Barack's Wardrobe Malfunction

With the tone getting a bit nasty, tonight's Democrat Primary Debate in Cleveland should be interesting. Nasty may be minimizing. Ugly is likely a better description. I don't quite know what to make of Hillary's Team giving the Drudge Report a photo of Obama wearing native garb. When he was in Africa. Of course, the Hillary side denies giving Drudge the photo and is saying the same thing many others are saying, as in what was this supposed to prove? And a Hillary spokesperson said that Hillary has often donned native garb when in a foreign land.

It's another photo that has been around awhile, that seems much more scandalous to me, living as we do in the post Janice Jackson nipplegate wardrobe malfunction Super Bowl scandal era that brought about the end of civilization as we had known it.

The photo I am referring to is a photo of Barack Obama carousing on a beach. Topless. Totally without upper body garb. In our current era of equal rights between men and women why is it okay for a man to bare his breasts for all the world to see, but if a women does this for just a fraction of a second all hell breaks loose?

But, did this shocking photo end Barack's political aspirations? No, not in the least. But what if it had been Hillary who the paparazzi had shot topless, carousing on a beach? (what a shudder provoking thought) I think it's pretty obvious that such behavior would have ended Hillary's political career.

So, how is that fair? It's okay for Barack Obama to splash about, for all to see, virtually naked, but if Hillary did the same she'd be pilloried? And how is the photo of Barack in native garb controversial, where one of him mostly naked raises nary an eyebrow? In the native garb photo Barack is pretty much covered from head to toe, very little flesh exposed. And he is showing sensitivity to the culture he was visiting.

What twisted mind would make a big deal out of that African garb photo? Likely not the same twisted mind that would make a big deal out of Barack's topless photos. And on a totally unrelated note he looks to be in pretty good shape for a guy who smokes. But he should keep his shirt on.

The Academy Awards, Car Wrecks & Iraq

Well, Little Miss Lulu called early this morning. Just as I predicted yesterday she did not watch the Academy Awards except for seeing a bit of it on a TV in a bar in Tacoma called Tempest that caters to mostly a female clientele that Lulu and her husband frequent. I've been to this place once with Lulu and some of her friends. I'd never seen a restroom with so many photos of Marilyn Monroe.

So, last night I made a bowl of popcorn and tried to watch the Oscar show. I don't care for Jon Stewart so that was strike one right there. That show has just become tedious to me. And almost as bizarre as the Super Bowl in how such a fuss is made as if it is something significant if someone wins or doesn't win. It all seems so pompous. I used to like watching it when I lived on the west coast because it came on at 5:30 and was done by 9 or so. And since it is a live broadcast odd things used to happen. Like streaking. But it's been sterile for years now.

The show used to seem sort of like living history. There'd be all these Stars who were Big Stars, but one by one they've mostly died off leaving only a few remaining. And they are old. I think Paul Newman is in his 80s now. I don't know if Elizabeth Taylor still walks. I don't know if Debbie Reynolds can stay out of her wine long enough to attend a long, nighttime event.

Yesterday afternoon I went over to see the Puerto Rican Illegal Alien I've mentioned before. She'd had a stressful week and had left me a couple voice mails. So by mid-afternoon she was self-medicating a bit and somehow spilled a huge glass of spiked water and ice on me. Part of this week's drama was her 15 year old nephew in El Paso had stolen his mother's brand new car and took it for a 2 block joyride when he had a wreck and totaled the car. The kid was not hurt.

The father of the kid is the brother of the Puerto Rican, he is stationed in Iraq. The kid claimed he took the car because he misses his dad so much. I don't quite see the connection. The dad had already been injured once in Iraq, was sent to Germany to recover. That's where the family was stationed. Then the army decided to move them back to the U.S., to El Paso. And then Bush's surge happened and despite being told he would not be sent back to Iraq he got shipped back last August.

My friend up in OK who is moving back to WA who set her property on fire last week also has a kid in Iraq. He is only 25, married, with 3 kids. He was shipped to Iraq with the 3rd kid on the way and has been back for two weeks to see the kid after it arrived. I forget how it was that he ended up in Iraq, it was like he was supposed to be in some officer's training deal, and then he got told it'd look good if he did a tour of active duty during a war and that it'd only be 6 months. But somehow that turned into 15 months. How can they/we send a kid with 3 kids to a war that should never have happened?

Bush should do a tour in Iraq or Afghaniststan when his current job ends. It'd be good for the boy. No one should ever get to send anyone to war who has not been in a war. Or in the military for that matter. Bush's military experience apparently consists of having watched Patton and The Longest day a number of times.

And the Oscar Goes to Lulu

Long ago I used to enjoy watching the Academy Awards Show. I can't remember the last time I made it through the whole thing. Certainly not since I've been in Texas because it starts at 7:30 here and runs til almost midnight, well past my bedtime.

I think the last movie I've been to that may have won an Academy Award was Gladiator, I think that is what it was called. Russell Crowe fought Romans. I saw it in the restored Cinerama in Seattle. Paul Allen had a fondness for a landmark Seattle theater and so he bought it and restored it to its former retro glory. I remember the theater more than I remember the movie.

Lulu, you remember Lulu, I'm sure, all you who religiously read every word of my blog, well Lulu went to the grand re-opening of the Cinerama. Her first husband was there doing photographer duty. Lulu found herself talking to a disheveled looking guy. The guy introduced himself, but Lulu had no clue who Paul Allen was. She was just along for the ride. And the free food. So, Lulu goes over to tell her husband that that guy she'd been talking to had invited them to another party, after this one is done, at that EMP thing by the Space Needle. It was then that her husband, let's call him Geff, told Lulu that she'd been talking to Paul Allen. Yes, I know that, Lulu replied, to which Geff informed Lulu that Paul Allen is the Microsoft billionaire who bought the Cinerama and built the EMP (Experience Music Project). Apparently Paul Allen was quite charmed by Lulu's cluelessness and gave her a private tour of the EMP.

As you can see, Lulu is not the most culturally aware person on the planet. Which means, quite obviously, that she will not be watching the Academy Awards tonight. Lulu has a history of encounters with well-known people who she knows nothing about. She had a store in Tacoma called Frona & Zigz. It was a cool store with cool stuff in a cool part of town. A band called U2 was in town to play at the Tacoma Dome. Members of the band somehow found Lulu's store. One of the members of the band bought a vintage bicycle. When the band members left the store one of Lulu's customers came up to her and said something like "I can't believe you were talking to Bono all that time and weren't acting excited." "Bono?" Lulu asked. "Yes, the lead singer for U2". "U2? What's U2?" I do not know if all these years later Lulu has yet bothered to learn what U2 is or who Bono is.

Hillary in Dowtown Fort Worth

Downtown Fort Worth's Tarrant County Courthouse had about 2000 people standing in front of it yesterday about 11am, waiting for Hillary to show up. There were people chanting things like "Hill Yes!" and "Vote for Mama, not Obama". Others waved signs saying things like "I'm Counting on Clinton" and "Hillary, I will Faint for You" and "Bill for First Lady".

Hillary had been at a rally in Dallas where about 1000 people showed up and shivered in the early morning cold.

On the drive from Dallas to Fort Worth a Dallas motorcycle cop, Victor Lozada-Tirado, one month into his motorcycle cop career and assigned yesterday to Hillary's motorcade, crashed against a curb and died. (Lulu please have your first husband read this, maybe it will be the wakeup call he so desperately needs, which may bring him out of his mid-life-Harley-riding-at breakneck-speeds crisis)

So, when Hillary showed up for the Fort Worth rally she told the crowd what had happened and that it wouldn't feel right to hold the rally, that she was cutting it short so she could return to Dallas to express her condolences to the family of the fallen cop. Hillary promised to return to Fort Worth before the March 4 Texas Primary.

After the news the crowd quickly dispersed, leaving downtown Fort Worth in its usual less populated state that you see in the above photo. That is the Tarrant County Court House you see in the photo, looking north up Main Street.

I think the last time I saw a Presidential candidate campaigning was Jimmy Carter in an airplane hangar at Boeing Field in Seattle. That would have been the year he lost to Reagan. That was kind of cool with Air Force One pulling up and the President getting out of the plane. No, just remembered, Jimmy was not the last one I've seen, years after that I went down to UPS in Tacoma, where my baby sister was going to school, to see another loser, Michael Dukakis. I honestly don't remember if we saw him or not. This was not a memorable guy. He seems to have disappeared. Last I heard he was delivering packages for UPS. It seems like the fieldhouse/basketall arena venue was full and so we waited outside with all the others who had been denied entrance. During the 1976 election I saw another losing candidate, Gerald Ford. That was a cool one. The rally was held at a waterfront park in downtown Seattle and Ford came in by hovercraft.

The latest poll in Texas has Hillary and Obama virtually tied. Early voting here is breaking records. In Texas we have what we call the Texas Two Step. You vote once in the primary and then go vote again in a caucus. I've no idea how this works in the assigning delegates part of it.

Hillary's My Girl

I'm tired, worn out and starting to grow tired of this blog thing. Like what is the point? And then I got an email from my #1 Blog Fan a few minutes ago. I've not heard from my other Blog Fan. But #1 asked why I'd not Blogged today, particularly after last night's debate in Austin.

Well, like I've already said, I'm tired, worn out and starting to grow weary of this blog thing. But, you know, one really should not disappoint ones fans, even if there are only two.

Yesterday, while listening to Rush Limbaugh on WBAP Dallas on my cheapie radio headphones while hiking in Tandy Hills Park , Rush annoyed me to the point that I decided I'd blog about that today. But then that sick and tired thing kicked in and I really didn't care. Though I was slightly aroused to slightly caring this morning when reading a column by George Will saying pretty much the same thing nonsense that Rush was spewing.

I've decided there actually is a vast right wing conspiracy. Mrs. Clinton was ahead of her time on that one. It now seems to be a talking point amongst the right wingers that it wears on their last nerve hearing Hillary tout her 35 years of working on children and women's issues. The boom boom boom of the anti-Hillary drumbeat pops way too loud making the bogus claim that she supposedly has never done anything on her own.

Just forget about her working as a lawyer for years, all the way back to working for the Watergate Committee, the woman has traversed the country doing good things, well before Bill. Like, she made it all the way to Alaska where she got a job gutting salmon that lasted one day, with Hillary fired and the plant shut down overnight due to Hillary bitching so effectively regarding the unhealthy conditions. When she says she has been out there working hard to help people for 35 years it turns out to be true. I mean, how many of you have made it to Alaska and caused a salmon factory to shut down? I worked in the salmon industry for less than a week in Alaska in my early 20s. I too was appalled. But unlike Hillary I just scurried home without shutting down a single thing.

Read the Wikipedia article about Hillary, and you will learn she has been doing some significant things that have helped kids and women for decades. Read Gail Sheehy's 'Hillary's Choice' book and you'll read in detail not only all the things Hillary not only worked on, but worked hard on, including rescuing her husband from his foibles on many an occasion. Read how she battled and won against Reagan when the Republicans tried to ruin the Legal Services Corporation she'd help turn into a success.

What that woman did to bring Bill back to life after he was booted out of the Arkansas governor's mansion is amazing. I mean, she was relentless. Bill was in hiding, would not meet the press for months, got increasingly erratic, wandering the aisles of Wal-Mart asking random people what he'd done wrong. While Bill spent his time whining and despondent Hillary relentlessly fixed all that had gone wrong that had turned the Arkansas people off. Including letting it be known she would now be known as Mrs. Bill Clinton, she got contacts (eyeglass replacements, not people contacts), went clothes shopping, had her hair styled and colored for the first time, and, egads, started using makeup, including lipstick for the first time in her life. Bill was re-elected governor. And this time Hillary ruled the mansion with an iron fist. The problems of his first administration were not allowed to re-occur.

Which brings me to last night's debate in Austin. I listened to Hillary with a new respect. I actually liked her. I am putting off doing my early Texas voting til the 29th, lest I change my mind again. But currently I am going to vote for Hillary.

Sadly, this is bad news for Hillary. The person I vote for never wins. Now, Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Will, I know you are reading this, devote readers of my Blog that you are, you two should be ashamed of yourselves. Now, go do some research on Mrs. Clinton. And then apologize you rude men.

The Tragi-Comic Presidency of George W. Bush

My very very best email source of good stuff is Alma the Night Club Singer, currently performing down in Corpus Christi, Texas. Alma was appalled by Hillary's campaign's circus that played out in Nueces County. That is where Corpus Christi is. Alma felt it exploited poor Mexicans for a cheap photo op. Apparently Obama is next, and Alma holds no great liking for Obama either. She's more excited that Justin Timberlake is in the Corpus zone filming a movie. Alma is both a woman and of Mexican-American descent, so she has highly qualified bonafides when passing judgement on either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama.

So, from Alma, "The tragicomic presidency of George W. Bush, in his own words..... "

50. "I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here." -at the President's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

49. "We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." -Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001

48. "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." -Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

47. "I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport." --Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001

46. "Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. I mean, you're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities." --Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004

45. "I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah." --at a White House menorah lighting ceremony, Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2001

44. "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." --interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006

43. "The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th." --Washington, D.C., July 12, 2007

42. "I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president." --as quoted in Bob Woodward's Bush at War

41. "F*ck Saddam. We're taking him out." --to three U.S. senators in March 2002, one year before the Iraq invasion, as quoted by Time magazine

40. "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties." --discussing the Iraq war with Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson in 2003, as quoted by Robertson

39. "I will not withdraw, even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me." --talking to key Republicans about Iraq, as quoted by Bob Woodward

38. "I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft." --presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004

37. "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." --Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000

36. "Do you have blacks, too?" --to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001

35. "This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating." --as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

34. "My plan reduces the national debt, and fast. So fast, in fact, that economists worry that we're going to run out of debt to retire." --radio address, Feb. 24, 2001

33. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." --on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina

32. "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000

31. "I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound largemouth bass in my lake." --on his best moment in office, interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, May 7, 2006

30. "They misunderestimated me." --Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

29. "Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled." --explaining his plan to save Social Security, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 4, 2005
28. "For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it." --Philadelphia, Penn., May 14, 2001

27. "This is an impressive crowd -- the haves and the have mores. Some people call you the elite -- I call you my base." --at the 2000 Al Smith dinner

26. "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." --LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

25. "I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe -- I believe what I believe is right." --Rome, Italy, July 22, 2001

24. "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." --Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

23. "People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you." --Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

22. "I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it...I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn't yet...I don't want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't -- you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one." --after being asked to name the biggest mistake he had made, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2004

21. "You forgot Poland." --to Sen. John Kerry during the first presidential debate, after Kerry failed to mention Poland's contributions to the Iraq war coalition, Miami, Fla., Sept. 30, 2004

20. "We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter) --touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

19. "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." --State of the Union Address, Jan. 28, 2003, making a claim that administration officials knew at the time to be false

18. "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." --Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

17. "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." --Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

16. "Can we win? I don't think you can win it." --after being asked whether the war on terror was winnable, "Today" show interview, Aug. 30, 2004

15. "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." --Washington, D.C. June 18, 2002

14. "I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job." --to a group of Amish he met with privately, July 9, 2004

13. "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." --speaking underneath a "Mission Accomplished" banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, May 1, 2003

12. "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories ... And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them." --Washington, D.C., May 30, 2003

11. "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!" --joking about his administration's failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents' Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2004

10. "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" --Florence, South Carolina, Jan. 11, 2000

9. "As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured." --on the No Child Left Behind Act, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2007

8. "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." --Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000

7. "I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense." --Washington, D.C. April 18, 2006

6. "There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on --shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again." --Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

5. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." --Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

4. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." --Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

3. "You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." --to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005

2. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." --to FEMA director Michael Brown, who resigned 10 days later amid criticism over his handling of the Hurricane Katrina debacle, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

1. "My answer is bring them on." --on Iraqi insurgents attacking U.S. forces, Washington, D.C., July 3, 2003

Fort Worth Native UFO, Eclipsed, Hillary, Missile

The moon puts on a show tonight. And the U.S. military might be putting on an extra-terrestrial show as well. The moon will be eclipsed for all of North America to see tonight. If you have clear skies. In the Central Time Zone the eclipse will start about 8:43pm and end at 9 minutes past midnight on Thursday. The moon should look very red.

Unrelated to the moon, there is a Navy ship out at sea that is going to try and shoot down an out of control satellite that is loaded with a ton of very toxic liquid that could survive if allowed to crash to earth. So, one of the Star Wars missiles is hoping to slam into the satellite at a very high speed. This missile was designed to shoot down ICBMs traveling at a slower speed than the satelite. The Navy has 3 missiles that have been re-programmed to make this hit.

Speaking of taking a hit. Hillary has now lost 10 states in a row. There are 2 upcoming debates prior to the Texas primary on March 4. I read today that Hillary's advisors are arguing about what to do, whether to go into aggressive attack mode or not. I think she should try the Tears Strategy again, only this time get in some real good sobbing and produce at least one really big tear running down at least one of her cheeks.

I got a real good photo of the Fort Worth UFO yesterday. With the beautiful skyline of downtown Fort Worth in the background. This view is looking west down the I-30 freeway. The photo makes it appear that the UFO is taller than the tallest Fort Worth skyscraper. I believe this is an illusion.

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On another note, yesterday I mentioned my petty little issue regarding particular peculiar verbiage I read over and over again in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Today there were some fresh examples. I decided it might be fun to chronicle these. I wish I'd kept every instance of the "Green with Envy" verbiage when I first made note of it. Several years went by before I started keeping a collection. You may remember that yesterday we all learned that the reason the Star-Telegram repeats over and over again if a person has some remote connection to Fort Worth is because this gives the reader a local connection to the story. No matter how tenuous. So, in today's Star-Telegram, once more regarding American Idol, we learn that tonight among the 12 women singing that "Kristy Lee Cook lists Oregon as home but used to sing at Cowboys Arlington; Kady Malloy is from Houston."

Houston does not seem all that local to me, but what do I know? And then in another section, this, "Fort Worth native and CBS newsman Bob Schieffer...", in a blurb about Fort Worth native Bob Schieffer quitting news to play in a band. I have never seen Fort Worth native Bob Schieffer mentioned in the Star-Telegram without "Fort Worth native" preceding the name. Well, that's not totally accurate, later in the same article the last name may be repeated without the first name or the "Fort Worth native" modifier.

Oklahoma Up In Flames

Just a few days ago I was shocked to learn that a fellow northwest native in exile who moved to the South about the same time I did, me to Texas, she to Oklahoma, is returning to Washington in a month or two.

And then today I got email from the temporary soon to be ex-Okie saying that she and her first husband had been burning stuff, things like magazines. The fire smoldered for a day or two, due to all the magazines. My acquaintance, who insists she not be referred to by name, let's just call her Miss McNoodle. Anyway, Miss M was looking at her airplane tickets when her first husband, let's call him Mr. McNoodle, or Mr. M, shouted that the field was on fire.

The fire spread rapidly. 911 was called. The fire spread to the neighbor's field, trees started burning. Miss M and Mr. M reached what they could with their garden hose and then started beating the flames with a wet towel. Finally multiple fire trucks arrived, but not before several acres were burned.

Miss M sent me several photos of the fire with the strict admonition that I not use the photos on my website. She did not ban me from using a photo on my blog. We must be precise in our verbiage lest we give a weasel wiggle room. She should have told me not to use any of her photos in any electronic media that is viewable to the general public. Live and learn I always say. That and when there is a burn ban in effect don't light a fire.

Boasting & Bragging

I find a Texas thing or two a bit perplexing at times. One is the concept of bragging rights or boasting. I see this in that newspaper I've complained about before, but continue to buy and read, that being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Like today there is an article about American Idol. That is a TV show where boys and girls sing and people call in over and over again in a sort of a fraudulent public vote to determine the winner.

The first winner of American Idol was a Texan. You never see her name in the Star-Telegram without her hometown as a modifier, as in "Burleson's Kelly Clarkson". Today's American Idol article did the usual Kelly Clarkson mention. The headline for the article is "The latest 'Idol' boasts North Texas ties".

The article goes on to give a look at the 4 American Idol top 24 people with a Texas tie, saying "Two contestants in the top 24 cite North Texas cities as their hometowns, another has lived here, and another is married to someone from here".

Okay, so 2 actually live in North Texas towns. In the details the 'one who lived here', basically grew up and lives in Oregon, is now 24 and spent one year in Dallas, Frisco and McKinney. The one who married someone in Texas is an Australian living in LA who married a girl from Fort Worth and has visited here.

Now, how does this boasting thing work? Does someone from north Texas run into someone from south Texas and proceed to brag that north Texas has 4 people on American Idol? And two of those actually live there?

This boast/brag thing seems closely related to another odd pathology I've made note of before, that being the Green With Envy pathology where the Star-Telegram would say this that or the other totally ordinary thing in Fort Worth made towns far and wide green with envy or was the envy of towns far and wide. Strangely, ever since I webpaged examples of this bizarre verbiage from the Star-Telegram I have not seen another incident in that paper of something causing others to be green with envy.

Now back to this bragging about someone being from here thing. The Star-Telegram always does this. Like actor Bill Paxton apparently is from Fort Worth. Any mention of him is always Fort Worth native Bill Paxton. An actress named Betty Buckley is from Fort Worth, so it is always Fort Worth native Betty Buckley. Today there was mention made of Betty's brother, who I'd never heard of, Fort Worth native Norman Buckley, who apparently got an award at some obscure event called the "Eddie" Awards. I guess Fort Worth will now have the bragging rights and likely a city wide celebration because a Fort Worth native won a prestigious "Eddie" Award. Whatever that is. I guess I could look it up.

A country music singer I'd not heard of, Pat Green, moved to Fort Worth, with the Star-Telegram saying this now gave Fort Worth bragging rights regarding what they called the Texas Transient's move to FW, and that this move had Dallas, Lubbock and Waco green with envy. I am not making this up.

I could go on and on with examples of the "native of" verbiage, but won't. If I haven't made a point by now, more examples aren't going to do so.

So, where I used to live I subscribed to 2 newspapers, the Seattle P-I and the Skagit Valley Herald. Seattle has a few celebrities and well known people, as does the Skagit Valley. Burl Ives lived in the Skagit town of Anacortes til he died. I don't recollect ever reading his name in an article with verbiage like Anacortes native Burl Ives. That guy who played Jesus in that Mel Gibson movie, Jim Caviezel, is from the town I lived in, Mount Vernon. I don't recollect either the P-I or the SV Herald ever referencing him as Mount Vernon native, Jim Caviezel. The richest man in the world was born and raised and still lives in the Seattle zone. I don't recollect ever reading him referred to as Washington native Bill Gates, or Seattle native Bill Gates. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain grew up in the Washington coastal town of Hoquium. I don't recollect ever reading Hoquium native Kurt Cobain.

I can think of more examples of well known people living in the Seattle zone than I can think of here in Texas, suffice to say I don't ever recollect reading about any of them where the local papers repeatedly refer to people as being a native of this that or the other place. Let alone the fact of them being from this that or the other place giving that place some sort of bragging rights. Or being something to boast about. That just seems like bad manners. Maybe the Northwest is just a zone with better manners. And a lot of serial killers. But that's another day's blogging.

Disenfranchised in Texas

I've been trying for months to get my voter's registration changed so that I can vote at my new address. At the last election I went down to my local polling place and I was not allowed to vote. On the actual election day you have to vote at the place you are registered. For me that was/is way north of my current location. Previous to the last botched election I'd done early voting. With early voting you can vote anywhere that there is an early voting poll place.

I've had a long history of trouble dealing with various Texas bureaucracies ever since my exile here way back in 1999. First thing I encountered was they insist on seeing your social security card to do just about anything. Now, up in Washington we'd always been told to keep this a secret, even before the problem with identify theft came into being. So, I had to get a social security card. This involved finding my birth certificate which involved asking my mom if she had any proof that I'd been born. She had none so I had to contact my place of birth in Oregon to generate a birth certificate so I could get a social security card so I could get a Texas driver's license and register to vote.

So, after many months of trying to go through all the hoops I finally was able to apply for a Texas driver's license. The DMV, or whatever they call it here, was a zoo. The computers that you took the written test on were so dilapidated that you could not make out colors. With the test asking you some questions based on colors. But, despite all the obstacles I managed to pass both the written and the driving test.

A couple weeks went by. My new Texas license finally arrived. On a Friday. I was planning to drive up to Washington for Christmas, leaving the next day. So, I was glad to finally have my Texas license. Til I looked at it more closely. As you can see by looking closely at the photo of my license, above, there is a rather glaring mistake.

So, yes, I headed north using a Texas driver's license that said I was a Female. Because of having this I did get one odd benefit. My sister let me attend her all girl Christmas party. But I had to be the greeter and show the girls my I.D. to establish my bonafides as being one of their gender.

When I got back to Texas I went down to the DMV, or whatever they call it here, waited in line, again, showed the lady my new license, asked her if she saw anything wrong. She said ooops. And then she checked the record. She had me lean forward and she whispered to me, "the records out of Austin say you are also African-American. You aren't are you?" I told her as far as I knew I was not either African-American or female, but how can anyone be absolutely 100% certain about such things?

So, now I guess I am in Texas Voter's Limbo. I'm fairly certain I can still do the early voting thing. Unless that has somehow gotten mucked up by me trying to change my polling place. I don't know why they don't have the permanent absentee ballot method that Washington and other states use. That would make it all so much simpler.

Now, if I do get to vote in the March 4 primary, who should I vote for? Barack or Hillary?