He's Not Speaking English, He's Speaking Texan

Texas provides fodder for a lot of Reality TV Shows. Texans are like some sort of Reality TV Staple. More often than not, in some way or the other, good and bad, the Texans deliver some good TV.

That is Van, the Token Texan on the new season of Hell's Kitchen, in the picture.

The most recent version of ABC's The Bachelorette had this guitar playing crooner from Austin, named Wes, universally reviled as a total slimeball. Wes was on a find a mate show, trouble was he had a girlfriend back home. Apparently a big no-no on a show where you are supposed to be looking for a wife.

Wes finally came clean when the wife wannabe sent him back to Austin. As Wes rode away, into the sunset, he bragged about his #1 hit in Chihuahua, Mexico, bragged about being the first guy ever to make it to #4 on this show, with a girl friend, then trashed the 3 guys remaining, saying he was heading back to Austin and gonna be having a lotta sex with his girlfriend.

Top quality TV, that was. Courtesy of a Texan.

And then, last night, on the season premiere of Hell's Kitchen, we had another Texan. Named Van. Apparently Van is a graduate of the Art Institute of Dallas, which apparently teaches the art of cooking. But not the art of behaving well, and keeping cool. Van cooks in an un-named, supposed "top" Dallas restaurant.

However, last night Van seemed to have some serious anger management issues, and shrimp management issues. Perhaps he'd be better suited to being a Fort Worth Policeman. The local Gestapo is always looking for new angry young men.

Van was assigned to tableside shrimp scampi cooking duty. Van had trouble with this duty. He was flipping pans into the air, with shrimp flying. At one point he was cooking shrimp for one of the other team's tables. Jean-Philippe, the mild-mannered Belgian Maitre'd, was mortified at the havoc Van was wreaking in the dining room. JP tried to reign Van in. But this made Van mad, well, actually furious. Van would not listen to JP, instead he threatened JP with his fists, putting on quite a show for the diners.

Eventually Chef Gordon Ramsay intervened and dragged the sparring pair off the dining floor, screaming at them, asking what is wrong with you two? Basically JP said it was Van's fault, that Van wouldn't listen. To which Ramsay told the pair they needed to communicate, that they both spoke English, what's the problem?

To which JP said, in a classic Reality TV moment, in his best snooty French-Belgian accent, "I can not understand him. I speak English. He speaks Texan."

For some reason I found this funny.

Were You At The Rainbow Lounge When The Fort Worth Gestapo Struck?

There is an interesting ad in this week's FW Weekly, next to the ad for the Rainbow Lounge.

You remember the Rainbow Lounge, I'm sure, it made international headlines, for Fort Worth, late last month. That does not happen to Fort Worth all that often.

The Rainbow Lounge is where, in the late hours of June 26 and the early hours of June 27, armed squads of Fort Worth Gestapo Agents, working with fellow thugs from the TABC, invaded the Rainbow Lounge, assaulted patrons, some seriously, handcuffed 20 or so, forcing them to lay, facedown on the parking lot pavement.

When news broke of this latest manifestation of Fort Worth Fascism, reaction was swift and strong. And grew stronger when the Gestapo account was greatly at odds with the accounts of first hand observers, including newspaper reporters and other respectable, credible sorts.

Soon, the police, and Fort Worth's Ruling Junta's propaganda purveying mouthpiece, known as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, had to start backpedaling, as it slowly began to dawn that Fort Worth had just had just been delivered a public relations nightmare by the Fort Worth Gestapo.

Within a week, the pressure grew so strong that Fort Worth's usually slow to do anything right, or even remotely politically correct, mayor, Mike Moncrief, called for a federal investigation to get to the truth of why it was that Gestapo Agents were sent to terrorize innocent citizens. And who sent them.

I sort of digressed there, on the way to mentioning the ad in this week's FW Weekly, next to the Rainbow Lounge ad. It's a solicitation from a lawyer. The Law Office of Rob Wiley P.C. is investigating the arrests at the Rainbow Lounge and asking "Were you at the Rainbow Lounge?"

If you have any information regarding this matter you are asked to please call 214.528.6500. This law firm has successfully brought to justice similar suits seeking monetary damages.

So, this is where it gets interesting. The Rainbow Lounge Gestapo Raid could end up costing Fort Worth a fortune. And rightly so. But will it be the Gestapo Agents who conducted the raid who pay the small fortune? No. Hopefully they will be behind bars. But, that seems unlikely, unless the federal investigation somehow topples Fort Worth's Fascist Regime.

So, will it be whoever ordered the Fort Worth Gestapo Agents to make the raid on the Rainbow Lounge, paying out the fortune in restitution?

No. It will be the people of Fort Worth. It will be your tax money, in the end, that pays for the Gestapo Raid, done in your name, on the Rainbow Lounge. It is the citizens of Fort Worth who are ultimately responsible for the fact that they are allowing a Fascist Regime to run roughshod over their fellow citizen's rights.

Where did the money come from that paid the judgments rendered over the drowning of 4 in the Water Gardens? Thin air? Was anyone held accountable for that disaster? I remember the first time I saw that whirlpool and thinking that did not look safe, then thinking it must be made to look dangerous, there must be some sort of grate that catches you if you fall in. That only seemed common sensical. Sadly, common sense is an attribute that seems sometimes to be in short supply in these parts.

Has the Trinity River Vision given its official gone blind notice yet?

Choctaw Casino, Gateway Park & Trinity Falls

My virtual trip, this morning, up to the Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma, took longer than I thought it would, it always does.

I was back from Oklahoma and in a Fort Worth frame of mind by about 11 this morning. Due to the rather heavy rain this morning, I figured my hiking/walking noonday options were likely limited.

I had not been to Gateway Park in awhile. I figured I'd check out the river and see if the Trinity was in high water mode due to the rain, and then go to Town Talk, which is nearby, and get some good cheese, to which I am addicted, hence the horrendous, unsightly weight gain.

I was a bit non-plussed about what I saw, soon upon my arrival at Gateway Park. I've already blogged my umbrage about that. Once I got past my non-plussedness, which really did not take all that long, I am quite used to being disappointed and disgusted by things I see in Fort Worth, I headed towards the trail that leads to Trinity Falls.

The Gateway Park paved trail leaves the park to connect with the paved Trinity Trail that runs beside and on top of the Trinity River levee. And across dams. I have no idea how these trails would be affected by the, likely never to be built, Trinity Uptown Project, aka TRV.

You leave Gateway Park over a long pedestrian/bike bridge, with Trinity Falls framed by the bridge's sides. It is a borderline scenic spot. Today a guy was trying to fish below the falls. I don't know if he had any luck or if you are advised not to eat any fish you might catch.

I am almost 100% certain Trinity Falls is not a natural falls. I am not certain where the nearest natural falls might be. Turner Falls in Oklahoma, maybe?

One thing that was actually quite cool today, in two meanings of that word. The closer I got to the falls and the river the cooler the temperature got and the less humid it seemed. And the air was full of a good water smell, like negative ions were being shed by the falls, making the air sort of have that element you get when you are on a saltwater beach with big waves crashing. If you have not not been hit by a big saltwater wave in a longtime, I recommend a visit to Gateway Park and a walk to Trinity Falls. It's a pale substitute, but so what, you go with what you've got.

Another Fort Worth Park Puts Up Closed Signs

The CLOSED signs you see are in Gateway Park. There is a third CLOSED sign, that you do not see, to the left. The CLOSED signs are blocking you from entering the elaborate boardwalk walkway that takes you down to the Trinity River in a series of switchbacks.

There are 2 of these boardwalk, river access contraptions in Gateway Park. I assume the other one is CLOSED too.

I have previously made note of the fact that these boardwalks seemed to suffer from neglect, with no cleanup after a flood leaves a deposit of mud, resulting in the eventual decomposing of some of the woodwork.

Why was money spent to build these things, if there was no intent to maintain them? How much did they cost? Who built them? Who put up the CLOSED signs?

Today marks the second time I have been surprised to happen upon a CLOSED sign at a park in Fort Worth. The most bizarre CLOSED park discovery was when I found that one of Fort Worth's few truly unique locations, Heritage Park, it being a small park that celebrated where Fort Worth began, with a very well done system of catwalks, overlooks, water features and views, was also allowed to deteriorate to the point that cyclone fence now surrounds it.

The Heritage Park debacle is particularly bizarre to me, in the city that is the envy of other cities far and wide. Heritage Park is directly across from the Tarrant County Courthouse. The cyclone fence is in plain view of any passing motorist, and the few tourists, who drive north on Main. Any other town, with any sort of pretension to anything but mediocrity, would long ago have fixed this embarrassing eyesore.

Instead the Heritage Park eyesore festers. There are citizen groups trying to fix the park. I do not know how much headway they have made.

In the meantime, Gateway Park now has Fort Worth's latest embarrassing eyesore, that should never have happened.

Gateway Park has been sucked into that vortex of civic madness gone awry, known as the Trinity River Vision, a vision that of late seems destined to go blind.

The CLOSED signs at Gateway Park today may be some sort of omen of the impending demise of the Trinity River Vision. I mean, why don't we try to keep what has already been built here, up and running? And then move on to more grandiose projects. With voter approval, of course.

Swimming In The Warm Summer Rain With Texas Thunder

A year ago today was the first full day of my Tacoma Internment, with this day in Texas very much matching that day a year ago, in that it has been raining here and it's cold. Only 75 out there at a bit past 9.

When I went to the pool, before 7 this morning, it was raining with quite a bit of determination, a warm summer rain that felt like a shower. Very pleasant. Somehow the pool water had cooled overnight. Also very pleasant.

And in the distance I heard the continuous bangs of thunder. Also very pleasant.

The debilitating headache that struck me yesterday, like an over sized sledgehammer to the head, abated by about 7 in the evening. So far, today, no sign of the return of the sledgehammer. That also is very pleasant.

I think I'm heading a bit north and east today, virtually, heading to the Choctaw Casino Resort, just across the border in Durant, Oklahoma. That should be fun, but it'll likely seem more like tiresome work.

I can not access her blog anymore, due to it hangs up my Flock Browser, but one of my many snitches informed me that Queen Jammin, on her blog, referred to me as an elderly man with much too much time on his hands. I was appalled at the Queen's malicious slander. Since I do have a lot of time on my hands, I may have to engineer a coup and de-throne her.

In the meantime, the royal purges must wait while I go to Oklahoma.

Oakland Lake Park Doom Gloom Headaches In Fascist Fort Worth

As you can see it was a bit more gloomy at Oakland Lake Park than when I was there yesterday. By the end of my walking today the rain had started to get serious about getting anything in its path wet.

The clouds and rain have now lifted. You'd think that would put me in a better mood, but, sadly I am ailing. I rarely ail. It started sometime around 8 this morning.

Suddenly I got a headache. That never happens. I thought walking might get rid of it. It didn't. Then about 2 something happened that never happens. I laid down and fell asleep in nap mode. It's been years since that has happened. I am now up and a bit better, still being a bit of a sorehead.

Maybe I am suffering some sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome. It is a month to the day since I flew up to Tacoma for what may be the strangest, most disturbing, weirdest, most inexplicable month I've ever lived. It's been a year, starting today, and I still wonder what the hell that was. Minimized to its essence. Total craziness.

Due to ailing I have not been able to do much constructive today. I did manage to do a minor contribution to the Fort Worth Underground's Fort Worth Freedom Project, by writing a long-winded blogging about why Fort Worth is a Fascist State. But, other than that and a few other things, I've been nothing but a bitter pill today.

It's almost 5. A few more hours of this hell I am living and I can go to bed at a decent hour and hope to sleep, perchance to dream, maybe to wake up in the morning without a headache.

Fort Worth Fascist Apologists

I've gotten a comment or two from supporters of Fort Worth's Ruling Junta's Fascist Rule, suggesting that it is totally unfair to use this term to describe Fort Worth.

I beg to differ. It is my contention that those who object to the suggestion that the way Fort Worth is ruled has Fascist attributes, do not know what Fascism is.

Fascism, at its heart, calls for the absolute political rule by its leaders, deploring the democratic ideal of the common people making important decisions.

Such as voting for massive public works projects, like the now, obviously, failing, Trinity River Vision.

Fascism makes use of controlled mass media. In Fort Worth, the Ruling Junta uses its mouthpiece, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, to disseminate misinformation. Currently there is a split in the Ruling Junta, as evidenced by the fact that in the past couple days the Star-Telegram has broken from the previous party line, regarding the Trinity River Vision, raising serious objections for the first time, thus signaling that the project is likely doomed.

Under Fascism corporate power is protected.

The city government of Fort Worth is deeply entwined with the Barnett Shale gas drilling industry, which is wreaking havoc all over Fort Worth, making citizens feel insecure and unsafe in their homes, with the Mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, reaping revenue from all the drilling companies poking holes in his dictatorship.

Under Fascism the Supreme Leader is beyond reproach. Media is tightly controlled, with no one allowed to question the Supreme Leader. Fort Worth's Supreme Leader, Mike Moncrief, elected by 70% of 6% of Fort Worth's voters, refuses to answer questions from Fort Worth's actual real newspaper, that being the Fort Worth Weekly, which asks tough questions and does deep investigations into all that corrupts the Fascist City of Fort Worth. As best they can, without access to the dictatorship.

A Fascist State is obsessed with Crime & Punishment. In Fort Worth the Gestapo issues tickets to people caught not wearing their eyeglasses, even though they now wear contacts, and to people caught driving 10 mph while not wearing their seatbelts.

But worse than over policing extremely minor infractions, in a manner which makes the Fort Worth Gestapo appear like cartoon characters to the Free World, the Fort Worth Gestapo commits far worse crimes against humanity. Such as when a goon squad of Fort Worth Gestapo Police Thugs invaded the Rainbow Lounge, randomly handcuffing and beating perfectly innocent citizens, throwing them to the ground to lay face down on a parking lot, to the International Outrage of the Outside Free World.

The Rainbow Lounge crimes of the Fort Worth Gestapo have yet to be punished. Yet another hallmark of a Fascist State.

Under Fascism fraudulent elections take place. People in Fort Worth have been kowtowed, for so long, they seem to have lost any touch with the idea of living in a participatory democracy on the local level. So, in the civic election of a couple months ago, despite the widespread knowledge that Mike Moncrief is running a city rife with cronyism and corruption, he was re-elected, like I already said, by a 70% vote of 6% of the voters.

Speaking of cronyism and corruption, that is another sign of Fascism. The corruption in Fort Worth manifests itself on many levels. Just take the defunct Trinity River Vision. The first Fascist aspect is the citizens of Fort Worth were denied input or voting on this project. Another Fascist aspect is a corrupt politician engineered the installation of her son, J.D. Granger, as the puppet leader of the Trinity River Vision Project, with Granger being a man with zero experience running such a project. Another Fascist aspect, of the Trinity River Vision, is that even before anything substantial has gotten underway with the failing project, J.D. Granger and his cronies arranged to have a palace built for themselves to the tune of millions of dollars. So, the only thing completed of the Trinity River Vision is an ultra-expensive office building in a city with a lot of office space available for lease.

If bets were being taken by Vegas, I'd put my money on the chance that the Trinity River Vision Office will end up being the only thing ever completed of this Fascist project.

So, there you go. Now you know why, in my opinion, Fort Worth has way too many Fascist elements in play, at great odds with a representative democracy where freedom reigns supreme. I don't know if it will take outside intervention, in the form of federal investigations or some sort of internal reform, from some currently unimaginable source, but until the day comes that the vast majority of Fort Worth's people recognize that the way the Fort Worth Trinity Vision was shoved down their throats was wrong, and do something about it, Fort Worth's Fascist Reign will continue.

That is just sad.

The Queen of Wink Texas

That is Queen Jammin sitting on her throne outside her palace in Wink, Texas. I do not know why she is sitting on her throne without wearing her tiara. The tiara lack seems like some sort of breech of protocol, to me.

And I won't even comment on the fact that I've never seen a Queen in short shorts before.

Then again, the municipality of Wink, over which Queen Jammin rules, is in Free Texas, far removed from the fascist area of Texas, where Queens must cover their legs or risk being de-throned.

Queen Jammin frequently drives around the greater Wink metropolitan area without wearing her seatbelt, waving at the local law enforcement officer as she drives slowly by.

The Queen of Wink and her Entourage will be making a visit to Dallas in August. I do not know if this is an official visit or what the purpose is. Security is quite tight. I hope she has the good sense not to take her Royal Entourage to Fort Worth.

Speaking of fascist Texas, well, more specifically, fascist Fort Worth. Overnight I learned of a new victim. I will call her Martha. Martha had had a hard long day. She was heading home, eager to get there. So Martha inched a mile over the speed limit. Martha was pulled over by one of the Fort Worth Gestapo. The Gestapo agent saw that Martha's driver's license indicated she needed to be wearing eye glasses. The Gestapo agent did not accept the fact that Martha now wears contacts. Then Martha was unable to locate her insurance papers.

So, the Fort Worth Gestapo agent issued good, upstanding citizen, Martha, a ticket that listed her speeding violation, her lack of glasses violation and her lack of insurance documentation violation.

This past weekend Martha served 8 hours in a Fort Worth Driver's Re-Education Internment Camp. I do not know if this run-in with the Fort Worth Gestapo is causing Martha to consider moving to Free Texas or not. Or if she is ready to join the Free Fort Worth Underground.

I'm Ready To Escape This Ongoing Storm I'm Living In Texas

That's not my swimming pool in the picture. You can not go swimming in the pool in the picture. That is Oakland Lake and it is polluted. You also can not eat fish, or shouldn't, that you catch in Oakland Lake.

Yesterday I showed you a closer view of the Tandy Tower, from the fringes of Tandy Hills Natural Area. The picture today is looking at the tower on top of Mount Tandy from across Oakland Lake. You can see how close Tandy Tower is to Oakland Lake, due to it being reflected in the lake.

I did do my usual communing with nature in my unnatural pool this morning. It was uneventful.

Mother Nature may rock and roll me out of my depressed doldrums in a little while. We are under threat of a Lightning Blitzkrieg until 9, with the forces of Mother Nature already penetrating the defense lines in Denton and far north Tarrant County. The attack is on a bee-line for me. It is only 4 and the storm clouds seem to be darkening.

I have not heard tornado sirens yet this year. Maybe this Sunday is the day.

AT & T U-Verse in July has been unlocking a lot of their movie channels. This had me watching Into the Wild while I ate lunch. Good movie. It tells the story of Christopher McCandless, who got sick of the hell he was living and so he took off on an adventure that had him all over the country, kayaking down the Colorado River, eventually into Mexico, and after a lot of side adventures, making it to Alaska, where it took Mother Nature about 4 months to kill him.

Well, to be fair, which really is not my best attribute, it really was not Mother's fault. McCandless was very ill-prepared. Had he had a proper map he would have known he was only a 1/4 mile from a river crossing tram that he could have used when he decided it was time to escape. He really was not all that deep into wilderness, just outside Denali National Park. He was found just 2 weeks after he starved to death. The Magic Bus where he died is now a tourist attraction.

So, I'm thinking of running away from this hell I'm living, dealing with Gestapo agents and other overwhelming nonsense, and just disappearing into the ether, ending up somewhere like Timbuktu. I wonder if one can kayak to one of those cool South Sea Islands I've seen on Survivor over the years?

Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Gets Contaminated

There have been some who have opined that I am wrongheaded in my thinking that Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision will end up a likely boondoggle. Sadly, I think it's gotten to that point far ahead of when I thought it would.

When I first verbalized my opinion that this was a boondoggle in the making, I said that due to the vision being in an area of industrial blight, that it was highly likely that severely contaminated areas would be found, which would greatly increase the cost, if not prohibitively so.

And so, it has come to pass.

Yesterday we learned that the costs have soared. Some of those increased costs due to increased land value due to the Barnett Shale, you know, that thing underground that Chesapeake Energy has spent a fortune trying to convince the population of the great economic benefits to Fort Worth and environs from all the urban drilling.

So, yesterday we learned the cost of Fort Worth's Macularly Degenerated vision has soared, the signature bridges and canals have been dropped, replaced with trees, walkways and other "betterments," along the flood control bypass channel that was never part of the original vision.

And now, this morning, we learn that, oh my, what a surprise, serious ground contamination has been found, at an old TXU energy site, where lead contamination is in the soil and vinyl chloride and other solvents are in the groundwater.

An 18 foot deep cement wall needs to be built to stop the contaminated groundwater from seeping into the Trinity River, which I assume it is already doing.

I don't know if the Fort Worth Trinity River Vision project people have ever heard of the EPA Superfund. I suspect maybe not, after all the project is being run by the son of the Congresswoman who represents Fort Worth, a guy named J.D. Granger, who has absolutely no experience in running such a project, but who picked his mama well.

If the EPA determines that a polluted site is bad enough, Superfund funds may be available to help with the cleanup. I can't imagine that a Fort Worth polluted site would not be bad enough to qualify. Relatively environmentally friendly Tacoma, had a couple huge Superfund cleanup sites. I believe one was the biggest ever, that being the Asarco Smelter Superfund cleanup. On that site now sits huge condo developments with a great view of the Puget Sound, a sort of lake provided by Mother Nature, with a lot of "betterments," not built by the Tacoma Saltwater Vision.