Politics as Usual in Austin

Extra Extra read all about it...Texas is going to secede from the union. Give me a break! When I first saw the sound bytes hit the airwaves, I said I wouldn't post about the idiocy coming out of Austin but, I couldn't help myself when I received an email from a transplanted Texan making apologies to the rest of the "union" for the "temporary insanity of our otherwise very intelligent Governor." Excuse me?!? Rick Perry and intelligence in the same sentence couldn't be further from the truth. I don't say this because he is a Republican. I say this because he is just an idiot. He is the man who fights against high speed rail connecting some of our larger metropolitan areas because he wants a "superhighway" that can be seen from outer space. He promises the horsemen in Texas he will support VLTs (video lottery terminals) one night and the Catholic Church he will fight gambling in Texas the next. Although, I can't fault him much for that one as it is a typical politicians actions. But, I can say what a moron when he VETOES approved legislation making school zones no idle zones to prevent air pollution that compromises the health of Texas children. I make no apologies for a man I didn't vote for. I would of rather had an independent sometimes singing cigar smoking Kinky Friedman as the Governor of the state I live in.

I've lived in Texas since birth ...and I'm spending a great deal of time trying to figure out how to get out of this backwoods hillbilly state. While I'm proud to be a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and will always have a fond place for this state in my heart....people here resist so much change and are very narrow minded. Women are still second class citizens in a number of areas and we all know how I feel about that. So, I guess our Governor who is in a big battle to even be the Republican nominee for Governor, falls off his rocker and tells the rest of the world that at some point we may need to secede from the union, I'm really not that surprised. Dumb, just plain dumb I tell you. As my daughter would say, you can lead a man to knowledge but you can't make him think. He turned down federal stimulus package monies to aid in unemployment in Texas. He wants to tell us all that our economy in the state is so much better off than other states but, I bet if you ask the people who make up that 6.7% unemployment rate how well off they are, they'd be asking for that assistance. He tells us he should be re-elected because it is like a big business and he is the CEO and he's done such a great job running our state. Well excuse me oh mighty Governor but...have you checked out how we rank in the country for other key factors like health insurance, education, welfare, poverty? We rank in the top 10 for state with persons living below the poverty level. In education, we rank 36th in the nation for high school graduation rates. In our total education ranking we scored a middle of the road 26th. Sounds rather mediocre to me. Out of the 13, 502, 390 citizens in our state 4,127,280 are uninsured. That's a staggering 31%. Nice job Governor - we rank 1st in the nation on that one! I guess you are truly the CEO of a large business - you rank right up there with the leaders of such stellar firms as AIG, Citibank, and Merrill Lynch. Are you sure you don't want some of those stimulus dollars like your cohorts?

I was amazed that Governor Perry used the "Texas Tea Parties" as a springboard to further this nonsensical whimsy. I truly hope people both in and out of the borders of our state realize we don't all feel this way. He couldn't even get the concept of the Tea Party right. The last time I checked, the Boston Tea Party was all about taxation without representation. Hmmm, but the Texas Tea Party is because governement is too big?!? We have representation in Washington - in fact your friend Bubba Bush just came home from there - can't get any more representation than the big Kahuna himself. Stand up and take note Governor, the woman representing us in Washington currently is coming home to take your job! I will celebrate the day you are voted out of office with my own tea party. And if on the outside chance the majority of people in this state lose their mind and vote you back in....well my bags are packed and unlike Bubba and Iraq, my exit strategy is fool proof.