“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” – Martin Luther King When Bill Mason and his family arrived in Alice, Texas in July of 1948, he was looking for a location Read more…
The failure to expand Medicaid in twenty-three states is undoubtedly creating victims. Critics suggest people are dying because of their lack of access to health care. But humans might not be the only casualties of the political standoff over provisions of the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid. Rural hospitals Read more…
The latest ruling on Penn State got me agitated the other day when someone mentioned the recent court case. The NCAA was sued for fining the university $60 million and taking away all of Coach Joe Paterno’s football wins. And in the interest of retaining whatever controlling authority it still Read more…
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain Our delegation was supposed to be about culture and history but nobody ever went to Cuba without a political intent. The organization was a Latino group from America and they had already made many public statements about normalization of Read more…
“Remember when we listened to the radio and I said that’s the place to be? And how about the job as an FM jock the day you married me?” – Harry Chapin The town had two exits off of the Interstate and I thought it was the perfect location to Read more…
We are not done with Rick Perry. While partisans hope there is a chance he will be held accountable for either blackmailing or bribing the district attorney in Austin and go to jail, there is just as much of a chance the Texas governor might end up in the White Read more…
Texas ain’t a battleground. It’s more like a slaughterhouse, especially if you are a Democrat. And the candidacy of Wendy Davis made matters worse. Democrats have a ten-year uphill climb to get back to being a viable party in Texas. Davis was never going to win. Celebrity is insufficient. But Read more…
During the past few months, the people of Texas and the rest of the country have been hearing about the Rio Grande Valley. Unfortunately, the type of publicity we received was unwanted. A surge of child refugees from Central America created a humanitarian crisis that again stirred the debate about Read more…
“Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth. Rise free from care before dawn and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played…” – Read more…
My man, Evan. He’s at it again. Bending the rules and making even the cynics cringe. I know he’s doing it for us, though. Saving journalism for the little people with his innovation. And the money rules that apply to politicians and lobbyists just don’t mean a thing to Evan Read more…
During the two months I was decamped from Austin to Mount Carmel watching the federal government and a religious clown destroy several sets of belief systems and dozens of lives, a British tabloid reporter had asked me, “What is it about you Texans?” “What do you mean?” I asked. “There’s Read more…
If the court of public opinion has an impact on a jury’s decisions, Texas Governor Rick Perry may have a chance of beating his indictments. While poorly informed Democrats like Obama advisor David Axelrod call the indictments “sketchy,” Perry’s advisors have him concentrating on defending his constitutional authority to exercise Read more…
The SpaceX decision to build a launch facility on Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville will, eventually, be considered an historical moment that began the transformation of the Rio Grande Valley, and there is little doubt the economic and cultural impact will be significant for the region. However, SpaceX is only Read more…
When The Truman Show debuted to great acclaim sixteen years ago this summer, film critics were, initially, slightly baffled. Audiences were intrigued, though, by the story of a man whose life was being secretly broadcast to the world and had billions of viewers. Eventually, he becomes aware that secret cameras Read more…
The frontier between Texas and Mexico has defied a cultural and economic simplicity since long before General John “Black Jack” Pershing wasted almost two years fruitlessly chasing Pancho Villa through the high deserts of Mexico and the American Southwest. Very little is what it appears to be in such a Read more…