The comments printed in the paper this morning and posted online that the indictments of the police chief and former city attorney can't be political because the grand jury issued the indictments only after the DA simply provided them with the information is simplistic at best.  The district attorney in Texas is a very powerful person.  There is an old saying that a district attorney can get an indictment against a ham sandwich.  This is because no defense evidence, indeed the defense attorney, is allowed to be seen by the grand jury.  I had high hopes for Tyler as I believed the former DA to be a very corrupt person and Tyler would be a breath of fresh air.  Oops.  Seems Tyler learned his lessons very well from his former boss.

I just got back from a miserable lunch.  I like to go to the Incredible Pizza restaurant on Tuesdays for old timers day.  An all you can eat buffet and drinks for a very reasonable price.  It's a wonderful place with music I grew up with.  Great for lunch.

Today, however, the place was overrun with a bunch of kids, all about three feet tall who were at full volume and full speed.  I guess it was a school bunch as they were mostly about the same size and there were several "adults" with them.  The adults weren't supervising, though.  They were just eating.  The kids were running and yelling and shreiking and the adults just kept on eating. 

With apologies to Jack Webb in The D.I.  "You people ain't even a mob.  A mob has a leader.  You people are a herd."

I'll continue to go to old timers day, but I sure hope the kids aren't there next time.  If they are, I hope somebody has taught them how to behave in public places.

Okay, what happened to the stories and blogs about the court overturning the decision of the state to take the kids from the FLDS compound?  I've tried to pull up the comments from readers and get an error message.  Everything else works fine.  What's up?

The price of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel is rising at record paces with no end in sight.  We must begin now, and hope we aren't too late already, to develope and deploy alternatives to petroleum based fuel if the economy of the country, indeed our very way of life, are to be saved.  We will not save enough by increasing the mileage of cars -- we must wean ourselves from gasoline.  Corn based fuel is a joke.  It uses more petroleum to prepare the fields, plant, harvest, transport and convert corn into ethonol than we benefit from it.  Wind and solar power are somewhat reasonable sourses of electric power in some parts of the country, but they do little for our transportation needs.  Nuclear power is a wonderful source of electricity, but there are too many roadblocks from the NIMBY's to build many plants.  We need to have the vast majority of our electric needs powered by nuclear plants, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon.  There is much research being done to extract hydrogen from sea water to power fuel cells that can run cars and even provide our homes with abundant electric power. 

We need a president who understands that to fix our energy problems in the future, we must start NOW.  We need programs to develope all the above energy sources and others that are on a scale of the 1960's programs to put men on the Moon.  The spinoffs from such research and development will rival if not eclipse the spinoffs from the space research when products from Velcro to personal computers entered our lives. 

I'm getting old and don't have kids.  By the time America turns into a third world country because we don't have affordable fuel sources for transportation and electrical generation, I'll be dead and gone.  I do feel sorry for the generations to come, howver.  Without adequet power, they will never know the America I have known and loved all my life.

I cannot believe the President Bush is apologizing to the Iraqi prime minister over a U.S. soldier shooting holes in a Koran.  The soldier was sent home and I'm sure he'll face some consequenses of his actions.  I suppose this is as it should be, but for the President to issue an apology is beyond belief.  Every day I am looking forward to Bush becoming the EX-president.  I find it hard to believe that this buffoon is related to George the first and Barbara.  I think somebody switched babies in the hospital.

I saw a story in the Houston Chronicle about John Hagee, the end-of-the-world preacher from San Antonio.  He's now apologizing to the Catholic Church (and, by extention, its members) for calling them whores and apostates.  It is obvious that the only reason he issued a luke warm apology is that he realized the insults would make him look bad.  This guy is the one who is known as a spiritual advisor to John McCain.  He could do as much harm to McCain's run for president as Obama's preacher did to him.  While Hagee has the First Amendment right to speak, he really should keep his big mouth shut and stop insulting people who might be inclined to vote for the guy he endorsed.  He should remember the old adage that it is better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.  Hagee is a fool.

George Bush says he wants FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to give Mexico to help the Mexican government fight the drug gangs that are so prevelant in that country.  Congress needs to stand up and, in the words of Nancy Reagan, just say no.  There are many uses to which a half-billion dollars can be put to use here in the states that are more important than sending more money to Mexico.  Here's a thought, let MEXICO fight it's own drug war.