Who Let the Doggett Out?

I think the Austin American-Statesman is making an attempt at wry humor in its headline “Doggett emerges as critic of Perry as president.” An emergent person, one could argue, is someone who might be unexpected. That’s the way I see it anyway.

For Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett to “emerge” as a critic of Rick Perry as president, one could also expect that Barack Obama might emerge as a critic of the Republican majority in congress.

But the article goes on to say that Congressman Doggett will go on Dylan Ratigan’s show today on MSNBC and call out the mythical madness of “The Texas Miracle,” and just as I read that, the TV, which is on and tuned to MSNBC in the other room, segued into that very appearance by Doggett.

And I was all ears.

Ratigan fed Congressman Doggett the lines he needed, and he scored big points with graphics that, quite frankly, upset me because I know the truth of them. The only downside to the interview was when one Ratigan panelist, the inaptly named Crystal Ball, cited the employment “facts” that Rick Perry puts out there like it is Gospel, and Doggett, perhaps not wanting to fling the poor vacuous woman to the wolves, went a little soft on his reply.

This is something we cannot do. Most of Americans don’t know Rick Perry at all. So really, he can make up any old fact he wants, repeat it over and over, and Americans will accept it simply because they don’t know this guy. They don’t know that truth and lies are all in the same category with this guy.

They. Don’t. Know.

So next time you hear someone quote something about The Texas Miracle be fierce in your reply. Don’t let this myth become Perry’s ticket to the White House.

Texans need to speak up.

And really, as an aside, there is no one I’d rather have running against Barack Obama next year than Rick Perry. The man is a disaster waiting to happen. The trouble is, and I’ve heard this from more than one source, people keep underestimating Rick Perry.

And Rick Perry keeps winning elections.

Perry is In – To No One’s Surprise

Someone in the Perry camp just spilled the beans that the Texas governor will announce on Saturday that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President.

Whatever happened to just announcing?

This brings the candidate field to 9, or is it 10? 16?

Here's what they are saying at CNN:

Now I’ve been traveling this summer and all I can say is that the rhetoric you hear about The Texas Miracle is out there and being repeated.

I had to debunk this over and over again with things like facts.

Like the fact that Texas is in 44^th place in terms of how much it spends on education.

Like the fact that Texas is in first place in terms of the number of people who have no health insurance at all.

Like the fact that most of the jobs created lately in Texas are minimum wage jobs.

Like the fact that Texas is expected to bring in $27 billion fewer dollars than it needs to operate for the next two years.

Like the fact that the unemployment rate in Texas stands at 8%, above 23 other states including New York.

But then we’re talking Republicans and Teabaggers here. Facts have nothing to do with conservative politics.

Still, it should be fun to see who is first to remind Republicans that Rick Perry was state chairman of Al Gore’s Texas campaign.

A Smelly Rat In Waukesha County

Waukesha County, Wisconsin sits astride their 8^th Senate District, the only district that failed to elect, as predicted in the polls, a Democrat, Sandy Pasch, over the Republican incumbent whose seat was challenged in yesterday’s recall election. Six senate seats were up for a vote, with three of them looking good for Democrats.

Sandy Pasch, however will not be going to Madison to replace Alberta Darling very probably because a big smelly rat exists in Waukesha county government. A rat in the person of the county elections clerk. An elections clerk that makes Florida’s former Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, look like a paragon of vote integrity.

It was in Waukesha County, it may be recalled, that suddenly “found” 14,000 votes for State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, a Republican, last April.

It was also Waukesha County that reported a 97% voter turnout in the 2004 presidential election.

It was also Waukesha County that has 99.5% of its eligible voters actually registered to vote.

It was also Waukesha County that ended, in that county anyway, a statewide effort to conduct exit polls last night.

But with all of that, Democrats in Waukesha County are not going to go to the mat over this. Here is what Waukesha County Democratic Chair Mike Tate is quoted as saying:

"On Tuesday night, Wisconsin spoke loud and clear with the recall of two entrenched Republicans. This is an accomplishment of historic proportions that I do not wish to be overshadowed by statements regarding results in the 8th Senate District.”

And that, friends and neighbors, is why Waukesha County has had these voting irregularities for what is now 7 years. And that is why they will into the future.

Total Recall: Wisconsin Votes

So I’m wearing my red T-shirt today in solidarity with the voters in Wisconsin who are, by all accounts, flocking to the polls in numbers on the order of how many show up in a presidential election. For a recall vote. For an odd-year recall vote.

I wore it when I journeyed to Austin last February when there was a fairly decent crowd arrayed on the capitol building south steps, were protesting not only the anti-labor overreach of Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican majority, but also the expected budget cuts to education.

Nothing much good came of the education budget, but now we have a real show going up in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a poster child, it seems, for all that is bad in American politics today.

Out of state TEA Party PACs are flooding the state with record funds. Democrats are being outspent by their Republican opponents who are responding by launching a massive grassroots effort. Hundreds of Democrats are calling into the state to get out the vote. Something that very much aided in getting voters to the polls in 2008.

Republicans even packed the Democratic Primary with non-Democrats in order to dilute the vote and throw some chaos into the process.

Then there’s the measures passed to make it harder for people to vote in Wisconsin.

It just goes on and on.

The only thing that keeps this country from resembling a banana republic is the fact that there isn’t rioting in the streets.

Not yet anyway.

The UK may have one up on us on that one.

Anyway, there are no indicators yet showing how this is going to go. A high turnout is always good for Democrats as evidenced by the 2010 elections in many states that went red that year. But I am not going to make any predictions. If it goes well for Democrats tonight it could bode very well for turning the tide going into next year. It could take the wind out of the sails of Republicans nationwide.

If it doesn’t though, we might as well pack it in and watch Rick Perry become the next president of the US.

The Higher Ground of Values

I had the privilege of being in the audience today to hear three Members of Congress speak today: Congressman Al Green, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (if Newt Gingrich can be Mr. Speaker Nancy Pelosi can be Madam Speaker, thank you very much).

Obviously, getting the leader of the Democratic Party to come to Houston on a hot August day during the summer recess is a big deal and the room was full to overflowing to the extent that I was starting to wonder when the fire department would show up.

The Speaker spoke. She spoke a lot. There was a lot to speak about. Obviously uppermost on the minds of lots of people in the room was the monstrosity of a budget bill that House Republicans recently passed, one that promises an end to Medicare and Social Security. One that undoes a bunch of good things that the Affordable Healthcare Act made possible. One that trades our future so that the rich can buy just one more trinket.

And Speaker Pelosi framed the argument just right I think. In the past, evangelical conservatives have placed a lot of stock in Values Voting. Their values being religious in origin. Speaker Pelosi frames the argument as Values Voting as well, but not the usual fare of Republican homophobic and misogynistic values. Putting it another way, a better way, that it isn’t about who is getting what tax break, it’s about what we Americans value most is just the ticket, I think.

And hopefully, in this short clip, I have captured the essence of Speaker Pelosi’s message.

Tea Party Downgrade

I have been relatively unimpressed with the Tea Party movement in terms of the actual brain power that it generates. The first time I attended a TEA Party rally to check out the phenomenon I was astounded at the near lack of factual accuracy the speakers could conjure up, and amazed at what can only be characterized as political naiveté.

One speaker, one of the leaders, really, actually spoke emotionally about the dire news that there was going to be an election later that year where several amendments to the Texas Constitution were going to be voted on. “They are trying to amend OUR constitution,” the speaker emoted.

Something that happens like clockwork during any odd year.

So combined with their utter lack of knowledge about how government works and their inability to discern truth from bat guano crazy fiction, the remarks this morning by political consultant David Axelrod and former governor Howard Dean seem to be spot on correct. The S&P’s downgrading of American longterm debt from AAA to AA+ is entirely inspired by the TEA Party Movement, and the radical right.

Said Axelrod:

“‘For months, the president was saying, let's get together, let's compromise,’ Axelrod continued. ‘We thought we had such an arrangement with the Speaker of the House... then he went back to his caucus; he had to yield to the most strident voices in his party. They played brinksmanship with the full faith and credit of the United States. This was the result in that. The fact of the matter is that this is essentially a Tea Party downgrade,’ he declared. ‘That clearly is on the backs of those who were willing to see the country default.’”

Said Dean:

“‘This is a tea party problem,’ Dean said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation." ‘They are totally unreasonable and doctrinaire and not founded in reality. I think they've been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it.’”

“‘This is ridiculous what's going on here,’ he said.”

And then some. When the children are in charge of Nursery School this is what we have to go through.

Time for the adults to get the hickory switches out.

A C in Gym?

Today as Governor Rick Perry took the stage at his much vaunted foray into government sponsored religion, an event that drew about 20,000 to Houston’s Reliant Stadium, we all got to view the governor’s academic record when he attended Texas A&M in the late sixties to early seventies.

You can see it online here courtesy of the Huffington Post.

So it appears that Rick Perry, the longest serving governor of Texas, squeaked by in his 4 years at A&M with something like a 2.6 GPA in his major- Animal Science.

Not a real brainiac, it looks like.

Now I’m not being overly judgmental – my own undergraduate record is nothing to crow about – but culturally speaking, Rick Perry’s academic record fits well in anti-intellectual Texas. So I can see how getting a C in College Physics might just qualify Perry as a bona fide Texas good ol’ boy, but how do you go about getting a C in Gym?

And yes, Barack Obama was the Editor of the Harvard Law Review so we have a peek at his academic record without actually seeing any transcripts except the one that was posted online in jest. But I am willing to bet that on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is a true genius and 1 is – well – Rick Perry, we have a President who makes rocket scientists look like 7s.

Yes We Have No Brains

OK, I have a small confession to make. I have been blogging on the fly with a laptop and some tenuous WiFi connections for the past month because I have been on the road visiting family in California.

I only just got back home yesterday.

But guess what greeted me just as I approached the Fort Bend County line as I barreled down the last few miles of my 5600 + mile sojurn?

This billboard.

It is apparently a singleton occurrence in Sealy, Texas along I-10 facing eastbound traffic.

Yes, it was like getting a cold splash of water in the face, back to Texas Triple K KKKrazy.

Back to reality.

Yes, in Texas we have no brains.

And yes, I did send my $50 check to Obama For America yesterday on the occasion of the man’s 50^th birthday.

Texas Prisons Close? What is Wrong With This Picture?

OK, this news article records the closing of one of the oldest prison facilities in the state of Texas. Never mind about the fact that the prison sits on the next most desired property in the southwest Houston suburbs. Don’t worry about that. Obviously the state closed the facility due to cost factors.

Yeah, right.

Sugar Land, what is left of it anyway, is up for sale and Texas has the best contiguous land holdings in the area. Lack space for prisoners? Don’t ask Jester to take up the slack. Jester is up for sale.

Texas is the single most state that is most likely to add to its prison population, and is also the single most likely state to sell off its prison property, and beds, to the highest bidder.

If you are surprised, you need a lesson in Texas.

This is what Texans have to thank themselves for voting in a Republican majority and a sell-out governor.  Oh, but Rick Perry no longer cares. He Has other fish to fry.

In DC.

Please, please, God, Buddha, Krishna, FSM, grant Rick Perry his wish to garner the Repub nomination for prez in 2012. Please, please, please.

It will be so much fun to watch, let alone participate in the barbecue.

Debt Ceiling Vote Passes. (Groan)

News Item: Debt Ceiling Vote Passes the House 269 to 161.

Now, just what went into their ruminations over this? Matson has it about right I think.

No Default? What a Surprise.

Coming as no surprise to anyone I know, the Republicans and Democrats who are still doing their jobs in DC by negotiating, and not obstinately digging their heels in on a policy of take no prisoners  have hashed out a deal that will prevent the national economy from a proverbial crash and burn come this August 2nd.

Teabaggers, obviously, had nothing to do with the deal, and they could still end up sabotaging the whole process if they can scare up the votes to block passage.

Obama got his wish not to have to rehash the whole thing before the 2012 elections, something that I imagine the Republicans will immediately set to work to reverse in the coming weeks and months. Offsetting this minor victory, Republicans nabbed yet another promise not to raise badly needed revenue, revenue badly needed to set the nation back in working order.

So given that the requisite votes can be assembled in both houses of Congress tomorrow, this whole affair should be old news come this time tomorrow.

Should be.

Perry’s Only Prayer

Today a Texas court will hold a hearing on Rick Perry’s participation in “The Response,” Rick Perry’s own attempt to organize a mass prayer rally and 7 hour fast, an exclusively Christian event sponsored by a well-known Christian hate group, the American Family Association. Briefs have been filed and the court is ready to hear the case.

Rick Perry has come under such a heavy barrage of fire over this unbridled showing of religious preference under color of law that, literally, his only hope of coming out of this mess unscathed is only if the plaintiff, The Freedom From Religion Foundation, is successful in barring him from participating in his event.

Heck, it even gives him points among the Evangelicals as yet another proof that Christians, who enjoy an 83% majority status in America, are being discriminated against by atheistic leftist extremists and the liberal news media.

If Perry loses, Perry wins.

Obama's Great Birthday Conspiracy EXPOSED

All the saints in Heaven, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna and Muhammad preserve us, Louie Gohmert, R - East Wacko Texas, has come up with another conspiracy theory. It all revolves around the August 2^nd deadline for Congress to raise the debt ceiling or let this country, whose full faith and credit has never in its history been questioned, fall into default on its loans. Gohmert now thinks that the date is a fake one, but not  an arbitrary one. In fact, he claims that August 2^nd has been planned all along, just not as the default date.

Gohmert points to the fact that August 4^th is Barack Obama’s own birthday. And on August 3^rd he is throwing himself a birthday party with celebrities in attendance.

Gohmert added 2 and 2 and came up with his latest of a whole stream of wacky conspiracies: Obama is using the debt crisis, one that has been produced and directed by his own party courtesy of his wacky Teabagger followers, to raise campaign funds.

No, I’m serious.

From Gawker:

“‘[W]e find out the president has a big birthday bash scheduled for August the 3rd, celebrities flying in from all over,’ Gohmert told Newsmax TV yesterday. ‘And lo and behold, August 2nd is the deadline for getting something done so he can have this massive, the biggest fundraising dinner in history for a birthday celebration.’ That's right: This whole ‘idiot Republicans are taking the world economy to the brink of financial ruin’ ferrago is just a way for Obama to raise money... from celebrities. ‘Isn't that amazing?’ Gohmert wonders. ‘The timing of this?’”

This would actually be funny if it weren’t for the fact that Gohmert is dead serious, just as he was dead serious about the so-called “Anchor Babies” or the notion that the direct election of Senators was an anti-democratic liberal conspiracy.

But then come to think of it, what better way to show the nation through the entertainers and celebrities that they revere, how Republicans ruined, or more likely, nearly ruined the nation’s economy through their wacky economic notions.

Louie Gohmert is like a gift from Heaven. He is like Manna. Louie Gohmert personifies how crazy the Republican Party has become, because next to some of these people, Louie Gohmert is as sane and sober as a judge.

Destroying the Economy in Order to Save It

I like this Nick Anderson rendition of what the Teabaggers propose to do to my country. It harkens back to the Vietnam War when an American Major made the observation that it was necessary to destroy a Vietnamese village in order to save it.

Sugar Land Opts Out of High Density Housing

Now I have no dog in this hunt. I do not live in Sugar Land, nor do I ever want to. Richmond is redneck enough for me. But I couldn’t help but notice today that the plan to develop land in and around the old Imperial Sugar factory has undergone some significant changes of late.

Specifically, a notable sharp decrease in the number of high density “multi-family residences” (aka apartments).

The original plan called for 1600 units. The current plan is for 625.

Now we all know why high density housing was such a bugaboo in the city council elections. It was all about THOSE people. The people who live in apartments.

You know, THOSE people.

The ones who send their children to area schools and don’t pay close attention to their children’s academics. The ones who might not have new cars.

The ones who may or may not need food stamps to get through the month.

THOSE people.

Well it appears now that the people who will be occupying these fewer multi-family units will have to shell out between 1300 and 1800 dollars per month and have incomes somewhere in the$ 55,000 to $65,000 range.

That’s right, teachers need not apply.

Problem solved.

Stay White, Sugar Land.

Creationists Are at it Again in Texas

Texas’ State Board of Education has taken up the matter of Evolution vs. Creationism again today in a hearing to decide on supplemental materials for the state’s science curriculum. Barbara Cargill, the board’s religious evangelical ex-biology teacher who ascribes to a young Earth creationist creed will head up the discussion.

About the only positive thing you can say about Cargill is that she is an EX-biology teacher and is no longer infringing on the religious beliefs (or non-religion) of her students with her own interpretation of cosmology.

The Texas Freedom Network is there in their usual place live blogging the meeting. Their position has been clear from the beginning that any reference to the pseudoscience known as Creationism or Intelligent Design should be eschewed by the state, and not be made a part of the state’s curriculum. Robert Scott, the Education Commissioner has come out with a set of recommendations on which materials should be adopted, and the TFN has given that set its blessings. Now it is up to the SBOE to either accept those recommendations or to go out into the ether and try to ram through its own conservative agenda.

This seems less likely than in the past. Apparently  the successor to Cynthia Dunbar, Republican Marsha Farney, has proven to be a thorn in the sides of the evangelical bloc, and has reduced the former bloc of seven uberreligious votes to 6 (in Cargill’s own words, there are only 6 “true Christians” on the board now).

It should be interesting to watch. In the past, the boards foray into wackydom has been famously dealt with in other states with laws being passed to avoid any materials approved by Texas’ SBOE. Whether sanity has actually won the day in the state school board remains to be seen.

With this bunch, always expect the worse.

Splitting the Rightwing Looney Tunes Vote: Romney’s Only Hope

I read an interesting analysis of what could possibly happen in the event that Rick Perry finally give the nod and step into the Republican fray for Presidential nominee. The Chron blog, Texas on the Potomac had an interesting take.

’According to Jensen, ‘Bachmann’s rise has been fueled by her appeal to voters on the far right — and their skepticism about Romney.’” But the PPP polling found that either Perry or former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could carve up large portions of Bachmann’s support, should they enter the 2012 race.” 

“‘A Palin candidacy would take a large bite out of Bachmann’s support with virtually no impact on Romney,’ said Jensen.”

Meaning, of course that the current field of candidates that have broad appeal among the Teabaggers, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry could conceivably split up the uber Rightwing of the Republican Party, leaving the rest to moderate Mitt Romney, whose position has been slowly eroded by Bachmann.

The Tea Party splits its vote, giving the moderates and Independents free hand to decide who the nominee will be.

Now this is not especially good news for me. I would dearly love it if the ultra right got its way in the nomination process. Moderates and Independents would have the bejesus scared out of them by an extremist candidate with poor recall over things like history and facts, as Perry, Palin and Bachmann have exhibited of late.

The Obama strategy must entail making their candidate look so similar to Mitt Romney that primary voters will opt out of voting for him. But if the ultra-conservative vote is split to such a high degree, just about the only thing we can hope for if Romney doesn’t get the nomination outright, is a hopelessly deadlocked Republican National Convention.

One can only hope.

God Taps Another Republican to Run for Prez

OK, so there goes the whole Holy Trinity idea I had awhile back when we took a head count and discovered that not one, and not two, but three Republicans had specifically been asked by the Big Guy in The Sky to run for President.

Last month we discovered that Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann had all three received a call from The Creator of the Universe in which He directed them, all three of them, to run for President of the United States. The theory went, at the time, that the ternary nature of God allows Him to do this. He gets to ask three Republicans, because, again God is a Republican.

And by extension He hates Mexicans and that rich people have to pay taxes.

But all of that speculation has been dumped into the dustbin of history. For the Lord God had now tapped a fourth Republican to run for the office. God has asked Rick Perry to run.

He did. Rick Perry said so.

From The Chron:

Actually I truly believe it, too.

“I truly believe with all my heart that God has put me in this place at this time to do his will.”

I truly think that God has  spoken to each and every one of these four individuals because He has a plan, and that plan consists of giving President Barack Obama such a commanding lead when he is re-elected in 2012 that Americans will long remember the day of the grand Republican dismissal of 2012.

22% of Americans will definitely vote for one of these 4. That leaves the other 78% to decide by how much Mr. Obama will win.

New Hampshire Teabaggers Have Perry’s Number

Texas Tea Partiers just love them some Rick Perry. They love his secession talk. They love it when he jogs packing heat. They love it when he just says NO to any new form of revenue that just might make his state solvent once again.

But New Hampshire Tea Partiers, you know, New Hampshire, the first primary state, have Rick Perry’s number and they are getting the word out on him.

Like how Rick Perry was once a Democrat (gasp) and was even Al Gore’s Texas campaign chair in 1988 (when he was a Democrat).

Like how Rick Perry supported the DREAM Act in 2001, giving the children of illegal aliens a fighting chance at a decent life – a position he solidly opposes now that he is a reactionary Republican.

Like how he supported the now defunct Trans Texas Corridor, a project which threatened the property rights of hundreds of Texas landowners across the state.

Like how he wanted to force thousands of eleven year old female children to be vaccinated for Human Papillomavirus or HPV – because his former Chief of Staff was a lobbyist for Merck, the maker of the HPV vaccine.

You know, stuff all we Texans know, or should know, or should have known when Perry soundly defeated a better man (better, but just not all that interesting), former Houston mayor Bill White.

And therein lies the difference between idiotic New Hampshire Teabaggers and idiotic Texas Teabaggers.

In New Hampshire, they still read.

Legislature Won’t Adequately Fund Public Education? Let’s Litigate!

The fly in the ointment, it seems, over our state government’s desire to end public education as we know it, in favor of privately run charter schools and private schools, is the fact that the state’s constitution won’t allow it. I’ve written about this elsewhere, but let’s just say that it is down in the constitution that the state legislature must adequately fund public education.

Not may, not might. Must.

So it comes as no surprise that another lawsuit is in the works. A lawsuit inspired by a woefully underfunded public education budget for both 2011-2012 and worse for 2012-2013.

Part of the problem is that many school districts cannot raise additional revenue as they are currently taxing at the maximum state-mandated limit of $1.17 per $100 assessed value. They depended on the state to stake them to their fair share, and the state reneged.

From The Chron:

“Humble ISD is one of about 220 school districts that have hit the maximum school operations tax rate of $1.17 (per $100 of property valuation) and cannot increase revenue.”

“The district's administrators have made cuts every year for most of the past decade and now face ‘even more devastating cuts,’ spokeswoman Karen Collier said: ‘Our backs are truly against the wall.’”

So when your back is against the wall, there is no other recourse than to litigate.

“’There's going to be litigation. The timing of it is really nothing more than putting together the case. We're still analyzing all the impact of the mess that they passed,’ veteran school finance lawyer Randall "Buck" Wood said.”

This isn’t a first, and it surely won’t be the last time there is litigation in Texas over adequate funding of public education. As long as there are forces in Austin that are actively lobbying for privatization of education, there will be inadequate funding of public education.

And there will be H-E-Double Hockey Sticks to pay at the polls if there is any justice on this planet.

Rick Perry: Worse for Our Nation

Well there’s a surprise.

Today Travis County Democratic Party announced that at the very same time that Governor Rick Perry, along with the American Family Association, are holding a prayer vigil and fasting at Houston’s Reliant Stadium on August 6^th, they will hold a counter rally on the steps of Texas’ state capitol building.

From the Austin American-Statesman:The latter alluding to the fact that Rick Perry is considering a run for the presidency, a move that is sure to excite the Tea Party base – those who aren’t gaga-eyed over Michele Bachmann anyway.

“Party officials say the noon rally on Aug. 6 will be called ‘Rick Perry: Bad for Texas, Worse for Our Nation.’”

Perry has been nipping at the heels of President Obama for the past few months, culminating in his (or his ghost writer’s) book, “Fed Up.” Get it? Fed. Federal Government. Ha. Ha. Ha.

So this event, The Response, is Perry’s attempt to grab himself some national spotlight. Allying himself with the Creator of the Universe, like so many Republicans before him, is practically Step 1 in the GOP playbook. And now we see a counter rally. Not one that opposes God, it seems, but one that opposes Rick Perry’s self-promotion as a conduit to Jesus and His Father.

Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.  Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says'_when the Lord has not spoken.

- Ezekiel 22: 27-28

Atheists Sue Perry for Promoting a Single Religion

I didn’t know that there were any here in the Bible Belt, but apparently Houston area atheists have filed suit against Rick Perry for sponsoring The Response, Rick Perry’s call to Christian prayer and fasting so that the Christian god, or gods, may help us through these troubling times.

Their case? Weak. In summary, here is what they have against Rick Perry’s participation in this planned event, from the Austin American-Statesman:

“Perry’s participation in the Aug. 6 event amounts to government sponsorship and endorsement of religion in violation of the First Amendment.”

“Prayer and fasting, the Wisconsin-based organization said in the lawsuit, ‘are not only an ineffectual use of time and government resources, but which can be harmful or counterproductive as a substitute for reasoned action.’”

Now there is some basis for the first argument. Rick Perry, under color of law as a governor of the state, is holding a Christian-only prayer event, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, B’hai, or Jews need not apply. This runs counter to the Establishment Clause of the 1^st Amendment.

They have a point.

Where the argument falls apart is the judgmental claim that a prayer meet-up can be harmful or counterproductive. That is a value judgment, almost as religious a claim that prayer brings help from on high.

No, if I were going to file a lawsuit against this event I would definitely concentrate on the fact that the organizers of the event is the hate-filled American Family Association, who, despite their innocuous name, has, through its issues director, alleged “that gays caused the Holocaust—and are planning on doing it again; that gays should be banned from holding public office; that homosexuality should be criminalized; that foreign Muslims should either be converted to Christianity or subjected to lethal force; that American Muslims should be deported; that there should be a permanent ban on mosque construction in the United States; and that Muslims should be prohibited from serving in the armed forces.”

Not that their beliefs are illegal, they have a perfect right to hold lunatic ideas like that. But that Rick Perry, as governor of Texas, endorses these rightwing extremist notions. Taxpayers should not have to be made to support this kind of extremism.

On Winning the Energy Crisis

The Energy Crisis has never ended. When OPEC put the squeeze on us in the early 70's we called that an energy crisis.

Then they opened the valves and all was good.

When the Iranians did the same thing several years later we called that an energy crisis.

Then they opened the valves and all was good.

But the energy crisis never ended. It goes on to this day.

Nick Anderson has it exact.

Ron Paul is “All In” for the Presidency

In a game of Texas Hold ‘Em the way to scare off your competition is to put all your money in on a hand after the last card is dealt (or even before if the up cards are looking pretty good). It is also a pretty good way of making a bundle on a good hand if your bet is met. It is also a good way to go broke.

Well today, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas’ 14^th district is “All in” on his bid for presidency. The 75-year old congressman announced today that he would not seek re-election as congressman, putting all of his campaign effort into the big enchilada.

He won’t win, you know. There is not even a snowball’s chance in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks that Ron Paul can win in even an unfair election against Barack Obama. Michele Bachmann might outpoll Ron Paul in the 2012 election, and that is saying something. So it is either Ron Paul is delusional and genuinely thinks that he has a dog in this hunt, or it’s that this is his swan song and a great way to end a long career in politics.

The latter, I think.

It’s also a great way to shake things up.

Democrats haven’t a chance in CD-14 which, under its present boundaries, went for the Republican presidential candidate by 66 to 33%, 66 to 34% and 64 to 36% in the last three presidential elections. No reason to believe that this district will be appreciably changed after the redistricting.

So the shakeup will all be on the GOP. Politico identified 3 possible candidates who might make the run for the nomination: State Senator Mike Jackson, State Reps Dennis Bonnen and Larry Taylor. Of the three, of course Jackson’s district encompasses more of CD-14 than either state reps districts do.

The upshot, I think, is that no matter who they run, the winner is surely going to run things a little differently than the folks in CD-14 are used to. For all his crazy libertarian ideologies, and for all of his No votes cast in support of those ideologies, at least Ron Paul was an ideologue. A wacky ideologue, but an ideologue.

Paul’s successor will be a blood-sucking, in it for me politician where cronyism is king compared to what they have now.

No, unfortunately the only way out for CD-14 voters is to elect a democrat to this seat. Unfortunate in that there is no way in the world that will ever happen.

Why Prosecute The Rocket? Answers.

Yesterday I wondered out loud about what could possibly be the reason to spend time and treasure prosecuting Roger Clemens for perjury, a crime that everyone knows he committed just as we all know that the taking of steroids to enhance performance in professional baseball is as common as dirt.

What is the moral outrage? But more to the point, what is the motivation to go after Clemons so aggressively? Well today, in The Chron, I think we were shown the answer: the Justice Department wants a win.

From The Chron:Now we are making some sense. The Justice Department was righteously burned the last time out. What is worse, because of his trial, Senator Stevens lost his seat in 2008, and because of some pilot error, lost his life in 2009.

“The Justice Department’s meltdown in the prosecution of the late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska has added pressure on prosecutors in the perjury trial of baseball icon Roger Clemens. Stevens was convicted of federal corruption charges in 2008 days before being defeated for re-election after 40 years in the Senate. Months later, the conviction was dismissed because investigators found evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.”

In short, Senator Stevens slipped through the grip of justice, and the Justice Department is feeling the heat. They think they might just have a win in Roger Clemens, so there you have it. It’s not about the national IQ, it’s not about the National Pastime, it’s not about making America a better place to live.

It’s about needing to win one.

Prosecuting “The Rocket” : Supreme Waste of Time and Money

Doesn’t it strike you that at this time in history, when we need all of our resources and treasure to take care of the things we need, at a time that Republicans want to cut and cut and cut, we put Roger “The Rocket” Clemons on trial for lying to  Congress?

Does anyone out there really care?

Sure he lied. Everyone knows he lied. Everyone knew it the instant he denied taking steroids to enhance his playing of the national pastime. Clemons exhibited amazing bad judgment doing what he did, saying what he did. But no. We have to put the man on trial. What I am completely missing out on is why is this a benefit to the nation. Is it going to make America a better place to live? Is it going to save baseball? Will the national IQ bump up a few points?

No, no and no.

Clemons faces a possible 30 year prison sentence and a $1.5 million fine.

For a crime that everyone knows he committed, for a crime that hurts no one. Cheaters will cheat. That is a fact of life and an aspect of human nature that was probably instilled in us 40,000 years ago.

If the purpose is to convince Americans that “cheaters never prosper,” well forget it. It didn’t work on the playground in 1^st grade and it won’t work here.

Perry’s Going to Run and Leal Sealed the Deal

If anyone is still doubting that Rick Perry is going to sit the next Presidential election out, the death of Humberto Leal Garcia at the end of this past week, should lay all doubts to rest.

Leal is pretty much a poster child for all that Rick Perry stands for. First, Rick Perry hates illegal immigrants. Hates them. No, not because they are in his state, not because they vote (they don’t and there is no evidence that they do), and not because they take jobs away from citizens and  food from the mouths of decent white children. He hates them because he has to in order to remain in office. Perry’s base hates Mexicans so he must also.

Second, Perry hates the feds. Hates them. Not because they won’t give him any money. They have, hand over fist and Perry has accepted all of it except when it benefits people like the unemployed in his state.

(By the way, Perry hates the unemployed because it gives lie to his myth of “the Texas miracle”).

But now combining the two, illegal aliens and hatred of “federal overreach” we have the former living human being Humberto Leal Garcia.

Leal, a Mexican national, was tried and convicted of capital murder. Itself not very newsworthy except for the fact that as a signatory of the Vienna Convention guaranteeing that citizens arrested in foreign countries would have the benefit of a helping hand from consular officials from their home countries, the United States, and in this case, the state of Texas, was obligated to let the Mexican government come to Leal’s aid in his trial.

But Leal was never made aware of his rights, and the Mexican government was never notified that he was being tried for capital murder.

So Leal was tried, convicted, and on Friday, executed by lethal injection.

The Supreme Court refused to hear the case to stay the execution by 5 to 4. Rick Perry refused to grant a stay and even went to the extent of refusing to take the call of the Ambassador from Mexico.

Most people would be horrified at this. Americans, now, as it currently stands, are at risk of being similarly treated when the venture abroad.

Perry’s base is thrilled. Oh yeah man, you bet they are.

Staying Awake and Alert on the Santa Monica Freeway

I have a short video clip  exhibiting the lengths one must go to to stay alert after hours and hours on the road. It is not a real reach, but it does take some getting used to. I still haven't gotten the knack for knowing when the CD is finished and has started on Track 1 again...

By the way, to we native Californians, Interstate Highway 10, or I-10 as it is affectionately known, is was, and will always be known as the Santa Monica Freeway. Not the Katy Freeway (TX). Not the Juan Seguin Highway (TX). Not the Pearl Harbor Memorial Freeway (AZ). Not the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway (LA). Not the Ponchartrain Expressway. Not the Stephen Ambrose Memorial Highway (LA). Not the George C. Wallace Tunnel (AL). And, finally not, again as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway where it terminates in Jackson, Florida.

I-10 was the Santa Monica Freeway when all of those other routes were either non-existant or dirt roads. How do I know this?

LA invented freeways.

Rick Perry: The New Kid on the Block

Oh I can hardly wait. It is becoming more and more apparent that Texas’ governor, Rick Perry, is in the presidential race – all except in name at least. The Texas Tribune has a new app called PerryTracker 2, showing how Rick Perry has been moving around the country and where he plans to go in the future.

No, the man is running.

This should be fun to watch considering how much Rick Perry’s politics and public statements so widely vary from mainstream public opinion.

Fun. Fun. Fun.

For instance, for the average voter to accept Rick Perry as his or her candidate of choice they will have to agree with Perry that:

Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme

Possession and sales of marijuana should be not be legalized but this is completely a state decision. What’s good in California doesn’t fly in Texas.

It is unconstitutional for the federal government to collect taxes to fund Medicare.

Big Government demands to vaccinate 11-year old girls against Human Papilloma Virus or HPV is perfectly OK and so is a constitutional amendment forbidding gay unions.

You see, most of these issues are red meat issues among the rightwing of the Republican Party and Teabaggers.  Perry should do well among primary voters, the majority of whom are the rightwing and Teabaggers. But facing Barack Obama in the Fall of 2012 with this agenda should be more challenging.

And Fun. Fun. Fun.

Texas Equusearch to Sue Casey Anthony?

Now I am not going to join the chorus of voices who are complaining about the outcome of the recent murder trial in Orlando, Florida. I won’t complain because I followed the trial closely, well, listening to the televised trial from the next room and came to the conclusion that the jury correctly concluded not that Casey Anthony was innocent, just that she wasn’t guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The prosecution never proved their case.

The defense story, that Anthony’s daughter accidentally drowned in the pool and that she buried her much like her family buried their pets rather than reporting the accident is, in a word, plausible. The story is plausible because Casey Anthony is a damaged person beyond all reasonable doubt. Damaged and a compulsive liar, but maybe, just maybe not guilty of murder.

But now here is the rub. Texas Equusearch, which sent a team to look for her daughter, spending by their estimate $112,000 now says that since the girl was never missing, that someone knew exactly where she was buried, they want their money back.

KTRK is saying that they are going to sue Casey Anthony to recover their costs. Costs that they wouldn’t have incurred in either case, whether the child was murdered or accidentally drowned.

And I have to admit, they have a point.

I guess the only real question is whether someone who volunteers their services has any basis for suing to recover costs when it becomes apparent that their services were never required.