We Won't Pipe Down: Huge Downtown Fort Worth Rally Of Support For Steve Doeung & Carter Avenue

Steve Doeung likens his fight to save his home from Chesapeake Energy and the City of Fort Worth's efforts to take his home using eminent domain, to being like those who fought in the Alamo.

Fighting against stronger forces. The weak against the strong. In that sense, the Alamo metaphor works. But, in the end, the defenders of the Alamo lost the battle and all the brave defenders were dead.

We want a different outcome for Steve Doeung and the people of Carter Avenue in their fight against Chesapeake Energy's plan to run a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under their homes.

The last time Steve Doeung was in court, to face his Chesapeake tormentors, he was supported by only one person, he being Fort Worth's #1 Watchdog, Don Young.

I remember this bothered me a lot. I believe I blogged about how appalled I was at the apathetic attitude of the people of Fort Worth regarding this bizarre case of eminent domain abuse. I wondered why the people of Carter Avenue were not there in the courtroom supporting Steve Doeung. I wondered why others were not there. I wondered why there was no organized protest over the fact that Chesapeake Energy was continuing its persecution of this fighting American, even after Chesapeake Energy let it be known there was an alternate route for their controversial pipeline.

Steve Doeung is back in court, early Thursday morning on March 4.

This time Steve Doeung and Don Young will not be alone.

A disparate group of Americans has come together in the past few days and have organized the Carter Avenue Rescue Operation.

There will be a rally of support starting at 7:30 am. Speakers at the rally include Louis McBee, Glen Bucy, Billy Mitchell and DISH Mayor, Calvin Tillman.

It is a week until D-Day. More speakers may be added, or come forward wishing to speak.

It is very easy to get to downtown Fort Worth. Just follow the signs to Sundance Square, where you will find a lot of parking lots.

Meet The New Boss Who Is Not The Same As The Old Boss In Fort Worth

Something is happening here (in Texas). What it is, isn't exactly clear. But it is clear, something is happening here. I think I may be detecting the ground doing some swelling. It is like suddenly a long dormant collective Texas conscience is being stirred to do something good.

I have mentioned, a time or two, in various ways, that all it takes for Evil to win, is for the Good People to do nothing.

Too many of the Good People of Fort Worth, and its environs, have done too little to stop Evil from winning, for too long.

I think the Era of Evil winning may be coming to an end in these parts of Texas.

I think maybe the corrupt mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, and the rest of his good ol' boy network and the Barnett Shale gas drillers, who have Moncrief in their pocket, are about to learn something.

There is a new BOSS in town.

The new BOSS will not be the same as the old BOSS.

Because the new BOSS will be the PEOPLE.

Having A Cerebral Blood Flow Woe While Thinking About Skinny Dipping With John Quincy Adams

That is not a plastic bag stuck in a tree. It is a big white bird perched in a Fosdic Lake tree at Oakland Lake Park.

As you can see, blue sky has returned, after yesterday's unpleasantness with gray skies, freezing temperatures and snow.

It is in the 50s out there right now a little after 5.

I was up in Southlake today during the period of my regular habitual walking.

Did you know that John Quincy Adams took a daily constitutional, in the form of a brisk 2 or 3 mile walk? In summer John Quincy Adams would go skinny dipping in the Potomac River.

Harry S Truman was also a heavy duty walker. Harry let members of the press walk with him, but few could keep up. I think it highly unlikely Harry S Truman ever went skinny dipping in the Potomac. I think by the time Harry was President the White House had a pool.

Anyway, back to me. After lunch I was determined to get a blogging written about a subject important to me. And then publish it when I got the go ahead.

Early this morning, while doing yoga, I came up with all sorts of really clever bombastic rhetoric. I thought to myself, I should be writing this stuff down. But that is hard to do when you are in the reverse plough position. I thought to myself, this is such good stuff, there is no way I'll forget.

But, post lunch, when I went to write, my brainpan had gone sluggish, due, I suspect, to diminished cerebral bloodflow due to that digestion business taking place.

So, I decided to get out of here and walk around Fosdic Lake, hoping to get the blood flowing again.

That was an hour ago. I'm feeling sort of recovered from my post-lunch sluggish state.

The Texas Bucket List Of Things All Texans Should Do Before They Die

Yes, that is me on the cover of an upcoming issue of Texas Monthly that is all about the Texas Bucket List, that being 63 things all Texans should do before they die, also known as kick the bucket.

I have no idea what is on the Texas Bucket List.

Hike to the top of Enchanted Rock? Play with the dolphins swimming in the gulf at Port Aransas? Visit one of the other 49 states?

Or is the list made up of things like pick up at least one piece of litter before you die?

Or every Texan should go on a diet at least once before they die?

Every Texan should try a seafood other than catfish before they die?

Every Texan should vote at least once before they die?

Every Texan should be comic fodder on a Reality TV Show before they die?

Every Texan should watch a football game before they die?

My imagination is running at a very low ebb today. I've run out of ideas of things Texans need to do before they die.

The Fort Worth Stockyards New Isis Theater Travesty & The Baker Hotel In Mineral Wells Travesty

That is the New Isis Theater on Main Street in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District.

I was appalled at this Isis Eyesore the first time I saw it, over a decade ago. I wondered then why the city code people did not make the owner fix it up. As in put windows in the boarded over windows. And a few other cosmetic fixes.

This was to be one of my early lessons in how things operate different in Texas than what I was used to.

Years passed, I started my Eyes on Texas website. On that website there is a page, long neglected, that I called Texas Tacky, basically chronicling examples of things I came across, in Texas, that seemed tacky to me.

On June 7, 2007 I got an email from Robert Adams telling me the New Isis Theater was currently being renovated, with the renovation to be completed in 14-16 months. You can go to the Texas Tacky link and read Robert's email. It's an amusing one, due to the seat info about Big Texans.

This morning I got email from Lauren regarding the New Isis Theater.

Lauren said...

"Wanting info on the Isis theater? Any new info? That email was in 2007....just in case "Robert" lost track of time, it's 2010....few months my a$$... "

It has been a few months since I last eye-witnessed the fact that the New Isis is an even bigger eyesore than when I first lay my sore eyes on it, over 10 years ago.

I wonder how many raids the Fort Worth Gestapo Stormtroopers have made on the New Isis Theater? Yes, I know, it is not nearly as bad a bad thing in public view as Steve Doeung's Protest Art that has earned him 3 citations from the FW Gestapo, with fines attached.

And in another email about another eyesore, a really cool looking eyesore, that is not in Fort Worth, that being the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. When I first saw the Baker Hotel it was one of the strangest things I'd ever come across. This enormous building in this small, sort of run-down town.

It was not as easy to find info on the Internet a decade ago, as it is now. I don't know if Google had yet been invented. For a long time my webpage about the Baker Hotel Googled #1 because there was so little info about it. Now you can find a lot of Baker Hotel info on the Internet.

The Baker Hotel came to my attention this morning due to an email from Connie. I'll copy the email below in case anyone other there has a suggestion for Connie.

To Whom It May Concern:

I have several old pictures of the Baker Hotel and several pieces of China that has the Baker Hotel Logo on it. I don't really know who to contact about these items. Could someone help me? And if you are interested in the items, please contact me.

Thank you,

Connie Harrington
Phone # 918-422-5406

Is America Better Off If Texas Leaves The Union?

That is rocking, gun-loving hunter Ted Nugent standing next to the current governor of Texas, Rick Perry.

Rick Perry is known in these parts as Governor Good Hair. Due to the ethic that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, with his hair being thought, by many, to be the only good thing about the man.

A few days ago I blogged about an ad about Rick Perry that Billy Mitchell had placed in FW Weekly.

This was about the same time that Rick Perry announced that Texas was suing the Environmental Protection Agency because the EPA would like Texas to quit putting so many nasty toxins into the atmosphere and the water.

Months ago Rick Perry brought up the idea of Texas seceding from the Union again. Apparently there are some in Texas who don't believe Texas is bound to the Union by the same ties as the rest of the state, due to some technicality from the early days when Texas transitioned from being an independent republic to merging with the United States.

The idea of Texas no longer being in the Union had me pondering if this would be a good thing or a bad thing.

How would America be different if Texas seceded in 1959, for instance?

Well, Lyndon B. Johnson would not have been a U.S. Senator or John F. Kennedy's vice-president.

JFK would not have been in Dallas on November 23, 1963. JFK likely would have served 2 full terms. We might have avoided the Vietnam Quagmire.

Race relations might have more rapidly improved, with none of the rioting of the 60s.

Without the shock of the JFK assassination and Vietnam, the 60s might not have become such a turbulent, revolutionary time.

Had JFK served out 2 terms it is highly unlikely Richard Nixon would have become President in 1968.

So, without Texas in the Union, we would not have gone through Watergate.

Without Texas the quote, "Houston, we've got a problem," would never have been uttered.

Without Texas in the Union there would have been no President George W. Bush.

Without Texas the 9/11 attacks may still have occurred, but it is unlikely we would have managed to come up with another President who would have led us into invading and occupying Iraq.

Without Texas being able to give America George W. Bush, I'm guessing the American and World economy would be in a lot better place in 2010.

I must back up in time a bit. Did George W.'s dad run as a Texan? Or from Maine? I don't remember. I'm thinking George Bush, the 1st, did do some good things for America that might have turned out differently had someone else been President. Like how Bush, the 1st, handled the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, how he handled the collapse of communism. George, the 1st, seems like such a wise man compared to his smirking offspring.

I'm sure if I pondered it longer I could think of other ways America would be different if Texas had seceded in 1959, but right now I draw a blank.

Oh. I just thought of another. If Texas were not in the Union, the EPA would have nothing to do with Texas.

Imagine a Texas with no Federal Regulating. Yikes!

Pondering In Texas About No Condemnation Without Representation No Eminent Domain For Private Gain

I'd been stuck at the computer til 2, or thereabouts. I had need to do some pondering. Pondering works best, for me, while wandering. So, I wandered around Village Creek Natural Historic Area, while I pondered.

What has me pondering is all the eminent domain abuse taking place in Texas. Well, actually an element of the abuse, which only recently was pointed out to me.

I was barely moved to Texas when I was shocked by my first exposure to eminent domain abuse, that being the taking of Hurst citizen's homes so the Northeast Mall could expand its parking lot.

The next abuse of eminent domain happened in Fort Worth when hundreds of low income citizens were booted out of the Ripley Arnold apartments so that Radio Shack could build a new corporate headquarters it could not afford and which is now a branch of Tarrant County Community College.

Next up was the dislocation of over 1,000 people, the taking of dozens of homes, apartment complexes and businesses, so Jerry Jones could build a new football stadium in Arlington. At least out of that worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history the mayor of Arlington, Chuck Cluck, wised up and said there'd be no more use of eminent domain, by the city, in cahoots with Jones.

And then it's back to Fort Worth, where eminent domain is being abused to take homes, businesses and land for something that goes by various names, Trinity River Vision, Trinity Uptown Project, or Fort Worth's Biggest Boondoggle. This use of eminent domain for a project ostensibly for the greater public good, has not been voted on by the public.

And then we stay in Fort Worth for what I think is the worst abuse of eminent domain yet. The scale may be smaller, but the abuse is greater. Courtesy of Chesapeake Energy and the City of Fort Worth.

The Steve Doeung & Carter Avenue versus Chesapeake Energy and Fort Worth case.

This is the one that has me pondering.

Chesapeake Energy has evoked eminent domain to take Steve Doeung's home. Steve decided to fight this in court. As is his right.

So, how is it right that a private company, like Chesapeake Energy, can put a private citizen, like Steve Doeung, in harm's way, via the installation of a non-odorized natural gas pipeline under his land, using the legal system to do so?

A citizen is thus forced into the position of having to defend himself, from this assault on his right to peace in his own home. And this defense is at his expense. How is that right? It is as if you are being metaphorically raped, by the very government that is supposed to protect you, and while you are being metaphorically raped you can not get any legal help to stop the metaphorical rape.

I would think it only common sense that if a private company wants to put a private citizen in harm's way, via the use of eminent domain to take their property, well that private company should have to provide funds so that the victim of their metaphorical rape at least has a fighting chance.

I don't know, for example, Chesapeake Energy files whatever legal documents they file to initiate eminent domain. As part of that filing Chesapeake puts up a bond of some amount sufficient to cover the legal help for the victim they are metaphorically raping.

I can not imagine how violated I would feel, suddenly having my home under assault by a corrupted city and a company the city is in cahoots with. And then to find that there is no mechanism in place to balance the playing field, to make it fair, to make certain the little guy does not get squashed by the big evil guy.

Just a couple days ago, or was it just yesterday, someone added a famous quote to a comment. The famous quote that goes something like "All it takes for Evil to prevail in the world, is for the Good people to do nothing."

I'm getting the sense that there is a rapidly increasing number of good people in the Fort Worth zone who are soon going to be prevailing against the evil in our midst. I'm often very intuitive about matters like this.

Texan & Canadian Is A State Of Mind That Few Can Understand

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a really good editorial cartoonist named David Horsey. He has been doing his cartooning from Vancouver during the Winter Olympics. This morning's Horsey had a Texas punchline that I felt compelled to share. And some amusing comments that I'll stick below the Texas punchline, including one from WA_REDNCK verbalizing a sentiment I've heard innumerable times since I've been in Texas....





Posted by glaucomis sabrinus

Possibly one of the dumbest cartoons Ive seen, even by Horsey's low standards. pretty sad, Dave... surely you can come up with something that at least makes sense??

Posted by Blarney

Heh! Anyone else ever been to Vancouver on Canada Day? They're a lot WORSE than Texans!

Posted by TobyGadd

Hey glaucomis sabrinus, you might not get this one because you aren't too familiar with your northern neighbours. As a dual citizen (US & Canada), I think that it's a hilarious cartoon. Horsey nailed the Canadian and Texan worldviews pretty well--and succeeded in poking good-natured fun at both at the same time. Nice!

Posted by WA_REDNCK

Being a 7th Generation Texan myself it's clear you have NO CLUE.

Texans need NO special event to be proud.... and ...... YES....ARROGANT!!!!!

TEXAN is a State of mind that few others understand. And just moving there don't make you Texan. TEXAN takes at least 2 generations. It takes that long to GET IT!!!!

And for the record, comments such as this don't belittle us, it just makes it apparent how jealous some people are that THEY aren't the REAL DEAL!!!!

It Is Snowing Again In Fort Worth Texas Possibly Setting A New Winter Snow Total Record

You are looking at the view out my patio window some time after 9 this morning.

When the sun lit up the place I saw a few flakes falling, of the tiny sort that makes for what is called powder snow in the northwest

I don't know if it's called powder snow in Texas.

By the time I was in the pool, for a short duration, the powder had turned to big fluffy flakes. Coming up on 10 the snow has switched back to powder.

It is 32 degrees, right now, but the ground is not freezing, so the flakes that hit the ground melt before another one lands on top of it. In other words, it is not white out there.

Snow is predicted to fall all day, but not to add up to much, but, if more than a couple inches piles up, it will break the record for total snowfall in a Dallas/Fort Worth winter. So far we have had 15.7 inches of snow this winter. The record is 17.6 inches in the winter of 1977-78.

I can not remember when I have ever been more ready for a winter to turn into spring.

Steve Doeung & The Carter Avenue Rescue Operation On Facebook

The Queen of Wink has started a Facebook Cause Page as part of ongoing efforts to save Carter Avenue and Steve Doeung from the corrupt City Government of Fort Worth and the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Companies who are running roughshod over the Victims of the Shale, abusing eminent domain, endangering citizens, polluting the air, and the water.

The cause is called CARO. CARTER AVENUE RESCUE OPERATION.

Steve Doeung is back in court in downtown Fort Worth on Thursday, March 4 at the Old Courthouse at 100 West Weatherford and Main Street, across the street from the Heritage Park eyesore.

If you can think of any way to help Steve Doeung in his battle to save his home from Chesapeake Energy and its lapdog, the City of Fort Worth, you can email him.