I've "known" what Memorial Day is for, and why we have it, for a very long time. Though I'll admit it took me longer to "feel" what Memorial Day is about.

My Dad served in Vietnam, and I've had a handful of cousins and uncles serve in Korea or the Gulf. However, they all served their time and went on to lead lives that didn't really hint at their previous service.

Both of my Grandfathers worked in the oil fields during World War II. One of my Grandmothers worked in an aircraft assembly plant, and the other raised kids.

My family has always respected the military, but in the case of my family, men who were well cementers and oilfield construction contractors were more valuable out of uniform.

So, by and large I do not come from a military family. This background caused my perspective on service and sacrifice to be vastly different from those who have friends and loved ones that paid the ultimate price in service to our County.

Thankfully, our community is filled with those who fall into that special category, and it is from this special group that I have learned how to "feel" Memorial Day.

So, today, I not only honor those we memorialize for their sacrifice, but those in our community who teach the rest of us what Memorial Day should feel like.

One of the good things in this world is that I'm not being paid to write on this blog, because I'd have been sacked some while ago. But the state of my thinking is either inchoate, spluttering rage at Washington, numbness, or that cheerful feeling one gets, at least that is what I read, before a disaster.

This memory is 35 years old, so please correct.

I've traveled some in California and thought the people quite nice and I enjoyed it. Still, you can't judge a book by its cover. Greece's profligacy, paid for in large measure, again, by us, who have no interest in Greece, has caused the world financial system to tremble, and Greece is a small country. California, on the other hand, is a very large economy and it may well be in a condition nearly as bad as that of Greece.

So it's time to have some fun at their expense.

California vs. Texas

Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks dog.

California:

#1. Governor starts to intervene, reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop; the coyote is only doing what is natural.

#2. He calls animal control. Animal control captures coyote and spends $200 testing it for diseases and $500 upon relocating it.

#3. He calls veterinarian. Vet collects dead dog and spends $200 testing it for diseases.

#4. Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting bite wound bandaged.

#5. Running trail gets shut down for 6 months while wildlife services conduct a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is clear of dangerous animals.

#6. Governor spends $50,000 of state funds implementing a "coyote awareness" program for residents of the area.

#7. State legislature spends $2 million investigating how to better handle rabies and how to possibly eradicate the disease.

#8. Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack and for letting the Governor intervene.

#9. Cost: $75,000 to train new security agent.

#10. PETA protests the coyote relocation and files suit against the state.

Texas:

#1. Governor shoots coyote and keeps jogging. Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge. Buzzards eat dead coyote.

I don't believe this for a second but it's hilarious. With just a touch of taming, it would have been believable. As it is, it qualifies as being too good to check on, only to find out that it is a joke.

Johnstown, PA (GlossyNews) - Local and state police scoured the hills outside rural Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after reports of three animal rights activists going missing after attempting to protest the wearing of leather at a large motorcycle gang rally this weekend. Two others, previously reported missing, were discovered by fast food workers "duct taped inside several fast food restaurant dumpsters," according to police officials.

"Something just went wrong," said a still visibly shaken organizer of the protest. "Something just went horribly, horribly, wrong."

The organizer said a group of concerned animal rights activist groups, "growing tired of throwing fake blood and shouting profanities at older women wearing leather or fur coats," decided to protest the annual motorcycle club event "in a hope to show them our outrage at their wanton use of leather in their clothing and motor bike seats." "In fact," said the organizer, "motorcycle gangs are one of the biggest abusers of wearing leather, and we decided it was high time that we let them know that we disagree with them using it...ergo, they should stop."

According to witnesses, protesters arrived at the event in a vintage 1960's era Volkswagen van and began to pelt the gang members with balloons filled with red colored water, simulating blood, and shouting "you're murderers" to passers by. This, evidently, is when the brouhaha began.

"They peed on me!!!" charged one activist. "They grabbed me, said I looked like I was French, started calling me 'La Trene', and duct taped me to a tree so they could pee on me all day!"

"I...I was trying to show my outrage at a man with a heavy leather jacket, and he...he didn't even care. I called him a murderer, and all he said was, 'You can't prove that.' Next thing I know he forced me to ride on the back of his motorcycle all day, and would not let me off, because his girl friend was out of town and I was almost a woman."

Still others claimed they were forced to eat hamburgers and hot dogs under duress. Those who resisted were allegedly held down while several bikers "farted on their heads."

Police officials declined comments on any leads or arrests due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, however, organizers for the motorcycle club rally expressed "surprise" at the allegations.

"That's preposterous," said one high-ranking member of the biker organizing committee. "We were having a party, and these people showed up and were very rude to us. They threw things at us, called us names, and tried to ruin the entire event. So, what did we do? We invited them to the party! What could be more friendly than that? You know, just because we are all members of motorcycle clubs does not mean we do not care about inclusiveness. Personally, I think it shows a lack of character for them to be saying such nasty things about us after we bent over backwards to make them feel welcome."

When confronted with the allegations of force-feeding the activists meat, using them as ad hoc latrines, leaving them incapacitated in fast food restaurant dumpsters, and 'farting on their heads,' the organizer declined to comment in detail. "That's just our secret handshake," assured the organizer.

Part I is here.

According to the MDC May 28, 2010 agenda:

8. Consider a resolution authorizing the execution of an amendment to the economic development agreement between the Midland Development Corporation and Permian Plaza, LLC.

12. Consider a resolution authorizing the execution of a second amendment to the economic development agreement between the Midland Development Corporation and Trace Engines, L.P.; rescinding resolution number ED-0142.

We know that the Council sent the MDC back to the drawing board on the Trace Engines amendment, but why is Permian Plaza LLC (aka Basic Energy) seeking an amendment just one year after executing an agreement?

By my count, if an amendment is proposed to the Permian Plaza Project, then all of the private entity Economic Development contracts currently on the books have been amended.

It seems the MDC has posted their FY 2009 Audit on their home page.

This is a very positive step, However, I suppose most of the Well Heads will be as disappointed in the content as I was. It contains slightly more information than the "Annual Report", minus the pictures and marketing quotes.

Not one incentee is named, no information on compliance, just an accounting of overall budgetary numbers in broad categories. The things I learned are that the MDC is carrying about $2.8M in depreciated capital assets (most of that being Entrada, which is advertised at $1.75M) and they executed an ~$800K contract with the Chamber of Commerce to "design, develop and implement an Economic Development program.."

"Posturing from the left" doesn't narrow things down much. They posture all the time, especially before they steal something from you. As a matter of fact, one of Theocritus' undeniable truths to life is that as soon as a liberal starts holding himself up as being morally superior, he's setting the stage for taking something from you against your will. Footpads are at least more honest--they don't pretend that they're doing anything other than robbing you and a robbery, vile as it is, is not a perpetual entitlement.

As we've heard, the Los Angeles city council voted overwhelmingly to suspend travel to Arizona and ending future contracts with the state. David Beltran is a spokesman for the slightly absurd mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, and he allows us:

We're not going to respond to threats from a state which has isolated itself from the America that values freedom, liberty and basic human rights

This is of course utter rubbish. The current wisdom, which is as addlepated as most current wisdom, is that the Arizona cops can swagger around and call for anyone's identification and chuck him over the border on a whim. Not so, and not a bit of truth to it. The 16-page law, which is unread by anyone but conservatives lest the liberals be hampered in their screeds by facts, specifically prohibits racial profiling. Cops may inquire as to legal status of people they've come into contact with. This is an entirely different thing but the left has spread the Big Lie and it's sticking. Well, they know all about lying. They've invented new wrinkles in the black art.

The Arizona Corporation Commission is composed of five members and they jointly control, among other things, Arizona's electrical and water utilities. One of the members is Gary Pierce, who did not take kindly to the posturing of the City of Poseurs. Mr. Pierce wrote a letter to the mayor of Los Angeles, and he used some choice phrases:

Doggone it -- if you're going to boycott this candy store ... then don't come in for any of it....

I received your message; please receive mine. As a statewide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona's electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the "resources and ties" we share with the city of Los Angeles...

If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation..."

I am confident that Arizona's utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands. If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona's economy.

Good for Mr. Pierce. Nothing like a bit of brisk sense cutting through the smog of the high-minded sentimentality of a bunch of progressives. And it's just wonderful to see someone who is not falling over, presenting his soft underbelly to be scratched while bleating that he's sorry he wasn't sensitive enough as a bunch of thugs accused him of rubbish just to eruct high-sounding platitudes which don't pass the briefest of analysis.

I recall over 30 years ago during the Carter imposed energy crisis there was much gnashing of teeth in the northeast because they weren't getting what they wanted at the price that they wanted. Like a spoiled brat. Do you recall the bumper stickers, "Let the bastards freeze in the dark"? I think that Mr. Pierce has told the oily mayor of Los Angeles just that.

I promote Mr. Pierce to an Honorary Texan.

At some point you would hope that the powers that be would realize that demand for the EZ Rider bus system does not exist in the quantity necessary to make the system a viable mass transit system and that this demand cannot be created through marketing.

Or can it?

....EZ Rider's associations with the Midland RockHounds, West Texas Roughnecks and respected institutions like banks bolster its image with current and prospective riders, including PBS ads that reach the middle and upper middle class people who would be new customers.

That's the plan? No, really, that's the plan? To market EZ Rider to NPR listeners?

It might work if they marketed the idea of having NPR listeners buy monthly bus passes for members of their household staff.

There is a popular cry from certain activists and politicians that government budgets should generally be constrained by population increases and inflation, except in the instance of a local emergency or a referendum by the voters. It is a pretty simple rule, but I don't think anyone has ever evaluated our local governmental bodies and how their history compares to this popular rule.

First, I don't have access to a large history of budgets via the internet. (Note to our local Auditors and Financial Officers, fire up your scanners and keep comprehensive archives on the web, not just the last two years). However, in the County's 2009 Budget Book there is a table of property tax levies that goes back to 1999. Unless the County has been in the habit of adopting deficit budgets, an analysis of the growth of property tax levies should track with expenditures. Besides, this is the number most of us care about.

According to the table on page vi of the 2009 budget, Midland County levied property taxes in the amount of $11,778,635 in 2000. According to the 2000 census, the population of Midland County was 116,009.

This works out to a per capita property tax of about 101.53.

Now, let's adjust this for inflation. According to the Dallas Federal Reserve the consumer price index in October of 2000 was 166.5. In October of 2009, the consumer price index was 201.6. This produces an inflation multiplier of 1.2108.

This makes the per capita property tax (adjusted for inflation) $122.93.

According to the Texas State Data Center, the estimated population of Midland County in 2009 was 130,203. Using the inflation per capita figure, Midland County should have levied 16,005,854.79 to comply with the "inflation and population rule."

So what did they levy in 2009? $22,733,473, or $6.7 Million more than "the rule."

Basically, the County's property tax levy has outstripped increases for inflation and population growth by whopping 42% in the past decade.

Does anyone feel like they're getting 42% more in County services than you got in 2000?

(FYI, since the rule includes voter approved increases, I don't think this range includes any County bonds passed by the voters, the jail was passed in 2008 after the FY 2009 budget was prepared.)

More good news. Arlen Specter couldn't even survive the primary, the Democrat primary, in Pennsylvania. After thirty years in the Senate, never better than a RINO, he switched as we know to follow Mr. Obama so that he could keep his hands on the throats of the populace, er, sorry, continue to serve the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Who retired him against his will.

What makes it even more delightful is that President Obama had invested a lot of time in Senator Specter, showing up at a rally with him and appearing in radio and television ads. It seems that Specter was not as smart as Blanche Lincoln, the incumbent Democrat senator from Arkansas, who I'm told was scared that Mr. Obama would grace her campaign with his presence. She knew that Obama's down, oh, what, seven? Ms. Lincoln has better survival instincts than Mr. Specter, despite his thirty years in the Senate. She's going to have a chance in a run-off, instead of being thrown out on her ass tonight. Like Mr. Specter. I hope, Senator Specter, that there was lots of padding on the coat that you turned. At your age you don't want to break your coccyx.

I firmly believe in the Republicans' ability to screw things up by being Democrat Lite, but still, there are signs. I keep Hoping that there will be a huge Change.

A friend sent me an internet joke which was too good not to pass on. I did strip out however the cute drawings and emoticons. You're welcome.

A goodly number of people, responsible people, have to take a urine test for drugs. This is to keep the job that they have, the government steals half of what they earn and tells them that they're selfish if they object.

Yesterday I was in a 7-Eleven clone and a woman ahead of me was buying lottery tickets, 40 ounces of the strongest beer they sell, and cigarettes. She asked the clerk to get her $5 of gas which was waiting to be put in her bright and shiny new vehicle which was blocking everyone else who wanted to get gas.

She paid for all this with lottery tickets she was cashing in. Total time: ten minutes while other people, people with jobs, were waiting to pay and leave. I know for a fact that this woman doesn't work.

I suggest that a condition of receiving any sort of government welfare is passing a urine test. If it's good enough for your doctor or nurse, or train engineer, it's good enough for a welfare queen.

This would have the added benefit of ridding the welfare rolls of lots of people, people who are on welfare to avoid working so that they can engage in recreational drug taking and perhaps a little dealing.

I have a friend, Wynand, who is a doctor in South Africa. He is of course much more knowledgeable Africa than we are, and I think he's more knowledgeable about America than we are. In fact most thoughtful foreigners tend to be more knowledgeable about the good parts of America than we are. If that foreigner is a conservative, he's guaranteed to be more knowledgeable. And appreciative. I've met any number of foreigners on line who seem to appreciate America a good deal more than ABC, CBS, NBC &c. do.

Wynand wrote:

The difference between America and Zimbabwe:

In America a can of grease in your hair turns you into an expert on politics.

In Zimbabwe an AK47 in your hand turns you into and expert on politics.

In my own private little fantasy world, the AK47 is trained on Keith Olbermann, or the thug Ed Schultz, or the Moaning Moonbat Mike Malloy, but that is starting to sound as sanguinary as they are, so I withdraw it.

We are not by any means to the point of Zimbabwe, but we do get to see SEIU thugs beating up on Tea Party attendants, to advance the agenda of progressive Washington hell-bent to impose statism on America. I've seen the Tea Partiers, and I'd be surprised if any had more criminal violations than a parking ticket, which is I'm quite sure one cannot say that about any leftist march. Or union march.

The Tea Party people pick up their trash and others' trash. They merely want a government which does not rule against the wishes of the ruled: they want a representative government instead of this high-handed group of corrupt Chicago crooks.

And now we see the SEIU, the thug arm the Democrat party, threatening these people. That alone speaks volumes to the fact that we are heading away from a true representative government as fast as possible. And heading away from our First Amendment right of free speech.

Continue reading Zimbabe and America.

As predictable as the sun rising.

The Austin City Council passed a resolution this morning aimed at ending business and travel ties to Arizona to protest a new state law that allows Arizona law enforcement officers to detain people they suspect are in the country illegally.

The resolution, proposed by Council Member Mike Martinez, calls for ending all business-related travel to Arizona by city employees, unless it is related to police investigations, providing humanitarian aid or protecting Austinites' health and safety. It also asks the city manager to review all city business with and investments in the state of Arizona and devise a plan to end those ties.

Council members have said that the new law is discriminatory and that they don't want to put city employees at risk of being detained during business travel.

So kneejerk. So meaningless. So.....Austin.

For various reasons I spent two days in St. Joseph's Hospital in Tucson right after the start of the year. I had no X-rays, two ECGs, and an echocardiogram (which was $2500). It was ten thousand dollars for two days.

I spent three nights in Medical Center Hospital. At least one ECG, no echocardiogram but two trips to the cath. lab and two visits with an anesthesiologist. The fee for three nights was $5,000.

You can check into MCH when you want, most times. But the hospitals in Tucson are nearly full, and cost three times as much.

When a hospital in Texas costs one third as much as one in Arizona, does anyone wonder why Arizona passed its new immigration bill?

For what it's worth, on my second trip to the cath. lab, an anesthesiologist that I didn't know came to shake my hand. "It took 6 ccs of Versed to put you out."

I was confused; the doctor said, "If I'd had one cc I'd sleep all day. With 5 ccs you were making sentences and it took 6 to put you out."

For some reason this is not the slightest bit surprising.

Just now getting to this article from 04/24/2010. That is not what I would call a friendly headline.

But it is certainly not an inaccurate one.

There are several interesting things in the article but the one that really stood out was this:

Altogether, records indicate $36,492 in LiveMidland-related costs during the fiscal year.

Reporter-Telegram reports from 2008 showed the MDC spent an estimated $75,000 for the LiveMidland's site design and launch party.

Over $100,000 in the past couple of years for this.

Over. One. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars.

The design of the site is original and good design does cost some money. But I am guessing that the rest of the site is founded on cheap (or even free) pre-written scripts and modules.

In comparison, this site was designed for free by the Site Admin, runs on a set of scripts from MovableType which cost all of about $100. And costs a whopping $30 per month in hosting fees.

I really, really would like to see what it was that cost $36,492.

Any of you local web designers....excuse me...I mean local web designers passed up for this juicy gig...want to take a shot at determining the precise brand and cost of these pre-written scripts and get back to us?

UPDATE: It looks to be a WordPress driven site, unless I am mistaken. WordPress is a competing product with MovableType and is a really great set of scripts to use to operate a web site. (Thanks TJ for the Tip.)

And also happens to be...um...*cough* free.

Gov Christie calls S-L columnist thin-skinned for inquiring about his 'confrontational tone'

Wow. Just......wow. It's public officials like this that will save the country from economic collapse. Governor Aaahnold of California can talk about "Girly-men" all he wants but the fact is that he doesn't have 5 percent of the political testosterone that Chris Christie has. California is to America what Greece is to the European Union. Bankrupt now and still with a foot heavily mashed against the gas pedal. And what has happened to California the policies of Barack Obama will do to the rest of the country.

If there is indeed Change it is happening in New Jersey. If there is true Hope, it is because of guys like Chris Christie.

Remember November.

As we know, many Muslims see an injunction in the Koran against art that represents humans. The Hagia Sophia was built a Christian church in Constantinople in the fourth century. After the Islamic conquest of the city in 1453, the Hagia Sophia was permitted to have her frescoes and mosaics of Christian saints. But they were plastered over in the 16th century. The Hagia Sophia is no longer a church. It is a historical place.

Islamic Jihad has threatened the South Park people--Trey Parker and Matt Stone--for drawing a picture of Mohammed, even though Comedy Central was cowardly enough to expunge it. This, on the back of the craven Dutch newspapers over the meek comics showing Mohammed with a bomb on his head.

Molly Norris, a Seattle cartoonist, has declared May 20 to be Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. It is of course a reaction against the craven dhimmitude of Comedy Central and the Dutch. And, come to think of it, nearly every other media or publishing house which holds "correct" opinions. The legacy media, in Roger Kimball's lapidary phrase.

I learned some years ago that the easiest way to fail is the death of a thousand cuts. Something happens which isn't worth a full-on confrontation, so you put up with it. Something else adds to the burden but it alone isn't enough to waken the Spartacus in you. You keep taking more and more, thinking that you can handle them, and soon you're not the person that you used to be. You've conceded yourself away entirely, and you are in the service of someone or some people or something that you would rather not be in the service of. It wasn't done with a gun and an arrest, or a kidnapping. It was done by a swarm. American liberty is dying the death of a thousand cuts, and the chief butcher is of course Barack Hussein Obama, with most of the rest of Washington cheering him on, aided and abetted by academics and the legacy media. A president worth his salt, or the office, would not have immediately assumed that Skip Gates was being racially profiled, as dear Barry O. did. A president worth his salt, or office, would denounce depredations on American liberty. Instead this one countenances them when they come from abroad, and is number one in contriving them himself locally.

I have maintained that the left is full of cowards because they never attack anyone who will fight back, such as the Soviets or the Islamacists, but notice how they never hesitate to attack Christians. They're not afraid to because they know that the Christians won't bomb them or kill them. It's entirely too easy for American citizens to go about their lives, letting public people be public people. But this is not the time for us to follow the cowardice of major media and publishing organs. They have proven that they do not possess the historical American strengths of courage and self-reliance and since the tocsin emerging from that toxic swamp is always about America's faults, I do not believe that they are displeased when something bad happens to America. They are the last people whose lead we should follow.

Molly Norris is right. Let May 20 be Everybody Draw Mohammed Day and let every American who is red-blooded, instead of merely red, refuse to bow to Islamic threats. Perhaps then we will have the courage not to bow to U. S. Government threats.

I was chatting with a friend today. B. is a sensible woman whom I've known for some years. Today we were talking about the Clintons. She asked me, "Don't you miss them? I do. I keep thinking, come back, come back. We need you now.

"When I see Hillary now I think that I never before noticed how blue her eyes are. And she looks good in that dress, better than she did in that other one."

I agreed. "Eighteen months ago I thought her big butt was where she kept her barbed tail coiled to keep from frightening the children. But now when I see her I just hope that she's taking care of herself."

Imagine this. In just over a year getting nostalgic for the Hildebeest, sorry, dear Hillary Rodham Clinton. She harkens back to a better and more innocent era: one of Arkansas corruption, favor selling, molestation, suborning the FBI, and blatant lies. As lacking as the Clintons are, I had a feeling that America wouldn't fall apart in their hands, as indeed it didn't. But then they didn't try to make America fall apart.

I'd go back in a heartbeat.

that at Ground Zero they're building a 13-story mosque -- on the site of an old Burlington Coat Factory damaged by airplane debris that Tuesday morning." This is not a joke.

A little clear thinking on the advance of that eastern religion that can't be named in the US by the inimitable Mark Steyn.

Because the reactions of Bloomberg & Co. are a useful glimpse into the decayed and corroded heart of a civilization. One day the bomb will explode. Dozens dead? Hundreds? Thousands? Would we then restrict immigration from certain parts of the world? Or at least subject them to extra roadblocks on the fast-track to citizenship?

From the Odessa American

The board also discussed ways to develop a strategic plan to address the public perception of EZ Rider. Board member Willie Barber of Midland said people often think buses are empty, when the buses they see are actually paratransit buses used to transport the disabled.

"The majority of people don't realize we have a paratransit system," Barber said. "They just think we have a fixed route."

Nope. The paratransit busses are the small ones and have "Paratransit" on their display. An empty paratrasit bus isn't that noticeable to the public. Most people are seeing the large buses empty, (except the ones with the full advertising wraps that don't let you see in them).

That was a pretty weak try for spin.

May 4th, 2010, give or take a couple of days, is the beginning of the second dip in the double-dip recession.

Inflation, near-zero interest so savers still earn nothing, high unemployment, higher taxes, rising oil price, increased regulation, Washington animosity toward business, etc, etc. It's all there. Hang on.

A nicely written, brief, critique of Our President's latest forays into communicating who he is can be found here at Powerline.

If Obama is an enigma today, it's because of the contrast between his remarkably open disdain for his domestic rivals and opponents on the one hand and his obsequious approach to the nation's foreign adversaries on the other.

Yeah, that's troubling all right.

There remains little doubt in my mind that this is the most left-leaning, socialist, America-disliking-if-not-outright-hating president in our history. And he and his cronies could be doing little more damage to this country if they were actively desiring to. Which leads me to believe that that active desire is the case. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support another conclusion.

The House must be taken away from these people this November. And as many Senate seats as possible need to be returned to the people as well.

My anger is becoming more deep-seated and fundamental and I know that I am not alone.