We are not the same old place anymore

I would like to say "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore", but that would sound corny, even though it's an accurate quote from The Wizard of Oz. Our tri-city community is gone forever, being replaced by an ever-emerging agglomeration of new businesses, storage units, trailer parks, apartments, and even a few new houses. We've lost that loving feeling of a small community and driving west on I-10 from Beaumont, you enter the city of Baytown and don't stop seeing what is essentially Houston until you pop out on the other side of Katy, 60 miles later.

We are being swallowed up by the expansion of Houston, as the metropolis has ran out of room north, west, and south. Mayor DonCarlos (who I have voted for at least 6 times) told us that we should plan for a quarter of a million people over the next five years or so. If you remember, I predicted a growth of 200,000 a few years ago and a couple of the local righteous curmudgeons basically called me a dreamer and a prognosticator of fake news. If my rememberer is working correctly, they both claimed there was no way Hillary could lose the election.

Well, here's a hard cold fact and maybe you've heard of it or not. Up SH-146 before you get to Dayton and almost directly across the road from the large white rice elevator, they are going to build 14,000 homes. It will be a city in size with police, fire department and a proliferation of support businesses. It is also asserted, but unconfirmed that there will be a major airport built close-by.  I'm not talking a Gum Island expansion either, but a major airline investment. More on that as it progresses.

I was at the VA Medical Center the other day and my PA was telling me about her daily commute from Manvel and how it has become a traffic jam. Well, hello! The entire Houston area has become worse than Garth road at lunch time. Fixing Garth Road will be temporary at best, as more people flood to the area. The only salvation we have is more roads. SH-146 out past Pinehurst will only be remedied when they build an elevated road from the trestle to Maranatha Temple with flyovers for I-10 east and west.

Only driverless cars, trucks and mass transit will make our roads safer when all the stop lights are removed and there is no longer a need for car insurance. Everything will be scheduled and you will get where you are going when it is time to go. What about leisure driving you ask? Maybe you will be able to push a button to take the scenic route. What scenic route? There's nothing scenic left and out in the country is, well, it's a long ways off.

I remember 25 years ago when people left Baytown to live out in the country. They chose The Woodlands. Then everyone wanted to really get out there and they moved to League City, Pearland, and Katy. Seriously? The other day we were at Red Lobster and I drove over to Ward Road and it took almost a half an hour and like Rain Man, I'm an excellent driver.

I tend to get around the entire Houston area either geocaching or visiting the gyms I cover and about the only locale that still has that hometown feel is... La Porte. The east side specifically and I find the slower pace there very refreshing. During the weekday there is almost no traffic, as folks who live there are either retired, working, or sleeping due to shift work - and there are deer over there in the woods near Wharton Weems Boulevard.

Am I being critical of Baytown or its planners?  No, I don't mean to sound like I am. It is what it is and Houston has to grow somewhere. What I am suggesting is we be very careful how we go about accommodating all these new people and businesses. It is far too late to be anything approximating a planned community, but we can be smart about what we allow to be built. I've heard the question raised one time too many of just how many storage units, donut shops, cookie-cutter apartment complexes, and taquerias do we need and yet these very establishments are under construction right now.

It is also extremely important to maintain green spaces and enforce landscaping rules. Expanding the court-driven community service to do more and longer litter abatement punishment would be a positive and encouraging more community efforts toward improving our image would be wonderful. We can indeed take our tri-city area and make it not only better looking, but a draw for quality newcomers by progressive planning.

Like it or not, we are now a major city. Stop griping about Garth Road because we have more Garth Roads coming and Kansas is gone forever.

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Quit Pussyfooting Around With Terrorism

For some time now, authorities have been reluctant to label anyone as a terrorist until it has definitively been proved that they are affiliated with a known terrorist group.  They would rather be as politically correct and simply label them as a deranged person acting alone. They feel safer doing this I guess. Safer for their reputation, safer for their voting base, safer in that it won’t offend any particular group, and thus causes division in the logical masses that know terror when they see it.

From serial killers to gang warfare to random acts of violence, all of them instill a sense of terror in law abiding citizens.  Terrorism is the old boogeyman reincarnated.  In case you are young enough to not remember who this character is, I’ll educate you.  The bogeyman was a mythical creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior.  He or it could take on most any appearance and would get you if you went where you shouldn’t.

Bill de Blasio

Anyone who hides bombs or goes on a shooting/stabbing spree represents the kind of threat which disrupts the government’s ability to maintain law and order, and thus is terrorism by definition.  New York City’s mayor was so reluctant to call it what it was that he wiggled around the subject.  He has since safely announced that it was indeed an act of terror to his feeble credit.  Hillary Clinton took the same cautious approach and our President, although is quick to point out the smallest injustice to Muslims and people of his own race, was silent as a Texas oyster.  He was also silent and absent when Louisiana flooded, choosing golf and pleasure over domestic issues.

US Army Major Nidal Hasan

Remember when the militant Muslim US Army Major Nidal Hasan began shooting unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood and shouting Allahu Akbar?  Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he should have been shot and shot again until he looked like a colander.  But where is he now?  “Investigators in the FBI and U.S. Army determined that Hasan acted alone and they have found no evidence of links to terrorist groups. They are satisfied that his communications with Awlaki posed no threat at the time.” Wiki

The traitor is incarcerated at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on death row and will probably gain about 40 pounds of fat eating more than he can exercise off until he is eventually put to death, if ever.  “On August 28, 2014, his attorney said Hasan had written a letter to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (head of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). In the letter, Hasan requested to be made a citizen of the Islamic State and included his signature and the abbreviation SoA (Soldier of Allah)” wiki

It is sad that so many of us down here in blue collar America plainly see terrorism for what it is and our leaders are more interested in side-stepping the issue than making the call. It simply adds to the list of reasons we would like to clean house in Washington.  When the US Army cannot enforce the UCMJ on something as monstrous as Nidal Hasan, there is little hope for America as it was fifty years ago.  Under George Washington’s command, he would never have left that cafeteria alive and the 13 people he murdered would be at peace, as would their families. 

Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi

Terrorists are the ultimate proxy bullies and the apex of cowardice. They lurk in the shadows for the most part and then kill randomly and this scares law-abiding citizens and it should. The only way to stop them is to fight back and when they are caught red-handed, justice should be swift and brutal.  When they pull these acts in Russia, their punishment is immediate and it sends a very strong message to the next guy or gal who enlists in this aberrant and perverted behavior.

The list of Islamic terrorist acts around the world is staggering and growing every single day. One fellow on the BaytownTalks.net forum noted that there is a deliberate attempt by our government to salve over these incidents as normal every day acts and nothing to worry about. What? Tell that to someone who lost a family member to a bomb or a knife. It all becomes real when someone you know is killed or maimed.

In the White House we apparently have a President who is hell bent on bringing in more Islamists than care for military Veterans or seniors on Social Security in this country. Almost every day we read where he is demanding we flood the country with more Muslims and yet, the huge bulk of terrorism around the world is being caused by people with that religious belief. He doesn’t make the connection or maybe he does.

We Texans don’t want a police state, we want freedom. We don’t want to fear for our lives at the hands of terrorists, as we already have that with criminals. We will continue to arm ourselves and go about our business with the same caution we’ve learned to accept as normal. In the meantime, our leaders need to call terrorism for what it is and quit pussyfooting around.

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