Sunday, December 31, 2006

Long Live The King

Attendees of a funeral at Umkdait, India, were suprised when the man believed to be the deceased showed up alive at his own funeral. Frankie Synnah was reported missing by his wife Dec. 27. Laster family members mistakenly identified a body found at a local morgue as that of Mr. Synnah.

But Mr. Synnah was very much alive, having traveled to Guwahati for work. He said he tried to call his wife, but couldn't reach her. Upon discovering at her husband's funeral that she was not a widow after all, Mrs. Synnah declared that she was "the happiest person in the world."

So take heart rock'n'roll fans. Keep a watchful eye on Graceland and who knows. Perhaps The King may make an appearance.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Good Riddance

Iraqi state-run television reports that former dictator and all-around bad guy Saddam Hussein was hanged tonight (early morning in Iraq). The 69-year-old Hussein was joined in death by his half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court.

While I would never celebrate anyone's death, it's impossible to feel any sympathy or pity for someone as cruel as Hussein. May God repay him appropiately for his life here on Earth.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Nothing Like Turkey After Christmas

Lockheed Martin Gets $635 Million Job to Modernize F-16 Fleet

The U.S. government awarded a $635,000,000.00 contract to to Lockheed Martin to upgrade the Turkish Air Force's existing fleet of F- 16s. The deal calls for Lockheed Martin to provide 216 modernization kits to upgrade the Turkish Air Force's F-16s as well as provide flight testing, training, technical support and sustainment activities.

Lockheed said most of the work will be done at its facility here in Cowtown and at Tusas Aerospace Industries in Ankara, Turkey. The contract will run for ten years. The company did not say if the deal will bring any new jobs to its plant here. But it certainly doesn't hurt the employment situation.

Twenty-four different countries fly the F-16 which is built in Fort Worth.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas

In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

But although the world was made through him, the world didn't recognize him when he came. Even in his own land and among his own people, he was not accepted. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan – this rebirth comes from God. So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. --
John Chapter 1

It's A Wonderful Christmas

Many people have special traditions at Christmas; grandma's favorite recipe, reading the Christmas story, whatever. What many women might find surprising is that for many men, the 1946 Frank Capra film, "It's a Wonderful Life" holds a special place in their hearts. It's not that they find the story so compelling, it's the memories they have a Christmas Eve's spent assembling bicycles and various other toys while the movie played in the background.

You see, years ago, it was not uncommon for the movie to be shown simultaneously on two or three different channels. So if you were a dad tasked with putting together the gifts left by Old Saint Nick in the middle of the night, it was either "It's a Wonderful Life", or the pope. Not speaking Latin, or Italian, or whatever it is the pope speaks, most dads, me included, opted for the movie.


In later years, I found out that the reason the TV stations aired the movie, was not out of sentimentality, but economics. You see, due to some legal screw up, the movie was not copyrighted, meaning that the networks could show it for free.
A few years ago, some enterprising soul (probably a lawyer) figured out that while movie was not protected by copyright, the songs were. So the rights to the songs were purchased and the movie's holiday airing were greatly restricted.

Younger dads are missing out.


Saturday, December 23, 2006

Thieves Attempt To Steal Christmas Joy

Some Grinch broke into Hot Damn Tamales on Thursday and made off with valuables. No, there was no cash lost, something more precious. When owner Ione Stavron got to work Thursday morning she found that someone had smashed in the restaurant's front window made off with four to eight cases of tamales.

For those of you that don't know, tamales are a Christmas tradition among Hispanics (and even some gringos). Unfortunately, this seems like its becomining a holiday tradition as well. The same thing happened to the restaurant at Christmas time last year.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

ACLU Threatens Suit Over Holiday Display

It's an event that has become as much a part of the Christmas season as eggnog and wish lists -- it's the annual lawsuit festival conducted each year by the American Civil Liberties Union. Only this year the ACLU is putting a new twist on the tradition by demanding that Maui County (Hawaii) government officials put up a Christmas tree or be slapped with a federal lawsuit.

It seems that a local rabbi, after obtaining permission from the mayor, placed a lighted menorah in front of the Kalana O Maui Building. That's when the local ACLU wrote a letter threatening to sue the county. The ACLU warned that displaying the Hanukkah menorah was unconstitutional and that they would sue if the condition was not fixed.
So five days before Christmas, government employees were sent out to put up an 11-foot Monterey pine next to the unconstitutional menorah.

After county employees adorned the tree with $250.00 worth of white lights and a bow with streamers, the ACLU pronounced the holiday display sufficiently "secularized" to pass constitutional muster -- and avoid a lawsuit.



Saturday, December 16, 2006

A Rose By Any Other Name

Stories about Baptist fussing and fighting are nothing new. What is new about the story from northern Georgia is the reason. Some of the of the folks in Gwinnett are upset about the recent vote to change the name of the local Baptist church there. Among the new names offered for the one hundred fifty year old church are: Oak View, Fort Daniel, Hamilton Mill, Mill Creek or Oak Hill.

The old name? Hog Mountain Baptist Church. Senior minister Barney Williams says a different name will attract more people to the church, which averages about 50 to 65 people for Sunday services. 'Sides that, Rev. Williams says that in the Bible, hogs are associated with sin. Sin, or no sin, the change has upset some older folks, like Charles Warbington, 65, who was a faithful member of Hog Mountain Baptist Church for 55 years. "All the old people around here, their hearts are broken," Warbington told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "You can change the name, but you can't change history. What're they going to do with the historic marker? Change it?"


'Course Mr. Warbington left Hog Mountain back in 1994 for a megachurch down the road.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Duck & Cover

Blind To Be Given Hunting Licenses
I'll admit it, I'm not a hunter. Now before you categorize me as some PETA wacko, let me explain. I have nothing against hunting, I've just never seen the attraction of sitting in a tree in the freezing cold waiting for some deer to aimlessly wander by.

I've always suspected that for most men (not being discriminatory, I have just noticed that the vast majority of hunters are male) one of the big attractions is sitting around the fire drinking and telling hunting stories. Well if State Representative Edmund Kuempel has his way, the joy of sipping strong drink and swapping lies after a long day of hunting will soon be opened up to the visually impaired.

The legislator has introduced a bill that would allow blind people to hunt any game that sighted people can currently pursue. "This opens up the fun of hunting to additional people, and I think that's great," Rep. Kuempel told Reuters. While the law qould require that blind hunters have a sighted hunter with them, the thought of blind people being given high-powered rifles and sent into the woods strikes me as more than a little dangerous. It also gives me another reason to stay home where it's nice and warm, and safe, during deer season.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Behold! The Tax Man Cometh

Big Brother will have a new tool for hitting your wallet if a bill filed by democratic state Rep. Mike Villarreal becomes law. The bill would require the disclosure of the sales price in real estate transactions.

The biggest proponents of the measure are the local appraisal districts. They are charged with setting the "fair market" value of all real estate for taxing purposes. Currently, state law does not require the disclosure of the purchase price in a property sale.
While most appraisal districts get that information on residential property by joining realtor's multiple listing service, the Tax Men claim that such information can be much harder to come by on commercial property sales. The Texas Association of Appraisal Districts claims that $301,000,000,000.00 was left off tax rolls statewide last year.

Not so, say opponents, including the Texas Association of Realtors and Texas Apartment Association. They say that when it comes to commercial property, there are too many variables that determine the price someone paid for a certain price for a property and that such a price disclosure bill would lead to inflated commercial property appraisals.

Monday, December 04, 2006

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

"You could be a corpse and get 31 percent as the Democratic nominee just about any office." so said Chris Bell, the Democratic Party's nominee for governor back in mid-September.

So how did he fare in the election? When all was said and done Mr. Bell scored just 29.8% of the vote. Maybe next time the Democrats will take Bell's advice and nominate a dead guy.

From Rick Perry vs. The World, via Lone Star Times.


Sunday, December 03, 2006

NYC Inspectors Say No to Armadillo

Food safety inspectors in New York City are cracking down on markets that sell exotic meats such as armadillo and iguana. Authorities told the Associated Press they are seeing a trend where markets across New York are buying meat and other foods from unregulated sources and selling them to an immigrant population with a taste for more unusual fare.

Among other meats found in a recent sweep of markets were 200 lbs. of cow lungs as well as smoked rodent meat. Food safety officials say that in addition to rat, members of the city's immigrant population prefers turtles, fish paste, frogs and duck feet.