Home of Today’s Common Sense

Submitted to Brownsville Herald on 4/27/2005
for Publication on May 1, 2005
By Fred Drew and Michael Fritz
What happened to the juicy, tasty and flavorful steak, I seem to remember from other places and times. It seems that unless you soak it in all manner of marinades, and cover it with sauces and flavor enhancers that make it taste like something else, eating such a steak reminds me of cardboard.
Alone one evening without anyone to regulate my fat intake, I remembered back a few years, how wonderful a thick chuck steak tasted when grilled on the barbecue, and went to the supermarket and bought a chuck roast; (the steaks were much too thin).
I cooked it to perfection, a bit on the rare side of medium rare, so it would be juicy and tasty.
Wrong! It was dry and tasted like paper! It even made the salsa taste dull.
Knowing that I could not be at fault, I dug through the trash and pulled out the label. It said Chuck ‘seven’ roast - USDA Grade Select.
Like many others, I haven’t read the labels for a long time and had no idea what “Select” meant. I only remember Grades like Prime – Choice – Good – Standard and so on. Most markets I remember only put beef marked USDA Choice in the meat cases. What happened? Is it just different here in South Texas, where beef comes from?
Thinking that I had the beginnings of an expose to rival, the use of rendered beef fat in cooking french fries by McDonalds; (They taste great and if the oil is clean and hot, I really wonder just how much fat stays in a fresh cut potato)
I determined to find all the meaty secrets. Read the rest of this entry »

Published Brwonsville Herald 12/14/2004
When I checked my Web site in preparation for this column I noted, as you would expect, that taxes, education and taxes and education were the issues most read. Though not very surprising it is heartening to see that those issues are read and re-read more than twice as often as any other. Most folks are truly interested in seeing their children have more opportunities for education and the benefits that can result.
I submit that striving for better education is the one thing that we all can agree on; the problems begin however, with differing views in how the education is accomplished.
On one side, we are told that there is a crisis in education and only more tax money will solve it, on another we need alternatives to the present system so as to provide a choice and competition to the system to encourage accountability. Some blame the teachers for holding low expectations of certain groups of students, having a lack of ability to motivate students or worse; and others blame the parents for lack of interest and support in the educational process. I have often blamed the school administration for not adequately maintaining a good learning atmosphere. There may be some truth in all of these things but that is not the primary problem. Read the rest of this entry »

“Does the European Style Ferry Service work in the Gulf of Mexico?”
Published June 29th in the “FerryNews” London, England on their Website

In the late 1990’s I was the President of a company that operated both a Car/Pax and RoRo ferry operations.
The original planning for the project was done with two friends then employed by the prestigious marine engineering firm, M. Rosenblatt and Son, Inc, working with me to develop a business plan that made financial projections as accurate as possible,related to costs and benefits. A plan, I might add, that was very well received when presented at an annual meeting of the American Society of Marine Engineers.
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Published Brownsville Herald 10/3/2004
Recently, my wife and I followed the cattle trails north to Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas, much as the early cowboys and charros, possibly (great) grandparents of many in the Valley, did 130 years ago or so. We were much more comfortable, however. On the way we stopped in Oklahoma City at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
The historical displays and extraordinary art work in this remarkable place brought me face to face with the reality of what and why America is!
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Submitted 8/25 Published Brownsville Herald 8/29
Like everyone the attack ads and claims and counter claims have excited my emotions like little else has done in many years.
I served in Vietnam for several tours between 1963 and 1969. My experiences while there and afterward led me to conclude that the communists could not win the war but the anti-war activists caused them to believe that the U.S. could lose, if they just held on and directed their propaganda to play on the sympathies of the new generations. They were correct! Not only did we lose but many more of our soldiers died as a result, not to mention the many thousands killed in the aftermath, including thousands of Hmung tribal people, some I knew personally.
. Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted 6/23/2004 Published Brownsville Herald
I noted in the June 23 report on the BISD Board meeting in the Herald that the Board now feels that students who do not go to school or sleep through classes deserve a grade of 50 for their non-activity.
As I understand it they are telling me that the student knows 50% of what they need, to be fully knowledgeable in the class, whether they attend or not. Another way of looking at it is that a 50 is now equal to a “0”. So will we need grades of 150 in the future?
This is just another, well intentioned, action that will cause more problems than it will solve.

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Submitted 5/26/2004
I read Mr. Navarrette’s article in The Herald of May 26 and agree with much of what he has to say about the importance of Latinos and I believe that most Americans are also aware of the importance of all immigrants who have respected American law and immigrated legally.
The problem is that undocumented immigrants have not respected the rule of law and in fact are criminals. They create serious problems for other immigrants attempting to find the dream of “American Freedom”.
Just as there are other immigrants of Latin descent aside from Mexicans, (Asian Hispanics, Carribean Hispanics, South American Hispanics) there are undocumented immigrants of other nationalities that have failed to respect our laws in there arrival here. If the first act of an individual upon arriving in a new land is a criminal one, albeit one driven by survival, can a nation that depends on the rule of law expect more from them?
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Submitted 5/12/2004 Published Brwonsville Herald
I just read the heart tearing article in the Herald of May 12, entitled “Veteran’s Troubles stir up memories”. That is perhaps the best articulated portrayal of the situation I have ever heard about outside of some other Vets venting in private. The description of being branded as some kind of monsters when we returned and; because “unless you experienced the terror, you could not begin to understand”, most suffered in silence. I still have friends, I served with, that still after 30 years, live the war every night when they try to sleep or drown it with alcohol or other substances. The society of the day would not let them be the heroes they were. Now society pays. So many of the warriors in uniforms and the shadow warriors abandoned during the President Carter period, did not return - they worked as mercenaries for a while and those that survive, live in enclaves in Central America, Thailand, the Philippines etc. They didn’t do this to themselves; a country that wants to quit when the going gets tough has done this to them.
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I had the privilege of being in the stands in Corpus Christi last Saturday when the Lopez Lobos seized the Texas “futbol” championship from favored Brenham in the first eight minutes of the game; when our Lobos surprised the opposition with two great goals and cracked their confidence. The rest of the game was superb tactics and great defense that prevented the bigger Brenham team from becoming a serious threat until late in the game when a shot on goal was helped by the wind and found the net.
To me the bigger story is the way these young folks represented Brownsville before, during and after the game. Even though the frustration on the part of the Brenham resulting from not being able to mount any kind of meaningful attack, precipitated some unsportsmanlike conduct such as kicking our goalie, discrete punches in the clinches on the field, and racial epithets in the stands and on the field; our young folks just kept their cool and played an outstanding game.
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Submitted 4/2/2004 Published Brownsville Herald
I have recently read in the Herald a number of calls for new public expenditures to build this facility or provide that service to get Brownsville on the “Map”. Certainly some of these things are necessary to maintain the quality of life but I submit that Brownsville is indeed on the “Map” and not because of any edifice or service.
Last fall I returned to the town where I was born, a small “bordertown” in Northern New York for my 40th high school reunion. As is the case with many “transplanted Texians”, I fell in love with the place, the people and the mystique that is Texas; and unabashedly brag about its many wonders. (I am still impressed that there are still real people that normally wear cowboy boots and hats.)
My two best friends from high school, now partly retired, normally escape the severe winters in Kissimmee, Fla. were persuaded to visit us in Brownsville for two weeks. They are now considering changing their destination.
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One of the heroes of my youth died recently and another passed a little while ago in Vermont. Captain Kangaroo-Bob Keeshan was 76 years old on June 27, 2003 and together with Mr. Greenjeans, Rocky and Bullwinkle and the others on the morning TV show, were my companions and role models while growing up.
The Canadian border area where I grew up was very economically depressed but heaven compared to the Ireland, with the poverty and persecutions there, that my folks left just a generation or so before.
My dad, granddads, uncles and the other adults in our family demonstrated the concepts of “self reliance and honor” to me everyday; The Captain reinforced these with stories and daily demonstrations that were part of his show. Read the rest of this entry »

Published Brownsville Herald 3/7/2004
I recently watched the movie “Goin’ To Texas”, one of the many about Sam Houston’s participation in the independence of Texas. It brought to mind many of the others such as those relating to the defense of the Alamo.
The theme that rings so clear is that the only thing the folks wanted was the freedom from an interfering national government.
I have recently taken to reading such revolutionary material as the Federalist Papers, the anti-Federalist Papers, Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”, and Levy’s “Origin of the Bill of Rights”.
In most of the debate it was very clear that the framers of the Constitution wanted the same thing. The major contentions were, how best to protect the people from the government. Contentions surrounding the “Bill of Rights” demonstrate it well. The “Federalists” contended that a “Bill of Rights” was not necessary as the Federal Government did not have the authority or power to do any of the things mentioned and that the mandates contained in Article 2 Section 9 were sufficient. Many also asserted that if they were specifically mentioned in the constitution, it would be inferred that the Federal government did have that power and that an activist court would take advantage of them. The opposition was so afraid of the power of an interfering central government they insisted on the “Bill of Rights” to protect them and possibly to even delay the approval of the new Constitution.
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Published - Brownsville Herald 7/27/2003
I just read the viewpoint of Justin Raines entitled “Reasons why taxes going up” with pleasure. Though I don’t agree with the basic arguments raised, I was indeed impressed with the articulate description of his point of view and the amount of work that obviously went into the commentary.
The points raised were substantially, that we have to pay more local taxes to make education better, because the federal government will not give us more money, and that the federal government would be able to do that if the rich would pay more in taxes.
Of the most critical importance to us here in Brownsville at this moment are two positions that I can support easily: You can indeed change things with your vote (if you vote and most don’t) and helping schools to effectively provide a good education is helping yourself and the community as a whole.
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Clarification of Sunday Opinion
When I read the article entitled Focus on Teachers, Sunday July 5, I was disturbed at the statement “More money only improves the good programs and initiatives; it does not make stars out of dung.” It could be inferred that some our children are dung. “Oh, that was me that said that!” Shame on me for a lack of clarity, I am sure that some of my former students at U.T.B. are pleased to see that “Clear, concise and persuasive” can be forgotten in the passion of the subject, even by the instructor.
What was meant was that some if not many of the formal programs are little more than dung, that only provide jobs for administrators to “coordinate” them. In fact many programs do little; it is the teacher who stirs the interest in education and self-betterment in the child, even when the family, cannot spend enough time, as they must work just to provide for a survival existence.
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Published Brownsville Herald June 18, 2003
In the Herald on Monday, June 16, 2003, I read that a Mr. Novogrodsky had no reason to vote. But in fact he did vote. The vote he did not cast supported the winner in the elections he could have voted in.
He voted to accept whatever decisions and actions the officeholder chooses to make.
The people that did not vote in such high numbers have had an enormous impact in recent elections; the nonvoters even elected the President.
Could it be that the reason that office holders do not speak to your concerns is because you do not participate in the elective process in voting in primaries so that good candidates that represent your views will be on the ballot and then in the elections to present the positions represented by the vote in the forum of the elected office.
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