KKK recruiting in Texas, says government wants to “silence the word of God on gay marriages"

Michigan won't recognize same-sex marriages performed last weekend

Source: AP

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan won’t recognize more than 300 same-sex marriages performed last weekend before a court halted a decision that opened the door to gay nuptials, Gov. Rick Snyder said Wednesday.

The announcement came a day after an appeals court indefinitely stopped any additional same-sex marriages. It will likely take months for the court to make its own judgment about whether a Michigan constitutional amendment that says marriage only is between a man and a woman violates the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman struck down the gay marriage ban Friday.

Four counties took the extraordinary step of granting licenses Saturday before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a temporary halt. The stay was extended indefinitely on Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20140326-michigan-won-t-recognize-same-sex-marriages-performed-last-weekend.ece

Cowboys player Henry Melton sues Grapevine bar, others over brawl

DALLAS — Newly signed Dallas Cowboy Henry Melton is suing the owner of a Grapevine bar and several others over a physical confrontation that resulted in the football player’s arrest during the Christmas holidays last year.

Melton, a defensive tackle who stands about six feet three and weighs about 300 pounds, contends in his countersuit that he was the victim of the attack, that a racial epithet was used and that a representative of the bar’s owner tried to extort money from him. The legal action was filed Tuesday.

“This case is nothing short of a shakedown and desire for a golden meal ticket,” Melton’s lawsuit contends.

The player’s lawsuit seeks damages that include past and future lost wages and past and future loss of earning capacity. He names the bar’s owner, Donald Payne; Payne’s brother, Robert; the bartender, Christopher Kummer; a bouncer and an off-duty police officer hired to help with security that night as defendants.

More at http://www.wfaa.com/sports/Dallas-Cowboys-Henry-Melton-sues-Grapevine-bar-others-over-brawl-252476871.html .

So if I'm a Church of the Subgenius Employer can I require my employees

to worship Jehovah 1 and uphold the values of the group?



This message brought to you by J. R. "Bob" Dobbs.



Five specific commands particularly embody the group's values.

The first command is to shun regular employment and stop working. This encapsulates the Church's view that to repent is to "SLACK OFF" (sic),[38] in opposition to the idea of working for a living.[19] SubGenius leaders state that it is permissible for members to collect public assistance in lieu of maintaining employment.[38]

The second command is to purchase products that are sold by the Church, which its leaders teach was founded by Dobbs to gain wealth.[40] Unlike most religious groups, the Church is for-profit.[17] Cusack sees the instruction to buy as an ironic parody of the "greed is good" mentality of the 1980s,[38] and Kirby notes that although the group emphasizes "the consumption of popular cultural artefacts", this consumption is "simultaneously de-emphasized by the processes of remix".[41]

The third command is to rebel against "law and order": specifically, the Church condemns security cameras and encourages computer hacking. Cusack notes that this instruction recalls Robert Anton Wilson's critique of law and order.

The fourth command is to rid the world of everyone who did not descend from Yetis.[38] SubGenius leaders teach that Dobbs hopes to rid the Earth of 90 percent of humanity, making the Earth "clear".[40] The group praises drug abuse and abortion as effective methods of culling unneeded individuals.

The fifth command is to exploit fear, specifically that of individuals who are part of the conspiracy. Church leaders teach that members of the conspiracy fear SubGenius devotees.[38]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_SubGenius

Family of teen injured in 'affluenza' crash to pursue civil trial

BURLESON — A 13-year-old boy says he’s still trying to make sense of a deadly wreck caused by a 16-year-old drunken driver whose defense infamously argued he suffered from “affluenza.”

Lucas McConnell, who was injured in the crash, spoke briefly Wednesday at a news conference organized by his family’s attorney, who announced that he’ll pursue a civil trial of Ethan Couch’s family.

Couch was given probation last year after admitting to killing four people on a dark, remote North Texas road while driving a pickup truck drunk and with drugs in his system.

The McConnell family’s attorney, Todd Clement, said he intends to take the testimony of Couch and his parents, Fred and Tonya.

More at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20140326-family-of-teen-injured-in-affluenza-crash-to-pursue-civil-trial.ece .

I didn't think opting out of testing would be a big deal; boy, was I wrong

Deciding to opt my two daughters out of Colorado standardized testing seemed like a no-brainer. We aren’t permanent Colorado residents—we’re just here for one academic year while I’m a visiting professor at the University of Denver. My daughters, ages 13 and 14, are strong students. My husband and I see no educational benefit to the tests. My younger daughter experienced some serious test anxiety a couple of years back when taking Pennsylvania’s standardized tests.

And honestly, given three things—that, according to what a school administrator told me, Colorado law allows parents to refuse the testing on behalf of their children; that the testing enrollment forms include an option to “refuse testing”; and that we currently live in Boulder, one of the most liberal, individualistic towns in America—we truly didn’t think this would be a big deal.

Boy, were we wrong.

On Monday, about 15 minutes after I sent an email to the guidance counselors at the public high school and middle school informing them that I was opting my two daughters out, I got a call from the middle-school principal. I don’t know about you, but I can never get anyone from school to call me back in under a day or so. But here was the principal herself, instantaneously calling me in response to an email that I hadn’t even sent to her.

More at http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20140326-i-didn-t-think-opting-out-of-testing-would-be-a-big-deal-boy-was-i-wrong.ece .

Governor Rick Perry: Focus on Equal Pay is "Nonsense"

Last week, the issue of equal pay came to the forefront of the Texas governor's race. Not only did Republican surrogates say that women were "bad negotiators" who are ""too busy for equal pay, Greg Abbott's practice of paying women less than men came to light.

The latest Republican man to lend his unhelpful opinion to the issue of equal pay is Governor Rick Perry. Speaking on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" yesterday, Perry declared that focusing on equal pay in the governor's race is "nonsense" because there are already laws in place to deal with the issue.

If Perry had been paying attention to what is going on in his home state, he might have realized that those already-existing laws aren't exactly working as well as he thinks they are--on average, Texas women still make only 79 cents to every dollar a man makes.

It's clear that Perry, like the many other Texas Republicans, is out of touch with the issues Texas women face. But that hasn't stopped him from continuing to offensively speak out against equal pay.

More at http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/15006/governor-rick-perry-focus-on-equal-pay-is-nonsense .

Police: Up to 28 people held captive in Austin trailer

AUSTIN — Austin police say they’ve broken what they suspect was one of the biggest human smuggling operations the city had seen in recent years, holding as many as 28 adults against their will in a trailer.

Assistant Police Chief Troy Gay says a tip led officers to the trailer Tuesday afternoon in a mobile home park in southeast Austin. A police tactical squad arrived and found 28 adults — some with hands tied, some with injuries.

Gay says it wasn’t immediately clear which of the 28 were captives and which were captors. All were being questioned by police. However, Officer Veneza Bremmer says 26 left the trailer voluntarily while two refused to emerge until tear gas was used to rout them. They were taken to an Austin hospital for treatment.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20140325-police-up-to-28-people-held-captive-in-austin-trailer.ece

Van De Putte Benefiting From Harsh, Alienating Rhetoric Of Dewhurst & Patrick

Out-of-state tab for Perry security tops $2.9 million

AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry's security detail on out-of-state trips has cost state taxpayers more than $2.9 million since his 2010 re-election, according to figures from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

-snip-

The newly released tab tallies $128,368.73 in security costs for out-of-state trips. It includes figures from the most recent state fiscal quarter, which ended in February, plus bills from previous trips that have just been entered.

The largest single entry was $39,038.56 for a trip to Zurich, Switzerland. Perry in January attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The latest report also includes security costs for stops in London; New York; San Diego, Calif; Las Vegas; Orlando; Baton Rouge; Des Moines; Roanoke, Va.; Carnegie, Okla.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Franklin, Tenn.; and Cancun, Mexico.

More at http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Out-of-state-tab-for-Perry-security-tops-2-9-5347524.php .

[font color=green]Over $1 million of those expenses occurred after he dropped out of the GOP presidential race in January 2012.[/font]