Statewide

Does 55 Save Lives? And Gas?

AUSTIN — With a state the size of Texas, getting from point A to point B can be time-consuming.

gas bigDuring the Nixon years, with Arab oil embargoes in place, it became illegal to drive 70 mph, the former standard. The new speed limit was 55 mph. A common slogan was “55 Saves Lives,” which was printed and broadcast everywhere in the Lone Star State.

Another offering was that the reduced speed saved on fuel, which was the reason for the change to 55 mph in maximum speed on Texas roadways. Waiting lines were common at gasoline stations and quite often the pumps were empty. Slowing down was the patriotic thing to do.

Today in Texas, the speed limit is commonly 75 mph, often going up to 85 mph in some areas, what with an abundance of extremely expensive fuel.

According to various officials, driving at 55 mph is considered safer, although it takes longer to reach a destination and it infuriates other drivers who are in a hurry and are traveling at the speed limit or beyond. In Texas, motorists tend to exceed the speed limit in droves.

As far as fuel savings goes, several sources, including the San Francisco Chronicle, have indicated that fuel economy drops about one percent for every mile-per-hour increase in speed past 55 mph, the number increasing even more after 65 mph is reached. A lot of factors go into this broad assessment, but these numbers are commonly stated.

The Chronicle did a study in 2005 that can be found at http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Drive-55-save-gas-get-flipped-off-Trip-2600719.php.

Employing the general rule, the 85 mph speed limit in Texas can reduce the mpg rating of a vehicle by 20 miles per gallon when compared to traveling at 55 mph.

TCRP Says ‘SB4 Has Got To Go!’

tcrp bigAUSTIN – In a post issued on June 27, Efren Olivares, Racial and Economic Justice Director of Texas Civil Rights Project, said that “Yesterday, alongside more than 600 community members, we fought for justice, for dignity, and fought against discrimination both inside and outside of the courtroom. I was proud to be in the courtroom with the support of our community behind us.”

He said that every Texan deserves to live with dignity and that the discriminatory “show me your papers” law, Senate Bill 4, is a threat to millions of immigrants and people of color in the state.

According to Olivares, “SB4 violates several rights enshrined in our Constitution. At its core, the law violates the 14th amendment because it was adopted to target immigrants, Latinos, and people of color in Texas. The disparate impact is a direct threat to the guarantee of equal protection under law.”

He asked that Texans support the cause of the Texas Civil Rights Project by visiting www.texascivilrightsproject .org.

‘Guardianship’ Can Ruin Your Life!

New Book: Guardianship: How Judges and Lawyers Steal Your Money

By W. Leon Smith, Iconoclast Publisher

guardianship-bigWant to give up all your rights and become a “thing” instead of a person?  Then guardianship could be in your cards.

A new book authored and compiled by M Larsen exposes an under-the-radar trend that targets Baby Boomers to have their retirement funds, their freedom, and their lives depleted.

Guardianship: How Judges and Lawyers Steal Your Money explores case studies of individuals whose lives were ruined at the hands of greedy lawyers, judges, and guardians who take over the financial assets of the elderly and disabled, drug their subjects to prove incompetence, and totally rule their lives, even when the person under attack is normally healthy and mentally fit. Targeted are the wealthy whose estates are drained for profits to benefit the attackers.

According to the book, “Appointed by courts for various reasons, guardianships strip an otherwise sane, engaged older adult of their freedom while depleting their resources in an ugly loop that seems to mostly benefit lawyers. The book is the definitive road-map of solutions for concerned relatives who try to correct the crimes against a loved one’s estate, health, and even life.”

Larsen explains that the compilation of articles was written by journalists, attorneys, and other advocates across the nation. “Our collective goal is to make this serious crime public since the process needs to be changed.”

In danger are the 76 million Boomers who, at the whim of a court, can have their personal freedoms stripped away, have their assets taken forcibly, and are subject to abuse in many cases.

According to Dr. Sam Sugar of Florida, “Professional guardians are a cottage industry that is becoming more organized and powerful as lawyers and probate judges realize what a gold mine it is to take over the lives and assets of elderly Americans to the detriment of their heirs. Once a court-ordered guardianship is established, the elderly person’s finances are under complete control of the appointed guardian who may or may not be a loving family member.”

“It’s just another indication of how this racket has infiltrated and corrupted our most sacred judicial process and turned it into a cash cow for the stakeholders in this predatory legal system, which threatens every single older adult in America,” he added.

In an interview with The Lone Star Iconoclast, Steve Miller —  an investigative journalist who has studied guardianship fraud for over 10 years and is a former Las Vegas city councilman, former Clark County Regional Transportation commissioner,  chairman emeritus of Goodwill Industries of Southern Nevada, and president emeritus of Opportunity Village, a charity — was questioned by Iconoclast publisher W. Leon Smith.

Miller said, “What I’m trying to tell people is just stay where you are. Don’t move until we get this straightened out.”

Miller explained that many of the elderly are targeted when “moving to the Gulf Coast in Texas, Arizona, lakes in Arkansas — there’s a million places elderly people are being enticed to go with their money. The vultures are circling in those areas.”

He said the “Sun City communities, the lakeside communities, the ones that are making a big effort to bring in wealthy retirees are the target areas. I don’t think its happening in Alaska, I guess, because most people want to move to warmer climates. I’m just noticing it mainly in warm climates.”

When asked about appropriate vetting of guardians at the Center for Guardian Certification, especially since much of the certification is handled online, Miller said, “It’s a sham. We have been investigating them. We registered people who are not alive. We’ve registered a dog. So, it’s a sham.”

Larsen’s book lists 14 points of checks and balances that need to be put into place as a means of the elderly avoiding becoming subjects of fraud. Miller described these as  prescribed laws that need to be activated. Currently they are not.

“It depends on where you are,” he said. “Nevada is rapidly changing its laws. Some of these laws that were designed to help guardians to steal” are being tested. “We think it all started here, so whatever we are doing needs to be spread around the country. As an investigative writer, I’ve been looking at this and writing about it since 1999. We’ve had other complaints all the way back into the 80s and 70s.”

He said that “specifically, one guardian shaper has written all the laws and encouraged all the states and assemblies to pass these laws through the use of their outdoor advertising company. They donate money to respective family court judges, assemblies, and state senators” who are seeking free advertising come election time. “He’s managed to endear himself all over the state and got the horrible laws enacted at our state capitol. Now he gets all the judges down here to do his bidding.”

Miller explained that no one is safe. “A lot of times we found that helpers in the home are sources of bad information that the court uses.” Families need “to stay put. I don’t care if its freezing where you live, you shouldn’t be moving because you got a brochure in the mail” that offers the benefits of warmer climates. “Stay put,” he repeated, “because if you come up to Nevada, Texas, Arizona, or Florida or some other places, you don’t know who these people are. They’re watching you and as soon as your spouse dies, that’s when they come and get you.

“That’s always the trigger. They’ve done it with a few ‘couples’ if they have enough money. The criteria is how much money do you have. If you have enough money, they’ll do whatever they want.”

Miller noted that the speed in which the courts act and guardians are appointed coincides with the amount of money in trusts and financial accounts the elder victim possesses. He said that the predominate bank that keeps popping up during investigations is Wells Fargo, which turns its back “when guardians want to leave the trail.”

When asked how long it normally takes for elder care to be stripped from family members, Miller said, “Within weeks. You’d be surprised how quickly the judges will respond to a motion by your professional guardian to take away the rights that the wealthy elderly or disabled person can have. Oftentimes, the victim and the family are not even aware when it does happen.

“We’re going to change the laws so that they have to be informed and that their family can be there and that a judge must appoint a taxpayer-funded lawyer to represent the elderly or disabled person and their family. They can’t come to court without a lawyer while they sit there with a bank of attorneys working for the guardian.”

Miller said that what is disgusting is that the “guardian is trolling the money from the Wells Fargo trust to be able to pay for the overpriced attorney while the family members have to pay out of their own pockets. It gets to be ridiculously expensive and the elder person usually passes away during the middle of this battle. You don’t hear much about this; it’s not sexy. The elderly are dead and can’t testify, so it’s the perfect crime against the weakest of the weak.”

According to Miller, the cadre of guardian vultures “and their judges covered every base and they did it through the state assembly and the state legislature for 30 years. Nobody paid attention. It gives them absolute power to do what they’re doing.” He noted that now the state supreme court in Nevada is looking at changing the laws, based on investigations that revealed the results of the bad laws.”

Under consideration are the constitutional rights of elderly victims and their family members, because the elderly lose the right to vote and the right to make life choices. It is all decided by a stranger, not even a member of the family.

Miller mentioned a case that is in federal court about an elderly man. “After he got freed by his daughter from the captivity that he was in, he filed a federal lawsuit which right now is in our federal court system rapidly progressing.” Miller mentioned the bank, the guardian, enablers, and others who caused the problem for the man. “We need one case to succeed before we can start to bring in all the others,” he said. “In the meantime, this will be the test case.”

“What’s happening here is horrible,” said Miller, “and it’s just now starting to make news around the country. Prior to this, we were just screaming from the rooftops, but nobody was listening.” He described the acts of illicit guardians as “the most pervasive crime in the history of our country. It’s scary, really scary.”

He said that quite often family members of the elderly are falsely derided in court by guardians who label the family members as unfit to care for their parents. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the most wonderful person. You can go to court here and the judge is going to deem that you are an exploiter in some way and unfit to care for your own parent. He puts a stranger in your place and the stranger is a professional and they immediately have total power of attorney over your parents. There goes your inheritance. There goes the house. Houses are often transferred with the title over to the guardian and the nicer the house, the quicker it happens.”

Miller said that the elderly become wards. “I compare it with the B-movie ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’ The guardians are the body snatchers. They come and take you and become you and put you away. They medicate you. They give you a psychotropic drug. They take you out of your home after your husband or wife dies, and they put you in a rest home. They keep you so drugged you don’t even know what’s going on while all your money’s being taken and your family is screaming, trying to stop it. They can’t and if they do try and stop it, a warrant will be issued for their arrest.”

He described a case where a woman was able to help her father escape to another state, which elicited several lawsuits. After the 90-year-old man was taken off drugs he “was completely lucid. The only thing wrong with him was he was a war hero and has a 95 percent hearing loss. That’s why they did it to him. That’s why they made him a ward in the court when his wife died. When I sat with him, even though I had to yell in his ear, he was such an intelligent man he could do anything we wanted to at 90 years old.” But he had been “made into nothing but a ward, just a thing, waiting for him to die.”

At the conclusion of the interview, Miller wanted to stress one thing. “My only last words to people are until this is straightened out at the national level, stay home. Don’t be enticed by color brochures you get in the mail or on the Internet and move away from the people who love you to some strange far-away warm climate, living on a golf course or a lake and riding around in golf carts or three-wheel bicycles thinking that this is a safe environment. You’re actually moving to the worst ghetto in the United States. It’s unsafe because of these predators waiting for the Las Vegas strip watch.

“They move here and they’re watched. The predators know how much money you’ve got by the fact that you paid cash for the house you got. As soon as your spouse dies, they send one of these guardians to your house to make sure you’re okay. No matter how okay you are, they still say you’re not okay and the judge rules you need a guardian and then that guardian needs to come in temporarily and you don’t even know it’s happened. You’ve got this guardian sitting in  your house when you fall asleep. They troll your valuables. They go to your bank vault. They take everything you own and your family is left thinking ‘Who is this stranger?’”

Miller said that often these strangers alter their names to better psychologically sell themselves, like April Harps or Acacia Bristol. “They know your wife has died and you’re at home and you haven’t really had a good meal and you haven’t shaven for maybe a week or so. People think it’s because you are mourning and ‘knock, knock, knock,’ here’s a really pretty middle-aged woman named Acacia or April at your door smiling, saying, ‘I’m here to help you. Have you had anything to eat? Can I take you to lunch?’ And then it begins.”

Once under guardianship, a person has fewer rights than a criminal. Lost is the right to marry, to vote, to apply for government benefits, to have a driver’s license or identification, to travel, to contract, seek or retain employment, to sue and defend lawsuits, to manage property, to make any gift or disposition of property, to determine residence, to consent to medical and mental health treatment, and to make decisions about his or her social environment. All social aspects of their lives are stripped. Any health care surrogate, durable power of attorney, or pre-need guardianship is nullified and the laws protecting those advance directives are trampled.

The book is available through Amazon, Kindle, and www.guardianabusecases.com.

Will Your Vote Be Stolen?

New Greg Palast Film Explores 2016 Voter Theft

By W. Leon Smith, Iconoclast Publisher

palast-bigInvestigative reporter Greg Palast and his staff have been researching the recent charges of “voter fraud” as loudly parlayed by political candidates this season and have found that instead of people voting twice, valid individual voters — usually minorities — are being systematically removed from the voter rolls to control the elections.

This theft, says Palast, will come to fruition on Nov. 8 when a huge number of voters visit the polls and find that their registrations have been voided, thereby prompting their being given “provisional” ballots. According to Palast, provisional ballots usually are not counted. He terms them “placebo” ballots, aimed to make the voter feel good for participating in the election process even though the votes will not be tallied in the election.

Screenings of a newly released documentary entitled “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits” are being played at select theatres in advance of the presidential election. DVDs and video-on-demand copies are available to the public, as well. According to theatres which have shown the screenings, at its conclusion the film always receives a standing ovation.

Palast, who is an investigative reporter for Rolling Stone magazine, is known as the investigator who busted former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for stealing the 2000 election for his brother George W. by purging Black voters from Florida’s election rolls.

During the 2016 election, the purge is being enabled by Crosscheck, which Palast says  is controlled by Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who claims his data program has identified 7.2 million people in 29 states who may have voted twice in the same election — a felony crime. This list of names has been kept secret, identified as “confidential.” However, Palast’s undercover contacts were able to obtain a copy and learned that the list is filled with discrepancies and errors.

In the film, Palast and co-worker Leni Badpenny do what is takes to get their hands on the data, analyze it, and actually attempt to visit with some of these 7.2 million Americans tagged as “suspects” and “potential duplicate voters” whose votes are threatened this November. The film features Palast and Badpenny, along with entertainers Ed Asner, Rosario Dawson, Ice-T, Richard Belzer, Shailene Woodley, and Willie Nelson.

Palast urges the American public to see this film, for it explains, step-by-step, what his intensive investigation has unearthed.

His non-profit company has released simultaneously with the film a DVD and book of the same name that intends to bring to harsh light the efforts to wrongfully purge 7.2 million registered voters from eligibility in the November 2016 election. Palast is quoted as saying, “There’s no such thing as a victimless billionaire,” since it is the billionaire elite who are behind this deception.

The voting public is encouraged to visit thebestdemocracymoneycanbuy.com, http://thebestdemocracymoneycanbuy.com/  in order to learn the latest on the investigation. A trailer for the film is located at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg2gCgFMBOg.

The film will screen in 200 African American churches just prior to the Nov. 8 election, as the film “exposes the theft-in-progress of the 2016 election via a racially-biased vote-purging program called Crosscheck,” says Palast.

palast-mugIn an interview with W. Leon Smith of The Lone Star Iconoclast, who commented, “I saw the film three times; it’s really impressive,” Palast confirmed that Crosscheck was used during the primaries in some locations, but not in California, Texas, and New York, except in six counties experimentally.

 “Remember, once you remove, you remove. It obviously will affect the big states of North Carolina, Ohio, Arizona, Georgia, and Hawaii,” Palast said. “This is where the Senate is going to be decided.”

When asked if an individual is removed from the election roll, does the individual have to re-register, Palast said, “Yes. Absolutely, the one way — the magic bullet — to save your vote is to just re-register. They don’t knock you off a second time.

“It is kind of odd,” he continued,  “They are accusing you of registering more than once or voting more than once, and then the key to save your vote is to register again. They kicked you off because what they do is technically mark you inactive, so if you’re inactive that means you’re dead. It could also mean they have evidence that you’re no longer a proper voter in that district,” but this is rare.

Palast went on to say that if a person is knocked off the voter roll, he or she is not notified.

The Iconoclast asked if Palast was aware that Cambridge Analytical was recently paid $5 million by presidential candidate Donald Trump as an investment in voter data, of which the company brags they have 5,000 data points on over 220 million Americans. Would this have links to Crosscheck?

He said that the company is “owned by your Texas friends of Donald’s, the Mercers (hedge-fund magnates).”

 He said that the Mercers got behind Trump, so he is using their polling company. “Cambridge has enough information on everyone so they could tell you every ‘rigging’ order.  The weird thing about Crosscheck is why do they need this system when for a small fee they could actually get Cambridge or i360, or data trust to get Democrats out of  big polling opportunities, where you can get a thousand data points and know exactly if you got the right guy? But they don’t want the right guy. If they wanted the right person they wouldn’t ignore the mismatched or the low call data that found ‘Junior’ and ‘Senior’ to stay inclusive. They don’t want the right information. That’s the whole trick. They are not hunting for double orders. They are hunting for a way to knock off as many minority orders as they can handle that they can possibly get rid of. That’s the story.”

He said that people are not being arrested because the knock-offs are bogus. Palast said that Virginia “would chop off 41,000 people,” as an example, and in North Carolina, they “didn’t get anyone as far as we could tell after removing 35,000 and it looks like it was in the thousands of new data that was used. This is how they jam up the voting lines, too, because people in there say, ‘Hey, where’s my registration?’”

Palast was critical of the mainstream media in that reporters are complicit in the illegal voter removals, when they report that “Trump says the elections are rigged and he’s obviously crazy. No one’s every rigged a U.S. election. Well, they do it all the time. In that, Trump is correct, because his buddies are rigging it through Crosscheck.” The other side of the equation being worked are reporters and commentators who are constantly praising the system, “talking about the wonders of Crosscheck to prevent double voters.”

Palast explained that “they run the list of the primaries each year, but it’s up to each state to do a panel their own way. They are not supposed to remove people within 90 days of the election, but they usually do it anyway. One of their excuses is that if you’re a criminal, they’ve got to remove you and there’s no limit on removing people who are committing illegal or fraudulent voting. You are removed before you vote. Since you can’t actually vote at the voting box, they’ll give you a provisional ballot. Here’s the thing. If you’re not a legal voter, you cannot get your provisional ballot counted. It doesn’t matter if you were wrongly accused of being a felon, wrongly accused of moving away or something, if you’re not on the registry they cannot count your provisional ballot, so there’s no point in challenging it because they cannot count it, period. So with Crosscheck, you’re toast. You can get all the provisional ballots you want, I call them placebo ballots, because remember in the cartoon (part of his film), they just throw them in the garbage.”

“The point of the provisional ballot is to stop people from bitching at the polls when they get fucked,” he said. “So they say, ‘Oh, we’ll give you a provisional ballot,’ well for what? Because, no matter what, if you’re off the roll, you can’t vote.”

In the film, Palast and his staff “follow the money” up the trail of companies, foundations, and billionaire individuals who he says want to control the elections for their own profits and power, much of which is done by them purchasing elected officials to do their bidding. This is why in many states Crosscheck has been approved.

At the conclusion of the interview, Palast paid compliments to his staff, some of whom work 20 hours a day, often going undercover to obtain information, because they believe in awakening the public to the truth about unscrupulous individuals and the theft of votes. He hopes that Americans will watch the film that can be downloaded from Amazon, or buy the DVD or his book on the subject.

Iconoclast Historical Writer Dies

By W. Leon Smith

marchman bigMany readers of The Lone Star Iconoclast are mourning the recent passing of one of the publication’s former editorial contributors, Joe Marchman, 83, who died on March 2, 2016, at his residence after an extended illness. Burial was in Oak Grove Cemetery in Walnut Springs, Texas.

Marchman had an illustrious career and for The Iconoclast in his later years contributed intensely researched features about the founding of the Lone Star State. He was an award-winning writer, a reporter, an investigator, and an author. At one time he was involved in banking.

He was born on Sept. 25, 1932, in Meridian, Texas, the son of the late Herschel V. and Mary Ruth Rosenquist Marchman. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1957 and became the first city manager for the City of Plano, Texas, where he served as a developer and pioneer, creating the famed Western Heritage Sale with former Texas Gov. John Connally, Louis Pearce, Tio Kleburg, Bobby Shelton, and Bill Burford.

He was a collector of historical 19th century French and British art and was also a Santa Gertrudis  rancher.

Marchman, who was intrigued about Texas history, wrote about E.T. “Bull” Adams, his wife, Mabel Wayland Adams of Glen Rose, and her father, Dr. James H. Wayland, a horse-and-buggy, High Plains pioneer of Plainview and West Texas.

Marchman’s “spotlight on history” series in The Iconoclast dealt with the lead-up of Gen. Sam Houston’s forces against Mexico’s Santa Anna at the Alamo, Goliad, and eventually San Jacinto, where Texas gained its independence from Mexico. Among the personalities featured were Erastus (Deaf) Smith who is credited with destroying Vince’s Bridge at San Jacinto, which provided no retreat for Santa Anna’s troops. Another key figure in the victory was The Yellow Rose of Texas, a young woman named Emily who was one of Santa Anna’s slaves. As Marchman put it, “It seems that Emily was closeted in the tent with General Santa Anna at the time the cry was made: ‘The Enemy! They Come! They Come!’ It is said that ‘Emily detained Santa Anna so long that order could not be restored.

“Coming out of his tent, Santa Anna saw his men falling around him. He grabbed a bright blue jumper and slithered away through the tall grass in an effort to escape the vengeance of the raunchy ravenous Texans.

“Given a horse, Santa Anna galloped away toward Vince’s Bayou. As he reached the bayou, his large black horse bogged down in the marsh. His efforts to reach General Filisola at the Brazos was not to be. The Napoleon of the West was forced to crawl on his belly through the tall, wet grass to his Waterloo the rest of the night.”

Marchman went on to write, based on extensive research, that Emily “lived to tell her story to her tent mate. The story Emily told inspired the never-to-be-forgotten ballad known as ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas.’”

Marchman’s detailed recreations of Texas Independence were well read and highly touted.

Marchman, who was a member of the Cowboy Church in Stephenville, is survived by his children, Houston Marchman of Spicewood, Molly Marchman of Bryan, and Joe Marchman, Jr. of Las Vegas, Nev.; and several grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Jim Marchman.

 

Iconoclast Readers Mourn Loss Of Aldo Vidali

aldo bigAldo Vidali, one of The Iconoclast’s main editorial contributors, passed away April 11, 2016, due to heart failure and complications from a recent hip replacement surgery. He was born on Feb. 12, 1930, in Bruxelles.

According to Vidali’s wife, Viktoria, his passing “was quick and without prolonged pain, the way he hoped his death might be.” She was with him at the physical therapy center where he had been transferred after the operation when the first symptoms occurred. She was by his side in the emergency room later that day when he took his final breath. He told her before dying, “I have had love in my life, the only thing that truly matters.”

An adventurer, Vidali spent much of his life championing human rights, which was evident in his numerous writings for The Iconoclast. The newspaper published his biography in a July 5, 2006 edition that focused on a film he was directing called “Deflating The Elephant.” Below are parts of the feature he penned along with his biography that was published at that time.

Vidali is survived by Viktoria and two sons, Orlando and Lorenzo.

Bio: Aldo Vidali, Published July 5, 2006

Production is under way on Deflating the Elephant, a film based on George Lakoff’s bestseller “Don’t Think Of An Elephant.”

Producing the film is Aldo Vidali, an Italian documentary film director who lives in Northern California and teaches at the Fellini-Antonioni Acting Studio.

Vidali, an outspoken champion of individual rights, embarked on the film to illustrate how conservatives are using frames to negatively sway public opinion and to encourage the public to make a stand against  tyranny while the opportunity remains.

The film is styled in the tradition of famed Italian director, the late Federico Fellini, with whom Vidali collaborated on films years ago.

aldo 02Born in Ixelles, Belgium, Vidali was educated in Rome, Italy.

He and his family joined the Resistance Movement against fascist and Nazi forces during World War II.

When he was only 13 years old, he was captured by the Nazis during the Fosse Ardeatine Nazi dragnet in Rome, but was released shortly thereafter because of his age. At the time, his family members were sheltering several Jewish refugees in their apartment to prevent their deportation to death camps in Germany.

At age 18, Vidali explored the tropical wilderness of  the Brazilian interior selling Coleman lamps and stoves to primative villages as a way to earn college tuition.

He came to the United States to study geology at the Colorado School of Mines in 1950 and later prospected in the Mexican states of Sonora and Durango.

After selling his interest in his Mexican mineral discoveries, he returned to Europe to do documentary film work. It was here that he collaborated with director Fellini on a project entitled The Stange Voyage of Mr. Mastorna and learned directing and cinema acting during the Fellini creations of 8-1/2 and Boccaccio 70. He had a brief professional relationship with Luchino Visconti.

Vidali also dealt with government and entertainment industry VIPs such as President Johnson, Jack Valenti, John Mecum, and Peter Sellers.

His documentary works originated a new genre, superimposing fiction on real-life documentary backgrounds.

Straw Hat and the Crown, shown on the Italian R.A.I. Television Network, received recognition even from the Vatican for its subtle moral theme set off by contrasting a fairy tale on a background of real life events.

In 1963, Vidali went to Africa as Second Unit Director of the feature documentary Good-bye Africa, a Rizzoli Production. He covered South Africa, Southwest Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Zanzibar, Congo, and Angola.

This exposed him to a wide range of human beings, both as a film director as well as the liaison officer between the South African government and the Italian film unit.

Back in the U.S. in 1965, Aldo wrote and directed Sunset at Dawn, a predictive environmental film essay on the worsening ecological crisis, followed by Trail to the Stars, a film view of the NASA space program contrasted with America’s pioneering past. These were followed by a series of minor commercial works.

In 1970, he began construction of a 57 ft. sailing ketch in Malibu, California. Simultaneously, he opened a New Age café supporting the flower children revolution in the Topanga hills. The café operated during the years of Aldo’s boat building.

In 1978, Vidali participated in the environmental-political campaign in Kauai, Hawaii, to save the island’s pristine shorelines at Nukoli’i from yet another tourist development.

In 1980, after years of boat building, the Arcana was launched. Sea trials began around California’s Channel Islands. Outfitting and shakedown cruises went on to prepare for a major bluewater voyage in the Eastern Pacific.

In 1984, Aldo, his wife, Viktoria, and their two-year old son Orlando set sail for the Eastern Pacific. They explored the West Coast of Mexico, Baja California, Sea of Cortez, Marquesas Islands, Tuamotus Archipelago, Society Islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora-Bora, the Hawaiian chain, British Columbia, and the Northwest Coast of the Americas. Their voyage covered approximately 40,000 nautical miles.

This adventurous chapter of their lives includes the wild experience of Hurricane Ima, when the Arcana rushed to find refuge in Moorea’s Cook’s Bay in the Society Islands. Later, in a final adventure of their four-year voyage, Aldo, Viktoria, and Orlando survived an attack on the high seas by a North Korean fishing ve ssel by cat and mouse out-maneuver. The Vidalis left Puget Sound immediately after the birth of their second son, Lorenzo.

So, in 1987, the Arcana sailed down the West Coast and landed in San Diego, California. The Vidali family, while happily raising their sons, worked to preserve the remaining natural resources of the Golden State.

A champion of the environment, Vidali later challenged Republican Interior Secretary James Watt, when Watt opened vast sections of Federal lands to exploitation. Vidali developed a plan to preserve the wilderness by rushing to the Denali region of Alaska, forming the Alaska Capital Corporation (ALCOR), and leasing thousands of acres of federal oil lands.

Explained Vidali, “The Watt Administration had assumed that small entrepreneurs could not afford to drill in the Arctic, thus leaving the course clear for major players. ALCOR deliberately proceeded to subdivide the leases into impractical 40-acre parcels, which would oblige major oil companies to buy out each and every one from far too many owners before they could move in and drill. One single holdout lease could stall exploration for years.”

Vidali hired and trained agents to successfully distribute tiny oil lease parcels across the nation. This maneuver caught the oil industry by surprise, and by the time they pressed the government to impose a minimum parcel size of 2,500 acres, it was too late. Big Oil tried to make the law retroactive. Vidali blocked that illegal attempt by notifying all leaseholders to demand their rights against this undemocratic scheme of Big Oil. This tactic was successful, and thus prevented major exploitation of the Denali for 10 years.

Vidali returned to the mainland in late 2000 where his family created a film with students under the UNECO label entitled Life & Liberty in the Balance, protesting the court-appointed Bush administration.

Vidali is currently in pre-production of a full feature documentary: Toward a Global Open Society, a dialogue between great contemporary minds and the American people. This film addresses the urgent need of all citizens to participate directly in dialogue and action to restore their Constitutional Republic.

Reviving the motion picture work developed under Fellini’s guidance, Vidali is now teaching and preparing productions dedicated to promoting the restoration of American Democracy, defense of the Bill of Rights, and openly denouncing the neo-fascist “Patriot” Act and the neocon imperialistic scheme against America.

Vidali currently lives with his wife and two sons on California’s Central Coast. He volunteers as Chairman of UNECO, a nonprofit environmental and humanitarian corporation, and is active in the United Defenders of Liberty Movement.

He speaks English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese, and is a public lecturer on social, educational, and environmental subjects.

Excerpts From His Feature On “Deflating The Elephant”

aldo elephant piFew clearly perceive how dangerous the world situation is becoming.

Inhuman money controls mass media and deliberately broadcasts as many frivolous distractions as possible to keep people from noticing the fascist beast closing in on millions of unsuspecting victims.

Current diabolical schemers make Hitler and Stalin look like dilettantes.

Their skills at diverting attention by frequently sounding terror-lurking-under-every-bush alarms have been honed to perfection. A movie can expose them with scandalous evidence.

As a boy, I experienced arrogant Italian Fascism and the evil of rightwing fanatical religionism.

In December 2000, when America was flagrantly betrayed by five black-robed hypocrites, shivers of horror went  down my spine. Our grassroots organization immediately net-published a large front-page headline: “DAY OF INFAMY – Fascist Coup in the United States!” which was printed over a photo of marching Nazi SS troopers.

Friends objected that to use the word “fascist” was an exaggeration.

Now, six years later, most are as outraged as we were then and have been ever since.

In 2004, a second national election was stolen by the same fascist cabal and American democracy de facto ceased to exist, except in the deluded minds of sleeping TV network audiences.

That year, University of California Berkeley Professor George Lakoff ’s book, Don’t Think of an Elephant, appeared and was an instant bestseller.

What it revealed is how linguistic frames influence social conditions.

Reading Don’t Think of an Elephant was a stunning clarification for me of how evil ideas throughout history are framed to allow “the few” to control and oppress “the many.” Indeed, ideas projected through invisible linguistic frames can transform the mind.

Lakoff ’s scientific explanations brought back memories of working with Federico Fellini and learning from him how cinematic images change society.

For example, after Fellini’s Casanova and City of Women, I had watched downcast Italian males leaving theaters, stunned. Exaggerated Italian machismo was crushed by these great films and never fully recovered.

Fellini’s demolition of century- old prejudices and Lakoff ’s linguistic art of framing suggested to me a potential cinematic cure for America.

It was my good fortune to share Federico’s thoughts about dreams and metaphysical questions while he was conceiving his mysterious story, The Voyage of G. Mastorna. This work contains some of his visions and speculations about the human state in this world and after death.

During that unforgettable experience, Fellini explained how cinematic images liberate, dissolve fear, and open our lives to perceiving the subtlest aspects of the world. That “sceneggiatura”— The Voyage of G. Mastorna — is now known as the most famous never filmed-screenplay in the history of cinema.

Fellini’s insight on the magic of light gives us a glimpse of the profundity of his art.

He said:

What is light? If cinema is images, light is its evident essence. In cinema, light is idea, sentiment, color, profundity, atmosphere, style, narrative, poetic expression. Light is the magic power that adds, cancels, softens, suggests, exalts, alludes, underscores, and renders the fantastic credible and acceptable, or, on the contrary, creates

transparencies through which the gray daily reality becomes rich, fairytale like. With a single reflector and a pair of lights an opaque face, with as much expressiveness as a bare knee, appears intelligent, mysterious, fascinating; an open, benevolent, peaceful face becomes sinister, menacing, frightening.

The poorest scene — squalid, shabby — can with light reveal enchanting or ominous aspects…barely moving a 5000-watt light and lighting up an opposite light, all the feelings of anguish vanishes and everything is serene, comfortable, homey. Finally, film is written with light; the style of an authentic filmmaker is expressed with light.

THE MOVIE

Uneco Productions’ Deflating The Elephant owes much to The Strange Voyage of G. Mastorna. Like Mastorna, it is a voyage into past and future … in this world and in an imaginary world where humanity is at last cured and  grown to maturity and sanity … a satirical, historic, amusing, and symbolic movie.

Like Moby Dick, Deflating the Elephant is about hunting large beasts that incarnate evil. It will bring down the rogue pachyderms that are devastating our world (just as Twentieth Century fascists and Bolsheviks devastated theirs) by unmasking the secret class war the rich are waging against the American people.

The hunting weapon this film delivers to the people is a Fellinesque-Lakoffian bow with arrows that can pierce soft, bloated underbellies of the fascist beasts and deflate them of their foul, hot air.

George Lakoff exposed the fact that conservatives spent 40 years and billions of dollars to grow, feed, and empower these land-roving Moby Dicks. False conservative frames have just about destroyed our 230 years of progress toward a vision of democratic culture and equality before the law and have nearly extinguished the American dream.

It is especially important and urgent that millions of Americans clearly understand why sharply framed and well-aimed progressive ideas can instantly bring down the ugly beasts.

The speed of change possible through strategic use of visual frames must be understood by all those liberals who wring their hands and worry that the deceitful conservative frames erected over four decades by lavishly funded, right-wing think-tanks may take just as many years to demolish before our Constitution can be restored and “We The People” take our country back. This is not so! If we had to wait 40 years, there’d be no country left to take back and no environment to restore.

HOW THEY STOLE OUR COMMONWEALTH

Exposing how we have been robbed is sobering. Conservatives used many deceiving frames to steal from us. We’ll tackle here just a few of the metaphors they employed to deform one of democracy’s most fundamental pillars: justice.

Mixing Fellini’s cinematic secrets with Lakoff ’s scientific brilliance is like mixing nitro and glycerine — which makes up dynamite. Liars and thieves are in for a big surprise.

The neo-crooks have been fanning the flames of a still unexplained 9/11 tragedy into a fabulously profitable perennial frame: “war-on-terror.”

What should have been an international police hunt by civilized nations has turned into a deadly, trillion-dollar con job.

In reality, there is no war. The phony “war” frame provides a legalistic and pseudo-moral justification for flag waving, criminal wars of aggression, and the dismantling of our Constitution.

The 9/11 Commission colluded with Bush and Cheney so that the inseparable twins were conveniently questioned together – to avoid contradictions — behind closed doors, and not under oath for fear of future indictments for obstructing justice.

The questioners were all tail-wagging administration’s lap dogs.

Lights and cameras will capture the criminal activities of the national security organizations that colonize the world with prisons, torture chambers, and concentration camps. The horrors of so-called rendition (criminal

kidnapping with torture outsourcing) and the deployment of massive domestic electronic spying networks that outrageously violate the Constitutional rights of American citizens and intrude even on their attorney-client privilege will be exposed.

What was once a country of laws is now a country run by a self-declared fundamentalist despot claiming the privilege to violate any law he chooses.

From: “The Most Evil People in the World,” by Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D.

In his book: Gangs of America [download a copy at http://www.gangsofamerica.com], Ted Nace reveals the preposterous way the U.S. was taken over by big business.

Historically, it was the battle between democracy and corporations that started the American Revolution. The Boston Tea Party was an action to block the British East India Company, the most powerful corporation that ever existed, from monopolizing the American commodities markets, starting with tea. The American Revolution was a pragmatic economic rebellion against an overbearing corporation and an oppressive government thoroughly intertwined with it.

The East India Company had planned to replace independent local merchants with a company-owned distribution system, i.e., an early version of what we now call “vertical integration,” like, for example, oil companies owning wells, refineries, and gas stations.

Boston pamphleteers — we had a free press then — laid out the scenario in detail, warning that if the British were to succeed in bringing the tea distribution system under sole control of the East India Company, they would inevitably repeat the same scheme for other imported commodities.

Sound familiar? Think of the WTO.

The East India Company, if once they get Footing in this (once) happy country, will leave no Stone unturned to become your Masters. They are an opulent Body, and Money or Credit is not wanting amongst them. They have a designing, depraved, and despotic Ministry to assist and support them. They themselves are well versed In TYRANNY, PLUNDER, OPPRESSION and BLOODSHED. Whole Provinces labouring under the Distresses of Oppression, Slavery, Famine, and the Sword, are familiar to them. Thus they have enriched themselves, thus they are become the most powerful Trading Company in the Universe.

Excerpt from a broadside signed “A Mechanic,” Philadelphia, December 4, 1773.

Imagine a private company so unaccountable that it conducts its own criminal trials and runs its own jails; so dominant it possesses a 250,000 man army, twice the size of Britain’s, to fight company wars; and so predatory that for more than two centuries it squeezes the economy of the richest country in the world until observers report that some regions have been “bled white.” A third of Parliament owns stock in it, and a tax on its tea constitutes 10% of the government’s revenues. Even the King is dependent on periodic “loans” from the company!

When the cargo ship Dartmouth arrived in Boston Harbor on the night of December 16, 1773, approximately 150

men assembled at the home of the Boston Gazette and Country Journal’s founder. They came from many backgrounds: some were apprentices, some tradesmen, some wealthy owners of businesses. By dawn, the entire shipment of tea had been destroyed. The American Revolution would soon be under way.

One glaring example in a long record of uncontrolled corporate evil was unleashed against this country in 1936:

[C]onsider this unpunished crime, committed by the leadership of General Motors, together with Standard Oil of California, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, B. F. Phillips Petroleum, and Mac Manufacturing.

In 1936, the five companies formed National City Lines, a holding company that proceeded to buy electric trolley lines and tear up the tracks in cities across the nation.

Each time it destroyed a local trolley system, National City would license the rights to operate a new system to a local franchisee, under the stipulation that the system convert to diesel powered General Motors buses.

By 1949, more than 100 electric transit systems in 45 systems had been torn up and converted. In April of that year, a federal jury convicted GM and the other firms of conspiracy to commit anti-trust violations. But the judge set the fine for each company at $5,000. Seven executives were fined one dollar each. After the conviction,

the companies went back to purchasing transit systems, removing electric trolley lines, and replacing them with buses. Gangs of America, Introductionp. 7.

As Atlanta mayor and former United Nations ambassador Andrew Young once observed, “Nothing is illegal if 100 businessmen decide to do it.”

In 1882-83, Judge Stephen Field’s Ninth Circuit Court, with twisted judicial sophistry, established the personhood of corporations in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific. This self-evident absurdity has proven to be a menace to democracy and humanity.

Judge Field’s tortuous legalese behind the creation of immortal, frankensteinian corporations coincided with the

view of Professor John Norton Pomeroy, namely: “The truth cannot be evaded that, for the purpose of protecting rights, the property of all business and trading corporations IS the property of the individual corporators.

A state act depriving a business corporation of its property without due process of law, does in fact deprive the individual corporators of their property.

 In this sense, and within the scope of these grand safeguards of private rights, there is no real distinction between artificial persons or corporations, and natural persons.”

Ted Nace explains why an understanding of this is critical:

As simple as this false argument sounds, it was a significant departure from established legal doctrine, which had always made a distinction between corporate property and individual property. The most crucial distinction is that owning shares in a company allows a person to own property without being subject to the sort of accountability to the community that normally attends the ownership of property [emphasis

added]. For that reason, courts had never assumed that shareholders in a corporation should expect equal  rights; on the contrary, the enjoyment by corporate shareholders of privileges such as limited liability justified applying special restrictions to corporations and their owners. Gangs of America, p. 118.

It is self-evident that giving legal personhood to a corporation, while enjoying all other rights, also creates the right to do wrong and escape responsibility.

In the 2006 California primaries, the residents of Humboldt County said enough is enough and successfully challenged corporate personhood.

THE NEAR FUTURE IN LIGHT OF HISTORY

America won its greatest victory against Italian fascists, German Nazis, and Japanese imperialists while fighting for democracy under the leadership of liberal President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. After WWII, humanity renewed its hope in the flowering of a great civilization founded on the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: a world in which nuclear holocausts like Hiroshima and Nagasaki would never again happen; where war, death-camps, fascist oppression, and gulags, would forever be mere memories of past insanity;

where international law would settle disputes and people everywhere would become self-governing; where victorious nations would cease selling instruments of death and instead spread the profitable tools of healthcare, economic prosperity, and environmental conservation.

However, the realization of this hope, this beautiful dream, never did come to pass. Bloodshed and destruction quickly resumed and continue to this day: Korea, Vietnam, Palestine, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Iran, East Timor, Africa, Cambodia, Chile, Argentina, Bosnia, and Iraq.

So, who are the Oids!? They are that recurring percentage of psychotics throughout history that makes peace and justice impossible. It is imperative that Oids be exposed if we are to cure humanity and create a progressive world.

By way of explanation, adding “oid” to any word alters its meaning to: “made in the form of ” or “pretending to be.” For example, when “oid” is affixed to the word “sphere,” it becomes the word “spheroid,” which means “made in the form of a sphere” (not a real sphere).

“Oid” is, therefore, a label for “hypocrites” and for all those who pretend to be something they are not.

A Christianoid can then be defined as “a pseudo-Christian” or anyone pretending to be a follower of Jesus while at the same time supporting war, torture, and the death penalty.”

Let’s be creative here.

A patrioid is a flag-waving idiot who forgot that the flag represents the Union established by the U.S. Constitution.

“Monkeys can wave flags, but that does not make them patriots!” noted Scott Ritter (who is a real patriot).

All evildoers can be lumped under a single label: “humanoids” — that is, beasts made in the shape of humans.

EMOTIONAL HONESTY vs. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

Recently Senator Murtha – who is to be highly commended for is outspokenness against the war — protested criminal military actions in Iraq. While he deserves praise for this, it is evident that Senator Murtha is unfortunately still a victim of political correctness.

After the Haditha massacre committed by U.S. troops, he said: “One woman, as I understand it in talking to the officials in the Marine Corps, was bending over her child, pleading for mercy, and they shot her in cold blood. That’s the thing that’s so disturbing.”

What an astounding hyper-understatement!

As much as Senator Murtha must be admired for his courage, in following the Washington-accepted PC communications style imposed by the conservative culture of hypocrisy, he failed to galvanize public condemnation.

How can murder in cold blood be referred to as simply “disturbing”— is such a satanic crime not outrageous beyond belief? Diabolical? Insane? Nauseating? Evil? Does it not call for Divine vengeance?

To bring it home, just imagine yourself finding your own family slaughtered in cold blood and hearing someone politely saying: “I am troubled” or “I’m disturbed.”

Emotionally honest people express their pain and anger openly and directly.

One trick satanic corpo-media use is to make justified outrage and righteous indignation look like hysteria. Any sincere expression of shock and revulsion in the face of a crime is treated as excess so insistently by criminal media whores, that all truth is neutralized and soon forgotten.

This is how the odious mediaoids subliminally train decent people to restrain sincere dismay, disgust, and rage to grotesque levels of apparent indifference to the suffering of others.

We are told by inhuman monsters never to “lose our cool,” never to let anger roar to the level of rage in our voices, never to dare call killers murderers, especially if they are a part of our own despicable government.

 

Blaze of Glory To Perform In Dallas

Bill Offers Public Input On Building Codes

bldg code 509AUSTIN – Senator Don Huffines (R-Dallas) says that SB 1679 has passed in the Texas Senate. The bill requires that local governments thoughtfully consider changes to their building codes and provide opportunities for public input.

SB 1679 requires a municipality to perform a cost-benefit analysis prior to amending a building code, and requires two public hearings on building code amendments.

“Because of the potential for far-reaching economic impacts on business owners and homeowners, municipalities should think seriously and deliberately before they amend their building codes,” said Senator Huffines.  “We also want to give business owners and residents of communities an opportunity to review potentially onerous, unnecessary, or costly regulations by political subdivisions. This gives local business and property owners an opportunity to fight back against burdensome economic regulations.”

Senator Don Huffines is a real estate developer serving his first term in the Texas Senate.  He believes in limited government, personal responsibility, and that individuals have the God given right to pursue their own path, to succeed or fail.  He represents Senate District 16, which serves a portion of Dallas County.

Texas Mesquite Arts Fest Oct. 10-12

Hill Country Fossils Being Exhibited

Texas Ranger Bicentennial™ Coming To Waco

Texas Drought Photos Sought

Jack Frost Takes Bite Out Of Texas Wheat

Though ice loads during freezing weather can damage irrigation pivots, many producers will keep them running until it drops well below freezing, said Rick Auckerman, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent for Deaf Smith County. The temperature was 32 degrees with 20 -25 mph northerly wind when this picture was taken. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo by Rick Auckerman)

COLLEGE STATION – The damage to the wheat crop in the Panhandle, Southern Plains and Rolling Plains regions from the last bout of freezing weather was not uniform, but losses were “significant,” according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomist.

Freezing weather this late is a rare phenomenon, Dr. Travis Miller, AgriLife Extension agronomist and Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences associate department head said. He noted that in his 35 years as an AgriLife Extension agronomist, he’s never seen freezes occur this late in the year.

 

New Look At The Battle Of San Jacinto

DENTON, Texas—In partnership with the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), the longest continually running historical organization in Texas, JoSara MeDia has announced the availability of San Jacinto, an enhanced eBook for Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iPod devices.

 “Drawing on the wealth of historical content that TSHA possesses, and adding in up-to-date multimedia such as maps, panoramic pictures and hi-definition photos, we’ve created an app describing the battle of San Jacinto that is entertaining and educational,” stated Larry Ketchersid of JoSara MeDia.

 The battle of San Jacinto has been called “one of the decisive battles of the world.” The San Jacinto app covers those events by including rich digital content from several perspectives:

   The Battle of San Jacinto by James W. Pohl, originally published in 1989, provided here in an enhanced edition with links, color photos and more.

 –  Panoramic views from points on the battlefield, which can be rotated and zoomed to get a feel for what Sam Houston, Santa Anna and the rest of the combatants saw.

   The article “Mapping San Jacinto” by Jeffrey D. Dunn, from TSHA’s Southwestern Historical Quarterly, which uses historical maps “as tools in helping to delineate the boundaries of the battleground and identify significant landscape features deemed important in influencing the outcome of the battle.”

 “All of the different parts of this enhanced eBook link to the Handbook of Texas Online, the most comprehensive and authoritative state history encyclopedia in the country,” affirmed Kent Calder, Executive Director of TSHA. “Along with the book and article, links to the Handbook provide the reader with opportunities to explore particular areas of interest.”

 “This app builds on the digital projects foundation TSHA put in place with the Handbook of Texas Online, as well as on its scholarly publishing efforts over the last century,” stated Steve Cook, board member of TSHA. “This app continues the evolution of making in-depth historical content available in new ways.”

 The San Jacinto app is available on the Apple App store, and will be available in the future for Android platforms.

 ###

 Founded as a private, nonprofit educational organization on March 2, 1897, and housed at the University of North Texas, the Texas State Historical Association is one of the nation’s most dynamic regional history organizations. Reinforced by more than one hundred years of scholarship, its mission is to further the appreciation, understanding, and teaching of the rich and unique history of Texas through research, writing, publication, and educational programs.

 

Water Withheld From Texas Rice Growers

Decision Exacerbates Economic, Migratory Bird Problems

RICHMOND, Texas –  Although not unexpected in the face of ongoing drought conditions, Ducks Unlimited is once again disappointed in the decision to restrict the water supply to rice growers for the coming growing season. Waterfowl, wading birds and other wetland wildlife will face yet another year of reduced habitat availability in the critical wintering area of the Texas Mid-Coast. Severe drought continues to plague the region, including the Highland Lakes watershed that supplies irrigation water for agriculture on the Texas Mid-Coast.

“We understand that the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) must take a conservative approach when dealing with limited and unpredictable water resources, and we continue to support LCRA’s proactive decision to move forward with the construction of a proposed off-channel reservoir in the lower basin. However, withholding water from rice growers for a second straight year represents another setback for wintering waterfowl and an insurmountable economic challenge for local economies dependent on agriculture and waterfowl hunting,” said Dr. Todd Merendino, Ducks Unlimited manager of conservation programs.

According to a Texas AgriLife economic impact analysis, on average, rice contributes $374.3 million and more than 3,300 jobs annually in Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda counties alone. Those numbers do not include rice farming’s substantial contribution to the revenue and jobs generated from waterfowl hunting and other outdoor recreation.

Those same rice-producing lands provide important waterfowl habitat that is the basis for the region’s waterfowl hunting heritage. The loss of that rice acreage will not only be a substantial economic blow to the many farmers, communities and service industries related to rice agriculture; it will double current waterfowl habitat shortfalls along the Gulf Coast.

Recent research already indicates that lack of adequate habitat along the Gulf Coast is impacting the health of some species. Approximately 60 percent of the estimated 1.96-million-bird midwinter waterfowl population for the Texas Mid-Coast is expected to rely on ricelands (active and idle flooded rice fields) to meet their food needs. In addition, the Gulf Coast Joint Venture identifies specific population objectives for more than 12 million shorebirds and wading birds that are highly dependent on water in ricelands for nesting, migration and wintering habitat.

“A recent suggestion by the Central Texas Water Coalition (CTWC) indicating that wildlife would be better served by LCRA simply buying out the rice farmers is completely unrealistic,” said Kirby Brown, DU conservation outreach biologist.

The effort would require the outright purchase of approximately 58,000 acres that are farmed for rice each year. With land costs of approximately $3,000-4,000 per acre, such a buyout would require between $174 and $232 million. Rice is grown on a three-year rotation in Texas, meaning the buyout of all 150,000 acres managed for rice would cost between $450 million and $600 million.

“Even if the financial resources for such a buyout were available, the land would still require intensive annual management (now provided by rice growers as part of annual growing operations) to provide the needed resources for waterfowl and other migratory birds. Additionally, water would still be needed to flood the habitat beginning with the arrival of early migrant shorebirds and waterfowl in August—so we do not view the CTWC suggestion as a feasible solution to provide habitat for waterfowl nor to increase water resources,” Brown said.

For every 10,000 acres of flooded ricelands lost, the region loses the ability to support 120,000 waterfowl. While the current impact of the LCRA decision cuts off water to more than 50,000 acres of ricelands used by waterfowl, setting aside 10,000 acres of idle land as CTWC recommends will not provide anywhere near the same habitat values for waterfowl and other wildlife.

“The resources provided by these flooded agricultural habitats are critical to waterfowl for overwinter survival and subsequent reproduction in the spring. Even if landowners are interested in selling, buying them out and allowing the land to go fallow and dry will drastically reduce available waterfowl habitat. Without annual management to promote favorable waterfowl habitat conditions, these acres would essentially provide no resources for waterfowl and other wetland-dependent wildlife. Equally important, the suggestion does nothing to address the long-term need to develop additional water supplies in the region,” Brown said.

With projections predicting a doubling of the population in the state over the next 50 years, water availability will become an increasingly difficult issue. Ducks Unlimited is committed to ensuring wildlife habitat needs are fully communicated so that decision makers can make the most informed water allocation choices.

“If there is any silver lining, perhaps it is that the ongoing drought has increased awareness of the urgency with which the state should address water needs. We need to be working together across all user groups and geographies to conserve water resources every step of the way, and to ensure that future generations of Texans, business owners, wildlife and waterfowl all have sufficient water resources to thrive in the Lone Star State,” Brown said.

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to conserving North America’s continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 13 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information, visit www.ducks.org.

Is Gray Water Answer To Texas Landscapes

New Peach Varieties Available In Texas

Peach tree blossoms in the research plots of Dr. David Byrne in College Station, Texas. (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Kathleen Phillips)

COLLEGE STATION – Southerners who have been anxiously awaiting a peach tree that will produce in warmer climates – just chill.

Four new varieties being released for production in nurseries this year will soon be available for growers where cold temperatures – a necessity for peach trees – are less likely, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Research stone fruit breeder Dr. David Byrne.

“This is a first,” Byrne said. “These are unique because there are few low-acid white peaches available to be grown in our adaptation zone.”

Most white flesh peaches found in the produce section in grocery stores are grown in California, he said. White fleshed peaches are preferred in China, Japan Taiwan, and white fleshed peaches were initially planted in California to supply those markets.

According to the California Fruit Tree Agreement statistics, white fleshed peaches began to appear as a niche product in the U.S. market by 2000 and are now commonly found in grocery stores throughout the season.

“The four varieties — called White Delight series — are named for their excellent flavor and  color of their flesh, which ranges from creamy white to as much as 80 percent striped red or orange-red,” Byrne said.

Three of the new varieties are clingstone while one is semi-freestone, and they ripen consecutively from late-May through mid-July, Byrne noted.

The seed for these new crosses were originally planted in 1998 and had shown consistent production in three locations – Fairfield and College Station, Texas, and Fresno, Calif. – since 2006. Fruit from the research trees scored high in taste tests, Byrne said.

Nurseries can obtain budwood under a license agreement with AgriLife Research.

Peach tree blossoms in the research plots of Dr. David Byrne in College Station, Texas. (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Kathleen Phillips)

Getting More Texas Wind Power On The Grid

Wind turbines near Sweetwater, Texas. The Center for Rural Affairs says more high voltage transmission lines will help get wind generated electricity on the grid. — Photo By Sheila Scarborough

AUSTIN, Texas – There is a treasure trove of renewable energy in the U.S., but the obstacles and barriers to getting it on the grid are many. Johnathan Hladik, energy policy advocate with the Center for Rural Affairs (CFRA), said the biggest hurdle right now is the lack of high voltage transmission lines. Adding to that infrastructure would allow for the use of more renewable resources, he said, while helping with rural economic development.

“There is so much opportunity associated with increased property tax paid by wind-turbine owners and by those building transmission lines, with the actual construction jobs associated with both the wind turbines and the transmission lines,” he explained. “We’re looking at a good way to rejuvenate a lot of our smaller communities.”

Currently, less than 1 percent of the country’s transmission lines with the greatest capacity are located in the states with the most wind-energy potential.

The problem, Hladik pointed out, is that when lines were built historically, they focused on one big power plant, serving one large municipal area, while smaller lines were put up in rural areas.

“This old model led to a situation where the only high-capacity transmission lines in the United States, quite literally, are located in areas of very high population density,” he said “which are the exact opposite areas of where our wind resources are most robust.”

As for Texas in particular, Hladik said the wind energy potential is very rich.

“There’s been so much effort to really develop the wind resources in Texas and a lot of that has been successful,” he said, “but they’re running into serious brick walls at this point with that transmission bottleneck, with not having enough transmission to tap those resources.”

Electricity generation from renewable energy resources in the U.S. is currently at about 10 percent of the total. That is expected to grow to 15 percent over the next 20 years.

More information is available at www.cfra.org.

Wind turbines near Sweetwater, Texas. The Center for Rural Affairs says more high voltage transmission lines will help get wind generated electricity on the grid.  — Photo By Sheila Scarborough

Cottonwood Art Festival May 4-5

Kerrville Folk Festival May 23 – June 9

KERRVILLE, Texas — The Kerrville Folk Festival at Quiet Valley Ranch, nine miles South of the Texas Hill Country resort community of Kerrville, is getting ready for the 2013 42nd annual event.

This legendary songwriter’s festival will run for 18 straight days, beginning Memorial Day weekend from Thursday, May 23, through Sunday, June 9.

Season ticket packages and day tickets are on sale now.

The first weekend’s performers will include Joy Kills Sorrow for their first appearance at Kerrville.

The second weekend brings back Dala, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame; and David Broza back after a long absence. New is Max Gomez, back is Trout Fishing in America, The Steel Wheels, and Bill Staines.

The third weekend will include The Roys whose awards and accolades just keep rolling in. New to Kerrville will be The Stray Birds. Returning to the festival will be Birds of Chicago and Ray Bonneville.

Other performers will be announced later. As usual, the 2013 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for emerging songwriters will be held on the first Saturday and Sunday of the festival (May 25 and 26), from 1 to 4 p.m. From the almost 800 entries, 32 finalists have been selected to perform in this prestigious annual competition, hosted by Steve Gillette and Festival Founder Rod Kennedy.

Several former New Folk finalists and winners include Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, David Wilcox, John Gorka, Jimmy LaFave, Tish Hinojosa, BettySoo, Tom Prasada-Rao, Danny Schmidt, Jonathan Byrd, Tom Russell, Ray Bonneville, Steve Earle, Hal Ketchum, Robert Earl Keen and many hundreds of others.

Held each year since 1972, the Kerrville Folk Festival is the longest continuously running festival of its kind in North America. Over the years it has become known internationally as a Mecca for singer songwriters of varying musical styles… a place where those just beginning to develop their skills have the opportunity to play their music alongside those who are masters.

Emerging songwriters as well as teachers are drawn to the festival’s many learning opportunities, such as the 33rd Annual Songwriters School, the Roots / Blues Guitar Workshop, Harmonica Workshop, Capo Workshops, a Music Law Panel Discussion, and the 12th Annual Professional Development Program for Teachers.

There’s something for everyone at this festival, from camping, campfire jam sessions, concerts and activities for kids, “Ballad Tree” song sharing sessions, Hill Country bike rides and canoe trips on the Guadalupe to Sunday Folk Song Services, Saturday Shabbat Services, and much more.

A complete festival schedule, information, and tickets can be found at www.kerrvillefolkfestival.org or by calling the festival office at (830) 257-3600. Ticket prices range from $25 to $40 depending on the particular day, although savings can be had by purchasing tickets early online.

Campground Access and Parking Lot fees are included in the ticket price.

The Kerrville Folk Festival is owned by the Texas Folk Music Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to the support of emerging songwriters and folk music in all its forms. For more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Producer Dalis Allen, call the Festival Production Office at (830) 257-3600 or e-mail info@kerrville-music.com.

May 2024
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