I've been in Texas since college. I was first attracted to the state because of its music. During my formative years as a guitar player, I was attracted to early ZZ Top, Johnny Winter, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughn. As a result, I wanted to be in Texas, eventually winding up at Trinity University in San Antonio in the late 1980s and gravitating to Austin in the early 1990s. I've been in the state ever since, but I've been in Houston since 1995.
However, for the last few years, Texas politicians have been a national embarrassment. Whether it's
- John Cornyn threatening to shut down the government,
- Ted Cruz doing is best imitation of McCarthy,
- Louis Gohmert actually opening his mouth about anything (babies becoming terrorists),
- Steve Stockman inviting Ted Nugent to the State of the Union, or
- our governor's complete inability to remember three government agencies in the middle of a presidential debate,
I simply wanted to state that not everyone from Texas is nuts. Unfortunately, we've become a hotbed of political crazy over the last 10 years, for which I heretoforth apologize for.