Whitt’s Merten’s End 3.11.11

Whether you’ve reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s Merten’s End: *Well, that was quick. Chuck Greenberg formed the current Rangers ownership group, and less than seven months after the sale was complete, he’s out. No longer managing partner. No longer…

Rick Perry’s Compassion and Honesty Deficits

Talk about a disconnect. On Wednesday night I see Governor Rick Perry on television, with that little cowboy sneer he gets, saying, “The lieutenant governor, the speaker and their colleagues are not going to hire or fire one teacher, as best as I can tell.” Kind of like he’s saying…

Fox-y News’ Own Numbers Show the Talibaptists Haven’t Won Yet

Today the Dallas school board meets to hear the possible “good news” from the superintendent — that the district may only have to fire a quarter of its teachers instead of a third, depending on how badly the Rick Perry Banana Republicans and the TeeTee Party in Austin underfund public…

Let’s Get This Real Tea Party Started

Guess what. Maybe it has started. The great gray horse may be rising to her feet at last. Maybe the sane middle class of America isn’t dead in its tracks after all. I have a column in this week’s paper talking about a real Tea Party movement in the UK…

Is Hating Teachers the Right Thing to Do?

The New York Times ran a story yesterday about all the hate the right-wingers are expressing for school teachers. In the opening they quoted placards from Madison, Wisconsin, saying, “You are glorified babysitters who leave school at 3:30 pm. You deserve minimum wage.” They interviewed a 30-year-old second-year teacher who…

Whitt’s End: 3.4.11

Whether you’ve reached the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *Apparently Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones misunderstood. The NFL lockout hasn’t yet commenced. While the Washington Redskins signed O.J.Atogwe and Bob Sanders landed with the San Diego Chargers, the…

Mexicans are a shady bunch when it comes to race.

Dear Mexican: I am a mocha-skinned woman with long, curly hair and dark-brown eyes. Puerto Ricans always ask if I am Puerto Rican, Dominicans just come and start speaking Spanish, Cubans ask if my abuelita made good arroz con leche, but Mexicans know I’m black. What gives? —La Morena Dear…

Growing Our Way Into the Third World

Rick Perry keeps telling me that I shouldn’t worry about dumping all the kids out of school or putting Grandma out of the nursing home. Texas has the nation’s fastest-growing economy, he says, so don’t sweat it. What does that mean — fastest-growing economy? I took a look around yesterday…

Tom Leppert Rediscovers His Virginity

The Gromer Jeffers story in The Dallas Morning News Saturday reporting that Tom Leppert now opposes federal earmark money for the Trinity River project put me in mind of an old newspaper friend. He had struggled mightily with temptation during his younger married years. I should say, he struggled mightily…

Tom Leppert for Senate. Let’s Talk About That.

Dear Opposition Researchers working for U.S. Senate campaigns other than that of former-after-midnight Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert: Please contact me about the following things Leppert is going to say about himself in a campaign. First, he is going to say he led two successful referendum campaigns, one for the Trinity…

Whitt’s End: 2.25.11

*I still don’t fully understand Michael Young leaving Rangers spring training for two days. The team announced it was a “family matter.” Manager Ron Washington said Young “has a family thing.” And Young, as he left, told reporters in Surprise, Arizona that “Everything’s great.” But yesterday on 105.3 The Fan outfielder…