Staying!

I am not in Texas. I'll be stayin'.

I'm stayin! I got this in my email yesterday and just had to share it: Please note that Texas is the only state with a legal right to secede from the Union. (Reference the Texas-American Annexation Treaty of 1848.) So what does Texas have to do to survive as a Republic? 1. NASA is just south of Houston, Texas. We will control the space industry. 2. We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United States. 3. Defense Industry--we have over 65% of it. The term "Don't mess with Texas," will take on a whole new meaning. 4. Oil - we can supply all the oil that the Republic of Texas will need for the next 300 years. Yankee states? Sorry about that. 5. Natural Gas - again we have all we need and it's too bad about those Northern States. 6. Computer Industry - we currently lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications--small companies like Texas Instruments, Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Intel, AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials, Ball Microconductor, Dallas Semiconductor, Delphi, Nortel, Alcatel, IBM, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. 7. Medical Care - We have the largest research centers for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world, as well as other large health centers. Dallas and Houston have some of the best hospitals in the United States. 8. We have enough colleges to keep us going: University of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, SMU, University of Houston, Baylor, UNT ( University of North Texas) and Texas Women's University, plus another dozen or so state colleges and universities. Ivy grows better in the South anyway. 9. We also produce pretty good football players down here including the starting quarter backs this year at more than 21 of the 119 NCCA Bowl Division colleges and universities including Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, Utah, Tulane, LSU, Florida State, Kansas, Mississippi and the Texas schools. 10. We have a ready supply of workers. We can just open the border when we need some more. 11. We have essential control of the paper industry, plastics, insurance, etc. 12. We still grow a little cotton, though grapes are our newest, most valuable crop. We have over 100 wineries, employing more than 8,000 workers and adding $1 billion to our economy. Texas as a leading wine producer should come as no surprise since one of our guys saved the French wine industry way back in the 1880's by developing a Texas-grown phyllozera-resistant rootstock. By the way, he received the French Legion of Honor Chevalier du Merite for this work. 13. In case of a foreign invasion, we have the Texas National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. We don't have an Army, but since everybody down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an Army in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we can always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over Chuck Norris and a single Texas Ranger. You know: one riot, one Ranger!!!! 14. We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and several types of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let's not forget seafood from the Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste good. Don't need any food. This just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of Texas in good shape. There isn't a thing out there that we need and don't have. Signed, The People of Texas

Staying for now, I wouldn't live anywhere else, unless my job requires it. It's so green in my part. I plan on living in the Texas Hill Country one day. You staying? Should we be leaving?