aubreyturner.org

It’s a non-trivial exercise, but I try to go through the ballot ahead of time and at least take a look at the candidates’ positions via their websites, if available. We’ve got a ton of offices that you don’t hear anything about until election time and I can’t really keep up with all of them, so it helps to refresh my memory just before going to vote.

The following list is based on the Tarrant county “generic” Sample Ballot (PDF), customized for my own districts and leaving out all uncontested races.

• Statewide/National Races
  • United States Senator
    • Kay Bailey Hutchison – R
    • Barbara Ann Radnofsky – D
    • Scott Lanier Jameson – L
  • United States Representative, District 26
    • Michael C. Burgess – R
    • Tim Barnwell – D
    • Rich Haas – L
  • Governor
    • Rick Perry – R
    • Chris Bell – D
    • James Werner – L
    • Carole Keeton Strayhorn – I
    • Richard “Kinky” Friedman – I
  • Lieutenant Governor
    • David Dewhurst – R
    • Maria Luisa Alvarado – D
    • Judy Baker – L
  • Attorney General
    • Greg Abbott – R
    • David Van Os – D
    • Jon Roland – L
  • Comptroller of Public Accounts
    • Susan Combs – R
    • Fred Head – D
    • Mike Burris – L
  • Commissioner of the General Land Office
    • Jerry Patterson – R
    • VaLinda Hathcox – D
    • Michael A. French – L
  • Commissioner of Agriculture
    • Todd Staples – R
    • Hank Gilbert – D
    • Clay Woolam – L
  • Railroad Commissioner
    • Elizabeth Ames Jones – R
    • Dale Henry – D (No Web Site!)
    • Tabitha Serrano – L
  • Chief Justice, Supreme Court, Unexpired Term
    • Wallace Jefferson – R
    • Tom Oxford – L
  • Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2
    • Don Willett – R
    • William E. “Bill” Moody – D
    • Wade Wilson – L
  • Justice, Supreme Court, Place 4
    • David M. Medina – R
    • Jerry Adkins – L
  • Justice, Supreme Court, Place 6
    • Nathan Hecht – R
    • Todd Phillippi – L
  • Justice, Supreme Court, Place 8, Unexpired Term
    • Phil Johnson – R
    • Jay H. Cookingham – L
  • Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals
    • Sharon Keller – R
    • J.R. Molina – D
  • Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7
    • Barbara Parker Hervey – R
    • Quanah Parker – L
  • Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 8
    • Charles Holcomb – R
    • Dave Howard – L
  • State Senator, District 12
    • Jane Nelson – R
    • Dwight B. Fullingim – D
    • Morgan Ware – L
  • State Representative, District 98
    • Vicki Truitt – R
    • Jacob Gregory Glatz – L
  • Family District Judge, 322nd Judicial District
    • Nancy Berger – R
    • Brenda “BC” Cornish – D
• Tarrant County Races / Propositions
  • Criminal District Attorney
    • Tim Curry – R
    • Terri Moore – D
  • County Clerk
    • Suzanne Henderson – R
    • Mary DeSantiago – D
  • Proposition No. 1 (Over sixty-five tax freeze)
• Keller ISD
  • Proposition No. 1 ($132,500,000 in bonds–new schools, equipment replacement, security equipment)
  • Proposition No. 2 ($9,750,000 in bonds–renovation and expansion of Keller ISD school stadium)

My method for finding websites was to enter the candidate’s name in Google and scan the first page for a result. If nothing looked likely (i.e. the candidate has a very common name), I added the title of the office being sought to the query and tried again. For incumbents without a campaign page I linked to their “official” bio, if one was available.

I started seeing a large number of attempted REFERER spam links in my logs over the past few days of the form <valid website>/images/online/<spamvertised product>.  If you take off the “/images/online…” part and just look at the root, they all appear to be valid, normal, websites (one was even for a Minnesota state representative).  The interesting thing is that if you look in “/images” you’ll find something called “99.php”.  That file is a spammer/cracker console.  It appears that all of these servers have been pwn3d by a Russian hacking group and this PHP script is a tool they’re using called “c99drink.” 

So far, out of the random sample of 7 or 8 links that I checked, the output of 99.php shows that each system belongs to iPowerWeb.  It would appear that they have some sort of systemic problem that allowed the crackers to gain access to the system and install their toolkit.

Here’s what c99drink looks like on a typically infected server:

This appears to be a relatively new toolkit, as I could find no hits for it on Google.

Being a daily dog walker I tend not to pay a lot of attention to what particular day it is.  To me it’s just a daily activity.  We’re out there day after day, in the heat, the cold, the rain, etc.  The only things I draw the line at are lightning and ice as I don’t care to become a crispy critter and I’d like to avoid breaking my ass.

Anyhow, on Saturday I took Boots over to the park and encountered a bunch of stuff prepositioned at the bridge where the trail splits to go to the Pointe and Town Center.  The sign near the tent they’d set up said it was for the haunted trail event that was starting at 7:00pm.  Worried that I might be blocked from returning I made certain to try to wrap up our daily sojurn well before 7:00pm.  As I was crossing the bridge someone I assume is from Keller Parks and Recreation said to me that the trail would be closing shortly.

I took the opportunity to ask her to have signs put up in advance of the next event to warn regular trail users that the trail would be closed.  She seemed surprised by such a suggestion and made a statement to the effect that in 10 years of doing this event no one had ever asked for them.  It’s unfortunate that no one was willing to be a pain the ass besides me, but aside from that I think this is a classic example of getting so wrapped up in an event that you think everyone assigns it the same level of importance as you.  I’m just out to walk the dog and I don’t pay a lot attention to what day it is unless I’ve been reminded that an event will occur.  When they ran a triathlon a few weeks ago the organizers put up signs on the trail stating the date and time that the event would be run.  I thought this was a nice touch and it allowed me to plan my day accordingly.

In my opinion it’d be nice if Parks and Recreation would put up signs in advance of any activity that would close a trail or a portion of the trails.  They don’t have to be elaborate or fancy (like the custom-made metal ones used for the bridge repairs).  I’d just like some warning so I can plan to be elsewhere when the trail closes and the hordes show up.

Update:  The haunted trail event this weekend jogged my memory, though.  I recall a couple of years ago that the trail looked like it had been wrecked the day after the event.  There were bits of props from the “scare stations” (or whatever they were) still in place, there were candy wrappers all over the ground, and there were still lots of fake spider webs on the trees.  That fake spider web stuff doesn’t appear to be biodegradable (or if it is, it’s really slow).  I continued to see bits and pieces of it for more than a year afterwards.

Like a political episode of Itchy and Scratchy, the candidates for Texas governor are whacking each other over the head with successively bigger and nastier allegations. 

My take so far is that I’m annoyed at all of them.

Chris Bell lost me when he started running commercials about the “Texas that’s in our hearts.”  Whenever I see a politician making doe eyes at the voters and talking about what’s “in our hearts,” I grab my wallet because the bastard is trying to distract you while he’s reaching for it.  Further, I find it rather ironic that someone who’s taken millions of dollars from a trial lawyer has the nerve to call the current governor corrupt. 

Not that Rick Perry is above reproach when it comes to the appearance of corruption.  The trans-Texas corridor deal has a bit of a whiff surrounding it.  I do have to give Perry credit for the “one giant Washington liberal” commercial against Bell, though.  But then Bell opened himself up to it with the silly BellZilla commercials with him sitting on the capitol building or standing next to the skyscrapers in downtown Austin. 

I still don’t know what Kinky Friedman stands for, other than gambling and putting Willie Nelson in charge of energy/transportation policy.  I guess that’s not a bad choice, since all we have to do is keep Willie well stocked with prime bud and we won’t hear from him until the next election.    I can also credit Kinky for the title of this post (or at least part of it).

Carole Keeton Strayhorn lost me when she was endorsed by two teachers’ unions.  This was doubly reinforced by the constipated, angry teacher commercial that those unions have been running.

What a mess.  I guess I can fall back on my single issue of interest for guidance, which means Perry, as he’s signed the car-carry legislation and opened up reciprocity considerably since he came to office.  He also seems to be pissing off the right people on immigration.  I still don’t quite trust him, though.  He’s just a bit too slick (and there’s the ever-persistent undertone that there’s nothing much under the hair).

Anyhow… I think I’m going to have to avoid answering the phone and only watch TV in DVR mode until the election is over.  The phone calls and incessant negative ads are just getting to be too irritating.

I’ve updated my previous post about the Burleson school district.

Forget those cheesy Bluetooth headsets that make everyone think you’re talking to yourself in public. 

With this iconic device, everyone will know exactly what you’re doing:

But if you absolutely have to have Bluetooth, there is a model for you.

The Burleson school district has “reassigned” Greg Crane, the teacher who was behind the training that taught students to fight back against an armed attacker.  Mr. Crane was formerly a police officer and developed the idea when he asked his wife, a teacher, what she would do if her classroom were to be attacked and she didn’t have an answer.

So far, there is only this video from Fox 4, so I don’t have a transcript to quote from. 

From the video, here is a brief summary:

• Last Friday the district sent a letter to all parents outlining that they do not support any student resisting an attacker (i.e. they want to continue with the failed cooperate and die strategy).
• The letter was signed by all principals in the district, save one, the principal of the school where Greg Crane taught, who also happens to be his wife.
• Greg Crane was “reassigned” from his classroom teaching role to working from home.
• The Burleson school district is now hiding behind confidentiality rules with regards to Mr. Crane and won’t discuss him further.
• Mr. Crane says he has not been given a reason for the “reassignment” and is retaining a lawyer.

I should have known that a school district with the spine to teach children to resist an attack was too good to be true.  It sounds to me as if the district didn’t like being at the center of national attention with regards to the training and decided to throw Mr. Crane under the bus to make the stink go away.  But it seems fishy to me, since the Fox 4 report points out that hundreds of teachers and students have been trained in this method.  That couldn’t happen without at least the tacit approval of the school administration.

Update (10/26/2006):  Yesterday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram has more information about the situation in Burleson.

The district is “clarifying” its position:

Students in the Burleson school district can learn to defend themselves by throwing objects at an armed intruder, but a teacher went too far by instructing them to physically attack someone as part of a security program, district officials said Tuesday.

In recent days, the district sent letters home with 8,500 students clarifying its position on a training video that concerned parents and school officials when local TV news stations aired it this month.

The video, produced by a company paid to teach safety classes at Burleson schools, showed children throwing objects at someone posing as an armed intruder in a classroom, then attacking him.

The classes are part of a security program launched by the district last year to make schools safer. Greg Crane, a criminal-justice teacher at Burleson High School and a former police officer, taught the skills through his company, Response Options.

District officials said they still approve of the rest of Crane’s instructional material.

A money motive?  Or at least a distraction…

The letters come two weeks before voters will decide on a $259 million bond package to build and renovate schools as well as enhance security. Officials said the upcoming election has no bearing on their decision to notify parents about the video.

Fox 4 was saying that he’d been “reassigned,” although the Star Telegram couldn’t get a straight answer out of the school district:

On Tuesday, a receptionist at Burleson High said Crane was not there. Crane did not answer repeated calls to his home, and Crummel declined to comment on news reports that Crane had been reassigned.

“All I can say is, he’s still employed by our school district,” he said.

At least they aren’t staying with cooperate and die like I originally thought.  But just “distracting” the gunman without an attack seems more dangerous to me than attacking him.  Or at least it could be.  What happens when you run out of stuff to throw?  What about the last student who’s trying to run away after everyone else has escaped? 

Especially with a long gun, closing with the shooter might be better, but there are no hard and fast rules here.  I’m of the “shoot the bastard” school of thought, but that requires someone responsible with a gun on the scene.  And we all know what kind of wailing and moaning that type of thought generates. 

But one thing I do want to say about the whole “debate” is that the phrase “arming teachers” probably isn’t the best one.  For those of the socialist bent it brings up images of every teacher lining up in a school armory to obtain a gun (and if you think I’m being funny about this, just read some of the comments on this topic on various blogs).  We need a pithy, short, phrase to encapsulate the concept of getting the state out of the way of those who have the will and the skill to take action. 

Damn.  This situation reminds me a lot of the Lindsey Crumpton case:

ATLANTA – A lovesick teenage girl drove into an oncoming car in a suicide attempt that she counted down “8, 7, 6…” in a text message to the female classmate who spurned her, authorities said. The teenager survived but a woman in the other car — a mother of three — died.

Louise Egan Brunstad, 16, was charged Thursday with felony murder. Prosecutors said they intend to try her as an adult. If convicted, she faces an automatic life sentence.

“She was actually counting down her imminent threat: ‘Nine, eight, seven, six … I’m going to do it,’” said Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.

Authorities said Brunstad rammed her family’s Mercedes-Benz head-on into a smaller Daewoo driven by 30-year-old Nancy Salado-Mayo, who was killed. Salado-Mayo’s middle child, Lesly, 6, was in a child safety seat and was treated for fractured ribs and other injuries.

Brunstad, who was treated for an ankle injury, had told friends she planned to kill herself after another female student at Holy Innocents Episcopal School refused to have sex with her, Howard said.

What a horribly stupid and selfish thing to do to someone.  I hope she gets the book thrown at her at trial.  Or perhaps she will spare everyone the trauma of a trial.  Those text messages would seem to be a clear indicator of intent to me.

For those who might be tempted to kill themselves, allow me to offer this bit of advice:  Leave everyone else out of it.  Walk into a lake or the ocean.  Go blow your brains out deep in the woods.  Whatever you do, don’t be a stupid, selfish coward by involving someone else in your permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Someone using a spyware infested browser on IP 72.47.11.29 (which appears to be an IP belonging to a residential high speed internet customer of Cebridge Connections in Pilot Point, TX) hit my site searching Google using the string “fuller, chacon, foster, stratso.”  There are only two hits on Google for that particular string, and this posting of mine from May 3, 2005 is the top hit.  That post was about some little wankers who had vandalized the high school stadium in Pilot Point by cementing a basketball goal in the middle of the football field.  The students involved were Steve Stratso, Josh Chacon, Matt Hatten, Britton Foster and Drew Fuller.

Whoever hit the site and read that post was obviously offended by it and decided to send the following missive via contact form:

To: <email redacted>
From: your gay <and@ihope.you>
Subject: Contact Form: get
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:46:15 -0700 (PDT)
Message from IP:72.47.11.29
Referral URL:

ran over by a semi while your wife and kids are watching.