Dallas Cowboy Stadium Pending Lawsuits

There are still 22 lawsuits against the city of Arlington brought by homeowners who did not appreciate having their homes taken from them for a private business that wanted a football stadium built where their homes were.

I've never understood how the people could be kicked out of their homes and those homes destroyed, before they had had their day in court. That just seems wrong. And somehow sort of criminal to me.

It is as if the city of Arlington and Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys did commit a sort of criminal conspiracy that direly effected citizen's lives in no less a manner than if an arsonist had burned down their house or a terrorist exploded it.

At least with the lawsuits there is some hope that some sort of justice will win out in the end. The city of Arlington's own attorney, Jay Doegey says the lawsuits are about challenging the constitutionality of the city's actions.

Go here to see what was done in Arlington go get a place to play a few games a year.

Go hear to read comments from around the world regarding what people think of what Jerry Jone's and the Dallas Cowboys did to some people in Arlington.

The Big Cheese Rodent Factory

There is a rodent breeding factory in south Fort Worth called the Big Cheese Rodent Factory that produces between 500,000 and 600,000 mice and rats a month.

Why you wonder? I know I did.

Well. In 1999 Lynda Hanna read in the Wall Street Journal that there was a need for rodents to feed the growing population of exotic animals for whom rats and mice are dinner. So, Lynda and her son, Chad Martin opened the Big Cheese Rodent Factory.

All was hunky dory in the rat/mice breeding business until neighboring businesses and residents started complaining to the city about the foul odor coming from the Rodent Factory. That complaining grew louder in the past couple months because the Big Cheese owners have asked for a zoning change so they can expand the Rodent Factory.

A city inspector sent to check out the smell said it was so bad he had moments of nausea while inspecting.

The Rodent Factory is trying to lessen its stench. One of their breeding zones has had a ozone filter installed that greatly improves air quality. Another odor source is the used up sawdust tossed into a garbage bin. They are trying to lessen that problem with disinfectant sprays.

What I know for certain is I would not want to live by a Big Cheese Rodent Factory. Bad smells aside. What if the rats escaped? Remember the movie, Willard?

Texas Ant Invasion Episode 4

This morning's ant invasion came in 2 parts. First thing this morning when I went in the kitchen to make coffee I was greeted by a sink full of Sugar Ants.

I'd emptied and not replaced my can of kitchen safe ant killer. So, I had to manually exterminate the sink invaders.

An hour later I was peacefully sitting in my living room when I noticed a wall moving. This was on the opposite wall from last week's living room ant invasion. Following the trail, I saw the ants were invading via the front door and were hugely massed there. They then went up the wall and made a path where the ceiling meets the wall. That path continued about 40 feet, to the fireplace, where the ant trail went back to ground level, behind the TV, where the trail met up with the ants coming in.

Near as I could tell the ant invasion was going in a vicious circle to nowhere.

I desperately needed ant killer. My first impulse was to run across the street to Albertsons. Then I remembered the huge arsenal of insect killer cans that my nearby Puerto Rican had. So I called her and she did have a can of ant killer.

So, I ran over to her place as fast as my legs could carry me, got the can, got back here and got to killing ants. The extermination took about 2 minutes.

I don't know what is making this year's ants so invasive. Maybe it's the drought.

I Googled for any info as to how to deal with invading Sugar Ants. I learned that Sugar Ant isn't their scientific name. To ant experts they are known as Pavement Ants.

Marco Polo & Screaming Kids

What is the deal with kids in a swimming pool screaming "Marco Polo" back and forth at each other?

I first experienced this about 10 years ago at a horrible Six Motel in a dismal border town in Arizona, called Douglas. The Six Motel sat next to a former motel that had been converted into a makeshift prison, surrounded by concertina wire. I think a lot of the people staying at the rundown Six Motel were staying there so they could visit inmates next door.

I could not hear the kids in the pool from my room. But as soon as I opened the motel room's door I started hearing Marco Polo being yelled back and forth. I walked by the pool and watched and listened from above. There seemed to be no point, besides taking turns screaming Marco Polo.

Move forward a decade. I'm around a lot of swimming pools in Texas. I've heard a lot of Marco Poloing. About 5 years into my Texas exile I was told there is some sort of legit Marco Polo game played in swimming pools. A sort of waterborne version of tag. However, I've never seen this actually played.

All I've ever heard and seen is kids screaming Marco Polo back and forth at each other for no noticeable game purpose. I figure at some point in time some kids somewhere saw some kids playing the actual Marco Polo game, but didn't understand it. So they morphed the game into just screaming Marco Polo back and forth til they get bored with it. And then other kids saw those kids doing that and did that themselves.

Who knows how far this aberrant behavior has now spread. It needs to stop.

Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Disappearing?

In the past week or so I've noticed a steep decline in the amount of propaganda being spewed by Chesapeake Energy. For months it has seemed you could not go through a day without getting multiple messages in multiple forms attempting to convince us that Barnett Shale and Chesapeake Energy are the most wonderful thing to ever bless long blessed Texas.

Yesterday, as I sat outside enjoying the ultra blue sky and the ultra white clouds, I saw at least 6 buses go by. Not a single one was plastered with a Barnett Shale message. Previously it seemed like one out of every two buses said something like "The Children of Texas Thank You Barnett Shale."

I have not seen Tommy Lee Jones on my TV all week long doing his shilling for the Barnett Shale. Yesterday, I noticed the Tommy Lee Jones Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale billboard I'd taken a photo of weeks ago is now gone. So are the other Chesapeake Energy billboards on the section of I-30 I drive regularly. There has not been a full page Chesapeake Energy ad in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since last week's rather odd one featuring Tommy Lee Jones saying "Texans can live with industry. We always have."

I wonder how many dollars Chesapeake Energy has spent on its propaganda campaign? Those bus signs can't be cheap. I imagine Tommy Lee Jones charges a hefty fee to be a propaganda tool. Billboards are expensive. And then there are those TV ads. I wonder why Chesapeake Energy feels they need to try so hard to convince Texans that drilling into the Barnett Shale is such a good thing?

If we all agree that we all love what Chesapeake Energy is doing to the Barnett Shale, could Chesapeake Energy stop throwing money away on ads and instead, maybe, hold a weekly free beer party in the Fort Worth Stockyards? Now, that'd be the way to win the hearts and minds of Texans.

The Bluest Skies I've Ever Seen In Texas

I don't know what happened. We had had no storm blow through. It wasn't windy. But for some reason the air in the D/FW Metroplex appeared to be totally devoid of any pollution on Saturday.

Looking out the window, this morning, it appears Sunday's air is totally clear too.

That's the balcony view in the photos. The super white clouds and the extra blue sky made for good Texas scenery yesterday.

Of late, we've been under High Ozone Alerts. Supposedly this type air is dangerous to little kids, the elderly and those with respiratory problems. Of those categories, the only one I come close to is the elderly one. I've never actually been troubled by air pollution here. It's never been a bad thing, like being in Los Angeles and having the pollution sting my eyes.

The only jarring thing I saw in the sky yesterday was the weekly fly-by of a giant sign being tugged through the air by a little airplane, apparently trying to motivate me to go to something called Huggins to buy a car.

Tattoo Granny Revolting Reaction

Last month I blogged about a front page story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a tattoo covered granny who calls herself Miss Dixie. I did not focus on the Star-Telegram's making this a front page story. My focus was on this granny's bizarre, in my opinion, behavior.

Well. A couple days ago there were a pair of letters to the editor that took issue with the Star-Telegram's bad judgement in putting this story on the front page.

Letter to the Editor #1---------

Furthermore...

I like newspapers. I grew up around newspapers. I’ve written for newspapers. Some of my best friends work for newspapers. But I’ve never seen a more unseemly and unprofessional front page than that on June 21 featuring a large color photo of a woman’s tattooed back and arms. And you wonder why revenues are down?

— Bruce Rider, Grapevine

Letter to the Editor #2---------

Lots of ink

I looked at the front page of the June 21 Star-Telegram and couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a large picture of a woman covered by tattoos over her whole body. The story said that her mother died of cancer when she was 47 and she had a small tattoo put on her in remembrance of her mother. I do not find fault with this, as a small tattoo on someone’s body does not upset me.

However, I can’t stand to see all these ballplayers covered with them — and especially not this woman, Shirley “Miss Dixie” Hammond. She does not have a spot left on her body except for her face, which will probably be next.

Using two types of cancer and family trauma is not an excuse. I suffered from three types of cancer for 10 years and have now been free of it for 10 years. I did not get one tattoo to get me over this cancer and the traumas I have had in my 76 years.

These tattoos kept her out of la-la land and alive and happy? Her psychiatrist said it’s because she is paranoid. Yes, he is right. Her disorder is characterized by delusions of persecution or grandeur, often strenuously defended with apparent logic and reason.

These tattoos over her body did not keep her out of la-la land but put her in it very deeply. It was a very bad article for our young and upcoming generations.

— Don Vouky, Arlington

Texas Not In Top Ten Fattest States

I was shocked to learn today that something called CalorieLab used something called the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System database to determine the 50 states obesity levels, so as to rank them from Fattest to Leanest.

It is not too shocking that states in the West and New England ranked lighter, while the South and the Rust Belt ranked heavier.

Mississippi has been the fattest state for three years in a row. And Texas isn't in the Top Ten. Texas is the 15th Fattest State.

The leanest state is Colorado. Hawaii is the second leanest. My old home of Washington state is getting fat at #32, but not as fat as Oregon at #29. California is the leanest west coast state at #41. I guess Alaska is sort of on the west coast. Alaska is fatter than Texas at #14 fattest.

Washington has gotten fatter since I left the state and Texas has gotten leaner since I've been here. I don't know what to conclude. Maybe I should move to Mississippi, for awhile, and see if that causes the Mississippians weight to go down and Texans to go back up.

Texas 4th of July

Time seems to increasingly pass faster. It's already the 4th of July. Again.

My first 4th of July in Texas was not what I expected. I figured, in Texas, firecrackers and other explosives would be out of control. Instead, it's tightly controlled. I likely will not hear a single firecracker today.

Where I lived in Washington, in the sedate town of Mount Vernon, it was like a war zone, with neighbors launching simulataneous attacks trying to outdo each other. It was fun to watch. But not so fun when an errant rocket would land on my roof, still burning.

It's odd that the proud state of Texas, with its Cowboy, All American, supposedly Free-Spirited, Independence-Minded self image is, in actuality, one of the more repressive states in the union, where the pursuit of happiness is more tightly regulated than in the more progressive, liberated states. Like Washington.

In Washington there are dozens of casinos. For those for whom the pursuit of happiness means throwing money away on silly games. In Texas, casinos are banned.

In Washington there are no dry zones. In Texas, remnants of Prohibition remain. In some areas of Texas you can not find alcoholic beverages. In Washington you are free to pursue happiness via a bottle wherever you live.

In Washington you are free to pursue happiness without fearing that the government will abuse eminent domain laws and boot you out of your home. In Texas your house can be stolen via eminent domain abuse to build a sports stadium, a mall parking lot or a corporate headquarters. It seems totally Un-American to abuse an American's pursuit of happiness in this way.

In Washington, the people are allowed to vote on projects that may affect their pursuit of happiness. For instance, the citizens of Seattle voted 5 times on a billion dollar monorail project, with the final vote killing the project. The citizens of Fort Worth, Texas have not been allowed to vote on a bizarre project called the Trinity River Vision, that will result in the destruction of the convergence of two forks of the Trinity River in order to build a little lake and some canals. And force dozens of businesses to relocate, thus robbing them of their personal pursuit of happiness, in yet more eminent domain abuse in Texas.

I don't know how this can be done without a public vote. It seems, well, un-American to me.

Have a happy 4th of July. I may be going to the Arlington 4th of July Parade this morning. It's one of the biggest in the nation. I've only watched it once. It was a very good parade.

It's only 16 days til I can buy booze wherever I want it, throw away money in a casino and blow up firecrackers to my heart's content. And smell pine-scented air and see big mountains and pick blackberries growing wild and free. Blackberries are regulated in Texas and are not free.

Texas Being Invaded By Ants

I'd barely finished a long-winded blogging about Seattle when I discovered I was facing my worst ant invasion of the year. This dwarfed last week's invasion.

I was sitting in the living room, when I looked out the patio window to see a line of ants moving on the wall. I followed the line up, then across the room, around the corner. And into my kitchen.

I grabbed my new can of almost empty ant spray and started exterminating the pests. I began at the patio door, because that appeared to be their entry point. By the time I got to the kitchen I saw they were swarming by my popcorn bowl, which sits on the shelf on top of the cabinets.

I grabbed the bowl. It was full of ants. I guess they like Parmesan cheese. I put the bowl in the sink and flushed them down the drain. It was disgusting. I turned on the disposal to make sure none survived.

This summer is looking to be a bad one, ant-wise. How can I leave this place un-attended by a responsible adult for a month? I could return to a total infestation.

Below is a video that shows you just how bad it is getting in Texas, ant-wise.