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" Sure, but not at the expense of my dignity or morality. When someone is willing to sell those things it boils down to one thing: She is a prostitute."

Dignity and morality are relative things. Some people would say that mowing yards or collecting trash are jobs below their dignity. What is moral ,sexually speaking, to a Sunday School Teacher is different than what is moral to a nudist. Just because stripping is below your dignity or morality, you shouldn't assume the same is true for everyone.

If professions that were considered below the dignity or morality of some people were outlawed, being a politician, a car salesman, a lawyer, or a septic tank cleaner would be illegal. Note, these people would still exist, just as the stripper would still exist if stripping were outlawed. Their activities would be driven underground though, and they would become outlaws.

Dignity and morality are relative things.

No, they aren't.

Some people would say that mowing yards or collecting trash are jobs below their dignity.

Some people are immorally proud. If you don't know the difference between dignity and pride you are ill equipped to engage in debate about morality.

What is moral ,sexually speaking, to a Sunday School Teacher is different than what is moral to a nudist.

And what is moral, pacifically speaking, to a Sunday School Teacher is different than what is moral to a serial killer. That line of thinking is stupid. It grants Hitler license to kill while it censors Gandhi from criticizing him. If you don't have a better argument than that you better do some more thinking before trying to duke it out on the internet.

The discussion is entirely off-base (which is Carole Keeton McClellan RINOlander Strayhorn's intent). Taxing alcohol at stripper bars is no more encouraging them than taxing cigarettes encourages smoking or taxing gambling winnings encourages gambling.

It's all economics.

To get one side-issue out of the way, an attractive topless dancer can make three times what the waitresses at the same clubs make and the waitresses can often make three times what waitresses at normal bars make. A release a few years ago about alcohol revenue in Austin showed that five of the top six places in Austin with the highest alcohol sales were stripper bars.

Morality aside (a real challenge for some of you), this is the economic reason why some girls, even nice ones, decide to strip rather than wait tables and why some wait tables at stripper bars instead of the local watering holes. More money in less time.

It's economics.

And to tax alcohol sales at these places at a higher rate than other places is done, again, because that's where the money is.

It's economics.

Once you establish that something is taxable, be it property, sales, an activity or a place of business, all you are fighting over is how much to tax each thing to get the most economic benefit at the least harm to the economy in general.

What Perry is proposing is relief for property taxes (which has always been the backbone of school funding in this state, not the lottery or tobacco settlements), and pushing more of the burden on people who seem to have disposable income for non-healthy pleasures such as smoking cigarettes or viewing naked ladies. He could just as easily shift the burden to people who buy yachts and SUVs or people who buy tickets to sporting events or people who buy groceries. He's choosing to hit the ones the majority of society would rather see hit. If you are a non-smoking property owner who doesn't work in the topless business, this is good news for you because less of the tax burden will be put on you.

Again, it's economics.

We can debate until the cows come home about how moral or immoral some businesses are but the real issue here is economics. If you keep your eye on the ball, you won't be distracted by the strawmen being thrown up by Granny RINO.

I'm not a big fan of either Perry or Mrs. Serial Bride but to make the debate into one about topless clubs as opposed to "who is paying the taxes" is to derail a tax overhaul that clearly needs to be done.