Today The Fosdick Turtles Were Performing For The Oakland Lake Park Crowd Of Visitors

Fosdick Turtles & Their Happy Dancing

Apparently summer decided to make a temporary return to North Texas for Thanksgiving Week, which had the turtles of Fosdick Lake in high fiving celebrating mood, today, after their recent bouts with frigid temperatures.

Why are the turtles of Fosdick Lake, in Oakland Lake Park, such willing photo posers? While the turtles who live with the Indian Ghosts in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area are totally camera shy, so much so that I've never successfully taken a picture of any of them.

It may be that the turtles of Fosdick Lake are used to having a lot of close encounters with humans.

Like today.

I don't remember ever seeing so many little kids walking around Fosdick Lake as I did today.

Below you see some of the kids and their parental units. The pair of tall blondes were maternal units to some of the kids. Prior to the scene in the below picture one of the tall blondes let out a very charming yell with a very thick Texas accent, yelling to her kids, "Y'all get back here now."

I find a good thick Texas accent to be very charming. Even when the accent goes into yelling mode it still sounds charming to my Yankee ears.

Elsie Hotpepper has a pretty good Texas accent. I've never heard Elsie Hotpepper in yell mode, not that I remember. Some Texas accents, like the one that lady had in the above photo, well they just sort of drip honey. Elsie Hotpepper is not exactly a honey dripper, her delivery is too rapid for that, but the Hotpepper accent is still quite pleasant to listen to.

For several mornings of late I've run the furnace to heat up this space. This afternoon my windows are open.

I went swimming this morning. I lasted a couple minutes before I got in the hot tub. But the hot tub was quickly too hot, so I got back in the cool pool and swam for several more minutes.

|With today's high supposed to be in the 80 degree range I suspect I will be able to swim as long as I want to tomorrow morning, without going into shiver mode.

I have all my fixin's, for the most part, for my Thanksgiving Buffet. Invitation only. $30 a person, includes beverage.

The Ongoing Search For The Truth About Jesse James

Several years ago rumor had it that Jesse James had not been killed by Bob Ford, but had escaped, living out his life in the Texas town of Granbury.

This rumor ran so far amok that at one point in time somehow an exhumation order was issued with the grave in a Granbury cemetery, thought to be Jesse James, was dug up. It was quickly determined that this was a mistake, with the digger claiming the wrong grave had been opened, but no further exhumation orders were issued, so no further grave digging was done.

Earlier in this century I made a webpage titled "The Truth About Jesse James" on my Eyes on Texas website.

The webpage about Jesse James has generated some interesting feedback over the years, including an email this morning from someone named Jsradan Radan. I have no clue how one might pronounce that first name.

Below is the email from Jsradan, followed by a couple other interesting emails I've received regarding Jesse James....

My grandmother was Gladys Parker, married name, her maiden name was Biggerstaff.  She died in 1985 in Newport, Washington. The closest birth record had her born around 1889.  Before she past away she said she had a letter from Jesse James after he supposedly died.  But shortly after she said something she "past away" at the old folks home and all of her stuff was taken and "sold" to pay for what they said she owed.  History is written by the winners or what the government wants you to know.  Think about the lies that are told as fact even in your own lifetime.  I think he escaped the tyranny of Pinkerton and the government.  GOD bless the USA, but condemn the socialistic government. If you have anything you can share with me about my grandmother so I can find my own history I would appreciate it. 

If you have anything to share with Jsradan you can email him here.

And then there was the following from Doug Bigelow...

I found your website "Eye on Texas; The Truth About Jesse James" and thought you might be able to help me with a few questions. 

As you are certainly aware one of the stories / legends about Jesse James is that Charlie Bigelow was killed in his place. Although there has been much said about the life of Jesse James and his history I have not been able to discover much about the supposed Charlie Bigelow. 

I have read that he may have been from Bigelow, MO and that the town was named after his family. I have also found that the town may have been named after a wealthy English businessman that invested in the railroad. This leads me to believe that there may have not even been Bigelows in the small town. 

With all of the alias that the outlaws used I wonder if “Charlie Bigelow” might have been one that Jesse James used thus confusing who was actually murdered. They say that Charlie looked liked Jesse, maybe it WAS Jesse? 

My hopes are that you can help me with my research on Charlie Bigelow. Did he even exist? If so, where was he actually from? If Jesse was the one actually killed by Bob Ford then what happened to Charlie? Was he even a Bigelow or was it an alias that Jesse or some other outlaw used at one time? 

Any light you can shed on this mystery would be greatly appreciated. I hope to write an article for the Bigelow Genealogical Society’s newsletter, Forge. 

Thanks for your time and efforts on this matter.

Sincerely,
Doug Bigelow

If you can shed any light on this mystery you can email Doug Bigelow here.

And then there was the email from a lady married to the great great great granddaughter of Geronimo...

The man known as deacon reminds me of some of the Jennings. They were in Kansas City, Missouri at that time, left in 1869. Albert A. Jennings, who is a cousin of the James Brother, as well and the Youngers, he was there in Missouri for while since he left Reddish River North Carolina after his marriage to his wife Mary Pollyanna Muse. 1853, the son of John Thomas Jennings and Nancy I. Irving or Irvin, one of the founding people probably founded the place between Fort Worth and Dallas. I suspect Albert A. Jennings was a member of the James gang. For some reason he changed his last name from Jennings to Gennings or Gennins, like he was on the lam.

Also have you heard the story were Jesse James sold the rifles and ammo to the Lakota Sioux that ended in the destruction of another cousin, General George Armstrong Custer, even though he really deserved what he had did to my red brothers?

Guess I would classify myself part Indian, for interest sake, i am married to the great great great granddaughter of Geronimo, through his second wife and daughter Tosey, who married Jose Ramirez. Of course my wife was born in a place called Idabel, Oklahoma.

On your page you should have the photo of Jesse James when he was there, took with some sheriff or somebody of that time.

The above email with the connection to Geronimo, plus the reference to Custer and what he did to the red brothers, may be my all time favorite feedback email I've received from my Eyes on Texas website.

Everybody In Fort Worth Loves That New Rig Smell

Yesterday I was shocked, shocked I tell you, when Someone Else opined, via a blog comment, that he or she felt I was perennially negative about the city that calls itself Fort Worth, even though there is no fort in Fort Worth, which is just one more example of how the town tends to misrepresent itself.

Gone looking for Sundance Square lately in downtown Fort Worth?

The fact of the matter, regarding Fort Worth, is that there are some things that go on in this town that, when one describes them accurately, it really can not be done in a positive way, if you want to be truthful.

Take the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, for example. A billion dollar public works project that the public has not voted on. A public works project of very dubious value, destroying river levees that have functioned well for over a half a century, replacing the levees with an un-needed flood diversion channel and adding a little lake to the north side of downtown Fort Worth, where currently the Clear and West forks of the Trinity River merge.

And to give Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D., a job running the project, with that job currently being America's worst example of nepotism.

And then we have Fort Worth being the world's big city test tube experiment for allowing thousands of holes to be poked in its ground to fracture shale to produce natural gas, and then move that un-odorized natural gas, under the city, in hundreds of miles of pipeline.

Last night I got an email from Don Young which I imagine Someone Else would characterize as being negative about Fort Worth, when in reality the message is actually a plea for civic sanity from a lifelong Fort Worth citizen who is appalled at what he sees happening to the town he lives  in.

Below is what Don Young had to say, along with 3 links to what some other people had to say about that which goes on in Fort Worth....

Only in Fort Worth would such an arrogant message via a giant billboard sprout in the heart of downtown.

The people that run Fort Worth (FW), Texas, the 16th most populous city in the USA, are hell bent on helping FW become the dumbest large city in the USA. Here's a short list of their accomplishments:

- FW was the first large city in the USA to allow natural gas (NG) drilling in all neighborhoods regardless of zoning class.

- FW has more UN-ODORIZED NG pipelines in neighborhoods than any large city in the USA.

- FW is the first large city in the USA to allow an UN-ODORIZED NG pipeline in the downtown corridor.

This new billboard in the downtown FW, just a few hundred feet from I-30, reinforces the fact that Fort Worth is out of touch with reality as Chesapeake completes installation of the downtown pipeline. 

The real dangers and risks to public health and the environment are well known as these recent reports confirm. Please educate yourself, raise hell and/or move out of the shale patch, if you can.

An Exploratory Study of Air Quality Near NG Operations

Filming Dirty Air

Flowback: How the Texas NG Boom Affects Health and Safety

DY

Hiking The Tandy Hills With My Perennially Negative Self & A Possible Bobcat

Today I was back on the Tandy Hills. As you can see via the view up a steep trail up a Tandy Hill some of the Tandy trees are getting very colorful.

Most of the food in the Tandy Buffet Shrine, that I have mentioned a couple times in the past week, has now disappeared. Not a single crumb of the coffee cake was in evidence.

I have not gone swimming since last Monday. It's been cold. But the 24 hour temperature average the past 24  hours has been well over 50 degrees. With the current temperature in the middle of Monday afternoon being 71 by tomorrow morning the 48 hour average will have been well over 50.

So, tomorrow morning I am going to try and go swimming. If the water has not warmed to a suitable temperature I can retreat to the hot tub.

Yesterday, in a blog comment to a blogging that mentioned my twin nephew and niece, Theo and Ruby, had their 23rd month birthday party on Saturday, also mentioned one of Theo and Ruby's aunts, which had the commenter commenting that Theo and Ruby's aunt is a bad apple. That seems a really harsh judgement to make from very little evidence.

And then Someone Else, in another comment to another blogging,  that being a blogging about the most beautiful work of modern architecture in the world, outrageously opined that my supposed "perennial negativity toward Fort Worth has become rather annoying."

I am shocked. Perennial negativity? At best it is only occasional. And usually with very good reason.

Changing the subject from my perennial negativity back to the Tandy Hills.

As I headed down the hill that leads to the aforementioned Tandy Buffet Shrine I was hearing voices. Eventually the trio of guys you see in the picture above came into view. The trio appeared to be painting. I  would have gotten closer to see for sure what the trio was doing, but I respected their invisible no trespassing sign.

Continuing on I eventually found myself back on the Tandy Highway, heading towards Mount Tandy and my vehicular transport parked on the summit. When I got on the Tandy Highway and looked north I saw what looked like a bobcat looking at me. I stopped and grabbed my camera.

I zoomed in and took 3 pictures. From where I was standing I was too far away to tell for sure if this was a bobcat. It has been awhile since I've had a bobcat encounter.

When I got the pictures off the camera I was able to tell with some certainty that this was not a bobcat. I think it was a rather big cat of the domestic house cat sort. Out having him or herself a real fine time running around on the Tandy Hills.

I hope I have not been too negative about the perennial Tandy Hills today.

Someone Thinks Fort Worth Is The Location Of The Most Beautiful Work Of Modern Architecture In The World

The Kimbell Art Museum

In the picture you are looking at the outside of the Kimbell Art Museum, located in the area of Fort Worth zoned for museums called The Cultural District.

Stay with me, eventually I'll get back to the Kimbell Art Museum, but first we have to go to Rome.

Last night I went to Rome via Wikipedia. There I saw some incredible sights, like closeup views of structures like the Coliseum.

While visiting Rome I saw mention made of Rome being what is known as a World City. So, I went to Wikipedia's World City entry.

There are several organizations that rank the world's cities by various criteria. Every one of them had New York City as the #1 World City. And London #2. Some Texas towns showed up on the various lists. Like Houston, Austin and Dallas. Maybe San Antonio, I don't remember for sure.

But, I do remember, for sure, that the city that makes the world Green with Envy, Fort Worth, was no where to be seen.

Seattle was on several of the lists. As was Vancouver. And Portland.

Seattle, Vancouver and Portland are the world's biggest cities with which I am most familiar, along with Fort Worth and Dallas.

I clicked on the Seattle Wikipedia entry. It was a good article, with great photos giving a good idea of what Seattle looks like, including the skyline from various angles.

Then I clicked on the Fort Worth Wikipedia entry. Yikes. "Holy Embarrassment!" as Batman might say. Or "Ay Carrumba!" as Bart Simpson might say.

Below is the Wikipedia picture of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth. As viewed from the aforementioned Cultural District. The caption for this photo in Wikipedia says, "Fort Worth skyline from the Amon Carter Museum."

Fort Worth Skyline from the Amon Carter Museum

From the view from the Amon Carter Museum let's go back to the Kimbell Art Museum. I told you at the start we'd eventually get back there.

The third paragraph in the Wikipedia article about Fort Worth starts with the following doozy of an example of classic delusional thinking, of the sort one might read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"Fort Worth is home to the Kimbell Art Museum, considered to have one of the best collections in the world, and housed in what is widely regarded as the most beautiful work of modern architecture in the world."

The most beautiful work of modern architecture in the world? I don't even think it is as beautiful as the Museum of Modern Art next door.

The Wikipedia entry about the Kimbell Art Museum does not repeat the nonsense found in the Fort Worth entry.

The Seattle Central Library

Now, if you want an actual example of a beautiful work of modern architecture, visit the Seattle Central Library.

A few years ago the American Institute of Architects compiled a list of Americans' 150 favorite structures located in the U.S.

The Seattle Central Library was voted #108. This surprised me, wondering how did many Americans even know about this relatively new building.

The Star-Telegram printed this list of favorite structures and opined outrage over the borderline criminal omission of the Kimbell Art Museum from the list.

That is sort of shocking, what with the Kimbell Art Museum apparently being widely regarded as the most beautiful work of modern architecture in the world.

I don't remember if any buildings in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex were on this list. I would guess a new list of this sort would include the new Dallas Cowboy stadium. And would still omit the Kimbell Art Museum, mostly due to the fact that hardly anyone in America has heard of this building that is the most beautiful work of modern architecture in the world.

Rained On While Fishing In Fosdick Lake With The Twins Theo & Ruby

Fosdick Fishermen

A time complication caused by Brussels Sprouts had me exiting my abode later than the norm for my daily mid-day endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

So, due to running late, I aborted my plan to check in on the growing buffet that has been sprouting on the Tandy Hills and opted instead to walk around Fosdick Lake in Oakland Lake Park.

I experienced a sort of strange weather phenomenon whilst walking around Fosdick Lake today.

In the sky there were a few wispy clouds. A good steady wind was blowing. For a few minutes, from no apparent source, rain rained down. Not many drops dripped, but there was sufficient drippage to make no mistake about the fact that the almost cloudless sky was raining.

In the picture above you are looking at a pair of Fosdick Fishermen fishing next to one of the signs warning fish catchers that it may not be safe to eat the fish you catch from this polluted Fort Worth lake.

It always strikes as such a pitiful, sad thing that such a sign is needed, with that need not seeming to provoke any sort of civic initiative to clean up Fort Worth's lakes. Maybe cleaning up Fort Worth's lake could be added to the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle.

Changing the subject  from dirty water and boondoggles to something else.

The twins, my nephew, Theo John, and niece, Ruby Jean, turned 23 months old yesterday. That is Theo and Ruby below, sitting in their favorite chair in their living room in Tacoma.

I heard from Theo and Ruby's mama on Friday, inquiring whether I would be seeing the twins, and their big brother, David, later this month, or early in December, in Arizona, where they are going to see their grandma and grandpa and favorite aunt. Among many others.

My mom and dad have been thinking that they would be seeing all their kids in one location for the first time since August 11, 2001, sometime in late November or early December.

However, one of Theo and Ruby's aunts is not cooperating with this plan. The old TV game show, Family Feud, comes to mind.

I am sort of looking forward to meeting David, Theo and Ruby for the first time. I am fairly certain my uncle powers are still strong, but it would be nice to have that confirmed.

Back On The Tandy Hills With More Food At The New Tandy Shrine

I was back on the Tandy Hills today, warming up with some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation before tackling the crowds at Town Talk.

Yesterday's Tandy Hills hiking revealed some perplexing new Tandy Hills Mysteries. No new mysteries were found today.

However, the mysterious, possibly pagan, construction I found yesterday has had some food added to it.

Another bulb of garlic, in addition to the one still on the ground. An onion, Two slices of what looked like coffee cake. Three spears of a green vegetable, maybe beans, maybe asparagus. Plus three shrimp.

What does it all mean, if anything?

I was tempted to sit down and have lunch, but I was not sure how safe those shrimp were to eat.

How come no critter, like a Road Runner or a Coyote, has come along and had themselves some fine dining? One would think the coffee cake would be tempting to birds. Maybe they are warded off by the garlic. No insects were seen either. Where are the ants?

I suspect I will be drawn back to the Tandy Hills tomorrow to see what fresh food has been added to this growing buffet.

As for Town Talk. It was busy. Longest wait ever in a Town Talk checkout line. Usually there is hardly any wait, the checkouts are so efficient  so the fact that today was the longest I've ever waited does not mean it was a long wait. It was an entertaining wait. Interesting characters shop at Town Talk.

The lunch buzzer is about to buzz. Chicken Samosas with Cilantro Chutney, Spinach, plus Spuds made in the Indian style of cuisine.

On The Tandy Hills Again Following Trail Markers To Sites Of Possible Pagan Rituals

I was back on the Tandy Hills today for the first time since Wednesday. I am terrible at math, but I think that is two days ago.

A lot has happened on the Tandy Hills since my last visit, two days ago.

Today I came upon one of the new directional markers that are being installed to help reduce the problem of people getting lost on the maze of trails that meander all over the Tandy Hills.

I was a little surprised when I descended Mount Tandy today to get to the trail junction where the Tandy Shrine formerly sat to find the Tandy Shrine has been totally removed. This removal had to have taken place since sometime between noon on Wednesday and noon today, which is Friday, if I am right about what day it is today.

The missing Tandy Shrine is a minor Tandy mystery. I came upon two MAJOR Tandy mysteries today, mysteries which were not mystifying me when I hiked past their location last Wednesday.

The trail marker you see in the picture above is located on the trail that leads into the Tandy Hills from the park on View Street. The trail marker is at the first trail junction. If you follow the arrow on the marker, pointing to the "Rabbit" trail, you will soon come to another trail junction, currently unmarked. Go right at this junction and you will soon go down a hill, to a gully with a dry creek bed, cross the dry creek bed and you will see the new Tandy Mystery #1.

Above was my first Tandy Mystery of the day. Someone has made a rock monument pedestal. That pedestal is surrounded by a rock wall. On top of the rock monument pedestal there is a goblet half filled with an amber colored liquid. On the ground to the left of the rock monument pedestal there is a white object. I  had to get close up to determine what that white object was.

I was more than a little surprised to see that the white object was a full bulb of garlic. That is the garlic you see in the picture above, in the middle foreground.

Doesn't garlic have something to do with vampires and werewolves? Were some loony teenagers having themselves some sort of party related to the opening of the final chapter of those inexplicably popular Twilight movies? Is this the site of some sort of pagan ritual?

What is the amber liquid? I did not submit the amber liquid to a sniff test. I did not touch anything at this location.

I continued on. Soon after leaving the amber liquid and garlic the trail goes up a hill, then down a hill, then up another hill, past the previously mentioned, in previous bloggings, Creepy Tandy Crypt. The Creepy Tandy Crypt appeared months ago, near the center of the Tandy Hills. Ground had been dug, a huge rock placed over the hole in the ground, with other rocks added, making what looked like a crypt.

Well, today I was disturbed to see that the Creepy Tandy Crypt has been disturbed, making this disturbance Tandy Mystery #2.

Dirt has been moved from under the large rock that makes up the bulk of the Creepy Tandy Crypt. I imagine the rock is too heavy for an ordinary mortal to lift, so, someone tried to dig under it to try and determine what is in the Creepy Tandy Crypt.

All I could see, when looking inside the opening, under the crypt, was what looked like black plastic sheeting, the sort of sheeting one might wrap something in before sticking it in an ice chest to haul it somewhere to bury it.

The bigger mystery of today's Tandy Mystery #2 was the large clam shell that has been placed in front of the opening to the Creepy Tandy Crypt. This clam shell was almost as big as a horse clam shell one might find on a Puget Sound beach in Washington.

Why would someone bring a large clam shell to the Tandy Hills and place it at this location?

Methinks it may be time to install security cameras on the Tandy Hills, in addition to trail markers.

A Relatively Depressed Walk With Indian Ghosts & Scooter Man

I woke up this morning feeling relatively depressed. I don't know why. Other than the relative depression may have something to do with annoying epic length cinematic dreams, I mean, nightmares, that put me through a living hell last night.

I also may be relatively depressed due to the outer world being too cool to swim in the pool.

I needed to go to Walmart to get my anti-depressant, I mean, a can of coffee. So, since Walmart is in the neighborhood, I went to the Village Creek Natural Historical Area to commune with the Indian Ghosts who haunt that area.

But the Indian Ghosts were not doing much haunting today. However, there was a lot of noisy ground action coming from busily rooting armadillos.

Above, in the picture, you are looking at one of the dams which impound water to make the Interlochen canals. When I got to this Interlochen dam today I was on the far side of the view you see in the picture.

When I got to that location and began crossing the dam I saw a real surreal Twin Peakish type scene on the other side.

A gentleman, appearing to be older than me, and a bit heftier, rolled up to the dam on a scooter, along with two large dogs. The older gentleman then lowered the scooter onto the dam and proceeded to scooter across the dam, with his two unleashed dogs.

We met in mid dam and howdied.

The scooter man got to the other side of the dam, got off the scooter and carried it up to the trail that leads to the Village Creek Blue Bayou. This trail does not seem as if it would be very scooter friendly to me.

Very perplexing. What with miles of paved scooter friendly trails, why go this route?

Anyway, I am a bit tired, courtesy of my long night of relatively annoying nightmares. I hope I don't have a repeat tonight.

Reading Idiot America With Goober The Texan And His Kooky Ideas

I am currently on the reading a lot of books part of my book reading pendulum. Sometimes I go a month or two without reading a book. The no book reading is the nadir of the book reading pendulum. Then I go to the other end of the pendulum and become a reading maniac.

I have been in reading maniac mode for a couple months now. I think excess reading does wonders for my eyesight. Currently I am reading without needing reading glasses.

Sometimes my book mania mode gets fixated on a genre. The current mania is not too genre specific, though there have been a number of Civil War books.

Among the 8 books I am borrowing from the library at this point in time is one called IDIOT AMERICA: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free. Written by Charles P. Pierce.

IDIOT AMERICA seems a perfect two word description for much of America's most recent election season.

A blurb from the back cover of IDIOT AMERICA...

"Charles Pierce takes us on a brilliant and hilarious tour of the back roads of American idiotocracy through history -- skewering Atlantis seekers, evolution deniers, jackasses, nincompoops and right-wing know-it-alls with his trademark sledgehammer wit. Reading Pierce's IDIOT AMERICA, I laughed myself stupid."

Calling anyone an American idiot seems so harsh. And yet I so often find myself thinking such a thing.

For instance there is this blogger. To shield this blogger from the embarrassment of being identified I shall refer to his blog as Goober's World and I will refer to the blogger as Goober the Texan.

During the election season Goober the Texan's blog had a lot of political ranting that was not too well grounded in reality. A couple times I attempted to add some factual content via comments to the political ranting, but, eventually I realized this was hopeless.

In one of Goober the Texan's most recent posts he ended with this quote...

"I have never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as a cause for withdrawing from a friendship. But stupidity will make me drop you like a hot potato."

I guess I have finally learned why Goober the Texan no longer returns my phone calls. 

On Facebook Goober the Texan has been verbalizing his rather, well, I guess erroneous is not too strong a word, opinions.

Goober the Texan's verbalizations of his erroneous opinions, and the rather strident way they are verbalized, has caused dozens of his Facebook friends to de-friend him.

Goober the Texan gets an idea in his head and no matter how wrong-headed that idea is, there is no changing his mind.

For instance, Goober the Texan thinks that to be in a presidential debate a candidate's party must get at least 5% of the vote in the previous presidential election.

Goober repeats this over and over again in various ways and in various venues.

Two examples of this particular instance of Goober the Texan being an Idiotic American, one from Facebook, one from the Goober's World blog...

"And the Libertarians get their 5% so that in 2016 we have more choices. I have 100 different varieties of toilet paper to choose from, but only 2 for President... Strange."

"Unfortunately if your nutcase candidate (Libertarian Gary Johnson) would have managed to get just 5%, the one in four years might actually have had a chance."

Near as I can tell, Goober thinks the presidential debates are some sort of mandated by law operation, stacked in favor of the majority parties.

Apparently Goober has no memory of the election of 1992 when there were 3 candidates invited to the debates, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and H. Ross Perot. I believe the League of Women Voters was still running the debates at that point in time. The criteria was that a candidate had to be polling 15% support or better to get invited to debate.

I suppose Goober is too young to remember the election of 1980. Ronald Reagan was the Republican, Jimmy Carter, the Democrat. And John Anderson was an independent candidate who was polling high enough numbers to get invited to debate. Jimmy Carter refused to debate with John Anderson on the stage. So, Reagan debated Anderson without Jimmy. Anderson plummeted  in the polls, resulting in only Carter and Reagan getting invited to a debate one week before the election.

Where does Goober the Texan come up with this 5% notion?

Does Goober the Texan not know that the Republican and the Democrats have not always been the two majority parties?  Any awareness of the election of 1912? Where the Republican, William Howard Taft, came in third? Where the Progressives, led by Teddy Roosevelt, came in second? With Woodrow Wilson, the Democrat, elected?

Now, I am a very tolerant type person. So, even though, in some areas, I may think Goober the Texan is kind of stupid, this will not cause me to drop him like a hot potato......