Because there's ALWAYS somebody who's just gotta pee in the pickle barrel.

Because... I dunno... Benghazi...

Hah! Makes me want to do it, too, just to spite them!

Back atcha, sweetie!

This. ^^^^

True enough. In MANY respects.

DU: !!!

Well, those others also. They were DUIs too, and just as capable of reckless killing.

But they weren't threatened or leaned on - to resign. Ol ricky boy probably just snickered and gave 'em the "boys will be boys" treatment. To her, not so much.

And then, of course, there's this, too:

And as it just so happens, Ms. Lehmberg was investigating Perry’s office for possible corruption charges during the time of her DUI. Which is where the real heart of this entire story lies. Because had she resigned from her position at the TCPI, Rick Perry would have been the person who chose her replacement.

Makes a whole lotta difference, doesn't it? Installing one of his little pals in her place might make it awfully easy to turn that corruption probe into a little puff of smoke just vaporizing into the air and vanishing without a trace...

NICE. Thanks for bringing that up, Playinghardball! What a great story - about a great man.

I hope it becomes more widely known, because that might inspire others of his peers (and others just in general) to do likewise. USE YOUR GIFTS. Use them for good. USE them for the greater good. Then we all become richer.

Actually, that's a really good point, 1StrongBlackMan.

And you're correct. I have indeed had another version of "that" talk with our daughter. Our son got similar guidelines - they both went to karate class in the neighborhood, starting when they were very young. Our daughter went on to excel in a high school self-defense course, and a LOT of her karate instruction fed into that rather effectively. So, true, I wanted her cautioned.

We STILL give a slightly different version of "that" talk to the boys every time they go out on tour. My best friend's son is the band's tour manager. And my friend is SUPER worried about this one. But it's TOTALLY different - although in one way BOTH those talks have to do with the sanctity of a young woman's body. The daughter got the "here's how you avoid or thwart the rape/rapist." The son got a two-pronged talk - first, how you understand the word "NO," AND in second, the event of a "YES," how you protect your young love interest from getting pregnant. How YOU do it, YOU take the responsibility. YOU - um - "dress it up" before you enter. YOU put on the so-called glove. YOU take the preventive steps. YOU make sure the precautions are taken. YOU man up And. Take. Responsibility.

In another respect, both our kids also were instructed about proper conduct around police, not getting in trouble, not looking for trouble, not being nogoodniks. Like defensive driving or preventive maintenance.

It's a version of "that" talk, alright. But it's still quite different than the one you 1SBM find yourself needing to give to the young ones in your orbit. It could be ANY of our children, regardless of color, who could easily find themselves at the wrong end of a rogue cop encounter in this day and age. I'm sure police are on eggshells all over the country as they are compelled to be mindful of civil liberties, extreme-versus-unnecessary use of force, and other issues. I'm sure THEY are getting their own version of "that" talk, too.

But the facts and the statistics are still hard to get around, deny, or obfuscate. It's DRAMATICALLY more hazardous for a young black man or woman leaving the safety of his/her home every day to go out into the community or the larger world - than when a young white man or woman does so. DRAMATICALLY different. Here in SoCal and other places, that danger also applies to young brown men and women and what they face. Whites don't ever deal with much of that, either.

WHO said we were post-racial here in America? Well, I'm one who perhaps naively hoped so - with the election of Barack Obama to the highest office in the land. I assumed by that fact that we had indeed turned a page as a country. This supposedly was proof. How wrong I was. Hell, I should have known but I was so eager to embrace the idea of change and evolution and true social progress - which we NEED to see in this country!!! What's happening in Ferguson just underscores how badly we need that, how urgently we all need to grow up and get past this prejudice, Get OVER It. Grow up, move forward, and just frickin' GET OVER IT. LET IT GO, dammit! This is the 21st Century forcryingoutloud! And as you've undoubtedly seen here and elsewhere, 1SBM, we as women are still making that point - about the very sanctity of our own bodies! In this SAME 21st Century forcryingoutloud.

Here's my favorite photo again, and it sure speaks for me:

[IMG][/IMG]

Answer - probably more of the same absolute total allegedly "red-white-&-blue all-American" shit.

I can hear it now. Already. I've realized especially over the past six years that I am learning to expect the least, and the worst, out of far too many of my fellow Americans. Every time I think we've begun to outgrow some of this stupid, disgraceful shit, I turn out to be wrong. Sometimes I guess we just have to force change on our country. To the racists out there, closeted or not, I would say I don't give a rat's ass about whether you don't like it that there's a black guy in the Oval Office and he isn't the janitor. Don't care that you don't like it. GET OVER IT. It's gonna happen sooner or later - and it HAS. You don't like it? TOO DAMN BAD. Things CHANGE. And if you don't like it that a woman sits behind the Resolute Desk next round, tough shit. You don't like it? TOO DAMN BAD. Things CHANGE. And THIS is gonna happen, TOO. Sooner or later. Whether you like it or not.

Heck, I don't like getting older. And that's tough shit for me. It's gonna happen ANYWAY, whether I like it or not. And I don't think I should have to accept it, either, but regardless how hard I fight it, how many facelifts I might think I need, how much Botox or tummy tucks or whatever, Things CHANGE. And I'm gonna get older ANYWAY. It's gonna happen. Sooner or later.

These folks who dig in their heels have to get it through their heads sooner or later. Things CHANGE. Things EVOLVE. Nothing stays the same. That's just how life is. The Earth TURNS. It does not stay static. It moves. That movement causes change. That movement IS change. Change is a universal. And a non-negotiable. You're FAR better off accepting it, moving with it, flowing with it. EVOLVING with it. And for those who don't want to, who insist on stopping the clock, rolling back time, going backwards toward some way they THINK things used to be or should have been, TOO DAMN BAD. That's what IS. Whether you like it or not.

America is evolving as a country. That's what IS. Whether you like it or not.
America is no longer gonna be a majority Anglo country. That's just what IS. Whether you like it or not, or anybody else likes it or not.
And if you don't like it, I'm afraid that's just tough. And I don't care that you don't like it. Whether you like it or not is IRRELEVANT.

The best, actually the ONLY thing, that you can effectively do about it is GET OVER IT.

Really lovely tribute.

Seriously lovely.