Greg Abbott Wants To Hear My Ideas About Overstepping Texas Boundaries & So I Obliged Him

Why am I getting email from Greg Abbott?

Yesterday I voted for Wendy Davis to be the next governor of Texas.

I did not vote for any of the oodles of Republicans on the ballot.

Now, apparently, Greg Abbott wants to hear my ideas for stopping the federal government from overstepping its boundaries.

Huh?

What does that even mean?

What boundaries does this right wing nut job think the federal government is overstepping?

The boundary between Mexico and the United States? The boundary between Canada and the United States? The boundary between Texas and Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Colorado?

The email from Greg Abbott starts off with him telling me that he is opposed to the Bureau of Land Management's claims that a 90,000 acre piece of land along Texas' Red River now belongs to the federal government.

Is that the boundary Abbott thinks the federal government is stepping over?

Three sentences into the email Greg Abbott is telling me that we can't let the federal government swoop into Texas and take land belonging to private citizens.

Did I already mention this guy is a nut job?

Greg Abbott is worrying about the federal government doing some Texas land swooping? Where is his concern regarding the taking of land belonging to private citizens by the antics of fellow Republican Kay Granger and the abuse of eminent domain by the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle?

I guess the federal government did, sort of, enable some Texas land swooping with the TRV Boondoggle, due to Kay Granger securing some pork barrel funding, prior to that practice being halted.

With Kay Granger's pork no longer flowing into Fort Worth hasn't the reason for the TRV Boondoggle hiring professional party planner, J.D. Granger, gone bye bye?

Maybe if J.D. Granger were replaced with a qualified project engineer the TRV Boondoggle might develop some sort of project timeline, with a completion date, while speeding up the current four year time frame to build three simple bridges over dry land.

I seem to have digressed from the Greg Abbott for Governor of Texas subject.

I don't understand why Texans would elect yet one more Republican to be their governor. Four years of George W. Bush, followed by 14 years of Rick Perry.

Did the Texans who used to elect people like Lyndon Baines Johnson, Sam Rayburn, Barbara Jordan, Anne Richards,  Lloyd Bentsen leave the state?

When Rome started going nuts it was later learned it was due to lead leaching into the water supply.

Texas has some serious water contamination issues, mostly due to oil and gas drilling. Is it something in the water which has dumbed down the formerly Great State of Texas?

Very perplexing.

This Afternoon I Learned What Obsesses My Subconscious

Usually I don't click on those Facebook link bait things where you answer a series of questions to find out stuff like which Beverly Hillbilly are you? Or what color are you? Or what famous person from the past are you? Or how many more years do you have before you kick the bucket?

Today I made an exception to my usual don't click rule when I saw Queen V had Facebooked a "What Is Your Subconscious Obsessed With? version of one of these ubiquitous things.

I thought some of the comments that Queen V got were amusing and so I took the test to find out what my subconscious is obsessed with to learn I  am obsessed with Nature. I was hoping it would be something more interesting than Nature.

Below are some of the Queen V Facebook comments on this serious issue. I found the final comment by Queen V to be particularly amusing.

Below is the final analysis I got from this scientific survey into my troubled subconscious...

Your subconscious is obsessed with nature! 

The pictures you have chosen paint the picture (get it?) that you are obsessed with nature. From a very early age you've felt a strong connection with animals and nature. You've always loved camping, traveling, hiking and just exploring the beautiful world that surrounds us. For you, nature is this beautiful, magical place where everything makes sense. There are simple rules and adventure is always waiting for you just around the river-bend. 

Your subconscious makes you think about traveling while doing grocery shopping, cooking, walking down the street and especially while working. And if you could, you would leave everything and go to travel around the world. 

Spooky. It is absolutely true that if I could I would leave everything and go to travel around the world.

I Am Not Feeling Stupid Today

I saw that which you see on the left this morning on Facebook, via Queen V.

When I read this the person who quickly came to mind, whose stupidity was difficult to deal with, is an ex-acquaintance of both myself and Queen V.

I have a relative, or two, who also come to mind. And maybe one or two others.

It really is true that when a person is stupid they are usually too stupid to know they are stupid. This renders the stupid person difficult to deal with because they have no clue how stupid they are.

Stupid people have a tendency to lose their tempers when their stupidity causes some difficulty, because the stupid person lacks the ability to accurately assess the situation their stupidity has created.

I am now done with my stupid rant for the day....

This Morning I Voted NO On Three Convoluted Fort Worth Propositions While Voting For Quanah Parker & Sam Houston

 I voted this morning and after I was done the nice poll working lady slapped the I Voted sticker on me you see here.

Every time I do the early voting I managed to forget how to work the dial that enters the numbers of the code you are given for your ballot.

One would think I would remember how to operate this voting video game, but I don't.

The nice poll working lady told me a lot of old folks have trouble with the voting video game.

I don't remember what race he was running in, but I voted for someone I did not think I would ever vote for.

Quanah Parker.

I also voted for Sam Houston, which is another Texan I never thought I would get to vote for.

And who could resist voting for someone with a cool name like Leticia Van de Putte?

The controversial Three Propositions related to the building of a new multipurpose arena in Fort Worth were odd, with the oddness being that the proposition contained verbiage I'd not seen in any of the propaganda that has been urging voters to vote for these propositions.

The actual wording on the ballot makes it sounds as if voting for these Three Propositions is an actual vote authoring the building of the arena.

I found a sample ballot, online, which for some odd reason had the words "Sample Ballot", graffitied across it.

I screencapped the ballot and cropped out the Proposition No. 2 part.

Proposition No. 2 in its entirety says...

"Authorizing the City of Fort Worth, Texas to provide for the planning, acquisition, establishment, development, construction and renovation of a multipurpose arena at the intersection of Harley Avenue and Gandy Street and other adjacent support facilities as a venue project, and to impose a livestock facility use tax on each stall or pen used or occupied by livestock during an event held on one or more consecutive days in which the venue project is used,not to exceed twenty dollars ($20.00) in the aggregate per stall or pen rental for any event, for the purpose of financing the venue project."

To me this sounds as if one votes NO one is voting to not authorize the City of Fort Worth to build this arena. Why has this not been made clear in any of the advertising about these Three Propositions?

Did the Forward Fort Worth Partnership PAC figure if they let voters know that voting no meant NO to the arena that the voters would have a greater tendency to vote NO? But that if the propaganda verbiage simplified it, that the voters would have a greater tendency to vote yes?

For Proposition #2 the Forward Fort Worth Partnership PAC's propaganda describes that proposition as simply "A user fee (tax) on livestock stalls and pens of $1 to $2 per day, not to exceed $20 per event."

How come on the actual ballot there is no mention of the $1 to $2 per day user fee? While the Forward Fort Worth Partnership PAC's propaganda makes voters think that is what they are voting for?

Very, very perplexing.

Does the concept of "voter fraud" extend to this type thing?

Plutocrats Against Democracy Also Known As The Fort Worth Way

A time or two or three I have been asked why I say things like "you living in democratic parts of America" or "if Fort Worth was a functioning democracy", stuff like that.

This is a difficult question to answer, due to the fact that if the person asking has to ask, how are they going to understand my explanation?

To understand one has to understand the concept of a Plutocratic Oligarchy running a town, as opposed to democratic majority rule by the actual citizens of a town.

Someone named Anonymous made a comment on a blogging from a week or so ago, which addresses the Plutocratic Oligarchy issue...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "An Anonymous Comment Regarding Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price's Empathy For The Plight Of The Poor": 

Plutocrats Against Democracy

______________________________________________

Read Paul Krugman's Plutocrats Against Democracy opinion piece from the New York Times and see if anything strikes a Fort Worth chord.

You see, in an area subscribing to the democratic method of running a local government you would not have a local congresswoman's son appointed to a job for which he is not qualified. That is known as nepotism. Nepotism is frowned upon, usually, in a democracy.

In a plutocratic oligarchy public works projects are usually not voted on by the public. The oligarchy makes the decision, with little pubic input. The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is an example of that. So is the current plan to build a multipurpose arena in the Fort Worth Stock Show zone.

The decision to build this arena was made behind doors closed to the public. However, the plutocrats are tossing the people a bone by allowing them to vote on whether or not to charge a $1 or $2 user fee livestock stalls in the new arena......

Spencer Jack In Uniform Getting Schooled

A couple minutes ago incoming email included one from my Favorite Nephew Jason, aka FNJ.

The subject line in the email was blank. The only thing in the body of the email was a link to a website.

http://icrsweb.org/

The link looked like a spam type thing to me, but I Googled the URL and quickly realized it was a legit link because it went to Spencer Jack's school's website.

I clicked the link and soon saw the photo you see above. That would be Spencer Jack, in uniform, on the left.

Spencer Jack's school's name is Immaculate Conception Regional School. It is a Catholic school.

I have not had it explained to me how or why it came to be that Spencer Jack is attending a Catholic private school.

Spencer Jack's dad and his dad's mom, that being Spencer Jack's grandma, have long been associated with the Burlington Lutheran Church. It was in that church that Spencer Jack's mom and dad got married, way back in April of 2006.

I remember that wedding day as if it were yesterday. But, it was over 8 years ago. It was a traumatic event for me. Not due to anything to do with the wedding, the trauma came from a relative annoyance of epic, peculiar proportions, whose addled behavior wore on my last nerve. In the intervening years I have seen that relative annoyance only once, not by choice, and for very short duration....

A Phoenix Hoodoo Has Risen On The Tandy Hills Along With A Completed New Trail

Is that not an odd looking new Hoodoo? It is sort of like a sculpture of a bird.

I was on the Tandy Hills this past Thursday prior to going to Town Talk. At that point in time the Hoodoo at Hoodoo Central was rubble on the ground.

Phoenix has risen from those Thursday ashes.

The new trail I saw getting blazed on Thursday is now completed. I arrived at the point where the new trail terminates at the north end of the View Street trail just as the trail blazers finished their blazing.

One of the trail blazers asked what I thought of the new trail. I told him I liked it. I then asked if they'd be continuing making more trails. One guy said no, they are done, while another guy said they may be back, that it depended on the timing.

I had no idea what he meant by the timing remark and I did not ask for elaboration.

What I do know is it would be a real good thing to have all the Tandy trails widened to the width of the new trail.

Today I sat for a spell on one of the wooden benches in the Tandy Hills Amphitheater and it occurred to me that it would be a real good thing to have similar benches installed throughout the Natural Area, like at the crest of hills.

Benches would give elderly geezers, such as myself, a place to plant ourselves whilst we recover from over aerobicizing.

Today I thought to myself the next time I visit the Tandy Hills I need to bring my chainsaw with me.

I'd not hiked the Tandy Highway since the BIG windstorm several Thursdays ago. I did so today and found myself having to navigate over several knocked down trees.

A knocked down tree has been blocking passage on the trail which leads from Tandy Falls to the View Street trail for over a year.

Since I was at Town Talk on Thursday, I decided I did not need a Saturday Town Talk Treasure Hunt. Saturday's at Town Talk can be a bit chaotic and hectic. Lately I have been enjoying peace and quiet and avoiding, as best as I can, anything chaotic or hectic.

Mayor Betsy Price In My Mailbox Again Telling Me It's Fort Worth It!

I found my favorite Fort Worth mayor, Betsy Price, in my mailbox, again, this morning, once again urging voters to vote for Props 1, 2 & 3 in the Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena Election, because "It's Fort Worth It!"

I have yet to hear any sort of explanation as to how having voters vote on these Three Propositions is necessary to bring about the building of an arena which private interests decided to build without public voter input of the sort where voters are asked to vote yes or no on something like the building of an arena, stadium, ballpark, bridge, school or other public works type deals built in the public's interest.

This morning's mailer is the third that has landed in my mailbox asking voters to vote for a user fee of $1 to $2 for livestock stalls.

You reading this in the democratic part of America, have you ever voted for something as goofy as user fees of $1 to $2 for livestock stalls? The livestock stall fee is the Proposition 2 part of the Three Propositions. You can real the almost as goofy details of Propositions 1 and 3 in the above scan of this latest political ad.

Speaking of this being a political ad, when I saw another mailer in my mailbox this morning it caused me to wonder who is paying for these mailings. A couple days ago I found myself wondering who paid for yard signs touting the Three Propositions.

I looked all over the mailer with a magnifying glass and eventually found some small print which said "Political Ad Paid For By Forward Fort Worth Partnership PAC, P.O. Box 28, Fort Worth, Texas 76102".

So, who funds this Forward Fort Worth Partnership PAC?

On the flip side of the mailer we are told "Private Donations Will Pay Half The Cost".

I suspect those private donators are also known as Forward Fort Worth Partnership PAC.

If I remember right this arena is projected to cost around $400 million. With the private donators who initiated this project on the hook for half that amount, how in the world was it determined that the other half of that amount could be covered by a user fee on livestock stalls, a user fee on event tickets and a user fee on parking?

Is this all going to turn into yet one more embarrassing Fort Worth boondoggle?

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price's Studs With A Fort Worth Councilman Who Can't Keep His Pants On

This morning in the email inbox I found a blog comment from someone named Anonymous, pointing me to what Anonymous characterized as "bizarre pics".

The comment from Anonymous....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Voting On User Fees Of $1 To $2 For Fort Worth Livestock Stalls Is Ridiculous": 

Here are some bizarre pics that you might be able to use or not.

The first is titled Mayor Price and her Studs. I recognize of the studs as a guy who cheated on his wife and then dumped her ages ago.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortworthsistercities/8188406586/in/photostream/

Here is Fort Worth city council member Dennis Shingleton wearing a US Navy enlisted uniform like it's a costume. He should know better since he was a Navy officer apparently. No respect I suppose.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortworthsistercities/8170448382/

Well, I can see why Anonymous characterized these pics as being bizarre. Amusing and bizarre. Below is the photo of the Fort Worth city council member.

It appears  these shenanigans took place at some sort of Sister Cities event. Prior to seeing these photos I knew that Fort Worth's mayor had secret service type security to protect her, but I did not know that Mayor Price also had a group of studs.

Are Sister Cities events known to be wild party type affairs where  politicians drop trou for the amusement of the party goers?

Voting On User Fees Of $1 To $2 For Fort Worth Livestock Stalls Is Ridiculous

I saw this sign today at the location on View Street where I parked prior to doing some Tandy Hills hill hiking.

Has the Fort Worth Star-Telegram taken an editorial position on this serious issue of voting on Three Propositions related to the new Fort Worth Multipurpose Arena?

As in suggesting voters vote YES to these three ballot items. Three ballot items which are each basically the same thing, as in voting on user fees, such as whether or not to charge a $1 to $2 user fee on livestock stalls.

You reading this in parts of America that have real things to vote for on your ballots, trust me, I am not making this up. Voters are  being asked to vote on Three Propositions regarding fees related to livestock stalls, parking and event tickets.

And somehow, though I've never seen an explanation as to how, voting on these Three Propositions has something to do with the building of a new arena.

Now, who or what is paying for these large yard signs telling people to vote for Props 1, 2 & 3?

I think I've opined previously that I don't understand why Fort Worth voters are not feeling a bit offput at the absurdity of having these Three Propositions on a ballot. Why have Fort Worth's voters not been given the opportunity to vote yes or no on the building of this arena?

I have lived in democratic areas of America where voters get to vote on things like new stadiums, arenas, ballparks. What a concept.

Til now I have never lived in a pseudo-democratic area of America where voters are asked to vote yes or no on user fees for livestock stalls.

Am I alone in thinking having these Three Propositions on a ballot is, well, sort of embarrassing?

I think I will go early vote now. Any guesses as to how I'll be voting on the Three Propositions?