combating stupidity one essay at a time!

Texas Rangers

2006-05-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

Well this week I kind of wanted to write about something historical but I also wanted to write about Texas; so I settled on writing about the Texas Rangers and that would kill two birds with the preverbal, one stone.

Just to give a quick rundown on the Rangers, they were started in 1823 by Stephen F. Austin. They were unincorporated and loosely banded. In 1835 they were officially recognized as a “Ranging company”. In 1935 they were folded into what became the Texas Department of Public Safety. Now days they aren’t the nomadic ranging bounty hunter types that were portrayed in the movies, they are the states intelligence agency. Basically they are Texas’ version of the FBI.

The following is a list and short profile of some of the state’s most legendary lawmen. These men had a large part in Texas developing the reputation we have worldwide as rugged, independent individualists who feared nothing or no one. I feel that we are loosing that identity as a state due to political correctness and a huge influx of out of staters who want us to be more like them instead of them adapting to our way of life. Here is my warning to all parents. Teach your kids about our history; you can’t really rely on the school systems anymore. Let your kids no what it is to be a Texan!

Frank Hamer 1884-1955
The name Frank Hamer is a synonym for “Badass”. Frank was a typical lawman, in that he hated outsiders interfering in law enforcement business. He would never make it today in law enforcement. Between the ACLU and citizen review boards he would be run out of town on a rail. But back in the day (1920’s and 30’s) he brought law and order to a state that was still pretty wild and wooly. In 1932 he is said to have retired, but the truth was he was ticked off at local politicians so he quit. Sure enough, two years later, they needed him again so they talked him into coming back. This time they needed him to find none other than Bonnie and Clyde. Frank tracked them down and got permission to cross into Louisiana. On May 23, 1934 they set up an ambush and pumped over 130 rounds into the car they were driving. The moral of the story kids…….don’t piss Frank Hamer off!

Manuel Trazazas "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas 1891-1977
Lone wolf Gonzaullas is pretty cool for a couple of reasons. First, he is the first ranger from Spanish decent. He was born in Cadiz, Spain. Secondly he is the namesake; at least his nickname is, of my favorite movie Chuck Norris’ “Lone Wolf McQuade” about a modern day Texas Ranger in El Paso. Lone Wolf’s biggest case was the notorious murders in Texarkana, Texas in 1946 just after World War II. If you can find it there is an old movie called “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” it dealt with those murders. After retiring from the Rangers he moved out to Hollywood to be a technical advisor for TV movies and radio. His most notable project was called “Tales of the Texas Rangers”. Like any good Texan, Manuel came back to Dallas so he could die in Texas.

Leander Harvey McNelly 1844-1877
McNelly was one of the first to really develop the rough and tough ranger image. In the 1870’s he was sent down to South Texas along the Nueces River. Mexico and Texas had argued for years on where the southern border was. Mexico said the Nueces River, and of course Texas said it was the Rio Grande, a little further south. That area of Texas was notorious for cattle thievery and lots of rough Mexican banditos. A special branch of Rangers called “Special Force” was commissioned and they specialized in carrying really big cans of whoop ass. Leander was rough as hell but he did bring law and order to that area. He died of tuberculosis in 1877; God finally did what no man on Earth could. In 2001 they made a movie called Texas Rangers about McNelly. The movie starred Dylan McDermott. I don’t know why they chose him, hell they might as well have chosen Charlize Theron. (in case you cant tell I’m not much of a Dylan McDermott fan!)

Samuel Hamilton Walker 1815-1847

There is not a whole lot of individual stories to tell about Sam. He served in the Mexican-American war in the 1840’s. In 1844 he was serving with Jack Hays Ranger Company. There were 15 rangers and they took on 80 Comanche Indians near the Pedernales River. They had new Colt Pistols. Apparently they made a hell of an impression on Sam. A couple of years later he was in Washington D. C. and he met Sam Colt and helped him develop what became the Walker .44. That became a legendary pistol in the old west. That gun killed more men than Cecil B. Demille.

John Salmon “R.I.P.” Ford 1815-1897

“R.I.P.” is another nickname that Hollywood borrowed for a fictional Texas Ranger. Kris Kristofferson played Texas Ranger Cecil “R.I.P.” Metcalf in a couple of made for TV movies called “A Pair of Aces” and “Another Pair of Aces”. The real RIP was mostly known for creating the Ford and Neighbors trail between San Antonio and El Paso. He was later made a Ranger Captain in that area where he was an Indian fighter in the early 1850’s. That might not sound like much but you have to understand that the area of Texas between San Antonio and El Paso was some of the roughest toughest country in the entire United States. To tell you the truth; even today; once you get passed San Angelo it still not the most welcoming country in the world!

Ramiro “Ray” Martinez
I wrote about Ray several months ago after reading his book “They call me Ranger Ray”. It was fascinating. It really makes you proud to be a Texan. I could personally relate to the book because of the places he talked about. He grew up in the Rotan, Sweetwater area and he later lived in Austin. He is most famous for what he did before he became a ranger. Ray is the man who killed Charles Whitman; the sniper on the UT observation tower. He later joined the rangers and served down in South Texas fighting political corruption. You can check him out at http://www.rangerray.net/.

William Alexander Anderson (Bigfoot) Wallace 1817-1899

Bigfoot Wallace wasn’t famous so much for a single event. He is more famous for what he encompassed. He is the stuff that Hollywood likes to make movies out of. He was a larger than life character. It is said that he is a decendant of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. He moved to Texas from Virginia after hearing that some of his family had been murdered in the Goliad massacre. So like his Braveheart ancestors he went to Texas to kill them that were responsible. Another legend of Bigfoot was the following passage from the Texas Handbook Online: He drove a mail hack from San Antonio to El Paso and on one occasion, after losing his mules to Indians, walked to El Paso and ate twenty-seven eggs at the first Mexican house he came to-before going on to town for a full meal.

Ben McCullough 1811-1862
Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. McCullough had decided to follow Davy Crockett to San Antonio and fight at the Alamo. Ben came down with the measles though and was bedridden in Nacogdoches. By the time he was healed up it was too late everyone at the Alamo was dead. Instead he joined up with Sam Houston and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. He later became a ranger and like most typical individualist Texans he liked to fight with his own weapons; shotguns and Bowie knives instead of the standard issue saber and carbine rifle.

John B. Jones 1834-1881

He was involved in one of the most legendary old west shootouts. He was a Major in the Texas rangers and he set up an ambush for the notorious outlaw Sam Bass in Round Rock, Texas in 1878. I am personally interested in this one because I believe one of the rangers involved was named William Ware. I am related to a William Ware who also lived in the 1800’s but I have not been able to connect the dots on this one yet.

Joaquin Jackson

Joaquin is where Hollywood meets reality. He was a real Texas Ranger who retired in 1993 and got into movies. His biggest role was Sheriff Wes Wheeler in the Tommy Lee Jones western “The Good Old Boys”. He is also the man who discovered country singer Johnny Rodriguez singing while he was in jail. He is also on the board of directors of the NRA. Jackson is an expert with firearms, so in the words of Willie Nelson, “Don’t boss him; don’t cross him, just wait till tomorrow, maybe he’ll ride on his way.”

Just for fun here are some photos of Hollywood's version of the Texas Rangers:

Well as you can see they are some colorful characters. They have developed a few nicknames and mottos over the years. They have been called “Los Diablos Tejanos” the Texas Devils, “Los Pinche Rinches” the fucking rangers. They have also developed the motto “One Riot, One Ranger”. That phrase was coined in 1896 when Ranger Captain Bill McDonald was sent to Dallas to stop an illegal heavyweight boxing fight. When he got to town the local sheriff asked him where his help was and McDonald replied: Hell! Ain't I enough? There's only one prize-fight!

God and Texas,
Jason Watson

Your Constitution, My Constitution, Our Constitution

2005-10-31T00:46:00.000-08:00

I have just recently watched the Nicholas Cage movie “National Treasure” and I am currently reading Sean Hannity’s book entitled “Let Freedom Ring”. So you will forgive me for feeling a little extra patriotic. They are both partly responsible for this week’s blog. With President Bush’s supreme court pick due tomorrow (Monday) I got to thinking about the good old Constitution and how it is quite possibly the best man made document ever conceived.The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of our land. It was enacted on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Before we had the Constitution we had the articles of confederation. Knowing that was not going to work, our founding fathers gathered one summer in Pennsylvania and the rest as they say is history.
I’m not going to go into the details of the Constitution because that could take all day and many, many pages. What I really want to do is get to the gist of it, what it is about, what it provides for and what it does, and more importantly, doesn’t say.Basically it is broken down into articles. Each article lays out word for word what the Government can and can’t do. It is interesting to note that it really focuses on what the Government can’t do!

Here is a quick rundown.

Article 1 deals with the legislative branch, which is congress. It lays out the powers of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Article 2 deals with Executive power, which is the president of the United States and what his powers and limitations are.

Article 3 is the judicial branch, that’s the courts obviously. I could write all day about how this article is being trampled all over by today’s liberal judges.

Article 4 deals with the state’s rights. A lot of people would be surprised to learn that this is what the civil war was started over and not slavery! It is also interesting to note that the Constitution specifies in the bill of rights on the tenth amendment "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Translation; if it’s not specified in the Constitution, the states can make any law they see fit and the federal government has to recognize it. Isn’t that a nice thought!

Article 5 has to do with the process for amending the Constitution. The founding fathers were a lot smarter than people give them credit for now days. They new things would change and they couldn’t foresee everything so they allowed for a process to update it. The problem is today people think the courts can just make up laws as they go. The legislature, representing the will of the people, is what is supposed to make the amendments.

Article 6 identifies the Constitution and the laws and treaties of America to be the supreme law of the land. It also makes federal workers i.e. judges, soldiers, presidents, etc. solemnly swear to support and uphold this supreme law. Some officials would do well to remember that!

Article 7 is ratification, which basically means all the thirteen colonies had to agree on this document and sign off on it.

Believe it or not after all the blood, sweat and tears poured into making this document not everyone was satisfied. They didn’t think it went far enough. That is where the bill of rights comes in. Some people wanted extra assurances. There were good arguments on both sides. Some wanted to make sure their rights were spelled out while others argued “where do you stop?” you can’t possibly list every circumstance in life and guarantee that you have the right to, or not to deal with it.

Eventually they decided on ten basic rights and they were amended into the constitution and we were off and rolling. I said in the beginning that I thought this was the greatest man made document ever; and that is the truth. The foresight that these men had to create a government never seen before and to write it so that it balances out and is able to adjust itself over time is remarkable.

I take it very personally now days when I see it under attack. It pisses me off to no end when people who don’t know a thing about the constitution start running off at the mouth about what their “rights” are. If you don’t know, I suggest you read it yourself (I carry a personal copy with me for arguments and quick reference) or just shut the hell up.

Finally I want to address some myths in the constitution, just in case any of you were wondering. There is no right to abortion. There is nowhere in the document that says that. The courts just made that up; which is way out of their jurisdiction, that’s up to the legislature. There is no separation of church and state. All the constitution says is “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” quick translation; congress can’t make a law forcing you to worship a certain way, that’s it! The recent Kelo vs. New London case, that was a ruling saying the government can take your private property away and give it away to another private group. That is referring to eminent domain, what the constitution means is that government can take your land for public use like a school, library, roadway or something like that. You can’t just take it away from the owner and give it to someone else for their own private use. And last but not least the second amendment says “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” That means you can’t make all these laws restricting gun owners; but they are doing it anyway.

I urge everyone to get a copy of the constitution; it is like an owner’s manual for living in this country. It tells you exactly what you can and can’t do. That way if you are getting the shaft you can reference it and know exactly what your rights and freedoms are.

God and Texas,
Jason Watson

Your Constitution, My Constitution, Our Constitution

2005-10-30T23:26:00.000-08:00

I have just recently watched the Nicholas Cage movie “National Treasure” and I am currently reading Sean Hannity’s book entitled “Let Freedom Ring”. So you will forgive me for feeling a little extra patriotic. They are both partly responsible for this week’s blog. With President Bush’s supreme court pick due tomorrow (Monday) I got to thinking about the good old Constitution and how it is quite possibly the best man made document ever conceived.

The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of our land. It was enacted on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before we had the Constitution we had the articles of confederation. Knowing that was not going to work, our founding fathers gathered one summer in Pennsylvania and the rest as they say is history.

I’m not going to go into the details of the Constitution because that could take all day and many, many pages. What I really want to do is get to the gist of it, what it is about, what it provides for and what it does, and more importantly, doesn’t say.

Basically it is broken down into articles. Each article lays out word for word what the Government can and can’t do. It is interesting to note that it really focuses on what the Government can’t do!

Here is a quick rundown.

Article 1 deals with the legislative branch, which is congress. It lays out the powers of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Article 2 deals with Executive power, which is the president of the United States and what his powers and limitations are.

Article 3 is the judicial branch, that’s the courts obviously. I could write all day about how this article is being trampled all over by today’s liberal judges.

Article 4 deals with the state’s rights. A lot of people would be surprised to learn that this is what the civil war was started over and not slavery! It is also interesting to note that the Constitution specifies in the bill of rights on the tenth amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Translation; if it’s not specified in the Constitution, the states can make any law they see fit and the federal government has to recognize it. Isn’t that a nice thought!

Article 5 has to do with the process for amending the Constitution. The founding fathers were a lot smarter than people give them credit for now days. They new things would change and they couldn’t foresee everything so they allowed for a process to update it. The problem is today people think the courts can just make up laws as they go. The legislature, representing the will of the people, is what is supposed to make the amendments.

Article 6 identifies the Constitution and the laws and treaties of America to be the supreme law of the land. It also makes federal workers i.e. judges, soldiers, presidents, etc. solemnly swear to support and uphold this supreme law. Some officials would do well to remember that!

Article 7 is ratification, which basically means all the thirteen colonies had to agree on this document and sign off on it.

Believe it or not after all the blood, sweat and tears poured into making this document not everyone was satisfied. They didn’t think it went far enough. That is where the bill of rights comes in. Some people wanted extra assurances. There were good arguments on both sides. Some wanted to make sure their rights were spelled out while others argued “where do you stop?” you can’t possibly list every circumstance in life and guarantee that you have the right to, or not to deal with it.

Eventually they decided on ten basic rights and they were amended into the constitution and we were off and rolling. I said in the beginning that I thought this was the greatest man made document ever; and that is the truth. The foresight that these men had to create a government never seen before and to write it so that it balances out and is able to adjust itself over time is remarkable.

I take it very personally now days when I see it under attack. It pisses me off to no end when people who don’t know a thing about the constitution start running off at the mouth about what their “rights” are. If you don’t know, I suggest you read it yourself (I carry a personal copy with me for arguments and quick reference) or just shut the hell up.

Finally I want to address some myths in the constitution, just in case any of you were wondering. There is no right to abortion. There is nowhere in the document that says that. The courts just made that up; which is way out of their jurisdiction, that’s up to the legislature. There is no separation of church and state. All the constitution says is “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” quick translation; congress can’t make a law forcing you to worship a certain way, that’s it! The recent Kelo vs. New London case, that was a ruling saying the government can take your private property away and give it away to another private group. That is referring to eminent domain, what the constitution means is that government can take your land for public use like a school, library, roadway or something like that. You can’t just take it away from the owner and give it to someone else for their own private use. And last but not least the second amendment says “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” That means you can’t make all these laws restricting gun owners; but they are doing it anyway.

I urge everyone to get a copy of the constitution; it is like an owner’s manual for living in this country. It tells you exactly what you can and can’t do. That way if you are getting the shaft you can reference it and know exactly what your rights and freedoms are.

God and Texas,
Jason Watson

I Love

2005-06-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

I love John Wayne, Andy Griffith, Willie Nelson, Dallas Cowboys, chicken fried steaks, ice cold beer, Texas Rangers, The Texas Rangers, Davy Crockett, Sam Elliott, Elmer Kelton, Bob Wills, Don Knotts, finding money in my pocket (doesn't happen very often!) smell of fresh cut grass, smell of gunpowder just fired from a gun, backstrap for breakfast, lightning bugs on a warm summer night, smell of a fireplace on a cold winter night, fishing, hunting, Bar-B-Q(remember that is an event not a meal), Marty Robbins, the sounds of coyotes howling and cattle bawling, the Alamo, gravy on everything, iced tea, Tom Landry, Sam Houston, watching high school football on a hot sultry night or a bone chilling cold night, the Beverly Hillbillys, Tom T. Hall, Red Sovine, rodeos, sittin' round the campfire with family and friends, strumming my guitar, small town parades, a bowl of menudo on a cold night, trying to speak spanish to my father-in-law, carne guisada, homemade tortillas, blowing things up, listening to old men bull s#*t everyone (I hope to be one of those guys someday!), 'coon hunting with my in-laws, George Strait, seeing my mom, aunts, grandmother etc. cooking a huge meal for everyone, watching my wife be a mother, Texas Longhorns, Roger Miller, Norman Rockwell art, cowboy songs, spring time thunderstorms, U.S. Military, Ronald Reagan, Walt Disney's Robin Hood, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, old time gospel music, every moment I spend with my daughter, Ford pick-ups, coca-cola, Bluebonnets in the Texas Hill Country, Gomer Pyle, Walter Brennan.
It wouldnt be possible to love and enjoy all these things if I didn't love my God and my America!
God and Texas,
Jason Watson