Peacefully grant the State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America

[vinnywright]

Dave's not here, man!

(I wonder how many people here will get that reference without having to look it up...)

Dave ,,,,Dave's not hear man //// no I'm Dave ,,,,,,hu ,Dave, Dave's not hear man .

I think that would be Cheech & Chong if I'm not mistaken ,,,,,and no I did not half to look it up ,, I was their,,,,or was I ?

VINNY

[vinnywright]

Thank you. Thought I was losing my touch there for a moment...!

I LMFAO after reading it 3 more times after actually looking up I-502 ,,,,,ya I'm slowwww tonight

VINNY

[HalationEffect]

Yup, Cheech & Chong

Probably their best known sketch, especially since The Simpsons had an episode which included it, bringing it to a whole new audience.

[vinnywright]

Yup, Cheech & Chong

Probably their best known sketch, especially since The Simpsons had an episode which included it, bringing it to a whole new audience.

yay VINNY got one ,,,,,,,,,[VINNY rocks VINNY rocks] ,,,,,,,O ya cessation ?? guess we got off topic ,,,,O well

VINNY

[oshunluvr]

Oh no, Steve, you're still touched...

[luckyone]

You have to admire people that admit that they are sore losers. They don't seem to understand what an election is about.
They also don't bother to read the Constitution and the case law that brings us to now. That case law actually goes back more years than the USA has had a Constitution.

History teaches a great deal but they don't seem to care that this subject was settled in the 1860's. It won't be revisited unless there's a full-scale nuclear war.
Of course then they won't have to bother b***ing. Nor would they have to worry about being separate. They'll be as separate as can be.

[capt-zero]

Secede from the union? Didn't the last time that happened cost 150,000 American lives or so?

[whatthefunk]

Secede from the union? Didn't the last time that happened cost 150,000 American lives or so?

More like 600,000.

[capt-zero]

Yes, I couldn't remember the exact number. I just knew it was a bloodbath. Too many people willing to risk a bloodbath for a bad idea.

[oshunluvr]

Well, if we let them go, no need for a bloodbath. We can stop building a wall along the Mexican border and build one around Tejas instead!

I wonder what their official language would be? Since there are likely more Spanish speakers than English, I guess Spanish.

If you think about it, here's how it might go:

Day 1: Texas declares independence and secedes from the union.

Week 2: After an emergency meeting of congress and a collection of public opinion, a majority of the other 49 states agrees with the secession and the construction of border guard stations begins immediately in New Mexico and Arkansas.

Week 3: The citizens of Oklahoma are nervous about losing their richer cousins to the south and, after a state-wide vote, decide to split into north and south sections with the southern half joining Texas. Again, no one else has much of a problem with this.

The Second Month: The new Texas government holds it's first elections, but to to surprise of it's gun-totin' tabaccy spittin' old white minority, the former immigrant population - automatically made citizens by the secession - take all state and local offices and most congressional posts with the exception of the centers of Dallas and Houston and a couple of very white suburbs.

The First Year: The now mostly ex-Mexican Texas government declares Spanish as it's official language and sends it's first Ambassador to Mexico to begin partnership agreements. Meanwhile, the rest of the U.S. hasn't noticed much change except for a mild increase in the cost of cotton and beef and there are less southern drawls on the ski slopes of Colorado. Gasoline prices rise sharply, but begin to fall as reserves are brought to market. Cotton and beef prices are expected to return to normal within a couple of years as production picks up in other states.

The Second Year: No longer receiving US Federal dollars and needing cash; The Nuevo Republica de Tejas (NRT) nationalizes all it's oil and natural gas reserves. This sends a majority of old white oil barons running for the borders. However, after observing what has been happening in the former Texas, the US congress has offered citizenship to illegal immigrants already on US soil and adopted a strong anti-immigration policy. The potential immigrants from The NRT are not allowed legally into the US without a wait of several years. Meanwhile; The NRT begins selling oil and natural gas to the US as Mexico has plenty of both. Of course, the US negotiates a much lower price than we were paying the Texans because their economy is no longer strong enough to withstand a US embargo and they desperately need the cash. The "Upper 49" see a considerable reduction in fuel prices and a corresponding economic boost. The US economy has adjusted and with the influx of new citizens sees a huge uptick in production of goods and tax revenue and a reduction in immigration enforcement costs. The US population; feeling good about the bettering economy and in a generous mood offer the protectorate of Puerto Rico full statehood, which they immediately accept. Collectors being buying up all the 49 star flags and commemorative "New United States" stamps and coins produced during the last 2 years.


Geeze, this is a fun game! I love to hear how other think this might turn out...

[benny_fletch]

@oshunluvr

LMAO! You are spot on. My only difference would be, after secession they start building a giant wall to surround Texas to keep everyone out, only to run out of money part way through. And with no Fed dollars to burn they have to start selling off their oil rights/land to Mexico and the US, thus making the wall irrelevant.

[charles052]

Texas is so eager to execute people that they continually uphold the death penalty even though they know they execute innocent people all the time. Most the the executed are black so I guess that makes it OK in their minds. Oklahoma is worse in this regard, but they aren't as proud of it. Sorry to all the Texans on here that are offended by this opinion, but you choose to live there, so tough.

I keep forgetting that, for many (especially hardcore liberals), the only crime where execution is always justified is the crime of being conceived.

Perhaps the reason why Texas has booming economy is that they don't let 10,000 inmates on death roll stick around and drain funds on the off chance that 2 of them are innocent of the crime they're incarcerated for. And just because they're innocent of that particular crime doesn't mean they're innocent.

[SteveRiley]

You should research the costs and compare that of execution vs. that of imprisonment.

[oshunluvr]

From an article in 2009:

County estimates in Texas indicate that the death penalty system is much more expensive than sentencing inmates to life imprisonment. Gray County spent nearly $1 million seeking the death penalty against Levi King, even though he pleaded guilty to murder. Moreover, these costs do not include the cost of appeals, which will further increase the cost of the capital case, nor the costs of cases in which the death penalty is sought but not given. By comparison, a non-death penalty murder case in nearby Lubbock County typically costs about $3,000, court officials estimate. The average cost to house an inmate in Texas prisons is $47.50 per day, according to Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Thus it would cost about $17,340 to house an inmate for a year and $693,500 for 40 years, far less than even part of the death penalty costs. The regional public defender's office estimates that just the legal costs for a death penalty case from indictment to execution are $1.2 million. Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney Matt Powell said, “I don’t dispute that it’s more expensive,” but said he never takes cost into account when deciding whether to seek the death penalty.

According to the authorities in Texas, they acknowledge spending more than twice as much on each death penalty case than those of life in prison. If you add in that in the general population most inmates don't live a normal lifespan, I doubt 40 years is even close to the average number of years incarcerated. I believe in most murder cases, the death penalty is no deterrent either. Rage, passion, drugs, and sociopath or psychpath-ic tendencies are not usually interrupted by thoughts or jail or execution. All that aside, I truly believe there are those that deserve death, I just don't believe our system is suitable to the task. Hell, I don't trust my state government to administer school funding properly. How can anyone think they'll get state sanctioned murder right? I have always been amused the irony of the those in the religious right who claim sanctity of life with one hand while holding a noose in the other. There simply is no logical or meaningful reason to support the death penalty. It's real no more than an excuse for some to justify murder while claiming to be pious.

[SteveRiley]

I have to respond to this again.

Perhaps the reason why Texas has booming economy is that they don't let 10,000 inmates on death roll stick around and drain funds

American prisons are mostly filled with folks convicted of misdemeanor drug possession. If the rest of the country would follow Washington's and Colorado's lead, and have a reasonable conversation about the costs of prohibition vs. the costs of decriminalization, it would become clear there's only one logical outcome.

on the off chance that 2 of them are innocent of the crime they're incarcerated for. And just because they're innocent of that particular crime doesn't mean they're innocent.

Really? So you'd justify the state-sanctioned murder execution of a person on the probability that he or she is guilty of something?