State Senator Brian Birdwell updates folks on redistricting, probable date of primary elections, court hearing

20120130 Texas Redistricting - Senator Brian Birdwell - Updates on the Status by BosqueAreaEvents

Texas GOP fights post-civil war federal tactics
Government voting suits seen as reconstruction-era strategy

San Antonio – People of the U.S. are getting a bird's eye view of a constitutional crisis in the making in the ongoing litigation over redistricting.

The conflict is of the traditional nature of states' rights in opposition to federal powers

Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act requires states and localities with a history of voting discrimination to “pre-clear” changes in voting districts with the Justice Department – or with a federal court.

Texas conservatives in the census year 2010 Legislature elected to skip the Department of Justice and go straight to Court.

They knew they would wind up there, in any case.

Though the Supreme Court stopped short of ruling on the constitutionality of Section 5 in 2009 and in a recent ruling, they could return to the issue, an issue over which the most radical elements of the Texas GOP are spoiling to tangle with the Chicago-bred Attorney General Eric Holder in court.

The politics of confrontation extends to Mr. Holder's corner office at Justice, it seems.

In a recent speech, he cited “extraordinary risks” taken by civil rights activists in the 1960's to secure voting rights in the Jim Crow states of the former Confederate States of America, Arizona and Alaska as they “willingly confronted hatred, bias and ignorance – as well as billy clubs and fire hoses, bullets and bombs.”

The list of Justice Department actions backs up his rhetoric. In October, a Louisiana Parish was forced to return to the map-making department when they approved a new set of districts without input by African American officeholders that diminished the voting strength of blacks. The Justice Department also rejected a new requirement in South Carolina for voters to show photo ID before casting their ballots. They said it makes it harder for minorities to vote.

Though the actions of the Justice Department ignore abuses in other states above the Mason-Dixon Line, the Congress voted overwhelmingly to reapprove for an additional 25 years the Section 5 requirement of the Act. The conservative take on the situation is that the requirement stigmatizes the former Confederate states and dozens of localities forced to submit to what they view as punitive treatment by officials of the Justice Department and the federal court system.

There is a fundamental schism in conservative and liberal thinking on the matter, and it shows in the law, both constitutional and judge-made.

While the Voting Rights Act implies that there is an explicit right to vote for U.S. citizens, the reality is that the holding in Bush v. Gore, (U.S. 98 2000) plainly states “The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States.”

Nevertheless, the Voting Rights Act and three Constitutional amendments have established in Supreme Court jurisprudence that there is a “fundamental right” of the voting franchise, though voting rights are granted by the states.

Zombies - by Erin Cinek

'I’m willing to bet that if you could look into each and every junkie’s past, way back into their infantile, and toddler years, we would find one consistency: Their mothers did not wipe their noses. I will bet you a quarter!'

Chicken Scratches is making its blog debut today, a product of West native Erin Cinek, a young lady who has honed her scribbling skills through hard work and a love of the language.

Click here to read "Chicken Scratches" : http://www.texaschickenscratches.blogspot.com/

Enjoy.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012

Zombies

Do you ever notice how a common cold is basically the equivalent of the Zombie Virus? It’s contagious, it’s snotty, it makes you look undead, your voice gets all scratchy and drops about 4 octaves, you move slowly with your shuffling feet not even leaving the floor as you lurch from place to place. Your deep, loud, raspy coughs echo throughout the hallways like a death knell, causing your dangerous, germy, spores to permeate the building.

I mean, look at these two guys. Which has a cold, and which is the zombie? Besides the whole "BRRRAAAAIIIIIINNNNSSS" thing, is there REALLY any difference?

The next thing you know, your co-workers become a lynch mob, wielding weapons of passive aggressive stares, loud sighs, disinfectant wipes, and repeated suggestions that “maybe you should take your sick ass to the doctor so they don’t bring this nastiness home and turn the rest of their family into zombie filth like you!”

Hoo-boy… Yes, it gets intense.

The older I get, the more aware of funk I become. I remember being in high school, helping my then boyfriend work on my car. We saw no problem with scarfing down sandwiches that had greasy, black fingerprints on the bread. “Grease? BAH! It’s only a little.” (You know, it only takes a little cyanide… Only a smidge of strychnine… Just sayin’. )

I feel kind of bad bringing up this next germy case… But it literally makes me hide my eyes and cower in the fetal position. A baby, or toddler, with two distinct, thick, green streams of snot (*WRETCH*) from each nostril down to the top lip. (*gag*) and the kid keeps LICKING THEIR TOP LIP!!!!!

At what point does a parent say, “ENOUGH! I am going to take a friggin’ tissue in my friggin’
hand and wipe this kid’s face.” (*GAG!!!*)

I literally had a very difficult time typing that AND swallowing my spit. It ain’t cool. There has got to be an intervention with the child snot licking.

Other moms say, “Oh please, like I can keep that from happening…”

Oh please… DO TRY. I managed to keep it off of my child’s face.

I think the War On Child Snot Licking should be a higher priority than the war on drugs.

I’m willing to bet that if you could look into each and every junkie’s past, way back into their infantile, and toddler years, we would find one consistency: Their mothers did not wipe their noses. I will bet you a quarter!

International wire fraud strikes across oceans

Boardman, Ohio – Manager Sean Dunham stopped the transaction immediately when he saw the amount of $500, an unusually high dollar catering order for his operation.

Quaker Steak & Lube – home of the “Lubies” - has numerous locations in the Cleveland area and elsewhere in the nation specializing in hot wings, onion rings and snacks to go for sports fanatics, as well as eat-in entrees.

Five hundred dollars will buy a lot of those kind of goodies for the Super Bowl, an order turned in well in advance.

But it wasn't just the amount that aroused the restaurant manager's suspicions; it was the nature of the transaction itself.

A Western Union service for hearing-impaired customers contacted the Quaker Steak restaurant with the order. From there, the telegraph company fed the order to the restaurant's on-line service through a teletype hook-up.

The fraudulent customer used the Visa debit card number of a Texas Bank of America customer, a person far remote from both the restaurant and the origin of the order.

To further complicate matters, the transaction appeared to have originated in Nigeria, something that made Mr. Dunham's mind immediately.

No deal. No way. No how.

He turned the matter over to local police, who have reported back that the fraud is untraceable.

They cautioned banking customers worldwide to never give out their debit card information to anyone they don't know and trust.

International wire fraud is rampant.

- The Legendary

All the news that gives you fits...

Destroying America, bill by bill

By Sovereign Man, Simon Black

As you’re probably aware, yesterday was the much ballyhooed blackout of several popular web sites in protest of new legislation that threatens the Internet as we know it.

The United States Congress has teed up two separate bills which give government agencies sweeping new powers to punish millions of innocent users, criminalize harmless activities, and effectively make entire web sites disappear at their sole discretion without any judicial oversight.

In a nutshell, these bills would create the online equivalent of Nazi Germany.
But what can we really expect from these people?

It’s not the first time that Congress has gone out of its way to destroy freedom and prosperity, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Just look at the last decade for a plethora of examples:

USA PATRIOT Act, 2001. The US Constitution officially became toilet paper when this bill of over 60,000 words just happened to be introduced only a few weeks after 9/11. Roving wiretaps, suspension of due process, and a complete loss of privacy became the norm.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 2002. In the wake of the Enron scandal, Congress did the only thing it knows how to do– pass stupid laws with no thought of long-term consequences. SOX, as it became known, was one of the most burdensome pieces of legislation to American business in history.

The disclosure requirements alone added millions of dollars of unnecessary expenses to US businesses and sent foreign companies who were thinking about listing on the formerly prestigious NYSE running for the hills. Places like Hong Kong and Singapore benefitted from such short-sighted regulation, and the US became less competitive. Again.

Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, 2010. The inappropriately named HIRE Act essentially puts a gun to foreign banks’ heads and forces them to make a decision: any bank with US clients must either enter into a costly information sharing agreement with the IRS, or be subject to a 30% withholding tax on US-sourced capital flows.

Consequently, a number of foreign banks have begun dropping their US clients. Taken in conjunction with various US Securities rules, many foreign businesses have also begun dropping US citizens as partners, shareholders, and directors. It’s simply too onerous to have to deal with all the disclosure filings and risk action by the SEC or IRS...

(please click here to read the rest of the story: http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/destroying-america-bill-by-bill/?a_aid=CRX)

Nullify NDAA, Obamacare, etc. Nullification movie 2/9

Seasoned swamp cat conjures Tokio Store audience...

Tokio – Classie Ballou is a Lake Charles native who relocated to Waco for reasons of his own, reasons to which he only alludes with a big, big grin on his face.

Nevertheless, he brought the high-strung and wailing sounds of the Louisiana bayous with him, and he's been wailing on it for decades out of his central Texas digs.

His fondest hope is that his daughter Cean – short for Cacean – will “carry on the family name.”

She accompanies the veteran blues cat on an extremely rare Steinberg electric bass, one of only 200 ever made, and it's steady as a clock.

The duo has been playing Al's Tokio Store for many years. In fact, Classie, who goes back to such numbers as “Oh – Ma Ma” and other Creole hits, can remember the time previous to the present parking regulations applied to Al's Tokio, when “Cars and motorcycles and pickups were parked all along the road.”

He's packed the century-plus year-old tavern many times over the years. When he appears there, bikers from Whitney, Meridian, McGregor and points east and south fall in to hear the bon temps roule.

When it comes to Chicago-style Delta blues, there are two criteria that immediately come to mind – playing at the top of the audience's nerves to milk all the pathos they have and let the feelings flow down over their heads like the very palpable thing the blues really are, and the second, conjuring that audience so that each and every man, woman and child feel as if they are rgw one person in that audience to whom the shouter is really dealing the stuff out, really socking it to that one person for effect and the kind of feelings that flood the nerve endings and cause that total reaction felt from the roots of the hair to the toenails.

Yes. Yay-us!

Mr. Ballou opened his set with the Jimmy Reed classic, “Big Boss Man,” a blast from the South Dallas past first heard up and down Deep Ellum. Cean handled the vocals on that number; from there, they swung into “The Sky Is Crying,” and leveled out the take off and landing before the first break through such traditionals as “The Thrill Is Gone” and the white girl lament that crossed over from a Delta blues charter to rock and roll in the summer of 1967, “Ode To Billy Joe.”

Before break time came, the crowd was on its feet, dancing, hollering, acting like a thoroughly conjured audience talking about more - more rhythm, more blues, more brew, more of more and blue on blue en bleu!

Contact CaCean Ballou & The Dirty Crawfish at Champentertainment09@yahoo.com, or catch her on Facebook.com under the name Cean Ballou for news of upcoming appearances or to talk about special events or occasions. - The Legendary

Catholic Bishops pen letters of protest over abortion...

In thousands of parishes this weekend, Catholic priests read a version of the following letter to their congregation denouncing this decision as an attack on their religious freedom. Each bishop personally sent the letter out, and so there were some local variations... What follows is from the Bishop of Marquette:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just been dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people — the Catholic population — and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees’ health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.

In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply. We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

And therefore, I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Obama Administration’s decision. Sincerely yours in Christ, +Alexander K. Sample Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample Bishop of Marquette

Read more: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-29/politics/30675227_1_health-coverage-delis-religious-freedom#ixzz1kzI4uqbX

Soros - 'Not much difference in Romney, Obama...'

At Davos, the money changer shrugs it off

Facebook IPO sparks hot competition on Wall St.

New York - Facebook is expected to file papers for an initial public offering this week. Indications are that the IPO will suggest the company is worth $75 billion to $100 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The offering, which could raise as much as $10 billion, has been hotly anticipated as a defining moment for the latest Web investing boom.

After 7 years of operation, the company estimates it has created 450,000 jobs in the U.S. and Europe alone. Thousands of successful corporations use Facebook for targeted advertising purposes throughout the globe.

Word is that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are locked in a public relations battle of rumor and speculation to get the opportunity to make the lucrative IPO.

Carlotta's Game

Cocaine in the brain - In the normal communication process, dopamine is released by a neuron into the synapse, where it can bind with dopamine receptors on neighboring neurons. Normally, dopamine is then recycled back into the transmitting neuron by a specialized protein called the dopamine transporter. If cocaine is present, it attaches to the dopamine transporter and blocks the normal recycling process, resulting in a buildup of dopamine in the synapse, which contributes to the pleasurable effects of cocaine.
Researchers have discovered that, when a rewarding event is occurring, it is accompanied by a large increase in the amounts of dopamine released in the nucleus accumbens by neurons originating in the VTA. In the normal communication process, dopamine is released by a neuron into the synapse (the small gap between two neurons), where it binds with specialized proteins (called dopamine receptors) on the neighboring neuron, thereby sending a signal to that neuron. Drugs of abuse are able to interfere with this normal communication process. For example, scientists have discovered that cocaine blocks the removal of dopamine from the synapse, resulting in an accumulation of dopamine. This buildup of dopamine causes continuous stimulation of receiving neurons, which is associated with the euphoria commonly reported by cocaine abusers. As cocaine abuse continues, tolerance often develops. This means that higher doses and more frequent use of cocaine are required for the brain to register the same level of pleasure experienced during initial use. Recent studies have shown that, during periods of abstinence from cocaine use, the memory of the euphoria associated with cocaine use, or mere exposure to cues associated with drug use, can trigger tremendous craving and relapse to drug use, even after long periods of abstinence.

By The Legendary Jim Parks

Carlotta stood stoically, listening to the rich woman from
Mexico City denounce her to the kidnappers.

For two months, she had been in the safe house working the
bitch's nerves, acting as a shill for the kidnappers, a
squad of state police from Juarez whose assignment was, of
all things, anti-kidnapping and detection.

They beat the woman severely, humiliated her by making her
strip off her clothing in front of the other prisoners and
the men who guarded them. They made her believe, by turns,
that they were on her side, that it was her husband and
family's fault that she was still there, captured and held
prisoner in this anonymous, filthy house about twenty
kilometers out in the desert from the border city.

She had begun to believe them. She told them of the
wonderful presents she would give them once she was free and
back in control of her fortunes. She promised she would
never betray them.

In fact, she had started to tell them more and more about
her life and the ways they could collect even more ransom
money from her family. They had collected a half dozen
ransom payments so far. The end was nowhere near in sight.
The truth was easy to explain. These police would help look
for her long after she had been executed.

In the past two weeks, she had been allowed to go without a
mask.

Carlotta laughed at the stupid rich woman. Didn't she know
that to go without a mask in the safe house was actually her
death warrant?

The rica really believed that she had been placed in a more
privileged status.

They took Carlotta into another room and pretended to work
her over with sticks and leather straps, to burn her with
cigarettes and smack her around with their fists and feet.
She screamed as loud as she could, begging for mercy as if
the attacks were real.

That's when the most cruel of the torturers, a man trained
at the academy operated by the American FBI, began to
persuade her to tell them all about the things Carlotta had
supposedly told her earlier, lies they had told Carlotta to
plant with the woman.

She agreed eagerly. She now identified with her kidnappers
and torturers completely - much more than she ever had with
her family in the years before she had been kidnapped on her
way to an appointment at the beauty shop she used in Mexico
City.

She denounced Carlotta in the most pejorative terms, accused
her of telling the Federales where a load of cocaine would
be delivered on the American side, of informing on state
policemen who had carried out contract killings for certain
members of the drug cartel.

They promised her they would allow her to witness Carlotta's
execution. In the cemetery of a small church, they took the
two women out of the car and held guns on them both.

Carlotta was given her last cigarette and offered a
blindfold. She stood with the cigarette between her full
lips, costumed in a miniskirt and blouse - both in black,
since she was at a funeral.

As she tied the black scarf around her eyes, they asked her
if she had any last remarks.

"Yeah, hombre," she said, "shoot the loud mouth bitch in the
face."

The rifles and pistols spoke instantly. The rich woman
collapsed with a half dozen small bullet holes in her face.
The back of her skull was blown completely away.

Carlotta pulled the blindfold off and draped it around her
neck.

She shivered slightly. It would be her job to communicate
with the woman's daughter, to tell her that for only a few
hundred thousand pesos more, they would release her to the
family with no further problems.

Copyright 2009

Front runners ratchet jaw Florida to death

Muddy comments on dishonest dealings fly


Governor Mitt Romney continues to hold his lead in polls gauging the mood of Republicans going into the Florida primary.

All 50 delegates are up for grabs in the southern swing state, an anomaly packed with ultra-liberal Democratic retirees from the northeast as both front-running candidates continue to pelt each other with allegations of dishonesty.

Said former House Speaker New Gingrich, "He would say thing after thing after thing that just plain wasn't true," Gingrich said of the former Massachusetts governor in reference to last Thursday debate's on CNN. "I don't know how you debate a person with civility if they're prepared to say things that are just plain factually false. "

In particular, Gingrich cited Romney's claim that he had never voted for a Democrat when a Republican was on the ballot, including Romney's support for Democrat Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Massachusetts presidential primary.

The former Massachusetts Governor continues to hammer on a $300,000 ethics penalty Mr. Gingrich paid at the end of his run as Speaker when he agreed to pay for the costs of an investigation into his dealings with campaign contributions.

Romney's campaign responded that Gingrich, a historian, was trying to "rewrite history."

"He admitted to violating House rules and providing false and misleading information to the ethics committee," said an e-mail from Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. "He released a statement saying he was wrong and agreed to pay a $300,000 penalty. He said, 'My actions did not reflect creditably on the House of Representatives.' Nearly 90% of House Republicans agreed."

At a Naples, Florida, campaign event Sunday, Romney touted his debate performances in Florida, drawing cheers by asking: "Wasn't that a hoot?

On Bayou Bleu

A Big Chief Tablet Tale
By The Legendary Jim Parks

We had just then finished shoveling out the last boat and loading the last trailer with ice and shrimp and ice and shrimp and ice and shrimp and ice and shrimp and cracked open the first brew from the tub of suds on the dock under the shed when Mr. Blanchard said, "Oh, lord, y'all, look'a yonder."


He pointed across the bay where seven water spouts melded into the deep delft of the blue blackened sky over the swamps and the cold breeze wafted toward us leaving white caps on the surface.

You could see LaFitte's dirty red brick fort standing out across the harbor like some kind of afterthought in a watery impressionist painting from another century.

Across the oyster shell lot at the beer joint they call The Hideaway you could hear the juke box swing into Fats hammering the piano and crooning about the shame - bomp, bomp - of the way - bomp, bomp - he cried - bomp, bomp - when she said - bomp, bomp - goodbye - bomp, bomp.

And, then, he hammer hammer hammer some more with that left hand. And the horns say, again, "Bomp - Bomp" in that yellow sky where you just heard the last bird tweet and twitter and caw caw caw.

Pierre Broussard crossed his chest and said something in Cajun dialect about all the bateau on the Gulf and a merciful God and the souls of all those who are in peril when the patter of rain gave way to sheets of the mercurial stuff raking everything in sight and bolts of lightning forked down all across the world while the Gods thundered their angry approval and the electric lights came on and flickered and went off and came back on again.

We all stared and tried to keep from looking at each other and tipped back our brew and pulled our slicker suits close around us and prayed silently because the island there is only a yard, maybe less, above sea level and we were all miles from our homes.

Many, many miles from our homes.

- Jim Parks

"Shower" - the Chinese film you have to see...

Finnish film critic Marja Hagborg, writing from the Windy, says "Nobody knows about it - yet. There isn't even a trailer with English subtitles available...If you don't like it, you don't have a heart!"
(click the paragraph above for the minority report)

- The Legendary

Chiligula reigns over Jim Lewis Expressway

44 Contestants crowd Tokio Store lot

Tokio – Heady aromas of chili wafted over the county road right of way that doubles as a parking lot for the Tokio Store as numerous contestants and more than a 100 bar patrons celebrated one of the preliminary cook-off events that leads to the grand finale kingfish of chili head afficionados at Terlingua.

According to its chili-headed co-founders, Mssrs. F.X. Tolbert of “The Dallas Morning News” and Wick Fowler of the “Austin American-Statesman,” the annual blowout on the hell country stretch of the Big Bend border in the old cinnabar mining ghost town was really named “The Carey Nation, Cleanliness is Next To Godliness, Nearer My God To Thee, All Day Singing and Dinner On The Grounds Annual Chili Cook-Off At Terlingua, Texas.”

Held on the first Saturday in November, observed with all the pomp and circumstance needed to draw chili heads from near and far – mostly far, since Terlingua is located out back of the beyond of never never, as the Aussies would say - one of the grand daddies of media non-events to end all such media non-events, photo opportunities and fluffy flack-inspired hootenannies that dot the American calendar, it is preceded by dozens of such venues such as that observed at The Tokio Store Saturday, all of which lead to the ultimate challenge, the gathering of the tribes on the slopes below the old mine and refinery where so many lost immigrant European souls became totally insane and out of their minds due to the toxic effects of the mineral they labored so diligently for greenback dollars to extract from the bedrock strata situated below the Texas sands.

As such, at each such royal nonesuch, the excitement builds, wave upon wave after wave of hoo-raw, until the chili heads are fit to burst with beer, bloated with chili, raving for more, raring to go – ah, well, you know – f-u-r-t-h-e-r.

At each such venue, naturally, the local lore both historical and political is el topico numero uno and considered fair game for those with true chili afficion, the atmosphere of Chiligula – that is, cold beer, hot air, and the talk it usually generates.

Gazing out over the crowded parking lot forged from a road right of way in hot dispute at the McLennan County Courthouse for many years, Mrs. Charles Kirkpatrick – Deborah – wife of the owner of the property, gave The Legendary are very frank and no-nonsense interview concerning the true nature of the recognition she and her husband's leaseholder, Alfons Cinek of West, have received from black t-shirted outlaw bikers throughout the Republic of Texas.

It seems those liberty-loving sons of the open road just can't resist basking in the glory of a common, ordinary pair of Navy seamen standing up to the authority of the full weight and majesty of the People of the State of Texas.

Mr. Kirkpatrick, you see, was an assault coxswain turned Seabee equipment operator. Mr. Cinek was a weapons specialist who served at a Naval Weapons Station located in the swamps near Charleston, South Carolina.

There are a number of others, including ship fitters, electricians, cannon cockers, anchor clankers, skivvie wavers, boiler tenders and other snipes, cooks, bakers, office pinkies, Quartermasters, radio operators and other seafarers clustered at Tokio.

It's a Navy hooch, so to speak.

Getting back to the chili. Panels of 20 judges judge sample batches of 20 entries each, each identified only by a number.

Competition chili is judged for its aroma, consistency, flavor, after taste and the showmanship of the contestant teams doing the cooking, either on the main row, or back of the store.

Back of the store. We won't go there. It's an ugly old story about a revolt led by the ever-resourceful Mr. Francis Xavier Tolbert and friends against the encroaching world of rules and regulations that came along with success and the formation of C.A.S.I.

Competition chili has no beans, no onions, no peppers, no tomatoes stewed or otherwise, no bulk, no nothing but chilipowder, onions sliced, diced, dried and powdered, garlic done the same way, and meat treated to the tender ministrations of the whetted blade, then cooked and reduced, further cooked and reduced until its consistency is that of a fine, Texas Red gravy.

That's competition chili, whether it's made with goat meat, rattlesnake flesh, the finest beef, venison - or whatever.

Personally, The Legendary has never sampled, nor heard of any prepared with crocodile or alligator meat – but I ain't all that proud. Besides, it's considered bad form to discuss the type of meat contained in a bowl of red – unless the cook is bragging. I would brag if I found a way to get some gator meat in my red, to tell you the truth. I would.

Heavy on the whatever. Whatever it takes is the rule when it comes to chili. It's a survival skill, this cooking of the red on Texas soil – a cultural thing, you might say, nonetheless a mark of distinction to Texas men and women of conscience, possessed of political awareness of a fine degree.

Chili heads are not all that particular about the content or character of the ingredients when it comes to a bowl of red to pour over their enchiladas, tamales, burritos, nachos or chimichangas. They are above all stylists who judge on the basis of aroma, taste, consistency and after taste.

It's pride over ingredients that carries the day – every time, saith the Chili heads, one and all. There is nothing like unity to save the day when the chips are down.

That's why the first-ever C.A.S.I.-sponsored cook-off event at Tokio came as a thunderclap on a sunny January day with wispy clouds trailing out to the northwest over the white spring-loaded PVC stobs McLennan County Judge Jim Lewis required Precinct 3 County Commissioner Joe Mashek to install in an effort to delineate the traveled portion Judge Jim Lewis Expressway – officially named Tokio Loop - from the right of way, which extends right up to the threshold of the front door of the beer joint.

The surveyors made sure.

It's an old story, but one that is worthy of review, this thing of the white plastic stobs, which, according to Mr. Mashek, cost $55 apiece to obtain from the supplier, plus the requisite labor to implant, bring into plumb, and install the spring-loaded bases in the tarmac.

It all started with a tornado, a natural force majeure that literally ripped the structure of the century-old store to shreds, prompting its rebuilding with funds raised in a community benefit held to preserve this cultural hot spot and gathering point since its early days as a general store. According to manager Al Cinek, it was at the weekend benefit party that the seeds of discontent were sown.

With the natural growth of the area's population came an inevitable growth in density of population, a gentrification of the neighborhood with the addition of elegant and sprawling houses and equine barns, and the desire by at least three neighbors to be rid of the music, openly observable beer drinking, revved-up Harleys and the boozy spectacle of bikers standing around with brown bottles of beer in their hands. Some of them reportedly urinated in plain sight.

Then there was the complaint fielded by County Judge Jim Lewis himself concerning parked pickups and motorcycles crowding the right of way and impeding the orderly flow of traffic between Tokio and the S.R. 933 from Waco to Gholson and points north.

He denied Mr. Cinek's license when he applied before the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, something state statutes allow if local authorities wish to challenge the moral, safety record or legal status of a tavern owner's stance with the local g'en d'armes, the neighbors, or the community at large.

Mr. Cinek challenged him before the Commission and when he did not get relief, he sued in District Court before Judge Vicki Menard, where the Judge ruled against Judge Lewis' denial of the permit.

After all, as Mrs. Kirkpatrick says, “There's no law against drinking beer on county property.” Besides, the bikers were drinking brewskis they brought with them.

Mr. Cinek had in the interim made his establishment into a BYOB outfit.

When the matter was remanded to the County Constitutional Court and Judge Lewis again denied his approval for the alcoholic beverage commission to approve the sales permit, Mr. Cinek appealed to District Court, where Judge Ralph T. Strother again remanded the matter to Judge Lewis, who at that point had erred not once, but twice.

Said Mrs. Kirkpatrick, describing the source of her neighbors' chagrin over the music, the brew, the motor scooters and the weekend parties attended by what one man who protested before the alcohol licensing board described as “Wannabe Hell's Angels,” “They were objecting to the fact that they were living in the country and there was nothing they could do to control us and our business...”

When it comes to the true nature of the dispute so adroitly ignored by the Chili Heads, Chiligula, the segment of the beer drinking public which sees the world from their perch astride Milwaukee vibrators, she said, “His (Lewis') role in this was to get Joe Mashek out as a County Commissioner. This was all done to get rid of Joe.”

One of the neighbors had told the TABC back in 2008 that though the store has been selling beer for 100 years, “It's only during the last 10 that this has been going on.”

Mrs. Kirkpatrick's response, all these years later, is that the ingress and egress issues raised by the Judge regarding encroachment on the right of way and the traveled portion of the road was just something made whole out of paper to impress a regulatory agency.

“It's okay until we're successful. They did all this to make Joe Mashek come out here and put a stop to this.”

Mr. Mashek was not seen during the Chili festivities. He must have had other fish to fry.

Classie Ballou and daughter to play Tokio Chili Cook-off

Swamp cat on electric guitar plays Creole, R&B

Burgers, brew, chili cook-off, no cover- show at 8 p.m., Al's Tokio Store, corner of Jim Lewis Expressway and Old Railroad Road, near exit 351 in West, Texas

You go back of the store, you gon' get it again, y'all!

Who owns America's wealth?

28th Amendment to outlaw corporate 'personhood'

San Francisco - OccupyWallSt protesters converged on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals under a black muslin scrim to deliver a proposed 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would abolish corporate "personhood."

The precedent that allows corporate entities the same civil rights as human beings, including the First Amendment right to political speech was established in a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down in 2010 in Citizen United v. FEC.

(please click here for a discussion of the Citizen United holding)

U.S. ratchets up Sunni-Shia conflict to provoke war?

UK expert: 'Something has to happen...'


Analysis: This foreign policy expert tells Russia Today that the real source of the conflict is between the "moderate" Arab states on the Arabian peninsula, that the U.S. go-ahead for the Saudis to attack Bahrain, the Navy's 5th fleet headquarters, was the "turning point" in the Arab Spring revolution, and that the nation is spoiling for a false flag event that will make it appear that Iran "shot the first arrow."

What else is new? - The Legendary

'Another sleepless night' - listen to the sad story, y'all

Eating rats and worms on television for prizes...

What the hell is really for sale here, people?



So, the multinational corporation is in fact a person? This person is imbued and empowered to use all the rights and privileges of any other human being, according to the U.S. Supreme Court? What, exactly is this person of business, this corporation, attempting to sell us, dear hearts? Worms, rats, fresh for the taking? Tastes just like chicken? Is that the pitch? Huh. Whatever. - The Legendary

Though the novelty has worn off since the reality game show “Survivor” first aired in the U.S. in the year 2000, some 13 million viewers still tune in, less than half the initial market share of nearly 30 million.

The tribes are stranded in wilderness locations throughout the world where they compete through various skill and immunity challenges and provide their own shelter, food, fire and water. The ultimate single survivor wins a huge amount of cash, a luxury car and various other expensive items that are, of course, for sale.

The show is hosted and produced by Jeff Probst, a former Special Operations soldier from the black ops side of the dirty tricks wars professional soldiers plan and prosecute with the help of various extremely poor people in the Third World. Corporate sponsors are multinational, mega-profit conglomerate giants that do business globally, including brewers, food producers and auto manufacturers.

In many cases, the contestants, as they strive to outwit, outplay and outlast their opponents, eat disgusting sources of protein, including insects, worms and rats.

One wonders what is really and truly for sale, here. Are such conglomerates as General Motors and Anheuser Busch really giving us subtle hints that they can make us eat just about anything, once the corporate world controls all the resources it takes to have a comfortable and nutritious diet, adequate shelter and clothing and a safe and sane ambience?

(click here for Sue's famous rat and snake speech from season one of "Survivor")

One wonders. Why do we find this entertaining? Have besieged people not been so challenged for millenia in just these ways?

I put it to you. Isn't it time to pull back and take a long focus on this particular spectacle? - The Legendary

GOP: 'Fraternity is now running the campus'

Handing the election over to Obama

By Julie Hirschfeld Davis,
Bloomberg News

Two days after Newt Gingrich defeated Mitt Romney in the South Carolina presidential primary one of Romney’s big-name backers offered a grim prediction for his fellow Republicans.

“The possibility of Newt Gingrich being our nominee against Barack Obama I think is essentially handing the election over to Obama,” former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty told reporters on a Jan. 23 conference call. “I think that’s shared by a lot of folks in the Republican Party.”

Pawlenty’s comments echoed those being uttered publicly and behind the scenes by elected Republicans, party activists, fundraisers and pundits, who represent a portion of the party establishment -- a “stop-Newt” caucus -- populated largely by people who have known the former U.S. House speaker for decades.

The question is: Can they?

For two decades, the Republican Party has seen an erosion of its traditional, top-down hierarchy, a decline aided by Gingrich himself in 1990 when he led a House revolt against a budget agreement negotiated by President George H.W. Bush that raised taxes. The rise of the anti-tax Tea Party wing in 2009 splintered the internal levers of power further, making it even harder to impose a choice on the rank-and file.

“There really is no Republican establishment left that can control anything,” said Matthew Dowd, a onetime aide to President George W. Bush and now a Bloomberg Television contributor. “Some try to act like they are in charge, but the fraternity is now running the campus...”

(please click here for the rest of the story: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-26/-stop-newt-republicans-confront-base-unwilling-to-take-orders.html)

Mayor turns damper down after 'tacos' remark

East Haven, Connecticut – The mayor of this city is jumping through hoops to say he's sorry over a remark he made following the FBI's arrest of four town cops for racial profiling Hispanics.

Asked how he would help support the Latino community in the wake of the controversy, he told TV reporter Mario Diaz, “I might have tacos.”

Along with other civil rights violations alleged by the government, business owners say that cops lurk outside their stores and restaurants and harass customers, seeking proof of their citizenship.

Amid the resulting furor, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy called the remark “repugnant” and “unacceptable.” Many called for Mayor Joseph Maturo's resignation.

Hizzoner said today, “My sincerest apologies go out to the East Haven community and, in particular, the Latino community for the insensitive and off-collar comment that I made to WPIX reporter Mario Diaz yesterday regarding the recent events affecting our community and our police department,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, I let the stress of the situation get the best of me and inflamed what is already a serious and unfortunate situation. I regret my insensitive comment and realize that it is my job to lead by example.“

There has been much litigation and street violence over the matter over the past years.

Journalists in the New Haven area said he did not return their phone calls following the release of his statement.

Newt speaking ceramics in the dialect of high glaze...

How many fingers now, Mitt? Count 'em, bud

Somewhere on the campaign trail, Florida - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich continues to dispute Gov. Mitt Romney's claim that he paid a $300,000 "fine" following a 1997 ethics investigation.

Many media accounts continue to refer to the payment as a fine, although the official Ethics Committee report on the matter, which the House accepted in its sanction of Gingrich, "clearly indicated otherwise."

Gingrich paid the cost of legal bills associated with a multi-year House inquiry, which probed whether he had misused a tax-exempt organization he controlled for political purposes.

A look at the Congressional Record shows that he was paying a "reimbursement" or a "sanction" to repay the cost of the investigation carried out in the House Ethics Committee's probe of the matter.

As it turns out, a political committee formed in his behalf paid the - ah - reimbursement, or, uh, well, "sanction" on his behalf. Uh, well, yes! That's how it was, after all.

Walk of life across House floor to tender resignation letter

The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously 408-0 to approve a bill introduced by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, that will impose stiffer penalties for those who smuggle illegal drugs using ultralight aircraft.

A similar bill passed the House in the previous session of Congress, but did not make it through the Senate. Under present law, those who use cars and other means of transport face more serious penalties than those who use ultralight aircraft.

Rep. Giffords tendered her resignation today when she limped to the Speaker's rostrum and handed John Boehner her letter amid a 3-minute standing ovation. She was shot in the head more than a year ago by a deranged man named Loughner who mowed down 6 other persons, including a little girl 8 years old and a District Judge, with a handgun. Tea Party ads sponsored by such luminaries as Gov. Sarah Palin featured crosshairs over her name during the bitter mid-term campaign of 2010. She won re-election handily and was presiding over a Town Hall meeting in a Tucson supermarket parking lot when Mr. Loughner burst through the crowd and began spraying bullets wildly.

Mrs. Giffords has vowed to return to public service after she has more fully recovered from the horrible wounds inflicted by the gunman, one of which pierced her skull and penetrated her brain.

Quotable 2012 state of the union quote...

In the 2011 State of the Union, the president used the phrase "win the future" or a variant over and over and over again. A year later, the future is not won, but the slogan has lost. "Built to last" was the message for the 2012 State of the Union speech. Despite continued unsteadiness in the economy, the slogan-manufacturing sector is healthy. - John Dickerson, "Slate" on-line news magazine

CBS reporter Lara Logan admits PTSD one year later

"60 Minutes" reporter Lara Logan told newsmen in New York that nearly a year after the sexual assault she suffered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, she still has nightmares in the daytime, whether awake or asleep.

In February of 2011, 20 men tore her clothing off her body and raped her repeatedly for about 25 minutes before some quick-thinking Egyptian women came to her rescue and formed a protective circle around her. Egyptian soldiers then evacuated her and she caught the next plane back to America where she sought hospital treatment during a short stay.

The attack occurred during the celebration over the resignation of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The video clip above details the kind of brutal war conditions the veteran reporter, a mother who is 40 years of age, has been covering over the period of a long and eventful career. In this interview, she allows an American colonel to explain the kind of improvised explosive devices his unit and others struggled to rid Baghdad's Airport Road of on a daily basis during that protracted war.

The Veterans Administration has a number of female soldiers, sailors, Marines and Airmen under treatment for similar problems which developed after they were raped during war time.

'Tax the rich, spread the wealth,' Obama to GOP

President Barack Hussein Obama told a deeply divided Congress that the way out of the nation's economic woes is to raise taxes on the very wealthy and corporations.

In his State of the Union address, he said, "We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," Obama said. "Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules."

In a roundhouse cut at the nation's growing income gap, Obama called for a new minimum tax rate of at least 30 percent on anyone making over $1 million. Many millionaires — including one of his chief rivals, Republican Mitt Romney — pay a rate less than that because they get most of their income from investments, which are taxed at a lower rate.

"Now you can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said, responding to a frequent criticism from the GOP presidential field. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."

Republicans were not impressed. They applauded infrequently, though they did cheer when the president quoted "Republican Abraham Lincoln" as saying: "That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves — and no more."

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, offering the formal GOP response, called Obama's policies "pro-poverty" and his tactics divisive.

"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said after the president's address.

Terrorism act puts County Sheriffs at crossroads

FEDS “DEFINE” AMERICAN TERRORISTS

By former Phoenix Police Department Intelligence Officer, Jack McLamb, Ret.

This article will accomplish at least two objectives. First, it will inform county sheriffs that one day they may very well be asked to help round up average, everyday citizens who disagree in some fashion with the national/international government. Secondly, it will serve as one more example of how the federal agencies can cause chaos in a sheriff’s county. A few years ago, my good friend, Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, was set upon by numerous concerned and angry citizens and media personnel demanding an explanation, when a certain circulating brochure came to light publicly, having been issued secretly by the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Phoenix, Arizona office of the FBI. This was in the fall of 2001, quite soon after “9/11”. Since the face of the brochure bore the Maricopa County sheriff’s badge right alongside the FBI logo [obviously to give it more “weight” with law enforcement] it was understandably assumed that the brochure had resulted from cooperative effort between the two agencies. Fact is, however, according to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, that no prior notice had been given to Maricopa County Sheriff’s office, nor any approval for use of the badge obtained. Nevertheless, by means of this brochure, the FBI agency engaged in instructing sheriff deputies and city police officers concerning just who the local domestic terrorists might be… going on to list, and thereby implicate, actually a very large percentage of the general population. This was the federal government’s attempt to get local law enforcement to take special care and attention when we come across “any such criminal types”, and, in filling out our data reports on them, to get the intel into the federal governments computers A.S.A.P. This sounds good, doesn’t it? Who could be against such diligent anti-terrorist activity on the part of our nation’s protectors?

To begin with, perhaps we should take a little closer look at the FBI sub-agency assigned to create and disseminate the brochure. The Joint Terrorism Task Force was created by the federal government for the purpose of gathering and distributing information on individuals and organizations which certain far-left hate groups [examples Brith [ADL] and lawyer Morris Dees’ Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC] present to state and federal governments as “the bad guys” in our society. It has been common practice for such organizations to target individuals and groups they wish to destroy.

I speak as a police investigator who served many years in a very large metropolitan city when I say that for 30-plus years now, the federal government has intentionally permitted international leftist hate groups to make up the lists of who they deem “the real threats to our nation”. We lawmen could discuss at length why the federal government has this close alliance with these far-left associations of the private sector, but it would take far more pages than this particular publication can spare. For now, with respect to the vital issue at hand here, suffice it to say that we hope to convince you sheriffs that the international political leaders in Washington today want to see you and us [both sheriffs and cops] critically surveil and record everything we can possibly learn about those fellow Americans “on the list” – whom these radical leftist hate groups wish eliminated.

Sheriff, as you scan the text of the FBI brochure, you will notice that it does include a number of groups which we officers believe are true American [right wing] hate groups [though not terrorists, perhaps]. By including these groups in this brochure it serves to paint as domestic terrorists [i.e., “guilt by associate”] the rest of the groups listed – those who are mostly just good, honest, dedicated and concerned Americans. Granted, there probably are groups and individuals [with differing beliefs and life styles] listed here, whom you and I may not exactly choose to invite home to dinner – some with whom we may even strongly disagree, in fact. But it is very important for us lawmen to recognize, however, that this does not make them terrorists nor criminals.

Well, dear brother sheriff, perhaps we can now examine just a few of the various group listings on this “for cops’ eyes only” brochure, on the face of which we read the following emboldened plea from the FBI:...

(please click here to read the rest of the story)http://jackmclamb.community.officelive.com/fedsdefineamericanterrorist.aspx

FBI arrests 3 Connecticut cops for racial profiling

East Haven – Federal officers arrested three police officers kept under surveillance for months for mistreating people of color and harassing their places of business.

FBI spokesmen said the officers have been charged with civil rights offenses following an investigation prompted by the work of Rev. James Manship, a local preacher who has himself been arrested for videotaping alleged harassment by East Haven police officers.

Murder 'training camp' all in a day's testimony

Killer tells jury of sledge hammer murders

Laredo – It's not the first time a jury has gotten a glimpse into the twisted world of “Cheeks” Chavez, a 23-year-old Zetas cartel hitman.

When the narcs caught him back in 2010 in a Houston dope stash house, he had cocaine on his nose and a reputation for killing that few other vatos locos can claim.

But hearsay from other admitted killers, tape recordings of people planning bloody murder and mayhem, and grainy surveillance photos were not enough to persuade a federal jury to convict him.

Even though guards armed with machine guns ringed the U.S. Courthouse at San Antonio, they didn't feel secure enough or that they had enough evidence to get comfortable with sending him away for a long, long time, so they acquitted him on a gun charge and deadlocked on two others.

He's back in court, this time for more serious charges.

Journalists remarked that when fellow hitman Wenceslao Tovar took the stand late last week, his story kind of stole the prosecutors' thunder.

It's not very pretty to think of, this matter of the Zetas' “murder training camps.”

Most such cases are settled in plea agreements, so jurors and the public never hear the details of what is taking place in the background. The fact that Mr. Chavez has refused to plead guilty to the crimes for which he is charged has prompted the rare testimony of Mr. Tovar, one of the witnesses who have appeared to testify against “Cheeks” Chavez.

No one has accused Mr. Tovar, a 26 year-old U.S. citizen who is an admitted killer of many people, of exaggerating.

Authorities uncovered the largest mass grave ever found in Mexico in a raid that took place in August of 2010 after a young illegal immigrant from South America escaped from the clutches of the men who operated a murder training site for the Zetas cartel.

They are a murderous gang of Mexican Special Forces soldiers trained at U.S. Army bases, on a ranch near San Fernando, about 60 miles southwest of Nuevo Laredo.

There, they uncovered the bodies of 177 people believed to have been killed in serial order.
The young man who escaped ran to a roadblock maintained by elements of the Mexican Marine Corps. From his neck, blood gushed from a wound where a would-be killer had cut him deeply. Without first aid, he would not have lived long.

Until then, local Mexican lawmen have little incentive to pursue the killers.

Police found the body of a Tamaulipas state prosecutor's body a few days later on a stretch of lonely road nearby. In short order, two bombs exploded outside the Nuevo Laredo morgue where they bodies of the victims had been taken for identification.

It seems the drug gangsters were sending a message.

What did all these people found in the deep pit, their place of rest after being murdered, have in common?

They were illegal immigrants headed for the U.S. on buses who were taken hostage by the cartel gangsters at impromptu roadblocks.

They have something else in common.

When they were executed, the killers-in-training didn't use guns.

They were ordered to beat them in the head with a sledgehammer until they succumbed to the blunt force trauma.

Trainees who could stomach doing the deed to satisfy the demands of the trainers, according to Mr. Tovar, were rewarded with expensive watches and fancy pickup trucks, then sent forth as sicarios, killer soldiers in the drug wars raging on the other side of the border.

Those who could not were made into halcones, “hawks,” the slang term for cartel lookouts who keep a vigil waiting for snoopy neighbors or the police.

Others were merely enslaved, used as cleaners or cooks at cartel way stations, stash houses and strongholds. They were acquiescent, if not loyal, because they knew what had happened to their fellow travelers who wound up in the pit out on the ranch near Nuevo Laredo.

Examination of the dirt-encrusted, mummified bodies found in that pit, that common, mass grave, proves they were killed with the sledge hammer.

All had been stripped of clothing, bus tickets, identification, jewelry, pawn tickets, fare receipts – anything that would help investigators get a clue as to who they are.
Until the young man with the deep cut in his neck made his break and ran to the roadblock, no one would have ever known their bodies were lying in the deep pit where they were interred.

Romney attacks Gingrich for "influence peddling"

The conflict: Gov. Mitt Romney says the $35,000 a year Freddie Mac paid former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was nothing more than "influence peddling."

Mr. Gingrich says it was all about historical perspective, the history of American government in relation to such industries as mortgage lending and health care.

From there, the evening's debate proceeded downhill:

"The fact is I offered strategic advice, largely based on my knowledge of history, including the history of Washington," Gingrich said of his work. The Gingrich campaign released a copy of his contract with Freddie Mac this evening at the behest of the Romney campaign.

Romney insisted that Gingrich's advocacy work on behalf of Freddie Mac — as well as the ex-speaker's push for a prescription drug benefit in Medicare during a legislative battle in 2003 — representing nothing more than lobbying by another name.

"If you're getting paid by health companies … and you then meet with Republican congressmen and encourage them to support that legislation, you can call it whatever you'd like. I call it influence-peddling," Romney said. "It is not right. It is not right. You have a conflict."

One may read Mr. Gingrich's contract by clicking here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/24/us/politics/20120123-gingrich-freddie-contract.html

And so it goes.

Protest National Defense Authorization Act on Feb. 3

What Natural Gas fracturing means to Americans today...

Reprinted from “Fuel Fix”

European Union nations approved an embargo on Iranian petroleum bright and early this morning. Proven reserves of natural gas exploitable through the “fracturing” process are available and touted by the White House as a viable alternative. Now more than ever, natural gas is the answer to America's energy problems. - The Legendary

By David Holt

The United States continues to see breakthroughs in natural gas: Not only in the multiple shale formations around the country, that are producing volumes of fuel large enough to transform the nationwide energy outlook, but also in Washington, where the White House recently issued a report outlining the multiple economic and environmental benefits of natural gas.

“The surge in domestic natural gas production can lower energy costs, reduce pollution and drive investment,” the new report states.

Those of us advocating for energy policies that work for working Americans have long known about the natural gas boom and we have appreciated its significance. But because so much of our energy security depends not just on the resources in the ground but on the policies out of Washington, we celebrate this public recognition of this important natural resource.

The White House report, Investing in America: Building an Economy that Lasts, was written to outline the best strategies for accelerating job growth and rebuilding an economy based on “investment, production and innovation.” It cites natural gas several times in its 14 pages, noting the dramatic change over the past decade that has turned the United States from a country building facilities to aggressively increase its natural gas imports, to one that has enjoyed a 24% increase in domestic natural gas extraction since 2006.

More important, the report connects the dots, showing what this massive increase in production of affordable, domestic natural gas means to the economy and the employment picture. It notes that natural gas supports energy-intensive manufacturing, one of the sectors of the economy hardest hit by the downturn. Affordable fuel makes American industry more competitive.

Today’s natural gas industry contributes $385 billion to the national economy. It supports millions of U.S. jobs directly and indirectly and is adding jobs at a much faster pace than the overall economy. On a microeconomic level, one report finds that the rise in affordable natural gas has returned almost $1,000 a year in disposable income to the typical household.

And, while the White House report makes reference to some of the most productive shale formations like the Marcellus Shale, it arguably does not sufficiently credit shale for the game-changing role it has played in the natural gas industry. As recently as the year 2000, shale accounted for just one percent of natural gas production. Today, it accounts for about 20% of our natural gas and that could grow to 50% by 2035.

With the White House’s recognition that increased natural gas supplies have been a boom to our economic recovery, we urge the Administration and Congress to now support policies that enhance the ability to find and develop shale gas resources. Clean, affordable, and plentiful supplies exist right here in the United States. But, what we need now are clear, thoughtful policies that support the long-term development of these vital energy resources.

The Legendary wishes to thank Texas Railroad Commission candidate Roland Sledge, a Houston energy lawyer with extensive experience, for calling this matter to our attention.

Ojo de Culebra

Some days, the dragon wins, and, oh, how it hurts

Farewell, Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Haste ye back.

I need to get myself together, but it's hard to do...

It was a moment. Four men fight back, stand up for themselves after a member of their party is raped at gunpoint, and the High Sheriff - the Lord High Sheriff - knows the score. No doubt.

Listen to the man, now. Just listen. By the way, that is James Dickey, the poet laureate of the State of Georgia, the man who wrote the novella, Deliverance.

Veteran astronaut says monolith is on Mars moon

Tiny Phobos orbits red planet every 7 hours



Spaced out? Relax. It's not over until it's over, as Yogi Berra said.

Remember Apollo Astronaut Buzz Aldrin? He went to the Moon, saw strange things, cold-cocked a dude on TV who bothered to ask him if the moon shots were not really enacted on a sound stage?

Well, he's back and this time he says NASA is wasting money on Moon exploration when the Mars moon of Phobos, which is Greek for fear, is the site of a mysterious monolith similar to the one foretold in Arthur C. Clarke's tale, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the story so ably filmed by Stanley Kubrick.

Said Mr. Aldrin, “Who put it there? The Universe...God, if you will...” Dig this:

World War III? Let's try World War V.

But, then, who in the world is counting?


As usual, the brass is a couple of wars behind in their count. World War III ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellites. They called it the "cold war," but, man, it had a few hot spots, such as Israel 1948, 1967, 1973...etc. Then, there was Vietnam, Korea. I'm sure you get the picture. If you don't, watch Dr. Strangelove. Our Mr. Terry Southern did a good job on that one.

War IV?

Just concluded. There was 9/11 and ten long years of fighting throughout the globe.

Now comes Iran and the supposed threat of nuclear proliferation - which is, like, not all that new if you've been paying attention at all - at all - since, like, 1946, okay?

Yeah, it's about the oil, the Strait of Hormuz, the trip around the Cape to France and England, the pirates of Somalia, the - whatever. The same old hassles so nimbly exploited by the Romans and every other crowd since Marco Polo got back from his voyages.

Ho Hum. The saber doth rattle. Ah, yes. How about that?

Behold, World War __? The movie, ca. 1936, a Darryl F. Zanuck Production at 20th Century Fox.
- The Legendary

Why does it matter where the streets have no name?

They say these lads were at one time buskers in the streets of Dublin - or was it Belfast?

Does it matter? Really?

Yes.

In Belfast, you can tell one's religion simply by the name of the street where he lives. These boys were wanting to bust out - big time - BUST OUT!

Now comes, this movie about the World Trade Center attacks. It's about a kid whose father goes to work one morning and never returns. He's a casualty of a war, a war fought in the streets of Manhattan, his home town, and he is killed for some obscure reason that somehow involves his religion in an attack on a high tower of high finance in the Capitol of the World, the city so nice, they named it twice, New York, New York.

Get this. Today's subway billboards actually play video, motion pictures, music, dialogue. Many New Yorkers are offended - deeply angered - because the film's producers have placed these video advertisements in subway stations all around the neighborhood where the 9/11 attack took place.

Are you angry yet? I guess you're supposed to be. I can't get over the soundtrack. U2 singing and playing about the place where the streets have no name. Yes.

It's called post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by eggheads who make diagnoses and write them down in patient charts and diagnostic statistical manuals (DSM-IV).

I have spoken. So mote it be.

Now hear this.

- The Legendary

Glitter Bomb Fairy rides again – attacks Santorum

Check out the expression on Sen. Rick Santorum's face as the glitter attack commences.

Occupy Wall St. activists reportedly bombed the Pennsylvania conservative for his “sthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifance” on gay rights, and other matters.

What stance? Do you mean the one at the urinal where the guy next to you, you know, kind of – well – neglects to guard his eyes and – ah - sneaks a peek? That stance? Or, well... never mind.

Check out the "Wha'....?" expression on Santorum's face and the way his aide de camp is glaring into the foreground stage left, there. He seems so disgusted with what is about to happen, continues to happen, is happening, will continue to happen, no?
- The Legendary