Joyeux Noël (for V.A.)

GALVESTON, Texas -- An oil platform sits at the horizon as father and son cowboys search for seashells, and the meaning of being Texan. Language is identity, but the tide has turned. Everywhere there are signs and instructions in Spanish. Pandering to Spanish-speaking communities, city and state legislatures have legitimized an identity which Texians had fought so hard against in the war for Texas independence (remember the Alamo?). At the federal level, the government not only has failed to secure the southern border from illegal immigration, it has opened wide the border with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which will do harm to Texas (and America) the way the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo did to Mexico.