The Texas State Mammal

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The mammal most closely associated with the Lone Star state a century ago was the Long Horn steer, a rangy creature that was driven north in great herds to railheads and then shipped back east to feed the masses. Later, as beef cattle began to be produced in other locations, the ubiquitous armadillo took over as the mammal most identified with Texas. Today, the armadillo has migrated northward to every state south of the Missouri River, and lies decomposing along most of the nation's highways and byways. It is no longer unique to Texas.

But not to worry, Texas has a new state mammal: the braying jackass. I came across a prime example of the Texas specialty this afternoon at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. This particular jackass had ordered a sandwich at one of the airport eateries, consumed most of it, and then got indignant because he was a diabetic and suspected that the food contained sugar. The first time I walked by the restaurant he was raging on the server: "I'm diabetic. If that's got sugar in it, and I think it does, you're going to damn well know it in a couple of minutes!" I came back by a minute or two later to see if he had collapsed into a diabetic coma, but he was still on his rant. He had a manager corralled who was not buying into his act - the guy apparently wanted a refund. The manager was assuring the guy that his sandwich contained no sugar. The diabetic (or con-artist) was demanding to know the manager's name - and the spelling.

There are some battles that are just not worth fighting. I felt like the restaurant manager wasted a lot of unnecessary energy engaging with this man. The scene cost them more business than the price of a lousy sandwich. I, for one, walked on down to a less combative section of the terminal for my burger.

One day the braying jackass will go the way of the Long Horn and the armadillo, but in Texas that may take awhile!

Let 'Em Bray!

by Pa Rock
Pissed-Off Populist

Every Republican member of the House of Representatives voted against the stimulus bill yesterday - for the second time. Remember that - and when we're all selling apples on street corners and living in cardboard boxes, we'll know who to thank!

One wonders just how many snakes have to bite President Obama before he realizes that the top item on the Republican agenda is his complete and total failure. These bottom feeders are only interested in tax cuts for the wealthy and meeting their own immediate needs. The rest of the country can go to hell in a hand basket!

Well, it's high time the President jettisoned these leaches and went to work for the people who elected him - the poor and the real middle class. No more Mister Nice Guy! Show the slugs what it's like to truly be on the outside looking in!

House Minority Leader John Boehner seemed to be bordering on tears as he threw the bill to the floor and wailed that there was no stimulus to it - it was all spending! Boehner's, and indeed the Republican Party's, idea of economic stimulus is that it can only be achieved by tax cuts for businesses and the "middle class," a group they see as making in excess of $200,000 a year. (Guess where that puts you and me?) That fiscal irresponsibility got us into this mess and has not worked for the past eight years, but maybe it will magically turn around the economy now. Don't hold your breath!

Mark Sanford, the Republican Governor of South Carolina, also got a little overly dramatic this week blubbering about the stimulus package putting enormous debt on our children and grandchildren. I am sympathetic to that claim. Our children and grandchildren appear doomed to pay all of our bills. But two questions, Mark: What type of lives are they likely to lead if we sit back and do nothing? And, where was your fiscal outrage when George Bush was destroying the economy with his ego-maniacal war?

Back in the Ozarks we have a word to describe these self-serving loudmouths - jackasses! The Republican motto seems to have become "Let us bray!"