The Salvation Army Bell Ringers Accepting Credit Cards In North Richland Hills Texas

I had read somewhere that some Salvation Army Bell Ringers now accept credit cards. But I had not seen this in person til today.

That's the credit card accepting Salvation Army Bell Ringer at the North Richland Hills Wal-Mart Supercenter on Davis Boulevard.

I was a far distance away, using the zoom to take the picture. The Salvation Army Bell Ringer had no idea he was under surveillance.

It seems sort of cruel to stick the Salvation Army Bell Ringers outside during this Arctic Blast we are currently freezing with, here in North Texas.

It is currently 32 with the wind making it feel like 24.

How does the Salvation Army Bell Ringer process a credit card, I could not help but wonder.

I remember being at the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico and the native Taos tour guide telling us that the natives live the same way they did hundreds of years ago, with no modern conveniences, no electricity, no phones.

After the Taos tour you are invited to visit various shops that sell native handicraft type stuff and food, like this bread you could not help but want, after smelling it baking for an hour in a wood fired kiln type thing. After hearing the Taos Pueblo had no modern conveniences I was a bit surprised to see that credit cards were accepted. And processed over a phone line. In a room with illumination provided by light bulbs.

I'm fairly certain the Salvation Army Bell Ringer that accepted credit cards had a very efficient way to do so. I didn't whip mine out to find out how though.

Fort Worth Wind Chilling At 14 Degrees

That is what 23 degrees and a Wind Chill of 14 degrees looks like looking out my window at a very cold day in Fort Worth, Texas.

At least we are a bit warmer than my old location in the state of Washington where it is 16 degrees in Mount Vernon right now. With no wind.

So, I guess it is feeling colder here in Fort Worth than it is in Mount Vernon.

I have not ventured out into the deep freeze yet today. So, yes, there are limits to my insanity, in that I have not gone swimming this morning.

I did not hear from the Mad Texas Grandma yesterday. I've not yet learned who authorized A-AArlington to remove more than 50 vehicles from the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Wal-Mart on October 21.

I have heard from a Fort Worth, I believe, TCU student, named Ryan Cormier, via Twitter, that A-AArlington towed his car. I'll copy Ryan's Twitter Tweet....

"@RyanJCormier @DurangoTexas That place is the worst! They have towed my car before in Fort Worth!"

In Twitter world having an @ in front of name turns the name into a link to that particular Twitter account.

Microsoft has just installed yet one more round of updates to my computer, fixing yet more security problems that might allow some evil entity, like Microsoft, to take control of my computer. Now it is pestering me to restart so these important updates can take effect.

A Giant Cloudy Smoke Plume Drifts Over Fort Worth

Just like I thought would be the case, early this morning, I have had me a day. And it's still got over 6 hours to go.

The fog burned off around noon, maybe later. I really was in no mood to pay much attention.

About 5 I realized I'd run out of coffee. So, I headed to Wal-Mart to get me some.

When I left Wal-Mart, heading west on John T. White Road, I saw what looked like a humongous smoke plume blotting out a huge section of the recently re-blued sky. I thought to myself, this has to be a cloud, but it looks so much like a smoke plume.

That first photo I left full size if you click on it, so you can get a better idea of how strange this looked. The other two photos I shrunk down because they didn't need to be big to give you an idea of how strange it looked.

This looked as if it was coming straight out of downtown Fort Worth. As if a huge bomb had exploded or one of the thousand or two Barnett Shale gas wells had blown up.

In the view above you are sitting by the Jack in the Box at 820 and John T. White Road, looking west. When I rolled down my window to take the above picture I smelled a strong sulfur smell. This had me thinking, oh oh, maybe that is a giant smoke plume. But anything that big, there would have been sirens, I would have heard it on the news. No, it had to be a Mother Nature fluke.

Anonymous Information About A-AArlington & The Dallas Cowboy Stadium Wal-Mart Towing Scandal

The most frequent commenter to this blog, the ubiquitous Anonymous commented to the blogging preceding this current one with the cryptic "More info can be found here."

I was seeking the answer to the question how did it come to pass that an Arlington towing company, calling itself A-AArlington, with words attached after the A-AArlington part that seem to vary each time I find a new mention of A-AArlington. How did A-AArlington know that over 50 vehicles were there for the plucking on the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Wal-Mart parking lot the night of October 21?

The co-manager of the Stadium Wal-Mart claims Wal-Mart has no contract with A-AArlington.

A towing company must have a relationship with a business in order to tow vehicles off the parking lot of a business.

So, what did Anonymous send me you're wondering? Well, it was a link to a State of Texas website that has something to do with recording business information, like if a business is certified properly, I think. I really did not understand what this all meant.

One part said "This Certification Not Sufficient for Filings with Secretary of State." That certainly sounds ominous.

One part says "Certification of Account Status."

Under that, where it says "Status:" it says in bold letters "NO STANDING, FRANCHISE RESPONSIBILITY ENDED."

This website has "Rick Merritt" as the Registered Agent. Whatever that means. I have seen the owner/officer of A-AArlington listed as Rickie W. Merritt and Ricki Merritt. And now as Rick Merritt.

I assumed Merritt was a female due to Rickie and Ricki.

On the webpage it says the SOS Registration Date is August 11, 1989. (I assume SOS means Secretary of State) That is over 20 years ago. Why does this info about A-AArlington come up on a State of Texas website over 20 years later? Where is pertinent to 2009 information about A-AArlington?

Who told A-AArlington to take those cars from the Wal-Mart parking lot October 21? Who told those taxi drivers to be there to pick up some easy marks? How did the taxis come up with the $10 fare? I thought taxi charges were regulated? Or did the taxi know that $10 was the amount that the meter would run up in the distance from the Wal-Mart to where the cars were being held hostage? The distance was a bit over a mile.

Still No Answer To Who Authorized A-AArlington To Steal More Than 50 Cars From Dallas Cowboy Stadium Wal-Mart Parking Lot

Yesterday I told you that the Mad Texas Grandma had received a phone call from a person claiming to be the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Wal-Mart's co-manager.

The co-manager told MTG that Wal-Mart has no towing contract with A-AArlington, that being the towing company that stole MTG's car on October 21.

If Wal-Mart does not have a contract with A-AArlington to tow vehicles off their lot, who does?

A-AArlington has a website. On their website A-AArlington clearly explains that they have 2 tiers of customers, with their primary customers being businesses, and their secondary customer being those whose cars they hi-jack.

I'll copy what A-AArlington says about their 2 tiers of customers....

At A-AArlington, we serve two tiers of customers. Our primary customers, property owners and managers are key to the business and our longevity. Their businesses are apartment communities, manufactured home complexes, hotels / motels, industrial properties, everyday retail stores, shopping centers (big and small), and privately-owned lots.

Our secondary customer, those who have had their vehicles towed by A-AArlington, are also important to our business, And, our treatment of them, in their most unfortunate situation, is one of the more significant ways that A-AArlington can, and will differentiate itself from the competition.

So. How is it that Wal-Mart is a customer of A-AArlington with Wal-Mart's co-manager claiming that Wal-Mart has no contract with A-AArlington?

Who authorized A-AArlington to go on Wal-Mart's parking lot and remove over 50 vehicles?

I also told you that the Wal-Mart co-manager told the Mad Texas Grandma that A-AArlington is owned by the city of Arlington. From what I've seen I don't see how that can be. Unless Straw K, Inc. is somehow a business set up by Arlington. I could find no info about Straw K, Inc. beyond the fact that it exists, located in Arlington and is doing business as A-AArlington Abandoned Vehicle.

Another Cold Foggy Wet Day In Fort Worth Texas

It is not even winter yet and I've grown tired of that particular season this second Tuesday of December in Texas.

That is my balcony view when I returned from swimming around 8 this morning. The fog was so thick it was pretty much a drizzle getting everything soaking wet.

It is a relatively balmy 40 right now in foggy Fort Worth. I suspect the swimming water was a few degrees warmer.

My new swimming shock therapy method is to run into the pool til I'm in swim mode, swim to the end, swim back, run to the hot tub. When I get in the hot tub I feel no heat for a couple minutes. Then it gets feeling too hot. I then get back in the pool where it takes about 2 minutes to feel too cool again.

I heard from the Mad Texas Grandma a couple times last night, emailing from her cruise ship somewhere in either the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean. We still have not found out who actually owns A-AARLINGTON ABANDONED VEHICLE or how it is they tow cars from the Stadium Wal-Mart with Wal-Mart claiming they have no towing contract with the mysterious company.

It is going to be a long day.

The Blitzkrieg The Barnett Shale Gas Drillers Have Unleashed In Texas & The Coming D-Day

If my memory is serving me correctly, this afternoon, a time or two I have referred to the Fort Worth Police as the Fort Worth Gestapo, due to their, at times, heavy handed Storm Trooper like behavior.

A brutal bar raid here, a brutal tasering there, with little consequence for the bad behaviors.

Well, I got an email from Don Young, today, he being Fort Worth's Top Watch Dog as determined by those who determine who Fort Worth's Top Watch Dog is.

In the email DY makes an interesting analogy between North Texas in 2009 and Denmark and much of the rest of Europe in 1941.

I'll copy DY's email in its entirety below....

I saw a great movie yesterday called, Flame and Citron, a true story about a pair of heroic resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Denmark. It's WW2 and the Danish people have a mixture of fear and anger at the way the Nazi's have taken over their Motherland. The tag-line of the film is:

"Do you remember when they came?"

If my overburdened email INBOX is any indication, there are lots of people around the USA who are asking similar questions nearly 70 years after the Nazi's plundered Europe. Not to tarnish the meaning or memory of WW2, but the parallels to then and now - to Nazi's and gas drillers, are chilling.

Nearly every day I get a new message from a homeowner, a rancher, a mother with children or a distraught father asking what can be done. What can be done to stop gas drillers from poisoning their air and water? What can be done to stop the degradation of their property and the ruination of their investments? What can be done to stop the poisoning of their animals and wildlife?

As you might expect, the answers are complex and not easily resolved. The enemy is entrenched and seems unstoppable. Just like in WW2, gas drilling companies are aggressive, arrogant, in control of elected officials and the courts. They laugh at our laws and manufacture their own version of truth, as needed. But this is 2009 not 1941.

There are signs of growing resistance to the blitzkrieg that gas drillers have unleashed. Activists are being created every time a driller bulldozes a fence, dumps poison near our drinking water, sets up a pad-site next to a school or releases a cloud of toxic gas in the name of profit.

For some of us, patriotism is gaining new meaning. But this is NOT about radical political ideology. This is about fundamental rights to clean air and water. The stakes are getting higher every day. What is your tipping point?

"A patriot must always be ready to defend her city against her government."

-Edward Abbey

DY

December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor Day's Diminishing Infamy

I opened an email from Don Young a few minutes ago, subject line "December 7, Do you remember..." which I assumed was going to be about today being the day in 1941 when Japan sneak attacked America at Pearl Harbor.

But DY's email was not about Pearl Harbor and that particular day of infamy, which seems to have faded in its level of infamy judging by how little note seems to being made in the various media I've looked at today, such as CNN online, which does have an article making note of the fact that tomorrow is the 29th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. Seems sort of shocking that that was that long ago.

Is there anyone reading this who was alive and paying attention on December 7, 1941? How does the shock of that day compare with the shock of September 11, 2001? There would have been no live television coverage from Pearl Harbor on 12/7, like what happened on 9/11. But I believe the nation was glued to their radio way back in 1941.

I suppose Americans were already in a bit of state of shock on 12/7 due to all the nasty stuff the Nazis had been doing in Europe for a couple years.

Speaking of those nasty Nazis. Nazi's are sort of what Don Young's Pearl Harbor Day email was about. I think I'll share that in another blogging.

Foggy Fosdic Lake In Fort Worth With Swirling Flocks Of Ducks

I went to Oakland Lake Park at noon to walk around Fosdic Lake. As I walked the temperature seemed to drop, and then a light drizzle. By the time I was back driving a thick, dense fog had settled in. I got back here to see the temperature had dropped. It was 41 when I left. 37 now.

Texas weather is so different than what I grew up knowing in Washington.

Does anyone know why ducks flock together and move in a circle when it's cold? In the picture you see 2 flocks of circling ducks. There were two additional flocks of circlers to the right.

Apparently 'circlers' is not a word because it just got flagged red, indicating it's a misspelling. Well, I think it should be a word, so I'm leaving it alone.

In the second picture you are looking north on Bridge Street. When Bridge Street crosses the 820 freeway it becomes John T. White Street. I don't know why they change street names like that here in Texas. It's confusing.

You can see it's quite dark here at 1pm, headlights on, low visibility. I imagine this fog is causing some problems at the airport.

Buzzer is buzzing. That means sweet potatoes have been turned into baked sweet potatoes fries for lunch, to go along with turkey kielbasa and tomato salad. You are going to need to be here in 10 minutes, or so, if you want lunch.

Downwinders At Risk Throwing A Big Arlington Party For Dr. Al Armendariz

You are looking at Dr. Al Armendariz. To the surprise and delight of a lot of people he was appointed EPA Regional 6 Administrator.

Downwinders at Risk is throwing a party to celebrate the new EPA Administrator, appointed to a post that most likely, previously, would have gone to someone in cahoots with the polluters and environment damagers.

The Downwinders Party takes place Thursday, December 10 from 7:30pm til 9pm in The Private Room at J. Gilligan's Bar & Grill at 400 E. Abram in Arlington.

Remarks by Dr. Armenadariz at 8:15

A cash bar and snacks

RSVP

Directions to Gilligan's Bar