Miserable Drip & Election Mayhem

Today's blog is a weather report. When you've got nothing else to say the weather becomes the conversation topic. North Texas weather can be such a trial, but the lead up to Spring is the worst. Or the funnest if you like rock and roll storms full of sound and fury and a chance of a tornado or grapefruit size hail. That was our entertainment here in the wee hours this morning. A lot of noisy rain and big booms with bright light effects. No tornado in my immediate zone though. I've yet to hear the tornado sirens go off this year.

The past few days had been in the 80s with one day almost breaking the record at 91. I'd spent one afternoon reading by the pool. I thought the cold misery was done for the year. But last night's storm from the south brought in fresh hell from the north and after the 2 fronts got done fighting the north won, just like it always does. So the temps have been falling all day. It's been dripping all day, a winter in the northwest type drippy winter day. And that dripping is predicted to turn into some form of ice as daylight leaves. It could be snow, hail or an ice storm. Of the 3 the one I truly dislike is an ice storm. I've had falling down issues during an ice storm.

I forgot to mention, my current dreary view of the world is what I'm looking at right now in the photo above. Looking out the window to the right of my computer desk.

Earlier today I braved the cold when it was still in the 40s and returned that Gail Sheehy book about Hillary called Hillary's Choice. I checked out a couple new books and asked the librarian if the library was tomorrow's caucus place for this precinct. She did not know. So much for libraries being a good source of information.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about tomorrow's voting. I do know that the library is my voting location tomorrow, that is Step One in the Texas Two Step. Step Two starts when the polls close, Step Two being the caucus. The location of which I do not know.

That wonder of useless information, that I may have complained about before, that being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, had an article this morning which was ostensibly about all the confusion over tomorrow, but somehow did not answer the key question, as in where are the damn caucuses? Instead they had a cutesy dumb Myth and Fact list that was particularly insipid. Like "Myth: Voting twice means voting early and then voting again during the day Tuesday." Or "Myth: Voting twice means I can vote in both the Democratic and Republican primaries." Or "Myth: I can vote Tuesday without having registered."

Apparently this Texas Two Step method has been in play for 20 years but this is the first election where people are actually interested. I'm thinking Texas will get rid of this, well, idiotic, method by the next election cycle because by the end of tomorrow night it likely will be nationally controversial because no one will be able to understand how it was Hillary won the Texas popular vote while Obama won the most delegates. That's my prediction and I'm sticking to it.

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TEXAS TWO STEP UPDATE: Upon consulting an election expert I have learned the Texas caucuses take place at wherever your polling place is. The Star-Telegram actually said this, but I, dense reader that I am, was not able to parse their verbiage and accurately extract its meaning. I also think when I read that the caucus starts when the voting ends that they couldn't possibly mean in the same location. But how would one get quickly from the voting location to the caucus location, I wondered? It never crossing my mind that they could be one and the same.

So, tomorrow we have a set up here in Texas for one gigantic Cluster Muckup. Early voting has already broken all records. Tomorrow's turnout, despite the cold weather, is expected to break all records. So, how in the world are they going to clear out the voting equipment and set up a caucus meeting in the small meeting room that acts as the polling place in the library I visited earlier today?

I was going to just vote in the primary and ignore the caucus and stay home and watch American Idol. But now I'm thinking I can try and figure out my VCR and watch American Idol later. This should be at least as entertaining a mess as Saturday's security incompetence at Hillary's Stockyards rally.

Secret Service Lapses?

Yesterday's bizarre experience with the lackadaisical security at Hillary's Fort Worth Stockyards rally continues to perplex me. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram this morning reported that it was the Secret Service which ordered the security checks to stop about 3 minutes into Hillary's speech.

That is not how I remember it. Hillary had been on the stage basking in the cheering for several minutes before she started to speak. It seemed to me that it was more like 10 minutes into the speech that the flood-like rush of people running towards her caught my eye.

If you look at the above photo you can see the 3 electronic screeners which were used to try and screen thousands of people. Why go to all this bother of slowly checking relatively few people and then suddenly have no security checks? It makes no sense.

Rather than attempt to take care of security like they do at an airport why not instead randomly check people in the line? Security was so lax, like I told you yesterday, I was able to avoid the line very easily.

Had the security people gone up and down the line, randomly checking people, any bad guy would likely have bolted. A random check would have been much better than what they did do, that being stopping thousands from even getting into the event, many bailing due to the ultra-slow moving line, then suddenly letting those who remained rush in with no security check.

If one of those people in that mass of humanity that rushed in after the Secret Service stopped the security checks had a gun and managed to get a shot off at Hillary it is not too hard to figure out that someone would be in big trouble for the ceasing of the security checks.

Seems to me there is a serious problem in this security situation that is in need of a quick solution. Obviously airport type screening does not work with huge crowds. And ceasing all checking seems absurd, going from one extreme to another.

My Date With Hillary

Seeing Hillary today at the Fort Worth Stockyards did not go the way I thought it would. I got to the location about 11am to see a long long long line snaking way out the east end of the Stockyards. The free parking zone was blocked off. Parking over by the world's biggest honky tonk, Billy Bob's, cost 5 bucks. I drove to a nearby park and parked for free.

I'd decided I had no interest in waiting in a line, but I knew of a couple alternative ways to get in the cordoned off zone. My first attempt was via the route along Marine Creek where a trail goes through a tunnel and comes out inside the Stockyards. But a couple cops yelled that we couldn't go that way. The cops directed us to that long line I'd already decided I was not going to wait in.

But I joined the crowd walking towards the line. Except I split off to go to another backway in, that being over the actual Stockyard pens. There is a boardwalk above the actual Stockyards. And the gate to it was open! I was surprised. When I exited, at the end of the boardwalk, I was inside the secondary security zone. A pair of cops told us to stick to the side of the road because the Fort Worth Herd was on the move.

A short distance later I was where that long line ended, extending the entire length of the Stockyards main drag. I'd managed to, accidentally, cut to the front of the line. And upon my arrival that line had been told to get off the street to let the Herd through. I did not realize what had happened and so I got in the line on the right, not realizing I was about 10 people from going through the airport like security thing, which of course I set off and had to get hand wanded. Right before I got wanded I got asked for some type of paper. I said I didn't have it. The guy said that's okay. I was sure the paper question meant the gig was up.

So, I got through the security check barely keeping my baggy pants from falling due to the removing of my belt.

There was plenty of room in the grandstands, so I got a good seat with a good view of the stage. And a good view of that long long line of people slowing going through security.

I got my video camera out and learned the battery was dead. Then I got my digital camera out and found I'd forgotten to put in the memory card. I was not happy. And then I remembered my cell phone can take pics and then I saw the battery on the phone was about dead. A few minutes went by and I remembered I had a second memory card, the original that came with the camera. It can only hold 18 pics, but that's better than none.

The pre-rally atmosphere reminded me of a high school pep rally. A lot of yelling and sign waving. Speaking of signs, while waiting to get through security, ahead of me was this cute little old lady. She had a hand made sign. This Hillary campaign person told the cute little old lady that they did not allow hand made signs! Can you imagine telling that to a cute little old lady who had gone to the bother of making the sign and coming to the rally? I was appalled. And even more so when I saw a lot of handmade signs once I got to my seat and looked around.

A mariachi band in native garb sang to us while we waited, songs like The Eyes of Texas are Upon You. A funny lady got up on the stage and did some sort of rapping chant. I saw her later when I was at Esperanzas for a chili relleno and told her she was very amusing.

As I waited for Hillary I kept being appalled at how ineptly slow the security check was, as in only a few people were getting in per minute. I'm sure a lot of people just gave up. What happened later regarding security rose to an entire new level of being appalling. You'll have to keep reading to find out what was appalling.

After what seemed an hour or so of waiting, suddenly attention diverted behind me. I turned to see that Hillary's motorcade had arrived. It was very interesting how the dynamic of the crowd changed when they could tell we were being able to see something. Shouts of is she here? And some of us would turn around and nod yes. Hillary slowly made her way along a construction fence.

A short intro by Henry Cisneros and then Hillary climbed on the stage and basked in the adoring screams of her fans. It was loud. I was amazed at how good-looking Hillary is in person. Those debate TV lights do not do her justice. And her speech was really good. No notes. And funny at times. She came across, to me, way different than she had before, as in she didn't seem at all cold or wooden. Or shrill. She looked so young. I can't believe she is 60. And it isn't like I didn't get a good look. And she was in pointy high heels. I thought that was brave, I mean those are not even walking surfaces in the Stockyards, and they had her walking through a construction zone.

And now back to the security. So, they put all these people through that long line hell, many of them giving up, slowly letting people into the sealed off zone, one by one. This went on for hours before Hillary arrived.

Just a week or so prior there was a controversy in Dallas when they stopped the security checks for an Obama rally because they needed to get the people in the building.

So, Hillary was part way into her speech. And then suddenly the security checks stopped and they let the people flood in. Now, if the logic was that no evil doer could get close to the stage at that point, well, they were wrong. I saw many people get quite close during the surge.

So, what was the point of doing the security checks, if, at some point after the person being protected is actually there, you lift the security? Now, if you wanted to do a bad deed would you not, I dunno, wait til they stop doing security checks and then proceed in with your homemade nuclear device?

It was like going from one extreme to another, going from airport like security checking to no security checking.

There were policemen on roofs, helicopters in the air, dozens upon dozens of Fort Worth Police. And the Secret Service was quite noticeable. It would seem that a secure situation could be attained without using the extreme measure of electronic screening. That is too slow in this type situation. It doesn't even work all that well in airports where you have a lot of security check throughs. Here at the Stockyards they had 3 electronic walk through screeners. For an estimated 10,000 people. Any of you who have suffered an airport intuitively know how brain dead doing this was. And wanding a jewelry laden old lady. Can't some common sense be used? How many old lady assassins have there been? Their numbers are few. I really can't think of a single one.

Hillary did have a fainter today! I thought only Obama had the fainters. All in all, a fun day.

Hillary on a Longhorn?

I'm outta here and heading to the Fort Worth Stockyards this morning. Miss Hillary is in Cowtown and down at the Stockyards sometime around noon. I'm hoping to get video of the Fort Worth Herd and Hillary. The herd will be on the move despite Hillary's event. I hope Hillary gets on one of the Longhorns for a photo op. For a slight fee a faux cowboy will let you sit on his cow. The cowboys used to not make it clear money was expected after the cow was mounted and photos taken. This practice caused an incident with a New Jersey tourist who refused to hand over any money. The cowboy then chased the tourist and penned him against a wall with his Longhorn. When it was realized this was not exactly good publicity for the Stockyards new rules were put in place regarding the fees charged for sitting on a Longhorn. I hope if Hillary gets on a Longhorn that she pays up, even though her campaign has run out of money. It would not be a good thing, publicity-wise, for Hillary to get chased by a mad cowboy and penned up against a wall by his Longhorn.

United States & Texas #1

A report from the Pew Center on the States released yesterday documents that the United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation in the world. Including China with its 1.3 billion people. For the first time in its history the United States has more than one in every 100 adults in jail or prison. At the start of the new year, 2,319,258 adults were behind bars. That's one in every 99.1 adults in the United States. In stir. The United States leads the world in both the number of citizens jailed and the percentage of its citizens jailed.

Almost $50 billion is spent yearly to incarcerate the 2 million plus inmates.

Texas leads the United States in its number jailed, with 171,790 behind bars. Texas also leads the nation in number of executions.

So, doesn't it seem that maybe there might be something wrong here? Besides there apparently being way too many criminals. Could part of the problem be maybe some things should not be punished by jail time?

For instance, a couple weeks ago I blogged about The Soviet State of Texas. I wrote about what happened to a friend of mine down in Corpus Christi over a bounced $20 check from years prior. For a few days she was one of the 1 in 99.1 adults in jail. Read what she had to say about her experience in what I call the Texas Gulag, but which she refers to as a Concentration Camp.

"I saw more pain in that Concentration Camp of torture than I ever need to see again. The Judge in Dallas who wanted to extradite me back to Dallas to account for this $20 check to Kroger I don't even remember. It was my worst nightmare. They held me with no charges from 8:30am my last day until 11:30pm that night. I thought I was gonna die there. They took me off all my meds and provided no treatment for my diabetes. I went thru withdrawal from all my meds. You can't imagine."

The U.S. frequently complains about China's supposed human rights abuses. I wonder if someone can get thrown in jail in China over a bounced check?

Such things don't just happen in Texas. I have another friend who had a similar experience, but this was up in Washington. This also was over money, and in my opinion, a malicious prosecution by an unscrupulous, amoral prosecutor. The victim was also a female, she also was denied her meds. (why do I know so many female jailbirds?) On arrival at the jail she was strip searched and spent her first night chained to a toilet that was used by dozens of others. The judge was sympathetic to her plight and released her after 3 days.

Til I heard her story I did not realize such things happened in America. Good Christian human rights loving nation that we are, land of the free, home of the brave. The majority of Americans consider themselves God-fearing Christians. Isn't one of Jesus's things something like "that which you do to the weakest among you, you do to Me."?

There are too many people thrown into jail for nonsensical things. It needs to stop. Meanwhile, O.J. remains free. As are many other actual serious crime perpetrators. While who knows how many modern day Jean Valjeans are having their lives ruined because they were so hungry they took a loaf of bread without asking? Or bounced a check? Or didn't realize calling a prosecutor an idiotic baboon would result in a vendetta that would end in jail time?

To Blog

Or not to Blog. The novelty begins to wear thin. I thought this blog thing might be a fun venue to spew my particular brand of unique perspective. But when you have only one person reading your particular brand of unique perspective it starts to seem just a tad self indulgent. That and sort of a sad waste of time. Sure, it is fun to make fun of that sad excuse for a local paper that I continue to buy, that being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. And even that is a sad indicator of the sad state of my mind, as in today there was yet one more ripe to make fun of thing in that paper and I just could not muster the energy to say a word about it. And now, these few hours later, I've already forgotten what it was that somehow provoked my umbrage instinct.

It doesn't help the sad state of my deteriorated imagination that we are again suffering from balmy, open the windows, temperatures here in Texas. It makes me want to take a nap. If only I could. I've not been able to take a nap in decades. I'm so jealous of those who can. Or those who can sleep on an airplane. How can they manage that? I have trouble sleeping even at the normal go to bed time of the night, sleeping on an airplane is not even remotely possible. I know this one overweight lazy Goober who takes a minimum of 2 naps a day. He has a morning nap and an afternoon nap. And if the day has been especially tiring he adds a 3 nap in the early evening. This sad fool gets up around 5am so that he can manage to get something constructive done and have plenty of time to nap.

It is coming up on 7pm here in the Central Time Zone of the United States. That means I am about 2 hours from my minimum bedtime. Not that I sleep then. I just go to bed and read. I'm still trying to get through Gail Sheehy's book about Hillary called Hillary's Choice. It's exhausting. I don't know how that woman continues to put up with Bill.

Blab of the Day: Dead or Alive?

I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but I subscribe to this Fort Worth newspaper called the Star-Telegram that regularly annoys me. I know a lot of people have issues with various publications, but til I started reading the Star-Telegram I never had that type of issue. In some way on almost every day there is something I'll read in the Star-Telegram that is in some way on some level just wrong.

Like today's example. There is a section of the paper called "Live!". It a fluff page mostly about celebrity news and reviews of plays or concerts. On this page there is a daily feature called "BLAB! OF THE DAY".

Today's Blab was about Valerie Bertinelli. She came to celebrity hood on a TV sit-com a few decades back called One Day at a Time. One of her co-stars was Mackenzie Phillips. Years ago Mackenzie got into some addiction problems that became fodder for the tabloids.

Valerie Bertenelli is the new spokeswoman for Jenny Craig. She was on Oprah and for some reason mentioned a short romance with Steven Spielberg after she auditioned for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

So, this is what this inane Blab thing had to say regarding the above---"Bertinelli was wrong for the film, but Blab! hears her One Day at a Time co-star Mackenzie Phillips did help score drugs for the crew."

Does that strike anyone with any sort of sense of humor as being amusing, witty or even remotely imaginative? Oh yes, that is hilarious, how clever, Mackenzie Phillips had some drug problems, it's so funny to suggest she helped get drugs for the movie crew while her former co-star was trying to be in the film.

Doesn't stuff like this have to get past an editor? Maybe an adult? Before it shows up in print?

Awhile back this Live! page added a little new feature that was in such obvious bad taste that when I first saw it I figured it was someone's idea of a one day only bad practical joke. But the feature remained for quite some time, til finally complaints in Letters to the Editor and likely phone calls and maybe just common sense caused the Star-Telegram to delete the feature.

And what was that feature? It was called, if memory serves, "Dead or Alive". The blurb would name a person, with a short bio. Like "Sonny Bono, Congressman, husband of Cher, mayor of Palm Springs: Dead or Alive?" I think the way it worked, if I remember right, is the next day the paper would let its waiting with bated breath readers know if the person was Dead or Alive.

Right now I can't think of anything tackier that I've ever seen in any legit newspaper. I wonder if anyone got fired for the Dead or Alive lapse in judgement?

I wonder if anyone will get fired over the Blab! of the Day lapses in judgement? I suspect not.

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.