Red lights, Cameras and Stops Signs

I have no problem with the red light cameras, because I made up my mind a long time ago to come to a complete stop before turning right or gauge the distance to the light to give myself time to stop before the yellow light changes.

Without the red light cameras it goes back to the free-for-all attitude we’ve witnessed for years and that is one thing I do not want to see return.

In 1981 a red-light runner slammed into my 1979 Pontiac Bonneville at Decker Drive and Bayway. He hit me broadside doing 60 mph as he flew through. He was in a smaller Pontiac station wagon and it totaled his car. My family was slammed sideways inside the much larger car, but basically okay. We never saw him coming due to a larger truck next to us.

This town has been subject to poor driving habits for years and when the Baytown Concerned Citizens first met at El Toro’s on Garth road, we asked the city to crack down on crime and do whatever it takes to bring law and order back. I stood before a very hostile crowd along with city officials and BPD and asked them to crack down on traffic problems.

As the spokesman for BCC, I plainly stated the well-known fact that the easiest way to catch a criminal is through moving vehicle violations. Criminals have no regard for the law and routinely break traffic laws. That explains why someone hauling 50 pounds of cocaine will get pulled over for speeding.

One of the ways the city responded was to install red light cameras and if there is a learning curve, then so be it. Speeding through red lights or turning on red without stopping first is a crime and guess what? - it has consequences. We are getting what we asked for - a return to law and order.

The reason there has been a slight increase in accidents related to the red light cameras is the character behind the one that decides to stop instead of risking a ticket, has every intention of going through the light and is going too fast and too close to stop.

Call it any way you want, but the fault lies in the second driver’s poor skills and habits, not the camera, the stopping motorist, the speed limit or the light’s timing.

If the speed limit is 40 or 45mph, the driver still has the responsibility to reduce their speed to accommodate the lights. That’s basic driving education and this fact has gone out the window with the advent of better brakes and more hemi-powered cars. It appears the accelerator trumps the brake pedal, doesn’t it?

A Baytonian has set up a website to force the city through petition to take down the red light cameras. It is located here. You decide.

Hawks, Owls, Dogs and Cats

W took our three-pound Pomchi puppy, Bella to Dr. Cynthia Lipps office the other day for its parvovirus shot and observed an adult cat sleeping in the office. I commented that it probably slept all day after prowling all night and the Vet assistant informed me the cat was basically permanently helpless due to a near fatal hawk attack. All it did was eat and sleep and was actually content.

Now I’m not totally ignorant about predacious hawks and small animals and based on the large number of cats in my neighborhood, I never really worried too much about the flying predators. All that has changed in the last year. We own an eight-pound Shih Tzu and a three-pound Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix, called a Pomchi, plus we regularly are watching my daughter and son-in-law’s two dogs - a Yorkie (seven-pounds) and a rat terrier (twelve-pounds).

Behind our house is seventy acres of woods and swamp. Coyotes, feral hogs and even bobcats roam these woods, which tells me there is plenty of food for these predators. I’ve watched large raptors hover over the woods many times including Caracara (Mexican Eagle) and until recently; they were nothing more than a curiosity.

Not too long ago, to my surprise I watched a great horned owl land on the power line directly in my backyard. The giant bird had close to five feet of wingspan and it sat in the near darkness and turned its head slowly this way and that and that is when I realized how terrifying this bird of prey could be to small animals. I researched this owl species and found out they have a talon grip of over 500 pounds per square inch, as opposed to the average man’s 60 ppsi. A bird like this could snatch a full-grown raccoon or armadillo with no problem. What chance would a cat or small dog have?

My sister Connie lives out close to Dayton and she has lost a number of cats to hawks and has warned me repeatedly to watch my doggies. The whole situation has made me view these birds as a menace.

I decided to Google “hawks attacking dogs” and was surprised to see how many pet owners have lost their animals to hawks, including attacks on twenty and thirty pound dogs. Numerous people have lost their dogs while walking them on leashes and a number of folks report hawks swooping down on them while standing on their property.

My wife and I now grab our dogs any time we see a hawk hovering nearby, but our nightly visits to the backyard so our dogs can “potty” leave us almost helpless to stop an attack by an airborne predator. About fifteen years ago, I had a Pomeranian-Shih Tzu mix that ran off into the woods and we never saw her again. To this day I believe a coyote got her, or maybe a bobcat.

People who are not pet lovers won’t see this column as a big deal, but those of us who care for animals need to take note and as habitat disappears, watch for aerial predators when we have our pets in the yard. One lady suggested stepping on their wings when they pounce on your pet, as she warns they will not surrender your pet easily. I hope I never experience any of this, as my pets are like family and it would be too hard to bear.

BBs Most Delicious Jalapeno Cornbread

The Uniform Code of Military Justice - Malik Nadal Hasan

When a young man or woman raises their hand and are sworn into the US Military, they effectively and voluntarily surrender their Constitutional rights. They now belong to the US government, which has its own military constitution. This is known as the UCMJ or Uniform Code of Military Justice.

I was sworn into the United States Air Force November 23, 1970 and verbatim, my oath was this: "I, Gilbert S. Marshall Jr., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

As an 18 year old native son, I took this very seriously and still do to this day. As an 18 year old, even in my naivete state of immaturity and experience, I knew I was suspending my personal views to enforce the will and policies of the US Government, whether I agreed with the policies or not. Our military depends on this subservience. I want to say this again. Our Country’s stability and military depends on this subservience.

Now mind you, I was 18 years old when I raised my right hand and I understood my obligation with uncharacteristic clarity, for a teenager anyway. I was enlisting as an Airman Basic, not accepting a commission as college graduate into the ranks of leadership, which by definition is an officer and a gentleman (woman).

Officers have a different version when sworn in and held to higher standards. This is the oath our shooter took: "I, Malik Nadal Hasan (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)

Major Malik Nadal Hasan has not only committed premeditated murder on his own soldiers, but voluntarily performed the most heinous form of treason known in the military. He has violated his oath of office with extreme prejudice. In civilian terms this is akin to a mother or father killing their own children – or (in a bizarre coincidence) a doctor killing his patients. The death toll now stands at 13 dead and 30 wounded and this at the bloody hand of a man who had never been in combat and was an expert at helping those suffering from the ghosts of war.

His vicious and deliberate act of violence was of the most cowardly sort also, as soldiers are unarmed on Post, unless they are military police. He was like a man with a club in pen full of baby seals.

As a Vietnam Veteran, I personally would like to strangle this fellow with my bare hands.

Take note that I have not mentioned his religion, but if I were the Commander in Chief, I would order a mass security clearance reevaluation of every person in our military this day, which has the word(s) Muslim/Islam on their dog tags.

We as a country, especially in our military, cannot give every Muslim serving in the military the simple benefit of the doubt, when we have officers killing their own men as acts of faith. What chance of survival did Major Hasan think he would have at Fort Hood? I’ll answer that one – none. He saw himself as a suicide bomber or an IED. He was going for the 70 virgins…, but he survived.

Nope, we need to pull in every soldier, Marine, airman, sailor, etc (especially those serving in our Embassy’s) who has the word(s) Muslim/Islam on their dog tags and under the UCMJ, make them re-swear allegiance and fidelity to this country or resign their commission or general discharge their butts out of the service.

Enough is enough.

The Baytown Dog Park, Mosquitoes and Fleas

View Cary Bayou Trail in a larger map

I communicated with Scott Johnson this morning.  He’s the head honcho over Baytown’s Parks Department and a good one, I might add.  A short note here on Baytown and it’s parks – they are managed very well and it’s obvious a high priority is placed on their maintenance.

The conversation went something like this: 

BB: “Mosquitoes and fleas Sir.  Help!  What exactly is being done to ensure the dog park doesn't become a breeding ground for fleas”?

Scott: “The Health Department sprays for mosquitoes on a regular schedule.  (The mosquitoes are winning)  As for the fleas, this is the first we have heard of a problem.  We will look into options and see what other cities are doing”.

At this point Mike Lister joined the conversation and added:

Mike: “The recent rains and moderate weather has ‘hatched’ a large crop of mosquitoes across the entire area.  We are larviciding and adulticiding (spraying) as best we can with weather permitting.  I will insure that the Jenkins Park area is sprayed during our routine spray efforts for that zone.  Thanks for the ‘heads up’ and we will do our best to knock them down”.

Mike is the Go To man at Health & EMS here and another mover and shaker (as opposed to a fatcat do-nothing).

BB: “Good deal.  Both of our dogs are on Advantage, which is a topical treatment that is systemic, but when we bring them home, they have fleas and they jump off in our house and Mike, good deal.  I’ll spread the word”.

So, there you have it fellow Baytown friends.  Never let anyone tell you that our city bigwigs are lazy, or don’t care about this city and its citizens.  Their jobs are pretty much thankless, but not from me.

If you haven’t been to Jenkins Park, the Cary Bayou Trail (see the map above), the Skate Park or the Dog Park you are shorting yourself.

Baytown Photo Club Meets Again!

This past Monday the Baytown Photo Club met for the second time since its inception in October. Everyone brought a buck for the Art League and a photo to display (and possibly sell) at the Art League during the month of November. The theme was “Multiples” and it was obvious from the many variations that photographers view that term in many different ways.

My entry was a photograph I took on the Fred Hartman Bridge last year and it features a silhouette of the two uprights and the many cables. As far as I know, the angle of this photograph would be impossible to take from a car, regardless of how you hung out the window or how slow you were moving, as I was physically walking over the bridge and was up close to the guardrail.

I’ve yet to learn everyone’s name, so I will refrain from mentioning anyone’s. One lady brought an interesting photo of an ashtray overflowing with ash and cigarette butts. I really liked it. Another photo was water reflecting the sky taken inside the rundown Brunson Theater. It was excellent. It could sell.

My brother TJ Bustem brought a Halloween themed photo taken at a “haunted house” in Houston. Admission was $35, so needless to say they had some very well done images inside the house to photograph. His featured an entrance lined with human skulls floor to ceiling.

Numerous people brought food themed photographs rich in detail and color and there were many photos presented that were taken while folks vacationed around the country. Personally and this is no reflection on anyone else, I like to keep my photos close to home and home is Baytown, but this is not a Baytown-photo only club, but a club for photography.

We are having a photo walk and shoot November 21st that is open to the public. We will meet at the Baytown Nature Center at 9am make our way down to the elevated pavilion. It costs 3 bucks to get in the gate and you can park there and walk, or drive in someplace and park. Bring a sack lunch and plenty of water and mosquito repellent.

If you would like to join our club, we will be meeting December 7th at 6:30pm at the Art League of Baytown on Texas Avenue. The only requirements are the $1 a month dues and a willingness to learn and share. Our next theme is “Red”. Red anything – you decide. Bring an 8X10 or 5X7, printed on paper or on photo paper.

We have a Flickr web site set up to display photos of members and it’s located HERE. We also have a Google Groups mailing list and if you would like to join, we will sign you up at the next meeting.

Grab your camera, regardless of what your skill level or equipment is and join us.

BB’s Delicious Frickin Chickin Tortilla Soup

BB’s Delicious Frickin Chickin Tortilla Soup

I’m making a great big pot and I’m listing the ingredients, but not the quantities, for the most part (I don’t roll like that and can’t follow the rules). Adjust the quantities of each to suit your tastes. No one said it was going to be easy, but you will figure it out.

Small pot
Chicken breast – deboned

Big pot
Rotel™ tomatoes
Real limes or juice
Chopped green chilies
Chicken stock or broth
Green onions
Cilantro – fresh
Corn Oil – use more than you think you should
Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
Golden hominy
Black olives - small and pitted

Seasonings
Tony Chachere’s™ or Zatarain’s™ Creole seasoning
Black pepper
Salt – Coarse if you have it
Sriracha sauce - to taste

Sides
Tortilla chips
Shredded cheese
Avocado


Get a monster pot if you are going to make a lot and believe me, you should. People will want seconds and A few will want thirds, plus it freezes well. Finely chop the green onions and the cilantro and throw it in the pot.

Big pot: Put in all the ingredients and start cooking it down.

Small pot: Boil, yes boil the chicken and sprinkle the Creole seasoning on it heavily. You can’t over-season it, so dump some in there. When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, put it on a cutting board and using a big sharp knife like the one in the photo, chop it up and dump it in the soup pot.

Notes: Use a LOT of lime juice, like 4 ounces and in a big pot of soup like I made, use 2 CUPS of corn oil. It sounds like a lot and it is, but you won’t notice it. Sriracha sauce has a dynamite flavor, but is hotter than Hades if you get too much, so season to taste. Last, do NOT omit the garbanzos or the hominy. You will not notice it is in there, but the absence of it affects the final flavor and the texture is very pleasing to the palate. Enjoy!

Weighing-In on legalizing Pot

The unwinnable war on marijuana usage may finally be coming to an end. As it stands, smoking, growing or possessing marijuana in any quantity is a federal crime and has imprisoned millions of people, whose only crime is smoking the weed; unless you add growing, transporting or buying the stuff to the list of crimes.

In my younger years I smoked a lot of pot - a lot. I’m not proud of that fact, but I chalk it up as a learning experience. I haven’t had a joint since 1975 and even if it is legalized, I will not smoke it again. It made me lazy and fuzzy-headed, not to mention I lost all motivation and was hungry all the time. 

Now, with that out of the way, I want to make a few points and those who have used Mary Jane can attest my points are valid. If you have never smoked “dope”, as it was at one time commonly referred to, then get a paper and pencil, as I am going to enlighten you.

Dope of any kind comes into our country by invitation. Invitation, not by invasion. Back when I was actively smoking the stuff, my friends and I were perfectly content to burn the offending weed only and would only resort to harder drugs when pot became scarce. It was the early 70’s and getting high was trendy and cool. We wanted to be cool and get high. Many of us have moved on and doping is not in our plans.

Drug cartels have choices on what they smuggle into our country. They can bring in 100 kilos of cocaine weighing in at 220 pounds and it fit in a trunk. Any idea how big of a trunk they would have to have to bring in 100 kilos of marijuana? So, by cracking down on marijuana we basically narrow the choice of what the drug cartels will send in. They will send in heroin and cocaine, etc., in lieu of bulkier marijuana and that is what will hit the streets, again by invitation.

People who are using marijuana are going to use it whether it’s legal or not, but instead of their money going towards our country’s economy and tax base or to drug lords will depend on it being legal, controlled and taxed or not. Personally, I think the medical marijuana issue is a no-brainer and should be embraced immediately by every state. If pot is a drug, what is the difference in it and any other prescription drug used to treat problems?

Fighting the war on drugs has become almost a bigger problem than the drugs themselves, with killings, violence and lawlessness associated with the trade. Crooked cops, lawmakers and politicians are being generated as fast as the dope and everyone is getting rich, especially lawyers. Dope is big business on both sides of the law, with people losing their houses, cars and property to the state for trafficking in pot.

If the United States Government would decriminalize marijuana entirely and allow the tobacco companies to package and sell marijuana cigarettes at, say, $20 per pack of twenty, with $15 tax (Est.) on each pack, we could balance the budget and have health care paid for in 5 years. Next, we would cripple the drug cartels and their network to the point of ruin. All of the money would funnel into the government coffers for a change instead of some Columbian or Mexican drug lord.

Another major consideration is quality and potency.  Tobacco companies could "market the brand" of each pack as to potency, allowing the consumer to know exactly what they were getting.  This is impossible on the street and leads to rip-offs, violence and death.  This is the way alcoholic beverages are marketed.  People do not buy 100% grain alcohol just because it is the strongest potency; they buy what they can safely ingest.

If a marijuana user were suspected of being high while operating a moving vehicle, it would be at the discrimination of the officer as whether they were intoxicated or not and if it were determined they were, they would be arrested for PI of DUI (Public intoxication or Driving under the influence).

Marijuana is here to stay. The government’s fruitless attempt to stop it has failed miserably, boosted organized crime and violence, turned many an honest public-servant into complicity and failed in almost every way. We must decriminalize and regulate it now. What do you think?

Read more here.

Juvenile Cottonmouth in Baytown Texas

Juvenile Cottonmouth in Baytown Texas
Originally uploaded by BaytownBert

Our homestead in Baytown, Texas was pummeled with seven inches of rain the other day and as soon as it was over, we let our two doggies out to use the, well to relieve themselves.
I was picking up sticks on the ground and tossing them onto the compost pile when I heard my Bride shrieking. Running to her, she exclaimed that our 7-week-old Pom-Chi had walked very close to a coiled Cottonmouth.
Pointing it out, I, who will not tolerate or relocate a venomous snake, stabbed it once with a shovel, mortally wounding it. I almost always have one of my cameras handy, so I took this macro photograph to share.
As a note, any non-venomous snake is tolerated at my homestead albeit, I usually shoo them away. In the wild, I avoid all snakes and let them go about their business.

Jumping spider photo in Baytown Texas

Jumping spider photo in Baytown Texas
Originally uploaded by BaytownBert

I saw this litty-bitty jumping spider on the wall at work just above a fire extinguisher and thought I would grab it's portrait and share.

I've noticed that even though there are an abundance of small jumping spiders, many of them are unique in the coloring, body build, size and appearance.

Macro photography is very facinating and enlightening and opens up a new world of observation.

BB’s Super-Delicious Taco Soup

BB’s Super-Delicious Taco Soup

I’m going to list the ingredients only, because how much of each you decide to use is up to you, sorry.

In a large skillet, combine and cook until done:
Ground chuck
Taco Seasoning (only)
Diced garlic
Fresh yellow onion

In a large kettle, combine and cook until hot, then add ingredients above:
Pinto beans w/jalapeno
Kidney beans
Diced green chilis
Chicken broth
Rotel™ tomatoes
Canned golden hominy
Canned corn
Hunt’s fire roasted tomatoes
Black olives
Fresh zucchini
Fresh cilantro
Ranch Salad mix

-------------Top with:
Shredded cheese
Tortilla chips
Sour cream
Avocado

You just served up a steaming hot bowl of BB’s Super-Delicious Taco Soup!

Doctors report 400-pound boy to Nanny state workers

"An Orlando mother fears the state will take custody of her 13-year-old, 400-pound son after doctors called authorities about his condition. Doctors contacted the Department of Children and Families after Josiah Lewis missed a few appointments, saying his condition is life threatening. DCF officials said the agency has begun an investigation. The boy's mother, Brenda Lewis, said she's trying to help her son lose weight, but he refuses to take medicine and will not stop overeating" as reported by the Orland Sentinel.

I guess it's a crime now to over feed your kid in what’s left of this here free country. Of course the mother could beat the kid with a belt or cherry paddle like we were as kids and make him take his medicine and stop over-eating, but then the doctors would recommend the state take the kid from her.

I remember steering a tractor in Utah as a nine year old while my Dad and his friends threw hay bales onto the trailer I was dragging. I was pretty scared at first since I wasn't "properly trained", not to mention there was no seat belt and the tractor had a real loud exhaust that was probably damaging my sensitive hearing.
The men, being men without female supervision, were most likely using "swear words" or making references to things a kid shouldn't hear. I remember being real thirsty, but none of the adults offered me water. All of these things today would be viewed as grounds to give me away to the benevolence of someone other than my parents.

As a matter of record, I was as happy as a kid could be on that tractor and wishing I had a cigarette. You see, I had already been smoking every chance I could get for the last two years, but that is another story and a different time.

What in the world is next? A parent loses "custody" of their own kid because "Doctors" (anonymous Doctors?) decide they are over-feeding their kid, not that they are starving their child, but letting them eat too much. I can see it now - "Teachers report boy, whose parents force him to practice piano against his will, to state family workers" or "Doctors report 14 year old boy to state family workers whose parents made him clean out the garage, causing severe depression".

I’ll tell you what is sure to be on the horizon in this nanny state country of ours; a whole bunch of us could be arrested down the road simply because we are obese and pose a threat to the overall health of the country.

How about that batch of lard-coated and bacon-wrapped bologna?

"Police arrest family for refusing to eat their veggies and for failure to comply with a court order to put down the chicken-fried steak with cream gravy and suffered the public outcry to get with the new program (God bless our President) and find their beefy selves remanded to local pea farm for reconditioning and exercise"
We need to realize all this meddling in our everyday affairs by well-meaning professionals and politicians will lead to a never-ending and narrowing stranglehold on our liberties.

“Man arrested for smoking”. Poof. Or should I say Puff? Puff-there goes another liberty. Sure, you may not mind the banning of smoking for the good of the many and (big tree hug here), the Earth, but what about when someone decides what you are doing or how you are raising your kid should be stopped and they call CPS on you?

“Honest to gawd, Judge, that woman steadily smoked up the house with those filthy nasty cigs and her poor chirens had to sit there and huff it like tobacco-junkies”. Slam goes the gavel! “Take her away bailiff! Thirty years!”!

Pass me a *smoke and some bacon, will you friend?

*I do not and will not smoke again, but it isn’t against the law – yet and we need to be very careful what we rubber stamp as unacceptable behavior, as our own freedom and liberty may be the next thing we agree to outlaw.

BB’s Jalapeno & Sausage Cornbread

BB’s Jalapeno & Sausage Cornbread

4 - 8.5 oz boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix
4 – Large eggs
1 1/3 cups sweet milk (your choice)
½ chopped yellow onion
1 – Large can of drained and chopped black olives
1 – Large can cream corn (yes, cream corn)
5 – Large chopped pickled jalapenos, seeds and all
1 pound maple flavored pan sausage of your choice
Liberal sprinkling of *Tony Chachere’s or Zatarain’s Creole seasoning (to taste)
1 – Good-sized package of your favorite shredded cheese (I use 4 cheese mix)

10X15X2 oven safe cooking dish
Large mixing bowl – you will need it.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the sausage in a skillet with the onions until they are close to being done.  Mix all other ingredients together and add the cooked sausage and onions.  Stir it all up, but don’t get carried away.  Use Crisco to grease your pan so the cornbread doesn’t stick when you slice it.  Bake without covering at 400 degrees F. for 25 minutes and then start watching the top to make sure it doesn’t get too brown.  Use a table knife to determine if the center is cooked completely.  If it is clean, then the cornbread mix is done.  If the top is getting too brown, lower the heat to 350 and cook another 5 minutes until it is done.

If you like, add a pat of butter on top and enjoy.

* I don’t want to start a war here, but I can’t tell the difference and Zatarain’s is much cheaper at my local Food Town here in beautiful Baytown, Texas.

Baytown Bert's Beans!

2-lbs pinto beans, 2 yellow onions, 2 cans stewed tomaters, 1 can Rotel, 1 cup jalapeno juice from a large can of pickled jalapenos, 1-lb bacon, 2-lbs cooked brisket and 1-lb hickory smoked link sausage. BB's Beans! Makin' cornbread and rice next and just thought I would take time to share the photo.

Barack Obama Awarded 10th Degree Black Belt!

Our American President has been awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize for bringing hope to the whole world and for something to do with nuclear arms non-proliferation. I think this is great! It really bolsters the credibility of the Nobel Peace Prize committee members and puts Barack Obama right up there with Teddy Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Ralph Bunche, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Kissinger and Mother Teresa and shuts the mouth of all those who claim he hasn’t changed a thing in the last 10 months – plus, he got the gold in record book time, unlike the other historically accomplished folks I just mentioned.

He was in office 12 full days before he was nominated and we all remember how much he did the 11 days before that. My pointed head is still spinning.

It only took Mother Teresa all her life to get it and President Obama did it (snapping fingers) like that. Bully for him. This sets a real precedent too. Maybe a blogger can win it. I think I’ll change the name of this Blog to something like “I promise the moon and stars to promote world peace, at high altitudes and give everyone something cool”. That might do it. Of course, I won’t have to actually come across with anything concrete after I’m nominated and that’s the real beauty of it.

I’ll have to get a teleprompter too I guess, and maybe a couple of aggressive speechwriters with carnival hawking experience (it’s not easy to fool everyone, but I just have to fool roughly 50%). These guys will have to be good and if I can drag in an acting coach too, that'll top off my chances of winning. Then I could feign shock and awe when the awards start coming in.

Now, what I’m hoping to see next for our President is some more choice awards to beef up his resume. The President of the World Taekwondo Federation should ask the Kukkiwon to award Mr. Obama a 10th degree black belt for instance. What? They only go up to 9th degree? Not a problem, just create one. Our President deserves the highest-ranking black belt in the world. The world owes it to him and he would look awesome giving speeches and whatnot.

There has got to be an Academy Award in this thing somewhere, I can smell it. Let’s see…I got it - a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, or maybe Best Inspiring Performance! That second one might have to be invented, but those Academy folks did it for Al Gore and they sure as heck-fire can do it again. You can see that I’m all about change, can’t you?

What other awards are out there that people usually win because they work hard all their lives and deserve that we can give our President? He has after all, brought hope to people like Kenyans and stuff. It was looking like there were bunches of people in Afghanistan that were singing his laurels, but for some reason they are waffling, so no awards are coming from under that rock that I can see.

Personally, I think President Obama should win the Heisman Trophy – that’s a given I know, but not everyone agrees (they probably listen to Glenn Beck’s blather all the time).

There’s the Stanley Cup that’s up for grabs and let’s not shy away from a couple of Olympic Gold medals – say maybe 9 or 10 in the same sport? I hadn’t thought about the Kentucky Derby until just now, but it’s not out of reach and then, there is a Superbowl ring that would look real nice.

One way or the other, I’m happy for the man. Alfred Nobel would be proud.

Pay the same - Get less Baytown Sun? - Part 2

Back on September 22nd, I posted about how the management of the Baytown Sun decided to render the thrown subscription from 7 days to 5, but at the same price?  Their logic was they would up the amount of free info on their website and us subscribers would pick up the cost.  Well, here is my solution so we can be honorable on both ends of the hand shake.

Baytown Photographers Form a New Club

Monday night, October 5th, 2009, about thirty photographers gathered for the first meeting of the newly formed Baytown Photo Club to begin what is hoped by it’s organizer, Jane Lee, to be a long term sharing of photographic art and knowledge.

Jane Lee is a photo journalist and I’ve known of and read her well-written articles for quite some time, so when she asked me to join the club, I came along willingly.  I was pleased to see so many folks come out to learn and share, especially Nicki Evans, one of the areas well-published professional photographers.

I gave my brother TJ Bustem a call and he, being an avid photographer told me this was something he has wanted and needed to do for a long time, so he joined me.  We are both self-taught and the chance to learn from a pro is welcomed.

My fascination with photography began in 1968 when I met a fellow high school student who owned a premium range finder 35mm camera and educated me on the intricacies of shooting “photos”, as opposed to taking “pics”.

You see, photographers take photos, images or photographs and everyone else takes snapshots or pics.  Photographers do take snapshots, but when they are addressing their work, it is always images or photographs.

Anyway, it wasn’t until 1972 that I was able to afford (read serious sacrifice) my first real camera.  It was a revolutionary single lens reflex (SLR), aperture-preferred automatic 35mm – the Yashica Electro-AX.

What made this camera revolutionary was instead of all the dials being manually operated, this model would adjust the shutter speed while I, looking through the lens, adjusted the aperture (or depth of field).  It was fast – real fast with an almost unknown shutter speed of 1000th of a second, having a titanium shutter.  Many years later I bought a Nikon FE2, which came very close to approximating this early 70’s Electro-Ax, but with fewer features.

Now back in these days Kodachrome 25 (then ASA, but now ISO) slide film ruled the roost, but a person had to have excellent lighting to use it, so many of us used either Kodachrome or Ectachrome 64 and even the very fast Ectachrome 160.  Paul Simon sings about Kodachrome 25, even though he doesn’t say ASA-25, but 25 was king until June of this year when Kodak stopped its 70+ year run. Adios my old friend.

I went to the Air Force Base library with my new camera and read every page twice of the then cutting edge Time-Life photography series of something like 14 books.  I subscribed to a couple of photography magazines and with my usual abusive sense that I couldn’t learn fast enough, I inhaled the photographic art studies.

A few of the thousand photographs I took are shown here, while serving in Thailand:

Each time I let the shutter fall, it cost me about .25 and that was in 1972-74.  That was a tremendous amount of money and explains why composition, lighting and depth of field were so critical for film photographers, as opposed to digital.  To this day, I will stop, look and shoot once and walk on.

Time came and went, with various interruptions in my photo hobby, but over the last ten years, I’ve pursued it with a passion, especially when digital cameras became inexpensive enough to fire away with total abandon.  Now, it’s important to note that a good expensive camera does not a good photographer make. Trash in, trash out.  Do your homework folks.

However, the opposite is true.  Take a cheaper camera and a good photographer can make some very good quality photographs.  Some of the greatest photos of old were taken with simple (by today’s standards) range-finder cameras and old diehards wouldn’t use anything else, citing SLR camera buffs as amateurs.  This has shifted from range-finder to film SLR folks looking down their noses at DSLR people.

I’m a digital photographer who shoots primarily for the web, but I shoot in high-resolution and reduce the overall size to publish.  I use 3 cameras and they are all compact and I usually have one in my pocket at all times.  At the end of this article, I’ll list them.

Photographers love cameras and buy the best they can afford.  Some digital DSLR camera BODIES (read no lens) cost close to $3000.  Throw in a couple of lenses and you could buy a very good used car with that much money.  However, the modern point and shoot range finder cameras with 4 megapixel capability will serve almost everyone else’s needs and can be bought for a little over a hundred bucks.

Well, to bring this to a conclusion, the new club will meet the first Monday of each month at 110 W. Texas Avenue, at the Baytown Art League building at 6:30pm.  Bring a dollar for the kitty and join us.  Most of all bring a hunger to learn and if you have something to share, it will be welcome too.

Canon SD 950 IS, Canon 990 IS, Sanyo Xacti CG9

Should I be Scared too, Eddie?

Is our government driving this great country into the ditch with total abandon? Are we on a runaway train ride into destruction? Is our country is such steep decline that we will never recover our former position as a world leader of freedom? Is there a global conspiracy to combine the whole world under one ironclad fist? Should I buy up food and guns and bury them in my boat shed?


I remember years ago when I point-blank asked (in response to the many warnings) the question of "What can we do then?" and the reply from the conspiracy theorists was "There's really nothing we can do. It's too big. It’s a runaway ride into slavery."

So, since there was nothing I could do, I decided to roll on.

I continue to vote for the lesser of the 2 evils. I work the system the best I can for my family. I save what I can and I enjoy life to the best of my ability. I pursue hobbies. I try to influence my local government to improve our collective lot. I attempt through my Blog to influence those around me who actually read what I write with whatever is on my mind at the time and whatever facts are at my fingertips and this changes, so my opinion changes.

I try not to worry, but I find myself worrying.

Are we supposed to all move out into the woods, store up food and ammo and become anarchists? What, I once again ask (since so many claim to have their ear so close to the pulse of this coming dilemma) do you all experts suggest each of us do to stop it?

Can you give us clear advice? What exactly have you all personally done to change the future? It seems so many are alarmed, but no one knows how to reverse it.

Anyone can stand on a stump and yell out warnings (such as "WE NEED CHANGE!" - Barack Obama), but unless they can deliver a clear-cut message that actually answers the myriad of problems, they are wasting their breath and my time. Personally I hope Mr. Obama suddenly jerks from sleep and decides to drop all agendas except the one that will benefit all Americans, my family included.

Many mainstream American voters are sick and tired of our government in general, regardless of which party is boasting about having the answer. I can’t recall so many people being angry over all government as we are seeing right now. Usually they are mad about one party or the other, but the TEA parties are just mad at poor government period.

Ron Paul doesn’t have a chance either and I think he is true to what I believe - less government is better. I don’t even want to see the government in my business unless there is a disaster and then I want to see my government step in and help the people. I do not want to see my Government borrow 2.5 million dollars from Chinese banks and give it to Libyan charities ran by Dictator Qadaffi’s children, and thank God the State Department was denied this preposterous recommendation by our Congress.

Here in Texas folks are storing up ammunition. Some think it will be taxed it through the roof, while others think they will need it in the coming revolutionary war. I figure if it gets down to an internal war (read: war against Globalism and a One-World Government), there will be plenty of guns and ammo laying on the ground - plus, I have always believed if a person stored up enough food, etc. to hold them over for a year, it would all be taken away violently by the scavenging masses anyway, so why bother?

I wish I knew exactly what to do, but I don't, so I will continue to read, watch, eat, work and write - just like before.

High-speed hummingbirds feeding in Baytown, Texas

An actual recording of gentle hummingbirds in flight at my feeder in Baytown, Texas. They are so polite and giving of birds and always waiting their turn at the feeder. Please enjoy.

Baytown's Anti-Pedestrian McKinney Road

Today, I wrote a letter to the City of Baytown's government asking them to look into a street improvement that many of us feel is long overdue.  I am asking citizens to do the same if you agree.

Lynn Caskey is the District 5 Councilman  lynn.caskey@baytown.org.  Write him asap.  Include your own feedback also.

Here is the letter and the map:

View Larger Map

I suggest we work to get culverts and sidewalks installed on McKinney Road between SH-146 and Massey Tompkins.  This is a high foot and car traffic section with numerous trailer parks and no shoulder.  There are also apartments and a convenience store on both ends, which precipitates foot traffic by children at great risk to their safety.

This proposed improvement has become almost an obsession with me after being ran in the ditch by a car when riding my there.  The new surface is great, but this town's roads are very hard on people walking or riding a bicycle.  It is actually against the law to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk, but when there is no shoulder AND a sidewalk, it is the logical choice.

Pay the same - Get less Baytown Sun?

I am a subscriber of the Baytown Sun. Without my permission they decided to reduce delivery of their publication from 7 days a week to 5. So, in order to keep our contract viable, I am going to reduce my payment accordingly. 

It appears the logic behind this decision was reached so that those who pay for a subscription can underwrite those who read on the web only.

So, once again, those of us who pay for a subscription, will subsidize those who free-load the newspaper by viewing the online edition only.  I smell a rat and a form of Socialism in this decision and this change is basically less for more.

From the Publisher: Changes in The Sun

Cliff Clements

The Baytown Sun

Published September 6, 2009
Effective Saturday, Sept. 12, you will notice major changes to The Baytown Sun.

The masthead will be changed to The Sun and will feature the Baytown Oak Tree. A new typeface will be used for the body copy and for the headlines. This redesign of The Sun is to better organize the newspaper and to meet the needs of our changing readers.

The major change will be in publication days. On this date, The Sun will drop its Monday edition and combine the Saturday and Sunday edition into a Weekend package. The new Weekend package will include an updated TV Guide, detailed sports information, complete calendar listings for the upcoming week, lottery numbers, and enhanced feature stories and will be delivered by noon on Saturday. As a reader, you will be getting two days of information in one edition.

Why make this change? The strategy of the newspaper industry is changing very rapidly. The transition of newspaper readers from print to online is happening much faster than we anticipated. Today, The Sun has over 8,000 registered subscribers to the Web site. With this transition, The Sun’s Web site will be utilized for more late breaking news, more short stories with reference back to the print product and continuous updates of breaking news and sporting events. Whereas, the print product will feature more in depth feature and enterprise stories as well as more coverage of upcoming events.

The Sun will continue to staff the newsroom seven days a week for breaking news on Saturday and Sunday that will be posted to the Web site immediately. The daily Web site will also be updated throughout the week.

We are not reducing the amount of news coverage that we supply to the Baytown area, but we are changing the delivery method of that information.

The Sun has long been a part of the lives of the citizens of Baytown for many years and we plan to continue that relationship in a revised format. We always welcome your suggestions for improving The Sun.

Cliff Clements is editor and publisher of The Baytown Sun. His email address is cliff.clements(at)baytownsun.com

Questions raised about the Health Care Bill

“On Main Streets across Texas, the quote of the year belongs to Rep. John Conyers: "What good is reading the bill if it's a thousand pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?"

Feeling swindled from the $787 billion stimulus bill, wary constituents are picking up the slack and reading the health care legislation themselves. And they want to make sure their elected representatives know what the fine print actually says”.

The following question is one that I personally asked and Sen. Cornyn (R) Texas also poses it:

--"Minimum benefit packages" that are mandated as a part of every insurance plan sound great, but since there's no such thing as a free lunch, don't mandated benefits actually reduce choices and drive up costs for all patients?

It's my opinion that a one-for-all base health program would be the equivalent of no insurance, or at the very best an entry-level policy that would be next to nothing. In other words, the passing of this current health care bill would boost the lower 15% and lower the quality of care of the other 85%, negating care for all.

I want to share some photos

I've been out and about lately and been more concerned with pursuing life and happiness than worrying about TEA parties, health care programs and the general miserable state of our government and economy - so I want to share some photographs instead of getting worked up over some lesser issue. So, without further ado...

The photos above are of a metallic wood borer beetle and the next one is a wharf roach (thank you Mary Wicksten - Biology professor at Texas A&M University).
The photo above is of a real sweaty Baytown Bert hiking the Goose Creek Trail in Baytown, Texas.

These last 2 photos above are of delicious grilled food in my backyard here in Baytown, Texas - Stuffed w/cream cheese, peppered thick slice bacon-wrapped jalapenos, premium all beef hotdogs and DJ's jalapeno boudain! Yum!

The My Lai 4 Massacre in Vietnam - Pinkville

Lt. William Calley finally apologized for the killing of "22 civilians" at the hamlet known as My Lai 4, better known to the soldiers who were there, as Pinkville.

I've followed this incident over the years and the truth of the matter is that Calley and others murdered over 500 civilians (according to most informed sources) and thoroughly and cold-bloodedly wiped out, tortured and raped the village to total destruction. 26 soldiers out of all of the unit were tried in court, but only Calley was convicted and then secretly released. Most all of the soldiers did not take part in the killing, but Calley was the ring leader and his Capt. (Medina) if I remember right was totally complaisant. He was witnessed shooting civilians with a hand gun out of the helicopter.

After these soldiers herded civilians into a ditch, they threw grenades and shot all of the people, then sat down and ate lunch. I put Calley almost in the same league as Jane Fonda for deplorable behavior. Makes me sick to my stomach. This is just one of the reasons my Dad told me to never do anything "over there" that you will regret for the rest of your life and the same advice I gave my son.

This is an incident every American should never forget.

It’s Been a Hot One!

“It’s hotter than fusion” was a favored saying of my late father-in-law, Willard Reneau and this year he would have said it often. I don’t have research material handy on this year’s summer temperatures, but it seems like it has been hotter than what has been normal. Normal. What does that even mean in Baytown and the Texas Gulf Coast?

One of my brothers, TJ Bustem, has finally had enough and has openly declared that he “ain’t doing anything more outside” until this dadgum heat falls off to something bearable. It’s been hot and humid and since it hasn’t been raining like normal, where is all this humidity coming from anyway? I reckon it’s the Gulf. TJ Bustem is one of those rare people who ride a bike a hundred miles and is a ride Marshal for the MS-150 and when he says it’s too hot to ride, it’s too hot.

I have a secret source that tells me TJ is still riding, but he’s mad because it’s so hot. I know it’s slowed me down on hiking, biking and trekking. I love being outside and I love the sunshine and believe it or not, I love the hot temperatures, but enough already!

My Shih Tzu doggie doesn’t like it either and my yard looks like a lawn in Mogadishu. Well, like I think a lawn over in Somalia would look like - minus the burned out cars and tires. My water bill has almost hit two hundred bucks as we struggle to keep our landscaping alive and these nightly faux rainstorms are getting on my nerves also. Who do I talk to to get some rain over in Chaparral Village? I have some new trees to grow, thanks to Hurricane Ike and this smattering of rain drops ain’t gonna get it.

After years and years of sacrifice, we put in a beautiful pool last year and thanks to the radiant heat from our nearest star, it has become a giant sauna. I’m thinking of throwing a hundred and forty four eggs in there and boil them cheaply for next Easter. It’s so hot I’m putting an ice cube under each arm before I jump in and replacing them before they melt (in less than five minutes).

For the first summer I can remember, I am switching my car A/C to recirculation, rather than bringing in fresh air. I always bring in fresh air to keep from having a build-up of mold spores and that dreaded smell of mildew, but even though my A/C works like a charm, it is simply not enough to keep the heat down before I get in from work.

Every fiber in me wants to shift blame to that no-good Al Gore for inventing Global Warming, but I am not a vindictive person by nature, so I refuse to give in to the urge to blame that dirt bag, or speak or write anything negative about the lout.

I’m half expecting to have a visitation by an alien predator this summer. They only show up when it’s really hot and this summer easily qualifies.

Oh! We had a Bigfoot scare at the Plant this past week! Talk about a bunch of people in an uproar. I even let out a wee, but quite masculine, scream, as embarrassing it is to admit. Turned out it was a false alarm. One of our “Winnie Boys” had taken off his shirt. My Liberty buddy wanted to throw a saddle on him.

The good news is we are now in Zone 10! We can grow tropical plants and fruits. Forever we were in Zone 9, but thanks to you-know-who, we can now safely grow the good stuff. It’s a silver lining. Okay. Thanks Al Gore. There. I said it. Dagnabbit!

JJ Mayes Wildlife Trace is Very Dry

Down at the JJ Mayes Wildlife Trace, Baytown Bert talks about how dry and quiet the Trace is and wonders if he will encounter any wild hogs on this hike.

JJ Mayes Wildlife Trace Hike

Not one to pass up an opportunity to go hiking, I spent 3 hours hiking 10 miles in the hundred degree Texas heat today at the JJ Mayes Wildlife Trace.

One Hundred and One Days

One hundred and one days ago I learned of my Army Veteran son’s untimely death.

One hundred and one days ago my bride, daughter and loving family had our hearts ripped out and our lives turned upside down. One hundred days have passed and I think we are slowly entering into the final stage of grief, which is Acceptance. I sure hope so. The last stage was a bummer.

One hundred and one days ago we entered the darkest days of our lives.

One hundred and one days ago I learned that my bride, daughter, our loving family and yes, even me are loved so much more deeply than I could have ever imagined. There has truly been a silver lining in the darkest of clouds. It hasn’t all been bad believe me. Our friends have suffered also, but spread their wings of love to comfort us in our time of profound desperation.

One hundred and one days ago my aging Dad, whom I had never seen shed a tear, looked at me, and with eyes over-flowing muttered, “Nick is the first one of us to go” and he is correct – but who could have predicted it, or even prevented his demise. I will not torment myself with conjecture.

Many hundreds of thousands of war veterans live out their lives in silence with untreated depression, taking each day as a challenge to make sense of their lives. Some are even successful in turning it around – some aren’t. I think back on comments my Iraqi Freedom decorated son made leading up to this fateful night and realize a lot of signs were there to be read and I mostly missed them.

The fourth and worst stage is Depression and it has horrors of its own. We are slowly rising above it, each of us at our own pace. My son Nick once looked at me and said point blank “I have trouble with depression”. Another time he said in a monotone “Dad, you don’t know what’s like to be in combat” and then he fell silent. Mostly he was silent and ninety per cent of what we learned about our son’s war-life came from the stories of his friends and fellow soldiers after his funeral.

One of the standout characteristics of depression, I now know well, is the inability to carry on as before. Sufferers row in circles and many times they don’t even care. Untreated, as in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be and many times is fatal.

In my own case, it has been impossible to resume my life pre-funeral. Forgive my ignorance please, but up to this point, I personally had never lost someone close to me, let alone my own child.

I have always been self-sufficient as an adult, never imposing my needs and desires extravagantly on friends, or even my own wife. I attempt to make daily progressions, both physically and mentally, studying constantly to improve myself. I work very hard at what I do. I am also my own worst critic.

One hundred and one days ago I drifted into the doldrums of progression and today I felt a slight breeze. Up until now I was fighting a downhill slide occasionally casting a last-ditch anchor to arrest my descent, but I believe I have now bottomed out. In fact I bottomed out about 2 weeks ago and that’s how I know it’s time to put on my sweats, tennis shoes and make like Rocky training to fight Apollo.

I haven’t slipped deeper in the last two weeks and that’s a good thing. I have a feeling there are more good things in my immediate future. I’m ready. It’s all up from here on out and I feel like climbing.

Folks, I have a piece of advise for you and yours concerning depression from the loss of a loved one. If you are suffering from it, understand this is normal, but not permanent. Then realize it can and does get better, but it takes determination and most of all - time. Time is the great healer. One hundred and one days so far.

Garter Snake Eats Toad 7 25 09

I filmed this today in my yard in Baytown, Texas.

Baytown Bert lets Kahns Bavarian Brand braunschweiger take him down memory lane

Braunschweiger (named after Braunschweig, Germany) is a type of liverwurst (pork liver sausage) which is nearly always smoked and is a heavy favorite of Baytown Bert, as is Dutch Lunch. Kahn's Bararian Brand is my personal favorite.