Sleepless in Midland

Not just an ordinary supper

It's Super Suppers!

I've been popping into the store to try to keep up with the progress -- sorry for being such a nuisance, y'all -- and the local store is set to open at 10 AM tomorrow (3/28/06).  It's a simple concept, and it looks like it will be a nice way to get a meal.  The hungry customer prowls around the store selecting various prepared ingredients along with simple cooking instructions.  He/she takes them home then cooks and eats them.  Or they can be stored for later.

Sample item from the menu:  "Tuscan 'Hunter's Chicken' with Seasoned New Potatoes -- A delicious dish featuring chicken, tomatoes, capers, garlic, and Italian herbs. Served with yummy, fresh new potatoes."  YUM!

I've been anxiously awaiting the opening.  For someone like me who would like to eat healthy food, isn't too keen on rabbit food, and hates to cook, it could be a real advantage.  Here's hoping.

They can be found at 3303 N. Midkiff, #129, Midland, Tx.

As my late father used to announce at mealtime "EAT!"

Ad art from the 50's

In the world of tomorrow, circa 1950's, you'll be able to talk on the phone with someone on an airplane.  And your house can rotate with the seasons.

Maybe Budweiser beer could serve as a social lubricant until the sexual revolution gets here.

And meat!  You get to eat lots and lots of meat!

It can all be found at a great site called Plan59.com where visitors can see scans of ads from the 50's.

Games In the In box

Here are some goodies that arrived via email.  Richard E. sends a quiz in which you get to look at photos of people and decide whether the person is a Programing Language Inventor or a Serial Killer.

Betty O. sends this neat little game that tests your agility with the curser.   Click on the red square and avoid touching the sides or the blue blocks.  Beat 18 seconds and you are quite good.

Thanks y'all.

Farm subsidies -- finally showing up on conservatives' radar screens

"One thing that almost all conservatives have in common is an abhorrence to high taxes and huge, wasteful government spending programs.  So, is it ironic, or is it hypocritical when we turn a blind eye to government give-aways in the form of farm subsidies right in our own back yard?  ... Welfare reform worked.  And the same principle can work with the farm subsidy program."   That was from a letter to the editor from this humble writer published in the Midland Reporter-Telegram one Sunday in June of 2003.  (Not online.)

The issue is getting much more attention lately.  Farm subsidies are "one of the most deeply entrenched federal entitlements" according to a Wall Street Journal article in the March 14, 2006, print edition titled "Pork Chops -- In Fight Against Farm Subsidies, Even Farmers Are Joining Foes" by Scott Kilman and Roger Thurow.  Excerpt:

There is a long history of mostly failed attempts to pare farm payments.  But the current anti-subsidy sentiment, rising over the last year in the U.S., is stirring attention because if is unusually broad.

It seems that some farmers are now part of that movement which consists of people who don't like the way the U.S. farm subsidies work to keep the poor African farmers poor as well as American taxpayers who see this as an unnecessary federal entitlement.

Here's more from the Wall Street Journal article:

The movement is tilting against one of most deeply entrenched federal entitlements.  In 1996, a Republican-led Congress passed legislation to wean farmers from subsidies over seven years.  But Washington backed off as the farm economy entered one of its cyclical tailspins.  The 2002 farm bill signed by President Bush is one of the most lavish ever, even as the economic cycle improved.  Last year, the government paid a record $23 billion to farmers.

There isn't any serious talk in Washington of wiping out subsidies entirely, and the powerful farm lobby has defended itself against attacks in the past.  Legislators representing districts with farming interests, particularly states growing subsidy-rich cotton and rice, consider this a crucial issue and could well block any change in Congress.  Because almost every state has farmers, virtually all 100 senators can sympathize with farming interests.  In addition, the Senate and House agriculture committees have dominated policy for decades and are largely given a free hand by the governing administration.  (Emphasis added.)

Oh, those legislators in districts with entitlement recipients.  Texas District 11 has its share of high rolling agricultural entities who are probably quite content to be on the receiving side of the tax equation.  Surely our own Representative Mike Conaway won't side with them against tax payers on this issue.

There's a great source of information at Environmental Working Group's Farm Subsidy Database where visitors can discover that from 1995 through 2004 recipients in Texas District 11 raked in an astonishing $1,153,491,868.

That's a lot of pork.  I sincerely hope we can apply some welfare reform to the farm subsidy program.

[Aside -- I sent an email to Representative Mike Conaway on September 29, 2005, and I noted two weeks later in a post titled Sacred Cows, the other White Meat that he had not responded.  I was derelict in not posting a follow-up as he did respond a couple of months later.  The response had been appended to that post.  Click the link to see it.  He did not address the farm subsidy issue.]

"Just don't make fun of MY religion," says Isaac Hayes

First it was "The Simpsons" who were said to be leading Western civilization into ruination.  Then it was "Beevis and Butthead."  Next came the sweet little children of "South Park."  Are we there yet?

Anyway, there's rich irony in the recent news that Isaac Hayes, who began playing Chef in 1997, is quitting.  See Hollywood.com.  Excerpt:

He says, "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begin."

Jeez!  That show poked fun at just about every sacred cow that ever grazed on this planet:   God, Jesus, the Devil, Jews, Muslims, fat kids, dumb kids, crippled kids, gays, transsexuals, and even organized labor.  But last year they poked fun at Scientology and some of its more prominent adherents, Tom Cruise and John Travolta.  And Chef served up his last school cafeteria meal.

But we still have the leftovers.  The show that supposedly pushed Mr. Hayes into retirement was the episode titled "Trapped in the Closet," which, lucky for us, will air tonight at 9 and 11pm CST on Comedy Central.

UPDATED 3/16/06: Dang.  It hurts to be wrong.  Comedy Central must have pulled "Trapped in the Closet" from the schedule, because another episode aired during the 9 o'clock slot and most likely in the 11 o'clock slot, too.

The Jewish Cowboy vs. One Tough Gramma

Having sat out the primary last week, I'm one of the millions of Texans who are now eligible to put a signature on a petition for one of the independent gubernatorial candidates, Kinky Friedman or Carole Keeton What's-her-current-last-name.

Here are the links for Kinky Friedman for Governor and Carole Keeton Strayhorn for Governor where petitions can be downloaded.

I was all ready to sign Kinky's petition, not because I thought he would be a good governor or that he could even win, but because a campaign with him in it would be so entertaining.  Just the other day he was getting slammed because he was apparently holding an open container of beer in a vehicle in a parade.  Big deal.  But his response was priceless:  According to Don Imus, he supposedly said that yes, he was holding the beer, and yes, he took a drink, "but he didn't swallow."

It could be a colorful campaign.

Then there's Carole Strayhorn.  Supposedly she's running as an independent because her pollsters said she couldn't beat Rick Perry in the Republican primary.  And I was originally only going to mention her so as not to exclude her.  But then I took a look at her website and saw something I really liked:

Carole Keeton Strayhorn Challenges All Candidates to Embrace Initiative & Referendum, Wants Voters Voices Heard

(AUSTIN) – Independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn today challenged all candidates running for office to embrace her call for statewide Initiative and Referendum in Texas.

"Now is the time for a constitutional amendment granting Texans statewide Initiative and Referendum," she said. "Texans – practical people – not professional politicians have the right to shape their own future – and determine their own destiny at the ballot box." 

She also said critical issues of the day should, and will be, put before voters during her administration.

"We are going to implement Initiative and Referendum during my administration," she said. "Texans want it, and they should have the right to have their voices heard."  Link.

Now that's something I could really get behind.  Let the voters write the laws.   Power to the people.

Ms. Strayhorn might not win, but she's at least advancing the idea of initiative and referendum.  To get elected politicians to share power with their constituents might be asking for the impossible, but by golly, it's out there as an issue.  Thanks, Carole.

The Two Recent Accidental Glock Discharges, detailed

An entry here the other day titled Accidental handgun discharges and Glock was inspired by two recent incidents and was an editorial about the frequency of accidental handgun discharges involving that particular brand of handguns.  Here are some details about those incidents.

Case #1 - Accidental Glock discharge at Crockett Jr. High in Odessa

A lot of people are very angry about this, but no one was hurt -- a fact for which surely everyone is thankful.

To recap, Crockett Jr. High School principal Van Grady was arrested a few days following the discharge of a handgun in the school on February 24, 2006.   Jeff Maher of News West 9 interviewed one of Mr. Grady's in-laws, Cindy Carlson, and published a report at the News West 9 website.  Excerpts:

NewsWest 9 has obtained copies of the arrest and search warrant affidavits, detailing what Grady told officers, and what was found inside his car parked on campus, in the early stages of the investigation into the incident.

/snip/

They go on to say he later admitted to accidently shooting a gun, but claimed he didn't know the guns were inside the gym bag.

The fired bullet went through a wall, and into a bathroom. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Now, one of Grady's relatives is talking about what happened that day, saying what happened was just accident.

/snip/

"For some reason, that day, he put his weapons in his workout bag instead of the gun bag," Carlson acknowledged.

Carlson said that, before he comes to school, Grady often works out, and changes clothes at the office, using his gym bag ... but, accidentally had the guns inside.

"And brings the bag into his office," she described, "And he had a cold, too. Ao he reached in the bag to get his cough medicine, and he barely picks the bag up off the ground and, when he put his hand in - that particular gun doesn't have a safety on it - and the gun went off."

A Glock doesn't have a manual safety on it.  There were two handguns recovered, a .40 caliber Glock 23 and a 380 Bersa (.355 caliber).  All the public information about this incident points to the Glock as the one that discharged.

This could have been a serious tragedy, and I'm sure the parents of the students at the school all must have let out a huge sigh of relief before they started gunning for Mr. Grady, metaphorically speaking.  As it stands Mr. Grady was put on paid suspension, a replacement was brought in, the Superintendent has said publicly that Mr. Grady's contract which expires in a few months will not be renewed, and Mr. Grady was arrested by the Odessa Police Department.

Few handguns are as easily discharged as a Glock, and I believe that none of this would have happened if he had had some other brand of handgun in his bag than a Glock.  I'm not trying to justify the breaking of the law, I'm merely focusing on the handgun and the problems that seem to follow that brand like a dog on a leash.

However, one needn't look too far to find a possible reason for Mr. Grady's desire to carry a handgun.  See  Odessa American, October 1, 2004, Teens escape youth center in the Odessa.  Excerpts:

Two 16-year-old Odessa boys accused of attacking a cook at the Ector County Youth Center, stealing her car and escaping from the facility remained at large Thursday evening.

/snip/

The foot chase caused the Ector County Independent School District to lock down five schools, because they were in the vicinity of where the escapees were running.

From 8:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Crockett and Bowie junior highs, Noel and Pease elementaries and Odessa High School locked their doors and restricted outside activity.

Van Grady, principal of Crockett, said he heard about the chase on the police scanner, called the ECISD offices downtown, then put the campus on lockdown.

"It was taking place just a block from here," Grady said. "I knew the guys were on the loose and dangerous. First thing I was concerned about was safety."

Case #2 - Accidental Glock Discharge in Hobbs Leaves One Dead

The incident occurred in Hobbs, New Mexico, on March 4, 2006.  Here's the report from the Odessa American:

Local News
Monday, March 06, 2006
Hobbs man dies after being shot

Odessa American

Hobbs, N.M. A 24-year-old man died at a Lubbock hospital after being shot in the head early Saturday at a home in the 700 block of East Mesquite Drive. Daniel Melton died at University Medical Center at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, according to a house supervisor.

According to the news release, officers say 33-year-old Donald Colvin was handling a .45 caliber pistol when the gun discharged, sending a bullet through a wall and striking Melton, who was in a separate room.

Police were continuing to investigate the incident Saturday, according to the news release.

Commander Donnie Graham of the Hobbs Police Department said the gun was a .45 caliber Glock 36 pistol.  (He also pointed out that the victims correct name is Donny Melton.)

I don't believe an official ruling has been made yet, but the most logical explanation is that this was yet another accidental discharge of a Glock handgun.

Accidental handgun discharges and Glock

This is an old theme on these pages.  Don't you wish the issue would just go away?  Me too.  But there are two more recent local cases of Glock accidents.  One resulted in a school principal losing his job and facing criminal charges.  The other resulted in a death.

Here's the premise again:  Glock handguns are designed to make it as easy and fast as possible to shoot.  They don't have a manual safety, and they have a relatively light trigger pull.  The consequence is that there are a lot of accidental discharges involving Glock brand handguns.

They are very popular among law enforcement personnel and competition shooters because they are so easy to shoot, especially since they don't have that bothersome manual safety to fiddle with when the shooter is ready to shoot.

They are also popular in the general public.  Maybe there's a macho thing going on, sort of like riding a motorcycle without a helmet.  Safety be damned, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do and all that.  Besides, it's not the gun's fault, there's always some carelessness involved.  "It couldn't happen to me."

The quick draw cowboys

The old cowboy movies and tv shows from the 50's and 60' s often ended with good triumphing over evil in a main street fast draw.  Some of those actors were quite accomplished at it, and they could draw a gun from a holster and fire it in a split second.  And those were single action revolvers that had to be cocked first.  (Those shooters who think that a manual safety is too time consuming might keep that in mind.)

However, none of those cowboy actors would ever think of carrying around a loaded revolver already cocked.  But a loaded Glock is already cocked, at least partially.  So it doesn't take much to set it off.

Corrections

In previous entries on this topic I said that Glocks don't have any indicator to alert its owner that there is a bullet in the chamber.  The models manufactured during or after 2002, I've been told, have a visual load indicator.  The old ones don't have one, but they can be retrofitted at the owners' expense.  Also I mistakenly referred to the thing that strikes the Glock firing pin as a "hammer."  It's actually called a "striker," and thanks to the people who kindly pointed that out as well as to those who weren't so kind.

Happiness is a warm gun

Some Glock owners are very passionate about their Glocks, but I'm mystified by the emotion.  Maybe an amateur psychologist could help us out.  It's just a hunk of metal and plastic.  I wonder if Corvair owners were angry at Ralph Nader back when he was trying to show that they had a tendency to flip over too easily.  I'm certainly not trying to compare myself with Ralph Nader, but still, I wonder.  Maybe it's misdirected anger caused by the pain experienced by facing an uncomfortable fact.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand.  Let's make some comparisons.

How hard is it to pull a trigger?

Glock --

The Glock website says that the trigger pull weight for a standard off-the-shelf Glock is 5.5 lbs.  See Glock 23 (.40 caliber) and Glock 36 (.45 caliber).  Remember that a loaded Glock is already at least partially cocked, so that 5.5 lbs of pressure is all it takes to send a bullet on its way out into the world.

A handgun expert said that the NYPD issues Glocks with a "New York trigger" which has a pull weight of 12 lbs.  And some competition shooters install a trigger with a pull weight of 3.5 lbs.  So those alterations would result in a Glock that is harder or easier to shoot, respectively.

Beretta --

By contrast, the Beretta M9, the handgun issued by the U.S. military, has a trigger pull of 12.33 lbs in double action mode and 5.50 lbs in single action mode.  (Source).  Double action refers to the sequence begun when the hammer is resting on the frame.  Pulling the trigger causes the hammer to cock and release.  Single action refers to the sequence begun when the trigger is pulled when the hammer is already cocked.

The M9 has a manual safety, by the way.

Sig Sauer --

For comparison, another well made handgun is manufactured by Sig Arms.  According to their website, the .45 caliber Sig P220, which has no manual safety, has a trigger pull of 10.0 lbs. in double action mode and 4.5 in single action mode.

The truth is out there

Anecdotes tell the story, but they don't really prove anything.  Here's a worthwhile project for someone with the time and money to do it.  The Freedom of Information Act allows any citizen to make an inquiry of the Federal government for documents.  So someone could make a FOIA request for documents indicating the number and circumstances of reported accidental handgun discharges in the U.S. armed forces within some time period.

And the state of Texas has an Open Records Act which is similar to FOIA.  So the person undertaking this project could make queries of several Texas municipal police departments for reported accidental handgun discharges and the type of gun involved.

If the results show a statistically significant number then a proper comparison could be made.  Any volunteers?

Next up, the two recent cases.  (UPDATED WITH LINK.)  See The Two Recent Accidental Glock Discharges, detailed.

Former Midlander in possible murder & suicide in Cleburne, Texas

Former Midlander, Kim Hammond, was a baseball, basketball and football player at Lee High School a few decades ago.  He and his wife Judy were found dead of gunshot wounds on March 1, 2006, at their home, and news reports suggest that authorities believe it was a murder and suicide.

Links: See "Deaths of ex-officer, wife shock friends, Johnson County: Deputies think Dallas PD retiree shot spouse, then self" at Dallas Morning News and Denton Record.  (Links may require registration).  Excerpt:

Kim Hammond, 60, and his wife, Judy, 55, were found shot to death on the back porch of their new home in southwest Johnson County on Wednesday morning, authorities said.

Mr. Hammond called 911 around 7:50 a.m. and told a dispatcher that someone had been shot but hung up the phone without answering the dispatcher's questions, said Cpl. Pam Jetsel of the Johnson County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies found the bodies about 30 minutes later on the back porch of their home on Montroes Street, Cpl. Jetsel said. Both had been shot with a 9 mm handgun. The Sheriff's Department was investigating the case as a murder-suicide, although it was unclear what prompted the shooting.

"Brokeback Mountain" spinoffs

With the Oscars just around the corner, Hollywood spies report that the popularity of the gay cowboy movie, Brokeback Mountain, has stimulated pitches for movies of a similar theme.  Here are just a few whispered to be in the works:

Bent Grass Plains -- A movie about two lesbians from San Francisco who start an alfalfa sprout farm in the plains of the Mid-West.  Hilarity ensues as they begin to appreciate the ideology of small government and low taxes.

Scoliosis Creek -- Two week-end fly fishermen meet at a mountain creek and examine each other's flies.

Splashed -- A rich gay Hollywood director hires a hunky young man to drain his pool.  (Any similarity to Gods and Monsters is purely coincidental.)

The Britches of Madison County -- Two male bridge builders think they can pioneer a fashion trend among their fellow workers when they show up for work wearing cut-off Levi's.  Things get exiting when a squirrel scampers up their trusses and into their box girder.

Crab Grass Suburbs -- Two feuding lawyers live next door to each other and blow leaves into each other's lawns.  They discover they are both gay and end up pulling each other's weeds.

Gas half off

Natural gas, that is.  A few months ago the national headlines were screaming about the price of natural gas.  It was at an unnaturally high price due to the damage done by the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast refinery areas.  But that didn't stop the Malthusian extrapolators as the price of natural gas reached almost $15 per mmbtu at the Henry Hub in Erath, LA.  (See natural gas price chart for 2004, 2005 and 2006.)

But hardly anyone outside industry circles has noticed that the price has dropped by half to land at a spot price of $6.62 per mmbtu on Wednesday.  Source.

It's a welcome relief for those of us who use gas generated electricity.  Stay cool this summer as we await the next hurricane season.

Joke of the day

From Argus Hamilton:

The Academy Awards will air live Sunday on ABC.  There is a seven-second tape delay.  In case a Democrat flashes a breast or insults the president, this gives somebody in the control room the time to turn up the volume and fine tune the contrast.