Category Archives: Texana

The return of the skunks

Posted on August 19, 2013 | 13 comments

No sooner than our wildlife removal expert admitted defeat, presented his bill and departed with his wire traps, we sighted two more skunks.

A week later, we see them nightly now, and have taken to carrying flashlights whenever we walk to and from the pool (no bees, this year, mercifully) in the back forty to avoid an unfortunate encounter. Except for the whitish stripe on their backs (actually grayish), they are black, after all, and fit in well with the darkness.

We do seem, of course, to be free of raccoons and armadillos, the expert having trapped seven of the former and three of the latter. No skunk smells yet, the original reason for calling the expert. But I have faith in fate. The odors will return and, then, so will the expert. Maybe if we keep him on salary…

13 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Promoting, not banning, plastic bags

Posted on August 15, 2013 | 7 comments

The Austin city council’s ban on plastic bags isn’t really a ban on plastic bags.

It’s a scheme which, while it apparently encourages some people to bring cloth bags  (Ann Coulter calls them portable bacteria colonies) to the grocery, actually allows groceries to sell plastic bags rather them give them away.

In fact it encourages the use of plastic bags since our local H.E.B. charges more for paper ones: $1 for paper vs 25 cents for plastic. Our local CVS pharmacy not only does not sell plastic bags, they give paper bags away for free.

Now you may say the ban on plastic bags is actually a ban on the old, free plastic baggies one occasionally sees blowing end over end down a two-lane Hill Country highway. (Only occasionally, mind you. Central Texas roadways are remarkably clean.)

And we’re not likely to ever see one of H.E.B.’s red-with-white-handles plastic bags so enlivened by the breezes of passing cars. Ha, say I. Give it time. Give it time. Because it’s obvious that was/is not the issue here. Charging for plastic bags is the issue and that’s working out just fine.

UPDATE:  Hey! The Translucent plastic bags are back! At H.E.B.! Yes! And they are free!

But you need the password. The password is “meat.” When you buy some meat (or fish) they give you a free plastic bag, just like the ones that were banned. Somebody is listening to Ann Coulter. Besides me,that is.

7 Comments

Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, The Economy

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The insanity at Fort Hood

Posted on August 7, 2013 | 6 comments

Bad enough that the Pentagon echoed the White House in calling the Jihadi massacre of 13 unarmed soldiers (and wounding of 32 more) at Fort Hood in 2009 “workplace violence,” but now there seems to be no valid reason to be trying the killer Muslim major.

“The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter,” he testified Tuesday. Huh?

If he admits his crime, if he admits he was the one who shouted “Allah is great” while he was pulling the trigger at least 13 times, why is he even on trial? He’s not defending himself as an innocent falsely accused. He admits his guilt. Sentence him and be done with it.

What seems to be happening is that he wanted a forum to publicize Jihad and let us all know why he had to murder people he’d never met to make his bloodthirsty god happy. And I’m sure he’ll show us chapter and verse in the Koran requiring him to fight the war that our incompetent government won’t even acknowledge. What poppycock.

The Army is staffed by bigger fools than we already thought. They’re giving this murderer a forum for his religious propaganda. And charging us taxpayers for a privilege he doesn’t deserve. The murderous major supposedly is insane. Ha. We’re the insane ones for putting up with this sorry excuse for a military.

UPDATE:  More absurdity: Since the Jihadi major faces the death penalty, under military law he cannot plead guilty. Huh? Even though he plainly has. Apparently he is going to get his soap box. And, get this, he’s still being paid his military salary. It isn’t like no one knew the bastard did it. But they insist on playing their little charade for the sake of “justice,” so-called.

6 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot, Texana, The War, Troops

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Make it go faster, indeed

Posted on August 6, 2013 | 2 comments

In the interest of the make it go faster concept, Scott at the Fat Guy endorses Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston for Obongo’s Department of Homeland Security.

Oh, the comic relief. We could all use a good laugh every day.

And like Victor Davis Hanson, I don’t believe any of these clowns are capable of doing permanent damage, try as they may.

2 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot, Texana

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Did White House get editor fired?

Posted on August 4, 2013 | Comments Off on Did White House get editor fired?

Yes. Next question.

Wormtongue likes to compare himself to some of his predecessors. FDR and Lincoln come to mind. LBJ, not so much. But Johnson was wellknown for complaining about negative reporting, including headlines like the one in the Chattanooga Times [Not-So] Free Press. He was used to a lapdog newspaper in Austin doing his bidding.

The Worm apparently is known for calling to get sentences removed. So it just makes sense that he got editorial page editor Drew Johnson fired.

He wouldn’t even have to ask for it. A hard stare would be plenty, from this would-be dictator who (like his fellow Democrats LBJ and FDR) has used the IRS to attack his political critics.

The only way to avoid it is to become his stenographer, like, who else, the toadies at the NYTimes.

Via Instapundit

UPDATE:  Remember, this is the guy who joked (in public in 2009) about having the IRS audit his enemies.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot, Texana

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Texas roadside cavity searches for suspected marijuana

Posted on August 3, 2013 | 5 comments

THIS HAS BEEN UPDATED BELOW

Pretty incredible stuff, the videos here at the Advice Goddess. Apparently not a lone wolf operation but the latest escalation in the war on drugs. Because, otherwise…

“So how did Texas troopers hundreds of miles apart get captured on dash cams conducting body cavity searches under nearly identical conditions? ‘The fact that they both happened means there is some sort of (department) policy’ advocating their use at traffic stops, Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project told the [New York] Daily News. ‘It’s such a prohibited practice. I don’t know why they think they can do this. It’s mind-boggling.'”

Harrington is an old Lefty ambulance chaser who’s never been shy about exaggerating the facts for political/publicity purposes, but he doesn’t seem to be twisting anything here, thanks to the videos. The searches occurred by the roadside after traffic stops. Apparently no warrants involved. Certainly no legal representation.

So far, one trooper has been suspended, but three more also are involved, in Dallas and Brazoria counties [Actually, there’s more, see my UPDATE below]. And there are at least two lawsuits from these cases now going against the Department of Public Safety, so maybe the rest of us won’t have worry about this every time a trooper decides he smells marijuana.

Can’t speak for the truth of the NYC paper’s report, of course. There’s an old tradition in the news biz that the farther away from the newsroom the story occurs, the looser with the facts the reporter and editors can and tend to be. Especially the Yankee press beating up on Texas and other Southern states.

Via The Advice Goddess

UPDATE:  This, it turns out, is old news, indeed. Not just because both incidents happened  last summer, but because in May a Dallas County grand jury indicted the two  troopers involved there for sexual assault and “official oppression” (interesting name for a law).  One was fired and the other is on suspension. The DPS also paid $185,000 in settlement of a civil lawsuit.

In the Brazoria County incident, one trooper was fired and the other is on suspension and DPS is admitting official embarrassment: “The department does not and will not tolerate any conduct that violates the U.S. and Texas constitutions, or DPS training or policy,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw.

The Texas Rangers have investigated and recommended grand jury review and Brazoria County prosecutors are considering it. Their action may be delayed because the case seems to involve the elected county sheriff, Charles Wagner, and one of his deputies, Aaron Kindred. There’s also a pending civil lawsuit, which also includes Wagner and Kindred as defendants.

So the DPS, the Rangers, at least one grand jury and prosecutors are on the case. It’s rogue behavior and not official policy. I’m relieved.

5 Comments

Posted in Blogosphere, Texana, The Drug War

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Skunk patrol score thus far: 5 raccoons and an armadillo

Posted on August 2, 2013 | 4 comments

But no skunk. Not that we don’t keep sighting them. Two last night in the back forty. Probably the same two sighted the night before.

Our skunk hunter, of Austin’s Wildlife Removal Services (company motto: “Resolving Human and Animal Conflicts”) unfortunately keeps trapping other critters in his wire cages.

He’s embarrassed. We could tell when he lowered his price. Nevertheless, Mrs. Charm is tired of the occasional skunk smell (which the AC air compressor seems to suck inside the house) and, thus, onward!

At the current rate, however, we will have eliminated the neighborhood’s raccoons while leaving the skunks on the loose. Sigh.

UPDATE:  Make that 5 raccoons and TWO armadillos. Still no skunk.

MORE:  Make that 7 raccoons and three armadillos. Then, four days after we cancelled the contract, we have another skunk sighting. Damn! Wily creatures.

4 Comments

Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana

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