Drought, wildfires, and the Texas legislature's budget cuts

So this must be what "being broke" looks like. So goes Texas with Rick Perry at the helm, so goes the United States.

The 82nd Legislature slashed budgets for the state's volunteer firefighters, and now those volunteers are battling the wildfires devastating Texas without the things they need to do the job.

Across the Central Texas region wildfires are placing a severe strain on firefighting resources, and much of that strain is borne by a large number of firefighters who already work for free.

"77 percent of the fire-service in Texas is made up of volunteers, and Texas is a huge state," said Chris Barron with the State Fire Marshall Association.

Barron said all of state’s volunteer firefighters purchase their equipment with money from the same budget. State lawmakers cut that budget from $25 million to $7 million during the recent legislative session.

This has left many volunteers with old or outdated equipment. Chris Barron has made it his mission to raise money for new gear, like the gear that kept volunteer Jerrid Coffin out of the hospital.

“It helps a lot. I was out there yesterday for a couple hours and I fell in a hole about four inches deep and I wasn't even burned,” he said. “If I were in my Wranglers like I normally wear, I would be burned from the waist down."

“I can only hope that the fund is restored at the next legislative session,” Barron said. “We can only hope that once they get back in session, they can see we have had extreme circumstances with droughts and they will help the fire service out. There is no guarantee that it will happen. There is no guarantee that anyone will get any reimbursement, but we are hoping that they will help us out.”

Basic gear for a volunteer firefighter costs about $200.

If you would like to learn how you could help out, visit TexasWildfireRelief.org.

Volunteer firefighters are coming out of retirement to battle the blazes burning Texas. Spending their own money so they aren't burned up while they do so.

Because the good Republican leaders of Texas refuse to consider doing anything but cutting government resources and services.

Of course it's not just Texas volunteer firefighters who are suffering from this incompetent ultraconservative management, it's also the victims of the wildfires -- the people who have lost their homes and their timber and their livestock and their livelihoods and some even their lives. We already knew the price being paid by Texas teachers and their students, as well as Texas' seniors, the poor and the hungry. It is eventually going to be all of us who pay for their pound-foolishness.

State lawmakers - led by Perry's stand against raising taxes or dipping too deeply into the state's rainy day fund - cut appropriations for the Texas Forest Service even as they had to dig for more money to meet existing expenses.

Even the supplemental spending bill they passed this year will not be enough to cover the expense of fighting fires through Aug. 31, the end of the 2010-11 fiscal period. The state agency anticipates it will need another $61 million to cover those costs.

Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said the Legislature had provided agencies the flexibility to meet emergencies with their regular budgets, and Perry is seeking federal assistance.

Ah, that damned federal government again.The same one he cursed in May, when the fires first began.

I just wish Obama had the nads to tell Rick Perry: "No more handouts!"

Let's hope that Bob Perry and James Leininger and all of those other people who have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Rick Perry's campaigns through the years -- and who are being shaken down right now for contributions to his presidential run --  will click on this link and send an equally generous donation to the state's volunteer firefighters, so they don't asphyxiate or burn to death while they try to save the rest of us.

Because the rest of us are tapped out, and the fires are just going to keep on burning.

Update: More like this at Texas Kaos.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone had a fine Labor Day weekend as we bring you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff looks at a movement to end pensions for public employees.

Amy Price is one of just a few progressives running for Houston City Council in 2011, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs is helping her campaign.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson shows that the Texas GOP's next trick will be to come after pubic employee pensions to protect their wealthy campaign contributors: "Wisconsin-style" pension scheme coming to Texas.

My favorite Rick Perry costume is "tough cowboy who shoots coyote with laser pistol". Libby Shaw has some of the others at TexasKaos. Read all about it in her piece: Rick Perry's Colorful Costumes.

This week, McBlogger considers The Audacity of Hopelessness.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted the absence of Tea Party-sponsored highway rest stops between Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Government plays a role in our everyday lives that some of us may only consider when they are constant attack.

With the beginning of the college football season this weekend, Citizen Andy asks "Why does Rice play Texas?" And how does it relate to the wildfires, Obama's cave-in on the EPA's smog rules, the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline protests, Hurricane Irene, drought and economic malaise, clean air, climate change, and a switch to a clean energy economy? Read up at TexasVox.

America must decide, all right

The Grand Old Psychopaths are amping things up this week.

Ron Paul is taking on Rick Perry in a new television ad blasting the Texas governor for for supporting Al Gore’s 1988 presidential campaign, POLITICO has learned.

The 60-second spot, backed by a six-figure ad buy — the first negative ad attacking Perry to come directly out of a Republican campaign this primary season — contrasts Paul’s endorsement of Ronald Reagan in 1980 with Perry’s role as the Texas chairman for Gore’s first presidential campaign.

“The establishment called him extreme and unelectable, they said he was the wrong man for the job. It’s why a young Texan named Ron Paul was one of only four congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan’s campaign for president, believing in Reagan’s message of smaller government and lower taxes,” the ad says. “After Reagan, Senator Al Gore ran for president, pledging to raise taxes and increase spending, pushing his liberal values. And Al Gore found a cheerleader in Texas named Rick Perry. Rick Perry helped lead Al Gore’s campaign to undo the Reagan revolution, fighting to elect Al Gore President of the United States.”

You were aware that tomorrow night's debate was being held at the Reagan library*, right?

The ad, which Paul’s campaign is also trying to place during Wednesday’s POLITICO/MSNBC presidential debate, comes as Paul has increasingly focused his fire on his fellow Texan. The two have never had much of a relationship, and Paul’s repeatedly tried to paint Perry as an establishment candidate no different from the rest, and dismissed him Friday as just a “candidate of the week.”

“There are a lot of candidates who climbed real fast and went down real fast,” Paul told The Associated Press.

Perry’s camp has so far resisted engaging with Paul, though that may prove trickier when the two share the stage for the first time during the campaign at Wednesday’s debate.

Unlike his previous volleys, in this ad Paul only goes after Perry, leaving Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama alone.

“Now America must decide who to trust,” the ad closes. Al Gore’s Texas cheerleader, or the one who stood with Reagan.”

This is why I'm glad the president's speech on jobs isn't conflicting with the Showdown in Simi Valley. Like the rest of the nation, I'm going to be glued to my seat in front of the teevee so that I can witness the destruction, howl at the monkeys, and document the atrocities.

Go Ron Paul. LMFAO

*This link has some must-see video of Perry's debate with Kay Bailey last year.

Labor Day Not Funnies

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"Governor" Steve Ogden: 'politics is bad'

Peggy Fikac from Texas on the Potomac:

The Bryan-College Station Eagle spotlighted a speech by state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, mentioning the effect of political ambition on the legislative session:

“He said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was ineffective because he ‘made it clear early that he wanted to be the United States senator from Texas rather than lieutenant governor.’

“‘If you’re elected to a job you don’t really want, and you’re trying to use that job for something else,’ Ogden said, ‘you’re pretty miserable while you’re in that job and everybody else around you is pretty miserable.’”

When I caught up with Ogden last week, he said the comments about Dewhurst were part of a bigger point he was making about politics in the legislative session (the newspaper also reported other remarks in that vein) and added, “I’m sorry I said it. I’ve endorsed him” for U.S. Senate. Ogden said he didn’t find the endorsement inconsistent, saying, that Dewhurst “is the most qualified candidate in the race and knows more about finances and health care reform than anybody else.”

Steve Ogden is one of three state senators mentioned in this Texas Tribune straw poll of political insiders who would likely be selected governor and/or lieutenant governor if Rick Perry is elected president and David Dewhurst is elected US senator. I say 'selected', because it's the Texas Senate -- 31 men and women, two-thirds of whom are Republicans -- who do the 'electing'.

Hand a bunch of insiders a list of 31 senators and ask what's going to happen next, and you turn them into outsiders. The most insider deals of all happen when legislators meet amongst themselves to choose their leaders. It happens in the House every session. In the Senate, it only happens when the lieutenant governor leaves in mid-term. With David Dewhurst running for U.S. Senate, the game is afoot; if he wins in 2012, the Senate will pick his replacement. If Rick Perry leaves the governor's office, the lieutenant governor — Dewhurst or otherwise — would get his job.

That's the setup. We asked the insiders to forecast what might happen if the senators were to meet to choose new high officials. Who would win? Would the Democrats have any say in a Republican Senate? While we were at it, we asked the insiders which senators won't return in 2013, either because of retirement, defeat or the search for another office.

The results? No clear winners. If senators were picking a new lieutenant governor, the insider money is on Kevin Eltife of Tyler, with 36 percent, Robert Duncan of Lubbock, 26 percent, and Steve Ogden of Bryan, 18 percent. Only one other senator — Tommy Williams of The Woodlands — broke 5 percent. No Democrats made the list.

Picking a governor? Duncan led, with 26 percent, followed closely by Ogden, at 24 percent. Eltife came in at 11 percent, followed by John Carona, R-Dallas, at 9 percent. Nobody else crossed the five percent line.

Who's Steve Ogden, you're still wondering? He's the fellow who sneered at Texans when they came before his committee last June to protest the legislature's budget cuts to Texas education.

After hearing several witnesses urge lawmakers to use the reserve Ogden pointed his finger and told them to forget it.

"Hope is not a plan," Ogden said shortly before the bill passed the committee.

[...]

Ogden also said he doesn't believe what he called threats of "draconian" cuts to local schools.

"We're not cutting school budgets," Ogden said. "We're just not giving them as much money as they think they are entitled to."

To hear him tell it, though, Steve Ogden stands above the fray, making the difficult and important decisions about the future of Texas without regard to politics or ambition.

Do you believe that?

RIP Ester King and Jon Axford

The progressive movement in Houston lost two of its warriors last week.

"From the '60s to 2011, there was barely a progressive movement that took place that did have the involvement and leadership of Ester King," said longtime friend and fellow Houston activist Omowale Luthuli-Allen. "I'm going to miss his intellectual brilliance, his unceasing devotion to peace and freedom and I'm going to miss the steadfastness that he had to encourage the community to have a backbone."

[...]

Of the many writings King left behind is this explanation about his initial interest in social justice: "There was one incident that really caught my attention, the Emmett Till lynching in Money, Mississippi in 1955. He was my age, on vacation with relatives in a rural farming town just like Magnolia Springs. As I looked at that infamous picture of his coffin-enclosed corpse (almost recognizable as human) in Jet magazine, I learned to my utter horror that lynching was not reserved for adults."

[...]

King supported causes ranging from environmental justice as well as the rights of workers, women, tenants, children and immigrants. He was involved in the Free South Africa movement, anti-death penalty coalitions and efforts to address police use of deadly force.

"He was consistent. Some people were involved when they were young, but he stayed on the front lines and he helped train a whole new generation of organizers and activists in the community," said Kofi Taharka, national chairman of the National Black United Front. "There are a lot of younger people, like myself, that consider him a mentor and adviser. He dedicated his life to the liberation of African- American people and social justice causes for all people."

At the Harris County Green Party's Labor Day function Saturday evening, the lives and legacies of King and Jon Axford were celebrated.

Here's what Jon had to say about himself on his Facebook page: "I post pictures on Indy Media, I try to help promote peace in the world, etc." Indeed Jon contributed much to many peace and justice campaigns over the years. From anti-war protests to Veterans for Peace to campaigns against Halliburton, Jon was always there to help.

One of his enduring contributions is the hundreds of photo essays he took and posted here on the Houston Indymedia site.

Even as progressives in Houston and Harris County grow the movement, it hurts to lose the history and the spirit these two men represent.

May they rest in peace.

My Hope for Labor Day 2011

From my friend David Van Os.

This weekend a multitude of elected and would-be political officeholders are appearing at Labor Day picnics. Hoping to obtain labor endorsements for their next candidacies, they ascend the speaker’s platforms and loudly swear their undying loyalty to the issues of working families.

My great hope for this Labor Day 2011 is that working people will finally tell the politicians:

“We are tired of Labor Day speeches without action. Talking big at a Labor Day picnic where it is safe and convenient is meaningless crap. Tell the truth out there in the world about the class war that the gilded aristocracy of corporate executives and bankers is waging against the people. Tell the truth out there with passion and anger. Fight for the truth. Use your votes in the assemblies of government to defend the people against the powerful. Stop compromising with evil. Stand up and fight for us. Fight to tax the rich, stop the wars, defend workers and unions, restore the Constitution, defend the poor and the helpless, and protect the environment.

And next year don’t come back with mealy-mouthed excuses for why you didn’t fight for these things and why you compromised us. We don’t expect you to win every vote but we DO expect you to fight like Travis at the Alamo, like the Minutemen at Bunker Hill, like Chavez in the lettuce fields, like King in Alabama, like Gandhi in India, like Mandela in South Africa -- always fighting for the right and never giving up.

Fight like a warrior for truth and justice or don’t come back.

We would rather be left alone to enjoy next year’s Labor Day with our friends and families whom we love and trust than listen to one more lie or one more excuse from one more compromising politician.”

Sunday Funnies

Waiting for the skinny kid to fight back against the bullies. Still waiting.

The Audacity of Weakness.

So, (capitulating on the the day of his jobs program speech to Boehner) leads to the eternal question of whether Obama is just weak or if he is a brilliant strategist who has been playing rope-a-dope all along. I am so silly that I still had hope. My hope this morning was that Obama was laying a trap for the Republicans. He picks a day for his speech that is the same as the GOP debate. Then if Boehner says he won't let him give the speech on that day, he seems so petty and harsh.

That way, either the president gives his big speech on jobs and bigfoots the Republican contenders or the Republicans look disrespectful and petulant for turning down the president. Well, if you're playing rope-a-dope, that's not a bad maneuver. But it turns out that's not what he was doing at all. He just stumbled into this problem and then stumbled out when he let Boehner dictate when he could and could not have his speech. That looks so sad.

You see, if you're playing rope-a-dope, at some point you have to actually swing. When your opponent has worn himself out knocking you around the ring, you counter-attack. But that counter-attack is never coming. We're holding our collective breaths in vain.

Really, I go back all the way to the second debate with John McCain (the one where they stood at lecterns, not the first one where they sat on stools and walked around, or the third one where they sat at the 'newsdesk'). I watched it at a public venue, the Cotton Exchange bar in downtown Houston. Peter Brown sat right beside me. I was literally screaming "punch back!" at the television.

This must be how parents feel when they have a child who keeps getting bullied at school.

I long ago realized that Obama just wasn't a fighter. And the problem with that is -- see, people understand this instinctively -- if you won't fight back for yourself, you sure as hell won't fight for anybody else.

Why is this definitely not rope-a-dope? Because Obama hates risk. Even his most ardent supporters will tell you that he does not like to take big risks. He thinks it is imprudent. They see that as one of his strengths. McCain was a wild gambler, Obama was a cautious and smart poker player. That's why he won the election.

But would a man who dislikes risk that much risk his entire presidency on a strategy where he gets pummeled for three straight years and then finally comes out swinging at the very end? No way. That's a tremendous amount of risk. I don't mind taking plenty of risks, and I wouldn't do anything half that crazy.

No, the answer is much simpler. He doesn't realize he's getting pummeled. He thinks this is all still a genius strategy to capture centrists by compromising on every single little thing. He is not trying to put on an appearance of weakness to lull his opponent into a false sense of complacency. He doesn't even realize he is being weak. He's the one with the false sense of complacency. As he's getting knocked around the ring, he thinks he's winning.

These guys in the Obama camp are in for a horrible, rude awakening. Sometime in the next year, they are going to blink and realize they are lying flat on their back on the canvas. Then as they finally stumble up, they'll realize they should have started fighting 11 rounds ago. Then a panic will set in, but I'm afraid it will be too late by then.

I feel like I'm watching that movie Million Dollar Baby, and the fight scenes where she gets mortally wounded are in slow motion. We still have over a year to go of this scene.

Here is what all voters, and especially independents, despise and disdain in a politician -- weakness. Nobody wants to see their leader get beat to a pulp every night and then bow his head again.

There is no secret, brilliant strategy. This White House is in a bubble. They think they're winning when the roof is about to cave in. 

Did I forget to mention that since he caved on his jobs speech, he also caved to the Republicans and the oil companies on EPA regulations?

But nothing tops the quarrel our nation's leaders had over a speech about jobs for America conflicting with a primary debate. And now that speech conflicts with the opening game of the NFL season. Thank goodness the NFL isn't whining about that.

Update: Oops. They did.

The Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints kick off at 8:30. Would the president mind too terribly much speaking before the game so as not to interfere? Once again, Obama obliged.

I suppose conflicting with the pre-game is no problem. The president should just be thankful he's not going up against American Idol. Or Dancing With the Stars.

We're all the way to Idiocracy now.

I think we're done. I know I am.

Update: Susan still holds a flicker of hope.

Amy Price for Houston City Council

I'm delighted to be assisting Ms. Price -- in an unpaid capacity -- with her campaign for the At Large #4 position on council. From the press release (prepared in part by yours truly):

"I’m proud of every hot, muggy, mosquito-infested, unique, culturally rich mile of this city. And it’s the people who make it special," said Price.

"We are able and resourceful, determined and compassionate. And I know that if we work together, we can continue to keep Houston an example that will lead Texas and the nation out of these difficult times. 

"Houston has very fortunately avoided many of the challenges our state and country faces, but we haven't been immune to budget cuts, furloughed employees, and an uncertain forecast. It almost seems we’re watching from a far shore as our middle class shrinks, social services disappear, and our children face a future of fewer opportunities. It’s tempting to give up on fixing -- much less healing -- our society and just settle for holding our ground. But trying to hold ground is exactly how we’ve lost ground. It’s time to bridge the gulf between public policy and the democratic ideals that shaped this country, state and city, and our City Council needs someone who will represent the working class people of Houston. The wealthy special interests already are well-represented."

If you believe that the services city government provides, such as ...

• policemen and firemen having all the resources they need to do their jobs effectively;
• fixing potholes;
• picking up your garbage;
• and providing clean, safe, drinking water

... are not the kind of things that should be on a P/L statement, then Houstonians finally have that candidate. And her name is Amy Price.

That last part is the most important part of her campaign. Amy's opponents for At Large #4 are incumbent C.O. Bradford and Louis Molnar. Bradford, a former HPD chief, narrowly missed getting elected Harris County district attorney in 2008 before backing up and getting elected to the AL#4 slot in 2009. Here's a snip from the front page of Bradford's website:

Houston is about BUSINESS! A great number of people come here to start businesses, invest in businesses, and advance their careers.

What can and should the City be doing now? Tighten its belt, reduce spending, and provide relief for businesses and citizens. Businesses tend to flourish and citizens do better when they have as much free reign to operate legally and ethically as possible. Reducing some of the business burdens, especially while our local economy is sagging, is an incentive to reinvest, expand, and grow businesses when possible. In my view, this is how we help create more jobs, boost our local economy, and increase revenues.

Sounds almost like a Tea Partier talking, doesn't it? Since Bradford ran for DA as a Democrat in '08, he's been busy consorting with every manner of Republican as he eyes higher office (mayor in '13 against Annise Parker?). Rumors earlier this year were hot and heavy that he was going to take a shot this cycle, but Parker's war chest -- among other things -- must have scared him off.

Bradford wears the long-running scandals of the HPD crime lab around his neck like an albatross, yet that hasn't slowed his political career much. Do Houston voters just look over it or do they even know?

Here's a bit from Molnar's website:

Houstonians need City Council to use their tax dollars efficiently and wisely. This means we need to look for new ways to stretch our budget dollars. We need innovation to make our money go further, and we should encourage a culture of cost-savings. Our economy is not the same as it was a few years ago. Doing more with less is the new way of doing things, and it’s time we take a hard-line approach to the reality of today’s Houston.

Ah, an austerity lecture. The only thing that's missing is a few Teabaggers yelling "cut, cut, cut" in the background.

These two men are the living embodiment of "business as usual" at City Hall. They wear expensive suits, have already spent large amounts of money on their campaigns -- Bradford allegedly invested $5,000 in a campaign song -- and seem to be relishing the opportunity to continue cutting essential city services.

Price, a psychotherapist by profession and a violin teacher by vocation, is NOT going to be "business as usual". That much is certain.

Find Amy on Facebook here and follow Amy on Twitter here.

The Weekly 'Good Night Irene' Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance, which has some experience in these matters, extends best wishes to the east coast as it recovers from Hurricane Irene. Here now is the roundup ...

Off the Kuff notes that Texas' unemployment rate is at its highest level since the days of the oil bust. Maybe firing thousands of teachers and other public employees isn't such a hot idea.

Bay Area Houston picks up and posts the video of the Sanger ISD administrators who poked fun at Rick Perry in a Hee Haw sing-along skit.

A Houston city council candidate has affixed hundreds of his campaign signs to utility poles -- in violation of both city ordinance and the utility company's rules -- throughout the city, many of them 20- and 30-feet off the ground. This candidate, an attorney, blames "overzealous volunteers" and makes no promise to remove them. This candidate's name is Eric Dick. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs asks the (hopefully obvious) question: does Houston really need another dick on city council?

How can you tell that republicans are batsh*t crazy? Rick Perry has jumped to the top of the polls. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme has warned you for years.

Libby Shaw at TexasKaos has a roundup of Rick Perry's vast network of crony capitalists for inquiring minds. See Icky Ricky Perry, the Master of Pay to Play Politics.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson shows that state Sen. Steve Ogden needs to check his facts about who's to blame for the budget impasse last session: Ogden's false equivalency.

This week on Left of College Station Teddy continues to look at Rick Perry's Texas. From tort reform that doesn't deliver on promises to water infrastructure neglect that has left Texas a dry state; from crony capitalism that benefits Perry's campaign contributors to the fact that the Lone Star State has the highest percentage of uninsured in the nation. It's hard to mess with Texas when Perry already has.

Neil at Texas Liberal will be taking part in a spoken-word event and concert in Cincinnati on Saturday, September 3 to mark the release of the Aurore Press book Living In The Lap Of Labor. This book is a collection of essays about working in America. Neil has an essay in the book and will be reading from that essay. While it is unlikely you will be in Cincinnati in the week ahead, Neil asks you to stop on by and say hello if you are in fact in town.

Happy 175th birthday, Big Greasy

An outstanding essay by Lisa Gray.

In 1836, the place that would become Houston wasn't much of a place. The land was swampy, flat grassland, part of the low-lying Fever Coast. Buffalo Bayou wasn't deep enough to handle big steamships. And the parcel of raw land along its banks wasn't even the founders' first choice for the town they intended to develop. But the land was available immediately, and brothers John Kirby and Augustus Chapman Allen were in a hurry to start making their fortunes.

From the very beginning, in other words, Houston was the city we know today: an unlikely place; a city created as much by accident as by planning; a city in a hurry.

Somehow John Kirby Allen persuaded the young Republic of Texas to make Houston its capital. (It helped that the Allens had been clever enough to name the place after Sam Houston, the hero of the Battle of San Jacinto, soon to be elected president of the Republic.) But the little boomtown didn't last long as the republic's capital: Even by the standards of the Texas frontier, Houston was too raw, too muddy, too prone to mosquito-borne plagues. Disgusted, the legislators packed up and moved in 1839. And thus was established another of Houston's patterns: In the blink of an eye, it went from boom to bust.

Over the next 60 years, Houston fashioned itself as an agricultural center, a place where cotton was processed and shipped, a Southern town not unlike other sleepy little places that peppered the state. When Houstonians hungered for culture and urban life, they traveled to Galveston, a bigger city with a bigger port.

But at the turn of the century, again more by chance than by planning, two world-shaking events in other places changed everything about Houston. First came the Great Storm of 1900, the hurricane that struck Galveston, killing an estimated 8,000 people; it is still the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Businesses grew leery of shipping into Galveston.

And there, Houston saw its chance. Houston's businessmen had already made sure the city was crisscrossed by railroads, and now they hurried to make it an even greater business hub, to dredge out Buffalo Bayou on a grander scale, to make Houston into that strangest of things: an inland port.

The second world-shaking event came only a few months later, in 1901, when oil was struck in Beaumont, at Spindletop -- a gusher like nothing the world had seen before. Suddenly oil seemed plentiful, a fuel not just for lamps but for cars. Suddenly Texans were rich. And suddenly Houston -- with its railroads and growing port -- was an oil town, hub of a brand-new industry.

And that's how we acquired another of our habits: We began seeing the town as a connection, not a destination. The city proclaimed itself "where 17 railroads meet the sea." From Houston, you could go anywhere. It wasn't a town where people sat still.

By 1930, Houston was Texas' biggest city. And after World War II, fed by demand for all things petrochemical, it grew even faster.

Unlike older cities, it was a place shaped largely by cars - a spread-out, sprawling megalopolis, full of single-family ranch houses with big grassy yards, not tight-squeezed apartment buildings. The roads were wide and smooth; sidewalks, when they happened, were an afterthought. When a brand-new highway (like U.S. 59), plowed through a long-established neighborhood (like the Fifth Ward), that was counted as the price of progress. Speed and movement were everything.

The city continued to defy the elements. Houston prided itself on vanquishing nature, in triumphing over actual conditions on the ground. Bayous were channelized and paved, the twisty, slow-moving rivers turned into fast-moving drainage ditches. The city air-conditioned itself on a scale that amazed the rest of the world -- most gloriously, in the Astrodome, the world's first domed stadium, a place where even the grass was synthesized from petrochemicals. We called it the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

Read the rest here.