Loopy Perry Speech: Bourbon or Muscle Relaxants?

Now I know you have all seen the loopy speech that Texas governor Rick Perry gave to a New Hampshire group this past week. But if you haven’t here are some excerpts of this nearly half hour speech that captures some of the more bizarre moments of his speech, including, I swear, what I heard to be slurred words.

Convinced? I am. I think Rick Perry was feeling no pain as he delivered that painful speech to New Hampshire conservatives who seemed to be lapping it up. Even “The Daily Show” pundit Jon Stewart thought so and noted it in his Moment of Zen this week.

That left the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci, who interviewed Perry subsequently, to ask whether he was on medication from his recent back surgery, or whether he had had a few too many before coming up on the stage.

Here is his response.

Gee. I wonder if Rick Perry hearts Jon Stewart, and wants to toss back a couple of glasses of wine with him. And no, Rick Perry is definitely not gay.

Republicants

The Republicant Party, and its Republicant members are showing why they just simply can’t these days.

They can’t field an array of credible presidential candidates, and they can’t agree on the one who is the least not credible because of his religion.

They can’t pass a bill in Congress that would restore jobs to millions of Americans through a public works programs and tax incentives. They can’t because they won’t. And they won’t not because it is a bad idea, they won’t because it wasn’t their idea.

They can’t pass a state budget that will pay for public education because they won’t close tax loopholes that benefit the rich and powerful – i.e. their base.

They simply can’t.

And now I see in today’s news that they can’t observe the rules of common decency in public discourse.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

“The Quorum Report reported that Taylor, at a meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Windstorm Insurance, said when discussing the delivery of payments for windstorm victims, ‘Don’t nitpick. Don’t try to Jew them down.’”

Don’t what?

Don’t Jew them down?

I haven’t heard that phrase uttered in public in 40 years, and even back then it was considered a racist uncivil remark. To Jew someone down was to talk down the price of something. You know, to bargain. Christians and other non-Jews took umbrage over a common practice among those from the Middle East, Semitic people of all religions, to bargain and get the lowest price possible.

But because Jews were discriminated against so virulently in the past, the phrase was often repeated and it became just as hated as the N-word.

But State Rep. Larry Taylor (R - Friendswood) was just simply using the vernacular that comes natural to him in uttering this totally unacceptable phrase. So I have a new phrase that I would like to introduce. “Going Republican.”

When someone is being mean to someone just for the sake of being mean, they are “Going Republican” on them.

When someone is ignoring what is scientifically factually accurate because of how it is going to affect the wallets of their donors, they are “Going Republican” on science.

Or generically, when someone is being completely uncivil, illiterate or unimaginative, they are “Going all Republican.”

I like it. So when Congressman Eric Cantor, a Jew, tries to bargain with the Obama Administration on trimming the federal budget of vital necessities, we don’t have to use the phrase so near and dear to the heart of Larry Taylor. We can say that Eric Cantor, a Jew, is “Going Republican” on the budget.

Good News: *Only* 32,000 Teacher Jobs Were Lost This Year

The Austin American-Statesman has a blog post today touting the hopeful results of a Moak, Casey and Associates poll conducted over a portion of the Texas school districts that responded to their poll, and it shows that much, much fewer than 100,000 teacher jobs were lost this past year than predicted.

That is, according to their statistical projection over the entire state, only 32,000 teachers are no longer plying their trade in Texas.

This, the American-Statesman says, was “much, much smaller than the 100,000 school jobs that consultant Lynn Moak estimated would be lost when the 2012-13 budget was first released in January.”

Much, much smaller.

Except it isn’t.

In my recollection, the prediction was for a loss of 100,000 jobs over the life of the present biennial budget.

The article goes on to point out that fewer jobs were lost due to an infusion of cash from the federal government that saved many jobs from extinction. Yes, thanks to the feds, that Governor Rick Perry is “Fed Up” with, fewer Texas teachers were laid off than predicted.

But the truth is, we are not done. Not yet. While this year we saw a $4 billion shortfall in what the state ought to rightly send to its districts, next year the number is $13 billion. And there is no federal money coming next time to help offset some of this funding gap.

So while a $4 billion shortfall resulted in the loss of only 32,000 jobs, a shortfall of three times that without a federal backup translates to a loss of three times that many jobs in 2012 – 2013.

Or more.

Now I keep hearing that revenues are not coming in as predicted by Comptroller Combs. They are actually higher. That’s good. But the fact remains Texas is cutting off its left arm and its right leg in order not to raise revenue to pay for public education – a full frontal assault on public education that, if not countered, spells the end of education in Texas as we know it.

First Global Climate Change Casualty: The PB & J

Despite what the Tea Party and other conservatives assert, global climate change is underway. Whether it is manmade or not, it is a fact that glaciers are in retreat, sea ice is melting, and Antarctica is losing its ice shelves as they calve off into the surrounding ocean.

My point has always been that yes, climate fluctuations is a fact. The seas came in, the seas went out. Go to coastal southern California, the Palos Verdes Peninsula to be precise, and look at the multiple wave-cut terraces that decorate the coastal hills.

Go to Crete and observe submerged harbor wharves.

Or google this: Haq, Hardenbol and Vail (or just click on the hypertext).

But my point is also this: in the event that a natural global climate change is underway, is it really within the realm of sanity to continue to pump greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, something that will only exacerbate the situation?

No one really knows why the climate has fluctuated over geologic time, only that it has.

But everyone who works in climatology knows that industrialized civilization is a contributing factor.

And now we have our first casualty of global climate change: the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

According to this AP article, this past summer’s blistering heat has been a contributing factor in a decline in this year’s peanut harvest. A decline that means that the cost of a jar of peanut butter in your local grocery store is set to rise.

Not known, at this time is whether Georgia’s new anti-immigrant law has contributed to the problem, as farm workers fled the state that threatened to arrest and deport them.

But we can all count on this: the price of a PB and J sandwich is going up, and one of the root causes of that is melting ice.

Teacher Pay for Performance Goes to New Lows

Oh Good God.

One of my six readers sent me a link to this Huffingtonpost article on what the State of Idaho has done to the public and charter school teachers in its 29 school districts.

Pay For Performance, a concept begun in the private sector, has been revamped in Idaho so that performance pay is based on several key indicators.

One of them being how parents feel about their children’s teachers.

That’s right, parents get to vote on what teachers get for bonus performance pay. They list several key factors that should go into the parents’ decisions, like communication: notes and phone calls to the home as well as parents attendance at parent-teacher conferences.

That is, one factor that is totally in the control of a teacher, and one factor that a teacher has absolutely no control over. The standard is that teachers must get a 40% attendance rate in order to qualify for the maximum bonus in that area.

Forty percent is dreamworld for most of us.

But really, what you have to realize is that these standards will not be followed, will they? How will parents rate their children’s teachers then? Grades. Grades are the local currency in public schools, and teachers who try and challenge their students by demanding only the very best out of them will suffer the most in this scenario.

Teachers who pass out A’s and “free 100’s” like Jesus passed out the loaves and fishes will most certainly be at the front of the pack in receiving bonus checks.

This is a scenario that promotes mediocrity and further lowering of the academic bar.

Watch out Texas, Idaho is vying for last in education along with Mississippi.

Obama Foreign Policy Goes Unanswered

It continues to amaze me that the issues that haunted the 2008 election have failed to emerge in the just beginning 2012 campaign season: chiefly issues of foreign policy.

Foreign policy was all what it was about in the Democratic primary. The “It’s 3 AM” television ad was a brilliant hit piece that inserted the notion that as president, Barack Obama would be ineffectual and indecisive.

McCain used that very tack in the fall campaign, touting his military service that consisted of, need I remind anyone, getting his Phantom shot out from under him and getting captured by a 3^rd rate military.

But when you try to get a handle on what the current line-up of Republican presidential wannabes say about what foreign policy should be, all you hear are crickets.

Crickets.

Foreign policy is not this group’s strong suit. And that is probably a good thing for them since it does not appear that Americans are overly concerned about any non-domestic issues right now. But early on, all you heard from the right wing is about how President Obama was a pushover in the international scene.

Then he launched a murderous campaign to decapitate Al-Qaeda, topple Middle East dictatorships, and continue to maintain a presence in Iraq up to, and just until the deadline to leave Iraq will be reached later on this year – a deadline set by the previous administration, I might add.

Nope, Nick Anderson has it exact, I think. Republicans will not be showing up to debate on foreign policy anytime soon, simply because they have no credentials or credibility in this area.

Beckie-beckie-stan-stan. Give me a break.

Yankee Whoamon Gonna Vote Fer Mitt

O-cheut! A tarbul thang gist happint tuh th’ chaynces thet Rick Perry has to be Presdent ah the Yew Nahted Staytes.

Sum Yankee Whoamon up nawth in N’Hampshure, thuh dadgum sayme whoamon who flew on down to thuh grayte stayte a’ Teksus sum tahme ago to urge thet goodolboy Rick Perry tuh run fur Presdent has endoarsed, instudda haym, thet otha gah. Mitt Romney.

Thet whoamon, Maureen Mooney, gist put the braykes on Perry, whuch ah bleeve weel probly mayke paypul in N’Hampshure thank twahs abut votin’ fur haym

Ah red about et hair.

Hairs whut she sayed:

“This is Mitt’s tahm n’ this is his yair. He has bayen a frayen of N’Hampshure fur yairs nah n’ is vury sportive of thuh N’Hampshure Publican Party, candates locly, the counteh and stayte. Furthmore, he daimonstraytes a shurpness en evry debayte way have seen haym en thet wayell match up wayul agin Barack Obama. Thet is precahsely whut we nayed.”

Thet’s a lil’ code, ah thank. Speshuly saince thayer bolth gonna bay et th’ sayme ee-vent tanaht in N’Hampshure.

Y-ahlbaydaaumed.

On the Confederate Flag on a Texas License Plate

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson is moving on ahead in his desire to issue a new vanity license plate in Texas, a vanity plate featuring the Confederate flag – the so-called “Stars and Bars” flag that is such an unique symbol of Southern oppression of African-Americans. Today he urged the governing board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to approve his tag “at their leisure.”

Like right now.

Right now because it appears that Texas governor Rick Perry is opposed to the tag. Not officially, mind you, just a personal opinion.

This is such a thinly concealed attempt to bring a hated symbol back to Texas’ highways and byways, it is laughable. It reminds me of the War Memorial on the south lawn (naturally) of the state Capitol. It’s a memorial dedicated to Southern Confederate soldiers who fought for, get this, state’s rights.

No, really. It’s there. I think I remember seeing that it was dedicated at the end of the 19^th century, when Texas was an unrepentant and unreconstructed racist haven (kind of like these days).

Here’s a distance shot of the memorial.

And here is a close-up of the engraved dedication.

See what I mean? Unrepentant. I particularly like the foray into statistics. The South lost because they were hopelessly outnumbered but they gave back better than they got.

Here in modern times, when we have a better grasp on statistics, it seems clear that if you put more men in harm’s way, more men will be killed.

So you see? Nothing really new here under the Texas sun.

Atlas Shrugged: Lamar Smith Endorses Mitt Romney

The Mitt Romney campaign issued a press release today announcing that Texas congressman and Tea Party favorite, Lamar Smith (R -  Austin) has endorsed the Romney candidacy.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

“In a statement released today by Romney’s campaign, Smith said he committed to Romney in May, three months before Perry announced his candidacy. He called Romney ‘a proven leader who will create jobs, reduce the nation’s debt and embrace traditional values.’”

Here is why Rick Perry should probably bail out now: if bat-guano crazy Lamar Smith can overlook “Romneycare” and its provision to provide coverage to illegal immigrants, where does that end? Who is next?

Or is it that, as speculated in the American-Statesman, Smith is chafing over Perry’s rebuke of anyone elected to federal office as simply “Washington” as if that name is an expletive.

If that is truly the case, then I have a new respect for the depth and breadth of Lamar Smith’s vindictive spirit.

A New Factor in the Republican Primary Process: The DB Factor

A reader who I actually know personally sent to me an image that I simply cannot ignore. As a matter of fact it dovetails nicely with something that has been on my mind lately: the “crudification” of the GOP.

As the Tea Party becomes more and more a factor in everyday Republican politics, civility has ended, and has been replaced by . . . well . . . the DB Factor.

The DB Factor is a factor introduced by Teabaggers, and has become part and parcel of what makes up Republicanism today. The DB Factor allows people to become less civil to each other, to care less and less about the plight of their fellow man, and become more and more self-interested, that is, greedy and miserly.

The DB Factor, need I say it, was introduced by Senator Rand Paul’s namesake, Ayn Rand, author of The Fountain and Atlas Shrugged, two classics of American cult literature that defined the platform of the Libertarian Party – and now, the de facto philosophy of a Republican Party that flees to the right in reaction to the continued presence of a moderate Republican – and Mormon, need I say – Mitt Romney.

One can only guess what the title Atlas Shrugged refers to. All I know is that Ms. Rand’s novel was poorly named if it is to let the reader know what the novel is about. So I like this one better.

Hat tip to Fenway Fran.

Mitt or Rick : A Devil’s Dilemma

Well it seems that the Teabagger Wing of the Republican Party is in for a Devil’s Dilemma, because like it or not, the two most likely candidates to survive in the primary season, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, are the two candidates who have so much in common with a concept and a demographic group that Teabaggers all hate. Illegal immigrants.

Teabaggers hate two things, it seems. Taxes and Illegal Immigrants.

Teabaggers send their children to public school, but hate supporting public schools with their taxes. Teabaggers drive on public roads, but hate paying gas taxes to maintain them. Teabaggers like to go to state parks from time to time, but hate paying state sales taxes in sporting goods stores to support the state park system. They. Hate. Taxes.

Next to that, Teabaggers hate Illegal Immigrants. This despite the fact that illegal immigrant labor keeps the prices here in Texas ever so low. Bob Perry would never be able to sell his homes at such low prices without illegal immigrant labor. If anything, the “Texas Miracle” if it really exists at all, is all due to keeping prices down because of illegal immigrant labor.

But Teabaggers hate illegal immigrants because they are scum and they take more than they give.

And then we have Rick Perry, who defends his policy to giving the children of illegal immigrants a free public education, because not to do so would be to condemn these children to lives of worthlessness.

And that is true.

And then we have Mitt Romney, who, from what I am reading from this LA Times article, signed into law a bill that established a state healthcare system in Massachusetts. A law that as currently constructed, allows illegal immigrants free access to taxpayer supported free health care if they cannot afford the premiums. Because not to do so would be even more costly to the state in terms of lost labor and increased emergency room costs.

And that is true, also.

But Teabaggers don’t see it that way. Their world is black and white.

So what are they to do? Inevitably these two will be the only two to survive because of credibility and the ability to attract campaign contributions. Teabaggers will truly be challenged as they try to decide between these two, mainly because not in the mix is the judgment of who is most likely to give President Obama the biggest run for his money.

They don’t think like that.

They, in short, don’t think.

Christians for Paganism

When I took my children to a “Pumpkin Patch” to pick out a pumpkin or two for Halloween, we went to a farm with pumpkins in the field. They had hay rides and cider for sale. They had a blue grass band.

Great fun, and American capitalism at its best.

But these days, the “Pumpkin Patches” that I see around here, here in the Bible Belt, are all run by churches.

It is a fundraising event for them.

Now, from what I remember, Halloween is a pagan holiday tradition that goes back to the Dark Ages in pre-Christian Scotland where it was originally called Samhain. Druids thought that during this period the boundary that separated the living and the dead somehow thinned, and it was possible to pass back and forth between life and afterlife.

And from what I recall on the origin of the Christian holiday, All Saints Day, it was essentially established to hijack Halloween from the pagans. Witness the fact that it is called Halloween now, All Hallows Eve.

And now Christian churches are hosting Halloween in conducting fundraisers, ironic in that you don’t hear of churches selling Christmas trees or Easter supplies.

I guess having Christian Pumpkin Patches is yet another attempt to hijack a pagan holiday, as if it hasn’t been hijacked already. Or maybe it is another attempt to capitalize on capitalism.

The Iraq War Will End

Fulfilling his promise to American voters, President Barack Obama yesterday announced that there would be no American soldiers in Iraq by the end of the year.  Here is the announcement:

This, ironically, is merely in keeping with a SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) signed by the Bush Administration shortly before Bush left office, a fine point that those who have criticized President Obama over this announcement fail to mention.

I remember when this agreement was being hashed out, recalling that it was, in fact, an international treaty between nations. The Bush Regime, however, wasn’t calling it that even though this international agreement was voted on by the Iraqi Parliament.

My concern at the time was that since it wasn’t ratified by Congress, Bush or his successor could simply ignore the timetable especially as it approached the final exit.

It’s nice sometimes, to be wrong, isn’t it?

This blog began with an original posting on the Iraq War, something that provided an original impetus for starting a political blog. But now, see? It is now 5 years later. And 2,378 postings later I get to finally write this: The Iraq War Will End.

Finally.

No Somos Republican

Republicans can’t even hear themselves talking anymore. They can’t even hear, or realize it, when they say something totally offensive to Hispanics in their own party.

Witness Lauro Garza, the former Hispanic activist Republican from Katy, Texas, who has recently resigned from the Republican Party over remarks of Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain in Las Vegas this past week.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

“We saw this yesterday, in the glare of broad daylight, when a leading presidential candidate, Herman Cain, not once, but twice, advocated for the murder of innocent people and that was met with cheers! … The fact the GOP allows and applauds such outrageous thoughts is beyond reprehensible.”

Now to my knowledge, there is no plank on the Republican Platform advocating electrified fences on the border. I could be wrong, because there are lots of outrageous things written in that platform document, but I think I would have remembered it when I last read it.

The GOP has no official position on electrified fences. However, from the audience reaction to Cain’s plan, wild whoops and frantic applause, it probably should be there. And I think this is what got Mr. Garza’s cabra (goat). He suddenly realized that he was surrounded by a bloc of people who would like nothing better than to see his cold dead hands charbroiled and wrapped frozen around some electrified barbed wire.

But the message that Republicans are sending out, vote for us, vote for us, seems to be falling on deaf Hispanic ears since the GOPers have collectively embarked on this journey of unreasonable and murderous racial hatred.

Hispanics have no reason to vote for a single Republican and conservative Hispanics are now coming to this realization. Now all we have to do is find some way to get the rest of these targeted people to realize that if they don’t vote these maniacs will continue to stay in power.

Gaddhafi Gets a Bullet: Congratulations President Obama

Well if no one else will say it, I will say it. Were it not for a singular military policy of President Obama, the news today that Muammar Gaddhafi’s life has finally ended would have never seen the light of day. As a matter of fact, the news today could have been about the hundreds or thousands of Libyan rebels being executed as punishment for being on the wrong side of a revolution when the world allowed the mad dictator of Libya to wage war on his own people.

When the US and its allies stepped in to provide material support and air cover for the Libyan rebels, Gaddhafi’s army was set to invade rebellious Benghazi, level it, and murder its citizens. That didn’t happen.

And where were the Republicans on this? As usual, either ignoring it completely or casting disparaging remarks on Obama’s policy, a policy that worked. A policy that worked without the loss of a single American life.

Senator Richard Lugar is famous for his immediate poor opinion of US involvement in the Libyan revolution. In March, when the conflict broke out, he is famously known for saying this. From CNN:

“I do not understand the mission because as far as I can tell in the United States there is no mission and there are no guidelines for success.”

To which we can now say, nothing succeeds like success.

Then there was The Newt on Meet the Press:

“I think that now the -- let me draw a distinction. I would not have intervened. I think there were a lot of other ways to affect Qadhafi. I think there are a lot of allies in the region that we could have worked with. I would not have used American and European forces.”

Let me finish for him: “I would have allowed thousands of Benghazi citizens to die at the hands of a government that is supposed to protect them.”

Truth is, this has been a policy that worked a whole lot better than the removal of the Iraqi government.

And now I am listening for the plaudits and praise from Republicans over yet another Middle East success story. And what am I hearing?

Crickets.

Honk if You Love Jesus

I just had to share this photo that showed up on facebook to spread the smiles around a little more, or at least share it with my six readers.

It reminds me of my favorite joke.

Q: What's the first thing that drivers say when they get cause a collision?

A: I have to hang up now.

TCEQ Censoring a Scientific Document

Galveston Bay, and Galveston Island which forms the bay has recently been reviewed in a scientific paper issued by the Houston Advanced Research Center, a nonprofit organization that has dealt with Galveston Bay sustainability issues for 10 years now. The study, funded by the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, the local EPA, apparently mentioned an unmentionable theory: that global sea levels were on the rise and that it is partially due to human activity.

So they decided to revise the chapter dealing with this issue. A clear case of governmental censorship of a scientific analysis for political ends. You need to read the entire article here. I have another take on it, which follows.

Texas governor, Rick Perry, denies the nearly 100% agreement in the climatology and oceanography community that Earth is undergoing a global climate change, and a part of the reason is the rise in greenhouse gasses generated by human fossil fuel energy consumption.

And Rick Perry appoints the TCEQ, so guess what? The TCEQ is trying to suppress a scientific finding.

The effect of even a 20 centimeter rise in global sea level would be catastrophic to Galveston Island. It would disappear. Wave action would eat it up in only a few decades, leaving no sand behind for the TCEQ commissioners to bury their collective heads in.

This issue is too serious to sweep under the rug. The effects of a global sea level rise will seriously impact our heavily populated coastlines, especially our system of barrier islands, something that the state of Texas has a whole lot of. And this is not just my opinion, or the opinion of nearly 100% of people who work in this field, it is the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States.

In a 5 to 4 decision, SCOTUS ruled that despite what some people might think, despite the economic effects of cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions, the disastrous effects of global sea level rise is serious enough to make people err on the side of caution. Even if global climate change by greenhouse gas emissions is a complete myth, we cannot afford to ignore the data that supports it.

In this the Supreme Court got it exact, and the TCEQ is full of methane.

Third Quarter Contributions A Study in Graphics

The Houston Chronicle has a nice little page on its website that has a graphic of the 3^rd Quarter Presidential campaign finance contributions. It shows a big old photograph of selected candidates (no Newt, and no Huntsman) and superimposed print of the number of millions of dollars each candidate has been able to raise in the 3^rd report quarter which just ended.

It really is a nice graphic, and you click on each photo to advance to the next candidate.

But I like my graphic better.

It kind of tells a whole ‘nother story.

Cain’s Credentials: Koch

Herman Cain, the present improbable front runner in the GOP presidential nomination race, has a little secret. He has no campaign apparatus, no funding, no talent for making a cogent argument, and a flawed economic plan.

Yet he leads the polls right now among GOP voters.

Why would that be, one would ask.

Could it be that money is the end all cure all for the Republican Party? The Koch Brothers, archetype Tea Party funders, are 100 per cent behind this unlikely candidacy, this as revealed by this article in the Washington Post:

“His links to the Koch brothers could undercut his outsider, non-political image among people who detest politics as usual and candidates connected with the party machine.

AFP tapped Cain as the public face of its “Prosperity Expansion Project,” and he traveled the country in 2005 and 2006 speaking to activists who were starting state-based AFP chapters from Wisconsin to Virginia. Through his AFP work he met Mark Block, a longtime Wisconsin Republican operative hired to lead that state’s AFP chapter in 2005 as he rebounded from an earlier campaign scandal that derailed his career.”

Doubt it. Cain is serving a purpose right now and it isn’t pretty. He is the ultimate bait and switch of the GOP campaign this year. In the end, he will be embittered that he was so used.

Huckabee: Religion is Not Rick Perry’s Problem

Rick Perry is Rick Perry’s problem, or so says former Arkansas governor and former presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee. Huckabee should know as he has made religion a cornerstone of his political agenda since 2007.

From The Chron:

“Rick Perry’s numbers are down because his debate performances have been extremely less than spectacular and I’m being charitable. Gov. Perry started at the top … but his repeat debate performances and the fact that he has not been able to find his footing on some key issues has just made people start looking elsewhere.”

And he seems surprisingly like the adult in the room as he gently chided Perry for thinking that this thing was his for the taking. Talking down to Perry, Huckabee continues:

“It’s not about religion. It’s about the fact that running for president is like sticking your face in the blade of a fan. Don’t try that at home. … It’s not pretty but folks, running for president is not a chess game it is a full contact sport played without pads.”

Something former Aggie cheerleader Rick Perry wouldn’t know anything about.