Events keep dragging me back to my earlier conclusion: we need to get out of Afghanistan. Where the indigenous president is a crook, our generals bicker, and our good troops, like Sgt. R., die young, leaving behind small children. All for gains that are increasingly hard to see. Even Gen. Petraeus is stressed.
UPDATE: Sgt. R.’s remains arrive home in Smithville.
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Posted in Afghanistan, Texana, The War, Troops
Shootout, Gunfight, Ammunition and Shotgun are street names that, at least in South Austin, hinder home sales. That’s according to a publicity-minded Austin realtor’s unscientific (but persuasive) research. Could be unique to Austin (the San Francisco of Texas) or else that the neighborhood in question isn’t all that desirable to begin with.
Via Dustbury.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Scribbles, Texana
Tagged ammunition, Austin, crossland real estate, gunfight, shootout, shotgun, street names
An apparent Matthew Brady studios photograph of slave children, taken either during the Civil War or shortly after emancipation. Found recently in an estate sale in North Carolina, in a photo album for which collector Keya Morgan paid $30,000. The flip side of my earlier “ode” photo. Morgan’s site on original Abraham Lincoln photos is fascinating, each digital copy scanned from an original and therefore sharp as a tack.
The man “who freed the slaves,” as the saying goes. Lincoln didn’t, of course, to put a fine legal point on it. But they certainly might not ever have been freed without him.
Via The Confederate Book Review.
UPDATE: A commenter at this site claims the photo could be from a Caribbean banana plantation. Doesn’t explain the “Brady” on the card, tho.
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Posted in Civil War, Library, Texana
Tagged Matthew Brady, slave children
I guess Texas wants to play SoCal regularly, as well as have an easier shot at the Rose Bowl. Otherwise why leave the Big 12 (now just 10 teams with the loss of Nebraska and Colorado, and expected to be just six after Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State leave for the Pac 10) unless it’s because the sports media relatively regularly has ignored the Big 12? Money, I know. The usual reason. Hopefully, it will make for some stronger opponents for Texas.
UPDATE: Nevermind. Seems the Big 12 will be just ten teams, but reduction to six talk was much to-do about nothing much. Media driven, maybe?
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Posted in Scribbles, Texana, Texas Football
Tagged Big 12, Pac 10, SEC, Texas Longhorns
Here’s another monument on the Texas Capitol lawn that irritates the hell out of the PC crowd. That’s Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the top.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Scribbles, Texana
Tagged Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, Texas Capitol
This Civil War unit, part of Wheeler’s Cavalry, plays a role in “Knoxville 1863.”
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Posted in Blogosphere, Civil War, Library, Texana
Tagged ACW, Battle of Fort Sanders, Civil War, Knoxville 1863, Terry's Texas Rangers
The fabled Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol lawn that has, since its erection in 1961, periodically driven atheists and the ACLU mad. Heh.
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Tagged Austin, Ten Commandments momument, Texas Capitol
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 