Texas. 


The only way to really understand Rick Perry's thinking on state's rights and the 10th amendment is to get to know Texas. I don't mean the citizens of  Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or even Austin. I mean the citizens of Rule, Dalhart, Paris, Temple, Beeville, Amarillo and the like. Folks are not just from Texas. they are Texas. No matter where you meet a native or under what circumstance, one of the first things you will learn about that person is that they are a Texan. They'll tell you right off the bat. Native Texans live and breathe all things Texas, some transplants do as well. In my opinion, this loyalty has been passed down from those who founded the Republic of Texas. If you can count as kin Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, William Travis, Jim Bowie or any of the other well and/or lesser known men who defended the Alamo, then you are as much royalty in Texas as Elizabeth is in England.


Other than moving there to experience it yourself, one of the best and most entertaining ways to discover the meaning of being a Texan is to read James Michener's Texas: A Novel. As always, Michener relates the history behind the story and in this novel, he captures the true spirit of those who settled, fought for and shaped the state to her present form. I've probably read it five or six times and just blogging about it here makes me want to read it again. I always learn something new. 


I personally am a nearly-native Texan. I was made there, but approximately three weeks before I was born, my father was transferred to Oklahoma. All of my immediate family members are natives. I have the luxury of being both an Okie and a Texan. There's really not that much difference, except high school football is not nearly the be-all  end-all here like it is across the Red. If for some reason I couldn't live in Oklahoma, you can be sure I'd be hot-footin' it south down I-35 as fast as I could go!

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. 
       -W. Durant


Think about it.


So many worthy subjects, so little time. How do you regular bloggers do this? Where do you find the time to work on your blog every day? I may be too long-winded to post each day!


Something to ponder - this has been going around in an email lately, but the subject is one I've thought about more than once, I bet you have too. Where are Mr. O's friends? Where is the grade school/junior high/high school buddy who played b'ball with The O way back in the day? Where are the high school sweethearts, the prom dates who knew him when? What about his college roommates/classmates/dining hall acquaintances? Where are his former teachers, Sunday school class leaders? What about next-door neighbors, or any neighbors, when he was growing up? For that matter, where are his adult friends, other couples he and Mrs. O socialized with in Chicago? Why haven't they all come out of the woodwork to say 'yeah, I knew him when...'?? Can you think of a United States President whom we've known as little or less about? Neither can I!  Where are all those 15 minutes of fame people? Other than his Hawaii days and his overseas school days, the man has no past - as if he were hatched in a laboratory. No, this is not about the 'birther' thing. This is about what's NORMAL. We've known all about other presidents' escapades as kids or young adults in college. Clinton's saxophone and pot smoking but not inhaling days, GW's wild college and cocaine days. We knew about their grades in college, good and bad. All we know about Mr. O is he attended Columbia, was little more than an average student, somehow managed to get admitted to Harvard Law - one of the toughest law schools to get into, went on to become an editor and later president of the Harvard Law Review because of an essay writing competition - not because of his grades. What is the big deal? If his SAT/LSAT, transcripts and editorials are so stellar, why won't he let us see or read them? Oh wait, we can't read any of his editorials from HLR because he supposedly only wrote one and didn't even sign it. Considering how nosy we are as Americans and how good some of our computer enthusiasts/hackers/geeks are, why hasn't this information surfaced? I say it ain't normal!


Hmmm...yes indeedy, something to ponder...

Words and phrases that should be banned from use by one and all:

• Let me be clear (whatever)
• Reach across the aisle (We are the World, We are the People...)
• Bipartisan (sometimes means 'my way or the highway').
• Global warming/climate change (as though Earth has never dramatically warmed or cooled before).
• Green jobs (why not blue or purple?)
• Rhetoric (frankly my dear, I don't give a damn)

Add your nomination!