The GOP Autopsy

Normally you don’t expect to see the words “Republicans” and “introspection” right next to each other. Like supermodel and barbecue. Physicist and polka. Gazelle and ophthalmology. You catch my drift.

Charmingly offensive road tour

Thankfully the current revival of President Obama’s Charm Offensive is not a theatrical production, because the reviews are decidedly mixed. Seeing him furiously pirouette around Washington for the last two weeks like a carnival contortionist makes you wonder if he might be secretly setting up a post-presidential career in a Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil spin-off.

Scoops that’ll bust this town wide open

The journalistic cliche is that someone comes running into a newsroom, shouting: “I’ve got a story that’ll bust this town wide open!” So stop the presses; re-do the front page. But in these days of the Internet, you don’t stop the presses. You merely write it ASAP and hit the “publish” button.

Saying goodbye to an old friend

On the morning Bob Barton died, I came home to a vase of yellow roses in the warm winter sun on my wooden writing desk – a tribute placed by a man who had come to accept his wife’s reverence and fascination with a charismatic, silver-haired orator who had set fire to his woman’s heart.

Spelling Bees: They need your S-U-P-P-O-R-T

At press time, inclement weather has postponed my son’s elementary school spelling bee; but I’m still all fired up over the concept of such old-fashioned contests.

Keep public notices public

With the Texas Legislature in session, there are already hundreds of bills filed for consideration.

Ode to 2012

And so we bid a not-so-fond farewell to the bow of another large unwieldy year as it sinks slowly over the horizon wobbling unsteadily towards the graveyard of memory. And cheers erupt from we folks on shore waving the double-handed “L for loser” sign above our heads. “So long. See ya. Don’t let the door slam you in the butt on the way out. And if you got any brothers or sisters, don’t give them this address.”

How to save an editorial cartoonist

These are tough times for political cartoonists as newspapers cut back. Cartoonists are still widely syndicated in newspapers across the country, but national syndication pays a fraction of what cartoonists made from traditional staff jobs, making them an endangered species as cartoonists lose their jobs.

Let it rain, let it rain

by JEFF BARTON No rains in November. Nothing. Nada. And December’s skies have barely spit on the lands of Buda and Kyle.  – News reports With due respect to Bing And all our holiday bling, What we’re dreaming of this Christmas night Is not the stuff that turns us white. Rather, without regret, We dream [...]

Non-sectarian prayers needed

by DAVID SWEET

The Hays County Commissioners Court is being threatened with a lawsuit because many of the invocations that start their proceedings have had specific Christian phraseology. I believe that the local expression of civil religion should be decided locally, and I appreciate the stance of the county commissioners.