OPINION

The Texas Supreme Court needs Judge Debra Lehrmann in Place 3. She has more than 22 years experience, almost more than twice any of her opponents. She is an exceptionally well-qualified jurist who has consistently served the people of Texas with fairness and integrity, and she is a proven conservative.

She is currently the district judge of the 360th Judicial District in Fort Worth and the only candidate with family law and child protective services experience, which is needed on the court. She also has authored two legal treatises that are updated yearly.

Re: "Toyota struggles for answers -- In emotional hearing, U.S. exec says electronics may be faulty," Wednesday news story.

Now that the snow is melting in D.C., Congress can go back to normal activities, such as ignoring the country's real priorities and returning to the practice of self-righteous grandstanding.

This time, the "suits" have Toyota squarely in their sights, subpoena in hand and a level of rage comparable to a woman scorned.

At least, this subject is more valid than steroids in baseball and tainted spinach; although the Chinese lead in children's toys were able to somehow get a pass from congressional wrath.

Would Congress treat Toyota differently if it was populated by members of the United Auto Workers? No one can say.

But I'd bet the rest of my meager retirement nest egg that there would have been a gentlemen's understanding rather than a crucifixion.

In less than a week, a short-term Medicare physician payment freeze will expire and a 21.2 percent cut to Medicare reimbursement rates will take effect.

Most physician practices here and across the nation are small businesses. Those physicians who still care for Medicare patients will be faced with a severe financial strain. They will also have to choose whether or not they can still see Medicare patients. Medicare patients will have even greater difficulty finding a doctor.

Congress must cease the short-term "fixes" and address the actual problem: the flawed sustainable growth rate formula. If Congress had fixed this problem in 2005, when physicians faced a cut of about 3.3 percent, the cost of permanent reform would have been $49 billion. Now, this year's projected 21.2 percent cut yields a $210 billion price tag for reform.

Another short-term fix only slightly delays the inevitable problem and makes it extremely difficult for physicians to continue their care for seniors and military families.

It's time to repeal the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula, replacing it with a system that ensures payments keep pace with rising costs associated with care for our patients.

Re: "Social conservative in tough race -- GOP voters will help set panel's direction before key textbook decisions," Tuesday news story.

This article has incomplete information that makes Thomas Ratliff look pretty good compared to Don McLeroy.

The State Board of Education is duly elected. In January, they listened to constituents until late in the evening. They did what they were elected to do. The poorly written 1998 squishy history-challenged TEKS was made worse by the "professional educators," and the SBOE just made a few changes to make it not as bad.

The changes that were made by the SBOE would allow teachers to give children real facts and reasons to believe that we are a country worth preserving. If we don't teach them history and that we are worth preserving, what will happen?

Do we really want to do that to our children?

Ratliff is a professional lobbyist accustomed to being beholden to the highest bidder and now the brazen teacher unions that refuse to allow parents the right to school choice are supporting him.

Re: "Balancing on a Stool -- Start with these 3 legs to make state budget fit," Tuesday Editorials.

We appreciate the focus on spending the Rainy Day Fund and closing tax loopholes as a means of helping balance the budget.

However, continuing to cut from state services that are already under-resourced will only take away from Texans at a time when they are already vulnerable due to the economy, without creating enough savings to fix the problem.

Relying on cuts does nothing to stimulate our state economy and is a method that has already failed us. We have some of the worst outcomes for children and families in the country. We support looking at alternative means to balance the budget.

Our services have already taken as much cutting as they can.

Re: "Where to make services cuts," by Dennis Borel, Saturday Letters.

Borel repeats a destructive logic that decries proposed budget cuts by the state Department of Health and Human Services, but advocates closure of our state schools. It is not possible to demonstrate how tearing down an entire system and building a new network with the same funds is cost-effective.

A peer-reviewed cost-comparison study was updated in 2009 by Voice of the Retarded, a respected national advocacy organization. It shows that costs for all related services remain consistent whether services are provided in a single state facility or across multiple providers within a community model.

The state schools provide vital care for individuals who are profoundly disabled, medically fragile or have severe behavioral complications that render them unsuitable or unlikely to benefit from community-based residences.

The state system continues to require firm oversight and effective management, but those requirements are already in place. The schools, their residents and the families who want the facilities kept open do not deserve to be vilified or made into bargaining chips for budgetary advantage, especially not by persons or groups that purport to represent the disabled population.

Do states have a right to secede? It's always seemed obvious to me that the answer is no, but recent politics in Texas have taught me there's still much debate on this topic.

So I'll share with you a blog entry I stumbled upon that shares Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's views on the matter. (It's not every day you get to hear a justice's opinion on secession.)

When asked to weigh in by a screenwriter who was researching the topic, Scalia wrote:

I am afraid I cannot be of much help with your problem, principally because I cannot imagine that such a question could ever reach the Supreme Court. To begin with, the answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, "one Nation, indivisible.") Secondly, I find it difficult to envision who the parties to this lawsuit might be. Is the State suing the United States for a declaratory judgment? But the United States cannot be sued without its consent, and it has not consented to this sort of suit.

I am sure that poetic license can overcome all that -- but you do not need legal advice for that. Good luck with your screenplay.

Every week, we poll the members of the editorial board on a timely and divisive topic. This week, the topic comes from a Washington Post story reporting that Virginia Tech has "joined a growing list of colleges that notify parents every time a student younger than 21 is caught drinking, drunk or in possession of alcohol." And so our question today is:

Should universities notify an underage student's parents every time he's caught drinking?

Here are their responses:

The Rasmussen poll on the Texas gubernatorial primary is out, and the news appears pretty good for Gov. Rick Perry, who has picked up four points to 48 percent since the start of the month (comparing the last two Rasmussen polls).

Kay Bailey Hutchison is down two points, from 29 to 27 percent, but, interestingly, Debra Medina is polling at the same 16 percent as she was before she briefly lost her mind on Glenn Beck's 9/11 truther inquisition.

With early voting underway, Rasmussen asked those who had voted already which way they went. The answer: Perry 49, Hutchison 24, Medina 20.

Perry is very close to avoiding a runoff, which could save his campaign a fair bit of money that it could apply to the general against Bill White. That said, it will be interesting to see if many Democrats take Paul Burka's "suggestion" and cross over to vote for Hutchison (thereby increasing chances of a Perry-weakening runoff).

For Mark Davis' take on the primaries and a couple of out-of-state perspectives, visit our Opinion home page and roll down to the Texas section.

Are you looking to get away from it all? Well, Ultime Réalité has the perfect vacation for you. For just $1,200 the French company will kidnap you during your vacation. They'll also bind and gag you at no extra charge. You can also book a helicopter chase and daring escape package. It's the latest in thrill-seeking tourism.

Reuters reports:

For those searching for the ultimate nightmare, the company is also hoping to branch out beyond kidnappings and is looking into options such as spending a night in a morgue, or attending your own funeral.

The company's founder, Georges Cexus, explains:

Let's say it will really be about bringing to life the client's worst fear, the thing that's lurking in the back of his mind and he's never dared talk about.

Sign me up! Sounds just like what I want from a vacation. Question: does the package include post-abduction therapy?

As crazy as it sounds, Cexus told Reuters customers are lining up. I don't know about you, but I will not be among them. My sense of adventure on vacation ends at deciding which type of drink to order at the beach bar.