Who remembers? Who remembers the type of person we were all looking for 15 years ago on April 19, the day someone blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building? We were looking for suspicious-appearing Arab-type people, and viewing them with concern, be they groping the produce at the supermarket or reading the…
DetailsI blame my mechanic — the fact that I don’t change my oil often enough, don’t check my tire pressure regularly, and don’t know my carburetor from my glove compartment. I’m sure you will agree with me that my mechanic is solely to blame for any malfunction of my car. It can’t be…
DetailsSome things change. Some things, never. Evidence thereof was great during a motorized spring swing through a great and greening state. The Panhandle city of Hartley — Population: 1 grain silo — has not changed one granule since I was a child sleeping in the back of the station wagon. My…
DetailsCanard — n. (etymology: French for duck) a fake or unfounded report or story, especially: a fabricated report; a groundless rumor or belief. “They crammed health care reform down our throats.” Yes. Barack Obama, Joe Biden and a decisive majority of Democrats ran for office on health care reform. They…
DetailsThis all has to do with blue jeans, and white legs. I didn't wear blue jeans much in 25 years in Texas. Most of the time during recreational hours, I wore shorts. If it was long-pants weather — and, let’s face it; with global changes, many Texans had forgotten what a winter feels…
DetailsMy college-grad son got exactly what I hoped he would out of his higher education — meaning it had almost nothing to do with a career. Oh, sure, I would have been thrilled if after that fireworks-filled graduation night at the base of the University of Texas tower he exchanged his black robe for…
DetailsParsing his vote for Rick Perry in the primary, one Republican told a reporter the message was to “let Texas be Texas.” Yup. Texas, where he who panders hardest to the hard right wins the privilege of governing all. Texas, where a politician who…
DetailsIn the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? we see auto companies pry prototype vehicles, literally, from drivers’ loving fingers. We see the vehicles crushed, and not allowed to return to run free — pollution-free — on the landscape. We see General Motors sit on a lot of perfectly good electric cars,…
DetailsWhat do mountaintop removal mining and the fate of the University of Texas Cactus Cafe have in common? This: The former looks at a mountain only as what riches it can yield. No value is assigned to the mountain itself, nothing intrinsic. It is but an obstacle to wealth. If a…
DetailsI once heard from a tenure-seeking professor at Baylor University who said officials sought information about her churchgoing and whether or not she’d signed up for church committees. They were probing for evidence of what then-Baylor President Robert Sloan called “intentional Christianity.” Now heading the probe: President Kenneth Starr? Years…
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