.... and how many times was he (Shannon McGauley) a guest on Brownwood's Republican Controlled Talk Radio Airwaves KXYL 96.9FM ?

Posted on Thu, Jun. 29, 2006

Few minutes with Minutemen is plenty of time for GOP group

By Bud Kennedy
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

BRYAN - The Texas Minutemen brought their borderline paranoia to the heart of Aggieland this week.

A Republican club invited the Wise County-based Minutemen to tell about their escapades guarding the Rio Grande. But what they heard was too loony even for Aggies.
When the Minutemen's quirky leader started rambling about a secret plan to "merge Canada and Mexico with the United States," the good Republicans in the home of the George Bush Presidential Library started squirming in their chairs behind half-eaten barbecue plates.
When a Minutewoman from Dallas started complaining that ranchers can shoot diseased cattle at the border but not humans, and blamed permissive immigration on the "greedy business people" of America, their Republican host finally had enough and stood to cut off questions.
"Thank you," said Dan Garcia, 29, an Iraq war veteran and now a Texas A&M University student. Almost apologetically, he told the Brazos County Young Republicans, "Our goal was just to set up a forum where we could hear different opinions."
Later, he said the discussion "got out of hand a little too quickly."
"I don't think disease should be part of the issue," said Garcia, a Brownsville native and the son of immigrants from Mexico who earned doctorates. "Some of the things they said, I totally disagree with. As Republicans, we're not xenophobes. We just want to know who's coming into the country."
It was his idea to invite a Minuteman to draw more people to a meeting when some Young Republicans have gone home for the summer. It worked: Instead of five or six Republicans, the meeting drew 25 guests to C & J Barbeque.
Garcia said he looked up Minutemen on the Web and found the Wise County group.
Shannon McGauley, 42, a private investigator from Boyd, leads one of two factions of Minutemen volunteers in Texas. His faction reports to a California man who is affiliated with a Bible-preaching fringe political party and who openly opposes allowing any other "cultures" or languages in America besides his own.
That part bothered Garcia before the meeting.
"What makes America great is that we pull the best from all cultures," he said in an interview. "As a Republican, I value hard work and personal integrity. People bring those values to the U.S. from all cultures."
McGauley agreed to make the drive to Bryan for gas money, Garcia said.
McGauley and other Minutemen have eagerly accepted invitations from border-minded Republican clubs lately, using the opportunity to promote their financially struggling volunteer effort and to preach their conspiracy politics. In Bryan, their handouts included something about the Trilateral Commission.
McGauley, a stubby man with a necktie that stops about four inches too soon, called himself a "bail bond enforcement agent." He and a brother bill themselves on the Web as the only known pair of twin bounty hunters.
Before they hunted border crossers, they might have been hunting something else.
In a Yahoo discussion group called "smalltowntexassingles," somebody using his brother's name posted a 2002 ad introducing twin brother private investigators looking to "get to know" singles. They have also advertised a lawn service.
Early last year, after volunteering in a Minuteman Project patrol in Arizona, McGauley registered the name Texas Minutemen.
The other faction is the Falfurrias-based Texas chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which emphasizes lawful borders more than fear of Hispanic "culture."
For the Bryan audience, McGauley began with a routine report on risks along the border. He described the cat-and-mouse game Minutemen play watching the border, the rumors of Iraqis crossing illegally and the plans for another patrol Sept. 11 along the Rio Grande near Laredo and Del Rio.
The volunteers simply watch for border crossers and alert the Border Patrol, he said. They carry concealed weapons for self-defense, as allowed under state law.
A small group of Hispanic students and adults from Texas A&M University watched from a front table. Hispanic students have been part of the Gig 'Em tradition since at least 1894, when an Aggie from Hidalgo, Mexico, named N. Valdez scored A&M's very first football touchdown.
They bristled when McGauley's co-founder, a retired Dallas software engineer named Sandra Beene, started talking about shooting "varmints" and about how ranchers used to shoot cattle that crossed the border for fear they might have diseases.
"Now, we're bringing all the diseases that we wiped out right back in," she said.
Then, a barber from Bryan spoke up from the crowd to complain about trucks from Mexico using the planned Trans-Texas Corridor toll superhighway.
"Trucks are going to roll all the way into Kansas City from a foreign nation," McGauley said as if free trade is somehow sinister.
He mentioned the secret "plan" to merge North America, which must not be a secret up in Wise County.
Late in the discussion, Beene made this telling comment:
"Once, in this country, we imported a lot of people who were black, and we created a slave class of human beings," she said. "And we're still paying for that, through all the resentment. And black people are still paying for it, too."
Lesson 1: Some of these Minutemen don't want anyone of another color or culture in Texas.
Lesson 2: Republicans need to be careful about welcoming the Minutemen.

Bud Kennedy's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 817-390-7538 bud@budkennedy.com
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/columnists/bud_kennedy/14928590.htm

Why did Kinky Friedman buy a Brownwood Sandwich for $ 500.00 ?

read about it here

Rest in Peace: Doyle Willis Sr. "the Mother Teresa of Texas vets"

Longtime lawmaker laid to rest
Doyle Willis Sr. is honored as a champion of the underdog
By JACK DOUGLAS JR.
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

FORT WORTH -- Most were Democrats, a few were Republicans, and others couldn't give a flip about politics. But they all joined Monday to fill a church sanctuary and pay their respects at the funeral for former legislator Doyle Willis Sr., a 42-year veteran at the state Capitol and Fort Worth's City Hall.
A World War II veteran, Fort Worth city councilman, state representative and state senator, Willis was praised as a tireless defender of the underdog and an advocate for police and firefighters.
Mounted officers were stationed outside, and police and fire honor guards stood at attention inside, as friends and supporters remembered Willis, a Democrat, at the First United Methodist Church near downtown Fort Worth.
He died Thursday at age 98.
Willis was called "the Mother Teresa of Texas vets" by Ronald Ballard, a Methodist minister and religion professor at Texas Wesleyan University. Ballard was referring to Willis' work in helping to pass laws in Austin that benefited military families.
"There were few people like Doyle Willis. He was always for the underdog," Ballard said.
Albert Chew Jr., pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church in Fort Worth and a 40-year friend of Willis', recalled an incident many years ago when he and his friend were driving through deep East Texas. Chew, who is black, said he offered to drive and act the part of "house boy" for the white Willis to keep from drawing attention.
Willis was appalled, Chew remembered, and said, "I don't ever want to hear anything like that again, even if we live to be 100."
Willis got close, yet never slowed in his crusade, always offering to help with a hand -- or an opinion, friends said.
"Doyle didn't swim in the same lake with regular people," said Chew. "He swam upstream."
Willis represented central Fort Worth in the House and Senate during four separate stints dating to 1947.
In all, he served 42 years, the second-longest tenure in Texas history. Once he introduced legislation that would have made it a felony to steal someone's dog.
And between his times of service in the Capitol, he was on the Fort Worth City Council.
Since retiring from the House in January 1997, Willis had remained active as a lawyer and in civic affairs until a few months ago, friends and relatives said.
"He was one of those old war horses, the likes of which we'll never see again," County Commissioner Roy Brooks said.
State Rep. Marc Veasey called Willis a "larger-than-life individual" who got along with a diverse group of people. "He was definitely a good Democrat. He's going to be missed," Veasey said.
John Ella Stewart, who met Willis through her late father, Cornelius Mills, agreed.
"I just fell in love with him," said Stewart, "because he was such a fine person and a good Christian."

source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/14911283.htm

" But here, deep in the American heartland, are the warning signs of a political earthquake."

Democrats dare to dream of recapturing the Bush heartland

From Kansas to South Carolina, Republican moderates are turning their backs on the neocons and defecting to the enemy

Paul Harris in Topeka, Kansas
Sunday June 25, 2006
The Observer

The squat, bunker-like building in a south Topeka suburb does not look like a place to turn American politics on its head. Nor does Mark Parkinson, a tall, affable man, look too much like a revolutionary. But here, deep in the American heartland, are the warning signs of a political earthquake.
The two-storey office block is Parkinson's campaign headquarters as he runs as Democrat candidate for deputy governor. So far, so normal. Except that only a few weeks ago Parkinson was a Republican. In fact, he was Kansas Republican party chairman.

His defection to the Democrats sent shockwaves through a state deeply associated with the national Republican cause and the evangelical conservatives at its base. Nor was it just Parkinson's leave-taking that left Republicans spluttering with rage and talking of betrayal. It was that as he left Parkinson lambasted his former party's obsession with conservative and religious issues such as gay marriage, evolution and abortion.

Sitting in his headquarters, the new Democrat is sticking to his guns. Republicans in Kansas, he says, have let down their own people. 'They were fixated on ideological issues that really don't matter to people's everyday lives. What matters is improving schools and creating jobs,' he said. 'I got tired of the theological debate over whether Charles Darwin was right.'

This is music to Democratic ears and has profound potential implications for November's mid-term elections. Kansas has been an iconic state for the Republican right, a symbol for issues such as teaching creationism in schools and fighting abortion rights. The modern Republican party, masterminded by political guru Karl Rove, has harnessed fury over such topics to allow the Republicans to dominate US politics since 2000. This was the topic of Thomas Frank's hit book of the 2004 presidential election campaign entitled: What's The Matter With Kansas? It used the state's falling under the spell of conservative Republicanism to explain national American politics.

But in a swath of heartland states such as Kansas, Democrats are seeing the first signs of their party's rebirth. Parkinson is not alone in switching sides. In Virginia, Jim Webb, a one-time Reagan official, is seeking to be a Democrat senator. In South Carolina, top Republican prosecutor Barney Giese has defected after a spat with conservatives. Back in Kansas another top Republican, Paul Morrison, also joined the Democrats and is challenging a Republican to be the state attorney-general.

Democrats are hoping that the Republican party of President George W Bush has passed its high-water mark. That, faced with disaster in Iraq, a host of domestic troubles and terrible opinion poll ratings, they can start to retake power in November. From there they can start to take aim at the White House itself. They hope the powerful conservative movement born in states such as Kansas will also die there.

An upbeat mood prevails at the monthly meeting of the Shawnee County Democratic party. The talk over iced tea in the dining room of the Topeka Ramada Hotel was of Iraq, family, friends and sports.

It has never been easy being a Democrat in Kansas, but things are looking a little brighter. 'I know a lot of registered Republicans who no longer agree with what's going on,' said Charlie Snow, a real estate manager. Wearing a T-shirt with a picture of George Bush Senior and the slogan 'I should have pulled out', Snow is not a typical Kansas voter, but he and his fellow Shawnee County Democrats see unaccustomed prospects. 'We have always been the underdog, but recently actions of the President and the Republicans have made it a lot easier to be a Democrat in Kansas,' Snow said.

One of the key reasons Kansas Democrats are in fighting mood is their governor, Kathleen Sibelius. Sibelius's vote represents an island of Democratic blue in a sea of Republican red on the political map, and she has impressed by reaching the middle-ground voters in a startlingly successful first term. Shunning the hot-button social issues, she has focused on education, jobs and health. This has earned her approval ratings touching 68 per cent in a state that was overwhelmingly pro-Bush in 2004.

Sibelius has cracked the political holy grail: persuading heartland Republicans to vote Democrat. 'Her style works here, and then bringing over Parkinson to the Democrats has been the coup of all coups,' said Professor Bob Beatty, a political scientist at Washburn University near Topeka.

As the Democrats enjoy a resurgence, the Republicans are in disarray. Parkinson's defection encouraged other moderates to abandon a party controlled by right-wing religious zealots. In political terms they are called Rinos, or Republicans in Name Only. If enough Rinos desert, the strict ideologues in the party are likely to drift further right. 'A number of conservatives are actually pleased that the moderates are leaving the Republican party. That really could spell trouble,' Beatty said.

There is a long way to go. Larry Gates, chairman of the Kansas Democratic party, says his side is still vastly outgunned, but he is optimistic. 'The Republican party is just controlled by the neocons. They are not flexible. But in Kansas it is an issue like education that is foremost in people's minds,' he said. The Democrats bypass abortion and evolution to focus on jobs, schools and health. The Democrats' local slogan for 2006 sums up the mood: 'Hope in the Heartland.'

The issues in Kansas mirror those in Washington, and could decide November's election as well as shaping presidential politics for years to come. Nationally, the Democratic party is deeply split. It has not yet decided on a unified course of action for November or the presidential race of 2008.

The defections across the country have been spurred mostly by a reaction to the extremism of the right. The future, as Kansas predicts it, lies in the middle ground for the first party to stake a claim to it. 'That is the absolute lesson. No party is going to win an election by being on the edges. The first to go to the middle ground will win,' Gates said.

For the 2008 race, the Democratic frontrunner is Hillary Clinton. Though she has steadily shifted rightwards, she is still portrayed as a liberal and is seen as having little appeal in Middle America. The Rinos of Kansas and elsewhere are unlikely to respond well to Clinton. Other senior Democrats, especially those from the north-east, do not go down well in Kansas. Such names as John Kerry and Senator Ted Kennedy have little appeal.

So it could mean the centrist card is the Democrat lesson for 2008, electing someone from a southern or midwestern state who already occupies middle ground - candidates such as Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia, Tom Vilsack, governor of Iowa, and Evan Bayh, a senator from Indiana. If Democrats want to become the dominant party again, the revolution must begin in such places as Kansas. And Democrats in Kansas, deep in reddest America, are dreaming of a time when the whole country turns blue.

source: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1805330,00.html

Central Texas Tattoos & Attitudes

Central Texans show their beliefs through spiritual tattoos

Sunday, June 25, 2006
By Terri Jo Ryan
Tribune-Herald staff writer

When 29-year-old Waco police officer Eric Carrizales hits the streets on patrol duty each day, he has an angel looking over his shoulder.
The Roman Catholic has a tattoo of the armored archangel Michael, patron saint and protector of public servants, on his left shoulder as a constant reminder that with God on his side, he’s never alone when working his beat.
Tattoos, long the badge of dishonor or at least harboring an unsavory mystique, are showing up on the ankles and arms of more and more people of faith.
More than a third of Americans ages 18 to 29 have at least one inked patch, according to a study published June 11 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Zac Colbert, owner of Southern Culture Kustom Tattoo of Waco, estimates that 40 percent of his business involves tattoos of a religious or spiritual nature, covering a wide spectrum of beliefs.
Among the young Christians who come to his shop, he said, crosses, thorns and even faces of Christ are popular. The ichthus — the ancient “fish” symbol used by Christians to identify each other during the dark days of Roman persecution — is especially popular among young women “because it can be something small and dainty they can get on the top of their foot or an ankle.”
Artist Lindsey Ebert, 24, of Temple, said one of the tattoos she has on her arm, created by Colbert and former Waco artist Galen Ihlendfeldt, speaks to her embrace of many spiritual concepts, although she does not attend any church.
For example, one part of her shows the “hand of Christ” holding a seashell, from which a stream of water flows, an image of baptism and cleansing the soul. Another depicts a tree split open with a heart inside, an image she said honors nature and the sacred spirit in all things.
Varied images
Gabriel Colbert, brother of Zac Colbert, said he’s observed that Hispanics prefer praying hands entwined with a rosary; the “sacred heart of Jesus” symbol, a flaming heart wrapped in a crown of thorns; and the Virgin of Guadalupe, a depiction of a Madonna figure especially dear to Mexican Catholics.
“I’ve even seen people get ‘The Last Supper’ on their backs,” he said.
Zac Colbert, a tattoo artist for 10 years, said that in the past year, he’s seen a surge in the number of clients asking for tattoos of Bible verses — in Hebrew.
But a close second to Christian body art, he added, are neo-pagan images, such as the Wiccan pentacle or the Runic alphabet for devotees of the old Norse pantheon.
Hindu deities, such as Ganesh (the elephant-headed remover of obstacles) and Kali the Destroyer, also make for vivid tattoos and are popular among fans of Eastern religions.
“I don’t mind doing Wiccan stuff,” said Zac Colbert, who identified himself as a deist. “But I won’t do anything graphically satanic.”
Ebert said she draws the line at anything blatantly demonic or gory. “Everybody has a right in this country to believe what they want, but I don’t have to be the one to give it to them,” she said.
Despite their growing popularity, religious tattoos have their detractors.
To some Buddhists, tattoos of holy people are considered disrespectful. In Islam, the prophet Muhammad cursed both the giver and receiver of tattoos, for they represent a human attempt at altering God’s creation.
Similarly, some Christians oppose tattooing as a desecration of the body, which the apostle Paul likened to a temple in his first letter to the church in Corinth. Making a permanent mark, therefore, is considered by some as vandalism of God’s property.
Many Christians quote Leviticus 19:28 when stating that Christians should never receive a tattoo: “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.”
The verse refers to a pagan practice of honoring the dead with a tattoo mark on the living, in order to protect oneself from the spirit world and the wrath of other gods.
But Leviticus 19 also prohibits mixing two kinds of fiber in cloth, or eating meat rare, or trimming one’s beard — injunctions that most modern believers don’t follow either, noted Brandon Hill, director of community life at Point Loma Nazarene University of San Diego.
The “Christian Teen” expert for About.com added that even he sports a tattoo, a Celtic cross on his back.
Artists who make tattoos and clients who get them say the artwork is another venue to show and share their beliefs with others.

tjryan@wacotrib.com
757-5746

source: http://www.wacotrib.com/featr/content/features/stories/2006/06/25/06252006wactattoos.html
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Brownwood Tattoo's

Republican Morality ?

Congress gives itself a raise, but what about the minimum wage ?

Posted 6/19/2006 10:02 PM ET
I read with interest the article about members of the House of Representatives and Senate accepting their "automatic" pay hike ("House lawmakers accept $3,300 pay hike," USATODAY.com, June 13).
While all Americans would love to receive guaranteed pay hikes, the reality is that for most working American families, pay has not risen nearly as much as their costs have, if at all. For example, the minimum wage has not been raised since 1996, when Congress last passed legislation raising the hourly rate to $5.15 per hour (effective in 1997). Based on a 40-hour work week, this amounts to $10,712 per year, considerably lower than the poverty level. Members of Congress earned an annual $133,600 at the time the minimum wage was last raised. With their new raise to $168,500 per year, this represents a 26% pay hike over the past 10 years, compared with a 0% increase in the minimum wage.

I find it most astounding that Republican members of Congress squeal loudly about the inability of companies to pay a higher minimum wage to their employees, yet these same representatives feel no compunction about doling out taxpayer money to line their pockets further.

Maybe it's time to tie congressional pay raises to comparable percentage raises in the federal minimum wage.

Steven P. Alpert

Suffern, N.Y.

source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-06-19-letters-ethics_x.htm
------------------

June 22, 2006, 1:46AM

GOP-led Senate kills effort to raise the minimum wage

By DAVID ESPO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled Senate smothered a proposed election-year increase in the minimum wage Wednesday, rejecting Democratic claims that it was past time to boost the $5.15 hourly pay floor that has been in effect for nearly a decade.
The 52-46 vote was eight short of the 60 needed for approval under budget rules and came one day after House Republican leaders made clear they do not intend to allow a vote on the issue, fearing it might pass.
The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 that Democrats there have proposed — and Republicans have blocked — a stand-alone increase in the minimum wage.

source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/3991478.html
-------------------
Republican House Speaker Hastert and two other Republican Congressmen accused of using pork to enrich themselves financially
by John in DC - 6/22/2006 02:03:00 AM

Oh for simpler times when Denny was a great late-night dive.

From the Wash Post:
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a $2 million profit last year on the sale of land 5 1/2 miles from a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds.

A Republican House member from California, meanwhile, received nearly double what he paid for a four-acre parcel near an Air Force base after securing $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles away. And another California GOP congressman obtained funding in last year's highway bill for street improvements near a planned residential and commercial development that he co-owns.

source: http://americablog.blogspot.com/
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Man indicted in phone jamming case will argue Administration approved election scheme

John Byrne
Published: Friday July 7, 2006

The fourth man indicted in a New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme -- in which Republican operatives jammed the phone lines of Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts in a 2002 Senate race -- will argue at trial that the Bush Administration and the national Republican Party gave their approval to the plan, according to a motion filed by his attorney Thursday.

Shaun Hansen, the former owner of the company that placed hang-up calls to jam Democratic phone lines, was indicted in March for conspiring to commit and aiding and abetting the commission of interstate telephone harassment relating to a scheme to thwart get out the vote efforts on Election Day, 2002.

His lawyer's motion signals that Hansen intends to argue that he was entrapped because the Administration allegedly told his superiors the calls were legal. The filing indicates, however, that Hansen does not have firsthand knowledge of Administration intervention.

Hansen’s lawyer offered an inside look of his defense strategy in yesterday's filing: his client will assert that he believed he was acting on behalf of the government and the Republican Party through his work with GOP Marketplace, the company which subcontracted the phone jamming efforts.

"Mr. Hansen may assert that the government, or an agent therof, actually induced the offenses with which Mr. Hansen is charged, and was not otherwise prediposed to commit," Hansen's lawyer Jeffrey Levin writes.

"Mr. Hansen may asserts [sic] the defense of "derivative entrapment" in which the government uses a private party as its agent," Levin adds.

Phone calls lead to White House

Phone records show hundreds of phone calls from the New Hampshire Republican Party and convicted phone jammer James Tobin to the White House Office of Political Affairs during the time the scheme was being planned and carried out.

The Republican National Committee, which shelled out millions to defend Tobin, has said it is "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

According to AP, "The phone records show that most calls to the White House were from Tobin, who became President Bush's presidential campaign chairman for the New England region in 2004. Other calls from New Hampshire senatorial campaign offices to the White House could have been made by a number of people."

A liberal political action group, Senate Majority Project, also uncovered that GOP Marketplace, which subcontracted out the hang-up calls to Hansen’s Mylo Enterprises, was partly owned by Mississippi Governor and former RNC Chair Haley Barbour.

Repeated hang-up calls that jammed telephone lines at a Democratic get-out-the-vote center helped secure the victory of Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) over Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in November 2002, 51 to 46 percent.



source: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Man_indicted_in_election_day_phone_0707.html

Buckle Up Texas, Kinky's on the Ballot !

June 22, 2006, 3:34PM
Independents Friedman, Strayhorn on ballot

By CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and author-musician Kinky Friedman have qualified for spots on the November ballot as independent candidates for governor, Secretary of State Roger Williams ruled today.
Former congressman Steve Stockman, however, failed to qualify as an independent candidate for the 22nd Congressional District seat vacated by former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land.
Williams, the state's chief elections officer, deferred a decision on whether Strayhorn will be allowed to use the nickname, "Grandma," on the ballot, as she has requested. The secretary of state needs to do more research on that issue, a spokesman said.
Williams said Strayhorn and Friedman far exceeded collecting the 45,540 signatures that each needed for a ballot spot. All signers had to be registered voters who didn't cast ballots in either major party's primary or runoff elections.

After a preliminary review, Williams certified 108,512 of the 222,514 signatures submitted by Strayhorn and 137,154 of the 170,258 signatures submitted by Friedman.

Gov. Rick Perry also faces opposition from Democrat Chris Bell and Libertarian James Werner.
Stockman turned in about 600 signatures, but fewer than the 500 he needed were ruled valid, Williams' spokesman, Scott Haywood said.

clay.robison@chron.com
source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3993429.html
-----------------
an email from the Kinky campaign reads in part:

" The strongest independent in the race

It's official—this November, under "Governor," you'll see the Kinkster's name on the ballot. And not only that, we pulled off a huge upset in the process: you all collected over 25,000 more valid signatures than Carole Strayhorn, and did it with 1/10th the budget ! As Kinky said in our last email, the effort that produced our petition drive was unprecedented. It reflects the kind of hungry-for-change support you just can't buy—support that comes from all of you. "
------------------------
and this from Kinky's website:

It's Official !
AUSTIN, Texas -- June 21, 2006 -- Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams today informed independent candidate Kinky Friedman that his name will appear on the statewide general election ballot for governor this November.

"According to the verification, your petition has a sufficient number of signatures to qualify you for a place on the ballot. Accordingly, your name will be certified to the counties on Sept. 6, 2006 as an independent candidate for the office of governor," said the letter from Williams' office.

"The people of Texas have spoken -- they're ready for change," Friedman said. "They're sick and tired of politics as usual, and they're ready to elect an independent candidate in November."

"Not one but two viable independent candidates have made the ballot for the first time in nearly 150 years," Friedman added. "This tells us what we've long suspected: the two-party system has failed our state. Only an independent candidate - one who is not owned by special interests - can restore Texas."

The campaign delivered 170,258 signatures to the Secretary of State's office on May 11. Of those, 137,154 signatures were considered valid, an 81 percent validity rate. (The state comptroller, who is also running as an independent, submitted 222,514 signatures of which 108,512 were valid, a 49 percent validity rate.) The signatures for Friedman's campaign, which were collected during a 62-day period almost entirely by volunteers, represented voters in all 254 Texas counties.

"The campaign appreciates the fact that the Secretary of State certified the signatures within the six-week period he promised," said campaign director Dean Barkley. "We also congratulate Comptroller Strayhorn on her success. We have no doubt this will be the most exciting race for governor the state of Texas has ever seen."

source: www.kinkyfriedman.com

What is the $ 150.00 Club @ Steves' and what sets it apart from Scott McDonalds ?

'Most expensive sandwich' on sale

Will the bacon sarnie ever seem the same again ?
Hungry shoppers are being offered the chance to eat a gourmet sandwich, but the £85 price tag might be too much for some to swallow.
The McDonald sandwich - named after its creator Scott McDonald, the chef at London department store Selfridges - is said to be the world's most expensive.
Its cost is down to the Wagyu beef that makes up most of the filling, packed in a 24-hour fermented sour dough bread.
There have been at least five advance orders placed for the 21oz (595g) meal.
If you are a food lover, this represents great value for money
Ewan Venters
Selfridges food director
Wagyu cattle are one of the most expensive breeds in the world.
The Japanese cows are raised on a special diet, including beer and grain.
They are supposed to be regularly massaged with sake, the Japanese rice wine, to tenderize the flesh.
Mr McDonald denied his creation was a "sandwich for snobs", saying its beauty was in its simplicity.
"The flavours marry, it's not complicated - albeit a little bit rich," he told BBC London.
Food and catering director at Selfridges on Oxford Street, Ewan Venters, who commissioned the sandwich, said they expected it to be a hit with local "foodies".
"I think if you are a food lover, this represents great value for money," he said.
"Some of the finest ingredients from around the world have been used to create this fabulous sandwich."
The ingredients of the sandwich are: Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit and English plum tomatoes.
----------------------
Here's the Steves' Market & Deli / Brown County Texas Version Benefiting Brown County Veterans:

A Handmade Sourdough Roll from Steves' Market & Deli stuffed w/
Grilled Beef Tenderloin - Marinated in a Blend of

Brennan Vineyards Cabernet

and

Farouk & Friedman Olive Oil from The Holy Land

With a side of
Farm Raised Salad Greens tossed in a Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Vinaigrette from

Fischer & Weiser

, Tomatoes & Onions ( From Brown County Newman Farms ) & Cheese from

Mozzarella Company

and Terra Chips from

Terra

What it Costs: $ 150.00 per Club Sandwich ( checks made out Directly to Brown County VA Van Fund )

Who it Benefits:

Read article here

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Note: We, The Steves, pledge to sell 5 Club Sandwiches at $ 150.00 each with all of the money ( $750.00 ) raised going to the Brown County Veterans Van Fund. If you'd like to participate, please contact us at 325.646.5576 for more information. Due to the nature of the ingreditents utilized in the preparing of the $150.00 Club Sandwich, we require a 24 hour notice.
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Mike Cope's Idea & Campaign @ KXYL 96.9 FM Newstalk: " 35 X 4 "( raise $35,000.00 by July 4th 2006 ). Mike's asking listeners to drop by their donations at the KXYL Studios, 600 Fisk, Brownwood, Texas) or call 646.3535 for more information.
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UPDATE: From the front page of The Abilene Reporter News

Putting your money where your mouth is for a good cause

By Sidney Levesque / levesques@reporternews.com
June 24, 2006

Bart Johnson plans to bite into a $150 sandwich next week - the most expensive one he's ever eaten.
And it will probably taste like the right thing to do.
All proceeds from the pricey gourmet sandwiches sold at Steve's Market & Deli in Brownwood are going to a community campaign to buy vans to transport disabled veterans to medical appointments.
The two vans now used to take Brown County veterans to Temple and Waco hospitals each have about 200,000 miles on them and need to be replaced, said Cookie James, volunteer shuttle coordinator at the county's veterans clinic. James raised $12,100 to replace them, but was $35,000 short.
Radio station KXYL-FM (96.9) in Brownwood challenged residents this week to raise '35 by 4' - meaning $35,000 by July 4.
''That naturally plugs into everyone's patriotism, and we're talking about veterans here,'' said Mike Cope, host of the radio station's morning show.
Civic groups and businesses have joined in the effort. Some are putting jars out for donations. Others have gone a step further.
The Runaway Train Cafe is selling $5 raffle tickets for a chance to win dinner for eight. The cafe has sold 40 tickets so far and hopes to raise $1,500 for the vans.
''The whole community is coming together,'' said Steve Harris, co-owner of Steve's Market & Deli.
Harris agreed to sell five sandwiches for $150 each next week and donate the money to the vans. He plans to spend $125 of his own money for the gourmet fixings, which are coming from all over Texas.
The cheese is from the Mozzarella Co. in Dallas. The salad greens, tomatoes and onions raised locally will be tossed in a raspberry chipotle vinaigrette from Fredericksburg. And the grilled beef tenderloin will be marinated in cabernet sauvignon from Brennan Vineyards in Comanche.
Harris said his creation is the county's most expensive sandwich.
''We're calling it the Brown County club,'' he said.
He's already pre-sold two sandwiches - one to Brennan Vineyards and the other to insurance and investment broker Bart Johnson, a regular customer. Johnson said when Harris called him about buying a sandwich, he knew it was the right thing to do.
''It's going to a good cause,'' he said.
Eating it all by himself, though, doesn't seem right, Johnson said.
''I may have to split it in half and have to split it with my best clients,'' he joked.

Vans for Veterans
How to help: Mail checks made payable to the VFW Shuttle Fund to Bank of America, 1 Center Ave., Brownwood, Texas 76801.
For more information: Call Cookie James at the Brownwood VA Memorial Clinic, (325) 641-0568, Ext. 58614 or at (325) 642-4264.

source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4798216,00.html
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UPDATE: June 27, 2006

The third sandwich just sold for $ 500.00. A lady from Sweetwater Texas read the ARNews article and contacted me Saturday. Her check (made out directly to VFW Shuttle Fund) for $ 500.00 arrived today. Any predictions on what the final two sandwiches will sell for ? That brings the total raised so far to $ 800.00 !
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UPDATE: Wednesday June 28, 2006
News Fund-raising for veterans vans gaining momentum

By Curtis Elliott and Candace Cooksey Fulton — Brownwood Bulletin

A $500 donation from the Downtown Brownwood Lions Club is the latest contribution in a campaign to buy new vans for veterans who need transportation to regional VA clinics.
The three-month-old drive to replace two aging vans, each with more than 200,000 miles registered on their odometers, is gaining momentum with a variety of fund-raising activities this week.
Fund-raisers are now under way at Steves’ Deli, Runaway Train Restaurant and Honey Bee, and, said Billy Murphey, Brown County Veterans Service Officer, Underwood’s is also holding a fund-raiser.
From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Wendlee Broadcasting will hold a drive-through fund-raiser. Veterans will be at the stations’ parking lot in the 600 block of Fisk to accept donations.
David Carroll, representing the Downtown Brownwood Lions Club, made the presentation to Murphey on Tuesday.
The campaign has raised between $11,500 and $15,000, with a goal of $45,000.
“We’ve been raising the funds for the last three months,” Murphey said. “We’re looking to purchase two shuttle vans. They hold about 15 passengers.”
Murphey said new vehicles are needed to take veterans from the VA clinic here to Temple and Waco medical centers.
Each month, the vans are driven 8,100 miles and transport approximately 220 patients. The vans currently in use are 5 and 6 years old, respectively. Cookie James, the volunteer shuttle coordinator for the Brownwood VA clinic said the veterans administration does not provide the vans, but does provide all the maintenance, insurance, rules, safety measures and fuel.
Steve Harris, co-owner at Steves’ Market and Deli, said they began taking donations at the deli three months ago after the Bulletin ran a story about the critical need for the new replacement vans.
“Cookie (James) quote that ‘Yellow ribbons and prayer vigils show we love and support our veterans, but if these vans could be made a priority, that’s really proving to them that we do appreciate what they have done for our country,’ made us stop and consider what we could do,” Harris said.
To contribute to the drive, Harris said the deli is offering a special gourmet $150 sandwich, hoping to sell five sandwiches this week.
Two sold, then Harris said, on Tuesday he received a check for $ 500 “from a dear lady in Sweetwater, Texas, for one sandwich, which will be delivered to a Brownwood WWII veteran.”
An account has been set up at the local Bank of America, located at 1 Center Ave. in Brownwood. James said if a donor needs to have a 501 3-C charitable deduction, checks should be made payable to the VFW Shuttle Fund. Otherwise checks can be written to Veterans’ Shuttle Fund.
Those wishing to mail their donations can send them (attention Cookie James) to the Brown County VA Clinic, 2600 Memorial Park Dr., Brownwood, TX 76801.

For more information, call James at the volunteer office, 641-0568 (Ext. 58614) or at 642-4264.
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/28/news/news03.txt
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UPDATE: Wednesday June 28, 2006

@ 8:50am this morning Kinky Friedman (a call-in guest) pledged/purchased a sandwich for $ 500.00 over the airwaves of Central Texas on KXYL 96.9 FM to help fund the Brown County VA Van Fund ! I don't think anyone who knows Kinky would be surprised at his willingness to put his money where his heart is !
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UPDATE: On Wednesday afternoon ( June 28, 2006 ) the fifth sandwich was purchased at the Deli for $ 150.00. This brings the total raised for the Five (5) Sandwiches to $ 1,450.00 which will be presented to the VFW Shuttle Fund Next Week. Our sincere appreciation to all who have participated in this fundraiser. We know we could not have not accomplished our goal without you.
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UPDATE: Friday June 30, 2006

News - Military veterans, businesses join to raise funds for VA Clinic shuttle

By Candace Cooksey Fulton — Brownwood Bulletin

Veterans sitting in a parking lot at 600 Fisk Ave. taking donations toward the purchase of two shuttle vans don’t mind the heat so much.
On Thursday, the half-dozen or so sitting under the awning in the Wendlee Broadcasting parking lot had in mind the bigger picture.
“I ride the shuttle if I have to go to the VA doctors in Temple,” said Bill Walker, who served with the 101st Airborne in the 1950s. “If that van would break down on the highway one of these hot summer days, there would be passengers — some of our veterans — who would die before they could get the ambulance to them and get them to the hospital.”
“I think if anyone in America, anyone in this state or anyone in this county would think of the tragedy that could happen, they’d do everything they could to avoid it,” said Al Moore, a veteran of the U.S. Army.
“Those guys, some are on walkers, some are on respirators, if they got stranded out on the highway, it would be a terrible, terrible thing, and we know that,” finished Bill Hudgins, an Army and Navy Reserve vet.
Replacing the 5- and 6-year-old vans, each with more than 200,000 miles registered on the odometers, is a goal of the veterans and a growing group of citizens. Three months into the drive, only about $10,000 of the needed $45,000 had been raised. Last week a letter read on air from a veteran pushed the fund-drive into high gear, with an accelerated goal of raising the last $35,000 by the Fourth of July.
All week, veterans are manning the post on Fisk Avenue so that donors can drive into the lot and drop their donations in a jar. The veterans will be there today, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., and maybe on Monday, though they didn’t know for sure.
“It’s come in fits and spurts,” said Hank Upfold, an Army veteran volunteering on Thursday, along with his wife Kittie and their 12-year-old granddaughter, soon to be their adopted daughter. “We’ll get two or three cars come by in a matter of minutes, then we’ll wait maybe 30 minutes for the next car. We’re not complaining, though. We’re doing what we can to get our veterans, the people who served this country and sacrificed for this country, the shuttle vans. We need these vans.”
Kittie Upfold said, “Our vets have some serious health problems. A lot of times they’re sick when they go, but after their chemo or dialysis, or some other treatment, they’ll be a whole lot sicker coming back.”
A number of local businesses are helping with the fund drive, including Steves’ Market and Deli, Runaway Train Restaurant, Honey Bee and Underwood’s, said Billy Murphey, Brown County Veterans Service Officer.
Steve Harris, a co-owner of Steves’ Market and Deli, said his plan to make five $150 sandwiches and contribute all of the money to the shuttle van fund has snowballed. The first two sandwiches were purchased for $150, then a third person, living in Sweetwater, sent a $500 check asking that the sandwich be delivered to a World War II veteran, a longtime friend. The next morning, Harris called into the radio station when Texas governor candidate Kinky Friedman was on air, and Friedman offered $500 for the fourth sandwich.
“We’ve sold all five sandwiches, and have a total of $1,450 that will go to the shuttle van fund,” Harris said. “But I’ve got the ingredients, and I can make more sandwiches if someone — anyone — would like to buy one.”
Dubbed the “Brown County Club Sandwich,” Harris said the specialty has grilled tenderloin medallions marinated in Brennan Vineyards Cabernet (Pat Brennan purchased one of the sandwiches) and Sauvignon and Farouk & Friedman (as in Kinky Friedman) Olive Oil and spices; Brown County farm-raised tomatoes and onions; cheese from the Mozzarella Co., Dallas; and organic greens tossed in a roasted raspberry chipotle vinaigrette, for Fischer and Wieser of Fredericksburg. The sandwich will be served with exotic vegetable chips from Terra and, he said, laughing, he’ll throw in a drink from the deli at no extra charge.
An account has been set up at the local Bank of America, located at 1 Center Ave. in Brownwood. James said if a donor needs to have a 501 3-C charitable deduction, checks should be made payable to the VFW Shuttle Fund. Otherwise checks can be written to Veterans’ Shuttle Fund.
Those wishing to mail their donations can send them (attention Cookie James) to the Brown County VA Clinic, 2600 Memorial Park Dr., Brownwood, TX 76801.
For more information, call James at the volunteer office, 641-0568 (Ext. 58614) or at 642-4264.

source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/30/news/news04.txt
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UPDATE - July 4, 2006

Veterans hoping to meet fundraiser goal today to purchase 2 vans
By Celinda Emison / emisonc@reporternews.com - Abilene Reporter News
July 4, 2006

Veterans, Kinky Friedman and a $500 sandwich all helped with the purchase of two vans to transport Brown County veterans to medical appointments in Temple and Waco.
An S.O.S. call to the community more than a week ago, issued by a local radio show host, had netted $28,800 in contributions by Monday.
That's close to the $35,000 goal, but not close enough for Mike Cope, host of KXYL's NewsTalk (96.9 FM) morning show, which initiated the fervor for the cause. When Cope announced the donations drive, he set today as the deadline.''We need for folks to step up to the plate and donate - we're not there yet,'' Cope said. ''We need an 11th hour miracle today.''Cookie James, volunteer shuttle coordinator for the county's veterans clinic, said $45,000 is needed to replace two vans. A total of $12,100 had been raised prior to the recent campaign.
Kim Porter of the Runaway Train Cafe raised more than $500 for the cause. Saturday night. She announced that Denzel and Lisa Flood won a raffle for dinner for eight at the eatery.
Billy and Tina Powers helped Mary Graves, owner of Mary's Place, take in more than $700 in donations for the veterans vans in one week.
Steve Harris of Steves' Market and Deli has raised more than $1,450 for the cause. C.L. ''Spud'' Butler, a Brownwood veteran of World War II and Korea, was the first to bite into a $500 sandwich Saturday, thanks to a donation by his classmate, Peggy Faver of Sweetwater.
''It was a needful thing,'' Faver said of her gift.
Butler said he enjoyed every bite.
''It was out of this world,'' Butler said Monday.
Last week, gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman matched Faver's donation for the $500 sandwich made with grilled beef tenderloin marinated in cabernet sauvignon from the Brennan Vineyards in Comanche and a special raspberry chipotle sauce.
Other $150 donors plan to bite into the gourmet sandwich this week, including Bart Johnson, Barry, Katy and Ian Creek, and Dr. Pat Brennan of Brennan Vineyards.
''This is all about the community working together,'' Harris said.

VANS FOR VETERANS
How to help: Mail checks made payable to the VFW Shuttle Fund to Bank of America, 1 Center Ave., Brownwood, Texas 76801.
For more information: Call Cookie James at the Brownwood VA Memorial Clinic, (325) 641-0568, Ext. 58614 or at (325) 642-4264.

source: http://reporternews.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4821049,00.html

Brownwood's Yellow Ribbons, Prayer Vigils & Veterans' Vans: Missing the mark !

first story

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Tuesday June 20, 2006

News
Veterans’ vans project lagging
By Candace Cooksey Fulton — Brownwood Bulletin

Only about a quarter of the money needed to buy two shuttle vans used to transport disabled veterans has been raised.
And every day the need becomes more critical to replace the aging and high mileage vans currently in use, said Cookie James, volunteer coordinator for the Brownwood VA clinic.
James said Monday, approximately $12,300 has been raised through donations.
“Our goal, of course, is to raise $45,000,” James said. “We realize with the tough times, maybe people aren’t in the position to donate much more than they have, and we’re working on several fund-raisers.”
One in the very near future is a car wash, sponsored by the Police Explorers, July 8, in the Firestone Tire and Service parking lot, 509 Commerce Square.
“If we cannot raise the money, really, very soon,” said James, “we may have to do without, and I just don’t know how that’s going to be possible.”
James said the shuttle vans are in operation Monday through Friday, departing from the clinic at 7:30 each morning and transporting disabled veterans to the Temple and Waco VA hospitals for their appointments. Volunteers make the daily drives.
Each month, the vans are driven 8,100 miles and transport approximately 220 patients. The vans currently in use are 5 and 6 years old, respectively, had have 215,000 and 193,000 miles on them. James said the veterans administration does not provide the vans, but does provide all the maintenance, insurance, rules, safety measures and fuel.
“Once the vans get as high mileage as the two we have, then the maintenance costs start to go up,” James said. “The VA is currently running on a $35,000 deficit and the budget cuts are expected to continue.
“The elimination of services, such as the shuttle, would only alleviate a small part of the budget crisis,” James said, “but just the same it’s understandable the VA won’t or can’t pay for new vans.”
So many veterans depend on the shuttle, James said, that she feels if more people understood the urgency, the money could be raised.
“A lot of our veterans are under doctor’s orders not to drive. We take some to the clinic who are on chemo, and maybe going there they’ll seem OK, but coming back they’re very sick. Some of the ones who use the shuttle are not supposed to drive at all because their diabetes is out of control,” James said.
“Yellow ribbons and prayer vigils show we love and support our veterans, but if these vans could be made a priority, that’s really proving to them that we do appreciate what they have done for our country.”
James said that once the vans are purchased, they will be signed over to the veterans administration so they can be insured, maintained and operated. The VA decides when it’s time for replacement, and that time “has arrived,” she said.
An account has been set up at the local Bank of America, located at 1 Center Ave. in Brownwood. James said if a donor needs to have a 501 3-C charitable deduction, checks should be made payable to the VFW Shuttle Fund. Otherwise checks can be written to Veterans’ Shuttle Fund.
Those wishing to mail their donations can send them (attention Cookie James) to the Brown County VA Clinic, 2600 Memorial Park Dr., Brownwood, TX 76801.

For more information, call James at the volunteer office, 641-0568 (Ext. 58614) or at 642-4264.

source:http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/20/news/news03.txt
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which leads to the creation of the $ 500.00 Brown County Club Sandwich

Kinky Friedman: A Breath of Fresh Air for Brown County Texas !

Carlos Guerra: Kinky: Less a humorous interruption than a breath of fresh air

Web Posted: 06/18/2006 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News

One day with Kinky Friedman convinced me that he is mining a rich vein of popular discontent about politics-as-usual, with startling success. But his quest isn't just a novel interruption of politics-as-usual; he is reviving what once made elections important: voicing regular folks' concerns; offering common-sense, common-man solutions — with humor.
Greeting me outside his hotel, he paused to oblige two guests who wanted pictures with him when a woman stepped off an airport van and repeated what the two men had said earlier: "Kinky! I'm voting for you."
"I love that they don't say, 'Good to meet you,'" he said later. "They say, 'I'm voting for you.'"
Arriving unannounced at Guajillo's, packed with a mostly Latino lunch crowd, the astonished owner, Carlos Barajas, pledged his support before escorting us to "a quiet table," an eight-minute trip because patrons kept stopping Kinky, including one who wanted an address "to send you money" and who advised: "Don't let (Perry) keep it quiet and you'll win."
"I'm 61, too young for Medicare and too old for women to care," Kinky said when I asked his age, and then launched into 90 minutes of quips punctuated by surprisingly cogent policy discussions.
Public schools' failure is the biggest issue, he said, so he will end the TAKS test and give teachers the pay and respect they deserve, funding much of it with legalized casinos so that Texans will stop funding other states' schools. Health care for children and seniors is next in importance.
"Texas is probably the richest state after California," he said. "Why are we dead last in so many things? The only thing Rick Perry's done is make George W. Bush look smart," he jabbed before noting that the last school-tax bill is a shell game plan adopted only after years during which Perry led lawmakers into repeatedly outlawing gay marriage while public schools sank to new lows.
But voters' greatest concern, he says, is the vast chasm that has grown between regular folk and a two-party system that "spent $100 million in the last governor's election to make sure that only 29 percent of us voted."
He connects with Texans, Friedman says, because they know he isn't a politician and he's honest.
Publicly funded campaigns must replace pay-to-play politics to level the playing field, he adds, and as governor, he'll hire the best people instead of the biggest contributors.
"I'll get people who know about the problem and who are passionate about fixing the problem," he says earnestly.
On what he said was "an off day," wherever we went Kinky readily obliged greeters — who recognized the frizzy man with a cigar, black hat and "preacher's coat" and stopped him to shake hands — and shared a laugh with them.
In the evening, he took one last puff off his stogy while standing next to a dumpster behind a North Side bookstore before walking inside, where 200 people eagerly were awaiting a "reading" from his 23rd book, "Cowboy Logic" (more than 100 had tickets to get his signature). It was his most difficult book, he says, since it is a life-long collection of purloined material.
Early into a five-way race that will be won by the top vote-getter, Kinky believes the polls understate his support because "they're only polling people who voted in the last governor's race, and those aren't the people out for me."
But the latest poll showed him second among likely voters, too. Watch out.

To contact Carlos Guerra, call (210) 250-3545 or e-mail cguerra@express-news.net. His column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA061806.1B.guerra.12b2ae5.html

June 2006 SM&D Garden Award

June 2006 SM&D Garden Award
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

Swimming for those who served

Austinites to swim the Strait of Gibraltar to benefit disabled veterans.

By Matthew Obernauer

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, June 18, 2006

Somewhere in the water, the man that David Broyles was, and had always been, disappeared forever. And in his place, a new man — an Air Force man, a pararescueman, a PJ — emerged.
The instructor would holler, and he would go — swim 50 yards underwater, come to the surface, recite the pararescueman's mission, 50 yards back underwater. Do it again.
Eighty-two airmen began pararescueman training, or PJU, with Broyles. Two years later, only one other finished with him. Over the next two years, Broyles completed three combat tours, one in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, two in Iraq, fulfilling the parajumper's motto: "That Others May Live."
But it was in training that his mettle was forged — not by fire, but by water — and in the water, it will be tested again.
Next month, Broyles and Army National Guardsman Rush Vann will attempt to become the 16th and 17th Americans to swim the Strait of Gibraltar, 12.5 miles from Spain to Morocco. They are attempting to raise $100,000 for the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, a charity that helps severely wounded and disabled military veterans rebuild their lives. So far, nearly $35,000 has been raised. But for Austinites Broyles, who left the Air Force in November, and Vann, who will begin training in October to become an Army Special Forces officer, the swim is also about serving others while testing their own limits. It's a sense of fulfillment that Broyles said he felt nearly every day as a PJ but has struggled to find since.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Broyles was at his father's home in Austin, sleeping off a party from the night before. His dad shook him awake.
"You need to come down and see this," he said.
For much of his senior year at the University of Texas, Broyles was like many college students, struggling to find direction in a life he considered self-centered and trivial.
The military, he thought, might offer a chance to be part of something bigger than himself. Both of his grandfathers had served, and his father, screenwriter William Broyles Jr., had chronicled his time as a combat Marine in Vietnam in a memoir, "Brothers in Arms."
Watching the burning towers on television confirmed his decision.
"I think we kind of knew then because we had talked about it before," Broyles said. "Pretty much right afterwards, I said I wanted to sign up."
To date, 2,795 U.S. soldiers have been killed in the operations in and around Afghanistan and Iraq, according to U.S. Department of Defense statistics. Another 19,248 have been wounded, 8,963 of those so severely that they could not return to duty. Kenny Adams is one of them.
Adams was 21 when he joined the Army in 2002. His activities between graduation from Stratford High School in Houston and military enlistment consisted of a little bit of working and a whole lot of partying. He had never left the state of Texas.
But Adams wanted more — to see the world, earn money for college and mostly, he said, to "do something with myself, so I could be something."
The Army offered him that chance.
Adams trained at Fort Knox, Ky., to be a cavalry scout. He visited nearly every state in the nation, though he rarely saw anything but the airports. He was sent to Italy, Kurdistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan; he marveled at the mountains and deserts, and the culture of those who lived there.
As a private first class in Afghanistan operations after the Sept. 11 attacks, Adams, now 24, performed reconnaissance missions, rode as a gunner on a Humvee and squeezed through caves in search of al Qaeda fighters.
"I had to crawl through caves the size of a toilet bowl. I had a 9-millimeter, grenades, (an) M4 Carbine (assault rifle) and a Maglite flashlight," Adams said. "I was Rambo."
Broyles chose Air Force pararescue because of the difficulty of the unit's two-year training program and because of its mission to save lives as opposed to taking them.
He became trained in every manner of rescue, on any terrain.
"One day you might be jumping out of a plane," he said. "The next you might be hanging from the hoist cable of a helicopter, and the other you might be setting up a rope system on a high-angle rock face." Broyles, a senior airman, came under frequent attack but never lost a team member during a mission. During night operations, tracer fire would shear the darkness, and the team could often see blobs of light coming from anti-aircraft weapons. Once, after a mission, a friend in another helicopter stepped out of the chopper only to notice several bullet holes just above where his head had been.
But other times, when the land below was peaceful, its beauty emerged.
"You go from an absolute empty desert, desolate, to the rivers with beautiful, green, lush foliage and trees," Broyles said. "The desert was kind of a cleansing effect. Things were very clear. . . . All the B.S. of modern life, the ton of extra things that kind of piled up on you — when I was out there, it felt like that all kind of peeled away."
Adams doesn't remember anything about Jan. 17, 2004.
On that day in Kandahar, Afghanistan, after returning from an exhausting mission, he sat next to another soldier in his unit while the man was cleaning his gun. The magazine was still loaded in the weapon, and when his comrade pressed against the trigger, a bullet shattered Adams' face, entering through his left cheek and blowing out both eyes before exiting his skull through the right frontal lobe.
Few had any hope for his survival. While Adams lay in a coma for weeks, Army officials expedited his retirement so his wife, Katie, could immediately begin receiving widow's benefits.
When he finally woke up in Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, Adams said, "I popped my head up and couldn't see nothing. That's when the doctor told me I was blind."
He also suffered a brain injury from the bullet's exit. He struggled to relearn basic life functions — walking (with a cane), eating and swallowing, going to the bathroom, "everything but curse. I still knew how to do that," he said.
Even as he improved, his wife said, he remained fearful of being alone in crowded places and wary of people he couldn't see but thought might be watching him. Caring for her husband became Katie's primary job.
Later that year, the Adamses were invited by the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes to attend a Road to Recovery conference at Disney World, a much needed respite for the couple, who had hastily married on New Year's Eve 2002, one month after he joined the Army. Soon after the conference, the coalition selected the Adamses to be among six families to receive a $200,000 grant for a disability accessible home. The Adamses' grant went toward a home in Katy with talking alarm systems, wheelchair-accessible hallways and doors, and guardrails along the stairs.
Last August, with donations from area wedding coordinators, the coalition threw Kenny and Katie a second wedding with friends, family, a Fort Hood honor guard and several other disabled soldiers in attendance.
"It was a recommitment to his injury and the new life we were leading," Katie said.
Being a pararescueman was more than a job, Broyles said. "It is an identity; it's a lifestyle."
After Broyles was discharged, the memories of his missions and fellow PJs still clung to him, like desert sand in his boots. Over four years, his team members had become his brothers, bonded by shared purpose. But those days are past, and back home, it is difficult for people to comprehend the depth of feeling he has for his experiences.
No longer in the military, he still doesn't feel like a civilian.
"It's like you grew up in a house for a long time, and you have certain ideas and memories about it. Then you leave. And when you come back, it doesn't really fit the ideas you had," Broyles said.
"I want to find a balance between the man I was before I was in the military and the man I was while I was in it," he said. "And that's the struggle."
In January, Broyles was in the waters of Australia's Sydney Harbour, swimming in the shadows of the Harbour Bridge and the famed Opera House, when he decided to make the benefit swim.
It is a challenge that reflects Broyles' life as a parajumper: a test of strength and will, combined with a mission of moral clarity.
The coalition charity has agreed to allocate 100 percent of all donations raised through the strait swim to direct service for severely wounded and disabled veterans.
The men will begin on one continent and end on another, swimming against currents so strong that at times it will seem as though they are swimming in place. They will swim for up to seven hours past large, fast-moving ships and through the shark-inhabited waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Broyles called Vann, whom he had met at UT when both were training for the military. "It was like 3 in the morning" when he called, said Vann, a native of Fort Worth. "At first I thought he was halfway kidding."
But it didn't take long for Vann to join the new mission.
The wounded veterans "deserve more than a half-assed fundraiser and a bar tab," said Vann, who worked as a civil engineer in Austin before leaving in May to prepare full time for the swim.
"It takes more to wake people up and show why this is important and necessary. And the swim is very symbolic of the recovery these guys make."
Today, Adams spends much of his time at the Blind Rehabilitation Center in Waco, one of 10 such centers in the nation for veterans. He is one of the youngest veterans at the center and one of the first to arrive with injuries suffered in the Afghanistan or Iraq war.
The staff is teaching him to use a talking computer to send e-mail and access the Internet.
"People come here because they want to learn, so we get the best of the best," said Rose Zuniga, acting chief of the rehab center. When she first met the Adamses, "they were clinging to each other, because that's what they had. Now, they're learning to be more independent as well."
Adams is a different man now, his wife said. Her quiet and reserved husband has turned into a prankster.
"I'll stand there next to you and beat you with my cane for the hell of it," he said. "And you can't do anything about it. Because if you hit me, that's (messed) up because you hit a blind person."
His partying days are over; he can't drink beer because of the possibility of seizures. Some things still make him very tired. Other things still make him very scared.
Three weeks ago, he traveled to Arlington National Cemetery to bury a close friend who was killed by a roadside bomb outside of Baghdad, Iraq. At those moments, Adams said, he wishes he could have been there to protect his buddy.
Broyles and Adams have spoken several times, most recently this week, to share updates on the training for the strait swim and on Adams' rehabilitation. Vann and Broyles have each spoken to dozens of disabled veterans and accompanied them on group outings to the Texas Sports Expo and a Texas Rangers baseball game.
The Adamses regularly attend coalition meetings, helping plan fundraising events for other injured soldiers. For now, those activities are Kenny's best way of supporting those who are still on the front lines.
"I know even though I'm blind, I can still do something," he said. "Whatever I can do to help, I want to do it — even if have to dance like an Oompa-Loompa."
Or swim a sea.

How to help
The Coalition to Salute America's Heroes is a tax-exempt charity that since 2004 has helped nearly 1,500 severely wounded veterans and their families by providing emergency financial aid, homes accessible to those with disabilities and employment services. The group raised $4.3 million in 2004, 83 percent of which went directly to benefit clients. Officials say the portion of money that goes to serving clients rose to 91 percent in 2005.
The coalition was founded by activist Roger Chapin, who has created several nonprofit organizations to aid veterans. In the 1960s, Chapin led the effort to send gift packs to the front lines in Vietnam. In the 1970s, he founded Help for Hospitalized Veterans, which has supplied more than 20 million arts and crafts kits to hospitals. For more information or to donate, visit

source: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/18broyles.html

Swimthestrait06

Cher: Supporting the Troops

Cher attends hearing on soldiers' helmets

6/15/2006, 3:54 p.m. PT
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The subject was whether to modify helmets for soldiers in Iraq, but all eyes were on Cher. As photographers clicked away, the singer and actress entered a Capitol Hill hearing room through a back door 20 minutes after the session was scheduled to start. The hearing soon got under way.

Cher has donated more than $130,000 to the group Operation Helmet, which pays about $100 to modify the inside of soldiers' helmets to make them better able to absorb shock from a bomb blast.

Cher, wearing a white lace top under a black pant suit, looked solemn as she sat behind the group's founder, Dr. Bob Meaders, while he testified. Meaders said she didn't want to cause a distraction by testifying herself.
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, noted that Cher's ex-husband, the late Rep. Sonny Bono, had served on the subcommittee. He called it a "special irony and really great tribute" to have her there.
The Army now equips its soldiers with padded helmets designed to be shock absorbent. The Marine Corps has commissioned a study to determine whether to change its helmets but has said the ones Marines use now are effective.

source: http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-8/115041271781100.xml&storylist=ormusic
---------------

Cher

Great to see Texas Republicans Waking Up to Perry's Spinning !

Republicans give the governor pennies as their thoughts
Web Posted: 06/16/2006 12:00 AM CDT

Gary Scharrer
Express-News Austin bureau

AUSTIN — Some longtime Texas Republicans are expressing displeasure with Gov. Rick Perry by literally giving him their 2 cents' worth in campaign contributions.
More than a dozen have opened their checkbooks to make contributions of less than a nickel and in some cases, only a penny.
They want their small donations to make a big statement.
"The whole country is waking up. I really think there's going to be a revolution because people are sick and tired," Mary Bean of Rosenberg said. "People are sick and tired of all this bickering and not getting a damn thing done."
Perry did push a school funding reform bill through the Legislature last month that kept the Texas Supreme Court from closing public schools after June 1. But some of Perry's fellow Republicans are miffed he supported a new business tax to make it happen.
"I was really mad that he started this new business tax," Bean said after sending a contribution check for 1 cent.
A lifelong Republican, Bean said she'll vote for maverick independent Kinky Friedman.
Perry's latest campaign contribution report filed this week listed 15 Houston-area donors who gave 5 cents or less. Some said they got the idea from radio talk show host Edd Hendee, who is part of KSEV's lineup. The station owner is Dan Patrick, who also has fired up listeners against the governor's school and tax reform plan. Patrick won the GOP nomination this spring for a Houston-area state Senate seat.
Perry's campaign put the best possible spin on the unusual political contributions.
"The governor appreciates every contribution — large and small," Perry spokesman Robert Black said, declining further comment.
The miniscule protest contributions will end up costing the Perry campaign as those checks have automatically landed the contributors on a mailing list for campaign literature they're now receiving.Most Texas businesses will face new taxes on gross receipts with deductions for either the cost of goods purchased for resale or for payroll expenses, including employee benefits.
"This business tax is an abomination," said Claire Ronneburger of Houston. "It's very wrong to tax businesses on their gross numbers when they may not make a profit at all. It's going to put people out of business."
She also sent Perry 1 cent. She said she might skip voting in the gubernatorial race. Voting for Friedman was not an option for her.
"That's just too far in some direction — I'm not sure what direction," she said.
Perry and his supporters argue the new business tax is not a net tax increase because it will help pay for $15.7 billion worth of cuts in school property taxes over the next three years.
But that message didn't mollify retiree Sam Haskett of Simonton, who reacted in an extreme way when the governor spoke to him via a TV commercial that touted new law.
"I threw a shoe at my TV, and my wife got mad at me," he said. "But it was an old TV, and it's terrible what he's doing."
Haskett, also a 1-cent contributor, described himself as a conservative and complained, "the Republican Party is not conservative anymore."
Perry has an outside chance of regaining Haskett's support if "the governor makes some amends of some sort."
Lisa Stapp of Spring said those trying to make a statement with tiny campaign contributions can be described either as "a den of malcontents" or "people who care about the state of the state."
"We're not idiots. We can see the games that they are playing," she said.
The new tax on businesses will reach into people's pockets, Stapp said. "Businesses don't get their money from UFO's that I know of."
The GOP-leaning voter said she has no idea who to support in November: "At this point, I'm ready to vote for myself."
Rhonda Arcemont, of Hockley, said she wrote letters and made phone calls in a futile effort to keep the governor from signing the new tax bill into law.
"What my 2 cents is trying to say to Gov. Rick Perry is to vote "No" on the business tax. It's a bad thing for Texas," she said. "I felt that my hands were tied so this was a last-ditch effort" to get attention.
Another Friedman-leaning supporter, Arcemont said she still would vote for Republicans "except for Perry."

gscharrer@express-news.net
source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA061606.01A.small_money.1a28539.html

Juneteenth Brownwood

read more here

and here

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Saturday June 17, 2006

News
Freedom Celebration — Luncheon kicks off Juneteenth weekend events
By Candace Cooksey Fulton — Brownwood Bulletin

Freedom is a fine thing to celebrate.
And at Friday’s “Soul Food” luncheon, the kickoff event for this weekend’s annual Juneteenth celebration, Adelia Houston Kirk said, “I don’t think you can celebrate your freedom too much.
“People ask me all the time, ‘Why don’t blacks celebrate the Fourth of July?’ ‘We do celebrate the Fourth of July,’ I tell them, ‘but history reminds us that blacks were still enslaved when the U.S. obtained its freedom.’”
Juneteenth, which is the contracted name for June 19, is a celebration of freedom for African-Americans in Texas and several other southern states. The holiday commemorates the announcement Union Gen. Gordon Granger made June 19, 1865, in Galveston, letting citizens know that the Civil War had ended two months before, and that two and a half years before that, President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the United States.
“Juneteenth symbolizes the end of slavery,” Kirk said. “Juneteenth has come to symbolize for many African Americans what the Fourth of July symbolizes for all Americans — freedom.”
But Juneteenth could — and should — have an added and deeper meaning for all Americans, Kirk added.
“Juneteenth serves as a historical milestone reminding Americans of the triumph of the human spirit over the cruelty of slavery,” she said.
Due to the minimal Union presence in the region, slaves and slave holders had been essentially unaffected by Lincoln’s efforts to free the slaves. June 19 — which was quickly shortened to “Juneteenth” among celebrants — has become the African-American addendum to Independence Day.
Friday’s “Soul Food” lunch was the kick off for the weekend’s activities. Today, there will be a parade in downtown Brownwood, leaving from the coliseum at 11 a.m. Then, at Cecil Holman Park, all kinds of activities will continue, including a Miss Juneteenth Pageant this evening, and a Juneteenth program from 1 p.m. until 1:30 p.m.
The state of Texas made Juneteenth an official holiday on Jan. 1, 1980, and Monday, most state offices will be closed. In Brown County, however, county offices will be open. The holiday is promoted not only as a commemoration of African-American freedom, but as an example and encouragement of self-development and respect for all cultures.

source: http://brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/17/news/news02.txt
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Juneteenth events and more beckon

“In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. ... The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.”— Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress, Dec. 1, 1862

By Candace Cooksey Fulton — Brownwood Bulletin

Here it is. Another amazing day in the “Brown-Town” and surrounding areas has just arrived and is waiting to be tried on for size. From activities at Riverside Park, offered by Parents Without Partners the farmer’s market downtown, to “B-I-N-G-O” and a country musical hosted by the Lake Brownwood Lions Club, to the rodeo at Zephyr.
How’s that for an “A” to “Z” lineup? Activities is an a-word and Zephyr starts with Z. It’s not every Saturday that the consonants are so cooperative, you know.
Of course, let’s not forget to mention the doings and chewings at Cecil Holman Park in celebration of Juneteenth. The real “Juneteenth” (June 19) is Monday, but this is the weekend closest to the date, and there’s lots of fun for everyone planned as part of the event.
Don’t you love a parade?
Well, the Juneteenth celebration would hardly be a celebration without one. If you’re a parade participant, show up at the coliseum at 10 a.m. If you’re coming to watch, the step off time is 11 a.m. from the coliseum. The parade follows the traditional downtown route (across on Baker, down to the courthouse, down Center and back up Fisk), ending back up where it started.
Juneteenth’s still jumping
After the parade, the activities will continue at Cecil Holman Park and include (but are not limited to) concession stands, scheduled to open at noon; then from 1 until 1:30 p.m., a Juneteenth program is planned. Other activities include children’s relays and activities, an “Old School vs New School” softball game and, on this evening, a Juneteenth pageant naming Miss Juneteenth (from contestants ages 13 to 19) and Little Miss Juneteenth (contestants ages 9 to 12). Also, the announcement of the 2006 scholarship recipient will be made.
source: http://brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/17/news/news03.txt

........and in Brownwood the Poll would include ?

What tourist attraction do you think most appeals to visitors to the Waco area ?
A) Texas Ranger Hall of Fame
B) Mayborn Museum
C) Dr Pepper Museum
D) Cameron Park and zoo
E) Crawford, the home of George W. Bush
F) Branch Davidian compound
G) Brazos River and Lake Waco
H) Texas Sports Hall of Fame

source: http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/homepage/home_poll.html

Have you seen/read this ?

watch Bush's performance here

-----------------

Bush needles vision-impaired reporter, apologizes
By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush, who often teases members of the White House press corps, apologized Wednesday after he poked fun at a reporter for wearing sunglasses without realizing they were needed for vision loss.
The exchange occurred at a news conference in the Rose Garden.
Bush called on Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten and asked if he was going to ask his question with his "shades" on.
"For the viewers, there's no sun," Bush said to the television cameras.
But even though the sun was behind the clouds, Wallsten still needs the sunglasses because he has Stargardt's disease, a form of macular degeneration that causes progressive vision loss. The condition causes Wallsten to be sensitive to glare, and even on a cloudy day the light can cause pain and increase the loss of sight.
Wallsten said Bush called his cellphone later to apologize and tell him that he didn't know he had the disease. Wallsten said he interrupted and told the president that no apology was necessary and that he didn't feel offended since he hadn't told anyone at the White House about his condition.
"He said, 'I needle you guys out of affection,'" Wallsten said. "I said, 'I understand that, but I don't want you to treat me any differently because of this.'"
Wallsten said the president said he would not treat him differently, so Wallsten encouraged him to "needle away."
"He said, 'I will. Next time I'll just use a different needle,'" Wallsten said.
Wallsten said his only complaint is that the president didn't answer his question at the news conference.
Wallsten, who has written a book coming out next month titled One Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century, had asked about White House credibility now in the aftermath of top aide Karl Rove's having been cleared in the CIA leak investigation. But Bush said he wouldn't comment with another top White House aide still facing prosecution in the case.
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/14824028.htm

As it is !

Pressures push some soldiers over edge
By Dan K. Thomasson
June 13, 2006

WASHINGTON - Audie Murphy, the most highly decorated American in World War II, said he went crazy when he saw a buddy die, so he went out and killed a lot of German soldiers. Gentle Sgt. Alvin York of World War I responded much the same way.
It seems inevitable that every conflict such as the one being waged in Iraq against faceless forces ultimately produces instances that break the boundaries most Americans believe are acceptable in warfare. So it is less than surprising that a group of Marines is being investigated in connection with the massacre of unarmed civilians in Haditha - killings apparently triggered by the anger of losing one of their own.
Responding with uncivilized ferocity to the threat of a foe indiscernible from everyone else until he suddenly kills you is the quicksand of urban warfare that sometimes sucks even the most disciplined forces into a realm of murderous behavior.
In Korea, it was the docile refugee who paused as he passed by to stick a knife in a GI's back, inflaming his comrades to turn machine guns indiscriminately on the whole group. In Vietnam, whole villages suspected of harboring the enemy were wiped out indiscriminately, blighting whatever nobility there was in being there.
War is hell, William Tecumseh Sherman famously noted. Then he proved it by sending out ''foragers'' who burned and looted the food and possessions of a starving populace. While it helped end the Civil War, it also prolonged the hatred and set back the cause of civil rights for all Americans. Similarly, there can be little denying that every instance of American disdain for the lives and welfare of Iraqi civilians hurts the cause of ensuring peace and prosperity there, delaying the time when U.S. troops can leave Iraq to the Iraqis.
Without condoning or excusing the barbaric, immoral acts that allegedly took place after a roadside bomb ended the life of a fellow Marine, there can be no denying the constant daily pressure that pushes troops over the line. Even the military's effort to prevent such incidents through intensified training can have only partial success in an atmosphere so charged with irrational death and destruction. Seeing one's friend blown apart by an unidentifiable enemy is an everyday occurrence that, when combined with one's own natural fears, tempts young soldiers toward actions they would never entertain otherwise.
Under the circumstances, it is perhaps a miracle that such atrocities don't occur more often. Yet it is not acceptable to blame them simply on stress. The fact that most do resist the urge for revenge and instant retribution denies that alibi to those who don't. The men who followed Lt. William Calley into the eternal hell of the village of My Lai in Vietnam could not legitimately blame it on the stress of the moment. They had blindly accepted an illegal order.
Nor is there any validity in the excuse that these acts are commonplace among other armies, that they go unexposed for the most part. Perhaps some do, but U.S. soldiers aren't supposed to be terrorists. As Americans, we tell ourselves that even in warfare we stand for something better. Noncombatants should have nothing to fear from our GIs. They go after those who commit war crimes.
It is also an attribute of our open society that it produces men and women of conscience who expose those among them who break the rules. The young soldier who revealed the rampant mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib just as those who earlier blew the whistle on My Lai are perfect examples.
The initial reaction of the Marine commanders on the scene was not what one would hope for. There were clear discrepancies in how the civilians had died that they chose to dismiss as the usual confusion. The Pentagon responded quickly when the news broke alleging the methodical assassination of civilians. President Bush - beleaguered already by the lack of progress and continuing casualties in Iraq, and maybe a growing sense that some of what occurred might be the fault of our being there in the first place - promised that those involved would be severely punished.
Meanwhile, new ethics courses for troops engaged in urban fighting have been ordered. Good. But don't expect miracles. It is much easier to fight a war when the enemy wears a uniform.

Dan K. Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.
source: http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/news_opinion_columnist/article/0,1897,SAST_10316_4770445,00.html

Let's Go !

Schoolhouse brews
Historical building specializes in homemade beer

By CONNIE TORRES, ctorres@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8263
June 12, 2006

EOLA - James ''Mark'' Cannon had a few ideas brewing when he bought the Eola school building in 2004.
''I wanted to be a place that has a number of businesses,'' said Cannon, the owner and sole full-time employee of the Eola School Restaurant.
The business opened in June 2004. The building's first-grade classroom was converted into the dining area. The chalkboard remains, serving as the menu, and classroom chairs encircle a few of the square tables.
Eola is 20 miles east of San Angelo.
The school was built in 1928. A gymnasium was added in 1939, almost doubling the size of the facility. The school closed by 1983 and remained vacant until Cannon bought it.
In April, he received a plaque from the National Park Service designating the building as part of the National Register of Historic Places. That same month, he began selling his ''Bright Beer'' from his brewery, which is a few classrooms down from the dining area, for customers to wash down their chicken-fried steak or cheese fries.''We've got seasonal beers,'' Cannon said. ''Right now, it's wheat beer. Everybody loves it.''
Although now a restaurant and brewery, the building still looks like a school inside and out. From the campus' archway entrance to its long square windows to the wooden floors, Cannon said he has only been repairing the school, not transforming it.
His next plan is to make the building's other classrooms into another business.
''I really want to do lodging.'' Cannon said. ''That's my primary goal.''
Why did you add a brewery to the restaurant?
Cannon: I always envisioned having the brewery. It just took this long to get it.
How did you learn to make beer?
I lived in Portland, Ore., for a while and they had a lot of breweries there. I just had an interest in it and hung out there and picked it up.
Do you work alone?
I got a buddy to help me once or twice.
How is ''Bright Beer'' different from other beers?
There's a little bit more flavor. The domestic beers are popular, but they're typically lighter flavored. This beer is a little bit more of a traditional type of beer. But people like that flavor.
How much does ''Bright Beer'' cost?
It's $2 a pint and the one-gallon jug is $16, including the jug itself. It's $6 for the jug itself. So someone could come back with the jug and just pay $10.
How has the brewery been doing so far?
It's been real good. I work day and night to keep it up.
What are your future plans for it?
It's rapidly expanding. It's a thing where I'm really pushing the limit. There's a demand, and I feel the pressure to actually have a product in stock. I foresee it going just straight forward as far as volume goes.


Eola School Restaurant
--Where: 12119 Farm to Market Road 381, Eola.
--Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.
--Telephone: (325) 469-3314.
--Specialty: American food and homemade beer.
source: http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/bu_local/article/0,1897,SAST_4920_4768224,00.html

Down the trail from Brownwood

Camp under review
Operators charged with abusing boy

By PAUL A. ANTHONY, panthony@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8237
June 14, 2006
An unlicensed Quail Valley youth camp is under investigation - and its three operators under arrest - after allegations that the men abused at least one of the 11 boys at the camp.
Jason Brian Baker, 30, Robert James Kelly, 18, and James Edward Esther, 33, were arrested Saturday and remained in the Tom Green County jail on Tuesday, facing one charge each of injury to a child, according to the sheriff's office and jail officials.
The charge specifically relates to the beating of a 13-year-old boy, but investigators believe all 11 boys experienced some kind of physical abuse at U-Turn for Christ, a boot camp for children with discipline and substance-abuse problems, said Truman Richey, Tom Green County chief sheriff's deputy.
''This was not a licensed facility,'' Richey said. ''They had no training, to the best of my knowledge.''
The felony charge is punishable by as much as 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Kelly and Esther are being held in lieu of $150,000 bond, and Baker is being held without bond.
The Residential Child Care Licensing division of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services plans to investigate the facility, said department spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner, adding that operating such a camp without a license is illegal.
The three operators were among four adults affiliated with U-Turn for Christ, Richey said. A pastor affiliated with the camp was out of town this weekend, he said.
Baker, Kelly and Esther are accused of kicking a 13-year-old boy; Baker also is accused of throwing the boy to the ground, where he landed against a pile of rocks, according to affidavits filed Monday in Tom Green County Justice Court.
Investigators are looking into allegations that the men also made the other boys, who range from 12 to 17 years old, stand in a field with little or no water for several hours, Richey said.
Most of the boys live out of state, and Child Protective Services spent the weekend returning the children to their parents, Meisner said.
U-Turn for Christ, at 2065 E. Valley Drive about three miles north of San Angelo, formerly was run with a similar purpose for adults, Richey said, adding that he does not know when it started or when it was converted into a children's facility.
Jail records list the camp's address as the home of Baker, Kelly and Esther.
The camp first came to the attention of sheriff's deputies when a Tom Green County resident driving into San Angelo passed the facility and saw a boy sitting in a field, Richey said. The resident drove past several hours later and saw the same boy sitting in the same field, he said.
source: http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/news_local/article/0,1897,SAST_4956_4773321,00.html

Kudos to the " young Southern Baptist bloggers " .

" The Southern Baptist Convention is rank with nepotism, cronyism, favoritism and a network of political spoils distribution that would make Old Warren blush with shame," Benjamin Cole, a 30-year-old pastor at Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington

source: http://www.religionnewsblog.com/14913
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Frank Page wins SBC presidency in upset over powerbrokers
By Greg Warner
Published June 13, 2006

GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) -- In a major upset, outsider Frank Page of South Carolina was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention over two candidates closely tied to the SBC's conservative power structure.
Page, who described his election as a victory for grassroots Baptists, was elected with 50.48 percent of the vote on a first ballot against Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd and Tennessee pastor Jerry Sutton, both high-profile leaders in the conservative-dominated SBC.
Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., received 2,168 votes, or 24.08 percent. Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., received 2,247 votes, or 24.95 percent. Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., received 4,546 votes -- a mere 65 more than necessary for a first-ballot victory.
Page's election signaled a defeat for the SBC's conservative powerbrokers, who have hand-picked all but one president since 1979. Only Orlando pastor Jim Henry, elected in 1994 and 1995, lacked the endorsement of the SBC's conservative leaders.
Floyd lost despite the endorsement of three SBC seminary presidents, including Paige Patterson, the SBC's most powerful leader. Sutton reportedly had the support of Paul Pressler, another SBC conservative architect.
The surprise election also reflected grassroots dissatisfaction with officers who direct the SBC's work but offer little financial support to its central missions budget, the Cooperative Program. Page's church contributes 12.1 percent of its 2005 undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program. Floyd's church gave 0.27 percent of undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program in 2005 and an additional 1.6 percent to other SBC causes. Sutton's church gave nothing to the CP in 2005 but sent 2.7 percent to SBC causes.
After his election, Page, 53, said he would seek to create a more open Southern Baptist Convention, but added: "I'm not trying to undo a conservative movement that I have supported all these years." He said he would continue the trend of appointing leaders who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible but who also have "a sweet spirit."
"I'm an inerrantist -- I believe in the word of God -- I'm just not mad about it," Page said in a post-election news conference.
"I certainly did not expect to be here, so it is sort of a surreal moment for me," Page, a self-described no-name pastor of a 4,000-member church, told reporters.
He said his election signals a victory for grassroots Baptists who have supported the SBC's conservative movement but not been involved in leadership before. "It means the Southern Baptist Convention belongs to the Lord and his people, ... and we can do together a lot more and a lot better than we can do separately," he said.
A smaller-than-expected crowd of 11,346 messengers were registered at the time of the vote.
But Page's supporters said their candidate benefited from the participation of many messengers previously uninvolved in convention life.
"This election is about the people being heard," said Wade Burleson, an Oklahoma pastor instrumental in Page's election. "Every Baptist counts."
Burleson said the election signaled "a turning point" in Southern Baptist life -- "not theological by any means," but a change in methodology, toward more openness and inclusiveness.
"It's no longer kingmakers; it's the people," said Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla.
"I am more excited about the Southern Baptist Convention today than I have ever been in my life," he said.
Burleson, a trustee of the International Mission Board who has argued against exclusivistic tactics of that agency, was himself considered a possible candidate for president. But his influence, plus that of young Southern Baptist bloggers, was credited with energizing support for Page and for a broadening of SBC leadership.
Page agreed the bloggers, a new phenomenon in SBC politics, made a difference. While the bloggers are few in number, he said, "I think there are a large number of leaders who do read those blogs. I think they played a role beyond their number -- perhaps an inordinant amount of influence given their number -- but they are a growing phenomenon in Southern Baptist life."
Page is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, including a Ph.D. He grew up in Greensboro, site of the Southern Baptist Convention, and likely benefited from regional familiarity.
Page was nominated by Forrest Pollock, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., who said the SBC needs leaders who model support for the Cooperative Program. "You know and I know our Cooperative Program is in trouble. Our convention is in trouble."
"We've got to work together if we're going to accomplish the Great Commission," Pollock said. "We need a leader who has the integrity to stand before us and encourage us to give more."
Floyd was nominated by Johnny Hunt of Woodstock, Ga., who described him as a seasoned and visionary leader who has become personally involved in Baptist missions globally and locally.
Hunt invoked the name of previous SBC President Jerry Vines as supporting Floyd as a candidate of character, integrity and courage whose "commitment to God's Word have never been questioned." He will "lead us into a renewed commitment to Southern Baptist life," Hunt said.
Sutton's nominator, Calvin Whitman of Applewood, Colo., said the Nashville pastor is "above the vulgarities of political wranglings" and has the "moral authority" and "strength of conviction" to lead Southern Baptists.

source: http://www.abpnews.com/1090.article

Big Country HIV/AIDS, Big Country Press and Big Country Blogging !

Wednesday June 14, 2006
Op Ed: Columnists Brownwood Buletin
Pondering the life — and death — of a childhood friend — Bill Crist

He had his reasons, I’m sure, but I never really got an explanation for why I was the last among our group of friends to learn he was gay. I believe I was also the last to learn, only last Sunday, that he died in February as a result of developing acquired immune deficiency syndrome, better known as AIDS. Although we knew he’d picked up the disease, no one I grew up with had any idea he’d gotten as sick as he had. In some ways that’s not surprising, though, because once Drew had “come out” to each of us that he’d grown up with, he pretty much cut ties with us. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I’d spoken to or seen him over the past 18 years.
At any given time, there were five or six of us who lived in the same neighborhood and considered ourselves best friends. Aside from proximity and age, I’m not sure that we had a lot in common, other than that we enjoyed being boys — building forts and treehouses, goofing off, and spending hours finding ways to entertain ourselves. A couple were lifelong (eight years in this case) residents of Arlington, while others of us moved in from the four corners of the country. As we grew a little older and entered high school, we still did many things together, but at the same time we all started growing apart just slightly. There were more opportunities to get involved in activities we enjoyed, such as athletics, theater, honors classes and girlfriends.
More than 22 million people have died from AIDS since the outset of its spread. A virus causes it, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which people can carry for many years before they develop AIDS. There are a number of ways that people contract the virus, and in my friend’s case, he probably picked it up as a result of his lifestyle. And for that reason I have had very conflicted emotions about my feelings about Drew’s situation ever since I learned of his infection.
Did I approve of Drew’s lifestyle? Not really, but how he chose to live his life was his decision to make, not mine. It’s growing more popular to hold people accountable for their actions, particularly as they relate to lifestyle and health. The ongoing conversations about smoking and poor diets — and what society’s responsibility for the treatment of the health problems caused by those two activities should be — don’t have an easy resolution. And in many cases there is no doubt that becoming infected with HIV is the result of a deliberate act by someone, just like choosing to smoke. Who he chose to have a relationship with, and the lifestyle that came with that, could not undo the time we’d spent together growing up and developing our friendship though. I did not approve of what led to the virus, but that didn’t mean I cared any less for the person who had it.
As a Christian heterosexual, it is difficult to have a conversation about homosexuality, or AIDS, in today’s world of extreme points of view. Although it’s been said that 80 percent of Americans fall into what would be considered moderate, approving of various beliefs from both the liberal and conservative point of view, their voices are drowned out on talk radio, on cable television, in blogs and at the coffee shop. Those conversations tend to oversimplify issues, offering only right or wrong, only black or white, positions with no room for a middle ground.
After I learned Drew had contracted HIV, I pulled out an old picture that was taken after our high school Vespers service. In it the two of us, along with another friend, have our arms around each other and are smiling at the camera. When I gave him a copy of it, he joked that it was the kind of picture one of us would have displayed at our funeral. I kept a copy of the photo in my office with some other pictures. I pulled it out again this week after learning of his passing. I doubt it was on display at his funeral, but it’s out on my desk today, leading me to reflect on what was, what is and what may be.
Bill Crist is associate publisher of the Brownwood Bulletin. His column appears on Wednesday. He may be reached by e-mail at bill.crist@brownwoodbulletin.com.

source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/14/op_ed/columnists/opinion04.txt
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Living Lies/Destroying Lives

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Note from Steve Harris: The stories found below, as well as the ones found above, are an example of why I Blog ( Offering another piece of the information pie that is "often" not covered by the local press) ! Is anyone's viewpoint being "drowned out" here ? I offer my condolences to Bill Crist in the loss of his friend Drew.

Navy health officials push condom use

United Press International - April 21, 2005
Pamela Hess, UPI Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- Armed with alarming statistics about unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among sailors and Marines, the U.S. Navy's doctors are advocating that commanders promote the use and availability of condoms, and even offer them for free to their troops.
The Navy office's advocacy of condom use as a means of combating disease and pregnancy appears to be at odds with the White House's embrace of abstinence as the best means of preventing disease and pregnancy, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent revisions to its stance on condoms.
According to Navy data, since 1985 more than 5,000 sailors and Marines have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, costing the Navy healthcare system $12,000 per patient or $6 million a year to treat them. In 2004 there were 106 new cases of HIV in the Navy and Marine Corps. Each year the Navy assumes a lifetime healthcare cost of $20 million for sailors and Marines infected with HIV.
There were about 4,500 unplanned pregnancies -- nearly 70 percent of all enlisted pregnancies are not planned. Their total healthcare cost for the Navy was about $16 million, about $3,200 per pregnancy.
In response, the Navy Environmental Health Center's Sexual Health and Responsibility Program in its June 2005 Message for Commanders encourages Navy and Marine leaders to establish a climate of sexual responsibility, including ensuring their crews know how to use condoms and have access to them.
The guidance to commanders is not put forth as official Navy policy, but rather as suggestions for ensuring the health and the readiness of the fleet.
The program -- known by its initials SHARP -- suggests that condoms be available for free as standard protective gear on par with earplugs -- an attempt to destigmatize condoms and get them in the hands of those who need them.
And many do. According to the latest Defense Department numbers, in 2002 46 percent of Navy service personnel reported using a condom in their last sexual encounter. Marines reported 43.3 percent use of condoms. The Army reported 39.6 percent use and the Air Force 40.2 percent use.
The Navy Environmental Health Center recognizes that ensuring crew access to condoms is an emotionally charged issue "requiring thoughtful planning and leadership courage." SHARP provides commanders a lengthy document discussing ways to increase condom use and availability.
Not only is the issue emotionally charged, it is increasingly politically charged. Once widely embraced as the best means of preventing the transmission of HIV and several other diseases, condom use has fallen out of favor with the Bush administration which advocates abstinence as the best approach to control AIDS, particularly among youth and the unmarried, according to a government official who follows the issue closely.
President George W. Bush's 5-year strategy to reduce the HIV infection rate overseas will provide at least $133 million annually to abstinence-until-marriage programs in 15 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and in Vietnam, totaling at least $665 million.
The plan does promote condom distribution "as appropriate," but it singles this out as a strategy for "those who are infected or who are unable to avoid high-risk behaviors," rather than for the otherwise healthy populations.
At a Berlin AIDS conference in 2004, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias said that promoting abstinence and monogamy are "far more effective" than distributing condoms for preventing the spread of HIV.
"Statistics show that condoms really have not been very effective," Tobias said. "It's been the principal prevention device for the last 20 years, and I think one needs only to look at what's happening with the infection rates in the world to recognize that has not been working."
While funding abstinence education abroad, the White House is proposing to cut $4 million from the CDC's HIV and AIDS, STD and tuberculosis-prevention program, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, an advocacy organization that promotes sexual education.
The White House also supported Congress' appropriation of nearly $170 million in federal funds for abstinence-only education for students in the United States. By law the programs funded cannot discuss the role condoms play in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Those programs came under fire last year by Democrats charging scientific inaccuracies. Senate Majority Leader and physician Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., asked to defend the programs on ABC News in December, said they merit review and that the government has an interest in providing accurate information about public health challenges, including AIDS, the flu and condoms.
Frist also said, "We know that there's about a 15-percent failure rate" with condoms.
Used correctly -- which requires user education -- the CDC states the failure rate is between 2 and 3 percent.
The CDC has also taken steps in the last two years to de-emphasize condom use, embracing instead an approach to HIV prevention that focuses first on abstinence and monogamy.
In December 2002, the CDC removed from its Web site instructions on how to properly use condoms and data from studies showing that making condoms available to young people does not result in their having sex at an earlier ages, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The new fact sheet also emphasizes condoms' limitations.
"No protective method is 100 percent effective, and condom use cannot guarantee absolute protection against any STD," it reads. An earlier version said abstinence was the only guaranteed way to prevent HIV and STD infections but using condoms was "highly effective" at protection.
In June 2004, CDC issued new draft guidelines to organizations that are seeking federal grants and provide HIV counseling and sexual education that require groups to discuss condoms' "lack of effectiveness."
Official CDC policy holds that the "best choice is abstinence and mutual monogamy, but correctly used condoms are highly effective against HIV," said spokeswoman Jessica Frickey.
Another CDC official who works on HIV issues told United Press International Wednesday that the Navy policy and the White House policy on condoms appeared to be "mutually exclusive."
It is a clash between competing interests. For both moral and political reasons, the White House seeks to publicly discourage casual sex which it links to condom use. The Navy, seeking to protect the health and readiness of the fleet, skews toward the practical.
The Navy material does highlight abstinence and mutual monogamy as the only guaranteed method of prevention, but it endorses condom use -- a reflection of the reality of its experiences, a Navy official told UPI.
SHARP also provides a Power Point presentation for chaplains to use, encouraging abstinence, especially during shore leave.
A 1991 survey of 1,700 sailors and Marines on a six-month deployment showed 42 percent had contact with prostitutes and had a new sexually transmitted disease infection rate of 10 percent. But the contraction of STDs does not just occur in exotic ports of call from sex workers.
Most infections -- 97 percent in the Atlantic Fleet in a 1998 study -- are acquired in the United States.
The Navy has promoted "targeted" condom access for decades as a way to prevent disease and pregnancy, findings borne out by a 2001 study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health that determined latex rubber condoms were effective against both.
SHARP's "condom access" document offered to commanders cites scientific studies that show making condoms available does not encourage sexual activity or hasten its onset.
"Making condoms easy to get at strategic times and places may increase the likelihood that people who choose to have sex will do so with a condom rather than without a condom," the March 2005 document states.
Availability of condoms may be key. A 2003 survey showed that 31 percent of enlisted male sailors said if no birth control is available, they just take a chance and hope that pregnancy does not occur; 15 percent of female sailors responded the same way. It says commanders should consider buying condoms in bulk and pay for them from the same account used to buy earplugs for protection against loud noises.
People who have access to free condoms are more likely to use them than people who pay as little as 25 cents per condom according to a 1999 study.
"Access to free condoms is an effective public health strategy," the report states.
Free condoms do not suggest the commander is promoting sexual activity, according to SHARP.
"Just as easy access to earplugs does not imply that people should expose themselves to loud noise, condom access does not imply people should have sex. By making access to earplugs and condoms easy, it is implied that safety is desired and expected," the report states.
Comparable documents from the other services' health agencies were not available at press time.

source: http://www.aegis.com/news/upi/2005/UP050405.html
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Hookers & Haulers - research indicates truck drivers are spreading HIV - Brief Article

Discover, May, 2000 by Josie Glausiusz

Dale Stratford likes to hang out at truck stops, but all in the cause of science. Stratford, a medical anthropologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, has just concluded the first study of sexual behavior among American truckers. Research in Africa and India has shown that long-haul truck drivers may play a significant role in spreading HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Until now, nobody had explored the problem in the United States.

Over nine months, Stratford and her team interviewed 71 male drivers at four Florida truck stops. Nearly one third of them admitted to frequent on-the-road sex with prostitutes, and few ever used condoms. Many of the prostitutes solicited sex to obtain money for injectable drugs, a risk factor for AIDS if needles are shared. Truckers also admitted drug use, mostly methamphetamine, cocaine, and alcohol. And most of the drivers Stratford questioned were misinformed about AIDS. Some thought it a disease unique to gay men; others were convinced that condoms offered no protection.

"We know that truckers who engage in unprotected sex are at increased risk for AIDS. Now is the time to set up prevention activities," Stratford says. She proposes establishing clinics to test, treat, and educate truckers about all manner of health risks, including HIV.

source: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_5_21/ai_61692472
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The Truth About Steroids

Steroid abuse is still on the rise, and not just among professional athletes and bodybuilders.
Despite numerous educational efforts by health care officials, many amateur and high school athletes looking for that elusive competitive edge still believe they can get it from a syringe or a bottle of pills. What they don't realize is that steroids will give them a lot more than they bargained for.
Not worth the risk
Acne. Liver damage. Increased risk of heart disease. These are just a few of the side effects associated with anabolic steroid abuse. And there's more.
The side effects are severe. Men who use steroids also may develop gynecomastia (the development of breasts), priapism (painful prolonged erection) and edema from sodium and water retention. They also will be more prone to cardiovascular problems since steroids decrease high-density lipoprotein levels (HDL) or ''good'' cholesterol, and increase low-density lipoprotein levels (LDL) or ''bad'' cholesterol.
Coupled with hypertension and negative changes in myocardial tissue, steroids users are at an increased risk for heart attack as well.
Of additional concern are alterations in psyche and behavior (i.e., aggression, physical dependence) and decreased immune function. Changes in the reproductive system, such as a reduction in testicle size, sperm count and mobility, and a decrease in the levels of endogenous testosterone and other sex hormones are common.
Women at risk
Unlike men, whose side effects may be reversible once the abuse has stopped, women experience irreversible changes, such as a deepened voice, increased facial and body hair growth, enlarged clitoris and coarser skin. In addition, irregularities in, or cessation of menstrual cycle, increased libido, aggressiveness, acne and decreased immune function may occur.
Women are also prone to the cardiovascular risks and changes in psyche and behavior that men experience.
All risk, no glory

There is an even scarier risk of steroid abuse: death. Steroid users who share needles are putting themselves at risk for developing infections such as HIV, hepatitis or other viral diseases.

The terminal risks of steroid abuse are not fully known. Some published cases of tumors and other cancers related to steroid abuse have been reported. Even so, physicians and researchers do not know all the repercussions of steroid abuse on one's body and future health.
Controlled research is unethical and only information from abusers is usable; yet this data may be inaccurate since most users are not forthcoming about the full extent of their steroid use.
Since the late 1980s, the federal government has begun to crack down on steroid use and distribution. Possession of steroids with intent to distribute without a valid prescription is a felony and subject to prosecution. Likewise, steroid use is a violation of the rules of virtually all sports leagues and councils as well as the traditional ethics of good sportsmanship.
No substitute for training
What most steroid users don't realize is that they are placing themselves at risk for something they could achieve on their own. Many experts agree that the effects of steroids on strength and muscle mass of beginning weight lifters or athletes are minimal when compared with the effects of an intensive weight-training or conditioning program.
The best way to improve performance and increase muscle mass is to follow a well-designed program that challenges both your body and your mind. No drug can do that for you.

source: http://www.acefitness.org/fitfacts/fitfacts_display.aspx?itemid=49
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another piece of the information pie !

and another !

Note from Steve Harris, I recommend the following sites as they directly relate to Brownwood and The Big Country !

Is this book @ the Brownwood Public Library ?

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as it is !

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as it is !

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Bryans House

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Do you think the US Goverment will ever take responsibility for

any of this ?

?

Brownwood facing 2.5 Million budget Deficit ? Look for more Creative Revenue Streams & City Service Cuts in the future !

Brownwood adds collection agency
City OKs one-year deal to bill insurance companies directly for fees

By Celinda Emison / emisonc@reporternews.com
June 14, 2006

BROWNWOOD - When the emergency alarm sounds at the Brownwood Fire Department, the meter could be running.
The Brownwood City Council approved an agreement Tuesday with a firm that will bill insurance companies the cost of responding to accidents, fires and rescues, and for services and equipment the fire department uses.
According to the one-year agreement with Revenue Rescue, the company will bill insurance companies - not accident victims directly - and attempt to collect fees.
''We don't want creditors harassing residents,'' said Assistant Fire Chief Grady Shuey. ''Revenue Rescue helps fire departments in recovering operation costs.''
The fire department will present the council with a list of charges at a future meeting.
Shuey said Abilene, San Angelo, Brady and Cisco, participate in revenue collection programs - but each city determines whether to bill residents/victims, their insurance companies or both.
The agreement passed on a three-to-two vote, with Brownwood council members Charles Lockwood and Grady Chastain casting dissenting votes.
''I don't think it's right to charge residents in the city limits,'' Lockwood said.
''Aren't we living in the city because we pay for police and fire protection?''
The Abilene Fire Department charges for some services such as emergency services, hazardous material cleanup and high-water rescues.
Fees have been charged for the services since Jan. 1, said Abilene Fire Chief Brad Fitzer.
Plus, Abilene sends the bill to the person or company that used the service, not the insurance company.
''If it is the railroad that has a hazardous material spill, we charge the railroad,'' Fitzer said. ''If it is for emergency services, we bill the patient and it is up to the patient to seek reimbursement from their insurance.''
However, Abilene does not charge for every fire or rescue incident.
The funds collected through the program are used to help recoup some of the operation and equipment costs the fire department incurs, Fitzer said.
By the numbers
According to an agreement between the Brownwood City Council and Revenue Rescue, the company would bill insurance companies and collect fees for emergency services.
20 percent would go to Revenue Rescue
80 percent would go to the city of Brownwood
City Manager Kevin Carruth estimated the plan could add more than $100,000* to city coffers.
* - No estimated fees were available. Brownwood Fire Department officials will bring proposed fees to the Brownwood council soon.

source: http://reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4772619,00.html
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June 13, 2006, 11:02PM
INFLATION
Many consumers feeling the pinch
Higher prices force cutbacks in things like food and travel

By DAVE CARPENTER
Associated Press

CHICAGO - Wall Street is worried about inflation. So are Amy Lopez of Eureka, Calif., Sharon Connlley of Duluth, Minn., and Elmer Hunt Jr. of Boise, Idaho.
They and other Americans are increasingly feeling the squeeze of higher prices, not only at the gas pump but in the cost of groceries, delivery charges, travel and numerous other items.
Inflation remains modest by historical standards at about 3.5 percent.
It appears no threat to return any time soon to the double-digit rates of the late 1970s and early '80s.
But driven by soaring energy prices, inflation is creeping toward 4 percent for the second quarter and is on pace for the highest annual rate in 15 years.
A government report Tuesday showed that prices paid by producers rose 5.6 percent for the previous 12 months, thanks to the relentless rise in energy prices.
Economists are forecasting that another report due today will show that consumer prices also kept rising.
While those rates may seem tame, the steady increase has caused so much concern that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is threatening to extend the Fed's two-year rate-raising campaign, sending the stock market plunging this month.
Inflation remains "an annoyance" at the moment for most consumers, according to Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist for LaSalle Bank in Chicago.
"Certainly some of these rising prices have hurt people who live on more modest incomes," he said. "But in general, these rises in prices have not crippled households at all."
Still, many are growing uncomfortable with each tick higher in rates, as balancing checkbooks gets more difficult.
"The majority of households are feeling a little uneasy," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, a financial services firm.
"They haven't lost a job but they haven't gotten any pay increases to compensate for the higher gas prices, higher prices elsewhere. You have a prolonged period where people ... are feeling like their living standards aren't doing as well."
While wealthier households may be absorbing the price shocks painlessly, that's hardly the case at the other end of the wage spectrum, where millions of Americans don't need to check stock portfolios to feel the impact. Especially among lower-income workers, inflation is forcing more and more sacrifices, compromises and budget-juggling.
For Amy and Jacob Lopez, the $70 cost of filling up their Ford minivan has made it tough to get by every month and may force them to sell their car for a cheaper one."We have had to cut quite a lot of things out" to make ends meet, such as weekend outings, buying treats for their kids and visiting their grandparents, Amy, 23, said.
With rent now accounting for more than half their monthly income of $1,200, they had to seek help from a local food bank recently.
"I just think the cost of living everywhere is going up, and wages aren't," she said. "If food and stuff are constantly going up, I think people should be paid more."
U.S. wages actually have been roughly keeping pace with inflation for the average American, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Pa. But the recent trend means they likely won't be in the future, he said.
In Duluth, the 48-year-old Connlley, who makes $9 an hour as a receptionist, is buying more noodles, lower-quality meats and more canned vegetables instead of fresh ones to try to cope.
"In the last couple of years, it's gotten worse," she said. "To eat healthy is way more expensive than to eat mac and cheese."
Retirees can be among the worst-hit by inflation since their income tends to be fixed. Hunt, a retired math teacher, relies primarily on investment income and says inflation has "definitely" affected his life- style.

source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3967464.html
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Note from Steve Harris

The City of Brownwoods decision to implement "Rescue Revenue" was the topic of discussion on Brownwood's Talk Radio KXYL 96.9FM (hosted by JR Williams and Mike Cope). Councilman Fair and McMillan called in to the station and spoke on air and Brownwood City Manager Kevin Carruth was an "in studio" guest dicsussing the issue. After listening to other callers I called in and asked City Manager Kevin Carruth what type of budget deficit the City of Brownwood was facing. I mentioned everyone feeling the pinch (see story above) and was wanting to know what type of deficit the City of Brownwood was facing so that we (the citizens/taxpayers and tax base generators of Brownwood) would know what to expect in the very near future ( cuts in city services and inventive new programs to increase revenue streams ). Unfortuantely, my call was cut off (was JR "Slippy Fingers" Williams running the control board ? ) and I did not get the answer to my question. Are we, the citizens of Brownwood, getting all the information we need ? As I made my point on this mornings show, the decision has already been made and approved by the Brownwood City Council, so all of this discussion is really for naught ! I'd still like to know what the city is faced with but I will not hold my breath about getting an answer that tells the whole story ! I do consider this as "double dipping" by the City as JR Williams said on the show. City of Brownwood taxpayer + Brownwood Insurance Ratepayer = More $'s for City and less for you and I !

Two more reasons we support and promote XM Satelite Radio in Brownwood !

Abilene Reporter News Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

June 13, 2006

Why are so many people childish and petty? So what if the Dixie Chicks made a comment about their feelings toward President Bush? I have heard many other people say a lot worse of President Bush than what the Dixie Chicks said.
Why would anyone call the country and western radio stations and demand that they don't play their music? Maybe someone out there is jealous, because they never thought of it first, or never had the guts to say it out loud.
There is no reason for anyone to be angry over this. We all have our own views, likes and dislikes. Please don't bad mouth others for their opinions because they are different from yours. That's what makes America great. Every-one keeps on telling me God forgives, how about you?
I love the Dixie Chicks and their music, and if I cannot hear them on the radio stations, then I will have to buy their music instead. No one tells me who I can or cannot listen to. So, to the Dixie Chicks - play on!

Eileen Nichols
Abilene
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Letter to the Editor

June 13, 2006

I am a long time fan of country music and will always be a fan. However, I will no longer listen to the Abilene stations who refuse to play Dixie Chicks music. I ask others who object to a station dictating what we hear to join me. We can be just as narrow minded as they.

John Fletcher

Abilene
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/op_letters_editor/article/0,1874,ABIL_7984_4770197,00.html
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XM

go here

She's Loved in Brown County Texas ! Who's surprised ?

Our Ms. Vitriol
By Leonard Pitts
The Miami Herald
Apparently, it's news that Ann Coulter is a nasty piece of work.

I had rather thought that was the attraction, at least for those people who find her attractive. So forgive me for being mildly mystified by last week's headlines about her most recent spasm of trash mouth -- i.e., her attack on four women who lost their husbands in the Sept. 11 attacks. But then, the attack is vicious even by Coulter's standards: In her latest book, whose title you won't read here, she savages the widows as "self-obsessed" and "witches."
"These broads are millionaires," she writes, "lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."
Evidently, the widows' sins are that they pushed for an independent commission to investigate 9-11 intelligence failures, they are critical of the Bush administration, and they endorsed John Kerry for president.
The nerve of them.
Coulter's tirade has drawn bipartisan condemnation -- New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton called it "vicious," while the state's Republican governor, George Pataki, declared Coulter "far worse than insensitive" -- but c'mon. This is all part of the shtick for this chick. I mean, we're talking about the woman who said Timothy McVeigh's only mistake was in not blowing up the New York Times building and that we should invade Muslim countries, kill their leaders and convert the people to Christianity.
Frankly, it's easy to do what Coulter does. Just say the most outrageous thing in the most inflammatory way. Just give moral and mental cover to that small-minded, anti-intellectual strain of the electorate that recoils, like Superman in the face of Kryptonite, from complexity and incertitude. And when people call you on it, just wrap yourself in the flag and declare yourself a straight-shootin' conservative under siege by that mean ol' liberal media.
It plays like gangbusters in Peoria. And never mind that it's a brazen lie.
Meaning that Coulter is not reviled because she is conservative. Some of the best and most respected pundits in the country are conservative: George Will, Kathleen Parker and Charles Krauthammer, to name just three. No, Coulter is reviled because she is mean and malicious.
The nation's political discourse has never been as polite and decorous as we like to think. Abraham Lincoln's political foes called him a baboon. Lyndon B. Johnson once said that Gerald Ford played too much football without a helmet.
When, however, even widows (and orphans?) become fair game for a viperous harridan with an ax to grind and books to sell, maybe decent people should wonder at the lines we have crossed and the type of the nation we have become in the process.
Coulter's victims, by the way, felt compelled to release a statement. It said in part: "Contrary to Ms. Coulter's statements, there was no joy in watching men that we loved burn alive. There was no happiness in telling our children that their fathers were never coming home again."
In a better nation, that would go without saying.

Leonard Pitts writes for The Miami Herald. lpitts@herald.com
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/14806454.htm

Former Brown County District Attorney, Republican Sky Sudderth, Arrested

Sudderth arrested on sex offense
Former DA in Brownwood accused of assault against a minor near Austin

By Celinda Emison / emisonc@reporternews.com
June 13, 2006

Former 35th District Attorney Skylar Barclay Sudderth of Brownwood, who resigned in 2004 after being charged with several offenses, has been arrested on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Sudderth remains in jail in Williamson County, officials said Monday. Williamson County, with Georgetown as the county seat, is about 30 miles north of Austin.
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said Sudderth, 39, was arrested after a complaint was filed last week charging that he committed aggravated sexual assault against a relative who is a minor. The complaint was filed by a detective with the Leander Police Department following an investigation.
''He has not been indicted by a grand jury,'' Bradley said. ''We will be presenting this to a grand jury within the next 30 to 90 days.''
A spokesperson at the Williamson County Sheriff's Department said Sudderth was arrested at 12:50 p.m. on June 5 and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and evading arrest. He remains in custody in lieu of bonds totaling $400,000.
This is not Sudderth's first run-in with the law.
In December of 2003, Sudderth was indicted by a Brown County grand jury on charges of aggravated perjury, tampering with governmental records and tampering and fabricating physical evidence regarding a case in which he made a plea bargain with a sex offender.
All three charges against Sudderth were officially dismissed in June 2004 after he resigned and paid fines and court costs of more than $3,000, according to orders filed at the district clerk's office.
Sudderth, the Republican candidate, defeated Brown County District Attorney Lee Haney in November of 2000 and took office Jan. 1, 2001.

source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4770367,00.html
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Saturday June 17, 2006

News
Attorney ‘absolutely’ certain of Sudderth’s innocence
By Steve Nash — Brownwood Bulletin

Bryan attorney Phillip Banks said he can usually peg a child molester after 10 or 15 minutes, and former 35th District Attorney Sky Sudderth doesn’t fit the mold.
“What I can tell you is, that having met Skylar recently, he does not strike me as that sort of individual,” Banks said. “Normally, if somebody has those kind of problems, I can figure it out in 10 or 15 minutes.”
Banks is defending Sudderth, 39, of Leander, on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child and evading arrest and detention. The alleged victim is a 7-year-old female relative, court documents state.
Sudderth has been in the Williamson County Jail since his June 5 arrest, in lieu of bonds totaling $400,000.
Banks said he is “absolutely” certain of Sudderth’s innocence, and he will seek a lower bond at a June 28 hearing in district court.
“My gut impression is that he is somebody that has been falsely accused. I am very skeptical. ... He’s a very bright man and a very nice person.”
Banks said lab results of “some kind of DNA” are pending. He referred comment on the DNA to District Attorney John Bradley’s office but said “DNA can be planted.”
Bradley could not be reached for comment.
Court documents give only sketchy details of the state’s case against Sudderth or what happened in the final hours before his arrest at 12:50 that afternoon.
The night before, the state alleges in a court document, Sudderth went to the girl’s room and assaulted her. Bradley declined earlier to say how or when the allegation was reported to authorities.
At an unspecified time on June 5, court documents allege, Deputy Constable Jason Veselka, driving a fully marked police vehicle, saw a vehicle partially in a ditch in Cedar Park. Veselka activated his car’s emergency lights and pulled up behind the vehicle, and a man, later identified as Sudderth, got out of the driver’s seat and began to walk away, the affidavit states.
Veselka got out of his car and the man began to run, the affidavit states.
The affidavit does not say what happened to the man, but says Veselka learned his identity from the man’s wife.
At 12:50 p.m. that day, Sudderth was booked into the Williamson County Jail on the aggravated sexual assault of a child charge. Sudderth was arrested by a Leander police officer, a sheriff’s official said earlier, but he did not know the details of that arrest.
Banks said Sudderth has been working at a hospital, but he did not know which one or the nature of his job. He said he is familiar with Sudderth’s history as 35th District Attorney.
Banks said Sudderth is holding up “amazingly well” since his arrest.
He did not know if rumors about an impending divorce between Sudderth and his wife, Danielle, are true. Sudderth is not party to any divorce filings in Williamson County, district clerk records show.
Banks said he met Sudderth through his longtime friendship with Sudderth’s sister, Bonnie, a district judge in Tarrant County.
source:http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/17/news/news01.txt
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UPDATE: June 28, 2006

More sex charges filed against former district attorney

By Celinda Emison / emisonc@reporternews.com
June 28, 2006

Sky Sudderth, the former district attorney for Brown and Mills counties, was charged Sunday with five additional counts of aggravated sexual assault, according to Williamson County Jail records.
Sudderth, 39, was arrested June 5 and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and evading arrest. Since then, Sudderth was charged with the five additional counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, plus one count of tampering with evidence. He faces eight charges in all.
He remains in the Williamson County Jail in lieu of bonds totaling $1.7 million.Last Friday, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said he expects to receive results from DNA testing in coming weeks. So far, Sudderth has not been indicted, but Bradley said he has 90 days to present the case to the grand jury.
A hearing is slated for 9 a.m. today in the 368th District Court in Georgetown. Sudderth's attorney, Phillip C. Banks of Bryan-College Station, said he will ask 368th District Judge Burt Carnes to lower his client's bond.
''My impression is that he (Sudderth) is innocent,'' Banks said. ''He is a very nice man and we expect him to be exonerated.''
Bradley did not return calls for comment Tuesday. He previously said Sudderth was arrested after a complaint was filed in early June charging that he committed aggravated sexual assault against a 7-year-old girl who is a relative.
Sudderth took office as district attorney for Brown and Mills counties Jan. 1, 2001. In December 2003, Sudderth was indicted on charges of aggravated perjury, tampering with governmental records and tampering and fabricating physical evidence regarding a case in which he made a plea bargain with a sex offender.
Those charges were dismissed in June 2004 after Sudderth resigned as district attorney and paid fines and court costs of more than $3,000, according to orders filed at the district clerk's office.

source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4806723,00.html
----------------
Former Central Texas DA Charged With Child Sexual Assault

(June 27, 2006)--A former Central Texas prosecutor was jailed Tuesday in Georgetown on multiple charges including sexual assault of a child.
Sky Sudderth, 39, is an ex-prosecutor for Brown and Mills counties.
Leander police arrested him on June 5 on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Police later filed five more similar charges, a charge of evading arrest and a charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Bond was set at $1.7 million.
A defense attorney says there's never been any accusation of such activity against Sudderth before these charges were filed.
A prosecutor says only one child was involved.
Sudderth was elected as district attorney for Brown and Mills counties in 2000.
He resigned in 2004 after being indicted on charges of perjury, tampering with a government record and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Those charges were later dropped.

source: http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/3236561.html
--------------

where the rubber meets the road

Open Letter to Ann Coulter's Mother, Nell M. Coulter .

New Canaan, Conn.
Dear Mrs. Coulter,

Congratulations on your daughter's success. I'm sure you are proud of Ann's latest work, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." It's already the top seller on Amazon.com and is obviously provocative, given the hundreds of reviews that are flowing in.
I haven't read it yet, so I wouldn't dream of commenting on the actual book. But, there is one thing that really disturbs me and that's her diatribe against four New Jersey women whom she dubs "The Witches of East Brunswick" whose husbands died in the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
Here's the money quote that has even made Tucker Carlson and Bill O'Reilly squeamish:
"These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."
The widows — Kristen Breitweiser, Lorie Van Auken, Mindy Kleinberg and Patty Casazza — came to Capitol Hill often in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. They came seeking answers to how al-Qaida was able to hijack four commercial jets and topple the World Trade Center towers where their husbands worked.
They acted out of grief, just as others have.
Candy Lightner of California founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving and lobbied for stiffer DWI penalties after a drunk driver killed her daughter in 1980.
Maureen and Richard Kanka of New Jersey, pushed for a sex offender registry after a child molester abducted and killed their daughter, Megan, in 1994. Now we have Megan's Law.
And John Walsh of Florida lobbied Congress for a missing children's bill after his son was abducted and murdered in 1981. Walsh now hosts "America's Most Wanted" on Fox Television, which profiles unsolved crimes.
Through my work, I met the New Jersey widows — and other 9-11 family victims — often over the last five years because Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, took up their cause.
Shays, in particular, has continued to fight for additional reforms that the 9-11 Commission recommended. He is driven largely by the memory of 87 constituents who died in the attacks. Those 87 individuals were your neighbors, too.
Anyway, the widows came to Washington and pushed for an independent commission and then lobbied for the commission's recommendations to be implemented. They never sought celebrity and I never saw them enjoying the deaths of those they held dearest.
Ann is quite the partisan, so I assume what offends your daughter most was that they endorsed Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry for president in 2004.
From what I could see, they were not all Democrats to start but were driven to Kerry's camp largely out of frustration. They did not believe President Bush and House Republican leaders would actually act on the 9-11 Commission report.
Ironically, the day your daughter's book was released the former 9-11 Commission leaders — Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton — appeared before Shays' subcommittee to talk about what has happened in the last two years since their report was released.
Here's how Kean summed it up: "We are still not safe — a little safer, but still not safe."
A neighbor of yours was also at the hearing to urge Congress to adopt the rest of the 9-11 Commission reforms.
Like the "Jersey Girls," Mary Fetchet has been there from the beginning. Her 24-year-old son, Bradley, died in the second tower.
Mary is a remarkable woman. She used to work at Bridges in Milford as a social worker but quit after Sept. 11, 2001 and founded Voices of September 11 to provide advocacy and support to all those impacted by the terrorist attack. They are still at work out of an office in New Canaan.
Unlike the "Jersey Girls," Mary has remained non-partisan and continues to travel to Washington to lobby for a safer America. She doesn't do it for fame or money. She does it in memory of her son and the hope that no other mother should suffer a similar fate.
Mary lives over on Sunset Hill Road. It's maybe a six-minute drive from your place. You really should encourage your daughter to meet her. The experience might thaw her frozen heart.

Sincerely,
Peter Urban
Connecticut Post
source: http://www.connpost.com/search//ci_3924863

As it is !

COMMENTARY
Hundley: U.S. sends soldiers into a meat grinder
By Steve Hundley
LOCAL CONTRIBUTOR
Sunday, June 11, 2006

With new investigations of our troops' actions in Iraq, I see that war developing along the same path as the one in Vietnam. When I started my first tour in Vietnam in 1962, we were bringing in the first helicopter gunships. Morale was high, everybody optimistic, it was the only war we had, and we were going to get it done.
We would laugh when a helicopter came back from a mission with an arrow sticking in it. We stopped laughing when we started getting stitched by AK-47s.
When I left in November 1963, morale was still high. Two months after I left, my helicopter was shot down, my replacement killed.
When I returned in 1966, the American buildup was in full swing; we were taking over the war from what we perceived as a weak and ineffective South Vietnamese army. We had little respect for them. The North Vietnamese army seemed to me to be much more dedicated.
I was in C Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Air Cav Division. We were scouts. Our job was to find and engage the enemy — every day. We were good at it, good enough to be nicknamed "Headhunters." But each time the division cleared an area, we would leave, and the enemy would come back.
When I left in 1967, I had spent two years of kill or be killed, and I had done my share. I knew what it was like to look into the eyes of one of my troops five seconds after he had been shot through the lungs and couldn't talk, when only his eyes could ask me not to let him die. For all this, we had no visible gains, no territory we owned, just body counts on both sides.
Civilian authority over military commanders prevented us from chasing the enemy across the Cambodia border. Civilians selected bombing targets in North Vietnam. Civilians in the States were telling us that women and kids who shot at us were innocent civilians, and we must respect that. I hated the war, the country and the people. I had volunteered for both tours, but when I was told to expect a third tour in six months, I left the Army. The civilian restrictions put on us ensured plenty of dying, but victory was impossible.
My son, Curtis, was a warrior all his life. He was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne, a scuba diver, Harley rider, competition shooter, white water kayaker and an outdoorsman. When the war in Iraq started, he wanted to fight for our country. Too old to re-join the Army, he joined Blackwater Security. That put him on the roads in Iraq almost daily, the most dangerous place to be. I've never seen him more proud.
He enjoyed throwing candy to kids along the road. Like me in Vietnam, at first, he thought progress was pretty good.
But civilian miscalculations — such as not sending over enough troops to secure ammo dumps and borders, and then deactivating the entire Iraq army, which instantly created thousands of potential terrorists — began to take effect.
I saw my happy-go-lucky son start to harden. His eyes, which always had had a twinkle, were different in the pictures he sent. When I could get him to talk about his job, he began to sound disgusted at the worsening situation. The last several weeks of his life, disgust had turned to anger.
He was killed by an improvised explosive device on April 21, 2005, near Ramadi. I heard a report that a woman had set off the bomb. In his coffin, the flag was pulled up to his chin. I don't know how much of my boy was left.
I understand the seething anger building in our troops as they are sent, time and again, into that meat-grinder war. They struggle each day just to survive the day. It's one thing to go down shooting, it's another to be shredded by an unseen bomb. When a young American sees his best friend blown to pieces, and sees the locals laughing about it, ask yourself, how would you feel? Do you think the "core values" training being forced on all of our troops is going to make them feel all warm and fuzzy the next time a bomb goes off?
So, now, we see President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on TV, deploring the suspected acts of some young troops. What we won't see are those three incompetents — pretending to be war leaders, who have never been in a war and who sure aren't going to send their kids to war — taking any blame for the horrible mess they have made of the whole thing. They don't have the honor. One of President Theodore Roosevelt's sons landed on Normandy on D-Day. That's honor.

source: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/06/11Hundley_edit.html

Think Global, Buy Local: Steves' " French Onion Fridays "

SM&D "French Onion" Fridays Advertising Testimonial Ad For Brownwood Bulletin
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

A trend in buying food produced nearby is growing
HAROLD BRUBAKER
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA - Franca Fusco is particular about what she eats.

"I'm so worried that the things I buy from the grocery store are not as nutritionally wholesome as they are if I grow them myself," she said, "or buy them from a local farmer."

Thanks to Fusco and other consumers who are putting a lot more thought and effort into food, sales of locally grown food are climbing, forcing changes in the U.S. food system, which excels at moving goods over long distances.

Consumers have lots of reasons to buy local food when possible: They think it is fresher and more nutritious; they want to keep small farmers in business; they like unusual varieties of vegetables that do not ship well; they want their children to know that food ultimately comes from farms, not factories and supermarkets; and they think it saves energy.

While no one tracks overall sales of local food - still a tiny part of the $900 billion U.S. food industry - some examples from Philadelphia local-food advocacy groups such as Food Trust and Farm to City illustrate the increase in consumer spending on food grown on nearby farms:

Sales at farmers' markets and other ventures coordinated by Farm to City have climbed from less than $200,000 in 2001 to $625,000 last year, director Bob Pierson said.

Fair Food Farmstand in the Reading Terminal Market found plenty of demand when it expanded to three days a week from two last June; customers boosted spending from $88,600 in 2004 to $123,275 last year, director Ann Karlen said.

The Food Trust said sales at farmers' markets it sponsored more than doubled from less than $500,000 in 2002 to more than $1 million last year, said project coordinator Brian Lang.

Among the efforts to build on this momentum are a new organic farmers' cooperative in Lancaster; plans for a local-food distribution center in Philadelphia's Brewerytown section; the formation this spring of the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance; and Eat Drink New Jersey, a coalition determined to keep more of the Garden State's bounty at home.

The burgeoning interest in local food is "an attempt to recapture our food supply" from corporations, said Samuel Fromartz, who this year chronicled, in his book Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew, the migration of organic food from its small and locally oriented beginnings to big business.

Nevertheless, those fighting in the trenches for local food say it will thrive in the long run only if it is economically sustainable for businesses that can get products to the right place at the right time.

"Everybody wants to talk about the taste of strawberries or the taste of squash blossoms," but reliable distribution is key, said Chris Fullerton, manager of Tuscarora Organic Growers Cooperative in Hustontown, Pa.

Tuscarora, founded in 1988, has 22 members in central Pennsylvania and sells mostly in the Washington metro area. The group has averaged 12 percent annual sales growth for the last seven years, reaching $1.3 million last year, Fullerton said.

The Lancaster Farm Fresh cooperative, which has roots in a group of Amish and Mennonite farmers loosely organized as Farm Fresh for Chefs since the late 1990s, hopes to achieve similar success in Philadelphia and New York.

Farm Fresh had a reputation for high quality but inconsistent service. "The problems were that they would show up with half the merchandise," said Sean Weinberg, who bought from the group when he was chef at Rose Tattoo Cafe in Philadelphia. Weinberg now owns Restaurant Alba in Malvern.

This year, Farm Fresh, which had $300,000 in sales last year, merged with Scarecrow Hill Organic Farm in Ephrata, Pa., to form the cooperative with 15 organic fruit and vegetable growers, supplemented by suppliers of dairy, eggs and meat. For what the cooperative is calling its pilot year, it rented a warehouse in Quarryville and developed packing and labeling standards to make the group easier to deal with.

"When it's lettuce, its going to be in the right box, packaged appropriately," said Peggy Fogarty-Harnish, who operates Scarecrow Hill with her husband and is being paid by a government-supported nonprofit group to help organize and market the cooperative.

Ann-Marie Lasher, who owns Picnic, a cafe and caterer in University City, and who has been a regular Farm Fresh customer, is hoping for improved service from the cooperative - such as a warning if something she ordered is not available.

Lasher is happy that Lancaster Farm Fresh is increasing deliveries to twice a week. She does not have enough space to store a week's worth of eggs and milk. "I'll probably be spending more money with them," said Lasher, whose weekly order had been $150 for eggs and dairy, $200 during the produce season.

Larger companies are also buying locally. Two years ago, Eat'n Park Hospitality Group Inc., a Pittsburgh restaurant and food-service company with operations in eastern Pennsylvania, launched Farm Source, a local-buying program, in response to retirement community residents' asking where the company bought tomatoes.

J. Brooks Broadhurst, the company's senior vice president of food and beverage, estimated that Farm Source accounted for more than $8 million a year in spending. "From less transportation and use of fuel moving products across country, to better and higher-quality products, to really knowing exactly where our food comes from, it has huge benefits across our system," Broadhurst said.

At Philadelphia University, there is a Farm Source display identifying local products, such as honey from Easton, mushrooms from Chester County, and potatoes from Schuylkill County. General manager Bill Zimnoch said the display by the cafeteria entrance overflows in August and September.

While Lancaster Farm Fresh gets off the ground, and Eat'n Park pushes suppliers to buy locally, grass-roots local-foods efforts continue - such as the founding this spring of the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance.

The first meeting of the alliance at the Wrightstown library in April drew 30 people, including Franca Fusco. Farmers, environmentalists and epicures shared their desire for easier access to fresh, local food and their concern that farms were disappearing.

Soon after that meeting, Fusco, who has a linens business, got a membership in Blooming Glen Farm in Perkasie, Bucks County, 10 minutes from where she lives. There, she will pick up a regular supply of fresh produce. "It's better than growing it myself," she said. "I don't have to do all that work."

source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/14795108.htm

All "Seeds of Hate" are local !

Posted on Sun, Jun. 11, 2006 Fort Worth Star Telegram Letter to the Editor

Seeds of hate from Kansas and Saudi Arabia
Star-Telegram

You can certainly count on me as being one among "the rest of the Christian community" who has risen in indignation against the Rev. Fred Phelps, the Kansas minister who stages vitriolic protests at military funerals. (See Tuesday editorial "In need of shunning.")

As a fellow "reverend" and "Baptist," I can't tell you how ashamed I am of this so-called man of God. I find absolutely nothing godly about him, his followers and his ridiculously self-righteous and mean-spirited crusade of hate.

The Scriptures teach us that if Jesus ever showed anger, judgment and condemnation toward anyone, it was usually directed toward the "religious people" of his day -- those who thought they had all the answers, thought they were always absolutely right and loved to play God, judge and jury in other people's lives.

For those of you not in the "Christian community," please forgive us for these kinds of pathetic "Christian leaders" who most definitely do not represent the true love, grace and goodness of our God and our faith.

Pastor Jim Lemons, River Oaks Baptist Church, River Oaks
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Although I was certainly pleased that the Star-Telegram expressed outrage at Fred Phelps' hate-mongering in Tuesday's editorial, I found myself wondering why you singled out him.

As far as I can tell, the only difference between Phelps and more "mainstream" voices of the right (such as Sens. John Cornyn and Bill Frist and evangelists Richard Land and Jerry Falwell) is that Phelps doesn't bother to mouth platitudes about hating the sin but loving the sinner before spewing anti-gay bigotry.

For that matter, I'm not sure I see much difference between the hateful rhetoric of Phelps and the hateful actions of the 76 percent of Texas voters who enshrined second-class citizenship for gays and lesbians in the state constitution in November, or calls in the Star-Telegram to reject recognition of same-sex unions. Let's see to the beam in our own eye before we start worrying about the speck in our neighbor's.

Andrew Sutton, Fort Worth
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Why should we be shocked by the excerpts from Saudi schoolbooks? (See June 4 Weekly Review, "Are Saudis sowing seeds of hate?")

The first-grade text was quoted as saying: "Every religion other than Islam is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters hellfire."

Take out Islam, substitute Christianity and we have a statement often heard in this country: Salvation is for only those who accept Christ as their personal savior.

One important difference between Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Christian fundamentalists in the United States is that our kind haven't managed to break down the separation of church and state guaranteed by our Constitution. But they're working on it.

Marjorie Bixler, Fort Worth
-------------------------------

Although the Saudi government promised to stop the teaching of intolerant views in Saudi Arabian schools, it's still being done. Well, duh!

Our so-called friend in the war against terrorism is a hypocritical absolute monarchy with no regard for us whatsoever.

What's worse, for 60 years this country has turned a blind eye to the actions of the Saudi royal family because Saudi Arabia sells us oil, and those oil revenues have funded vitriolic teachers, preachers and terrorist groups for a long, long time now.

Duh!

Mark Metroka, Fort Worth

source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/local2/14787936.htm
--------------
Below is the Editorial the above letter writers were referencing
Posted on Tue, Jun. 06, 2006

In need of shunning Editorials
Star-Telegram
How far does the Rev. Mr. Fred Phelps have to go before the rest of the Christian community rises in indignation against him and the despicable tactics he is using to proclaim his understanding of the gospel?

In case you've been in a coma, the Rev. Mr. Phelps and members of his church -- Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. -- are the people who are demonstrating at military funerals, mocking those who gather to grieve and telling them that the deaths of their loved ones are God's punishment on America for, among other sins, rampant homosexuality in the United States.

The Associated Press reported over the weekend in a story printed in the Star-Telegram that protesters from the church gathered outside a recent service in Ogden, Iowa, for Sgt. Daniel Sesker (who had been killed by an improvised explosive device -- "IED" in military talk) and held up signs that said, "Thank God for IEDs" and "God Hates Your Tears."

Thanks to Phelps and his followers -- not to anti-war demonstrators -- Congress has passed, and President Bush has signed, a law restricting demonstrations at national cemeteries.

Thirty-one states have debated similar bans, and Texas passed one during the recent special session.

The AP reports that Phelps and his followers have attended about 100 funerals for U.S. troops killed in Iraq. They have said that dead U.S. soldiers are proof of God's wrath.

Have they no shame? Have they no sense of decency, at long last? Have they no sense of the charity taught by the Christ they profess to follow?

But the Rev. Mr. Phelps is unapologetic. That same AP story quoted him this way: "That's one of the luxuries of being 100 percent right, absolutely 100 percent right. If you can read, you would agree with me."

And how different is he from the gunmen who separated out and then killed 21 Shiites on Sunday north of Baghdad simply for the offense of being of a slightly different religious belief?

Aside from the obvious lack of blood on his hands -- not much.

It's not as if the Rev. Mr. Phelps has a hidden agenda. It's right there on his Web site for all to see. Normally, we'd give you the URL here, but not this time. If you want to see it, you'll have to search on his name or the church's name.

Next target: Today -- June 6 -- at Arlington National Cemetery. It's an obvious tie-in with 666, supposedly the mark of the Antichrist.

Kind of makes you wonder just who is the opposite of Christ in this case, doesn't it ?

source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/editorial/14751197.htm

San Angelo Texas Theater - '51 Silver Streak Clipper

san angelo-ss clipper-texas theatre
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

Texas Theatre saga: Man meets his love
By Rick Smith, rsmith@sastandard times.com or 659-8248
June 4, 2006

The story sounds a little like a 21st-century Broadway musical:

Hip, hard-charging, big-city artist seeks long-term relationship with small-town type via the Internet. Age not important.

Man locates then meets an old-fashioned movie palace in need of a major makeover. It's love at first sight. Man leaves his big-city life and travels to San Angelo to rehabilitate the once-lovely lady.

But will love last?

Wait and see.

The curtain has just opened on the latest installment in ''The Life and Loves of the Texas Theatre.''

Cal Collins, a tall Detroit native-turned Texan, plays the male lead. He bought San Angelo's 1929-era Twohig Avenue movie theater Friday. The theater has been idle since a brief stint in 1994 as a movie and playhouse.

The 46-year-old says he wasn't a fan of theater - any theater - until a girlfriend dragged him ''kicking and screaming'' to a musical a few years back.

''I sat there in awe, watching my first musical performance,'' he told me.

His girlfriend had opened her own theater group, and he began helping her, working backstage.

''Before you know it, I started doing my own productions.''

He staged his first show, ''The Sound of Music,'' in a Chicago suburb in 1999.

''We had 13 shows and sold out every show,'' he said. ''I thought, 'Wow! This is fantastic! This is what I want to do!' ''

Cal kept his day job - selling cars - but spent his nights directing and producing plays. He's fond of Broadway musicals such as ''Annie,'' ''Guys and Dolls,'' ''The Music Man'' and ''Bye Bye Birdie.''

Several years ago, seeking warmer weather, he moved to San Antonio, where he worked for an auto dealership by day and produced and directed plays at night. His latest production, ''Beauty and the Beast,'' took place in New Braunfels in March.

About a year and a half ago, he made a life-changing decision.

''I decided I wanted to own my own theater,'' he said.

''I was born to sell cars,'' said Cal, who sold 1,014 of them last year alone. ''I'm very good at it.''

Theater, he decided, was his first love. And, in order to make a living doing what he loved, he needed to own his own theater.

He traveled from Paducah, Ky., to Paris, Texas, in search of the perfect theater.

Nothing he saw excited him.

Until January.

''It was a slow day at work, and I was playing on the computer and came across a story in the Standard-Times.''

The story, published on the 75th anniversary of the Texas Theatre, included descriptions and photographs of the old beauty.

Cal tracked down owners Lee Pfluger and Kenneth Gunter and made a date to see the theater.

His first impressions of the Texas were mixed.

He liked the stylish exterior, but the lobby - which was blandly ''modernized'' in the '50s - left him cold.

''Then I walked into the auditorium and thought, 'Oh my gosh!' It blew me away.''

Despite its years, the huge, high auditorium maintains its original Spanish-style charm and an air of sweet mystery.

''I immediately knew this is what I wanted,'' he said. ''I was sold.''

The ''courtship'' - negotiations with the San Angelo owners - took five months.

Friday, man and theater were joined by a legal contract.

When I saw Cal an hour after the contract-signing ceremony, he looked like a happy man.

''The theater has always been a hobby of mine,'' he said, ''but I'm at a point where I want to spend the rest of my life doing theater.''

He estimates the purchase and renovation will cost him roughly a million dollars.

Will this story have a happy ending?

Other, earlier owners have tried - and failed - to forge a lasting relationship with the Texas.

But Cal says he has done his homework, researched the town, checked the demographics.

''The timing is perfect,'' he said. ''And I couldn't ask for a more beautiful theater.''

He knows the relationship won't be all curtain calls and roses.

''There's a lot of work building up to a show,'' he told me. ''But when you open, it's a special feeling, hearing the crowd laughing and clapping. Anybody who's in theater knows that feeling. It's amazing. Once you get that feeling, you're addicted to it. You've got to continue to do it over and over.''

source; http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/news_local/article/0,1897,SAST_4956_4749803,00.html

Robert E. Howard & Big Country Bullies

Robert E. Howard

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) is best remembered for his classic sword and sorcery tales of the brawny Cimmerian swordsman Conan, though he wrote stories in a number of genres: horror (Pigeons from Hell, Worms of the Earth), oriental adventure (The Lost Valley of Iskander, Swords of Shahrazar), westerns both humorous (A Gent from Bear Creek) and conventional (The Last Ride, The Vultures of Whapeton), boxing (The Iron Man), and others. Howard's tales of Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Turlogh O'Brien and Solomon Kane created and defined the sword and sorcery genre, leading to innumerable pastiches and outright ripoffs of Howard's characters.
Howard was born in Peaster, Texas, and at the age of 13 moved to the central Texas town of Cross Plains, where he would live the rest of his life. As a boy Howard was small and bookish, and formed a very close relationship with his mother, staying home to avoid being the prey of local bullies. Howard discovered what would now be termed bodybuilding and boxing and remained a sports and exercise enthusiast the rest of his life. The bullying of the now 5'11", 200 lbs (1.8 m, 90 kg) teenager ended, and while Howard did not retaliate he maintained lifelong grudges and developed quasi-paranoid notions of lurking enemies.

Howard was variously described as moody -- ranging from quickly angered to having gloomy black moods -- introverted, and living in a fantasy world where at times real life became trivial. While Howard took some business classes after high school, as early as the age of 15, he had expressed his desire to write for a living. Howard sold his first story to Weird Tales in 1923 and the rest of his literary output is history. In 1930, despondent over the death of his dog "Patch," Howard was sent on a vacation by his parents who feared he might kill himself if left to brood at home. Six years later, on June 11, 1936, despondent over his mother's impending death, Howard went to his office and typed out:

All fled — all done, so lift me on the pyre;
The feast is over and the lamps expire.

He then went out to his car, took his gun out of the glove compartment and shot himself in the head.

source: http://www.sfsite.com/05b/bs200.htm
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all bullies are local !

Filming in Brownwood ? All War related issues are local !

Ryan Phillippe enlists for Iraq war drama

Fri Jun 9, 2006 5:52am ET
By Tatiana Siegel

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - After months of searching, "Boys Don't Cry" director Kimberly Peirce has found her leading man for the Iraq war drama "Stop-Loss."
Ryan Phillippe is in negotiations to star in the Paramount film, playing a soldier who returns home to Texas and is called to duty again in Iraq through the military's "stop-loss" procedure. The soldier then refuses to return to battle.
Abbie Cornish already has signed on to play the female lead. The studio is eyeing a late-summer start date.
Peirce has taken her time in finding the right project to follow up her feature directorial debut, 1999's "Boys Don't Cry." That film brought Hilary Swank her first best actress Oscar as well as a nomination for co-star Chloe Sevigny.
Phillippe, who co-starred in last year's Oscar-winning best picture "Crash," next appears in Clint Eastwood's WWII drama "Flags of Our Father" and in "Breach," opposite Chris Cooper.

source: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2006-06-09T095243Z_01_N09413779_RTRUKOC_0_US-STOPLOSS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
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Who is Ryan ?

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Minnesota Continues to Excel in Troop Reintegration

read how here

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PTSD

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Anybody remember Audie Murphy on the Brownwood Movie Screens ?

Post war illness

Sadly, Murphy suffered from Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his return from the war. He was plagued by insomnia, bouts of depression, and nightmares related to his countless bloody battles. His first wife, Wanda Hendrix, often talked of his struggle with this condition, even claiming that he had at one time held her at gunpoint. For a time during the mid-1960s, Murphy became dependent on doctor-prescribed sleeping pills called Placidyl. When he recognized that he had become addicted to the drug, he locked himself in a motel room, where he forced himself to stop taking the pills, and went through withdrawal symptoms for a week.

Always an advocate of the needs of America's military veterans, Murphy eventually broke the taboo about publicly discussing war-related mental conditions. In an effort to draw attention to the problems of returning Korean and Vietnam War veterans, Murphy spoke out candidly about his own problems with PTSD, known during World War II as "Battle fatigue" and commonly known as "Shell Shock". He called on the United States government to give increased consideration and study to the emotional impact that combat experiences have on veterans, and to extend health care benefits to address PTSD and the other mental health problems of returning war veterans.

read more here

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More on Audie here

Why do you think Kinky Friedman scares Texas Republican Politicians ?

Prepare for shocking summer electric bills
Letters to the editor

June 9, 2006
Editor:

Well, I guess you all have received your electric bills by now.
I've heard that Shannon Medical Center has had a rash of heart failures.
I called the Public Utility Commission of Texas and asked why my price per kilowatt hour had gone up 100 percent in the past five months.
The PUC told me that the Legislature passed a bill in 2003 that allowed the electric companies to raise their rates if the fuel recovery price went up, but there is nothing in the bill that makes the electric company lower their rates if fuel recovery went down.
In other words, they can charge the same fuel recovery rates when natural gas was $15 per cubic foot they can now when natural gas is $6 pcf.
I called state Sen. Robert Duncan's office and informed his staff of this situation.
They called me back two days later and told me I was right about the bill that was passed.
I called Reliant Energy and asked about the 100 percent increase, and they blamed high fuel prices.
I reminded them that natural gas was lower now than it was this time last year. I hope everyone will call Duncan and see if he can rectify that insane bill that the Legislature passed.

Mike Pierce
San Angelo
source: http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/news_opinion_letters/article/0,1897,SAST_10318_4761149,00.html
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Dirty or clean ? It's all up to you.

Ever wonder why the average Texan's electric bill has gone up nearly 80% under Governor Perry ? Or why the state's largest power company is also the state's second-largest lobbyist ? Texas has some of the highest energy costs—not to mention the dirtiest air—in the country because we have some of the dirtiest government in the country. Simple as that.

For over a year now, Kinky Friedman has been offering a different way. Last month, just as his historic ballot access petition really got rolling, he solidified his feelings into one phrase: "Clean Energy/Clean Government." Willie Nelson liked it so much he made Kinky a radio commercial. Now that the ballot drive is nearing completion, it's more important than ever to keep that commercial on the air and remind Texans what we're fighting for.

As the summer goes on, you'll be hearing more and more about energy. Americans' wallets are hurting and the career politicians have run out of good ideas. In D.C., all they can propose are paper solutions like a $100 check to make up for $3/gallon gas. Here at home the only solution they have to rolling blackouts in April (April!) is fast-tracking seven new pollution-belching power plants—instead of taking advantage of God-given, non-polluting energy sources like wind and solar and biomass.

As long as our elected officials ignore the chance to innovate, Texans will never be truly independent. As soon as we elect someone with the courage to lead Texas into the future, we will. Click on the link below to donate to Kinky and help bring Clean Energy/Clean Government back to the Lone Star State.

source: http://www.kinkyfriedman.com
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Follow the money

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We'll Welcome "The Body" to Brownwood !

Ventura, Jimmy Buffett plan to help Friedman campaign
By JULIA GLICK
Associated Press Writer - June 7, 2006

DALLAS — Kinky Friedman, the wisecracking humorist running for governor, said Wednesday he will campaign with help from ex-wrestler and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura and island-hopping musician Jimmy Buffett.
Ventura recently agreed to join Friedman on a college tour to woo young voters in September, and Buffett will play two Texas concerts to benefit the campaign, said a Friedman spokeswoman.
Friedman, the cigar-smoking musician, said he and Ventura make honest and trustworthy leaders because the longer people are in politics, the worse they get.
"Jesse is naive. He is an idealist," Friedman said at a Dallas luncheon. "He just didn't realize that wrestling is real, and politics is fake."
Friedman said Buffett had called and agreed to help raise money. Buffett did it on the condition that if elected, Friedman give him the Gulf Coast city of Port Aransas, the candidate joked.
Ventura, said he chose to help Friedman because they see eye-to-eye on the nation's political situation.
"We are controlled by the Democrat and Republican parties which really only gives us one more choice than a dictatorship," Ventura said in a phone interview Wednesday.
"Texas look out because "The Body" is coming," said Ventura, who wrestled professionally as Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
Friedman, an independent candidate along with Carole Keeton Strayhorn, has yet to hear formally from the secretary of state that his name will appear on the November ballot. He and Strayhorn submitted hundreds of thousands of signatures to meet the state's requirement of 45,540.
If they qualify, they will face Republican Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Chris Bell.
"I would be shocked if he didn't have the support of guitar players entering their 60s," Bell spokesman Jason Stanford said. Ventura "is an argument for why Kinky Friedman shouldn't be governor. ... This is a serious time, and we need real leaders."
Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black said what a candidate stands for matters more than who shows up at events.
"It is important for any candidate who wants to run for office governor to do more than crack jokes and throw mud," Black said.
A phone call to the Strayhorn campaign wasn't immediately returned.
Friedman has cut down on one-liners, laying out a more serious platform this week. He supports gay marriage, prayer in school, tougher ethics rules for politicians and wants legalized gambling to generate money for public schools.
He has said he will make country musician and biodiesel proponent Willie Nelson his energy czar.
Friedman hired Ventura's former campaign strategist Dean Barkley, who introduced the men to each other.
Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, wrestler, mayor, and radio talk show host, shocked Minnesota politics when he was elected in 1998. He served one term and didn't seek re-election.
"They are very similar," Barkley said. "Both are attempting to do the same thing. They are both disgusted with politics in this country. They are both very honest and not always politically correct."
Buffett, a singer-songwriter, has built a franchise out of his 1977 hit "Margaritaville." Details of his Friedman concerts weren't released.

source: http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:t3EYnG9RU_IJ:www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_Friedman_VenturaBuffett.html+kinky+friedman+jimmy+buffet&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=safari

Brownwood Verizon DSL Outage ....

Internet outage affects 12,000
June 10, 2006
Abilene Reporter News

More than 12,000 DSL customers of Verizon Online, including some in Brownwood, were without Internet access Friday afternoon and evening.
Bill Kula, a spokesman for Verizon in Dallas, said a fiber optic line was cut north of San Angelo by a maintenance crew that is not employed by Verizon.
The cut of the line interrupted Verizon's high-speed Internet service to more than 12,000 customers in Brownwood and San Angelo. The outage did not affect telephone service.
The outage had not been repaired by early evening Friday, but technicians were on the scene north of San Angelo to make repairs, Kula said.
source: http://reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4764613,00.html

Sing While You Drive Vintage Texas Post Card

Sing While You Drive Post Card
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

Bush & Rove Republicans: "Red State Chumming" !

Distracter in Chief
Spinning Phony Crises to Avoid Real Ones
By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, June 6, 2006; Page A15

What uncharted realm lies beyond brazen cynicism? A wasteland of utter shamelessness, perhaps? A vast Sahara of desperation, where principle goes to die? Someday George W. Bush and the Republican right will be able to tell us all about this barren terra incognita, assuming they ever find their way home.
The Decider's decision to whip up a phony crisis over same-sex marriage -- Values under attack! Run for your lives! -- is such a transparent ploy that even conservatives are scratching their heads, wondering if this is the best Karl Rove could come up with. Bush might as well open his next presidential address by giving himself a new title: The Distracter.
Let's check in on what's happening in the real world:
Iraq has become a charnel house for the victims of escalating sectarian slaughter. On Saturday, a car bomb killed 28 people in Shiite-dominated Basra, and hours later gunmen killed nine Sunni worshipers in a mosque. On Sunday, on a road near Baghdad, assassins pulled travelers out of their minivans, sorted them by faith, killed nearly two dozen Shiites and let the Sunnis go. Yesterday, men wearing police uniforms grabbed at least 56 people from bus stations and travel agencies in Baghdad and took them away -- no one knows why, no one knows where.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's new government remains toothless and ineffectual, despite his pledge to end the sectarian violence. On Sunday, he failed yet again to reach agreement on who will run the only two ministries that matter -- the ones in charge of the army and the police. The butcher Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most prominent figure in the armed Sunni insurgency and the most hunted man in Iraq, remains at large and periodically manages to issue messages inspiring his followers to continue their jihad. (Just like his hero, Osama bin Laden.) Yet the president spent his weekend radio address pushing "a constitutional amendment that defines marriage in the United States as the union of a man and woman."
Immigration, the last artificial crisis, at least is a genuine issue. But the president and his allies did such a job of rabble-rousing that the best outcome, at this point, is probably for Congress to deadlock and end up doing nothing. The National Guard is headed for the frontier, apparently under orders not to do much of anything. Immigrants are still marching north, employers are still hiring them and self-appointed sentries are still patrolling the border, where something really bad is bound to happen sooner or later.
Yet the issue of "profound importance" the president urgently wants to highlight is "protecting the institution of marriage."
The diplomatic maneuvering over Iran's nuclear program, which looks like the next crisis, is at a critical point. Defiant words from Iranian leaders on Sunday rattled the world's financial markets yesterday and sent oil prices soaring -- threatening even the modest relief most analysts had predicted from $3-a-gallon prices at the gas pump. Just in time for summer vacation.
The president, however, would rather we all reflect on the fact that "marriage is the most enduring and important human institution." Not satisfied that he had gotten his message across in his Saturday radio address, Bush gave another speech in support of a marriage amendment yesterday.
It's almost surreal. For one thing, the president has no role in amending the Constitution. Proposed amendments must be passed in both the House and Senate by two-thirds majorities, and then they must win approval from the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. The president doesn't have to sign it. He doesn't even have to read it.
People who are close to the president are always telling us what an essentially decent man he is, without a bigoted bone in his body. But that doesn't square with all this demagoguery in support of a measure whose only effect would be to write discrimination against gay men and lesbians into the United States Constitution.
Bigotry, pure and simple.
But of course the president knows that there's essentially no chance an amendment to ban gay marriage will make it out of the Senate -- that in fact it might not even get out of the House. All he can possibly accomplish is to energize activists on the religious right, who otherwise might be tempted to sit out the November midterm elections.
It's risky to raise expectations you have no intention of fulfilling, but maybe enough of the Republican base can be fooled by this charade to make a difference in the fall.
Meanwhile it keeps us from talking about things that are real, and that really matter.
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/05/AR2006060501282.html
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What is chumming ?

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Friedman gets serious with political stands

Political reform is gubernatorial candidate's first target
10:35 PM CDT on Monday, June 5, 2006
By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Yes, he's serious.
In an effort to prove he's not just another cigar-chomping, joke-telling pretty face, independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman unveiled an agenda for political reforms Monday.
"It's time to clean house," Mr. Friedman said. "How much worse does it have to get?"
As usual, Mr. Friedman's news conference was a running, stand-up riff on whatever questions were tossed his way.
But for the first time, his handlers tried to steer questions toward Mr. Friedman's point of the day: Texas needs to reduce special-interest political influence and make elections more accessible for voters and independent candidates.
Meat-and-potatoes on issues were a natural next course, his staff said, now that the petitions needed for Mr. Friedman to get on the ballot have been filed for review by the secretary of state.
"Everyone wanted to know if Kinky was going to get serious, and we said 'Yes,' " said campaign spokeswoman Laura Stromberg. "We weren't going to spend time and resources coming up with political proposals when we weren't even assured a spot on the ballot."
The political reform agenda announced Monday was the first of five planned policy anchors, each of which will be announced after a political event of some sort: renewable energy strategies, to be unveiled after a tour of polluted sites and alternative energy production facilities next month; after that, a statement on immigration, capping a tour of the Texas-Mexico border; education and health care, an expansion of the positions Mr. Friedman has already outlined on his Web site, with no events scheduled yet.
The political reform area came first, because it hit close to the campaign, which has protested the difficulty of getting on the ballot, Ms. Stromberg said.
"This is kind of our beginning," she said. "If Kinky's going to be governor, he's going to make sure that independents down the line won't have to deal with the obstacles that he has."
The most unconventional of Mr. Friedman's proposals involves the very method he used to get on the ballot. Under current rules, anybody who votes in a party primary is ineligible to sign an independent's petition to run for office.
Mr. Friedman, though, would allow independents onto the primary ballots of each political party. Any votes would count toward the signature requirement.
Other proposals are already in place in some states, including initiative and referendum, the process that allows residents the right to petition and get issues on a statewide ballot; same-day voter registration, which would eliminate a 30-day advance registration before elections; public financing of political campaigns for candidates who agree to spending limits and reject private contributions; and the drawing of political districts by an entity other than the Legislature.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell issued a press release saying the Friedman proposals ignored large problems in state ethics laws, including the ability for candidates to accept unlimited campaign contributions.
Gov. Rick Perry's campaign predicted that after establishing himself as a singer, fiction writer and black-hatted quipster, Mr. Friedman won't be able to pull off the role of serious candidate.
Said Robert Black, a spokesman for the Republican: "Kinky Friedman has spent the last many months traveling around the state, giving out funny one-liners, mystery novels and bobble-head dolls, and now he expects Texans to take him as a serious candidate for governor? That in itself may be the biggest joke of all."
E-mail pslover@dallasnews.com
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/060606dntexkinky.126e4d37.html
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Straight from the Horses Mouth.....

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Big Country Brokeback: Living Lies & Destroying Lives !

Abilene doctor was in forefront of AIDS discovery
By Sidney Levesque / levesques@reporternews.com
June 5, 2006

June 5, 1981 - Federal health authorities found that five gay men in California had contracted a rare kind of pneumonia, the first recognized cases of what would later be known as AIDS.
Dr. John Gullett was an infectious disease specialist in San Francisco 25 years ago when he began noticing gay patients ravaged by bizarre ailments.
They had swollen glands and rare illnesses like parasitic encephalitis or fungal meningitis. He talked to other specialists like dermatologists, who were also seeing unusual forms of cancer not only in California, but also in New York.
It would be another year before experts gave the disease a name - acquired-immune deficiency syndrome.
Since then, AIDS has killed 25 million people worldwide and millions more are expected to die even though new drugs are helping infected people live longer. There is no cure for AIDS or any other viral infection, said Gullett, who now works in Abilene.
But there is hope, he added, that advances in AIDS drugs will make it as manageable as diabetes or other disorders that decades ago would have meant certain death for patients. Plus, research into a cure for AIDS has led to treatments for many AIDS-related diseases.
Gullett became one of the nation's first experts on AIDS. He said doctors were mystified by gay patients who began coming to them with odd ailments.
''All of these things were not the cause. They were the effect and the cause was the loss of immunity,'' Gullett said.
He learned two things - the patients were losing their immunity and their disease was somehow tied to their homosexual lifestyle, which usually involved drugs and multiple sexual partners.
As he corresponded with more doctors whose patients had similar symptoms, he contacted the Centers for Disease Control in Georgia and said something strange was killing gay people.
''They thought I was a crackpot. They really didn't believe it,'' he said.
The CDC would later deny Gullett had contacted them at all, but he said he still has his phone bill.
The CDC caught on there was a problem soon enough, he said, because the center began receiving more calls for medicines it dispenses for rare diseases - rare diseases that Gullett's patients were coming down with.
Gullett said doctors who were treating these patients didn't publicize the problem at first because many were saving their research to publish in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. But that changed, Gullett said, after he talked to the editor who agreed to change the policy to only allow unpublished work because it was a public health emergency.
As Gullett continued researching odd viruses, he came across studies in France from the 1970s on people with similar symptoms who had come from Africa.
''Looking back, it was AIDS before anyone had any clue,'' he said.
His research made him a sought-after expert. He was interviewed by newspapers and was in National Public Radio's first report on the then-unnamed disease in July 1981. Gullett was cited in two books on AIDS - ''And the Band Played On'' and ''The Coming Plague.''
''It was like Andy Warhol said - everyone gets 15 minutes of fame,'' he said.
As AIDS gained national attention, fear and ignorance spread. People would withdraw, Gullett said, not realizing they had already been infected by it because of their risky behavior years earlier.
And there was controversy surrounding the disease because it was first discovered in gay men. People at the time thought it was only gay men who could contract it.
''It's a virus. It doesn't know if you're gay or straight. It just knows how to transmit itself,'' Gullett said.
The life expectancy of AIDS patients grew longer after doctors discovered in the early 1990s that a mixture of drugs - the ''AIDS cocktail'' - worked better than a single drug, Gullett said.
But treating the disease took its toll on the doctor. He lost hundreds of patients to AIDS before he left San Francisco eight years ago.
''Infectious disease for me changed from being a happy job to a really depressing job,'' he said.
He still treats AIDS patients in Abilene occasionally. He said people are now educated about the disease, but it's still growing in segments of society that suffer from drug or mental problems.

And it's still mainly contracted by gay men, but he's treated three or four Abilene women who didn't know their husbands were carrying on a secret gay lifestyle.

It's a disease that has touched many lives, Gullett said, and will continue to do so.
source: http://www.reporternews.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4751013,00.html
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Brownwood Bloggerphobia: What's a "Cat Juggler" to do ?

" In almost every article one reads about the future of the communication industry, blogs and citizen journalism are included. The ability to search for information and do research on the Internet for ourselves has not only helped conventional journalists, it is allowing almost everyone else to become one. Uploading one’s own viewpoint through a blog or a podcast is becoming serious competition to traditional venues. "
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/04/op_ed/columnists/opinion08.txt
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Note from Steve Harris, I really enjoyed the above quote from todays column by Brownwood Bulletin Publisher Bob Brincefield and I highly reccomend the reading of his entire column along with Bulletin Reporter/Columnist Steve Nashs' recent Column

found here

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A quote, "Quirky" if you will, dedicated to all the "Cat Jugglers & their anonymous sources" across the land ( All "Cat Jugglers" are local ! ):

“ During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act ” George Orwell

Downtown Brownwood Loft Dwellers: A growing community !

Aloft Downtown
Brownwood residents tout loft living's sense of community

By Celinda Emison / emisonc@reporternews.com
June 4, 2006

BROWNWOOD - On a warm spring morning, Marcus Holley dons flip-flops and runs across the street from his home to pick up a belated housewarming gift: a floral arrangement.
Meanwhile, Reed and Becca Smith wait for furniture to be delivered to their loft apartment above a local shop. And Ladon Spence wonders when she'll need to weed the sidewalk.
They're all members of a growing community in downtown Brownwood: loft dwellers.
Loft apartments generally are open spaces with few walls dividing living, dining and bedroom areas. They frequently sit atop businesses in downtown or other commercial districts.
Loft living is not new in larger cities, such as Dallas and Austin. Downtown living is also taking off in Abilene, with the restoration of the Hotel Wooten, apartments in the same structures as art galleries or restaurants, and planned renovations that will bring a restaurant and condos to a downtown Abilene site.
''This is definitely a trend in the last decade,'' said Shelly Hargrove, vice president of the Texas Downtown Association. ''People want to work where they live and live where they work.''
Spurred by less expensive real estate, smaller cities such as Brownwood are seeing loft apartments pop up. Hargrove said the trend is becoming popular because it is the best use of available upstairs space and it creates business opportunities downtown.
''You have more residents downtown, and sidewalks become the front and back yards of these residences,'' Hargrove said. ''It creates a safer and cleaner environment.''
Other cities are hoping to get building owners and developers interested in the loft living idea.
''We have an Albany native from Houston who has purchased two of our downtown buildings, and we understand he wants to convert them to lofts,'' said Robert Echols, former president of the Chamber of Commerce in Albany, whose downtown boasts a well-regarded museum and courthouse and a small business district. ''We have some pretty neat buildings that would be great for lofts.''
Brownwood historic preservationists are so proud of the trend, they have scheduled a loft tour for August as part of the city's sesquicentennial celebration. Recent arrivals and more experienced downtown dwellers described why they enjoy their lofts.
Gregory Free, a restoration specialist and owner of Gregory Free and Associates design firm in Austin, said Brownwood's downtown buildings are a great resource for lofts.
''There are quality buildings that have nice exposure, and they are affordable,'' Free said. ''They have such great potential because Brownwood was such a sizeable city when they were built.''
Holley/Busby loft
Marcus Holley, 24, and his girlfriend Leanne Busby, 26, live in a brownstone loft that was built in downtown Brownwood in the late 1800s. The safe from a former bank remains, and a picture of a dentist who worked in the top floor 100 years ago hangs in the entryway.
Holley studied music in Austin, but came back to Brownwood two years ago after the death of his brother, Robert (an etched crystal image of Robert sits on the window sill). About the same time Busby came home to Brownwood from Dallas, where she lived in a downtown loft, and soon began dating Holley.
Hoping to bring an urban feel to their hometown, the couple decided to look for a building to turn into a loft and met Mary and David Stanley, who were renovating their loft.
''When they showed us the building, it had plywood floors and no walls,'' Marcus recalled. ''We said we wanted it right then and there.''
Last August, the couple moved in. They happily slept on the floor for weeks before they got furniture. Now the two-bedroom loft, which also has an office, is painted and furnished, and is lined with windows.
''We love the windows so much that we decided not to put curtains up,'' Busby said.
The couple walks their dogs every day at Center Park, and frequents downtown eateries such as Steve's Market and Deli, The Turtle and Danny Ray's Steak House.
They love the lifestyle and hope it catches on with others, particularly other 20-somethings interested in history and urban living.
''There's more of a sense of community downtown it seems,'' Busby explained. ''We know everything that goes on down here, and we can just look out our windows and yell.''
Smith loft
Reed and Becca Smith said they always wanted to try loft living, but thought it was too expensive while living in Pensacola, Fla.
But after the self-described ''serial movers'' - ''We've never been afraid to pick up and move and make a change,'' Becca said - arrived in Brownwood, they got their wish.
Reed, 29, the marketing director at Brownwood Regional Medical Center, and Becca, 27, an independent business consultant, recently moved out of a 3,000-square-foot home in Brownwood and into a 1,500-square-foot loft atop Miller's Christmas Store. Visitors get to the front door from the street by going up a flight of wrought iron stairs. Smith said a similar space in Pensacola would cost around $2,000 a month versus less than $1,000 a month in Brownwood. Their new apartment has one large bedroom, a smaller second bedroom and office, a heart-shaped bathtub and a dining room big enough for a table for eight. The loft, owned by Steve McCrane is painted in a variety of earth-tone browns, such as coffee and English toffee.
The Smiths, who moved to Brownwood more than two years ago, said they like the sense of community with other loft dwellers and downtown merchants. Ann Noble, who runs Miller's Christmas Store, popped in one day recently in to tell the Smiths that a repairman was coming up. She assured Becca she cannot hear noise made by their move-in or renovations.
''This is like a little community, and we all blend in together,'' Noble said.
Reed said the couple may one day buy a building of their own.
''We're giving this a trial run,'' he said. ''We want to spark some interest in downtown, too.''
Spence loft
One day, as Ladon Spence was showing her antique shop to a potential renter, the woman told Spence about folks in Austin who converted downtown buildings into living space.
The conversation sparked an idea.
''I had a big house and a big yard, and I liked to travel,'' Spence said of her then-home, a four-bedroom house in south Brownwood. ''I thought, well, maybe that's what I'm supposed to do.''
So with downsizing her life on her mind, 12 years ago, Spence, 72, decided to renovate the 100-year-old building into a two-story apartment.
It had to be completely rebuilt.
''Upstairs we had every stage of pigeon x96 from eggs to birds,'' she laughed.
An avid art and antique collector, Ladon auctioned off some of her things to scale down her lifestyle. But she kept some of her most treasured items: the paint pallet used by the artist who painted the mural at Howard Payne University's Academy of Freedom; a photo of her late husband, Dr. Allan Spence, and photos of her sons David and Dan; and one piece from her historic pitcher collection and an Indian dream catcher that she and her husband purchased years ago in northern New Mexico.
Ladon has a large functional kitchen and living space downstairs, decorated with jewel-tone fabrics and antique furniture. Upstairs, is a den, which is decorated with a combination of Native American and country items.
Her bedroom is frilly, decorated with pink roses and lace.
''I had boys, and I always wanted to do this,'' she said.
As one of the pioneers of loft living in Brownwood, Ladon says she has never regretted her decision and is delighted to see others moving downtown.
''It's nice to have neighbors,'' she said.

How to decorate a loft apartment

Decorating an open space with few walls dividing ''rooms'' can be a challenge. Here's what to think about.

Determine the function of the space. Walk around your space and decide the best areas for working, relaxing and entertaining. Once the functional areas have been mapped out, it's easy to divide the open space into ''rooms'' through the placement of partitions, large pieces of furniture or area rugs.
You can incorporate the architectural features of a loft - exposed ceiling pipes and ductwork - into your decorating with a sleek, contemporary style using clean lines and smooth surfaces. Combine wood, glass, chrome and stainless steel.
Get chairs and sofas upholstered in natural fabrics: silk, wool, linen or cotton. Leather is another good choice.
Select fabrics with textures and weaves in solids, stripes and patterns. The colors are often tone-on-tone and fairly neutral.
The color palette in contemporary design is frequently a mix of neutrals. Creams, browns and taupes are possible choices, but pure white is the standard.
Bold and bright colors can be introduced with the addition of a few, well-chosen accessories.
Area rugs can add color and texture, and they can help visually define a space. Low pile commercial carpeting helps soften a loft's look.
Source: Matt Fox, co-host of HGTV's ''Room by Room,'' via www.hgtv.com
source: http://reporternews.com/abil/fe_people/article/0,1874,ABIL_7933_4749152,00.html
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Some of us believed in Downtwon Brownwood ( Working, Living & Playing ) even when it was not "Politically Correct" to do
so !

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or here

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All Hospitality is Local !

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McKinney residents attracted to heart of their town

11:34 PM CDT on Sunday, June 4, 2006
By MIKE JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News

McKINNEY – Don Day says he'll probably never move out of his apartment above a hair salon and art gallery on McKinney's historic square.
He's 30 paces from his office down the hall. He's a short walk away from shops and restaurants on or near the square. And he can get to a couple of his company's building renovation projects without even getting in his car.
"What's so neat is the convenience of everything," Mr. Day said. "I'll probably never leave."
Mr. Day, 66, shares his enthusiasm for the lifestyle with six other denizens who live on the square. They're not alone.
It's happening from Denton and Granbury in North Texas to Huntsville in southeast Texas and Colorado City in West Texas. Small-town coziness and old-fashioned character are drawing people to live in historic downtowns.
Debra Farst, who promotes downtown revival for the Texas Historical Commission, said old downtowns have been drawing people away from suburban subdivisions for years. Anecdotal evidence suggests a state and national trend, she said.
"A lot of times, when people want to move downtown, they want to do away with their yards and they want to do away with their cars," Ms. Farst said.
Jennifer Day was among them. She gave up her house in a newly developed subdivision in west McKinney and moved into a one-bedroom loft on the square last year.
She's glad to be rid of the yard work, she said, and enjoys the five-minute commute to her job at LifePath, an agency that treats people with mental illnesses.
Ms. Day, a Texas native, got her first taste of downtown life when she lived in Manhattan during the mid-1970s.
"Ever since then, I've always wanted to live in a loft," said Ms. Day, who is no relation to Mr. Day. "I saw this apartment and fell in love."
Linda McNeff moved to the square three years ago. She wanted to be closer to two shops she owns there. She said she also wanted to leave behind a Plano neighborhood characterized by block after block of look-alike brick homes.
She now shares an apartment with Mr. Day, her fiancé. With three grown children between them, apartment life suits their needs.
The couple often take morning strolls to the nearby coffee shop and then walk to work afterward. For more exercise, on some evenings, they'll extend a stroll around the neighborhood or to a restaurant.
"I don't drive much," Ms. McNeff said. "Sometimes I forget where I've parked my car because I haven't driven it for days."
People from the surrounding neighborhood walk the square after work, Mr. Day said.
"About 6 or 7 in the evening, there's a dog parade," he said. "We still have that small-town feel."
That's one of the things Gerhard Deffner said he likes most about living downtown.
"McKinney people will actually say 'hi' and stop you in the street and look you in the eye," said Mr. Deffner, a flight instructor who moved to the square in 1998.
Mr. Deffner left Dallas to be close to his flight school at McKinney's airport.
"It's nice because I have a five-minute commute to the airport," he said. "If I ride my bike it would take me 15 minutes. I'll never commute an hour again."
The square has 10 apartments, but only five are used as homes, said Mr. Day. The rest are occupied by small businesses.
The buildings date to the late 1800s and early 1900s. Restaurants, boutiques and antique shops take up most of the ground-floor space.
The square anchors McKinney's historic district, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mr. Day's building, which he bought and renovated 10 years ago, was built around 1875, he said. It was unoccupied and boarded up when he bought it, but its three-foot-thick walls and solid foundation were promising.
Its long second-floor hallway, a beige concrete tunnel that leads to several offices, leaves no hint that anyone lives here.
But open the door marked "204" and enter Mr. Day's elegant 1,800-square-foot apartment. Floors are a mixture of carpet and original wood. The ceilings are made of pressed tin salvaged during the renovation. Original art adorns the walls, and an antique Chinese Chippendale table demands space in the dining room.
On a recent afternoon, he left his building to inspect another one on the square that he recently bought. He plans to convert it into a hotel and restaurant.
Mr. Day, who has renovated 18 historic buildings in the area, hopes his latest project will attract more people to downtown.
"Right now it's a big dusty building," he said. "But when we're done you won't recognize it."
E-mail mjackson@dallasnews.com

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/060506dnccosquarelife.d7be5c8.html

Brownwood PTSD: Raise your hand if you've never heard of it ? Now ask yourself why ?

AWOL soldier moving on
Hounshell is 'happy with the way things turned out'

By Celinda Emison / emisonc@reporternews.com
June 4, 2006
BROWNWOOD - Jake Hounshell is proud to have served his country. So much so he had his dog tags tattooed on his chest.
Sounds like a typical proud soldier, except that Hounshell served jail time for going AWOL.
Now classified as a veteran of the war in Iraq, Hounshell, 21, is at home in Brownwood after serving 25 days in jail for going AWOL for almost a year and being diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
Hounshell now says jail was the best thing that ever happened to him and that he is ''happy with the way things turned out.''
''It changed my perspective on things,'' he said.
Despite Hounshell's comments and dog tag tattoo, some veterans think he got off too easy.
Harry Marlin, who was a gunner for the Army Air Corps in World War II, said Hounshell might not have received the same treatment had he been in WWII.
''I know what would have happened to me if I had gone AWOL in wartime,'' Marlin said.
Marlin said he had never heard of post traumatic stress disorder.
''We had a damn good excuse to have it,'' Marlin said. ''I'm sure things are pretty bad in Iraq, but I guess there are certain types of people who aren't cut out for the military.''
Two years ago this month, Hounshell began a 14-month tour of duty with the Army, first to Kuwait and then to Baghdad, Iraq. Hounshell served as a driver and a scout in the first platoon of the 9th Cavalry Division of the First Cavalry.
He earned a commendation for finding makeshift bombs in a vehicle and arresting two insurgents during a routine checkpoint stop. His story was in the military's newspaper, Stars and Stripes.
He also saw a lot of death. One of his fellow soldiers was killed by a roadside bomb right in front of him. Later on, one of his duties was to pick up dead bodies in Iraq and take them to the morgue.
But when Hounshell got home, he could not adjust, so he threatened to drive his truck into an 18-wheeler.
His mother and dad stayed up with him on stormy nights because he believed he was being shot at. There was the night he broke the glass on the front door of his parents' house with his head. Larry and Bobbie Hounshell sought help for their son but to no avail.
Hounshell now admits that he self-medicated with methamphetamine.
''I was having problems coming home from Iraq, and I tried to cure that with dope,'' Hounshell said. ''I tried to cure one problem with another. Then I had to deal with both of them.''
In February, Hounshell turned himself in at Fort Hood and was sentenced to serve 30 days in the Bell County Jail for his offense. The sentence was reduced by five days for good behavior, so Hounshell served 25 days.He said his fellow soldiers did not treat him badly after he returned to Fort Hood to await his sentence.
''They were just worried and wanted to know if I was OK,'' Hounshell said.
He was released on a general discharge on April 1 and came home to Brownwood about a week later.
When he got back to Brownwood, he returned to his job at Brownwood Manufacturing, where he helped make combat uniforms for the Army.
''He is a very good employee,'' said plant manager Debbie Byrd. ''I don't know of anyone here who has treated Jake badly because of his past.''
Hounshell said at first folks in Brownwood pointed and stared when they would see him at places like Brownwood's Red Wagon restaurant.
''At first it was kind of rough,'' Hounshell said. ''But then people started understanding.''
That stint in the Bell County Jail was important, though, because he says it saved his life.
''I had a lot of time to think about what I had done to myself and my family,'' he said. ''I'm clean now and I don't ever want to go back to doing drugs.''
Hounshell solemnly remembers those who served with him and lost their lives in the Iraq war.
He has tattoos on his arm that signify his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. But he also has eerie tattoos of skulls.
He said they hold special meaning.
''These are my fallen brothers who died in Iraq,'' he said, pointing to his arm. Another tattoo represents heaven and hell, which Hounshell said he and his family went through.

source: http://reporternews.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4749134,00.html

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Some history of PTSD:

Audie Leon Murphy, son of poor Texas sharecroppers, rose to national fame as the most decorated U.S. combat soldier of World War II. Among his 33 awards and decorations was the Medal of Honor, the highest military award for bravery that can be given to any individual in the United States of America, for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty." He also received every decoration for valor that his country had to offer, some of them more than once, including 5 decorations by France and Belgium. Credited with either killing over 240 of the enemy while wounding and capturing many others, he became a legend within the 3rd Infantry Division. Beginning his service as an Army Private, Audie quickly rose to the enlisted rank of Staff Sergeant, was given a "battle field" commission as 2nd Lieutenant, was wounded three times, fought in 9 major campaigns across the European Theater, and survived the war.
---------------------------
Despite his success in Hollywood, Audie never forgot his rural Texas roots. He returned frequently to the Dallas area where he owned a small ranch for a while. He also had ranches in Perris, California and near Tucson, Arizona. He was a successful Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racehorse owner and breeder, having interests in such great horses as "Depth Charge." His films earned him close to 3 million dollars in 23 years as an actor. Audie loved to gamble, and he bet on horses and different sporting events. He was also a great poker player. In his role as a prodigious gambler, he won and lost fortunes.
-------------------------
Audie suffered from what is now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and was plagued by insomnia and depression. During the mid-60's he became dependent for a time on doctor prescribed sleeping pills called Placidyl. When he recognized that he had become addicted to this prescription drug, he locked himself in a motel room, stopped taking the sleeping pills and went through withdrawal symptoms for a week. Always an advocate for the needs of veterans, he broke the taboo about discussing war related mental problems after this experience. In a effort to draw attention to the problems of returning Korean and Vietnam War veterans, Audie Murphy spoke-out candidly about his personal problems with PTSD, then known as "Battle Fatigue". He publicly called for United States government to give more consideration and study to the emotional impact war has on veterans and to extend health care benefits to address PTSD and other mental health problems of returning war vets.

source: http://www.jrotc.org/audie_murphy.htm
--------------
Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in history at the time of World War II (he received thirty-three awards, including the Medal of Honor), Hollywood actor (he starred as himself in the 1955 film version of his autobiography To Hell and Back, in addition to films such as 1951's The Red Badge of Courage, 1957's Night Passage, and 1960's The Unforgiven), and songwriter (he wrote songs for Dean Martin, among others), suffered from PTSD as a result of his experience in WWII. According to his first wife, actress Wanda Hendrix, he suffered terrible nightmares and always slept with a gun under his pillow. Murphy was one of the first people to actually speak out publicly about PTSD, and during the Vietnam War he called for more government funding to care for the returning veterans and to research the condition.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder
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Fri, May. 19, 2006

Still suffering, but redeployed
Post-traumatic stress doesn't exempt soldiers from 2nd tour
By LISA CHEDEKEL and MATTHEW KAUFFMAN
The Hartford Courant

David Beals, 26, a soldier stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after his first tour in Iraq. He was sent back within a few months for the tour that ended this January. He expects to go back for a third time at the end of this year.
Staff Sgt. Bryce Syverson, 27, of Richmond, Va., landed in the psychiatric unit at Walter Reed Medical Center after a breakdown that doctors traced to his 15-month tour in Iraq as a gunner on a Bradley tank. He was diagnosed with PTSD and depression, and was put on a suicide watch and antidepressants.
Today, Syverson is back in the combat zone, part of a quick-reaction force in Kuwait that could be summoned to Iraq at any time.
Jason Sedotal, a 21-year-old military policeman from Pierre Part, La., was diagnosed with PTSD in early 2005 after he returned from Iraq, where a Humvee he was driving rolled over a land mine. His sergeant, sitting beside him, lost both legs and an arm.
Last September, Sedotal was transferred from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Fort Polk in Louisiana, where he said doctors switched his medication from Prozac to Zoloft, and commanders deemed him ready to redeploy. He has been back in Iraq since October.
Sent back on meds|
Beals, Syverson and Sedotal are among a growing number of troops recycled into combat after being diagnosed with PTSD,
depression or other combat-related disorders -- a new phenomenon that has their families worried and some mental-health experts alarmed. The practice, which a top military mental-health official concedes is driven partly by pressure to maintain troop levels, runs counter to accepted medical doctrine and research that shows re-exposure to trauma increases the risk of serious psychiatric problems.
''I'm concerned that people who are symptomatic are being sent back, which is potentially very bad for them. That has not happened before in our country,'' said Dr. Arthur S. Blank Jr., a Yale-trained psychiatrist who helped to get PTSD recognized as a diagnosis after the Vietnam War.
Although Department of Defense medical standards for enlistment into the armed forces disqualify those who have been diagnosed with PTSD, military officials acknowledge that they are not exempting service members who meet that criterion from going to war. Many of those who are being sent back with such symptoms, such as Syverson, are being redeployed on psychiatric medications known as SSRIs.
Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army Surgeon General, acknowledged that the decision to redeploy soldiers with PTSD was ''something that we wrestle with,'' and partly driven by the military's need to retain troops because of recruiting shortfalls.
''Historically, we have not wanted to send soldiers or anybody with post-traumatic stress disorder back into what traumatized them,'' she said. ''The challenge for us... is that the Army has a mission to fight.''
Ritchie said the military looks at the ''impairment'' level of service members and their responses to medication before deciding whom to redeploy.
''If they're simply -- and I don't mean to minimize it -- but if they're simply having nightmares, for example, but they can do their job, then most likely they're going to deploy back with their unit,'' she said.
But whether the military can even gauge the impairment level of its veterans is in question. A newly released report by the Government Accountability Office found that nearly 4 in 5 troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who were found to be at risk for PTSD, based on responses to a screening questionnaire, were never referred for further evaluation or treatment.
Service members' families and medical experts say the military should not be experimenting with young men and women who have been traumatized by combat.
''When somebody's put on medication and told they have PTSD, it doesn't occur to you they'd want to send them back,'' said Corrine Nieto, a Bakersfield, Calif., mother whose 24-year-old son, Chris, a Marine reservist, was redeployed to Iraq last summer after being diagnosed with PTSD. ''I don't know what they're doing to these kids. I wonder if they do.''
Sedotal said that when he asked a doctor at Fort Polk if his symptoms would ever go away, he was told, ''Sure -- when you get out of there.''
''I don't feel like myself. I can't sleep, I can't be around crowds, I'm just drinking a lot,'' he said during a mid-tour visit home earlier this month, days before heading back to Iraq.
Few statistics|
The military does not track the number of troops with PTSD or other combat-related disorders who have been redeployed after a diagnosis. Overall, more than 378,000 active-duty, reserve and National Guard troops have served more than one tour in Iraq or Afghanistan, including about 151,000 Army soldiers and 51,000 Marines, according to the Department of Defense's latest deployment statistics.
Recent studies indicate that at least 18 percent of returning Iraq veterans are at risk for PTSD, while 35 percent have sought mental-health care in their first year home.
The Hartford Courant's research shows that at least seven troops who are believed to have committed suicide in 2005 and 2006 were serving second or third deployments. According to their families, they had exhibited signs of psychological problems between deployments that went undetected by military officials.
''This is an unexplored area,'' said Cathleen Wiblemo, deputy director for health care for the American Legion. ''How are troops going to deal with second and third deployments? Is their reaction going to be more severe?
"I think the VA can look to seeing a lot more mental-health cases," she said. "They haven't gotten the full brunt of these multiple deployments yet."
Ritchie said many troops want to go back with their units for repeat tours, and keeping them home could leave them with ''a stigma'' of failure.
In some cases, the military has taken that point further, suggesting that a return to war could benefit traumatized troops.
But mental-health experts said that while some troops who suffer from combat stress are able to return to the front lines, there is no evidence to suggest that re-exposure to trauma is in any way therapeutic.
'Anybody who says it's a form of therapy to send people back into war,'' said Dr. Jonathan Shay, a Boston-based psychiatrist who counsels Vietnam veterans, ''I don't know what they're smoking.''
source: http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/living/health/14618115.htm
--------------------------
Returning US soldiers face financial, medical difficulties
Critics say government is 'turning its back' on veterans because of need for money in Iraq.
By Tom Regan | chrisitan science monitor

Wounded US soldiers who have returned home are increasingly finding that they are being referred to credit agencies by the US military because of discrepancies in pay or "failure to pay" for lost equipment.
The Washington Post reported Saturday the story of one soldier, Robert Loria, victim of a bombing in Iraq, who had spent months in an Army hospital. He was not aware that he had not been "downgraded" in his pay scale – once soldiers leave a war zone, their pay goes down.
The last thing on his mind, he said, was whether the Army had correctly adjusted his pay rate ... or whether his combat gear had been accounted for properly: his Kevlar helmet, his suspenders, his rucksack.
But nine months after Loria was wounded, the Army garnished his wages and then, as he prepared to leave the service, hit him with a $6,200 debt. That was just before last Christmas, and several lawmakers scrambled to help. This spring, a collection agency started calling. He owed another $646 for military housing.
The Post reports that the US military recently identified 331 other soldiers who accumulated the same kind of "military debt" after they were wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. The military says they have forgiven the debt of 99 of the soldiers. The other 232 cases "have not been resolved."
"This is a financial friendly fire," charged Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R) of Virginia, chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, which has been looking into the issue. "It's awful." Davis called the failure systemic and said military "pay problems have been an embarrassment all the way through" the war.
The cause of the problem, according to military officials, is an outdated Defense Department computer system that "does not automatically link pay and personnel records." The Pentagon has been trying to fix the problem since the mid-'90s.
The Roanoke Times writes in an editorial that this is the latest in a string of problems that the Bush administration has had in dealing with soldiers, both full-time military and National Guard and Reserve troops. The Times pointed to a recent cut of a billion dollars in the Veterans Affairs budget, and the problems outfitting soldiers in war zones with proper equipment. The pay issue just compounds the situation.
The GAO found that more than 90 percent of the soldiers in some Reserve and Guard units have incurred payroll errors during deployment. Organizations such as the Wounded Warriors Project in Roanoke are attempting to put aggrieved soldiers in touch with the GAO to provide an accurate accounting of soldiers stuck with debts because of the Army's mistakes. America owes those who serve in uniform, especially the wounded, an enormous debt – not the other way around.
The Northwest Indiana Times reported last week on another soldier who was discharged from the military in the middle of medical treatment for a "line of duty" medical condition, in a case that critics say points to problems with the "new community-based health care initiative designed to help reservists and national guardsmen return home from active duty."
Meanwhile, The San Diego Union-Tribune [registration required] reported that last month veterans' groups criticized a decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to review 72,000 cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that have occurred between 1999 and 2004. The groups say the move is just an attempt by the government to "cut benefits for older veterans and toughen qualifications for future ones."
The department says the move is a "paper exercise," and that they are not looking to reduce benefits. What they are looking for are the cases where the "supply clerk who never left Fort Polk" is getting PTSD benefits. But veterans' groups say the department's aim is "more bottom line and long range."
"This review is really all about wanting to lower the cost of the war when the veterans come back from Iraq and Afghanistan," said William Rider Jr., president of the La Jolla-based American Combat Veterans of War. "I think certain people in the administration and Congress see veterans as a very large expense every year and they hate it."
But with the VA facing a $2.6 billion shortfall in the coming year, and with the dramatic increase in PTSD cases, other analysts say the government has to do an audit. The Sun-Herald of Biloxi, Miss. reported earlier this month that a recent audit by the Veterans Affairs inspector general of 2,100 randomly selected PTSD cases found that 25 percent lacked the proper documentation.
"The Department of Defense is being eaten out of house and home by health care costs," [Dan Goure, a senior defense analyst at the Lexington Institute] said. "More retirees are going with military medicine, Congress is allowing more National Guard and reservists to enter [the VA system] and the costs are rising. You have to say if you are going to have this kind of ballooning in PTSD benefits, a review is appropriate."
In an interview in early October with The Washington Post, Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson said that of the 400,000 troops that have been to Iraq and Afghanistan, 103,000 have been treated in a VA facility. Of that 103,000, he said, 12 percent have been treated for PTSD.
In an editorial for the liberal/progressive truthout.org website, Gene C. Gerard pointed to a study by Col. Charles W. Hoge, M.D., the chief of psychiatry at Walter Reed Army Institute, published in the June 2004 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.
The study concluded that close to 20 percent of soldiers who served in Iraq, and approximately 12 percent of those who served in Afghanistan returned home suffering from PTSD. The study found that there is a clear correlation between combat experience and the prevalence of PTSD. The study determined that, "Rates of PTSD were significantly higher after combat duty in Iraq."
Approximately 86 percent of soldiers in Iraq were involved in combat, as were 31 percent in Afghanistan. On average, soldiers engaged in two firefights for each tour of duty. The study indicated that 95 percent of soldiers had been shot at. And 56 percent of soldiers had killed an enemy combatant. An estimated 28 percent were directly responsible for the death of a civilian.... Additionally, 68 percent witnessed fellow soldiers being killed or seriously wounded.
Mr. Gerard writes that although the number of soldiers suffering from PTSD is high, Dr. Hoge's study found that a majority of veterans are not seeking treatment. "Only 40 percent of returning soldiers acknowledged that they need mental health care, and only 26 percent were actually receiving care. As such, the number of veterans approved for PTSD compensation by the VA is relatively small."
Stars and Stripes reports that in early October, Senate Democrats added an amendment to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriation Act to block Veterans Affairs from conducting the review until the department proves the need for the reviews to Congress. The amendment was passed on a voice vote. But there is no similar language in the House version of the bill, so the question must be decided in conference.
source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1018/dailyUpdate.html
----------------------
National Center for PTSD

The National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was created within the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989, in response to a Congressional mandate to address the needs of veterans with military-related PTSD. Its mission was, and remains: To advance the clinical care and social welfare of America's veterans through research, education, and training in the science, diagnosis, and treatment of PTSD and stress-related disorders. This website is provided as an educational resource concerning PTSD and other enduring consequences of traumatic stress, for a variety of audiences.

source: http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/
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Is

this

being discussed publicly in Brownwood

The United States Marines you have not/will not hear on Brownwood Talk Radio Airwaves ! Why is that ?

Listen here

2006 Kerrville Folk Festival

click here

What's being written.......

Morally bankrupt party in charge
Letters to the editor - San Angelo Standard Times

June 2, 2006

Editor:

Having followed our county's descent into fascism and empire in the past 5 years has been a rough ride. Will it ever end? The leadership (and I use the word loosely) of the United States has been horrendous. Mistakes, lies, corruption and plain old evil have been, and continue to be, rampant. The death and destruction is immeasurable. Our country's reputation in the world is so tarnished, it may never be recovered. Even people that voted for this president two times are seeing the carnage.
With a complicit media, much of the American people follow along more or less as they are told to. Any citizens that question the government have been called traitors or ''liberals.'' By the way, the folks out there thinking there is a liberal media bias in this country need to get back to reality. Before Clinton's impeachment, perhaps. But now, with the arrival of FOX News, this is just nonsense. Any media outlet that questions our government is treated just like citizens that do so - called traitors, etc. - by the right-wing wannabe-like FOX News media that actually runs the show. The rest of them are more than willing to be shills for a corrupt administration because that is what FOX News does. Don't believe it? The White House just hired a FOX News pundit to be its press secretary. The media in the United States have let the people down.
Not only is the administration all the things I mentioned, they are goofy as can be. Also proving there is no liberal media is the fact that some numskull hired the fantastic Stephen Colbert to close the show at the White House Correspondence dinner a few weeks ago. It was shown a few times on C-Span, but was essentially blacked out by that ''liberal'' media (you didn't hear about it, did you?) but it set the Internet ablaze. Read the transcript or find the video on the Internet for a real treat. It is probably one of the few times in the past 5 years President Bush was confronted with raw truth. Colbert handed it to the press, as well. He was fearless and simply told the truth.
A word about the current Republican strategy. They, not the Democrats, are turning out to be the party of no ideas. Wedge issues like gay marriage bigotry, English language nonsense, and so-called immigration reform are what they are left with. Sadly, there are plenty of Americans that are more than willing to follow these sleazy politicians into a mind-set of hate and prejudice.
There are no answers to these problems. They are simply brought up by a morally bankrupt party to divide our all ready divided nation. Whatever happened to human kindness? What happened to a helping hand? What happened to Christian decency? Can we not tell corruption from truth?

Miles McMillan
San Angelo

source: http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/news_opinion_letters/article/0,1897,SAST_10318_4744209,00.html

Movies and novels push people to think
Letters to the editor

June 1, 2006
Editor:
When a novel or movie such as ''The Da Vinci Code'' is released, I am amazed at the reaction of some churches and Christians. I did a Google search for ''The Da Vinci Code'' and received 9,070,000 results. Obviously, there is tremendous interest as well as a strong reaction and resistance.
As I listen to the debate over whether this is fiction or based on some fact, I wish to speak to the underlying issue. The issue for some churches and Christians (especially clergy) is much deeper than any novel or movie can produce.
Like other novels and movies, another will replace this one. If you remember, in 1988, the novel ''The Last Temptation Christ'' by Nikos Kazantzakis came to life on the big screen. In 2004, Mel Gibson's ''The Passion'' created a religious stir and frenzy, which some would argue was more fictitious than fact. Novels and movies come and go, but the underlying issue remains: the fundamental fear and resistance of allowing people to think for themselves.
Anytime a religious body claims to have the truth, all other thoughts become false and are not to ever be entertained. Moreover, judgment is cast upon anyone who questions or is open to other possibilities. In essence, there is the fear, from some churches, of losing control.
However, this is certainly not a new issue. The Reformation is a result of challenging religious authority and encouraging the individual's right and ''rite'' to think and theologically discern.
In our own country, before and after the Revolutionary War, many Christians sought religious freedom by rejecting religious authority and structure. This new frontier spirit rejected the European model of government and ''church.'' People embraced this newfound freedom, and during the ''Expansion Era,'' churches were established and flourished.
So the issue is age old and present today. When religious authority is challenged, those in ''authority'' resist. It is good to entertain new thoughts and ideas. Movies and novels are powerful ways to get people to think and to share their understandings with others. We have been created with a mind, and we should use it.

Rev. Ben G. Hubert
San Angelo

source: http://www.sanangelostandardtimes.com/sast/news_opinion_letters/article/0,1897,SAST_10318_4740791,00.html

Brownwood & Brown County Too ?

PEGGY NOONAN

Third Time
America may be ready for a new political party.

Thursday, June 1, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

Something's happening. I have a feeling we're at some new beginning, that a big breakup's coming, and that though it isn't and will not be immediately apparent, we'll someday look back on this era as the time when a shift began.
All my adult life, people have been saying that the two-party system is ending, that the Democrats' and Republicans' control of political power in America is winding down. According to the traditional critique, the two parties no longer offer the people the choice they want and deserve. Sometimes it's said they are too much alike--Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Sometimes it's said they're too polarizing--too red and too blue for a nation in which many see things through purple glasses.
In 1992 Ross Perot looked like the breakthrough, the man who would make third parties a reality. He destabilized the Republicans and then destabilized himself. By the end of his campaign he seemed to be the crazy old aunt in the attic.
The Perot experience seemed to put an end to third-party fever. But I think it's coming back, I think it's going to grow, and I think the force behind it is unique in our history.
This week there was a small boomlet of talk about a new internet entity called Unity '08--a small collection of party veterans including moderate Democrats (former Carter aide Hamilton Jordan) and liberal-leaning Republicans (former Ford hand Doug Bailey) trying to join together with college students and broaden the options in the 2008 election. In terms of composition, Unity seems like the Concord Coalition, the bipartisan group (Warren Rudman, Bob Kerrey) that warns against high spending and deficits.
Unity seems to me to have America's growing desire for more political options right. But I think they've got the description of the problem wrong.
Their idea is that the two parties are too polarized to govern well. It is certainly true that the level of partisanship in Washington seems high. (Such things, admittedly, ebb, flow and are hard to judge. We look back at the post-World War II years and see a political climate of relative amity and moderation. But Alger Hiss and Dick Nixon didn't see it that way.) Nancy Pelosi seems to be pretty much in favor of anything that hurts Republicans, and Ken Mehlman is in favor of anything that works against Democrats. They both want their teams to win. Part of winning is making sure the other guy loses, and part of the fun of politics, of any contest, of life, can be the dance in the end zone.
But the dance has gotten dark.
Partisanship is fine when it's an expression of the high animal spirits produced by real political contention based on true political belief. But the current partisanship seems sour, not joyous. The partisanship has gotten deeper as less separates the governing parties in Washington. It is like what has been said of academic infighting: that it's so vicious because the stakes are so low.
The problem is not that the two parties are polarized. In many ways they're closer than ever. The problem is that the parties in Washington, and the people on the ground in America, are polarized. There is an increasing and profound distance between the rulers of both parties and the people--between the elites and the grunts, between those in power and those who put them there.
On the ground in America, people worry terribly--really, there are people who actually worry about it every day--about endless, weird, gushing government spending. But in Washington, those in power--Republicans and Democrats--stand arm in arm as they spend and spend. (Part of the reason is that they think they can buy off your unhappiness one way or another. After all, it's worked in the past. A hunch: It's not going to work forever or much longer. They've really run that trick into the ground.)
On the ground in America, regular people worry about the changes wrought by the biggest wave of immigration in our history, much of it illegal and therefore wholly connected to the needs of the immigrant and wholly unconnected to the agreed-upon needs of our nation. Americans worry about the myriad implications of the collapse of the American border. But Washington doesn't. Democrat Ted Kennedy and Republican George W. Bush see things pretty much eye to eye. They are going to educate the American people out of their low concerns.
There is a widespread sense in America--a conviction, actually--that we are not safe in the age of terror. That the port, the local power plant, even the local school, are not protected. Is Washington worried about this? Not so you'd notice. They're only worried about seeming unconcerned.
More to the point, people see the Republicans as incapable of managing the monster they've helped create--this big Homeland Security/Intelligence apparatus that is like some huge buffed guy at the gym who looks strong but can't even put on his T-shirt without help because he's so muscle-bound. As for the Democrats, who co-created Homeland Security, no one--no one--thinks they would be more managerially competent. Nor does anyone expect the Democrats to be more visionary as to what needs to be done. The best they can hope is the Democrats competently serve their interest groups and let the benefits trickle down.
Right now the Republicans and Democrats in Washington seem, from the outside, to be an elite colluding against the voter. They're in agreement: immigration should not be controlled but increased, spending will increase, etc.
Are there some dramatic differences? Yes. But both parties act as if they see them not as important questions (gay marriage, for instance) but as wedge issues. Which is, actually, abusive of people on both sides of the question. If it's a serious issue, face it. Don't play with it.
I don't see any potential party, or potential candidate, on the scene right now who can harness the disaffection of growing portions of the electorate. But a new group or entity that could define the problem correctly--that sees the big divide not as something between the parties but between America's ruling elite and its people--would be making long strides in putting third party ideas in play in America again.
Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father," (Penguin, 2005), which you can order from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Thursdays.

source: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/

Texas Republican's and their " Third World Approach " to running (ie: defunding) our State Park System !

Official says state parks in crises

By NEIL STRASSMAN
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Texas state parks are facing tough times because of budget and staffing shortfalls, according to state parks director Walt Dabney.
"We are in some serious trouble," said Dabney, who discussed the parks situation Thursday at Arlington City Hall. "It's an absolute third-world approach to running a park system."
About three dozen people attended the parks presentation.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department oversees 114 state parks, and the agency's budget has been relatively flat, hovering around $50 million. Since 2002, costs have increased by about $6 million, Dabney said.
In December 2005, operations at 50 parks had to be trimmed, and 73 staff positions were eliminated, he said. The agency's resources were focused only on priority sites.
"We came close to closing one-third of the system," he said.
Dabney, who has given similar talks across the state to encourage support for the parks system, was invited by Mayor Robert Cluck to speak in Arlington.
Cluck learned of the park system's difficulties several months ago on a trip to Austin. He hoped to help Dabney spread the word.
Dabney reeled off examples of state parks in dire straits.
The Battleship Texas is rusting near Galveston, and it costs about $12 million every 15 years to work on it in dry dock.
The Texas State Railroad near Palestine in East Texas is in desperate need of repair. It costs $6 million annually to operate and only brings in revenue of about $1.5 million.
The parks are an important educational resource for Texans and an economic engine for tourism, he said.
However, Texas ranks 49th in per-capita spending on its parks, Dabney said.
Some funding for parks comes from a tax on the sale of sporting goods, but the amount the agency can use is capped. That cap needs to be lifted, he said.
The recent funding disaster was narrowly averted when the Legislature approved $4.8 million in additional revenue.
Park volunteers donate about 400,000 hours annually, the equivalent of about $4 million in salary.
State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, who attended the talk, praised Cluck for inviting Dabney.
"People need to understand just how bad the situation is," Burnam said.
Suzanne Sweek, a landscape architect from Arlington who heard Dabney's talk, called the situation "appalling."
But, she said, "It's hard to say what will happen because the state has so many pressing needs."

Neil Strassman, (817) 548-5520 strass@star-telegram.com
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/community/14724140.htm

" French Onion Fridays " @ Steves'

" French Onion Fridays " @ Steves'
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

French Onion Soup
Inspired by the fall season and despite the South's continuing heatwave, I've been slurping a lot of French onion soup. A dark and intense stock (usually chicken but sometimes beef and chicken)loaded with carmelized yellow onions and topped with a generous round of crusty bread and a blanket of Gruyere cheese, is more than mere soup, it's comfort in a bowl.

French onion soup as with most foods, has a history, a point (or two) of origin. In this instance this soup's creation is credited to King Louis XV of France, who, it is said had returned late one night to his hunting lodge, to find nothing more in the larder than onions, butter and champagne. Creative cook that he was, he mixed them together, and voila, the first French onion soup.

While French onion soup can be made with virtually any onion, most recipes call for yellow onions which turn a rich, dark brown when cooked slowly in browned butter and give French onion soup its tangy sweet flavor.

Don't underestimate that blanket of cheese on top. It should be good quality cheese (the best you can afford), broiled, baked or hand-torched to a bubbly golden brown, even almost burned in some spots, and dribbling over the edge of the soup crock.

source: http://www.emerils.com/cooking/archives/001278.html

Really Brownwood, What did you expect from a "Drive By" Columnist ?

Thursday June 1, 2006

Op Ed: Columnists Brownwood Bulletin
This crazy world has apparently caught up with our part of it — Steve Nash

I like to go online fairly early most mornings to check out the news far and near, and find out what’s happened overnight.
Usually, it’s the usual from what I’ve heard referred to as the “drive-by media” — the U.S. military is bad; America is bad; illegal immigration is good; the latest health/social environmental crisis is either global warming (caused by Bush); obesity, coffee, SUVs, cat jugglers, obese cat jugglers, cat jugglers with ADHD, obese cats with ADHD (or all of the above); the price of crude oil is expected to hit $1 million a barrel by tomorrow or Monday at the latest; blah blah blah, yada yada yada.
And Bubba Dokes got kicked off American Idol.
Holy smokes! Now we’re really in trouble ...
Let me back up to the crude oil item, which of course is tied to the price of gasoline, which of course is too high, which of course has Americans exercised. Unless you’re one of those evil rich people who have benefitted from those evil tax cuts propagated by the evil Bush, you’re probably feeling it — the so-called “pain at the pump,” as the media likes to call it. This cat juggler certainly is.
But wait, let me back up some more. I don’t need a screaming, leering link on my home computer’s home page to tell me what I already know — gas prices are too high. I’m not an energy analyst (nor do I play one on TV) so I’ll let someone else argue about why this is happening. But I can see the honkin’ prices when I look out the window.
My reaction to the drive-by media: Shut up!
I’m not saying don’t report on topics that have Americans steamed and talking it up — and that includes local residents who gather at their favorite French restaurants here in Brown County. Those topics obviously include gas prices, the recent property appraisals and illegal immigration (unlike the media, Vicente Fox and some American politicians, not all Americans are for it).
Mais oui! Enough is enough. I don’t need to see TV news reporters every day who seem almost gleeful at the gas prices and assure us that, hoo boy, you think it’s bad now, just wait till tomorrow! Oh, woe is us. People can’t drive their SUVs any more, they tell us. No more making that extra trip to the store because they forgot milk. No more vacations. People are having to decide between gas and food.
I’m not trying to trivialize this issue, and when Wife tells me it cost $60 to fill our 23-gallon Ford Freestar, that’s a big deal. When we drive to north Texas for the weekend and see that gas is 10 or 15 cents lower than it is here, that’s irritating — not that it’s lower there, but that it’s higher here.
And I’m not an oil industry analyst (nor do I play one on TV), so I’ll let others argue over why these things are so.
My point is, I don’t think the daily overdose of doom-and-gloom reporting on this and other issues is helpful.
“It’s like they’re trying to incite a riot,” said a friend who didn’t say I could use her name so I won’t. “We’re not mad enough to suit them.
“It’s like, if there’s not enough news, let’s stir it up. If you don’t care about it, we’re going to beat you over the head until you do.”
Now, you might be thinking, man alive, cat juggler, if that’s not the kettle calling the pot black, I don’t know what is! As a crime and courts reporter, I bring my share of negative news to the table.
A few weeks ago, me and some non-news media folks were waxing philosophical about our jobs, and to illustrate a point (although I’m not sure what the point was) I said, “It’s like ‘There’s a pervert down at the courthouse. I gotta get down there!’ ”———
Had another recent conversation with someone who had some interesting insights. Now, I could tell you his name but then he would have to kill me, so I won’t.
Like the cat juggler, he has come to Brown County within the past few years. We waxed philosophical about some of the bizarre events that have been in the news in Brown County lately.
“I think what’s happened is, the world has come to Brownwood, and all these things that were sacred for so long — we’re going to have to get with the rest of the world.
“I love a small town but you cannot live in a vacuum. The whole mindset of the community — ‘Well, this is Brownwood. We do things different here.’
“I don’t know how many times I’ve been told — and you’ve been told — ‘You’re not from here. You don’t understand how things work.’ You see more people coming here that are used to more accountability, I guess, and they expect more — they expect more from everybody.
“They expect more from law enforcement. They expect more from elected officials. And that’s not a bad thing.”
BTW (I’m learning chatspeak), I don’t think he intended to disparage the “whole mindset of the community.” This is a pro-Brown County person, as is your cat juggler. I’ll take the liberty of speaking for him and saying he was referring to the quirky events and attitudes propagated by a minority of residents.
Steve Nash writes his column for the Brownwood Bulletin on Thursdays. He may be reached by e-mail at steve.nash@brownwoodbulletin.com.
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/06/01/op_ed/columnists/opinion05.txt
--------------------
Links, Links, and More links !

Brownwood Fries

------------------------------
How Republican Walter Jones (of "Freedom Fries" Fame) grew a conscience

What a "Drive By" Brownwood Columnist would avoid

--------------------------------
Brownwood Restaurants ( I would wager that all of these folks are "Pro Brown County" Too ! Even the Steve Nash defined "French" ones !)

yummmmmmy

--------------

can you taste this ?

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Note from Steve Harris,

I wonder if "Drive By" Reporter/Columnist, Steve Nash (and his anonymous friends), would consider Avi Adelman "quirky" ? Maybe Nash and his anonymous cohorts will define " the quirky events and attitudes propagated by a minority of residents " for the readers of the area ! Is their use of the word "quirky" really just double speak for their thought of "queer" ?

read more here

----------
Would Brown County's Ellis Johnson and Steve Nash consider

this

a "Quirky" event ?
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Note from Steve Harris, We'd welcome " Marviiiiin Ziiiiiiiiiindler, Eyewiiiitness Newwwws " to Brownwood Texas with
open arms. Let's make that call !

June 2, 2006, 3:32PM
TV's white knight
At 84, Marvin Zindler is still fighting for the little guy

By ERIC HARRISON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Marvin Zindler is shouting again.
"What else is new?" you say.
You don't understand: Off the air, The Loudest Man On Television can be surprisingly soft-spoken. Gracious, even. A Southern gentleman. Except when he's piqued.
"You ask why they're marching?" he bellows at the dinner table, pushing aside a steak he's barely touched. "I'll tell you why they're marching."
He's wearing work clothes: powder-blue suit pants, a blue monogrammed shirt, white suspenders and a specially made, extra-wide necktie, impaled by a diamond-encrusted tiepin. The clothes are appropriate, because Zindler can't get work off his mind tonight. Days have gone by since he commented on the air about immigration reform, and he's still worked up about it.
Immigrants are marching, he shouts, because the same people who long ago wouldn't let Mexicans eat in downtown restaurants and who fought desegregation "now want to throw them in JAIL for being here illegally. They want to make it a FELONY."
Niki, Zindler's wife, doesn't feel as passionate about immigration as he does. Or, at least, she expresses it differently. She asks questions, mostly, but she asks in a way that suggests she's already formed an opinion, one that differs from Zindler's. He grows more frustrated by the second.
"Don't yell at me, Marvin," she finally says, with force.
"I'M NOT YELLING," he yells. "I'm just trying to make you see my point."
Zindler has been yelling to make a point for 33 years. At least, that's how long he's been a Channel 13 consumer investigator, the station's first. If he weren't also the first local consumer reporter in the nation (as has been reported), he quickly became the best known. Only a few months into the job, he did a series of reports that led to the closing of a certain La Grange business establishment called the Chicken Ranch — "the best little whorehouse in Texas."
He hardly considers that his most important story. ("I didn't care that they had a whorehouse," he rumbles. "We had plenty here in Houston.") But after a long-running Broadway musical and a movie (Dom DeLuise played the Zindler character), the Chicken Ranch story still is the one for which he's best known.
Arguably Houston's most famous resident, Zindler attracts attention wherever he goes.
"Hey, look! It's Marvin Zindler."
He smiles and says hello to everyone. He doesn't wait to be recognized.
"Hiya, Marvin."
Handshakes.
"Marvin! Howya doin' today?"
At 84, he still walks with a bounce. It's a cocky little stride, which is what you would expect from a man who looks the way Zindler does. Not that many men do. With his jutting (man-made) jaw, dark glasses, platinum hairpieces and dandified suits (adorned, always, with a color-coordinated sprouting kerchief), Zindler — who admits to having had 15 cosmetic procedures — is as singular a figure as Houston has produced in our time.
As he makes his rounds through the city — his city — chances are the people who rubberneck to catch a glimpse have on their minds neither the Chicken Ranch nor the story Zindler considers his most important — his 1985 reports on financial mismanagement by the Hermann Hospital board of trustees. And it's a sure bet they aren't thinking about the Agris-Zindler Children's Foundation, which has helped children all over the world.
No, they're thinking of his weekly reports on restaurant health inspections, with their frequent finding of "SLIIIIME in the ice machine." He shouts it like a battle cry. Or they're thinking of his latest piece — he's done thousands — about ordinary people who got a bum deal.
Five days a week, at 6 p.m. and sometimes at 10, Zindler — impeccably dressed in suits that often are louder than his bray — plays the starring role in 90-second morality plays in which working-class people face forces against which they are no match. Almost always, the "little guy" wins.
After a visit from Zindler, the formerly recalcitrant company executive issues a refund, a city bureaucrat cuts red tape, or a local doctor — one of "Marvin's Angels" — performs gratis surgery that dramatically improves the life of a child.
Those pieces — "helping kids who never would've gotten help otherwise" — are the stories of which Lori Reingold, Zindler's producer for the last 23 years, says she's most proud. Zindler concurs. Last February, he was tooling through southwest Houston in his black Chrysler 300C on his way to an assignment when he turned to a passenger and said those stories are the reason he keeps coming to work. He sounded sincere.
He wasn't feeling well that day. He'd gotten a pacemaker a few weeks previously, and it needed regulating. He'd started out feeling OK. With his friend and plastic surgeon Dr. Joseph Agris, Zindler had begun the day with a mission to help another child. Later, he granted a newspaper interview over lunch (chicken and dumplings at the State Grill). Then he rushed to a Bellaire elementary school to tape a segment.
That was when it got to him. The walk from the parking lot to the school building tired him out. He had to take nitroglycerin and sit for a while.
As always, people were excited to see him. "You're so cute!" one teacher gushed, swatting at his shoulder, almost levitating with glee. "So dapper!"
For the first time all day, Zindler seemed indifferent.
He'd confided over lunch that he felt dizzy on the air the previous day and flubbed a couple of lines. He usually laughs at his mistakes, but this seemed to weigh on him.
"The problem with growing old in television," said the vainest man in America, "is that people watch you grow old."
But that was weeks ago. Tonight, as Niki gets Key lime pie from the kitchen and Zindler cuts his steak into tiny pieces for the dog, he is in good spirits. He got word from his doctor today that it's OK to golf again.
Golf is Zindler's favorite pastime. Before the pacemaker, weakness had forced him to cut back, but he still managed to get in three days a week on the course. He can hardly wait to get back out. In fact, he jokingly tells a dinner guest, Niki's love of the game was what drew him to her when they met.
Zindler's first wife, Gertrude, died in 1997 after 56 years of marriage. He said he'd never marry again, and he meant it. Then he met Niki at a bat mitzvah.
He shrugs and smiles.
"The first thing I asked her was, 'Do you like to golf?' "
Married three years ago, they live in Meyerland, in the modest house Zindler bought with Gertrude 48 years ago. It's full of memories and also nearly a half-century of accumulated belongings. That's what bothers Niki the most — the clutter, the furniture crowding every room, the knickknacks covering every surface, the boxes of old clippings and books squirreled away in cabinets and closets. She'd clear it all away if she could, not that there's any chance Zindler would let that happen.
"He's very strong-willed," she says when he leaves the room. "There's no doubt about that. But he has his soft side, too."
Then, remembering how agitated he got over the immigration issue, she adds what anyone who has watched him for long already knows: "And he really cares about people who are underprivileged."
KTRK until recently was Houston's highest-rated news station. (KHOU won the May, February and last November's sweeps.)
Zindler signed a lifetime contract in 1988 and reportedly earns a million dollars a year — one of his rewards for helping keep Eyewitness News at or near the top in the ratings all those years.
Another reward is the suite Zindler, Reingold and Bob Dows, cameraman for 25 years, share at KTRK headquarters. It has a glass wall and a sliding door that opens onto a tiny private patio. From his cluttered desk, Zindler faces a mural he commissioned for an outside wall. It evokes two things dear to him — Sugar, a white cat he owned for 15 years until it died earlier this year, and the antebellum South (not for nothing does he wear those white Col. Sanders-style suits so often).
KTRK is the station that time forgot. In an industry that celebrates youth, it embraces familiarity and stability. Television covets viewers in the 18-49 age group, and Zindler insists the station does well with them. It's unlikely many of those viewers remember a time when Dave Ward wasn't reading the news. He's been a Channel 13 anchor since 1967. Ed Brandon has done the weather for almost as long — 34 years. Doug Brown, Brandon's fellow weathercaster, has been with the station 31 years. And reporter Elma Barrera also joined the station in the 1970s.
Zindler came to Channel 13 in 1973 after spending 10 years with the Harris County's Sheriff's Department. He was famous for his clothes, for getting on television and for such idiosyncrasies as carrying mink-lined handcuffs for female prisoners.
Zindler had risen to the rank of sergeant and worked in several divisions before, working with the district attorney's office, he established the department's consumer fraud division. By all accounts, he was good enough at his job — and good enough at drawing media attention to his successes — that business owners he caught in unscrupulous practices wanted him gone.
"He stepped on some pretty large toes," Ward says of Zindler. "Marvin loves to step on toes — the bigger the better."
When Jack Heard was elected sheriff in 1972, one of the first things he did was fire Zindler. The consumer advocate blames his firing on agitation from politically influential car dealers he caught rolling back speedometers. Whatever the cause, Ward recommended to then-assistant news director Gene Burke that the station hire him.
"I accept the credit . . . or the blame," intones the man who has to keep a straight face during Zindler's nightly braying.
Zindler often says he doesn't consider himself a journalist, but he could claim credit for helping to pioneer broadcast journalism in Houston. In the 1940s, while working days in his father's clothing store, he toiled at night as a DJ and spot news reporter for KATL, a now-defunct radio station. In the 1950s, while working as a volunteer policeman, he also worked for the Houston Press, a long-gone daily newspaper, as a photographer and reporter. He also did spot news reports for KPRC television's fledging news operation until an executive fired him, he says, for being "too ugly."
That's what led to Zindler's first plastic surgery. He's been tinkering ever since. Even after all these years, Ward sounds amazed when he speaks of his colleague.
"He can grow hair," Ward says, his eyes widening. "He's not bald. He just doesn't like his hair."
A Houstonian returning to town after a 30-or-so-year absence would be forgiven if he didn't recognize the man shouting "MAAARVIN ZINDLER" on television. More than Zindler's face has changed. Where today he comes across as cuddly in a curmudgeonly sort of way, in the early years he seemed stern, unrelentingly intense. Zindler attributes it to nervousness.
"I was new," he says as he finishes his pie at the dinner table. "I wasn't a TV reporter. I was scared that I might make a mistake."
He acknowledges, though, that he's mellowed. He loved a good fight in those days; he delighted in bushwhacking scoundrels, catching them unawares.
"They'd tell me 'go to hell,' " he says of his early efforts to hold businesses accountable. "They wouldn't talk to me. Regardless of whether they talked to me or not, I'd tell the story of the other side.
"They say there are two sides to every story, but there are no two sides to a story when you buy a washer and dryer and it goes out in 30 days and you have a warranty and they refuse to take care of it," he says. "There's no two sides to that story."
Today, the man who got not only national notoriety but a public thrashing and two fractured ribs for closing the La Grange brothel says he cares more about outcomes than confrontation and theatrics.
A liberal Republican who decries economic inequities and speaks often of his support for national health insurance ("If you're poor, you die," he says of health care in America), Zindler uses his stories to help people, but he doesn't attempt to encourage systemic or societal change. He's a miniaturist.
The station says Zindler gets 100,000 requests for help a year. Neediness is one factor he uses in deciding which stories to pursue. He also considers his chance of success.
"I will not do a story unless it has a happy ending," he says. Which means that if, after a visit from Zindler, the store still refuses to honor the warranty on that washer and dryer, chances are the story won't make the air.
Spend a day with Zindler and you see people of all ages and walks of life respond as if they're in the presence of the president. At the State Grill, where Zindler is a regular, an apparently new young hostess bows slightly and says she's "honored" to meet him. An elderly man sitting in a hallway at a Medical Center office building shakes Zindler's hand and asks about his health as if they were old friends. The most excited reactions seem to come from African-Americans.
In Zindler's early years on the air, white men at his country club used to chide him for airing so many stories about black people. He estimates that 80 percent of his stories were about African-Americans.
Eventually, Zindler says, his friends realized that what happens to black people also happens to Hispanics and whites.
It was Zindler's father who instilled in him a sense of fairness and concern for the less fortunate. Abe Zindler, who owned a successful Houston clothing store and served four terms as mayor of Bellaire, was a liberal who opposed the Ku Klux Klan and advertised his store in black-owned newspapers at a time when other businesses wouldn't.
Another large influence was Zindler's African-American nanny, Eva Mae Banks. They were very close. She was almost a surrogate parent. Because his father wouldn't allow him to have a car, Banks even drove young Marvin on dates.
"She was with me until I was 18 years old," Zindler recalls. "When I proposed to my first wife, Gertrude, before I could marry her Eva had to OK it."
Through his relationship with her, Zindler — though white and born to wealth — experienced racial discrimination firsthand. When they went to the movies, they had to sit in the balcony. There was an ice cream parlor between the Lowes and Metropolitan theaters downtown, Zindler recalls. They couldn't eat there because Banks wasn't allowed inside.
When Zindler went with Banks to her Catholic church, he says they had to sit on the back pew.
"The young people today can't understand what it was like for black people when I was growing up," he says. "There's no way you can understand it. You have to be there to understand it."
Zindler considered running for Congress in the 1970s. Local Republican leaders who apparently weren't aware of his liberal social views recruited him. Zindler says they commissioned a survey that said he could win, but Gertrude didn't want to live in Washington.
If he'd entered politics, he would've been following in his father's footsteps.
Abe Zindler died in 1963 deeply disappointed in Marvin. He wanted his five sons to follow him into the retail clothing business, but Marvin hated working for his father, a man known for his angry tirades.
But Abe Zindler and Marvin were at odds long before conflict over the store surfaced. According to White Knight in Blue Shades, the authorized Zindler biography that Agris wrote, Abe Zindler considered his middle son frivolous and irresponsible. When he died, Abe placed Marvin's inheritance in a trust for Marvin's children (he has five), and he left behind a harsh letter.
"I hope that it is not too late for you to learn how to work . . . ," Abe Zindler wrote. "I hope that you will make good and surprise everybody who thinks of you as a silly playboy with no sense in your head."
By any measure, Zindler has made good.

eric.harrison@chron.com
source: http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/features/3923211.html
------------------------------
This just in: Poll of Voters: Bush Worst President Since World War II

By E&P Staff

Published: June 01, 2006 10:30 AM ET
NEW YORK A new Quinnipiac Poll finds American voters selecting George W. Bush as easily the worst American president in the past 61 years, with fellow Republican Ronald Reagan picked as the best.
Bush was named by 34% of voters, followed by Richard Nixon at 17% and Bill Clinton at 16%, according to the Quinnipiac University national poll of over 1,500 voters released today. Leading the list for best President since 1945 is Ronald Reagan with 28%, and Clinton with 25%.
While Democrats and Republicans split widely on the "worst" choice, 35% independent voters picked Bush.
Among young voters, 42% listed Bush as worst, while Clinton "won" for worst among white Protestants.
The main reason cited by voters who disapprove of Bush is the war in Iraq -- listed by 43%. By 56% to 39% they say that that going to war in Iraq was the wrong thing to do. Nearly 6 in 10 want withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
From May 23 - 30, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,534 registered voters nationwide. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.

source: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002611668

Republican Rick Perry's Mantra: My way or the Highway !

Toll-road issue growing heated
By JOHN MORITZ
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU
AUSTIN - Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, running for governor as an independent, was teed off Wednesday over Republican Gov. Rick Perry's state transportation commission chairman's remarks that a foreign-owned company could supersede local officials in deciding where new toll roads are built.
Commission Chairman Ric Williamson, a Perry appointee and longtime friend, rejected pleas by North Texas leaders last week that a road-building consortium partly owned by a Spanish firm be forced to locate a new tollway system closer to the population centers in Fort Worth and Dallas. When courting private companies to construct highway projects, Williamson told about 100 officials, "you can't tell them where to build the road."
Strayhorn emphatically disagreed.
"To me, that is absolutely shocking," Strayhorn said during a news conference at her campaign headquarters. "Texas property belongs to Texans, not foreign companies. Texas freeways belong to Texas companies.
"Apparently, the governor and his transportation chairman believe that what a foreign company wants, a foreign company gets," she added. "And Texans have no say over our freeways and critical infrastructure."
Williamson said Wednesday that his remarks, which were first reported Friday in the Star-Telegram, were intended to make clear that private companies in the toll-road business must have the latitude to ensure that their ventures with the state are profitable.
Perry's campaign spokesman Robert Black said that a private contractor working with federal environmental regulators would narrow down proposed routes for any new tollways, but that state officials will determine where the roads are built.
"Ultimately, the state of Texas will have the final call," Black said.
The North Texas officials, including Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and state Sen. Kim Brimer, want Cintra Zachry to rethink its plans to route new toll roads well east of Dallas. Such a move would encourage so-called leapfrog development away from the urban centers and into rural prairie, officials told the commission.
Cintra is a Spanish-owned company; Zachry is based in San Antonio.
Strayhorn used her news conference not only to chide Williamson's response, but also to demand that Perry instruct the transportation commission to release all portions of its contract to build toll roads connecting San Antonio to North Texas over the next decade. The projects would be built with private funds and would be worth an estimated $6 billion to the consortium, which would pay the state $1.2 billion to collect tolls for 50 years.
A year ago, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled that the contract must be made public. But the consortium and the transportation commission have filed suit to overturn that ruling on grounds that it contains sensitive proprietary information.
Black said that the bulk of the contract is accessible on a state-operated Web site. But like any state deal with a private concern, information that could compromise a company's profitability is protected, he said.
"Carole Strayhorn is angry and wants attention so she launches a shrill, trumped-up attack," Black said.
Black also resurrected Strayhorn's archived news releases from the late 1990s and early 2000s that show Strayhorn -- then a Republican -- had been an early champion of toll roads to ease urban congestion and an advocate of increased foreign investment to boost the Texas economy.
In January 2001, her office urged the transportation commission to "adopt innovative financing tools, such as Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle (or GARVEE bonds), build more toll roads and tap into a new line of credit through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act," according to one document distributed by Black.
Strayhorn said that Perry's toll-road plan, the Trans-Texas Corridor, is far more aggressive than anything she has proposed.
"Perry's ... Trans-Texas Corridor, which I call a trans-Texas catastrophe, is going to be 4,000 miles long," she said. "More mileage than Texas' 3,200-mile share of the interstate system."
Perry has touted the proposal as a visionary strategy involving highway and rail construction projects designed to ease Texas' burgeoning traffic congestion.

John Moritz, 512-476-4294 jmoritz@star-telegram.com
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/14714553.htm