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The more of this story that I read, the more I laughed. This would be a far better country if this were the rule instead of the exception.

http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/texas-toast-el-paso-church-loses-legal-case-over-political-intervention

For the nanny wall impaired.

An El Paso church's brazen effort to remove the mayor and two members of the city council has been brought to a screeching halt.

The political drama in the west Texas town started last summer when Pastor Tom Brown of Word of Life Church issued a politically charged email to the community. Brown, who sent the email under the guise of his Tom Brown Ministries, attacked El Paso Mayor John Cook and El Paso City Council Members Steve Ortega and Susie Byrd because the three voted to extend health-care benefits to domestic partners.

Brown then joined forces with a group called El Pasoans for Trad­i­tional Family Values (EPFTFV) and announced he would recall Cook, Ortega and Byrd. His ministry's website posted an "Open Letter to City Council" that said in part, "If you are up­set at this action and would like to sign and/or circulate a recall petition against Mayor John Cook and Rep­resen­tatives Susie Byrd and Steve Or­tega, then fill out the form below. Share this page with your friends and get them to fill out the form. Thanks."

Brown's church and ministry essentially organized and coordinated the recall campaign, taking the lead role in circulating petitions. The church gathered enough signatures to put the matter on the ballot, but Brown overlooked one thing: Texas election laws prohibit corporations (which includes non-profit groups) from intervening in elections.

County Court Judge Javier Alvarez had earlier ruled that the church and EPFTFV had broken the law, but he refused to stop the election, arguing it would thwart the will of the people.

The Texas 8th Court of Appeals was not impressed with this curious logic. Ruling unanimously, the court slammed Alvarez and made it clear that the state's laws must be enforced.

"Despite having viewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court's order and indulging every reasonable inference in its favor, we find the trial court's order denying injunctive relief is so arbitrary as to exceed the bounds of reasonable discretion," wrote the judges.

The appeals court added, "It is essential to the independence of the judiciary and public confidence in the judicial process that a judge be faithful to the law and not be swayed by public clamor or fear of criticism. It is significant, we think, that the trial court lost sight of the fact that a proper application of the law to the facts in this case does not act to bar voters from properly exercising their right to seek a recall of elected office holders, provided that such right is exercised in accordance with the provisions of the Election Code."

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a Religious Right legal organization founded by television and radio preachers in the early 1990s, jumped into the case on behalf of Brown's church. Joel Oster, the ADF attorney who handled the lawsuit, didn't comment after the ruling came down, and the two local attorneys who worked on it, Theresa Caballero and Stuart Leeds, hung up on an El Paso Times reporter who called asking for comment.

The bombastic Brown attacked the appeals court and is vowing to appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, but Mark Walker, Cook's attorney, thinks it's unlikely that the state high court will hear the matter. Walker noted that the Texas Supreme Court usually hears cases only if the lower court was split or if lower courts have issued conflicting rulings on a legal question.

"My analysis is it can't be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court," Walker told the Times. He called the ruling "a victory for the rule of law."

Brown's troubles may not over. He could get slapped with a bill for Cook's legal fees, which have topped a quarter of a million dollars. Furthermore, violations of the Texas election law can result in criminal penalties. Jaime Esparza, the local district attorney, is investigating that aspect of things.

Finally, Americans United last year asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Brown's partisan political activities and, if he is found in violation of the law, to revoke his ministry's tax-exempt status.

It sounds like Brown has stepped into quite a tar pit. Maybe all of this political intervention by a church might not have been a good idea after all.

on the KU boards, Fred Phelps is dead. Unconfirmed at this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU76ufhZbdE

[Old School]

New Mexico rocks official corruption Old School!

In July 2011, Columbus dissolved its police force, due to a gun smuggling scandal that involved its village officials and others. The Mayor, a village trustee, a former police chief, and nine other people were indicted in the scandal. The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney from El Paso, Texas, but the case will be tried starting October 3, 2011 before United States District Court Judge Robert Brack in Las Cruces, New Mexico

Sucks.

Perusing the menu last night and "New Arrivals" dated back as far as 1998!

Good night Mr. Davis. Thanks for some great football, sleep well.

The Oakland Raiders say longtime owner and Hall of Famer Al Davis has died. He was 82.

Davis, one of the most important figures in NFL history, is best known as a rebel, a man who established a team whose silver-and-black colors and pirate logo symbolized his attitude toward authority, both on the field and off.

It was Davis' rebellious spirit, that willingness to buck the establishment, that helped turn the NFL into the establishment in sports – the most successful sports league in American history.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/08/al-davis-dead-radiers-owner-nfl_n_1001379.html

Pleasepleasepleaseplease let this happen.

We all know the president, whomever it may be is not our pal, buddy and friend. So I think the gods should at least give us this trinket to enjoy.

The racists reactions alone would guarantee many months of laughter.

My disability claim has been approved, effective March 25, 2010. Took a year and a half, but dam, this feels good!

Get back to work DP, I need my checks! 

Who are the terrorists now?


It was first reported in January of last year that the Obama administration had compiled a hit list of American citizens whom the President had ordered assassinated without any due process, and one of those Americans was Anwar al-Awlaki.  No effort was made to indict him for any crimes (despite a report last October that the Obama administration was "considering" indicting him).  Despite substantial doubt among Yemen experts about whether he even has any operational role in Al Qaeda, no evidence (as opposed to unverified government accusations) was presented of his guilt.  When Awlaki's father sought a court order barring Obama from killing his son, the DOJ argued, among other things, that such decisions were "state secrets" and thus beyond the scrutiny of the courts.  He was simply ordered killed by the President: his judge, jury and executioner.  When Awlaki's inclusion on President Obama's hit list was confirmed, The New York Times noted that "it is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing."

After several unsuccessful efforts to assassinate its own citizen, the U.S. succeeded today (and it was the U.S.).  It almost certainly was able to find and kill Awlaki with the help of its long-time close friend President Saleh, who took a little time off from murdering his own citizens to help the U.S. murder its.  The U.S. thus transformed someone who was, at best, a marginal figure into a martyr, and again showed its true face to the world.  The government and media search for The Next bin Laden has undoubtedly already commenced.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/09/30/awlaki?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+salon%2Fgreenwald+%28Glenn+Greenwald%29