Today in Texas History – February 22

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From the Annals of Broken Promises –  In 1819 the Adams-Onís Treaty was signed by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams for the United States and Luís de Onís for Spain.  The treaty fixed the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase and had the effect of renouncing U.S. claims to Texas.  The newly fixed boundary began at the mouth of the Sabine River and ran along its south and west bank to the thirty-second parallel and thence directly north to the Río Roxo (Red River).  The boundary then followed the course of the Río Roxo westward to the 100th meridian and then due north to the Arkansas River.  From there the boundary followed the southern bank of the Arkansas to its source near the 42nd parallel and then following the 42nd to the “South Sea” (Pacific Ocean).  Spain delayed ratification of the treaty and in the interval Mexico declared its independence.  The newly formed country refused to accede to the terms of the treaty and never recognized the negotiated boundary.

Today in Texas History – February 19

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From the Annals of Belated Racial Tolerance – In 1988, Curtis Guillory was installed as the was installed as auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston.  He was  the first black Catholic bishop in Texas.  Guillory now serves as the Bishop of Beaumont. He is a member of the Society of the Divine Word. While an active bishop, he remains a member of that community but is not under its jurisdiction.

Guillory earned a bachelor of arts degree from  Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa and a Master of Divinity degree from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.  He received priestly ordination at his home parish of St. Ann in Mallet on December 16, 1972, from Panamanian Bishop Carlos Lewis, also a member of the Divine Word Community. Father Guillory later earned a master’s degree in Christian spirituality from Creighton University in Omaha.

His father’s side of the family has been traced back to France. His mother’s side of the family has been traced to the island of Dominica in the West Indies.

 

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

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The Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) sponsored website TheRealRubioRecord.com has posted a photo of Sen. Marco Rubio (?-Florida) – GASP! – actually shaking hands with the President of the United States.  This treasonous act of actually extending your hand to the duly elected leader of our country would clearly disqualify Sr. Rubio from himself being President.   For his part, Cruz claims to have never shaken hands with any Democrat – preferring instead to do the “old tie trick” where he points to a spot on your tie and then flicks your chin.  What a card!

But the revelation of this scandalous photo of a sitting Senator displaying common courtesy (something not likely to be a problem in a Cruz administration), has instead again raised questions about the tactics of Cruz’s campaign.  Why? Because it is an obviously altered photo.  As a matter of first impression, Red would note – who shakes with their left hand?  We know the Kenyan, Muslim, Socialist, Terrorism-Sympathizing President is, of course, left-handed.  But even Steve Carlton shook with his right hand – that is, when he wasn’t throwing a high hard one at your head.  Second, the Rubio campaign has clearly shown that the photo is a poorly executed “Photoshop” job.

Todd Harris, a Rubio mouthpiece, insisted, “This is not Marco Rubio. This person, we don’t know who that is, but they Photoshopped Marco’s face onto somebody else. This is how phony and how deceitful the Cruz campaign has become. Marco Rubio doesn’t own that tie, he doesn’t own that watch, he doesn’t own that suit . . . There is so little honesty left in the Cruz campaign that they’re actually willing to Photoshop a fellow Republican’s face onto the body of some other person to completely invent an attack on Marco Rubio.”

Rubio’s campaign backed up its claim by showing the stock photo used by Cruz.

View image on Twitter

But all this sniping may actually backfire on Rubio, Red knows that true red-blooded, patriotic, evangelical Christian voters in South Carolina would never truck with anyone foolish enough to not take a knee shot at Obama’s nads when close enough to actually shake hands with the devil incarnate.

The Mystery of Resting Bitch Face Resolved?

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Young Red was often told that he looked too serious.  Red’s fourth grade teacher went so far as to claim that she had never seen him smile.  Red recalls that he was too busy working out the analytics of long-division to sport a shit-eating grin for that old biddy.  But looking back at Red’s first grade class picture (recently supplied by an old friend), even Red had to admit that he was the only kid in the group of 32 that was not smiling – except for one boy known to suffer from irritable bowel syndrome. The irony is that Red is almost preternaturally happy.   But now Red knows that he suffers from the dreaded Resting Bitch Face – a condition that causes one’s normal facial expression to range from slightly peeved to perturbed to downright contemptuous.   How sad to endure a malady of unknown complexity.  All these years, Red could have simply responded, “It’s my RBF, man, back off” when confronted with comments about his apparently Quixotic doleful countenance.

Fortunately for RBF sufferers everywhere,  researchers Jason Rogers, Ph.D. and Abbe Macbeth, Ph.D. have analyzed the perception of RBF in their groundbreaking study  Throwing Shade:  The Science of Resting Bitch Face.   Not to spoil the exciting conclusion, but Rogers and Macbeth have concluded that the “answer may lie in our brains, which have evolved the fusiform face gyrus, an area that specializes in recognizing faces, as well specific regions of the right parietal cortex that are specifically activated when analyzing facial expressions” (footnotes omitted – you’re welcome).  It’s all perfectly clear now.

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.