Locked & Loaded

A couple nights ago at my local neighborhood Krogers, that's a grocery store for you who live in non-Krogers zones, an armed robber waved his gun and instructed the store's on-duty cop and all the customers in the self-checkout area to lay down on the floor, face down, with their hands behind their back. The robber forced an employee to open a safe. There was 50 dollars inside. Only 50 dollars. It was past midnight. The thief escaped into the night while all the victims ran out the back of the store, calling 911 as they ran. As of today, the armed robber remains at large.

So, last night, about 6, I took off to go to the aforementioned Krogers. And what was on my door but a warning in the form of a piece of paper. We have a Neighborhood Watch System here. The notice said, in part:

"Dear Residents,
This letter is to notify you of criminal activity that has been reported in the immediate area. Two unknown young black males dressed in dark hoodies are approaching people with a black gun & yellow pistol grips demanding wallets, cash, jewelry, cell phones or anything of value. They approach the victims while they are on foot, walking from a car to a breezeway while walking alone. The criminal activity has been reported on Oakland Hills Drive, Ederville Road, Brentwood Stair Road, Boca Raton Blvd. and Pacific Place."

Let's see, I live on Boca Raton, Brentwood Stair Road is where I had a flat tire a couple weeks ago, in a bad neighborhood, Oakland Hills Drive is the road I took to Oakland Hills Park yesterday, I'm looking at Ederville Road from my window.

Basically I am doomed.

So it was quite fortuitous that today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram's sports page had an ad that touted "Cheaper Than Dirt" firearms. Among the guns on sale at the dirt cheap prices are an AK 47 assault rifle and a Thompson 1927A, that's a "Tommy Gun" to you non-gun aficionados, you know a machine gun like gangsters used back in the Prohibition years. With this being an area of the United States where many remnants of Prohibition are still in place I guess it makes sense to be selling "Tommy Guns" to people. At "Dirt Cheap" prices.

I can't wait to get me one.

Rat Dog Dick

Last night after suffering through American Idol I got to the end of Jack Olsen's true crime book, "Hastened to the Grave: The Gypsy Murder Investigation". This was a very interesting true crime book in that it seemed more like a novel than non-fiction, what with the main character being this femme fatale detective named Fay Faron who runs a detective agency with her dreadlocked dog, Bean, called the Rat Dog Dick Detective Agency. Now, there is a strange personal note here. My eldest sister has 2 dogs, one is called Rosie the Rat Dog and the other is named Bean. But my sister is no femme fatale so the eerie coincidences don't go beyond similar names.

Oh oh. I thought of another similarity between this book and my sister.

This book was about Gypsies taking advantage of elderly people and getting the old folks to put the Gypsies in their wills, or sign over their houses or their investments, like stocks and bonds and properties. Murder was also involved. Now my sister has never taken advantage of anyone, but she did manage to get involved with an elderly person. Or two. And somehow inherited all sorts of things. Cars, houses, property, bonds, cash. I am almost 100% certain my sister is not a Gypsy.

Now that I'm thinking about it I've got another acquaintance who made a minor sideline out of being the last surviving member of her clan and thus inheriting all sorts of things; money, houses, property, bonds, bank accounts, furniture, chickens, cars, cows and who knows what else. Sadly, this acquaintance slowly squandered all her ill-gotten gains, except for the cows, and now survives as a modern day junk collector/peddler. Yikes. That almost sounds like she's a Gypsy. She does sort of dress like a Gypsy, with colorful big skirts and garish jewelry and a fascination for the supernatural.

Anyway, Fay Faron and her Rat Dog Dick Detective Agency finally got the police to put an end to the Gypsie's reign of elder abuse. Incidentally, these Gypsie's were from the same branch of the Gypsy Mafia tree as the ones portrayed in the movie King of the Gypsies.

Fay Faron was so appalled by the lack of protection of the elderly from predators that she formed another agency called Elder Angels tasked with investigating financial crimes against the elderly.

Missives from the Bubba Brigade

For some unfathomable to me reason, Texans have somehow gotten a national reputation as a state full of ignorant Bubbas with heads full of nonsense. The current president does not help dispel this unfortunate myth. Nor does the way Hollywood often portrays Texans in movies and television. When you live in Texas you learn that while there may be a lot of ignorant Bubbas, likely reflecting the low high school graduation and college graduation rates as compared to the more advanced states, you also meet and hear of many many non-Bubba, non-ignorant Texans.

Reading the letters to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram each morning gives one a good reflection of the broad spectrum of the thinking, or lack of, of Texans. Sometimes the letters can make you cringe, usually those are of a religious bend, spouting pure unadulterated ignorance that makes one wonder why the paper prints their silly nonsense.

On Sunday there were several letters regarding an issue in the Grapevine-Colleyville school district where one totally Bubba family was protesting the fact that an elementary school was offering a Spanish class. The Bubbas felt that the school was pushing an agenda where the United States is to be taken over by Mexican culture and language.

Many people objected to these particular Bubba's strident position, some comparing them to those who blocked school house doors in Alabama back in the 60s.

And then today came a letter from one of the many enlightened Texans (unfortunately I don't believe their numbers are yet a majority) in which the letter writer put the issue in proper perspective.

I'll copy the enlightened letter to the editor below, with no further commentary.

---

A Sunday letter (“Clash of words about Spanish”) said: “It’s inconceivable to me that some in this country are pushing an agenda for us to be taken over by Mexican culture and language.”

Maybe we should remember that Texas was first taken away from the Mexican culture during the Texas Revolution. In reality, Mexican culture was taken over by American culture, which is part of what caused the Texas Revolution in the first place.

The same letter writer asked: “Why aren’t we promoting our native tongue while encouraging the proper speaking and spelling of it?” Texans should be speaking an Apache or Comanche dialect because those people are the true natives of this land.

I, too, used to think that “if you come to America, learn to speak English.” But then I realized that America gives all people freedom, including the freedom to speak a language of their choice.

— David Falksen, Fort Worth

The Soviet State of Texas

It might seem to be the most absurd thing imaginable to suggest that the Great Republic of Texas has anything in common with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. However, when one sees Texas up close and personal one sees many similarities between the USSR & Texas.

For example, in the old Soviet Union two of their major cities were named for two of the USSR's founding fathers, one named Leningrad, the other Stalingrad. In Texas two of the major cities are also named after founding fathers, one being the capital of Austin. The other being Houston.

In the Soviet Union huge statues were erected to honor Joesph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. In Texas, one of the largest free standing statues in the world was erected to honor Sam Houston.

In the Soviet Union the death penalty was used frequently. Texas, by far, leads the United States in number of executions.

In the Soviet Union you could get thrown into the Gulag for the most minor of crimes. In Texas so-called justice is meted out in equally harsh terms. A personal example. Last month a friend of mine, down in Corpus Christi, was stopped for a minor moving violation. The cop ran her name and came up with a warrant for her arrest. She was handcuffed and thrown in the back of the cop car and brought to a jail where she was stip searched and booked. Her crime? Six years prior, at a Krogers Grocery, she had written a check for $20 on a now long closed account. Unknown to her, the check bounced. Apparently Krogers took the case to court and got a judgement, unbeknownst to the victim. The $20 check, via fines and interest, had ballooned to almost $500. Luckily for my friend she had family who could help her, including a sister who is a lawyer and a judge in Houston. She was out of the Texas Gulag in 3 days.

Texas has this rather antiquated, very corrupt, system that is responsible for many of the Texas crimes against humanity, that being the Justice of the Peace system. These 'judges' are not trained in the law. They are elected. They are often incompetent. Example. Dallas has a mass transit train called DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit). DART employs pseudo-police officers to maintain order on the trains and the train stations. The locals calls these pseudo cops the DART Gestapo. A Fort Worth reporter was in Dallas covering a DART story several years ago. He stood at a street crossing waiting for the 'walk' sign to turn on. Beside him were two DART cops. He waited and waited for the apparently broken light to change. It never did. Finally the cops walked away. When they were several hundred feet down the road the reporter made a run for it and crossed the street. The cops then chased after him, stopped him, accused him of breaking the law as soon as their backs were turned. They gave him a ticket with a large fine. The reporter tried to get his day in court via the Justice of the Peace that handled that jurisdiction. After try after try of appearing in person to get the matter settled, he gave up. Years later he is still battling this.

In another incident a man and his 10 year old son were accosted by the DART Gestapo (aka DART KGB) over some minor infraction. When the victim objected the Gestapo tasered the man. In front of his 10 year old son. The man was hauled away by the cops, leaving the 10 year old to fend for himself. The victim spent 10 days in the Dallas Gulag, unable to post bail.

A 15 year old boy was shot dead by the DART Gestapo when he jumped out from some bushes and said boo. The boy was unarmed.

You can read all about the DART Gestapo here.

Another shocking example of corrupt Texas justice occurs in a county on the fringe of the D/FW Metroplex, that being Johnson County. Ten percent of Johnson County's population has spent time in one of the county's jails. If you want to be horrified at how badly justice can be perverted in Texas read this shocking article about a couple good citizen's nightmarish ordeal when faced with the law in Johnson County. This story is not for the squeamish. And you will likely be quite ashamed that this occurred in the United States. With very little local outrage. But then again, how much protesting did the citizens of the Soviet Union do? Very little, lest they get thrown into the Gulag. Texans don't do a lot of protesting either. I don't know if this is due to fear of the Texas Gulag or just plain old-fashioned ignorance of the sad situations that occur here.

Another example of how similar the State of Texas is to the Soviet Union is the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal. In the USSR when the government needed land for one of their fool projects the proliteriat had no rights. The Soviets would just take their land. In the State of Texas the eminent domain laws have been perverted in ways the rest of the United States does not allow. In Texas you can get the corrupt local government to use eminent domain to condemn houses when a Shopping Mall wants to expand its parking lot. This happened just 5 miles north of me at the Northeast Mall. 5 miles east of my location the Dallas Cowboys and the city of Arlington conspired to pervert the concept of eminent domain in order to steal dozens of houses, dozens of businesses and dozens of apartment complexes, uprooting well over 1000 people in a violation of basic human rights that would have done the old Soviet Union proud.

In the United States one of the basic tenents of our basic rights is the right to be left alone. I think that is what annoys me more than anything about the perversion of the law that occured in Arlington so that a private business could build a stadium. One day you are happy in the house you built on the land you worked hard to buy. The next day you are told you must leave. And will be paid full market value for your property. And you have no say in whether you want to sell or not.

None of this stuff should occur in America, land of the free, where human rights are to be protected, revered and cherished. Not ignored, violated and scorned. Texas really needs to follow the lead of the USSR and overthrow the current dictatorship and establish a democratic republic where basic human rights are protected by the state, rather than violated by the state.

If I suddenly cease posting you can assume I have had a knock on my door and the Texas Gestapo/KGB has me in custody for speaking out against the state. Let's just hope they don't take me to Johnson County. Or Dallas.

Early Morning Warbling

In the wee wee hours of the morning, sometime around 3am, something which sounded like a bird began making an otherworldly noise, a rhythmic, pulsing series of melodic tones that repeated without variance over and over and over again. After about 20 minutes of this unwanted alarm clock the melody suddenly changed to a sort of downbeat sound as if signaling the end of the song. And then silence. After about a minute of quiet it started up again from the beginning. The warbling was so not bird-like I began to consider getting out of bed and going in search of the source. But I didn't.

I remember decades ago, up in Washington, in the Skagit Valley, near the town of Sedro Woolley, on a hill named Hoogdal, a strange noise started up at night that sounded metallic and otherworldly. Locals were certain it was a UFO. Media from around the country descended on Hoogdal, not unlike what happened in Stephenville, Texas a month ago with the sighting of a supposed UFO. Eventually government investigators were able to determine, or the cover-up decided to say, that the Hoogdal Otherwordly Noise was caused by an Owl. It became known as the Hoogdal Owl.

So, back to my Texas Hoogdal Owl UFO Sound. As the second round of warbling progressed, the sound gradually faded. Whatever was making the sound, hovering UFO, or bird, was slowly moving away. Eventually the sound faded to silence and I faded back to sleep.

But, I ended up getting up early and I was in the mood for an early morning walk. So I got up and made my morning coffee, skipped my usual morning paper read, filled a thermos and drove to Oakland Lake Park (that is Oakland Lake you see in the photo above). It is a short distance from my abode. The early morning light had the birds all chirping and fellow early birds out walking. Very pleasant. None of the birds were making the noise that I heard in the middle of the night.

So, in regards to explaining what it was that seranaded me in the middle of the night, I lean towards the hovering UFO theory. That, or it was an Owl. A Fort Worth Owl. Not a Hoogdal Owl.

Attacked, Hacked, Ebayed & Cowboyed

Yesterday brought me one of the most troublingly bizarre episodes I've experienced in all the decades, well, years, I've been involved with the Internet. About 10am I clicked on my Eyes on Texas website. And what to my suprised eyes should appear? Not my website. No. An Ebay page came up. No matter which of my dozens and dozens of Eyes on Texas pages I clicked on the same Ebay page came up. The link would show my durangotexas.com domain, but when clicked it would go to Ebay's home page.

I had no idea what to do. So, I called my web host. It is located in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Supposedly the biggest webhost on the planet. With its servers underground in bomb/tornado proof bunkers. However, on Super Tuesday, that being the night of tornadoes in 4 states, including Kentucky, my server was knocked out for an hour and a half due to the storms.

I got through to customer service. The problem was passed off to a tech guy who found that my webspace had been hacked with code added to something called, I think, htc access. After about 20 minutes the problem was fixed.

Why did this problem occur? How can I not help but wonder? The only thing I can figure, being of a conspiratorial, paranoid frame of mind is that in some Nixonesque meeting deep in the bowels of Dallas Cowboy Headquarters, Jerry Jones ordered his minions to do whatever they could to shut me up from telling America and the World what was done here in Texas to get Jerry Jones his new stadium.

Would it not be simpler and more linear to just pay me to shut up? Lord knows I can be bought. I mean, I've sprinkled my website with hundreds of Google ads, for gawdsakes, obviously I can be bought. Really, it's true. For just 10% of Tony Romo's signing bonus I'd pretty much be willing to shut up.

But in the meantime the scandal just keeps growing. It has been a couple years now since Jerry Jones and the City of Arlington perverted a legitimate legal tool in order to abuse the eminent domain laws to steal land, homes and businesses from hundreds upon hundreds of people.

Of those victims not all have settled. There are still, after all this time, 26 parcels of land being litigated with the owners trying to get fair compensation. I do not know where or how those poor souls are living while they await justice.

Regarding the lawsuits, this morning the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had some typically confusing verbiage that I can't quite parse. It said, "The tracts were initially appraised by Tarrant County at $1.6 million. The city offered to pay $1.8 million for the 26 parcels. With the proposed settlement of $868,250, owners could receive a total of $2.6 million for the land."

Does the above mean each person would receive that much, $2.6 million? Or would this be divided among the 26? All I know for certain is this. Slightly more than $70 million was paid for all the land, buildings and businesses that were stolen. Tony Romo's new contract is something like $69 million with a $13 million signing bonus. See anything wrong with this picture? How about giving the victims a cut of the $50,000 seat licenses the Cowboys are selling for a spot to sit above the victim's land?

It continues to impress me that Seattle somehow built 2 new stadiums and an exhibition hall, all adjacent, without displacing a single person from their dwelling. This in an area where land is in short supply due to mountains and a lot of water. While here in Texas land is plentiful, large open spaces in the heart of an urban zone. And yet somehow land could not be found for a new Dallas Cowboy Stadium without causing misery and hardship to who knows how many people.

Well, I'm doing my bit. Day by day hundreds of more Americans are being exposed to what the so-called America's Team has done to some Americans here in Texas.

As God is my witness I will not be hacked quiet. But, to repeat, my silence is negotiable.

Domestic Abuse in Texas (and elsewhere)

Awful story in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a domestic abuse case that ended with the husband murdering his wife, then killing himself, leaving their 4 year-old an orphan. The husband, Bill Medina, had been abusive to his wife, Jenny, for years. The husband did all the stereoptypical abuser behaviors, accused her of cheating on him, spied on her computer, monitored her email. Finally she had enough and left him and filed for divorce.

Go here to read the whole awful story, including listening to 911 calls.

Domestic Abuse does not just occur in low class, poorly educated, poor families. It can occur in what would seem to be a cliche All-American family. I know this all too well.

If you think you are in a domestic abuse situation and somehow do not know for sure, here is a list of the Signs to Look for.

1. Embarrasses you with bad names and put-downs.
2. Looks at you or acts in ways that scare you.
3. Controls what you do, whom you see or talk to, where you go.
4. Stops you from seeing or talking to friends and family.
5. Takes your money, makes you ask for money or refuses to give you money for your needs.
6. Makes all the decisions.
7. Tells you you're a bad parent or threatens to take away or hurt your children.
8. Acts like the abuse is no big deal, says it's your fault or denies doing it.
9. Destroys your property or threatens to kill your pets.
10. Intimidates you with guns, knives or other weapons.
11. Shoves, slaps or hits you.
12. Forces you to drop criminal charges if police have been called to a domestic dispute.
13. Threatens to commit suicide or to kill you.
14. Forces you to have sex.
15. Prevents you from working or attending school.

If you see yourself above, cry out for help, don't keep quiet, don't be afraid to tell people what is happening to you. GET HELP!

My Mind Has Gone Blank

I feared, actually knew, this day would come where my resolve to write something in this Blog each and every day would come up against my ever more strained brain pan's ever diminishing number of ideas and thoughts.

This morning it had crossed my mind to tell you about the World's Most Unique McDonald's. It's in Dallas. But then I thought, "McDonald's?", I'm thinking of going from talking about something elevated like the Super Bowl and politics to being a shill for the World's Most Unique McDonald's? I was somehow going to tie McDonald's to Wal-Mart by mentioning Lulu's rather irrational and situational aversion to both.

Situational aversion due to incidents like the last time I was up in Tacoma and heading back to Sea-Tac to fly back here, I was hungry, so I drove up to the drive-thru of the Tacoma Chihuly Glass McDonald's, it is also unique, but not as unique as the Dallas McDonald's. I ordered a couple things off the dollar menu and then heard Lulu sort of mutter, at low volume, "can I have a fish sandwich?". I said, sure, but I thought you can't eat anything from McDonald's? She just glared at me with that how dare you try and hold me accountable for my contradictions type look. She wolfed down her fish sandwich as if it had been something she had been craving for years. About a year after this incident I called Lulu during a time I knew she was preparing for a show in the Tacoma Dome. When she answered I heard the tell tale sound of the McDonald's drive-thru squawk box. Apparently Lulu had discovered she liked some sort of McDonald's wrap with which I was unfamiliar.

Regarding Wal-Mart Lulu is not nearly as contradictory as she is with McDonald's. Likely due to the fact that there are no Wal-Marts in Tacoma. When she lived in Gig Harbor, that's the first town you come to when you cross the Narrows Suspension Bridge to the Olympic Peninsula, Lulu participated in protest marches demanding that Wal-Mart not be allowed to build in Gig Harbor. However, a Wal-Mart has now opened in the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood. Lulu went there yesterday, ostensibily taking her son there, while she waited in the car. I have seen with my own eyes Lulu going into a Wal-Mart in Ontario, Oregon. Ironically, when she got what she needed from the Oregon Wal-Mart (a replacement headlight) we all walked across the street to a McDonald's where Lulu had a McRib Sandwich. And pronounced it dry and inedible. But she ate the whole thing. And a chocolate shake. And fries.

Maybe by tomorrow I'll have something to Blog about. Like maybe I'll detail the reality of who pays the most taxes. And who doesn't. The truth pretty much contradicts the democrats current soak the rich by raising their taxes mantra. But that's for another day. Today is all about McDonald's & Wal-Mart. And Lulu.

Super Bowl vs. Super Tuesday Bowl

On Sunday a record 148.3 million Americans watched the Super Bowl on FOX TV. Two days later, Super Tuesday was covered non-stop by all the cable news stations, CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC. On the networks ABC devoted its entire prime time to the elections. NBC and CBS also had extensive coverage. The Super Bowl station, FOX did not devote much coverage to the political Super Bowl.

It is not known how many Americans viewed the Super Tuesday coverage on all the various networks. It is known that Americans voted in record numbers on Super Tuesday.

According to a poll by ABC when asked which they were more excited about, 40% of Americans said the Super Bowl. In a near upset, 37% said they were more excited about Super Tuesday.

About 50% of Americans call themselves football fans. Of those, 63% were more excited about the Super Bowl than Super Tuesday. But, of those who have no use for football, 48% were more interested in Super Tuesday than the Super Bowl, with 17% preferring the football game. What the remaining 35% were interested in I have no idea. Maybe they were enjoying the outdoors or working on their yoga postures.

The level of education is an interesting factor in determining which of these events holds more interest. 53% of college graduates were more excited by Super Tuesday than the Super Bowl, with 33% of the college grads picking the football game. Of those who did not make it past high school, 45% were more interested in the Super Bowl with 28% more interested in Super Tuesday....I have no idea what one might conclude from these statistics.

Southerners are more likely to be interested in the Super Bowl than Super Tuesday. Again, I have no clue what one might conclude from that information.

So, the Super Bowl is over for another year. And Super Tuesday is over for another 4 years. Now if only we could get the Super Bowl on the Super Tuesday schedule we would not have to endure all the overwrought, overdone Super Bowl hype every year. Think of all the beer that would be saved. That would be a good thing.

Super Bowl XLII

The ratings are in. A record 148.3 million Americans watched at least part of Sunday's Super Bowl, making it the second most watched TV show ever, with the finale of MASH still being #1.

I was among the record 148.3 million. Why I do not know. I don't like football. Have never liked it. Have never been able to understand what it is that people find so compelling. To me it's like endless variations of the same thing, over and over again. Grown men dressed in ridiculous looking uniforms, unmatched anywhere else in sports world, except maybe American Gladiator. And other grown men commentating on what is going on on the field, as if they are narrating some great moment in history, like an ongoing battle that will determine if civilization survives, when all they are doing is watching a bunch of grown men paid to play a game, dressed in tights with giant shoulder pads and car crash helmets throwing and kicking an oblong object that is not even shaped like a ball.

And even a game like Sunday's, a close game with a close finish, I still don't get why this is so thrilling to watch. Even as I watch it. Not that I watched the entire game. But I did catch the final few minutes. So the team led by Eli Manning beat the team beat by Tom Brady. This is important and affects the bulk of humanity how? And why?

I usually watch the Super Bowl for the commercials and the half time show.

But neither much interests me anymore. The commercials, if any get a buzz, you can watch on YouTube. Or they will be repeated ad nauseum for months on network TV. As for the half time show. This anymore consists of some somewhat over the hill band staging a mini-concert with hundreds of swooning pseudo fans who have been told to act as if they are having the thrill of lifetime.

Sunday's Halftime Show was Tom Petty and the Pacemakers singing their 4 hit songs. The stadium was darkened and a lit up arrow slowly made its way to a heart. Then the stage lit up and the aforementioned kids swarmed towards Tom Petty, emoting great excitement while waving their arms overhead.

A few impotent fireworks lit up when the Halftime Show was over. I guess there are limits to what you can do with fireworks when you are in a stadium with a roof.

I'm thinking they need to go back in time and do a modern day glitzed up old-fashioned halftime show with an overly produced overly choreographed legion of young people putting on a show. With a marching band. With a lot of tubas and drums.

And another thing. Why the pomposity of using Roman Numerals to denote a Super Bowl. Why XLII rather than simply Super Bowl 42? Isn't this just a tad pompous? And I can't help but wonder how many of the football fanatics could decipher a Roman Numeral without a coach? Is the Super Bowl more important than the U.S. President? Apparently so. We are content to number our Presidents using the plain simple normal number method, as in George W. is U.S. President 43, not U.S. President XLIII. Lincoln was President 16, not President XVI. It would look ridiculous and a bit imperial if we used Roman Numerals in reference to our Presidents. And to me it looks even more ridiculous to use Roman Numerals (indicipherable to 89% of football fans according to Durango Research) to number a football game. Even if it is the most watched football game on the planet.

Okay, that is enough sports talk for the day. Soon I must vent what I think of soccer being the most popular sport in the world.