Reference Crush Videos in the throw away paragraph.
When Congress passed the law and then-President Bill Clinton signed it in 1999, lawmakers were especially interested in limiting Internet sales of so-called crush videos, which appeal to a certain sexual fetish by showing women crushing to death small animals with their bare feet or high-heeled shoes.
The case is about the 1st Amendment rights of a guy who wants to sell dvd of dog fights.
Because I’m a politics geek, and because I live in Texas, and because Texas has some weird-ass laws, here’s a list of some of the crazier ones. There are many many more out there.
Now, you need to remember that these aren’t enforced for the most part… BUT THEY CAN BE.
It’s no secret that I dislike my governor. Rick Perry has been a horrible governor for Texas and just keeps getting worse. There were a couple of corruption stories about him, but they have faded into obscurity.
Anyway, I’m sure you’ve all seen him recently. He’s the douche bag who stood up at a San Antonio rally of proud Tea-Baggers and said Texas can and should secede from the Union. That asshat. Despite Texas Mythology converning our weird state laws and what our constitution does or doesn’t allow, the reality is that there is no provision allowing Texas to secede. The closest provision we’ve got is that Texas has the option of dividing into 5 seperate states. Which is an amusing thought, but will never happen.
Why is he doing this? Because he faces an impossible primary against U.S. Senator Hutchison, a moderate – for Texas – Republican who’s respected by the majority of the state. So Gov. Goodhair is running to the right. The FAAAAAR right. Into the waiting arms of the Republic of Texas crazies. Because in the Republican Primary, it’s usally the far right that participates – they aren’t crazy about Hutchison.
The image at the top of this post is a t-shirt that the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee has created to mock our endangered governor. Good job guys. Remind me to donate some cash.
Anyone who knows me understands that I’m one of those annoying Texans who really digs being a Texan.
I blame my parents. You see, I actually grew up in rural Texas. So we had horses, cows, cattle guards, and dirt roads. Not that I lived on some big glorious ranch. More like ten acres of hard-packed red clay with patches of bull nettles and ragweed. Ragweed so prominent that I sweetened milk out of instinct for years afterwards because of what it did to our cows. Hell, my first girlfriend’s dad knew me because he recognized my last name from all the times he’d been called out to our house to turn off the electricity for delinquency.  A cavernous maw of washed out dirt and gravel quite capable of devouring the undercarriage of a county utility vehicle served as our driveway, so I’m sure he remembered the trips distinctly.
Now, I admit that for all that Texas cred, I lean to the left. I’m a mild liberal by most standards–or a dirty pinko socialist by my uncle’s standards (he always meant it with love). So the fact that I dislike Gov. Rick Perry might not be a big surprise. That said, his secessionist rant this week should offend anyone who embraces the name Texan.
I’d like to point back to a true leader of Texas who opposed secession, Sam Houston. Yep, the Raven opposed secession in 1861. I understand that Perry is full of himself and doesn’t have the cajones to do anything like secede. He just wants some face time before Kay Bailey Hutchison kicks him out of office next year. However it’s still worth acknowledging that Houston opposed secession when it was an inevitable tide here in Texas. It’s an important distinction. Perry’s sedition of ego versus Houston’s willingness to put aside personal power out of dedicated belief could not offer a more stark contrast in what it means to be Texan.
Me, I have enough pride in the term to want to talk about the the Raven over footnote Texan Goodhair. So, not just to annoy Sam, I started up a little Facebook page to further illustarte my contrast. It seemed the geeky thing to do.Â
For some extra enjoyment, here’s Perry making a fool of himself and then being granted an unwanted education on Texas law by Rachel Maddow:
He voted for Bush's massive expansion of the government twice.
Urban Dictionary defines Tea-Bagging as:
To dunk ones scrotum into the open mouth of another personUsage: “Man, Brenda was all passed out with her mouth open and Billy tea-bagged her”
I don't think she means "George W. Bush."
The Tea-Baggers also don’t seem to realize that the adjustments to the tax code will LOWER taxes for the majority of the country while only raising them for a fraction of the population. And that 1% who will have their taxes raise will still be paying less than they have since the Regan administration. Another thing to remember: These nuts are protesting Bush’s taxes. The adjustments that President Obama has proposed won’t go into effect until next year.