The Pendejo of the Year Award is hereby presented to Texas House Representative Leo Berman. Leo—not surprisingly an old, white Republican—is spending his time and our tax dollars working very hard right now to legislate racism. Among other things, he wants to: a) stop giving automatic citizenship to children born in Texas, b) force Mexican kids to cough up paperwork in order to attend public schools, and c) make English the official language of Texas. It’s unclear if he also wants to authorize cops to pull over any driver who looks like he/she might be texting or talking in Spanish, but my hunch is that he’d be okay with that, too. Allow me to translate for you: Berman hates and fears Mexicans and is hoping to appeal to other people in this state who also hate and fear Mexicans. The main reason he is taking this stance comes down to—of course—the bottom line of vote acquisition. Leo makes no secret about this. He went on the record saying, “Most Hispanics right now do vote Democrat; there's no question about it. So what vote are we going after? We're going after a vote that doesn't vote Republican anyway.” more ›

As we picked our way across the cobblestones in the tiny Mexican village and approached the restaurant, my friend, Luc, gently said, “Spike, you stick to English and I’ll translate for you.” This is the same sentiment Warren, my young, hot domestic partner (aka Juarren, mi novio joven y caliente) expressed earlier in the week. I get very irritated whenever Juarren-- who happens to be fully fluent in three languages-- tries to squelch my bad Spanish. Probably because Luc—also trilingual—is just eight years old and barely comes up to my shoulder, I take far less offense. Still, I refuse to honor any requests that I knock off my attempts to communicate with the locals. How in the hell am I going to learn to hablo the Espanol if I don’t keep trying, eh? more ›

Since El Chile on Manor is a favorite spot, we thought that the opening of a new E.C. in our neck of the woods was sure to be good news. Rustling up two companions, we convened at the new location, up near where Anderson crosses Mopac, and started making comparisons. more ›

If you have friends who live in Clarksville, you probably tire easily of all their bragging about the 'hood, with all of its "walking" distance to delicious restaurants, wine bars, drugstores, $3.00 cab rides, blah, blah blah. The rest of Austin can drive/CapMetro/scoot/bike there just fine, gracias. more ›