Is Texas REALLY following its own Constitution? Not Really. Christian Sharia?

Is Texas REALLY following its own Constitution?  Are Texans really treated equally?  It has elements of Christian Sharia Law, which is no better than Islamic Sharia Law.

Click the link above to read the TEXAS CONSTITUTION provides:

"Sec. 1.  FREEDOM AND SOVEREIGNTY OF STATE.  Texas is a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and the maintenance of our free institutions and the perpetuity of the Union depend upon the preservation of the right of local self-government, unimpaired to all the States." (my emphasis and italics)

Therefore, by Texas' own adopted Constitution it is subject to the very federal laws and U.S. Constitution that our officials are spending millions of taxpayer dollars trying to avoid!  They do it by filing a blizzard of lawsuits to avoid the federal authority granted by the U.S. Constitution, using your Joe Blow taxpayer funds.  A total waste of precious money.  They even dole it out to private law firms and attorneys with political connections.

Today our legislature in 2015, sitting on a slush fund, is CUTTING Veterans education funding --funding they swore to provide on their "Support the Troops" bumper stickers and prior laws.  Of course they claim they can't pay for it because they are giving a tiny tax cut of $179 to everyone instead of  paying the vets or fixing roads or paying down debt. It shows how little our current majority leaders really value vets and education because they aren't honoring their commitments.

Next, Texas Constitution speaks to EQUALITY:

"Sec. 3a. EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW. Equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed, or national origin. This amendment is self-operative. "  (my empahasis and italics)

Then how can they pay women LESS? How can they draw districts that deny minorities there share of the vote? (aka Gerrymandering).  How does treating women like 2nd class citizens who have no medical choices of their own make them equal?  Local government like Denton are told that they can't prevent fracking next to their BBQ pits in the backyard. How "equal" in rights is that when the state is the bully instead of the feds?

How is equal justice found when a one-party red state picks a lawyer to be the appellate judge to hear the case of Gov. Perry when they previously worked together? How is that "equal justice" under the law? It's more crony favoritism when one party has monopoly power and ethics reform can't even get out of committee.

Is Texas really following its own Constitution?

It doesn't look that way.  Section 4 of the Texas Constitution provides this statement on religion in Texas.

"Sec. 4. RELIGIOUS TESTS. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."  (my emphasis)

Well...?

That section imposes a religious test while banning the practice! LOL. The test?  You have to believe in one Supreme Being in order to hold office.

An Atheist would be barred from holding public office in Texas since they naturally don't believe in a any Supreme Being.  Texas definitely has atheist citizens as well as citizens from dozens of religions.

  Hindus are numerous in Texas, especially Houston, Dallas, etc. (it is the third largest religion in the world, after Christianity and Islam).  Hindus don't acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being either.  They don't have one God; they have many. Quoting from wikipedia:

"the Hindu religion, unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet; it does not worship any one god; it does not subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances..."

  What about people who have no view?  What about Buddhists who also are Texas citizens?   They don't have one God. Or Texas Muslims?  They believe in one God but some religions insist that it is not the "same" God (even though there is only one).  What about Texas Jews, who don't recognize Jesus but have one God.  Would they be barred from Texas office under our Section 4?

When one religion's views are forced on other Texas citizens isn't that a violation of our own Constitution?  Isn't that also a violation of Section 3 that declares all men equal? That is what Sharia Law is - forcing one set of religious views on people in a state.  Is Christian Sharia any different than Islamic Sharia when both force their religious views on people of other religions who have a different beliefs.

An example comes from Lt. Governor Dan Patrick's group of advisers who uniformly denounced pre-K education as "socialist and dangerous."  It was a unanimous and bizarre statement.

If you think education is a bad thing, then you don't trust people to use knowledge in an intelligent manner. You are favoring ignorance, the exact same ignorance that fuels Al Qaida and ISIS who refuse to tolerate any views different from theirs--and refuse to teach girls and the young anything except religion instead of math and science.

If those Mr. Patrick's best advisers (they are certainly his strongest supporters,) then Texas is in serious trouble -- far beyond the failure to follow our own Texas Constitution.

If you agree, pass it on~!

Throwback Thursday - My Mom is Awesome, Especially How She Treated Her Stepkids

For this "Throwback Thursday" I want to recognize my unique mother, who is now 86 and closing in on 87 years young.

Yesterday on the phone she was saying how good she felt now that she was exercising, but went on to talk about outreach to her numerous stepchildren, who live as far away as Amarillo, a thousand miles.

She said "I hope (Diane, etc.) they come up each year to see me. I really want to know what is happening to them."

I think that makes her special.  I remember both parents encouraging me to do whatever I wanted - but I had to earn it. It was a tremendous lesson in independence and the critical thinking needed to figure out exactly how I was going to pay for those flying lessons I wanted!

But it worked. I screwed up the courage to go out to the little airport in Plainview where we lived and ask for a job in exchange for flying time. To my amazement they gave me the job! What a confidence builder that was. As a result I got my private and then commercial pilot's license - while my siblings whose flying lessons were paid for by my parents (dad as doing really well at sales at the time) did NOT finish getting their license.

Dad died on Earth Day 1971 in a car wreck. So mom has been both parents since then. 

When she remarried after dad's death she inherited four stepkids to go with her four who were still home (I was gone by then). She remains a great example of what a parent in a blended family should be. She is also a great example of a positive attitude, even when her eyes no longer let her see due to macular degeneration.

Happy Throwback Thursday.

Dear Texas Legislature - How About Some Real Priorities?

Note: After a long hiatus, I am resurrecting Texas Viking blog to address Texas-only issues (the Global American Values blog will continue to address national/international issues and my Armor Glass blog will address business only issues.)

April 2015

Dear Texas Legislature:

Please address some real priorities while you are in session.  

Now that districts are gerrymandered to provide a one-party controlled state, not unlike Russia and China, we are seeing a disturbing trend that is ideological instead of focused on the citizens of this state.

(1) I have heard more about getting guns in schools then about investing in full day pre-K and funding schools properly.  

Texas business already has a hard time finding qualified people because of poor skills and education training. Having textbooks painting Moses as one of our founding fathers is hysterical and guaranteed to produce some of the dumbest students on earth.

(2) I am a small business owner and discovered that I pay more in taxes than our Governor for the same income! 

Last year Gov. Abbott made about $134,000 (not including tax free money in the millions for an injury), yet he paid only a little over $100 in taxes. Last year, my CPA said that I owe about $4,000 for making about the same net as the Governor. 

My company generates six figure revenue which is not enough to incur the Texas franchise tax; yet you want to refund part of that tax instead of paying down the $40 Billion in road debt accumulated by you and Gov. Perry during the past decade. How does giving us of us $179 a year while I sit in traffic and dodge potholes make sense? It's penny wise and pound foolish.

(3) You talk about being "pro life" yet you refuse to expand Medicaid even though it would cost the state nothing. 

In fact, by not expanding it you are costing Texas taxpayers hundreds of billions in costs as well as the loss of our tax dollars paid to Washington. Meanwhile, millions of poor Texans go without healthcare.  This too makes no sense. 

How does denying medical care to the poor equate to being "pro life" or doing what Jesus would do? I recall he healed the sick rather than ignoring them as you have.

(4)  According to Texas A&M University 44% of people live within 100 miles of the coast. 

Yet you pretend that climate change doesn't exist and are failing to plan for its impact on droughts and rising sea levels. We expect our leaders to live in the real world, not like ostriches with their heads in the sand. A good start would be reading "Houses of Straw."

(5) A healthy democracy requires at least a two-party state instead of leaders hellbent to act as dictators of the agenda. You complain of the president's executive actions yet you are doing the same thing with one-party rule.

To be continued...in the meantime I point you towards REAL solutions in the second half of "Agenda for American Greatness"