Honestly, I don’t think they’ve been paying attention. I speak of the folks who still appear to take President Barack Obama for a soft touch. Babe in woods. Doe in headlights. One step from the doorstep of “community organizer.” They haven’t been paying attention. Maybe because they don’t want to see what’s evident. The guy…
AUSTIN — Cherry is her name. And once upon a time, well . . . “I went crazy — really crazy.” She says it with a smile. She is tending the kitchen at Southpointe, a residence for people with various disabilities. Once upon a time, she was a hard-working contributor to society. Then a chemical imbalance…
This is not just a threat to the American way of life. It threatens the “very survival of freedom.” So says former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke. Tell us, Brother Duke. What is it? Unauthorized eavesdropping? The abolition of habeas corpus? Martial law under the Patriot Act? Actually,…
Someone in Texas has died from a scary-sounding flu. Have we closed the state yet? I mean, really. What are those people doing in the streets of Maypearl and the tractors of Hartley County when they could be duct-taping their windows? Really. When has such emotional and informational energy been exerted to less informational benefit?…
When Sen. Arlen Specter left the Republican Party for the Democrats last week, “good riddance” was uttered near and far, particularly on the AM radio dial. Specter was a RINO —Republican in Name Only — said partisan puritans. He was pro-choice. He supported the Obama stimulus package. The party is stronger for the purging of…
As Naomi Klein illustrates so forcefully in Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, human calamity is great for business, at least in a macro sense. Houses get knocked down by tidal surge? Sales of lumber and nails go up. “Shock and awe” reigns over a decrepit, tin-pot power? The business of contracting “freedom” (and, of…
Did I hear someone call Rick Perry an idiot? I do believe I did. Do a Google search joining “Rick Perry” and “idiot” and see. Well, listen: You don’t become Texas’ longest-serving governor by being an idiot. The man’s no Rhodes scholar, but that’s no pea beneath his camo cap. When he played to an…
Before addressing the legal/semantic mess we’ve built for ourselves, ponder with me an odd quote from Cuba’s Raul Castro. Last week, Castro said he’s willing to discuss a wide range of issues with President Barack Obama — “human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything.” Maybe an interpreter put words in his mouth. But:…
Admittedly, it was early in the morning for a discussion of civics. Who would have known that the subject that would cause hands to shoot up would be bluebonnets? We’d been over several subjects, me and a dozen or so community college freshmen. Each subject might have sparked a reaction. Each was about engaging in…
I missed last year’s protest. Fox News must not have covered it. Surely it happened. Flag-waving protesters last April packed town squares to denounce out-of-sight deficits and unaccounted-for dollar signs. Surely it happened: an orchestrated national repudiation of a president and his political enablers in Washington. That is, surely it happened last Tax Day, before…