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Can I interest you in a proposition?

Texas has one of the longest state constitutions in the country. One might expect that in a state so large and rambling where all is supposedly “bigger” or so goes the old saw. The current constitution is rooted in ending Reconstruction in the state and thus requires each time a child is born in Texas the document must be altered in order to allow that newborn citizenship. Weird huh? Well, that is certainly an exaggeration but the constitution has been amended by voters almost 460 times. A fresh new batch of 11 amendments await voters’ passage during the Nov. 3 general election. Early voting is already under way for those propositions.

A guide giving a varied view of the proposed amendments has been furnished by the ever-informative liberal blog, the Burnt Orange Report. One may take a look-see for all 11 props. But here are a few I wish to cuss (actually, no) and discuss:

Props–Props or No Props?

  • Proposition 4 — Establishing a National Research University Fund

WHAT: This would help provide funding for new potential “Tier 1” universities in Texas in addition to the present two, University of Texas and Texas A & M University. VERDICT: Undecided. I still need to answer a few questions before supporting this. I would like to see more top research universities in Texas but I also want some of the smaller state schools such as the one from which I graduated to remain viable.

  • Proposition 8 — Allowing the State to Contribute Resources to Veterans Hospitals

WHAT: This would put into the constitution the authority for the state and local partners to join the VA in establishing new veterans hospitals. VERDICT: For. I am cynical about the motivation for this becoming an amendment since I have seen at ground level how invested local communities as well as state and national politicians are in attaining and keeping VA medical facilities. VA hospitals, even outpatient clinics are a welcome item for any city and not just for the veterans who need and use them. Like other government facilities they furnish jobs and income to the places in which they are built. That is not a bad thing. But these medical centers should be number one about the veteran in action and not just in words (a.k.a. dollars and cents). Nonetheless, there are largely-populated areas of Texas such as in the Rio Grande Valley and Corpus Christi which are in need of VA inpatient facilities. This is why I support the prop.

  • Proposition 9 — Establishing the Right to Use and to Access Public Beaches

WHAT: This proposed amendment would allow an unrestricted right for accessing public beaches in Texas. This would also let the state to protect beaches and its easements from encroachment even if storms or erosion causes the beach to shift under houses or businesses. VERDICT: For. The beaches and their approaches belong to the public and should remain that way.

  • Proposition 11 — Restricting the Use of Eminent Domain for Taking Property for Public Projects

WHAT: This proposition, if approved, would by constitutional edict prohibit private property to be taken by eminent domain laws for economic development means or enhancing tax revenues. VERDICT: For. There are loopholes in this prop which I hope will eventually be addressed but I think it is a good start. A two-thirds vote by the Legislature would be required for granting the power of eminent domain. This amendment won’t stop eminent domain abuse, such as was seen in building George W. Bush’s Texas Rangers Ball Park at Arlington or Jerry Jones’ Cowboys Stadium in the same city. Those monuments to commerce had a lot of public support, of course. But perhaps Prop 11 can somewhat curtail the abuse.

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Tired? Turn to the obit page.

Three matters bothered me this morning when I traveled to the Houston VA hospital for an EMG, nerve test, on my feet and legs. Nothing that was a bother had anything directly to do with the test.

First I woke at 4:50  a.m. I did so to catch the shuttle van from the local outpatient clinic to the hospital. As it turned out — my being the filling between almost 500 pounds of veteran sandwich in the van ride — my own drive to Houston with morning rush hour traffic and all might have turned out to have been more pleasant had I driven my truck instead. So the hour at which I awoke, the uncomfortable ride to the hospital and dealing with some of the VA’s most accomplished bureaucratic assh**es while trying to work out another matter completely were what made my day much less than perfect.

The EMG itself, performed by a friendly doc with a heavy Latino accent wasn’t really much of a problem at all considering I would get my legs or feet shocked from time-to-time. The shocks weren’t like getting shocked when one grabs hold of a live wire. Believe me. Been there done that — ow, ow s**t!!!

Mostly it was the early morning rise that got to me. Even though I somehow managed to sleep most of the way back from Houston sitting upright in the van, I still feel halfway dead. As such, it is most appropriate that I pay tribute here to a great man whose obituary I noticed today.

Many may not recognize the name Vic Mizzy right off, unless you watched the running gag with the television credits which opened the 1960s TV comedy “Green Acres.”  Mizzy, who died in Los Angeles Saturday at 93, wrote the theme for Eddie Albert-Eva Gabor farce. The Gabor character would make some bizarre comment about the opening credits which would feature Mizzy or other crew’s names, something one would hardly if ever see on any other TV show or movie.

But it was probably another of Mizzy’s TV songs which is more widely known, however, that being the theme of the “Addams Family,” complete with the song’s finger snaps.

True, Mizzy may not have cured cancer or polio, or have won a Nobel Prize (no comment please). But some of his songs help us remember some of the zaniest TV programming that aired during a time that cried out for hilarity, the 1960s. Those themes remain catchy and appealing today.

Snap, snap. Keep Manhattan just give me that countryside …

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Back from vaca and waiting to see what we shall see

 It was nice to have a week off from work and the everyday routine. I managed to travel to Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas last week although the latter was actually the spot in which I spent time. I flew into Memphis and crossed into Missouri a week ago Sunday while my friend searched for a gas station to her liking.

 Getting out of town, away from work, seeing one of my best friends, flying somewhere and looking at the world from miles above all  are worthwhile pursuits though not all are always restful. Returning to work from vacation  likewise isn’t all that as well, especially when a hectic week stares back at you.

 The work week isn’t so hectic. It’s the getting up however early tomorrow to catch the shuttle by 5:30-6 a.m. from the local VA clinic to the Houston VA hospital. Yes, I could drive, but I don’t like to deal with morning traffic when I don’t have to do so. I am going to the DeBakey hospital for an electromyogram, a.k.a. an EMG. That is a test that “measures the electrical activity of muscles at rest and during contraction. Nerve conduction studies measure how well and how fast the nerves can send electrical signals,” according to WebMD. EMGs and nerve conduction studies are used for testing various conditions including carpal tunnel syndrome, neuromuscular diseases, herniated discs and neuropathies. In my case, it is the latter.

 For the past six months my feet have felt at times as if my toes were growing out of my shoes. Plus, I get numb toes or toes that ache to the lightest of touch or just a throbbing pain as if someone was nailing my feet to the floor. Hopefully, the VA people will find out what is causing this through their studies. I already take Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug that is also used for conditions such as neuropathies and fibromyalgia. I have had mixed success with the drugs so far.

 To cap off an otherwise hectic week, I plan on attending a 35-year high school reunion this weekend. The reunion or reunions, actually, are not one solid event it seems but one get together followed by another. It’s no official, organized thing, which quite possibly will make it more fun than dread.

  So here I am back, not quite ready to take on the evil world of the ultra-ultra-ultra conservatives or to take the left-left-left wing to task nor am I ready to dive into what the president I voted for is doing. But as I stated above, that doesn’t mean I am just sitting on my arse and playing that old familiar tune.

 I am back and as far as the week ahead and how it goes, we shall see what we shall see.

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In slugdom, oblivious to runaway nouns

It seems as if once in awhile American society has to have some sort of ridiculous news event to focus upon. The “Runaway Bride” comes to mind.

The latest sensation is the “Runaway Balloon” in Colorado. I suppose we just like the thought of people, places or things running away because we are stuck in our own day-to-day routines.

You can read all about it, see the family and pictures and videos of the balloon on You Tube in order to obsess your little hearts out.

That is what has been so great about being out of town, out of state and out of the same old-same old this week. I haven’t done anything special except watch my friend’s German shepherd puppy get into tons of mischief. But it’s nice to be a slug sometimes. Tomorrow, it’s off to Memphis to catch a plane back to Houston, one of those “regional jets” which looks and feels like a shrunken DC-9. Does anyone remember them? But it flies and has seats, thus it qualifies for what Stevie “Guitar” Miller called a “big ol’ jet airliner.”

Until the next post. Here’s looking achoo. Bless you.

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Town name apparently not linked to amphibian abuse

Since I have been vacationing in Arkansas I have pondered the origin of the oddly-named Toad Suck, Ark.

Now I don’t plan on visiting Toad Suck anytime soon, but I was interested in just how the town got that name. And bless Al Gore’s heart for inventing the Internet, I found one explanation.

It seems that when steamboats cruised the Arkansas River the captains would tie up when the water wasn’t at a favorable depth at as spot that now is occupied by Toad Suck Lock and Dam. While awaiting better waters the captains would visit a local tavern and “suck on a bottle ’til they swell up like toads,” according to the Web site of Cory and Jill Imboden. The couple are 2009 co-chairs of Toad Suck Daze, which is a 3-day festival in Conway, Ark., that benefits educational scholarships.

That is a much better explanation — the Toad Suck name origin — than I had envisioned. I saw perhaps toads being used for nefarious purposes such as people who lick certain hallucinogenic frogs as described in this article from Pennsylvania.

Of course, those steamboat captains might have seen objects which weren’t really there, pink elephants come to mind, after binging on rot gut for an extended period. But I suppose that is an entirely different matter altogether.