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Jim B says: If we start voting Independently, just don’t vote for some schmo they stick out there that hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. If enough of the nation starts voting independently, neither the jackasses nor the elephants will have a filibuster-proof 60% majority any longer. You vote for the best choice, and to that, I would like to add...that means don’t vote for someone who CLAIMS to be Independent, but is actually a puppet of the 1 party system we have. (February 9th, 2010 at 10:09am)
Karen Olsson
Features
Why Are Tortilla Chips So Damn Good?
Is it the crispiness? The crunchiness? The saltiness? Thankfully, a small cadre of researchers in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M has spent much of the past thirty years munching on this question. (September 2009)
Presidential Detail
(June 2009)
Before and After
For some residents of Mount Pleasant, the April 16 immigration raid on the local chicken plant was no more than a segment on the evening news. For others, including many legal residents of the tiny East Texas town, it was the moment everything changed. (December 2008)
The Final Frontier
Karl Gebhardt and Gary Hill, two astronomers from the University of Texas at Austin, are racing to solve one of the greatest mysteries in science: What is dark energy? How does it work? Can it explain the origins of the universe? There’s only one problem. Dark energy may not actually exist. (April 2008)
Keep Out!
Which is worse: looking the other way as millions of illegals stream across the border or building an unconscionably expensive and impractical fence that few in the Valley (a) want or (b) believe will make a difference? (November 2007)
Human Mate Selection Is a Many-Splendored Thing
David Buss understands how Stone Age hookups made us who we are—but can that help me get a date? (June 2007)
Eating A Dead Horse
Even if you’ve never dined on the delicious remains of a noble steed, you probably have an opinion on whether the state’s two slaughterhouses should remain open. Boone Pickens does. And Charlie Stenholm. And Bo Derek. Not to mention the many traders and “killer buyers” for whom business is business. (December 2006)
Keep Waterloo Weird
In this excerpt from Karen Olsson’s forthcoming novel set in a fictional state capital (wink, wink), a reporter for a weekly newspaper watches a rural conservative who “shares your values” announce his candidacy for governor. (October 2005)
About a Girl
Audra Thomas can't read these words and, in a few months, wouldn't remember them anyway. Nevertheless, she has an extraodinary sense of the world around her—and of herself. (August 2003)
Mr. Right
The line on James Leininger is fairly simple: He's a doctrinaire conservative who spends millions supporting candidates and causes he likes—and opposing those he doesn't. That makes him one of the most influential players in Texas politics in the post-Bush era. (November 2002)
The Evolutionary
What do you do when you win a $295,000 MacArthur “genius” grant? If you’re biologist David Hillis, you keep teaching at the University of Texas as if nothing happened, and you keep chasing frogs. (June 2000)
Columns | Miscellany
Capitol Affairs
Nadine Eckhardt married not one but two legendary figures in the Texas liberal pantheon. And lived to tell the tale. (April 2009)
No Place Like Home
Bienvenidos a Farmers Branch, the headline-worthy Dallas suburb where the biggest hard-liner on illegal immigration could soon be known as Mr. Mayor. (May 2008)
The Old College Try
The mayor of El Cenizo is 23, is still in school, and lives with his mother. But he’s serious about making life better in his impoverished border hometown. (August 2006)
The Buck Stops Nowhere
Is the Texan who oversaw Abu Ghraib a hero, a villain, or both? (April 2005)
The Gay Non-Issue
The election of a lesbian sheriff in Dallas County is a reminder of how far we’ve come, in a very short period, on the question of sexual orientation. (January 2005)
Party Crashers
If we had more than two big-time candidates, maybe we could have a genuine presidential race in every state. Even Texas. (October 2004)
Reporter
Jim Adler
66, Personal-Injury Lawyer (August 2009)
Fred Garza
Tick Rider (January 2008)
Web Exclusives
Scenes From a Mall
(March 2009)
My Library
