Texas

So in case ya never read the little side bar, I'm a Texan. And here at UI Texas gets a really bad wrap, so I thought I would straighten some things out here. Now I'm certainly not gonna say that Texas is perfect by any means. Governer Perry pisses me off on a regular basis, but we're pretty sure he is gonna be booted out of office when his term is up. The talk is that maybe Senator Hutchinson will run against him. That would be great- a former Texas cheerleader who still looks pretty good for her age as our Governor.
Alrighty, now Texas gets bashed on a lot b/c this one guy who happens to own a ranch in Crawford is from there. Now I must say that's unfair. Now yes, he was our Governor, but if you knew anything about Texas politics you would know that the Luitenant Governor is the one with the power. So when he worked for us Bush just smiled for the camera and lived in the nice house in Austin. Plus, he is just one bad person. Every state has produced one bad person in its time. Even the cool ones like Cali and NY. With that many people there are gonna be some bad ones. So I ask in the interest of fairness that you hate the man, not the state he came from.
Now Texas is actually a pretty fun place. Everyone in my family for the past several generations has been from there, and most still live there. It often gets depicted as a backwards state, but Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio are all in the top 10 largest cities in the country these days. Plus SA is the largest minority majority city in the nation. Austin is nationally known for its live music scene and Matthew McConnahay (spelt wrong, i know) getting high and playing the bongos. And for those who enjoy shopping at Nieman Marcus...well its from Dallas. As for the whole cowboy thing. Well yes, a lot of beef does come from Texas, and much of west Texas is still ranchland. And I do in fact own a pair of real cowboy boots, but I discarded the Wranglers long ago. I only wear such things twice a year though, to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo (the richest rodeo in the world) and this charity event my mom used to co-chair every year that benefitted the ARC. I do know how to ride a horse, but only cause I took it every summer at Camp Olympia.
There are a few things that are true about Texas. We like trucks. We in fact buy more trucks and SUVs than any other state, and as such all the auto makers make special commercials for Texas. We also control all the oil. Houston, where I am from, is pretty much the US headquarters for almost every major oil company. For a brief list: ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhilips(a new addition recently taken from Tulsa), Penzoil, Shell, and others. This means that Houston has the cheapest gas prices in the country-all the better since we all own trucks and SUVs.
Now of course I must address the death penalty and red state thing too. Yes, Texas by far executes the most people each year. But I would like to point out that California- the bastion of liberal thinking- is actually the state with the most people on death row. They just dont execute people very often. Which to me seems to defeat the point. Why not just give them life if you have no intention of carrying out the threat? Also people often point out that Texas executes the mentally retarded. I must set this one straight. Most people in Texas are against this. The legislature in fact passed legislation to put a stop to it, but the crazy Governor Perry(soon to ex hopefully) vetoed it. So blame him. Hopefully that will be rectified when Kay Bailey takes over. And as for the red state...well so is Iowa. And fully 1/3 of the state of Texas voted for Kerry. So please stop assuming Im a republican just b/c Im from Texas (that happened a lot when I first moved here).
Texans can be a bit prickly when you insult their state. It has a rich and very unique history, and is still the only state that was once its own country-as far as I know. We are proud of Texas independence from Mexico, and for that girl from Tennessee-NO! Texas was NEVER part of Louisiana. Please. And random side note- ever been to a Six Flags theme park? Well thats referring to the Six Flags of Texas.
There is much more I could I say, but I don't want this to be the longest blog yet. Ive resolved to start shortening my posts. So with all this in mind I ask that the Texas bashing be kept to a minimum. Especially if you've never lived there or even been there.