Revisionist History

FoxNews’ Tongue Tied feature contains a link to this New York Times story about residents of Goliad, Texas, attempting to rewrite Texas history.  As a history major and native Texian, this story was particularly interesting to me.

The history of the Texas Revolution has been overwhelmingly Texas-centric since the day the revolution ended.  I think this has both its good points and bad points.  It’s bad because it, obviously, ignores half of the story behind the conflict.  On the other hand, I think it’s only natural for Texans and Americans to focus on history which is familiar to us and to which we can relate much more closely.  You would be hard pressed to find a military conflict in which that was not the case.

I understand where the “Mexican-American” residents of Goliad are coming from with regard to who writes the history.  Any Southerner who has studied the Civil War almost certainly can.  That being said, I find this particular argument pretty stupid.  There’s a difference between attempting to correct inaccuracies in the historical record, and attempting to change history because you’re uncomfortable with the way “your side” conducted itself.

massacre  - The act or an instance of killing a large number of humans indiscriminately and cruelly

Killing more than 300 men who surrendered in battle + burning the bodies + leaving them for the vultures = massacre

 

This is just another sign of the demise of Texas history.  Texas history revovles almost entirely around the Texas Revolution.  With the influx of Hispanics into the state, there is a movement afoot with the PC crowd to rewite Texas history so as to not offend the “Mexican-Americans.”

There’s a big hubub in Texas right now over the new Alamo movie.  The writers and directors of the movie are not making an attempt to present a historically accurate depiction of the battle.  Rather, their primary goal is to show the “human” side of the men.  They are doing this by portraying Travis as a self-absorbed publicity hound, Bowie as a drunkard, and Crockett as a coward, while potraying the Mexicans as a noble group who merely sought to prevent slavery in Texas.  

God forbid we offend a politically protected class.

Texas Redistricting

Well, the Texas Senate’s public hearings on redistricting are coming to town this Wed.  It ought to be interesting, to say the least.  The hearing is being held in our law school, so I should be able to catch at least the first hour before I have to go to Constitutional Law.  If it goes as I expect, I’ll probably be pissed off for the rest of the afternoon.

This would be so much easier (though not nearly as entertaining) if the people of this state would remember that it’s just politics as usual, and acting as if it’s something new is showing poor situational awareness and unbelievable gullibility.  What goes around comes around.  The Democrats will show up and whine about how wrong this is and act as if they would NEVER pull something this heinous!  The Republicans will sit there and try to come up with reasons for their moves without having to tell the blunt, honest truth—it’s politics, and the Republicans have almost all the cards at this point.

UPDATE: Here’s an article on redistricting from the Austin American Statesman

Money quote:

“My ancestors and my forefathers and my foremothers worked the fields,” Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, recently told colleagues on the House Redistricting Committee before pausing to compose herself as she recounted a story about the ongoing battle against racism.

No shit?  Mine did to.  What does that have to do with redistricting?

A word of advice to black Americans who insist of constantly using slavery as a point of argument.  Any racism you have experienced in recent history is not a result of slavery which ended 138 years ago.  This country has made great strides in race relations in the past 40 years, and every time you use slavery as a crutch, the average American starts to tune you out and not pay attention to your point.

Texas Redistricting Hearings

Here’s a blog report from one of the Texas redistricting hearings.

Multistate Lottery

Texas is considering looking at the possibility of joining a multistate lottery.  I’m all for this.  I look at it like this.

I pay taxes.
My tax money goes to the “less fortunate.”
The “less fortunate” blow half their welfare on lottery tickets.
I win and get my tax money back.

Now all I have to do is pick the right numbers.  Piece o’ cake.

As Neal Boortz once said, the lottery is the best tax on the “poor” ever devised.  Since they’re not paying any income tax, it’s the least they can do.

Minorities

Here’s an article about the Texas redistricting.  More specifically, it’s about a hearing about the issue in Houston.  Something near the bottom of the article jumped out at me:

That prompted Coleman to point out that Wilson, a Houston lawyer, drove a 2000 Lamborghini to the hearing.

“That’s why you’re shilling for the Republicans,” Coleman screamed at Wilson, causing many in the crowd to start chanting “sell out.”

 

Coleman and Wilson are both black Congressmen from Texas who differ on the redistricting issue. 

We keep seeing stuff like this, again and again and again.  Whenever a successful minority dares oppose the Democratic party line, they are slapped down as being a sell out.  Just like after the affirmative action ruling by the SCotUS, editorialists and cartoonists all over the country lambasted Clarence Thomas for his dissent by insinuating, or flat out saying, that he was a traitor to his race for not supporting affirmative action.  The Democratic party and its phalanx of race-baiters can never let a single minority forget that they never would have been a success without the Democrats.  How demeaning.

What strikes me more than the actual act of smacking down minorities by the Dems is the level of hatred and viciousness directed toward conservative minorities.  You can just see the pulsating vein in their collective foreheads swelling and throbbing while sweat drips from their flushed cheeks.  I guess the Dems only like blacks when they stay in their place and don?t actually wield power.

Texas Redistricting

For a little background, see my initial post here.

The GOP has come up with a plan which would unseat five Democrats and create four new “GOP” districts, and a new “minority Democrat” district.  As a result, several minority Democrats are considering voting for the proposed plan.  It seems their party loyalty becomes very limited when they see an opportunity to send another minority Representative to Washington.

“How can we sit back and turn away from the opportunity to increase our ranks?” asked state Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston, a member of the House Redistricting Committee. “If the train is moving, do you stand there and let it run over you, or do you put somebody on the train?”

 

The bill is expected to pass the House easily, but the GOP needs two more State Senators to reach the two-thirds required to consider the bill.

Republicans have been lobbying Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, to switch sides.

Mr. Lucio, the president pro tem, has said that he does not like the redistricting proposal put forth by Mr. King but would consider a plan that created five Hispanic districts along the Rio Grande. That would result in three more Hispanic districts.

 

I guess party loyalty stops where skin color starts.

Dan Morales

In a bizarre story that’s not getting any pub outside of Texas, our former Attorney General Dan Morales is in jail awaiting trial on several charges.  These charges include illegal diversion of campaign funds acquired during his run for governor in 2000, and an attempt to get a couple hundred million in attorneys fees for an attorney friend who didn’t contribute materially to the state’s tobacco lawsuit.

What really makes the story bizarre is Morales requested a public defender on grounds that he couldn’t afford counsel.  He then bought two cars, stating on the loan applications that he was a self employed lawyer (even though his law license had lapsed) with over $20K of annual income.  The judge promptly there his butt back in jail as a risk to either flee from prosecution or commit financial fraud to cover his debts.

At least this shows that dishonest politicians aren’t always above the law.

Robin Hood

What is this, Texas legislature day on the blog?

Gov Perry is considering calling the legislature into another 30-day special session later this year to address changes to Texas’ system of funding public education.  Texas currently has the “Robin Hood” system, which is where richer school districts give a portion of their funds to the poorer districts in the state.

This may seem to be a noble effort, but as with most noble efforts, it carries with it a cost.  The system is funded through property taxes on residents of the school districts.  The legislature has set a maximum school property tax rate of $1.50 per $100 of valuation.

The problem arises when a rich school district is not able to meet its expenses because once it “donates” its share to the system, there is not enough left to run the schools in the district.  These districts have raised their rates to the maximum allowed, and have nowhere to go.  As of now, nearly 40 percent of the state’s school districts have hit the cap.  The fact that these districts have no choice but to maintain the maximum property tax has raised questions as to whether the distibution of funds under the Robin Hood system constitutes, in effect, a state property tax (which is prohibited by the Texas constitution).

Because the “rich” designation is determined based on the entirety of the school district, it leads to stiff taxes for a lot of those who don’t necessarily have “rich” property.  For example, a district can be relatively poor, but have a large industry which drives up property values in a tiny portion of the district, therefore driving the entire district up into the “rich” bracket (though not necessarily having a correlative effect on the surrounding property values).  Though the poor in the district are still only paying based on a valuation of their property, the tax rate is higher.

This is the situation with my parents’ homestead, which lies in a small school district composed of a lot of dirt poor people, but which also contains a coal strip-mining operation with a high property value.  The end result is a lot of folks who really can’t afford it paying a buttload in property taxes which go straight to another part of the state.

Redistricting

Gov Rick Perry has called the Texas Legislature into a 30-day special session to address congressional redistricting.  You may or may not recall that this is the issue which sent Texas’ Democratic legislators running to Oklahoma earlier this year.

The Republicans are breaking with the traditional timing for redistricting, and the Democrats are whining that it’s unfair.  I find this funny because you know the Democrats would try the exact same thing if the positions were reversed.  It’s politics, man, politics…

This is the first time the Republicans have controlled the Texas legislature since Reconstruction, and the Democrats are about to get a little taste of what they’ve been dishing out for 150 years.

Corps of Cadets

One of these days, when my (and Owen’s) beloved Corps of Cadets is gone, we’ll know exactly who to thank.  The A&M administration is gradually becoming more liberal, and populated by elitists who have never experienced the rigors of a military training environment and the bonds that are formed therein.  There’s good-bull hazing and bad-bull hazing, and the administration can’t/won’t/doesn’t make any effort to understand the difference.  They simply proceed with their goal - to rid A&M of the Corps because it represents core values and political viewpoints far to the right of the administration.

The money quote:

“It appears to me that this is part of some plan to emasculate the Corps at A&M, and these kids are suffering because of it.”

That “plan” has caught the attention of alumni who believe administrators want to diminish the Corps as part of the “Vision 2020” plan—a set of goals that includes a list of universities administrators would like the school to emulate. First on that list is the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Tom DeLay

Tom DeLay declared Texas top ten legislator.

Just in case you didn’t notice, Texas Monthly leans just a tad to the left (and they have a seemingly deep seated hatred for my alma mater).

Abortion in Texas

The Texas Senate has voted to make abortion providers disclose health risks and show pictures of the gestation process to abortion seekers.  There’s a $10,000 fine for not complying.  It also imposes a 24 hour waiting period on abortion seekers.  I found this interesting:

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, voted against it.

“Under House Bill 15, a woman who gets an abortion must view 20 colored pictures showing every gestational development. If our Constitution gives a woman a choice to get an abortion, why make such a traumatic time even more difficult?” Shapleigh said.

If the fetus is just a lump of unwanted flesh, as abortion supporters declare, why would it be traumatic to have it removed?  I had my appendix out last month, but I would hardly call the event traumatic.