eight feet deep

• Nothing to look at. Move ...

  Nothing to look at. Move along. To eightfeetdeep.com [...]
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  Posted: July 08, 2009, 6:07pm EDT
  

• New site

  The new site for this blog is http://www.eightfeetdeep.com. [...]
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  Posted: June 23, 2009, 3:50pm EDT
  

• Change gonna come to EFD

  It was fortunate for me that my old J-school chum Paul is an early riser since we we working on my new blog site Saturday night via Facebook chat. That is because Paul is in Japan and I am in Southeast Texas. And I guess that technically means that Paul [...]
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  Posted: June 20, 2009, 3:29pm EDT
  

• Thinking change during the spin cycle

  It is Friday in the Laundromat. People seem either hyper, wistful or in the case of kids -- kids. I am staying on point with my clothes getting clean but am largely contemplating the possibility of changing Web providers.
  
  For some time I have wanted to do more [...]
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  Posted: June 19, 2009, 2:07pm EDT
  

• Skyrockets in flight! Take evasive manuvers!

  What the heck is going on with Continental airlines?
  
  Granted, I haven't done a lot of flying in my life when compared with many other folks. I have flown more in the past 10 years than in the previous 20 and as a whole I have made more flights' [...]
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  Posted: June 18, 2009, 3:32pm EDT
  

• Sex, lies, and more lies

  Yet another teacher in yet another area small-town school was indicted recently for alleged sexual misconduct with two students. The teacher is a man and his two students are girls.
  
  When one reads such charges time and again, especially when the gender tables are turned and the suspect is [...]
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  Posted: June 17, 2009, 3:38pm EDT
  

• Profundity break

  Long days call for short sentences. My crick hasn't gone away. My feet hurt, as always it seems. The "piggyback" commercials in between the "NCIS" rerun I am watching are almost over. Hooray for profundities.' [...]
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  Posted: June 16, 2009, 7:17pm EDT
  

• Tease this!

  While I admit to a long list of annoyances and petty grievances something that does excessively steam my clams is the news show "tease." I speak of the little announcement and video clip that one expects, or at least hopes, will precede a news report.
  
  When such a tease [...]
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  Posted: June 15, 2009, 4:47pm EDT
  

• A tale of two unexpected sums of money

  Two funny things happened to me today involving money.
  
  The first was this afternoon when I was walking in the parking lot of a large discount store. I saw this incredibly wadded up piece of green and white. It turned out to be a $5 bill.
  
  Now [...]
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  Posted: June 12, 2009, 4:18pm EDT
  

• Chester Drawers meets the naked Speaker

  On the way back to the office this afternoon I spotted a young guy wearing sagging jeans with his drawers showing. This has gone on for so long that it's barely worth mentioning but how freaking ludicrous is that? I mean I was once young, had long hair and dressed' [...]
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  Posted: June 11, 2009, 4:35pm EDT
  

• Off we go into the wild blue yonder, flying high as a hat

  
  DoD photo by Dennis Rogers, Air Force
  
  I always get a kick out of these pictures. This one is particularly magnificent as the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly over while newly commissioned second lieutenants throw their hats into the air after graduating at the Air [...]
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  Posted: June 10, 2009, 4:16pm EDT
  

• Knock three times on the ceiling if you aren't a dream

  With access to so much literature good and bad no doubt the Internet must be the hypochondriac's best friend.
  
  It is actually a good thing that your doctor goes to school for all those years, has all those grueling hours as a resident and can generally tell the difference' [...]
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  Posted: June 09, 2009, 4:17pm EDT
  

• Waiting for the wingnuts to do their thing

  If the level of rhetoric which has passed for far-right-wing discourse in recent times is any indicator then we should all gear up for some kind of truly stupid wingnut comments about Sonia Sotomayor's busted ankle.
  
  The 54-year-old federal circuit court judge and Barack Obama's first Supreme Court [...]
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  Posted: June 08, 2009, 2:41pm EDT
  

• Was WWII the "war to end all wars?"

  
  
  During Memorial Day weekend I watched the last half of the HBO series "Band of Brothers" -- the story of Easy Co. of the 101st Airborne Division during and after D-Day -- which first aired in 2001. For whatever reason I didn't watch the' [...]
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  Posted: June 05, 2009, 4:02pm EDT
  

• Don't like Texas law? Make your own.

  Or, life's a beach and then
  
  you pass laws to help yourself
  
  and all your neighbors
  
  
  Perhaps one time in his life, Texas state Rep. Wayne Christian might have said: "There ought to be a law." In any event the Republican lawmaker from Center, in the' [...]
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  Posted: June 04, 2009, 4:23pm EDT
  

• Tough as rain

  
  Photo by cjessen/Courtesy of morguefile.com
  
  I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. Well it has temporarily stopped but here in Beaumont, Texas, -- which receives an average of somewhere around 58 inches annually -- it is sure to eventually return. That shall [...]
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  Posted: June 03, 2009, 4:05pm EDT
  

• Not yet paranoid about hurricane season

  The blinding thunderstorm outside as well as the non-stop blather on local and national TV serves as a reminder to me that hurricane season is here. Start boarding up the windows and everyone move to Wisconsin until at least November!
  
  No, folks here on the Upper Texas Coast aren't' [...]
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  Posted: June 02, 2009, 1:39pm EDT
  

• How does Prez & Mrs. O's date night stack up against the GWs trips to Crawford?

  People have to bitch about something. The latest gripe against President Obama comes courtesy of the Republican National Committee, an organization sure to find some reason to complain about the opposition even when the GOPs are grasping for straws. The complaint: Presidential Date Night.
  
  This from CNN which [...]
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  Posted: June 01, 2009, 4:35pm EDT
  

• Will a government-inspired health plan get my dental crown reseated?

  Let's hope the ringing has ceased for awhile. I have been on the phone back and forth with several people this afternoon from my part-time job talking about where my work computer needs to be delivered. Funny, I thought I was off this weekend.
  
  While all of this back-and-forth' [...]
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  Posted: May 29, 2009, 2:53pm EDT
  

• Stand with Sotomayor? What, and miss all that hot air?

  Vice President Joe Biden sent me an e-mail today urging me to stand and support the president's nomination of federal circuit court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Why? Can't I do it sitting down?
  
  Of course, Joe sent the same e-mail to millions of others who normally [...]
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  Posted: May 28, 2009, 2:14pm EDT
  

• Newspapers lacking passion, says WP columnist

  Dan Froomkin, whose White House Watch column appears on washingtonpost.com, penned a thoughtful piece for the Nieman Journalism Lab expressing the need for more passion in American newspapers.
  
  Passion seems like a funny word to bandy about in connection with newspapers. That is, it is a [...]
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  Posted: May 27, 2009, 3:02pm EDT
  

• Here we go again

  The Obamarama made his first pick for the Supremes today, Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sotomayor has a pretty compelling back story. It appears she doesn't have a long judicial trail. But nevertheless, one may count on the opposition party on the Senate Judiciary' [...]
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  Posted: May 26, 2009, 2:56pm EDT
  

• Who Put the Benzadrine in Mrs Murphys Ovaltine? - Harry "The Hipster" Gibson (1944)

  

  This explains a lot.

  [...]
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  Posted: May 25, 2009, 7:34pm EDT
  

• Dogs don't maim people ...

  The 2-year-old son of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison was taken to the hospital with severe but non-life-threatening injuries after he was bitten by a family pit bull. Harrison was not home when his wife let the dog out of a pen and it attacked the child.
  
  Such [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2009, 3:10pm EDT
  

• Beaumont: You can't get to there from here

  Returning home this afternoon to Beaumont, Texas, from a couple of days camping in the Angelina National Forest made me realize I should have just stayed.
  
  As my friend, who was camping with me, ran back to Nacogdoches for a few hours yesterday to run some errands, I was [...]
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  Posted: May 21, 2009, 1:49pm EDT
  

• Live from the deep dark forests

  
  It's amazing. My phone doesn't work out here in the Angelina National Forest of East Texas but my wireless Internet does. Oh well, who needs phones -- or the Internet for that matter -- when you're out in the woods?' [...]
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  Posted: May 19, 2009, 2:47pm EDT
  

• Gone camping

  Even though I am on vacation I worked some today wearing my hat as a freelance writer and, actually getting paid for writing. It was pretty enjoyable. I need to do it more. Tomorrow, I head for the woods and sleeping in the great outdoors. I can hardly wait.[...]
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  Posted: May 18, 2009, 4:31pm EDT
  

• Mob rule by minority

  Normally I like to stay clear when writing of religion. I find that too often, the people who I would like to think would be the most tolerant because of their religious beliefs are sometimes the most intolerant when it comes to others' take on those beliefs. In short, a' [...]
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  Posted: May 15, 2009, 2:36pm EDT
  

• A small world, thankfully

  My new lightweight tent is now safely in my hands.
  
  I do not think of package tracking numbers as something of mere convenience. Those little numbers are essential these days as so much material is zoomed here and there. So I had been watching my tent's progress via the' [...]
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  Posted: May 14, 2009, 12:53pm EDT
  

• Old Sayings Retirement Home No. 24

  (Or, the equestrian view of Dick Cheney)
  
  Wow. It is hard to imagine we are already up to OSRH No. 24. For those of you not familiar, this marks the occasion when the little quote below the EFD header is retired and this is the 24th such event. That [...]
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  Posted: May 13, 2009, 2:48pm EDT
  

• Road rage uncovered

  Did you ever wonder just what are at the root causes of road rage?
  
  One study I read speaks of part of its origins in terms of almost pack-mentality terms. The study, commissioned by the AAA Foundation for Traffic, notes a combination of factors are likely behind [...]
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  Posted: May 12, 2009, 1:29pm EDT
  

• Where the Earl industry began

  
  A replica of the boomtown that sprouted up with the beginning of the modern oil industry at Spindletop.
  
  Oil has become a touchy subject in these "green is great" days. I consider myself an environmentalist although I stop short of hugging trees. But I [...]
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  Posted: May 11, 2009, 3:09pm EDT
  

• Idle floating casino looks like a fish out of water

  
  Want to buy the "world's largest floating casino?"
  
  Recently, I was driving around the old downtown part of Orange, Texas, along its harbor where the Sabine River makes its last oomph before forming the bay-like lake leading into the Gulf of Mexico. During the start' [...]
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  Posted: May 08, 2009, 1:53pm EDT
  

• At 5 a.m., buffalo chips is all it means to me

  US Naval Observatory Master Clock Time:
  Fri, 08 May 2009 10:06:12 UTC
  
  Time Zones:
  Fri, 08 May 2009 06:06:12 EDT
  Fri, 08 May 2009 05:06:12 CDT
  Fri, 08 May 2009 04:06:12 MDT
  Fri, 08 May 2009 03:06:12 PDT
  Fri, 08 May 2009 02:06:12 AKDT
  Fri, 08 May 2009 [...]
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  Posted: May 08, 2009, 5:06am EDT
  

• Vacation time is here and there is too much to do

  va·ca·tion
  Pronunciation: \vā-ˈkā-shən, və-\
  Noun stemming from Middle English vacacioun, from Anglo-French vacacion, from Latin vacation-, vacatio freedom, exemption, from vacare
  
  1: a respite or a time of respite from something
  2 a: a scheduled period during which activity is suspended b: a period of exemption from [...]
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  Posted: May 07, 2009, 2:59pm EDT
  

• The (semi) naked truth threatens Miss California USA's crown

  Having skeletons in one's closet aren't always damaging although they many times prove to be. But the damage can almost be guaranteed when skeletons are found in the closets of those who appear holier-than-thou. It is a fact of life Carrie Prejean is quickly discovering, or perhaps even perceived if [...]
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  Posted: May 06, 2009, 4:21pm EDT
  

• Deja vu all over again on U.S. 59 in East Texas

  
  
  If you are drivin' down Hwy. 59 through Teneha, Texas, son, you better be broke or you may soon be that way.
  
  Anderson Cooper's "AC 360" has aired some news reports that, while the stories are news in a sense, are old news to [...]
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  Posted: May 05, 2009, 3:28pm EDT
  

• For the Supremes: Dare to be goofy

  All of the Beltway elite who suffer from pundicitis are playing hot and heavy with speculation of who will fill David Souter's New English shoes as a Supreme Court justice.
  
  Just who the president will pick will be of momentous importance so that the highest court in the' [...]
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  Posted: May 04, 2009, 2:59pm EDT
  

• Zen and the art of pool-cue-head maintenance

  
  Two days ago I broke the hand mirror I use to shave the back of my head. Perhaps one who reads this does not need an explanation as to why I shave the back of my head, but suffice it to say, I do so because [...]
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  Posted: May 01, 2009, 3:57pm EDT
  

• Ball four "urrp"

  
  It is the last day of April. It's steamy outside. So-called "popcorn" showers abound thanks to that great, sloppy moisture off the Gulf of Mexico. Topping it all off, the Houston Astros are six games out of first in the National League's Central Division. All is [...]
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  Posted: April 30, 2009, 3:08pm EDT
  

• Swine havoc, Wal-Mart meltdown, 100 days o' Obama

  Swine flu continues on a hysteria rampage. So serious is it that they've shut down high school athletic and academic competitions in Texas. No beisbol, one-act play or slide rule contests. Wait, do they even have slide rule competitions anymore? It's just as well. The only use I had [...]
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  Posted: April 29, 2009, 1:15pm EDT
  

• Specter's defection not surprising but not unwelcome

  Nothing really surprises me anymore when it comes to politics. With that said, I did feel like something fell through a black hole in the universe today when I learned that Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced he is running for re-election as a Democrat.
  
  Specter has [...]
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  Posted: April 28, 2009, 3:20pm EDT
  

• That old swine, the flu

  
  "No, I'm not really worried about the flu outbreak. I'm more worried about ending up as someone's breakfast sausage."
  
  One needs to keep an open mind when interpreting events in your surroundings. That is no matter if you are talking about the pothole situation in' [...]
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  Posted: April 27, 2009, 2:47pm EDT
  

• To tuckered to flush

  For some reason I am more tired than usual at the end of an almost full week of work. I do wish what hours I work could be more stable. This week I worked 32. Next week I am scheduled to work 20 hours. Maybe figuring out when I am [...]
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  Posted: April 24, 2009, 3:44pm EDT
  

• What some students won't do for a walk

  Once upon a time, college students could come up with creative ways to get out of classes they really wanted to miss. But it seems the creativity level these days has crossed over into the creepy side.
  
  Bail was set at $7,500 today for Jennifer Grant, 20, a student [...]
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  Posted: April 23, 2009, 3:47pm EDT
  

• Happy Earth Day to you a.k.a. stuck on Earth

  
  
  Earth. Love it or leave it.
  
  How is that for a catchy Earth Day slogan? But kind of the crux of the biscuit, as Frank Zappa once said, is that if one doesn't do a little something to take care of where' [...]
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  Posted: April 22, 2009, 1:37pm EDT
  

• What gives ol' blog?

  When I look at my Web stats from StatCounter every once in awhile,I still get a little amazed that people from around the world look at this blog even if it's only for a few seconds. But, when I see I have like 80-something page views on a Tuesday after' [...]
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  Posted: April 21, 2009, 10:54pm EDT
  

• A perfect s**t storm

  Lately I have been having wireless troubles. Verizon says it's my computer. Dell, with still 2 years to go on my warranty, doesn't seem to know their ass from first base. Oh and my mobile phone with T-Mobile? For some reason it won't let me receive calls from Verizon. Ah' [...]
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  Posted: April 21, 2009, 5:25pm EDT
  

• EFD phone home

  Nothing good can come from answering an "unknown caller" call on the phone, of this I am convinced. The other day a solicitor called. I informed him I was on the "no call list." Big deal. Today, a woman from the Texas Department of Transportation called in response to an [...]
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  Posted: April 17, 2009, 2:18pm EDT
  

• Rick Perry's rewriting history during his Dixie Chicks moment

  
  Texas Gov. Rick Perry fends off questions as to his sanity.
  
  Texas Gov. Rick "I've Got Hair" Perry may have produced the most notable noise for yesterday's so-called "TEA Parties." Perry told a crowd in Austin -- frightened that proposed tax increases on the richest [...]
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  Posted: April 16, 2009, 2:48pm EDT
  

• Your taxes at work

   
  Army photo by Sgt. Christopher T. Sneed.
  
  For those who are protesting taxes and government spending today here is a little reminder of what your tax dollars buy, courtesy of Combat Outpost Narizah, Afghanistan. [...]
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  Posted: April 15, 2009, 4:11pm EDT
  

• Tea'd off? Just more conservative silliness

  Several conservative groups are trying to pretend that tomorrow's so-called "Tea Parties" to protest government spending is some big earth-shattering movement. But don't be surprised if the only ones who see it that way after it is all said and done is Fox News.
  
  Once the cameras go' [...]
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  Posted: April 14, 2009, 3:07pm EDT
  

• The customer is always wrong

  It amazes me how people in business get away with outright rudeness these days. Here is a forinstance (yes I am aware how I spelled "forinstance" -- I'm not in business here, I can afford to be rude). As part of my job I called a business today which does' [...]
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  Posted: April 13, 2009, 2:49pm EDT
  

• Butt this is how I envisioned the weekend's start

  Tomorrow is my annual family reunion. Since it is being held at my brother's place in Brenham, Texas, (Yes home of Blue Bell ice cream), I decided to skip getting up ultra early for a three-hour drive and stay in a motel about halfway, alongside I-45 in Conroe, just 40 [...]
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  Posted: April 10, 2009, 6:39pm EDT
  

• The agony of de feet

  If you happen to be a believer in evolution then you might understand how certain human body structures got the short end of the stick as life made its way up the evolutionary chain. Backs and feet immediately come to mind.
  
  It isn't hard to imagine how weight could' [...]
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  Posted: April 09, 2009, 2:52pm EDT
  

• More on the shooting of a Afghanistan War hero's dog

  Okay, a little more MSM and otherwise has shed some light on the shooting of a therapy dog for injured Navy SEAL hero Marcus Luttrell.
  
  Apparently the SEAL's dog, a yellow Labrador retriever was named DASY and not Daisy as I earlier "reported." (It's hard for me [...]
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  Posted: April 08, 2009, 9:58pm EDT
  

• Let's hope the fate of a hero's dog does not befall the pink dolphin

  The stories of Pinky and Daisy are far from similar, not yet at least, and here is hoping the tales of these two animals never merge.
  
  Pinky is what marine biologists are calling the rare albino dolphin that has been sighted a number of times swimming in [...]
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  Posted: April 08, 2009, 3:14pm EDT
  

• April's reign of terror

  Ah fair April! Poets slather you in verse while young love blooms about like an endless promise. Or something, something else. Yes, April has its magical side with the ultra-greens of new life budding and the mythical spring fever restraining energy of those too absorbed by its beauty to move.
  [...]
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  Posted: April 07, 2009, 3:45pm EDT
  

• This will go on your permanent record! Who cares.

  This afternoon I had to get a couple of documents together for a special veterans license plate. I figured the LP doesn't cost anything but a stamp and anytime you get anything free from the state one should surely take advantage of it.
  
  Although the requirements for the special' [...]
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  Posted: April 06, 2009, 3:31pm EDT
  

• Something rather good

  
  On a Friday with so much bad news, our friend across the Pond, Joel, has a rathergood take on history.
  FreeVideoCoding.com
  [...]
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  Posted: April 03, 2009, 3:57pm EDT
  

• No two ways about it

  This really has to suck. When I worked full-time in the newspaper business I used to bitch about annual raises that did nothing more than stick you into a higher tax bracket. I can't imagine how I would have handled a situation in which my pay was cut,' [...]
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  Posted: April 02, 2009, 1:47pm EDT
  

• Dallas cop does finally does the right thing: He quits

  Dallas police officer Robert Powell has been one of the most viewed cops on TV and the Internet during the last week or so. He was the cop who stopped the Houston Texans' Ryan Moats for rolling through a stop sign outside a Plano hospital. Moats and family members were' [...]
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  Posted: April 01, 2009, 3:56pm EDT
  

• Wake me up when the Code Blue's over

  The title of this post sounds like some kind of medical country-western song, or veterinary C & W, but it instead refers to the hysterical narcissism which overcomes me when thinking about the end of the line for the hit TV-med/drama "ER."
  Slate, the online magazine, has been conducting an ongoing [...]
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  Posted: March 31, 2009, 3:14pm EDT
  

• "Best Political Team on Television" wearing thin

  Since taking to the air in 1980 I have watched CNN through thick and thin. I watched CNN when President Reagan was shot. I knew that the United States was under attack by terrorists on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as I looked on in horror as United Flight [...]

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  Posted: March 30, 2009, 4:05pm EDT
  

• "Best Political Team on Television" is quickly becoming "Most Annoying"

  Since taking to the air in 1980 I have watched CNN through thick and thin. I watched CNN when President Reagan was shot. I knew that the United States was under attack by terrorists on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as I looked on in horror as United Flight [...]
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  Posted: March 30, 2009, 2:56pm EDT
  

• Good news and bad news for VA patients exposed by colon tests

  Remember the story the other day about thousands of Department of Veterans Affairs patients being exposed to HIV due to contaminated equipment used in colonoscopies? Well, there are new developments, good news and bad news if you will.
  
  The good news is that some of the patients don't' [...]
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  Posted: March 27, 2009, 2:21pm EDT
  

• EFD once again obsesses over time***

  An e-mail from Classmates.com came today reminding me that this was my 35th anniversary of graduating from high school. They needn't have reminded me.
  
  I have no trouble remembering that I graduated from high school in May 1974, or that I enlisted in the Navy in July 1974, or' [...]
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  Posted: March 26, 2009, 3:45pm EDT
  

• Talk show host takes a journey off the deep end

  Although political discourse is getting to be rather tiresome being it a 24/7 activity it normally falls into what most people consider the realm of sanity. And then, there is Glenn Beck.
  
  What is so unnerving about the Fox TV and talk-radio pundit is his slipping from a calm [...]
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  Posted: March 25, 2009, 3:44pm EDT
  

• Memo to VA: First do no harm

  This is great news, he said sarcastically.
  
  Thousands of veterans are reportedly at risk for HIV after receiving colonoscopies using apparatus with unclean water pumps at both the Miami and Augusta, Ga., VA hospitals. The Miami Herald reports:
  
  "The hospital discovered March 4 that the pumps" [...]
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  Posted: March 24, 2009, 3:37pm EDT
  

• A treatise light on government and the ignorant class

  The ignorant class -- all upper, middle and lower -- can find all kinds of reasons to hate "government." This is even though those same people can't seem to find reason if was implanted into their brain and written inside their eyelids.
  
  Government. Bad. Bad government. Big government. Big,' [...]
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  Posted: March 23, 2009, 3:51pm EDT
  

• Maybe Obama won't be a future guest host but ...

  As a rule I don't normally watch Jay Leno or only in very small amounts. I don't dispute that he is funny but his show and I have never clicked. Perhaps no one can ever live up in my eyes to the King, Johnny Carson. Last night, however, I did [...]
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  Posted: March 20, 2009, 3:11pm EDT
  

• Creeping constructionism

   
  
  Like some slow moving locust infestation eating its way across the Corn Belt, the construction work on Calder Avenue in my town of Beaumont, Texas, slowly creeps westward. Today it was near the Exxon station and Calder Avenue Washateria [...]
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  Posted: March 19, 2009, 4:33pm EDT
  

• I am not outraged, just perhaps a bit raged

  During the peak of the "awl" boom of the early 1980s the owner of a successful oil services industry company named Eddie Chiles became semi-famous by proclaiming: "I'm Mad."
  
  Chiles, then owner of the Western Company of North America, had a series of right-wing radio commentaries on which' [...]
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  Posted: March 18, 2009, 12:12pm EDT
  

• Is John Cornyn running things? (shudder)

  Not that more proof was needed, but this little story confirms that the only objective for Republican congressional members is obstructing the ruling party.
  
  It seems our (Texas')two GOP senators plan to hold back every nominee to the federal bench unless they pass the Republican litmus test. Although' [...]
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  Posted: March 17, 2009, 4:22pm EDT
  

• Mr. Fix It

  It took the better part of four hours, four-to-six scratches to the hand, several bumps on the head, some $50 and a plethora of Navy-style profanity but my truck now runs like a kitten's purr.
  
  I would have only spent two-thirds of that amount, probably saved three hours, would [...]
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  Posted: March 16, 2009, 5:08pm EDT
  

• Rainy days and thoughts of liquor merchants past

  It is a cool and rainy day on the Upper Texas Coast. It is the type of day that must've been good for liquor stores and the bootleggers before them in the little East Texas Pineywoods town just up the road where I was raised.
  
  Back in the day' [...]
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  Posted: March 13, 2009, 2:48pm EDT
  

• Caution: Pissed off writer at keyboard

  It is somewhat difficult to write something with a modicum of thought when the writer is in a pissy mood. What put me in a pissy mood is irrelevant. Even I don't fully know why my disposition is foul. It is a combination of factors.
  
  But aren't you always [...]
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  Posted: March 12, 2009, 2:59pm EDT
  

• Dr Hook ~~~ Millionaire...

  

  I haven't heard this in years. What a bunch of disgusting f**kers. I guess that's why I always loved their music. So, let's see how long this stays out there in the great blogosphero.

  ' [...]
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  Posted: March 11, 2009, 9:23pm EDT
  

• When they outlaw butts, only outlaws will have butts

   
  
  
  In a grocery store earlier today I saw a sight that caused my jaw to nearly drop. The store folks were changing out prices in their cigarette case and they were putting up a sign for a carton -- Marlboros I believe -- priced [...]
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  Posted: March 11, 2009, 2:02pm EDT
  

• Headache prone: Avoid D.C. and Austin like the plague

  Has your head hurt more lately than normal? If that is the case one reason may be hot air.
  
  A study published in the Neurology medical journal has concluded higher temperatures as well as low air pressure play some part in headaches. As one who suffers migraine-like headaches [...]
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  Posted: March 10, 2009, 1:26pm EDT
  

• Behind the Music: Barbie

  
  
  Much ado about Barbie turning the big Five-O. I have to admit, the old gal still looks pretty good although it helps when you're skin is plastic.
  
  To celebrate five decades of America's doll, Barbie is getting fabulous digs in Malibu as well [...]
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  Posted: March 09, 2009, 4:50pm EDT
  

• Merle Haggard - Rainbow Stew (1981)

  

  We can always hope, can't we Merle?

  ' [...]
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  Posted: March 06, 2009, 7:36pm EST
  

• Pay cuts: A normal byproduct of recession or something more?

  Many comparisons are being made between the current economic funk and the recession of the 1980s. That said, it is a connection that I really have difficulty remembering.
  
  During the first four years of the 80s I was a full-time college student drawing the fruits of the GI Bill [...]
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  Posted: March 06, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• If you wing nuts are so smart ...

  This whole hoo hah between the White House and Rush Limbaugh is just about the funniest political theater I have seen in years. It boils down to right-wing reactionary radio host Limbaugh being cast by the Obama administration as de facto leader of the Republican Party. Limbaugh with an ego [...]
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  Posted: March 05, 2009, 1:14pm EST
  

• Knighthood's swell. But do I have a mother country, Sir Teddy?

  This morning I watched British Prime Minister Gordon Brown address Congress where his remarks also included the news that Queen Elizabeth was bestowing honorary knighthood on Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. I am sure that this news about the old liberal "Lion" was met with no small amount of right-wing [...]
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  Posted: March 04, 2009, 4:01pm EST
  

• The key to a less-than-swell afternoon

  About an hour of my afternoon was pretty much shot today after locking my keys inside my truck. All had rolled along pretty good, or so I thought, until I got back to my office and had that sickening feeling just as I shut the door that my keys were [...]
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  Posted: March 03, 2009, 2:51pm EST
  

• Zen and the art of seatbelt repair

  While reading about so-called "recession and depression proof jobs" I was not surprised to learn that mechanics fall in such categories. One would think when money is extremely tight that they would hang on to their jalopies rather than buy a new set of wheels.
  
  It [...]
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  Posted: March 02, 2009, 3:55pm EST
  

• What gives?

  For some reason the text moved around on my post about the First Dogs. Originally, the notations were correct. But now ... The water dog is still the top photo and the Labradoodle is at the bottom, although it is pictured right so that is technically correct. I would [...]
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  Posted: February 28, 2009, 8:14pm EST
  

• GOP making a noticeable drift

  The Republican Party seems these days like a rudderless ship drifting out in the sea.
  
  Democrats, fresh from their hat trick retaking the presidency, House and Senate, are making the best of their opponent party in its current leader-free state. The latest pick at the GOP is a new [...]
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  Posted: February 27, 2009, 4:25pm EST
  

• Libel suits await the great 'net crusaders and flamers

  San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders offered thoughts in somewhat of a similar vein to what I wrote a couple of posts ago about writing newspapers' obituary too early.
  
  The Chronicle like other papers has been hit by the economic crisis and its owner the Hearst' [...]
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  Posted: February 26, 2009, 2:36pm EST
  

• FDOTUS to arrive at White House in April

  That is the First Dog of the United States (FDOTUS, pronounced "Fa-Dough-tus.")
  
  Michelle Obama said in an interview with People magazine that the highly anticipated canine member of the first family will arrive after their spring break. Mrs. Obama said they were leaning toward a:
  [...]
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  Posted: February 25, 2009, 4:33pm EST
  

• Don't write newspapers' obit just yet

  It seems as if death knells are being sounded everywhere one turns these days for newspapers. Some of the less thoughtful who see the "MSM" as the enemy clap their hands with glee. Oh well. Those in the newspaper industry are rightfully worried and are doing even more hand-wringing than [...]
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  Posted: February 24, 2009, 4:01pm EST
  

• Former MLB pitcher Sen. Bunning is a real screwball

  Winner of this week's "Stupid Is As Stupid Does Award" goes to former major league pitcher and U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky.
  
  On Saturday Bunning went above and beyond the threshold of stupidity when he callously declared during a speech that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would not' [...]
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  Posted: February 23, 2009, 4:12pm EST
  

• Bank robbery is not a great career path

  Some locals were just sentenced to the federal pen for attempting to rob a bank, which makes me shake my head in disbelief. How can even the dumbest of criminals think of robbing a bank in this day and age?
  
  Money is how one might answer such a question, [...]
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  Posted: February 20, 2009, 3:40pm EST
  

• What makes a king of a slave?

  Courage.
  
  When I heard Attorney General Eric Holder remark that ours is a "nation of cowards" in the U.S. when it comes to race, I predicted it would considerably infuriate some of our citizens of the rightwingnut persuasion. I was right, pardon the pun.
  
  Holder [...]
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  Posted: February 19, 2009, 3:28pm EST
  

• Cheering on Hutchison? Not much.

  It is not likely -- closer to no way in hell -- that I will vote in the 2010 Texas Republican Primary. However, if that election pits GOP Gov. Rick "Goodhair" Perry against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey "TU cheerleader" Hutchison as expected I would certainly would be "cheering on" [...]
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  Posted: February 18, 2009, 3:03pm EST
  

• Screamin' memes

  My friend Mary who lives in the Virginia suburbs of DC sent me a list on Facebook I have yet to read. It isn't that I dread reading it, rather it is simply a manner of wanting to get my daily blog posting completed before engaging in other worthy pursuits.' [...]
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  Posted: February 17, 2009, 4:25pm EST
  

• A pot to president in

  Want to know how this guy grew hair like that? Read on.
  Happy Presidents' Day! That's a greeting one does not hear very often even on Presidents' Day. Perhaps one reason for the lack of such a greeting is the confusion which exists over the very holiday' [...]
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  Posted: February 16, 2009, 2:04pm EST
  

• The Rolling Stones - Bob Wills Is Still The King

  

  Yes, I am up at 3:34 a.m. and listening to Mick Jagger and the Stones playing "Bob Wills Is Still the King." And it's raining cats and dogs outside. God Bless Texas.

  ' [...]
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  Posted: February 14, 2009, 3:37am EST
  

• Stuck on the keyboard watching CNN

  Today is day one of a four-day weekend. So what I have I been doing? Sleeping until 10 a.m. was one activity, or inactivity if you will. I probably would have awakened a little earlier had I not stayed up until 2:30 this morning watching coverage of the commuter [...]
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  Posted: February 13, 2009, 1:45pm EST