Only in Texas

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages -- gather 'round, for I have a confession to make:

I have been disrespectful of the Texas Legislature.

Yes, I know, it's difficult to believe (unless, of course, you happen to have read the previous post). But I assure you, it's true. I have joked about their incompetence. I have bewailed the start of session. I have referred to Will Rogers' comment about not writing jokes, just reporting on Congress.

Mea culpa, mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

But I have seen the error of my ways. I have turned a new leaf. I have . . . oh, enough already. You want to know what caused this change of heart, don't you?

The Texas Lege, folks, has now set a new standard of speed and efficiency. A new standard which I defy any other state body -- nay, even the U.S. Congress -- to meet, much less exceed.

In the waning hours of the current session, a committee was needed to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the same bill. The committee would have to work out a compromise, write and issue a report and get it to the reps so a vote could be taken. With mere hours to go, House Speaker Tom Craddick named the House members of the committee on Saturday morning. A very short deadline, as the session was due to end Sunday.

But not to worry!! In an unmatched display of a heretofore-unseen sense of urgency, the committee's report was printed and distributed on Friday!!! Yes, you read that right, the committee wrote, published, and distributed the report before the members were even named!!!

And to add to their glory, the humble public servants who managed this miracle insist upon anonymity. Not one single person is claiming credit for this feat.

Take that, you other 49 states. Only in Texas!!!!

The Texas Lege

God love 'em. Certainly nobody else with a brain could.

OK, put yourself in this position: you are a legislator in a state with, among others, the following issues:
* kids are dying regularly because Child Protective Services is massively underfunded and understaffed;
* teachers are up in arms because you're trying to cut their pensions when you just voted yourself a $6000 raise:
* your state contains at least one of the fattest cities in the universe;
* an abysmal high school dropout rate.

So, what's your priority?

Why, isn't it obvious? Passing a bill to put a ban on same-sex marriages in the state constitution.
It gets better. The sponsor of the bill, with a perfectly straight face, claimed that the bill "is not anti-gay."

*sigh*

I recall, in the Gospels, harsh words from Jesus about hypocrites, and about those who look down on others as "not as good" as themselves.
But homosexuality?

Not one single word.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

So, what is it with genealogy, anyway?

Sure, some people just dabble in it. They start with Grandpa and work back; they may sit down and do a Google search on a rainy day; and eventually, when they hit a dead end, they give up and watch "The Apprentice."

And then there are the rest of us. The ones who live, breathe, and dream it. The ones who wake up at 3 a.m. wondering, "Did I ever check 19th century Kentucky land records for him?" The ones who see a request for volunteers & say, "I can fit in one more project!" (at least, until the dust bunnies start mutating).
Like Glenda, who types up old Rochester, New York newspaper articles at an amazing rate, & sends them to the Monroe County list so the rest of us can find our ancestors (or just read fun stories about life in the "old days").
Like the Smiths, who took Microsoft Access as a base and developed an entire software program just for the small subset of genealogists who do one-name studies.
Like Julia, maintaining a whole inter-related series of webpages for the Cornwall OPC project, while still looking for volunteers for the 'orphan' parishes.

You laugh?

My current projects:
The general family history, of course. Working backward and sideways in all directions. Currently featuring 3,751 persons in the database, with more contributions from distant cousins sitting here awaiting input. Not to mention the two books of Ohio records that should be arriving in a couple of weeks (have to find ggg/grandma Fannie Strickland's maiden name, you know -- how else will I trace her family back?).

The One-Name-Study for Samble and variants (Sambel, Sambell). Why? The earliest-known ancestor (in an English-speaking country so I can actually do the research) is a Samble. Not that common a name, so quite possibly all related.
And the earliest Samble record (currently) is found in the little parish of Landulph, in Cornwall, which brings us to --

The Landulph OPC project. Cornwall genealogists started the Online Parish Clerk project in the 1990's, with the goal of every parish having an OPC to collect and transcribe parish records. (The project is now catching on in some other areas of England). So, I have here a set of scans of Landulph's parish records, going back to 1540. Of course, I wimped out and started with the most recent and most legible, but eventually, it's Latin, here I come!

Transcribing the 1870 Wilson County (TX) census for Rootsweb. Why? Just for grins, I guess; I've got no ancestors here.
Actually, there is a reason. I have found so much info on my ancestors that would not have been available to me if someone hadn't transcribed it and put it on the internet -- it just seemed like I should do something for the home county. And I should be done in a couple of months, so I can strike this one off the list (of course, I already have my eye on another project to replace it . . .).

And speaking of Rootsweb, I belong to the legion of volunteers who administer the mailing lists and message boards; our main duties being to keep the spammers and other idiots away. If you have small, quiet lists & boards, like I do, it takes very little time.

Last but not least, currently on hold but not forgotten, The Lamberts of Southern Illinois. Which I am very much afraid will someday branch out into The Lamberts of Tennessee. Because I AM going to find more of Hezekiah's family someday. Whether they like it or not!!

OCD?
You decide. I don't have time. There's some faded 16th-century handwriting to be deciphered . . .

Too Strange to Be Fiction

So there's this guy in Australia who is fighting in court to keep his wife on life support. She may or may not survive if the ventilator is removed; but she will surely die if her feeding tube is removed.

Terry Schiavo in reverse? The husband fighting to keep his beloved wife alive, against all odds?

Well, not exactly.

The reason the lady in question is on life support is that said husband tried, and failed, to strangle her to death. She was found, days later, locked in the trunk of a car.

And if she dies, he faces murder charges, rather than attempted murder.

And here's the capper, folks; and if you have a drink in your hand, put it down now:

According to his attorney, Mr. Husband is fighting against letting her die "for religious reasons."

*sigh*