“Young man, young man, your arms are too short to box with God.” – James Weldon Johnson We went down into the Grand Canyon when Butch got home from the war. Neither of us had thought about a destination with Read more…
As presidents, politicians, and historians gather at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, there is a radical reconsideration underway regarding the legacy of the Texan who is Read more…
General Motors has a public relations problem. And someone needs to fix it, if possible. The ignition switch of 2.6 million vehicles appears to be faulty and must be replaced. As many as thirteen people may have died as a Read more…
I have long been bothered about the constitutionality of random checks of motorists by police. I, of course, like the idea of drunks being off the streets and not behind the wheel of vehicles, but I don’t like the concept Read more…
The notion that Greg Abbott was going to become governor of Texas without much of a fight has quickly disappeared into a smog of bad decisions. The state’s attorney general, who has recently been defending a public education plan derived, Read more…
Guest post by Ken Vest (Editor’s note: “Noah” sucks.) Supreme Being; everywhere and all powerful; creator of all things; Amazing sense of irony having created humans along with everything else. We caught up with God when he/she was enjoying a Read more…
Guest post by Gary Scharrer Texas is headed for the ditch, but few people are aware of the state’s perilous path. The demographers have seen the future, though, because it’s in their numbers. And they’ve been sounding the alarm. But Read more…
There was a moment in the Ann Richards campaign against George W. Bush when I knew in advance she had lost. The late governor was speaking to a Girls’ State assembly, which is a little legislature created annually for high Read more…
Anyone who has watched, even from a remove, the rulings of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, is not surprised by the decision to uphold the new restrictive Texas abortion laws. It is, however, slightly baffling Read more…
“People ask me what I do in the winter when there is no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” – Rogers Hornsby When I got the news that Ernie Harwell Read more…
You never know who’s watching your tweet stream. Or maybe you should assume someone is that might have a question or two. During a trip last week to the Rio Grande Valley, a political activist informed me that U.S. Senator Read more…
Far out on the west side of Hidalgo County, the land is dark and rich and flattened into an alluvial plain by ancient floods in the Rio Grande Valley basin. There is no end to growing season this close to Read more…
We lived in a small house, 850 square feet, six kids, Daddy and Ma. The neighborhood was all southerners that had moved north to work in the factories. Daddy told me late in his life that he had left the Read more…
While Ted Cruz was happily meeting with home schoolers in Iowa, the residents of the Rio Grande Valley in his home state were getting ready to sign up for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Cruz, a Republican, Read more…
(McAllen, Texas) – We flew down on a cold January day. A dome of Canadian air that seemed to collapse from the arctic top of the world had reached all the way to the sub-tropical region of the Lower Rio Read more…