Today in Texas History – April 29

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From the Annals of the Dromedaries –   In 1856, 53 camels disembarked at the Port of  Indianola.  The camels were part of a 10-year U.S. Army transportation experiment initiated by then U.S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to deal with the harsh conditions in the arid southwest regions acquired in the Mexican-American War.  Secretary Davis and his military advisers believed that if camels could be used in Sahara Desert and arid regions that they might be answer for the arid semitropical regions of Texas and the desert southwest.  Accordingly, Congress passed “The Camel Appropriation Act” authorizing the purchase and transport of the beasts.  The US Navy was tasked with transporting the camels from the Middle East to Texas, while the US Army would take charge of the camels for the experiment.

After a harsh sea voyage in which the camels became violently seasick,  the animals were turned over to Major Henry C. Wayne who was pleased at the reaction the camels had to the lush vegetation afforded them on the Texas coast.  On June 6, 1856, Wayne gave the order to initiate the “Texas Camel Drive” from Indianola to San Antonio.    The camel caravan arrived in San Antonio within two weeks and Wayne reported to Washington that the utility and the cooperation of the camels was excellent.  Wayne was ordered to find a permanent camp for the camels and quarters for the personnel.

In July, Wayne left San Antonio and made his way to Fort Martin Scott near Fredericksburg.   From there Wayne scouted for a new camp site ultimately settling on a spot near Kerrville called Verde Creek close to the Guadalupe River.  On August 30, he named the site Camp Verde and the camels now had a permanent home. The camp was to be a US Cavalry post under the direction of  Lt. Colonel Robert E Lee who had just been to Fort Mason in 1856 with the primary task of protecting frontier settlers from raids by the Comanche, Kiowa and other tribes. However, Lee was also charged with protecting the camels.

Lucifer in the Flesh!

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Former GOP Speaker of the House John Boehner unloaded on Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) in an interview.  After calling the Texas Senator “Lucifer in the flesh”, Boehner kept going.

“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”

Boehner also stated that Cruz would become president “over my dead body.”  Boehner is apparently still seething over Cruz’s promise that he could lead a government shut-down that would result in a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.  When it became obvious that Cruz was blowing smoke up the GOP’s collective pants and that he had little or no support for his cause in the Senate, Boehner and colleagues were left hung out to dry in the face of withering criticism.  What quickly became apparent to all was that Cruz’s ploy was nothing more than a chance for the junior senator to put his name out front and set up his run for the White House.  Cruz never had any intention of doing anything more than hogging the spotlight and running up his national name recognition.

For his part Cruz denied ever having worked with Boehner – another almost certainly verifiable lie from the lips of the Tea Party hero.

Meanwhile, Satanists were complaining that comparing Cruz to the Devil was an insult to all Devil worshippers.

 

Today in Texas History – April 28

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Southwest Texas Convention, Spring 2005

From the Annals of Sacred Music –  In 1900 the Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Singing Convention was organized at McMahan. Sacred harp music is a religious folk music that derives its name from Benjamin Franklin White’s The Sacred Harp (1844). It features a cappella singing of white spirituals written in shaped notes. The sacred harp is the human voice.   The tradition continues today with the annual Southwest Texas Convention at McMahan, held in the spring, and the East Texas Sacred Harp Singing Convention held in August in Henderson.  Other Sacred Heart events are also regularly held around the state.

Photo of Southwest Convention from http://www.texasfasola.org/.

Cruz Tries to Steal the News Cycle

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In the wake of his crushing losses in five primaries on Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) made a bold attempt to divert the nation’s attention away from the incredible ass-whomping he had just received by naming failed businesswoman Carly Fiorina as his vice-presidential running mate.  Cruz made an interesting choice in picking Fiorina who was soundly rejected by the Republican electorate in the early going.  Fiorina failed to ignite her campaign and performed miserably in the contests in which she competed.  Fiorina had less than 2%support in the Iowa caucuses, received 4% of the vote in New Hampshire with an 8th place finish, and was done.  She won exactly zero (o) delegates.   Fiorina kept proclaiming that her campaign “was not about me” – which in Red’s opinion is the clear sign that a campaign is indeed all about the candidate’s ego.  Fiorina gave voters absolutely no reason to cast their ballot for her – not surprising when he main accomplishments were her record as a horribly failed CEO of Hewlitt-Packard and her losing Senatorial campaign in California.   Her one claim to fame was a good performance in the “undercard” debate preceding Iowa which put her to prominence until the voters had the good sense to reject her as completely unqualified.    So what attracted Ted to her.  Cruz claim he was attracted to Fiorina as his running mate because she  was “born in Texas…the very first thing I liked about her.”  Interesting since that is something that the Canadian-born Cruz cannot say about himself.   Cruz did succeed in turning the national press away from the Trump blow-out on Tuesday, but Red thinks this smacks of desperation and predicts the news cycle will move on in a day or two or at best until Cruz loses in Indiana.

Today in Texas History – April 27

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From the Annals of Heat –  In 1983, Nolan Ryan playing for the Houston Astros set a new major league record with after recording strike-out number 3509 against Brad Mills of the Montreal Expos.  Ryan broke a 55-year-old major league baseball record with the K.  Ryan would go on to strike out a total of 5714 batters in his remarkable career and record a MLB record seven no-hitters.   Less noted is the fact that he also is the all-time leader in bases on balls – but that is the price of longevity.  Ryan is the only player to have his number retired by three different ball clubs – the Angels, Astros and Rangers.  Among the stranger records he holds is his claim to have been the only pitcher in MLB history to have struck out seven pairs of fathers and sons.   He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1999.  Sadly, he is depicted wearing a Texas Rangers cap on his hall of fame plaque.

Cruz Stomped in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

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Here are the numbers for Cruz from last night GOP primaries:

Pennsylvania    21.6%

Maryland           18.9

Rhode Island    10.4

Connecticut     11.7

Delaware           15.9

Cruz barely avoided single digits in Rhode Island and Connecticut and was generally stomped elsewhere finishing behind Trump and the weakling Kasich.  Pennsylvania was the sole “dim” spot for Cruz last night where he eked out a second place finish over Kasich but still lost by almost 40 points to Trump.  Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that Cruz was bloviating about how 65% of Republican voters had rejected Donald Trump.  Well last night, close to 85% of Republican voters rejected Ted Cruz.

Cruz’s only path to the nomination is to pray for Trump to fall just short of first ballot victory and then sneak away from Cleveland with a second or third ballot nomination.  If that happens, almost every commentator is predicting rioting in the streets.

And then there is this from Cruz:  “If you want to beat Donald Trump, the way to do so is not some backroom deal in Washington that steals the nomination and hands it to someone who hasn’t won at the ballot box. The way instead is to beat Donald trump at the polls.”

Listen to yourself Ted.

That Basketball Ring?

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) attempted to capture some Indiana magic by appearing in the same basketball arena where the iconic movie Hoosiers was filmed.  But Cruz apparently is not very familiar with sports lexicon as he referred to the hoop as “that basketball ring.” That kind of flub in oral argument before a court of appeals would have his colleagues smirking.   CNN has the clip.

John Cornyn States the Obvious

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In an interview with KERA – Dallas, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) unloaded on Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) as a political opportunist.

“We’ve had our differences on tactics or how to accomplish those goals. Part of it [is] from the fact that I’ve been here a while and I’m part of the elected Republican leadership. My goal has always been to figure out how we can advance the conservative cause. I think he’s taken the more immediate shorter-term view of things. Clearly, he didn’t come here to remain in the Senate. He came here to run for president. I think that perhaps explains the difference in tactics.”

So the good folks of Texas voted for a man who had no intention of actually attempting to represent our interests in the Senate.   It’s no surprise to Red that Cruz views his current job as nothing more than a stepping stone to the greater glorification of all things Ted Cruz, but for Cornyn to essentially admit that is fairly remarkable.

All of this begs the question of what Cruz will do if he loses his bid for the presidency.  The Senate will not interest him at all, since it is by now obvious that he will not be able to accomplish anything in that august body that collectively hates him with a white hot passion.  So rather than be a meaningless if petulant back bencher, Red has a few thoughts on what our junior senator might do.

  1. Reality TV show with Sarah Palin – Ted and Sarah on the road, waving flags, shooting guns and talking crazy.
  2. Personal injury plaintiff’s lawyer.
  3. Don’t miss the “TrusTed” show at 9 pm EST on Fox News.
  4. Take over when Ed Young retires from Second Baptist – or push the old guy out if necessary.
  5. Find small third world country looking for Dictator for Life!
  6. Stay at home Dad living off Heidi’s Goldman Sachs paychecks and watching Hogan’s Heroes reruns.
  7. High school history teacher with simple message – Lincoln bad, Jeff Davis good.
  8. Multi-million dollar book deal.  Most copies remaindered for a $1.99.
  9. Actual tea party host.
  10. Or maybe Canada wants him back?

 

Renaming Austin School May Be Harder than Thought

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The Austin Independent School District is determined to rename Robert E. Lee Elementary school.  The school, located in a neighborhood just north of the UT-Austin campus, is now at the center of the growing controversy over removing Confederate icons from the public space.   USA Today reports that turning to the community to suggest a new name isn’t working out exactly like the school board had hoped.

The school board overseeing Austin’s Robert E. Lee Elementary voted last month to rename the school, deeming its namesake — a Confederate general — too polarizing. It then turned to the community to suggest a new name.

But the Austin Independent School District probably didn’t expect the top suggestion would be Donald J. Trump Elementary.

That name, with 45 nominations, heads the list of 240 suggestions announced Friday, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Thirty-four nominations urged the board to leave the school’s name unchanged.

Rounding out the top five were suggestions to name the school after Texas photographer Russell Lee (32 nominations), author Harper Lee (30 noms) or Elisabet Ney, the 19th century Austin sculptor (15 noms).

Other suggestions, shown on a list obtained by Mashable,  proved as colorful as Trump:

  • Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance (8 noms)
  • Kanye West Elementary (2 noms)
  • John Cena Elementary (1 nom)
  • Bee Movie (1 nom)

The British government could have perhaps warned the school board about the dangers of crowd-sourcing names. The top-voted name for its $300 million research ship was “Boaty McBoatface,” thanks to an online poll.

Red thinks Schooly McSchoolface has a certain ring to it.