Links, Thoughts and Cartoons for Saturday Afternoon

Well, I didn't have enough to post on Thursday, was too tired to post these Friday, and spent this morning at the shooting range getting to know my new little friend, the Springield XD9. Now that I have this gun, I'll be selling my HiPoint 9mm cheap, if anyone is interested. I'll let it go for $150, with 2 mags, original package and all manuals and such.

Lewisville Lake is at 520.13 feet elevation, which is about 2 feet low.

We may get a decision from the court cases on Texas school finance by early next year.

Councilman Gilmore posted his thoughts on the July 2nd Council meeting where the smoking ban was passed. So did Councilman Gorena, who had to explain why he opposed the ban, but suggested that bowling centers be added to it. To add insult to "injury", he kept referring to the bowling center that allows smoking as "AFC". At any rate, I'm glad Gorena did that, because it does keep it fair.

San Diego fireworks gone awry - from up close.

Highland Village Balloon festival is coming up, and I need to add it to my calendar. Fluffy and I actually used to crew for a balloonist, and would love to have owned a balloon, but they are quite expensive. What you need is to have a good friend with a balloon!

Politicians feel more free to use coarse language lately, according to this AP article.

Some protesters demonstrated outside a Koch brothers fundraiser for Mitt Romney. I'm glad someone is fighting against the corporate purchase of a president.

Allen Publishing, which does several local newspapers, but none in Lewisville, is looking for votes in the "Best of Denton County 2012" awards. Lewisville may not be their circulation area, but we should represent. Go vote. Maybe LTJ should do a "Best of Lewisville" awards. What do you think?

Parklets. Not sure what to think about these. I like green spaces, but I like parking near wherever I need to be. Perhaps some day when public transportation really decreases the need for street parking, we could have more of these and take a little green space back.

Weslaco, TX is powering their wastewater treatment plant with solar energy. It took a pretty big investment, but will pay off in reduced electricity costs over the years. I'd love to see us find the right price point where the City of Lewisville could get a break-even with solar power on city facilities that matches our typical 15 year debt repayment. If we could hit that point - maybe in combination with federal or state grants or private contributions, we could save money from day 1. It seems like with today's political climate, we've blown the opportunity to have American companies take a commanding lead in solar development though. We have the technology and the desire, but China is under-cutting us.

Quick, what's the number one city service, without which almost all of us would be immediately screwed? What's the most important? Police? Pretty important, but we all have guns. We can man the fort for a few days if they all went on strike. The city would not plunge into instant chaos and riots if the police department shut down for a day or two. Fire department? Also pretty important, and when you need them to put out a fire or rescue you from a car wreck, you really need them, but we've all got water hoses, and many of us can render first aid and drive someone to a hospital. On a given day, 99.9% of us won't need the Fire Department's services. Those 0.1% would need them badly. Traffic control? Well, yeah it's a huge hassle when the lights go out, but most people drive Texas friendly, and we can manage for a time. What about water and sewer? Yeah, that's right; I've been saying it forever - water is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT CITY SERVICE. When it goes out, there is almost instant chaos. Businesses shut down. Toilets fill up with waste. You cannot cook or bathe, and eventually you run out of water to drink. Temple, Texas recently was reminded of this when a power outage hit their water treatment plant, and they were without service for two days. What would you do in a disaster where you could not get water, and neither could any of your neighbors? Do you have an emergency supply of clean drinking water in your house? These are things to think about.

The Texas Research Institute has created a new website called the Texas Public Policy Journal. (We just love sites with "Texas" and "Journal" in the name) The site catalogues reports, studies, and news articles about public policy in Texas, so that researchers can quickly find the information they need. Of course, you have to actually give a crap about facts, which leaves out more than half of the Texas politicians who could benefit from the site.

Flower Mound is hard to do business in, say developers, who gave Flower Mound poor marks in a recent survey conducted by the town. The Town's new leadership wants to change town ordinances to make it easier.

The Lewisville Police Department recently named Officer Schnequa Guy as Officer of the First Quarter 2012, and dispatcher Cassie Race as Civilian of the First Quarter 2012. Both employees were recognized for their outstanding job performance.

A Lewisville institution in Mexican food, the Dallas Tortilla and Tamale Factory is closed. Owner Rebecca Behnke has told us she would write something to explain what's going on.

President Obama is the smallest government spender since Eisenhower, says Forbes Magazine.