Automatic Replacement Elections Needed for any City of Austin Elective Official Testing Positive in a Random Illicit-Drug Test

I welcome the day when the City Government of Austin finally does strengthen its role in the global anti-drug and anti-terrorism campaign.

The City of Austin in Austin, Texas, can achieve that goal by requiring the immediate resignation or immediate dismissal from elective office of any elective official of the City Government of Austin who at any time during his tenure with the City ever at any time tests positive for marijuana or some other illicit drug in a randomly applied drug test. That random drug test could and should be sponsored and financed by the City Government of Austin.

The day or days of the month when that City-sponsored random drug test would be administered to respective elective officials of the City Government of Austin in Austin, Texas, would be selected at random and in full secrecy on the first day of each and every month. Also, the legal names of the elective official who would be required to undergo a drug test on any given day would be secretly chosen at random. Each elective official of the City of Austin would be expected to fully comply with the drug-testing requirement within five hours after that official was informed by the City of Austin that he had been chosen to undergo a blood test and urine test that same day.

Each resulting removal from elective office of a city official who failed his drug test would automatically trigger a special citywide election in Austin which local voters would choose a law-abiding citizen of integrity to succeed the City of Austin elective official who had failed a random drug test.

On behalf of this enlightened new policy, the City Government of Austin could impose an automatic legal requirement that each and every elective official of the City Government of Austin in Austin, Texas, must himself or herself be subjected to City of Austin-sponsored random drug-testing at least twice per year.

Each such mandatory blood test would be designed to identify the presence of any marijuana or any other illicit drug in the bloodstream or urine of that municipal government elective official in Austin, Texas.

If the City Government of Austin insists on the immediate resignation or automatic dismissal from elective office of any municipal elective official in this capital city of Texas who fails a random drug test at any time during his tenure, this would convey a very healthy ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY toward any and all illicit-drug activities in Austin, Texas.

When our City Government of Austin promulgates the life-saving and very moral message of Zero Tolerance toward illicit drugs in our city, this will also help to restore credibility to our entire capital city. Our City of Austin, let us not forget, has for many years been sarcastically branded by observers as the "Drug Den of the Southwest," "Pot Capital of the Southwest," "Willie Nelson Pot Party Headquarters," "Marijuana Madness Capital of the Southwest," "Marijuana-Mellow Austin," "The Soft-on-Drugs Capital of the Southwest," "The Southwestern City with More Crack-Cocaine Addicts than Cracks in its Public Sidewalks," and the like.


The very powerful moral statement made to the general public from random drug testing of all elective city officials would be clear: The City Government of Austin in Austin, Texas, will NOT TOLERATE any involvement in illicit-drug activities by ANY current elective official of the City of Austin. Also, the City Government of Austin in Austin, Texas, insists on promulgating this very crucial message to all residents of Austin, all other Texans, all the people of all of the states that border Texas, including the foreign nation of Mexico, all residents of the United States of America, and to all people throughout the entire world.

In this way, the City Government of Austin can also take an urgently-needed powerful stand against terroristic violence throughout the world, including in the United States, Mexico, and the Middle East.

It is a well known fact that any Austin residents---including any and all elective officials of the City Government of Austin in Austin, Texas----who ever at any time consume any quantity of marijuana or any other illicit drug are compromising the national security of the United States. They are doing that because purchase of marijuana or any other illicit drug by any Austin resident is either directly or indirectly financing terroristic violence in Mexico, the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere. That terroristic violence undermines the national security of our country and the personal safety of all American citizens.

LET THERE BE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT: The purchase or consumption of any illicit drug in Austin, Texas, at any time in the 21st Century is TANTAMOUNT TO AN ACT OF TREASON BY THAT AUSTIN RESIDENT.

This urgently needed change to governance in our Capital City along the Colorado River will also help to significantly reduce the amount of corruption in municipal government here in Austin, Texas.

At present, any Austin City Council member who might ever at any time establish an illicit client-provider relationship with an illicit drug dealer----regardless of whether that City Council member claims to be "only purchasing these innocent marijuana brownies from that very nice constituent of mine," as that City Council member might put it in his private diaries----is severely morally compromised as a government leader.

When he is asked to vote on drug-deterrence proposals for our city at Austin City Council meetings, that hypothetical Austin City Council member cannot possibly cast a fair and impartial vote. He could, it's true, abstain from voting on that urgently-needed anti-drug proposal. He could cite a conflict of interest as his reason for abstaining. However, that very abstention on such a crucial vote by Austin City Council would comprise a very sobering commentary about --- and very damning expose of --- the rampant immorality undermining our City Government of Austin.

This is, after all, a municipal government in Austin, Texas, that claims to be "progressive" at all times.

Inevitably at some date in our foreseeable future, a law-abiding observer of our City Government of Austin may find himself asking: "Is that Austin City Council member 'progressive' because he's PROGRESSING into more and more outrageous illicit drug activities? Is this what they mean by their self-description as 'progressive'? If that's the case, I don't want to have any involvement in any sponsorship of these very deplorable illicit drug trips for any municipal elective official here in Austin!"

My Advice to Children and Teenage Persons: How You Can Make the Best of the Holiday Season With Your Relatives

The following suggestions may help you to avoid having conflicts with your relatives when you spend more time with them this Holiday Season:

(1) Keep in mind that the number of years you have to live with or get together with your parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles is very, very limited. Your parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles are mortal. They will not be alive forever. Make the most of the opportunities you do have this Holiday Season to spend time with your parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles in person. Try to be polite and pleasant and friendly and kind and cheerful to your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles during all of your Holiday Season meetings with them.

(2) Jot down on a piece of paper what you admire or love or like the most about each of the relatives whom you will be having conversations with this Holiday Season. That information can guide you well as you strive to be nice to each of your relatives this Holiday Season.

(3) Ask your parents if you can borrow a tape recorder from them and pose a variety of questions to a relative of yours whom you love the most or admire the most. You can then store in your own personal library in your bedroom the resulting audiotape of that polite interview you conducted. That taped interview can help to inspire you throughout your life.

(4) Ask each of your relatives you're talking with in person about their favorite hobbies. Then ask relatives of yours if they would let you pursue that hobby with them this Holiday Season. If your relative enjoys playing miniature golf, for instance, you could ask your relative if he would be willing to teach you how to play miniature golf.

(5) Try telling each of your relatives about your favorite hobbies and leisuretime activities. Your generosity in sharing this information about yourself may help you to develop a closer emotional bond with several of your relatives.

(6) Strive to avoid making any comment to a relative of yours that might sound sarcastic or cruel or mean.

(7) Try offering words of sincere praise to each of your relatives, when the opportunity arises. Your generosity toward your relatives will be appreciated by each of them.

(8) Try asking each of the relatives of yours in your age group if they would please tell you the name of a book or movie that they recently enjoyed reading or watching. That information may offer you good ideas for books and movies you might also enjoy.

(9) Try inviting a relative of yours to go with you to a favorite place of yours that your parents are willing to take both of you to and your parents also like. The relative of yours you invite on that outing with you will appreciate your generous hospitality.

(10) Strive to identify and focus on those moments when you agree with what a relative of yours is saying in your presence. Your constructive focus on having a "point of agreement" with that relative of yours will help you to achieve harmony with your relatives this Holiday Season.

(11) Ask one of your parents, uncles, aunts, or grandparents to please tell you about a favorite Holiday Season of their past that they experienced. What made that Holiday Season especially enjoyable for them?

(12) Think of a food or beverage you enjoy that one of your older relatives often cooks or prepares. Ask that older relative if he or she might be willing to let you help him prepare that dish or that beverage inside your family's home this Holiday Season. You could also ask that older relative to please let you look at his or her recipe for that dish. You could then copy that recipe using a pen and add that handwritten recipe card to your own growing personal recipe file inside your family's home.

(13) Ask an older relative of yours to please tell you about artists, singers, published writers, current television shows, and current Hollywood actors whom that relative of yours particularly likes or loves. You could then jot down notes for yourself about the opinions that your relative shared with you.

(14) Ask your older relatives about various Holiday Season traditions that your family has followed for many years. When did each of those Holiday Season traditions begin in your family, and who began that tradition in your family? For instance, was it your father or mother, or a grandparent of yours, who established the annual tradition of all members of their household going on an outdoor nature-trail hike together on Christmas Day?

(15) Find out if any of your relatives have begun to write or have finished writing their New Year's Resolutions for 2011? Ask that relative of yours why he chose those particular goals, or "resolutions," for himself?

(16) Pursue some research on the Internet to learn more about how the people of some foreign nation celebrate the Holiday Season. For instance, do children in the foreign nation of Australia believe that Santa Claus lives in the North Pole or in the South Pole? Australia is situated much closer to the South Pole than to the North Pole.

(17) Do some research to identify a Holiday-Season tradition in a foreign country that you also might enjoy doing. You could then ask your parents for permission to try doing something like that in your own home.

(18) Ask each of your relatives you're spending time with this Holiday Season if they would be willing to share with you their personal E-mail address and home phone number. You could then jot down that information and add that to your personal address book.

(19) Ask each of your relatives this Holiday Season if he or she would please tell you the day of the year when he or she was born. You could then devote an entire page of your address book to citing the birthdays of each of your relatives. That information will help you to remember to mail Birthday greeting cards on an annual basis to each of your relatives.


(20) Ask one of your relatives to teach you a new board game or a new card game that you haven't played before.

(21) Ask yourself what is the subject in school in which you are currently the weakest. Then ask a relative of yours if he or she knows of any educational board game you could play with that relative this Holiday Season that would help you improve your skills in that subject area.

A Response to Party-Goers of Austin, Texas, Who Profess to be "Cool" and "Very Tolerant" about Presence of Illicit Drugs at Social Parties They Attend

To the many thousands of Austin residents who say that it does not bother them at all to attend a social party in Austin, Texas, this Holiday Season in which marijuana or some other illicit drug is being distributed or sold or consumed by one or more persons at that party site, I offer the following responses:

(1) Regardless of whether you yourself claim to have not consumed or purchased or possessed any illicit drug at that social party, you are legally liable for failing to report the criminal-law evidence you directly observed to the Austin Police Department. Your direct in-person witnessing of that illicit-drug crime without yourself contacting the appropriate law-enforcement agency about that very deplorable incident comprises a possible crime in itself on your part. It is also a possible crime allegedly committed by yourself for which you could be legally charged in a court of law in Austin, Texas.

(2) Even if you yourself refrain from smoking any of the marijuana being consumed by others at that social party, you are a "passive smoker" of marijuana, and some quantity of marijuana does enter your own lungs and your own bloodstream. This makes you an indirect consumer of marijuana, through your mere presence at that party over a multi-hour period. A blood test conducted on yourself by the Austin Police Department or some other law-enforcement agency might well determine that from a technical standpoint, you also "consumed" marijuana at that social party---even if you had politely declined to smoke or ingest any of that marijuana yourself.

(3) If a police raid of the party you are attending does in fact occur, your excuse that "I didn't consume any illicit drugs at this party" would not offer you immunity from apprehension or prosecution by the Austin Police Department. During a police drug raid at the party, you are at risk of yourself being arrested by the Austin Police Department along with each of the party participants who WERE, in fact, directly and knowingly consuming marijuana or some other illicit drug at that Holiday-Season party.

(4) Wouldn't you feel much more comfortable about attending a social party in Austin in which the party host very directly and helpfully assures you in advance that no consumption of any illicit drug by anyone attending that party would be permitted by that party host at any time during the event?

Also, wouldn't you prefer to attend a social party in Austin at which you have been assured in advance by the party host that "every person cited on my party list for this social event in Austin, Texas, has already directly assured me on the telephone that he is a permanent year-round abstainer from any and all forms of marijuana, marijuana brownies, and any other illicit drugs. I've also informed all invited guests in advance that only the INVITED guests will be permitted by me to attend this social party. No one will be permitted to 'crash' this social party."

A Plea to All Media Companies and All Media Organizations in Austin, Texas: Insist on Twice-Per-Year Random Drug-Testing of All Your Employees!

I was recently alarmed to hear unconfirmed reports in town that the "Austin Chronicle" alternative newsweekly publication in Austin, Texas, and the Cox Enterprises-owned "Austin American-Statesman" in Austin, Texas, each allegedly employ and allegedly harbor numerous or several law-breaking illicit-drug addicts on their respective staffs.

I hope very much that those shocking rumors I've heard are completely incorrect, and that NO ONE currently employed by the "Austin Chronicle" or the "Austin American-Statesman" has ever at any time consumed any quantity of marijuana --- whether in the form of a marijuana brownie or otherwise --- or any other illicit drug on any occasion in calendar year 2010. In that regard, I myself have never at any time in 2010 been directly informed by any "Austin Chronicle" employee or by any "Austin American-Statesman" employee, respectively, that he or she has ever at any time produced or purchased or possessed or consumed or sold or otherwise distributed any quantity of marijuana or any other illicit drug on any occasion this calendar year. Nor have I myself ever directly observed any quantity of any illicit drug inside either of those two respective newspaper office buildings in my entire life.

The Cox Enterprises parent company of the "Austin American-Statesman" is itself headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Cox Enterprises of Atlanta is, of course, legally and morally responsible for any and all misconduct and violations of the law and any and all unethical conduct by "Austin American-Statesman" employees or officials of that daily newspaper in Austin, Texas. The "Austin Chronicle" is published by Nick Barbaro, a former arts and entertainment writer for "The Daily Texan" student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin.

If there is any possible truth to the alarming rumors I've heard about these two respective media companies in Austin, Texas, this indicates that the news and editorial policies of the "Austin Chronicle" and the "Austin American-Statesman," respectively, might currently be unduly influenced and swayed by, and might possibly or allegedly reflect the drug-permissive biases and prejudices of, several or numerous allegedly law-breaking alleged illicit-drug addicts allegedly or possibly employed on each of those two respective general-circulation newspapers' respective staffs.

Any such bias by either of those two newspapers in local news and editorial coverage relating to illicit drugs would also significantly undermine efforts by the City Government of Austin, the Travis County Attorney, the Travis County District Attorney, the Travis County Sheriff's Office, the Attorney General of Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the U.S. Government, to adequately address the illicit-drug crisis currently besetting our capital city along the Colorado River.

Each and every news media organization currently operating in Austin, Texas, has a moral imperative to serve as noble "Champions of Goodness and Idealism" in our culturally influential city. When those media organizations fail to adequately uphold law-abiding lifestyles in Austin, Texas, our entire city, county, state, and nation suffer accordingly.

If either the "Austin Chronicle" or the "Austin American-Statesman" is currently failing to provide full and comprehensive news and editorial coverage that's favorable to the anti-drug community in Austin, Texas, possibly an illicit-drug raid by the Austin Police Department (or by the Texas Department of Public Safety or FBI) that features deployment of drug-sniffing police dogs inside at least one of those two newspapers' office buildings in Austin, Texas, might reveal a shockingly tangible explanation for that newspaper's alleged negligence.

The inevitable implication from these very alarming unconfirmed rumors I've heard about two of the most influential news media companies currently operating in Austin, Texas, is that any and all media companies in Austin, Texas, have a moral obligation to prove to the people of Austin that those media companies are each very opposed to any and all consumption of marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, or any other illicit drug by ANY of their employees or officials---including by any photographers, freelance photographers, reporters, writers, freelance writers, editors, editorial writers, editorial board members, consultants, owners, or legal representatives for that media company.

Any and all media companies and media organizations currently operating in Austin, Texas---including, I would hope, "The Daily Texan" student newspaper at UT-Austin---should permanently establish a twice-per-year random-drug testing requirement tradition for each and every current employee of that media organization, including each and every official of that media company and any and all freelance writers and freelance photographers for that media company.

Each and every media company or media organization currently operating in Austin, Texas, should also impose a policy of immediately either dismissing from their staff or placing on paid temporary medical leave of absence, any person being employed by that media company who fails a random-drug test at any time. Individuals placed on medical leave of absence in that context could be required by their media company to successfully complete a drug-treatment program and sign a follow-up drug-free pledge with their employer before they are then permitted to return to their workplace.

If they then fail any of the future twice-per-year random drug testing tests administered to themselves by their employer, they should be automatically fired by that media-company or media-organization employer in Austin, Texas.

In this way, all of the media companies and media organizations operating in Austin, Texas, can help to protect the credibility of the news media in Austin. This type of urgently-needed moral leadership by the news media in Austin, Texas, will also help to combat the deplorably drug-permissive nationwide reputation of Austin---a capital city made infamous globally by the marijuana mischief of popular folk singer Willie Nelson.

My hope is that in the foreseeable future, each and every news media company and news media organization operating in Austin, Texas, will post a sign near the front door entrance to their office building that proudly declares, "Welcome to our Drug-Free Workplace that Exclusively Employs Permanent Abstainers from Any and All Illicit Drugs! We Are One Employer in Austin, Texas, that Performs Random-Drug Testing At Least Twice Per Year on ANYONE and EVERYONE who works for us and ANYONE and on EVERYONE who works here!"

URGENT NEED FOR ADDITIONAL STUDIES IDENTIFYING FINANCIERS OF AND FINANCIAL SOURCES OF TERRORISTIC VIOLENCE IN MIDDLE EAST

There is an obvious and very urgent need for additional studies by anti-terrorism experts that are aimed at identifying WHO the financiers of terrorism in the Middle East are, and which purchases by American consumers, for instance, either directly or indirectly finance terroristic violence in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Despite this obvious need, I myself have not seen any indication that ANY of the major news media organizations in the United States have assigned very high priority to pursuing in-depth investigative journalism on this very crucial topic.

Consumption of illicit drugs by American citizens is, in fact, providing either deliberate or unwitting financial support to Arab terrorists and other terrorist groups around the world. And that is an additional compelling reason why President Obama, IF HE DID HAVE FULL INTEGRITY TO HIM AS OUR NATION'S CHIEF OF STATE AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF, would BE REPEATEDLY AND PUBLICLY URGING all Americans to please IMMEDIATELY refrain from consuming ANY marijuana or ANY cocaine or ANY other illicit drug.

The repeated failure by President Obama ever since he assumed office in January 2009 to repeatedly and publicly declare those kinds of urgently-needed statements to the American people, inevitably raises questions about Obama's level of devotion to befriending the nation he has agreed to serve and lead in his role as our duly elected Chief of State.

Anti-Drug Activist Speakers at Austin City Council Meetings Are Urgently Needed

As any law-abiding observer of the city of Austin's current drug crisis will acknowledge, there is an urgent need for local anti-drug activists to politely ask each and every duly elected official of the City Government of Austin in Austin, Texas, to please answer each of the following types of questions:

(1) When (if ever) did you most recently consume any quantity of the illicit drug marijuana, whether in the form of a marijuana brownie or as an illicit substance that you yourself smoked or inhaled or otherwise ingested?

(2) When (if ever) did you most recently consume any quantity of any illicit drug OTHER than marijuana?

(3) What prompted you to refrain from consuming any marijuana or any other illicit drug throughout each of the two respective time periods since then?

(4) Do you recall the circumstances in which you made your decision to never again consume ANY quantity of marijuana or ANY quantity of any other illicit drug?

(5) What advice would you offer to our city's youths in regard to marijuana or any other illicit drug?

(6) In your role as a duly elected City of Austin official, which initiatives have you pursued that were designed to help reduce the production, distribution, sale, possession, and consumption of marijuana or some other illicit drug in Austin, Texas.

(7) Do you believe that the City of Austin currently offers adequate incentives for individuals who are addicted to illicit drugs to themselves choose to enroll in and successfully complete a drug-treatment program?

(8) How would you compare the caliber of the drug-treatment programs in Austin proper that primarily serve low-income or middle-income persons with the overall level of excellence of drug-treatment programs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, Texas, that each primarily serve low-income or middle-income persons.

(9) When an Austin resident or visitor to Austin dies from drug-related violence in our capital city along the Colorado River, do you believe that the City Government of Austin is partly blameworthy for that act of violence?

(10) Have any of your own friends' or relatives' lives been ruined or significantly harmed because of their own or someone else's addiction to marijuana or some other illicit drug?

(11) As a duly elected City of Austin official, does it alarm you that many Texans assume---whether rightly or wrongly---that the City of Austin and the Austin Police Department are apparently somewhat lax in their level of enforcement of the law in regard to marijuana and other illicit-drug activities in Austin, Texas.

(12) Do you believe that the Austin Police Department and the City Manager's Office in Austin, Texas, provide you with adequate informational reports each year about the scope of the illicit-drug crisis in Austin, Texas? For instance, has the Austin Police Department provided you with official estimates on the total number of illicit drug dealers currently operating inside the city limits of Austin, Texas?

(12) Do you believe that the City Government of Austin in Austin, Texas, and our Travis County Government should follow the lead of Bexar County, Texas, by establishing a Greater Austin Council on Drug Abuse, that holds comparable authority to the San Antonio Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, which effectively coordinates drug-prevention and anti-drug activities in that South Texas metro area.

(13) Would you like to see the City of Austin compile annual or semiannual or monthly statistics that state or estimate the total number of deaths in Austin, Texas, that year, six-month period, or one-month period in which marijuana or some other illicit drug reportedly or allegedly played a role in that death?

(14) Do you believe that the purchase of illicit drugs by Austin residents in a sinister manner provides financial support for terrorist groups in this and other nations? Do you also believe that ALL residents of Austin, Texas, should help fight violent forms of terrorism, including in the Middle East, by themselves refusing to consume any quantity of marijuana or any other illicit drug?

(15) In the period since you assumed elective office as a City Official of the City of Austin in Austin, Texas, on HOW MANY TOTAL OCCASIONS have you contacted the Austin Police Department or some other law-enforcement agency, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Texas Department of Public Safety or the Texas Rangers Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety, to yourself report evidence you DIRECTLY observed that an Austin resident, regardless of whether that individual was a government official at the time, had allegedly violated the law through illicit drug activities on his or her part?

(16) Of the various members of the Austin City Council of today, which current Austin City Council member (if anyone) do you most suspect of having allegedly or possibly consumed ANY quantity of marijuana or any other illicit drug at any time in calendar year 2010?

Consumer Rights Issue: The Opportunity to Sniff the Various Underarm Deodorant Stick Options

Lately I have been wondering whether the brand of stick deodorant that I routinely purchase not only controls underarm perspiration the best but also offers me the most pleasant underarm scent.

When I recently browsed through the dozens of stick deodorants on display inside my local H.E.B. supermarket in Austin, I suddenly realized that there may be a need for a Stick Underarm Deodorant Scents Display inside that supermarket.

A special display of that type would be invaluable to me as a consumer. It would give me the opportunity to personally myself sniff each of the various stick deodorant scents for stick deodorants that promise to offer long-lasting protection at the workplace.

I could then jot down notes to myself about which five scents I liked the best, and then try purchasing each of those five stick deodorant products on a trial basis. I could then try using each of those five stick deodorants on a try-out basis---for one week each. Then, five weeks later, I could make a decision about which of the stick underarm deodorant products being offered for sale inside my nearby H.E.B. supermarket is the product I'd like to use on a year-round basis.

That product may well prove to be the one I currently use. If that is, in fact, the case, at least I'll feel more confident about the underarm deodorant I wear, since I will know for sure that it scored highly in a "sniff test" and was the outright winner in a "try-out test" involving application of that stick deodorant to my own personal underarms.