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.

Today in Texas History – February 18

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From the Annals of Heroism –  In 1943, First Lieutenant Wilma Vinsant “Dolly” Shea of San Benito graduated with the first flight-nurse class of the U.S. Army Air Corps at Bowman Field, Kentucky.  Shea had received her nurse training at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, and had worked as an air nurse for Braniff Airlines before she enlisted in 1942. Shea completed rigorous training for flight nurses which included jumping, with heavy pack and fully clothed, into water twenty feet deep and gaining shore unaided.   Shea was posted to the European Theater during World War II.  On January 15, 1945, Dolly Vinsant married Maj. Walter L. Shea, an air force navigator from the Bronx, New York.  Shortly thereafter she was promoted to first lieutenant.  Shea had completed her hazardous-flight quota, the maximum number allowed under United States Military regulations.  However, her commander reluctantly granted her request “to make one more trip.” She was killed in action on April 14, 1945 when her evacuation plane which was carrying wounded GI’s to hospitals behind the front line was shot down over Germany. She was one of only three women in the Army Nurse Corps known to have been killed by direct enemy action.  Shea was awarded the  Air Medal, the Red Cross Medal, a Special Citation from President Harry Truman, and a posthumous Purple Heart.  She was honored by her hometown through the Dolly Vinsant Memorial Hospital.

Image from sanbenitohistory.com

UT Pleases No One on Guns

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The University of Texas at Austin President Gregory Fenves has issued new rules regarding guns on the 40 Acres that has achieved the near impossible goal of making everyone angry.  Peaceniks are upset that guns will be allowed in classrooms and other public areas.  Dedicated gun owners are upset over being denied the right to pack heat in their dorm rooms.  Red completely sympathizes here.  Red can hardly count the times when a simple show of basic firepower might have discouraged freeloading dorm mates who felt entitled to yet another hit on the bong before tackling differential equations.  If your average college student can’t protect their weed in their own room then we’re on a slippery slope leading to frat boys invading and carrying off every Tequila bottle that isn’t nailed down.   

Then there are the curious exceptions. Concealed handguns will be allowed in dorms’ common areas; people who work in the dorms will be able to carry; and family members visiting the dorms will also be allowed to carry.   So when confronting that German student who has charmed away one’s girlfriend with promises of endless strudel and a slightly used 5 Series BMW, the showdown will have to take place in the lounge.  You won’t be able to pistol whip the little Hun bastard in his bunk bed anymore.  The exception for dorm workers makes more sense to Red.  Whining about meatloaf Monday will be considered a dangerous proposition and you won’t dare get caught leaving your food tray on the table. Admonitions to police up after yourself will have a new and sinister meaning. A few rounds fired randomly in the air by Lunch Lady will have the cafeteria sporting tables that you can actually eat off of.    As for family members, Red fondly remembers his Dad brandishing his 7mm Ruger in one hand and a bottle of Jack Black in the other to the dismay of the RA calling curfew.   Dad liked a good party.

Which brings us to the classrooms – where a free fire zone has been declared.  Unhappy with old Professor Fannypack calling on you when you haven’t read the assignment.  Perhaps a simple pat on the chest indicative of the relative location of your Smith & Wesson .38 Special will be enough for the old fart to move on to a more prepared and less lethal classmate. 

But when visiting your professor in his office beware.  Faculty members who don’t share an office with anyone else can ban guns in their specific areas.  Aggrieved students will have to employ more subtle forms of influence  to raise grades that seem likely to keep them out of the law school of their choice.  Red suggests wresting that bottle of Jack Black out of Dad’s hands and bringing it to your next student-teacher conference.  

Meanwhile, the privileged few attending private colleges in Texas have no such worries about when  and where they will or will not be allowed to strap one on.  Every private college that has spoken out so far has made the decision to opt out of campus carry.  Watch out for the Germans.  

 

Is There Anything Ted Cruz Doesn’t Lie About (cont.)?

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has determined that the Senate should refuse to engage in its Constitutional role in confirming a nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.  In support of this obstructionism, the Tea Party stalwart declared that the decision should be left for the next president. “We have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court Justices in an election year.”  Interesting, but as usual completely false.

President Ronald Reagan nominated Justice Anthony Kennedy to a vacant Supreme Court seat in November of 1987. Kennedy’s nomination received bipartisan support and he was confirmed in a 97-0 vote by the Senate in February 1988.   Red and others (but apparently not the Junior Senator from Texas and self-styled always smartest man in the room) remember that 1988 was an election year and that February of 1988 was less than a year before Reagan left office.  One wonders what Ronnie would think of bald-faced liar like Cruz.

And since Cruz fancies himself as an originalist and or strict constructionist, it might be interesting to look back at other Supreme Court justices who were confirmed in election years.

Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth – appointed by Washington – confirmed March 4, 1796

Justice Samuel Chase – appointed by Washington – confirmed January 26, 1796

Justice Alfred Moore – appointed by Adams – confirmed April 21, 1800

Justice William Johnson – appointed by Jefferson – confirmed May 7, 1804

Justice Roger Taney – appointed by Jackson – confirmed March 15, 1836

Justice Philip P. Barbour – appointed by Jackson – confirmed March 15, 1836

Justice Lucius Lamar – appointed by Cleveland – confirmed January 15, 1888

Chief Justice Melville Fuller – appointed by Cleveland – confirmed July 20, 1888

Justice George Shiras – appointed by Harrison – confirmed July 26, 1892

Justice Mahlon Pitney – appointed by Taft – confirmed March 13, 1912

Justice Louis Brandeis – appointed by Wilson – confirmed Jun 1, 1916

Justice John Clarke – appointed by Wilson – confirmed July 24, 1916

Justice Benjamin Cardozo – appointed by Roosevelt – confirmed March 1, 1932

Justice Frank Murphy – appointed by Roosevelt – confirmed January 16, 1940

It appears that Sen. Cruz and his ilk have little or no appreciation for the considerable precedent of the Senate actually doing its job and putting aside election year politics to act on Supreme Court nominations. But what else would you expect?

 

 

 

Today in Texas History – February 17

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From the Annals of Art – In 1930, the El Paso Museum of Art was chartered under its original name, El Paso International Museum.  The EPMA is now operated by the City of El Paso.  The  museum features the Kress collection of Italian Renaissance and Spanish Baroque works, and a collection of Pre-Columbian and modern Mexican art. In addition, the collection includes works by recognized early Texas artists such as Jerry Bywaters, Otis Dozier, Merrit Mauzey, Julian Onderdonk, Everett Spruce and Frank Reaugh, and early El Paso artists such as Manuel Acosta, José Cisneros, Berla Emeree, Tom Lea, Audley Dean Nicols, Urbici Soler and Eugene Thurston. The Museum’s Tom Lea collection includes significant examples from every decade, genre and media of the artist’s working life, which are rotated in the Tom Lea Gallery.

Ted Cruz – Should we or Should we not Execute all the Gays

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) may have backed just slightly away from the precipice of utter insanity – not to mention complete disregard of constitutional protections when he admitted that it may have been a mistake to appear on the stage at Kevin Swanson’s Kill the Gays Rally in November.   At the rally, Swanson called for wholesale extermination of homosexuals claiming support from Paul’s Letter to the Romans.  Swanson, showing his softer side, would give the gays a chance to repent, but failing that makes no apology in advocating for the roundup and extermination of his gay brethren.  Swanson is a little unclear on exactly how this fits in with constitutional protections for the accused and a trial by jury of one’s peers.  Those constitutional niceties are apparently brushed aside the word of God as expressed by his servant Paul – who was also in favor of slavery by the way.   Right after Swanson’s screaming rant calling for mass murder, Ted was happy to take the stage.  After all, Dad Rafael had appeared before the audience earlier throwing actual chunks of red meat to hungry listeners.    Despite his recent creep towards sanity, Cruz still welcomes Swanson’s endorsement.  Apparently the protections of the Constitution are good for straight white people.   Everyone else – not so much.

What Happens Next at the Supreme Court?

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The death of Justice Antonin Scalia may deadlock several critical Texas cases now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Red would argue that the most important is Evenwel v. Abbott  a case in which the justices heard arguments last year.   The case involves a diabolical plan by ultra right-wing conservatives to take control of state elections through the Court rather than through free and fair elections.  In a twist of the “One Man One Vote” doctrine, the plaintiffs have argued that their voting power is limited by the way Texas draws its state legislative districts.  The claim is that districts for state representatives and senators should be based on the number of eligible voters in each district and not on population.

This would be in direct contrast to Congressional districts which are required to be based on population by the Constitution. The Evenwel case specifically challenges Texas Senate districts.  A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would allow states to draw districts using eligible voters and exclude children, legal and undocumented aliens, persons who have had voting privileges suspended and others.  This would result in a massive shift of representation away from urban areas to more conservative rural and small town districts.

A decision in that case is pending, but if the justices don’t want to rule on a case in which review has already been granted, they can announce that the cert petition was “improvidently granted,” which means lower court ruling holds.  Another alternative, would be to hold over the case until a new justice is appointed at which time they can rehear oral arguments.  No one knows the fate of this case yet, but it is probably the most important case that the Court will decide this year.

Today in Texas History – February 16

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From the Annals of Rome -In 1927, Arthur Jerome Drossaerts was consecrated as the first archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio in San Fernando de Béxar Cathedral. Drossaerts, a native of Holland, was ordained in 1889 and posted to Louisiana.  He served as a pastor in New Orleans, Broussard, and Baton Rouge. In 1918, Drossaerts was consecrated bishop of San Antonio. Drossaerts built more than sixty churches and fifty schools, the most significant of which was St. John’s Seminary. When the Diocese of San Antonio was made an archdiocese, Drossaerts became its first archbishop.   One of his significant contributions to Texas History was his work to keep the old San Antonio missions alive.

W Speaks, Red Translates

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George W. Bush hit the campaign trail for the first time since his overdue retirement in South Carolina.  He hopes to revive brother Jeb!!!!$$$$?’s flagging hopes to bring yet another Bush to the White House.  Apparently, the former President’s favorability ratings in the Palmetto State among Republicans are as high as 84%.  Which means those folks either have very short memories or really like a legacy of incompetence and failure.

As always, Red is there to translate for you.

Thank you South Carolina, Laura and I have very fond memories of our previous times campaigning in this State (because this state saved my bacon by buying into the lies that I told about John McCain – if you crackers were dumb enough to believe that BS then you just might be stupid enough to vote for my little brother Bush).

Americans  (mostly Tea Party backers) are angry (how did we let a darkie get elected twice) and frustrated (because Whitey is no longer King), but we do not need someone (and that would be anyone not named Bush) in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our frustrations (believe me I know all about frustration inflammation – my approval rating was about 20% at the end),” the former president said. “We need someone (a Bush, a Bush or a Bush) who can fix the problems (Dick Cheney is too damn old now) that cause our anger (read racial prejudice) and frustration (that Whitey thing again) and that’s Jeb Bush (did you think I was going to say Kasich?).”

Jeb is a man of deep and humble faith (dude better be humble because he makes me look like a freakin’ genius) that reveals itself through good works (making money trading on the ol’ family name), not loud words (or intelligible ones for that matter).  All of the sloganeering and all of the talk doesn’t matter if we don’t win (but we will spend all of the millions he has raised nonetheless because the Bush family is really a cottage industry when it comes to campaign consultants).

We’ve become tree farmers (finally something that’s really hard to screw up). It gives me some time to practice my stump speech (I made a funny, ha ha, get it?). I’ve been one to defy expectations (mostly because I was expected to do nothing more than trade on the family name, screw up, lose money and repeat – oh wait a minute, that kind of describes my presidency). I’ve been mis-underestimated most of my life (not really, as President I pretty much hit the mis-underestimated mark square on).”

Ted Cruz Pulls Ad Featuring Porn Actress

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The latest in a series of increasingly lame ads for Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has turned out to feature an actress that appeared in soft porn movies including Carnal Wishes, Milf, Deviant Whores, Confessions of a Lap Dancer and Insatiable Desire.   Cruz’s campaign confirmed late Thursday that it had pulled a commercial slamming Florida Sen. Marco Rubio over illegal immigration after discovering that Amy Lindsay had previously appeared in pornographic films.   For her part, Lindsay, who grew up in Houston and graduated from UT-Austin with a degree in Journalism, describes herself as a Christian conservative and a Republican and tweeted her disappointment with Cruz pulling the ad.

Damn, Red finally had an excuse to watch a Ted Cruz ad.

Photo from @amylindsayLA

Today in Texas History – February 12

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From the Annals of Incompetence – In 1869, sixty-one men, women, and children died when the sidewheel steamboat Mittie Stephens caught fire on Caddo Lake.  The MS had been running the New Orleans-Red River route since 1866. At that time Jefferson was the head of navigation via Caddo Lake due to the great log raft that obstructed traffic on the Red River. The MS left New Orleans on February 5 with 107 passengers and crew and a cargo that included 274 bales of hay.  The boat caught fire when a breeze blew a spark to the hay stacks from torch baskets that lighted the bows of the boat.  The blaze quickly spread and the boat headed for the shore only 300 yards away.  The boat grounded in three feet of water near Swanson’s Landing. Most of the passengers were killed by the incompetence of the pilot.  He kept the paddlewheels turning in an attempt to make the shore but ended up killing most of those lost when they were struck by the wheels while in the water.