Free Republic

Marathon: Authorities say a grandmother was arrested for driving around the parking lot of a Marathon grocery store with her 3-year-old child sitting on the roof of the car. Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to the Publix store and arrested a 54-year-old woman after she had been driving around with her three-year-old granddaughter on the roof of her car. The grandmother was released from jail 15 hours later. The woman said she would never let anything hurt her granddaughter. She says she was driving at "snail-speed" and holding the child's leg. Authorities say the woman told police she...

The imprisoned mother of a missing Florida toddler refused a jail visit with her brother Friday, as diving teams planned a training exercise searching a lake near the home of the little girl's grandparents. Casey Marie Anthony, 22, wouldn't see her brother Lee Anthony Friday morning when he came for a scheduled 9 a.m. visit, MyFOXOrlando.com reported. (It's been rescheduled for 9 am Tuesday morning, August 12.) ... And, according to the warrant, Casey led police to three different locations she said the baby sitter who has Caylee could be. Anthony told detectives that a woman named Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez...

... Diving crews from the department planned to launch a search Friday of one of lakes near the Anthony residence, according to MyFOXOrlando.com. Police said the searches are routine training exercises and happen monthly. ... Detectives left the Anthony residence with a new bag of evidence that may help with the search for the missing toddler. ... They took away at least four bags of evidence. MyFOXOrlando.com reported that the latest, four-hour search yielded at least eight bags. Thursday's visit is at least the fifth time they have been at the home. The Orange County Sheriff's Office called Wednesday's visit...

A CSI team showed up unexpectedly again Wednesday at the Orlando home of a missing Florida toddler's grandparents, FOX News has learned. Few other details were immediately available as to why crime scene investigators descended upon the house of Cindy and George Anthony, whose nearly 3-year-old granddaughter Caylee has been missing since mid-June. It's the fourth time they have been at the home where Caylee Marie Anthony lived with her mom and grandparents. The Orange County Sheriff's Office called Wednesday's visit "routine" and said the girl has not been found. Detectives didn't talk about the latest search, during which investigators...

The family of an Orlando toddler missing for more than a month won't answer questions about a tip that a new concrete slab was poured in the grandparents' backyard over July 4 weekend, shortly before they reported the child missing. Caylee Marie Anthony's grandmother would neither confirm nor deny the tip about the fresh concrete received by local WFTV Eyewitness News in Orlando, according to the station.

WARSAW (AFP) - Police in Poland said Monday they had arrested a drunken 48-year-old woman who was pushing her car while her intoxicated husband steered the vehicle with their three-year-old grandson on board. The two grandparents were arrested Sunday evening with the broken-down on a busy main road near the middle of Bierun, a town in southern Poland, said police spokesman Marek Wreczycki. Officers who carried out tests on the pair found that the grandmother had a level of 1.5 grammes of alcohol per litre of blood and the grandfather 1.0 gramme. In comparison, blood-alcohol limit for drivers in Poland...

Much to my surprise Charles Krauthammer came up with the best, short description of Obama's speech regarding Reverend Jerimiah Wright. Krauthammer pointed out: (1)Obama equated the Wright hate speech with a private worry of his white grandmother or the valid observation by Geraldine Ferraro that without his race he would not be the Democrat presidential candidate he is; (2)Obama never expressed any apology of any kind to anyone; (3)And, Obama seems to have taken the attitude of "..Come to me and I will heal you..." If anyone can link to this very short Krauthammer effort, I would appreciated it.

There's been lots of stories in the blogosphere the last couple days about Obama throwing his white grandmother under the bus when he tried to compare her to his racist preacher. What also needs to be appreciated is that he could really care less about his black Kenyan grandmother either. Together the Obamas made 1.67 million in 2005: In 2005, their income was $1.67 million, which was more than they had earned in the previous seven years combined. This helped them to guy a mansion: That year, as the Tribune reported, the Obamas moved to a $1.65-million Georgian Revival mansion...

CLEARWATER - The 75-year-old grandmother who was arrested Thursday at a McDonald's on a charge of disorderly conduct gave an officer lip, according to a police report. Jean Merola swore at the officer and said, "You are an evil man. Your wife is going to divorce you. Your kids probably hate you too. You are going to hell," according to the report. Officer Matthew Parco was behind Merola in line and had received his drink; he asked her to move up so he could get around her but she didn't respond. Parco spent about 20 minutes asking Merola to move...

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- A 75-year-old woman was arrested at a Clearwater McDonald's drive-thru, because police say she wouldn't pull her car forward. Authorities say Jean Merola, a grandmother of eight, was arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused an officer's orders to move her car while she waited for the coffee and fries she ordered at the drive-through window. Merola says the McDonald's employees told her to wait there for her food. Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser. Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail . Merola says she was searched,...

A family drove hundreds of miles with their dead grandmother in the back of their recreational vehicle to fulfill the ailing woman's wishes. They arrived in Hillsboro, Ore., on Sunday with the body and notified police. The 79-year-old woman, who likely died in Wyoming, was in poor health but wished to see family members in Arkansas before she passed away. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322806,00.html More here: Update: Grandmother's last family trip ends in Hillsboro after her death in Wyoming by The Oregonian Monday January 14, 2008, 12:51 PM The woman was last seen alive by the family about 3 a.m. Saturday near Laramie,...

SIMCOE -- Grandma got run over by a reindeer. OK, so it was actually a white-tailed deer and there were two of them. But they were deer, Rhea Wilcox is a grandma and they did run her over. It happened last Sunday in the parking lot of Mount Zion United Church in Renton, east of Simcoe. Seventy-seven-year-old Wilcox was waiting for her ride about 10:30 a.m. when two deer emerged out of nowhere and ran overtop her. "All I saw was a rear end, a white flash and the feet of deer going by," said Wilcox. "We figured someone had...

A 65-year-old Hesperia woman was shot and killed Thursday evening after she and family members confronted taggers spray-painting graffiti on their apartment wall and trash cans. Authorities arrested the alleged triggerman, Ricardo Real, 19, of Hesperia, Friday afternoon on suspicion of murder and were searching for at least three other suspects, said San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Jodi Miller. The shooting comes two weeks after a 57-year-old Pico Rivera woman was gunned down after she tried to stop taggers from spray-painting graffiti in her neighborhood, a slaying that outraged surrounding communities. Law enforcement authorities across Southern California say they...

A 39-year-old grandmother accused of selling heroin on the streets of a Los Angeles suburb with her 11-year-old granddaughter as a lookout has been arrested on drug and child endangerment charges, police said on Tuesday. Undercover officers watched for two weeks as Martha Gutierrez Novas sold heroin at a bus stop in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, clutching a brown and white Chihuahua and often with her granddaughter at her side, a police spokesman said. "The granddaughter acted as a lookout, standing at the corner of the building looking, I assume, for police officers," said Sgt. Paul LeBaron, a...

DULUTH, Minn. — It would be easy to understand if Nancy Solem-Reisinger, at 45, were more interested in punching the clock at her regular job and spending time with her husband, three sons and two granddaughters. But instead, the Duluth woman who describes herself as a "chubby grandmother" recently enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps and volunteered to serve as a nurse in Iraq. "Our young people are over there and need nurses," she said Friday, after being commissioned as a second lieutenant. "I feel compelled, I feel called. It's a privilege to go over there and serve." Solem-Reisinger joined...

It's all about hate. And judging by the introduction of H.R. 1592, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., must hate free speech. He must hate equality. And he must hate?grandma. And I think it's a crime. You see, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee just introduced the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" which would not only restrict our speech and remove equal justice, but it would give senior citizens (and the rest of us) less protection than homosexual activists. So, if you're going to mug someone, better make sure it's grandma (unless she's become a lesbian) ? because if...

Police: Grandma drove with woman on hood  01:52 PM PST on Thursday, March 8, 2007  By DAVID KROUGH, kgw.com Staff VANCOUVER, Wash. - A Vancouver woman was charged with hit-and-run after a wild ride down the street Wednesday. According to Kim Kapp of Vancouver Police, 69-year-old Virginia Martin got into an altercation with another driver after a reported fender bender at Wy'East Middle School while they were picking up kids Wednesday.   Related Content (Please click on the article's link for this video content) Police said the other driver, who was not identified, got out and asked to exchange insurance...

Mohammed got run over by the soldiers, walking home from the mosque Christmas eve. You can say there's no losing to the kafirs, but as for me and Achmed we believe! He'd been preachin' so much jihad, and we'd begged him not to go, but he'd left his treasured Koran, and he needed it to counter Mr. Snow. When we found him Christmas morning, at the scene of the attack, there were humvee tracks on his forhead, and incriminating bootprints on his back. Mohammed got run over by the soldiers, walking home from the mosque Christmas eve. You can say...

<p>SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. Dec 1, 2006 (AP)— A grandmother found with a trunkful of marijuana was convicted of drug running in what prosecutors said was an attempt to earn cash for a bingo habit.</p> <p>State troopers found 10 bundles of pot totaling 214 pounds hidden in Leticia Villareal Garcia’s car trunk last year when they stopped her outside Bisbee, in far southeastern Arizona.</p>

A Palestinian grandmother blew herself up in the Gaza Strip, lightly wounding three Israeli soldiers, in the first suicide attack claimed by Hamas in almost two years. The mother of nine and grandmother of 41 became the oldest Palestinian suicide bomber at the age of 57, approaching troops operating to curb daily rocket attacks, the army said. "Troops saw a woman approaching them in a suspicious manner and identified her carrying an explosive device," a spokeswoman said of the incident in the northern town of Jabaliya. "They then threw a stun grenade in her direction but she managed to blow...

AUSTIN - Republican Gov. Rick Perry beat a unique set of challengers Tuesday for another term that could make him Texas' longest-serving governor as he presses priorities such as border security, strict state budgeting and an ambitious transportation plan. It was a less-than-cliff-hanging end to a race that started with a lot of potential for drama ? thanks to the entry of colorful independents Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn ? and ended with much of that potential unrealized. Early returns showed Perry ahead with about 40 percent of the vote, followed by Democrat Chris Bell, who had about 29...

(October 30, 2006)—The multi-billion-dollar Trans Texas Corridor will pump billions of dollars into the state’s economy and will create millions of jobs according to a new study by Waco-based economist Ray Perryman. Click Here To Read The Full Report In “Moving Into Prosperity: The Potential Impact of the Trans-Texas Corridor on Business Activity in Texas,” Perryman says the project will make the state’s economy more competitive. “Because the TTC enhances efficiency, improves logistics, and reduces transportation time and costs, it increases the ability of companies within the region to expand intrastate trade and operations, and, thus, increase market size and...

Incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry faces Democratic challengers Chris Bell and Independents Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn in the 2006 gubernatorial race. In the fourth part of News 8 Austin's five-part gubernatorial forum, the candidates discuss transportation and energy. Q: Now, let’s combine public transportation and developing renewable energy. What do you think we should be doing to make Texas the leader in the nation in these areas and why should Texans care about that? Strayhorn: Well, we certainly need every renewable energy and we need wind generation and we also need telecommuting. Fifteen percent of my employees are...

Two private-sector groups have submitted proposals to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor-69, a 600-mile thoroughfare that may wind around Lufkin and Nacogdoches one day. The bid process is part of the effort to create a public-private partnership that the Texas Department of Transportation says would speed the construction of "one of the state's priority transportation projects." Trans-Texas Corridor-69, if and when it is built, is expected to connect with Interstate 69, which will stretch from Canada to Mexico. The proposed Texas corridor would start in South Texas and pass Houston, Lufkin and Nacogdoches before hitting Texarkana and/or breaking off into Louisiana....

The governor's race is becoming a referendum on the Trans-Texas Corridor toll road. Republican incumbent Gov. Rick Perry supports the TTC that would parallel Interstate 35 from Laredo to Oklahoma. However, it could gobble up 81,000 acres of rural land according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Also, a large chunk of the land used would be in North Texas. Lance Haynes, a Republican, said he wonders if his family's 68 acres in rural Collin County might be covered in concrete in the near future. The land lies within the path where the state could route the TTC and he's...

Secret parts of a contract for the Trans-Texas Corridor have been out for more than two weeks now. So has a development plan that outlines how state transportation officials and a foreign-led consortium plan to plow the countryside with toll roads and railways to relieve growing traffic on Interstate 35. That's plenty of time to begin scouring the thousands of pages — on the Web at KeepTexasMoving.com — to find out what the big secret was. But so far, no one can or will say if there's a detail, some twist or mumbo jumbo that, if found, would blow the...

Details of a new television campaign ad from independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn: TITLE: "Beyond" LENGTH: 30 seconds. PRODUCER: Alex Castellanos, media consultant; WF of R Inc., media placement. AIRING: Started Friday in most markets; will be airing statewide by Monday. SCRIPT: Carole Keeton Strayhorn: "Tolls across Texas? "Gov. Perry's plan is beyond anything we've ever known. It's the largest land grab in Texas history. A deal to seize more than a half million acres of private property and hand it over to a foreign company, so they can charge us tolls. "I believe Texas property belongs to Texans,...

On Sept. 30, about 100 people carrying protest signs and handfuls of dirt rallied at the Alamo to protest Gov. Rick Perry's massive toll road plan. Perry's feisty challenger, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, spoke at the event, which was not covered by the Express-News. Our no-show wasn't a judgment call. A reporter who was notified about the rally simply did not pass the information on to editors who decide what to cover and who will cover it. It was a flub, primarily by the Express-News, but also by the organizer, the San Antonio Toll Party, which needs to be more effusive...

The more William Molina heard about toll road plans, the more outraged he got, until finally he picked up his camera and did what he does best. Molina spent the past several months shooting more than 40 hours of footage at public meetings in San Antonio and nearby towns, talked to activists, tried to talk to toll road advocates and spliced together a film documenting what he says is a nexus of tremendous change. "I just wanted to capture history," the veteran filmmaker said. "One day we're going to look back at this and say, how did this happen." "Truth...

DALLAS, — Kinky Friedman on Friday said he would call for marshal law in border cities if he becomes Texas’ next governor during the only gubernatorial debate for this election. Each of the four candidates declared victory after the hour-long de-bate that included substantial discussion about the border and immi-gration. “Yeah, of course, whatever it takes,” Friedman said in response to a question from an Austin television reporter about whether he would declare marshal law, which would be required by law to make possi-ble his proposal to add 8,500 National Guard troops to the border. When asked in a lightning...

The Milam County portion of the “Hands Across the Corridor” Statewide Rallies was held Saturday, Sept. 30, on the Milam County Courthouse lawn. We had a great assembly of concerned Texans, Democrats, Republicans, Strayhorn Independents and even a couple of really “Kinky” folks. Everyone in attendance agreed that our current Governor and many of our senators and representatives have forgotten the constituents that they are supposed to represent. They seem to be representing only ‘big money contributors and companies' whose interests are not what is best for Texas, but how much money the ‘projects' (toll roads and corridor) can make...

The Texas Transportation Commission unrolled Sept. 28 the long-awaited road map for the Trans-Texas Corridor. Release of the Master Development Plan will result also in public disclosure of the full contract between the state and Cintra-Zachry, a private joint venture between the Spanish firm Cintra and the Texas highway contractor Zachry. Both Cintra-Zachry and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) appealed a ruling from the Texas Attorney General’s office that the full contract is an open record. A trial was scheduled for Oct. 10 in Travis County district court. The master plan calls for the prompt building of seven segments...

AUSTIN - Can the four major candidates for Texas governor debate each other for an hour on live television without being seen or heard? Probably not, but Belo Corp., sponsor of the only such gubernatorial showdown this fall, will test that possibility Friday night, both with its restrictive distribution rules and the time slot. Originating in Dallas, the debate will be carried live on the company's WFAA flagship; Belo affiliates in Houston (KHOU-Channel 11), San Antonio and Austin; Belo's Texas Cable News (TXCN) and will be streamed live on their Web sites. TV stations in smaller towns outside Belo markets...

About 30 opponents of Gov. Rick Perry’s controversial Trans-Texas Corridor plan for superhighways statewide rallied at the McLennan County Courthouse Saturday morning, waving plastic bags of soil and vowing to resist any efforts involving eminent domain to seize their land for highway construction. “This is a little piece of my land,” Riesel rancher and farmer Robert Cervenka said. “And this is all they’re going to get from me without a fight.” Although some of those gathered at the steps of the courthouse were allied with independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn, others said they were for any political force capable...

<p>A master plan of the proposed toll road and rail line from the Oklahoma border to San Antonio was unveiled this morning by the Texas Department of Transportation.</p> <p>This summer, critics panned the secrecy of the privately funded deal and called for financial details to be revealed.</p>

North Texas grows by 150,000 people a year – about the population of Richardson and Rowlett combined. McKinney and Frisco each add 200 newcomers a week. Keeping pace with the mobility needs of the mushrooming region is a losing proposition if we use only traditional means: state fuel taxes and leveraged federal funds. Yet most positions taken by candidates for governor are unrealistically wed to yesterday's formulas for financing roadways. Here's the size of the North Texas funding gap over the next 25 years: a nearly $28 billion shortage for new highways and related projects, according to the Regional Transportation...

HILLSBORO, Texas — Leroy Walters has survived many a threat on the farm that has been in his family for 120 years — droughts, hailstorms, tornadoes, grasshopper attacks. But now he sees a manmade danger on the horizon: a colossal, 600-mile superhighway that will plow clear across Texas, perhaps cutting through Walters' milo and corn fields, obliterating family houses and robbing his grandchildren of their land. "I don't think they're going to want to pay a toll to go across this land," he said. "They want to enjoy it free, as Texans should enjoy it." That kind of fear and...

Pat Hensen spent a good part of his 35-year career with the Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resource Conservation Service) helping Texas Blacklands farmers improve their land. And he’s invested considerable time, effort and money the last 20 years doing the same on his own or leased acreage. And it may all end up under yards of concrete and asphalt if the Trans Texas Corridor passes muster and follows the latest proposed route. “My farm would be in the middle of it,” Hensen says from his Bell County living room where he and wife Loretta participate in a grassroots campaign...

ENNIS - Corridor Watch, a nonprofit organization designed to inform the public about aspects of the Trans-Texas Corridor, presented its perceptions about the highway project to an Ellis County audience Thursday evening. The event was sponsored by Independent Texans and held at the Ennis Sixth Grade Center. Corridor Watch, which was founded by Linda and David Stall of Fayetteville, is “first and foremost an educational entity,” said David Stall, who added that the group’s “biggest concern is stopping the Trans-Texas Corridor.” Stall, speaking for the anti-TTC Corridor Watch, raised several questions about the TTC, ranging from its origins to its...

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign opponents are hoping his Trans-Texas Corridor becomes a central campaign issue, and it is now the focus of a new online campaign attack. It's an animation, like the JibJab cartoons that took aim at President Bush during the last election. But the creators say their message is anything but funny. It's the latest shot in the Texas governor's race, and it takes aim at Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor. An online animated video calls Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor a land grab that will use eminent domain to kick Texans out of their homes, farms and ranches. "Eminent domain is...

AUSTIN — Two gubernatorial candidates received rare embraces from leaders of an organization that prides itself on its fierce nonpartisanship and rigid rules for politicians. Democrat Chris Bell got a warm embrace Saturday morning after pledging support for education and healthcare spending, training for livable wage jobs and comprehensive immigration reform all of which make up the "working families agenda" for the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation. Texas comptroller and independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn got a big hug on Friday from the Rev. John Bowie of True Light Baptist Church in Houston after Strayhorn offered passionate support for most...

Online nature of poll raises questions but gives life to Bell Campaign Although its methodology is among the most questionable of the national pollsters watching Texas' elections, the most today's Wall Street Journal/Zogby Poll has some startling results. According to WSJ/Zogby, Governor Perry's lead has dropped to 34.8%. The biggest beneficiary is Democrat Chris Bell who has surged into second place at 23.1%. "All we need to beat Rick Perry is 35%, and the way Rick Perry is dropping and Chris Bell is rising, it's clear that the only realistic way to get a new governor is to get behind...

One out of every eight votes in Rick Perry's margin of victory in the 2002 race for governor came from the rural counties along the Interstate 35 path of Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. Now, as he seeks re-election, Perry's long-range transportation vision is turning into a political liability for the Republican chief executive. More than 14,000 Texans — almost all opposed to the Trans-Texas Corridor — turned out at public hearings held by the Texas Department of Transportation this summer to express their displeasure with the highway and the governor. "I'd like to admit that I made one big mistake...

AUSTIN – After months of complaining about Republican Gov. Rick Perry's transportation plan, independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn put forth her plan Monday for unclogging Texas roads. Mrs. Strayhorn said that she wouldn't rely on toll roads, as Mr. Perry's plan does, and that she would expand capacity on Interstate 35 using existing rights of way. In some congested areas that could mean double-decker highways, she said. "Texas once had and can again have a freeway system that is the envy of the nation," Mrs. Strayhorn said. "I am adamantly opposed to any toll roads in Texas." She also...

DALLAS — Republican Gov. Rick Perry's former liaison to the Legislature is working once again for the Spanish company that won the rights to develop the state's $7 billion Trans-Texas Corridor toll road project. Lobbyist Dan Shelley worked for the firm as a consultant just before he went to the governor's office, a connection first revealed in 2004. State officials denied any connection between that circumstance and the decision, three months later, to award Cintra-Zachry the huge highway contract. Now Shelley has left the governor's office, and he and his daughter have large contracts to lobby for the road builder,...

A plan to bring the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project closer to the heart of North Texas is getting a boost from Gov. Rick Perry. Since April, North Texas leaders have prodded state officials to alter their study maps to include a highway route that circles Dallas and Fort Worth. Until now, the state's preferred study area has prominently featured a route that only clips southeast Dallas County. The local lobbying efforts may have paid off. Mr. Perry has asked the Texas Department of Transportation to take into consideration North Texas' wishes, department officials said late Tuesday. In a letter to...

ST. HEDWIG, Texas – From the parking lot jammed with pickups, past the tables with campaign T-shirts and into the overflowing high school auditorium, Carole Keeton Strayhorn works the linoleum aisle as if it's her own political rally. And she has Gov. Rick Perry to thank. Mrs. Strayhorn has become a regular fixture at the federally mandated public hearings on the Perry-backed Trans-Texas Corridor – a wide network of toll roads, railways and pipelines to parallel Interstate 35. And she has used the almost nightly occasions to thump the governor and bring hundreds of potential supporters to their feet. So...

Texas is facing a significant turning point. Gov. Rick Perry has called for the State to build a massive network of freeways with freight rail, commuter rail, utility lines, communication towers and oil and natural gas pipelines all concentrated into a single route. This massive corridor is intended to meet the future transportation needs of the state, which is expected to increase dramatically in the next 50 years. Texas highways are already packed with cars and trucks, and gridlock strangles our major cities day and night. While the lofty goals of Perry's transportation program are admirable, the program has been...

(July 24, 2006)—As the state wraps up a series of Central Texas hearings this week on the massive Trans Texas Corridor project, it’s becoming apparent that opposition to the futuristic highway system is mounting, especially in rural areas, and that could pose a problem to Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election bid. Leroy Walters of Hillsboro, for example, has survived many a threat on the farm that's been in his family for 120 years including drought and tornadoes. But now Walters is concerned about the 600-mile superhighway that could plow across Texas, perhaps cutting through his fields and robbing his grandchildren of...

DENTON - "Grandma" lost her argument for a contrived ballot nickname. But Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn of Austin might have found a plank on which to build a campaign against Gov. Rick Perry. It's a plank 600 miles long and a quarter-mile wide. It's a giant, privately owned, multilane tollway that would part the Texas countryside the way the governor parts his ample hair. Strayhorn, a Republican running as an independent candidate, has criticized the Trans-Texas Corridor tollway plan loudly for months. So have the other principal challengers in this traffic jam of a race, novelist Kinky Friedman of Medina...