Horns Up: Why would the UN want the Alamo, anyway?

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson had the correct reaction to the recent outbreak of Internet indignation over the prospect that the United Nations might declare the Alamo a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some conservative commentators have frantically accused the UN of trying to “take over” the ill-fated rebel fortress from the Texas Revolution. The UN’s policies “follow Santa Ana’s [sic] dictatorial rule rather than the values the Alamo defenders died for,” one website, infowars.com, wailed. “Bureaucrats from China or France could oversee and influence the Alamo’s operation.” 

“Horse hockey,” declared Patterson in response to the backlash. “It’s a tourism designation indicating it’s a place of historic significance. That is all.”

Horns Down: Perry laments drama, lacks any self-awareness

Gov. Rick Perry says he’s had enough of a House special committee on transparency’s investigation of UT System Regent Wallace Hall. According to the Texas Tribune on Wednesday, Perry called the heat on Hall “extraordinary political theater.” We find it rich that a legislative committee is being accused of theatrics by a man who goes barnstorming around the country with doom-and-gloom ads about their states’ real or imagined economic turmoil and who in March urged his regents to stand up to the “charlatans and peacocks” criticizing them at the time. Go ahead, Perry. Defend your appointee, but don’t be surprised if your past drama ends up taking center stage instead.