On The Case

To The Editors:

 

Regarding "Feds seize phony tickets, merchandise" (Thursday, Page C2), like many other concerned citizens, I was relieved to find out that a crack team of armed agents from the department of Homeland Security raided an underwear store in Kansas City that had been selling panties with "KC" and "Take The Crown" stenciled on the backside.

 

I'll admit to some confusion as to how this matter came to the Feds' attention, much less why they thought women's panties were a threat to the nation's security.  The important thing is that we have protected the rights of a government sponsored monopoly - Major League Baseball - to profit from promotional panties using terms and phrases that had heretofore been part of the public domain. 

 

The Republic is secure.

 

Pete Smith

Houston, TX

LTE: Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy

Columnist Lisa Falkenberg takes upon herself an improbable task: To absolve Mayor Annise Parker of any blame for the city's attempt to violate the First Amendment rights of several Houston pastors with a subpoena of their writings that included everything but the proverbial kitchen sink.

Falkenberg starts out by accepting without hesitation Parker's claim that she had "no knowledge" of the wording of the subpoenas, and that the blame rested with unnamed "overzealous civil litigators." This is implausible because the Parker camp was disputing petition signatures submitted challenging the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

As Falkenberg described Feldman's findings: "Too many signatures were invalid because they didn't follow charter rules on requirements like notarization and verification."

If that is true, why would the city try to confiscate everything these pastors "prepared, delivered, revised or approved" regarding the ordinance, homosexuality, gender identity or Parker?

We must also remark on the hypocrisy of it all: Parker routinely uses pastors, church settings and religion symbolism when it suits her political purposes.

If you're going to mix religion and politics, it's unseemly to use the powers of your office to harass others for doing the same thing.

Pete Smith, Houston

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/10/190277-thought-impossible-happen-election-caught-camera/

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Regarding "Truth about sermon subpoenas not as interesting as advertised" (Sunday City & State), columnist Lisa Falkenberg takes upon herself an improbable task: To absolve Mayor Annise Parker of any blame for the City's attempt to violate the First Amendment rights of several Houston pastors with a subpoena of their writings that included everything but the proverbial kitchen sink.

 

Falkenberg starts out by accepting without hesitation the claim by Mayor Parker that she had "no knowledge" of the wording of the subpoenas, and that the blame rested with un-named "overzealous   civil litigators".  This is implausible because the Parker camp was disputing petition signatures submitted challenging HERO, stating: "too many signatures were invalid because they didn’t follow charter rules on requirements like notarization and verification."  If that is true, why would Mayor Parker try to confiscate everything  these pastors "prepared, delivered, revised or approved" regarding the HERO ordinance, homosexuality, gender identity or Mayor Parker?

 

Reasonable people might conclude that Mayor Parker had a hand in the wording, seeing as how her name was used.  They might also reasonably conclude that verbiage so specific and so perfectly suited to her political agenda is clear evidence that this was hardly the work of just a handful of legal drones churning out petitions.

 

Finally, we must once again remark on the hypocrisy of it all: Mayor Parker has routinely uses pastors, church settings and religion symbolism when it suits her political purposes.  For but one example, at her 2010 inauguration, she made a very public deal of being sworn in with her grandmother's bible, and invited mega church Pastor Joel Osteen to say nice things about her at the invocation. 

 

The point is, if you're going to mix religion and politics, it's unseemly to use the powers of your office to harass others for doing the same thing. 

 

Pete Smith

Houston, TX

Stop Pete

"Pete, stop. Stop will you? Stop, Pete. Will you stop, Pete? Stop, Pete. I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Pete. Pete, my Senate majority is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My governorships are going. There is no question about it. My Down Ballot prospects are gone.  I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a-fraid. . . . 

 

LTE: Blatant Attack

Blatant attack
Regarding "Equal rights fight goes to pulpit" (Page A1, Wednesday), I am dumbstruck that Mayor Annise Parker has authorized city attorney David Feldman to subpoena the lectures and writings of local pastors she suspects have spoken out against HERO, or the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. To say that such an action is heavy-handed is an understatement. Given the traditional American disregard for politicians who use the offices of government to harass individuals and groups, I would have expected our savvy mayor to approach this matter with a much more delicate hand. Instead, she bluntly unleashed her legal dogs on people of faith from across the political spectrum.

Feldman, in justifying Parker's actions, is quoted as saying: "If someone is speaking from the pulpit and it's political speech, then it's not going to be protected." Given the very large extent to which morality and legality overlap, this is a questionable assumption at best, but it also raises the question of why the city was attempting to confiscate "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession."

With her actions, Parker made it clear that church leaders have no right to speak out on matters of public policy. What is disturbing is that she also apparently believes that they're not even entitled to express an opinion on such matters outside the pulpit.

Finally, we must speak of the blatant hypocrisy at play: The Democratic Party has openly campaigned for votes in houses of worship for decades and not a single instance drew so much as a stern word from Parker, much less a subpoena.

Pete Smith, Houston

http://www.chron.com/default/article/Friday-letters-Common-sense-left-behind-5827996.php
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Regarding "Equal rights fight goes to pulpit" (Wednesday Front Page), I am dumbstruck that Mayor Annise Parker has authorized city attorney David Feldman to subpoena the lectures and writings of local pastors she suspects have spoken out against HERO, or the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.  To say that such an action is heavy-handed is an understatement.  Given the traditional American disregard for politicians who use the offices of government to harass individuals and groups, I would have expected our savvy Mayor to approach this matter with a much more delicate hand.  Instead, she bluntly unleashed her legal dogs on people of faith from across the political spectrum.

 

Feldman, in justifying Mayor Parker's actions, is quoted as saying: "If someone is speaking from the pulpit and it’s political speech, then it’s not going to be protected."   Given the very large extent to which morality and legality overlap, this is a questionable assumption at best, but it also begs the question of why the city was attempting to confiscate "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession.”

 

With her actions, Mayor Parker made it clear that church leaders have no right to speak out on matters of public policy.  What is disturbing is that she also apparently believes that they're not even entitled to express an opinion on such matters outside the pulpit. 

 

Finally, we must speak of the blatant hypocrisy at play: The Democratic Party has openly campaigned for votes in houses of worship for decades, and not a single instance drew so much as a stern word from Mayor Parker, much less a subpoena.

 

Pete Smith

Houston, TX

Vaccinate, Or Face CPS

The hubris of the Vaccination Cult knows no bounds. Take this Facebook post gone viral from ASAP Science, for example. When calling people "fucking idiots" by default replaces a reasoned argument, you've lost 90% of your credibility, and 100% of your ability to change minds.

But let's put the Cultists' obnoxious certitude aside for second: where is their science? Are they seriously going to argue that all of the concoctions they want to forcibly pump into all children all the time are an unmitigated good? Can they seriously be suggesting - as they clearly do - that vaccinations are superior to the immune system, prophylaxis and common sense? Are the really going to argue that vaccinations are consequence-free? Nothing is consequence-free.

Vaccination Cultists are full of crap for the same reasons Global Warmers are full of crap: 1) They refuse to believe there are any alternatives to their prescriptions with what can only be described as a religious zeal; 2) Their standard rhetorical tools are demagoguery and demonization; and my favorite, 3) They haven't done any serious science that would challenge any of their conclusions, ever.

Ignore the Scientific Method, then call other people names. What a bunch of Douches.

Lawyer As Victim

Regarding "Lawyer faces prison for alleged swindle" (Monday City & State), several things struck me as ironic.  First was the revelation that attorney Houston attorney Gwendolyn Climmons-Johnson had previously been convicted for a scheme involving ambulances, only this time, it wasn't about her chasing them: they were literally part of the scam.

 

The next irony was the fact that the victim of her most recent scam was another lawyer, New Jersey financier Tim Foley.   Foley had advanced Climmons-Johnson $400,000 in return for a much larger portion of the proceeds on two lawsuits that turned out to be mere figments of her imagination. 

 

Then there was the irony of Foley portraying himself as a helpless victim not just of the defendant, but of the courts as well.  The article quotes him as saying "the damage has been done, and I don’t expect there to be justice.....I really don’t think the company is going to survive.”

 

Turns out, Foley's contract terms with Climmons-Johnson had some questionable terms that would make him less a victim than he would have us believe.  For instance, was she to default on her payout to Foley, Climmons-Johnson was on the hook for payments with a yearly interest rate of 117.5%.  Naturally, Foley filed his lawsuit not in Texas, but in New Jersey, where such things are allowed: yet another irony. 

 

It's tough to feel sorry for lawyers like Foley, particularly when they practice what is considered usury in most of the states of our union.  To Mr. Foley, I would say: Sharks swim with sharks; Sharks occasionally eat other sharks; Don't expect the other "fish" to feel sorry for you.

 

Pete Smith

Houston, TX

Sunday's Cycho Hash

Your Faithful Scribe laid this past Saturday's trail.  As advertised, it was modest in length, but challenging; there was a cookout, and the mandatory Summer pool ending.  Most of it was through the Addicks Reservoir (George Bush Park), but there were bike trails and city streets as well.

 

My favorite parts:

  

- Laying trail 7:30 Saturday morn and coming across all manner of fauna: A Momma feral hog and five piglets dashing mere feet in front of my bike; two deer who seemed fearless of me, even as I walked up to them; a dodo-like bird with a long curved beak in a flock of about a hundred.  Amazing. 

 

- Also ran across a collection of teenagers belonging to some kind of camping youth group: they didn't want to be there, and the only thing they got out of the overnighter was mosquito bites.  The Jonesing for cell phones, iPods, texting, Twitter and Snapchat was palpable.  Suck it up, boys.  God only knows how you'd react if you ever had to miss a meal.

 

- Lube Job showed up with The Rat attached to his helmet with so many industrial grade tie wraps holding it in place that it was clear he had no intention of surrendering it.  And he didn't need to: Lube Job won the Cycho Hash for the second month in a row.

 

And what of the inherent contradiction?  The Cycho Hash declares itself the reincarnation of Space City: kindler; gentler; not a competitive bone in the collective body; all of the pacifism without the benefit of cannabis.  But then we go and encourage somebody to "win" the Hash, and even build a ritual around it. 

 

- Cums Happily agreed to do Hash Cash whilst I was picking up the last of the provisions.  When I arrived, she handed me the cash, which was organized with all bills face up and sorted by denomination.  Every imperfection in the assortment of bills had been smoothed out. She might have arranged them by serial numbers, too.  CH is, natch, an accountant.

 

- For the umpteen regular and irregular Cyco Hashers who didn't show up because of the threat of weather, maybe next time I tell you "I've got this", you will take my words to heart.  As the pack assembled, a massive front moved in.  The temperature dropped 15 degrees in mere minutes, and as the pack departed, the rain started.  Within minutes, the front moved off, leaving the coolness behind and the trail intact.  At the On On, the front once again threatened, but rain drizzled down just enough to refresh us once again.  Then it moved off and the sun burst out, producing a rainbow.  All in all, a glorious day.

 

You're welcome.

 

- Saturday afternoon, I got an e-mail from a Hasher who shall remain nameless who advised that "it's generally a wise idea to leave a note or map on one of the cars at the start, in case anybody arrives late".  I contemplated the numerous possibilities, showing up on time being the most obvious, along with the tried-and-true Saran Crap method: start in a random direction and ride in ever-widening concentric circles until you hit flour.

 

Anyway, dear letter writer, maybe I left the maps off the cars because I fear complacency.  Maybe I was being Edgy....

 

- Speaking of Saran Crap, the Cycho Hash honor system remains intact.  He approached me to 'fess up that he had forgotten his wallet, and would have to pay me at the next Cycho Hash he comes to.  I immediately thought of Wimpy.  If you don't get the cultural reference, you're probably not Cycho Hash material.

 

- Puke and Twist & Shout are next month's hares.  Now this should be interesting.   

 

- And before I forget, many thanks to Li'l Pussy and FMR for the use of the domicile and their help in designing the trail.

 

WHP