PART VI:  Visit to Another Planet

As you may have guessed, El Hyena has just returned from another planet, known as Greater Metropolitan Houston.  While some of you may believe that Houston is a large city located in the same state as our beloved Port O’Connor, El Hyena knows that it is in fact located on another planet, although travel time is a mere three hours, give or take, depending on whether or not one chooses to abide by inter-planetary speed limits.

The occasion for El Hyena’s visit was the celebration of his mother’s (aka The Momma Lady) 80th birthday.  Although her husband (El Hyena’s long-suffering yet remarkably forgiving father) and children, et al. celebrate her birthdays, The Momma Lady grudgingly acknowledges them.  Along with her many other outstanding attributes, The Momma Lady is a good sport.

Actually, El Hyena spent many years living in and around Houston until his escape in 1991.  During those years, El Hyena thought that Houston was a semi-normal place but, with the gradual accumulation of age and wisdom, El Hyena has learned better.  Fortunately, El Hyena’s parents live in The Woodlands which, although geographically close to Houston, is quite different.  El Hyena’s parents moved into The Woodlands in 1979, when it was a brand new, itty bitty community.  Much has changed, however, as El Hyena estimates The Woodlands to now be populated by close to a jillion people, most of whom drive like maniacs in high-end European cars and SUVs.  The best thing about The Woodlands is that it now has just about everything, making it unnecessary for residents to go to Houston except, perhaps, to get to their jobs.

After living in the same house for thirty-four years, El Hyena’s parents recently moved into a senior community known as The Forum, which sounds so much nicer than Geriatric Gulag.  It is a very nice place and El Hyena’s parents like it very much; they are quite pleased with their new easy-going lifestyle.  While the Forum offers several levels of assisted living if needed, El Hyena’s parents are thankfully capable of living independently.  Fiercely independent does not even begin to describe it.  One must be careful in these senior communities, else he be run down by a member of a notorious electric scooter gang.  These scooters are provided at little or no cost to them.

El Hyena thoroughly enjoys visiting The Folks, as he is embarrassingly pampered and praised.  He is told what a good son he is (and always has been), which El Hyena realizes involves generous and intentional lapses in memory.  Incidents for which The Folks once would have killed or exiled El Hyena are now, with the passage of time and expiration of various statutes of limitation, amusing and even “cute”.  Apparently, it takes many years for Boys to be allowed to be Boys.

El Hyena’s visits to his parents are the only times he watches television.  This involves watching one or two minutes of many different programs until something “we” want to watch is located and/or The Momma Lady gains possession of the remote.  This weekend we watched football games and a golf tournament.  We watched the Texans in one game because J.J. Watts is a very nice young man, and the New York Giants in another because Eli Manning is from The Folks’ home state of Mississippi (he’s also a very nice young man).  When watching football, we don’t like players with long hair and tattoos, or who prance and dance.  We watched the golf tournament because Tiger Woods was losing badly (we don’t like him).  We used to watch the Astros, but not anymore because the new owner is an idiot.  The Momma Lady used to be a huge Astros fan, and she could tell you where all of the players lived and to whom they were married.  She once built a shrine to Nolan Ryan in her back yard, and was devastated when he went to the Rangers.  She liked Roger Clemens until he betrayed her by selling out and going to the Yankees.

As you may have guessed, when The Momma Lady decides she doesn’t like somebody, it’s forever.

El Hyena also reads The Houston Chronicle, which reaffirms the fact that Houston is actually located on another planet.  During his visits, El Hyena is the first to wake up, whereupon he immediately reads the entire newspaper.  The Momma Lady then joins him and reads the newspaper as well, helpfully folding certain sections to give to El Hyena so he can re-read certain “interesting” articles.  This weekend’s fascinating topic of interest was Johnny Football.  In case you were wondering, The Momma Lady is not an Aggie Fan, although she does like the head coach because he came from the University of Houston and The Momma Lady liked Bill Yeoman because he was nice to some friends of hers.

Finally, each day ends with watching The News, which is always Channel 13 because we like Dave Ward, and this experience emphasizes, in glorious high definition, that Houston is in fact located on another planet.  Either that or inhabited by people from a different planet.  Judging from the conversation, El Hyena realizes that The Momma Lady also watches Fox News, but she is polite enough not to do so when El Hyena is present.  Either that or she is frustrated that El Hyena does not always agree with what she “learns” from watching Fox News.

All kidding aside, El Hyena is very, very grateful that he is still able to visit his parents, and wouldn’t miss spending time with them for the world.  El Hyena benefits from the supervision, both from The Folks and the two younger brothers.  The brothers won’t admit it, of course, but they both know The Momma Lady likes El Hyena best.

“The Way I See It” is an attempt by the guest columnist to enlighten readers on a subject, as he views it, and does not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.

Obama and Al Qaeda

During the campaign in the summer of 2012, Barack Hussein Obama bragged that Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants were dead and Al Qaeda was almost defeated. And he insinuated that the “War on Terror” was over. However, the “Arab Street” was chanting, “Obama, Obama, we are all Osama!” On 9/11/12 there was an attack on the mission in Benghazi that Team Obama tried to say was a ‘demonstration’ and blamed on a little seen YouTube video. But facts are pesky things. Al Qaeda furnished the leadership for the attack to cover a kidnapping attempt on Ambassador Chris Stevens for the Muslim Brotherhood. Later demonstrations in Egypt and other places had Al Qaeda flags displayed prominently.

Now in August of 2013, we are faced with closing 19, 22, 28? embassies and consulates for 4, no 10 days, and some maybe until after 9/11/2013. The reason for these closings? Probable Al Qaeda attacks. We now know that Al Qaeda furnished the leadership for the revolution in Libya, Al Qaeda has taken over the leadership of the Syrian rebels, has a strong presence in Yemen and other parts of the Arabian peninsular, and is a great influence in most of the jihadist groups in Africa. Also the Muslim Brotherhood is not democratic or secular, but fanatically Islamofascist and an ally with Al Qaeda. Obama’s epic failure in Egypt has him hated by The Muslim Brotherhood, the army, and the democratic factions that support the Egyptian Army against Morsi and the MB. A popular Egyptian video by Sama Elmasry demonstrates their contempt.

Also, finally, the truth is coming out about the Benghazi attack and why Team Obama went to such lengths to cover up what happened. A shocking revelation came out Monday, August 5th. About 5:00 p.m., Obama was briefed by SecDef Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey. Then Obama retired to his quarters. After supper Obama had a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Senior Advisor to the President, Valerie Jarrett was present for this two hour phone conference due to problems caused by Obama snubbing Netanyahu in prior formal meetings. After the call drew to a close, Ms. Jarrett, who is also the Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, went from the living quarters to the White House Situation Room, where the attack in Benghazi was being monitored by Dempsey, Panetta and other top-ranking officials, possibly including Hillary Clinton.

A critical decision had to be made, whether to send air support and a rescue force from Tripoli, an AC-130 Spectre gunship and a C-130 transport with Spec Ops soldiers, and/or a Ready Reaction force and F-16s from Savonella, Italy. President Obama was resting for the next day’s trip to Las Vegas for a big campaign fundraiser and was not interested in attending. Ms. Jarrett, in Obama’s absence gave the “Stand Down” order.

Valerie Jarrett is a trusted senior adviser, sometimes ‘Mommy’, an often described as “handler” for Barack Hussein Obama, BUT she has NO military training, expertise, or authority. She is not in the Chain-of-Command. She is a liberal (Afrocentric & Islamophile) political wonkette. Obama didn’t want to be bothered and he unconstitutionally “delegated” the responsibility to her. She made the decision based on Obama didn’t want to be bothered, NOT on the tactical conditions, or any interest in saving American lives. (My opinion is she and Obama both knew that the ‘attack’ was cover for the kidnapping, and Obama had agreed to it to trade Stevens for The Blind Sheik.) Ms. Jarrett had NO Lawful Authority to give this order, and it was GROSS CRIMINAL MALFEASANCE on both of their parts for Obama to allow or order her to do so. It was also gross malfeasance for those present to follow her order and criminal malfeasance for them to be party to the subsequent cover-up. (I don’t believe that Panetta or Gen. Dempsey were party to the kidnap plot, but Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin most probably were.)

This is why there has been such a desperate effort at a cover-up. Not only was Amb. Stevens killed, but on 6/5/2013 it was revealed than an Al Qaeda leader and weapons expert, Abdallah Dhu-al-Bajadin, said that Stevens was killed by a “fatal injection”. The known facts suggest that Stevens was given a sedative to facilitate his kidnapping, but such drugs suppress respiration and coupled with lung damage due to smoke inhalation, possibly complicated by other injuries, he simply stopped breathing. Also Obama was loudly denying supplying any weapons or military supplies to the Syrian rebels, the first shipment of missiles had already left Benghazi aboard a Libyan ship, named Victory in Arabic, bound for Iskenderun, Turkey. The cover-up quickly started to come unraveled, though it took some time for people to put the pieces together. A demonstration to protest a video would not include RPGs and mortars. The timelines didn’t fit. Why was Gen. Carter Ham removed from command of Africom? Retired Admiral Lyons was the first to suggest the ‘Kidnap plot’ on 11/14/2012, he was not taken seriously, but as evidence was gathered, it became the logical answer to fit the evidence. Furthermore, why were the other 7 security and CIA people wounded sequestered and kept from the media and even Congressmen? Why were the 35 (+) people evacuated forced to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements, given multiple lie-detector tests over the past months, and possibly even new identities for some? (The new identities has not been fully substantiated, yet.)

But it is coming together. Judge Jeanine Pirro gave an excellent presentation 8/3/13 on the lousy investigation by the FBI, lack of serious investigation of identified suspects involved in the attack, and NSA failure to intercept terrorists but harass Americans. Long time Democrat operative and pollster Pat Caddell revealed on Fox 8/5/13 more info on Benghazi and that the IRS abuses lead right to the White House. Many traditional Democrats are gravely concerned about this administration now. But Obama and his minions still insist that these are “phony scandals!”

This is opinion based on observed information. My opinions that still are not fully confirmed are shown in italics. I will gladly furnish (sites) and sources if questioned on the website: www.thedolphintalk.com

Taken with 16” diameter Meade telescope by Wesley J Hunt

Some physicists believe and argue that earth and its moon are indeed a “Binary Planet System” and that when we look into the night sky we are seeing a planet when we look to our moon. And there does seem to be good science supporting this hypothesis. As most moons in our solar system orbit on their host planets equatorial plane, our moon does not; it orbits at 5.1 of the ecliptic plane, meaning instead of orbiting around the center axis of the host planet as other moons do, our moon orbits on the planetary plane as the other planets in our solar system.

Most moons in the solar system are slowly moving closer to their host planet but our moon is not, it is moving away from earth at approximately 3” per year. The McDonald Observatory in Texas actually watches its wobble and minor movements with lasers. The sun holds the greatest amount of gravitational pull on our moon, much greater than earth. Our planet only has 54% of gravitational hold on the moon thus explaining why its moving away; and our moon is larger than the planet mercury.

But what makes a planet has been a topic of controversy for decades, as Pluto has become the latest casualty and demoted to Drawf Planet. The IAU “International Astronomical Union” has set a definition for what makes a celestial body a planet, saying that it must be a rocky body with layers and be geologically active. We know that the moon has detectable quakes and was geologically active in the past, also it must orbit the sun. I have still not found the answer as to why they consider the gas giants as planets when they do not know if they have rocky cores and layers. Also, some argue that our moon “does” orbit the sun as it also orbits the earth on its ecliptical plane.

Some physicists argue that the moon will someday become a planet when it breaks free from earths gravity, and still others argue not until its barycenter “center point of gravity” is located outside the surface of earth, but the barycenter of Pluto and Ceres is well outside the surface of Pluto and they call Ceres “ Pluto’s moon”. Both earth and moon have a slight wobble in their orbits, that is why sometimes we see the moon’s “liberation” causing us to see around the darker side slightly at certain times; so both have a gravitational affect on each other.

The moon was known as a planet until Copernicus in 1543, and it was Christiaan Huygens who first coined the word “moon” in his papers “Luna Saturnia” It was Johannes Kepler who first used the term “Satellite” from the Latin “satelles” in 1610 meaning “guard” “attendant” or “companion” and today is the most common term used in science “natural satellite”.

But when you look to the heavens you are seeing another planet right there in plain view, or if you wish, a beautiful moon, because they are made of the same stuff, The real issue in the debate over moon or planet is the meaning put to the word “planet” an objective astronomical or physical reality.

Wesley J Hunt wes81461@yahoo.com

Crossroads Astronomy Club meets every third Monday in room 223 west building at the University of Texas at Victoria.

Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church
Annual Parish Festival – Sept. 15, 2013

Bauer Community Center, Hwy 35, Port Lavaca, Texas

Seafood Platter $8.00 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (Dine in or Carry Out)

Auction begins at 12:30 p.m. All major credit cards accepted.

Raffle: Grand Prize – $5,000 Debit Card

Children’s Games – Bingo – Cake Spin – Country Store – & More!

Bring your family and friends and join us for a day of fun, food, crafts and games!

For more information call 361-552-6140.

On Sunday, August 18, at the 10:00 a.m. Mass, The Most Reverend David E. Fellhauer will officially install Fr. Tommy Chen as pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf and Her Missions of St. Ann, St. Joseph and St. Patrick.

Fr. Tommy was born in Taiwan in 1978. He and his family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old because of his father’s job at Formosa Plastics in Point Comfort. The Chen family became members of St. Ann’s Church in Point Comfort.

Fr. Tommy graduated from Calhoun High School in 1994 and then obtained a degree in Psychology at the University of Texas in Austin and graduated in 2000. Fr. Tommy entered the seminary for the Diocese of Victoria in the Fall of 2001. For two years, he studied philosophy at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas and then transferred to St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston to complete his graduate theology degree. During his seminary formation, Fr. Tommy spent one year in internship at St. Philip Church in El Campo. After being ordained a deacon in 2007, he served his diaconal ministry at Holy Family Church and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Wharton.

Fr. Tommy was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Victoria on June 21, 2008 in Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church. His first assignment as parochial vicar was to Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church in Shiner where he served for two years. He was then transferred to Sacred Heart Chruch in Hallettsville and its three missions where he served for three years before coming to be pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf and Her three missions.

As a hobby, Fr. Tommy enjoys raising chickens, birds, and guinea pigs!