Walk Around Green Sikes Lake Brings Back Memory Of A Purple Trinity River

Til today it had been a few days since I had myself a walk around Sikes Lake. I'd not been back since the start of the fall quarter at Midwestern State University, which is where Sikes Lake is located.

Since my last Sikes Lake walk around the lake has turned a beautiful shade of green, as you can see.

I first noticed the green whilst walking across the bridge you see above the green.

I don't know if this is a purposefully dying of the lake green, in some sort of celebrating the start of school deal, like when Fort Worth's goofy mayor, Mike Moncrief, tried to dye the Trinity River purple in some sort of tribute to a Fort Worth football team that had won a game or was playing in a bowl game or some other such thing which I have long forgotten.

I could quickly find the answer to why Fort Worth's goofy mayor tried to turn the Trinity River purple by using this blog's search function.

I will be right back with the link to that purple blogging.

Well, apparently I blogged about this serious issue of Fort Worth's goofy mayor trying to dye the Trinity River purple multiple times....

Fort Worth's Mayor Moncrief Changes The Name Of The Trinity River & Orders It Dyed The Color Purple

Fort Worth Mayor Moncrief Fails To Turn Trinity River Purple

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Sort Of Sees Purple

TCU Purple Froggies Jinxed By Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief

That last one is mostly copying a funny email from Don Young about the serious issue of Fort Worth having a really goofy mayor lacking in basic common sense.

Thunderstorms are on the menu today for the Wichita Falls location. The potential storminess is evident in another photo I took today at Sikes Lake.

Sikes Lake does not appear to be green when viewed from this location, looking through the Arch de Sikes.

The temperature was barely in the 80s when I walked around Sikes Lake. About the temperature to which I air condition my interior space.

I need to find where I put my winter wear....

Washington Naming Ferries For Seahawks While Dyeing No Rivers Green Or Blue

I saw what you see here, this morning, whilst perusing the Interwebs for news.

The Seattle Seahawks are playing in yet one more Super Bowl, tomorrow, Sunday, February 1, in Glendale, Arizona.

Meanwhile, up in Washington, the state's governor, I assume by executive decree, ordered the ferries in the Washington State Ferry Fleet renamed after Seattle Seahawk players.

There are dozens of Washington ferry boats. I have no idea  how many Seahawk players there are in need of a boat being re-named after them.

I also do not know how long this re-naming is scheduled to last, but right now you can sail across Puget Sound on boats with names like M/V Russell Wilson and M/V Marshawn Lynch.

Renaming the ferry fleet in this way seems a bit goofy to me.

I have not experienced what  happens, goofiness-wise, at my current location, when a local football team plays in some sort of national championship game, because that has not happened during my long exile in Texas.

I think the Dallas Cowboys played in a Super Bowl or two back in the last century, and somehow out of that became convinced that they were America's Team, even though America tends to like winners.

I have experienced extreme goofiness when one of the local Texas teams has a good year. As in some of the locals, politicians and media can get a bit ridiculous. I can only imagine what happens here if a local team wins a national championship or a local team plays in a national championship game.

Back in December, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, I Learned I Live In The Football Capital Of The World: Tarrant County. At that point in time supposedly the civilized world was in shock because the Dallas Cowboys were playing in an NFL playoff game at the same time a small Fort Worth school named TCU was maybe going to play for the national college championship. Why this was shocking has never been clear to me.

As for the extreme goofiness I have experienced in the Football Capital of the World, well, that also involved those TCU Horned Frogs.

Way back in November of 2009 TCU was playing in a game which had their fans swooning. This led to the extreme goofiness to which I refer. That goofiness involved the then Mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, trying to dye the Trinity River purple.

I blogged about Purple Rivergate in three bloggings, with the first blogging being Fort Worth's Mayor Moncrief Changes The Name Of The Trinity River & Orders It Dyed The Color Purple. That blogging was from the day before the river tried to change its color.

I attended the Purple River Ceremony and blogged about the sad result in Fort Worth Mayor Moncrief Fails To Turn Trinity River Purple.

The next day the Star-Telegram had an article about the Purple River which was a bit bizarre, even by Star-Telegram standards. I blogged about that in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Sort Of Sees Purple.

The Seattle Seahawks colors are a nice shade of blue and a bright green. Dyeing Puget Sound or any of the Washington rivers or lakes blue or green would be a bit redundant since those are sort of the predominant colors which dominate the landscape.

That and I doubt any Washington politician would be dumb enough to try something so stupid as changing the color of a large body of water.

If the Dallas Cowboys ever get to play in a Super Bowl will whoever Fort Worth's Mayor is at the time go along with trying to change the Trinity River's color from its usual lovely shade of brown to the Cowboys' colors of white or blue or silver? I think those are the Dallas Cowboy colors.

What I do know for sure is that neither the Fort Worth Mayor, or the Governor of Texas, will be renaming any ferry boats with the names of Dallas Cowboy players.

Maybe the Longhorns in the Fort Worth Herd could be temporarily re-named.

Or even better, maybe by the time a football team in the Football Capital of the World actually plays in a championship game the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Pond Granger will finally be floating something, barges, perhaps?

Giant inner tubes?

With the floating devices available to be named after Dallas Cowboy or TCU players, with those floating devices floating people to all the various wonders of the Boondoggle, including cruising up Granger Channel under those notorious three bridges, formerly crossing over nothing, now crossing over actual water, which may or may not be dyed purple....

Charging Chesapeake Energy With Fraud & Racketeering Has Not Happened Yet In North Texas

Yesterday Elsie Hotpepper sent me a link to info about Chesapeake Energy being charged with fraud and racketeering in an article in wfmj.com titled Chesapeake Energy charged with fraud and racketeering.

The first paragraph of the article...

LANSING, Michigan - Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed racketeering and fraud charges against the Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy Corporation for allegedly victimizing private land owners across northern Michigan.

Meanwhile in Fort Worth, which became the world's first experiment in massive urban drilling under the Reign of Terror of former Fort Worth Mayor, Mike Moncrief, who did Chesapeake Energy's bidding to the extent that during Moncrief's reign Chesapeake acted sort of like a shadow Fort Worth city government, complete with its own "city hall" in the former Pier One Imports headquarters.

As a stark indicator of how far Chesapeake has fallen since it was in bed with Mike Moncrief, Fort Worth has joined other North Texas towns in suing Chesapeake Energy over Chesapeake's shady dealings.

However, the local legal moves against Chesapeake are civil suits, no local prosecutor has charged Chesapeake with fraud and racketeering.

And, on a sort of related note, regarding Fort Worth's former mayor, this morning I found the following in my email inbox....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Visit To The Garden Of Eden In Texas May Be In My Future Later This Month":

And Now for Something Completely Different:

Former Fort Worth mayor Mike Moncrief dressed up like Carl Spangler from the movie, Caddyshack:

http://fwtx.com/snapshots/best-of-2014-party/92952/3460

Clicking the above link brings us to the photo below....

Fort Worth's Goofy Mayor Mike Moncrief Turns Into Spiderman On A Fort Worth Skyscraper

I've been asked a time or two why I think Fort Worth's mayor, Mike Moncrief, is goofy.

How would I know why he is goofy? I'm no psychiatrist.

I suppose if one did not follow, too closely, the antics of Fort Worth's mayor, it might sound a bit rude when I refer to him as Fort Worth's goofy mayor, Mike Moncrief.

But.

I've seen the mayor shooting pistols with the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, in downtown Fort Worth.

That is goofy.

I have seen the mayor pour purple Kool-Aid in to the Trinity River after reading a proclamation renaming a section of the river after a local football team. Fort Worth's mayor was trying to dye the river purple.

That is goofy.

And then this morning, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there were photos of Fort Worth's goofy mayor, Mike Moncrief, trying to rappel down the side of a downtown Fort Worth building.

That is goofy.

The goofy mayor forgot his rappelling instructions, which caused him to start his descent upside down.

That is also goofy.

A Gray Tuesday In Fort Worth Thinking About Mike Moncrief's & Cathy Hirt's Conflicts Of Interest

Monday morning was blue. Tuesday morning is gray in my zone of North Texas, at least as viewed from one of my viewing portals on the outdoor world.

It is currently 75 degrees, heading to a predicted high of 92. From the look of the sky I would guess rain and possible thunderstorms were coming my way, but that is not the forecast, which is breezy with sunny intervals.

This morning I read that one of the people wanting to be mayor of Fort Worth, Cathy Hirt, says that she will likely, if elected, get rid of the stocks she and her husband, Darrell, have in 5 of the gas drillers poking holes in Fort Worth.

Cathy Hirt said owning stocks in those 5 gas drilling companies could raise conflicts of interest issues.

Apparently Cathy Hirt has not heard that Fort Worth City Attorney, David Yett, ruled years ago that Fort Worth's current corrupt mayor, Mike Moncrief's, $600,000 income from gas drillers, poking holes in Fort Worth, did not constitute any conflict of interest.

I guess it is a good thing that Fort Worth has someone running for mayor who understands that conflicts of interest are not a good thing.

Jim Lane says if he gets elected mayor he will closely monitor the Barnett Shale operations. I wonder how much money he makes each year from the gas drillers poking holes in Fort Worth?

It is time for me to stop wondering about conflicts of interest and go swimming to take my mind off of that which perplexes me.

Thanking Departing Despot Mike Moncrief For Making Fort Worth The Best Place To Live On The Planet

There was a letter to the editor in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram that I could not tell if the letter writer was making some sort of sarcastic joke or not.

The letter writer was thanking Fort Worth's departing despot, Mayor Mike Moncrief, for the amazingly wonderful job he has done as mayor, overseeing the poking of thousands of holes in his town, from which the departing despot profited hugely due to his ability to skirt by the ethics violations in the form of the mayor's rather obvious conflicts of interest, that would likely have the mayor in jail by now if Fort Worth was a city in the United States.

Below is the perplexing letter...

Thanks, Mayor Mike

Thank you, Mayor Mike Moncrief, for making Fort Worth the best place to live on the planet. Maybe we could send a carload of TCU players to bring you back in time for the May 14 election. We're sure going to miss your positive leadership. I am proud to say you still have my vote.

-- Steve McCans, Fort Worth

Mayor Mike Moncrief made Fort Worth the best place to live on the planet? What planet is this person speaking of? This person is suggesting a carload of TCU players kidnap the mayor so that he can continue his reign? Positive leadership? Has this person not seen a Fort Worth City Council meeting presided by the departing despot?

The Dawn Of A New Day In Texas Thinking About The Ousters Of Fort Worth's & Egypt's Dictators

The dawn of the second Friday of the second month of 2011 has dawned warmer than yesterday's dawn, currently only 9 degrees below freezing.

As you can see, looking out my window, there appears to be no ice or snow.

The current forecast for this coming Sunday is to possibly heat up into the 70s.

This morning I noticed a strange thing whilst looking at the newspapers I look at every morning.

Yesterday was a rather remarkable day, news-wise, regarding the uprising in Egypt and the aftermath to Hosni Mubarak's rather defiant speech.

On the front pages of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News there is nary a mention made of the Egyptian Revolution.

And then on the front pages of the Washington newspapers online that I read, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Skagit Valley Herald, the news about Egypt is prominently featured.

I have no idea what to think about the different focus of these different newspapers.

The Star-Telegram's big story of the day, on its front page, was regime change in Fort Worth, after weeks of protests on the downtown Fort Worth parking lots known as Sundance Square, demanding the ouster of Fort Worth's corrupt, conflicts of interest-laden mayor, Mike Moncrief.

On the Star-Telegram's front page there are multiple links to multiple reports about the startling news that Fort Worth's dictator is stepping down, including a propaganda piece by Bud Kennedy titled "Moncrief goes out a winner."

Well, that's true. Moncrief does go out a winner.

Moncrief may not have made billions of bucks during his reign, unlike fellow dictator, Hosni Mubarak. But, Moncrief did win himself a few dollars, what with the millions of bucks he made via his interests in the various Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers he helped poke thousands of holes in the town he ruled.

Just like Mubarak, Moncrief is not stepping down, but will wait til the next election replaces him. I've not heard if the protests at Sundance Square have amped up demanding an immediate end to the Moncrief regime.

One big difference between the two dictators is Mubarak was elected in a fraudulent election with no opposition and with something like 98% of the voters voting for him. While Moncrief was elected by around 70% of the 6% of Fort Worth's eligible voters who bothered to vote.

I don't know if an election where only 6% of the voters bother to vote qualifies as a fraudulent election, or not.

Up Early The Last Thursday Of The First Month Of 2011 After A Night Of Nightmares & A Morning Learning From Mayor Moncrief That Fort Worth Has Been Cleaned For The Super Bowl

I am up way before the sun looking at the view from my patio prison cell this last Thursday of the first month of 2011.

It is not freezing this morning at 3 degrees above the frost point. Even though it is not freezing I still think I'll avoid swimming this morning.

I had a rough night last night. I was up late talking to Elsie Hotpepper. After that I had myself a fitful night of nightmares.

Both nightmares had me back in the house I grew up in in Burlington, Washington. The first nightmare involved little troll-like monsters who were like Tasmanian Devil human flesh eaters.

The troll nightmare did not bother me too much, but the second nightmare of the night did. It involved snakes, lots of them. Inside the house, with my mom chasing them with a broom. At one point it was a copperhead and it was heading right at me.

I woke up.

And then immediately after waking up something made me think a snake was slithering on my bed. This caused me to let out what must have been a bloodcurdling scream.

On a different nightmare note. This morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram online had an article on the front page titled "Mayor declares Fort Worth ready for Super Bowl Party."

I assumed if Fort Worth's Moron Mayor Mike Moncrief was doing some declaring that it likely was goofy and mockworthy. But, the Star-Telegram would not let me read the article. I'd get about 2 paragraphs in and I'd get switched back to the front page.

Eventually I succeeded in quickly copying and pasting the article into Notepad so I could successfully search for the goofy Moncrief quote.

I was not disappointed.

Here is what Moncrief said in declaring that Fort Worth is ready for the Super Bowl, even though the game is not being played in Fort Worth, "Are you ready for some football? Fort Worth is ready. When you're going to have a party at your house, you clean house. You want to make your home attractive. We are ready."

I guess I need to go visit Downtown Fort Worth. I can't imagine what it must look like now that it has been cleaned and made attractive.

Also, the article about being ready said that volunteers will be posted throughout the city to help visitors navigate Cowtown.

I can't help but wonder how this navigation system works. And where it is that visitors are navigating to.

Looking At The Envy Of The Nation From On Top Of Mount Tandy Thinking Good God This Town Has An Idiot For A Mayor

I was not able to get outside for any salubrious walking until after 4 this afternoon. I decided to go to the Tandy Hills, even though I was fairly certain the trails would not be dried out, I figured I could do some cross-prairie hiking.

I figured right.

In the picture you are looking west across the prairie on top of Mount Tandy. In the distance you can see the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, you know that town that recently became the Envy of the Nation because a school in the town won the Rose Bowl.

I learned this morning that in the same batch of utterings where Fort Worth's Moron Mayor, Mike Moncrief, told the people listening to him, at a celebration for TCU's Rose Bowl win, that that win made Fort Worth the Envy of the Nation, that additionally, apparently, the mentally challenged mayor also spewed out some profanity that offended the delicate sensibilities of some of the Texas Christian University Christians in the crowd.

I do not know what exactly the mayor said, but whatever it was, some considered it to be a case of taking the  Good Lord's name in vain.

Am I the only person in this town who thinks Fort Worth would be well rid of this sad excuse for a mayor? I've given up on the idea that the dishonorable mayor is ever going to get in any trouble for his conflicts of interest violations, making millions from the gas drillers operating in his town.

Maybe with Fort Worth being part of the Buckle of the Bible Belt, the dishonored mayor will be run out of town for taking the Lord's name in vain. In these parts this may be a worse crime than making big bucks violating conflicts of interest laws.

Fort Worth Mayor Moncrief Thanks TCU For Making Fort Worth The Envy Of America

You are looking at Fort Worth's ultra-goofy, ultra-corrupt mayor, Mike Moncrief, in purple shirt and tie, in Texas Christian University's Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on Sunday for a public celebration where only around 6,000 TCU fans showed up to celebrate TCU winning the Rose Bowl.

You who live in the part of America that is not Fort Worth may be surprised to learn that Fort Worth is the "envy of the nation" because a university in this town won the Rose Bowl.

At Sunday's celebration Mayor Mike Moncrief thanked TCU "for making us the envy of the entire nation."

The "entire nation."

That is impressive.

I no longer subscribe to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Because it was no longer worth subscribing to. So, I do not know if the paper has reverted to using its "Green with Envy" type verbiage over and over again in its print version regarding some nonsensical thing that no one is envious of. Like some little known country music singer moving to town.

But.

I do look at the online Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and, though I missed it til Elsie Hotpepper pointed me to it, there it was, once more the goofy "envy of" conceit. This time in quote form on the front page, linked to an article titled "More than 6,000 TCU fans pay tribute to 'unbelievable' season for Horned Frogs" in which the Star-Telegram repeats the "envy of the nation" verbiage....

FORT WORTH -- As the community heralded its university and Rose Bowl champions as the "envy of the nation," one couldn't help but wonder whether guys named Baugh, O'Brien, Meyer and even Wacker weren't somewhere looking down and sporting smiles as big as Fort Worth.

More than 6,000 enthusiastic Texas Christian University fans filled Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on Sunday for a public celebration honoring coach Gary Patterson's football team and recognizing a 2010 season that was about as good as any in the 110-year history of the program.

I have no clue who guys name Baugh, O'Brien, Meyer and Wacker are.

But, I do know I read in west coast online newspapers, more than one Pac-10 football fan opine that a Fort Worth school named TCU, from one of the non-top type conferences, playing in and winning the fabled Rose Bowl is the final nail in the coffin of the widely disliked BCS system of choosing who plays in what football Bowls.

This somehow does not sound like envy to me. It seems more like disappointment that a fabled institution like the annual Rose Bowl has been greatly lessened. And is no longer even played on New Year's Day.

Now, what I am really curious about is all the years some team other than a Fort Worth football team won the Rose Bowl, was Fort Worth collectively envious of the town in which that winning team was located?

I do not recollect ever reading in the Seattle P-I, or hearing anyone opine that Seattle was the "envy of the nation" because the University of Washington won the Rose Bowl.

Do these locals who tout this type verbiage have even the slightest clue that it gets read by people outside of Fort Worth, you know, out in America, and that it makes Fort Worth seem really silly? And that it is sort of embarrassing to be saying this that or the other thing in a town like Fort Worth is the "envy of the nation."

This type bragging really needs to be retired permanently from this town. Until the day comes where something is actually worthy of such lofty verbiage.

FW Stinks On Kathleen Hicks & Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief''s Political Calculations

I've been getting some good blog comments lately. Some times the comments are to bloggings from months, or even years ago.

Or the good blog comment might be to a blogging that was blogged on the very day it was commented on, such as one I got this afternoon from FW Stinks.

I do not know if FW is a man or a woman. What I do know is Mr./Ms. Stinks has rather strong opinions about about the shenanigans of Fort Worth's city officials, such as Fort Worth's esteemed by few mayor, Mike Moncrief, and District 8 City Councilwoman, Kathleen Hicks, currently somewhere in Europe spending some of Fort Worth's abundant budget surplus.

Below is what FW Stinks had to say...........

Very interesting observations, historical facts, and questions Mr. Durango. This situation could just be coincidence = not likely with this mayor and his crew. 

A theory based on past history and pattern is that this was a cynical ploy involving political calculations. Remember elections are just around the bend for the mayor and Ms. Hicks. She serves as some kind of member of big bother big sister version for cities, mainly FW and European cities. So this may be the official city business for which she's deployed, during a crucial vote on a major issue for the city. Not only are travel related expenses much higher during this busy holiday period, but then to be absent while knowing ahead of time that there will very likely be a tie vote (an unusual thing for this group) is awfully fishy. Going with the calculated politically-motivated theory, this scenario benefits both the mayor and the councilwoman. 

With a strong challenger already in place (see FW Weekly, forget the S-T for real news), the mayor wants to be able to point to this "difficult decision" and his decisive and courageous tie-breaking vote THAT SHOW HIS RESPECT FOR THE CITIZENS WISHES AND FOR RESPONSIBLE USE OF TAX MONEY. 

After a rough two years, mostly from her mistake in taking the side of the bullying gas corporation Chesapeake in a very high profile and intense battle of wills between this corporate Goliath and a sickly immigrant man (who won, by gosh!!), the council rep. needed no more "political damage or liability" going into the May 2011 election. Not really known for courageous votes or strong leadership, this conveniently timed trip gives her that political cover.

So either the mayor has felt that she has gotten over her punishment from him last year, and deserves his "protection" now, for not getting that CHK pipeline down Carter Ave. in the form of a blindside straight out of "Survivor" in which he publicly stripped (and embarrassed her and her supporters) away her precious title as mayor pro temp without the usual courtesy of letting her know in advance OR she has not not gotten over that public humiliation and took the trip in order to force him to be the deciding vote and pay whatever political price for his decision.

Or, once again, it's all just a perfect set of coincidences. I'd like to feed you some fish from the Trinity River if you bite on that explanation. 

Good Grief Moncrief Says Shoresjim Among Other Things About Corrupt Cronies

Way back on May 12 apparently I blogged about Lying & Deceiving being the Fort Worth Way, along with the Fort Worth Culture of Corruption.

I'd sort of given up on anything being done about the obvious criminal level of conflicts of interest ethics violations committed by Fort Worth's #1 un-indicted perpetrator of shady dealing, that being the Mayor of Fort Worth, with his conflict of interest breaching of the public trust, with His Dis-Honor having made millions of dollars from the various Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers who have poked an awful lot of holes in the ground of the town of which Mike is Mayor.

In other parts of America, that are not under the Crime is Good Bubble, that Fort Worth is under, an elected official who profited from rulings made in his official capacity, would be in trouble.

I do hear other voices every once in awhile who seem to find Moncrief's various shenanigans to be beyond acceptable. But there remains no Federal investigation, that I am aware of. Am I remembering wrong, or didn't the FBI do some big investigation of Dallas city officials for some bad deeds?

How does the Fort Worth Criminal Protective Bubble work? Does it go back to the days of Butch and Sundance? With those bad boys knowing they could hang out in Fort Worth, safely, and have themselves a real good time with no trouble from the law? With the town eventually naming their downtown parking lots after one of the pair.

Anyway, today I got a comment to that blogging I reference above. It is a funny comment. I particularly like the phrase "Good grief, Moncrief."

The commenter sees trials ahead for some of Fort Worth's current criminal conspirators.

Below is what the commenter, "shoresjim," had to say....

"Good grief Moncrief, the Smellygram is over and so are you. This is not a damned oilagarky and you are letting the NWO Chemtrail the smart, good look'n folks (do'n the right thing) of Ft. Worth has made us mad as hell and we are going to retire you. We will then investigate you and your corrupt cronies who profited from our taxes.The CAFR ( Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) abuse will result in several being tried for their crimes."

I also like the word "oilgarky" that shoresjim used. I assume "Smellygram" refers to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I have no idea what "NWO Chemtrail" is. Or the "CAFR." I am very ignorant about a lot of things. I'm okay with that.

Did Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Say I Am Sorry It Is My Fault I'm Such An Idiot?

Isn't there a song with lyrics along the line of sorry being the hardest word? Or something like that?

It has been my observation that those most in need of having the social skill of knowing how and when to apologize, don't have that social skill. I assume that lack is part of the psychological makeup that produces the frequent need to apologize for various untoward behaviors.

An example, to me, is, in a sane world, Fort Worth's Mayor, Mike Moncrief, would come to his senses and realize he has been acting as a mayor with an extremely egregious conflict of interest with the gas drilling companies poking holes in his town, with that conflict of interest benefiting Moncrief in millions of dollars.

In a righteous world Moncrief would realize the wrongness of his criminal behavior, profusely apologize to the people of Fort Worth, saying how sorry he is, resign as mayor and vow to give his ill gotten gains to the city treasury. Which is in such dire need of funds.

But that won't happen, because the only way Moncrief will ever realize he's been a bad, bad boy is if he is held accountable by the law, which apparently does not exist, for certain people, in this north of the Pecos zone of Texas.

Exploding gas pipelines, damaged drinking water, dirty air and my own watery eyes have corrupt gas drilling practices and their various Texas government enablers on my mind this morning. That and the desire to hear the guilty miscreants say "I'm sorry. I was wrong. I'll try and fix it. Please forgive me for the damage I have caused."

Fort Worth's Strange Library Priorities

I'd planned to go to the library today. To return some books and get some new ones. And make some copies of a report I'm filing with the FBI, well, some police agency, I'm pretty sure it's probably not the FBI.

As I zipped east on I-30 I passed my neighborhood library, it being the Eastside branch, I saw only 2 cars in the parking lot, thus indicating the library was closed.

I thought maybe it'd be open later, so I checked the hours on the Fort Worth Library website to learn only 4 of Fort Worth's libraries are open today.

And all Fort Worth libraries will be closed on Friday.

As you can read above, in a clip taken from the library website, 2010 budget cuts require a reduction in operating hours and services for most city departments.

This at the same time that Fort Worth's mayor, Mike Moncrief, is pushing the Fort Worth City Council to approve a $10.7 million gift for RadioShack.

Now, I'm of the opinion that library hours are the last thing you want to be cutting back on in a city that likes to see itself as the Envy of the World.

When Lisa Simpson goes to visit her Springfield library she usually is all alone in there. My neighborhood library is not like Lisa's. When it is open there are always a lot of people in there. I'll see moms helping kids with homework. All the computer stations being used. Others who bring in their laptops to use the Wi-Fi.

Where do all those people go when the library is closed? My neighborhood library usually opens at noon. You will actually see people lined up waiting for the doors to open. Opening a library is a good thing. It should be open often. And for a lot of hours.

Maybe if Mike Moncrief donated half of his conflict of interest earnings that he makes from all the gas companies that drill in his town, that he should not be taking money from, due to that conflicts of interest thing, maybe that money could keep the libraries open more often.

RadioShack's $10.7 Million Fort Worth Extortion Scheme

I have been in one of my cycles of feeling like why bother whining about the latest bizarro iteration of the Fort Worth Way's way of running a town.

After awhile you can't help but realize it is pointless to point out anything, when you can point out something so obvious as the fact that Fort Worth's Mayor Mike Moncrief has multiple criminal conflicts of interests where he monetarily gains to the tune of over $600,000 a year from the Barnett Shale gas drillers poking holes all over the town of which he is mayor.

Fort Worth's goofily corrupt mayor's latest goofy corruptness has been urging the Fort Worth City Council to approve a proposal to give RadioShack $10.7 million in tax breaks. Moncrief told the City Council that the deal, also known as an extorting shakedown, with RadioShack, is a "unique and productive partnership" that is "a good deal for all of us."

Just 8 short years ago special tax districts were created with tax breaks lasting 30 years, while eminent domain was abused to boot low-income citizens from the Ripley Arnold housing project, so RadioShack could build a new corporate headquarters. All the RadioShack incentives totaled up to $96 million.

The new RadioShack Corporate Headquarters was built. Soon, RadioShack found they could not afford it. Then another Fort Worth Boondoggle, the downtown campus of Tarrant County College bailed on its new building, and bought into the RadioShack building for their new campus.

Now, inside the rarified chambers of Fort Worth's city government, one of their operating premises is that it is a great benefit to Fort Worth to have a prestigious Fortune 500 company, like RadioShack, headquartered in Fort Worth.

And so, in those rarified chambers it makes sense to give RadioShack a lot more money if RadioShack would kindly stay in town for another 5 years.

I really don't see how having RadioShack in your town is all that great a deal. I really have never understood how they stay in business with their junky stores.

Now, what I'm thinking is Fort Worth would be well rid of RadioShack. Look at the damage RadioShack has done to Fort Worth. Where the new headquarters were built there had been huge, free parking lots. A free subway took you from those parking lots to the heart of downtown Fort Worth. This made it so easy to go to downtown Fort Worth. I used to do that frequently. I have seldom gone to downtown Fort Worth in the years since RadioShack destroyed downtown Fort Worth's best asset.

I don't know what the problem is with Fort Worth and new corporate headquarters. Pier One Imports built a new corporate headquarters, about the same time as RadioShack. The Pier One Imports Headquarters has now been taken over by Chesapeake Energy, used as the base of operations from which Chesapeake runs its shadow Fort Worth government.

The RadioShack CEO, Julian Day, was paid $8 million in 2009.

Fort Worth is closing swimming pools, cutting library hours, not filling potholes, not doing a lot of things, due to revenue shortfalls.

How is it anything but insane for Mike Moncrief and the Fort Worth City Council to consider giving a company like RadioShack, which has already done so much damage to Fort Worth, $10.7 million more? Instead, why is there not a demand that RadioShack return money to Fort Worth, due to the fact that their new Corporate Headquarters did not live up to the bill of goods RadioShack sold the city. It did not spur development on the Trinity River, it did not end up being a commitment to the city that lasted generations.

The commitment lasted a couple years, if that. Fort Worth should now sue for divorce from RadioShack, in my humble opinion.

Crazy Talk AKA The Fort Worth Way From Mayor Mike Moncrief

That is Fort Worth's corrupt goofball Mayor Mike Moncrief shooting up downtown Fort Worth, like a celebrating Iraqi in downtown Baghdad.

Yesterday one of my sources emailed me about a Fort Worth City Council meeting where, apparently, Mike Moncrief nakedly exposed bare the corruption that is at the heart of what is not quite right with how way too much operates in Fort Worth.

Currently there is some controversy in Fort Worth over the predatory behavior of Pawn Shops, taking advantage of the desperate, while charging usurious interest rates.

Cash America is the biggest of the Pawn Shops. The headquarters of Cash America is located on 7th Avenue, due east of the Trinity River.

Recently, the Cash America Pawn Shop, out of the goodness of its corporate heart, donated a strip of land to the city for the expansion of the Trinity River Bridge. Mayor Mike Moncrief, when questioned by WFAA-TV, said the strip of land, that Cash America gave the city, was valued at around $2 million.

At the recent Fort Worth City Council meeting Moncrief was grilled about the Cash America Land Deal. He then backtracked regarding the value of the strip of land, saying it was a figure he made up to illustrate a point. Moncrief did not explain what point he was illustrating by making up a figure.

According to the public appraisal records, the 2.5 acre strip of land is valued at $3.4 million an acre, which, according to my rudimentary math skills, would make this land donation, by the Cash America Pawn Shop, worth $8.5 million.

Fort Worth's corrupt Mayor Mike Moncrief went on to say there was nothing unseemly or untoward about the generous donation from Cash America. That it was simply doing business "The Fort Worth Way."

You out there in the parts of America that don't do business the Fort Worth Way, allow me to explain. Oh, and by the way, the City Council did not act to put any restrictions on the Pawn Shops. What is the term for that? Quid pro quo? I am not sure. I never learned Latin. But I do know that quid pro quo is The Fort Worth Way.

In Fort Worth, civic corruption is the status quo. For example, Mayor Mike Moncrief is on the take from the gas drilling companies, poking holes all over his town, to the tune of over $600,000 a year. In other parts of America this is what is known as a very serious conflict of interest, which would land a politician in jail. In Fort Worth it is called The Fort Worth Way.

In Fort Worth a company comes to town, like Cabela's, sells the city a bill of goods about building a sporting goods store that will become the top tourist attraction in Texas. The City of Fort Worth gives Cabela's all sorts of concessions. A short time later Cabela's announces another store in Texas, down by Austin, thus making obvious the degree to which the City of Fort Worth was snookered. No one is held accountable, no one even admits they were snookered. The City just moves on to its next boondoggle. This is The Fort Worth Way.

Radio Shack wants a new corporate headquarters. A headquarters that would obliterate what was, really, the only thing in downtown Fort Worth that was something no other big city had, as in, huge, free parking lots, with a subway to take parkers to the heart of downtown. Eminent domain was abused to remove a big public housing project, the headquarters was built, Radio Shack could not afford it. And now the Radio Shack campus is the campus of a new branch of Tarrant County College. Boondoggle. It's The Fort Worth Way.

A business wants to run a non-odorized, high pressure natural gas pipeline down an avenue in Fort Worth called Carter. The City of Fort Worth does not act to protect its citizens, instead it helps the business, Chesapeake Energy, abuse eminent domain, including the City of Fort Worth ordering City of Fort Worth Gestapo Stormtrooper Raids on the home of the last holdout on Carter Avenue, Steve Doeung. In the rest of America a city, doing such a thing, would be considered a criminal act. In Fort Worth it is just The Fort Worth Way.

Anyway, enough about the Fort Worth Way. It's all very perplexing to me. When is the FBI ever going to find the time to investigate all the nefarious shenanigans that go on in these parts?

Citizens React Regarding Downtown Fort Worth Gunplay Of Texas Governor Rick Perry & Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief

I thought it was maybe only me who thought the Governor of Texas and the Mayor of Fort Worth indulging in gunplay in downtown Fort Worth was a bit nuts.

But, this morning there were three letters to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram regarding the Governor and the Mayor playing with guns in downtown Fort Worth.

I can't help but wonder, how many instances of extremely bad judgment will it take for the voters of Fort Worth to quit electing Mike Moncrief as their mayor with 70% of the vote of the 6% of the voters who bother to vote?

I've given up on the idea that Moncrief is ever going to come to grief over his conflicts of interest crimes, as in being on the take to the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers running roughshod over Fort Worth in cahoots with the corrupt mayor.

At this point in time, with so much crime, I'm starting to think the FBI is on the take too. If a city government can get so corrupted, why would it stop there?

Anyway, below are the three letters to the editor about the Governor/Mayor Shootout in downtown Fort Worth...

Not-so-hot shots

It is disturbing to have the governor of Texas and the mayor of Fort Worth pictured on the front page of the Star-Telegram waving guns for all the world to see. This is a negative message about guns, and it makes Texans look like fools.

Texans are not always viewed in the most positive light when it comes to guns, and this reinforces negative stereotypes.

-- Johnnie Skinner, Fort Worth

Did anyone else think it ironic that Perry is shooting blanks?

-- Ross Bannister, Grapevine

Even though they were firing blanks, doesn't this tell the celebrants on New Year's, July Fourth, etc., who love to fire their guns in the air using real bullets that it is quite all right because our mayor and governor do it? What were these guys thinking?

-- Paul Thomas, Fort Worth

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief & Texas Governor Rick Perry In Six-Shooter Shoot Out In Downtown Fort Worth

In his strangest behavior since he poured grape Kool-Aid into the Trinity River, because he thought this would turn the river purple, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and the Secessionist Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, were caught firing six shooters Thursday at Fort Worth's Sundance Square, emulating, I guess, Butch and Sundance.

I don't know which one was Butch and which was Sundance. My best guess, due to the uncanny resemblance to Robert Redford, is that Mayor Moncrief was the Sundance Kid in yesterday's shootout.

The gunplay was not a Tax Day Tea Party thing. Nor was it the first shots in Perry's plan to Secede from the Union. Instead it had something to do with the upcoming NASCAR weekend, which I assume is taking place in far north Fort Worth at Texas Motor Speedway, or whatever that humongous racetrack is called.

Does it set a good example for kids to see a governor and a mayor shooting pistols at a public function like this? Were any kids watching? Did any grackles get scared away from downtown?

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World In Fort Worth Texas

Saturday night, recovering from my fist fight with my bedroom wall, I watched Turner Classic Movies Essentials. On Saturday the movie was Judgment at Nuremberg.

Judgment at Nuremberg is a fictionalized account of the Nuremberg trials, yet based on facts. In this movie the really bad Nazi boys have already met their fate with the hangman. It is a group of Third Reich judges who are being judged in the Judgment at Nuremberg.

There is a scene in the movie where Spencer Tracy is pondering the conundrum of how it is that good men can be corrupted, by the state, to the point of going along with doing bad deeds.

Spencer Tracy recollects how, in the small town in America in which he had been elected to be a judge, it was made well known to him that there are certain people in town who are off limits from judicial scrutiny.

Sort of like how Fort Worth's Mayor Mike Moncrief seems to be safe from judicial scrutiny, despite being on the take to the tune of 100s of thousands of dollars a year from the Barnett Shale natural gas drillers operating in Fort Worth.

Or how some judges operating in the Barnett Shale zone, seem to be taking their orders from the local Nazi equivalents, that being entities, like Chesapeake Energy, running rough shod over Texas citizens, abusing eminent domain, to take property to force non-odorized, high pressure, natural gas under homes, via pipelines, which have been known to explode.

Stanley Kramer directed Judgment at Nuremberg. Judgment at Nuremberg was released in 1961. In 1963 Stanley Kramer released It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It seems to me that this could have been used as the title for Judgment at Nuremberg.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World would be a great title if any latter day Stanley Kramer shoots a movie about the corruption in North Texas, with the focus being on the Eminent Domain Abuse Capital of the World, that being Fort Worth and Tarrant County, with all the willful ignoring of all the dire data, now pouring in, about just how bad and how dangerous all the bad toxins are that are being spewed into the Barnett Shale atmosphere, courtesy of all those Bad Boys who operate in cooperation with Fort Worth's corrupt mayor and the corrupt city government he oversees. And the corrupt Texas agencies which are supposed to oversee safeguarding the public safety. But don't.

Where is the FBI in this Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World I'm living in? Where is the EPA? Why are criminals exempt from being punished for the crimes they commit in the Eminent Domain Abuse Capital of the World?

I've said it before and I'll say it again

I don't get it.

Sarah Palin & The Anonymous Confederacy Of Dunces

Way back on November 29, 2009, I blogged about Sarah Palin, the Confederacy of Dunces and the bizarre incident where the mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, attempted to dye the Trinity River purple.

Yesterday I got several bizarrely dunce-like Anonymous comments to various bloggings, which were just a tad off. Well, actually, more than a tad.

This morning in the Dallas Morning News there was a letter to the editor about Sarah Palin which brought to mind the Confederacy of Dunces.

I'll copy the letter below, and below that, a YouTube video I've posted previously which shows a bunch of Anonymous dunces being dunce-like regarding Sarah Palin...

Why This Palin Mystique?

The Republicans must have taken leave of their collective minds to keep listening to this charlatan, Sarah Palin. A group that wouldn't let someone mow their lawn without a thorough background check has been duped by someone with fewer skins on the wall than the average mayor of a small U.S. city. Oh, wait! That's what she was five years ago.

Her public appearances are nothing but conservative rabble-rousing, have little substance, consist of right-wing talking point generality-speak (tax cuts, less government, blah, blah), and yet she holds sway over these people like some messiah.

If she weren't physically attractive, her 15 minutes would have been up long ago. She wouldn't even last 15 minutes in a political/foreign policy debate with a community college poly-sci teacher, much less President Barack Obama or former President Bill Clinton -- yet her handlers have her somehow blindly criticizing the president on every issue.

Going rogue? Oxford's dictionary defines rogue as an unprincipled, undisciplined, stray, irresponsible member of a group of otherwise acceptable specimens in a social setting. What a gorgeously ironic title for Palin's book -- no doubt totally lost on her, I'm sure.

Bret Davis, Forney