really good job to do what we can to compensate exonerees". Ka-Ching! Of course, how can handing out OUR tax money give someone back those lost years of freedom and gay rape? At least the prosecutor feels terrible. Surely between feeling sad and an appointment by Republican Rick Perry he has been punished enough for obstruction of justice in a case where holding the wrong man prisoner for years allowed the criminal to kill again?

Is this, as a Democrat, actually an issue for you?

What's that? Speak up sonny, all that "with us or against us!!!1!" shouting's got my ears ringing. You saying something about how Bush should be allowed to use executive orders to stick electrodes wherever the fuck he wants and damn Congress's Constitutional mandate to regulate the armed forces?

Just look at the situation in Texas where a prosecutor who put a man away for 25 years on bogus procedures got NINE DAYS in jail. N-I-N-E.

It really pisses me off when people make extraordinary claims without providing any proof.

So here is the proof.

CA is broke.

California has a $2.4 billion surplus, about same as Texas.

So what are we going to do about it? Keep voting for republican bitches who have never met an out of control cop or prosecutor whose dick they wouldn't suck harder for being "tough on criminals"? Keep voting for liberal losers who aren't going to do a damn thing about out of control government?

Bitches like Joan Huffman (that's R for all you bitches out there who think the Republican party stands for truth and justice) back the prosecutors who pull this shit, 100%, and refuse to do a thing about it.

I fully expect the Republican party to start generating a few hundred megawatts from the spin on this. How can they back Zimmerman and be pro-apeshit prosecutors at the same time? Watch FOX at 10 to find out their "justifications"!

Most true conservatives would prefer lower taxes and the fewer services that comes with it.

The problem is that most "true conservatives" are too scared of the gays to actually do anything about it. The tea party might have gotten somewhere if they had stood on their own but it lasted just a few months before running back to the social conservatives to comfort them by telling them how gays caused all of America's problems. Apparently all deficits are caused by "Moral Decay" and as long as at least two guys are getting it on with each other, Medicare spending will continue to spiral out of control.

Gays aside, here in Texas the Republicans thump their chest about free markets and little government, but despite their unity they just can't find time to stop the government from coming in and making sure you can't buy a car on Sunday.

Indeed, it is available:
http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/government-employee-salaries/the-university-of-texas-at-austin/charles-g-groat/253140/

I don't think this this Korean stuff is much more stupid than 1/3rd of Texans believing Dino's and humans walked this planet together:
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/texans-dinosaurs-humans-walked-the-earth-at-same/

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/higher-education/tuition-rising-fast-while-state-support-drops/

This is happening in every state.

Texas' support for colleges has gone into the crapper too.

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/higher-education/tuition-rising-fast-while-state-support-drops/

They are in a death spiral. Large percentage of min wage jobs isn't going to generate the revenue needed to support the education needed to move up the economic curve.

Don't feel bad - lots of states have that problem right now. It's going to take some serious priority setting to fix.

Meanwhile in China, students are learning.

...learning the version of history approved by their government

It's indeed fortunate that history is taught objectively and neutrally in the US

Just to chime in on this point, from what I've heard (I've never looked it up myself) the city in Texas I lived while I was in high school (late '90s, early 2000s) and where my parents are still living has the highest concealed carry per capita in the entire state, and also has the lowest violent crimes rate per capita in the entire state.

I did look it up.

What you say is very plausible, because what the linked article says is that the wealthiest districts have the highest rate of concealed carry licenses. There's less crime in wealthy neighborhoods.

Perry wants to repeal the 16th & 17th amendments (source his 2010 book).

Nothing wrong with that. There are perfectly legal ways to reverse amendments. It's even been done when the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment. I also happen to agree with his assessment.

You think the economy is in a bad way now and congress is controlled by mega-corps? - What will it look like when the feds can't collect income taxes and senators are appointed rather than elected? Also, Perry's recent "pray for rain day" stunt makes a mockery of the 1st.

The federal government still has means for raising funds. And any state can choose to elect its senators rather than appoint them. As to Perry's prayer stunt, you'd have to show first that it violates the First Amendment in some way. Let's look at the wording of the proclamation in question:

I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal and robust way of life.

He doesn't specify a particular religion, so the Establishment clause isn't violated. And advocating general religious action is protected by the Free Exercise clause of the same amendment. So I reach a contrary conclusion, namely, that Perry's proclamation, stunt though it may be, is protected speech under the First Amendment.

Bachman wants to disband the federal reserve and replace it with...I don't know...fairy dust? I don't think she even understands the constitution since her light bulb bill would have required Congress to trample all over the executive branch's enumerated powers.

Fairy dust may well be an adequate replacement for the Federal Reserve, and cheaper too. I'm greatly displeased by their current "quantitative easing" strategy. It looks to me to primarily be a means for transferring public funds to weak banks, by buying their weaker bonds and through handling fees for the brokers delegated to actually making the purchases.

As to the light bulb bill, it's a subtle constitutional point that offices of the legislative branch cannot in any way contribute to administration of the law. Yes, it does indicate a serious problem with Bachman's understanding of the constitution, which is particularly relevant due to her current political stance, but you exaggerate its importance (ie, it doesn't "trample" all over the executive branch's powers).

These people may call themselves âoeconstitutional conservativesâ, but from my vantage point they walk and talk like extremists.

So what? I don't value your perception. You obviously have an axe to grind.

Check, your move.

Not so much, they moved off that square a long time ago. Now they're comparing the TSA to Nazis and in Texas they tried to pass state legislation to ban the TSA groping searches.

By the way, the current head of the TSA is an Obama appointee. Check.

They also have a much less-fuzzy presence, in the sense of an actual office with employees, via a wholly owned subsidiary (i.e. shell company) in California, but I suppose that's another issue. Texas is going after them for similar shell-company games.

and they in turn may sue you for any reason they wish. .

Not if Governor Rick Perry gets his "Loser Pays" wish:

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/2010-texas-governors-race/perry-says-the-state-needs-more-tort-reform/

All those apply to Texas and yet Texas is not bankrupt and is doing far better than California.

Wrong. Texas is also going belly-up. And since they have a smaller budget and a smaller economy to begin with, it's going to get really ugly in Texas really fast.

A budget shortfall as high as $25 billion is projected as lawmakers head into the 2011 legislative session, according to estimates from economists and the comptroller's office.

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-taxes/2011-budget-shortfall/

There is a reason the rich are rich. They are smarter then the poor people.

God I wish I had mod points on this thread, because this is literally stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard in my life. So I guess that means you're a homeless person then?

Yeah, just like this: http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/government-employee-salaries/the-university-of-texas-at-austin/

Steven Weinberg (nobel prize winning physicist) $391,791
Mack Brown (a fucking football coach) $2,511,667

'It's an absolute disaster. It's impossible to tell who was kidding and who wasn't,' Curtis said."

Well, that is if the site works at all.

Voting is broken. Often. It breaks randomly. It is broken more often than not.

Commenting is broken. Often, and it's random. Sometimes you can comment one second, and then be utterly unable to comment the next, and you don't know until you hit "submit" and the comment just doesn't take.

These two things make the site more unreliable than a Commodore 64 BBS running off of a pair of 1541 drives. It is literally painful to use.

Now add to this censorship.

The censorship is ridiculous. People are reduced to leet-speak or "creative spacing" for words like "homosexuality" which occurs more than once in the Texas Republican Party Platform. Perfectly ordinary words are verboten. It's not just profanity that's filtered, it's ordinary English words, so much so that sometimes one can't tell *which* secret word is preventing a posting. One can spend 15 minutes rewording and still be unable to post.

Chris is not sure who is kidding and who isn't

Curtis hasn't read the Texas Republican Party Platform, a mishmash of xenophobia, self-contradiction, homophobia, and some real tinfoil-hat craziness (read the bit about RFID and GPS). If you had never known that the document itself was real, you'd assume it was parody. Poe's law.

http://static.texastribune.org/media/documents/FINAL_2010_STATE_REPUBLICAN_PARTY_PLATFORM.pdf

Go ahead, read it. I dare you. I will bet you cannot make it to page 3 without saying "Wait, what? What the FUCK is this?"

If the national GOP is influenced by the Texas GOP, which is likely - as Texas goes, so does the national GOP, the GOP is looking at a good 40 years in the wilderness.

But I've digressed. Back to Americaspeakingout.com:

The actual good trolls that can be mistaken for loons are few and far between. The real whackos can be identified because they are so darned *earnest* in their opinions - humorless regurgitations of misunderstood and broken philosophy. Reposted ad-infinitum.

The current "most active member" aka "newmoon" is a barely literate bible thumpin' copy-pasta machine. Anything more than 3 lines is copy-pasted from elsewhere, anything from creationist screeds to political nuttery with nothing so much resembling a source url. He and his compatriots, many of whom are less intelligent, are the most prolific. Per capita, the amount of bovine excrement generated by them is astounding. Do not try to debate with them. They are fractally wrong.

Like Curtis, I don't see anything good being extracted from the pile of manure that is americaspeakingout.com. It is technologically broken (the dialog boxes even accept pure html - let your mind run wild with the implications) and it is lacking in any kind of design that promotes discussion and debate. Add to this the low quality of posters, the lack of intelligent posters, and the troll accounts, and you've got ... something that needs to be hosed away.

It is an *utter failure* of a website. As I said above, a BBS from the early 1980s would run rings around it.

--
BMO

As long as other states are diligent in reviewing and specifying their standards I don't believe anyone needs to be concerned about the Texas standard making into other states curriculum. The Texas Tribune has an article where the textbook publishers were contacted and they confirmed that the claim saying Texas determines the content of other state's books is an urban myth.

But it is a sad day for the future students in Texas who will now have to endure indoctrination within their state and ridicule outside their state.

Huh? People are saying this is a bad idea without knowing this has been happening for years?! Most people in the know already ugh.. "know" this, but we don't say anything because we're kooks and conspiracy theorists. DNA Deception

Where did you read that they were storing cord blood? The article says blood spots.