Monthly Archives: September 2009

(Community Matters) Nice article on the work of our dearest friend, Dr. Leslie Jarmon

(Community Matters)

Sinton’s San Patricio County Courthouse

Tim, the tine man

Ray, was selling this goat ($60, 8mos old & ready to breed) & the chickens

Kenedy, Tx
3,487 people, 1,266 households, and 907 families
Hispanic or Latino 65% of the population
named for Mifflin Kenedy, who bought acres and wanted to develop a new town that would carry his name. In the early 1900s many of Kenedy’s gunfighter’s shooting caused the town to be nicknamed “Six Shooter Junction.”

Christ United Methodist Church (Stockdale)

Tiny Texas Houses
I toured the houses on site with Tim

I’d planned to buy at City Market in Luling but it and Kreutz & Smitty’s (Lockhart) closed on Sunday – well Smitty’s closed at 3pm

I’ve long admired this house on hwy 183, between Lockhart and Austin

(Community Matters) Planning my route home today, realizing I can pick up dinner and maybe even a back house along the way. Not really the latter but something tells me there is one in our future.

Luling, Tx – Luling City Market for great BBQ and Tiny Texas Houses

(Community Matters) According to our friend Jim Roth, the monarchs are in OKC, that means in Austin when? I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they visit our back back yard again. For a couple of years, there were millions back there for a couple to three days. I fear due to some tree thinning, it might not be as hospitable an enviornment though. gotta look this up and see if anything I can do to attract them.

(Community Matters)

(Community Matters) I remember the public hearings and shouting matches as AISD debated comprehensive sex-education programs. It’s been 15 years, and I’m pleased to see we are tacking back to the center – away from Just Say No to practical programs which continue to acknowledge abstinence is the surest, safest way and which also teach responsible pregnancy and STD prevention practices for those who chose to be sexually active. We’ve wasted a lot of money and ineffectively empowered our kids during the last 15 years.

(Community Matters) Wow, I was really digging the story then:

The children will live in their father’s house until they marry, and they will be virgins. Their first kiss will be when the preacher says, “You may kiss the bride.” We forget, Bruce Collie says, that really used to mean something.

yet

You might be judging Bruce and Holly Collie right now. They’re used to it. . . . But if you meet them and their children, you cannot say they are not raising loving, respectful and well-behaved people — so well-behaved that when you first meet them, they will line up from eldest to youngest and introduce themselves.

(Community Matters)

(Community Matters) Charles Blow on BHO’s batting stats

According to Gallup poll results released on Wednesday, the president’s approval rating has stopped falling and has leveled out in the low-50 percents, about the same as Ronald Reagan’s and Bill Clinton’s at this point in their presidencies (both two-termers, lest we forget).

His leadership in these forums [United Nations & G-20 Summit] to tighten the screws on Iran for its nuclear programs project a presidential certitude and sense of steel and authority that was sorely needed and sorely missed.

a rash of recent terror arrests has sent the signal that the aggressive pursuit of terror suspects remains a top priority.

[Wall Street Journal/NBC News] Those who disapprove of the way that Republicans are handling the health care debate outnumbered those who approved of their behavior by a margin of more than 3 to 1.

(Community Matters) Tana, Joe & Jim Christie taking a leisurely drive back to Boston. This from Tana today from their lunch in Moncton, New Brunswick.

(Community Matters) I’d missed this mention of Glimmer of Hope founder Philip Berber in the WSJ’s online edition – “one of the stars [of this year's Clinton Global Initiative] is Philip Berber.” Philip & Donna’s foundation does extraordinary work in Ethiopia. I haven’t spent much time with Philip lately but years past caught up on plans and successes a couple to three times per year. About time we caught up again.

(Community Matters) A dear friend sent me this link to Charlie Rose’s interview of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s long, and it’s an enlightening view of Netanyahu’s philosophical and strategic evolution since previously in office. I’m impressed by the clarity and specificity of his position – appears he’s used his time out of office gaining perspective on the successes and failures of his predecessors.

here

Some notes from his inteview – not to be confused with quotes

the simple question: will you recognize the State of Israel, as the nation state of the Jewish people?

looking for the other side to say, if they get a Palestinian state, “it’s over. We’ll cease the conflict, cease all claims against Israel and make a permanent peace with the Jewish state

vs not to end the conflict but to perpetuate for better terms

a desire, hunger for peace on behalf of Israelis – must include guaranteed cease of conflict and that the Palestinian state won’t further the conflict

two conditions for peace: 1) recognition for the Jewish state and 2) must be demilitarized – Israel controlling borders and air space

a strong Palestinian state is in our interest

Peace stands on three legs 1) legitimacy, 2) security, 3) prosperity

believes that prosperity helps peace; used to believe it was the other way around, that peace brought prosperity

have reduced the number of checkpoints in the West Bank from 147 to 14

what is the problem here? the territories taken by Israel in 1967 are the result of the Arab aggression against Israel, not the cause