And the Winner Is ~ Mayor Dr. Bob Cluck is the Best of the Worst in North Texas!

We don't fully understand all the upset about bike trails by these Arlington, TX residents.   

But we do understand being upset by time limitations during Public Meetings.  

Any North Texas Mayor who proclaims, 
"I'll Smile If I Want To!"   
deserves the Prize and All the Kudos.

Therefore, Mayor Cluck is the Winner! Hands Down.

Beginning in the summer of 2011, it seems the Arlington, Texas City Council and especially the Mayor went off the tracks. Click on over to the Fishcreek Monitor to see some more of that derailment. In the world of public administration, this is probably a textbook version of what you don't want to happen. But it did. And it's a lesson in politics. People like to be heard no matter what their viewpoints. If politicians in America don't want to listen, maybe they need to do something else. Or move to another country.

If you haven't already voted early, be sure to vote this Saturday, May 11, 2013!  In Texas, it's now one of the few things we own that can't be taken by private industry via eminent domain.  

Hold on to it with your dear life. 

Vote!

Official Notice for the Grand Prairie, TX Municipal Elections:

Grand Prairie, TX Official Notice of Election by Weschester Gasette

Precinct Locations.  VOTE!

Grand Prairie, Texas Precinct Locations May 11, 2013 by Weschester Gasette

Amen.

The Women.

(Note: The above video will not play using the iPhone's Safari Browser ~ be sure to open the video from your PC or your MAC.)

Sheri Capehart ~ District 2 City Councilwoman in Arlington, TX.

This last Tuesday night (February 21, 2012) something very unusual happened during the vote on the Overcoming Faith Drilling Site during the Arlington City Council Meeting.   The vote was 4-3.

The 4 City Councilmen voted "Yes" to the site. 

As the video shows, the 3 Women on the Council voted "No" to the site.  After observing the actions of this City Council over many months and seeing how they mostly never met a drill site they didn't like  ~  it was a sea change this past Tuesday night.

P.S. We're very sorry for your loss, Councilwoman Capehart.  We, too, have known the sadness and long goodbye of losing a loved one to Alzheimer's.   AMEN.

It's a Hurricane

A LANDMAN on the Arlington, TX City Council?? 
 Or What Is It, Pray Tell?

The Councilman does have a very nice résumé.

Here's how you, too, can become a landman:

A landman is an agent hired by gas companies to negotiate with landowners in order to get a lease signed at the lowest possible price per acre with the lowest possible royalty payments for any extracted gas.

In a section titled "Talking Points for Selling Oil and Gas Lease Rights," the "Landman’s Manual" explains in detail how landmen should talk to landowners, what topics they should talk about and what topics to avoid. The manual says that "successful field agents understand what points to focus on so the benefits outweigh the cons."

According to the manual, most landowners don’t know the difference between hydraulic fracturing and slick water hydraulic fracturing. The landmen are told to use this fact to their advantage, but to avoid the topic if a landowner does know about slick water fracturing.

[...]

The manual stresses the importance of telling landowners that China bought more oil than the U.S. last year.

"Fear of foreign encroachment is the biggest asset we have in selling our development strategy," it states.

Whenever the conversation with a landowner turns to local issues or environmental hazards, the landmen are instructed to reiterate the fact that China bought more gas than the U.S. last year.

Landmen are told to avoid talking about property values. According to the manual, multiple studies have found that property values decrease for land with oil and gas leases on the property and several major banks have stopped issuing mortgages on these properties. If backed into this issue, the landmen are told to "talk about the potential revenues and the overall needs of the nation" and to once again reiterate the point that China bought more gas than the U.S. last year.

The manual instructs the landmen to talk to men whenever possible because "men are more likely to sign than women. Men don’t like to believe that they know less than you do, so they are less likely to ask questions."

Oh, those landmen.  They just don't want to talk to women!  So, what is it? I mean, what the frack is going on?? $$