Category: Uncategorized

By Harold Knight
Holy Land Foundation Trial

Suppose for a moment the State of Texas decided to end one of the menaces to our society—one that is responsible for many deaths and an enormous amount of property loss every year—talking on a cell phone while driving. Then, by executive order of the governor, the state police were given the authority to start going through the phone records and the driving records of people who were suspected of having talked on their cell phones while driving before the law was passed. Soon the state would be prosecuting Texans, not for talking on their cell phones under the new law, but because they talked on their cell phones before the law was passed. Drivers would be indicted because they SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that some day such conversations would be made illegal. Absurd? Ridiculous?

That is what a preponderance of the evidence in the Holy Land Foundation trial is all about; the judge has allowed the prosecution to enter evidence of supposed wrong-doing (note I say “supposed” wrongdoing) in the HLF’s dealings with certain entities that were not illegal at the time of those dealings. A financial transaction that took place in 1989 cannot be deemed illegal under an executive order signed by President Clinton in 1995. Or can it? That seems to be the substance of the government’s case against the Holy Land Foundation so far.

Editor’s Note: “Every law, which makes criminal an act that was innocent when done, or which inflicts a greater punishment than the law annexed to the crime when committed, is an ex post facto law within the prohibition of the Constitution.” (Ex Post Facto at FindLaw)–gm

Children’s Song
(English)

Chorus
Bridges cross the Rio Grande
We all dance there, they all dance there,
Bridges cross the Rio Grande
Everyone dances around

Handsome men go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Lovely women go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Shoemakers go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Laundresses go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Musicians go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Soldiers too go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Landscapers go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Grape growers go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Dressmakers go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Carpenters go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Breakfast cooks go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Mechanics go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

____________ go this way
Then they all go that way

Chorus

Game Instructions

During the chorus, the children dance in a circle, holding hands. For each verse the children stop the circle, drop hands, and do a little jig to each side, imitating the character of the verse going back and forth across the bridges. Then for the chorus they rejoin hands and reverse the direction of the circle.

Adapted from mamalisa.com, Wikipedia, and Godowsky by the Texas Civil Rights Review — gm

Revised Aug. 5, 2007

Thank you, dear readers, from Texas, China, and all points in between, for making July our busiest month ever at the Texas Civil Rights Review. We always add quickly that our numbers are not massive, but our steady growth is gratifying. Y’all come back and see us soon.–gm

ps: Netcraft rates our site two places above Rice University’s! (Aug. 3, 2007)

pps: a good friend of the web site writes — “hm-m … TCRR over rice …. sounds like a pretty good recipe!”

and finally, the busiest day ever was July 31, 2007 — the eve of the Ibrahim trial

By Greg Moses

Friday evening around sundown I found Saint Benezet passing through Austin. He was standing on Lady Bird Lake checking out the I-35 bridge, and I asked him why.

“The Maker’s favorite son Willie is driving this way, and I want to make sure he’s okay,” said the famed Saint of Le Pont d’Avignon as the palms of his hands cupped a beam. Then he asked me why I was looking so puzzled.

“Well,” I said. “Isn’t Willie coming to town on a marijuana mission? Won’t he be raising money for a bunch of folks who are pro pot?”

“Do you think that bothers us?” asked the young saint as convoys of freight trucks flew overhead. “Didn’t The Maker make grapes, too?”

I tried to remember when any god was last reported to be denouncing wine.

“On the other hand,” said the young saint, “when did The Maker ever ask you folks to build prisons.”

As he moved to the next beam, I recalled that he was always a plain speaking saint, telling powerful people what they needed to do next. If there was any divine directive to build more prisons for marijuana offenders, he would say so.

“And what are you doing here?” he asked.

“I came to talk to the river,” I replied.

“You mean the lake?”

“Okay, the dammed river,” I grinned.

And he grinned, too.

As Saint Benezet glided West towards the bridges at Congress Avenue and Boulevard Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar, the water rippled with a cool breeze.

In the wind, I heard him singing, “Les musiciens font comme ça. . . .”

Note: Willie Nelson headlines the Austin Freedom Fest at The Backyard near Austin August 10, with proceeds going to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), and the Women’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM).

adapted from mamalisa.com by the Texas Civil Rights Review–gm

On Bridges ‘cross the Rio Grande

Children’s Song
(English)

Chorus
On bridges ‘cross the Rio Grande
They are dancing, they are dancing,
On bridges ‘cross the Rio Grande
They are dancing all around

The handsome men – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

Lovely women – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The shoemakers – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The laundresses – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The musicians – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The soldiers – they too go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The landscapers – they go this way
And then again go that wa

Chorus

The grape growers – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The dressmakers – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The capenters – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The breakfast cooks – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The mechanics – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

The ____________ – they go this way
And then again go that way

Chorus

Game Instructions

The children dance on a circle on the chorus. On the first verse, the dance stops and the children bow and pretend to raise their hats. On the second verse, the children curtsey on one side, then on the other.