Late last month, Texas trial judge Teresa Hawthorne held that Texas’ death penalty statue violates the Constitution because it grants too much arbitrary discretion to prosecutors. As a result of this decision, Hawthorne has now been deemed unfit to hear a capital case:

Teresa Hawthorne, the Dallas County judge who ruled that the state’s death penalty statute was unconstitutional, must recuse herself from a capital murder case, a judge ruled today. [...]

In his closing arguments, Doug Parks, another of Harris’s attorneys, argued that the state simply didn’t like Hawthorne’s ruling in the defense’s favor on some of the pre-trial motions. If she had ruled in the state’s favor, he argued, “Her personal beliefs about the death penalty wouldn’t matter one iota. … She made rulings the state didn’t like, and now they’re attacking the trial judge based on her personal beliefs and feelings.”

Ultimately, though, [Judge John] Ovard still ruled that a “reasonable person” would have to conclude that Judge Hawthorne is too biased to preside over the case.

This is not law. Indeed, this is barely a mockery of law. If the state disagrees with Hawthorne’s decision, then it is free to appeal it. But when judges can be disqualified from hearing cases if they reach an unpopular decision than the justice system truly is rigged.

And this isn’t even the first time Texas’ court system used the threat of forced recusal against a judge who disagreed with the state’s execution policies. In 2010, Judge Kevin Fine declared the state’s death penalty statute unconstitutional because it was too likely to execute an innocent person. Fine eventually withdrew the opinion, however, after he was threatened with a forced recusal hearing of his own.

Lest there be any doubt, Texas accords far different treatment to judges who demonstrate potential bias in favor of killing criminal defendants. In 2007, Judge Sharon Keller, presiding judge on the highest criminal court in Texas, likely manipulated her court’s procedures to prevent a death row inmate from receiving a stay of execution from the United States Supreme Court. Although a state ethics panel initially gave Keller a “public warning” for her actions, an appeals panel later wiped away even this slap on the wrist.

Likewise, in 1994 Texas elected an unqualified attorney named Stephen Mansfield to its highest criminal court. Judge Mansfield had been disciplined for practicing law without a license in Florida and he was arrested for scalping tickets to the Texas-Texas A&M game on university property. He also was elected on a platform of promising harsher decisions in death penalty cases. Mansfield left the court after he decided not to run for re-election, but he never faced one sanction for his macabre election strategy.

But if one little trial judge dares to suggest that the state’s death penalty procedures are unconstitutional, she will be forced off capital trials because this view could only stem from unreasonable bias.

Via ThinkProgress.Org

If you have an old version of an EA downloader; you will be constantly prompted to switch to Origins. But installing Origins gives EA the right to have a service that:

• Is always on (not just when you’re playing an EA game)
• Scans your ENTIRE system and reports back everything you have installed
• Monitors internet usage and tracks browsing history
• Sells that information to 3rd party advertisers

It further goes on to reference the EA Privacy Policy which says: “Information collected will vary depending upon the activity and may include your name, email address, phone number, home address, birth date, mobile phone number and credit card information.” Further down, it reads: “When you use EA online and mobile products and services or you play our games on your PC or console, we may collect certain non-personal demographic information including gender, zip code, information about your computer, hardware, software, platform, media, mobile device, mobile device ID, console ID, incident data, Internet Protocol (IP) address, network Media Access Control (MAC) address and connection. We also collect other non-personal information such as feature usage, game play statistics and scores, user rankings and click paths as well as other data that you may provide in surveys, via your account preferences and online profiles or through purchases, for instance.”

Additionally, EA has plans to launch Origins on mobile devices, and have social network hooks, so not only can they sell the data they can gather from your hard drive, they can also sell the data from your phone and your friend’s list. Nice.

Users who have installed Origins report that no icon for the service appears in the Windows Tray, but that multiple processes associated with it are running in the background constantly. I have read no reports of uninstall issues, so I don’t know if this app, like their rootkits did, will leave hooks in the system that make it almost impossible to remove.

See, here’s the thing that bugs me: I don’t want how I go about my daily life to be a cash point vector in someone else’s business plan. When I buy a product from a company; a fair exchange of currency for product has occurred.  That should be the end of the transaction. I should not, by virtue of purchasing a good or service, then be assigning to that company the right to continuously make money on me by selling the contents of my hard drive, or browsing history, or anything else.

It appears that EA doesn’t think it can make enough money by just selling, distributing or producing games.  That it has put in place a business plan whereby they continuously make money by selling their user’s data to the highest bidder. And while I want to support games, game developers, and the game universe as a whole, I unilaterally refuse to sign up to give my data away for free so some EA executive can have a new Bugatti.

Further reading:

‘I’ve Got Nothing to Hide’ and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy ” by Daniel J. Solove.

RockPaperShotgun writes: EA’s Origin EULA Proves Even More Sinister.

Escapist Forum Member The_root_of_all_evil goes through the EULA with a fine tooth comb.

Strangers in the Gloam

“Hey handsome,” the voice floated out of the gloaming from behind him, “got a light?” He turned, the voluptuous curves of her figure almost hidden by the chiaroscuro.

Bryce patted his pockets, then shrugged. “Sorry,” he said “I quit.”

“It’s a disgusting habit.” the woman said, throwing her unlit cigarette in the gutter as she prowled toward him. Primal and predatory, she moved through the checkerboard of light and shadow. Her hair was long and red, and her dress clung to her as she moved.

“It was just an excuse to say hello, really.” the woman said as she stepped close to him. “What was?” Bryce muttered as the woman reached up to stroke his face, her crimson talons flashing like a school of piranha in his peripheral vision. “It doesn’t matter, ” she said, running her fingernails down his chest. “follow me.”

Bryce followed her down the block to a discrete pair of doors. She waved at the desk clerk in passing as she led Bryce down the dim corridors of a once stately hotel. Like the woman herself, the hotel was past her prime, but it was obvious that she had once been a queen. The art deco embellishments gleamed in the flickering electric candlelight and the burnished wooden doors shone with centuries of secrets.

The woman hesitated before a door, glancing almost nervously back at Bryce, before ushering him in. The room they entered was darkening quickly as dusk turned to night. She motioned for him to sit in an overstuffed chair overlooking the city. She stood in front of him, and slowly slid her dress from her shoulders, the silky material whispering down, catching on her nipples briefly before swirling around her feet, an onyx seashell for an olive skinned Venus.

She knelt down at Bryce’s feet, reaching for his belt buckle as her long red hair swept across his thighs. He closed his eyes as warmth engulfed him, riding waves of pleasure cresting into a crescendo…when the journey was interrupted by a soft, but insistent buzzing. He opened his eyes to see Venus glancing at the screen of her phone.

She released him with a sound like a champagne cork moving at high velocity as she rolled her eyes and answered the phone. “Hello. What? But you weren’t due here until tomorrow. No, no, of course we miss the children…absolutely….can’t wait to see you!”

“Goddammit!” Venus exclaimed as she stood up and pulled the long red wig off. “Put your pants on, Bryce,” she sighed, “the kids will be home in 10 minutes.”

But, Ol’ John wasn’t alone in driving Rowlett to ruin. The city council has been implicitly responsible for the position in which the town now finds itself.  And if the city council and management follow the path that has been tread for the last 10 years, it’s only going to get worse.

Back when Rowlett was going through a boom, the city chose to give tax abatement to builders and retailers. Tax abatements with contracts that are STILL in effect in many cases. At the same time that the city was refusing to collect taxes from builders, Walmart, and Target, it raised the property taxes of homeowners. Raised it to the point where, when measured by square foot, Rowlett had the 3rd highest tax rate in the state.

And what did we get for all those property tax increases?

• Budget cuts.
• Fired Librarians.
• Layoffs.
• Infrastructure cuts.

All so Walmart could avoid paying taxes, a previous mayor could become the vice president of the builder with the largest tax abatement, and a previous city manager who cut and run as soon as his tea party birds came home to roost.

So, while I agree with many citizens that Mayor Harper thought of himself in the Royal “We”, and tended to believe that Mayors are supposed to “govern”, (an idea contrary to both law and common sense), what really got us into this mess was a more than decade long campaign to cut the taxes of massive corporations at the expense of the citizens in our community.

This is Tea Party Politics in action.  When you give tax breaks to the wealthiest people and corporations, the citizens get the burden of the infrastructure. And if they can’t bear the cost of the infrastructure, the infrastructure starts falling down.

Taxes are the price of democratic republic.  All members of the republic should pay their fair share. Even the really rich members. The burden of democracy cannot be placed solely on the backs of those who work for a living.

Also, I think there is the great possibility that I was really, really, REALLY high for a long time. It’s the only thing that can explain the Jay and Silent Bob dolls…er, action figures.  Complete with bong, dog, beer, and various other accoutrement. Also, ren faire costumes, fairy wings, bat tiaras, coffins and skulls and more goth crap than I should admit to in public. 12-hole, steel toe doc martins, a cutting of long blue hair, stick-on bindis, a shirt held together by safety pins and signed by one of my favorite naked bands, and a hospital bill from a mosh pit gone terribly, terribly wrong. Concert posters taken from walls all over the world.  Giant sheets of newsprint that I put on on walls for other people to decorate and write on.  Pounds and pounds of art supplies, with an equal amount of started and never completed art projects. And comic books. Dear god, I have comic books. So many comic books. And games.  Steve Jackson paper games, D&D 1st edition books, 3 ring binders full of campaigns and characters and worlds and storylines. Boxes and boxes and boxes of software…and subsequently systems that will run some of this ancient code. Apple Plus, anyone?

Apparently, not only was I high…I am now, and have always been, a geek.

And as I face this mountain of collected effluvia, I’m just not sure what to do with any of it.  Part of me just can’t bear the thought of throwing any of it away, or selling it, or burning it in a sacrifice to the gods and guardians that kept me alive during some of the more stupid periods, but I realize that I’m not likely to ever frame and put up the band flyers from 25 years ago, or break out the goth gear for anything but halloween costumes, and what in the name of all that is right in the world, am I going to do with a collection of tattooed brothel-house Barbies?

Packing the books and the china and the media collections was the easy part.  Now I’m down to the stuff I haven’t seen since I looked at it the last time I moved, a decade ago.  Some of this stuff has been moved 5 or 6 times, and has never come out of the original box from 20+ years ago.

It’s like I’m afraid that if I get rid of the Thing that reminds of of the Memory, that somehow I will also lose the Memory.  Having watched what Alzheimer’s can do, I’m terrified of somehow losing connection to the fragile thread that ties me to my past and my memories.

I know that’s just completely illogical. And really, when I’m trying to remember my ill begotten, misspent youth, the odds are I’m not going to need a club-date poster from Sham 69 to do it.  I’m pretty sure that’s what flashbacks are for.

Wish me luck, I go bravely forth to battle the demons of my past, the fears of my future, and the shame of the unfortunate wardrobe choices I’ve made through the years.

But, there comes a point where you just can’t keep toting around boxes for decades, refusing to open them in case you find something icky from your past.  So, today, I put on the big-girl pants and started going through the landmine boxes.

And while I did find stuff that made me cry…letters from friends who have died, announcements from friends I’ve lost touch with, pictures of people who I can no longer name, I also think I found redemption, and peace, and forgiveness. None of which are things one generally finds in a box.

I think today was the day when I could finally put the past behind me.  I found a picture that reminded me why I was once in love with him. And a picture that reminds me why I still miss her, almost 20 years later.  And pictures of us all on the beach, and in the jungles, and atop the ruins. And I could read the love letters and realize that broken hearts heal, that not all love is eternal, and that we can choose to remember the happy times, and forgive the bad ones.

I saw Montana through the eyes of a woman who loved it. I saw Scotland through the eyes of a friend who chose to end his life there. I saw myself through the eyes of a man who loved me then.  I saw him though the lens of the girl I once was. I found old friends, and forgave old enemies. I cried. I laughed. I saved a memento of each. And  then I lightened my load by getting rid of the rest.

As I fed each thing into the shredder, I lived the moment that created it.  And then I let it go.

I feel disconnected, as though I’ve untied a huge part of my reality, but I also feel better. I’ve had my bonfire, and I feel lighter.  I can look back now, not in anger, but in wonderment. I don’t know that I can be forgiven for some of the things I’ve done in my life…but I feel like I took a day to forgive anyone that I’d assigned as a shadow in my heart, and I feel good about it.

Disconnected. Discombobulated. But relieved, and happy, and moving forward.

All that said; I still think it’s a bit insane that I’ve got a giant box full of rocks, which I’ve apparently moved more than once.

I’ll think about that tomorrow.

Thus, finding property that has an acre or more of land generally means looking for things that were built and homesteaded back in the 60s and 70s.

As I’m discovering…things built 40 years ago come with their own set of issues. Today we went and visited three properties; one on 3 acres, one that was supposed to be 2 acres, but was less than 1, and a third which I’ll leave for another day…because I actually kinda like it, and am going to go look at it again tomorrow.

Skyline Drive, Murphy, TX 75094

MLS# 11453532

What the listing agent said:

Murphy House Kitchen

RARE FIND!! To die for Ranch style home. Country living with acreage in the city! Upgraded kitchen with stainless steel appliances, upgraded cabinets and granite countertops! Huge bedrooms, wet bar in living room. You are going to fall in love with the Backyard oasis! Master bedroom has sliding glass door for private access. 288 sq ft workshop OR man cave in back. What a jewel! ***MUST SEE***

My impression from the pictures online, and the property details entered in the MLS by the agent was that it had great trees, a good neighborhood, good schools, a pool, one story…pretty much everything I was hoping for.

However, this 197o’s ranch house did not have the 2 acres that caused it to show up in my search list, (since corrected in the mls), it didn’t have two dining areas like the listing agent said it had, and what the hell is a man cave anyway?

It’s actually a really cute little house, with massive old trees, teeeeeeny closets, no storage space, and cracks in the wall, leading me to believe that there are probably some foundation issues either already happening, or very close to needing repair. The kitchen has been renovated, but nothing else in the house has been, which is kind of strange, unless the owners started to remodel, and then realized that the house wasn’t worth what they were going to spend.

The house wouldn’t work for us, but it would be fantastic home for someone with time/skill/ interest to renovate.  Knock out a few walls, put in some closets, level up the foundation (a really common issue in Texas), lose the mustard color paint, and there’s some real potential in this little baby.  Not for the listing price, mind you, but potential none the less.

4912 Sachse Road Sachse, TX 75048

MLS # 11251736 $325,000

What the listing agent said:

This traditional country home nestled on approximately 2.6 acres has it all, surrounded by large Live Oak Trees. Featuring hardwood floors, plantation shutters, built-in appliances and much more. Private backyard area complete with heated diving pool & spa. 30 x 40 air conditioned Work Shop, 24 x 26 barn with tack room and attached is a 18 x 26 Equipment Storage. Minutes to schools and shopping.

What the listing agent didn’t say: House has been on the market for over a year because the listing prices is double that of the tax value, and the tax value is generous.  Total tax value on the property is $161, 340, which assumes improvements that have not been made.

Sloping Kitchen of Dooooom

The foundation has been repaired, (again, not uncommon in this part of Texas), but it was repaired really, really, REALLY badly.  The house has a hill in the center of it.  From the kitchen island, were you wearing roller-skates, you would roll quickly into a wall in any given direction.  The slope is obvious enough that my 7 year old said “Wow, look how much of a hill is in the kitchen, mom! This would be great for matchbox cars!”.

The “master bedroom” was a converted garage, complete with the exterior brick wall still in place as one of the interior walls.  (Seriously, wouldn’t you at least drywall over that so you didn’t have exterior brick facia? What were they thinking?)  One cool thing? Floor safe.  I do love a hidden floor safe. The door from that room led into a garage.  Because who doesn’t want to smell exhaust fumes in bed, I ask you?  All the discomfort of living by mass transit, none of the groovy convenient access to the rest of the world.  Speaking of shopping, on the strip malls popping up right by this property were payday lenders, chop shops, washaterias, and no real grocery stores or name retailers.  None of which bespeak gentrification, and all of which suggest that the neighborhood is quickly going the wrong direction.

No closets, small rooms, teeny windows, exterior walls in the “bedroom” that used to be a garage, no level spot in the house…all in all, this was a “bulldoze and start over” project.  Land out that way is nowhere near 100k an acre, so I have no idea what the people who are selling this white elephant are thinking.

The third house; I liked.  I’m taking the husband tomorrow morning to look at it…and I think I might make an offer on it.  I’m also looking at 4 more properties tomorrow.  This house hunting thing, it’s a lot more work than anticipated.

Ok, keep in mind that I love 70’s architecture.  I do. I don’t know why.  But this house:  this screams 70’s Brady Bunch house. Love that!

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

The pictures on this listing suggest that the house is in need of some basic updating, but it really doesn’t look too bad.  In fact, it looks pretty groovy.  I mean, I thought the bathroom looked kinda small, and wondered why there weren’t pictures of the “cabana”…but the crime stats for the area looked good, the property values in the area were outstanding, it’s almost walking distance to the gifted and talented academies, and I could keep FIOS service.  I was actually really excited.  I don’t mind project houses when the projects aren’t overwhelming. This house though…I would have to own my own construction crew to make this even match the listing agent’s verbiage, who is a very creative writer.

For example, he didn’t happen to mention that the roof is 40 years old, there’s termite damage, the house has been rental property, there’s standing water in upstairs closets, there’s no air conditioning upstairs unless one counts the window unit being held in by silicon caulk and prayer.  The pool pump and heaters were broken, the “cabana” was some rotted fencing material around antique plumbing fixtures, and the dog run was chihuahua sized and filled with dog poop.

The trees so visible in the pictures are on the other side of the fence and don’t belong to this property.  The house hadn’t been cleaned since the last tenants moved, there was junk in the closets, the carpets were filthy, the drawers were dirty, the ovens hadn’t even been wiped out…frankly, ewwwh. The house has been on the market for over 100 days, there has been plenty of time for them to at least vacuum and wipe down the counters.

The few updates that had been done in the house had been done by either by the owners or the tenants, but no professional contractor could possibly have been responsible for those disasters.  At least I hope nobody got paid for that hot mess. The master bath configuration was the strangest thing and the only cure would have been to nuke it and start over.

Dial up microwave

The kitchen had ridiculous amounts of water damage and cabinet separations, and I don’t think it had been updated since the builder put it up in 1970.  Dig the groovy dial up microwave! It also had a working intercom system, that was a total throwback to how some of my friend’s parents used to call us all to dinner back in the day.  I actually love the intercom.

The rest of the house…not so much.  My realtor, whom I adore and have known for decades, is married to a fantastic general contractor.  I’ve used him to build various things around my current house, and to fix stuff in my old house before we sold it.  Both Annette (my realtor) and I are pretty experienced in building out and remodeling stuff, and have a pretty good head for running estimates as we tour properties.

Now, keep in mind, that at this price point; I expected to have to do renovations.  Nobody expects a house in this neighborhood, at that price point, to be perfect.  You do however, expect that they would have kept the house in a condition that means a bank would write a loan on it.  No bank anywhere is going to write a residential note on a house with a 40 year old roof, and standing water in water heater closets. Renovation note, yes. Residential note? Oh no.  And no flipper or renovator in the world would touch this monster at that price point.  Even fully repaired and remodeled, the top sale price you could hope for is around $300k…and that’s unlikely, with brand new 4000 square feet homes going in around this house at the $325k point.

Anyway; we took notes, and figured that it would cost over a thousand dollars just to get it inspected; house, pool, sewer and structural engineer…all of which you have to do with houses this old built in Texas…the ground moves here, often taking foundations with it…and then easily 80k in renovations; roof, kitchen, bath, new ducts and air units, so the upstairs was air conditioned, flooring, painting, drywall, fixing the pool, rebuilding the “cabana” …all of that assuming that there was nothing seriously wrong with the structure, the wiring, or the pipes.

Bless his heart, the listing agent for this property is a damn fine writer…but I can’t see this house selling for more than $125k to any knowledgeable buyer.

The quest continues.