I’m a Texan. By all accounts (or just the more reliable ones) I’m a “proud Texan”. I was born here, I was raised here, and if my lack of motivation and drive persists, I’ll die here. I’m good with that. As a Texan I was indoctrinated at an early age to love Texas – the good and the bad. A bit like I love my momma, apple pie, baseball and Chevrolet. Ok, I don’t actually care one way or the other about Chevrolet – I’m indifferent – that’s the word! They’re fine and all, I’m sure. I mean no offense to anyone driving one. Oh, and while we’re at it if we could turn apple pie to some sort of cobbler and maybe replace baseball with tennis, that would be swell. Now the love of my Momma still stands, except let’s call her “Mom” or “Mother”, that would be more fitting. Whew. Got all of that out of the way. I love Mom, peach cobber, tennis (if I have to pick one) and car companies ending in “a”. And Texas! Don’t forget Texas.
As a Texan, I get to defend Texas to my out-of-state friends more times than I’d care to. Yes, in education we rank among the lowest, but many of us are fairly state-aware, despite what you were taught in whatever place you came from. And hey, we rank low in a lot of areas! TEXAS PROUD! We’re # (shoot, I don’t have that many hands)!
I feel like I’ve beaten this dead horse before, but let’s face it, I’m too lazy to link back to some post where I defended Texas. It’s out there. I’m sure my ire was up. I probably typed a few sentences using heavy, angry keystrokes. No, I won’t link those two adjectives with a contraction, and I’m aware that I’ve now ended a few sentences with prepositions, but that’s how I’m rolling today. I’ll make 32 other egregious grammar errors before I get through this post. Blame the Texas education system and a poor attitude.
Here’s the thing – Texas is my family. I can pick on it, but God forbid someone outside of it start – thems fightin’ words. Until last week…
Normally, I don’t like to get into my politics on my blog. I ust like to throw random anecdotes at you until you cry for mercy. Those cries herald an extended blogging sabbatical while I wait for the next thing to inspire me. Normally, I shrug off what comes across the national news about my state. It’s rarely good. It’s never an “atta boy, Texas” with no trace of sarcasm. Normally, I don’t cringe. Did I mention, “until last week”?
Let’s talk about Operation Jade Helm 15. You know that thing where Obama was planning to come to Texas to institute martial law. I think we were going to be rounded up into Wal-Marts and then who knows what would happen next. That story. The one where Governor Abbott sent the Texas National Guard to keep an eye on the US military. State officials from both sides of our state government sent the Governor notes basically saying, “what the…?” This played out in the media for a bit. Towards the end of last week we were notified by Gov. Abbott that he’d been briefed by the Pentagon and he now felt assured we Texans were not in peril. Whew! I’m not a huge fan of Wal-Mart. Bullet dodged!
I was gobsmacked..
I can handle being called out for my drawl. I can even handle my out-of-state friends being stunned that some Texans have had book learnin’ and can keep our drool from spilling down the front of our shirts. But this… this… I’m at a complete loss of words.
So, where I normally would avoid politics and in turn avoid posting other people’s thoughts on politics, I felt I had to be called away from couch sabbatical and post something – sometimes – other people’s words – people who are better at expressing themselves about this lunacy than I.
Strong Language Warning:
From the Stonekettle Station Blog:”Jade Helm: The Insanity that Ate Texas”
“Paranoia is a mental Illness, not a super power.”
And Jon Stewart, who is always brilliant: You can start at 4:45 if you just want to cut to the Jade Helm chase.
I’m such a proud Texan….
The Big Blue Mess 
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