“Sometimes I get this crazy dream that I just take off in my car. But you can travel on 10,000 miles and still stay where you are.” — Harry Chapin, WOLD The radio station was an unremarkable brick building encircled by palm and fruit trees. My intention was to use Read more…
The Internet tends to be exactly like the people who use it: entertaining, informative, and stupider than anyone might have imagined. The latest example of ignorance comes from Breitbart, Texas, whose managing editor Brandon Darby traveled along the Rio Grande to inform us Mexico is on the other side of 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…
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…
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 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…
Because Memorial Day is a time to remember those who have fallen in our name, I am republishing a story I wrote several years ago. This was first printed in American Legion magazine and was noticed by political leaders in Texas, who were unfamiliar with the little town’s history of Read more…
Anyone who says, “All publicity is good publicity,” has, obviously, never had bad publicity. There’s also that other lame line about, “I don’t care what you say about me as long as you spell my name right.” In public relations, neither is an informed approach to dealing with an image. Read more…
Guest post by Mary Pauline Lowry, whose new book “Wildfire” will be published in October. Her previous novel, “The Earthquake Machine,” was a Texas girl’s coming of age story that received wide critical praise. When I was in high school–to quote the television show Portlandia– “the dream of the 90s” Read more…
Nothing has changed, yet. The new poll on the Texas governor’s race and other statewide campaigns, which was released yesterday, shows the Republican Greg Abbott with a comfortable 51-37 lead over Democrat Wendy Davis. The numbers come from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) in North Carolina. Generally, this is what 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 credited with changing American race relations. A few blocks distant Read more…