Mudcracker, rising with the Beat and 40,000 headmen

It seems like only a month ago, he was running around breaking balls and hassling the cops about riding his skateboard at the mall. What a kid. They play Saturday at Hempen Hill Bar B Q in Hagerstown, Md., and various other spots around the country. - The Legendary

Bright lights, big city, goin' to my baby's head...

Click image for the big picture, folks

Blue, bleu - Monday morning blues...
The venue: The Porch at Blue Moon Saloon and Guesthouse: AJ Primeaux, Doug Nicko & Co., do a Jimmy reed tune from the capital of Cajun country, Lafayette, Louisiana. 

Jimmy Reed of South Dallas and Deep Ellum fame,(click) wrote many a blues hit, including "Bright Lights, Big City..." and "Goin' Upside Your Head."(click here for the good news, y'all)

Multimillion cost overrun in 'outside' jail care solved

Showers to be fixed downtown, no problem

Six Shooter Junction – A worry knot tied in the tail of the budget for fiscal year 2011-2012, what to do about jail overcrowding suddenly got a very simple solution.

Acting County Judge Scott Felton

Acting McLennan County Judge Scott Felton told the Court he felt the simple problem with the showers could be fixed, “hopefully by next week,” some painting could be done by crews from three of the four road commissioners' precincts, and the chronic problem of overcrowding solved forthwith.

Commissioners appointed Judge Felton to replace former veteran County Judge Jim Lewis. He is a retired banker from the Wells Fargo organization who has been active in economic development projects in both Waco and McLennan County.

It all boils down to what you do with a recurring 96 to 98 prisoners that can't be contained in the Highway 6 County Jail on weekends when the jail fills with prisoners. Then they must be moved to the Jack Harwell Detention Center operated by CEC, Inc. - at a cost of $45.50 per day.

When the year started, the Budget Officer had allocated $1 million to the need; by year's end, the item had exceeded that by 250 percent - at $3.5 million.

The solution seems to be simple, when you listen to Judge Felton's description of the problem. The Staas Plumbing Company need only repair the drains of the showers “so they don't run out in the rest of the building.”

Once that and some painting is complete, he said, it will devolve to incumbent Sheriff Larry Lynch, a lame duck who chose not to run for re-election, to schedule testing of the jail's alarm systems, and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards will reinstate the County's jail operation permit for the downtown location.

Operations were voluntarily suspended so the Sheriff's Department could have more than $1 million in remodeling and refurbishment done, it was learned earlier in the year. Until then, Commissioners often said they believed the permit had been suspended by the Commission. An Assistant Director of that organization said nothing could be further from the truth, that his inspectors would need only conduct a “walk through” for the jail, which is still permitted, though not in active operation.

One need only listen to Judge Felton's description below:

Three months ago, the Court, which was then led by Judge Jim Lewis, speculated that County Buildings Supervisor Sammy Sykora "did not know" what it would take to re-populate the downtown jail. In the same breath, the interlocutor remarked that he thought it would between "between $100,000 and $200,000. A bemused Commissioner Kelly Snell remarked, "He doesn't know, but he does know?"

Judge Lewis then promised to "get him over there this week" to find out. One wonders.

Hear, hear:

Israelis focus on Hamas TV station in Gaza raids

Gaza City – According to reports from Al Jazeera, the Israeli Defense Forces are hammering from the air and sea on this rebel stronghold. Repeated rocket attacks, some reaching as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, have rained destruction on Israeli targets in recent days. 

The Israelis blame the Hamas jihadist organization. In raids which began at dark on Saturday and continued well into Sunday morning, the Israeli Navy and Army focused on security buildings and one building that houses multiple media outlets, wounding at least 6 journalists in the aerial bombardments, which seem to have targeted an Hamas mouthpiece network named Al Quds.

Video shows truck driver ignored warning lights

Investigators determine driver at fault

Midland – A semi-truck driver pulling a parade float loaded with two dozen wounded veterans ignored warning bells, lights and a 4-second blast of the locomotive's horn just prior to a deadly collision that claimed 4 lives.

Investigators for the National Traffic Safety Board relied on two video recordings and a locomotive event recorder to determine the chronology of the tragic event, which killed 4 and injured many others on their way to a banquet honoring wounded veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Twenty seconds prior to the collision, bells and lights at the grade crossing in an industrial district began to sound.

Thirteen seconds prior to impact, the crossing gates begin to descend.

Twelve seconds prior to the wreck, the front of the Frieghtliner conventional semi-tractor crosses the rail of the Union Pacific road, and at 9 seconds prior to the impact, the engineer blows the unit's air horn for 4 seconds.

Seven seconds before the collision, the crossing gates come all the way down and strike the float, video shows.

Five seconds previous to the impact, the engineer applies the emergency brakes.

Seventy-five seconds later, the train comes to a complete stop.

The next NTSB news conference will take place at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Hilton in Odessa.

Raisin' my lonely dental floss in the Cold War

In the notorious “cultural war,” during which the C.I.A. Covertly supported – and the State Department and American museums and foundations overtly funded – the dissemination of American art, books, literary and intellectual journalism, dance, theatre, and music, the one product that can plausibly be argued to have made a difference in the eventual overthrow of Communism was rock and roll. Bill Haley and Frank Zappa(click here) likely did more to inspire the dissidents in Eastern Europe than Jackson Pollock or the writers at “Partisan Review.” - Louis Menand, "Bloc Heads," review, New Yorker, 11/12/12

Etymology of “Twinkie defense” explained by humorist

Hostess bakery is reportedly out of business over union troubles

Political assassination = manslaughter

...Dale Metcalf, a former Merry Prankster who had become a lawyer, told me how he happened to be playing chess with a friend, Steven Scherr, one of White's attorneys. Metcalf had just read Orthomolecular Nutrition by Abram Hoffer. He questioned Scherr about White's diet and learned that, while under stress, White would consume candy bars and soft drinks. Metcalf recommended the book to Scherr, suggesting the author as an expert witness. After all, in his book, Hoffer revealed a personal vendetta against doughnuts, and White had once eaten five doughnuts in a row.

Tres hombres: Milk, Moscone, White

Hoffer didn't testify, but his influence permeated the courtroom. White's defense team presented that bio-chemical explanation of his behavior, blaming it on compulsive gobbling down of sugar-filled junk-food snacks. Psychiatrist Martin Blinder testified that, on the night before the murders, White "just sat there in front of the TV set, binging on Twinkies." Another psychiatrist stated, "If not for the aggravating fact of junk food, the homicides might not have taken place."

In my notebook, I scribbled "Twinkie defense," and wrote about it in my next report. On the 25th anniversary of that double execution, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that, "During the trial, no one but well-known satirist Paul Krassner -- who may have coined the phrase 'Twinkie defense' -- played up that angle." And so it came to pass that a pair of political assassinations was transmuted into voluntary manslaughter...

- Paul Krassner, journalist, comedian, editor, in “The Huffington Post”