PN-G bamatex

  In light of the full circumstances of the situation, no, I don't. I think it's odd that the same agency wasn't trying to remove a DA facing DUI charges when Texas state law requires that she abdicate the office.   And since we're talking about things that are odd, how about we discuss some of the other odd characteristics of this specific unit of the Travis County DA's office. Like the fact that it's investigating the creation of a cancer research organization instead of removing a drunk DA like Texas state law requires.

  First off, depending on the county, the DA's office in those other two cases may not have anything resembling a public integrity unit. In fact, the only one I know of is the one in Travis County, which was formed by a long-time DA there specifically because Travis County is the site of the capitol. If that's the case and those other two DA's offices don't have a public integrity, Governor Perry wouldn't be able to handle it the same way, or really at all given that, once again, the governor's office has no express power to remove DAs.   Second, you make this out like the governor personally threatened the Travis County DA. He did nothing of the sort. What he said was that if the PIU in Travis County didn't do its job, he was going to veto its funding. When they didn't, he carried out that promise. He didn't make any personal threats against any specific person. All he said was that he expected the DA to either step down or be removed from office as the Texas state law requires, or he would veto funding as he saw necessary if the law wasn't carried out. That's not a personal threat, and thus, this isn't coercion.

You can't judge a president against any president but maybe the one that preceded him during his time in office or anytime shortly thereafter. If you want to rate a president against all of the others, you need to wait at least a couple decades after his presidency has ended before doing so.

  To my knowledge, the governor's office itself has no authority to remove a district attorney. The only way one can be removed is via the filing of a petition for removal by a resident in the county over which that DA presides who has lived in said county for at least six months, as explicitly outlined in the chapter of the Texas Local Government Code I gave you. While Governor Perry lives at 1010 Colorado Street in his official capacity as governor, his permanent residence is not in Travis County. Therefore, he has no authority to file a petition for removal either as governor or as an average citizen, and such a duty would thus be left to a Travis County resident or, as mentioned, to the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County DA's office.   I told you in my previous post that the Public Integrity Unit refused to file such a petition. So, with a DA refusing to step down on one hand, and an office charged with holding her accountable that refused to do its duty on the other, what was the governor left to do? He has no express authority to remove her on his own, so he attempted to motivate the office that is supposed to remove her to do its job. While I still think the action is inappropriate, calling it "coercion" is an asinine political charge (as is this indictment), and I can completely understand both the governor's motivations and his methods.

[Hidden Content]   ... is in a state where the average gun owner has six guns and a small mountain of ammunition.

  I would call it an inappropriate but well-meaning use of the governor's veto power to uphold the integrity of the office.

  Alright, let's back up a minute.   [Hidden Content]   That is a link to Title 3, Subtitle B, Chapter 87 of the Local Government Code of the State of Texas. You know what that chapter covers? The process of removing, among other officials, a district attorney.   Look at Section 87.013, entitled "General Grounds for Removal." Three examples are given under this section. The third is intoxication. The Travis County DA was pulled over for driving with a BAC three times the legal limit. That's not only intoxication, that's putting others at risk while intoxicated. According to this particular statute, that's more than enough to have her removed from office.   Under this chapter, the first step in the process of removal is filing a petition for removal that clearly states the underlying cause for the action in one of several courts, depending on the exact circumstances of the situation. Now let me ask you something: who do you think would typically file a petition like that?   Would it be - oh, I don't know - the public integrity unit of the DA's office, which is charged with ensuring the integrity of public officials?   And when said unit doesn't file said petition despite having a blatantly obvious reason to, don't you think it's reasonable to assume that maybe - just maybe - that unit is either ignoring the issue for political reasons or simply isn't doing its job?   On that note, when we have a government agency that isn't doing its job, is it not reasonable to try and light a fire under its arse with something like a threat to veto funding until it gets to work? And, if they don't get to work, is it not reasonable to carry out the threat since, obviously, giving them the funding is a waste of taxpayer dollars?   I said in another thread that I don't think Governor Perry used appropriate means to try and have the DA removed. I stand by that. But to call it "coercion" is, at least in my mind, a stretch.

  Like they were in 2011?

  Go look at every conservative page in existence on Facebook. They're all, without exception, posting picture after picture of a drunk-off-her-arse Travis County DA, and a picturesque Perry mugshot some are describing as "stoic" and "defiant."   Trust me. I know the conservative base. That appeals to it. And while I don't think Perry will win the primary either way, this will be a vote-earner for him during the process.

  8-Team was definitely the way to go.

  Nobody's hiding behind anything. The point is, the SEC is the toughest conference in the country. All I was saying is that I expect Texas to have more wins than Texas A&M because they play in a weaker conference and have a weaker strength of schedule.

  I think you're probably right, but that's as much a comment on the caliber of the two conferences as it is the two teams.

  ^ That.

[Hidden Content]   Since there have been so many threads about feminism lately, I thought I would post this.

Fine, but don't you dare put me in the same car as Big girl.

Really? I thought everyone around here knew about them. It's a local legend.

I don't want to get too much into it, but I will say this: there's a whole lot more to the Tom Delay story he's lucky the public doesn't know.

Almost sounds like the LA riots on miniature.

  Are we talking about cigarette lighters or actual 120V plugs? Because I'm about to be outraged about unnecessary government spending.  :D

I'm just wondering when Quanell X is going to show up in Missouri.  :D

  How many of them were won by Alabama?  :D

  See, I would say that too were it not for two things. The first is a story a family member used to tell about a personal experience. The second is that weird thing I saw on my first trip out there. Like I said, it wasn't significant enough to call paranormal and there wasn't much time to try and collect information about it, but the one thing I can tell you is that there's no way it was the reflection of a vehicle.

[Hidden Content]   Round 2?

I don't have a problem with the police having the best equipment available at all, just as long as I have access to it as well.

  First off, I don't think Rick Perry has much of a chance at getting the nomination regardless of what happens with this.   That said, exactly how this affects his chances for the presidency really has yet to be determined. The DA he wanted gone was completely wasted when she was pulled over. I realize this is from a very conservative site, but here are GIFs from police cameras of her arrest:   [Hidden Content]   I don't really blame Perry for wanting her gone under these circumstances. You have to wonder how fair it is for a DA who's been caught driving under the influence while in office to be entrusted with prosecuting people for, among other things, driving under the influence. The question the courts are going to have to answer is whether he used appropriate means to push her out.   I personally don't think he did, but from a political standpoint as opposed to a legal one, that isn't really what matters. The message is what matters. Perry could take this and tell the world that he's being unfairly targeted by Democrats for trying to be a responsible leader. That may not play well with the moderates out there, but it would definitely appeal to his base. Like it or not, playing the victim is an effective political strategy under the right circumstances.