Thursday, February 17, 2011

Maggie May USA proposes a City of Richardson, Texas, ordinance or rule that tax payers will not be forced to foot the very large city liquor tab.

Politicians and friends of politicians and special friends and "volunteers" (the kind that are helping themselves to what's not all theirs) and favor seekers and relatives, sometimes one in the same, should get faced (blitzed, smashed) if that is their thang on their own party dime and golf club time. O.K.

I believe the County and State and Feds And DART and all the others should not make us pay for things like that either.

I have nothing against drunks as far as being any worse or better than K3heads, or guys who wear wife beaters (or white after Labor Day, or boat shoes when they aren't even near water or fountain around which to frolic), 100% apartment haters, rabid partisans, and so forth. I just don't like them faced (pickled) while on duty representin and making me help pay for it. I do not want to pay for it. I'm seeing it way too much. I am not joking.

If you do not believe me, check the cost to benefit analysis (hire one of those impartial liquor economic development lobbyist to run the numbers even); check the metrics with 13 other cities on the proportional per capita liquor spending per city budget, with appropriate adjustments*; make a Richardson council and staff code of ethics where the politicians (inclusive of all staff politicians and beneficiaries) check each other with a breath o meter or coordination test at tax payer billed booze functions, in a closed door meeting, if necessary.

You can vision what the results will be.

*The numbers should also include money spent on liquor by organizations that have so called free money to spend thanks to being assigned tens of thousands of dollars by a tax program arguably for activity brought into the city. The grant is disproportional to their performance and contribution, tax generation. Not all groups are treated equitably. One in particular gets a lot because the right glasses are filled, repeatedly. The right aesthetics and culture, a board clique. Grants can, in one case, amount to the neighborhood of a million dollars in the last ten years, counting related subsidy, to a group that has liquor gushing yet has trouble paying people for legitimate work performed.

In another case, an arm of local government co-mingled with other roles and conflicts, inbred, has nearly an annual tax payer contribution through the city approaching one million, more if you count the extras.

There is a lot of liquor flowing with local government with tax payers paying the tab, directly and indirectly. It's too much, as with some other things.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

It was at Waterloo that General Cambronne, when called on to surrender, was supposed to have said, "The Old Guard dies but never surrenders!"

What Cambronne actually said was, "Merde!" which the French, when they do not wish to pronounce it, still refer to as, "the word of Cambronne." It corresponds to one four letter word for manure. All the difference between the noble and the earthy accounts of war is contained in the variance between these two quotations. -- Ernest Hemingway, Men at War

Monday, February 7, 2011

Silly Firemen, Politics is for coalitionistz. How could you believe for a sligul you are as zeck as a ruso or as kin dull bull as a nusu or vip as


an urh.... and, you, you citizien alliance ple-ople are as wacky and skip to z luskie as the firemans to think you can do the politics. You aren't big chiefz. I know, I know. All you want to do is paint. But you see here. Forget about it. As Bulldozer Hh says: Lambs. Led. To. Slaughter. Hahaha (to borrow a phrase). Consider you ple-ople dun in, so ring Z coalition bell. May oft with you!

And you, n(par)imbys, forget about it. Like the park mime said, you aint nobody (we need progress and change he and his man again taunts, but they only means it when it suites the immediate want, but oh! ever what will he and his man do when they are back to "political noise?" And, will nepotism still play? They have proven it doesn't take much of a hard-of-hearer or mocker to gather masses or ride coat tails). Like GAS said, we don't need no umbrella groups, just the umbrella group called Z Coalition, that is. (If Z GAS Coalition finds out any mere firemans are in, xpecially if they decline to endorse gas ites, look for really really riled up, led by big chiefz again, to pop up and sling mud as far and wide as necessary to keep z control. A well placed word by chiefz to the right vip linemen is all it takes in part of the umbrella, you know.)

(Odd that chiefz don't say nothing to supposed offenders, just start zlinging mud.
o.k., if zthatz z way wanted it and still playing it.)

You ple-ople. You're not even coat tail riders. At least you could sidle up and be a coat tail rider. Hahaha (o.k., now you can have the phrase back).

I can hardly Stan The Suspense. There's starz in my tech eyes. I can but wait for the CoalitionistZ (how dare those underling firemen, in the mere linemen category) along with Z best friend I'mma get mines-Big Tex, The LapDancers, Mr. I-Pay-More-Taxes-Than-You-Do-But-Not-Really along with Choke It Out and Visionary visionary visionary, oh, and Bulldozer Hh, and Sir Nods Alot, and buy my assurance, and one-finger and ho' spital suspense... to run student body. Not to worry, strategic amends have been made (or have they?). It'll be a grabtastic GAS. I see one-finger for maaaaayoooooooor. No, wait. It's Z other one. (Just don't let the lab come back with the real DNA evidence, boy was that egg on z ol face). (Just don't say anything when someone peeks on you in the shower and is brought back and paid tax payers dollars). (Also, don't say anything about out of court settlements).

Charmed, I'm sure.
Now, eat your lunch, you silly silly ple-ople. It's gonna take a little longer for Z bad GAS to clear out. "Retirement" is lucrative. (Politics is lucrative for some.) String pulling is so zstrenuous.

Po po business, move along, nothing to see. Step aside.

But which GASZer to pick... lemme see... oh, let's just go with what zhey zay.

As long as z taxes get frozen and streets sprinkled with lots of water run off and expensive fuss (clap clap clap), ice man silly strawz gets filled, liquor flows from the tax payer tap free to select vips, laps gets sitted in, people gets followed, hundreds of thousands spent on z spew, z golf club house is avail including off hours, so is the ice man, vips get pats on heads, jet chartered, awardz are given, select fingerz still in z pie, uni is combined with city, z po po empire state of mind, all's well that grabs ends well.

Sillyz iz as sillyz doesz. Chip chip cherio coalitionistz!

.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Persimmons and The Winter Weather (blogging from snowy, freezing Richardson, Texas)

Old wives' tales, as they are called, are golden to my family and me. In my hamlet as a small child, I found great joy, curiosity, and terror taught by such instruction. One is that of the persimmon and the spoon, the fork and the knife.

The sign is, slice open a few persimmon seeds from a few ripe persimmons (in the fall), which takes some skill with a sharp knife, and the shape inside the seeds will tell you what kind of winter it will be. Will it be mild? If so, you will see the fork. Cold and snowy, the spoon. Icy, windy and treacherous, the knife.

There are between four and eight smallish slippery seeds inside. As the seeds are hard, so is the persimmon wood of the tree, making it specialized wood. Golf clubs and other interesting items make use of persimmon wood.

Photo: Here is a photo of a seed of the persimmon, showing "the spoon." Some of the light amber or honey colored pulp is still on it.

Photos: A box of persimmons (not wild), with a box of apples above the persimmons. A persimmon wood driver (golf club).




The scientific name chosen for this berry, that is thought of as a fruit, translates from Greek to be "food of the gods." The "common name" we use, persimmon, comes from eastern American Indians.

The wild, mushy sweet (when ripe) is the best variety for flavor, in my opinion. You can eat it with a spoon and recipes are many, like preserves and fudge. Whole and unaltered is my favorite. The other main variety mostly available here, shipped in, is the firmer crispier kind (can be sliced). That main kind is o.k. and found at the green grocer far more often than the wild ones.

A trick played on the uninitiated is to offer up an unripe persimmon (the true meaning of pucker up! and then some... not recommended, one can become ill from eating unripened berries).

Last year, the persimmon seeds predominantly read "spoon" to say dig out the snow shovel (not that hardly anyone here has a snow shovel). It did snow on Christmas last year. This year, the seeds read ..."knife." Cold it is, indeed. Windy, fairly. We have snow so far. I hope the several inches on the ground of snow (with a small sandwich layer of ice) is the sum of it, and that the temperature goes up and not back into single digits, but I see there is a low possibility of light wintery mix this coming week. Tiny snow flurries right now...

Mubarak says 'chaos' will reign in Egypt if he steps down, blamed Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist umbrella group banned in Egypt, for instigating riot

denies allegations Egyptian authorities orchestrating violence. link.