With Mom & Dad At Riscky's BBQ In The Stockyards Watching The Fort Worth Herd

I came upon that which you see above a couple days ago whilst looking at webpages I'd not looked at in a long time. That is my mom, on the right, looking at my dad, on the left, trying to take a picture of the Fort Worth Herd ambling their way through the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Our herd viewing vantage point was from the outdoor patio at Riscky's BBQ where we were having the all you can eat ribs along with other Texas delicacies.

The webpage on which my mom and dad appear is titled FORT WORTH HERD IN THE STOCKYARDS. On that webpage there is a link to another webpage, with that one titled FORT WORTH STOCKYARDS VIDEO on which, if I remember right, if you watch the video, and pay close attention, you may see Elsie Hotpepper.

The above photo was taken during mom and dad's first visit to visit me in Texas. I believe this was in late October or early November. I know the year was 2001, shortly after 9/11.

Also anchoring the time frame in my memory is I remember driving mom and dad south on I-820 when something came up in the conversation which had me picking up my phone and calling my sister's number in Arizona.

My favorite nephew Jeremy answered.

Jeremy was 14 or 15 at that point in time. Jeremy was home alone and being a bit nervous. It was from Jeremy we learned that America had begun its bombing of the Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan. This was Jeremy's first experience where he was old enough to understand what was happening when America was starting up one of its ubiquitous wars, hence the being a bit nervous.

Seems like only yesterday, but that phone call to Jeremy took place almost 14 years ago.

The last time mom and dad visited me in Texas was in January of 2009. On their first visit, mom could still see. On the last visit mom's macular degeneration had rendered seeing very problematic.

I called mom and dad on Saturday and learned my dad is about to get a pacemaker installed. I don't think mom and dad will be taking any more roadtrips to Texas. I probably should be taking myself on a roadtrip to Arizona....

The Dallas Observer Suggests You Get Drunk & Roll Down The Grassy Knoll Yelling Al Qaeda Did It

In a mysterious coincidence, during the final week of September, both Fort Worth Weekly and the Dallas Observer issue their highly anticipated Best of the Year issues.

Best of the Year, as in this that or the other thing is the Best of 2014.

I'd not seen a Dallas Observer Best of the Year edition til this year's version.

I've long thought the Fort Worth Weekly Best of the Year version has some goofy elements, but then figure it's a big issue which takes a lot of effort to produce, hence some goofy elements are to be expected.

The most goofy element I have found in the Dallas Observer Best of 2014 edition is in the section the online version calls Arts & Entertainment, which the print version calls Nightlife & Music.

Just having different names for this section is a bit goofy, but the goofy element to which I refer I screencapped above and copy for your reading pleasure below...

Best Spot to Be Drunk and Yell at Tourists Dallas 2014 - Grassy Knoll

Now that Dallas has marked the 50th anniversary of JFK's murder, the city is moving on from the tragedy. It's time to acknowledge that the Grassy Knoll is a great spot to hide in and yell at people. The most elevated point at Dallas' knoll has an excellent view of tourists below, all of whom appear very interested to hear any Dallas factoids, personal revelations or conspiracy theories shouted at them from above. For people intent on yelling at tourists all night, showing up drunk tends to yield more creative results, such as the ever popular "Al Qaeda did it!" Other fun knoll-related activities include just silently sitting and not yelling at people and rolling down the hill.

I am sure whoever decides such things at the Dallas Observer thought the above was the height of hilarity. I don't know what people in parts of America, other than Dallas and Texas, might think about the idea that the Dallas Observer thinks getting drunk and hollering at tourists from the Grassy Knoll is a fun activity, and perfectly appropriate, what with it being over a half century since JFK was murdered at this location.

For some reason yelling "Al Qaeda did it" seems a bit juvenile to me. And would anyone actually laugh at that?

As for rolling down the hill known as the Grassy Knoll. I  recollect way back late in the last century seeing Dealey Plaza for the first time. When I figured out where the Grassy Knoll was at Dealey Plaza I recollect being surprised because it really is not much of a geographic feature. Labeling it as a Grassy Knoll seemed like an exaggeration, as does referring to this little knob as a hill.

Go to my Dealey Plaza webpage and you will see a photo of the little knob known as the Grassy Knoll, which the Dallas Observer thinks is a fun hill to roll down, drunkenly, whilst yelling that Al Qaeda did it....

Texas Travesty George W. Bush & Other Things Making Me Cranky

Time passes, fresh trauma causes older trauma to fade.

A book I recently read was setting the tone at the start of a chapter, reminding me of something that had faded from memory, what with so much fresh trauma.

This is what I read...

"Front page articles covered campaigning by George W. Bush and Al Gore for the presidential election coming in November 2000.

Some readers worried about more prosaic announcements. The average price of gasoline had leaped to $1.64 per gallon. In other financial news, President Clinton announced that the government's anticipated budget surplus would exceed projections by almost $2 trillion over the next decade-a cornucopia of cash that would make social programs achievable. GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush said the estimates validated his claim that there would be plenty of room in the federal budget for his ambitious plans to cut taxes and still have money for other priorities."

We got George W. Bush as president, with Al Gore having received a couple million more votes than Bush. Clinton had fixed the chronic budget deficit problem. With surpluses in the $trillions projected.

I don't think it made any difference who'd become president as to the horror that happened on 9/11/2001. I do think Al Gore would have led America in a direction different than Bush did, post 9/11.

A couple days ago I saw a legless Vet riding an electric wheel chair device. Were his legs lost in Iraq? Or was it Afghanistan?

I'm pretty much 100% sure had Al Gore become president America would not have started its first pre-emptive war. A wiser president likely would have simply beefed up America's presence in Kuwait and waited out Saddam and his intransigence over Iraq's alleged, now known not to have existed, weapons of mass destruction.

How many billions of dollars have been lost in Iraq? How many lives?

As for Afghanistan, once Al Qaeda had been identified as the 9/11 perps, with their training camps being in Afghanistan, if I had been the president I would have launched a massive attack on the Al Qaeda camps as soon as possible. From the air. No ground troops. No takeover of Afghanistan.

How many billions of dollars have been lost in Afghanistan? How many lives?

What would Al Gore have done differently I can't help but wonder? Would he have put a different perspective on the barbaric, primitive attack than had Bush? Would a President Gore have led the battle against terrorism differently? With a guiding principal being not letting the terrorists cause America to over react in fear and anger.

The Al Qaeda attacks killed almost 3,000 on 9/11. More than that number of Americans have died in the 2 unnecessary wars since 9/11. How many soldiers have been seriously injured? The number is in the thousands.

I believe the War on Terror was basically won on 9/11 when The People onboard Flight 93 fought back and caused the plane to crash in Pennsylvania, rather than its target in Washington, D.C.

Since 9/11 there have been other instances where The People have thwarted a terrorist.

I think what we go through to get on a plane now is ridiculous. We've let the threat of terrorists alter our freedom, way too much. There has to be less intrusive ways to determine if a person poses a threat.

Had Al Gore become President, instead of George W., would we now be seeing those Clinton surpluses, rather than the humongous deficits? Would there have been a financial meltdown? Would the world economy have plummeted to the worst recession since the Great Depression?

I don't know.

What I do know is seeing that legless Veteran yesterday made me cranky.

Hearing CNN or Fox or whatever cable news I had the TV on, trumpeting that, after the break, the story of a soldier who lost all his limbs. I turned off the TV. I don't know which of the unnecessary wars the soldiers limbs were lost in. But, I do know, that this did not need to happen to that soldier, and would not have, had America not been misled by someone who I really think never should have been President of the United States.

A travesty we are still trying to recover from.