Tag Archives: Denton Record-Chronicle

Gun Violence and the Apathetic

December 4, 2012

Angry football fans are often cheering local sportscasters on who cite the need for defenses to get that killer instinct and “destroy” their opponent’s offense to knock out the quarterback. But some apparently don’t want you to talk about real life violence during the half-time ceremonies.

Disappointed as I became watching the Dallas Cowboys in the first half of their Sunday night game with the Philadelphia Eagles this last weekend, I turned it off shortly after Philly scored their second rushing touchdown. Jesus! Where’s the defense I thought and here they go again, displaying another poor performance. As a life-long Cowboy fan I cannot stand to watch such insufferable games.

But it seems I turned the TV set off too soon. No, not because they had a great comeback in the second half and eventually won the game. Even as good as this was, the prospects of the Cowboys making it to the playoffs are about as good as making it passed the first rounds should they succeed in knocking the New York Giants from the division title – little to none. Not this year anyway.

No, what it turns out I missed were some comments by Bob Costas that addressed the issue of gun violence following the suicide-murder of Kansas City Chief’s linebacker Jovan Belcher who blew his brains out in front of his coaches at their locker room shortly after killing his girlfriend at their leased home earlier. Costas’ comments took up about two minutes but apparently for some watching the game here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area you would have thought he deprived all zombies of human blood.

One of the people I follow (make that followed) on Facebook, a former reporter for the Denton Record-Chronicle, was apparently upset that Costas would use this time between halves to raise the issue of gun violence. I have followed Donna Fielder for years in her reporting days on the staff of the Record-Chronicle and have always thought she was one of the few bright stars for this small local paper. She recently retired and with little fan-fare from her former employer too, which many of us who have followed Donna thought was extremely insulting.

But a reporter’s life isn’t all that revealing from the stories they write and I could only glean from Donna’s reports along with a weekly column she wrote which direction her political compass pointed to. Not that it surprises me in red-state Texas but Ms. Fielder appears to be another gun advocate who thinks gun control is some kind of liberal conspiracy. At least that seems to be the likely conclusion based on her recent comments from her FB page regarding Costas’ comments about Jovan Belcher’s death:

NBC I don’t want to hear your simplistic rheteric (sic) liberal pap on gun control in the middle of a football game. Get bent. SOURCE

I didn’t even know what “Get bent” meant until today. Thanks Donna & Urban Dictionary.

But my biggest concern was why this 2-minute spot at intermission was found to be offensive to anyone other than the most extreme 2nd amendment zealot. Did I discover that the woman who I’ve followed for years in the local paper was little more than the Sarah Palin of North Texas? I can only hope I’m over reacting to the whole thing.

Costas was quoting Kansas City-based columnist Jason Whitlock but the conclusion drawn in his remarks that if Jovan Belcher hadn’t had a gun that “he and his girl friend, Kasandra Perkins, would still be alive today” , is a bit of a stretch. Why? Because we have some of the most lax laws in the world for gun ownership. Unless Belcher had some kind of criminal or mental record, there’s no reason to think he shouldn’t have a gun if he chose to purchase one for personal security reasons. Surely Whitlock and Costas weren’t calling for all guns to be removed from American society. I’m a gun-control advocate and even I don’t see this happening in my lifetime or for the next generation or two.

Maybe it was that notion though that brought out the reaction it did from Donna and some of her supporters on Facebook. “Just more ‘liberal pap’ from the commies who want to take away our guns.” Yet to become that irate was still a little unsettling. What harm was really done here by Costas’ comments that disrupted their game day state-of-mind? Were the sportscasters words really viewed as that political. If so, I can’t say I blame them entirely. Lord knows that the last few months prior to the election have been political overkill for all of us.

And though I may even share this feeling at some level, I have to ask, what does this say about us who want to attack the messenger of such unpleasant news? The timing of it put aside, isn’t this a serious enough issue that we can surely spare two minutes of our lives to at least consider it until the second half of the game begins? Have we become that desensitized that such interruptions incur emotional outbursts like this?

Costas’ comments didn’t really center around politics per se. It’s more a mental health issue. Gun violence is about someone’s child or the family down the block. It’s about all the innocent people who die because rage now has a deadly weapon that can do more damage than any other tool of death that a killer can use. “Studies have shown that guns in the home increase chances of homicide two to three times, and gun death rates are seven times higher in states that have high household gun ownership, … according to the Brady Campaign” Numerous studies also show that where there are firearms, suicides are a greater occurrence.

This was about something that hits close to home everyday for people in our community, our state and this country. In just this last year we have seen 11,000 homicides in the U.S. as a result of firearms. 1800 of those were women caught up in domestic disputes with boyfriends or ex-husbands. The United States ranks fourth in the world with murder by firearms. The only reason we’re that low is because the other three – South Africa, Columbia and Thailand – are embroiled in political corruption, drug battles and civil unrest. I know, it seems like we exist under these conditions some of the times too. But the culture of violence in these countries are the results of decades long conflict and where the rule of law is extremely weak.

What seem to come across in Donna’s comments was the type of apathy that seems so common in our culture today when one more violent act at the hands of a gunman occurs, especially if they are black. Not that such violence is associated with being black. But it is associated with poverty and blacks in this country are disproportionately poorer than most other ethnic groups. I’ll save that argument for another day.

Such apathy is more common when senseless killings occur through American militarism, done in the name of National Security. Few people are probably aware that 176 children have been killed in Pakistan from U.S. drone strikes going after suspected terrorists. These kids are part of some 885 innocent civilians killed over the last eight years in our use of drones, with the vast majority of them occurring on Obama’s watch. But when we do become aware, how many of us are actually motivated to protests such actions by our government?

We are less likely to prevent a shooter from taking innocent lives in this country since they are so random in nature. But the use of drones isn’t. It’s a policy established by political leaders that we elected. It’s thought about and strategically planned on who to target and where to use these weapons. The fact that innocents may get caught up in this doesn’t always, if ever, prevent their deployment. The notion that “collateral damage” is a sad but expected consequence of such policies is the reaction of people who are far removed from the death and destruction these decisions result in.

Like the drone attacks and the other horrific acts of war, the daily gun violence we have been enduring for years has made us immune to one more tragedy. So much so it seems that there are people who get easily upset if they are reminded about it during their sporting events or other non-threatening activities. We just don’t want to be reminded that our world is always chaotic and there but for the grace of the gods go each of us.

This appears to be where Ms. Fielder is at and apparently my comments on her FB page responding to her acerbic diatribe has elicited an ultimatum from the former Record-Chronicle reporter:

“Larry. I don’t fear conversation. But I have the right to limit the drek(sic) people post on my space. Get off my page.”

Thanks Donna. I learned another printable word for a vulgarism – dreck.

The natives were clearly getting restless and I didn’t want to hang around for the lynch mob to arrive so I willingly obliged Ms. Fielder. I would have expected this kind of response from the whacko conspiracy theorists and the anti-government troglodytes out there. Furthermore I would have understood why Donna didn’t want to pursue this conversation. But to imply that my views were shit seems out of character for someone who once graced the pages of our local print media.

Clearly we have a long way to go before we can break down the barriers of those who insists that only “people kill people, not guns”. Like the gridlock that exists in all other socio-political spheres in this country, the toughest part of working toward some kind of compromise is getting a civil conversation started on the critical issues. Costas’ Sunday Night Football comments were in my view an attempt to do this. It remains to be seen what lasting effect it had.

Bob Costas on Gun Control Comments: “Availability of guns makes mayhem easier”

Posted by lbwoodgate in political fringe groups, Social Discourse Tags: Bob Costas, Dallas Cowboys, Denton Record-Chronicle, gun control apathy, gun suicides, gun violence, innocent victims of gun crimes and war, Jason Whitlock, Jovan Belcher, Kansas City Chief, Philadelphia Eagles

23 comments

Debunking The Myths

September 27, 2012

I routinely take on the right-wing crowd here in my part of red-state Texas by countering their skewered views about Obama, health care reform, the economy and climate change. During my hiatus I still take time to respond to this crowd in the local newspaper’s Opinion page. Their arguments are so open to factual criticism that it doesn’t take much effort to knock down their straw man positions. The following is an example of these rejoinders.

You’ll first need to do a quick read in the Denton Record-Chronicle’s “Letters to the Editor” column today of Danna Zoltner and D.J. Anderson’s letters. Here are my comments found at the bottom of the page responding to these two.

To Mr. Anderson and Ms. Zoltner

The so-called “job creators”, who are sitting on plenty of revenue that could create jobs are doing so not because they’re waiting for Obamacare to be repealed or they’re uncertain of what the tax structure will be. These kind of things can be overcome when there is plenty of demand.

The economy will grow from the middle out by making sure you don’t reduce the middle class or their spending power. The unemployment problem isn’t the result of any imagined high tax rates but because there is insufficient spending to create demand.

Any economists worth his degree will tell you that demand is what creates jobs and when you kill public sector jobs as the only means of reducing the deficit you kill income from families who spend it in the private sector. As their spending reduces then their demand is taken out of the economy and eventually it impacts many private sector businesses that relied on dollars earned by teachers, cops, firemen, along with engineers and assembly line workers at companies who developed and built things that relied on government contracts to keep them profitable.

Rather than take money away from the middle class that are barely able to stay above water with wages that have increased only fractionally to that of income earners in the top 5% tier, why not tax that 5% during these difficult times who can better adapt, at least until the economy is back on its feet. The austerity measures that the GOP wants to impose have already proved to be a failure where they’ve been employed in Europe.

Trying to pay down the debt with spending cuts only in areas that benefit millions of Americans and that puts money back into the economy will fail as long as there is no effort to also trim the massive Defense budget or increase taxes prudently. Author David Korten says “our social deficits (rising poverty and inequality) and environmental deficits (starting with the climate crisis) do more to erode our society than the fiscal deficit does.

Economists at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) have identified seven steps that would bring in $329 billion a year, which is more than enough to eliminate the deficit while making the country more equitable, green, and secure.

All this could be done without negatively impacting the income and thus the spending power of the middle class, the economists at the IPS assure us. By reinstating this spending, Mr. Anderson, is how you “build the economy from the middle class out.”

While corporate profits are at all time highs most of this money remains in the pockets of the very wealthy rather than creating jobs with. In fact, due to the European debt crisis it has been reported that now only 23 percent of the firms polled in June plan to add to staff in the next six months. This is down 13% from earlier this year in March and early April.

Back in 2010, while middle income families were losing their jobs and watching their paychecks and health benefits shrink, “American businesses sucked in profits at an annualized pace of $1.66 trillion between July and September. These profits allowed about a 6% increase in CEO pay last year while the average workers income increased only about 1%, “not enough to keep pace with inflation”.

And Ms. Zoltner, though you may be concerned that “the American taxpayer has gotten precious little for the administration’s investment in battery-powered vehicles, in terms of permanent jobs or lower carbon dioxide emissions”, efforts to change this are in play. Despite your mimicking of the naysayers, Ford, according to Bloomberg news, is “debuting five battery-powered models this year, spending $135 million to design electric-drive parts and double battery testing capacity”.

“Ford has said hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and all-electric cars will account for as much as 25 percent of its new vehicle sales by 2020, from less than 3 percent last year. The second- largest U.S. automaker is competing in the nascent market for electrified vehicles with Toyota, General Motors, Nissan and startups such as Tesla and closely held Fisker Automotive.

Ford said it plans to hire “dozens” of additional engineers for electric-vehicle development. It’s also renaming its 285,000-square-foot (26,477-square-meter) advanced engineering center in Dearborn, Mich., the “Ford Advanced Electrification Center.” SOURCE

You know, it took years for the fossil fuel industries to finely provide abundant cheap energy. Efforts that required plenty of government subsidies along with private investments. I am curious why you and others who think like you, are not willing to allow the same to occur with clean, abundant alternate forms of energy.

But it seems some people would rather distort certain realities and rely on the failed policies of trickle down economics that the Romney/Ryan ticket would recreate in spades.

They are part of the crowd that Bill Clinton eloquently pointed in his speech at the Democratic Convention earlier this month who are essentially saying, “We left [Obama] a total mess. He hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough. So fire him and put us back in.”

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections Tags: cars, Climate, Denton Record-Chronicle, fact checks on GOP claims, Ford's clean energy cars, Institute for Policy Studies, job creators, Obama, renewable energy funding, Republican

8 comments

Gimme That Ole Time Christmas Music

December 23, 2011

In the spirit of the holiday I thought I would keep things light. Yesterday’s editorial in my local newspaper offers up the perfect commentary for this purpose. It’s both humorous and somewhat nostalgic. Merry Christmas to all of you.

‘O, Little Town of Scooby-dooby-doo’

Our editorialist was trapped in a moving automobile last weekend as his wife played a succession of contemporary “Christmas albums” on the car stereo. He said it was enough to make him want to burn his Santa Claus suit.

We know what he means. We are big fans of Christmas music — the traditional carols and the majestic oratorios — but we cannot for the life of us figure out why anyone would want to listen to a rapper spit out the words to “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” or endure the efforts of an aging crooner as he puts a Las Vegas spin on “The Little Drummer Boy.”

We blame the late Gene Autry for all this. It was Autry, a singing movie cowboy by trade, who recorded “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in 1949, and we can’t remember a Christmas since then that our ears haven’t been assaulted by some gimmicky holiday song or another, or by an album of “Christmas favorites” butchered by some second-rate singer who shouldn’t be allowed to perform “O, Holy Night” in the shower, let alone in a recording studio.

(Not the least of the crimes Autry is answerable for is the one of insinuating this intruder, Rudolph, into the true, authentic team of Santa Claus’ reindeer as recorded by Clement C. Moore in his classic poem A Visit from St. Nicholas. Children today — even some adults! — labor under the false impression that the bulbous-nosed pretender was an actual colleague of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen.)

And “Rudolph” is not even the worst of the contemporary Christmas songs. Year after year, composers seem to vie to see who can write the silliest, most insipid lyrics to sell to the gullible holiday trade. We have mothers kissing Santa Claus; we have grandmothers getting run over by reindeer; we have toothless waifs wishing for incisors in their stockings. We rock around the Christmas tree and do the “Jingle-Bell Rock.”

In the spirit of the season, we want to be charitable about this. Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” is a fine Christmas song, possessed of a lovely melody and beautiful lyrics that evoke memories of Christmases past.

And those of us of a certain age will likely shed a tear each time we hear “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” or “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” They were written in the darkest days of World War II, and their evocations of soldiers pining for their families back home will have meaning as long as that Greatest Generation lives.

But we could live the rest of our lives happily without hearing Alvin the chipmunk place another order for a hula hoop.

Generally speaking, and with the aforementioned exceptions notably excepted, we say that anyone who has written a “Christmas song” after about 1945 deserves a lump of coal in his stocking, and anyone who sings one of them on a contemporary “Christmas album” is no better than a humbug.

(Now that we think of it, we also issue a special dispensation to “Deck Us All with Boston Charlie,” the great Walt Kelly’s comic-strip carol, as sung by Pogo ’Possum and all his Okefenokee Swamp pals. Now that’s a Christmas song for the ages!)

Posted by lbwoodgate in Music, National Holiday, Social Discourse Tags: Christmas, Christmas music, Denton Record-Chronicle, Jingle-Bell Rock, Okefenokee Swamp, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus, Santa Claus's reindeer, Walt Kelly

6 comments

The Silence is Deafening

October 5, 2011

The existential question that asks,“If a tree falls in the woods, and no one hears it, does it make noise?”, seems to be in play here regarding falling gas prices. The answer to the question would be “no” if it was measured by the sound of Tea Party types taking back their diatribes that blamed federal policies and regulations on high gas prices earlier this year.

Is Obama to blame for declining gasoline prices?

For those of us who live in Texas, Michigan and Missouri we have seen the price of gas drop below three dollars a gallon recently. No change has occurred with federal regulations governing oil production from what it was earlier this year when gas was at or over $4 a gallon around the country, yet there is nary a word from the anti-Obama crowd about how his “socialist” policies have allowed this to happen.

This denier contingent will no doubt remain silent until prices once again rise but can they honestly be taken seriously any longer when their claims have been aptly muted after seeing that global market conditions, consumer demand and speculation by traders have impacted these swings in price?

The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is $3.51 per gallon, down from a high of $3.98 in early May. Last week’s plunge in oil prices could push the average to $3.25 per gallon by November, analysts say.

Prices for oil, gasoline and other commodities dove last week along with world stock markets over concerns the global economy is headed for another recession. When economies slow, demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel falls as drivers cut back on trips, shippers move fewer goods and vacationers stay closer to home. SOURCE

But for those of us who can see the writing on the wall, the anti-Obama crowd will find some measure of revenge for being exposed as frauds by continuing to blame the White House for lower demand because unemployment rates will continue to be high for the foreseeable future.

In a related story, there was a local incident here where a gas well drilling company “was pumping contaminated wastewater into a tributary of Hickory Creek.” It was discovered by city government workers. Though the story made the front page of the Denton Record-Chronicle it was posted in the “crime blotter” section so the name of the company wasn’t revealed. According to the report “city employees visited a well site in the 3100 block of Airport Road on Thursday and saw that a pit liner had been buried on the property and a pump was forcing the contaminated water from it into the nearby creek. A man at the site saw the city officers and turned off the pump.”

It should be noted that Hickory Creeks feeds into Lewisville Lake directly upstream from the City of Denton’s drinking water intake structure.

City employees took samples of the creek water and learned that contaminants were far above the level allowed from wastewater. A subsequent laboratory test showed the contaminants were 10 times higher than the last time the creek water was tested, the report noted.

The company did not have a permit from the city or a state regulatory agency to pump the wastewater into the creek, the report states.

City employees sent a notice of violation of the water code to the company, and company officers agreed to clean up the site. The company was required to shut down the well site until the cleanup took place.

According to the police report, officers monitored the cleanup, and 24,360 gallons of wastewater were removed from the creek and 48 cubic yards of dirt were taken away. SOURCE

This apparent crime of the dumping toxic waste in Hickory Creek by this private gas drilling company ought to raise the ire of all concerned citizens. But it will come as no surprise that little or no response will come from those who shriek the loudest about getting government out of business practices and let them police themselves.

What makes this story even more relevant is that there’s been a lot of hollering by political extremists on the right here about keeping government out of the private sector, specifically targeting the EPA in its attempts to regulate CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plant; something they feel will generate higher utility bills and take jobs away. Our Texas district 26 Congressman, Michael Burgess, was on the local CBS network the other day repeating the Republican talking point about how such action by the EPA will kill jobs as it allegedly threatens to shut down Texas’ 18 coal-fired power plants.

But there is no evidence to support this contention. The only power plant that could be affected by new EPA regulations in this state could be the Welsh Power Plant near Pittsburg, Texas, owned by American Electric Power. However, a recent piece by Daniel J. Weiss and Valeri Vasquez with the Center for American Progress has discovered that it is more likely that AEP is threatening to shut down this plant along with 21 others of theirs around the country simply to “to stoke congressional and public opposition to EPA’s efforts to reduce toxic air pollution.”

AEP’s threat to close these plants due to the pending EPA air toxics rules is also somewhat misleading. Last year, it announced a plan to close five units at the Phillip Sporn Plant in New Haven, West Virginia. Source Watch, a nonprofit that publishes “documented information about the corporations, industries, and people trying to sway public opinion,” reported on AEP’s 2010 retirement plans.

In October 2010, Ohio Power Co. filed an application with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for the approval of a December 2010 closure of the coal-fired Philip Sporn Power Plant unit 5…In September 2009, Appalachian Power filed an integrated resource plan (IRP) in Virginia that projected a 2010 shutdown for Sporn unit 5. The same IRP projected that Sporn units 1-4, with 580 MW of total capacity, would be retired in 2018.

In other words, AEP planned to close this plant five months before EPA’s March 2011 proposal to reduce toxic air pollution from coal-fired utilities. Yet AEP has included closing these units under “AEP’s current plan for compliance with the [EPA] rules as proposed includes permanently retiring the following coal-fueled power plants.” SOURCE

According to the Sierra Club AEP has consistently opposed better clean-air standards and has fought efforts to require modern pollution controls. Closing down the Welsh plant would avoid costly court costs because in 2005 the Sierra Club and Public Citizen sued AEP “for thousands of violations at its Welsh power plant in Texas”

The threats from coal plant emissions have been well documented about the costs to our environment and human health.

This evidence, showing once again that the claims by free-marketers are far from reliable, will go unnoticed by such people. Their purist notion that there is no room for government oversight of for-profit companies simply refuses to acknowledge that “the markets” are not some disconnected holy entity but are the creation of imperfect people who often over-indulge their self-interests traits.

Posted by lbwoodgate in political fringe groups, Texas/Local stories Tags: allowing corporations to police themselves, American Electric Power, anti-government forces, Daniel J. Weiss, declining gasoline prices, Denton Record-Chronicle, EPA, Obama and lower oil prices, Obama haters, Texas, United States Environmental Protection Agency

6 comments

Heroes and Zeros

June 2, 2011

As a Progressive whose often critical of conservative extremists and corporate special interests, I thought it might be a change to show that I am aware that there are those in these two camps who deserve recognition when they rate it. Here are a recent few.

Cancer patient Crystal Kim

Congrats to Delta Airlines for stepping up and transporting a stage 4 cancer patient from Seattle to Korea where the patient wanted to live out her life. Her own homeland airline, Korean Air denied Crystal Kim air passage even when she presented them with a doctor’s clearance to make the flight.

Korean Air said their reason for denying Ms. Kim transport was strictly for her own health based on their own in-house medical team comprised of licensed medical doctors. These are the people “who make the final decision on who can and cannot board our flights,” said Penny Pfaelzer, Korean Air spokesperson. But thanks to Delta Airlines, Ms Kim arrived in her ancestral homeland shortly before succumbing to her illness and “died peacefully in her sleep”.

Based on a story by King5 News in Seattle, Korean Airlines was within their legal rights to deny Ms. Kim passage for fear she “would die during the flight, potentially traumatizing other passengers.” This seems legitimate enough but it also reeks of typical corporate self-interests. Clearly Delta didn’t see this as a major concern and now they are the heroes while KA is the zero. KA did agree to reimburse Ms. Kim’s daughter the money they originally paid them for their tickets back in May. Sorry. That earns very little credibility with those of us who don’t have ice water flowing through our veins.

TCEQ and Republican State Legislators Get a Gold Star

As of late the legislation and the process in the state of Texas have not favored most of its citizens. There has been little kindness shown them also from the state regulatory agency responsible for monitoring potential hazards to our air and water quality, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). But a Houston Chronicle editorial recently pointed out that both have reflected changes that buff up their images some and score a mild victory for grassroots efforts in the state.

Concerns expressed by many citizens who live in close proximity to refineries around the Gulf coast worried about the toxic emissions that seemed apparent at emission stacks that flamed for days and days on end. The concerns are legitimate because as the Houston Chronicle editorial points out “those orange-yellow flares indicate an emergency, a last-ditch attempt to deal with escaping gases, sometimes toxic.

But the TCEQ-sponsored study, done by the University of Texas at Austin, found that actually, those scary-looking flares can be a good thing. Plants often use steam systems to make everyday, non-emergency flares invisible. But that steam can reduce the flares’ ability to destroy harmful gases. In the study, an orange-yellow flame obliterated 99.9 percent of smog-forming gases. The invisible steam-system flare burned away less than half.”

This will now force refinery owners to make changes that this study says benefits the air we all breathe. If they don’t, we will see if the TCEQ remains committed enough to make them do the right thing. If they do they will be our heroes and the refineries will be the zeros.

On the legislative end is a great victory for people who suffer the ill-effects of natural gas well drilling built near them, especially from the “fracking” process. Fracturing, or fracking as its known, forces tons of water through underground shale rock along with some known carcinogen chemicals that releases the gas trapped there. Those chemicals and the tainted waste water however may find their way into underground water systems that serve as drinking water for the community near them.

The editorial gives a shout-out to State Senators Joan Huffman and Glen Hegar, both Republicans, for their efforts to revise rules allowing TCEQ to punish polluters with “fines [that] will have more bite”. Huffman and Hegar are our heroes here and Rep. Warren Chisum, who I have vilified before on this blog, is our zero. Chisum’s efforts to force ordinary citizens to show proof that there are toxic threats emanating from nearby natural gas wells rather than making the owner responsible to prove there isn’t, failed.

And lastly

Letter to the editor writer and right-wing sympathizer Lee Nahrgang, in today’s Denton Record-Chronicle is to be praised for his comments that challenge those who would stifle public debate, despite the different views people hold. He quotes the veritable statement by Yale law professor Stephen Carter:

“Democracy, at its best, rests on a foundation of mutual respect among co-equal citizens willing to take the time for serious debate. After all, even on the momentous issues that divide us, there is usually the possibility that the other side has a good argument. Yet if we paint our opponents as monsters, we owe them no obligation to pay attention to what they have to say.”?

Mr. Nahrgang then expounds on this by saying “Can we agree that our political opponents, except for the few true extremists, are not monsters, that they support the policies they do because they sincerely believe those policies are for the best?”

But it appears that this writer thinks only liberals and Democrats are in violation of these upright positions as he ends his letter thusly:

“ ...be very leery of the Howard Deans, nationally and locally, who demagogue and demonize for political gain. [I]f you disagree with Carter and find those ‘debate’ tactics of the left logical and reasonable, then, by all means, side with the Howard Deans.”

Nahrgang goes from hero to zero by simply implying that those in one political camp are the only ones capable of “demagoguing” the issues.

Posted by lbwoodgate in 2012 Presidential Elections, Our crazy and wonderful world, People, Texas/Local stories Tags: Crystal Kim, Delta Airlines, Denton Record-Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Joan Huffman, Korean Air, natural gas wells, Republicans, Seattle, Tea Party hypocrites, Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Warren Chisum

5 comments

Crazy in Texas

May 11, 2011

Like native Texan Gary Busey, the state of Texas has gone from an enviable position of having a lot going for it to one where it has people wondering what gutter we rolled out of.

It appears fellow liberal Texas blogger Neil Aquino and I were on the same thought wave for a blog today but Neil got his on-line first at his Texas Liberal website. So rather than duplicate some of what Neil’s said about the sorry state of Texas politics I‘ll just latch onto his and offer examples of why the Red State mentality here in Texas is the butt of jokes around the country

Texas is one of the top five states that has the highest per capita incarceration rates, has one of the higher rates of churches per capita with the city of Lubbock having “more churches per capita than any other place in the nation” and the highest rate of uninsured citizens. All that worshipping and nothing to show for it but unhealthy people and a large criminal base.

Texas has the highest number of public school districts and the 2nd highest enrollment rate in the nation, yet it ranks near the bottom with verbal and math SAT scores. It also has less nationally recognized research institutions than other populous states and has only one private institution, Rice University, ranked among the nation’s top 50. SOURCE

I really do love my home state and was once typical of the braggart Texan that so many other Americans ridiculed, or as most Texans felt, were just simply jealous of. But the migration of ultra-conservatives to this state beginning in the late 80’s and early nineties has changed the populist character of this state to one where radical fringe groups now predominate and anti-intellectualism exceeds anything ever seen here before.

There use to be a comfortable coexistence between homespun conservative thought and progressive grass-roots democracy in this state, with conservatives for the most part being the stronger of the two. But it was a conservative type that was anything but anti-intellectual for the most part; one with a comprehensible view of things. That no longer exists and instead we have what appears to be the result of the insane asylum occupants being released and taking over the cultural and political leadership roles in the state.

Examples of mindless prattle from the wing-nuts in this state abound and many can be found in the Letters to the Editor column in our local newspaper,the Denton Record-Chronicle. In just the last couple of days some of my fellow Dentonites, who claim to be American (I’ll just have to take them at their word on that) have spouted off some of the worst ruminations that, if one didn’t know better, would have thought came from a 3rd grader.

There’s a couple of characters who constantly begin their tirades with chicken little rantings about how the world is going to hell in a hand basket and it all started when Obama and the Democrats wrested control from the Republicans a couple of years ago. All the ugly budgets numbers are thrown out there and the likely consequences that will affect future generations if we don’t get them under control NOW.

I’ve been reading and contributing to this editorial page for years and I do not recall a single lamenting comment from the likes of these people when their Party of preference took a trillion-dollar deficit under Clinton and turned it into a $500 billion deficit in 4 short years. But this is politics as usual. What continues to amaze me is how Obama can do nothing right in the eyes of these people, even when he does.

Here in Texas they’ve been going after what would normally be viewed as a positive thing – the killing of the outlaw Osama bin Laden. Yet one contributor chastised the President who made this call while sitting “safely and comfortably in the Situation Room, living vicariously while SEALs eliminate Mr. bin Laden.” He then goes on to complain that our mission in Libya looks more like a personal attack on Muammar Gaddafi than protecting innocent civilians. Would many people in Obama’s position that night have had the courage to send those SEALS into harms way knowing in all likelihood some if not most of them may not make it out? And when did Gaddafi take on a certain glow with these weirdos? After Reagan sent his missile strike to kill this North African dictator and terrorist promoter back in 1986?

Remember the “shock and awe” campaign Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld boasted about as they began their war in Iraq, where bombs destroyed numerous buildings thought to house Saddam Hussein but killed more innocent civilians than military personnel? Clearly this modern day right-wing peace-nik in his assault on Obama has changed from one that a few short years ago would have viewed our actions in Libya as the hazards of war and what some euphemistically refer to as “collateral damage”.

And how are we supposed to take these unbelievable comments from this writer; “Is anyone godlike enough to know who is in hell? And why would the editorial stoop so low as to call Donald Trump a ‘blowhard’?” The first comment refers to Obama’s reference to bin Laden’s new location after the bullet-to-the-head shot and the latter comment was in reference to an excellent editorial in the Record-Chronicle about the idiocy of the birther King. If there really is a hell, why would any bible-thumpin’, red-neck Texan think bin Laden was not there and who other than a blowhard would think Donald Trump is not one?

On the same page, the very same day is another fellow Dentonite who clearly demonstrates that he gets all of his misinformation from the FOX cable airheads. Here’s my interpretation of how he gets things wrong. You be the judge:

Obama has cancelled all oil drilling in the Gulf and is opposed to drilling anywhere in the U.S.
Despite making record profits, oil companies must have tax payer subsidies to keep cheap gas at the pumps
Subsidizing new start-up businesses is the same thing as subsidizing highly profitable ones. Also, federal outlays to help low-income people with health insurance and nutritional meals for their children is equal to subsidizing very wealthy corporations who use our taxpayer dollars to pay share holder dividends and executive bonuses.
A lot of G.E.’s profits last year came from selling CFLs
Bush is not to be held accountable at all for our current economic mess.

It’s usually only one day a week that the insanity is published in the Letters column but it seems we were cursed with one more irrational thought in today’s pages. A former police officer who I have known slightly in the past and who is now retired contributes regularly to the editorial pages. And though most of his conservative views differ from my progressive perceptions, his thoughts and comments are usually cogent and reasonable.

As a law officer I have to appreciate the man’s concern for justice being properly dispensed in all situations but there are of course exceptions to this norm and in the case of Osama bin Laden, I think most people would agree that his is an exceptional case. Yet this writer wants us to believe that the President has committed an impeachable offense by killing the man responsible for the deaths of some 3000 innocent Americans on that September morning back in 2001.

The retired police officer, Tillman Uland, complains that due process was not extended to bin Laden and that his killing was illegal. This from a man who supported Bush’s invasion of Iraq to get one man who never posed a direct threat to the U.S. and who told all America that bin Laden must be brought to justice “dead or alive”. Many innocent Iraqis died in George Bush’s attempt to get even with the man who tried to assassinate his father years earlier, yet I don’t recall seeing a similar letter from Mr. Uland on the editorial page of the Record-Chronicle calling for Bush Jr.’s impeachment for the many war crimes he has been accused of.

Clearly, perception is reality for many people and there is no exception to this premise by those on the Right. But the reality that often comes across from these people is one that is unfamiliar with most of us, unless of course you were ensconced in an insane asylum at one time. Is it any wonder then that we see bizarre laws that lowers prices on cancer causing tobacco from tax cuts and offering deeper tax cuts on yachts while school districts in this state have to fire teachers and crowd more students into classrooms for lack of funding?

It’s not easy to ignore jokes about Texas as I was able to at one time thinking the joke-makers were just jealous of what we truly had in this state. Now I have to shrug and simply nod agreeably that there are indeed clowns in this state that have some of us envying those who live in Mississippi.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Texas/Local stories Tags: Barack Obama, Denton Record-Chronicle, fanatics, George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden, Politics, Republican, seccesionists, Texas, Texas conservatives, texas crazy

14 comments

Here is Why We’re “going broke”

April 19, 2011

It’s tough paying your bills when there’s no money coming in. It’s also tough when you do have a source of revenue but find it insufficient to keep your head above water. Sure, you have vowed to never max out your credit card again after cutting it up but you’re still obligated to pay the debt lest your credit status is ruined. But a lot of those bills are from health issues that you really didn’t have a choice about and the gas and food price increases that again are out of your control. So cutting back on some expenses may put extra money towards lowering your debt but you still gotta eat, get to the job you’re still lucky to have and hope like hell someone in your family doesn’t get ill.

Sustaining a family budget on a fixed income is manageable most times unless an unforeseen crisis occurs. In the event that tragedy does strike home, cutting spending in most areas often will not be sufficient. When this occurs, unless you go out and find another source of income to keep up with unexpected and out-of-control costs, you will never clear your debt.

You can set around the kitchen table every night and try to figure what other necessity you can cut back on or eliminate to reduce your debt but unless there is more revenue coming in, it just won’t happen. And yet this is what the conservative contingent in our state capitals and the U.S. Congress sets as an example for us as they cut back on financial aid for the least wealthy in this country while taking measures that generates less revenue.

There was a very cogent editorial in our local newspaper last Sunday that made a great case for those who think they can compare our national debt with a small family’s.

We have long been tired of those who insist that government should be run like a business (or, in Texas, “bidniss”).

Now, some of those same people are putting a different condiment on the same rancid hot dog by saying the government should deal with its financial problems the way an American family would. We’re pretty tired of that, too.

No one would deny the need for sound business practices within government, but the idea that the entire country should be “run like a business” presupposed that the United States of America is a business, which it most certainly is not — at least not yet.

A business quite properly exists to make a profit; the government of the United States does not. It exists to provide for the common good and to protect the freedoms outlined in the Bill of Rights. Moreover, given the current moral standards of business — Wall Street wheeler-dealers, corporations that pay no taxes, companies that reward top executives with huge bonuses for laying off Americans and shipping their jobs oversees — we are leery of “business” as a model. If the way to fiscal security is moral bankruptcy, give us the poor but simple life.

Perhaps sensing that the government-as-business argument has a few holes in it, some supply-siders are now softening their argument a little, likening America to a financially strapped family sitting around the kitchen table discussing solutions. The solution, of course, is cutting expenses, living within our means and not spending more than we take in. It makes a lot of sense until you realize that it ignores another very solid business principle.

Denton Record-Chronicle, 4/17/11

The editorial then points out how one family who had insurmountable debt from a serious long-term illness with one of their children. After following the advice of our conservative leadership here in Texas, cutting every non-essential out and trimming other amenities to the bone, they were still unable to pay their debt down. It was not until they utilized most of their savings and found extra revenue above and beyond what they had been taking in before they saw some relief in paying their bills.

After the dad took on extra work beyond the 40 hour work shift of his regular job they were able to pay for the needed medical attention their child required and in time her health improved and the family returned to a more normal way of life.

Yet the state of Texas and the Republicans in the U.S.Congress feel that all we need to do is cut spending to reduce our deficits. Rather than going after a lot of non-essentials first like a bloated defense budget and the corporate welfare that makes Medicare and Medicaid spending look like pocket change, the conservative legislators want to cut spending in areas that affect the general welfare of their least powerful citizens first while they take money out of the treasury with more tax cuts; tax cuts that only the wealthiest 2% truly benefit from.

A recent MSN Money Report by Stephen Ohlemacher points out an issue that brings into focus why our debt has increased and contributes to our inability to pay it down:

“[T]he super rich pay a lot less taxes than they did a couple of decades ago. And nearly half of U.S. households pay no income taxes at all.

The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year. The average income on those returns in 2007, the latest year for IRS data, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.

Over the same period, the average federal income tax rate for all taxpayers declined to 9.3 percent from 9.9 percent.

The top income tax rate is 35 percent, so how can people who make so much pay so little in taxes? The nation’s tax laws are packed with breaks for people at every income level. There are breaks for having children, paying a mortgage, going to college, and even for paying other taxes. Plus, the top rate on capital gains is only 15 percent.

There are so many breaks that 45 percent of U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2010, according to estimates by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.”

Rather than pay-as-you-go, the U.S. has borrowed much of what’s been needed to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and two foreign wars, never asking anyone to make necessary sacrifices before it led to our dire economic situation today. This along with the criminal behavior of top financial institutions that required a federal bailout back in 2008 has now left the American working class in this country to carry the weight of our deficit burden.

Rather than ending the Bush tax cuts to create the revenue that was eliminated 10 years ago, the conservatives in Congress thought that somehow this would worsen the deficit and chose to keep them in place. The fact that this move in 2001 failed to increase employment above mundane rates, allowed greater income disparity between the haves and have-nots and failed to prevent the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930‘s seems to have gone over the heads of those with such thinking today.

Democrats wanted to keep these tax cuts in place for 98% of American tax payers while the economy was still struggling with worker wages and jobs but end it for the investor class. Clearly though we would all need to make necessary sacrifices in due time to diminish the deficit. A deficit that had it’s origins when the surplus we had before George Bush entered office in 2001 was whacked away in a few short years with deep tax cuts for the wealthy and the war in Iraq that was unnecessary.

So, explain to me again why we seem to be caving in to the advice of people who created this debt and lead by telling others to do as they say, not as they do?

I’ll finish off this commentary with an insight from the often little regarded Harry Truman who had a way of seeing things so much clearer than many of his political contemporaries. The simplicity of our problem and the chicken little approach to curb it with more spending cuts was addressed succinctly by our 33rd President back in September of 1951:

“I would like to say a word to comfort and console those who fear that we are spending our way into national bankruptcy. This alarming thought has some currency in certain circles, and it is used to frighten voters — particularly as visions of elections dance through the heads of gentlemen who are politically inclined.

I want to say to those gentlemen who are spreading this story, “Don’t be afraid.” This is something that has been worrying you for a number of years now. It’s something you’ve been saying over and over again. It wasn’t true when you began to say it, and it’s has not been true as you have repeated it over and over since then, and now it’s further from the truth than ever.

The country is stronger economically than it has ever been before. Its people are more prosperous. After paying their taxes, the people have an average per capita income that will buy 40 percent more than it did in 1939, in spite of increases in prices. Corporations are making more money than they ever did and, even after paying taxes at the new high rates, their profits are running at an even higher rate than in any year except the record-breaking 1950.”

Fixing Budget Deficit Means Both Tax Hikes and Spending Cuts (usnews.com)

Posted by lbwoodgate in Budget Crisis, Economy, Health Care Reform, Jobs, Social Discourse, Society and Politics, Texas/Local stories Tags: corporate welfare, deficit reduction, Denton Record-Chronicle, haves vs. have-nots, Income tax, Republicans, slashing social programs, u.s. debt ceiling, U.S. tax policy

7 comments

Hard Times Force Some to Take Drastic Measures

February 12, 2011

In a real life incident played out recently in my home town, the effects of the recession are made clear to a store clerk who was confronted by a desperate father.

As I have done in the past, I have reported on real life situations here in my North Texas town of Denton as they are reported in “The Blotter” section of the Denton Record-Chronicle. The Blotter provides small pieces of information about mostly mundane and normal occurrences that the police department responds to. On occasion there are some that go beyond this definition. One in today’s newspaper is both disturbing and reflective of the economic times we are experiencing.

As it was conveyed here, a man apparently tried to rob two local convenience stores with nothing more than “a small knife”. The first attempt failed after the would-be thief was told there was no money and was told to leave by the clerk. He did. “The man ran out of the store”, the report said. After police were called following this incident they checked around at other convenience stores and found that another attempt had been made on the other side of town that fit the description of the failed thief earlier.

The details of this encounter are minimal but striking, so I will convey them in a manner that will undoubtedly embellish the sequence of events but do so without trying to stretch such an outcome beyond the realm of possibilities. I know the owner of this second store from doing business with him on occasion. He is most likely of Indian dissent but could be Mid-eastern. He is always courteous and pleasant and his store is located in a part of town where he seldom experiences much traffic, even though it is located off of a main artery into Denton from Ft. Worth.

It appears that after the alleged thief entered the store he “demanded cash” but was told “there was no cash in the register.” Based on the earlier instance where the man fled in haste I’m sure the hopes of the thief were shattered at this point. He was told by the clerk to “get a job” and at the point it appeared the man broke down crying and told the store clerk that “his kids were hungry”.

A job would have been nice but because many are out of work due to the recession some have been forced to compete with at least 5 other people for pretty much every job out there that is available. I’m not saying I know what this particular man’s situation was but it may be safe to assume that he is one of the many unfortunate ones who come out on the losing end of this agonizing effort to “get a job”. It may also be safe to assume that he has been out of work long enough to be ineligible for any further unemployment benefits from the state.

I don’t condone this man’s attempt to steal in order to provide basic essentials for his family under these tough economic times. I don’t know if he even tried the area food banks to feed his children. But even if he had the news is gloomy here too because food banks run out of supplies long before they can accommodate all those who come to them in need.

With such dire prospects some may muster the misdirected courage to take extreme measures and turn to criminal behavior to survive. It’s clear this situation didn’t go unnoticed to the store clerk. I’m sure his business struggles to make ends meet and even more so following the bad weather we’ve had of late that perhaps even prevented him from opening his doors for three to four days as streets were treacherously iced over for that long.

Yet the pathetic condition that his assailant became overcome with touched the heart of the store clerk and he pulled out “a few bills from his own pocket” and gave it to the man with the small knife. The would-be thief left and the police are doing what the law requires and making an attempt to find him.

This small display of both the decency and the frailty of the human condition surely goes on everyday yet we are often led to believe that we are not our brother’s keeper by those who are comfortably well off and view any efforts by a representative government to intervene at some level as “socialism”. How easy it is to pass judgment from those whose giving falls way too short to meet the needs of the working poor and the vast new numbers on the unemployment rolls.

We should never condone crime of any kind that forces someone to steal but neither should we condone behavior that ignores the causal effect to some who take such drastic measures. We can only hope that this poor man is both scared and remorseful that he took such drastic actions and that the police efforts are restrained in their attempts to catch him. We can also hope that some of those hardened hearts who read the Blotter account of this crime will get out of it what I have here and become a bit more flexible in reaching out to those in need, even if it is a part of the social safety net implemented by government sources.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Social Discourse Tags: Convenience store, Crime, Denton Record-Chronicle, food banks, Hunger, Law, Law Enforcement, North Texas, Police, unemployment

5 comments

Denton, Texas: A model for other towns, large and small, to keep energy costs down.

January 30, 2011

Having noticed several months ago that my hometown of Denton, north of Dallas-Ft.Worth has the distinction “of being the city with the most wind power per capita in the country” made this energy and climate hawk a bit proud, in a state where my more Progressive views are often over shadowed by red-state rhetoric. However, not even the conservative population that predominates here can argue against the fact that their home district has overall lower electric rates than some of their big city neighbors; thanks in large part to a “green” approach by their utility supplier, Denton Municipal Electric (DME), to find and utilize renewable sources of energy and programs that reduce consumption.

It’s hard to argue with Denton’s efforts to contain and even reduce electrical rates for homeowners and businesses. Currently they are in a fight to keep their costs down in one area where the energy source is not renewable, clean energy. Approximately 20% of DMEs energy comes from the Gibbons Creek coal plant in Carlos, Texas located between College Station and Huntsville. The coal is being transported 1400 miles from Wyoming and the railroad transporter based out of Ft. Worth, BNSF Railway, wants to increase their rates that would add approximately $4 extra dollars a month to each customer’s bill.

In a day and age where climate deniers and opponents of renewable energy tout cheap coal prices, this indirect increase as a result of transportation costs highlights the problem of any continued use of this dirtier source of energy. Not only does the Gibbons Creek plant add an additional 2231 tons of nitrous oxide into our air but the energy expended bringing the coal in from Wyoming adds to this pollutant that scientist are saying not only has an impact on the public’s general health but impacts climate changes resulting from a damaged ozone layer in our stratosphere.

As I noted in a piece back in January entitled “Who Needs an Ozone Layer?”, Ozone (O3) is a molecule made up of 3 atoms. Unlike it’s cousin O2 that is essential for life on the planet Ozone is much less stable and can pose a threat to inhabitants at ground level. However, when found in the upper atmosphere it benefits humans and all animal and plant species by serving as a barrier to protect us against excessive solar UV rays. It is mostly the results of the sun’s UV rays combining with O2 in our stratosphere but when found closer to earth it develops when sun light reacts with air containing hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. Though always present even before the Industrial revolution it now exists in higher concentrations than historical records reveal.

Ozone only makes up 0.00006% of the earth’s atmosphere but it’s utility to prevent catastrophic conditions on earth make it a vital natural barrier to preserve our ecosystem and by default, our very way of life. The fear three decades ago was that the man-made green house gases (GHGs) of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from aerosol cans and freon then being used for cooling units in our homes, cars and refrigerators were literally burrowing a hole in the Ozone layer, allowing excessive UV rays to reach earth’s surface and amplifying global warming conditions around the planet. This amplified heat in turn breaks down Ozone in the atmosphere, further reducing it’s solar reflective abilities needed to sustain life here.

Thus the need to reduce toxic pollutants that contaminate our air and water and threaten human and animal life is a target that the City of Denton has taken aim at. Their use of wind energy seeks to supply up to 40% of the electrical power to the community by purchasing the renewable source from the “Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources LLC, which owns and operates more than 8,000 energy turbines in 16 states and Canada, including the Wolf Ridge wind farm near Muenster” according to DME spokeswoman Lisa Lemmons.

Ms. Lemmons also described other benefits to their programs in an article published recently in the local Denton Record-Chronicle. “The city … has a power-purchase agreement with DTE Energy to take 1.6 megawatts from its landfill-gas-to-energy project at the Denton landfill. The project has the capacity to triple its energy production as the quality and capacity of methane gas increases over time, she said.

DME’s GreenSense energy efficiency program includes rebates of up to $15,000 for people who install solar panels on their homes or businesses.” Add this to a current 30% IRS energy tax credit for solar investments and not only are overall expenses cut by 2/3’s but the out of pocket pay back period for customers is significantly reduced from the current average of 10 years.

These solar panels not only save consumers money on their electric bill but they also put energy back into the grid helping keep general costs lower for everybody. What currently is installed in Denton has “added about 57 kilowatts of solar energy to DME’s electric system”, according to Ms.Lemmon.

With a Congress unwilling to deal with an effective energy policy that seeks out cheaper, renewal energy sources over oil, coal and natural gas it falls on the states and local communities to address their needs for reliable sources of energy that can carry them well into the 21st century. Denton stands as a model on how to achieve this for any and all who are serious about keeping energy costs down instead of waiting for the federal government to act.

CO2: Friend and Foe

Posted by lbwoodgate in Climate Science/Global Warming, Energy, Texas/Local stories Tags: BNSF Railway, Chlorofluorocarbon, Denton Record-Chronicle, Energy, lower utility rates, Ozone layer, Renewable energy, Technology, wind and solar power

3 comments

The Demon Barber of Augusta Drive

January 15, 2011

Haircuts a’ la Sweeney Todd not for the faint of heart

I live in a rather large town just north of Dallas. When I first came to Denton in 1975 to attend college the population was roughly 36,000 people, and lot of those were the students at Texas Women’s University and my alma mater, the University of North Texas (then known under a “lesser” title as North Texas State University). Today the population has nearly quadrupled with over a 124,000 according to the recent 2010 census and incorporated land mass I suspect has doubled.

Yet there are parts of Denton that still harbor that small town feel. It has the 19th century style town square with the Victorian architecture on its 3 story courthouse. We have a popular state fair that brings in 4H and FFA contestants across the state and there is also a local paper, the Denton Record-Chronicle. Characteristically of a small town newspaper, the Record-Chronicle still posts the daily police records referred to as “The Blotter” on page two, detailing mostly mundane and normal occurrences that the police department responds to.

On occasion though there is the report that is outside the norm and has a life of its own. Take the one in today’s edition about the wife and grandmother whose alleged efforts to trim her unsuspecting husband’s hair brought an assault charge from her grand-daughter.

Seriously, here’s the link to the report lest you think I engaged in my morning ritual of reading the paper before I was fully awake. According to the report , the daughter who was staying with her grandparents at 2600 Augusta Dr. heard shouts for help from her grand-father. When entering the room where they were she found her grandmother on top of grand-dad “trying to stab him with the scissors”. It’s not clear if they were on the floor jostling or in a chair that perhaps grand-dad had dozed off in.

According to the police report “In the struggle, her grandmother tried to stab her as well, the granddaughter told police. When the granddaughter was able to get the woman away from the victim, the grandmother kicked him in the arm, the report states. Then the grandmother got in her car and drove away.”

Apparently by the time the police had arrived there was no suspect and perhaps no weapon at the “scene of the crime”. This perhaps led the attending officer to question the sincerity and the facts of the victims and as a result was given a cell phone number to the grandmother. When the officer made contact with the would-be scissor attacker the grandmother gave a perfectly “rational” explanation of what transpired. Rational of course if you accept that there were cuts and bruises on the victims and grandma had fled the scene to Oklahoma.

This entire incident took on the serious role it normally should with someone’s life being threatened and the actions of an apparent crazed woman fleeing the scene. But what follows takes this story to a different level, a more comical nature and leaves all realizing that fact is always (sometimes humorously) stranger than fiction.

“The whole thing was a misunderstanding” the grandmother insisted. “I was merely trying to cut my husband’s hair” she testified to the officer over the phone. However, it appears that granddad viewed it more in terms of a scalping rather than a haircut. A metaphor that many a dissatisfied recipient has accused relatives of for trying to get a trim job on the cheap.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Our crazy and wonderful world Tags: Dallas, demon barber, Denton Record-Chronicle, denton texas, Grandparent, Oklahoma, Sweeney Todd, Texas Woman's University, todd sweeney, University of North Texas, Victorian architecture

1 comment

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NBC I don’t want to hear your simplistic rheteric (sic) liberal pap on gun control in the middle of a football game. Get bent. SOURCE

I didn’t even know what “Get bent” meant until today. Thanks Donna & Urban Dictionary.

This appears to be where Ms. Fielder is at and apparently my comments on her FB page responding to her acerbic diatribe has elicited an ultimatum from the former Record-Chronicle reporter:

“Larry. I don’t fear conversation. But I have the right to limit the drek(sic) people post on my space. Get off my page.”

Thanks Donna. I learned another printable word for a vulgarism – dreck.

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