This year, as we gather for the feast, I am giving thanks for illegal immigrants.I have a particular group of illegals in mind, but I confess that my gratitude to them does color my view of most other illegals.
I refer to the liars, debtors, opportunists and criminals who flooded into Texas in the first half of the 19th century, and then wrested the land from Mexico.
Their story is told in A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States.
...These immigrants not only entered illegally or violated the terms of their legal entry, but rather than keep their heads down and try to fit in, they lived in active defiance of the law.
So much so that the Mexican government in 1830 passed a law barring all new American immigrants from entering Texas.
Among the illegals violating that particular law were David Crockett, William B. Travis and Sam Houston.
For the fact that tomorrow we celebrate the particularly American holiday of Thanksgiving in Texas, we owe them and the thousands of other illegals whom they joined our enthusiastic gratitude.
I also give thanks for those illegals who have worked hard to clean up the Galveston area in the past weeks, and have shown no interest in importing slaves or overthrowing our government.
Our history shows that immigrants — even illegal ones, especially when laws are out of whack — often make things better.
-- Via blogHouston, this little slice of hilarity from Mark Bennett regarding the latest Harris County Republican e-mail scandal, this one involving Judge Larry Standley and the county chair, Jared "Butthead" Woodfill (a brouhaha two years old, but coming back into the light; go here if you need the backstory):
Woodfill, unless he’s even more clueless about Harris County politics than I am, knew about these emails, including their specific content, in October 2006. If that content justifies calling for his resignation now, it has called for it every day for the last two years.Woodfill pitches this as the party acting, but it turns out that party leadership met recently in executive session and did not decide to act against Standley. What Woodfill is doing is trying to give the idea of ousting Standley some legs before the party has to make a decision on it.
It’s a hatchet job. Not only is it a hatchet job, but it’s a hatchet job undertaken for personal revenge. Not only is it a hatchet job undertaken for personal revenge, but it’s a hatchet job undertaken for personal revenge against one of the fairest, most just misdemeanor judges in the courthouse.
And that’s what makes Jared Woodfill today’s Asshat Lawyer of the Day.
Do go read the piece in its entirety. Without an ability to pass judgment on Standley's jurisprudence -- his regular prudence being another matter entirely -- it's just entertaining to continue observing Republicans cannibalize themselves.
-- Lastly, Elise Hu has some photos from Jim Mattox's memorial service yesterday, and this recollection from a eulogist:
(Mattox) checked out a lot available at the (Texas State) cemetery a few months ago. He joked, "Let me try it out first" -- before lying down on the grass. He decided it felt right, and that spot is where he will be buried.
And don't miss Dave McNeely's historical retrospective of Mattox's time in the political limelight.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving.
