THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

One of the reasons the Obamaloots are giving for a possible presidential veto of a new defense appropriations bill is that it awards Purple Hearts signifying woundings in action to the military victims of two Jihadi killings at Fort Hood and Little Rock, Arkansas in 2009. “On June 1, 2009, Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, [...]

“So, the Save Bill Powers [Facebook] page was essentially a ghost town, and essentially the entirety of the social media operation to that point was astro-turfed by a P.R. firm.” All in reaction to Gov. Rick Perry’s attempt to lower tuition at the state’s flagship U of Texas which has climbed 23 percent in four [...]

When more and more people know you’re a phony, how to win re-election? Divide and conquer, of course. “Why else would the Justice Department challenge the photo-ID law in Texas? To charge Republicans with seeking to disenfranchise Hispanics and blacks, of course. But in 2008 the Supreme Court upheld a similar law from Indiana. And [...]

Our forecast for the week suggests we may beat the anticipated continuation of our drought and get up to four inches of rain by Friday. Got about an inch at the Rancho on Saturday night and more is expected tonight and tomorrow. Moist ground would also lower our daytime temperatures this summer. Via WeatherBELL UPDATE: [...]

Absolutely true. It was 1978, when I moved back to Texas, that you could still set an open can of beer (or an open bottle of bourbon, if you were so inclined) between your legs as you drove. And if you got stopped for speeding (which wasn’t very likely) the cop wouldn’t say a thing [...]

Back in 2002 when American troops were dying in Afghanistan, GWB was criticized for golfing while the troops fought. Bush’s response? He gave up golf, saying: “I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf… I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity [...]

Edmund J. Davis was one of the about 2,000 Texans who fought in the Union army during the Civil War. He survived to become the last Reconstruction governor. But there were many more who offered their dissent at home and some were punished for it, including in the still-celebrated Nueces Massacre of German Unionists and [...]

A photographic (and musical) tribute to West Texas—from the Rio Grande to the Palo Duro. By the official Texas state photographer Wyman Meinzer. Take a look. Via old friend (even if he is a Democrat) Tucker Smallwood.

I covered the first landing of the space shuttle in 1981. The first space ship. They did real work, hauling satellites to orbit, until the Challenger explosion in 1986. After that, it was busy-work and and increasingly boring. And the disintegration of Columbia over Texas in ’03 showed it was still dangerous. I remember the shuttle-inspired first [...]

According to this analysis, the high price of gasoline has more to do with the closing of some East Coast refineries and a glut of pipeline oil in Oklahoma, than Uncle Barry’s refusal to allow increased oil and gas production. But presidents always get the blame for things like high gas prices, whether they deserve [...]