Natasha

Natasha is a “special needs” 5-6 year old Siamese/Persian cross with a semi-bob tail and the softest of fur. She has very impaired vision but plentiful love to give. She needs a quiet home, having another older and gentle cat companion would be ideal.  Come see her and all the other animals at the Port Lavaca Animal Shelter, 201 Stringham Drive (across from the rodeo arena), Monday through Saturday, 10 to 2, or call the Calhoun County Humane Society, 553-8916. You can also view her and other animals ready for adoption on line at www.calhouncountyhumanesociety.org Thanks and we’ll be waiting for you!

Sat., June 22 Amateur Radio Field Day
1:00-7:00 pm Half Moon Reef Lighthouse, Bauer Center, PL

Sun., June 23 Benefit for Tressia Cooper
11:00-2:00 Kingf Fisher Beach, Port O’Connor

June 24-26 Vacation Bible School
9:00-11:00 a.m. Seadrift Methodist Church

Wed., June 26 Blood Drive
5:30-7:30 p.m. Dick’s Food Store, Seadrift

Thurs., June 27 Calhoun County Democrats Club
6:00 p.m. IBC Community Room, 311 N. Virginia, Port Lavaca

Tues., July 2 Seadrift City Council
7:00 p.m. Seadrift City Hall

Tues., July 2 Bunco
7:00 p.m. Port O’Connor Community Center

Sat., July 6 Firemans 4 Race benefitting POC VFD
Sanctuary Marina www.firemans4race.com

Sat., July 6 Barbecue Fundraiser
11:00 a.m.— Port O’Connor Fire Station

Sat. July 6 4th of July Fireworks
at dark King Fisher Beach, Port O’Connor

Thurs., July 11 Port O’Connor Service Club
10:00 a.m. POC Community Center

Thurs., July 11 Port O’Connor MUD Board
7;00 p.m. MUD Office, 39 Denman Drive

July 17-20 Poco Bueno

Sat., July 20 1st Annual Concert!
12:00 pm – 1:00 am Port O’Connor Community Center Pavilion

AA meets each Saturday night at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall in Port O’Connor.

POC Lions Club meets the second Wednesday of each month, 12 Noon, at Cathy’s Restaurant

Commissioner’s Court meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month at 10 a.m., 1st Floor of the Court House, Port Lavaca.

Crossroads Astronomy Club meets at 7:00 p.m., third Mondays, at U of H, Victoria, Room 223 info: wes81461@yahoo.com 935-2016

Calhoun County Quilt Guild meets the first Wednesday of each month at 9:30 a.m. at the Fairgrounds Exhibit Building.

Open Arms (Families Surviving Infant Loss) meets every third Tuesday at Central Church of Christ, 801 E. Airline, Victoria, from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Calhoun County Democratic Club meets the last Thursday of the month at IBC Bank, Port Lavaca, at 5:30 p.m.

Calhoun County Conservative Club meets 2nd Tuesday each month, 11:00 a.m. at the Heritage Center in Port Lavaca

CASA (Christians Against Substance Abuse) meets each Thursday from 7-8 p.m. Call 361-652-7451 for meeting place.

Friday Night Youth every Friday except the first Friday of each month, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., Fisherman’s Chapel, Port O’Connor

First Baptist Youth Group (Port O’Connor) meets every Wednesday night from 6:00-7:00 p.m. Grades 7th – 12th

POC Sports Association meets the third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at POC Community Center.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (N.A.M.I.) meets 3rd Monday each month from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Parkway Church, Victoria. Support group meets at Laurent Towers fountain from 6-8 p.m., 2nd and 4th Tuesdays each month.

Mothers Of Elementary School Children:

The Summer Reading Program began at the Library Tuesday, June 18th at 10:00 a.m. Registration for your child to participate in this event is NOW; please see the Librarian, Shirley Gordon if you wish to enroll your child.

Upcoming Programs will feature the following:
Tuesday, June 25 Sea Grant
Tuesday, July 2 Coast Guard
Tuesday, July 9 Dr. Freeze
Tuesday, July 16 Story Telling
Tuesday, July 23 Awards Ceremony
Then on Saturday, July 13th, a movie will be shown. And there will be popcorn, drinks, and a pickle for the audience!

I became acquainted with John D. MacDonald’s books over 20 years ago, and I enjoyed them to the point that during the 5 years or so following, I would re-read them. Now, it’s 2013 and though these books were written in the 70’s and 80’s, they are as enjoyable as they were earlier, and I’ve found it time to read them again.

MacDonald’s major characters in his series are Travis McGee, a very unusual person who lives on a large houseboat in Fort Lauder and remains semi-retired during the year. His boat, named the “Busted Flush” is definitely set up for a bachelor person who does enjoy entertaining the fairer sex from time to time. McGee has been likened to a “white knight, slightly banged up who rides in on a semi-lame horse” and rescues not just persons, but often property from the bad guys from time to time. Appearance wise, he is a minimum of 6’4”, deeply tanned with pale grey eyes that look right through another person. And then, there is his friend and fellow boat-liver, Meyer, an economist, who spouts some very unusual facts. The one that got me was in a book entitled THE GREEN RIPPER, written in 1979, when Meyer speaks of the unmanageable world debt of TWO TRILLION DOLLARS. Currently, I believe that the debt of our country is over Sixteen Trillion! My favorites of MacDonald’s books are two of his stand-alone; CONDOMINIUM and BARRIER ISLAND. CONDOMINIUM I re-read at the start of hurricane season, not so much for the plot though quite fascinating with some interesting facts about sub-standard construction and its following affects, but primarily for the meteorological information concerning a major hurricane. BARRIER ISLAND is a book that we residents of Port O’Connor should read as we are protected by a barrier island; the plot discussed the major thrust of a semi-unscrupulous realtor working with a land developer who somehow obtains title to a barrier island along the Mississippi Coast and their plan to defraud not only the Federal Government, but the local people as well. Learning about the uses of a barrier island ecologically is important, but the reader will enjoy the plot as well.

Sandra Brown is one of our popular authors, and therefore, I picked up a book to see why she is so popular. She writes mysteries with a touch of romance; this book was entitled MIRROR IMAGE that features the extremely chaotic life of one woman who resembles another, and due to trading assigned seats on a airplane that explodes, assumes the role and life of that person who dies in the fire. Avery Daniels, a journalist, is the woman who changes her life and becomes the wife of a senatorial candidate in Texas. Her assumption of this woman’s life leads to the unveiling of a plot to assassinate the candidate and her part in this plot. A well constructed book, but a little too light.

As many of you may know, we at the Library have two shelves filled with books for sale; the hard bound copies are priced at $1.00 and the soft cover books are a mere $0.25. If you are traveling at any time in the Summer, you might want to review these titles first as they are all books that do not have a deadline on them!

“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.

Media Malfeasance and the Obama Scandals

A “free press” is the third right guaranteed by Article I of The Bill of Rights. Our Forefathers recognized the necessity of a “free press” because of the need of a truthful reporting of news and the need for investigation of malfeasance at all levels. However with that right, there is a responsibility. Our major, or ‘Mainstream Media, have failed miserably for the last five years and are now paying the price. Associated Press found that Obama’s Dept. of Justice was tapping the phones of dozens, perhaps hundred of their reporters. After five years of glorifying Obama, suppressing any criticism or negative stories, and attacking anyone that did criticize or even question his decisions, Team Obama turned on them. The “Rosengate” scandal was not a surprise, the Obamunists had attacked Fox News consistently and often because they were the only major news outlet offering any news stories that were questioning or even less than fawning to Obama and his policies, or questioned those policies that failed, wasted hundreds of billions of dollars or were further damaging the economy and job creation. But the illegal investigations of loyal ‘Lap-dogs’, finally scared them awake.

I say it is their fault that the Obama Administration has “run off the rails”. After his first inauguration, Obama ordered/allowed AG Eric Holder to quash the case against The New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation in Philadelphia. The MSM said nothing. (Can you imagine the response if the TEA Party did that, supporting a Republican??). Holder went on the TV news saying he wasn’t wasting time prosecuting “our people”. Who are “their people”: Obama supporters? Blacks in general? Racist NBPP violent thugs? This set the stage. What about the Czars, radicals all, and their big salaries? Then followed the “Stimulus”, about $800 billion spent on “job creation and building the economy” that went to massive failures like Solyndra and Fisker ‘Green Energy scams’, and grants all over that included dozens of other failures that somehow always enriched Obama supporters, rich Democrat ‘bundlers’. The political shenanigans used to push through ObamaCare would have caused a huge uproar if pulled by Republicans, but this huge, unworkable medical scam was applauded by the MSM. They even applauded the insanity of Nancy Pelosi’s, “We must pass the bill to see what is in it!” (What if Ted Cruz said something like that?)

I believe that the MSM’s fawning praise of Obama and their culpable neglect of investigating the growing misfeasance and malfeasance in the Obama Administration was a leading cause in “Fast & Furious”. Obama, Holder, and Hillary Clinton tried that infamous gun-smuggling scam to the Mexican Drug cartels because they thought the media would cover-up for them and whip up anti-gun sentiment in the voters. Some were murdered in the US and hundreds were killed in Mexico because of this criminal piece of Political Theater. All to violate the Second Amendment. There is an on-going investigation, but the MSM still supports the ‘stone-walling’ by Team Obama. (If Republicans did this they would be screaming for murder trials! -in states with the death penalty.)

Benghazi took the spotlight off of the Fast & Furious investigation, but led to a number of new scandals, all down-played by the Lap-dogs. Why didn’t Obama at least stay awake; who made the decision not to send re-enforcements or aircraft that could stop the attack; why was the security so minimal in a dangerous area (To avoid attention to secret meeting.); and why did they lie about the attack being a riot, not a terrorist attack? We now know that they had real-time video from drones, Ambassador Stevens was there for a meeting with a Turkish General to facilitate the smuggling of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to the Syrian Rebels (While Obama was telling the American people that no military aid was going to Syria.), and now we have al Qaeda leaders saying Stevens was killed in a kidnap attempt, and we knew the heavy weapons were not used until after Stevens was captured. Any proper response would have saved the SEALS. Why were commanders that acted appropriately to the tactical situation removed? This will NOT go away.

The New Scandals coming out are really old neglected scandals. IRS refusal of tax-exempt status to Tea Party and other patriot groups, IRS audits on Obama’s ‘enemies’, EPA, FBI, and BATF investigations on ‘enemies’, all these and more are old news. NSA has just gotten bigger and with computers – Garbage in, Garbage out, – ‘militia’ is an instant ‘buzz-word’, but ‘jihad’ is not. Mosques are exempt from FBI surveillance. (?? Think about it). The Media is finally seeing ‘their ox is gored’. That is why the stories are starting to come out and be investigated, but still not very diligently or thoroughly .

If the Media had properly reported and castigated Obama and Holder for not prosecuting The New Black Panthers for their voter intimidation in the 2008 election, “Fast & Furious” would probably not have happened, or any of these other scandals. The Obamunists have used the Media malfeasance as a “permission” or “license” for greater and greater evil; every year it gets worse. The Media have supported the criminality of Team Obama from the beginning, many, if not most, knowingly. They are “accessories before the fact” to every criminal act. They knew he was an ineligible criminal engaged in a criminal fraud before he was elected. The thefts, intimidation, and deaths that followed were a result in their willful participation in that conspiracy.

And they don’t dare touch on the fact that many of these scandals involve some violation of the Constitution that he swore to uphold and others involve his refusal to enforce the law as Chief Executive. Voter intimidation, vote fraud, DOMA, immigration law, bribes, fraudulent loans and grants, illegal wire-tapping, not to mention all the unlawful Regulations and actions of some agencies. And it will get worse until the Media starts to recognize their responsibility is to the American People, not Barack Hussein Obama.

Mr. Brayshaw welcomes your comments or arguments on this website.

The following is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.

Part IV: Politics

As promised, this month El Hyena will discuss politics. Even though El Hyena does not like politics, much less politicians, he will engage in this discussion solely as a valuable service to his dear readers. It is important for El Hyena to point out, however, since this topic can be somewhat explosive, that the opinions and conclusions expressed herein are merely the opinions and conclusions of El Hyena. Although his opinions are almost always “sage and wise”, El Hyena is never surprised that some less astute and misguided folks do not always agree with him.

This discussion is limited to the politics of the various politicians who comprise the federal government, i.e. senators, congresspeoples, and the president. This small group is appropriate for this discussion because they are all politicians who engage in politics, mostly to the exclusion of everything else. Some people may believe that these people participate in governing the country, but this is a myth. Politics is all they do, and everything they do has a political purpose that seeks a political goal.

The very first thing one needs to understand and accept is that politics has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with governance. Governing would require acting in the best interests of the citizens and the country as a whole. Many times, this would actually require politicians to put the interests of the country and/or their constituents (people whom politicians are supposed to represent) in front of their own. Politicians, however, sooner or later realize that this would be impractical.

Becoming a politician requires election to office. In other words, this requires receiving more votes than their opponent. For example, the presidential election for the year 2000 was decided by a vote of five to four. See how easy it can be ?

To persuade people to vote for them, as opposed to their opponent, would-be politicians must campaign for office. This involves giving speeches to selective groups of voters and kissing their babies, as well as having their “supporters” pay for radio and television commercials. In order to convince voters to make the desired choice, politicians and their commercials must lie and make promises that are not intended to be fulfilled, as well as make untrue statements about the opponent. Fortunately, this is easy for politicians to do, because the key to campaigning and obtaining votes is telling people what they want to hear. This technique of campaigning and winning elections is very easily accomplished because voters quite often engage in what are known as “wishful thinking” and “being deceived”.

The only truly effective and meaningful component of the political process is money. Campaigns are expensive, and gaining support (contributions of money) usually involves expensive consequences, such that are beneficial to contributors while not necessarily beneficial to constituents. (Note: a constituent is a person who thinks he is being represented by a politician). Alas, that is what politics is really all about.

People used to believe that once they voted for a politician who won the election, such politician would participate in governing the country by making and implementing laws. This is also a myth; governance is much too time consuming and distracting, as the politician’s only objective is to remain in office for as long as he or she can. Because politicians serve terms of two, four, or six years, they must stand for re-election at the expiration of their term. This results in another expensive campaign involving more lies and false promises. Since re-election campaigns always start the day after the previous election, an effective politician does not have time to waste on governance. The politician’s effort is devoted completely to “gaining support” (raising money) all of the time, as opposed to participating in government. Also, politicians need to pave the way towards life after politics, such as becoming a lobbyist, or a highly paid consultant for one of their “supporters”.

It is important for regular people (voters) to understand that the constantly campaigning politician is not especially concerned with them while in office. Rather, the effective politician is much more concerned with doing political things that benefit his or her “supporters” (campaign contributors or future employers). All politicians know that large, wealthy organizations and corporations are able to contribute the “best support” (most money or best future jobs), especially since large, wealthy organizations and corporations have recently become people. This is why politicians often “represent” those who are not actually included in their “constituency”. El Hyena realizes this is complicated and difficult for his dear readers to understand; they would have to be politicians to do so.

The other function of politics is for politicians to seek goals and objectives to make their political party look good while making the opposing political party look bad. This enhances the power of their political party while diminishing the power of the opposing political party. A political party is not particularly interested in advancing government ideology or achieving good government; rather, it is primarily interested in getting its members elected so that it may control the government, typically for the benefit of its “supporters” (see above).

To summarize, therefore: (1) our mere vote does not really count because we do not have as much money as important and worthy “supporters”; (2) politics is all about the concept of “quid pro quo”, and; (3) regular people, such as voters, do not have as much “quo”, so we get less “quid”.

This is what has become of democracy, American style.