Take A Summer Trip to Jefferson, Texas and Meet New Friends

The last time I was in Jefferson, Texas the weather was much cooler, but then, that was in October.  In late July, Jefferson is sweltering!

As I was getting ready to type this post I looked back at my October post and noted that I took many of the same pictures on this trip!  I'm going to have to get more creative next time!  But, bear with me and let's go back to Jefferson, because it's always a treat.

This trip had the added bonus of two new friends.  Earlier in the year we made plans to meet up with Mike from A Cop's Watch and his fiance Beth who live in the Houston area.

Steve and hit the road about 11:00 and were in Jefferson by noon.   For you non-locals, Jefferson, Texas in situated on Big Cypress Bayou in east Texas.  It was a river port town; steam boats came up the Mississippi River, into the Red River, through Caddo Lake and up Big Cypress bayou.  One of the early settlers of Jefferson was Captain William Perry who built the Excelsior Hotel.  He arrived in Jefferson around 1844.  Jefferson was the only dependable port in North Texas.  The railroads weren't there yet.

Back then, cotton was king and without railroads the huge bales had to be shipped by boats.  Jefferson was a boom town.  People from all over flooded into the area and settled in Texas.  Many wealthy planters settled along the bayou.  During the Civil War, Jefferson was critical to the Confederacy as a supplier of food, munitions, iron and other goods.  The black powder that was manufactured in nearby Marshall, Texas was stored in Jefferson until it could be shipped out.  The Union army set out to destroy the river port in the Red River campaign but they were stopped  in Mansfield, Louisiana.  After the war, Jefferson grew even larger as people moved into town and the steam boats were more active than ever.

After the Great Raft was cleared in the Red River in 1873, the water levels in Big Cypress bayou declined making shipping less reliable.  By then the railroads were more dependable than the waterways.  At its peak in the late 1800s, Jefferson had a population of about 12,000 people, but after the decline the population leveled off at about 2,000 which is about what it is today.  Today Jefferson is an east Texas treasure frozen in time.

You can read more about the history of Jefferson here.

When Steve and I got to town yesterday we went straight to the hotel to check in and check up on Mike and Beth.  We had reservations at the Excelsior House and would not stay anywhere else.

When we were there last October was our first time to stay there and we fell in love with the place.   This time we had reserved the Diamond Bessie Suite because it has a sun porch that opens up onto the courtyard and we thought it was gorgeous.  We were not disappointed!

It's a little blurry but this is the room:

This one is a little less blurry:

The sun porch, complete with plantation shutters and a wooden screen door that opens to the courtyard:

And another view:

I took that one with my phone and it came out sort of pink, but it was white.  There's a big 'ol tv mounted on the wall (you can see it past that lamp) where Steve checked out the baseball scores before we set out to find Mike and Beth.

There's the room from the outside:

We put our luggage up and set out to find Mike and Beth.

The fellow that puts up a decent cell tower in Jefferson is going to be a hero.  The cell phone service in that town is terrible.  Mike and I made several futile attempts to make phone contact before I finally figured out that they were at Auntie Skinner's waiting for us.

We found them sitting near the back and joined them.  We'd never met each other before but they seemed like old friends and we all quickly settled into the business of ordering lunch, telling cop stories and talking about wedding plans.  Mike and Beth brought us a box of Shiner beer which is brewed in Texas between Houston and San Antonio.  They carefully picked out a sampler of different kinds for us to try and I've got some of them chilling right now!

We spent an hour or so over lunch visiting, eating burgers, and watching our waitress, Charlene, run the length of the restaurant in her cowboy boots.  That little girl was a dynamo and since I like to recognize good service when I see it, I'm giving props to hard-working Charlene here and hoping Auntie Skinner's holds on to her!  She took good care of us and lots of other tables too; she was a blur up and down that restaurant, tossing her blond curls behind her and carrying huge trays of food out, then running at a sprint back to the kitchen for the next load.

After lunch we took Mike and Beth back to the hotel so they could check in then we explored the hotel so they could see some of the other beautiful rooms (the hotel leaves the doors of unoccupied rooms open and you can walk around and look at them.)  There are only fifteen rooms but they are all gorgeous.

This is the Ulysses S. Grant room:

This is the Rutherford B. Hayes room with its tiger mahogany bed:

This is the Jay Gould room; according to the Excelsior's website, the furniture is Circassian Walnut and dates from the early days of Jefferson. Most of this wood comes from Russia and was obtained from the cross cut root of the walnut tree.

We stopped on the upstairs balcony long enough to enjoy the courtyard before setting out to hit a few shops:

Beth and Mike are planning a wedding next year and she was on the lookout for some pretty jewelry for her wedding.  We stopped in an antique store near the hotel and while she didn't find the jewelry she wanted there, we saw lots of beautiful things and Steve made friends with a cat:

One of our favorite stops is the Jefferson General Store because they have so many goodies to sample:

Steve loved the jalapeno stuffed olives.  I bought a bunch of candy I didn't need and we moved on.   We ended up in Big Cypress Antiques and that's where Beth found a beautiful piece that she declared she simply had to have:

It's gorgeous and I secretly covet it.  But, it's very Beth and will be beautiful on her wedding dress!

I bought a nifty mother of pearl salt dip there:

We ambled along making our way back to the hotel for a little siesta before dinner but we made a quick stop in Jefferson Bottling Works.

I wrote about that shop in my October post last year and incorrectly identified the shop, a mistake which thankfully was pointed out to me and I corrected on that post.  The proprietor of Jefferson Bottling Works did not impress us on our last trip as a particularly hospitable shop owner.  When we were in there last year he barely spoke to us and sat behind the counter drinking his Bud Light Lime while he surfed on the computer.  We asked him to show us something in one of the locked cases and it seemed almost an imposition to him.

Well, thinking we had just hit him on a bad day we decided to give the shop another shot; there really are some cool things in his shop.  He's got an impressive display of stuff.  When we walked in he greeted us cheerily and I thought maybe we had in fact been mistaken in our rash judgment.  I had an empty water bottle in my hand and asked if he had a trash an I could throw it away in.  he told me there was one outside a couple of doors down.  WTF?  I just stashed the bottle in my purse until we left.  He retreated back to his computer (Facebook) and his Bud Light Lime and didn't say another word to us.  As we browsed the store I couldn't help but notice a large blue plastic garbage can filled about a quarter of the way with .... mostly plastic water bottles.   I guess the fellow had a good reason for not wanting the street riff raff to fill his garbage cans with trash but I thought it was a little ridiculous.

As we left we said goodbye and thanked him for letting us look.  Not even bothering to turn away from his computer screen he said, "It's what I live for."  Alrighty then.

Again, maybe the guy has a reason to be a grump; I'm not judging him.  But for my money there are plenty of super friendly shop owners in that town for me to give my business to.

We went back to the hotel and Steve crawled up on the daybed in the sun room and took a power nap while I tried in vain to get a wifi signal on my iPad.  Giving up, I ate chocolate covered coffee beans, drank a Boston Lager, and read a book.

For dinner we went back to Auntie Skinner's and watched Charlene fly all over the restaurant again.

We had several drinks and talked for a long time and when it was dark we walked the streets of Jefferson pointing out some of the more interesting landmarks to Mike and Beth.  We went back to the hotel and sat on the porch outside our room while Mike and Beth sipped scotch and I had a beer before we all turned in for the night.

Beth and Mike had to leave at the crack of dawn this morning so we said our goodbyes and then today we set off on our own.  I was on a search for Jadeite.

We had breakfast in the courtyard - orange muffins and fresh fruit.  Steve ate a fig off the tree growing right outside our window.

I wished for fish food to toss to the turtles and koi in the fountain:

We checked out of the hotel but not before exploring the ballroom and dining room of the hotel.  I loved this china cabinet in the dining room:

The ballroom:

And back out into the heat we went.

In 1945 Jefferson flooded; they have a marker for the high water mark:

Our first stop this morning was the huge Old Mill Antique mall on Austin Street.  It gets way too hot in there if you wait too late in the day.  As it was, we went through pretty quick because even at 10:30 it was hot.  It's a huge place with lots to see.

How about a funky turkey cigarette holder?

Coffee pots:

A nifty beer sign:

This telephone stand was cool:

A display case full off cool smalls:

Steve bought me a pretty Jadeite refrigerator dish (missing the lid but I love it anyway) and we left in search of a shop with AC.

We went to Gold Leaf Antique Mall which has beautiful stuff but much of it was out of my budget this trip.  I was in depression glass heaven:

They had lots of gorgeous Jadeite but again, way, way out of my price range:

And more:

There was so much pretty stuff in there I just had to bail out and leave.  I wanted a lot of it but part of the fun of finding some cool collectible piece is getting a really good deal on it and so that put much of this out of my reach today.

I had to laugh at this Stop sign in the road; no liberals allowed:

One of the nicest, friendliest shop owners in Jefferson is at Granny Had It.  We had a nice visit with the proprietor and her husband (and their cat!).  Wonderful, friendly people!  And she had some beautiful furniture in there.  I loved this bookcase:

And I've been coveting this Fostoria cake stand for a long time but I really think I like the round one better.  But I think this is gorgeous:

It was time for lunch so we headed over to the Hamburger Store and Steve had one of their wonderful burgers and I had the chicken fried steak.  I'm ashamed to say but I ate almost every bite.

The Hamburger Store is a cool place; it's that restaurant where they have dollar bills stapled to the walls:

The back story on that can be found here.

Exhausted and stuffed, it was time to head back to Shreveport.  On the way out of town we passed this beautiful place:

I had to get out of the car and take a picture of that one.  Those are stained glass windows on that top story.  Here's the marker in front of the house:

Apparently you can stay there; they have guest rooms and you can definitely tour the place which will be on my list for next trip.  The House of the Seasons website is here.  Here is a blog with a few pictures.  More here from the same blog.

All in all it was a quick trip but a wonderful one.  Time sort of stands still in Jefferson and 24 hours seems much longer and I mean that in a good way.  It was great to meet Mike and Beth and I look forward to a long friendship with them and many more trips in the future.

Great weekend!

The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:

Take a Trip to Dallas, Texas and The West End

Take a Stocking the Freezer Trip to Ed Lester Farms and Find a Cool Truck!

Take a Trip to Coushatta Down Louisiana Backroads

Take a Sunday Drive in North Caddo Parish

Take a Trip to Minden's First Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival

Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
Take a Trip to Jefferson, Texas

Sit a Spell

We are in Jefferson, TX enjoying the sunroom of the Diamond Bessie suite at the Excelsior House.

We drove over this morning and met up with Mike ("A Cop's Watch" ) and his fiancé Beth. We've spent the afternoon shopping and strolling the streets and now everyone has settled in for a siesta. But not me. I bought chocolate covered espresso beans.

Twelve More Reasons Not to Vote for Obama: Part 2

Continuing on with the list:

13.  Obama has blamed everyone but himself for the disastrous economy including, but not limited to, Republicans, gridlock, George W. Bush, the media, the Japanese tsunami, ATMs, the Gulf oil spill, and just plain bad luck.

14.  He presided over the first S&P downgrade in 94 years.

15.  Kevin Jennings.

16.  Since former La Raza VP Cecilia Munoz joined the Obama administration, funding to race-based La Raza has nearly tripled from $4.1 milliion to $11 million.

17.  Obama sought to apologize to Japan for the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a move not even the Japanese could tolerate.

18.  Crippled the economy in the Gulf of Mexico region with an extended moratorium on off-shore drilling.

19.  Obama's ridiculous FY2013 budget was voted down 99-0 in the Senate.  The FY2012 budget was also a goose egg.

20.  Solyndra.

21.  The "beer summit" in which Obama attempted to intervene in local police matters.

22.  Obama overturned the "Mexico City Policy" instituted by Reagan which would restore taxpayer funding for groups that promote or perform abortions in other nations.

23.  Over saw the largest tax increase on middle class America in history.

24.  During the debt ceiling crisis, Obama used scare mongering on Social Security recipients by suggesting their checks may not go out unless the debt ceiling was raised when, in fact, he knew all along there would be enough money in the coffers.

To be continued.

Previously:
Twelve Reasons Not to Vote for Obama:  Part 1

SIGIS in American Thinker

I've got an article up at American Thinker today.  Please take a moment to check it out.

The Dependency Agenda

Twelve Reasons Not to Vote For Obama: Part 1

I can't find any good reason to vote FOR Obama but there are lots of reasons to vote AGAINST Obama.  Let's start with these (in no particular order):

1. The Obama administration sends $600 million every year to the Palestinians; $225 million of that goes to the Palestinian Authority - a violation of U.S. law.

2.  The Obama administration sought approval from the United Nations to intervene in Libya, but not the approval of the U.S. Congress.

3.  Want to talk about "outsourcing"?  Up to 80% of the stimulus funds promoting "green energy" went to China, South Korea, and Spain.

4.  The Obama administration blamed the Standard & Poor's downgrade of 2011 on the Tea Party rather than any economy killing Obama policies.

5.  Obama has offered no entitlement reform whatsoever and in fact just last week gutted the work requirement from welfare.

6.  Obama lawlessly decided to ignore immigration laws on the books and announced his administration will not enforce them.

7.  At Obama's urging, the District of Columbia was allowed to fund abortions with taxpayer dollars resulting in some 300 elective abortions before the practice was stopped.

8.  Veteran's Day 2010 found Obama in Indonesia criticizing Americans for distrusting Islam.

9.  Obama's Justice Department refused to prosecute clear cases of voter fraud, i.e., the New Black Panthers case.

10.  Van Jones.

11.Under ObamaCare, Catholic institutions are mandated to provide birth control and abortifacients.

12.Not quite five months after Brian Terry was killed in border violence, Obama declared the Mexican border secure.

The list goes on.

To be continued.

Get Ready For Taxamageddon

I heard a caller on a local radio talk show today say "For the life of me I can't understand why anybody would vote to re-elect Barack Obama!"

I've spent the better part of three years trying to figure out why anybody would vote for him in the first place and I've yet to find a liberal who voted for him that could coherently explain to me why they did.  All I get is mushy-feel-good tripe.

All the news around here is depressing today.  The first thing out of the gate this morning I got word that my insurance will be going up between $50 and $60 a month and the co-pay will be increasing as well.  I guess we all saw that one coming.  The closing line of the memo was a reminder that my paycheck will be less than it was last school year.

I love my job.  I really do.  I love teaching.  But this year we'll begin implementing the Common Core State Standards and a new teacher evaluation system which makes is more than extremely difficult to be scored "highly qualified" and now we'll be getting less money for it.  More pressure, less money.  

It's a condition I guess we all better get used to.  Have you read Grover Norquist's piece in American Spectator today?  It's all about "Taxamageddon" and I wouldn't advise reading it with sharp objects nearby. 

Basically, on January 1, 2013 when the tax cuts lapse, some $500 billion will be added to the nation's tax burden.  That doesn't include the ObamaCare taxes that will begin to kick in:

Of the 20 new taxes or tax hikes in Obamacare, four will take effect January 1, including a 3.8 percent surtax on investment income (on top of existing capital gains and dividend taxes) and a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices, such as wheelchairs, pacemakers, and children’s braces.

After outlining a series of tax hikes vile enough to make one want to jump off a cliff (but do it before the death tax goes up!), Norquist closes with this:

Election Day sits only 56 days from a $500 billion tax hike, and the only way to stop it is to re-elect a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, add at least four Republicans to the Senate, and install Mitt Romney in the White House. Then, through reconciliation, the House and Senate can extend the lapsing tax cuts for one year, enough time to pass a real revenue-neutral, Reagan-style tax reform, like the one outlined by Rep. Paul Ryan, which drops the personal and corporate income tax rates to 25 percent. 

A vote for Obama is a vote for an immediate $500 billion tax hike and the long term continuation of Obama’s downward path toward the fate of Europe.

Which brings me back to the original question.  Why would anybody in their right mind vote for this guy?

Here is a liberal's take on Taxamageddon:

The fact is, once one rips the scales from one's eyes (the scales inserted by the likes of Grover Norquist) one realizes the expiry of the Bush tax cuts especially will lead to a new era of growth. Whatever minor immediate dip in GDP occurs, will be more than corrected for by higher productivity, more jobs and more investments....in labor, not just speculative capital. 

Said liberal babbles on about "al-Qaeda phantoms" and "useless wars" before concluding that the Laffer curve is nonsense and so is a vote for Romney.

The Heritage Foundation has a page dedicated to determining how Taxamageddon will affect you and says:

Taxmageddon falls primarily on middle- and low-income Americans. That’s because, contrary to the President’s rhetoric about “the wealthiest Americans,” 60 percent of the Bush tax cuts went to middle- and low-income taxpayers. The expiration of the patch on the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) will cause these taxpayers to pay a tax that was never supposed to hit them, and the expiration of the payroll tax cut is a tax hike almost exclusively on middle- and low-income families.

It's all quite depressing.

Read Norquist's piece if you dare.

And vote Romney.

(Graphic via Heritage Foundation)

Shhh! Working

Agitators

Sometimes truth hurts as when Rush Limbaugh declared yesterday:

“I think it can now be said, without equivocation — without equivocation — that this man hates this country,” the conservative radio host said. “He is trying, Barack Obama is trying, to dismantle, brick-by-brick, the American dream. There’s no other way to put this. There’s no other way to explain this.”

Rush made these comments coming off an Obama speech Friday in Roanoke in which he said:

“Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something: There are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.” 

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help,” Obama continued. “There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

The remarks quite naturally created a stir all over the internet and Rush just fanned the flames.  Via Professor Jacobson:



The good professor writes that both Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama "are hypocrites cut from the same cloth."

Be sure to check out video of Charles Krauthammer's smackdown of Obama's remarks at Legal Insurrection.

Obama Throws Welfare Reform Out the Window

As you may have noticed, this blog has been obsessed in the past few days with C.L. Bryant's documentary, Runaway Slave.  I believe it is critical that everyone see this film; both sides of the aisle have something to learn from this movie, however I think it will take more courage from those on the left to see it because they will be challenged.  Their life long beliefs will be challenged.  I'm hoping they'll have the courage to see it.

To that end, the film is more relevant now than ever.  The topics the film discusses are all over the news these days.  That's why I said yesterday, when this film breaks nationwide on the 27th of this month, it is all anybody will be talking about.  Because they already are - they just don't know it.

Case in point:  the Obama administration's move to gut the work requirement from the 1996 welfare reform law:

Today, the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an official policy directive rewriting the welfare reform law of 1996. The new policy guts the federal work requirements that were the foundation of the reform law. The Obama directive bludgeons the letter and intent of the actual reform legislation. 

This move is probably illegal since the original law stated that this provision was in no way eligible for waivers:

When it established TANF, Congress deliberately exempted or shielded nearly all of the TANF program from waiver authority. They explicitly did not want the law to be rewritten at the whim of HHS bureaucrats. In a December 2001, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service clarified that there was no authority to override work and other major requirements: “Effectively, there are no TANF waivers,” it reported. 

But legality has never been an issue for the Obama administration.

Entitlements under Obama have skyrocketed.  One in seven Americans are on food stamps.  In 2000, seventeen million people were on food stamps.  Today forty-six million people are dependent on food stamps.

More people have gone on disability than have found jobs.

The Obama administration is enslaving a class of people who are perpetually dependent on the government to save them.  And these people keep voting Democrat so they can keep getting handouts.

Wouldn't the better option be to create jobs so people won't need welfare?  Wouldn't it be better to create an environment where entrepreneurs can flourish and small businesses could grow?

Instead, the Democrats just want to keep handing out checks.

How demoralizing.

Wake up people!  Turn away from government hand outs and make your own way.  Create your own success.  Be a role model for someone who is looking up to you.  Break the cycle of dependency.  Don't let the Democrats enslave you to a life of poverty; you'll never get rich on handouts.

(H/T:  Memeorandum)

Andrew Breitbart Talks About His Legacy With CL Bryant

Recorded in May 2011:



Related Posts
A New Underground Railroad
Demand "Runaway Slave" Shows Near You
I Dare James Earl Jones to Watch "Runaway Slave"
Trading One Form of Tyranny For Another
Film Review:  Runaway Slave

A New Underground Railroad

Holy smokes.  Via Red State, "the most incredible movie trailer I've ever seen":



I'm dumbfounded at the sheer blind idolatry of it!

Instead, how about a film about freedom?  How about a film that makes you feel good about your country without being preachy?  How about a film that lifts your spirits and fills you with optimism?



When C.L. Bryant's Runaway Slave hits nationwide, it is ALL anybody is going to be talking about.  I just watched it a second time and it was more powerful the second time.  Of course, after I saw the film this weekend I have read Star Parker's book and started Deneen Borelli's book, so I brought more background to the table this time.

This time around I was really watching the imagery and technical aspects of the movie.  It not only holds up on message, but it holds up as a technical work, too.  When I reviewed the movie I wrote that it has a "gritty, urban feel" to it.  Imagery of chains, bars, and locks are flashed across the screen.  Urban graffiti.

Most prevalent was the image of the railroad; one of the themes of the film is that it's time for "a new underground railroad" to escape poverty and the tyranny of big government oppression.

We see C.L. walking down railroad tracks, running on the tracks, and standing in thought on the tracks.  In the beginning he picks up a rusty railroad spike and you see that spike from time to time through the film.  At the end, as he shouts "Run!  Run away from socialism!  Run away from progressivism! Run!"  This is when you get chills up and down your arms.  He throws that spike off a railroad trestle into the river - freedom.

The image is there verbally, too, as AlfonZo Rachel says, "I must be on the right track!"

The most beautiful image to me was CL's visit to the Jefferson Memorial.  He stands, staring up at the statue of Jefferson, a man who once owned slaves, and the sun breaks through the columns.  The message?  It's a new day; look forward.  Don't look to the past.  Look forward and where we can go, together.

It's simply a beautiful film in both message and content.

Go see it.  Because when it opens up nationwide, everyone is going to be talking about it and you will want to be part of that conversation.

Demand Runaway Slave Shows Near You!

C. L. Bryant's documentary, Runaway Slave, is set for nationwide release July 27.

You are really going to want to see this film.

Demand the Movie!

Take a look at the theaters listed for the July 27 openings for RUNAWAY SLAVE. No matter where you live, take a minute and call the theater managers at the numbers listed and let them know you want the movie to open in their theaters. 

	Atlanta	AMC Barrett Commons (Kennesaw)	(770) 419-5848
	Charlotte	Stonecrest at Piper Glen Stadium 22	(704) 540-7558
	Chicago	AMC River East 21	(312) 596-0333
	Cincinnati	Springdale 18 Cinema Deluxe	(513) 671-0140
	Dallas	AMC Grapevine Mills (Grapevine)	(972) 539-5909
	Indianapolis	Rave Motion Pictures Metropolis 18 (Plainfield)	(317) 839-0525
	Jacksonville	AMC Regency 24	(904) 725-0885
	Philadelphia	Regal Warrington Crossing (Warrington)	(215) 918-1667

Please take a moment to call and let theater managers know you want to see this movie!

Otherwise, people like Michael Moore will have the only voice out there about what is happening in America.  Isn't it time for a pro-America documentary, for once?!

We've Moved Way Past "Hammock"

James Pethokoukis has six charts that ought to scare you to death.

I heard Allen West say the other day that welfare was meant to be a safety net, not a hammock.  According to these charts, it's not only become a hammock but a TempurPedic mattress.

This chart shows the explosion of the entitlement state:

Look at the other charts and keep in mind, this is BEFORE Obamacare hits.

(H/T:  Memeorandum)

Romney-Rice?

Bill Kristol, who famously favored Sarah Palin, is "reading the tea leaves" and thinks Condi Rice might be on Romney's short list:

Rice wowed the crowd—and seemed to impress Mitt Romney, who was standing beside her—when she spoke in a featured role at a Romney campaign event two weeks ago in Park City, Utah. Rice is qualified, would be a poised (if novice) candidate, and would complement Romney in terms of area of expertise, gender (obviously!), and life experience. Rice offers an unusual combination of being at once a reassuring pick (she served at the highest levels of the federal government for eight years) and an exciting one. 

What's more, while the other VP possibilities have decent but middling favorable/unfavorable ratings(and are mostly unknown), Rice's favorable/unfavorable, according to a Rasmussen poll a couple of months ago, is a pretty staggering 66-24. Rice has said she's not interested—but Dick Cheney said he wasn't interested at this point in 2000. 

Adding fuel to the fire, Daniel Halper reports that Condi is sticking her toes back into political waters and raising money for ShePAC:

But, no, Rice is not (yet) throwing her hat in the ring. The email did not indicate that she had changed her mind--and that she would now accept the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket if Romney were to offer it. What's more, it was a mass email, surely sent to many, many folks. 

Instead, Rice is going political, and fundraising for "ShePAC, a new group that is working to Support,Honor & Elect conservative women, to talk about these ideals," as Rice describes.  

This email does illuminate an important fact, however: Condoleezza Rice is now seeking to be a part of election politics. And seeks some sort of role this election cycle. 

Whereas before, certainly since the Bush administration (and, one could argue, while even in the administration, since her job was strictly not political), Rice strayed from politics, usually at more than an arms length. But now she wants in. 

What do you think?

Win Two Tickets To Runaway Slave!

Caption Contest!

Write a winning caption and win two free tickets to C.L. Bryant's Runaway Slave documentary showing this weekend at the Regal Cinema on Shed Road in Bossier City. The tickets are for the 5:05 show Saturday.  The contest will run until 5:00 Wednesday afternoon.  I'll either snail mail or email your tickets to you - your choice.

Pumped for the AllStar Game!

I Dare James Earl Jones to Watch "Runaway Slave"

With no evidence whatsoever, James Earl Jones has declared the Tea Party racist.

Via Memeorandum:

JAMES EARL JONES: I think I have figured out the Tea Party I think I I do understand racism because I was taught to be one by my grandmother. My grandmother was part [tribal affiliation] Indian part black, she hated everybody and she taught all of her children and grandchildren to be racist to hate white people and to distrust black people. 

DR CORNEL WEST: Who does she love then? 

JAMES EARL JONES: Nobody 

WEST: Nobody at all. 

JAMES EARL JONES: But that allowed me to figure it out for myself. And I think I know what racism is better than anyone who has ever been a racist.

Listen for yourself here.

This drivel is exactly why James Earl Jones and people who think like him need to see C. L. Bryant's  documentary Runaway Slave.

Instead of spending time watching MSNBC, James Earl Jones should use his platform and influence to help lift people out of the tyranny of the progressives who only want to enslave lower classes to a life of welfare and dependency.

Why would anyone blindly go along with that?

I won't presume to call Mr. Jones a racist; he does say that he has been able to "figure it out" for himself so we'll hope he means that he's figured out how not to be a racist despite the teachings of his grandmother.

What Mr. Jones ought to be asking while he's "thinkin' and observin'" is why Obama got 95% of the black vote when it's Obama's progressive, liberal policies that has black unemployment at about 14%.  His policies have put more people on disability than to work.  The food stamp population has jumped from 17 million people in 2000 to 46 million people today.

The Obama administration is creating a nation of dependency rather than a fostering a nation of self-reliance, pride, and hard work.  He doesn't want people to succeed, he wants them to be dependent.

All the Tea Party wants is fiscal conservatism and for people to prosper.

Is that racist?

Trading One Form of Tyranny for Another

I've been busy reading which is why it's been quiet here.  I'm deep into Star Parker's book, Uncle Sam's Plantation:  How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can Do About It.  She has a compelling personal story and, like C. L. Bryant and others, makes the case that welfare is the new plantation.  From one set of chains to another.

When I finish Ms. Parker's book, I have Silence Makes the Loudest Sound:  A Conversation Between African-Americans and the Republican Party by Marvin D. Rogers.  

All of this, of course, is inspired by C. L. Bryant's Runaway Slave documentary which I saw this past weekend.  The thesis isn't new:  Democratic entitlement programs have enslaved many black Americans to a dependency on the government, thus the politicians get power and money while the poor get handouts and remain dependent.  The Democratic programs have also decimated the family unit in black communities; to get that welfare check there must be only one parent and the more kids there are, the more money you get.

Rush Limbaugh talked about this very subject today:

We have 48% of the people in this country not paying income tax, and yet all of them... And this is important in trying to assess all this. All of these people are eating. They're not going hungry. And they all have their cell phones. And they all are able to afford to use their cell phones. And they all have their plasma TVs, and they're all able to sign up for cable and use them. Despite all of the economic malaise. Now, the reason for this is that we're $16 trillion in debt. We've got an administration which is happily paying for this result. 

There is no longer a stigma to being unemployed or a stigma to being on welfare.

What will hopefully happen as C. L. Bryant's documentary makes its way across the country at the end of the month is that people will talk about this and raise awareness.  Hopefully more people will be inspired to take Star Parker's route and turn their backs on a life of dependency and poverty and instead dedicate themselves to honest work, renewed self-esteem and prosperity.  C. L. and the participants in this film hope to reach what he calls the "closet conservatives."

Of course, the only way for those on welfare to prosper is to reject the big government programs favored by the Democrats and to elect small government, fiscal conservatives who support small business development and job creation on all levels.  That, and as Parker notes, a strong moral code:  "Although the poor need free enterprise, capital investment, and rising productivity in order to attain better living standards, the lack of a sustainable moral code and value system brings such endeavors to naught."

Nobody ever got rich living on welfare, Parker says.  

Amen to that.

Watch this clip with C. L. Bryant and Deneen Borelli talking with Glenn Beck.  It's 26 minutes but well worth your time:

Film Review: Runaway Slave

When Runaway Slave comes to a theater near you, drop what you're doing and go see it.

Having heard Rev. C. L. Bryant speak before, I thought I had an idea what to expect but I underestimated the power of the documentary.  It's very powerful.

Visually, the movie has a gritty, urban, edgy feel to it that contrasts with rural rolling hills and scenic neighborhoods as narrator C. L. Bryant makes his way from one city to the next, crossing America, ultimately ending up in Washington, D.C., where he movingly stands at the Jefferson Memorial reading lines from the Declaration of Independence.  I have to say, I got a tear in my eye on that one.

Bryant drives across the country asking black individuals along the way "Are we free at last?  Are you free?"  He strides purposefully across the nation and listens inquisitively at both Tea Party rallies and NAACP rallies.  He asks black Americans what they are prevented from doing today because of their skin color.

The only person who wouldn't, or couldn't, answer that was Rev. Al Sharpton who refused to speak to Bryant in the documentary.

C. L. Bryant tells of his journey from liberalism to conservatism.  He was a chapter president of the NAACP in Garland, Texas at one time, a position he lost because of his pro-life stance.  He also lost the position of pastor of his church because of his conservatism.  But Bryant has brought his message to a much larger audience now with Runaway Slave and it's a message that everyone needs to see.

The thesis of the documentary is the enslavement of black society by big government.  Bryant tries to determine why 95% of the black community votes Democrat and why the nation is still so racially divided. People like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are described in interviews as "poverty pimps" because while they claim to represent the best interests of black America they are profiting from the continued degraded social status of blacks.

To support his thesis Bryant talks to many black leaders across America such as Alveda King who spoke strongly against Planned Parenthood and cited the high abortion rate in black society.  She noted the prevalence of Planned Parenthood in black communities and suggested they "target" black women.

I was particularly impressed with Marvin Rogers, author of Silence Makes the Loudest Sound.  Watch this clip:


Author Marvin D. Rogers Discusses his Highly Anticipated Book! from Marvin D. Rogers on Vimeo.


He really impressed me and I'm ordering his book today (there's no Kindle version).

Steve was impressed with Mason Weaver.  He wrote a book entitled It's OK to Leave the Plantation.  Watch this clip of Weaver speaking in 2009:



Bryant spoke with many other black leaders and the takeaway is that it is the Democratic party that has enslaved the black community to a life of poverty and entitlements.  You are not guaranteed success by the Constitution, you are guaranteed opportunity.  Nothing is handed to you.

Bryant also talks with well known black  leaders like Allen West, Herman Cain, and Thomas Sowell, but it was the lesser knowns like K. Carl Smith and Kevin Daniels that impressed me so much.

The movie opens July 27 in wider release; right now it's just in Bossier City.  The film website is here.  There you will find release locations and dates, all the interview participants, and video clips.

If you're anywhere close to Shreveport/Bossier, go to Regal Cinema on Shed Road and see this film.  We were pleasantly surprised to see C. L. Bryant himself striding to the front of the theater as the credits rolled.  We gave him a hearty round of applause and then he was swamped with people who wanted to shake his hand and speak with him.

The film is powerful, moving, articulate, and speaks to all of us.  It's one that I'll want to see more than once and if you get a chance to see it, drop everything you're doing and go.




Update:
Linked at The Dead Pelican - the one stop shop for ALL news Louisiana!
The film has been held over through July 19th at Regal on Shed Road in Bossier.
Buy tickets here.

Related Posts:
Andrew Breitbart Talks About His Legacy With CL Bryant
A New Underground Railroad
I Dare James Earl Jones to Watch "Runaway Slave"!
Trading One Form of Tyranny for Another

Take a Trip to Dallas, Texas and the West End

It's official:  we are grandparents!

It's amazing how quickly a little guy can get into your heart.  Steve and I left Benjamin and his parents in Dallas today and it was hard saying goodbye!  Happily for them, they were preparing to leave the hospital and head home to settle into new routines and a new life with their precious baby boy.

I posted a picture of him when he was born and will post one or two on this post but as Ben's parents are very private and don't want to run a play by play of his life on the internet we are certainly going to respect that choice.  But he's probably the cutest little boy ever!

We took advantage of this trip to do a couple of side adventures that have been on our list for a while.

Our hotel was near the DART so we took advantage of that as much as possible.  It just seemed silly to get in the Jeep and battle Central Expressway over to the hospital two or three times a day, so we took the DART.  We got on right by the hotel and got off right at the hospital.  Could not have been easier.

I like riding the DART and it all reminds Steve of the trains in Europe.

I'm a people watcher and I like to watch the people on the train.  Most are plugged into iPods, a few are reading, some doze, others stare tiredly out the windows.  I'm sure we look like the rubes we are as we gaze and point out the windows.  "Look at that building!"  "Oh, there's Taco Cabana!"

As we drove to Dallas after getting "the call," I stayed in constant contact via text with Ben's daddy and kept up with labor progress.  Ben waited for us to arrive; as we drove into the parking lot I got a text that said, "I see his head!"  Perfect timing!

We spent Wednesday afternoon at the hospital waiting and visiting.  Once baby and mother were settled into their room we left to check into the hotel and find dinner.

One of our favorite places to eat in Dallas is The Twisted Root.  As it happens, a famous Texan likes Twisted Root, too:

There are several locations and the restaurant was even featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives!  We love the sweet potato chips/fries and the spicy pickle chips.

That is a bacon cheeseburger and sweet potato fries.  Fabulous!

We ran a couple of errands after we ate then went to the hospital to see the baby one more time before calling it a day.

Thursday we decided to jump on the DART and check out Dealey Plaza.  We've never been to the museum there and have always wanted to, so we did.  We, of course, stopped to see Ben who was sleeping:

His parents looked a lot more rested than the last time we'd seen them so we left them to spend time with their baby and head out to the West End.

First stop was Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse.  We didn't have a lunch destination when we set out but it smelled so good the choice was easy.

The West End is that part of Dallas "where it all began," where the city was born.  It is now a historic district comprised of some 20 blocks and is filled with shopping, dining, offices and historic landmarks.  Many of the restaurants have patios or terrace dining and even on a hot day there's a breeze blowing through keeping things comfortable outside.

At Sonny Bryan's we both had BBQ plates: mine was a beef sandwich and Steve had the jalapeno sausage sandwich.  I got mac 'n cheese and he got potato salad and we both had the baked beans.  That Corona bottle is filled with BBQ sauce:

The atmosphere at Sonny Bryan's was as you'd expect, raw brick and wood floors, neon signs and a busy lunch crowd.  The service was fast and friendly!

Once we'd stuffed ourselves we walked a couple of blocks over to Dealey Plaza.  We explored outside before going into the museum.  This is the old Textbook Depository from where Lee Harvey Oswald fired at President John F. Kennedy from the sixth floor corner window.  President Kennedy's motorcade was moving down this street, away from the building, when the shots were fired.

If you look carefully you can see one of the two "x" marks in the street.  Incredibly, people run out there and stand on the X to have their picture made.

This strikes me as very dangerous and more than a little bit creepy, but whatever rocks your boat, I guess.  This isn't exactly a low traffic location and that's three lanes of traffic coming at you.

The grassy knoll:

This shot looks toward the triple underpass through which President Kennedy's motorcade was about to pass:

This is Houston Street and the reflecting pool; the motorcade drove north on this street, toward the Depository, then turned west onto Elm, passing in front of the Depository, where the president and Governor John Connally were hit.

Today, the entire plaza area is, as I said, an historic district and preserves as much of the scene as possible as it was the day of the assassination.

No photography is allowed inside the museum.  No cameras, no cell phones.  Security guards patrol the exhibit and keep an eye on things.

The museum consists of large photographic panel displays with textual information, artifacts and video.  You wind your way through and listen to a guide through headphones.  Periodically you are prompted to stop the audio tour and watch one of the short videos which might be of one of Kennedy's speeches, a press conference, or Walter Cronkite's coverage of the assassination.

The exhibit takes you chronologically though Kennedy's election, his presidency, the Bay of Pigs, the space program, the "Camelot" family life, and on through the assassination, the investigation, and the conspiracy theories.

The actual site where Oswald sat is preserved behind plexiglass.  Boxes of books are preserved behind this plexiglass cube and you can see how he arranged boxes upon which to rest the rifle he aimed out the window as he lined up his shots.  You can't actually get to the window  yourself, but on the seventh floor, which is gallery space, you are allowed to take pictures.  This is taken from the seventh floor just above the sixth floor window:

We enjoyed the tour and seeing the whole scene really gives you a better sense of perspective than just looking at pictures.

From there we took a quick trip into the Holocaust museum; it was right around the corner and I'd been wanting to go see it.  The museum is growing and will be moving to a larger facility in the near future.

The main exhibit takes you through a day in the Holocaust through several different perspectives.  This is a self-guided audio tour but there are often guides taking groups of school children through and we tagged on to one of those.

There are lots of photographs that are synced with the audio tour:

There are also plenty of artifacts:

And displays:

We were lucky enough to meet a survivor, Max Glauben, who was a child in Poland who smuggled food and weapons to the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto.  He was sent to five different concentration camps.  Now he tells his story and hopes to teach young people about intolerance as a cautionary tale in the hopes that genocide and hate will not prevail.

Mr. Glauben is a charming fellow who has cheated death several times (he's also a Korean War veteran and a cancer survivor).  Read Mr. Glauben's story here.  I purchased a copy of his DVD, "Plagues of the Soul" which he autographed for me.  I'll treasure it!

Exhausted from our day, we head back to the DART and the hospital to check on our little grandbaby!

I hope little Ben's mother will forgive me but I have to share this picture; I just thought it was so sweet.

They're going to be wonderful parents and I can't wait to watch this little guy grow!

After a rest at the hotel we climbed into the Jeep and drove over to get some dinner at the Texas Land and Cattle Steak House.  It was close to the hotel and a good rare steak sounded just fine to me so off we went.

I highly recommend this place if you go to Dallas.  (They have other locations, too; check the site). I can't remember a time that I've had better, friendlier service.  Our server was friendly and helpful; when he learned it was our first visit he told his manager who came by to speak to us and gave us a card for a free appetizer on our next visit.  The food was perfectly prepared, the atmosphere was lovely, and the beer cold!

Fabulous!

We had to go back to the hotel pool after that and swim off some of those calories.  I did slow, lazy laps, but I felt better when I was done.

This morning?  Back to see Baby Ben; the happy family was packing and getting ready to head home.

I guess it seems like we eat all the time, but people eat, you know.  So we grabbed lunch at Henk's European Bakery and Deli.

Steve is a big fan of German food, and I'm a big fan of German beer so it works out perfectly.

We both ate brats, red cabbage, and hot German potato salad.  I picked up a piece of chocolate raspberry cake to bring home and Steve bought a couple of rounds of crusty German bread.

Two hundred pounds later, I crawled back into the Jeep and we made our way back to Shreveport and our dogs.

We already miss our little grandson and can't wait to go back and see how much he's grown!  We're already planning our next trip.

The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:

Take a Stocking the Freezer Trip to Ed Lester Farms and Find a Cool Truck!

Take a Trip to Coushatta Down Louisiana Backroads

Take a Sunday Drive in North Caddo Parish

Take a Trip to Minden's First Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival

Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation

Dallas Holocaust Museum