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S/SW blog philosophy -

I credit favorite writers and public opinion makers.

A lifelong Democrat, my comments on Congress, the judiciary and the presidency are regular features.

My observations and commentary are on people and events in politics that affect the USA or the rest of the world, and stand for the interests of peace, security and justice.


Monday, May 05, 2008

Against the grain


Texas is an interesting place to live. Women here are multi-talented, and sometimes go against the grain of conventional wisdom. My late mother-in-law could make the best plate of fried chicken anywhere, and she was very independent for her time. And Texas women have a reputation for being sassy, Molly Ivins, for example. The founders of the state were often people who did not fit in somewhere else. And, fortunately, we are not all Republicans. Today's post is an amalgam of the anachronistic, a digest of digression, a roundup of news from and about talented women from Texas that might be of interest to you, too. Let's begin with the bloggers:
  • "nytexan" posts at BlueBloggin. The blog leads with this motto: "James Madison -- If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." A great writer and a member of the Texas Progressive Alliance, she regularly covers Texas blogs. Here is an interesting post on the Clintons that I had not seen elsewhere.

  • "TXsharon" writes Bluedaze. She lives, very modestly, not far north of here. She told us "How I became a “far-left-radical with a socialist agenda” etc. TXsharon is a recipient of the Texas Progressive Alliance 2007 Silver Star Award for Texan of the Year.

  • Fayrouz Hancock writes Fayrouz in Beaumont, formerly called "Iraqi In America." Born and raised Christian and educated for computer science in Basrah, Iraq, Fayrouz immigrated in 1995 to Australia as a young adult. Fay met her husband online; they married in 2001 and now live in Beaumont. Mark is a photographer for the local paper; Fay works in the computer field. Fay and Mark rode out Hurricane Rita together with others working for the newspaper.

  • "thankgodforpbr" is a contributor to Texas Death Penalty Blog: Texas Students Against the Death Penalty (TSADP) works to end the death penalty in Texas through campaigns of public education and the promotion of youth activism. Her own blog is Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP) Austin.

Women are good communicators, including those from the Southwest featured today. "Spacey Women" at NASA headquarters in Houston play an important role in the program. The STS-124 Mission has a woman crew member, Dr.Karen Nyberg, who got her PhD from the University of Texas in Austin. She was chosen as an astronaut in 2000. The mission is targeted for launch May 31. It will carry the second element of the Japanese science module, "Kibo," into orbit.


View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.
(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)
My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.
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2 comments:

The Future Was Yesterday said...

My "hands on" experiences with Texas consist of a hellish 1.5 hours in Dallas Ft. Worth airport, where not a damn soul speaks English!...(: I avoid the state like the plague. It did give us Ann Richards and Molly Irvin, but I wonder if they didn't have outside help.:)

During my working years, I worked for three different Texans, and damn if every one wasn't a loud mouthed, arrogant idiot!:)

It also gave us the Bush mafia, countless crazy cults..."Whem I die, I SURE as hell don't want to go to Texas!"

You need to be a C&W fan to understand that one.:)

My ex Brother In Law was a born and stupefied Texan. God, did we have some moments!:) One time, I threw him out of my house, saying, "Drag your ass hack to Texas if you don't like the way I do things! This is NOT Texas! This is the civilized world!"

After that, he decided maybe I had a right to do things my way, and we got along a little better. The last Time I saw him, just before my divorce was final from his Sister, he said: "Smartest move she ever made!!" ROTFL!

I have a library of Texas jokes....:)

The Future Was Yesterday said...

But I do know some NICE Texans too, and I understand parts of the state are beautiful! Send me a post card and tell me about it.:)