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Nitwit East Texas congressman thinks someone cares about his opinion

Once upon a time I lived in what is now the U.S. House of Representatives district held by one Louie Gohmert. Now I can’t claim to be substantially represented by our current but outgoing Republican Congressman Ted Poe. Both Gohmert and Poe are publicity-seeking demagogues whose beds rest in the nuttiest of the nut-wing portion of the GOP. Of the two politicians, Poe is maybe the least abrasive, somewhat tempered perhaps by his years serving as a Houston district judge. Poe was moved to another district through Texas legislative redistricting. Our current district which includes the upper Texas Coast will be held by another Republican, Randy Weber, who will take a redrawn district formerly held by Ron Paul.

Weber had served in the Texas House prior to beating former Democrat U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson in this month’s General Election. Other than Weber being a Republican state lawmaker and winning over a choice I had favored for Congress, I have no knowledge about our new congressman. I have no reason for high hopes with Weber though because it seems every Texas Republican who has been elected to Congress within the last 20 years has been a dud.

This brings me back to Gohmert.The “good” Congressman gained quite a bit of notoriety during the last couple of years because of his spouting ridiculous ideas such as ones that so-called “terror babies” posed a threat to our national security. This stupidity which was a variation on the theme of “anchor babies” — babies born to illegal immigrants and brought to the U.S. to secure legal immigration — but were supposedly babies whose terrorist parents sought a foothold in the country due to the legalities of the 14th Amendment.

The terror baby theory is just one among the rampant absurdities Gohmert has spewed in the national media. Other comments included his opinion that the mass shootings at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater in July 2012 was due to the nation’s lack of Judeo-Christian values and the lack of concealed handguns.

Now, on this very day, a Huffington Post article says Gohmert blasted House leaders for not taking the lead in the “fiscal cliff” debate. The Texas congressman foresees most of the rich Americans moving out of the U.S. if all of the Bush tax cuts are not extended. Why anyone would pay heed to Gohmert, a monumental waste of U.S. congressional space, is beyond me.

These are the type of ignorant rednecks we have representing Texas in Congress. There is no proof to anything that Gohmert says about the tax or any other subject. Perhaps he means that he will leave the U.S. if these tax cuts are not maintained. That would perhaps be the first positive accomplished by Gohmert and his cohorts in their years of government service.

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Top 10 bills to follow in the 2013 Texas Lege reduced by 7

Austin television station KXAN has an interesting Top 10 list of proposed bills to follow in the 2013 Texas legislative session. Some are downright playing-to-the-right-wing-base ignorant. Here are my top five from that list:

1. Drug testing for welfare — There will be no epidemic of poor folks using drugs by the time this bill, filed by GOP Sen. Jane Nelson of Flower Mound, passes than there is now. It’s a “feel-good” elixir for the right wing. It’s demagoguery plain and simple.

2. Ten Commandments in Class — Republican Rep. Dan Flynn of Van wants copies of the Ten Commandments placed in “prominent” places in the classroom. I’ve got nothing against the Ten Commandments, but they violate laws separating church and state. This will wind up in court(s) and cost the taxpayers untold dollars while losing the case.

3. TSA Anti-groping — It could only be a guess but I bet when the Twin Towers et. al. came down on 9/11 probably some of those hollering the loudest for the federal government to stop such a thing from happening were some of our friends on the right. And on the left. We have security now in airports and many think they are too important to be inconvenienced by precautions which often leads to them getting groped in the first place. Yes, it might be random. So what? You don’t have to fly. GOP Rep. David Simpson of Longview tried to pass this last session and Gov. Good Hair had it brought up in Special Session. Jeez, prohibit TSA groping? Can we also prohibit Fox News?

Well, I only got to three that were out-of-the-Solar-System-Stupid. That doesn’t mean the remainder are all winners, or losers for that matter.

–Open Carry — Republican Rep. George Lavender of Texarkana may file a bill similar to one he pushed last time which would allow those holding licenses to carry a concealed handgun to optionally carry the weapon in the open. I’ve often thought that this made more sense than allowing concealed carry only. At least if someone is openly carrying a gun one can see it and do all that is possible to either ignore that person or make sure that you have something twice that person’s firepower. No seriously, I don’t know but the proposal seems to have some good points as well as bad ones. I know a lot of folks who would like guns outlawed. I can see how that would be a good thing in a different world. We are unfortunately stuck with the world we have.

— Texting while driving. The GOP former House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland is pushing this bill, which Good Hair vetoed, again. It needs to be not only passed, but signed by our idiot governor.

–Tuition freeze. Dan Branch, the Republican House member from Dallas wants college tuition in state institutions frozen for students for four years from the time they enter school. UT Austin currently freezes tuition for two years. This is to encourage finishing in four years. I think this is a good idea, perhaps with a fifth year available in emergency situations.

–SJR 6 — Casino and slot gambling. Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and others want a constitutional amendment to let voters decide whether a small number of casinos should be allowed in Texas. Limited numbers of slot and video gambling machines at horse tracks would be allowed as would gambling at the state’s Indian reservations. I have no moral reservations about this, pardon the pun. I wonder if it can pass what with surrounding states and the large gambling interests behind those states.

–The rest — I have no opinion on the other bills listed. You can read them your own-self.

 

 

 

 

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My name is Suh! How do you do? Hi Mr. Suh, are you wearing a Kevlar cup?

A mind-numbing day has it been. Anytime that I must pay more than $700 to repair my 20th century automobile I must classify the day as something or the other. But alas, I finally have my elderly truck back in my loving arms, so …

It might be too late to discuss something that happened on Thanksgiving but here goes. Did you see Detroit Lions tackle Ndamukong Suh kick Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in the nuts during the game on Thanksgiving? (Warning: Watching it could make one writhe in sympathy.)

Suh has the reputation now as being one of, if not the. dirtiest NFL players. All you have to do watch this one to get the — ooooh — drift.

But the NFL says they won’t suspend Suh, as they should, although they might fine him. I think what the most fitting punishment would be to tie up Mr. Suh in the middle of the field and have some of the league’s best kickers take turns whacking him in the privates. Well, that would be a little rough, plus he already has enough punishment playing for Detroit.

Enough of that. On to my thoughts about how Houston played. Well, the Texans played good enough to win in overtime. But wait, didn’t we see that in their victory over Jacksonville?

It definitely shows another side to Houston when they come back to win in overtime. But methinks that maybe the Texans shouldn’t have been stuck in the same situation being down. Plus, the Texans have had Red Zone trouble since Wide Track was a pup. (Okay, only those from a certain area might be familiar with that one.)

Next up for Houston, Tennessee. We hate the Titans. Why Texans? Because we once had a little team called the Oilers and this vile, vile man named Bud took our beloved Oilers to Tennessee. Bud will forever remain vile of the vilest. We can have no OT. Only beat the crap out of the Titans.

If you come back sometime later, you might just find how I really feel!

 

 

 

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An open letter to the rest of America on the Texas secession issue

Dear Fellow Americans,

By now you may have heard of a petition addressed to the White House “We the People” Web site that seeks a peaceful withdrawal of Texas from the United States of America. The site allows petitions that upon reaching the threshold of 25,000 names may be reviewed and given an official response. As of this afternoon almost 82,000 names have been posted.

As a Texan and one who supported President Obama and his re-election I wanted to say publicly and in the best manner a lifelong Texas boy can convey that this whole petition business is a total, 100 percent crock of bullshit.

Those who push the petition, as if it would ever receive any official presidential consideration, have missed the exit for Make-Believe World and are headed for a rapid trip to Delusional City. Why would people who are ticked off due to the election sign a petition to the President? It is his election to begin with that has wound up tightly these people who fancy themselves Texas nationalists. If many thousands of those who put their names on the petition were honest with the rest of us and themselves, their main reason for such a notion is the fact that the President is an African-American. To be exact, he is half black African and half white American, that equals ta-da! an African-American.

The petition “cites blatant abuses” of rights such as the “NDAA, the TSA, etc.” No specific abuses are cited for the condemnation of what I suppose is the National Defense Authorization Act or the Transportation Security Agency. Many of the worries are based on what is heard from the right-wing propaganda machine such as Fox News. Nevertheless, plenty of fanciful rhetoric is spouted on the Texas Nationalist Movement Web site which sees the United States government handing over the keys to the kingdom of Texas and saying “here you go!”

All of this is beyond ludicrous. We will not secede. Even our hare-brained Gov. Good Hair Perry doesn’t advocate such malarkey. He likely only brought it up as a means of snaring some of our nuttier voters for his god-awful presidential campaign. You see where such talk got him.

Face reality, those of you who think breaking off from the United States is a good idea. Any treasonous move to split our country would be met with sharp resistance. As it gradually sinks in that the election is over and Barack Obama won, I imagine such fanciful talking will be much more subdued. I hope so at least.

We Texans are a proud bunch. Yes, I know we can be obnoxious braggarts. But I suspect probably the majority of us also feel equally proud and protective of our country. Yesterday I saw that pride and that love of country reflected in those of us veterans who were graciously served a free meal for Veterans Day by Golden Corral. Vets from Vietnam and World War II as well as peacetime veterans sat by me at my table and not a one, not even the elderly gent from the second World War, failed to stand and salute during the National Anthem.

I also would be willing to bet that most Texans love their state and all of its beauty: From the mountains to the Pineywoods, to the Gulf; to the prairies and to the brush country. But we likewise love the surf of San Diego County, the majestic Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Gateway Arch of St. Louis, the brass of New Orleans, the multicolored splendor of New England falls and on and on.

I won’t apologize for being a Texan. I will not even apologize for the idiots who believe this great state should break away from this wonderful nation. But I stress that most of us are not like those who are so deluded they probably need some drugs. Come see us in Texas. We’ll have a good time. We’re all Americans here.

Yours truly,

Dick of EFD

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Sick, sick, sick of it

Bill Clinton was in town last night but he didn’t stop by to see me. The former president did mix and mingle with about 3,500 folks at the Lamar University baseball field, according to local media reports. The visit wasn’t about the presidential race though. Clinton was here to get out votes for Democrat Nick Lampson who is running in the Texas 14th Congressional District contest.

If you’ve read this blog before you might have heard of Lampson. He is the former county tax assessor-collector here in Jefferson County and served twice in Congress. Twice the Democrat has served in Congress, once representing the district that had long been held by the infamous dancing crook Tom DeLay.

 Lampson is in what some polls show as a dead-heat right now, much like polls that characterize the presidential race in the same manner. I don’t like it, these close-as-cousin races. I used to like the excitement of a close race as long as it was for candidates with whom I had a marginal relationship. I also don’t mind my favorite football teams playing close, at least until they gear up for a comeback.

I’ve grown tired of the closeness, or at least perceived closeness of this presidential election. It’s non-stop election everywhere you look on cable and very few humorous TV commercials are presented, showing that we have become a nation that has lost its humor as well as its mind (I’m refer to a recent propensity over the years of electing dunderheaded Republicans to high office.)

Yes, I t hink I can finally say that I am sick and tired of this s**t. I will leave the letters blanked even though I think the president deserves to call a bullshitter a bullshitter every now and then! Oh and spare me the outrage you self-righteous sons of bitches. Yeah, I talk to you Ari Fleshier! Ari was noting his disdain for the president’s off-color remark while the illustrious VP with whom Ari dropped the “F-bomb” on a distinguished U.S. Senator on the Senate floor. So there!