# Meet Tom Head, Lubbock County Judge
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 23, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328 "2012-08-23T01:02:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/21 "2012-08-23T02:49:33Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#):
>
> Hasn’t the UN been planning to ‘take over the US’ since the early 80’s at least?
>
> I swear I had a _Loompanics_ catalogue from back then that featured books on how the invading UN could ID a persons job using secret codes on car number-plates and randon stickers placed on the back of road signs were ways for the UN to find their way around.
Oh yeah, I recall the bit about markings on highway signs being indicators for invading UN troops. I also recall the claim that US troops were secretly dumping M-16s off of aircraft carriers so they could be replaced with AK-47s. This was - somehow - supposed to be part of the invasion plan.
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### Author:  [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/22 "2012-08-23T02:53:05Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#):
>
> Hasn’t the UN been planning to ‘take over the US’ since the early 80’s at least?
>
> I swear I had a _Loompanics_ catalogue from back then that featured books on how the invading UN could ID a persons job using secret codes on car number-plates and randon stickers placed on the back of road signs were ways for the UN to find their way around.
Ewwww… you need to revive that and run for office! If you move to Texas now, you can run in 2014!
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### Author:  [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/23 "2012-08-23T02:58:41Z")
> [@Enkel](#):
>
> Ewwww… you need to revive that and run for office! If you move to Texas now, you can run in 2014!
Cool, I can run on a platform of dismantling all road signage and making registration plates voluntary (the UN spies will be the ones that use 'em).
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/24 "2012-08-23T02:59:44Z")
> [@the Yahoo News Story linked to in the OP](#):
>
> He said his original comments were taken out of context.
:smack: Oh, _of course_! The remarks were _taken out of context_! Of course they were!
**Reporter:** Well, Judge Head, thank you very much for that informative and well-reasoned discussion of local taxation issues. Before we go–this is just something we like to do as a bit of a lark here at Channel 34–could you please come up with the most batshit crazy thing concerning a local sales tax increase that you can imagine a public official in the United States might say?
**Judge Head:** Ha ha, that sounds like fun! Lemme see, now…
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### Author:  [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/25 "2012-08-23T03:05:46Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#):
>
> :smack: Oh, _of course_! The remarks were _taken out of context_! Of course they were!
>
> **Reporter:** Well, Judge Head, thank you very much for that informative and well-reasoned discussion of local taxation issues. Before we go–this is just something we like to do as a bit of a lark here at Channel 34–could you please come up with the most batshit crazy thing concerning a local sales tax increase that you can imagine a public official in the United States might say?
> **Judge Head:** Ha ha, that sounds like fun! Lemme see, now…
I think by “out of context” he meant that the video was shown beyond the confines of local in-patient facilities. Some video just isn’t meant to be viewed by people who’ve been educated beyond all rationality and have bought lock-stock-and-barrel into that ‘reality’ thing.
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### Author:  [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/26 "2012-08-23T03:15:47Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#):
>
> Cool, I can run on a platform of dismantling all road signage and making registration plates voluntary (the UN spies will be the ones that use 'em).
Make **registration and license plates illegal** and I’ll vote for you! I"ll even donate time and hosting for your web site. There is no reason that the state needs to know how many vehicles I have, let alone keep taxing me year after year just to pay for their over-bearing socialist controls.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/27 "2012-08-23T03:18:06Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#):
>
> Hasn’t the UN been planning to ‘take over the US’ since the early 80’s at least?
>
> I swear I had a _Loompanics_ catalogue from back then that featured books on how the invading UN could ID a persons job using secret codes on car number-plates and randon stickers placed on the back of road signs were ways for the UN to find their way around.
Yeah, I never got that one either. What was wrong with just reading the _front_ of the road signs to figure out where you were going?
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### Author:  [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/28 "2012-08-23T03:22:29Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#):
>
> Yeah, I never got that one either. What was wrong with just reading the _front_ of the road signs to figure out where you were going?
Because the UN stormtroopers can only read metric road signs.
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### Author:  [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/29 "2012-08-23T03:29:37Z")
UN troops would be driving on the wrong side of the road so they would only be seeing the back of the signs.
_anyone else get the feeling that this kind of ‘reasoning’ (and booze) gave rise to the original idea?_
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/30 "2012-08-23T03:30:15Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#):
>
> Because the UN stormtroopers can only read metric road signs.
Well, I guess no more quarter pounders at McDonald’s then, once they take over.
Bastards.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/31 "2012-08-23T03:30:37Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> Weirder still, the judge somehow worked this into a piece about a proposed 1.7-cent local tax hike. 😕 (Which the judge is **for,** near as I can tell.)
Call me cynical, but I figure he (and/or his party) came up with the tax hike first, then brainstormed a way to make the looney fringe among their constituents (i.e. the ones who actually come vote in droves) go along with it.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/32 "2012-08-23T03:38:00Z")
You don’t need highway signs driving _away_ from Lubbock, long as you don’t turn around, you’re doing fine. People driving _towards_ Lubbock most likely can’t read.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/33 "2012-08-23T03:38:01Z")
I am sadly more familiar with Lubbock, Texas than anyone in their right mind would like to be. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the good citizens of Lubbock back this judge 100%.
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### Author:  [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/34 "2012-08-23T03:41:52Z")
Is he one of those elected judges, or did this guy go to law school? 😕
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### Author:  [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/35 "2012-08-23T03:45:19Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#):
>
> Hasn’t the UN been planning to ‘take over the US’ since the early 80’s at least?
It’s taking longer than we thought.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/36 "2012-08-23T03:47:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I’m thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we’re not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we’re talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy…
I heard this on my car radio this evening. As luck would have it, I was right between Lexington and Concord at the time. The judge is an idiot.
The Tea Party is kinda the same way. For a state they decry as hopelessly liberal, they sure seem to like following our lead when it suits them.
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### Author:  [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/37 "2012-08-23T04:01:30Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#):
>
> Well, I guess no more quarter pounders at McDonald’s then, once they take over.
>
> Bastards.
Well, they won’t have those anyways due to the forced veganism but, yes, you will have to order a veggie Royale with soy cheese.
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### Author:  [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/38 "2012-08-23T04:05:09Z")
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> Call me cynical, but I figure he (and/or his party) came up with the tax hike first, then brainstormed a way to make the looney fringe among their constituents (i.e. the ones who actually come vote in droves) go along with it.
I’ll take that bet. You don’t just suddenly start making public declarations about when [del]we[/del] they start a new civil war. (I loved how he kept correcting himself to exclude himself from the rioters… he sooooo would be among the first in line if they called for a riot!) As for the UN invasion, he had to work his way past the “cops will take our guns”, “US troops will be sent in to take our guns”… yeah… UN invasion is the fantasy of a mature delusionist.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/39 "2012-08-23T04:13:08Z")
> [@antonio107](#):
>
> Is he one of those elected judges, or did this guy go to law school? 😕
The “county judge” in Texas counties presides over the county comissioners in the “comissioners court” that runs the country - it’s more analogous to being a mayor who presides over a city council (except on a county level) than it is what you usually think of as a courtroom judge. County judges may take on a few very limited judicial tasks that judges traditionally perform like admitting wills to probate or conducting marriages, but by and large they’re just the administrative heads of the county. Many of them aren’t lawyers; I would guess that most aren’t. The “lawyer judges” who are presiding over courtrooms are the district and county court at law judges (and occassionally the justices of the peace, although most JPs aren’t lawyers either).
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meet-tom-head-lubbock-county-judge/632328/40 "2012-08-23T06:29:38Z")
> [@pravnik](#):
>
> The “county judge” in Texas counties presides over the county comissioners in the “comissioners court” that runs the country - it’s more analogous to being a mayor who presides over a city council (except on a county level) than it is what you usually think of as a courtroom judge.
And according to the linked article he’s in charge of the emergency management.
> [@](#):
>
> but as the county’s emergency management director, he said he has to keep a “worst case scenario” in mind if Obama returns to the White House and Democrats control the Senate.
If the parties were reversed, you wouldn’t tell me that a zillion of the Republicans wouldn’t be screaming treason.
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