[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
Let’s see – they execute more people than the rest of the country combined. You can use lethal force to protect your property – resulting in bizarre cases like people killing car repo guys and not even being charged. You can have open liquor containers in your car.
[/QUOTE]
Man, that sounds like heaven to me!
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
And they send people like Tom Delay to Congress and George Bush to the White House.
[/quote]
Why you killed my heaven?
Let’s try to:
O.K.?
[QUOTE=Clothahump]
Seriously, there is nothing wrong with Texas.
[/quote]
This is the attitude I don’t get! There is something wrong with every state in the Union. I’m not going to sit here and say Texas is the worst (I’d have to put my vote in for Mississippi, but that’s more for personal reasons) but to say nothing’s wrong at all is blind and exactly the kind of problem we speak of. Better to say “there are things wrong” and then work to fix them.
Nothing against you, Clothahump. I like you, I just find this attitude kind of…self-defeating. If there’s nothing wrong, no one ever tries to fix what is wrong.
I was born in Texas in 1940; I left Texas in 1963. What I remember most about Texas in my day was an all pervasive air of potential violence; no matter what the situation, there was always someone who was perfectly willing to fight to the death over something as minor as the merits of Jax Beer Vs. Pearl Beer. I remember an all pervasive sense of discrimination; blacks were almost universally hated and despised. For most of my childhood, I didn’t know that nigger was an insult; I thought that was the generally accepted word to describe black people. I remember a place where Mexicans were beneath contempt. I remember a place that had the most contradictory laws imaginable concerning alcohol and its consumption. I remember a place where certain businesses were not allowed to operate seven days a week; a place where the bible thumpers and flag rubbers were all but supreme. I remember a place where police officers were effectively encouraged to be abusive and insulting to almost everyone; it was the macho thing to do. I remember when the Dallas police worked for $50.00 a week and considered that to be excellent pay. I remember a place where Texas Rangers were a law unto themselves; cross a Ranger and your days were all but numbered. I remember a place where the most outrageous right wingers you can imagine were in charge of making and enforcing laws that were all but unintelligible. I remember a place where school books were edited by a select group of imbeciles charged with protecting the morality of school children. In effect, I remember a place where walking in lock-step was not only expected, it was demanded. I remember a place where changing jobs once in five years branded you as a “job hopper.” I remember a place where your employer could and did demand to know virtually everything about your private life. I could go on, I suppose, but that’s just a sample of what this native born but recovering Texan thinks is wrong with the place.
I’m sure some things have changed but I suspect the mindset hasn’t.
[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
Tex-Mex is bland and tasteless. Much better is the Mexican food as made in northern New Mexico – Albuquerque and Santa Fe and the like. It has a lot of local Indian influences that make it outstanding.
[/QUOTE]
I’m kinda surprised by this. I was out in Santa Fe in May and was really pumped up to try the local fare. After going to several places that were recommended as the best by the locals, I was a tad let down. Its not that the food wasn’t tasty, indeed it was quite good. Its just that it wasn’t really that much better or vastly different than the food I can get in a good Mexican restaurant here. And I live in CT, a place not really known as a hotbed of Tex-Mex and southwestern style foods.
The local practice of calling pepper based sauces “chili” when they are really what the majority of us would consider to be salsa was a bit odd to me as well.
[QUOTE=LouisB]
I’m sure some things have changed but I suspect the mindset hasn’t.
[/QUOTE]
For better or for worse, the mindset has changed. Against my better wishes, all of the out-of-state transplants that have been streaming into Texas over the past 40 years are, unfortunetly, allowed to vote. Consequently, the diluted population has been dragged (kicking and screaming) into the same touchy-feely gooeyness as the rest of the nation. But you guys go right ahead believing in your Texas sterotypes. If it keeps just one of you from moving here and further increasing my morning commute, I’ll be more than happy.
[QUOTE=MichaelQReilly]
The local practice of calling pepper based sauces “chili” when they are really what the majority of us would consider to be salsa was a bit odd to me as well.
[/QUOTE]
First, it’s “chile”, not “chili”. Yes, there’s a difference in that “chile” is the fruit while “chili” is the meal. Chile, and chile-based sauces and salsas, is/use red (ripe) or green (unripe) Anaheim-related peppers and not the jalapenos generally used in commercial salsas. Once again, there’s a difference.
[QUOTE=MichaelQReilly]
I’m kinda surprised by this. I was out in Santa Fe in May and was really pumped up to try the local fare. After going to several places that were recommended as the best by the locals, I was a tad let down. Its not that the food wasn’t tasty, indeed it was quite good. Its just that it wasn’t really that much better or vastly different than the food I can get in a good Mexican restaurant here. And I live in CT, a place not really known as a hotbed of Tex-Mex and southwestern style foods.
The local practice of calling pepper based sauces “chili” when they are really what the majority of us would consider to be salsa was a bit odd to me as well.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not up on places to eat these days in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, it’s been too long. I do recall a Tomasita’s in Santa Fe that was great. I always tried to go there when I was in town. It has – or had, dunno about now – a branch in Austin, but friends who tried both said the Austin branch was not as good. (Watered down for Texans.) I remember a Baca’s on Central in Albuquerque. And there was a place in a bowling alley called Sadie’s. I kid you not. It was SO popular that this little bowling-alley diner eclipsed the bowling alley itself. It eventually opened a huge restaurant of its own next door. I tried it on a visit there about 10 years ago. Really great.
[QUOTE=LouisB]
I was born in Texas in 1940; I left Texas in 1963…
[/QUOTE]
I was brought to Texas at age 4 & am still here. Things have changed.
But, even back then, our experiences were different. I once used the N word in front of my grandmother. She convinced me never to use it again. (The taste of soap keeps reappearing in my memory–but I really don’t think she went that far.)
[QUOTE=Cardinal]
One member finally went so far as to say that other states should be jealous of Texas’ shape, because so many other states were so boring.
[/QUOTE]
Heh, bigotry and a big ol’ “WHOOOOOSH” embrace yet again.
[del]Life[/del] Cardinal imitates art.
What place threads and sentiments like these are doing on a board with such a mission statement I’ll never know. Pity, as you can’t help but think a little less of all that respond in such a narrow minded negative.
[QUOTE=Kyla]
I actually can’t recall ever hearing a Texan boasting about Texas, but it’s certainly a well-known meme.
[/QUOTE]
Agreed, and an oh so very, very tired one at that.
[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
I’m not up on places to eat these days in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, it’s been too long. I do recall a Tomasita’s in Santa Fe that was great. I always tried to go there when I was in town. It has – or had, dunno about now – a branch in Austin, but friends who tried both said the Austin branch was not as good. (Watered down for Texans.) I remember a Baca’s on Central in Albuquerque. And there was a place in a bowling alley called Sadie’s. I kid you not. It was SO popular that this little bowling-alley diner eclipsed the bowling alley itself. It eventually opened a huge restaurant of its own next door. I tried it on a visit there about 10 years ago. Really great.
[/QUOTE]
I ate at both Tomasita’s and Saddie’s while in NM. Both were very good, but as I said, neither was head and shoulders above other good southwestern places I have eaten. I did bring home a jar of Saddie’s hot habenero salsa which I enjoyed thoroughly.
Um, that’s Sadie’s. Still, it’s much better than Tex-Mex.
I really thought Tomasita’s was great way back when.
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow]
Texas, along with our fare share of jackasses and fuckwits, also provided the nation with Lyndon Johnson, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Lloyd Bentsen, Ann Richards, Sara Weddington, Molly Ivins, Lady Bird Johnson, and Liz Carpenter.
[/QUOTE]
Um… Much like a bad salsa, Shilrey Chisolm was made in [bad Texas accent]New York City![/bad Texas accent]
[QUOTE=asterion]
First, it’s “chile”, not “chili”. Yes, there’s a difference in that “chile” is the fruit while “chili” is the meal. Chile, and chile-based sauces and salsas, is/use red (ripe) or green (unripe) Anaheim-related peppers and not the jalapenos generally used in commercial salsas. Once again, there’s a difference.
[/QUOTE]
I wanted to be clear that I wasn’t finding fault, the usage was just odd to me. I had always considered chili, chile, chilie, however way you want to spell it, to be a dish including beef, beans, pepper, tomatoes, etc (I suspect most others share this view). The people in NM who I was with told me that this is more aptly called Texas Chile.
The reason I compared the NM chile (I had both green and red) to salsa is because, to me, thats basically what it tasted like, minus tomatoes, which you really don’t taste all that much anyway in hot salsas.
[QUOTE=asterion]
First, it’s “chile”, not “chili”. Yes, there’s a difference in that “chile” is the fruit while “chili” is the meal. Chile, and chile-based sauces and salsas, is/use red (ripe) or green (unripe) Anaheim-related peppers and not the jalapenos generally used in commercial salsas. Once again, there’s a difference.
[/QUOTE]
Right. But over here, “chilli” – with 2 Ls – is the fruit. Fruit? Is that what it is? Anyway, I think this is British spelling, not sure. The stuff they have here puts what you have there to shame in terms of heat.
(And I miss Hatch green chiles.)
[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
Right. But over here, “chilli” – with 2 Ls – is the fruit. Fruit? Is that what it is? Anyway, I think this is British spelling, not sure. The stuff they have here puts what you have there to shame in terms of heat.
(And I miss Hatch green chiles.)
[/QUOTE]
I assume you are talking about Thailand now. When I was young I thought I was badass because I ate siracha sauce. Then I found out they made it in Jersey or somewhere like that.
Born and raised in Texas, lived here for almost fifty-four years now, so I am a bit biased. I like Texas and have no desire to leave. I haven’t traveled much, but I have been to a dozen or so other states and found them to be just as nice a place for the people who live there as I find my own state.
What I find strange is that I have seldom heard Texans in Texas do any overt bragging about the state, so I wonder why they would be such obnoxious braggarts once they go somewhere else. If I was out of state, I might volunteer that I was from Texas, but it wouldn’t occur to me to make a big deal out of it, and I doubt anyone I know would either. I don’t hear visitors from other states go overboard talking about their own states, so I doubt that Texans are that bad when they travel. Everybody has to be from somewhere.
The Texas braggarts are just probably people that would find something to brag about no matter where they were from, just to be the loudmouth center of attention.
Thanks for your input guys. I wasn’t looking to start people flaming etc. I’m genuinely curious about Texas (or wherever) exceptionalism. An inverted form of that exceptionalism exists here “Typical Ireland!” statements about when a train is late, a hospital overcrowded, a politician is corrupt, a scandal is revealed, or a project is overbudget, as if none of these things occur elsewhere. I sometimes feel the national past time (other than drinking) is complaining. PS I’m not complaining about that, I just find it funny.
I’ll have to visit Texas sometime and see what everyone is complaining/bragging about. 
Furthest south I’ve been is Virginia, and the furthest west has been Iowa.
[QUOTE=An Gadaí]
Thanks for your input guys. I wasn’t looking to start people flaming etc. I’m genuinely curious about Texas (or wherever) exceptionalism. An inverted form of that exceptionalism exists here “Typical Ireland!” statements about when a train is late, a hospital overcrowded, a politician is corrupt, a scandal is revealed, or a project is overbudget, as if none of these things occur elsewhere. I sometimes feel the national past time (other than drinking) is complaining. PS I’m not complaining about that, I just find it funny.
I’ll have to visit Texas sometime and see what everyone is complaining/bragging about. 
Furthest south I’ve been is Virginia, and the furthest west has been Iowa.
[/QUOTE]
Texas is a large & complex state. So, please come for a visit.
Helpful hint: Don’t come in August!
I submit to you that Texas is the Harvard of states.
Do I mean it’s the best-educated or most elite? No. What I mean is that once you volunteer or it is learned you are from Texas, nobody is agnostic about it. Everyone has an opinion - good or bad - about where you’re from, usually based on a stereotype or some experience the observer has had with some individuals from there.
I say this because I am a Harvard grad, and the response is virtually the same: “Oh, you went to Harvard? I’ve decided that you are a jackass/snob/genius based on that fact.” Same with being from Texas. I can’t tell you how many tell you how many times someone has met me and within five minutes has decided that I’m a Bush fan, believe in capital punishment, or that I have a cowboy hat and boots. Texas has a mythology about it that we all embrace and reject it at the same time.