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In a possible development that would have Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Travis rolling in their graves, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is considering designating the Alamo a World Heritage Site. Such a designation brings along a myriad of restrictions, and although proponents of the designation, such as San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, insist that the State of Texas would still have authority over the site, many serious concerns of the people of Texas are not being addressed.

......“This is a good example of why things that matter most to Texans — like the Alamo — remain Texan, just like the Christmas Mountains out in West Texas,” said Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, referring to a misguided attempted federal land grab that drew attention back in 2008. “Texas isn't going to let government get in the way of honoring our heroes, whether it's at the Alamo or at the VLB,” Patterson said. The shrine to Texas heroes of long ago remains open. And so do the Texas Veterans Land Board’s eight Texas State Veterans Homes, which take care...

SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was recently profiled in the New York Times, which referenced him as the next national Hispanic leader and perhaps president. "It's been a very promising response," said Castro. "It's a very flattering article." But comments he didn't make could draw some strong opinions. His mother, Rosie Castro, had strong words when asked about her memories of the Alamo, a symbol of Texas independence. "They used to take us there when we were school children," Perez told the Times. "They told us how glorious that battle was. When I grew up, I learned...

Ted Nugent speaks off and on during this outstanding Tea Party at The Alamo. His guitar work is as amazing as his conservative views. His riffs while other things are going on, and around other speakers communicates sometimes better than words can.

Okay, okay... I know this is late for The Birthday, but I just received it.  I checked snopes and they don't seem to have it yet.  The e-mail came from a woman whose brother went to high school with Bum at French High School (Beaumont, Tx), so I'm thinking he really wrote it.  It sure sounds like him, anyway.  Does anyone know him personally so we can verify? HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEXAS -- FROM BUM PHILLIPS  Being Texan by Bum PhillipsDear Friends,   Last year, I wrote a small piece about what it means to me to be a Texan. My...

<p>April 13, 2004 -- Michael Eisner would probably rather forget "The Alamo." The $100 million Disney movie bombed at the box office this past weekend, causing a stir among many on Wall Street who are predicting the film's failure could eat into earnings and force the company to take a write-off.</p>

'Alamo' Bomb Pressures Disney's Eisner Mon Apr 12, 5:06 PM ET Add U.S. National - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Peter Henderson LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Alamo lasted 13 days before Mexican troops overwhelmed it, but a dismal three-day debut was enough for many observers to label Walt Disney Co.'s $100 million "The Alamo" film a bomb and wonder if embattled CEO Michael Eisner would share the Texas mission's fate. Reuters Photo AFP Slideshow: Walt Disney Co. Related Quotes DIS CMCSA DJIA NASDAQ ^SPC 25.70 30.34 10515.56 2065.48 1145.20 -0.55 +1.10 +73.53 +12.60 +5.88 delayed 20 mins - disclaimer...

"The Alamo": Defining Heroism Down Rather than depict them as alabaster saints, we wanted to show them as complete human beings. --Stephen Hardin, historical advisor, “The Alamo” In 1960, American icon John Wayne starred as Davy Crockett in “The Alamo”, a heroic, if sanitized portrayal of the infamous siege where some 200 Americans held off Mexican General Santa Anna’s army of several thousand for 13 days before being wiped out to a man. Nearly 45 years later, a new unwashed “Alamo” is upon us, brought to us by Disney, and starring American anti-hero Billy Bob Thornton as the larger-than-life frontiersman....

The Passion of the Christ Weeks released: 7 Cost (production and marketing:: $ 50M Gross to Date: $354,877,000 The Alamo Weeks released: 1 Cost: $ 137 million Gross: $9,200,000

<p>Disney's "The Alamo" hits theaters today, and there is already grumbling about its historical revisionism. Well, that is what Hollywood does. What may come as a surprise is that the Lone Star State itself has revised this chapter of its storied history.</p>

<p>By the time its run ends in theaters, possibly within a few weeks,The Alamo may be remembered by audiences and studio executives after all.</p> <p>Billy Bob Thornton was no match for Jesus as The Alamo was soundly beaten by The Passion of the Christ.</p> <p>As a cautionary tale.</p>

Let's state this simply: If it weren't for San Jacinto, The Alamo would not be drawing crowds this weekend. In fact, nobody would remember the Alamo. Yet compared to the Alamo, San Jacinto is the Rodney Dangerfield of battlefield sites. The $100 million epic now at the theaters does conclude by showing Sam Houston's victory over Santa Anna seven weeks after the slaughter in San Antonio. But the movie doesn't bother to mention the venue. If Sam Houston and his men had lost at San Jacinto, the Alamo would be a footnote in Mexican history books. The victory at San...

I saw "The Alamo" tonight. I went in with an open mind, having read the comments posted on here as well as on the 'Net in general. Though I'm no authority on the subject, I found the movie to be relatively true to actual historical events. Yes, with any Hollywood production, you're gonna see some artistic license taken...and there were a few that were taken here that shouldn't have been taken. There has been on on-going debate for the few decades over whether Davy Crockett was killed in the fighting or whether he was captured alive and then executed. Because...

MEXICO CITY - Mexican audiences are bracing for "The Alamo," which depicts this country's most reviled traitor, one of its most humiliating defeats and events that ultimately cost Mexico half its territory. There is scant comfort in the fact that Mexican forces won the 1836 battle of the Alamo: The movie closes with the Battle of San Jacinto one month later, which Mexico lost - along with Texas. Within a dozen years, Mexico went on to lose most of what later became California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Arizona. An audience at the Mexico City premiere Wednesday gasped at...

<p>There is scant comfort in the fact that Mexican forces won the 1836 battle of the Alamo: The movie closes with the Battle of San Jacinto one month later, which Mexico lost -- along with Texas. Within a dozen years, Mexico went on to lose most of what later became California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Arizona.</p>

.....For more than a century, popular lore and classroom teachers portrayed the defenders as virtually all Anglo, heroically battling a faceless Mexican army. Textbooks published 40 years ago presented good guys (the Texan defenders) and bad guys (the Mexican army), says Jim Kracht, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University. But it wasn't that simple. "From Mexico's point of view, people in Texas weren't observing their national laws," he says. "They weren't becoming Catholic, like they had pledged to do. They were trading with the United States, which they had...

Wearing a coat and tie on a frame once synonymous with a buckskin jacket and coonskin cap, actor Fess Parker still looks larger than life. The Texas-born actor was at the Alamo on Friday to donate a 180-year-old long rifle in tribute to the late Walt Disney and others who made him famous as television's Davy Crockett. It was given to him by the National Rifle Association in Philadelphia in 1955 in a gesture that commemorated an 1834 presentation of a rifle to Crockett by a group known as "The Young Men of Philadelphia." The group's members were with the...

March 6, 1836: A massacre of Americans at the Mexican Army's hands made "Remember the Alamo" an immortal Texan battle cry. But is this history viewed through an American lens? With distance from the heat of battle, a Mexican version of the controversy emerges. What caused Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett to run from their pasts to become heroes in death? How did a struggle for independence become a race war? In this 2-hour investigation, we expose new evidence in this grand victory with a dark secret. TV PG

Associated PressAlamo visitors check out the restored 1834 portrait of Davy Crockett. SAN ANTONIO - Davy Crockett has returned to the Alamo, but visitors to the shrine of Texas independence say the frontiersman's oil-and-canvas version appeared kinder and gentler than his rough frontier image. The restored 1834 painting of Crockett has not hung in the Alamo since 1977. Observers during an informal morning ceremony Tuesday said they were surprised to see Crockett's delicate looks. Crockett was likely 47 when he sat for the portrait by artist John Gadsby Chapman two years before the Tennessee statesman's death at the famous...

Walt Disney Co. has taken the unusual step of postponing the opening of "The Alamo," saying the much-anticipated film needs more work. Although trailers had begun promoting a Dec. 25 release, Disney said Tuesday that the movie wouldn't hit theaters until April. Though it is not uncommon for studios to change opening dates, it is rare for a studio to do so this close to the planned release of such a high-profile movie. Typically, such jockeying occurs in the early stages of production. But Disney executives and filmmakers said "The Alamo" simply wasn't ready. "It's proven to be more difficult...