Tom DeLay and Carl Rove can kiss my a$$. (This is not an invitation to anyone but the two power hungry individuals already mentioned.)
Lola - I wouldn't dream of it - it's against everything I hold dear. Not that I think it's politically incorrect, it's just that I have certain principles.
It really does look like some things are beginning to unravel. Texas, after all, is George's home state, where he is so popular. And Rove must really hate anything that gets his glory be to God war off the front pages.
Hey anon - great to see you. Don't be a stranger now, you hear?
So, could someone answer my question:
- aren't lawmakers immun in the USA?
- does the Texas State parliament really have sessions just any two years (or so)?
Walter, I'm not a Texan, but I believe that two year figure is correct. And it is not a common thing here at all.
As for lawmakers being immune - not really. They are supposed to obey the laws of the land. Friends in high places are usually helpful to a lawmaker in trouble. Remember what they did to Clinton?
And where I live, a few years ago we had a powerful young man running a large public law enforcement thing - who sold favors, had badges made up to sell to the public - all kinds of things. He was not immune to the law, they got him, convicted him, penalized him. For this he was an ordinary citizen.
I think sometimes it appears that lawmakers in high places are immune from the laws because they get away with so much so much of the time.
Think! wrote:Hello All:
I laughed about this until I darn near choked to death! Too funny! Too bad they can't do this on a Federal Level!
Anon
On one level I found it very funny, but I'd rather this not be a recourse. Were this more common the effciency of government would take a beating.
Thanks, mama.
In Germany, only the very small "city states" (Bremen and Hamburg) have a kind of part time lawmakers.
Immunity of lawmakers: all state lawmakers (like the federal ones) have immunity.
Prosecutors have to ask the speakers/commitees to lift it.
Which is usually done.
Desparate measures for desparate times, Craven...........and in that context, especially since the times are so crucial, it is totally funny. I'm still chuckling as I prepare for bed.
Walter, if this had been true here, it would have spared the entire country the misery and insult of the Clinton impeachment procedure. Too bad, I would have loved to have avoided that one. But today's politics goes as do all uncontrolled competitive enterprises. Where there's a loop hole, it must be used. It's the good ole, "if you bomb me, I'll bomb you" thing. It's become the way the game is played.
Lola,
Who gets to decide what desperate times are? Should it be a minority? Majority? Whover can?
not to mention the act itself (as funny as it is) would lose it's oomf.
In this game, Craven, I think it's those players with cards in their hands. If they decide it's desparate enough, then they decide. It's a responsibility of adulthood. We must all decide and depending exclusively on rules, is a cope out.
So if the player with the cards in his hands decides that a pre-emptive invasion of a foreign nation is called for due to the circumstances, which he/she terms desperate, then the fact that it is a minority opinion is not enough to make it unjustified?
I know it's apples and oranges but there's a point.
My understanding is Texas law officers would need the permission of state of Oklahoma government to enter state to apprehend the vagrant democrats. This is not likely to happen. See AP article:
Top Stories - AP
Statehouse Democrats Flee Texas in Rift
Tue May 13,10:28 PM ET Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!
By APRIL CASTRO, Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN, Texas - Democrats who fled to a Holiday Inn in Oklahoma to thwart a Republican drive to redraw the state's congressional districts spent their second day on the lam Tuesday talking to jovial constituents who made the trek across the state line to show their support.
AP Photo
Democrats Flee Texas, Freeze Legislature
(AP Video)
The constituents brought fruit baskets, balloons and cookies for the House Democrats, two days after they sneaked out of Austin amid a heated battle over a GOP redistricting plan. Three Democrats returned to the Capitol on Tuesday, but Republicans were still denied a quorum needed to conduct business.
The mood was subdued in the historic chamber Tuesday, with Republicans pleased to see a few Democrats stream in. One legislator had organized a "behind-the-scenes" tour of the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum, not far from the Capitol.
Republicans had constructed signs and gimmicks ridiculing their colleagues. They plastered the Democrats' faces on milk cartons, and Susan Weddington, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Texas, borrowing from the "most wanted Iraqi" cards, announced she had playing cards featuring the missing legislators.
The defiant Democrats remained at the hotel in Ardmore, Okla., about 30 miles north of the Texas border and about 270 miles due north of Austin. They met privately in a hotel conference room to discuss school financing, homeowners insurance, the state budget and other issues.
Several Texans traveled to Oklahoma to give their support, including Sharon Copeland, who lives about 60 miles away in Denton.
"You guys are my heroes," Copeland said as she threw her arms around Rep. Lon Burnam. "I sure am proud to be a Democrat today. I didn't even know this could be done."
Democrats blame the standoff on the GOP's attempt to redraw the congressional districts. The plan could add five to seven GOP House seats to the 15 it already has. The state has 32 congressional districts.
States must redraw their congressional districts every 10 years to reflect population shifts found in the U.S. Census. A federal court drew Texas' congressional districts after state lawmakers failed to reach an agreement in 2001, leaving open the possibility that the districts could be redrawn by the Texas Legislature.
Democrats argue that they are not required by the Constitution to redraw district lines, particularly in a non-redistricting year, and blamed the drive for the Republican plan on U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
In Washington, DeLay mocked the Democratic legislators.
"I have never turned tail and run," DeLay said. "Even when I'm losing, I stand and fight for what I believe in."
Redistricting had been scheduled for debate in the House on Monday. According to House rules, the deadline to preliminarily vote on House bills is Thursday. After that, it would take a favorable vote by two-thirds of the House to get legislation to the floor for a vote. Missing the deadline would stymie several major bills, including a budget-balancing government reorganization proposal.
When the Democrats didn't show up Monday in Austin, House Speaker Tom Craddick ordered Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to find the missing lawmakers, arrest them and bring them back. But on Tuesday, local law enforcement authorities in Oklahoma greeted the Democrats with big smiles and warm handshakes.
"We're here to let them know we support them," said Harvey Burkhart, sheriff of Carter County, Okla. "Nothing's going to happen to them here. I can tell you we're certainly not going to put them in jail."
Craddick said he would not negotiate with the absent lawmakers.
"This week it's redistricting, next week it's the budget, the next week when we get back in it's school finance, that's not the way the process works," Craddick said. "We're just not going to negotiate with them. If we negotiate on this we'll be negotiating on every calendar, every bill, every day."
Each representative will pay for his or her own room and other expenses, said Rep. Garnet Coleman. He said Democrats planned to stay in Oklahoma "indefinitely," but others said the group probably wouldn't stay beyond Friday.
The walkout came 24 years to the month since a group of 12 Texas state senators defied then-Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby by refusing to show up at the Capitol.
Some of the "Killer Bees," as the 12 Democrats came to be known, hid out in an Austin garage apartment while troopers, Texas Rangers and legislative sergeants-at-arms unsuccessfully combed the state for them.
___
Associated Press Writer Angela K. Brown in Ardmore, Okla., contributed to this story.
In this case, the Repubs were bulldozing through a redistricting plan way out of normal season.Their motives were clear: Take as much raw power as possible from their opponents. Their tactics were callous and unfair. The Dems had no weapons to fight, except to leave the state. I don't see where they were in the wrong.
Boy, almost every radio talk show was focusing on the missing Democrats this morning.
All because of this one bill on redistricting. And just awhile ago on tv some teachers were very upset, because one of the bills that may die is one protecting them (teachers) from assaults from students. another bill addresses child porno on the internet. I don't know the details of the bills or why the Democrats would put those bills in jeopardy.
Wish I was good at putting in links. There is good coverage at KXAN.com
Craven - LOL! You're worried about the efficiency of government? THE EFFICIENCY OF OUR GOVERNMENT?! You gotta be kidding!
And it's Washington, in the form of Tom DeLay, which started this. Interference from federal government in state redistricting. Rangers/enforcers crossing state borders -- they also went into the neonatal unit of the Children's Hospital looking for a new father, one of the Dem legislators. I'll bet Alex Jones is having a wild day...
The Texas Rangers, the radio said this morning, are stationed outside the Holiday Inn in Ardmore "as a reminder." Ho-hum. But if the FBI turns up, the fat will be in the fire...
Craddick, the Republican Speaker, is suffering many potshots for poor leadership. Dems are alternative crowing and laughing. DeLay looks (once again) like a goon.
We're all laughing!
Yes, I agree Craven, apples and oranges...........I think it's more like Martin Luther King in Selma.......passive resistance, of which the key word is resistance, passive meaning passive aggressive. It's a reasonable way to fight against invasion. Tom DeLay is way over the boundary with this. It beats lying down and being run over.
I agree, Lola, and I'm in full support of their actions. But I do have a question. Can't they all just refuse to vote, en masse? (As in, you can lead a horse to water....)
This is a question that many of us north of the Red River are asking. Perhaps we do not understand the process in Texas.
