tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76639942024-03-13T01:00:52.617-05:00This Way to TexasLou Antonelli's dang ol' blogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2020125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-1238356591229526242021-06-12T19:17:00.000-05:002021-06-12T19:17:05.612-05:00 Whatever happened to that old Sunbelt?<p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">By LOU ANTONELLI</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Managing Editor<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s rained almost daily for the past
four months. The ground is saturated; walking across grass is like stepping
onto a wet scrub pad. When I moved to Texas in 1985, I was part of what was
called at the time the Sunbelt migration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sunbelt? What happened?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here
– and don’t bite my head off – but I think the problem is really related to
global warming. I assert it’s possible to believe in global warming but not
blame it wholly on human activities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Climate varies over time but the changes
are so slow that people seldom notice in one or two generations. It’s obvious
climate change happens naturally. Ten thousand years ago there was an Ice Age
with a polar ice cap that extended in North America as far south as Missouri.
No one was burning coal or driving polluting cars back then.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are historical signs we entered a
minor Ice Age about the 13<sup>th</sup> Century, and what we are seeing now may
be the climate returning back to before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A good example involves Greenland. If
you have ever seen photos of the large island between North America and Europe,
you’ll recall it doesn’t look very green. But the Vikings settled in it in the
9<sup>th</sup> century and that’s what they named it; apparently there were
forests around the coast line.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was because of the Viking settlements
in Greenland that some early explorers were able to make the jump to North
America. But a few hundred years later the climate cooled to the point where
the Greenland settlements died off, and that connection to Europe was lost.
Columbus had to pick up later using a more southerly, and warm, route in the
1400s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The English like wine, which is strange
because it is too cold in the British Isles for grape vines to grow. But it was
warm enough before 1300, and then the weather cooled and the vines died. It is
interesting to note two of the traditionally most popular English wines, sherry
and port, are Portuguese in origin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you head straight south from the
British Isles, the first place you hit land is the Atlantic Coast of Portugal.
You can imagine the medieval merchants ordering wine from the nearest ports
when the grape harvest failed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rising sea levels have also been going
on for hundreds of years. We all know the Netherlands are known for having
canals and dikes to hold the sea back. That’s because the inhabitants noticed
the slow rise and have taken steps over the years to keep the sea out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s a place in England called St.
Michael’s Mount; it’s a small rocky island just off the coast of Cornwall. At
low tide, you can see still tree stumps from a long-drowned forest in the sand.
It’s name in the native Cornish language translates as “Gray rock in the woods”,
obviously going back to before the sea came in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I say it may be possible that human
actions aggravate climate change, but to say humans are the cause of it is just
propaganda. The best argument I’ve heard that these variations are a natural
thing is that astronomers have seen a decrease in the size of the polar icecaps
on Mars.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are no cars or factories on Mars.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over 20 years ago I heard that Texas was
one place that would be affected by global warming because it is big and flat
and next to a large body of relatively shallow water – the Gulf of Mexico –
that has a lot of evaporation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps that is what we are seeing now.
If so, it’s just a natural process, and Texans – being a resourceful and
self-reliant people – will deal with it.</span></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-50524391529960781532021-06-12T18:40:00.002-05:002021-06-12T18:40:21.919-05:00Author's page<p> <span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space: pre-wrap;">A friend and fan of mine says she is appalled I don't have an author's page on the web. She's offered to create one and load up some of my short fiction, which leads me to ask: Anyone have a favorite Lou Antonelli short story or want to recommend one?</span></p><div style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;"><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4 l82x9zwi uo3d90p7 h905i5nu monazrh9" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="animation-name: none !important; border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; transition-property: none !important;"><div style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;"><div style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition-property: none !important;"><div style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;"><div class="tvfksri0 ozuftl9m jmbispl3 olo4ujb6" style="animation-name: none !important; border-top: 1px solid var(--divider); font-family: inherit; margin-left: 12px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 12px; transition-property: none !important;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 pfnyh3mw i1fnvgqd gs1a9yip owycx6da btwxx1t3 ph5uu5jm b3onmgus e5nlhep0 ecm0bbzt nkwizq5d roh60bw9 mysgfdmx hddg9phg" style="align-items: stretch; animation-name: none !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; justify-content: space-between; margin: -6px -2px; padding: 4px; position: relative; transition-property: none !important; z-index: 0;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t g5gj957u d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz rj1gh0hx buofh1pr n8tt0mok hyh9befq iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="animation-name: none !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 2px; position: relative; transition-property: none !important; z-index: 0;"><div aria-label="Send this to friends or post it on your timeline." class="oajrlxb2 gs1a9yip g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 pq6dq46d mg4g778l btwxx1t3 pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of du4w35lb lzcic4wl abiwlrkh p8dawk7l" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; animation-name: none !important; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none !important; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="n00je7tq arfg74bv qs9ysxi8 k77z8yql i09qtzwb n7fi1qx3 b5wmifdl hzruof5a pmk7jnqg j9ispegn kr520xx4 c5ndavph art1omkt ot9fgl3s" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="animation-name: none !important; border-radius: 4px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: none !important; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="cwj9ozl2 tvmbv18p" style="animation-name: none !important; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 4px; transition-property: none !important;"></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-34079201934137929732020-11-29T10:31:00.000-06:002020-11-29T10:31:07.276-06:00How understand the mainstream media today<p>Liberals went into journalism after World War II because they wanted to tilt the country to the left, after seeing the horrors of the war. </p><p>At the same time the Soviet Union was infiltrating American society with Communist agents. Joe McCarthy was excoriated at the time, but with a decade it was obvious he had been telling the truth - the government and seats of power were riddled with Communists, and we got our ass kicked by a pissant Southeast Asian nation. </p><p>Richard Nixon was the the process of extricating the nation with honor from Vietnam but then the establishment took him down with Watergate, which was an obvious bullshit set-up. </p><p>Nixon's political demise proved the subversives in the U.S. could manipulate internal politics, and especially after that the numbers of left-winger who went into journalism skyrocketed. I was a freshman at and Ivy League school in 1975, I saw that process first-hand. </p><p>People like me, who believe in God and our country, go into community journalism, but mainstream journalism is so far gone it is hopeless. There's no way for it to be fixed - it's all leftists and heathen.</p><p>It's like when you joke that you would remove the rust from your jalopy, but the rust is the only thing holding it together. If you purged the godless and the damned that run the mainstream media today, there would be nothing left.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-39139896509219963972020-11-26T11:54:00.002-06:002020-11-26T11:54:15.545-06:00'Tis the reason<p> Thanksgiving is always problematic for small town weekly papers, which - in the U.S. - traditionally come out on Thursdays (I understand in Canada they come out on Tuesdays).</p><p>As one would suspect, my newspaper is not printed on Thursday, it's printed on Wednesday and goes out to subscribers in the mail Thursday. Because of the holiday, the paper this week goes in the mail Friday.</p><p>Still, it was an abbreviated week. My printer had to print all its other papers - both for Wednesday and Thursday - on Wednesday, so we had no leeway to be late. But we met the deadline.</p><p>The bigger problem was out bi-weekly Mount Pleasant paper, which is dated on Saturdays. Normally it would be printed on Thursday. I would have assumed this week it would be printed on Friday, but the printer said its employees also wanted the day after Thanksgiving off.</p><p>It took some rushing, but we also got the Mount Pleasant Mirror done and printed on Wednesday. So I have a certain sense of accomplishment.</p><p>The Mirror is a new paper, started this year, so it does not have a periodical postal permit and only a handful of mail subscribers. Therefore it is distributed free in Mount Pleasant. It will be delivered on Friday, so we can be back at our Clarksville office for Small Business Saturday.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-82147640277750833502020-11-15T17:33:00.000-06:002020-11-15T17:33:00.703-06:00No plans as yet<p>Little did I know, when I was a panelist at AnachroCon in Atlanta in February, that it would be the only convention I would attend this year. But by March COVID was really kicking in and the quarantines started. The rest of my conventions were cancelled.</p><p>Right now, I have no conventions lined up for 2021 (this year was the last for AnachroCon). If anyone needs a panelist in 2021, let me know.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-35951719493695041162020-11-07T15:35:00.004-06:002020-11-07T15:39:34.001-06:00"Great White Ship" featured in podcast<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM3MIGFZbkluQiaaG6rncLpf3gof9EO97JxHCHmmKEXj2CK1m8RbD1dd7FlKwwH4eF7vteu_I36GNKUXxt68E54LaqQXl0c5-QKsTKsvcwTHswRdwNgx8iDt1dWuLXYnPkcFaD/s500/Graet+White+Ship+image.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="500" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM3MIGFZbkluQiaaG6rncLpf3gof9EO97JxHCHmmKEXj2CK1m8RbD1dd7FlKwwH4eF7vteu_I36GNKUXxt68E54LaqQXl0c5-QKsTKsvcwTHswRdwNgx8iDt1dWuLXYnPkcFaD/w640-h332/Graet+White+Ship+image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Planet Raconteur featured my short story "Great White Ship" in a recent podcast. They have broken the story out as a stand alone. Listen and enjoy! Click <a href="https://soundcloud.com/planet-raconteur/great-white-ship-by-lou-antonelli-planet-raconteur?fbclid=IwAR2xFwUrmIjgeMER2PwLMcXV-nlXxu6GMJHcrfxLQ7_WI0Jpu1EsKjXP5do">HERE</a>.</div></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-70802173788044980252020-10-25T13:55:00.003-05:002020-10-25T13:55:15.096-05:00Antonelli releases ten-point platform<p>CLARKSVILLE, Tx. - With only 18 days left until the November 3 general election, congressional candidate Lou Antonelli has released a ten-point platform of legislative issues he’d like to see enacted if elected.</p><p>The Libertarian Party nominee in the Texas 4th district, Antonelli said “I sat down and wrote up a set of specific actions I’d take if elected in response to feedback I’ve heard on the campaign trail. I believe it addresses the serious concerns I’ve heard from people.”</p><p>The platform in brief states:</p><p>1. Term limits – No local, state or federal official can serve more than three cumulative terms in office.</p><p>2. Eliminate Gerrymandering – Legislative districts must be drawn by a bi-partisan commission and be compact and contiguous.</p><p>3. Campaign Spending Limits – Candidates cannot spend more in running for an office than the office pays in annual salary.</p><p>4. Electoral College Reform – Electoral votes will be cast on the basis of the candidate that carried each congressional district, and not the whole state.</p><p>5. Abolish the Federal Reserve Bank.</p><p>6. Legalize Marijuana – Tax it at the same level at alcohol and tobacco, use the revenue to reduce debt.</p><p>7. Cut the federal payroll by one percent every year for 50 years until it is halved.</p><p>8. Adopt a 0th Amendment to the Constitution stating all federal laws and regulations must be applied and enforced regardless of race, religion, sex, national origin or color.</p><p>9. Investigate the Democratic Party under the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) for ongoing and systemic electoral fraud.</p><p>10. Abolish Obamacare.</p><p>Antonelli faces off in the general election against Republican Pat Fallon of Sherman, Democrat Russell Foster of Sherman and write-in Tracy Jones of Texarkana.</p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-8196444559307192492020-10-25T13:50:00.004-05:002020-10-25T13:50:28.691-05:00Man who made Obama cry runs for Congress<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">By BOB PALMER</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Former Publisher<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mt. Pleasant
Tribune<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Despite what
former UCLA Coach Henry Russell Sanders once said, winning isn’t the only thing
to the Libertarian nominee for Texas’ 4th Congressional District, Louis (Lou)
Antonelli, who knows he has an uphill battle as a third party candidate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli, 63,
has a long history in public service as well as community journalism. A life-long
conservative, he says the most interesting thing that ever happened him is that
he reportedly once made a future president of the United States cry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli says
he does not remember seeing Barack Obama shed tears while they were both
students at Columbia University in New York City, but an alumni blog salutes
Antonelli and another conservative student colleague for causing moisture to
come to Obama’s eyes in frustration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The pair staged
an anti-Soviet protest at Columbia University in New York following the
shooting down of a Korean Air Lines Flight 007 from Anchorage to Seoul by a
Soviet interceptor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A bystander to
the student protest later reported “Lou Antonelli and Jon Crane get more
students to protest Soviet downing of KAL 007 than ever supported South Africa
divestiture. Obama left campus for the last time in tears.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli and
Obama’s time at the university overlapped slightly and they interacted at least
one more time when Obama and fellow liberals accosted Antonelli and some
friends after a Student Republican club meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ronald Reagan
was President in 1983 and Antonelli says President Reagan had the strongest
influence on shaping his political philosophy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Reagan had a strong Libertarian streak in
him,” said Antonelli. “He often spoke about the need to cut back big
government.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli sees
Reagan as influencing his position as a pro-life Libertarian.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Ronald Reagan
said we don't actually know when life begins exactly, but if you don't know,
err on the side of ‘don't do any harm,’” Antonelli explained.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Libertarian
candidate for the 4th District seat made vacant when President Donald Trump
appointed incumbent John Ratcliffe to be Director of National Intelligence does
endorse an end to capital punishment and making marijuana legal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I think any
drug that's a natural product that grows like marijuana and mushrooms shouldn't
be illegal,” Antonelli said. “Now if you have to make something like meth, you
have to cook, that's another thing.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli noted
how capital punishment is the only punishment that cannot be reversed.
Antonelli pointed out how prisoners are often released after decades in custody
when new evidence exonerates them. That is not possible if the prisoner has
been executed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Kinky Friedman
said, ‘How can Christians support capital punishment when the founder of their
religion was executed as a political criminal?’” Antonelli cited.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As a business
owner, Antonelli definitely supports lower taxes and smaller government, both
Libertarian touchstones.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Born on Jan. 6,
1957 in Medford, Massachusetts, Antonelli is the son of Sergio and Anna Savini
Antonelli who immigrated to the United States from Italy after World War II.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli
credits the Boy Scouts of America for having a strong positive influence on his
early life. He embraced the Scout Oath and Law and quickly found a role as
Troop Scribe, reporting Scout events to the local newspaper. His first story
was published when he was 12. He later worked for his local newspaper all
throughout high school.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Although
Massachusetts has a liberal reputation, Antonelli said Italians found
themselves more welcome in the Republican Party than with the local Democratic
Party which was run by Irish descendants. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“There are
plenty of conservatives in Massachusetts,” Antonelli said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">At Columbia
University, Antonelli quickly immersed himself in student politics winning a
seat on the student council as well as joining the Young Republicans. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After college,
he volunteered to run as a Republican for a heavily Democratic Congressional
seat in Upper West Side Manhattan in 1982 when he was 25<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It used to be
what you'd call a Standard Bearer,” Antonelli said. The Republican Party
Chairman in Manhattan was actually a really nice guy. His name was Roy Goodman.
I went to his office one time and said do you have anybody to run for the
office? He said no, you want to do it? I said sure, so I did. It was an
interesting experience.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli
believes his political activities influenced others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I think
actually the thing that had the most positive influence on the most people goes
back to when I was in college,” Antonelli said. “I showed college students at a
very liberal university, you could be conservative and be a rice guy, too.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli packed
up and moved to Texas when he was 28. He’s worked for a number of community
newspapers since then, and while in Cedar Hill he met and married Patricia
Randolph, a Dallas native, in 1999.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He went to work
in Clarksville in 2015 and the Antonellis bought The Clarksville Times from its
owner in 2018. The started a second newspaper in Mount Pleasant at the start of
this year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In addition to
publishing two newspapers, Antonelli is also a prolific science fiction writer,
having 125 short stories published in 15 years. He is a two-time Hugo award
nominee, and in 2017 he was a finalist for the Dragon Award for his alternate
history novel “Another Girl, Another Planet”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli has
been a much sought after panel participant and speaker at conventions for
science fiction writers across the country, although that’s been severely
curtailed this year because of the COVID pandemic. His last convebtiom was in
Atlanta in February before the quarantines began.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Some might
consider Antonelli’s Quixotic quest as the Libertarian candidate for Congress
in the strongly Republican 4th District of Texas his greatest piece of living
science fiction. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli would
disagree that someone should run for office only when convinced victory is in
the bag.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“If you've ever
thought about service in elective office, do it,” Antonelli urged. “Get it out
of your system. You might win and if you don't, you'll see what it's like. I
think you'll have a lot more sympathy with elected officials if you serve as
one yourself in some capacity.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Antonelli served
as an elected trustee of the Cedar ISD from 1992 to 1995. He is currently a
member of the Clarksville Planning and Zoning Commission, and President of the
Clarksville Lions Club.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Antonellis,
who have no children, are members of First Baptist Church in Clarksville.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-68366054246105427082020-09-13T14:10:00.000-05:002020-09-13T14:10:14.328-05:00 Libertarians nominate Lou Antonelli for Congress<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Libertarian Party is proud to
announce its nominee for District 4 is Lou Antonelli of Clarksville in Red
River County, a small business owner with a long record of public service and
community involvement. Antonelli pledges to run a full-fledged active campaign.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Antonelli says his goal running as a
third party candidate is to inject original ideas into the discussion, and push
for the Libertarian Party to become the second party in the district, displacing
the Democrats.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Can you imagine how much better our
political system would be if the two major parties were the Republicans and
Libertarians, instead of the Republicans and Democrats?” asked Antonelli.
“Libertarians are the loyal opposition, as opposed to the Democrats, who are
the disloyal opposition.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Antonelli said Libertarians stand for
hacking away strangling bureaucracy at all levels of government, and returning
as much authority as possible to individuals. “Thanks to the COVID pandemic, we
have all gotten a free trial of Socialism,” he said. “How do you like it?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lou and his wife Patricia own The
Clarksville Times, founded in 1873, the oldest business in Red River County. He
is the managing editor, and has been a community journalist for 40 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He has served in the past as an elected
school trustee, a library trustee, an animal shelter board member, and a
condemnation court judge. He is presently the President of the Clarksville
Lions Club and the Clarksville Planning and Zoning Commission.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Texas Supreme Court on Saturday,
Sept. 5, rejected a Republican attempt to remove 44 Libertarians from the
November ballot, according to the Texas Tribune.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Groups affiliated with both major
parties have gone to court in recent weeks to remove from the ballot
non-major-party candidates perceived to be a threat. In general, Libertarians
are believed to peel votes away from Republicans, while the Green Party is
thought to siphon votes from Democrats.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The GOP sued because the Libertarians
didn't pay their filing fees. But the state Supreme Court said Republicans
missed the deadline to kick them off the ballot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lou Antonelli, one of the candidates the
Republicans sought to block – welcomed the decision.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"We need more diversity of the
ballot, not less,” he said. “The two-party system has created polarization and
an ‘us versus them’ mentality.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He faces Republican Pat Fallon and
Democrat Russell Foster in the Nov. 3 general election. Fallon was nominated by
a district convention Aug. 8 following the resignation of the incumbent, John
Ratcliffe, to take a federal appointment as director of national intelligence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Antonelli has asked Republican nominee
Pat Fallon to join him in a public forum or debate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I sent my request via Facebook, since I
could not find a good email or mailing address for the candidate," said
Antonelli. "I understand having no address on any of his social media
pages, since he actually doesn't live in the district."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The letter sent by Mr. Antonelli reads
as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Dear Mr. Fallon –<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"As a candidate for the Texas 4th
Congressional district, I’m sure you want to make every effort to inform the
voters of Northeast Texas of where you stand and what you plan to do in office.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="tab-stops: 52.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"So do I. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"As the Libertarian candidate for
the seat, I’d like to ask if we can set up a debate or forum to meet and greet
voters and answer their questions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"I’m open to any location and I’m
very flexible about the time; I’m a self-employed small business owner and my
time is my own. I may be contacted at any time at my office in Clarksville.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"If you are amenable to this, I’d
contact the other candidates – the Democrat as well as the declared write-in –
and invite them to participate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Let’s take the high road in this
election, and not take anything for granted. These are difficult times for our
nation; the next Representative from this district will face many challenges. A
forum is a good way to not only expound on one’s positions, but gather input
from the people he will represent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"I hope to hear from you soon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Lou Antonelli"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"If Mr. Fallon declines, or doesn't
reply, I suppose I'll just debate an empty chair with his cutout on it,"
said Antonelli<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Facing a lack of transparency from his
opponent, and with less than two months before the general election, Antonelli
asks how Pat Fallon plans to represent a district he doesn’t live in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many of the prospective candidates who
spoke at the Republican district convention in Sulphur Springs Aug. 8
referenced Fallon’s residency. Fallon lives in the Denton county portion of
Prosper, an outer suburb of Dallas, which is just outside the 4th's boundaries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even Wikipedia, the largest and most
popular general reference work on the World Wide Web, notes Fallon’s position:
“Fallon's state senate district includes much of the eastern portion of the congressional
district.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, regarding the 4th Congressional
District, Wikipedia continues: “While candidates for the House are only
required to live in the state they wish to represent, longstanding convention
holds that they live either in or reasonably close to the district they wish to
represent.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Libertarian Party candidate in the
election, Antonelli said “A number of candidates who lost to Fallon in the
district convention seem to feel his victory was due to arm-twisting by himself
and Senator Ted Cruz, and they resent it and have told me so,”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The residency requirement for the U.S.
House is in the Constitution, so Fallon has done nothing illegal,” said
Antonelli. “But Texas deserves congressional leaders who do better than just
skirt the law.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Antonelli issued a challenge Sept. 8 to
Fallon to debate but to date has received no reply.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If he showed up, perhaps he could
address the subject of his candidacy,” said Antonelli.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Antonelli met with campaign supporters
at the Two Senoritas restaurant in Mount Pleasant Thursday night, Sept. 10.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Afterwards he announced the appointment
of three county campaign chairmen: Kate Prather for Franklin County, Garrett
McGraw for Hopkins County and Madlen Krause for Camp County.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-19739052941742284502020-05-22T12:19:00.002-05:002020-05-22T12:19:11.097-05:00<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">For Immediate Release</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">May 22, 2020<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light","sans-serif"; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Libertarians
field viable candidate for District 4 seat<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With the confirmation of John Ratcliffe
as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on May 21, multiple candidates are
stepping forward to run for the open Congressional seat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Libertarian Party is proud to
announce its nominee for District 4 is Lou Antonelli of Clarksville in Red
River County, a small business owner with a long record of public service and community
involvement. Antonelli pledges to run a full-fledged active campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Antonelli says his goal running as a
third party candidate is to inject original ideas into the discussion, and push
for the Libertarian Party to become the second party in the district,
displacing the Democrats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Can you imagine how much better our
political system would be if the two major parties were the Republicans and Libertarians,
instead of the Republicans and Democrats?” asked Antonelli. “Libertarians are
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">loyal</i> opposition, as opposed to
the Democrats, who are the disloyal opposition.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Antonelli said Libertarians stand for
hacking away strangling bureaucracy at all levels of government, and returning
as much authority as possible to individuals. “Thanks to the COVID pandemic, we
have all gotten a free trial of Socialism,” he said. “How do you like it?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lou and his wife Patricia own <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Clarksville Times</b>, founded in 1873,
the oldest business in Red River County. He is the managing editor, and has
been a community journalist for 40 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He has served in the past as an elected
school trustee, a library trustee, an animal shelter board member, and a
condemnation court judge. He is presently the President of the Clarksville
Lions Club.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">His cell phone number is 903-257-6573
and anyone is welcome to call him any time. His office number at The
Clarksville Times in 903-427-0002, or you can email him at <u><a href="mailto:theclarksvilletimes@gmail.com">theclarksvilletimes@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">#<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-53162214161332188352020-04-14T21:10:00.001-05:002020-04-14T21:14:51.524-05:00Winding downI believe today, April 14, is the final day for voting in the SFWA officers election. I had seen April 11 some other place, but the email link to the ballots went out March 14, so April 14 seems more logical. I seem to recall seeing the April 14 date elsewhere. I received a PM today from a member who said they voted for me, so the link seems to have been active.<br />
<br />
In the email sent out to members it was noted "Only one candidate declared their intent to run before the ballot deadline. There are two open positions. On the ballot, you will see there is a "Write-In Candidate" field." That seemed to me to indicate write-in candidates would be welcomed.<br />
<br />
Boy, was I wrong about that. Almost immediately after I publicly said I was putting my name forth, the hate began. Tempest Bradford - who is not even a member of the SFWA - kicked it off within 24 hours. She repeated the usual party line lies about me and the Sad Puppies that have been circulating for years now. After all this time, no honest or intelligent person believes this bullshit any more.<br />
<br />
Jim Hines tag-teamed her after a while, but he's retreated and left Bradford holding the bag of hate at the end. Some of the other crackpots backed off, too. Jeff Vandemerve accused me of attempted murder (trying to carbon monoxide someone with my car) but deleted his tweets later. No problem, everyone knows the internet is forever. I am so looking forward to suing his heathen ass. It will be enjoyable for a journalist to sue someone else for libel, for a change.<br />
<br />
The only thing left is to see how many votes I got. Vince Lombardi once said "Winning isn't every thing; it's the only thing." That may be true in sports, but not necessarily politics. There are many useful reasons for running for office aside from winning - Expressing dissent, motivating voters, advocating new ideas, battling complacency.<br />
<br />
Most of the opinion leaders in literary science fiction today are confirmed left-wingers. They don't understand free speech, free elections, free markets and free thought. You exercise your civil right to participate in an election and they lose their minds. They think an election should be done like in good old Khmer Rouge Cambodia or perhaps New York City - there's an approved candidate and they will win with 110 percent of the registered voters.<br />
<br />
No matter the final vote total or outcome, I am happy with what I have accomplished. Now I'm just curious whether I will be thrown out of the SFWA, because as you know, toleration is not in these people's DNA.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-26909702069629841222020-04-05T14:39:00.002-05:002020-04-05T15:05:14.369-05:00The problem of 'standing'One of the problems in trying to reform an organization such as the SFWA is the self-selection issue. The people who are unhappy with the group leave it, and then they have no legal standing to complain.<br />
<br />
When I served as a public school board member years ago, I saw the problem with "standing" many times. When a parent or parents had a problem with the school administration, nine times out of ten the first thing they would do would be to take their kid out of school and go to either home school them or enroll them in a private school.<br />
<br />
They contact you about their problem, and when you ask the school administration what is being done, they'd say "nothing. They don't have a child in the system."<br />
<br />
In the same way, I've heard a of of people griping about the SFWA, but because thy're not members, they have no capacity to do anything.<br />
<br />
There are a handful of Sad Puppies, such as myself, who remain members, but by and large the disaffected have already left.<br />
<br />
Still, that doesn't mean one shouldn't try for reform, and there are other excellent goals in running for office other than winning, such as injecting new ideas into the dialogue, showing there <b>is </b>dissent, offering people an opportunity for a protest vote, etc.<br />
<br />
People in an organization that has been taken over by one faction of its constituency seldom see any problem. They dismiss people who complain as disgruntled or losers. They live in a their own bubble. Ultimately reform usually comes from outside.<br />
<br />
In a group such as the SFWA, where membership is voluntary, outside action is uncommon. In the case of a groups such as a labor union, where membership and paying dues is often mandatory, it's a different story. That's why the feds have been investigating labor unions such as the Teamsters for years (my father was a Teamster).<br />
<br />
As vicious as the attacks upon my candidacy for the SFWA board have been, it's a joke compared to the situation such as with the United Mine Workers in 1969 where the incumbent President had his opponent in a recent election and his family murdered. And God knows how many people Teamsters Boss Jimmy Hoffa had whacked before he himself disappeared.<br />
<br />
Now that's serious.<br />
<br />
As impervious as the leaders of the SFWA are to other opinions, reform will still probably have to come from outside. It's a registered non-profit group in California, so at some point they'll stumble and violate some laws. It's inevitable, and the problem will probably be exacerbated because they won't heed warnings from dissidents.<br />
<br />
For example, is it legal for such a group to elect officers and not disclose the results? They didn't last year, and I would suppose they won't again this year, just to prevent showing I received any votes.<br />
<br />
In the long run, it's a self-correcting problem. There's an old anecdote about a banana republic dictator who was being challenged by an inept revolutionary. His henchman asks him if he wants his opponent disposed of.<br />
<br />
The dictator points out his challenger is a bumbler who at any given time was in imminent danger of being deposed himself or rubbed out by any of his associates.<br />
<br />
"Why waste time killing someone," asked the dictator, "who is in the process of committing suicide?"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-4529263173405373792020-03-29T10:53:00.000-05:002020-03-29T10:53:03.508-05:00The Party LineTempest Bradford jump started the hate campaign against me, then Jim Hines jumped in. Bradford is Joe Goebbels to Nora Jemisin, who's basically turned the SFWA into her own self-promotion racket, just like Tor Books turned the Hugo awards into its own little scheme.<br />
<br />
Hines is the same to John Scalzi, who is the single person the most responsible for the politicization of the SFWA. Most recently, Teresa Neilsen-Hayden jumped into the fray.<br />
<br />
Neilsen-Hayden is the person who invented the party line against the Sad Puppies. In 2015 she started to attack the Pups <b>a week before the Hugo nominations were announced.</b> Nominees receive their notifications a week in advance, and when the "right" people didn't get their notifications, she realized what happened and went on the immediate attack.<br />
<br />
Just because the party line is repeated over and over again doesn't make it true, and citing it doesn't make it a legitimate precedent.<br />
<br />
Neilsen-Hayden repeated the lie that I swatted David Gerrold in 2015. Truth is, she invented that lie. Calling the police for protection because you are afraid of a lynch mob is not swatting, it's self-defense. Attacking me by repeating a Big Lie again still doesn't make it true.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-28951329743248991362020-03-28T19:21:00.000-05:002020-03-28T19:21:13.570-05:00More on my write-in candidacyThe hate and vitriol directed towards me is very illuminating. My enemies must be tremendously privileged. Normal people, who have to work and scrape for a living, know that you often get into arguments and have to deal with disagreeable people.<br />
<br />
Indeed, if you check into their background, you'll find many of the usual suspects either hold government jobs or work at universities. They are insulated from the real world.<br />
<br />
Mike Glyer, who runs the web site File 770, used to be an auditor for the IRS (he's retired now).<br />
<br />
These people act like being different and disagreeing with them is the worst crime imaginable. Also, because of their jobs they have all the time in the world to attack you on-line. It's not like they do anything for a living.<br />
<br />
Chumps like me, who are self employed small business people, only have so much time to engage is this bullshit.<br />
<br />
The pile-on instigated by Tempest Bradford, however, was so extreme that I thing it began to disgust some people. It's like the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution - even supporters are afraid they will eventually come after them.<br />
<br />
The best way to understand it is to know they have combined the worst elements of both the Communist Party and the Nazi Party.<br />
<br />
The old fashioned Communist Party under Joe Stalin in the Soviet Union had what was called the "Party Line". The government determined the narrative for all public events and subjects, and you had to repeat or follow it, or you would be arrested or persecuted.<br />
<br />
There was even a term for this, "deviationism".<br />
<br />
The SFWA is just an organization, a tool as it were, and it can be used for ill or good. It is not responsible as a group for the worst excesses of the politically correct gang.<br />
<br />
They are small, tight-knit like-minded bunch who follow very closely the "Party Line" theory. They come up with a bullshit narrative and then enforce it. Stalin used to purge people or have them shot. The s-f crowd uses the blacklist.<br />
<br />
The Nazis under Adolph Hitler followed the "Big Lie" theory of propaganda. Repeat the same story enough times and the people will believe it.<br />
<br />
So what we have seen here, for the past ten or 15 years, is the usual suspects use the Big Lie and repeat the Party Line to oppress dissidents.<br />
<br />
People have complained about some things I have done in the past, where the story is the Party Line repeated in the Big Lie echo chamber. At this point, the racket is wearing thin. Whether you succumb to these obviously ridiculous accusations is essentially an IQ test.<br />
<br />
If you believe in these tall tales, you don't have much credibility yourself.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-36863933012443540582020-03-28T16:50:00.000-05:002020-03-28T16:50:35.193-05:00More of the same from the usual suspects<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcY98tlZdMG-uel513eQIfBItV0Hd3x-QAkpIkJz2yXuZlnJUbDv3bVxi9MNZu01ZQRmXVd269KF4M46FegeyK1z1bAx-GwmF5GkRewihUxresozHV0D89MKR0nlh2QJ4hWjIE/s1600/spanish-inquisition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="800" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcY98tlZdMG-uel513eQIfBItV0Hd3x-QAkpIkJz2yXuZlnJUbDv3bVxi9MNZu01ZQRmXVd269KF4M46FegeyK1z1bAx-GwmF5GkRewihUxresozHV0D89MKR0nlh2QJ4hWjIE/s400/spanish-inquisition.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I’ve been a member of the SFWA off and on since 2006. I qualified as an associate member in 2005 after my story “A Rocket for the Republic” was published in Asimov’s Science Fiction. I had my third pro short story sale, “Great White Ship” in 2012 in Daily Science Fiction and qualified for full membership.<br />
<br />
I say I’ve been a member off and on because there have been a couple of times I’ve let my membership lapse because money was tight.<br />
<br />
I tried running for Vice President in 2013, but the hatred and animosity directed towards me was so great that I dropped my campaign after a week. I never said anything about quitting because I would have been mocked over that, too.<br />
<br />
I thought to run for President last year, but I was told the rules now state that you cannot run as an officer unless you have been a director first, and you cannot run for a director unless you have been a member in good standing for at least two years. Because of a recent lapse in my dues, I was ineligible to run.<br />
<br />
It seems as time goes by the rules for joining the clique running the SFWA racket get tighter and tighter.<br />
<br />
This year I was eligible to run, but I didn’t bother. But when the ballot was sent to members, lo and behold, they didn’t even have enough candidates to fill all positions. There was only one name on the ballot for two two-year posts as a director at large.<br />
<br />
I saw that, and reasoned, why not seek votes as a write-in? And so I did.<br />
<br />
As would be expected, it took a very short time for the traditional lynch mob to attack, led by a no-talent political correctness enforcer named Tempest Bradford. For a week there, it was pretty wild.<br />
Things seem to have calmed down. Voting remains open until April 14, but just about everything constructive as well as destructive has been said by now.<br />
<br />
One thing that’s occurred to me as a result of this is to reactivate this blog for my many fans. The attacks on my humanly existence by the Khmer Rouge wing of science fiction has only generated sympathy and more friends for me.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-22772030554952602142020-02-02T14:28:00.001-06:002020-02-02T14:28:42.953-06:00Upcoming convention<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
My next convention – and my first one for year – is Anachroncon
Feb. 14-16 in Atlanta. Here is my schedule of panels:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday 4:00 p.m.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
Much Editing is Enough?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 12 p.m.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Using the Hero’s Journey to Make Stories Work<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 1 p.m. Alternate Universe Creation<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 4 p.m. Pantsing or Plotting? What Works For You?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 5 p.m. Hit or Myth? What Makes Good Story?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday 12 p.m. Plot, Plot, Plot! The Importance of Actually
Telling a Story<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-50444300615616483592020-01-22T15:07:00.001-06:002020-01-22T15:07:09.128-06:00Problems with the emailWe've taken a break at Sirius Science Fiction, with the most recent story published December 28, because of a strange technical problem that arose with the email.<br />
<br />
Some of you may recall I recently asked how many of you use Juno for your email. I had a reason. Sirius S-F uses an old Juno email address of mine for its submissions. The email address goes back to the 1990s, but it seemed to work fine, and not being very active I thought it would be a good one to use for the slush pile.<br />
<br />
However, a couple of months ago, it developed a strange problem. It would freeze after one action. In other words, if you took any action - open an email, delete emails, go to an inbox - you got only one chance. You couldn't take two actions in a row - the program would freeze. You'd have to go out and in again.<br />
<br />
That obviously made working the submission emails very, very difficult, and that's the main reason I took the break. I was pretty much in a quandary about what to do, except migrate submissions to a different email. But then what could I do the submissions I already have on hand?<br />
<br />
However, in the past week or so the problem seems to have righted itself, and it seems I can use the email normally now, so we will start reading the slush pile again and publishing original fiction.<br />
<br />
Our next story, the first one for 2020, will be "14 Candles" by Michael Murphy. I will post here when it is published.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-26138259805397062362019-11-02T15:04:00.001-05:002019-11-02T15:07:16.618-05:00Sirius Science Fiction is alive and doing well<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5q3AcRE8sPlMz-jqWGaH7w29PFzDUz7EQ_lTSEU5WBqHs2cYVpHIWHwVjrxUjPiw4nmID9qTX1wK5hQBqmswC3qbVZVr-LvrJhcsxs1yyKjA0QM7hMkmJ6L-4s1iZyNB6mMxc/s1600/Sirius+S-F+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="593" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5q3AcRE8sPlMz-jqWGaH7w29PFzDUz7EQ_lTSEU5WBqHs2cYVpHIWHwVjrxUjPiw4nmID9qTX1wK5hQBqmswC3qbVZVr-LvrJhcsxs1yyKjA0QM7hMkmJ6L-4s1iZyNB6mMxc/s1600/Sirius+S-F+logo.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Since restarting this fall, Sirius Science Fiction has been doing well and has published five original short stories. We published five this spring before taking a hiatus for health reasons (my wife Patricia got real sick in June and took weeks to recover; I also had bouts of illness.)<br />
<br />
But since Oct. 4 we have published:<br />
<br />
"Cafe Bueno" by Kevin Folliard<br />
<br />
"The Drifter and Mr. Cronkite" by F.M. Scott<br />
<br />
"The Lung-Ma's Tests" by Susan MacDonald<br />
<br />
"Space - A Fishy Tale" by John Taloni<br />
<br />
and this week, "Second Time Around" by John Leahy.<br />
<br />
Two are alternate - or secret - history, and two more traditional science fition. I don't know how to classify "Second Time Around".<br />
<br />
We have been getting submissions from around the world. John Leahy is the first publication from overseas, he lives in Ireland.<br />
<br />
Submissions are always open at chpaper@juno.com , and we pay $25 per story.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://siriussciencefiction.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Here</a> is the link to the page.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-88300237411471156262019-10-19T15:16:00.001-05:002019-10-19T15:17:17.067-05:00Off into history<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0V5ZajEwEo0Uk5fOivEZLl8DustZWPCXPX2WzrF65bGSGaASbp6-SHfpSDNTIwdUxqz-96CXzG7IkwCqdGO1J4N30Z2xxujohHD45jdb8VWGnflNJ_kQ5K2FhBKmId23j7i4C/s1600/Alicia+Alonso.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1440" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0V5ZajEwEo0Uk5fOivEZLl8DustZWPCXPX2WzrF65bGSGaASbp6-SHfpSDNTIwdUxqz-96CXzG7IkwCqdGO1J4N30Z2xxujohHD45jdb8VWGnflNJ_kQ5K2FhBKmId23j7i4C/s400/Alicia+Alonso.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Alicia Alonso, legendary Cuban ballet dancer, died Thursday, aged 98.<br />
<br />
Alonso was one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Her personal reputation foundered in mid-century because of her support of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Communist Revolution.<br />
<br />
Alonso suffered most of her life with very poor eyesight, and was essentially blind for many decades. My personal theory is that she is the model for the image of The Blind Ballerina.<br />
<br />
Our society has many of these kind of cartoonish folk images - one of the best known is having a man wearing only a barrel to indicate he's lost all his money.<br />
<br />
One common image of the stereotyped gypsy, and in fact Michael Swanwick explored the idea of how these kinds of images are created in a story published in 2000, "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O".<br />
<br />
Years ago, when I was just just starting out, I had a thought - what if you suspect YOU are one of these tropes? This led to my story, "Won't You Come Home, Bill Buckley", where a rising author attends a reception and meets both Buckley and Alonso.<br />
<br />
Buckley is the model for the erudite and cultured reactionary. When someone snaps a photo of the three people together - Buckley, Alsonso and the author - she learns something she probably wishes she didn't know.<br />
<br />
Another thing that contributed to the story is that in 1984 I took a date to a performance of The Village Light Opera Group in New York. During the intermission of "The Yeoman of the Guard", I met Isaac Asimov.<br />
<br />
While we exchanged pleasantries in the lobby, someone walked up and took our photo.<br />
<br />
"Is that a friend of yours?" asked Asimov.<br />
<br />
"Never saw her before in my life," I replied.<br />
<br />
I wish to hell I knew who took the picture, I would give so much to see it today. I had no idea at the time I would write science fiction - my first pro publication was 21 years in the future.<br />
<br />
Well, "Won't You Come Home, Bill Buckley" was published in 2005 by Bewildering Stories and it is still archived on-line. Here's the <a href="http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue135/bill_buckley.html" target="_blank">link</a>. It's one of my lesser-known works. Hope you enjoy it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-59604909938529285842019-09-29T16:23:00.001-05:002019-09-29T16:23:37.887-05:00More Fencon lootThis is my second post about books I brought back from Fencon:<br />
<br />
When I was young - like in my 20s - Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy stories were among my favorites. I really enjoyed them and was disappointed when he was struck down in 1979 and spent the rest of his life in a coma. I wished he had had time to write more.<br />
<br />
At Fencon I found FIVE Lord Darcy books. I already have Murder and Magic, and Lord Darcy Investigates. I also bought the two Michael Kurland books, which I knew of, and the 2004 collection edited by Eric Flint, which I had never seen before.<br />
<br />
I bought all five for a hefty five bucks! Best deal of the weekend!<br />
<br />
NB: Anyone who has ever read my story "The Witch of Waxahachie" that was published in Jim Baen's Universe in 2008 can easily see Garrett's influence.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-11057711848237912662019-09-29T12:35:00.001-05:002019-09-29T12:35:08.562-05:00Dealers Room loot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib8OibhLyMj0uz25cdQxhUusluX14o_eCpDfIN0xqcTm_UOdSJ1bOQs4AhuVHAcorZVWVVzfZKKvrURPk4yKDjWk29Uv0LjD3FQqDYk9dHm9ROB93KJzkfve-bCQ8f0kxy3iUj/s1600/Science+Fantasy+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1513" data-original-width="1104" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib8OibhLyMj0uz25cdQxhUusluX14o_eCpDfIN0xqcTm_UOdSJ1bOQs4AhuVHAcorZVWVVzfZKKvrURPk4yKDjWk29Uv0LjD3FQqDYk9dHm9ROB93KJzkfve-bCQ8f0kxy3iUj/s200/Science+Fantasy+cover.jpg" width="145" /></a></div>
Fencon was a week ago. Since then I have posted a few times about the people and panels. Now I want to post a bit about Dealers Room loot.<br />
<br />
I don't know why it is or why it happens, but I have gone to conventions and not found anything I was interested in (I'm usually looking for books). The number of book sellers seems to have diminished over the years at cons.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_nBhSYHD2Mpo1VdH6_183Hmf5O94qCAB8aogiBi1ut7AghtL0KJeM6awqXICoKiMWLLaqzr2076vRPMvPMDraNiRAUhb_6ZQgbZCAMuR56EgjlugI8AMNXZM20PAATELHmnAV/s1600/FSI+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1529" data-original-width="1073" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_nBhSYHD2Mpo1VdH6_183Hmf5O94qCAB8aogiBi1ut7AghtL0KJeM6awqXICoKiMWLLaqzr2076vRPMvPMDraNiRAUhb_6ZQgbZCAMuR56EgjlugI8AMNXZM20PAATELHmnAV/s200/FSI+cover.jpg" width="140" /></a>Then I have gone to conventions and had great finds with books. Fencon was an example of this. I walked in Friday afternoon and made three different finds in ten minutes.<br />
<br />
First, the magazines. I found this copy of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination and snapped it up, because I had no idea Earle Stanley Gardner has ever written any s-f. I'll have to read it.<br />
<br />
I picked up the copy of the British magazine, Science Fantasy, when I saw the story "The Sound Sweep" by J.G. Ballard. I've never read the story, but I recognize the title. Trevor Horn, one of the founder of the Buggles, said the story was the inspiration for the song "Video Killed the Radio Star".<br />
<br />
I'll post later on some of the books I picked up.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-36109333117814291242019-09-26T07:38:00.001-05:002019-09-26T07:39:28.978-05:00Fencon panels in the rear view mirrorI had five panels at Fencon, and I have to say all went very well. My first was at 3 p.m. Friday, on "The Futrure Is Now", with M.T. Reiten. Adrian Simmons was also supposed to be on the panel, but he sent word ahead that he was delayed because of bad weather in Oklahoma (he lives in Norman) and couldn't make it. He arrived at the con later.<br />
<br />
I've been on panels with M.T. before but it has been a few years and it was good to see him again. There was a large turnout and the audience was engaged. This being a type of futurist-oriented panel, M.T. was much more conversant with the topic that I was, but we both enjoyed it and the audience did, too.<br />
<br />
My next panel was at 5 p.m. on "When Good Research Goes Bad". All panelists made it - , Melissa Tatum, Tex Thompson, and Rob Rogers. Again, I have been on panels with Mel Tatum in the past, especially at the late lamented Conestoga in Tulsa (a great convention in its day), and it was good to see her. Again, good turnout and everyone enjoyed it.<br />
<br />
My last panel on Friday was the Liars' Panel at 9 p.m. This was the one panel I moderated, and all panelists were there - Selina Rosen, Kathy Turski. Linda Donahue and Ben Gibbs. If you missed it, you missed a wild time indeed. 'Nuff said.<br />
<br />
Saturday at noon I joined Rie Sheridan Rose and Kathryn Sullivan for a panel called "All Tales Are Done", about fairy tales and myths. The turnout for this panel was smaller, but everyone enjoyed it, especially because I think the trio of panelists was especially knowledgeable about the subject.<br />
<br />
My last panel was Sunday at 2 p.m. on "The Cyber Future Is Now" with Stephen Patrick. A third panelist didn't make it. This panel was a lot like my first, and as with M.T. Reiten, I think I was the weaker link, but I was impressed with the turnout for so late in the convention, and the audience was very engaged.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-16338411474375348052019-09-24T19:06:00.001-05:002019-09-24T19:06:27.542-05:00Social stigmaI'm still not used to going to conventions and having people I used to be friendly with snub me or ignore me because I was a Sad Puppy. Of course, I don't get as many convention invites as I used to because of the blacklist, but also I'm not seeking invites because for the time being I'm preoccupied with being a self-employed business owner.<br />
<br />
Still, I don't recall any obvious snubs at Soonercon, but this weekend it happened at FenCon. In one case I walked into an elevator and absent-mindedly cheerfully greeted someone I used to be on good terms with only to get the cold shoulder and no response. And there were obviously a person or two who would not say hello to me at the convention.<br />
<br />
In all these cases, i noted the people are from Austin, so I guess they are pretty tight knit (read: Echo Chamber). I always find it fascinating when people ascribe statements or actions to others which are untrue, but you can tell they are inbred distortions reinforcing their own prejudices.<br />
<br />
Instead of asking someone what they did or said, they just make assumptions.<br />
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Anyway, it's their loss, because it limits their circle of friends and experiences. It must be interesting to know it all and to be already friends with anyone worth knowing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-48328868216894550652019-08-11T11:00:00.003-05:002019-08-11T11:09:24.075-05:00Update on Sirius S-F<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfv3lXhkmkTe3PzzNXwIhyphenhyphenj4cv1pLUHfQES1A21pPp8OEWM39RXAkvpRuMBJmc3WQ6sYsjXdgNxVGWMER16cXipYPLTKmnmTpl_mvsZwc1EiU4PCgRL0sA_DSoRtcd2LvHg2P/s1600/Sirius+S-F+cover+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1025" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfv3lXhkmkTe3PzzNXwIhyphenhyphenj4cv1pLUHfQES1A21pPp8OEWM39RXAkvpRuMBJmc3WQ6sYsjXdgNxVGWMER16cXipYPLTKmnmTpl_mvsZwc1EiU4PCgRL0sA_DSoRtcd2LvHg2P/s640/Sirius+S-F+cover+art.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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After a great launch and publishing five excellent original short stories, Sirius S-F went on hiatus for a couple of months because of illness here at the Antonelli household - first myself, and then more seriously with Patricia.* Our last published story was June 2.<br />
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We do have an excellent assortment of stories in the slush pile, and we look forward to a re-launch very soon. In the meantime you can visit and read the stories already available.<br />
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I tweaked the cover page art to more accurately reflect the kind of stuff we like. It is a Galaxy magazine cover from 1960 by Ed Emshmiller, "Venus on Bust".<br />
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https://siriussciencefiction.blogspot.com/<br />
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* Some of you may recall I stayed hoe from LibertyCon because of this.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7663994.post-26431735265224397152019-07-06T17:09:00.002-05:002019-07-06T17:09:54.177-05:00Update on Patricia’s health:As some of you know, I stayed home to be with Patricia rather than attend LibertyCon. She was having health problems and I wanted to be with her.<br />
Patricia has suffered from acid reflux disease all her life. Last spring she suffered an attack so bad that she aspirated acid, and had to go to the doctor, who gave her some new meds as well as an inhaler.<br />
She’s had a few more attacks since then, and two weeks ago she started having chest pains and shortness of breath. A doctor’s visit and x-ray showed she has scarring on her lungs, probably caused by aspirating acid over the years. The doctor said it looked like she had emphysema.<br />
They also saw an enlarged heart, and agreed to schedule a visit to a cardiologist. The following weekend was LibertyCon, so I’m sure you understand why I didn’t go.<br />
Between her sore throat, plus apparently some side effect of the medicine, Patricia stopped eating, and so she became very weak. That probably slowed her recovery. By Monday she still felt bad enough that we decided to go to the ER of a hospital in Texarkana.<br />
That was a complete waste of time. If you didn’t see what I wrote, there’s a link to my story about that earlier on my wall.<br />
By Monday night she started to eat again and by Tuesday and Wednesday she started recovering. We went to a follow-up visit to the doctor on Friday. He had good news. He had a radiologist look at the previous x-ray, and he said there didn’t seem to be anything serious going on. Plus the BMP reading from the blood taken the previous week shows no sign of heart damage.<br />
Patricia will still be going to a cardiologist in the future, in light of this scare, but I am happy to report she seems to have recovered. She back at work at the paper this past week and things are getting back to normal.<br />
Thanks for all the expressions of concern. I’m sorry I missed the convention, but a health scare like this puts everything in perspective.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0