The Good Works of Fort Worth's Ruling Junta

I'm reading a book where this guy tracks the route of Alexander the Great's conquests, some of which were in what later became part of the now gone Soviet Union. In this book the writer often makes note as to how Alexander's propagandist sent altered realities back to Greece for the consumption of the home front.

The Soviet Union used to have this propaganda tool called Pravda (Russian for Truth), which the Soviets used to manipulate their people with their lying spins on reality.

Why in the world am I talking about this? Well, here in Fort Worth we have what is known as a Ruling Junta. We really don't have what is known as a representative democracy. Some are trying to fix this, like Clyde Picht, who is trying to unseat Fort Worth's corrupt mayor, Mike Moncrief.

Fort Worth's Ruling Junta does not have Pravda, what they have is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram dispensing their version of the "TRUTH."

This was brought to mind a couple days ago when I was reading the letters to the editor in the Ruling Junta's online newspaper. It was a letter that was such a bad example of over the top propaganda I was appalled. Did the writer of this letter actually believe what he was writing? Or is he a mouthpiece/shill for the Ruling Junta? Who knows? Even though, apparently this guy is the mayor of North Richland Hills, he could still be a Ruling Junta shill. The Soviets used to plant people in their satellite states.

Anyway, here is the letter........

Thanks are due

Many thanks to the government leaders of Fort Worth for their continuing efforts to make the Dallas-Fort Worth region the best place to live in the United States. Mayor Mike Moncrief and the entire City Council work diligently for their residents to make Fort Worth the great place it is — and they still make time to help their neighbors improve the region.

Council members Jungus Jordan, Kathleen Hicks, Danny Scarth, Frank Moss, Carter Burdette, Sal Espino and Joel Burns are all active in the important regional issues we face. I often find them at many diverse functions pushing for a better quality of life for all residents in this area.

I personally thank the Fort Worth City Council for going above and beyond to work for a better life for all of us in North Texas.

— Oscar Trevino, mayor, North Richland Hills

How in the world is Fort Worth's Ruling Junta making an effort to make the D/FW region the best place to live in America? This is the best place to live in in America??? I've seen a lot of the rest of America. I beg to differ.

Mayor Mike and the entire city council work diligently to make Fort Worth the great city it is???

Examples, please, examples.

Is this guy talking about the boarding up of Heritage Park, it being where Fort Worth started and a monument to its heritage? Is this an example of the great work this city council is doing?

They still make time to help their neighbors improve the region??? Tell that to people who live along Fossil Creek in Haltom City.

Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie Texas

The Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival starts up tomorrow (Saturday, April 4) and continues every Saturday and Sunday through Memorial Day.

What is Scarborough Faire, you may be wondering. Well, it's this village built on a Texas prairie, replicating as best one can in the 21st Century a 16th Century English village.

Scarborough Faire is very very well done. I liked it more than Six Flags. There is jousting and sword fights, wenches with excessive boobage, skinny men in tights, all sorts of shows, crafts, music, food. And beer.

I've only gone to Scarborough Faire once, several years ago. I webpaged my experience. When I did that, little did I know, that I had set off the most over the top reaction to anything I'd done on the Internet. The overreaction continued for several years. I got invited back for a guided tour, so as to educate me out of my Scarborough ignorance. I got invited to Scarborough parties. And I got invited to attend their training sessions. I got invited to the Houston area Renaissance Festival. And I got invited to a wedding.

I did not manage to go to any of the things I was invited to. Not due to not wanting to. It just didn't work out. I did meet a couple of the Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival people in person. That was interesting.

I may go this year. I may not. If you have not been to this event and you live in the D/FW zone, it is worth the drive and the admission price. Trust me. It is just outside of southwest Waxahachie. Waxahachie is just a few miles south of Dallas. If you've not seen Waxahachie before, it is also worth a visit, with its incredibly ornate courthouse square and all the Victorian houses in town. Waxahachie has been used as a movie backdrop several times.

I've almost talked myself into going to Waxahachie and Scarborough Faire.

Post April Fool's Day Blues in Texas

Yesterday was the first day of April. This is also known as April Fool's Day. Some call this day All Fools' Day. It is not actually a holiday in the formal sense, but it is celebrated in many countries around the world.

This special day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication, perpetrated on friends, non-friends, family, neighbors, Internet users or just about anybody else, sending them on some sort of fool's errand or tricking them into believing some piece of information, the purpose of which, apparently, is to embarrass the gullible.

I can not imagine doing such a thing.

On April Fool's Day I blogged about ending my exile in Texas and my unfortunate weight gain, that had me contributing to trying to make Texas the fattest state in the union, which by default would make Texas the fattest place on the planet.

I got a lot of comments and emails about moving and being fat. The comments and emails truly touched me, truly, I tell you, truly.

Regarding ending my Texas Exile....

Tootsie Tonasket emailed:
You're coming back to Washington? Come live with me.

CP emailed:
You're moving to Seattle? Why not back to the valley?

Anonymous commented:
You are not allowed to go anywhere! Do you hear me?! Who is going to report the truth?! Certainly not our media...Anyway back to my original statement. You can stop unpacking now. Today's lesson - Life is too short not to live it as a Texan!!!!!

TT commented:
I am shocked. You're actually moving back! This should be fun.

And then another Anonymous commented:
Just so you know, Lord Voldemort is back on the streets. Does this change your decision to return?

Seattle Girl emailed:
When you going to be here? The day after meet me at Pacific Edge Starbucks, k?

And yet one more Anonymous commented:
I'm not sure if I love you or hate you. I will not deny being amuzed by your sometimes funny, sometimes sarcastic takes on Texas issues and overweight people. I call you my guilty pleasure. If you ever leave Texas you will regret it. I was not born or raised in Texas, just end up here via US Army. When I think about Texas I think about mild weather, warm and frienly people and the place where everything happens. I love Texas and everything about it.For every 10 Durangos leaving Texas there are a 100 waiting to have a shot at it. Take care whatever you do, wherever you end up.

Deby commented:
Please, please, please don't go! Who will be go to for the fun and facts about Texas, the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, Chesapeake Energy, fat woment at Wal-Mart, etc? Really, you can't leave us. It just wouldn't be right!!!

Well, I must say, Deby makes a compelling case. I shall have to give this all some thought.

And then there were the comments and emails about my unfortunate weight gain. There was only one comment to the blog.

Yet one more Anonymous told me:
You really do look like a really fat Tom Cruise.

And then there were a couple emails. With only one amusing one.

Tubby Tuna emailed:
It looks like your anti-obesity crusade bad karma came up and bit you on your fat ass! Hah! You deserve it porker!

Well, I've got news for Tubby Tuna. I was in error regarding my shocking weight gain. A mechanical error. My scale was reporting false information. This morning I bought a new scale that both measures my weight and my body fat %. I was pleased to learn I've lost 35 pounds overnight and only 7.5% of me is fat. How much of you is fat, Tubby Tuna?

I didn't think that old scale was making sense. It seemed like if I'd gained 35 pounds that my pants wouldn't still be so loose on me. Well, that's another mystery solved!

Anyway. Thanks, you all, for all your concern. About both me ending my Texas exile and my sudden descent into porkiness.

Seeing the Signs in the Tandy Hills

No. I am not talking about the signs of spring. Though those were sadly lacking today while hiking the Tandy Hills. Well, there was an extremely brisk wind that had blown the air clean. But there were no other fresh signs of spring.

As in no new wildflowers. I fear the earlier reports are accurate and due to the drought of last fall, which continued through winter and now into spring, the wildflowers this year in Texas are going to be a bit less colorful than the norm.

The signs I'm talking about seeing in the Tandy Hills Natural Area are the extremely unnatural signs you see in the photo. That particular one blocks a view of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. Next to the sign a cable stretches across the trail, adding a possible tripwire to the Tandy Hills hiker who isn't paying close attention. Such as me.

I don't know why these signs have been added. I have never seen a motorized vehicles wheeling over the Tandy Hills. It'd take a jeep or an ORV with big wheels. It is pretty rough terrain. I have also never seen a horse on these hills. I have seen a kid on a mountain bike. I remember asking him why? Due to the Tandy Trails not really being conducive to mountain biking. He told me he didn't realize the trails were so rough.

I hope this wind isn't blowing in anything wet or loud. Or cold. I like having my windows open.

Dallas Cop Robert Powell Quits & Wants To Apologize To Moats Family

As the scandal caused by his abuse of his police power continued to boil, Dallas Police Officer, Robert Powell resigned on April Fools' Day.

Somehow that seems appropriate, to resign on April Fool's Day, not that the resignation is a trick, but that this guy seems to be one big fool who should never have graduated from the Police Academy. Then again, I don't know if Texas Cops are required to graduate from a Police Academy.

In an April Fool's Day statement, released through his attorneys, Powell said he resigned "with a heavy heart and great sadness" and he wanted to apologize to his fellow officers, as well as to the Moats family.

"I still hope to speak with the Moats family to personally express my deep regret, sympathy and to apologize for my poor judgment and unprofessional conduct," Powell said in the statement. "I made this decision in the hope that my resignation will allow the Dallas Police Department, my fellow officers and the citizens of Dallas to better reflect on this experience, learn from the mistakes made and move forward."

An internal investigation into the incident will continue, Dallas police said.

I still think Powell should have been immediately fired as soon as his superiors viewed the video of his bizarre, inappropriate, borderline psycho conduct.

Confessions of a Fat Man

Things have gone downhill for me, weight-wise. I feel like such a hypocrite. A time or two in the past 6 months I think I may have blogged about the obese people plague.

In my mind I weighed 168.5. That is what I weighed when I flew up to Tacoma for a month last July. While in Tacoma attempts were made to fatten me up. I was forced to eat dinner, of a high caloric sort, which I don't usually do.

No matter how many times I'd insist that I don't eat dinner, I was forced to do so, including one time being coerced against my will to go to McDonalds for a Fish Sandwich Happy Meal.

While in Tacoma I was continually plied with fermented beverages with a high caloric count. I was repeatedly brought to restaurants and made to eat.

However, for some reason I was able to escape Tacoma, after a month of the forced feeding, and make it back here to Skinny Texas, having only gained a pound or two. It was a miracle. I attribute the lack of a huge weight gain to all the nervous stress I was subjected to.

All went well for months after I got back to Texas. No weight gain. And then the first of the year arrived. A week later my mom and dad arrived. Each day of their visit I was brought to an All You Can Eat restaurant, Babe's Chicken, Riscky's BBQ and Sweet Tomatoes. The visit to Sweet Tomatoes proved to be the breaking point. I have returned again and again.

I don't know how many times I've been to Zorro's Buffet since January 1. I started buying cheese again, a lot of it. Butter started being melted on my evening air popped corn.

I swore I would never let myself get over 200 pounds again. This morning I weighed 205. I'm a fat bloated whale. I look like a fat version of my lookalike, Tom Cruise. On the bright side, all this fat makes me float easily in the pool and insulates me from the cold of the water.

I can put on weight fast and take it off fast. I am in take off mode now. I anticipate the process to take a couple weeks with me back in the 170 zone by May.

My Exile In Texas Comes To An End

I knew, or sort of knew, that this day would one day come. I said it wouldn't, but I sort of knew it would.

I've lost track, during the time of my exile in Texas, how many times, in response to the most mild verbalization of something that some super-sensitive, insecure Texan sort perceived to be some sort of criticism of Texas, that I have been advised to haul my Yankee self back north by whatever means and direction I arrived in the #1 state in the union.

Usually this sentiment regarding my departure is not expressed as politely as I worded it.

Well, the means of my arrival was a moving van, the direction was from the northwest via Amarillo and Highway 287. I have not decided for certain, but my exit will likely be via the same means and direction.

I will be heading to Seattle to a condo by Myrtle Edwards Park on Elliot Bay in downtown Seattle. That is the view in the picture. Unlike Fort Worth, Seattle already has a town lake in the form of Puget Sound and Lake Washington and Lake Union and other lakes. I'd be an old man if I waited here in Fort Worth for the Trinity River Vision to finally become clear and create a lake and some canals with condos, so I could move to a place facing water.

Reliable sources, more than one, have told me that Lord Voldemort, aka the Fremont Behemoth, is back safely behind bars, thus making a return to the Northwest seem safer and saner.

Adjusting to the weather will be difficult. Very difficult. Adjusting to being able to pick all the blackberries I want, for free, will be easy. As will having access to all the other berries and fruits and vegetables that grow in Washington. I believe that and fresh seafood are the number one things I miss.

I'll miss Texas, really, I will. There is an awful lot I like about Texas. An awful lot. I'll likely return to visit. Especially to see both the Dallas and Fort Worth Trinity River projects in their various iterations come, hopefully, to fruition.

In the meantime, I'm busy packing.....

Gateway Park's Failing Boardwalks & Fort Woof

As you can in the picture of the jogger running up the wooden stairs, after last night's rainy thunderstorm, we have had a return to blue sky and pleasant temperatures.

The jogger is running up stairs that are part of an elaborate boardwalk that brings you down to the Trinity River from a bluff in Fort Worth's Gateway Park.

I decided to do something radically different today. Hence hiking at Gateway Park rather than one of my regular locations. I was hoping to find the Trinity in making rapids mode. But all the heavy rain did was make the river muddy.

Gateway Park is just a couple miles from my abode, closer than Tandy Hills Park. The I-30 Freeway separates Tandy Hills Park and Gateway Park, with Tandy on the south side, which makes Gateway on the north side of both the freeway and the river.

Gateway Park is the location of one of Fort Worth's proudest achievements, that being Fort Woof, home to what something called Dog Fancy magazine ranked as the #1 Dog Park in America. I don't remember if we had a city-wide celebration for being #1 or not.

In Gateway Park there are two elaborate boardwalks, one of which you see in the pictures. Both have been allowed to fall on hard times. Floods have wreaked havoc, burying the last few switchbacks in sand and dirt, now overgrown with foliage. It's sad, after going to the bother and expense of building the things, that they have been left so neglected. Eventually deterioration will likely necessitate the total removal of these boardwalks. That would be a shame.

But. Fort Worth is not really all that big on preserving things. Look at poor Heritage Park. Fort Worth hasn't managed to un-eyesore that sad monument to civic neglect, even with it representing where Fort Worth began. And its heritage.

Fort Worth also does not do a very good job with keeping the Fort Worth Stockyards looking good. Even though the Stockyards are on the National Historical Area Registry. And yet many buildings in that location have sat, ever since I moved to Texas, as boarded up eyesores.

When I saw the Gateway Park Boardwalks, for the first time, the boards must have been fairly new. There was no deterioration at that time. I saw them after a heavy rain had the Trinity running high. It made the boardwalk look like it ran right into the water. Which made it a scary looking boardwalk.

Gateway Park has added a Disc Golf Course since I was last there. A mountain bike trail has supposedly been built, but the one mountain bike trail like spot I've seen does not look promising. With no one riding it. I think the Gateway Park bike trail may have been abandoned. There are miles of paved hiking trails through the park with wooden bridges across shallow ravines.

Gateway Park is worth a visit if you've never been there. Fort Woof on weekends can be amusing. Very busy. There are entries to the park easily found by exiting I-30 at Beach Street. Or from Randoll Mill Road.

Sweetwater Sucks & Other Dumb Comments

I find amusement in reading a TV Forum called Survivor Sucks. Part of the amusement comes from being appalled at how people can get so worked up, so angry. At each other and about people on TV. And so inarticulate, to the point that, at times, they come across as so seriously deficient I don't understand how they can manage to navigate a computer, let alone the Internet.

The worst of the forums, for sheer mean-spirited idiocy, are the ones for shows like American Idol or Survivor. They really draw in the bottom feeders. And then I go to the Survivor Sucks forum for LOST and I feel like I've entered some high level discussion by a bunch of college professors analyzing a work of art.

Now, there is a slight corollary between Survivor Sucks comments and comments I get to videos I put on YouTube. To the YouTube videos, like the one for the State Fair of Texas and the 40th JFK Assassination Anniversary I get LOST-like, thoughtful, insightful comments. To the videos I made of of my visit to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup and videos I've made of the building of the Dallas Cowboy Stadium and Chesapeake Energy Natural Gas Drilling I get American Idol Survivors Sucks dumb/angry type comments. Though there have also been quite a few thoughtful LOST-like comments regarding the Dallas Cowboy Stadium and Chesapeake Energy's dirty deeds.

So, with that all as preface, yesterday I got a comment to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup YouTube video, from a Canadian calling him/herself diflorio007.

diflorio007 said, "see my point has been made...you taxas rednecks...you would think the US would have smart people....but just goes to show how stuped they are....and you guys make fun of the middle east......stop sleeping with your mothers and cousins...."

So, this Canadian, diflorio007, is concluding all of us Americans are "stuped" because some people in "taxas" have an annual roundup of rattlesnakes that they turn into a big festival. The Canadian goes on to suggest we Americans make fun of the Middle East. And that we are all the result of inbreeding.

I wonder how many baby seals this Canadian clubs to death every year? Baby seals seem way more harmless and cuter than rattlesnakes.

How many Canadians have died 'making fun' of the Middle East so that a country or two in that region might enjoy the benefits of freedom and democracy?

I can't remember, what was the name of that most recent Canadian to win a Nobel Prize? How many Canadian Nobel Prize winners have their been? I think, maybe one Canadian has won the Nobel Peace Prize. How many Americans have won the Peace Prize?

Okay, I'll tell you, only one Canadian has ever one the Nobel Peace Prize in that peace-loving, world-leading country, that being Lester Pearson, for his role in trying to end the 1956 Suez Conflict.

Meanwhile 21 Americans or American Organizations have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Teddy Roosevelt, Elihu Root, Woodrow Wilson, Charles Gates Dawes, Frank B. Kellogg, Jane Addams, Cordell Hull, John Raliegh Mott, American Friends Service Committee, Ralph Bunche, George C. Marshall, Linus Pauling, Martin Luther King, Jr., Norman E. Borlaug, Henry Kissinger, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Elie Wiesel, International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams, Jimmy Carter and Al Gore.

I wish Canada would breed more American style "stuped" people, so that Canada might contribute more to the world than the Canadians currently do. Maybe if Canada bred some more American style "stuped" people Canada might contribute more to the development of technology, science, medicine and the arts and win more of those illusive Nobel Prizes that us Americans win way too high a percentage of, compared to Canada, even when one factors in the population difference.

Anyway, I love the "stuped" comments I get. Especially from Canadians.

Monday Night Storm Blows Into Fort Worth Getting Me Out Of Bed

I was peacefully in bed, reading a new book, almost ready to fall asleep, when WeatherBug went off with its annoying chirping sound that I thought I had disabled. But, apparently had not.

I knew we were in storm mode. When I fast forwarded through tonight's Dancing With The Stars, after being over-stimulated by 24, I saw a weather warning crawl across the screen over and over again warning of impending doom in the form of powerful Thunderstorms capable of producing baseball size hail.

Usually when a Big Storm like this happens Pete Delkus would be excitedly interrupting the regular programming and the screen crawl warnings to tell us over and over again of the impending doom.

But, not tonight. Because tonight on ABC their most popular show was running. Which raises an interesting ethical question. If the locale TV Station normally feels they need to interrupt the programming that their viewer has chosen to watch to go with pointless live weather updates, why did tonight having the storm happen during ABC's most popular show keep Pete Delkus from imposing his weather fetish on us?

This bizarre practice of interrupting programming for dumb reasons is fresh on my mind due to Hell's Kitchen being ruined on Thursday by multiple interruptions that made the show impossible to watch.

The warning crawl seemed to work just fine for ABC tonight. They did their civic duty, or what they see as their civic duty, and did not ruin the programming they try so hard to get us to watch. The local stations should always use a crawl rather than break in with live info from the local Ted Baxters.

Now, below is tonight's chirping warning from the National Weather Service that got me out of bed....

Bulletin - Eas Activation Requested Severe Thunderstorm Warning National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 1009 PM CDT Mon Mar 30 2009

The National Weather Service In Fort Worth Has Issued A

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning For, Southern Denton County In North Central Texas, Northern Tarrant County In North Central Texas, Southeastern Wise County In North Central Texas,

* Until 1115 PM CDT

* At 1009 PM CDT, National Weather Service Meteorologists Detected A Severe Thunderstorm Capable Of Producing Baseball Size Hail, And Damaging Winds In Excess Of 60 Mph. This Storm Was Located Near Pelican Bay, And Moving East At 30 Mph.

* The Severe Thunderstorm Will Be Near, Pecan Acres And Lakeside By 1015 PM Eagle Mountain, Lake Worth And White Settlement By 1020 PM Sansom Park, River Oaks And Westworth By 1025 PM Haslet And Saginaw By 1030 PM

Golfball To Baseball Hail Was Reported In Springtown With This Storm.

Another Severe Storm Between Boyd And Rhome, In Wise County, Was Capable Of Producing Golfball Hail. This Storm Was Also Moving East At 30 Mph, And Will Impact Southern Portions Of Denton County.

Now, I'm gonna try and go back to bed. After turning off WeatherBug. Oh great. I think I hear tornado sirens in the distance.