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National Beer Day

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Most of Red’s friends don’t really need a special day to enjoy hoisting a cold one, but today is National Beer Day, so Red don’t mind if he do.

National Beer Day is a celebrates the day that the Cullen–Harrison Act  went into effect. Upon signing the legislation President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made his famous remark, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” Following the repeal of Prohibition, the CHA allowed people to buy, sell and drink beer containing up to 3.2% alcohol by weight  in states that had enacted their own enabling legislation.  A huge celebration ensued with people lining up to have the first legal alcoholic beverages in more than a decade. On that first day, 1.5 million barrels of beer were consumed, inspiring the future holiday.

Truthfully, Red is not much of a beer man, but his favorites include Negro Modelo, Shiner Light Blonde, Genesee Cream Ale (hard to find in Texas), Bohemia and Miller Genuine Draft.  No fancy craft beers for Red.

Coldest Opening Day Ever for Astros

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Game time temperature at New Yankee Stadium was a nippy 36 degrees.  Colby Rasmus had partial ski mask on.  One might have thought this would be the coldest Astros game ever – but not so.  In April of 1982, the Astros played the Cubs at Wrigley Field with a game time temperature of 26 degrees.  They played again the next day when the temperature had risen to a balmy 36 degrees – thus, tying today’s afternoon start against the Yankess for second coldest game in Astros history.  Brrrr.

Texas GOP Ready to Play the Gay Bashing Card One More Time

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The Houston Chronicle gets an early jump on the 2017 Legislative session by looking at proposed GOP legislation that would legalize discrimination against gay Texans based on one’s religious beliefs.

Get ready for another round in Texas, too. For state Rep. Matt Krause, a Fort Worth Republican, the fight here extends to legislation next session that would “supplement the state’s existing law to allow business owners to refuse services to people whose lifestyles clash with their religious beliefs,” as reported by the Austin American-Statesman’s Tim Eaton.

Except Krause isn’t only after a law, which would require simple majorities in both chambers and Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval. He wants to send the question to voters as a proposed constitutional amendment — the first time they will vote on something remotely related to gay rights since 2005. Krause has to clear a high bar first, though. He needs to win the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate to get it on the ballot. Still, the issue is that important to him, Krause told Eaton.

“I wanted to put it in the constitution to make it even stronger,” he said. “It is still something I think is very important.”

Should Krause get the election he desires, it will create some crucial challenges and opportunities all around that may well define the political contours of this fight in Texas for years to come.

Red supports the proposed amendment.  Red is anxious to discriminate against numerous of his fellow citizens who have raised Red’s holy ire.  Red’s religious beliefs will prohibit him from providing services to left-handed owners of dogs that weigh more than 50 lbs (the dogs that is), drivers who fail to follow the “every other car” rule,  anyone who claims soccer is boring, stockbrokers, people who fart in elevators just before exiting, Rep. John Culberson, Dallas Cowboys fans, lake trash, Bluetooth cell phone users, anyone appearing on a “Best Dressed” list, several of Red’s in-laws and a few cousins, Aquarians, ethnic Albanians, and high-school science teachers.  There are probably a few more, but this is a good start.

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds One Man One Vote

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In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge by two Texas citizens that would have upended the doctrine of One Man, One Vote.  The case, Evenwel v. Abbott, was masterminded by highly successful Supreme Court lawyer Ed Blum and his erroneously named Project for Fair Representation.  Blum and the plaintiffs claimed that Texas State Senate districts were unconstitutional because they were drawn on the basis of total population instead of the number of eligible voters.  The argument was a clever ploy to redirect political power from more liberal urban areas to more conservative rural areas who have higher numbers of eligible voters as a percentage of total population.   Although the U.S. Constitution mandates that congressional districts be drawn on the basis of population, there is no such mandate for state legislative districts.  Alas, the ploy failed and the Court held that Texas could legally apportion its legislative districts on the basis of total population.

Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 States and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries . . . Appellants have shown no reason for the Court to disturb this longstanding use of total population.

Unfortunately, the Court left open the question of whether a state could use some other basis to draw its districts.  Expect another run at this naked attempt for the Republicans to maintain their stranglehold on Texas politics.    Right now, the population difference between the largest and smallest districts in Texas is about 8 percent. If the State were to change and instead use the number of eligible voters in each district for apportionment, there would be about a 40 percent difference between the largest and the smallest districts.  That would be a remarkable shift of power back to more conservative rural areas and result in unbelievable redistricting battles.

Red Supports Guns at the GOP Convention

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An individual or group going by the name of Hyperationalist has launched an on-line petition drive calling for the open carry of guns at the GOP National Convention in Cleveland.  The Quicken Loans Arena does not allow guns, and the weapons enthusiasts are up in arms (pun intended) over the GOP choosing such a site for its convention.  You can read the petition here and decide for yourself.  Red supports the drive to turn the Quicken Loans Arena into the nation’s must be ready to fire zone.  After all, what could possibly go wrong when well-armed Trump and Cruz supporters meet on the convention floor.

In fact, Red wants to take this one step further.  Red has never been one to bring a knife to a gun fight, so Red is considering a competing petition which would require every last GOP delegate to be openly sporting a loaded weapon that is at least .22 caliber and preferably in the thirties.  No gun – no admittance – and no vote.

The Most “Texan” Restaurants in Texas

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Jessica Hamilton of the Houston Chronicle gives her opinions as to the “most Texan” restaurants in the Lone Star State.  Her unimaginative No. 1 is the Big Texan Steakhouse in Amarillo famous for its 72 oz. steak challenge.  Red was pleased to see that Mary’s in Strawn – a place frequented by Red y familia – was on the list.  If you are driving I-20 between Abilene and Fort Worth and have a hankering for some fresh fried frog legs, Mary’s is your place.   Make the short detour north to Strawn, but expect a wait on Friday or Saturday night and remarkably cold beer.

Whither the GOP (cont.)?

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Salon does an excellent job of explaining the choice now facing Republican voters in choosing between (1) Donald Trump – running for President on a cult of personality that would make Kim Jung Il blush; or (2) Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) who would likely be the most radical major party candidate to ever win the nomination.

Indeed, last year the site analyzed the voting records, public policy statements, and fundraising sources of 32 major Republican presidential candidates, going all the way back to Barry Goldwater, and concluded that Cruz was the most right-wing candidate out of this entire group.

 

Per this analysis, Cruz is far more right-wing than such relatively “liberal” figures — all from that distant era before the Republican Party was taken over by hard-right ideologues — as Richard Nixon, Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush.  He is also much more right-wing than Mitt Romney and John McCain.  But that isn’t the half of it: based on their respective political records, Ted Cruz makes Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan and the current Tea Party-dominated Republican Congress look liberal by comparison.