Recommended Reading

Things for you to ponder:

1. States are cutting back on the number of non-violent offenders and parole violaters they lock up, not out of a sense of fairness and justice, but in an effort to save money. The juvenile justice system however, is a completely different story.

2. Texas, already a leader in wind power, aims to dominate the solar energy market as well. Two things we have in abundance are sun and open spaces, so this makes perfect sense.

3. The presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Sharon Keller, says it ain't her fault that the clerk's office closed before attorneys for Michael Richard could file a last-minute plea hoping to delay the convicted murderer's execution. Clearly, somebody isn't being exactly honest.

4. Obama and the "state secrets" privilege: the song has changed, but the lyrics remain the same. Though as far as I'm concerned blaming the White House for asserting "state secrets" to hide wrongdoing is like blaming a dog for chasing a car. The real culprit is the Supreme Court and host of federal court decisions wherein the judiciary has repeatedly abdicated it's role of oversight.

5. Iraq: In Baghdad, ethnic cleansing brought peace. In northern Iraq, Sunni Arabs and the Kurds may be gearing up for some ethnic cleansing of their own.