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In a small Texas town, a new bar/tavern started a building to open up their business. The local Baptist church started a campaign of petitions and prayers to block the bar from opening.

Work progressed, however right up till the week before opening, when a lightning strike hit the bar and it burned to the ground.

The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building’s demise in its reply to the court.

As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork. At the hearing he commented, “I don’t know how I’m going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that doesn’t.”

After claiming an 11th-place finish yesterday in the famed NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Bobby Labonte is racing the #96 car again today in the Coca Cola 600. He’s got a great chance to win this one, but he has to outdrive some of the other greats like the Busch boys (Kurt and Kyle), Terry Stewart, Mark Martin (the only old timer over-50 driver), Matt Kenseth and even some others who would rather drive him into the wall than let him win.

Check it out live at the Charlotte Lowe’s Motor Speedway today on the Fox network.

As reported in the American Statesman, Corvalent, Inc. officially came to town yesterday as the Ribbon was cut to the new facility. It was great to meet so many new citizens who work with Corvalent who now live in our city (all trans-plants from sunny California.)

Here is what The American Statesman reported:

Corvalent Inc. opened its Cedar Park headquarters and manufacturing center, joining the list of California companies that have relocated to the Austin area.

The company has about 20 employees now and plans to hire 30 more in the next 12 to 24 months.

Corvalent, which makes motherboards for the personal computer industry, had been based in Silicon Valley for the past 16 years. The company chose Cedar Park as its new home after a national search.

“Central Texas provides some of the best fundamentals for conducting business in the United States, offering one of the highest quality and most capable technical work force expertise in the country,” President and CEO Ed Trevis said.

I think this was from last week…meant to post it, but forgot. Take a look…

I sure have been hearing some pretty darn good thing about Lowell Moore lately. For the last couple of months it seems various politicos have been talking about him quite a bit. The general consensus is that he has been performing very well.

To learn what was going on, I made it a point to catch all the council meetings I could via channel 10, and was very surprised to see that Lowell is quite the statesman. He seems to be doing a great job for Cedar Park.

At first, I wasn’t sure we were talking about the same person (I was thinking about the Lowell Moore who seemed to show little if any regard for our community businesses when he debated me many times taking the opposing position each time!)

However, Lowell wasn’t always that way – and now it seems he is got his stride back. I’ll take back half the bad things I’ve said lately (I’m holding on to the other half for now.)

So congrats to you, Lowell. Thanks for your service to Cedar Park! That brings the count of really good council members up to a grand total of 5, so you are in good company.

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After seeing yet another election where an incumbent who has no track record of any success is easily re-elected, two things come to mind. One – apparently voters aren’t paying attention to the qualifications of elected officials (a couple of our incumbents are there just to bask in the light of self-perceived glory!) And, two – let’s fix it so these bumps on a log can only serve maybe two terms. Yes, I’m talking about Term Limits.

Seeing all the hub-bub recently about change, it seems obvious that we need to set term limits that will allow change to come about. Term limits are nothing new, and in open and honest government they work well. With greedy, self gratifying elected officials, there is no way they will support term limits. They will use every opportunity to hang on to the lime light (sort of like Defecter Specter).

Our forefathers of the US Constitution also agreed that Term Limits were a good thing. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson all considered term limits to be an important way of placing checks on individual power.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had the following opinions on the subject in favor of term limits:

“Elections, especially of representatives and counselors, should be annual … These great men … should be [chosen] once a year – Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne, they rise, they break, and to the sea return. This will teach them the great political virtues of humility, patience, and moderation, without which every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey.” – John Adams

“To prevent every danger which might arise to American freedom from continuing too long in office, it is earnestly recommended that we set an obligation on the holder of that office to go out after a certain period.” – Thomas Jefferson

Let me give you a few pro’s and con’s here. We’ll start with a few pros:

1. Term Limits Increase the ratio of competitive elections.
2. Brings in more opportunities to serve in public office, and also allows for more minorities and women to enter the political sphere.
3. Curbs the influence of lobbyists.
4. Term limits will produce a “citizen legislature” of more ordinary people rather than “wanna be” professional politicians. Term-limited council members would be more in harmony with public opinion and with their fellow citizens.
5. It will promote fresh ideas.
6. Incumbency promotes more spending and bureaucracy along with a stubborn “know-it-all” attitude.

And, in fairness, here are a few con’s:

1. Promotes loss of experience, although staggered terms and the use and recognition of the professional city staff should serve us very well.
2. Term limits can remove popular leaders, but who says the next in line won’t be as popular?
3. Term limits are undemocratic as they can conflict with the will of the voters (uh, not really. That’s just what a few whiners have said).
4. Term limits negatively affect the types of projects that elected leaders implement, and the continuity of those projects. All I have to say about this is BALONEY. I know many projects that were started under older administrations, and today are thriving. If they weren’t such great projects, why did some incumbents claim to be the driving force behind them? Just another reason to limit the terms of these guys.

I wonder who agrees with term limits, and who does not. It would be interesting to see if those who serve would support stepping down after two terms to allow fresh insight and talent to come forward. Hmmmm.

It’s Mother’s Day! Its the day to recognize and cherish your Mother. And, its a time to give back a fraction of the love and care that she showered on you all her life. Celebrate this Mother’s Day by remembering her in whatever way you can.

Happy Mothers Day!