tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65576192428363198512024-03-13T23:45:48.145-04:00The International House of KaosYankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-45708818028677348612007-06-19T08:38:00.000-04:002007-12-19T09:05:11.069-05:00Marge Zihlman-- 90 years old<span>This Saturday was the birthday of my great Aunt, Marge Zihlman. She was born in Philadelphia to the Brugger family, and remained there until marrying Uncle Eddie, my grandmother's brother. He was in the Navy during WWII and was stationed in Philadelphia when the war ended (he suspects he was making heavy water for the atomic bomb tests). He met Marge at an USO event, and they were married after his discharge. He and my grandmother had inherited the Zihlman dairy ranch, and moving from Philadelphia to Windthorst, Texas was a big shock to her. Especially the outdoor plumbing (with snakes). She only got occasional glimpses of my grandfather, who apparently never left his bedroom. I asked if he was sick at the time, and Mom said, "No, that's when he was drinking." (I'll ask about that some other time.)<br /><br />Having a digital camera with a video function has been a godsend. My last trip to Texas I took a 10 minute movie of Marge telling this story, and the medium is so much more revealing than pictures or a written narrative could ever be. She never mentions the obvious culture shock, but its presence is clear in her tone of voice. She may not have been amused at the time, but she put it behind her and can look back on it with a sense of ironic bemusement.</span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-27809593317404831172007-05-11T09:42:00.000-04:002007-12-19T09:04:12.441-05:00Progressive Center<span>Trying to get back in the habit of updating. No real news except we have finally lost the Progressive Center. They had reached the point of covering the cost for keeping the building open, but never made any real progress towards buying it. Fortunately it's being sold to a nonprofit health center, who are using the space to expand and open a mental health clinic.<br /><br />We are already looking for a new location, taking with us new lessons in cat herding. Progressive organizations, given the opportunity, will not band together for mutual benefit, and will even conspire to defeat such efforts. New plans will be for a smaller, more manageable building more along the lines of Gainesville's Civic Media Center.</span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-53053973254930106422006-11-06T16:56:00.000-05:002007-12-19T09:01:21.780-05:00Election Day<span>At last we are here and the questions shall be answered. Can Democrats squander their best momentum in ages, and are Republicans still willing to cling to Rove and Limbaugh rather than reality. I feel kind of left out, other congressional districts have so much more drama going on. I will not be voting for Nelson, but for the independent, Brian Moore. Nelson had a safe race and still made some horrifying votes in the Senate. It's bad enough if he believes he was doing the right thing, but even worse if he felt he still had to pander for the Republican vote. Oddly enough, liberal friends who criticize my Green party leanings have told me they are doing the same.<br /><br />Davis may be able to pull it off, and I am allowing myself the possibility of maybe having a smell sense of hope. Rich has assured us time and again that Davis has potential, so we will just have to wait. <br /><br />The only other really big vote is for Referendum #3, a power grab by the Chamber of Commerce, who have too much influence already. Have not seen much support for this outside of the suit-wearin', cigar chompers, but voters tend to vote "Yes" like lemmings on amendments.<br /><br />Out biggest local race is the City Commission fight between Lightsey and Dr. V. Lightsey, a former environmental champion, voted for Tallahassee to participate in a coal plant. This was bad enough for must of us, but despite excuses that it will be a "clean" coal plant, as more and more information came out, it looked less clean and more of a boondoggle. Dr. V is the only coal opponent to make it out of the primaries, so support for him has been pretty big. Big enough to challenge Lightsey's money and incumbency though? We'll see.</span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-65548003784096374032006-10-11T10:00:00.000-04:002007-12-19T09:00:21.513-05:00Tacete et Parete<span>I see that this blog has been cited on the Monarchy Party's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_Party" target="_new">page</a> at Wikipedia, so I guess I should post something about the Monarchy Party.<br /><br />My involvement (as Bucky Goldstein) is listed under the <span style="font-style: italic;">King's English and Crown Dispatch</span>, our satirical newsletter that anticipated the style of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Onion</span>. That is how I got my start in activism, as a comedy writer. However, Monarchy was never really a proper activist organization, most supporters seemed to be part of the campus drug subculture. Those of us who were left after the party disbanded wound up at the House of KAOS, where we tried to revive the activist spirit of the '60's, but with less drugs and police beatings. I have tried to make sure that our core belief -- "A Political Party is Still a Party" -- was kept alive in other organizations I have been involved with.<br /><br />I was recently visited by Greg Cohen, the chief engineer of the Monarchy Party, who had dropped by to retrieve the Party archives. The usual reminiscing and war stories now include discussion of who had cancer treatment or major surgery. Are we really getting that old? Plans are afoot to hold a Monarchy reunion next year, which I look forward too. Though I have been quite content with my current circle of friends, it has occurred to me that I no longer have contact with anyone creative, which I am now thinking is why I feel creatively drained so much of the time.</span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-80189829815126882892006-09-18T12:59:00.000-04:002007-12-19T08:58:59.796-05:00"Fish Don't Walk"<span></span>This is a bumper sticker I have seen on cars of Christian fanatics who don't believe in evolution. You would think the Mudskipper alone would have exploded this notion, but now there is additional support in the form of a <a href="http://www.conservation.org/xp/frontlines/2006/09180601.xml" target="_new">walking shark.</a><br /><br />Maybe this will breath new life into the land shark jokes.<br /><br />Here is a related story I found on a church website, which sums up why I find some Christians very disturbing--<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Driving to different things around town usually provides some of the best conversation time between the girls and me. A conversation so perfectly etched into my memory is one from last summer. We were reading bumper stickers and such when Allison noticed the “Jesus fish” on the back of a van in front of us. Brittany quickly explained to her little sister that the fish meant the people believed in Jesus. Allison was so excited to begin looking for other “Christian cars” that it began a game of who can spot the fish first. Not more than 10 blocks, Allison yelled out that she found another fish but this fish had feet. “Fish don’t walk,” she proclaimed. Brittany once again quickly chimed in explaining that this fish meant that they don’t believe in Jesus. Instead, they believe we grew from some “junk” in the water and turned into people over several thousand years. We pulled up next to that little car. The light turned green. They turned left and I went straight. A huge scream sent chills down my spine as Allison shrieked in her definite outdoor voice, “FOLLOW THAT CAR”! </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;">I explained that I couldn’t follow that car as I’m in the wrong lane to turn left and all the cars behind me would run us over and we’d be in a huge wreck. Once we were carefully through the intersection I looked in my rearview mirror to see little tears streaming down her chubby cheeks. “What’s the matter baby?” I asked. “But Mommy those people don’t know Jesus and we need to tell them” she replied.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span> </p> <span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" > <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:9;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:9;" > </span></span></p><span style="font-size:85%;">and even worse . . .<br /><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:9;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:9;" ><span style=""> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:9;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:9;" > </span></span></p> </span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Now I’m not suggesting we all go chasing down cars with the Darwin fish, although I have thought about it a time or two, especially with Allison yelling at me from the backseat. What I am suggesting is that we take the opportunities that God gives us. </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Sense the urgency! Chances are you will encounter someone today who will spend eternity in hell. Will you choose to remain silent?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></p>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-12649196729960966492006-09-06T16:52:00.000-04:002007-12-19T08:58:11.760-05:00Local Election Roundup<span>Record low turnout for the state, but our county had a pretty good showing with 37%. However, I was the 18th of 54 voters at St.Thomas More, which is a mostly student precinct (8% turnout). Fortunately, most of my candidates won. Cliff Thaell won a fourth term, which is good, but Proctor is in again, which is bad. Old hippie Bob Rackleff had five challengers, but goes into a run-off with the lone Republican, so he should pull off a win in November. Our old friend from SGA, John Dailey, easily won his seat on the County Commission, and I look forward to seeing how well he does.<br /><br />Mixed results in the 3 city commission races. The votes on the coal plant had us up in arms to take out the 2 supporters up for reelection. Katz was the only commissioner to speak against it, and won his seat, but the Mayor, John Marks, got off by having two feeble opponents. Lightsey will be in a runoff, however, and hopefully we have time to send a message by voting her out in November. She is our biggest disappointment. Originally a respected environmental voter, she has alienated progressives with her positions on the coal plant and the sprayfield.<br /><br />The state races look promising. I supported Smith for Governor, but Davis may be able to make a race out of it. Unfortunately, John Ellis has been more competent than his brother, so the anti-Republican wave may just be directed at Harris. And thank the Lord, Harris has won. It will make things much easier for Nelson. I don't like the way Nelson votes, personally, so I may be able to vote Green without fearing a Democratic loss.</span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-21015534404213396702006-08-15T12:12:00.000-04:002007-12-19T08:53:06.949-05:00Return from Family Reunion<span>Got back from Texas last week, and am now attempting to cope with reality once again. The reunion was pretty good, but not much was accomplished in the historical line. We have made great strides in making the reunions a celebration of our local heritage, but most still show up to eat and leave. The children were given an interesting variation of bingo to play. They had to go around the room and talk to family members who had a specific experience and get them to sign their card. There was also a quilt made up of old family photos that was a popular auction item. We had intended to sit down with some of the older cousins who remember Lukas and record their stories, but we had to cope with some the more bizarre members of the family, as well as a trip to the old farmhouse.<br /><br />The tour of the old Zihlman farm, was the highlight of the event. My grandfather, Ben Schneider, had sold it to Larry Meurer in 1975, so even some of the Windthorst family members had not seen it in more than thirty years. The place has changed too much to bring back any memories for me. They enclosed the porch that went all the way around, and expanded the kitchen, the features I remembered most from the foggy depths of infancy. Mom thinks Lukas was very ahead of his time, because he designed large walk-in closets. Even so, the house seemed quite small to raise a large family in. Of the outbuildings, the barn and silo were torn down, and only the milking shed and the hog slaughterhouse are now standing. The rest of the weekend was spent with a cousin from the other side of the family, who has joined me in researching the Schneiders. She was able to track down a distant cousin (at 4'10" a literal 'little old lady') who had been to Germany and found the actual house the Schneider's came from in 1835, still occupied by even more distant cousins.<br /></span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-39102525861441247352006-08-02T15:27:00.000-04:002007-09-06T14:45:34.078-04:00Zihlman Family ReunionLeaving tonight for Texas to attend the Zihlman Family Reunion in Windthorst, Texas. Going by bus again, which I am dreading, but this time the route goes up to Memphis, then Little Rock and Oklahoma City, so it will be a change of scenery.<br /><br />It was researching the Zihlman family that got me interested in family history. While in England, one of our teachers did a family tree of the Queen, and I remember correcting her on two points. British teachers don't like being corrected on British history. After that, I thought why not do my own family, so my mother helped me with the Zihlman's, the only extended family group we could consider ourselves members of. Her memory was incredible, spouting off name after name of one remote cousin after the other. Uncle Eddie was the family historian at that time, and he helped me add to it when we returned to the States.<br /><br />The Zihlman reunion is held in the memory of Lukas Zihlman (1871-1941), who settled in Windthorst in 1893. He had eight sons and daughters, of which my grandmother was the youngest. She would say "Lucy was supposed to be the baby, but Eddie was a mistake, and I came along so Eddie could have someone to pick on." She was the last to pass away, but Lukas' grandchildren have still kept the traditional family gatherings going. One of my cousins developed an interest in family history, so this time around will be the first reunion in which actual research will be attempted. They managed to persuade the current owner of the old Zihlman farmhouse to allow some tours, and we plan to get some of the older grandchildren together and record some old family stories. A few weeks ago, I finished an 18 page history which we will add pictures to and hand out.YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-43456082742283077952006-07-28T12:32:00.000-04:002007-09-06T14:36:19.340-04:00Local PoliticsAs far as I can tell, very few of the people I knew from the Student Government days have attempted political office in the real world. Trey Traviesa, who was FSU's student president when I arrived, is now in the Florida House. I was just getting involved, so I don't know much about him, other than he was the nemesis of the Monarchy Party. <br /><br />Joel Silver, who was our Video Center director, and son of a State Senator, attempted to run in '04 against Susan Buchert, one Florida's most liberal rep.'s in the State House. His reasoning was that in the current political climate, Democrats should be more accommodating of their Republican masters. Fortunately, he was trounced, and a number of voters in that area were wondering what the hell he was thinking.<br /><br />Ray Malloy is a conservative Republican, but is fondly regarded as my mentor in my first year in Senate, and remains one of the few Republicans I can be civil to. He briefly filed to run against Ion Sancho, our anti-Diebold Elections Supervisor. He felt that Sancho was not taking full advantage of the technology available, a remark I found rather disturbing. I was relieved that he dropped out and saved himself potential embarrassment. If any of our local politicians have untouchable status, it is Sancho.<br /><br />Our latest entry is John Dailey, who is running for County Commissioner and has a very good chance at getting in. His father was head of the school board for many years, and he was Student President during our more productive years. He was in the party opposing ours, yet he remains the only SGA president I genuinely liked. He's not in my district, but the least I can do is put out a sign; if I can find out what he thinks about the coal plant, that is.<br /><br />http://www.votejohndailey.com/YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-23626290301900366462006-07-27T08:11:00.000-04:002007-09-06T14:34:30.644-04:00Pictures from July 4thNo news to report, just adding in some pictures from Adam's visit.<br /><br /><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://xf4.xanga.com/8a6a733a5573268814570/b46223898.jpg"><img src="http://xf4.xanga.com/8a6a733a5573268814570/z46223898.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></a><br /><br />Allen does the cooking--<br /><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://x09.xanga.com/d0ea7732c463268814653/b46223958.jpg"><img src="http://x09.xanga.com/d0ea7732c463268814653/z46223958.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></a><br />Tammy, Lindsay, and Chrissy<br /><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://xef.xanga.com/12ba70317533268814727/b46224019.jpg"><img src="http://xef.xanga.com/12ba70317533268814727/z46224019.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></a><br />Stumbling to the Warehouse<br /><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://x44.xanga.com/9a7a45036043268814780/b46224059.jpg"><img src="http://x44.xanga.com/9a7a45036043268814780/z46224059.jpg" border="0" height="400" /></a><br /><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://x59.xanga.com/99fa40356243368814853/b46224112.jpg"><img src="http://x59.xanga.com/99fa40356243368814853/z46224112.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></a><br /><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://xe8.xanga.com/146a740362c3568814884/b46224135.jpg"><img src="http://xe8.xanga.com/146a740362c3568814884/z46224135.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></a>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-79815940737208906942006-07-10T09:19:00.000-04:002007-09-06T14:30:23.631-04:00Visit from "Mad Adam" Kelly<span>Adam came in to town last Friday, originally to attend Rich's Fourth of July party, which is usually a blockbuster event. Unfortunately, Rich had to cancel due to a family emergency, but Adam already had the plane tickets and was due for visit anyway. Allen took up the idea of having our own gathering, hoping to recreate the KAOS parties of old. Adam spent the weekend visiting old haunts and Monday night we gathered at my place, "Little KAOS." Adam wound up mixing beer and tequila, with the usual results. Fortunately we are familiar with the drill by now, and Geoff was able to secure his credit card when we went to finish up at the Warehouse. <br /><br />Just as we were driving to the airport on the 4th, Rich called to say he was back in town and wanted to go ahead with a small gathering and fireworks anyway. Adam was disappointed to miss out on the pyrotechnics, but Rich is promising a bigger show in a couple of months to make up for it, and Adam is intent on coming back for it. It worked out pretty well, as we had enough food and beer left over to provide an instant party. All Rich and Grace had to do was light up the neighbourhood with the leftover fireworks from last year.<br /><br />Took the rest of the week off work to slob around the house. My next vacation is the family reunion next month, for which I am writing the historical narrative. Currently, however, I am spending more time not writing it.</span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-22404267801180015822006-06-16T08:22:00.000-04:002007-09-06T14:27:55.003-04:00News from Allen and Cindy<span></span>Just received this e-mail. Was not even aware of bombings in Thailand.<br /><br /> "After receiving a few e-mails about our safety let me just reasure everyone that Cindy and Allen are totaly fine, healthy and in good spirits although feeling a little sad about the people living in Southern Thailand. We left Southern Thailand about a week ago so the 41 little message bombings did not hurt a lot of people but they were meant to scare off foriegn tourists and the evil education system that fundimentalists hate. <br /> We are now in Georgetown, Penang Island, Malysisa in a predominantely Muslim Area with great Indian Food. We are the only Americans we have seen in five days - we will be pointing at westerners when we return to Bangkok tommorrow. While in the south we started a working relationship with a tsunami survival group of mostly Muslim women. We are very happy to start importing their goods through the help, development work and guidence of one of the oldest Fair Trade groups ThaiCraft who are the goods and coop developer and exporter of these Saori crafts. These people will now need even more help since tourism was their primary income 2 years ago - pre tsunami - and these mini-bombings are not much help. But we will be home soon - 20th- and after 12 days of jet-lag will be coherent again. (Doctors claim one hour of time change takes a day of recovery and that has been our experience. Although some claim I have been jet-laged for two years straight!!! )<br /><br /> See you soon. Allen"YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-80049888732335559932006-06-14T08:39:00.000-04:002007-09-06T12:00:12.593-04:00Hurricane AlbertoThe night Alberto came ashore I heard a loud crack, which I assumed was thunder. I thought it was odd that I did not hear thunder again, but it was the middle of the night, so I went back to sleep. Yesterday, during my lunch hour, I walked around the house to look for fallen limbs and found this--<br /> <br /><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://x23.xanga.com/0c8a32647423360178337/b40338470.jpg"><img src="http://x23.xanga.com/0c8a32647423360178337/z40338470.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></a><br /><br />A tree almost fell on the house. Leaning on the house like a pathetic drunk would be a closer description. Can not see much in the way of actual damage at this point, so we got off lucky this time.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://x30.xanga.com/539a31650113360178625/b40338691.jpg"><img src="http://x30.xanga.com/539a31650113360178625/z40338691.jpg" border="0" width="400" /></a><br /></div><br />About as much damage as Allen did with the truck when we first moved in. And it is on Rob's side, so my only worry is the leaky fireplace (the plastic bag fix did not work). The landlord needs to have the roof fixed anyway.<br /><br /><br /> * * *<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />No other news at this point, just looking forward to Rich's 4th of July party. Once again, Adam is coming to visit, and hopefully we can persuade him to stay with Allen or Chrissy, and not sleep in his car or the Progressive Center couch. And of course, food, booze, and enough fireworks to liberate a small country.</div>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-66265684433550831682006-05-29T13:55:00.000-04:002007-09-06T11:57:44.750-04:00Pvt. George R. Dow-8th New Hampshire Volunteers<span>Memorial Day was originally created to honour the Civil War veterans, so this post is dedicated to my great-great grandfather's older brother, George Dow. He was the second son of Simon Dow, a shoemaker in Hampstead, NH, and was born in 1842. He enlisted in the 8th NH on 31 Dec. 1861, and his regiment was assigned to Gen. Bank's army in Louisiana. They were part of the campaign to cut the South off from the Mississippi by capturing Port Hudson, while Grant was trying to take Vicksburg. Dow's regiment was involved in a big assault on 27 May 1863 in which almost half of the attacking force was killed or wounded, including Dow. He died in Baton Rouge on 12 June 1863 at the age of 21, apparently from blood poisoning. According to family tradition, his mother nearly went mad with grief on hearing the news.<br /><br />Unfortunately that is all we know of his story. He lingered in the Baton Rouge field hospital for two weeks, possibly undergoing some amputations before gangrene set in. We'll never know if he was an abolitionist, or a patriot, or just bored with the prospect of making shoes for the rest of his life. Did his parents know he enlisted, or did he go out drinking with friends and wake up in the camp?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://xea.xanga.com/5c3a046b1363357504128/b38546743.jpg"><img style="width: 302px; height: 271px;" src="http://xea.xanga.com/5c3a046b1363357504128/z38546743.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div> On my last trip to New Orleans, I had to leave out of Baton Rouge, so I took the time to locate George Dow's grave site. Lord knows if he's had any visitors over the years. Wherever George is now, I doubt he's waiting in Baton Rouge, but I took time to brush the leaves off the grave, just to show that somebody dropped by.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a target="xangaphoto" href="http://x38.xanga.com/100a236b3623557504196/b38546777.jpg"><img src="http://x38.xanga.com/100a236b3623557504196/z38546777.jpg" border="0" height="400" /></a><br /></div> <div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div> <br /></span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-35331378494810137062006-05-16T08:24:00.000-04:002007-09-06T11:51:41.178-04:00<span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Markos comments on his visit:</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 191);">"Way too early next morning, I was on my way to Tallahassee. I did a lunchtime event at the </span><a style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 191);" href="http://www.tallprogcen.com/" target="_new">Tallahassee Progressive Center</a><span style="background-color: rgb(191, 255, 191);">, where I picked up some nicknacks at the Fair Trade Store on premises (some masks from Bali). That evening I spoke at the Florida State University law school at an event sponsored by the FSU Environmental Law Students Association and the Democratic Club of North Florida. I lucked out weather-wise. It wasn't hot."</span></span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-91567372278343202902006-05-12T10:49:00.000-04:002007-09-06T11:49:08.686-04:00Crashing the Gate<span></span>Got to meet Mr. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/" target="_new">Dailykos</a> himself yesterday, Markos Moulitsas. He and another blogger, Jerome Armstrong of <a href="http://www.mydd.com/" target="_new">MyDD</a>, are on a tour to promote their book, <a href="http://www.crashingthegate.com/" target="_new"><span style="font-style: italic;">Crashing the Gate</span></a>. We did not know he would be visiting the Center until Sunday, so the gang had to slap together an event at the last minute. Rich spent his own money so there would be copies of the book available to buy and to have signed, and Adrien set up a lunch gathering at his cafeteria. Despite the short notice, we had a good turnout of at least 30. After lunch, Markos gave a short talk and took a few questions before signing books. I had to leave early to get back to work, so my only contact with him was having my book signed. I have yet to hear if Rich and Allen were able to tell him anything about the Center, or if they had any substantial discussion.<br /><br />The irritating thing about this is that I had been aware of the book tour for a couple of months. Before they started, they posted a list of cities they would be visiting and asked people to set up events for them. I was ready to volunteer us, but wanted to discuss it with the Center's Board first. Unfortunately, the Board has not been meeting recently, so after a week or so of trying to tell them what was happening, I went ahead and notified the tour organizers that we were interested and sent them a link to the Progressive Center website. I hesitated because the tour organizers were not very specific about what kind of events they would like to do, and what kind of input they would need from us, but I assumed they would e-mail me back to work something out. <br /><br />Weeks go by and I hear nothing. Finally, I check the tour page and they announce they are not scheduling any more events, and the only listing for the Tallahassee visit was for the Leon County Democrats. Therefore, I had assumed that we had been snubbed. I have not been very active at the Center, and I thought organizing this event would be a good way to start earning my keep. It was not until this Tuesday that I learned that Markos was, in fact, coming, and it was not until yesterday that I learned how much my friends had to scramble to make it happen.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">* * *<br /><br /></div> Kim and Nichole are in town for a wedding this weekend, visiting from Chicago. Rich is trying to get them together tonight, but we may not get to spend any time with them until the big wedding party at Barnacle Bill's on Sunday.YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-49819799864161180652006-05-01T09:42:00.000-04:002007-09-06T11:45:45.755-04:00Colbert<span></span>Well, it's been a long week. Most of the time was spent cleaning the house, with a beer-powered Allen turning it into a community event. Felt like more of an intervention than a spring cleaning. Most of the clutter from our activist days is now at the Center, and I will be gradually trying to make an accessible archive out of it. For now, though, so very, very tired. I'm just going to lie back in this snow drift and rest my eyes for a few seconds . . .<br /><br />I've been a fan of Stephen Colbert since he started building up steam with his new show, but after seeing his performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, I now consider him a national hero. Bush and the media got a well deserved thrashing, up close and in person. The mainstream news is trying to dismiss Colbert as just being a comedian, but they are mistaken if they confuse proper satire with a stand-up routine.YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-51989164726215392452006-04-19T16:02:00.000-04:002007-09-06T11:46:20.471-04:00MySpace<span></span>In other news, I was browsing through some band sites on MySpace, and found a couple of friends who live in Chicago. I set up an account, and have been gradually running into other people. I'm not sure what else I'm going to do with it, but I've put up some pictures from recent parties.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/house_of_kaos" target="_new">http://www.myspace.com/house_of_kaos</a>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-72312019657276813192006-04-13T09:08:00.000-04:002007-12-19T10:45:34.176-05:00<span></span>Just realized I had not posted for awhile. Maybe I was waiting to post some good news, but lately there has seemed to be nothing but endings.<br /><br />Mike's Beer Barn has closed down, and it was a shock to learn that after being there for 300 years, he did not own the property. The Barn is no longer a priority in life since I no longer live in that neighbourhood, but in the KAOS era, it was our main supplier. In time, I was even able to lift a full keg by myself. My roommate worked there for awhile, so that was my only glimpse at the inner workings of Mike's empire; sitting up there in the overlook with a shotgun, departing his racism and disgust with the homeless to his employees. Deprived of Mike's, the residents of the Shelter have discovered that the Circle K that opened in the old Bill's Bookstore is the nearest source of beer. The sorority girls will be in for shock.<br /><br />It appears that the crooked county officials won after all. Posey's is closed as well. They had intended to rebuild after the hurricane, but were denied key permits. The land is now going to be sold too-- big shock-- condo developers. The closing of Posey's also led to Blue Moon being disbanded, as it was their only regular paying gig. Danny and Kelly had a baby recently, plus Danny is more concerned about his other band, Stillwood. So practice started dropping off, as they did not want to rehearse unless there was a show coming up. They will do their final show at the Moon on April 20th, and hopefully, in few years, there will be a Blue Moon reunion tour. Now that they are splitting up, my mother's long shot efforts to get them noticed by Texas musicians will probably pay off.<br /><br />Closer to home, the Progressive Center is in danger of losing their building. The landlords have been very supportive and patient, but there are two other elderly owners who are eager to sell and a serious offer has been made. After all this time, we were happy to be just meeting building expenses, but no one took initiative on finding the necessary serious investors. Most of the blame belongs to the disunity of the left wing. Two or three of the bigger non-profits could have insured that we could meet rent and plan for acquiring ownership. However, there is so much rivalry amongst the non-profits, no one would even consider sharing resources, and I'm pretty sure some of them were rooting against us as well.YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-90712571714468773152006-01-19T10:00:00.000-05:002007-08-28T12:49:34.837-04:00Cassini<span></span>I have noticed some people are protesting the launch of the probe to Pluto because it contains plutonium. This is always a conflict for me because I am a great supporter of space exploration, but not comfortable with putting nuclear material on a potentially explosive rocket. Back in '97 we went down to protest the Cassini launch for the same reasons. I think there are more worthwhile things to protest, but hey, any chance to get out of town. Hell, I'll protest just about anything. Anyway, the most revealing thing about the whole event is I got to see firsthand how the press deals with demonstrations like this. It was one of the largest protests I had ever seen. There were at least a thousand people attending, yet newspapers consistently said "hundreds." Not one of the news channels took any wide view pictures to show the size of the crowd. Photographs were restricted to small groups of people, like the Grandmothers for Peace, or the kooks who show up dressed like Uncle Sam on stilts. CNN just showed stock footage of the satellite, but I know I saw their truck there.<br /><br />Another thing that struck me was how ritualized protests have become. We were allowed to march to the gates and line up outside, while the police lined up inside. A ladder was allowed to be placed on the gate, a blanket was provided to get over the barb wire, and anyone who chose to be arrested could safely climb over. Once they were inside, a policeman escorted them off, then another policeman would take his place and await the next protestor. No fuss, no muss.<br /><br />Once I got back, I friend of mine said "Well, think about it. Is plutonium over Orlando a bad thing?"YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-69989682486704489302006-01-09T10:17:00.000-05:002007-08-27T08:55:40.505-04:00Windthorst Grotto<span>Mom called last night and referred me to a good story in the Dallas Morning News about Windthorst.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="vitstoryheadline"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="vitstorybyline"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="vitstorybyline"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></span></span></div> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="vitstorybyline"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">By KRISTEN KECKLER FLORY / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News </span></b></span><span class="vitstorybody"></span></span> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:85%;">WINDTHORST, Texas – There may be as many Virgin Marys here as people, but no one's counted. Some, weather-beaten and pale, sit among daisies and clover. Others don bright blue robes and glowing red hearts on porches and patios. But the most famous is Italian, five feet tall, and weighs 1,600 pounds. She resides on a pedestal inside a grotto at the quaint, red brick St. Mary's Catholic Church. Along Route 25 bordering the grotto, black and white cows nuzzle the parched land. Small rocky mesas rise, like altars, in places. An old pump jack dips to the ground like a bird tilting forward, beak digging for a worm. A windmill churns against a sharp blue sky while a fiberglass dairy cow hovers next to the town's one blinking light.<br /> People travel from around the world to visit the grotto, townsfolk say, but on the four occasions I stop by, I am alone. The grotto is a 10-foot-tall manmade cave that looks like a hollowed cantaloupe. Along the top, stone suns hold bits of glass and shiny rocks. Inside, the Virgin cradles her infant Jesus; green stalactites hang above them. Rows of candle flames sway slowly in the Texas summer heat.<br /> I ponder a framed needlepoint of stars: 56 blue and eight silver, the number of World War II soldiers from the town of a few hundred German Catholic dairy farmers. The community held prayer vigils, or novenas, during the war every Tuesday evening. The soldiers sent part of their military pay home to erect the grotto. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> In the eyes of the congregation, a spiritual contract was drawn with the Virgin Mother, and she made good on her promise. Each soldier returned safely. And in 1950, the grotto was dedicated. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The voices of the grotto's visitors tell a story as well. They write notes in the fabric-covered journal next to the candles. Throughout July 2005, people have hailed from Denver, Colo., to Smackower, Ark., as well as from locations all over Texas. One visitor, from Fort Worth, writes: "Please pray for me as well as my two friends; we recently became homeless. I am 19, Tracy is 21, and Monica is 25 so you know we could use all the help we can get." </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Another reads: "Pray for loving care of Jesus, for my mom, and my grandparents' souls. Pray more for my husband." </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Windthorst, population 474, is still a thriving dairy town – I spot a silver cylindrical truck, proclaiming "MILK," as it turns onto Route 25. In the 1940s, residents recall, the town was nearly 100 percent Catholic, and today, residents estimate the number has dipped, to around 90 percent. </span></p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size:85%;"> At a Sunday Mass, the church brims with generations of locals in their Sunday best who stand on the church steps chatting long after the service is over. As they walk to the parking lot, though, none stops at the grotto. Though I'm told that as many out-of-town visitors frequent the grotto today as in years past, the people who built it fear that the memory of its history fading. </span><br /><br /> My grandfather and two of my uncles were some of the servicemen for whom the Grotto was dedicated, and it makes for a nice local legend. I already mentioned Tony's service, which I would like to research more. According to his letters, they were mostly concerned with making sure they gave hell to some guy named Willie. I'm sure there was more to it than that. My other Uncle, Eddie Zihlman, served in the engine room of a converted freighter. His ship, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Cassiopeia</span>, was notorious for "losing" Adm. Halsey's crate of whiskey, and then devising an ingenious method of using divers to retrieve a few bottles at a time. He was later transferred to Philadelphia where he spent the rest of the war apparently making heavy water for atomic testing. My grandfather's story is less interesting, as he told me he and a friend faked high blood pressure to get discharged. I never attached any sense of shame or lack of patriotism to this story, I can easily see that Ben Schneider had other priorities in his life. He married my grandmother the next year, and his regiment would have been one of the participants in the D-Day invasion, so I may be biased in thinking things turned out for the best. He did not know about the Grotto, however. Should he have stayed in?<br /> Finally, a tip of the hat to the women in WWII. My aunt Anne, Ben's sister and Tony's wife, left Windthorst to work in the production factories at Ft. Worth. After a worthy effort to be another Rosie the Riveter (a tiny, hundred pound woman makes a lousy riveter) she was transferred to the dispatching office. Despite the fact that no one could tell her what her job was, she learned to keep the shipments going out.</span></span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-23028256537980374202005-12-28T01:29:00.000-05:002007-08-27T08:54:00.710-04:00Uncle Tony<span><p>I've been in Texas since Saturday and am having a good time. Finally got bored enough to attempt an update. This trip has gone pretty well so far, and once I get back home I'll try to post better description, hopefully with pictures once I have a camera. I'll have more to write about this weekend, since I'm meeting "Mad" Adam Kelly and Burris in New Orleans for the New Year's celebration. May not be a good idea, but I don't see why that would stop us.</p> <p>Christmas has not only been green, but also very warm and dry. We have had brush fire alerts for two days and I see that Arlington and a number of other places have already burst into flame.</p> <p>I've been reading some of Uncle Tony's letters from his shipmates in WWII. Aunt Anne was never very interested in history and could not the name of his ship, so it was never clear to me how Tony served during the War. After deciphering some of the letters, it is easy to understand why she could not recall the name of the ship, as it never had a name. It was a infantry landing craft equipped with mortars, and was officially referred to as the USS LCI(M)-633. The 633 served in the Pacific and participated in a couple of landings during the last year of the War. The LCI were small craft, usually having a crew of only 50 men and commanded by a Lt.(junior grade). They were not designed to cross oceans (but they did anyway), and being flat bottomed, only those with iron stomachs could hope to function. The letters reveal a crew that bonded very well, dealt fairly with each other, and had an egalitarian streak that is unique to America's armed forces. One of the 633's troublemakers, after serving out his punishment for drunk and disorderly, marched straight into the Captain's quarters and offered the Captain a drink, which was accepted. Another had painted half the ship before receiving orders that a new camouflage design was required, and had no problem giving the Executive Officer a piece of his mind. </p> <p>The letter's were all dated after Tony had left the ship in September of 1945. Our cousin, Leon, has more letters, and I'm hoping they are Tony's letters to Anne while he was serving on board. I have already scanned some the postcards he sent to her while he was training in the States, which cover the period from his enlistment to his departure to bring the ship from New Jersey to the Pacific. Tony's experiences during active service would be the last piece of the puzzle. Once I get home, I'll see if I can locate some of his old shipmates.</p></span>YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-32140394611450110262005-12-14T11:10:00.000-05:002007-08-27T08:50:54.637-04:00Sancho v. Diebold<span></span>Leon County has made the front page of <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/13/193030/32" target="_new">DailyKos</a>. Our elections supervisor, Ion Sancho, has been fighting with our various Secretaries of State for some time over Diebold voting machines. He will soon be making an announcement that Diebold will no longer be allowed in our county. We have been fortunate in having Sancho; during the 2000 election fiasco his competence was a model for the rest of the state. Republicans have seen otherwise, though, and accused him of gross negligence when he allowed Diebold machines to be tested by outsiders. The fact that he discovered manipulation was possible did nothing to make them reassess their views on touch screen voting. One Republican, a friend from FSU Senate, filed to run against him, saying Sancho was not taking advantage of the technological opportunities available to him. He dropped out well before the election, but I have to wonder why there is such an insistence on using technology to solve a problem that isn't really a problem. Sancho summed it up earlier this year, "People in Leon County would rather vote on paper than on vapor."YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-38638815075640997792005-12-08T09:35:00.000-05:002007-08-27T08:50:03.807-04:00<span></span>Christmas shopping is done and travel plans have been made. No Amtrak this year, thanks to Katrina, so I have to make due with Greyhound again. I have a feeling the bus stations are going to be a lot more crowded this year, so I predict a very annoying trip.<br /><br />Coming back will be more interesting. Adam wants to take a look at New Orleans so we are planning on doing New Year's there, like we did last year. Geoff may join us to check on an apartment his boss owns in the French Quarter. We stayed there for our '02 trip, which ended with Geoff wanting to hang Adam by his feet off the balcony. Good times . . .YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557619242836319851.post-63801242751829071432005-12-03T19:40:00.000-05:002007-08-27T08:48:45.165-04:00Religion<span></span>Stumbled across this <a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/" target="_new">website</a>, which offers a quiz to place your religious affiliation. My Belief-O-Matic results are:<br /><br />1. Neo-Pagan (100%)<br />2. Unitarian Universalism (94%)<br />3. Mahayana Buddhism (93%)<br />4. New Age (90%)<br />5. Liberal Quakers (86%)<br />6. Jainism (85%)<br />7. Sikhism (80%)<br />8. Hinduism (75%)<br />9. Theravada Buddhism (75%)<br />10. Reform Judaism (73%)<br />11. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (66%)<br />12. New Thought (64%)<br />13. Scientology (62%)<br />14. Taoism (62%)<br />15. Secular Humanism (60%)<br />16. Baha'i Faith (56%)<br />17. Orthodox Judaism (54%)<br />18. Islam (42%)<br />19. Orthodox Quaker (42%)<br />20. Nontheist (38%)<br />21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (37%)<br />22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (20%)<br />23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons)(19%)<br />24. Eastern Orthodox (17%)<br />25. Roman Catholic (17%)<br />26. Seventh Day Adventist (17%)<br />27. Jehovah's Witness (9%)<br /><br />Somewhat surprising, I had always considered myself basically Christian with Buddhist tendencies. The only religion I've had any real contact with is the big RC, which only comes in at 17%. Scientology at 62%? Any higher I might have a chance with Katie Holmes. But seriously, I have to say I am absolutely through with Katie.<br /><br />They have links which explain more about your results, which clears up some things. Neo-pagan is an umbrella term, capturing most of the religious nonconformists who have worked things out for themselves, but can still support a religion of choice or heritage. Put in those terms, my results make more sense, as I have just as much contempt for some pagans as I do for fundamentalist Christians. It just might be that I am so insistently nonconformist that I could not join a group of like-minded nonconformists. This has pretty much been my experience with liberal politics as well.<br /><br />My parents were mostly non-religious, so I can't really claim any heritage. My mother's side of the family was German-Catholic, with a few Lutherans further back. As I mentioned above, this appears to have had little impact on my current beliefs. My father's side is even more vague. His Air Force dog-tags read Presbyterian, but he always used to joke that he could not go into a church for fear the roof would cave in, a joke that I myself have come to adopt. It was recently discovered that his father's people were French-Catholic, but my grandfather's disappearance ensured that would have no bearing. My grandmother, who later became a Jehovah's Witness, was descended from pioneers of Plymouth, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, and included the whole spectrum of New England religions. Mostly Congregationalist, but more than a few Quakers, the group I would be more likely to identify with. There was one rebellion in West Newbury, in which the parish decided to become Church of England, and there were even a few Baptists back in the 1680's. Rev. Stephen Batchelder was deposed from his parish, supposedly for being too liberal for the Massachusetts establishment. There were many nuances to Puritanism at that time, so it is not known what his supposed failings were.<br /><br />A few like John Roberts and Hatevil Nutter were responsible for whipping the Quakers out of Dover. Most, I am glad to say were more likely to harbor Quakers if not joining themselves. Two ancestors were convicted in the Salem witch trials. One was executed and the other was broken out of her jail cell. For those who agree with the Fundamentalist Republicans who say we need more Church in Government, I would like to remind of them of what happened under the Massachusetts Theocracy.YankeeTexanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823050224746920912noreply@blogger.com0