A Rainy, Stormy Thundering Friday In Texas

That's the view from my computer room window this morning. It's looking like a typical Pacific Northwest winter day out there. But this is April in Texas. I should be seeing clear blue sky.

The rain is falling northwest style. Slow. Not the heavy Texas downpour style rain I've grown to like. If we have a few days in a row like this I fear I will slip once more into a very SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) state.

Obviously there will be no biking or hiking by me today. But I did get in my early morning swim. I like swimming in the rain. There was no thunder booming at that point in time. I don't think I'd like being in the pool with lightning flashing over head.

The storm arrived much later than predicted, so I was able to watch Survivor without it being interrupted by annoying Bad Weather Reports.

Thunder has been booming off and on for several hours. One lightning flash was so bright I was momentarily a bit blinded. Maybe it was the simultaneous LOUD BOOM that got my eyeballs vibrating and not the flash.

I'm being perplexed by a Blog Stalker from Tyler, Texas. Tyler keeps going back and forth from this blog to another blog. Why? We do not know. This has been going on for days.

God, Gar the Texan & the Founding Fathers

It has perplexed and baffled me for quite some time why I have so many people happening upon my blog and so few seem to have discovered the extremely well-considered Random Ramblings of Gar the Texan.

Even more perplexing to me is how many Americans are so totally ignorant of their nation's actual history. The "Don't Believe in God" billboard has brought a lot of the ignorant crud out of the mud.

I'm afraid if some of the ignorant people were to learn what our Founding Fathers actually believed they would be so horrified they'd feel like they had to leave the country, because it was not the country they thought they were living in.

Gar the Texan, today, has done his usual excellent job of elaborating on a subject, this time he is elaborating on the actual beliefs of our Founding Fathers, people like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington and, even, though he was not a Founding Father, Abraham Lincoln.

Now, this research by Gar the Texan is particularly impressive due to the fact that it is only recently he discovered that some interesting things went on before he was born. He now seems to have evolved into some sort of history buff.

The Tandy Hills are Alive with the Sound of Color

With just a little more than a week to go til the Prairie Fest the Tandy Hills are coming alive with color. I'd not been to the Tandy Hills since last Saturday's Bus Ride Adventure, the day before the Easter Deluge rendered hiking a muddy pursuit, but apparently convinced a lot of Texas wildflowers that it was time to wake up and do their annual job.

Like the one in the first picture. Is that not a unique looking piece of work by Mother Nature? It looks like it's talking to you.

I saw at least 5 new wildflowers today that weren't showing on my last visit. I was unable to get decent pictures of some of them due to it being very windy with the flowers refusing to pose in a semi-static position.

Speaking of that wind. Apparently we are supposedly going to be having some heavy duty storming in the coming hours. In spring that can mean big baseball size hail, heavy rain, high winds and tornadoes.

Which will likely wreak havoc with my TV viewing, which tonight only consists of Survivor. I'm sure it will be interrupted, at key points, at least twice to tell us that the Doppler Radar has spotted a small circulating cell somewhere within a 250 mile radius of the D/FW Metro Zone and that that rotating cell has the potential to develop into a tornado, but fear not, they are monitoring the situation for us and will break in with developments as the rotating cell continues rotating.


I did not go to a Tea Party last night. I now regret it. My Physical Therapist, Dr. L.C. (who's advice I continue to ignore, as in I went swimming this morning and then went hiking), went to the Tea Party at La Grave Field and said it was a lot of fun.

La Grave Field is this little hobbled together baseball park that the Fort Worth Cats play in. It's a minor league team. Fort Worth is the biggest city (over 700,000 population) in America with a minor league baseball team. I think that's pretty cool.

The Fort Worth Cats are in something called the Central Baseball League. Big ol' Fort Worth plays against towns like Robstown, population 12,849 and their team, the Coastal Bend Aviators. And Harlingen, population 58,300 and their team, the Rio Grande Whitewings. And Edinburg, population 38,900 and their team, the Edinburg Roadrunners. And Alexandria, population 46,000 and their team, the Alexandria Aces. And Amarillo, population 172,400 and their team, the Amarillo Dillas. And Springfield, (that's in Missouri, I think) population 142,200 and their team the Ozark Mountain Ducks.

Well, you get the drift. Fort Worth has proudly won their league's world series, or whatever it is called, a time or two. But with no citywide celebration, as far as I know.

Don't Believe in God? Part 2

A couple days ago I blogged about the "Don't Believe in God?" billboards that have been sprouting up all over America, including the part of America I am in right now, that being the Dallas/Fort Worth zone of Texas.

In that blogging I copied an embarrassingly erroneous letter that was in that morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Now. I think it is wrong that that paper prints such letters from people who so clearly are, well, a bit dim.

And then I got a comment to the blog regarding that letter, saying it was an excellent letter. That comment was so convoluted I didn't feel the need to shoot the fish in that particular barrel.

Gar the Texan then commented on that comment, wondering why I didn't shoot the fish.

Well, in this morning's Star-Telegram three new letters to the editor shot the fish in the barrel for me. Below are those letters....

First Amendment freedom

Thomas T. Risher asks, “What is the world coming to when you see billboards that ask, ‘Don’t believe in God? You are not alone’ ”?

I can tell him exactly where the world is coming to; it’s coming to freedom.

Apparently those of us who recognize that the founders created a government not founded on religion will always have to remind those who want to rewrite history that “one nation under God” and “In God we trust” were not written by our Founding Fathers and are not part of our founding documents.

In 1797, many years before either of these phrases were written, a treaty was approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams that contained the following words “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

Risher accuses me of mocking our Founding Fathers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have a profound respect and an enduring admiration for our Founding Fathers, in part because they created a government that gives me the freedom of speech to put up billboards and freedom of religion so I don’t have to sit in church on Sunday next to a religious bigot.

— Terry McDonald, Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason, Grapevine

What is truly disturbing is how confused the letter writer is about history. America was not and has never been “founded on God.” The original Founding Fathers recognized the folly of using religion to create government. The one reference to religion in the Constitution is Article 6: “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

The other great founding document is the Bill of Rights, whose First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ... .”

How about a deal? If the writer will remove every religious reference from public view (which I have always found somewhat offensive), I’ll talk to McDonald about removing the billboards.

— Charlie Rodriguez, Arlington

I read a lot of nonsense in the letters to the editor, but I can’t not respond to Risher’s letter. He asks how we can allow billboards with an atheistic message.

Easy — it is the law. Not only is it not an affront to the Founding Fathers, it is the fruition of their work.

I’m sure Risher considers himself a patriot, but I consider his attitude of constitutional freedoms only being for citizens who share his beliefs to be the worst form of betrayal of our Constitution and its authors.

I am a Christian and a veteran. I served to defend the Constitution that the writer obviously does not comprehend — and his right to spew nonsense publicly, just as the atheists have the right to spew publicly.

— Eugene Chandler, Arlington

Michael Rosales Gets Huntsville Lethal Needle

It's been several weeks since we've given anyone the Lethal Needle in Texas. But last night 35 year old Michael Rosales was put to sleep in the Texas Death Chamber in Huntsville.

Rosales beat a 67 year old woman, Mary Felder, to death during a burglary in June of 1997.

It does not appear that this execution might be one that could later be determined to be a mistake due to DNA testing.

Since it has been awhile since we've had a state sanctioned killing here, I don't remember what the current count for the year is. The little blurb about last night's killing, on page 3 of this morning's Dallas Morning News, did not mention what the death total for the year is.

Rosales last words were, "I love you all. May the Lord be with you. Peace. I'm done." And then he got the Lethal Needle.

Infernally Ridiculous System: Pay Your Taxes On Time

I guess sometimes I procrastinate. Particularly if there is a particularly pesky odious task I prefer to avoid. Like paying taxes.

I made it to the Post Office a bit after 5 to put my annual letter to the IRS in the mail. On the plus side, this is the first year in several that I didn't send in an extension request to put off dealing with the ugly business til August.

I don't know what made me be so responsible and on time this year. Maybe I sense that the government is desperate for money, no matter how puny the pittance.

I do feel sorry for the government.

I feel good that in my small way I'm helping send money to those who need it more than I do so they can get the big bonuses they so richly deserve. And help stimulate the economy.

I suppose I should go to one of those Tea Party deals. I got invited. It didn't seem like the sort of thing I'd enjoy though. I prefer coffee.

Alma Fixes America's Sick Economy

One of the most brilliantly bright people it is my extreme pleasure to know is Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast.

Alma may have the best sense of humor I've ever encountered. Usually when people send me things they think are funny, I usually don't. But Alma sends me a lot of stuff and it is almost universally either funny or interesting or both.

In other words Alma has impeccably good taste. And extraordinarily good judgment and wisdom about all sorts of things.

Including America's current economic disaster. Obama really would have had a much better Secretary of the Treasury had he picked Alma over that tax-evading Tim Geitner guy who seems way too confused to be figuring out anything complicated.

Whereas Alma has come up with a simple plan to fix the economy which she calls "Patriotic Retirement."

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Alma would pay these workers $1 million each with 3 key stipulations.

1) They quit their jobs. With 40 million fresh job openings Alma has fixed the unemployment problem.

2) Each of the new retirees is required to buy at least one NEW American car. With at least 40 million new cars bought Alma has fixed the auto industry.

3) The new retirees have to either buy a house or pay off their mortgage. Alma has now solved the housing crisis.

I am terrible at math, but it appears to me that Alma's Economic Recovery Plan is cheaper than the trillions of dollars currently being spent, or proposed to be spent.

Once the economy is back on track I wonder if the million dollar retirees can go back to work? A million dollars really is not going to tide one over for too long.

I wonder what Alma's plan for the pirate problem is?

Annoying Microsoft XP Security Updates

Microsoft has managed to make their constant XP security updates even more annoying of late.

Previously I'd get a message that updates have been downloaded and are ready to install. This allowed me to make the update when it was convenient for me.

Once previously and now again this morning Microsoft decided it can take over my computer and install the update and restart my computer with no input from me.

Now, the majority of these security updates, when you are allowed to looked at their details, tell me that the updates fixes a new found problem that might allow someone to take control of my computer.

But the only thing that seems to be able to do that is Microsoft itself. Where is the protection from the Microsoft security breech that lets Microsoft restart my computer whenever it wants?

This morning it happened at 5am. I was still in bed and I heard the computer make its start up noise. I wondered, what fresh hell is this? When I woke up the computer, I quickly saw what the fresh hell was. My computer had been restarted. Everything I had open was gone. And a little icon on the taskbar told me updates had been installed. When I clicked the little icon so I could see what the updates were, the icon went away without opening.

So, apparently, Microsoft does not want me to know what it did to my computer this time.

Where is the security update to protect me from Microsoft? And don't tell me Linux. Or Apple.

I am not alone in my aggravation over this issue. The image above had the update message in what looked like German. So, Microsoft is creating an international nuisance. Under that image on the website I got it from was the following...

This must be one of the most annoying features in Windows.

Look the other way for a minute and find out that windows update rebooted your PC after installing security updates.

Oh? By the way, all the work you've done is gone.

How about giving users an hour to react, and not 30 seconds?

The Fort Worth Sound of Freedom

Around 4 this afternoon I started hearing the very loud rumbling of jets. Very loud. About a half hour later I decided to go to Wal-Mart. As I exited my abode I heard jets roaring again, looked up and saw what I believe were a pair of those new F-22 fighter planes flying over.

The F-22's are built by Lockheed here in Fort Worth. Yes, Fort Worth has a big arms supply industry. I did not know this before I moved here. Seems like I've always lived near big plane builders. In Washington it was Boeing and their humongous 747 manufacturing plant in Everett.

In Fort Worth the jets being built are smaller and so are the buildings. But the noise is big.

In Washington I lived near the Whidbey Island Naval Air Base. I don't know if it is still open. There is a billboard near the entry to the base that says something like "Pardon Our Noise. That's the Sound of Freedom." When I'd read that I always thought, no it's not, it's the sound of noisy jets. It was an issue when the Navy was in practice mode, because Washington's most popular, most scenic state park, Deception Pass, is near by. It could be unsettling to be sitting on top of a peak in Deception Pass and have a jet roar overhead.

So, today as I drove the long 2 miles to Wal-Mart, I saw people stopped at the side of the road, looking up. By the time I got to the Wal-Mart parking lot and got out, I was able to see that there were 2 pairs of jets flying a circle that went right over Wal-Mart. It did not take long for a pair of the jets to pass over the Wal-Mart, so I could take a picture.

When I was in the store the Sound of Freedom shook the store 5 or 6 times. I forgot what I was shopping for.

Don't Mess With Texas Women

Now, that is a warning well heeded. Do Not Mess with Texas Women. A lot of them are packing heat or at least pepper spray.

I know of one Texas Woman who decided she'd had enough of Tarrant County having no newspaper covering a lot of issues or points of view that needed airing. And so the Lone Star Telegraph was born.

It was while driving into River Legacy Park today that I found myself following this particular not to be messed with Texas woman. So, when I got my new bike out of my new van, I knew I had to pedal back to where she'd parked, to get a picture, hopefully before she accused me of messing with her with the picture taking.

Currently a cabal of Not to be Messed with Texas Women are working to fix all sorts of things, like eminent domain abuse, out of control gas drilling and piping, un-fixed flooding problems and an overall system corrupted by being run by a good ol' boy network that installs a Ruling Junta that decides things like destroying the convergence of 2 forks, West and Clear, of the Trinity River, to build a little lake, some canals and a flood diversion channel. All decided by the Ruling Junta without the good citizens of Fort Worth being allowed to vote on the project that many think will likely end up being yet one more Fort Worth boondoggle, boondoggles that might not have happened had the public had input in the form of being able to vote for the boondoggle.

Anyway, here's hoping the not to be Messed with Texas Women have great success.