Another Tandy Hills Fort Worth Police Encounter With A Horse

I've had myself an all jumbled up day. It started off okay with a nice cool dip in the pool. Followed by that lengthy meeting with Fort Worth Mayor Moncrief I mentioned earlier. I did not get around to having lunch til 2.

I'm under my therapist, Dr. L.C.'s, orders to get heavy duty aerobic exercise every day to try and reverse my weight gain and lower my blood pressure.

So, today was the 4th day in a row to hike the Tandy Hills. This afternoon I decided to park by the Tandy Tower at the east entry to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area. As you can see in the photo above I was greeted by a Fort Worth Police Car. My fear of a Gestapo encounter increased my heartbeat before I did anything aerobic.

I saw another car parked closer to Tandy Tower. I figured the cop must be chasing someone into the hills. I started heading that way, then heard a noise behind me, someone shouting. I turned to see the Fort Worth Cop.

No. He was not shouting at me. He was shouting at a horse. Trying to get the horse to enter the fenced area of the broadcast buildings. Eventually he succeeded and corralled the horse inside the fenced area you see in the picture.

After the successful corralling the cop walked back towards his cop car. I was concerned I was going to be an object of attention due to some illegal parking issue. And I was not wearing my seatbelt.

So, I said howdy to the cop and asked what the deal was with the horse. He said there'd been reports of a horse running wild in the neighborhood. I told him I'd seen a lot of hoofprints the last time I hiked the Tandy Hills. I think I mentioned that previously, and the fact that posted signs clearly say "No Horses." Apparently this horse does not follow rules and has no respect for authority.

About an hour later I was done with the hiking. As my vehicle came into view I saw the cop had moved his car closer to the horse. What appeared to be a police truck pulling a horse paddy wagon was driving in.

A cop wrangler in a cowboy hat got out of the cop truck.

I did not stay around to see the horse get wrangled. I hope this all has a happy ending and a home is found for the apparently abandoned horse.

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Agrees To Use His Ill Gotten Conflict Of Interest Gains To Fund The Fosdic Lake Dam Vision

I had a long talk with Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief this morning. That's why I've been absent from blogging world. Thank you for the concerned messages inquiring about my well being due to my absence.

It took a couple hours of going through it, step by step, but as we neared hour 3 the good mayor finally began to understand what a Conflict of Interest is and why not having Conflicts of Interest by government officials is a key part of good, honest government.

I do not understand why no one explained what a Conflict of Interest is to the good mayor, til now. Mike told me the Fort Worth City Attorney had told him he had no Conflicts of Interest. I asked the mayor why he asked the City Attorney if he had Conflicts of Interest if he did not know what a Conflict of Interest was.

The mayor said he got tired of people telling him he had a bad ethics problem due to violating Conflict of Interest laws, hence the question to the City Attorney.

After Mayor Moncrief understood why it was wrong for him to be taking over $600,000 a year from the Natural Gas Companies drilling in the Barnett Shale in Fort Worth he asked me how he could possibly make it up to the people of Fort Worth.

I told the mayor I'd estimated he'd made approximately $4 million from the Natural Gas Drillers since he became mayor.

I then told Mayor Moncrief about my Fosdic Lake Dam Vision and that I estimated the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision could be a reality for between $3 & $4 million. I suggested he bank roll the vision as a gift to the citizens of Fort Worth.

Mayor Moncrief was instantly sold on the idea of using the money he'd gotten due to his Conflicts of Interest to clean up Fosdic Lake and turn it into a swimmable, fishable, boatable lake for the people of Fort Worth.

I need to get ahold of Kay Granger and get her on board with the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision. Anyone know if she has any more unemployed kids? The Fosdic Lake Dam Vision is going to need someone to run the project.

That is a picture of one of the proposed Fosdic Lake aerators at the top.

Happy First Day Of Winter From The Tandy Hills & I Heard From Fort Worth Mayor Mikey

My therapist, Dr. L.C. ordered me to the Tandy Hills today for the third day in a row. Apparently the temperatures are scheduled to turn cold again. My therapist has been alarmed regarding my recent inactivity caused weight gain.

It's the Winter Solstice today. That's my first day of Winter noontime long shadow on a Tandy Hills trail. That shadow makes it appear as if I'm wearing some sort of skirt. I'm pretty sure I left my skirt at home and was wearing cargo shorts.

Horses are not supposed to go hiking on the Tandy Hills. There are signs clearly stating that rule. In Texas we do not break rules. In Texas we do not question the rules or the authority of who makes the rules.

Anyway, at least one horse clomped around on the trails leaving telltale horseshoe prints. And piles of digested horse food that was attracting flies. It seems sort of counter intuitive to have a rule forbidding the riding of a horse on a Texas Prairie. Then again, it was easy to see, today, how a lot of horses clomping on the trails could do a lot of damage.

The Tandy Hills River was roaring over Tandy Falls today. I'd not hiked to Tandy Falls for a long time. I don't know why. It's so peaceful there. And I love the sound of a roaring waterfall.

I heard from Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief. He commented on a blogging yesterday about the Toy Run of motorcycles. Mayor Mike said he was Anonymous and then signed his comment "Your dedicated and honorable mayor, Mikey."

Ever since I saw the dedicated and honorable Mayor Mikey pouring a cup of grape Kool-Aid into the Trinity River thinking this was going to turn the river purple, well, the former high esteem in which I held the honorable mayor took a really serious nosedive.

Anyway, that's been my exciting day, so far. No swimming this morning due to reasons I don't want to talk about. And today I got my last website off my previous chronically hacked webhost. And then canceled that account. Now I feel like I'll be doing some complaining about IX Webhosting and the dirty deeds they did to me in cahoots with their Ukrainian cyber tech terrorists.

Conflict Of Interest Is A Crime In Richardson Texas But Not Fort Worth

Yesterday I said again that it seems as if the zone of Texas I'm living in is under some sort of protective bubble that prevents the laws that govern the rest of America from being relevant.

This morning I learned the protective bubble is smaller than I thought. Now I'm thinking Fort Worth is at the center of the protective bubble, with its suburbs likely under the cover, while suburbs of Dallas, like Richardson, are outside the protective bubble, with Richardson operating under the laws that govern the rest of America.

So, what did I learn this morning? Well, the people of Richardson have raised Conflicts of Interest issues regarding alcohol sales at a public golf course and city official's involvement in those sales.

Seems a fairly trivial Conflict of Interest compared to that of Fort Worth's Mayor Mike Moncrief and his having an interest in all the natural gas companies drilling in Fort Worth. Interests that pay him over $600,000 a year. The Conflict of Interest in Richardson did not involve any use of eminent domain to take citizen's property, did not involve the release of dangerous toxins into the air, did not involve the theft of river water.

I truly do not understand why criminal charges have not yet been brought against Moncrief. Surely the gas industry is not so powerful that it has co-opted law enforcement.

Permit me to spell out the legalese regarding Conflict of Interest.

Political Reform Act of 1974

The Political Reform Act of 1974 contains a general prohibition against conflicts of interest in public decision making, as well as a provision for the adoption of a conflict of interest code. It prevails over any other conflict of interest law to the contrary. Gov’t Code § 81013. The restrictions of this Act apply to all government employees, without regard to whether they are required to file an annual conflict of interest form.

The General Prohibition

No public employee at any level of state or local government shall make, participate in making or in any way attempt to use his [or her] official position to influence a governmental decision in which [s/he] knows or has reason to know [s/he] has a financial interest.” Gov’t Code § 87100. Any person who willfully violates the general prohibition is guilty of a misdemeanor. Gov’t Code § 91000. This prohibition applies to all government employees.

Conflicting Personal Financial Interests

A personal financial interest extends beyond the public employee’s own finances or investments. A public employee has a personal financial interest in a government decision if it is reasonably foreseeable that the decision will have a material financial effect on the employee, a member of his or her immediate family, in any one of the five economic interests. Gov’t Code § 87103.

Five Economic Interests

1. Any business entity in which the employee has a direct or indirect investment worth $2,000 or more, including ownership of stock by the employee or the employee’s spouse or dependent child.

2. Any real property in which the employee has a direct or indirect interest worth $2,000 or more. The employee’s home is not included in this calculation but any other investment property would be.

3. Any source of income that provides $500 or more in value promised to, or received by, the employee within 12 months prior to the time when the decision is made.

4. Any business entity in which the employee is a director, officer, partner, trustee, employee, or holds any position of management.

5. Any donor of, a gift or gifts totaling $420 or more, received, or promised to the employee within 12 months prior to the decision being made. Meals, travel costs, or anything else of value are included in the $420. (This amount is tied to a consumer price index and is occasionally adjusted.)

---

Now, how can any sane person not get that Fort Worth's Mayor is committing a serious crime? Let me spell it out again, loud and bold.

THE MAYOR OF FORT WORTH, MIKE MONCRIEF, IS TAKING $600,000 A YEAR FROM NATURAL GAS DRILLERS WHO ARE ABUSING EMINENT DOMAIN TO TAKE FORT WORTH CITIZEN'S PROPERTY & POLLUTING THEIR AIR WITH DANGEROUS CHEMICALS WHILE STEALING WATER FROM THE TRINITY RIVER.

Interstate 30 In Fort Worth Shut Down While People Wait & Watch

No, those are not a bunch of Fort Worth natives standing on the Beach Street overpass over Interstate 30 protesting their air being poisoned by Barnett Shale gas drillers. Nor, even though they are close to Carter Avenue, are they showing support for the Carter Avenue Chesapeake Energy Resistance. And no, these Fort Worth natives are not celebrating the eminent arrest of Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief on racketeering charges.

So, I was on my way to the Tandy Hills. I enjoyed yesterday's perfect weather so much I decided to go for a repeat. This morning's swim was excellent too, though a tad chilly.

On my way, to the Tandy Hills, Tootsie Tonasket called me. I was driving down Brentwood Stair talking to Tootsie when I saw 2 Fort Worth Police cars oddly parked on the grass by an I-30 freeway exit and entry.

A short distance later, right before Oakland Avenue, I saw what you see above. All these vehicles parked beside the freeway, with people outside looking like they are waiting for something.

I get views of the freeway from the Tandy Hills. Each time I could see the freeway I'd see nothing out of the ordinary. Then I came to the view you see above, looking west towards downtown Fort Worth. And again with a lot of vehicles parked on the side of the freeway. And people out like they are looking for something. This was about an hour after I'd first spotted people at the side of the freeway watching nothing. If you look at the enlarged version of the above scene you'll see that there are pickups that have climbed the knoll on the opposite side of the freeway.

I finished with my hiking and headed towards the Beach Street Wal-Mart. When the Beach Street overpass came into view I saw all those people you saw in the first picture, standing on the overpass. As I crossed the freeway I finally saw what these people were looking at. I made a U-Turn, heading back to the Wells Fargo parking lot. Saw no NO EVENT PARKING sign, so I risked being towed and walked back to the freeway overpass.

And this is what I saw. Motorcycles as far as I could see, looking both west and east. Sadly I don't have a photo of the view to the east, because by the time I was on that side of the overpass I'd switched the camera to video mode. Which means there is a YouTube video of what I saw today, below.

By the time I got to the Tandy Hills I was fairly certain I knew what the people were waiting for, because I remembered being in Arlington around this time last year and seeing a similar scene, only unlike this year, when I came upon it, the motorcycles were already on the freeway.

This event is called the Toy Run. With the people on motorcycles bringing toys to, I think, the Arlington Convention Center. I have never seen so many motorcycles. Thousands of them.

The Fort Worth Police close off the freeway entries while the motorcycles pass. I wonder how kosher doing that is on a federal highway? Seems like it'd breaking some sort of rule. We don't believe in breaking rules in Texas. How much did this little event cost cash strapped Fort Worth?

It is a tad perplexing that thousands of Fort Worth citizens will line up along the freeway to watch some motorcycles motor by while only 6% of them will line up to vote to hopefully oust a corrupt mayor.

Watch the YouTube video to see and hear the motorcycles and the people cheering them on...

It Is Time To Put Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Behind Bars

My favorite commenter, Anonymous, commented yesterday or the day before on a blogging that made reference to the man behind bars, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief.

Anonymous informed me that I am playing a major role in the local public rebellion against corruption and tyranny.

I don't know if that's true or not, my playing a major rebellion role. At most I only get a few thousand blog visitors a day.

I liked the Anonymous comment so much I'm going to copy it below. And then below that I'll do some rebelling...

Mr. Durango--you exhibit more of the vaunted Texas spirit and straight talk than so-called "native Texans". Let's hope that this man will get adequate legal help (or not--he seems to hold his own against these thugs so far, not only to kick CHK's @#$% but maybe also get Mayor Gasbag and his cronies under oath to reveal their secret dealings that benefit them but harm the citizens. Your sister probably can tell you that information from a good deposition can lead to many other legal actions, including your vision of Snively Whiplash and co. taking the "perp walk". Stay on this, Mr. D., because it's obvious the Star Telegram and even other media have been compromised and subdued. This battle must be viewed and conducted as a public rebellion against corruption and tyranny. You're playing a major role, sir, whether you know it or not. You have the power of the pen.

Sometime in the past week I said something like it seems as if the zone of Texas I'm living in is under some sort of protective bubble that prevents the laws that govern the rest of America from being relevant.

Many people have complained about Mayor Moncrief's conflicts of interest, with him having holdings in all the Barnett Shale natural gas drillers operating in the city of which he is the mayor. In other parts of America a mayor would either shed the interests that cause a conflict or recuse himself from having any part of any decision that benefits a business that benefits him.

Mike Moncrief benefits from his gas company holdings to the tune of $600,000 a year.

Now, back when the gas drilling seemed a fairly benign, fairly harmless endeavor, Moncrief's conflicts of interest did not seem so conflicting to me.

But, now that we learn the gas drilling operations are doing some serious polluting, endangering lives, abusing eminent domain, with the City of Fort Worth and its mayor doing nothing to make the gas drillers take the measures necessary to reduce the pollution.

We see the City of Fort Worth looking the other way when gas drillers steal water from the Trinity River and damage the river's levees in the process.

We see the City of Fort Worth act as a stooge for Chesapeake Energy, being an ally of that company as it attacks Fort Worth citizens in locations like Carter Avenue. In Arlington, Mayor Cluck finally had the guts to tell Jerry Jones there would be no more eminent domain abuse in Arlington.

Fort Worth's corrupt, conflict of interest-laden, dictatorial, narrow-minded miscreant of a mayor could do the same thing, telling Aubrey McClendon that he would not permit any more eminent domain abuse in his town.

The fact that that won't happen and the eminent domain persecution of Steve Doeung by Chesapeake Energy continues, is the point where, along with doing nothing about the gas drilling caused pollution, Mayor Mike Moncrief crosses the line into being engaged in what amounts to a form of racketeering.

There is an FBI office in Dallas.

I wish the Dallas FBI would spend less time setting up stings in which fake bombs are given to 19 year old kids and more time investigating the crimes that are being committed in Fort Worth, where the city has a mayor who is in collusion with natural gas drilling companies who are in full assault mode on the citizens of Fort Worth.

I'll distill it down for the FBI and shout it in capital letters and make it bold.

THE MAYOR OF FORT WORTH, MIKE MONCRIEF, IS TAKING $600,000 A YEAR FROM NATURAL GAS DRILLERS WHO ARE ABUSING EMINENT DOMAIN TO TAKE FORT WORTH CITIZEN'S PROPERTY & POLLUTING THEIR AIR WITH DANGEROUS CHEMICALS WHILE STEALING WATER FROM THE TRINITY RIVER.

2001 Durango Texas Blog Posts: YIKES!

That's the Dashboard thing I see when I log into Blogger to do a blogging. I'd noticed a couple days ago that the total number of Posts was nearing 2000. I had not noticed when I blogged about the Tandy Hills today that that blogging was number 2000, followed by another one that became number 2001, which makes this one number 2002.

That is a lot of blogging. And that's just this blog. I have 3 others. Yikes. I guess I have a lot to say.

What's weird is I really don't spend all that much time doing the blogging, or so it seems to me. Maybe an hour a day. When I started doing the blogging thing I didn't think I'd really get all that involved with it, that the novelty would fade, like it does with a thing like Facebook.

Instead, blogging sort of became like emailing, which I've always been absurdly prolific at.

It is sort of poetic that my 2000th blogging would be about the Tandy Hills, a place I've blogged about more than just about anything else. And which has provided me with a lot of material in a lot of ways other than simply talking about hiking the Tandy Hills.

I get a lot of Feedback from my Eyes on Texas website and comments on this blog. This morning I got one of the best. Maybe I'll turn that one into blogging #2003.

Gas Drillers Expand Trinity River Water Stealing Operation By Gateway Park In Fort Worth

On Thursday while driving north on Beach Street, as I crossed the Trinity River I noticed a truck and a backhoe at the location where I'd previously told you about a gas driller using a diesel pump to pipeline water out of the Trinity River, leaving a big, rutted, muddy mess in its wake.

When I saw the backhoe I figured the gas driller must be repairing the damage and restoring the levee. I'd seen a similar repair done in Village Creek Natural Historic Area in Arlington, so I assumed that was what was being done on Thursday.

Well. I was wrong.

If anything the damaged levee has experienced added damage. Apparently what the backhoe was doing was making a better "road" to the expanded "pump pad" it'd built by the river's bank.

My limited photographer skills don't quite capture what my eye saw, but in the first picture we are looking at the expanded "pump pad." It appears a lot of earth was moved to make a better place for the diesel pump to sit at the river's edge.

Oh, I forgot to mention, from what I saw today it seemed pretty obvious the water pump is going to return and the backhoe was preparing for that eventuality.

The second picture is looking down the improved "road" at the improved "pump pad."

And another thing, the area reeked of diesel, so much so that my first inclination was to think that all that earthmoving had been done to cover up a diesel spill.

I've asked before, but have received no answer, but how does one go about getting the right to do this type of thing on what I assume is public land?

Does the gas driller have to get a permit? Would that permit not be a public record? Should there not be total transparency on something like this? As in, a Fort Worth citizen be able to call the city and ask who is sucking water from the Trinity River? Shouldn't the permit be posted?

See that NO MOTOR VEHICLES sign? That is located right next to the Trinity Trail before the trail crosses a pedestrian bridge into Gateway Park. As you can see, the area I've shown you before on top of the Trinity levee is now in much worse shape.

Now, if I drove my motor vehicle to this location, parked it, and proceeded to pump some water out of the Trinity River, what would my fate be if spotted by the Fort Worth Gestapo?

More Than A Dozen Humans Hiking The Tandy Hills This Saturday

The Tandy Hills were alive today with the sound of bi-peds hiking. I saw more people in the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area today than any other day except for Prairie Fest.

There was one eclectic group of about 15 and a solo hiker I spotted across a valley and up another hill.

It really perplexes me that I don't see more people hiking on the Tandy Hills Trails. I can understand those who are daunted by being outside when it's 105. But what is the excuse on a day like today?

In the Northwest, on a nice Fall day, I could go to any of the dozens of trails, on weekends, in the Cascade Mountains and see more people than I ever see hiking the Tandy Hills. Here in Fort Worth you've got this excellent hiking opportunity, yet in this city of over 700,000 people only a minuscule fraction use this resource.

It can't all be explained by the fact that there are way more obese, less active people here in Texas.

Like I said, it's very perplexing.

In addition to a long hike today, I got in the pool this morning. But not for long. After I was done with the hiking I went to Town Talk and on the way there I stopped to check out that back hoe operation I had spotted on Thursday on the Trinity River levee where gas drillers had been sucking water from the river, via a diesel pump and a pipeline, run across public land and making a big mess in the process.

I'll show you what I saw after I hit the publish button on this blogging.

Breaking The Texas Rules By Having Long Hair

Recently the ISD (Independent School District) of the Dallas suburb of Mesquite insisted that a little 4 year old boy named Taylor Pugh get his hair cut or get out of school.

Yes, you reading this in more civilized parts of America, I am not making this up.

Taylor's parents say they will pull him out of school rather than make him get the hair he likes so much, cut.

Now, it is well known that many Texas schools do not perform, education quality wise, as well as schools in other parts of America. Wasting time on a 4 year old's hair, rather than teaching him, seems like it might be a symptom of a bigger problem.

As in way too many stupid people in positions to do damage with their stupidity.

Speaking of stupid. Taylor's hair first came to my attention when reading Letters to the Editor in the Dallas Morning News. Two people opined about Taylor and his parents, saying things like...

"Yet another young person who will enter society with an attitude of disrespect and self-entitlement. I would only hope that they don't just leave the Mesquite ISD, but that they would leave the entire state of Texas."

And...

"I want to congratulate the Mesquite ISD for sticking to its dress code. It is nice to see a school district that refuses to be bullied by parents who do not respect authority.

Sometimes the rules don't have to make sense to everyone; they are just simply the rules.

As far as raising a child who is brought up to rebel against the simplest of rules -- good luck with that. Maybe we will read about this kid again in the paper in about 10 to 15 years, but let's hope not."

How depressing. How can people be this stupid? It is better to teach a kid to question authority rather than blindly, obediently conform. There was a time, not too long ago, when a country insisted its citizens be blindly obedient and follow the rules. Some brave souls broke the rules, but the majority only followed orders. World War II was the result. And Germany and Germans remained stained, a half century plus later, by their blind obedience and conformity to authority.

Taylor's hair was hurting no one. Though Taylor does live in Texas, he also lives in America. In America we have this thing called freedom. This freedom covers all sorts of things, like the freedom to express yourself in any way you want, including how you dress or wear you hair. As long as your exercise of your freedom does not encroach on anyone else's freedom.

I believe the boneheads who made an issue of Taylor's hair and put Taylor's parents in a position they should not have been put in, should be fired. If the decision to make an issue over Taylor's hair went all the way to the Superintendent, he or she needs to go too.

Then today at least part of this aggravation had a happy ending that left me way less depressed about the blind obedience to authority practiced by way too many Texans.

The Letters to the Editor from the 2 boneheads generated a large number of follow-up letters that greatly improved my opinion about opinionated Texans.

Like jmac who said...

"Good grief. Will Texas ever grow up? This is a repeat of the 70's."

And then Pursuit of Happiness said...

Out of the state… That’s good comrade. Perhaps the state should build some camps to keep troublemakers like this isolated from everyone else. It wouldn’t do to have everybody questioning the rules. Maybe we could get some hair length police and encourage people to turn in their neighbors. After all, we all know that there is only one morality.

You might recall that Jesus had long hair and was a rule breaker. The same for Einstein."

With ashlock4forgreenfuture saying...

"Following rules "because they're the rules" is how some of the worst atrocities in history got committed. In Nazi Germany, it was the "rule" that Germans had to persecute Jews. The most important lesson a parent can teach a child is to think about whether a rule makes sense, before following it.

Respect for authority is not a good thing to have. The heroes of history have been those who respected their own conscience in defiance of authority.

I think this is more about persecuting the kid's parents for being countercultural, than it is about the kid. The dad is a former tattoo artist with earrings who used to shave his head-- well, they can't punish him. so they're trying to punish him through his kid."

Emily makes a really good point...

"When did the school systems job become teaching children how to conform rather than educate them on how to function in society of individuals? Let's not forget that public school is something that we pay for and should have authority over. Not the other way around. I commend the parents for teaching their kid that it's important to not obey but to choose to co-operate on what he feels is fair and just and refuse to co-operate on things that are not. There are many reasons for him to have long hair, all of which are none of the school business. This issue of long hair and authority is not something that is going to keep this kid from getting a job or being successful. Segregating him from class over petty issues is."

And finally Soup said...

"To the people who argue that it's more important to teach respect for authority, I entirely disagree. People understand laws. They understand rules. This is not something that has to be hammered into someone's head from the day they are born.

Far more important, and far more true to the philosophy of the Founding Father's of these United States, we should be teaching our children TO question authority. After all, were our founding fathers not questioning authority when they started the American Revolution? Was the Boston Tea Party simply a misunderstanding? Did the participants not realize that they were undermining the authority of the British government? Trivial crap like this is the perfect opportunity to teach our children to mind their rights.

Of course, I guess we could do as Texas wants and encourage our children to blindly trust their government. Surely no harm could come from that. (For the geniuses out there, that was sarcasm, and so was calling you geniuses)"

There were many more letters regarding this issue. A few were of the bonehead sort, the majority were of the non-ignorant sort. You can read them all here. Trust me, these are good comments from a lot of very smart Texans. I'm feeling much more optimistic about this place.

But, I am also wondering hope deep this teaching of blind adherence to rules goes? Has this been going on for generations? Did the cultural revolution of the 1960s skip North Texas? Is this conforming, don't question authority, attitude why there is not more of a rebellion against what's being done to North Texas and North Texans by the gas drilling industry? Is it why so few people vote? Is it why there are so few organized protests here, when there is so much to protest about?

A school district in Texas is allowed to embarrass and harass a family over a little boy's hair, while in Arlington a gas drilling company is allowed to disturb the peace of who knows how many people by drilling around the clock with the Do Not Disturb The Peace rule not applying to them. Little boy's hair hurt no one, little boy gets, well, punished. Gas driller hurts a lot of people, does not get told to stop, does not get punished.

Like I said, rules are made to be broken. I think if some entity is disturbing my sleep and won't stop, I'd be within my rights to do whatever it takes to shut them up. I wonder how one goes about toppling a tower?