You Need Water to Have a Tea Party

Last week, I offered my opinion on how to vote on the proposed amendments to the Texas constitution. Or, more accurately, I sent you off to read others' recommendations. Opinions on these propositions are proving true the old saw about politics making strange bedfellows.

After the jump, an example.

Clincher: Sunset 8, Berkner 27

From 2011 Football

On the night that the Texas Rangers lost the seventh game of the World Series, the Berkner Rams gave their loyal fans who came out to Wildcat-Ram Stadium plenty to celebrate instead. The Rams beat the Sunset Bisons 27-8 to clinch a playoff spot in District 9-5A. Playoffs, here we come!

Here's the full District 9-5A playoff situation, according to The Dallas Morning News. "Clinched: Skyline, Jesuit, Richardson Berkner; Eliminated: Samuell, Sunset, W.T. White. The winner of Richardson vs. Lake Highlands on Friday clinches a playoff berth."

It was also Junior High Band Night, meaning the largest number of young musicians on the field at any one time any time this year. What a show!

More photos from this game, and all of the 2011 season, including the bands and color guards and drill teams and cheerleaders and everything else that goes into making high school football the best value in Friday night entertainment, can be found here.

Go Rangers! Just Go.

Twice, the Rangers were one strike away from a World Series Championship. Once in the 9th, again in the 10th. Two blown saves. A combined five fielding and throwing errors by both teams. More mental errors than space allows to document, even in virtually infinite cyberspace. A football-like 10-9 score. 28 hits. An umpire who contributed to the pin-ball scoring by refusing to give either pitcher, any pitcher, the corner of the plate.

After the jump, the full indictment of a crime against sport.

Chasing Squirrels in Richardson

DUG: "My master made me this collar. He is a good and smart master and he made me this collar so that I may talk -- SQUIRREL!!"

Source: Up.

The dog in the movie "Up" may have been fictional, but we all have a little bit of his weakness for easy distraction in us.

The League of Women Voters of Richardson presented an educational program on the question, "Is the current city charter right for Richardson?" You'd hope that it would prompt a productive discussion about what changes, if any, are needed to make Richardson's city charter work better for Richardson's residents in the 21st century. Instead, it's like the city has decided what's really important is ... SQUIRREL!

After the jump, chasing squirrels.

Amending the Texas Constitution for the Umpteenth Time

This November 8, Texans will once more go the polls and vote on a slew of proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution.

Proposition 1: Homestead Exemptions for Disabled Veterans' Surviving Spouses

Ballot Language: "The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran."

That's the first of ten such amendments. I know what you're thinking -- why is a constitutional amendment needed to make a minor tweak to the homestead exemption for property taxes? Don't we elect representatives to make informed decisions for us on such details? The answer is that, historically, Texans so mistrusted government that we enshrined many details of governance in our constitution, thus requiring a vote of all Texans to decide even the most mundane issues. Because of this, not surprisingly, the Texas constitution is a mess. Even the tea party agrees, and you would think that if anyone would be sympathetic to shackling the powers of elected representatives, it would be the tea party.

After the jump, how you should vote.