Author Archives: Red from Texas

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About Red from Texas

I'm proud to be Red. I have lived most of my life in Texas and I love this place. Here are a few things you should know about me. 1. I am happily married and intend to stay so. 2. I live in a house that is older than you, unless you are really old. 3. I own 2 rifles and a shotgun. I think handguns are just trouble. 4. I have never killed a man, but have taken out some deer and hogs. 5. I was a good student, but never close to being valedictorian. 6. In no particular order I like the Houston Texans, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Astros, FC Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, Texas Longhorns and Houston Dynamo. 7. I hate Dallas but always have a good time when I go there. 8. I was a Dallas Cowboys fan for 26 years but declared that I was no longer a fan during the 1987 strike. 9. I don't own any pets. I like cats, and a good dog and I have met at least 3 of them in my lifetime. 10. I think the best part of Texas is west of I-35. 11. I own two pairs of cowboy boots, but don't wear them very often. 12. I don't have a pronounced Texas accent, but can affect one when needed. 13. My last meal would be fried shrimp with tartar sauce, a baked potato with all the fixins', a dinner salad with 1000 Island dressing, yeast rolls and chocolate fudge pie for dessert. 14. I'm an old Dad, but my children are none of your business. 15. I have two degrees from UT-Austin and somehow managed to fall in love with and marry an Aggie. 16. Most of my family are right-wing nut jobs but I love them anyway. 17. When I get to play golf on a regular basis, I shoot in the low 80's. 18. I don't get to play golf on a regular basis. 19. I think Fort Worth is the best town in Texas by a long shot. 20. I have a mean herb garden. Regards, Red P.S. Remember it's not a color, it's a state of mind.

Texas Cemetary Remains for “Whites Only”

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Just when Red thought we were past the most overt expressions of racism in our fair country, people in Texas prove him wrong.  And sure enough, there comes along a recalcitrant bigot or a whole group of them.    This time its a cemetery association and its operator  who somehow think that white people can still discriminate even in death.  The Texas Tribune reports on the racist goings-on at the San Domingo Cemetery in Normanna.

Dorothy Barrera was married to her late husband, Pedro, for more than 40 years before he died in February. He was Hispanic. She is white. Dorothy expected they would eventually be together again when she was buried beside Pedro in the San Domingo Cemetery in the tiny, rural town of Normanna.

But when she looked to bury his ashes in the cemetery, she allegedly ran into the cemetery’s “whites only” policy — an apparent relic of Jim Crow-era segregation in Texas that’s thrust this small community located an hour northwest of Corpus Christi, into a modern-day desegregation fight.

That’s what is alleged in a federal lawsuit brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund against the Normanna Cemetery Association, which oversees the cemetery. The lawsuit alleges the association is violating the federal Civil Rights Act by enforcing a “whites only” rule at the San Domingo Cemetery, leaving Hispanics and other non-whites to be buried in the nearby Del Bosque Cemetery.

According to the lawsuit, cemetery operator Jimmy Bradford told Barrera that her request to bury her husband at the cemetery had been denied by the Normanna Cemetery Association. When Barrera questioned the vote, Bradford allegedly responded Pedro Barrera couldn’t be buried there “because he’s a Mexican” and directed her to “go up the road and bury him with the n—– and Mexicans,” the federal complaint details.

Is the irony that a cemetery named “San Domingo” wants to prohibit Hispanics from being buried within its august confines lost on anyone other than Red?  Well Mr. Jimmy Bradford, if these allegations are true, Red hopes your racist proclivities are proclaimed far and wide throughout the nation and that you are widely exposed as the ignorant bigot that you appear to be.  No doubt this overt racism will be cloaked in the veil of religious freedom.  And no doubt Mr. Bradford and his cohorts will be voting for Donald Trump.

Photo from thescoopblog.dallasnews.com

Today in Texas History – May 5

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domes with star trails

From the Annals of the Skywatchers – In 1939, the Otto Struve telescope at the  McDonald Observatory was dedicated.  The Struve Telescope was the first major telescope to be built at McDonald Observatory. Its 2.1-meter (82-inch) mirror was the second largest in the world at the time. The telescope is still in use today. The popular observatory is located on Mount Locke  and Mount Fowlkes in the Davis Mountains and is a unit of The University of Texas at Austin featuring astronomical research, teaching, and public education and outreach.   The Davis Mountains offer some of the darkest night skies in the continental United States.

One Last Time (Maybe) – Is There Anything Ted Cruz Doesn’t Lie About?

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In his classless non-concession speech last night, Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) was touting the values of the United States – many of which Red agrees with.  But one particular statement caught Red’s attention.  “America does not wage wars of conquest.”  Well, Ted is either ignorant or as usual lying to serve his rhetorical purposes.  Both the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War were clearly started as wars of conquest. And while we let go of much of what was conquered during the SAW – we are still holding on to Puerto Rico, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, and of course we kept everything we took from Mexico in the MAW.

Today in Texas History – May 4

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From the Annals of the Radicals –  In 1886, Albert Richard Parsons was implicated in the infamous Chicago Haymarket Massacre. Parsons had moved to Texas as a boy and lived in Tyler, the Hill Country and Galveston where he was a printer’s apprentice.  He was the brother of Confederate colonel William Henry Parsons and as a teenager served first in an irregular unit known as the Lone Star Greys and later in Parsons’s  Mounted Brigade during the Civil War.  After the war, he acquired 40 acres of corn and harvested it with the help of freed slaves.  He became a “Radical Republican”and was active in registering freed slaves to vote which no doubt earned him many enemies.  Parson also married a woman of mixed racial heritage – Lucy Parsons who had her own career fighting for social change.   When the Democrats returned to power after the end of Reconstruction, Parsons was persecuted as a miscegenationist and a scalawag.  He moved to Chicago worked as newspaper reporter for the Chicago Tribune and ultimately joined the Workingmen’s Party of the United States – standing as a candidate for Chicago alderman.  He was also active in the formation of the Knights of Labor.   On the evening of May 4, 1886, Parsons spoke at a meeting in Haymarket Square to protest police brutality.  He was with his family in nearby Zepf’s Hall when over 200 policemen marched into the square.  The infamous Haymarket Riot was imminent.  Someone threw a “bomb” and the police began firing indiscriminately.  Most of the seven police officers and seven members of the crowd who were killed died from shots fired from police revolvers. Parsons and seven others were tried for conspiracy to murder and he was hanged. Six years later, Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the three defendants who remained in prison and condemned the convictions as a miscarriage of justice.

Ted Cruz Takes the High Road – Through the Garbage Dump

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) who repeatedly claims that he talks about the issues and does not resort to ad hominem attacks went on a mud-flinging offensive against Donald Trump today in Indiana.  Among other things, the Tea Party Hero called Trump: (1) a pathological liar; (2) a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country’s ever seen; (3) utterly amoral;  (4) a serial philanderer; and (5) a bully.

Red agrees with most of Cruz’s remarks, except that as far as narcissism goes – no one can hold a candle to Cruz.

Guns Don’t Kill People. People with Guns Kill People.

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The Chicago Tribune relates the sad story of T.J. Antell – a concealed carry owner and former Marine – who was killed in Arlington when he attempted to intervene in a domestic dispute with his gun. The alleged shooter, Ricci Bradden, who was stationed at Fort Hood had been involved in an argument with his wife in the parking lot of a Walgreen’s.  Bradden discharged his gun twice striking the ground and hitting his wife in the ankle.  Antell rushed to his truck, retrieved his gun and attempted to stop Bradden from fleeing.  That’s when Bradden exited his vehicle and shot Antell dead. Now there is a dead father of three and a man who will be charged with murder – none of which had to happen.  Red wonders if the gun lobby’s continual rant which spins the compelling fiction that you need a gun at the ready at all times so that you can save yourself or, even better, be a real-life hero when the time comes had any part in this tragic chain of events.

Thunder Take Game 2 from Spurs – Aided by Massive Cheating and Incompent Refs

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The OKC Thunder rebounded to win game 2 of the Western Conference semi-final series in San Antonio on Monday night.  The last 13.5 seconds were filled with controversy and the analysts are running wild over the chaos that ensued beginning with OKC’s last inbound pass from Dion Walters.  Clearly running out of time to inbound the ball (some analysts claim he should have been called for a 5 second violation), Walters elbowed Manu Ginobili in the chest and then threw a wild pass that was corralled by Danny Green.  Green passed to Patty Mills for what looked like a layup until enormous Steven Adams ran him down.  Mills passed to Ginobili in the corner who moved to the lane making a casual behind the head pass back to Mills in the corner – who had his shot blocked by Adams who also appeared to foul Mills on the play by knocking him into the stands.  LaMarcus Aldridge got the rebound only to be clearly fouled going up for what would have been the game winning basket and the game was over.  Maybe the refs are just “letting them play” but clearly missed the call on Walters on the inbound pass that started the mayhem.

After the game, referee Ken Mauer admitted that his “team” had blown the call.

Q – Can you explain what the referees saw on the in-bounds play with 13.5 seconds remaining when Dion Waiters appeared to make contact with Manu Ginobili?

A – On the floor we did not see a foul on the play. However, upon review we realize and we agree we should have had an offensive foul on the play. It’s a play we’ve never seen before, ever. We should have had an offensive foul on the play.

Q – Had an offensive call been made on Waiters what rule would have applied to a foul committed before throw-in?

A – An offensive foul. Possession Spurs.

Thanks a lot, Ken.  Red predicts that the Spurs take no prisoners on Friday in OKC and reclaim home court advantage.

Today in Texas History – May 3

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From the Annals of the Surgeons –  In 1968, surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley and associates at performed the first heart transplant in the United States.  Dr. Christian Barnard had conducted the first heart transplant six months earlier in Cape Town, South Africa.  The first American surgery was conducted at St. Luke’s Hospital.  Everett Thomas received a heart donated from a 15 year old girl and lived for 204 days after the surgery.   The landmark surgery was the first of many contributions that Texas physicians and scientists have made to the field of human heart transplantation.   Dr. Cooley and another Houston heart surgeon Dr. Michael E. DeBakey were the leaders in the field of heart surgery and heart transplantation.  Their work was the subject of “Hearts” – a book by journalist Tommy Thompson which chronicled their rivalry at the beginning of the heart-transplant era.

The Texas Flag Pledge

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Don Munsch of the Killeen Daily Herald wonders about the increasing use of the Pledge to the Texas Flag at official meetings and in courtrooms across the State.  The pledge itself reads:

Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Putting aside the somewhat redundant nature of the language (Texas being one state and also one and indivisible), and the possible First Amendment violation involved in requiring anyone to pledge that Texas is a state under God, the once obscure pledge is now in common use by certain governmental bodies in addition to the Pledge of Allegiance – which Munsch points out necessarily includes Texas by reference to the fifty-starred flag.

The Herald asked city and school officials about the practice.

“The best answer we can offer as to why we do it is that it is simply a show of respect to our state’s flag,” said Kevin Keller, public information officer for the city of Copperas Cove.

In a statement from the Killeen Independent School District, district spokesman Shannon Rideout said the KISD school board follows the policies written in the Texas Education Code, which states that school boards of each district should require students to recite pledges to both flags — American and Texas — in accordance with applicable government code.

The board just abides by the standards set in the code, by which students are held to, as well.

“I moved from Georgia to Harker Heights in January of 2004 and the pledge to the Texas flag was something being done at that time,” said Harker Heights City Manager David Mitchell. “As far as when that started, I could not tell you. I asked around the office and no one can remember when the city began to include the pledge to the Texas flag.”