Pop's Safari -- Ya Gotta Love it.

(guest post by food enthusiast RJS)

Pops Safari is a hole-in-the-wall wine bar located down the street from Fred’s, in the Cultural District. I predict this to be the next cool place to hang out for all the TCU overage drinkers. Pops has inherited the old J&J’s Hideaway crowd and is perfect for anyone who wants a cool place to drink wine and listen to live music. The atmosphere is eclectic, with lots of comfortable seating areas comprised of couches, chairs and coffee tables.

They have an extensive menu with appetizers and entrees for dinner – I tried the hummus and it was really great. You can get a good bottle of wine for around $20 and for the cigar aficionado – they have a large selection of good cigars.

Pops has free wine tastings on Tuesday night and you can join them on Wednesday nights for their wildflower Wednesdays where you can try a Australia’s wildflower Merlot or Chardonnay for only $2.25 per glass, 6.99 per bottle or 69.99 per case!

Check out their website – and go visit them soon. I liked it.

http://www.popssafari.com/index.html

Pop's Safari Room
2929 Morton St.
Fort Worth, TX 76107

The First.

General Washington,
Crossing the Delaware

February 18 is President's Day, more particularly Washington's birthday. His example and leadership still guides Americans, some 250 years later. Here are a few stories that stand out to me.

Not long into the Revolutionary War, during the winter at Valley Forge, the colonial armies were cold, hungry, poorly out-fitted, and dejected. General Washington refused the customary offer to stay in a home so that he could sleep out-of-doors with his men in the snow and cold. He could not ask of his men what he could not do himself.

He guided the colonial armies in that war and led his men into battle under the most difficult of circumstances, with little support and inadequate supplies. His military strategy of letting the battle come to him kept his small army alive and able to fight another day. His decisions would either bring them victory or defeat and victory was far from certain. But the colonialists were victorious and when the war was over he resigned as commander-and-chief and returned control of the military to Congress.

A few years later, he reluctantly attended the Constitutional Convention, knowing that without his presence at the head of the table, party disagreements could splinter the then confederated states into several small nation-states. He said little during the formal meetings, he knew too much deference would be given his words.

After the ratification of the Convention's Constitution a new nation needed a first President. He won by 69 unanimous votes of the electoral college and served eight years. He declined a third term. He knew everything that he did would be the standard for all Presidents following.

Notwithstanding these virtues, in this era of deconstructing the True and Good, someone will find some fault for which he should be chastised and disrespected, and since courage and self-sacrifice are illusions, Washington's true motives must have been money or fame or some other less than noble purpose. Maybe it was because of this that I was most happy to watch MSNBC's Chris Matthews offer tribute to President Washington at the end of today's news-show. I can't quote Matthews, but I will quote historian Paul Johnson on the same story with which Matthews closed his show.

From Johnson's book on Washington:

In London, George III questioned the American-born painter Benjamin West what Washington would do now he had won the war. "Oh," said West, "they say he will return to his farm." "If he does that," said the king, "he will be the greatest man in the world."

Fort Worth: Dodging the Downturn Bullet?

The late House Speaker "Tip" O'Neill said that all politics is local, a statement with layers of meaning, but the simplest one is that both the source and the consequences of action in Washington, DC are in small communities.

The same could be said of wealth, or more accurately, wealth distribution and accumulation. It too has its source and its effects locally. A visible example in our state is the wealth that Dell Computer has brought to the relatively small city of Austin. A company started by a Michael Dell while he was a student at the University of Texas. International reach, local source and a large local effect.

The Star Telegram had a comprehensive article in the February 17 online edition about how we in North Texas and especially Tarrant County may be able to bypass the full effect of the sluggish economy and housing crisis because of a strong local economy. Why? Primarily, Barnett Shale production, but also the old and reliable: ground and air transportation, rail carriers, military equipment, inexpensive property values, banking, tourism, retail corporate headquarters, etc.

So far, the standard economic statistics show us faring better than the national averages in just about everything including, job growth, housing starts, foreclosures, even the aptly named Booze Barometer, which measures bar and restaurant alcohol sales, up 7% year-over-year for January.

The fact that wealth is primarily locally generated is not to say that a failing national or world economy doesn't effect us, it does, the value of the dollar, interest rates, tax rates, wars, etc. are influences on our economy, but as long as people are needing natural gas North Texas may be able to duck what looks like a bullet that will hit a target.