This is rich indeed.
Midland is going gangbusters on shale fracking and has the nation's lowest unemployment rate and Yuma has the highest rate at 16.1 percent. A solar power plant - "the largest photovoltaic solar generation facility in the world," financed with a DOE loan guarantee - there has created all of ten jobs.
Austin is very cool. But I really really need to work on trying to love Texans more. Didja see this recent piece in the NYer? Kinda funny.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/humor/2014/03/24/140324sh_shouts_frazier
A national pollster writes, “My firm recently selected a random sampling of passersby in Times Square and asked them how they felt about Texas. Most respondents expressed a somewhat grudging acceptance. ‘Nothing you can do about Texas! Let’s move on to a happier topic!’ was one individual’s comment, which can stand for many. Strangely, however, a few vocal outliers said they loved Texas and became irate when we could not conceal our surprise. They offered loud policy opinions, such as ‘Don’t mess with Texas!,’ or even cried, ‘God bless Texas!’ Such strongly held, irrational feelings would suggest little room for compromise. One interview subject went so far as to claim that he was from Texas—a logical impossibility, if he was not speaking metaphorically—but he was also wearing an outsized hat and sharply pointed boots, and appeared to be deliberately eccentric or perhaps insane.”
Texas is one of those states within the union that has a fairy distinct culture (next-door Louisiana also fits that, as do Wisconsin and Minnesota.) In the Texas case, part of that is surely due to its having been a sovereign republic for nine years.
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