Chupacabra Report

News that Gets My Goat

I found this story in a comment string on Juanita Jean’s World’s Most Dangerous Beauty Salon. The reader was commenting on Danny Goeb’s (can’t help myself, that’s State Senator and Lieutenant Governor candidate Dan Patrick’s original name) answer to questions about his bankruptcy; “We don’t have debtor’s prisons in America.” And good thing for him, that; he may be a darling of the Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse crowd, but Patrick and those who have done business with him are certainly no strangers to the courtroom.

Anyways, the CBS story reports that “Thousands of Americans are sent to jail not for committing a crime, but because they can't afford to pay for traffic tickets, medical bills and court fees.

“If that sounds like a debtors' prison, a legal relic which was abolished in this country in the 1830s, that's because it is. And courts and judges in states across the land are violating the Constitution by incarcerating people for being unable to pay such debts.”

The story goes on to tell of folks around the country ending up behind bars because ‘they ain’t got that do-re-mi,’ and tells of some possible remedies;

“poor defendants should be exempt from court fees and fines, while repayment plans should be set according to people's ability to repay a debt. States also must have clear written standards for determining a person's ability to pay. Fees for public defenders should be eliminated.”

And what can we ourselves do about this? Notice the four mentions in the article of the American Civil Liberties Union defending poor defendants up against the law. Annual membership in the Texas A.C.L.U. begins at $35 per year.

Chupacabra Report: News that Gets My Goat

Brainstorm! 

Congressman Steve Stockman is the gift that just keeps on giving. He was in The Chronicle today saying that he'll take Bitcoin contributions to his Senate campaign. He wishes. The only $867 dollar contribution I could see would be if he could get himself incarcerated again, I could see paying my share for his room and board at the pen. I'm certain that the Stockman campaign would also accept contributions of MREs and canned water; and if anybody has a garage where they could stay, they had to leave the last place they were in. 

I know what I'd like to do for the campaign. Taking their lead, I could paste-up some slanderous shit and stick copies under the wiper blades of all the folks at Stockman's church on Sunday. I could have him saying something about how Bitcoins allow him to take contributions from the underground economy,  foreign interests, the Mob, Commies, aliens.. -Where does he go to church anyways? I should call John Cornyn's people, they might pay me; it would be like inheriting some of Bob Perry's money. 

Western New York State Assemblyman David DePietro shared this and I thought I would share it too. David is an avid supporter of gun rights, and his efforts have earned him quite a following in rural upstate New York, where anti-SAFE Act signs are a common sight along the picturesque country roads.  

David comments "2014....This is where we start. No more digging our heels in the sand! We go on the offensive, we take our State back! We take out every liberal, socialist in this years election."

 Bothers me to see him say "We take out every liberal, socialist in this years election." I maintain that this country can't fly on just one wing. Good ideas (and bad ones) can come from any quarter.

 But it sounds like this could be a fun event. I love to go out in the country and shoot guns. I just have to wonder, what could go wrong?

I think I might stay inside that afternoon; maybe inside the bathtub.