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Perry and the N-head controversy: At least a chance to learn geography

The controversy over the seemingly offensive name of a ranch leased by Gov. Rick “Goodhair” Perry’s family has brought at least a little interest in U.S. Geography.

A media search for “Niggerhead,” while unsuccessful so far, has not lacked in intensity. Huffington Post reports news folks scoured the area near Paint Creek, Texas — where Perry grew up — all wanting to score the first “interview with a rock.” The boulder-sized object was painted with the words which was an object of offense to a fellow Republican seeking the GOP nomination for president. That candidate is Herman Cain, an African-American businessman best known for founding Godfather’s Pizza. The stone is is now likely hidden on the ranch, perhaps rolled away by angels. Why not? Perry seems in need of all his base he can gather right now.

The Perry side says the rock was there when they leased the ranch in the early 80s. I take their word for it. A lot of folks in different parts of Texas weren’t very sensitive about a lot of things back then. That is about the most I can say, even though I think Rick Perry is perhaps the worst thing to happen to Texas since Gee Dubya Bush became president.

But at least the awareness of geography from all of this unattractive hoopla is one bright spot. When I speak of an interest in geography, I mean media such as “The Daily Show” pointing out a number of places and land features in the U.S. with names now seen as culturally incorrect. One mentioned on the Jon Stewart fake news show was near where I live in Southeast Texas.

As I have related here before a road was named in our own, rural Jefferson County, for the Japanese rice farmers who settled that particular area. It was once called “Jap Road” but eventually Japanese-American citizens found that name offensive and eventually applied enough pressure that the county’s commissioners changed the name.

Still, plenty other spots exist in Texas and elsewhere with names which might otherwise smack of racial or cultural insensitivity. One place comes to mind when I think of such places — the tiny community of Nigton, in Trinity County — even though it was settled and named by former slaves.

Nigton is the proverbial crossroads town at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 2262 and 2501. Nigton was about 20 miles from where I once ran a small-town newspaper in the early 90s. I went through Nigton a few times although I can’t remember why. I wasn’t surprised as maybe I should have been, I suppose, that the community was populated by African-Americans.

Former slave and civic leader Jeff Carter suggested the name for the town after it was settled in 1873, this according to the Handbook of Texas Online. At its peak, Nigton boasted a sawmill, churches and a school along with a population of about 500. Fewer than 90 people lived there in 2000.

The name Nigton and how it suggests cultural relativity leaves me about as confused as does the moniker for the Perry hunting lease. Still, past surveys have found high numbers of young Americans geographically illiterate so I suppose us at least talking about places in our country is something positive. Maybe someone can relate to that.

 

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It’s no misprint and no time warp. It’s the new USS Spruance.

A headline I spotted a short time ago on the Navy Times Website declaring: “Destroyer Spruance commissioned in Key West” certainly gave me quite a start. For awhile, since I was pursuing another article of interest, I didn’t know whether I was in a time warp or had caught some kind of unusual online news site blunder.

I was confused because I seemed to remember that the destroyer U.S.S. Spruance had been decommissioned some time back and was sunk in a missile test. This is an end that, sadly, comes to more and more of our warships which have supposedly outlived their usefulness. The one and only ship on which I sailed lies in 400 fathoms on the Pacific floor some 150 miles West of San Diego thanks to such weapons testing back in 1982.

The newly-commissioned guided missile destroyer USS Spruance, DDG-111. US Navy photo by MC2 Michael K. McNabb

My ship, the U.S.S. Agerholm, and the destroyer Spruance, seemed so linked together in time since the “Aggie” was the oldest destroyer on active duty when it was decommissioned in 1978. The Spruance was the first of a new “Spruance class” or “900-class” of destroyer which would replace the World War II-era destroyers of which the Aggie was the last to serve actively.

But it turns out that the headline I read today was right even though I still find myself feeling as if I am in a bit of a time warp. The U.S.S. Spruance, the newest Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, was put into active service after a Saturday twilight ceremony in Key West.

A ship’s hull number — for those who don’t know much about naval vessels — further identify a ship and also gives a clue as to its history. Hull numbers are preceded by two or three letters which tell the ship type. Destroyers of the past were DD, as the Agerholm was DD-826. The first destroyer Spruance was DD-963. These are sometimes but not always sequential numbers. But the Agerholm was launched in 1946. The DD-963 Spruance was placed in action in 1975. The new Arleigh Burke-class are called guided missile destroyer, with a DDG hull identification.  The ship classification of DDG sets it apart from the older DDs which relied primarily on big guns for armament where the newer ship relies on a variety of missiles.

Actually, the older ships did not rely strictly on guns. The Agerholm also had torpedoes which were eventually fired as anti-submarine rockets (ASROC) from a vertical launcher. The Aggie is known for firing the first nuclear-tipped ASROC in 1962, which happened during testing in the South Pacific. The destroyer Spruance had two 5-inch guns, or cannons, somewhat similar to the two 5-inchers on the Agerholm. But the DD-963 was also capable of launching Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile, the Harpoon anti-ship missile, the Tomahawk cruise missile as well as ASROCs and sported the Phalanx close-in-weapons system. The latter incorporates electronics and weaponry such as 20-mm Gatlin guns to provide a weapon of last defense against a variety of incoming threats.

The new DDG has one 5-inch gun — which still can pack quite a wallop — along with an assortment of new computer-guided missiles. The newest Spruance also has some innovations in its construction and engineering. It likewise uses the stealth technology that is seen in the ships of its class.

I can only guess the newer ship has more creature comforts than my old tin can had. Even the DD-963 had more individual space for sleeping in berthing areas than did the old canvas-hammock type “racks” we had for our nod time.

It is still kind of hard to imagine in retrospect that the “old” Spruance served 30 years at sea before being retired. She, as Navy ships are known as, was sunk in 2006.

One might still ask why, after only five years that the DD-963 has been under water, would the Navy name another ship the Spruance? Is it part of the 80s nostalgia fad? You know, as with the movies and their rampant remakes. Why, another “Footloose” will be released next week, for heaven’s sake!

Actually, the two ships’ namesake was a heralded figure in World War II naval history although perhaps not to the extent of the four fleet admirals the war produced, most notably Chester Nimitz and William “Bull” Halsey. Adm. Raymond Spruance played a large part in a number of the naval and marine operations in the Pacific including leading a task force during the Battle of Midway. He was also commander of the fleet in the Central Pacific, or Fifth Fleet, during the middle of the war. Spruance was named ambassador to The Philippines in the early 1950s by President Eisenhower.

In short, even though the Navy now wears essentially the same battle dress uniform that makes it hard to tell sailor from soldier from airman, it still is steeped in tradition. And perhaps more so than the rest of the services with the possible exception of maybe the Marine Corps, which is likewise a part of the naval service.

Thus, I guess in the “Navy way” it is fitting that the fleet not sail for very long without a Spruance.

 

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An afternoon shot to hell except for the dog photo

List this. Everywhere one goes on the Internets is where a list can be found. The “Top 10 Cities for Romance.” “The Top 15 Scenic Municipal Sewage Treatment Plants.” “The 20 Places Where Paris Hilton’s Wimpy Little Chihuahua ‘Tinkerbell’ Bit Someone.”

The Bluetick Coonhound pictured is not a wimpy little dog, by the way. I just thought I’d mention that seeing as how my painter, as in paintings, friend Teddy asked my preference in hunting dogs. I explained to her that I no longer hunt — nothing against hunting other than my lack of patience — and I never used a dog for hunting, but my favorite hunting dogs is the bluetick. I mean, come on, who couldn’t love a bluetick except for maybe Tinkerbell? But I think a bluetick might like a nervous little Chihuahua. A little friend to play with. Awwww. Well, maybe not.

That is why lists are used so extensively by Internet publications — because they have nothing else of intelligence to say — like this list on the financial site 24/7 Wall St. titled “The Eight Beers Americans No Longer Drink.” Or the sports read Bleacher Report which examines the “50 Worst NFL Coaches of All Time.” I won’t give away Numero Cincuenta but the coach’s name is reminiscent either of a small Texas border town or the name of a 70s and 80s porn star.

Realizing the immense significance of lists on the Internet — I even got paid for one or two — I proudly present for this Friday afternoon’s viewing pleasure:

“Mr. EFD’s Big Freakin’ List of Vacuousness.”

1. Congressman arrested while double-clutching a paradigm shift.

2. Shrimp on a stick, crabs on a bed.

3. Pompous naked guy says a lot about little.

4. “Four jack rabbits are sliding up the flagpole, Marge.”

5. To dial “15” press 1-5. To dial 1-5, press 1. To dial 1, press 5. To dial 5, press 1. To hear this message in eastern Scandinavian press the pound sign. To hear this message again, dial “15.”

6. Gerald lived a life of quiet desperation during the 25 years, 7 months and 10 days it took him to program his remote control.

7. Sandy idolized Marilyn Monroe until the day she stood waiting above a helicopter’s rotor for her white cocktail dress to blow above her knees.

8. The noted proctologist and amateur hockey player is being sued for malpractice after allegedly leaving his hockey stick, socks, skates and puck inside the patient during surgery.

9. Nothing’s impossible I have found. Except when I am mugged by a clown. I pick myself up. Dust myself off. And spend a year on my analyst’s couch.

10. “Then the fish came alive, with his death in him, and rose high out of the water showing all his great length and width and all his power and his beauty. He seemed to hang in the air above the old man in the skiff. Then the old man shook his head and looked down into the chair where his patient was having a root canal. The old man thought to himself: ‘I think I just used up the laughing gas.’ “

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Rain: Smells good. Bank of America debit card fees: Putrid.

My bank, Bank of America, will begin charging a $5 monthly debit card usage fee on some accounts beginning in January. I had to go to the bank so I asked the person who screens the customers if my account was going to be one of those on which a fee was placed. The bank person looked up my account and said “yes.” That is probably because the charges will mostly fall on its least wealthy customers.

Although I was calm and civil about it, I gave that BOA person a piece of my mind about her company. The linked story above from Bloomberg explains the fee better than I could but in essence it seems that since BOA made such a mess of their affairs recently it decided to take it out on their customers. If you want to see why Bank of America is in so much disarray here is a good explanation. The shorter answer would be “greed.” I am sure some, such as a good friend who works for BOA, would disagree. But that is what I see as the honest answer.

I have experienced other difficulties with my bank over the past seven years during which I have had an account. Actually, I had a checking account with them for almost a year in the late 1980s. That was before “online banking” such as the account I now have. So, I am seriously searching for another financial institution. I use that term instead of bank because I am researching credit unions. We have a ton of those in this area that have been in business for years, so they must have done something right. We shall see.

In the meantime, a few thunderstorms/showers have slipped into Southeast Texas from the lakes area in the north to the coast. A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued until 4 p.m. in east central Jefferson county and western Orange County as well as parts of Cameron Parish, La. The NWS says a storm was detected a short time ago capable of producing winds in excess of 60 mph and dime-sized hail between Bridge City and Vidor. If you don’t live in these areas, I suppose it doesn’t mean much, if anything at all, to you.

There was nothing like that here in Beaumont but we have had some thunder and nice rainfall for a little while. I stepped out to see it rain like I normally do in these drought-stricken days. I also took in the fresh smell of the rain, which like the somewhat different smell before it rains, is a great natural wonder.

My ability to appreciate the smell before, during and after rains all increased — as did the ability to detect other smells and better distinguish different tastes — after I quit smoking.  If you have not smoked as long as I did, for almost 30 years, and quit (11 years next month!) it might be difficult to believe how much cigarettes can deprive a person’s senses.

The work done at the behest of the government by the area’s chemical plants to clean up the air also help somewhat in smelling the floral essence during and after rains. That isn’t always the case. Those days and evenings especially when the area is enveloped by a heavy mist can still make for some stinky air although I would say in general the worst smell still comes from the Mead Westvaco paper mill about 20 miles to the northeast. The mill, which has changed owners a few times, has produced an unfavorable odor for as long as I can remember. That includes during the time when I was growing up and living 40 miles from the plant. I mean, the smell isn’t a continual presence, but does stink on occasions.

But nonetheless, the smell before it rains, when it rains and after it rains are among my simplest pleasures. The redolence depends on where one happens to be at the time such as in an urban setting, for instance, as where I live or in a rural area out in the fields or forests. Certain forms of bacteria can be released from the ground during rain. Odoriferant gases can also rise from trees and plants when rained upon or during extremely humid times. Rain also releases oil from city streets during rainstorms. So if you have an ability to smell, or at least to smell things fairly well, one can detect rain before it even starts sometimes.

A few drops are still falling outside. These rains and the lack of any decent rainfall for, I don’t know how long but too long, make me want the rain to just continue. I would love to see it rain into the night and into tomorrow. Nothing heavy, mind you, just steady. I’m not greedy, like my bank.

 

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Something to ponder during the listeria outbreak

Reading about the current deadly listeria outbreak that may have killed as many as 16 in the U.S. so far reminds me of visits to Third-World countries when I was a young sailor.

My shipmates and I during port visits in places like Subic Bay and Jakarta would get — and I know this might be hard to believe — two-to-three sheets to the wind and seek out some late-night food before heading back to the ship. Often the chow would be something barbecued on a stick — like monkey or pork or don’t ask, don’t care. This was despite all the warnings we got about food safety while visiting foreign countries. What can I say? At least we were drinking beer and not the water.

I never got sick once from eating the local food on my seven-month deployment. I got sick as a dog from a Hickory Farms ham my folks sent me. It’s best I don’t describe the illness because just the description alone might leave you with one of the symptoms I experienced. Eeeeee! Fortunately, the illness only struck me overnight. I suppose the toxins found no safe haven to hide once my body completed expelling everything from everywhere.

Perhaps the fact that I was 21 or 22 years old helped stave off the food-borne-illness-on-a-stick I may have otherwise experienced on those late night din-dins on Magsaysay Drive in OIangapo or wherever the hell I was in Jakarta.

Nowadays I might not fare so well at 55 and sporting a few bodily glitches, with either foreign street food or even something from the tasty samples in my local supermarket.

The outbreak from listeria is the worst such “multi-state” food-borne illness in quite awhile. Even though the CDC knows the origin — the cantaloupes from Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo., — the agency has not yet discovered or released what caused the outbreak. There are a number of possible reasons for the disease just as a myriad of foods can carry the illness.

I spent about five years reporting on and writing about water pollution caused by large dairy farms. Now, I can’t say with certainty that I know if any of those farms ever caused listeria. The big issue with which I was tasked to write so much about cow crap was nutrients — phosphorus in particular — fed to the cattle. Heavy rains and the use of manure as fertilizer contributed to runoff that fueled spectacular algal growth downstream. This could cause all kinds of problems for cities that got their water from this particular river. The water tasted like crap, figuratively speaking.

Such pollution can cause listeria. It is not the only cause. And it isn’t a simple issue with a simple solution. Dairy farmers today, as is the case with other types of food production, are wrapped up in “economics of scale.” That means in the simplest and crudest of explanations, that certain factors cause a producer’s average cost per unit to fall as the scale of output is increased. In dairy farming or beef production, one needs more animals to survive in the marketplace. But there is only so much space for such large-scale production so an assembly-line type operation becomes necessary. Hence the pejorative term used by environmental activists “factory farming.”

Now I like milk and milk products. I am crazy about cheeses. Oh how I love cheeses. But I probably should go easy on cheese and I’ve never been a great milk drinker. I use non-fat milk for my cereal. Every now and then I like a well-crafted (by me) White Russian. Of course, even though milk gives the drink its name it is the vodka that makes it an adult beverage and the Kahlúa which provides the taste. That said, the sometimes humorous and sometimes heart-tugging California dairy farmer TV commercials give me heartburn.

The image of the pastoral setting for the contented dairy cow and the good wholesome Anglo-American farmers who proclaim their dairy is a “family farm” is more often than not, a misleading picture. The dairy industry certainly isn’t spending the big loot on these TV spots for fun. Big dairies seem to leave a wake of pollution battles everywhere they go.

It is very, very difficult to compete in the dairy business without a whole bunch, hundreds, of cows. Sure, these farms are owned by families most of the time but the business model includes large-scale cooperatives and some dairies are even owned by large corporations.

Listeria is just one of the diseases that can be spread by today’s big-time farming. I’m not saying it caused this outbreak. We don’t know the answer to that  yet. I certainly don’t do the bidding for PETA or vegans, even though they have their right to their opinions. I like meat. It’s good to eat. As is its byproducts. Nevertheless, water pollution endangers lives of people: you, your kids, your grandkids even your cows and favorite cow dog. If you are anti-government that’s fine. But this is a problem that doesn’t appear it will be solved in the market place. That is, unless your solution is for most of your customers to die.