Today I am ashamed to be a Texas lawyer.

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Thursday January 21, 2010 · 4:34 AM PST

2010/01/21 · 04:34

In March I wrote a diary on Street Prophets about Chief Judge Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals who faced removal from office or at least a reprimand after failing to keep her Court open to receive a last minute death penalty appeal.

Yesterday the Texas system coughed up an exoneration for her:

Sharon Keller, the state's highest criminal judge, should not to be removed from office or even reprimanded for her role in a 2007 controversy that resulted in Texas executing an inmate without his final appeal being heard in court, a special judge said.

Othniel

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Saturday June 13, 2009 · 6:42 AM PDT

2009/06/13 · 06:42

California Attorney General Jerry Brown [pdf] filed his answer to the Federal suit brought by Ted Olson and David Boies.

One reason I really do prefer litigating in Federal Court is the Rules of Civil Procedure are taken seriously and actually make sense. Unlike in Texas State Courts, where if I represent a defendant it is unethical for me not to lie in my opening pleading on his, her or its behalf, in Federal Court each substantive Allegation of the Complaint must be addressed in the Answer to the Complaint. (In Texas we dispense with such niceties by filing a simple one page document called a General Denial, which says everything is in issue, we deny all; oil your six shooters).

Let's examine what California's Attorney General admits to be true from the Complaint, under penalty of Rule 11 Sanctions.

Good commentary is available from the LA Times and from Law Dork 2.0.

Poll

35 votes Show Results

This makes me sing

35 votes Vote Now!

This makes me sing

I'm Getting Married in the Morning (My Fair Lady)

1 vote

Consider Yourself Part if the Family (Oliver)

6 votes

Sodomy (Hair)

11 votes

Before the Parade Passes By (Hello Dolly)

4 votes

Express Yourself (Billy Elliott)

3 votes

Waitin' for the Light to Shine (Big River)

7 votes

Shut up - My Mate is trying to express him or her self and I can't hear the orders.

3 votes

So Long, Farewell (with poll - not a GBCW at all)

Othniel

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday May 01, 2009 · 3:11 AM PDT

2009/05/01 · 03:11

Goodbye Oliver Cromwell.

Take Calvin with you.

Bye, Bye Virginia Foxx, Maggie the Marriage Maven, and Betty "Go Back to Asia" Brown. Miss California has made the whine fest but missed the bust, er, bus, apparently someone actually gave her the bust.

Hit the Road Rush. Quit crying little Glenn Beck.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

Morality Police - you never were a majority and most certainly never were moral.

You see:

It's wild! It's gay!

The Lusty Month of May. Welcome Back America, we can breathe again!
We can Live again, all of us, even the sour, the dour, can hear the the Restoration of the American Spirit.

Poll

68 votes Show Results

I'm singing

68 votes Vote Now!

I'm singing

Le Jazz Hot!!

6 votes

So Long, Farewell

7 votes

The Lusty Month of May

19 votes

I'm Gettin' Married in the Morning!

2 votes

You cannot make me sing - but I Could Have Danced All Night!

11 votes

I am not through bitching about Specter, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

0 votes

Shut Up I am trying to sleep.

12 votes

Cough. Sneeze. Wheeze. Did you say pigs were flying?

11 votes

Texas Judge Sharon Keller and The Seven Deadly Virtues. Poll!

Othniel

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday March 30, 2009 · 5:14 PM PDT

2009/03/30 · 17:14

Ah. Camelot; - but there always is a Mordred.

The seven deadly virtues, those ghastly little traps
Oh no, my liege, they were not meant for me
Those seven deadly virtues were made for other chaps
Who love a life of failure and ennui

Closing the Courthouse rather than accepting a late appeal in a capital case, after equipment failure?

Bringing Discredit upon the Judiciary?

http://www.statesman.com/...

The highest criminal court judge in Texas failed to disclose nearly $2 million in real estate holdings and claimed it would be "financially ruinous" to pay lawyers to fight misconduct charges that could get her removed from the bench.

Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is seeking dismissal of charges by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct that she violated her duties in a death penalty case.

Poll

36 votes Show Results

Equality is:

36 votes Vote Now!

Equality is:

For All Americans (we'll catch up with Canada later)

9 votes

Gets in the way of Liberty

0 votes

Not something which applies to Judge Keller.

14 votes

Something of which Mordred would never appove

0 votes

Both a & d

4 votes

What is it with these showtunes? How am I to sleep?

1 vote

What's a "Mordred?"

0 votes

Virtue? What's a Virtue?

8 votes

Texas Republican Senate asks National Taxpayers to help intimidate Texas Voters

Othniel

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday March 17, 2009 · 5:11 PM PDT

2009/03/17 · 17:11

I realize most Americans are so tired of Texas Republicans they just tune out to what goes on down here. But this time your federal tax dollars are involved. San Francisco? Boston? Madison? Philadelphia? Do you think you should fund voter suppression or intimidation in Texas. Our Republican Senate assumes you won't mind at all.

The Republicans in the Texas Senate today amended their pet project, you know the one so important the Senate Rules had to be changed to insure a win in the Senate - Voter Intimidation with a Smile, or as I like to call it the Granny Get Your Gun Act.

Poll

32 votes Show Results

Which Best describes the current Texas Senate?

32 votes Vote Now!

Which Best describes the current Texas Senate?

Granny Get Your Gun

3 votes

The Seven Deadly Virtues

1 vote

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

24 votes

It's a Fine Life

1 vote

Quit singing I am trying to sleep.

3 votes

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Othniel

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Tuesday February 17, 2009 · 5:36 PM PST

2009/02/17 · 17:36

Let's Go Fly a Kite
Up to the Highest Height
Let's Go Fly a Kite
and Send It Soaring
Up through the Atmosphere
up Where the Air Is Clear

[Fair Use for social, cultural and political comment and discussion is claimed]

Mary Poppins may have been set in London, and opened on the stage at the center of the Empire upon which the sun used never to set, but the most famous of Kites quite shockingly was American.

It is time to fly Benjamin Franklin's Kite again, the first treasure of the American Progressive Spirit. Let's send it soaring, and dare any nay saying tree or Republican Senator to eat it. Our Constitution itself contains a Progress Clause, impelling us to move forward, to advance the American Mind and Spirit, not to surrender to a stand still or regressive pseudo-science which cannot compete with other nations, let alone expand our own worth as a people.

Consider one American Art Form, The Broadway musical, and come Fly with me a Kite, in memory of and in homage to Ben, and let Hope String Eternal as we chase the Kite in a musical adventure.

Originally published on the Street.

Poll

19 votes Show Results

Which Broadway Song are you Songing with Hope today?

19 votes Vote Now!

Which Broadway Song are you Songing with Hope today?

Let's Go Fly a Kite

4 votes

Forward Ho!

2 votes

Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat.

1 vote

Let Me Entertain You.

0 votes

I'd Do Anything for You, Dear.

0 votes

Shall We Dance?

0 votes

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

1 vote

I Could Have Danced All Night!

0 votes

Razzle Dazzle

1 vote

Hey Big Spender

2 votes

The Lusty Month of May

1 vote

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

3 votes

Mame

1 vote

I am a serious person, just like John Calvin, and i do not appreciate frivolity at all.

2 votes

I stay awake during religous /ehtical socitity meetings, so I sleep at the theatre.

1 vote

Homeless Shelter Fire - Tragedy in Paris, Texas

Othniel

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday January 06, 2009 · 5:57 AM PST

2009/01/06 · 05:57

I cannot imagine the horror and pain the residents of the residents of the shelter operated by Seed Sowers Christians in Action in Paris, Texas, felt as they fled the early morning fire which engulfed their shelter into the icy, frozen rain of the streets.

As our society retrenches with the fall of our economy we cannot forget those already living on the edge. I hope this event, coupled with the death of Jennifer Gale on the steps of the church where she slept in Austin last month, will serve as a clarion call. Jennifer was unable to find a shelter in Austin where she could be accepted as a transgendered person.

Othniel

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday January 01, 2009 · 3:59 PM PST

2009/01/01 · 15:59

Welcome to CHRONIC TONIC, a continuing series of Thursday Kos Diaries for individuals diagnosed with chronic illness and conditions, as well as for family members, caregivers and professionals whose work involves an intimate connection with the unique concerns and needs of this community.

CHRONIC TONIC is a place to share stories, advice, and information and to connect with others with similar experiences. Through their personal stories, our diarists will report on research, alternative treatments, clinical trials, and health insurance issues. You are invited to share yours, as well. In addition to our weekly diaries, please join us for ongoing conversations and information gathering at the Kossacks Networking site in the Brainzaps section.

May the New Year hold for all life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Today’s Diary by Othniel.

Poll

37 votes Show Results

My New Year Wish

37 votes Vote Now!

My New Year Wish

Life

1 vote

Liberty

0 votes

Pursuit of Happiness

1 vote

All of the above

26 votes

I thought Bush burned that document as well

4 votes

I am from Canada - hope you guys can catch up someday.

1 vote

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chervolet

1 vote

Untie me you swine - I want the red-headed siren

3 votes

Pastor of First Baptist Dallas Says God Made Sex for Fun

Othniel

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Thursday November 13, 2008 · 9:36 AM PST

2008/11/13 · 09:36

Just like Steve Jobs made iPods for fun. Well Apples had something to do with both, I guess.

Some of you understand this really is breaking news, but in theological time that is measured by millenia, so the tag would have been unrealistic.

Apparently in a sermon entitled "Gay is Not OK" delivered last Sunday Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas made the following points:

God made sex for fun;

Steve Jobs is like God because he made iPods

The FBC Pastor plugged his new iPod into the wrong outlet so it fried.

Whoever plugs his sexual equipment into the wrong outlet will fry just like the iPod

Amazing Juice was then sung by the choir.

Othniel

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Monday November 10, 2008 · 4:21 PM PST

2008/11/10 · 16:21

Austin attorney Roger D. Hepworth of the Texas Law Firm Henslee Schwartz donated $9,995.00 to the Yes on 8 campaign. While Mr. Hepworth certainly has a freedom of association, and while we wish he would accord GLBT citizens similar civil rights, what is especially troubling is that one of his firm's principal clients, as noted on the firm website, is America International Group, which today received yet more support from American taxpayers. One can only wonder how much of this taxpayer funded bailout will trickle down to Mr. Hepworth, one of Henslee Fowlers's founding partners, and be used to deprive American taxpayers of basic Human rights.

The Law Firm's Website is http://www.hfhslaw.com/

AIG is identified as a client here:

http://www.hfhslaw.com/...

Othniel

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday November 09, 2008 · 11:14 AM PST

2008/11/09 · 11:14

Many of you who have read my posts know me as a Gay Texas Attorney, a father of two (there really are three) sons by adoption (with the grandmother still in Arkansas we are having some serious issues on this one now), and perhaps as a 6th Generation Southern Democrat. I also have a Master of Divinity from a Southern Baptist Seminary and pursued doctoral work in systematic theology until the cost of adoption bade me flee back from grace to law, having once before moved from law to grace.

I know this truth to be self-evident. There is more grace in American Law than in American Religion, and more Law in American Religion than Grace. All of us are seeing some of this all about us now.

Poll

26 votes Show Results

Some people sing Jesus Loves Children who are"

26 votes Vote Now!

Some people sing Jesus Loves Children who are"

Red

0 votes

Yellow

0 votes

Black

0 votes

White

0 votes

All the Children of the World

5 votes

Even Me, Just As I Am, and Gay

0 votes

All of the above

8 votes

I abstain on 1st Amendment Grounds

3 votes

I was raised Church of Christ and still cannot sing

1 vote

Get Thee Behind Me Satan, you sin by even saying these things

1 vote

In France Blashphemy is still a crime. It ought be here too.

0 votes

Pie, your choice

8 votes

I want to keep fighting with my friends, leave me alone, and I'll get back to you.

0 votes

Ain't Gonna Study War No More (Poll)

Othniel

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 31, 2008 · 10:00 AM PDT

2008/10/31 · 10:00

Can you feel the healing wind of Hope?

Down by the Riverside, from New Orleans past Memphis, St. Louis and up to Minnesota. From Boston to Charleston. All over the Pacific Coast and through the Mountains. The Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. Paint Your Wagon and Come Along, America.

Manassas at the close.

Poll

34 votes Show Results

America

34 votes Vote Now!

America

Free at Last

2 votes

Beautiful

1 vote

Strong in Diversity

4 votes

Alive Again

4 votes

Every one of these and more

20 votes

Ought be ruled by pachyderms

3 votes

Newer
Older

RSS

Today I am ashamed to be a Texas lawyer.

California Attorney General Files Answer to Perry v. Schwarzenegger

So Long, Farewell (with poll - not a GBCW at all)

Texas Judge Sharon Keller and The Seven Deadly Virtues. Poll!

Texas Republican Senate asks National Taxpayers to help intimidate Texas Voters

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Homeless Shelter Fire - Tragedy in Paris, Texas

Chronic Tonic: Self-Determination in Health Care, Rights & Responsibilities (poll)

Pastor of First Baptist Dallas Says God Made Sex for Fun

AIG Attorney Donates $9,995.00 to Yes on 8

God and Husband of Us All (Poll)

Ain't Gonna Study War No More (Poll)