Dying, Mothers & Fighting For Your Ideas In Texas

That's Jonathon Morrow you're looking at. He is a famous blogger.

I'd not heard of Jonathon Morrow til today. I was telling someone about another blogger's most recent blog and it's boneheadedly annoying premise, that being that the No Child Left Behind policy, as practiced in Texas, was causing the education level to be drug down to the Lowest Common Denominator.

As in the smart kids were being held back because the teaching had been dumbed down to the LCD level.

This blogger's solution was to separate the smart from the not so smart, so the not so smart would stop hindering the smart from getting smarter.

This blogger seemed to have no concept of the reality that being the top student in your class does not necessarily mean you are also the smartest student in the class. There are all sorts of things to be smart about, in addition to being able to process a complex math problem.

In days gone by, for the most part, kids with Dyslexia would get labeled stupid because they could not learn to read.

I don't know for sure why I found the LCD blogger's blogging about LCD so disturbing. Maybe it was the arrogant, elitist attitude behind it.

On the same day that the LCD blogger was being boneheaded, the Queen of Wink told me about a problem out in West Texas where a student with a slight learning disorder was being denied special help. The Americans with Disabilities Agency is coming to the rescue.

Speaking of Americans with Disabilities and why we collectively need to help those who need special help brings me back to Jonathon Morrow.

His mother had to fight hard for Jonathon, first off, to live, second off, to get to go to school. Read Jonathon's blogging about Dying, Mothers and Fighting for Your Ideas and then tell me that we should separate those with special needs from those blessed with fewer problems.

Now, the LCD blogger will insist that this was not what he meant. What he doesn't get is who gets to decide who is smarter, who's special need gets helped? Who sets the criteria? If I were the dictator I'd separate those with a Low Social IQ from those with a High Social IQ and put the LSIQ's in a different school from the HSIQ's. This would put me in a different school from the LCD Blogger.

The person who told me about Jonathon Morrow has a High Social IQ. So the story could not be told without a few tears flowing. It's that inspirational. So, read it.

Merry Christmas Eve Morning From Chilly Fort Worth Texas

Merry Christmas Eve Morning from chilly Fort Worth, Texas.

I am waiting for the sun to come up and light up the place so I can see my way to the pool to go swimming.

I'll likely have to wade through some water to get to the pool. I heard wet stuff hitting my bedroom window a lot last night. At times it sounded as if the wet stuff may have been frozen, hitting the window with extreme prejudice.

Yesterday the temperature managed to almost get into the 80s. Overnight a cold front has pushed the warmth away.

The Big Chill will continue to get chillier throughout the day, with possible snow. High winds are supposed to help bring in the Big Chill.

I've had one White Christmas since I've been in Texas. Tomorrow there is no forecast of precipitation in any form. But, if it snows today enough to provide a white cover, there is a chance the white could survive til Christmas morning.

I will be sure to document tomorrow's possible White Texas Christmas with photos, if it happens.

The Fort Worth Fosdic Lake Dam Dead Tree Is Gone But Turtles Remain

The Fosdic Lake Dam Dead Tree, that had been marked by a Big Red X, for at least a year, maybe two, is now gone, with nary a stump, to mark its location.

After I blogged about it, I soon had feedback about the Fosdic Lake Dam Dead Tree and the Fosdic Dam Clearcut.

But that feedback led to another question.

The Dead Tree may be gone from Fosdic Lake Dam in Oakland Lake Park, but live trees remain growing on the dam.

We have added some mountain bike trails to the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision. It's fun to be able to jump in a lake after working up a sweat mountain biking. There are lakes in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, like Lake Joe Pool and Lake Grapevine where one can jump in the lake directly from a mountain bike trail.

But those lakes have snakes. Though I have swum in both Lake Joe Pool and Lake Grapevine without a snake incident, I have had an attacking turtle incident.

The turtle attack occurred in Lake Grapevine on July 12, 2002. I'd been mountain biking the Horseshoe Trails. It was over 100 degrees. At the end of the trail, by a boat launch, there is a dock. I jumped off the dock and started swimming. The water was not all that refreshing, more like luke warm bathwater.

I was about 100 feet out when a giant reptilian head popped out of the water in front of me. SNAKE, my panicked mind told me. I did not know I could swim as fast as I did. So fast I was sore from it for days. When I got safely to shore I was soon to learn it was not a snake trying to kill me, it was a big turtle.

They like to bite. That's why some are called Snapping Turtles.

As I pondered the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision today I saw something sunning itself on a log that may present a problem. A turtle. The turtles will need to find a new home.

It is warm today, windows are open, tomorrow will be in the 20s. When it is cold the turtles disappear. Does anyone know where they go? It perplexes me.

The turtles were not being as skittish today as when it's warmer. But the one in the picture jumped in the water when a jogger clomped by.

Fort Worth's Public Library Is Closed Today While Little Burlington Washington's Is Open

I live close to a Fort Worth Library Branch. On my way to check out Fosdic Lake to work on the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision I wanted to drop off a couple books and get a couple new ones.

But.

The Fort Worth Library was closed. And I could not drop off the books I wanted to return because the book return was blocked by the sign you see in the picture.

As I drove up to the library I saw, maybe, 10 cars in the lot and several people standing by the door, I assumed, waiting for the library to open at noon.

I sat there watching for maybe 5 minutes. Several cars drove on to the lot and left when they spotted the closed sign. Others got out of their car and walked to the door and eventually saw the closed sign. I imagine this will continue all day long

What a waste of time and gas.

So, I got to Fosdic Lake and started to walk. And then I remembered I had the number for the Burlington Library on my phone. I know the librarian.

Burlington is the small town in Washington I grew up in. It's current population is somewhere around 5,000, I think. But the town's population soars during the day due to it being a shopping hub with a big mall, outlet center, Costco, Fred Meyer, I forget what else.

My call to the Burlington Library was answered on the second ring. Try calling the Fort Worth Library and see what happens. I called at 12:15, which made it 10:15 on the West Coast. I asked, "Are you open today?"

"Yes. From 11am til 8pm" the librarian answered.

I told the librarian I was calling from Fort Worth, Texas where I was annoyed to find the library closed today.

It has annoyed me many a time to drive by the Fort Worth Library to see a line of people waiting to get in. It seems such a waste to build libraries and crimp on the hours they are open.

Oh, yes, I know there is a serious budget shortfall, so serious that Fort Worth is abandoning its Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. No, wait, I don't think that's reality, that was a dream I had recently.

Yesterday, when I had my long meeting with Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and he not only agreed to support the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision, he agreed to use his ill-gotten Conflict of Interest gains to finance the project.

Now, I'm thinking I would be agreeable to scaling back the Fosdic Lake Dam Vision, with Mayor Moncrief donating some of his ill-gotten gains to the city for the specific use of expanding Fort Worth Library hours.

Earlier today I blogged about Seattle being America's most literate city, with Fort Worth being America's 52nd most literate city. I see a connection between little Burlington's library being open today and the Northwest having a high literacy rate and Fort Worth's library being closed today with Fort Worth having a significantly lower literacy rate, with a lot of Fort Worth citizens really wanting their library to be open today.

Shameful and perplexing.

Seattle Is Most Literate City In America While Fort Worth Is Not

BING had a best city skyline contest. The winning photo will be the background on the BING homepage. Seattle photographer Justin Kramer had the winning photo, with his picture of the Seattle skyline.

Speaking of Seattle, yet one more study has Seattle being the #1 most literate city in America.

Cities were ranked based on the number of retail bookstores per 10,000 population, the percentage of adults with a high school diploma or higher, the number of web page views, per capita, of a city's Internet version of a newspaper and the total circulation of a city's newspapers.

The Top 75 cities, with populations over 250,000, were ranked.

The top Texas city is Austin, coming in at #16, followed by Dallas at #48, Forth Worth close on Dallas' heels at #52, Plano tied at #53, Houston at #60, San Antonio at #61, Arlington tied for #70 and El Paso in last place at #75.

It does not shock me, too much, that Fort Worth would be in the bottom third of a study like this. Yesterday's talk with Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief was illuminating. I believe he is a product of the Fort Worth schools which left him sadly lacking in key pieces of knowledge, like what a Conflict of Interest is. Or that pouring a cup of grape Kool-Aid into a river is not going to turn it purple.

If Fort Worth were a more literate city I suspect that more than 6% of the eligible voters would turn out and not re-elect an ethics challenged, Conflicts of Interest-laden mayor, with a 70% of the vote landslide. In other words no one like Mike Moncrief would ever be elected mayor of Seattle.

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.)

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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...