Fort Worth Gas Below $2

On the way to going to the Tandy Hills to go hiking I go by a gas station that always has the cheapest gas. My regular co-hiker and I regularly guess as to what the latest price will be. There is no prize for being closest to the correct price.

Today as we neared the Tandy Hills gas station I guessed $1.99. My regular co-hiker guessed $2.03. $2.03 was correct.

Then, a bit over an hour later, driving back by the Tandy Hills gas station, the price had fallen by 4 cents and I now had the correct amount.

And now for today's early morning swimming news. The overnight low got down to 54. So, it was a bit nippy going outside. But the water was warmer than the air. I swam for a half hour or so.

Voting on Boondoggles in Texas and Washington

I mentioned last week, or was it the week before, that voting is so different in Texas than I was used to in Washington. In Texas it seems you vote on dozens upon dozens of judges. And a couple other things. I didn't bother voting on the judges because I knew nothing about them. It took me less than 15 seconds to vote in Texas. It used to take way longer in Washington.

I did vote yes on the only to non-human things on the ballot, that being allowing booze to be sold in stores and restaurants in Fort Worth. I did not understand the need for these two propositions because you can already buy booze in stores and restaurants in Fort Worth.

By way of showing the extreme contrast in what the citizens get to vote for in Washington and Texas, three Washington counties, King, Pierce and Snohomish voted in favor of expanding the, soon to open, light rail. And to expand the regional bus system. The light rail will now go north to Lynnwood in Snohomish County, south to Federal Way and east, across the I-90 floating bridge, to Bellevue and Redmond. Redmond is where Microsoft is located.

I can't imagine any combo of the counties that make up the D/FW Metroplex voting on a proposition together for their mutual benefit. When the Dallas Cowboys demanded a new stadium there was no suggestion that all of North Texas vote to fund it, or the towns of the D/FW Metroplex, or even one county of the Metroplex. Instead it fell to the little town of Arlington to vote to tax themselves to build the $billion plus stadium. And abuse their neighbors with the most outrageous use of eminent domain in American history.

Contrast what was done to Arlington to get a new stadium for Jerry Jones with what was done in Seattle to get the Seahawks a new stadium. The entire state of Washington voted and passed the proposal to tear down the Kingdome and build a new stadium. The population of Washington is smaller than the population of the D/FW Metroplex.

Fort Worth is moving ahead with a, in my opinion, bizarre, likely boondoggle plan, to alter the Trinity River to build a little lake, some canals, a flood control diversion channel and some wetlands restoration. This is called the Trinity River Vision. The main trouble I see with this supposed vision is that the citizens of Fort Worth have not been allowed to vote on this project which will greatly alter their city.

In my opinion it should be against the law to use eminent domain to take property for projects the public has not approved of via the ballot box.

The fact that the citizens of Fort Worth do not get to vote on Fort Worth projects may be why so many of them turn into boondoggles. The Ruling Junta does not have to make its case to the people, they just plow ahead, like a dictatorship. Stalin used to come up with some rather goofy Trinity River Vision type boondoggles. There I would have been likely shot for calling a Stalin project a boondoggle.

Here in Fort Worth I feel relatively safe from the Ruling Junta. Relatively.

The Reddest State in the Union

Slightly edited incoming from Don Young....

Which is the REDDEST state in the U.S.A.? (red from embarrassment?)

Is it Texas? Nope.

Is it Alaska? Nope.

Is it Alabama? Nope.

Is it Arizona? Nope.

Is it Utah? Nope.

Is it Arkansas? Nope.

Is it Wyoming? Nope.

The winner of the honor of being the REDDEST state in the nation goes to Oklahoma! Home of Chesapeake Energy and Aubrey McClendon. And likely Snidely Whiplash, but I'm just speculating on that.

There is not a single county in Oklahoma that went BLUE. Oklahoma voted 65.5% for McCain to 34.4% for our new President, Barack Obama. A larger McCain margin of victory than any of the other 49 states.

Obviously, this is a strictly non-partisan message. That goes without saying, so why did I say it, I can't help but wonder....

Making Juneteenth a National Holiday

I got a comment this morning on a blog I wrote way back on June 19. Before I moved to Texas I'd never heard of Juneteenth. Now it's a holiday in 29 states, including my home state of Washington. There is a movement to make this a National Holiday. I'm of the opinion this is a good idea. Below is the comment I got from "Doc" about making Juneteenth a National Holiday....

Juneteenth is America’s 2nd Independence Day celebration. Americans of African descent were trapped in the tyranny of enslavement on the country's first "4th of July", 1776, Independence Day. We honor our ancestors, Americans of African descent, who heard the news of freedom and celebrated with great joy and jubilation, on the "19th of June", Juneteenth, 1865.

It took over 88 years for the news of freedom to be announced in Southwest Texas, over two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln.

The National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign has worked diligently for several years to establish legislation in 29 states to recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday or state holiday observance, the District of Columbia, as well as the Congress of the United States. This has been a great accomplishment for the "Modern Juneteenth Movement" in America, reaching far beyond the establishment of Juneteenth as a state holiday in the place were it all began, in Texas, first celebrated in 1980.

Together we will see Juneteenth become a National Holiday in America!

“DOC”
Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.
Chairman
National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign
National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF)
National Juneteenth Christian Leadership Council (NJCLC)
www.Juneteenth.us
www.19thofJune.com
www.njclc.com
www.JuneteenthJazz.com

Another Warning of an Upcoming Texas Ecological Disaster

The Weatherford Democrat, that's a newspaper in Weatherford, Texas. Weatherford is in Parker County. Parker County borders Tarrant County to the west. Tarrant County is where Fort Worth is.

Enough of the geography lesson. Yesterday the Weatherford Democrat reported in a report titled "Another saltwater leak found" that a leak has been discovered in a salt-water transmission pipeline owned by Barnett Gathering.

The leaking pipeline runs through property owned by Cole's Plants, Inc. and Harry's Greenhouses, Inc., near the town of Brock. The leak has already killed plants.

The saltwater running through these type pipes is a by-product of the Barnett Shale fraccing process. The saltwater contains chemicals, metals and other materials that are detrimental to the environment.

This spill is the second in the area to come to light lately.

Click to read the Weatherford Democrat article....

World Celebrates America & President Obama

It appears the People of the World woke up this morning to find themselves in a happy place. Those are Kenyans celebrating America's Election in the photo. Similar scenes have been happening all over the world.

Suddenly there seems to be optimism in the air. I read one quote, from I think it was a person in Iran, that overnight America had become, again, the America the world has long looked up to. Or something like that.

I was surprised by my reaction last night. I stayed up way past my regular bedtime. At 10pm when the polls closed on the West Coast and California was projected for Obama, thus making him our new President, the scene at Grant's Park in Chicago was one of the more amazing things I've watched on TV.

You had Jesse Jackson with tears running down his cheeks. You had Oprah with a look of utter peace and contentment.

As I channel chased after Obama had won I saw many moving moments. Civil Rights hero, now Representative John Lewis, a man who in the 1960s was left beaten and bloody on an Alabama bridge, beaten because he was marching for the right to vote, 40 years later voted for Barack Obama. Rep. Lewis said he really never believed he would live to see what he saw happen last night.

What surprised me about me last night was several times I got, well, sort of choked up. I'd been a tad reluctant about Obama, particularly after his choice of Joe Biden. I would have much preferred someone like Bill Richardson. But last night as that scene unfolded, as I saw how people were affected, and then I sat there feeling affected, realizing this was one of those moments that does not happen all that often, as in being eye witness, via TV, to a historic world-changing moment.

I have long thought that America was better than its reputation regarding race relations. I've long thought the majority of Americans had long ago decided that being racist was pure evil ignorance and that it was just plain wrong. I think the majority of people of all races, religions and ethnic groups are not racist, are embarrassed by those who are and want us all to just get along.

Some are saying that Obama's election proves America has now moved beyond its racist past. I think we moved beyond it long before Obama's election. For a long time now we've seen people like Colin Powell, Condalezza Rice in positions of power. Colin Powell might easily have won this election had he decided to run.

Decades ago there were few people but white people on TV. Now we have diversity on news shows, entertainment shows, all over all media. At one time it was a big deal that Sidney Poitier won an Oscar. At one point it was a big deal that Diahann Carrol played the title role on a sit-com named Julia. A couple decades after that Bill Cosby had the top-rated sit-com showing a very successful, very functional, very funny Black family.

Barack Obama is not the first person with African roots to be embraced by America. Remember the profound affect Alex Haley's Roots had on America when that mini-series aired night after night with the country riveted? We took a great leap forward as a nation after Roots raised America's consciousness of the real history of the Black experience in America.

Remember when America first met the late Barbara Jordan of Texas? Back in the 70s, during the Nixon Impeachment Hearings, she, with a voice of authority that demanded attention said the memorable words, "Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: "We, the people." It's a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that "We, the people." I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in "We, the people.""

And now, it is totally undeniable, we are all included in "We the People." That's a good thing. For everyone, everywhere.

Washington State Celebrates Our New President Obama

I stayed up way later than my norm last night, glued to the TV. Best night of election viewing ever. More on that later. Most of Texas went for McCain. But my zone of Texas, that being the D/FW zone did not. Nor did the Austin zone, and a few other isolated pockets of Texas.

Meanwhile the zone I lived in in Washington, that being west of the mountains, the Puget Sound region, one of the bluest, most liberal, most progressive parts of America went solidly for Obama.

That first photo is people in my old home town of Mount Vernon celebrating Obama's win. The other photo was taken by my little sister in Tacoma. That's a line of Washingtonians waiting to vote. They look so cold.

I did not hear any horn honking or celebratory noises here last night. Maybe downtown Fort Worth and Dallas had a lot of people on the streets. I don't know. The Star-Telegram made no mention of such a thing this morning.

Check out the video below to see what happened in downtown Seattle last night after we got a new President. From the video it appears people flooded downtown from Pike Place to Westlake Center and beyond. You never see this many people being happy on the streets of downtown Fort Worth.

I Feel Good About America Tonight

That's all I've got....

My Right To Life, Sax & Roller Blading In Texas

More on the sax later.

First, my daily swimming report. I got in the water about 7am. It was a bit cooler than yesterday, but it was very pleasant. After I became numbed.

Rush Limbaugh didn't wear on my nerves today. Because I turned him off after about 10 minutes.

I had to go to Washington Mutual again today. Before that I went to the Post Office and got gas. Not at the Post Office, but at the gas station near the Post Office. $2.08 a gallon. I didn't call mom to tell her I got gas. I'd just done that on Sunday. It'd just worry her if she knew I got gas again so soon.

After Washington Mutual I went to Quanah Parker Park to go roller blading. As I put on my blades I started to hear music. A mournful sort of sound. In the distance I saw a guy standing, playing a saxophone. He seemed to be quite good. But I'm tone deaf, so who knows.

That's the sax player in the first photo. That's me roller blading in the second photo.

I had me quite a fine time roller blading. Today it was windy which makes rolling on wheels a bit more challenging.

After I was done with Quanah Parker Park I went to my polling place to check out some books. There seemed to be a lot of voters. There was one annoying woman holding a big "Vote Right to Life" sign. I don't care if that's her point of view. I just don't want her waving a sign at me when I'm going to get a book.

So, that's my Election Day excitement for now. My Election Night Party starts at 7. You are welcome to come. Just don't bring any signs. Or say anything stupid. I maintain a Stupid-Free Zone nowadays. If I can help it. Which I can.

Dixville Notch & Hart's Location Pick Obama in a Landslide

Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, in New Hampshire, have voted. And their votes have been counted. Obama won by a landslide.

Is this a predictor of how the rest of the day goes?

Who knows?

Historically the two town's have gone for both the winners and the losers in the elections since 1948 when they began their on and off tradition of being first in the nation to be counted.

The voters in the 2 New Hampshire villages started voting at midnight. Each voter gets their own voting booth, so that there is no line, so as to speed up the vote counting.

Dixville Notch gets a 100% voter turnout. I don't know about Hart's Location. I do know Hart's Location is an odd name for a village. It must be the location of Hart.