The Nature of Things

So, our esteemed governor, Rick ("Oops!") Perry, is deploying 1,000 National Guard troops to Texas' border with Mexico. It's unclear what exactly they are supposed to do there - other than bolster Perry's image for toughness with the radical immigrant-hating base of the Republican Party. It's that base who will select the next presidential candidate of that party, and Rick Perry is running hard for that position. Perry just came back from a weekend in Iowa, the state that holds the first presidential primary. It was his fourth visit there in eight months. He's also making the rounds of all the right-wing media outlets , accusing the Obama administration of failing to secure our southern border, even though Obama has deported more illegal immigrants crossing that border than any other president in history and has increased the number of Border Patrol agents along the border to record numbers. In fact, the border is most likely more secure than it has eve...

One in four people in Texas do not have medical insurance. That is the highest rate of any state in the country. These people suffer every day because they cannot afford to go to the doctor when they are sick or their children or sick. When things get bad enough, they wind up at overcrowded emergency rooms and, ultimately, we all pay the bills for that care - if in fact the hospitals get paid at all. The state government of Texas had an opportunity to cure part of this problem by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but that wouldn't fit with their philosophy. That philosophy, to sum it up in one word, is cruelty. Cruelty toward anyone who isn't a millionaire and who isn't able to contribute large sums of money to their political campaigns. Indeed, it is not enough for Rick Perry to reject the expansion of Medicaid and deny its benefits to about a million needy Texans. No, he wants to restrict the current very limited Medicaid program in Texas even further. Th...

Most revealing tweet of the day:  Bills regulating women's bodies in 2013 alone: 624.   Bills regulating men's bodies since the dawn of time: 0 —  @AuthorKimberley A Republican party dominated by middle-aged and elderly white men continues its attacks on women and women's rights . This week alone  Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Ohio all passed and/or implemented new restrictions on abortions. All of these laws were passed by Republican legislatures (again mostly white men) and signed by Republican governors (ALL white men).  And all of the laws were based on false premises and unscientific "facts" such as that an abortion puts women at high risk for breast cancer or makes them infertile and unable to bear a child later in life. Most, if not all, of these laws require doctors and abortion providers to lie to their patients about the effects of abortion on the fetus and on the woman. The laws require medically unnecessary ultrasounds, in ...

Rick Perry was finally able to read the handwriting on the wall and so he gave up his campaign for the presidency today. It was a campaign that rates as perhaps the most gaffe-prone in the history of presidential politics, marked by one stupid, inane remark after another. The campaign could be summarized by that word that Perry uttered on that unforgettable occasion when, during one of the debates, he forgot the name of the third agency he wanted to get rid of: "Oops!" So we won't have Rick to kick around anymore, at least not on a national level. Unfortunately, now he's headed back to Texas where we'll still be stuck with him until the end of his term. And who knows beyond that? Texas voters are not known for being discerning. They might very well give him their votes again. Anyway, considering Texas' recent history, once he's gone, we'll probably just elect someone even more embarrassing to be our governor. Then we'll find ourselves longing for ...

Poor Rick Perry.  And I never in a million years thought I would type those words!  But, honestly, as a human being, I can completely empathize with his "Oops!" moment last night.  In the middle of telling a story or making a point and suddenly your brain freezes up and you can't remember what that point was?  Yes, been there, done that.  But I'm not running for president.  I want anyone that I vote for for president to be smarter than I am and certainly better able to speak in public than I am. And that person is not Mr. Perry. Long ago, the sainted Molly Ivins dubbed Perry "Governor Goodhair," the implication being that that's all he was - all hair and no ideas.  Nothing under the hair.  It's something that a lot of Texans have known throughout Perry's charmed life in public office.  Now the rest of the country and the rest of the world is learning that, too. Rick Perry will never be president.  But will he now concede that point and g...

Did you watch the Miss Republican Beauty Contest Wednesday night?  No?  Neither did I. Consensual self-torture is not my thing. Since the event though, I have read about it and have seen some of the comedians' takes on the performance of the various contestants.  The pundits and the Republicans in attendance at the Reagan Library were all slavering over the appearance of Rick Perry in his first debate.  He did not disappoint them, which is to say that he said a lot of crazy things that don't stand up to scrutiny but are the kinds of things that tea partiers love to hear. I was bemused and appalled by the observation that the strongest applause line of the night was when one of the questioners - I forget which one - started to ask Perry about all of the executions he has overseen as governor.  More than 200 men have died under his watch.  When that number was read out in the introduction to the question, the Republican crowd broke into wild applause!  I...

"I think it's time for us to just hand it over to God, and say, 'God: You're going to have to fix this.'"                                                           - Rick Perry, Governor of Texas  Our esteemed governor has announced that he's going to announce that he's going to run for the presidency, so I think it is fair for the country to take a look at how he would handle the nation's most serious problems.  Based on all the evidence that we have, he would handle them with prayer. In April of this year, Texas was suffering from a six-month-long extreme drought and thousands of wildfires that had been brought on by that drought.  Perry decided it was time to pray.  He issued an official proclamation that the three day period from Friday, April 22, to Sunday, April 24, would be "Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Tex...

The governor of our state, who was last heard from threatening to secede from the United States, is suddenly doing what he has made fun of other states for doing: He's asking for federal assistance to handle our drought and wildfires . Of course, the truth is Texas has been getting federal assistance of one kind or another all along and will continue to get it no matter how much of a hissy-fit the governor and legislature throw. But to hear Rick Perry tell it Texas stands alone with help from no one. Today, Perry stuck his foot in it even more by complaining about President Obama showing concern about Alabama and the other states so hard hit by this week's tornadoes - states that have lost over 300 lives as well as inestimable property damage. How come he's concerned about all those states and not Texas, Perry wonders? He sounds like a jealous fourth grader. Really, how petty can you get? Pretty damned petty, not to mention clueless, if your name is Rick Perry.

Don't you just love polls? They tell us such interesting things about ourselves. Of course, everything hinges on the way the poll question is worded, and, for that reason, one has to look at who conducted the poll and consider what axe they have to grind before deciding whether to take the results well-salted. But I really doubt that the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune newspaper have any desire to make Texans look particularly bad, so I tend to believe that their poll is on the level. Here are just a few of the "facts" that the pollsters found that Texans believe: - 38 percent agreed with the statement "God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago." - 22 percent said life has existed in its present form since the beginning of time. - 51 percent disagreed with the statement, "human beings as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals." - 41 percent were aware that humans did not live a...