tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21536463371458951752024-03-13T05:42:27.863-05:00The Eleventy Billionth BlogSome days, I blog because something's on my mind. Some days, I blog because I'm bored. Some days, I blog because it's either blog, or punch someone in the head.
I love you all. Really. Except you, (insert name TBD).Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.comBlogger448125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-17769821081346998922009-08-03T19:42:00.002-05:002009-08-03T19:47:25.018-05:00And so, we migrate.After a couple of years and some seriously weird and/or wonderful things falling into my life thanks to this blog, I've decided to migrate to a new blog hosting situation.
Why? Well, over the weekend, Blogger saw fit to suspend - for no apparent reason - this blog and several other blogs all over the world. It was apparently a glitch, but none of us were ever given a reason, and none of us ever got a reply when we asked why, or how long.
So something I had planned to do in the next few months became an imperative. Yes, this blog is now off suspension, but do I really want to risk the same thing happening again? And really, can I gripe about something I don't pay for?
The answer to both is no.
So please join me over at the new <a href="http://eleventybillionthblog.typepad.com/my-blog/">Eleventy Billionth Blog</a>. I promise just as much fun, just as much thinking, and all the Cowboys live blogging you can stand.
And Blogger? Bite me.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-90931641619330359022009-07-28T12:23:00.004-05:002009-07-28T12:49:37.399-05:00The Eleventy Billionth's Happy Good Time Story Hour<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/Sm86LAImgNI/AAAAAAAAAPg/edS185CgjUQ/s1600-h/donkey_500h.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/Sm86LAImgNI/AAAAAAAAAPg/edS185CgjUQ/s320/donkey_500h.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363569641910599890" border="0" /></a>
I'm wholly unmotivated today, and was so productive this morning that I find myself slac, I mean, <span style="font-style: italic;">pacing</span> myself this afternoon.
Which means you guys get a story.
This one begins late at night, in not Dallas. Everything outside of Dallas is country, you see, for miles. It's like Dallas ends, and suddenly jimson weed and goats line the highway, save for a lonely Ikea. This is true because I'm telling this story.
One night, I was with my two best friends, eating dinner at a restaurant in the back country of Not Dallas. Dinner turned to drinks, because that's what you need to do to fortify yourself. More people we knew appeared at this place, and commenced drinking, too. The place serving the drinks eventually closed, and we were not tired.
"Why don't you come see our donkey?" someone said.
Now, this is where the story begins to go awry. Already, we had conceded to sup in the back country of Not Dallas, and now someone is telling us we should travel further into the country to see a donkey.
So we fortified ourselves by going to Whataburger, a restaurant placed haphazardly around Texas by Jesus to make sure people will have plenty of Dr Pepper, bacon double ranch jalapeno cheese burgers and angioplasty. There, we pick up Dr Pepper. Giant ones. Bigger than your head. And taquitos. It was to be my first taquito, but to this day, for reasons I'm about to explain, I have never had a taquito.
We drove down dirt roads into the wilderness to see the donkey. At first, we drive up to a house, and being city folk, we wonder if the donkey is inside. But no. The donkey is in a pasture, a good 40 yards away.
"Is it a nice donkey?" we ask. Our hosts merely laugh. We take our taquitos and commence walking - in heels - across a grassy knoll. My heel caught in what I pray was just a random hole, and not some portal to a hell beast living just beneath the dirt.
I wondered at the dark, and the lack of flashlights. I should've known it was so we wouldn't see the carcasses of other folk who were lured into the country to see the donkey.
After walking several yards toward the donkey area, our hosts began calling for the donkey.
"Jack!"
"Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!"
"Jack! C'mere Jack! Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!"
Suddenly, the bushes parted and the biggest donkey I've ever seen came charging toward us, snorting and braying, teeth bared. The crowd dispersed, save me.
Me, holding the bag of taquitos. Rooted to the spot by the fearsome spectacle of a full-grown, mad as hell donkey charging directly at me. Also because my foot was caught in another hole.
I was going to die. I grabbed for the only weapon I had at my disposal. No, not my shoe, because that would've made sense.
I reached into that white and orange bag from Whataburger, and I hurled a taquito at the beast. The first one hit him square between the eyes, but didn't even stun him. The second hit him on the nose, and he paused.
Stunned.
My friends are now a good 39.4 yards away and hurrying for the car. I'm staring down a donkey, and praying I have enough taquitos. I pull my foot out of my stuck shoe, and proceed to walk backwards, up down, up down, up down, one foot in my high heel sandal, the other bare.
Jack starts toward me. I hurl another taquito, and walk faster. Up down, up down.
I fling another. Pow! Right in the kisser. I get better at my aim, and become a world-class taquito hurler. I'm the Zena Warrior Princess of taquito throwers, vanquishing my ill-tempered foe with six of Whatburger's drunk people foodstuffs.
My hand reaches the bottom of the bag, and I realize I'm out of ammo. I up down, up down backwards the last five yards to the car, and jump in.
Jack headbutts the car and tries to eat the rearview mirror.
But I live.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-76926703920811264772009-07-23T12:17:00.002-05:002009-07-23T12:21:20.291-05:00Weird-Ass News Free-For-AllSo I saw <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hsvCxpg7rlTQUGfSBAwWzatbzaEAD99K941O2">this story</a> today, and sometimes, when I read certain news stories, I like to make up dialogue in my head.
This particular part of the story:
<blockquote>The descendants of an African chief who was hanged and decapitated by a Dutch general 171 years ago reluctantly accepted the return of his severed head Thursday.</blockquote>Prompted this dialogue:
<blockquote>"Hi, sorry we killed your granpop. Here's his old moldy head. Are we square now?"</blockquote>So anyway, I thought we'd have a little fun. Find the most odd story from this week, and post the link and any commentary about the story the comments. DO IT.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-51467681768999495062009-07-23T07:07:00.003-05:002009-07-23T07:20:13.586-05:00Be a Loyal Foot Soldier - Or ElseThis may just be my opinion, but nothing says weak and ineffectual leader like surrounding yourself with sycophants.
Today, <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072309dnmetdalmayor.4395d6c.html">we read in the Dallas Morning News that Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert doled out committee assignments</a>. Freshman councilmen and women received chairman and vice-chairman appointments.
Veteran councilwoman Angela Hunt will helm no committees. None. Not at all.
Hunt has made it her business to study diligently the issues surrounding the Trinity River. But not only will she not oversee that committee, she's not even serving on it. Yes, Hunt has opposed Leppert's plans for the Trinit River project, as she also does his plans for the convention center hotel.
And now, apparently Hunt is being punished for that, and for having the temerity to not rubber stamp what might be detrimental to the city.
Now, Leppert makes the normal noises (for him) that he appointed the best people to these committee leadership positions. But a council person who has just taken the oath was given more weight than a veteran with many miles and many hours logged in the study of what is bad and good for Dallas - and that just doesn't pass the smell test.
So maybe these people are completely qualified. But really, it more appears that Leppert is sending a message: Be a loyal foot soldier, because that's far more important than what you do for your constituents.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-83076341548225760552009-07-22T12:28:00.002-05:002009-07-22T13:07:15.226-05:00Just Be Honest About Your Bigotry, OK?In the span of two days, there have been two reports in the Dallas Morning News of children being neglected and abused by their parents.
Both sets of children were stomach-turningly betrayed by their parents. <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072209dnmetabusecase.41c175b.html">One group of children were starved and locked in a tiny motel bathroom for hours at a time by their stepfather, while their mother allowed it.</a> <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072309dnmetfumes.6677fe54.html">The second set were found by authorities after an anonymous caller reported strong fumes coming from their hotel room. </a>When police arrived, they found two adults who had been huffing paint fumes all day in a 300 square foot room, not only intoxicating themselves, but their children.
Besides the places of residence, the two stories had something in common - the families had Latin surnames. Immediately, commenters on both stories began upping the anti-immigration rhetoric, insisting that this is the way of illegal immigrants.
They do bad things to their children.
To that, I obviously say hogwash (actually, I had a less ancient term that starts with <span style="font-style: italic;">bu</span> and ends with <span style="font-style: italic;">it</span>). For one thing, neither story comments on the immigration status of the four adults in question. Generally, if a reporter knows the status is noteworthy, you will see something along the lines of, "immigrants found guilty of felonies are subject to being deported," somewhere in the story.
But neither story has proffered that up. So how do these commenters know the couples in question are illegal immigrants?
Well, by their last names, of course. Santiago, Rocha and Barron must be indicative of the 100% ne'er-do-wells that crawl under or over a fence in the dark, dark night to invade the soil of the U.S., fostering hate in their hearts and evil in their veins, ready to do horribly heinous crimes at a moment's notice.
Sounds absurd, right? Well, to me, it does. I've had occasion to know two people that were in the country illegally. One was from Mexico, and had moved to the States under what she thought was a visa good for years, but instead was only good for months. She had three terminally ill children, and had come to America hoping to procure better health care for them. Her husband had worked - legally - in the U.S. until his death, and had contributed to the Social Security system. She had benefits coming from that.
The second one? Her last name was Nelson. She was as Anglo as one can get, here on an expired student visa from Canada.
So surnames are not exactly a good indicator of immigration status, I think. Nor is immigration status an indicator of morality.
And let's not forget that in the case of the Santiago family, the mother's parents are in Florida, indicating that likely she is not an illegal immigrant, and is probably of Puerto Rican or Cuban descent - not the not so veiled Mexican descent so many of the commenters kept trying to hint at.
So she's probably a U.S. citizen, and not guilty of entering the country illegally. She's just a really crappy human, something that's not exclusive to one race in particular.
And let's be honest. All these claims are really just an excuse to be racist without anyone calling you on it. But really, does this kind of evil have more offenders in one race than another?
Well, yes. According to 2007 data from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, 21.7 percent of maltreated children nationwide are from African-American families; 20.8 percent are from hispanic families; and 46.1 percent are from white families.
So really, in the U.S., being from a white family nearly doubles your chances of being maltreated or abused.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-38473841845355725092009-07-21T13:25:00.003-05:002009-07-21T13:31:36.098-05:00What Say You?So the DA in Kauffman County allegedly got caught driving while intoxicated. Now the GOP wants him to resign.
But I give you two stories to compare. <a href="http://www.terrelltribune.com/articles/2009/07/21/news/doc4a65ed983d987567665321.txt">This one was posted at 11:32 a.m.</a> <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072109dnmetkaufman.61981f3d.html">This one was posted at 12:48 p.m. </a>
Now, I'm not calling it just yet, but the last one is kinda well, hmm. I mean, no discernable quotes, fewer defining facts...
Is it just a case of two reporters calling at the same time, or is it cribbing?Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-82504502880775378952009-07-20T11:47:00.003-05:002009-07-20T12:16:00.920-05:00Next? No BurritosThis morning, via <a href="http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/07/pete-oppel-dallas-city-council.html">The Dallas City Hall Blog</a>, I was directed to Pete's Place, where Pete Oppel takes on the <a href="http://petesdallasplace.blogspot.com/2009/07/dallas-city-council-needs-to-expand.html">possibility of expanding a ban on using cell phones while driving</a>.
For one, I'm not sure where the budget deficit the city is suffering and it's need to hire more police comes in to the cell phone ban argument. Maybe it's Monday and my synapses aren't firing completely, but I'm not seeing the link there.
But thought flowchart aside, I'm also significantly torn about extending the ban, just as I was torn about the original one, which bans the use of cell phones by drivers in school zones.
At what point did we all start thinking it was OK to turn our government into a nanny? As Trey Garrison pointed out in <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=Trey+Garrison+nanny+state&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a">his excellent piece </a>a few months ago, Texas - and also the U.S., for that matter - has become this orgiastic celebration of rules.
While I'm all for public safety, I'm also for common sense. I'm also for using the rules we already have, which will address the whole issue of cell phone use quite nicely. It's not like blood alcohol levels, where some science has to go in to determining if you broke the law. If you get in a crash or violate a traffic law while on your phone, the laws already on the books address this behavior.
Nearly everyone with a license knows that driving while texting or talking on the phone is risky. Ergo, if you chose to do so while driving, you're engaging in risky, dangerous - reckless - driving.
I can think of a good half dozen other things that can distract a driver. So what's next, a no burrito while driving law? No driving with kids in the car? No changing the station on your radio? Maybe a "no smoking because you might drop the lit cigarette on your lap and it will distract you while your pants are on fire and you will crash" law?
Yeah. I thought so. Let's put the kibosh on this whole thing now, yes?Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-21430655359370791022009-07-17T10:48:00.002-05:002009-07-17T11:12:58.461-05:00Something Still Isn't JibingNot quite 20 days have passed since the <a href="http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090716_mo_newevidence.49771169.html">TABC and the Fort Worth police department conducted a joint raid on the Rainbow Lounge</a>, a newly-opened gay bar, on June 28. The raid sent one man to the hospital with a life-threatening brain injury, and left a community divided over whether the incident was a case of police brutality and homophobia, or just a routine bar check gone very, very bad.
But so far, all that's really happened is a circular firing squad between the TABC and the Fort Worth PD. The police have quit going on these raids with the TABC, and both point the finger at the other - when they're not busy pointing it at apparently lascivious gay people. Because, as we all know, gay people are so gay they have lost all common sense, and will indeed grope policemen as they enter a bar.
At least, that's what <a href="http://media.nbclocalmedia.com/documents/Rainbow+Lounge.pdf">this police report</a> would like you to believe. But then you have <a href="http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_11500.php">eyewitness accounts</a> told to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Dallas Voice</span> - eyewitness reports that differ quite a bit from the police report.
And just when all of this comes out - the police report was published today - the Voice publishes this scoop: <a href="http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_11584.php">TABC Administrator Alan Steen admits his officers breached policy, and the raid was botched</a>.
Steen minces no words, either:
"If our guys would have followed the damn policy, we wouldn’t even have been there. … We have these conversations all the time, and we don’t participate in those kinds of inspections when there’s not probable cause or reasonable suspicion or some public safety matter to be inspected.”
So what was the impetus for the raid? Two other bars were scheduled to be checked that night - one with numerous violations. According to Steen, the raid on the Rainbow Lounge was conducted after one person had been arrested for public intoxication three days earlier. The Rainbow Lounge - at the time of the raid - had only been open a little more than a week, hardly enough time to actually become a nuisance to anyone.
If, by the TABC's own admission, there wasn't actual probable cause for the June 28th raid, was the impetus homophobia on the part of a group of TABC agents and the Fort Worth PD? While none of us can look into the hearts of those agents and officers, I think we can all say with a certain amount of certainty that the timing of the incident couldn't have been more insensitive, since it was also the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 1969.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-46879552279161208572009-07-15T11:50:00.004-05:002009-07-15T12:48:56.882-05:00Why Mark Davis Can't ReadOK. Maybe I don't know why he can't. I mean, I'm assuming he had the same standardized tests I did, the ones that - in addition to determining if you can do basic math - score your ability to find the meaning of a passage by looking at its context.
And Lord help us, someone passed him, even with his rudimentary reading comprehension skills. Then they gave him a microphone, and a keyboard connected to computer, and someone decided to give him a stage in both two facets of media.
To that someone or someones, my ball peen hammer would like to meet you.
Today, Davis devoted an <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-markdavis_0715edi.State.Edition1.25b8b66.html?ocp=2#slcgm_comments_anchor">entire column to Sonia Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comments</a>. He's against them, or whatever. He is pretty sure Sotomayor is going to show way too much empathy or something and then it'll be all vaya con caca rio with the whole Constitution.
Because she's a wise Latina. To that, I say, hmpfh. I'll take a wise Latina any day over a buffoon Caucasian.
But you see, Davis just took that one little line - just like virtually every other suddenly afflicted white rich guy of GOP descent out there has - and turned it into an entire movement. Suddenly, there's much hand wringing. "Surely this 'wise Latina' comment means she hates the whites, right? No? Well, can we say that's what it means?" I imagine the strategy sessions in Wingnut Village go.
I have this incredibly nerdy hobby called research. When Sotomayor was nominated, I started reading everything reputably published about her that I could get my browser and/or hands on. When the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html?_r=1"><span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> published the complete transcript</a> of the speech where "wise Latina" originated, I read it.
Davis, apparently, did not.
The speech was made for the <span class="italic">Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture in 2001. It was part of a symposium entitled, "</span><span class="italic">Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation."
So wow, whodathunk it? She'd talk about being a Latina in the judicial system. So out of left field, that is. I'll pause while you wrap your head around that.
If anything, this is a speech about opportunities in the judiciary for a certain minority. It's about the opportunities that existed then, and the ones she hoped would occur in the future. No doubt that day, she inspired many Latino and Latina students to pursue a similar career path.
And that, of course, would bring diversity to the judiciary, something nearly everyone except - to ironically borrow a phrase from Bill O'Reilly - a few pinheads.
But let's look at context. Yes, she did say:
</span><blockquote>I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.</blockquote><span class="italic">But she followed up with this:
</span><blockquote>I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.</blockquote>
Hardly racist.
So what did she mean by "wise Latina?" For that, we need to look at the culture. As Carolina Miranda pointed out<a href="http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1910403,00.html"> in her excellent piece in <span style="font-style: italic;">Time</span></a>, the wise Latina traditionally is a woman everyone turns to for advice. She is the vast and acknowledged storehouse of information and knowledge. She is wise.
Isn't that what we want in a judge? Someone wise? Someone who is a vast repository of Constitutional knowledge? Someone who, weighing what she knows to be true points of law, can objectively advise?
As Miranda pointed out in her piece, Sotomayor was trying to convey that "her breadth of experience navigating different worlds might lead her to have greater wisdom on certain topics than her white male counterparts. "
And, as Miranda also pointed out, Samuel Alito said much the same thing:
<blockquote>"When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender."</blockquote>
So Mark Davis, I know research is arduous and not as fun as say, speaking out of your posterior, but remember this: Do do the latter, you have to show everyone your butt.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-39280532917948850342009-07-14T16:00:00.002-05:002009-07-14T16:23:46.022-05:00Someone Apparently...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/Slz2mnEEnaI/AAAAAAAAAPY/Lo4ho7eKPz0/s1600-h/fixmd.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/Slz2mnEEnaI/AAAAAAAAAPY/Lo4ho7eKPz0/s320/fixmd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358428799845572002" border="0" /></a>
wants Michael Davis fixed (courtesy the <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/communities/dallas/clickfix.html">Dallas Morning News' new fixiedoohickeydeelybopper</a>).Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-49548305497049239022009-07-08T11:54:00.003-05:002009-07-08T12:04:16.909-05:00How Long, Exactly, Can You Shield a Child?Today, Rod <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Dreher</span> blogs that - as moving as little Paris Katherine Jackson's heartfelt speech about her father was - <a href="http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/07/paris-jackson-speaks.html">perhaps it would've been better to shield the child and her brothers</a> from the spectacle that was Michael Jackson's memorial service.
As usual, Rod fails to look at the context to get the main point. In this instance, perhaps, sure, if you just look at that one piece of the afternoon, you <span style="font-style: italic;">might</span> feel that way.
But you have to look at other parts. What I took away from that memorial service was that this little girl was aware of what people said about her father. She wanted to defend him.
I saw her jump up - she was one of the first, in fact - to applaud Al <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Sharpton's</span> comments about her father not being strange, for instance.
By many accounts, Jackson tried to shield his children from much of the mockery made of him. But I remember being an 11-year-old girl. I knew when my parents were fighting over the phone. I knew when the child support check was late. My mother rarely told me, but you can intuit a lot.
I think she knew how the world saw her father. Whether the realization came over the past few days, after his death, or much earlier as paparazzi trailed them when Michael Jackson took her and her brothers out and about, she knew that part of the world saw him as a beloved entertainer, and another part saw him as something freakish to be mocked.
I saw no coercion from the family - if that was the case, you'd think Jackson's oldest child would have been asked to speak, or even all the children. Instead, I saw a bright, grief-stricken, articulate child who wanted to humanize her father. It was a gut reaction that reminded everyone watching that they may have lost an entertainer, but she lost her daddy.
And she certainly deserved to tell us that.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-9232633745213893742009-07-06T08:22:00.003-05:002009-07-06T08:35:44.767-05:00Seriously?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/SlH77QA29qI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/CE3Oc1XcM_Q/s1600-h/dmn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/SlH77QA29qI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/CE3Oc1XcM_Q/s320/dmn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355338427249653410" border="0" /></a>
So, Sunday is the only day we get the Dallas Morning News now. We used to get it every day, but then when they quit responding to our stop paper requests on vacations, we canceled the subscription.
We got an offer for Sunday only, and decided to give it a whirl again. It's an easy whirl, given that the paper is so light and I only allow myself to read the first three graphs of any Rod Dreher or Steve Blow column. But imagine my - no, wait, a little background is an order here.
Just a few short years ago, I was responsible for not only cleaning the newspaper bathroom, but also writing all major stories and designing the paper - laying it out, as it's called in newsroom vernacular. So reading the print version of TDMN is not just an exercise in frustration because of some of the writing (btw, Elizabeth Souder rocked that T. Boone Pickens story Sunday), but also because of the design.
So imagine my dismay to page through the paper to find this gem - a black and white photo of fireworks.
May I just ask how many layers of boneheadedness did that have to go through before it landed in my yard. I can see being an overworked copy editor and it not registering. But doesn't this page go through at least two more layers before it makes it to the press? At some point, shouldn't someone have said, "You know, this is a great photo, but a black and white picture of fireworks is really kinda stupid?"
And then it also dawned on me - we can expect more of this. Through mismanagement - which led to decimating the newsroom and overworking people who were already overworked anyway - there is literally nobody there to say, "Guys, we can't put a freakin' black and white picture of fireworks in the paper."
So while I thoroughly intended to mock Dallas' Only Daily for this, all I can really muster is a slow head shake, and going to find a black mourning band for my sleeve. Because really, while this may seem small to many, it's one of many symptoms that this patient is very, very ill. This photo is one of many death rattles over the past year, and management has given every indication they've signed a DNR.
Let's sit shiva for the Dallas Morning News, and try to figure out how we're going to accurately tell the story of Dallas in years to come without it.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-43068096568883841302009-06-30T22:12:00.003-05:002009-06-30T22:30:26.336-05:00Things That Make Me Want to Hit Myself About the Head With Hammers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/SkrYSu8ubiI/AAAAAAAAAPI/uzW3SQ0-2Y4/s1600-h/monkeyslap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 316px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/SkrYSu8ubiI/AAAAAAAAAPI/uzW3SQ0-2Y4/s320/monkeyslap.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353328923435232802" border="0" /></a>
Fair warning, this'll probably be the first in a series. As a rule, I'm a fairly content individual, but there are a few things that actually do make me want to hit things, or hit myself with things.
This week? It's been the commenters on the DMN. Specifically, the slackjawed mouthbreathers who turned <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/062909dnmetgaymarch.3d882ae.html">this story about the Gay Rights march in Oaklawn </a>into a discussion rife with homophobia, and completely filled with jawdroppingly awesome untruths.
The conversation veered - and stayed - on gay marriage. More than one person insisted the law in Texas didn't ban it, and that there was a lot of fuss about nothing. A simple Google search could've cleared that astounding misconception up, but since the poster couldn't even spell discriminatory correctly, I'm assuming there were challenges that precluded such an experiment with the truth.
But really, I do not get this debate about gay marriage. The government (and I'm veering dangerously into Trey Garrison territory here) has no business being in the marriage business. Marriage is a religious ceremony. Government (if I'm recalling my constitutional knowledge correctly and completely forgetting the past eight years) isn't supposed to be engaged in religion.
The simple solution? The government gets out of the marriage business, and begins offering civil unions to everyone, for legal purposes. You get your civil union at a courthouse, and then it's up to you - and a church - to hash out any marriage ceremony you might want.
The answer seems so simple that there's probably something I'm missing. If I'm not, why hasn't it happened?Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-2384743903355519832009-06-26T07:39:00.000-05:002009-06-26T19:44:06.763-05:00Things I've Said This WeekSaid this week, and in no particular order:
1. I would like some of the Moose Knuckle ice cream. (Dessert request gone awry)
2. I've discovered five speedwalking geriatrics can be downright terrifying when they're headed your direction.
3. It burns my ass something fierce.
4. If I have to pony up blood or buy Avon, they're getting Funyuns and Diet Dr Pepper, and they'll like it.
5. <span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">MJ and Farrah are not only merely dead, they're really most sincerely dead.
6. </span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">In honor of MJ, any rumbling I do in parking garages or subway stations will include the use of jazz hands.
7. </span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">That squirrel is looking at me again.
8. </span></span>Dueling asshats? AWE.some.
9. Hee! Anal Fissures.
10. Is having a raging case of the stupids. I think it might be contagious.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-22963220836943407352009-06-25T08:28:00.002-05:002009-06-25T08:29:12.385-05:00Dear Dallas Morning News:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/SkN7oY9ffcI/AAAAAAAAAPA/fF538jppcVQ/s1600-h/markdavis.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 94px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/SkN7oY9ffcI/AAAAAAAAAPA/fF538jppcVQ/s400/markdavis.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351256716071632322" border="0" /></a>
I totally agree.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-23157178985477106382009-06-22T21:08:00.002-05:002009-06-22T21:21:08.742-05:00Wherein channels 8 and 11 start noticing a sucking sound...Ah, yes. The digital conversion. When we first started hearing about it, it was kind of like Armageddon - you heard about it, heard it was approaching, but it was always far enough away that it didn't seem like something to really worry about.
And, despite the flurry of information in the past year about it, apparently some people emerged from beneath their rocks, twiddle their antennas, and realize they could no longer see Troy Dungan - never you mind Troy hasn't been on in more than a year. They couldn't see him, nor Tracy Rowlett, and it was nigh to upsetting.
Now we find out that people all over the DFW area are having the same trouble. People that prepared for the impending Digipocalypse by getting the converter box. People that know how to program VCRs and work iPods. People who read newspapers. People who read newspapers on the Internet.
In other words, fairly technically astute individuals with a modicum of ability were unable to procure the channel 8 or the channel 11 digital signal via antenna and converter box (or antenna and HD television).
As we scanned and rescanned the antenna channels the day after the switch - mind you, we have Uverse, so this was just for back up - we couldn't help but wonder if other people were having the same difficulty.
Judging from the comments on <a href="http://unclebarky.com/dfw_files/9f59b8dea3555d35d0ac43a872e49481-1138.html">this post over at Uncle Barky's site</a>, they are. And judging from early numbers after the switch, this difficulty could - possibly - be really screwing with the two channel's ratings.
People are essentially lazy. Sorry people, but we are. I know. I mean, I'm sitting here, on the couch, in my pajamas, and have been since 6 p.m. or so. We're lazy. If we can't get a channel in via a set top antenna, and we don't already have a roof antenna up, what's the over/under on one of us lazy SOB's actually carting our keisters to Target or wherever to pick up an antenna, then climbing up on the roof to install it and aim it and whatever the heck else you have to do to get a stupid signal?
Yeah. I thought so.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-41855422143435334382009-06-17T20:48:00.004-05:002009-06-18T21:27:19.419-05:00Things I've Said This WeekNew feature. Maybe a little narcissistic. But here goes: basically, I compile things that I've either said in e-mail, out loud, in an instant message, or whatever other form of communication I can't think of right now, and then on Friday, I show you this list. You can comment if you wish. Or if you want to tell the class the weirdest/funniest thing you've said all week, you can do that, too.
In no particular order:
1. I mean, surely someone's looked at this shit by now and gone, "Goddamn, this woman couldn't be more batshit if she lived in a cave and wore mosquito pants."
2. whip it up with a rage.
3. <span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Scary. I have popcorn down my shirt. Only, I haven't eaten any popcorn today.
4. </span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">If I give you a cookie and a medal, will you simmah down?
5. </span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">you are one pair of acid washed jeans and a bon jovi tshirt away from 1990.
6. </span></span><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">thinks eric nadel's eyepatch would make a good band name.
7. </span></span>Hung like an unwired light switch. Small, and unable to turn anything on.
8. "That's what SHE said." - Loudly, in The Mecca, after a hostess assured a waitress that there was money "in her box."
9.Like that you can get drunk on homeopathic medicine while at your desk at work, because it doesn't look like beer?
10. I can still taste it in my mouth, and I love it so much.
11. I would like to take your fine work out for a steak dinner.
12. So there I was, in Wal-Mart, right? Doing the Pee Pee Dance, and waiting on the slowest cashier in the world to quit gawking at the sheer volume of batteries I was buying. If I hadn't been concentrating on not wetting my britches, I woulda said, "Hey, do I have the world's largest sex toy collection ever, or is my power out? Wanna hazard a guess?" But instead I paid and then peed.
13. Let's see ... do I jiggle the thingamagig boocoo times until golly, gee, it flushes, or do I leave this foot-long turd here for everyone to see? Oh wait, I gotta go to Sunnyvale by 3. Option two it is!Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-22430790731151244662009-06-16T22:22:00.003-05:002009-06-16T22:24:21.549-05:00Dear WFAA:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/SjhhxX0fYYI/AAAAAAAAAOw/I_jvPPrEDxQ/s1600-h/Minnesota.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/SjhhxX0fYYI/AAAAAAAAAOw/I_jvPPrEDxQ/s320/Minnesota.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348132058338124162" border="0" /></a>
Now, I realize that Minnesota is not that big a deal, so really, it probably should just be thought of as one big city. I get that.
But it's not. Yet. Maybe someone can put that idea out there. But in the meantime, it's not a city.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled program.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-40043038526960597982009-06-16T16:54:00.005-05:002009-06-16T17:13:44.531-05:00Let's Talk About ContextSo as many have started to point out, little Petey Sessions now has an opponent in the next election. His name is Grier Raggio, and <a href="http://blog.peoplenewspapers.com/2009/06/14/louise-raggios-birthday-and-some-breaking-election-news/#comments">his mother was just the subject - and rightfully so - of many tributes after her recent birthday</a>.
Today Wickburner (let's face it, after he came back from his fishing trip, Frontburner became all Wick Allison, all the time) <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/dmagazine/frontburner/%7E3/YizHqvFifCo/">mentioned that Sessions has an opponent</a>.
And then he points to <a href="http://blog.peoplenewspapers.com/2009/06/14/louise-raggios-birthday-and-some-breaking-election-news/#comments">this</a>, saying Sessions will have a field day with it.
Only if he's a bottom-feeding, non-comprehending, knuckle-dragging mouth breather who doesn't understand the concept of context - no offense to any mouth breathers or shrimp. But seriously, anyone who saw the date on the review would realize that, contextually, Negro wasn't an out of date word at the time. It was commonly used. Martin Luther King Jr. used it. I'm pretty sure Jesse Jackson used it.
It was 1969, and while I wasn't even a glimmer in my mother's eye back then, I'm pretty sure the subject, former <a href="http://www.cnn.com/US/9805/01/cleaver.late.obit/">Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver</a>, probably even used the word. Oh, look! I found where he did, in his book "Soul on Ice." <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Ice-Eldridge-Cleaver/dp/038533379X#reader">Try Page 22.</a>
So yeah, a little historical context is probably a nice thing, I would think. And when you have that, you realize that Raggio's use of the word Negro when writing about Eldridge Cleaver, given the time and subject, is pretty much a non-issue.
And if that's all the dirt he can find to rap Raggio on, then Pete Sessions may need to actually address some issues, and make some constituents happy.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-13266185023171684972009-06-12T08:12:00.006-05:002009-06-12T08:43:39.551-05:00Extra Crews, My HineySo Wednesday night, a storm rolled through - in case those of you playing the home version of The Eleventy Billionth Blog didn't know. A big storm, apparently, although the only evidence of it in my neighborhood was a few limbs - nay, large branches - laying in yards, and the colossal darkness that enveloped the neighborhood when the power went out.
The first night wasn't so bad. Apparently the router dealie thingie that Uverse gives you to power your Internets has a battery on it. That battery lasts about three, four hours. I didn't even really notice the first hour of darkness go by - I mean, I could still sit there and make fun of the dog, and simultaneously play Farkle. I was fine. F.I.N.E. fine.
Then the laptop battery died. But I was still OK with that. We'd get power soon, right? It was fun to sit on the front porch, watching the kids run around outside. Normally, they'd be inside, watching TV. This power outage forced them to do what we old people used to call "playing outside." We'd do it all day in the summer, and beg to stay out just an hour more when our mothers called us in for dinner. We amused ourselves with endless games of tag, hide-and-seek, and fort building.
Wave after wave of stormy goodness cascaded over the DFW area that night, and on into Thursday. Our neighborhood regained power sometime in the night Wednesday, only to have it ripped from the clutches of a few of us.
In other words, my side of the street? DARK. Other side of the street? Lights.
When Thursday morning rolled around, the sky still roiled and churned with angry looking clouds, ready to dump rain and mayhem without any provocation whatsoever. It was fun getting dressed in the dark, and praying I put on black pants, not brown, with my definitely black shirt. Makeup by candlelight? Well, that just forces you to go down to the bare basics - a little powder, some lipstick, mascara.
I did my hair by the dome light in my car.
Thursday, after work, I stopped at Wal-Mart to rape and pillage the sporting goods department. I picked up some LED lights, and a battery-powered fan. That, and some prodigious help from Boston Market, helped Thursday night pass.
I was still feeling rather Zen about it at that point. It's like camping. I goofed off with the LED lights for a while after I discovered that if you move them around, you can make it look like the ceiling fan is moving. I read a book. I thanked Jeebus that "The Digital Transformation" hadn't happened yet, and we could still get local television broadcasts - the audio, at least - on our nifty battery-powered radio.
And as I drifted off into sleep Thursday night, with the cool air coming through the windows, scented by some sort of flower outside, I thought, "You know, this isn't THAT bad. I can deal."
And then I looked over. I saw, on my bedside table, a bar of soap I bought at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello a couple weeks ago. Wildflower scented. I sniffed it. I realized, at that point, that there was no magical floral scented air wafting through my window. IT WAS REGULAR AIR, and not having electricity sucks.
SUCKS.
And at that point, I became not OK with having no electricity. I was pissed. The air suddenly wasn't cool enough, in fact it was sticky. The dog was breathing too loud. I couldn't find a cool side on my pillow.
And when I awoke this morning to find that there was still no electricity, I seethed - both inwardly and outwardly. When I sat on the front porch, where it was cooler, and saw the TV on in the house across the street, I gritted my teeth.
And the object of most of my vitriol became the Oncor confirmation number. See, when you call Oncor to report an outage - and it's always Oncor that repairs this stuff - they tell give you this confirmation number.
Now, the first time you call and get this number, you carefully make note of it. I mean, it's a confirmation number! This surely means that the next time you call, you will get an opportunity to enter it, and something will happen.
Then you call again, 12 hours later, when you still don't have electricity, and find out there is no opportunity to enter it, and they give you <span style="font-style: italic;">the exact same confirmation number as last time</span>.
So Oncor, you suck. I mean, I understand there were/are a lot of outages, but you could at least attach some sort of function to your cotton-pickin' confirmation number. Let us enter it, and the computers can tell us an estimated time the power will be back on. By the fourth time we've called, maybe you could connect us to a live human being?
And while I realize there were, according to you, <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/061309dnmetweather.725b63b1.html">500,000 people without power </a>and you've knocked that down to 120,000 as of this morning, there's really no way for the media to verify this. I know you say there's extra crews, but given that last night you said there were 180,000 without power, and today it's 120,000, and yesterday it was supposed to be 500,000, I'm thinking the math doesn't add up. You managed, in the hours between say, 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at 10 p.m. to knock out 320,000, yet between 10 p.m. last night and 8 a.m. this morning, you could only manage 60,000? Really?Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-71834515091155679142009-06-10T13:33:00.002-05:002009-06-10T13:39:31.395-05:00Pubic None the Wiser<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/Si_925xI5NI/AAAAAAAAAOo/BmCKXnw0K3U/s1600-h/opiwhat.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 149px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6sCNg7CBfcc/Si_925xI5NI/AAAAAAAAAOo/BmCKXnw0K3U/s320/opiwhat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345770402373756114" border="0" /></a>
Gee, is this what happens when you can a lot of people, including a lot of copy editors?Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-17736084236930057002009-06-09T10:57:00.002-05:002009-06-09T11:24:48.826-05:00Of This, and That, the It's Summer, Get Off My Butt EditionSo yeah, I took a brief siesta. But there's a buttload of news just awaiting our comments, and since you can't do that much anywhere else, I give you this:
1. <a href="http://eatsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/06/what-melissa-darabian-really-l.html">Why does it matter if Food Network contestant Melissa doesn't look like the pic on the FN Web site?</a> I mean, it's not like <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/columnists/">the DMN does anything like that</a>.
2. Apparently, a<a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118004693.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562"> movie version of "The A-Team" may happen</a>. Who's gonna play B.A. Baracas? According to imdb, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429493/">rapper Common will</a>.
3. In Cindy Adams news, MSN is featuring a story about the most expensive 'burbs to live in. Highland Park is on the list. Only problem? <a href="http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=20069547&Gt1=35000#3">Apparently the city moved five miles north of Dallas</a>.
4. <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20284065,00.html">Nooooooooo</a>......really?
5. Fellow blogger<a href="http://thedallascookbook.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-cook-great-casserole-and-then.html"> Amy Severson has an excellent (and inside) take </a>on the whole Hinojosa's son benefited from Hillcrest program kerfuffle.
6. <a href="http://wonkette.com/409009/national-review-nut-outs-famous-liberal-blogger">National Review's Ed Whelan decided to out an anonymous blogger</a> - who happens to be a law professor in South Texas.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-7076526484281481592009-06-02T20:35:00.002-05:002009-06-02T20:45:52.789-05:00Of Car Decals and Bumper Stickers, and Things That Make My Head HurtDo you know what's a pain in the posterior? Approving comments on a cell phone. And truthfully, if I had known that before I hopped a plane to Virginia Friday, I might have written about cute puppies and rainbow farts instead of <a href="http://eleventybillionthblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/woodlands-ii-on-creek-youre-on-notice.html">Frank Larison vs. HOA fascism</a>.
But I have to say, many of you who provided the 50 comments to date - 61 or so if you count the comments on the follow up - were polite, engaged, stuck to fact and to the topic at hand.
But then there are you other guys. The ones who wrangle Obama into it even though this HOA and it's leadership has probably been around since well before Obama took office. That particular leap of logic (remember, a Frisco community had a similiar HOA amuck situation, and Collin County = majority GOP) is tolerable in small doses, however. What was worrisome? The ones who get scary and imply they're gonna do something violent and/or weird to the HOA president.
How does that make any situation better, I don't know. How does it make you the better person in this situation? I don't know. But responding to this situation with anything other than a desire to voice - by mail or e-mail - your disapproval is just as bad - no, worse - than what this HOA has done.
So chill out. As you see in the comments in the original thread, there are lawyers involved now. This thing will get settled in a way that makes sense. But don't make a head-shaker of a situation something else.
And stay on subject. Anything other than that makes me want to kick things.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-36495657204825006212009-05-28T21:42:00.002-05:002009-05-28T21:48:28.398-05:00Re: Woodlands II on the Creek? You're On Notice.As you can see in the comments, this has people fired up. Before it goes much further, I need to say a couple of things.
Yes, this is mean and stupid. However, I pride myself on having non-mean (Ok, non-vicious), non-stupid readers. You guys are smart, which makes writing this blog a challenge I enjoy. So let's behave as the intelligent, mature people we are, and not do something stupid to the president of the HOA.
And by "something stupid" I mean vandalism, prank calling, abusive calls, etc. Let's keep it smart and clean, people, because oafish behavior really won't sway as well as mannered, measured comments relaying displeasure.
And two, a couple of you have said you plan on organizing some sort of effort to speak to the HOA. If you don't mind, please let me know what you plan, and how it goes.
Having said that, have a great weekend - and a safe one.Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153646337145895175.post-20609653947015902562009-05-27T10:46:00.005-05:002009-05-27T12:23:41.663-05:00Woodlands II on the Creek? You're On Notice.So today, just a few scant days after Memorial Day, we get <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/jragland/stories/DN-ragland_27met.ART.State.Edition1.50fc6cf.html">James Ragland's column</a> about vet <span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody">Frank Larison, who is in trouble with his HOA at Woodlands II on the Creek for having the temerity to exercise his constitutional rights.
Last night, I began reading a book by the same author of "Eats Shoots and Leaves," Lynne Truss. This book, </span></span>"Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life (or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door),"<span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody"> is kind of about manners, but more about how simple human decency should preclude the modern-day need for entire tomes dedicated to etiquette.
I bring this up because there was a very interesting subhead in the first chapter about how we've managed to irrationally widen our personal space over the years. Instead of moving to an area of the room where there's no cigarette smoke, we behave dramatically and insist there be a law to make sure that your ever-widening bubble of personal space is clear of it. If we don't like bars, instead of not going to one, we demand that they clear out from our neighborhoods. If we don't like decals on cars, we - instead of just not putting them on our cars and thinking, "To each his own," when we see one on another car - demand that our neighborhood be bereft of cars with any kind of decoration.
HOA's operate under the guise that it protects the overall value of the member homes. But a home without character is a house. A cluster of houses is just a subdivision or a complex, not a neighborhood. While nobody wants nuisances like Bondo'd cars on blocks or toilet planters, there are city codes in place that already address these things.
So to the Woodlands II on the Creek HOA president, I submit: <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/052309dnmetgirlshooting.d8d4f26.html">Your kid getting shot in the head while she sleeps in your bed, where she feels safest</a>? Big fat juicy nuisance. Vet with decals showing his pride in his military service? Not.
Got it? Great.
And just in case anyone feels the need to explain how you feel to the HOA, <a href="http://start.cortera.com/company/research/k3s6nvq1o/woodlands-ii-on-the-creek-association/">I believe this is the address</a>.
Update: Someone has anonymously posted the correct contact information in comments.
</span></span>Bethany Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09388227688841324002noreply@blogger.com0