Casual Observations

• There have been 12 mass murders in our nation’s history involving the shooting deaths of 11 or more innocent victims. The first half of those occurred over a span of 50 years, from 1949 to 1999. The second half occurred during the last six years. Something’s terribly wrong here and it appears to be getting worse.
• Both of Texas’ U.S. senators are an embarrassment. First John Cornyn addresses the Senate on Syria and doesn’t take a side on the issue, but takes all sides. Then Ted Cruz says of the only avowed and unrepentant racist ever to serve in the U.S. Senate: "We need 100 more senators like Jesse Helms."
• I don’t care what Johnnie Manziel did at Kyle Field last Saturday, he has absolutely no chance of winning a second Heisman in this, his last year at Texas A&M.
• Texas coach Mack Brown has done an abysmal job of late in hiring assistant coaches and that is the main reason for the Longhorns’ fall from an elite status. It may be time for a regime change.
• Coming out of the Toronto International Film Festival, 12 Years a Slave has become the frontrunner for this year’s best picture Oscar. It should be noted that coming out of last year’s TIFF, Silver Linings Playbook was in the same position. I will have my Oscar predictions coming up around the end of the month.
• I will be on vacation next week, so don’t look for any blog entries between Sept. 20-29.