Opinion

Taxation without representation is tyranny. Though it’s hard to nail down who initially coined this statement, it was the hue and cry of “British Americans” when they fought during the American Revolution 260 years ago.

My Uncle Mort--a homespun philosopher lazily whittling away the day from a cane-bottom chair on the porch of the thicket’s general store--came up with a rejoinder. It’s one that millions of Americans currently believe but don’t know how to express. Or to whom? And when? And how? 

On March 12, 1836, six days after the fall of the Alamo, Gen. Sam Houston sent an urgent message to Goliad ordering Philip Dimmit to meet him at Gonzales.

Few Anglo-Americans came to Texas earlier than the young Kentuckian, who arrived at San Antonio in 1823, the same year Stephen F. Austin got the final go-ahead to populate the Mexican province. Dimmitt learned Spanish, married a local girl and became a successful and popular trader with posts at Victoria, Goliad and Lavaca Bay.

Dear Rusty: I hope we haven’t made a mistake! My wife just applied for her Social Security benefit. She was born in May 1962, and the estimated amount of her benefit is $1280/month. Her work income last year was $5,616; however, mine was about $65,000. I do not plan on taking my benefit until the age of 70 in July of 2027.

Odds of brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright constructing, then flying, the world’s first powered aircraft in 1903--and Southwest Airlines’ founding what would become one of the world’s leading airlines 64 years later--were about the same.

Most figured the odds to be slim and none.

And most were wrong…

While the Wrights’ contraption was aloft for only 59 seconds with a flight measuring just 852 feet, it was a beginning, as was SWA’s start-up with leased aircraft, stiff competition, borrowed money and unfettered dreams.

Twenty anxious defendants waited in a Dallas courtroom on Feb. 26, 1935 for a federal jury to come to a verdict in the “harboring” trial of Bonnie and Clyde’s closest kin and staunchest friends.

Following the fatal ambush of the most-wanted fugitives in May 1934, everyone struggled to get on with their lives. Their burden of grief was not lightened in the least by the inevitability of the couple’s violent end. 

Column deadlines often are near enough to nudge before first paragraphs are actually written.

Some might think such to be sheer procrastination. I prefer to consider my “delays” to be viewed as being more akin to prolonged  research. Pretend that I am hacking through the vines of a word jungle with a machete, searching for just the right ones.

Ernest Hemingway considered it a good writing day if he turned out 500 words (think Old Man and the Sea), while Stephen King had goals of writing at least 2,000 words between  sunrise and sunset.

Dear Rusty: I am a married woman, at my full retirement age, and the primary earner in my marriage. How do I know if I should take my Social Security now or wait till 70? I will lose quite a bit if I take it now. How will it affect my taxes if I take it now while still working a full-time job? Signed: Undecided 

A bill calling for the creation of Texas Canyons State Park was introduced in the Lone Star legislature on Feb. 24, 1933. But national status for Big Bend would be a long time coming.

The opening shot in the battle for Big Bend was fired a half century earlier by an El Paso editor, who believed the “majestic scenery” of the rugged wonderland would “eclipse anything that has heretofore been produced within the limits of North America.” Even though he urged the immediate exploration of the “Great Bend,” 16 years went by before a scientific expedition documented the sights.

Uncle Mort doesn’t own a smartphone, and only recently found a well-worn flip phone for $10 on eBay. Neither does my ancient uncle own a computer, claiming he’d never remember where the off/on switch is, or how to use it should the screen magically light.

Still, he claims to be a “follower of social media,” but his sources are second-hand at best, and often third, fourth and fifth, be they fact, fiction or fantasy. 

Dear Rusty: Please help. I served from 1964 to 1966 in the US Army. I have been trying to contact Social Security in order to request extra benefits for veterans. The telephone is a recording, and you never get to speak to anyone. The web site at www.ssa.gov is useless to me. I went to the SS office and there was a huge line outdoors in the freezing cold. I am disabled and cannot stand on a line in this cold. Please advise me about my options. 
Financially, is it worth the trouble? 

Signed: Disabled American Veteran