This is an argument I hadn’t thought of:

A ban on same-sex marriage in California doesn’t go far enough. How about a Texas-imposed ban on all Californians having sex? Look at what happens when Californians have sex. You just get more Californians. Then they all move to Austin, vente becomes a drink size, and fruit becomes a side order.

[snip]

Now, one of the good things about same-sex Californians having sex is that it doesn’t lead to, you know, more Californians. So maybe the ban I’m proposing should allow sex for same-sex Californians only. Since they’re not the ones adding to the ongoing traffic jam on MoPac.

I’m semi-persuaded.

Apollo posted this at 4:06 PM EST on Friday, November 7th, 2008 as Humor, Deep in the Heart of Texas

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The local news had a live camera feed of a Halloween party in downtown Austin. It cut to the crowd a few minutes ago and, judging by this one guy’s lack of clothes and funny manner of running, I’m pretty sure someone went as Greased Up Deaf Guy. Certainly the tv news people couldn’t stop themselves from laughing until the camera cut away. “We see some people there in costume. And some . . . not.”

Apollo posted this at 9:20 PM EDT on Friday, October 31st, 2008 as Deep in the Heart of Texas

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I’ve probably seen two dozen Obama ads today. Considering I don’t watch much television, and today have only watched the History Channel and TNT, this is weird. And since I’m in Texas, one of the least-likely-to-swing states, this is particularly weird.

So on the one hand, this should be mildly discouraging to McCain supporters. Seeing tons of Obama ads and not a single McCain ad, in light of recent polls, lends support to the notion that there’s about to be a landslide.

On the other hand, Obama is spending money to show ads to Texans. How dumb is he? I’m actually glad that I’m seeing lots of Obama ads and not a single McCain ad, because that means that Obama is wasting his money and McCain isn’t (or, at least, isn’t wasting money in the same way). Airing ads on national television doesn’t strike me as terribly intelligent. And, to the extent that Obama is promising to control federal spending once he’s elected, his profligate campaign spending is something to consider.

Apollo posted this at 8:41 PM EDT on Monday, October 13th, 2008 as Audacity of Hype, Deep in the Heart of Texas

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Traveling in south Texas this summer, we stumbled through Maverick County, a surprisingly populous county made up mostly of scrubland on the Rio Grande. It is named for Samuel Maverick, one of the great ranchers of early Texas. Maverick owned so much cattle and land that he refused to brand his cattle as a point of pride. Unbranded cattle found wandering on the range were presumed to be Maverick’s. And the word came to refer to someone who stubbornly insisted on doing things his own way.

P.S. For another great moment in Texas language history, Maverick’s grandson, Maury Maverick, gave us the word “gobbledygook” to describe bureaucratic jargon he encountered as part of the Smaller War Plants Committee during World War II.

Apollo posted this at 8:54 PM EDT on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 as Audacity of Hype, Deep in the Heart of Texas

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Perhaps it is because I’ve moved to central Texas and visited his home, or perhaps it’s because he compares so favorably to our current crop of politicians, but I’ve developed a soft spot for LBJ. Wednesday would have been his 100th birtheday, and they gave away cake and bar-b-que at his presidential library, located at the university I attend. Twice daily I drive over a lake now named for his wife. Texans, above all else, like Texans. So take this for what it’s worth.

This post is a wonderful summary of what we’ve lost since LBJ died. He was a titan of liberalism in its finest, most idealistic form. The party he left behind now occupies only a portion of his shadow. They seek neither American greatness nor their own moral superiority; at best, they seek to continue only a few of a the programs he started, and to have America be only one country among many.

Whatever criticisms conservatives have leveled at the Great Society–they are both plentiful and salient–there is still something admirable about the man. He didn’t want to destroy the country and rebuild anew; rather, he wanted to build on the greatness that he already saw in America. Compared to the current crop of Democrats who only love America to the extent that they can envision something better, Lyndon Johnson is a breath of fresh air. He loved America for what it was and what it had been, for its values and its faults, while seeking to make it better in the future. That he was the last Democrat to seek to defeat the Communists should not be overlooked.

Before he died, he grew his hair long and devoted himself to cattle ranching; that was probably preferable to watching his party being taken over by New Left nitwits.

Apollo posted this at 1:58 AM EDT on Friday, August 29th, 2008 as Ourselves, Amer-I-Can!, Deep in the Heart of Texas

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Received today: my first paycheck on which I paid no state income tax. The check actually smells like freedom.

Apollo posted this at 9:17 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 as Ourselves, Deep in the Heart of Texas

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