Are our State Legislators of Texas Becoming Wiser and More Insightful?

Texans seeking to determine whether the current 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature has been marked by wisdom and incisiveness and foresight on the part of those lawmakers, should ask themselves the following questions:

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve funding for and establish an official consolidated toll-free State of Texas information and referral phone service----a toll-free hotline providing quick referrals to Texans unsure about which State of Texas-affiliated institution or agency or office to contact, with the proposed consolidated State of Texas toll-free hotline service citing the name and phone number and street address or mailing address or E-mail address of the applicable office or division or bureau or agency or institution or department owned by or affiliated with the State Government of Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law authorizing a salary increase to a total figure of $100,000 per each year, in addition to generous fringe benefits, for each and every year of each state representative's tenure, and a salary increase to a total of $150,000 per year, in addition to generous fringe benefits, for each and every year of each state senator's tenure in the State of Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law in 2011 that's designed to reduce air pollution levels in several cities and towns and metro areas in our state.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature provide funding for State of Texas-ordered clean-up of any lake or river in Texas that is currently unsuitable for swimming or as a primary source of municipal drinking water for a nearby municipality.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law in 2011 that's aimed at deterring energy-wasteful and environmentally-destructive and unsightly urban sprawl in our state?

----Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law providing financial incentives to business owners and property owners to locate their business or residence or real-estate within a one-mile radius of the center of the downtown section of a city or town or village in this state.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature in 2011 approve any new law that provides financial incentives for land-conserving and energy-conserving multi-story (multi-level) construction of new real-estate properties and multi-story (multi-level) expansion of existing real-estate properties situated anywhere in Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law in 2011 that's aimed at protecting the total existing quantity and quality of agricultural and ranching acreage throughout our state?


---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new legislation in 2011 that's aimed at promoting organic farming throughout our state?

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new resolution or law publicly praising each of the seven avocado-farming counties of our state (those 7 counties being Hidalgo County, Cameron County, Dimmit County, Kaufman County, Liberty County, Washington County, and Willacy County, according to Jessica Glover of the Texas Department of Agriculture) and officially designating the very healthful Texan salad of Guacamole as the Official State Salad of Texas?

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve funding for and authorize establishment of an official Texas Avocado Council designed to promote the production, sale, and consumption of healthful avocados that were raised on agricultural land in Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law in 2011 that provides financial incentives to private-sector employers throughout our state to themselves participate comprehensively in recycling of plastic products, glass products, aluminum products, paper products, and other recyclable items.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law in 2011 that provides significant financial incentive to new and current for-profit or non-profit businesses operating in Texas that exclusively or primarily provide recycling services or environmental-protection services or renewable-energy-related services anywhere in Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature follow the longstanding lead of the U.S. state of Maine in that way by approving a new law that requires all grocery store and supermarket owners in Texas to pay 5 cents to customers returning recyclable bottles or recyclable plastic jugs to that grocery store or supermarket.

---Did the 82nd Ssssion of the Texas Legislature in 2011 approve state funding for the purchase of numerous additional environment-friendly "trash cans" on State of Texas-owned properties--- including at each of the state parks of Texas----that are each exclusively reserved for the deposit and pick-up of recyclable items (aluminum cans, for instance) only.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature provide funding for the acquisition by the State Government of Texas of parkland for 10 additional state parks, with nearly all of those proposed stae park sites being situated within 100 miles of metro areas or cities where the population of our state is increasing the most rapidly.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature that concludes in late May 2011 approve any new law or legislative resolution citing the official statewide goal of Texas becoming the leading state in the entire nation for research and development of solar power and wind power technologies.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature feature approval of a new law in 2011 that provides for a significant increase in State of Texas funding for conversion of as many government buildings as possible to reliance on wind power or solar power for their electricity.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law, and provide funding for, a mandatory energy audit of each and every State of Texas-owned building or institution or agency, with the 82nd Session of the State Legislature also providing funding for implementation of resulting recommendations for renovations or modifications to those buildings that will reduce energy bills incurred by the State Government of Texas or any institution affiliated with the State of Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve funding for high-speed rail passenger-train services throughout our state, making it very easy and safe and comfortable for a resident of Austin, for instance, to travel to El Paso or Dallas or Houston or Fort Worth or Houston or Tyler or Lubbock or Midland for the weekend by high-speed passenger train.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law in 2011 that provides funding for and mandates the construction of dozens of railway overpasses for trains that significantly reduce the risk of collisions occurring between trains and motor vehicles in our state at current ground-level points of intersection between railway routes and roadways in Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law requiring any city in Texas with at least 50,000 residents to develop a light-rail transit system or subterranean subway system providing energy-efficient and comfortable and safe public-transportation services throughout that city.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature provide funding for numerous additional public-sidewalk construction or public-sidewalk renovation projects in cities and towns throughout Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature provide funding for the design and construction of numerous pathways and hiking paths in cities and towns and rural areas throughout Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law and providing funding for the biannual awarding by the Texas Legislature every two years of 10 generous financial stipends of $10,000 each to the private citizens not employed by a State of Texas institution or agency who in the most recent 10-year period provided an idea or recommendation to the State Government of Texas that generated significant financial savings for the State Government of Texas or, alternatively, significantly improved the quality or efficiency of the services provided by a state agency or State of Texas-owned institution in our state.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law that requires the conferment of generous financial awards upon 10 respective employees of State of Texas-owned institutions or agencies who in the most recent applicable two-year period distinguished themselves through courageous vigilance and admirable support for law-abiding as well as honorable and honest conduct by employees and officials of State of Texas-owned institutions and agencies.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a change in state law that prohibits an employer from punishing or retaliating against an individual working for that employer who has filed a workers' compensation claim with that employer.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law that provides financial incentives to employers based in Texas to offer their employees the additional option of those employees selecting a 401K retirement plan for themselves in which at least one or several or the majority or all of the corporations featured in the investment portfolio of that 401K plan are themselves headquartered in Texas or in a southwestern state (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Southern California apparently comprising all the geographical areas included in that description, though possibly Colorado and Utah might also be included in that cited geographical area).

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve the conferment of a "Texas's Friendliest" award and accompanying financial prize on one adult man, one adult woman, one male youth, and one female youth who are each permanent residents of Texas.


--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law in 2011 that authorizes any city or town of Texas to establish a legal "Alcohol-Free" zone within that city, a protected zone and fully-enforced section of that city where no sale or possession or consumption of drinking alcohol is permitted anywhere within that zone.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law that significantly increases State of Texas funding for affordable treatment programs serving Texans who voluntarily seek treatment for addiction to marijuana or any other illicit drug, tobacco, or alcohol.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve and provide funding for establishment or expansion of a Wellness Program for employees of any and all State of Texas-affiliated institutions or agencies, with treatment programs for addiction to illicit-drug addiction, alcohol-addiction, or tobacco addiction being among the services provided to individuals employed to the State of Texas who agree to or choose to seek treatment for that addiction.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new requirement that any and all hourly employees of any State of Texas agency who wish to take a "smoke break" in the middle of that employee's workshift must first obtain prior permission from a supervisor, must clock out for that time period in order to go on a "smoke break," must clock back in after they have completed their smoke break, and must later make up for that lost time by working additional minutes or hours later that day or some other day during that same workweek.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law authorizing disciplinary actions against, and possible termination of, any hourly employee of any State of Texas-owned institution or agency who takes any "smoke break" without obtaining prior permission from a work supervisor and without clocking out for the entirety of that smoke break.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law providing financial incentives for insurance companies in Texas to offer financial discounts on auto insurance premiums and health insurance premiums to Texan nonsmokers and to Texans who completely and permanently abstain from consumption of any drinking alcohol, respectively.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law providing financial incentives for insurance companies in Texas to offer financial discounts on health insurance and auto insurance premiums to Texan residents who do not have any felony-conviction criminal record.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law that strictly prohibits the sale by any business operating in Texas of any marijuana paraphernalia or any other illicit-drug paraphernalia?

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law significantly increasing the sales tax on any and all tobacco pipes being sold in Texas for use in pipe-tobacco smoking.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law requiring and providing funding for random-drug testing twice per year of each and every part-time or full-time staff member, faculty member, and administrator at each and every State of Texas-owned educational institution or State of Texas-owned research institution (with those State institutions being subjected to that type of legislative requirement including, among other institutions, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University at College Station, and Texas Tech University in Lubbock), accompanied by an automatic dismissal from that educational institution of any and all individuals testing positive on any such random drug test (for marijuana or any other illicit drug) that is administered to them without any prior warning and at randomly-selected varying times of the year.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature promulgate to our entire state a healthy Zero-Tolerance Policy toward marijuana consumption and any other illicit-drug consumption, by the Legislature approving a new law in 2011 that imposes unannounced random-drug testing at least twice per year (with dates and times for those drug tests being randomly selected each time), on each and every state legislator and each and every member of that lawmaker's legislative staff, with any state legislator or member of his staff who tests positive on any such illicit-drug test being automatically dismissed from that individual's elective position or appointive position of employment.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature in 2011 approve a new law requiring and providing funding for the Texas Department of Public Safety to establish an official website that cites by name and provides the cited mailing address for each and every person who was convicted in a court of law in Texas of having been guilty of illicit-drug trafficking anywhere in Texas at any cited date in the most recent 50-year period.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature impose a statewide ban on any and all consumption of tobacco by anyone inside any restaurant and inside any other public place, anywhere in Texas?

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature impose a permanent ban on the establishment of ANY additional tattooing parlors or any additional businesses providing tattoos emblazoned on human bodies anywhere in this state.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature impose a five-year ban on any additional sex-change operations occurring anywhere in Texas, and a new law fully protecting and upholding the legal right of any male adult Texan resident to refuse to himself undergo a sex-change operation at any time.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas legislature approve a new law in 2011 that is expected to help significantly reduce the criminal-recidivism rate throughout our state?

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law requiring each and every county and municipality in Texas to post fully up-to-date factual information on the Internet that cites the neighborhoods or districts or sections of that county and city or town where the crime rate, by cited category of crime, is the highest for that entire county and that entire city.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature provide funding and authorization to the Texas Department of Public Safety to invite complaints about and investigate alleged cases of "snuff movies" or intended "snuff movies" in which a cited victim against his wishes is subjected to illegal violations of his privacy rights involving media technology in a context in which one or more of the participants in or actors in or financiers of or sponsors of or producers or directors of that media project allegedly sought to harm the medical health or injure or attempt to kill that cited victim.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature authorize the Attorney General of Texas to file a lawsuit in a court of law against the Federal Communications Commission of the U.S. Government relating to any current "interactive-media" productions involving a current resident of Texas and any form of electronic media, whether that be television, radio, or film, and that, in each such case, allegedly violated the privacy rights of a law-abiding Texan resident, or otherwise significantly wronged an individual subjected to any such "interactive-media" production without his own directly-stated consent.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature provide funding for and approve a new law in 2011 which requires that the salary levels paid to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers must equal or exceed the average of the salary levels that are paid to municipal police officers in the three respective cities of Texas with more than 100,000 residents that each pay the highest salaries to their police officers.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law in 2011 that is designed to help reduce the student dropout rate at high schools throughout our state.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law in 2011 that is designed to help significantly reduce the teenage female unwanted pregnancy rate and the female adult unwanted-pregnancy rate throughout our entire state?

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law in 2011 that prohibits any and all thought-control projects involving human subjects anywhere in this state, and that delineates a criminal-law penalty through the state penal code for the deliberate infliction of a thought-control project at any time on any resident of Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law in 2011 that imposes a criminal-law penalty on any individual or group of individuals or business entity or non-profit group or religious group that is ever found in a court of law in Texas to have illegally attempted to brainwash a Texan resident over a multi-hour period or multi-month period or multi-year period or multi-decade period.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law or legislative resolution that protected the legal right and human right of any law-abiding adult Texan resident to set his own priorities in his own life, and to enjoy full privacy rights in that cited context.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any resolution or new law emphatically stating that the Texas Legislature and the State Government of Texas and the people of Texas will NOT tolerate any form of censorship of honest and law-abiding and privacy-respectful adult residents of Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve generous financial compensation to a current adult resident of Texas who had been subjected against his wishes and in a manner violating his legal and human rights to incessant and unwanted communications and verbal abuse from a vigilante-style group of individuals harassing that Texan resident in a context in which that group committing a defacto form of illegal vigilanteism allegedly sought to compel and hound that Texan resident into moving to or traveling to another U.S. state or to a foreign country.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law strictly forbidding the use of continuous multi-hour, multi-week, multi-month, multi-year, or multi-decade noise pollution and accompanying non-stop verbal harassment and slander and character assassination as a weapon or cited "tool" aimed at punishing or harming or restricting or persecuting a law-abiding adult Texan resident whose own political and religion-related beliefs and personal beliefs and philosophical beliefs and priorities differ significantly from, and are significantly incompatible with, the individuals and entities and groups inflicting incessant noise pollution on that Texan resident in an unconscionable and very cruel and unjustifiable manner on their part.

--Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any resolution deploring any other U.S. state or commonwealth or any foreign nation for that state's or commonwealth's or foreign nation's alleged sponsorship of or complicity in alleged violations of the privacy rights of any current specifically cited resident of Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new resolution upholding the legal and human right of any current resident of Texas to himself enjoy full and immediate year-round access to reliable and honest news and information services, including reliable and honest medical-information services, at all times.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law making the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality or the Texas Department of Public Safety legally responsible for investigating and pressing criminal-law charges relating to legal complaints from Texas residents that they were themselves significantly medically harmed by unwanted noise pollution inflicted on them in Texas that they did not want and did not themselves authorize and did not themselves generate.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature in 2011 approve a new law and provide funding for official State of Texas establishment of a "State Ombudsman" office in Austin, Texas, that invites and investigates specific complaints about state and local government agencies in Texas that are filed with that State Ombudsman by any and all current residents of Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law that prohibits anonymous communications occurring in Texas in any cited context?

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new legislation requiring a formal report to the Legislature that formally evaluates whether the statewide anti-stalking law in Texas (a law approved by the Legislature in a recent prior decade) has, in fact, been successful at adequately protecting any and all Texans from the risk of their being stalked by someone whom those Texans have already rejected from their own life.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new legislation that increases the criminal-law penalty against any individual or group of individuals or business entity or civic group or religious group or political group or labor union that is found in a court of law in Texas to have inflicted illegal electronic surveillance or illegal televising or illegal videotaping on any current resident of Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new legislation prohibiting and outlawing fraudulent or deliberately-dishonest or fictitious communications in any cited context, with that new law providing funding for investigation and prosecution of individuals and businesses and non-profit groups held blameworthy for fraudulent communications occurring in Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve any new law that strengthens the legal authority of the State Comptroller of Texas, the Attorney General of Texas, and the Texas Department of Public Safety state agencies, respectively, to investigate allegedly unethical conduct apparently or possibly violating the law that allegedly originates from a citedly unethical media company or citedly unethical media entity or "entertainment-industry" corporation operating in or evidenced in Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law that assures a single adult Texan resident who is himself not under a current mental health commitment in Texas, not currently incarcerated or institutionalized in Texas, and not currently officially classified as "disabled" in Texas, of his legal right to himself have and enjoy full and immediate access at present to ALL of his own cumulative financial wealth and property wealth, including all of his own intellectual property rights, that he has accumulated or accrued or earned or obtained over the course of his life, including during the most recent multi-month period of his life.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law that imposes strict criminal-law or civil-law punishment on any individual or any group of individuals that were or was determined in a court of law in Texas to have been guilty of abuse of power of attorney in any context victimizing a current resident of Texas.


---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a revision to our state penal code that imposes more stringent punishment than at present, such as through an mandatory and automatic life sentence punishment, upon any person found guilty in a court of law in Texas of having himself or herself committed the unconscionable and outrageously violent crime of attempted homicide anywhere in Texas.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature in 2011 approve a new law that after each applicable 12-month period automatically cancels and nullifies any cited "power of attorney" authority that any individual or group of individuals may claim to have hold for 12 consecutive months in regard to a cited resident of Texas, with any renewal of that power of attorney authority after each such 12 month period requiring a formal court proceeding in Texas at which the individual cited as having "given" or "assigned" power of attorney authority to another individual or group of individuals, must himself testify in person in that judicial proceeding that he is willing to authorize a possible continuation of that power of attorney authority for that additional one-year period of his own life, or, to the contrary, that he now opposes the holding of any such legal authority toward himself by the cited individual or cited group of individuals.

---Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law prohibiting employment discrimination by any employer in Texas against a job applicant or current employee at a workplace that allegedly occurs after that individual volunteers on his own initiative to a prospective employer or current employer, or after that individual provides a very recent medical report on his behalf indicating, that he himself is HIV-negative and that he himself does NOT have AIDS.

----Did the 82nd Session of the Texas Legislature approve a new law in 2011 that orders the State of Texas-mandated permanent closing of any and all of the commercial sex parlors throughout Texas, including any of the so-called "gay bathhouses" in Texas, where sex between human beings occurs in a public place, it being a violation of the state penal code of Texas whenever sex between human beings occurs in a public place.

A Great Guacamole Cause: Urgent Plea to Residents of Hidalgo County, Texas

This is a special plea addressed to all current residents of Hidalgo County, Texas, who are also constituents of State Rep. Veronica Gonzales.

If you reside in the great avocado-producing county of Hidalgo that's situated along the Rio Grande River, you can help make Guacamole Salad the "Official State Salad of Texas" this month.

Texas currently does not have any Official State Salad.

The proposed Texas Legislature designation of Guacamole as the "Official State Salad of Texas" will help promote heart-healthy avocados. Avocados are considered to be a "miracle food" because they are very beneficial to Texans' cardiovascular health.

The proposed Guacamole resolution or bill this session of the Legislature will also help promote avocado farming in Texas as well as the purchase and consumption of Texas avocados by Texan consumers.

At present, many Texans are unaware that we have any avocado-producing counties, much less that we have any avocado farms, anywhere in our state.

According to an E-mail letter that Jessica Glover of the Texas Department of Agriculture sent me in February of this year, there are, in fact, seven avocado-farming counties in our state. They are: Hidalgo County, Cameron County, Dimmit County, Kaufman County, Liberty County, Washington County, and Willacy County.

You can help promote this Great Guacamole Cause by contacting the Austin legislative office of your duly elected state lawmaker, State Rep. Veronica Gonzales. That legislator's office phone number in Austin is (512) 463-0578.

The legislative aide of State Rep. Gonzales who has been serving as the primary contact person on this public-policy issue is Katherine Mendiola. Katherine Mendiola, a very nice lady, frequently answers the phone at the above-cited phone number on behalf of Rep. Gonzales's legislative staff in Austin.

Katherine Mendiola told me several days ago on the telephone that if Rep. Veronica Gonzales receives enough phone calls of support from Hidalgo County residents, Rep. Gonzales is likely to author legislation this session that designates Guacamole as the "Official State Salad of Texas."

E-mail letters of support for this Great Guacamole Cause can also help persuade Rep. Gonzales to author this important legislative resolution or bill for our entire state. The official E-mail address for Katherine Mendiola in Rep. Gonzales's office is: katherine.mendiola@house.state.tx.us.

The official E-mail address for State Rep. Veronica Gonzales is: veronica.gonzales@house.state.tx.us.

In your phone calls and E-mail communications to Rep. Gonzales's legislative office in Austin, please remember to state your own full legal name, your own mailing address and phone number, and whether you yourself reside in Rep. Gonzales's legislative district.

Also, please state clearly whether you would like to see the Texas Legislature this month designate Guacamole as the Official State Salad of Texas.

My Search for a Legal-Status Adult Gentleman Roommate in Austin, Texas

I have been searching for many months, including through a variety of Craigslist listings I've posted, for a non-smoking male adult roommate for myself in Austin, Texas.

The failure of my search so far for a roommate here in Austin has surprised me, since the traits I am seeking in a roommate strike me as being very minimal and very reasonable:

---A gentleman who is age 18 or older. Eighteen years of age is the minimum age at which anyone can legally room with me inside the very nice and modern apartment complex where I live.

---A gentleman who is himself a nonsmoker.

---A gentleman who does not consume ANY marijuana, ANY marijuana brownies, or any other illicit drugs.

---A gentleman who is polite and considerate and hygienic.

---A responsible gentleman who could himself pass a criminal-background check that's conducted by the first-rate management team at my very nice apartment complex in northwest Austin.

---A gentleman who is not currently on probation for any criminal conviction he has had.

I have emphasized in my posted announcements on the Internet that the gentleman who ends up rooming with me inside my four-room apartment unit (including one total bedroom---a relatively large bedroom, I might add) could cut his monthly living expenses in half that way. I would pay for all utilities, including for cable-television and high-speed Internet service that I'd give my roommate access to. Also, the total share of the rent I am seeking from my roommate would be very minimal (only $300 per month).

I remain hopeful that my search for a roommate will be successful in the very near future.

Among the traits I offer that make me a very good roommate for a gentleman age 18 or older are:

(1) I am dependably friendly and polite.

(2) I am dependably civil, tactfully honest, and law-abiding, and I have no criminal-conviction record.

(3) I am people-friendly and kind, and I'm a former official "Big Brother" and unofficial "Big Brother."

(4) I lead a very quiet and wholesome lifestyle.

(5) I never have any overnight guests inside my apartment unit, and I almost never have any guests or visitors inside my apartment unit.

(6) I can communicate orally in English or Spanish, and, to a lesser extent, in French.

(7) My hobbies and pastimes include tennis, racquetball, roller skating, cooking, creative writing, and public-policy brainstorming.

(An example of my enjoyment of public-policy-brainstorming: This week during my leisuretime, I plan to write to the Texas Department of Agriculture state agency and ask that government agency which steps it has taken to foster the development of commercial avocado farming in Texas.

I plan to write that letter because it's obvious that American society is relying excessively on importation of avocados from Latin American nations. I would like to see a lot more avocados being produced inside the United States.

Texans probably eat more guacamole salad per capita than the residents of any other U.S. state, with the possible exception of California. It would be very logical, then, for Texas to be among the leading U.S. states for commercial avocado farming.

Avocados are so popular in Texas that I myself feel that Guacamole Salad should be designated as the "Official State Salad of Texas", if the Texas Legislature in Austin officially approves that lofty status for Guacamole Salad during the current session of the Legislature.)

---------------------------------------------

On behalf of my search for a roommate in Austin, I have a very favorable signed letter of personal recommendation on my behalf that was written by a gentlemanly adult male visitor from Italy who roomed with me for a total of about eight months in 2000. That letter of recommendation, dated July 5, 2000, stated as follows:

"TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

"This letter is addressed to John K. McMillan's prospective roommates and is based upon my experience of sharing with him the efficiency apartment 101 at 2518 Leon Street, January to July 2000.

"Despite the space constraints, John made my rooming with him amazingly easy thanks to his limitless flexibility. He never stood back from meeting my exigencies and strived hard to create the most comfortable situation for me; among other numerous examples, he generously chose to shake down on the futon he bought himself at his own expense and let me have the bed throughout our cohabitation.

"He has a laid-back, thoughtful and soothing personality; he is ceaselessly polite and leads an unblemished alcohol-free, tobacco-free, illicit-drug-free lifestyle: he is so conscientious as to fully honour any verbalized rejections of himself (by anyone). He is an impressive conversationalist, as well, and his outlooks are accurately thought out, intellectually subtle and anything but mainstream....

"(H)e has been consistently respectful and considerate of my own privacy rights....Furthermore, he has shown no domineering attitude whatsoever, on account of his seniority or of his being the only acknowledged leasee.

"He was out on duty most of the day, because of his unconditional commitment to work, engaging him early in the morning, Monday to Sunday. On many occasions he treated me to dinner and was open to provisionally putting up some guests of mine in our apartment, too.

"I can't help but recommend as roommate such a versatile individual.

"Sincerely Yours,..."

Letter to Editor from Myself that was Banned by 'Austin American-Statesman' and Cox Enterprises Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia

The "Austin American-Statesman" --- a daily newspaper owned and operated by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Cox Enterprises Inc. --- in a recent prior year flatly refused to publish the following "Letter to the Editor" from myself that I wrote and E-mailed to that general-circulation daily newspaper in Austin, Texas, on November 23, 2006:

"As a subscriber to the 'Austin American-Statesman', I would like to thank your daily newspaper for providing me with some invaluable information this month.

"In exchange for the $22 I paid your newspaper in advance to publish my 'special notices' announcement Nov. 16-22 that invited all members of the anti-drug community to contact me, I received zero phone calls.

"I am now zero percent sure that the people of Austin are concerned about illicit drugs in our capital city of Texas.

"Sincerely,

"John Kevin McMillan.
"Austin, Texas."

My Recollections about Massachusetts

Based on my approximately three total years of having resided in the Bay State, the following are my recollections:

(1) I don't ever remember eating any Boston baked beans anywhere in the Boston area.

(2) I never once ate Indian Pudding in Massachusetts, even though that was a favorite traditional pudding among Bay Staters as they celebrate their state's American Indian heritage.

(2) I found it difficult to myself vicariously re-live the American colonists' involvement in the War for Independence from The United Kingdom. "Shouldn't the focus today be on the mutually-cooperative and mutually-beneficial aspects of the current relationship between the United States and United Kingdom?" I wondered. "Why all this emphasis on military conflict between those two nations, when we have been allies to each other ever since the early 20th Century."

(3) I felt a sudden panic one day in 1986 or 1987 after I exited from a subway stop in what I suddenly realized was a predominantly Italian-American section of north Boston. It was the first occasion in my entire life in which I had just entered a heavily Italian-American section of any city; and every step I took along the street in that section of town was filled with apprehension.

I had not planned to get off the subway in that much-rumored-about section of Boston. It was a section of town, I sensed, where law-abiding and polite Anglo-Saxon gentlemen who oppose illicit-drug consumption might be unwelcome. How could I be sure that there were no Mafia lurking in the shadows?, I wondered at the time. "And how can I trust a section of Boston where it appears to be dark outside even in the early afternoon? Isn't that a clue that this section of Boston is riddled with outlaws?"

I did successfully flee from that section of Boston within 15 minutes after I had entered it; and I felt very grateful for having achieved for myself a second chance at life.

It has since occurred to me that I might have felt more confident in that particular section of Boston if I had pursued a crash course in the Italian language before I visited that part of town. If an Italian-American resident of that section of Boston had shouted an Italian-language epithet at me, at least I would have known what to say in response.

My apprehension during my visit to a heavily Italian-American section of Boston was triggered in part by daily reports I had received in 1985 from an Italian-American roommate of mine in Cambridge, Massachusetts. That gentleman in his late teenage years habitually greeted me inside our duplex apartment unit by telling me he was very sure that the Mafia were going to break into our apartment unit and attempt to kill him! Nothing I could say could convince him otherwise; and he repeated his very dramatic concerns to me on numerous occasions.

(4) As I lay in bed late one night in 1985 in my upper-floor Beacon Hill apartment unit, I was suddenly roused from my sleep by rage-filled shouting from two Boston Police officers as they prepared to arrest a male adult criminal-law suspect on the narrow street below my apartment unit. "We're going to teach you," the Boston police officers shouted contemptuously at the suspect, "to never again show your face in Boston!"

(5) The many homeless people in Boston who asked me to please give them some money each seemed to offer elaborate and very lengthy narratives explaining their current plight. Looking back, I have to wonder whether some of those homeless people would have been well-suited to a career as a fiction writer. But it's unlikely that any representative for a book-publishing company in Boston actually approached one of those panhandlers, identified their creative talent, and offered them a lucrative advance on a book-writing project.

(6) My next-door neighbor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a self-identified Harvard University professor who habitually greeted me in 1985 by asking me whether I would like to smoke marijuana with himself and his roommate. I repeatedly declined; and it was a point of pride for me, in fact, that I had never been previously addicted to marijuana or any other illicit drug in my entire life, and that I myself had not consumed ANY marijuana on any occasion since 1984.

(7) During a period of 1985 in which I lived in Boston proper, I had a curious phone conversation with a veteran male coworker of mine from "The Patriot Ledger" daily newspaper, who told me on the telephone from his private residence that my copy-desk coworkers at our daily newspaper in the Boston suburb of Quincy all regarded me as being "very strange," he said.

When I asked that copy-editing colleague of mine why my coworkers all regarded me as being "very strange," he replied, "You didn't even know the term 'freebasing cocaine' when you encountered that term in a recent story written by a reporter for our daily newspaper. Everyone else at our copy desk is very familiar with the term 'freebasing cocaine'!"

(7a) In late 1985 or early 1986, a female coworker of mine at "The Patriot Ledger" daily newspaper of Quincy, Massachusetts, invited me to accompany her to a social "party" being hosted by a male friend of hers in north Quincy. She also told me that she felt sure I would enjoy meeting her male friend who was hosting that "party," she said. Upon entering the party host's upper-floor apartment unit with that female coworker of mine, I was immediately informed by the bald male party host that it was a "cocaine party," he stated to me.

The party host, who was consuming cocaine himself, then asked me if I would like to consume some cocaine with him and the other party guests who were also consuming cocaine? I politely declined, and I felt myself to be thoroughly and comprehensively alienated from that entire scene. A few minutes later I left that party alone. I did that because my female coworker from "The Patriot Ledger" daily newspaper told me that she would like to stay at the party and would make arrangements on her own to herself leave the party at a later time.

(8) Coworkers at my "Patriot Ledger" copy desk in 1985 developed a habit of flashing messages that appeared on the top of our computer screen throughout our entire newsroom that repeatedly dubbed me as "The Reverend." Looking back, that may have signified the awareness by several coworkers of mine at that South Shore-based daily newspaper that I myself was consistently law-abiding and civil, and I did NOT consume any cocaine or ANY marijuana, and I myself almost NEVER consumed any alcohol, either.

(9) A male adult Russian Studies instructor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accompanied me one day in 1985 on a tour of the newsroom of "The Patriot Ledger" daily newspaper in downtown Quincy---a newspaper where I was employed at that time as a full-time copy editor. The M.I.T. instructor commented to me minutes later that "You remind me of a Jewish dissident inside the Soviet Union! You are obviously being persecuted in Quincy just like how the Jewish dissidents of the Soviet Union are being persecuted!"

I myself am not Jewish, and I have never been a subscriber of Judaism, nor have I ever been affiliated in any way with any Jewish group or any Jewish congregation at any time in my entire life.

(10) In 1986 while I was living in Quincy, Massachusetts, I received a surprisingly worded two-sentence post card in the mail from a fiction writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "It seems that nothing in the Boston area has escaped your attention!" he wrote in that apparently appreciative postcard addressed to myself.

The postcard message did not explain why a Minneapolis-based fiction writer would have any knowledge about the circumstances I myself had myself encountered in the Boston area of Massachusetts---a New England state situated thousands of miles from his own state of Minnesota.

(11) A polite female adult coworker of mine at an Office of Real Property state agency temp job for myself in Boston, Massachusetts, stated to me one day in 1986 or 1987 at our workplace that "You must be a Holy Man, since the hole underneath your shoe indicates that!"


(12) In May of 1987, during a period in which I resided in the downtown area of Quincy, Massachusetts, I was very abruptly and without prior warning of any type subjected to continuous and uninterrupted media "services" I had not requested, including inside my apartment unit and at my respective temp-job workplaces in Boston and north Quincy. Those "media services" featured the continuous sounds of "anonymous voices" in the background that repeatedly and incessantly shouted at me the emphatic message, "Eric Schwarz is superior to you in every respect but one---humor writing!".

"Die (sic) before your complement!", the "anonymous voices" involving sophisticated media technology in the background also repeatedly shouted at me in Quincy, Massachusetts, without their ever explaining to me at any time WHY they would seek to harm me or undermine my own medical longevity or my own medical health in any way.

"I have no sympathy for you!" a male-sounding voice shouted at me with surprising antipathy and surprising anger in his tone of voice through anonymous communications that that individual in the background verbalized to me in a context that was heard by me inside my rental apartment unit in central Quincy, Massachusetts, on the very first day in May 1987 when the voices began.

Those "anonymous voices" in Quincy, Mass., and elsewhere in the Boston area pf Massachusetts also incessantly subjected me to verbalized messages I did not want which referred repeatedly (with no cited reason for any of those statements) to three or more specifically cited respective University of Texas at Austin instructors, whose names I would myself be happy to share with any law-enforcement agency that might ever seek to investigate the matter at any time. I will be more than happy to remind that law-enforcement agency that NO instructor at the University of Texas at Austin has ever been authorized by me to violate my own privacy rights or impinge on my own privacy rights or meddle in my own life in any way, nor has any UT-Austin instructor ever been authorized by me to subject me to anonymous communications in any context or at any time.

Those "anonymous voices" also incessantly subjected me to the verbalized message I heard on a continuous basis that "You're undergoing a breakdown of your former personality!".

It was never clear to me WHICH PERSON OR WHICH PERSONS were verbalizing those and other messages to myself during that time period, or why anyone was expressing criticism of, or a lack of full appreciation for, my own personality or values as a human being.

I was aware of being among the most civil and law-abiding of all of the single adult non-Christian gentlemen in the Boston area. I never consumed any marijuana or any other illicit drug, and I almost never consumed any alcohol during that entire multi-year time period in which I lived in the Boston area. Also, I had not physically assaulted or physically beaten any other person anywhere in the Boston area; and I had no criminal-conviction record. Also, I never verbalized profane speech to any other resident of the entire Boston area; and I never stated to any other Boston-area resident at any time that I myself sought to "harm" or injure himself in any way.

(13) In 1992, during a period in which I worked and resided in the Zapata area of Texas, and I made a long-distance phone call from my rental trailer apartment to the private residence of an adult female former schoolmate of mine living in the District of Columbia, she volunteered to me in that phone conversation that "Massachusetts is a gallingly provincial state!" (approximate quote).
That female former schoolmate of mine did not elaborate on her observation in any way, and she did not indicate whether that comment she had volunteered to me on the telephone related in any way to any conduct toward myself, in particular, by any person or group of persons or entity or business or government-owned institution based in Massachusetts.

(14) In 1996, a medical physician serving as my primary-care physician during that time period in which I resided and worked for a general-circulation local newspaper in Denver City, Texas, surprised me during a medical appointment for me inside his medical clinic in Denver City by indicating to me that the people of Massachusetts were notorious for their lack of niceness, in his stated view.

"When I was stationed with the U.S. Navy on an island near New Hampshire, virtually everyone in New Hampshire was labeling the people of Massachusetts as 'Massholes,'" that medical physician emphatically stated to me on his own volition. That physician, Dr. Cotton, had been providing me with medical-care services in 1996 for what had been diagnosed a year before as bronchitis-pneumonia, a medical problem I had reportedly sustained very abruptly in 1995 in Baytown, Texas, during a period when I was a reporter for "The Baytown Sun" general-circulation daily newspaper.

(15) In 1994 or 1995, I made a local pay telephone phone call from a pay phone situated near Airport Boulevard in east Austin to the private residence of a former classmate of mine from Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas, who had herself expressed an affinity toward me in prior years. "I recommend that you stay away from Massachusetts," that kindly Austin-based Jewish lady who was also an attorney member of the State Bar of Texas state agency, advised me that day.

(16) In 2007 or 2008, a single adult gentleman and full-time State Government of Texas employee who was dining with me that evening inside a Schlotzky's sandwich shop in northwest Austin, surprised me during our conversation by emphatically stating to me that in his opinion, "the entire state of Massachusetts" had been guilty of alleged corruption and alleged complicity in alleged crime and allegedly injurious conduct in some context that had significantly wronged and victimized myself, that off-duty State of Texas employee emphatically stated to me.

(17) In 2009 or 2008, the subject of Massachusetts arose again for me in Austin, Texas, during a meeting I had with an attorney member of the State Bar of Texas. It was a two-person law-office meeting during which I paid a $20 consultation fee through a signed personal check I handed to that private attorney that same day inside his law office in northwest Austin. I had been referred to that family-law attorney by the Central Texas Lawyer Referral Service, which provides legal referrals to any and all Central Texans requesting referrals to an attorney for a cited legal issue.

That Austin-based attorney surprised me by stating inside his law office in northwest Austin that I had an apparent need to myself contact a private attorney in Quincy, Massachusetts, and myself file a lawsuit on my own behalf in a court of law inside the state of Massachusetts, that attorney emphasized to me.

The State Bar of Texas member attorney also emphasized to me during our first-time meeting inside his law office that since he himself did not have certification to practice the law in Massachusetts, he could not assist me in regard to privacy-rights concerns of mine relating to alleged violations of my own privacy rights that had developed for me in Quincy, Massachusetts, beginning in May of 1987.

Pet Peeves of Mine

My own pet peeves include the following:

(1) I am dismayed by the customary practice of many American architects of their placing water fountains in public office buildings within a few feet from the front door to a men's restroom or a ladies' restroom.
I find it very unpleasant to be drinking water from a water fountain while pondering the proximity of that water fountain to a public restroom where other human beings are actually urinating or defecating. When I am drinking water, I don't want to be asking myself whether I can be perfectly sure that the water I am drinking is completely free of any urine or feces.

(2) I am dismayed by the "modern tradition" of many American store clerks in which they respond to a polite "thank you" from a customer by immediately replying, "No problem." Often the store clerk does not even smile at the customer when the store clerk mumbles "no problem" to that customer.
The lack of graciousness and the lack of hospitality in that widely-uttered phrase is sobering to the point of unnerving.
Does a customer enter a retail establishment primarily to obtain information from the store clerk as to whether that customer is himself posing an "inconvenience" or a "problem" or a "nuisance" for that store clerk? I would hope not!

(3) I am dismayed by the many Americans who choose to greet the "New Year" on January 1 by contracting a hangover and lying in bed with intense pain.
They made that choice by agreeing to consume an excessive amount of alcohol on New Year's Eve.
Does it make sense to usher in the New Year by inflicting a severe headache and dizziness and nausea on yourself?
Does it make sense to be so tormented by a hangover on New Year's Day that you are not feeling sociable and friendly toward the friends and relatives of yours with whom you would have agreed in advance to share a New Year's Day meal and delightedly celebrate January 1?

(4) I am dismayed by the growing tendency of many Americans to rationalize their own deplorably illicit addiction to marijuana by declaring that "I only consume marijuana for medical reasons. I never consume marijuana in order to be frivolous or silly or outrageous or hedonistic or self-destructive or defiant of the law."

I can offer several responses to the Americans who claim to be "medical-marijuana-only" consumers of cannibis:

(a) The odds are high that the city or U.S. state where you reside has NOT, in fact, legalized any consumption of marijuana for citedly "medical" reasons. You are therefore breaking the law and committing a crime whenever you purchase or possess or consume any quantity of marijuana.

(b) Even if you do live in a U.S. state such as California that reportedly permits some individuals to consume so-called "medical marijuana", that legal right is only extended to residents of that state who formally obtained prior authorization from the government.

It is also my understanding that the government is generally limiting that type of "medical-marijuana patient certification" to persons who have been officially diagnosed as terminally ill---persons, in other words, who are suffering from an incurable and fatal disease.

(c) Even if you have been diagnosed with an incurable and fatal disease, you can consult OTHER medical doctors to determine whether ANY of them do NOT agree with the diagnosis and prognosis given to you by the medical doctor or doctors who labeled you as "terminally ill.

Your seeking a third and fourth and fifth opinion from a variety of medical experts could help you to save your own life and enjoy a full medical longevity.

(d) Even if all doctors whom you consult all agree that the disease you have is incurable and very painful as well as fatal to yourself, you can still pursue factual research to identify the full range of law-abiding natural options for pain-relievers that you can take.

It may well be that there are numerous natural pain-relievers that are perfectly legal everywhere in the U.S. and Canada and other nations, and that will not give you any of the adverse side-effects that ingesting the so-called "medical marijuana" would have inflicted on you.

(e) Even if you reside in a U.S. state that has officially given you advance specific written authorization for "medical marijuana" consumption by yourself, you should keep in mind that if you travel from your own state of California, for instance, to a state such as Utah---where any and all marijuana consumption is illegal----you are at dire risk of being arrested by a law-enforcement officer in Utah.

That very grim and degrading scenario could easily occur for you if you continue your
ill-advised marijuana consumption inside a hotel where you are renting a room in Utah.

Questions that Could Stump Congressmen and U.S. Senators

Among the questions I would like to see being politely posed to United States Congressmen and United States Senators are the following:

---Shouldn't unemployed people in the United States be given employment opportunities involving the clean-up of the hundreds of heavily-polluted lakes and rivers in this country?

---What would you tell the children of the United States of today who point out to you that they have observed that many of the manufactured materials in this country that could be recycled are, instead, merely being tossed into the trash can?

---What would you tell the children of this country who say they feel betrayed by adult Americans who squander natural resources and recyclable items that American children in future decades of their lives could themselves have made use of?

---Could you estimate for me the percentage of your constituents who are currently addicted to marijuana or some other illicit drug?

---As a member of the U.S. Congress, do you feel honorbound to yourself establish a public-policy-minded dialogue with constituents of yours who are currently addicted to marijuana or some other illicit drug? What insights have you gleaned from any such dialogues you have pursued on behalf of the U.S. Congress?

---Have you recently arranged for a special ceremony to publicly honor the most outstanding of the law-abiding and privacy-respectful drug-treatment counselors and alcohol-treatment counselors who reside in your district or state?

---Do you believe the federal government should order the permanent closing of any house of worship or religious organization in the United States that at any time in the 21st Century has served as a spawning ground for violent acts of terrorism directly victimizing American citizens?

---Do you believe the Freedom of Religion clause of the Bill of Rights should be revised to clarify the point that any religious group that directly sponsors or serves as a spawning ground for violent acts of terrorism against American citizens can and should be permanently closed down by government order.

---Do you believe you have a moral obligation as a duly elected member of the U.S. Congress to urge each of your constituents to help combat terrorism in the Middle East by choosing to themselves never purchase or consume any illicit drug. I raise this question because it's my understanding that the purchase of illicit drugs and addiction to illicit drugs by millions of Americans of today is directly and indirectly financing acts of violence by Arab terrorists.

---In your role as an honorable member of the U.S. Congress, are you completely sure that neither Russia nor China has secretly financed or aided and abetted ANY of the acts of violence by Arab terrorists in the Middle East? Do you believe that the U.S. Congress has obtained enough information to determine for certain whether any such possible surreptitious or complicitous role by Russia or China toward Arab terrorism has existed in the Middle East.

---Do you believe that you as a member of the United States Congress have a moral obligation to routinely and automatically and discreetly turn over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation noteworthy legal evidence you are privy to which indicates that a congressional colleague of yours may have allegedly violated the law and has possibly committed an alleged felony crime in the process.

---Would you like to see the United States Department of Agriculture offer special incentive grants aimed at promoting establishment or expansion of an avocado-farming industry in a variety of U.S. states, including in California and Texas. I raise this question partly because the avocado, as you must be very aware, has been classified by many as a "miracle food" that's very good for the health of those human beings who eat avocados.

---Do you see a need for additional government-sponsored research on the social psychology of terrorism? For instance, do you subscribe to the view that violent terrorists in the Middle East and elsewhere are human beings who turned violent after they perceived that they themselves had been terrorized by others?

---Do you believe the federal government should do anything to help reduce the total number of tattoo parlors in the United States?

---Do you believe that law-abiding and peace-loving Arab-Americans have been adequately consulted by the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Government as our nation attempts to find solutions to the Arab-terrorism crisis besetting our nation and world.

--Do you believe that the Congressional office in charge of budgetary analysis should publicize to our entire nation a special E-mail address or post-office-box address to which Americans throughout this country could be invited to submit any and all ideas they'd like to share on how the U.S. Congress could significantly reduce the current budgetary deficit?

---Do you support the establishment of a proposed new Congressional Subcommittee on Unemployment and Underemployment that invites numerous experts on unemployment and many unemployed persons to give testimony at public hearings to be held by that subcommittee in Washington, D.C.

--Have you yourself totaled up all the total combined number of years in which the United States Armed Forces have been actively involved in military interventions or engaged in military conflicts in foreign nations during the entire multi-decade period since the conclusion of World War II? Have you compared that total number of years with the total combined number of years in which the United States Armed Forces have NOT been involved in military interventions or engaged in military conflicts in foreign nations.