He’s not just a do-nothing governor who sits around with his hands in his lap begging an invisible man to save Texas. He does stuff, too. Like cut fire department funding by 75 percent. You know, reducing funding to the volunteer fire departments that have to battle the catastrophic wildfires breaking out in the state.
But then, how could he possibly know that if God didn’t bring rain, the plains might dry out and become more flammable? That’s like science, or cause-and-effect, or somethin’.
Maybe he thinks they should buy their own fire trucks, instead of relying on hand-outs from the state?
It’s a testament to the utter jaw-dropping stupidity of my people that there is even an outside chance for a piece of shit like this guy to get elected. America is lousy with class traitors.
Oh well… Ready to get my “lesser of two evils vote” on, again. Let’s just get it over with. The campaigning wears out my teeth.
And for his next act, a paid subscription to your neighborhood fire department. If your house is on fire but you haven’t paid up then burn baby burn.
Shouldn’t for-profit Firefighting companies have sprung up in the vacuum of state funding? After all they’d be more efficient, and better equipped to handle this fire thanks to the free market atmosphere now that the inept government has stepped out of the way.
There’s obviously a need, so why has the free market failed those thousands of Texans who have already lost their homes?
Wow, that is really breathtakingly stupid.
If people were reasonable, that should really drop his chances in Texas. I mean, cutting fire department funding right after (and during) horrific fires in the state should make people realize that he really doesn’t give a fuck about them.
Kevin – the fire departments are volunteer. Where do you suggest they get the money from? Takes a lot of bake sales and chicken bbq dinners to raise enough to get a fire truck.
The Texass miracle. Showing America the way…to hell.
I also like in the article how he’s been railing against FEMA and saying it should be cut, but he’s immediately asked FEMA for assistance, and when asked about this apparent hypocrisy said that now is not the time for quibbling over such things. Because the only good handout is MY handout, don’tchaknow.
This reminds me of something.
Namely reading Reuters saying that the Republican Party wants to cut costs on hurricane forecasting.
Speaking of Perry in church….
You would think after the Bachmann cornographic images, Republicans would be a bit more careful about selecting their photo ops.
It’s homeopathic firefighting. Perry obviously thinks that by diluting fire coverage, he increases the ability of the fire departments to fight fires. He just needs to have the state shaken up with an earthquake, then he can go on to another round of dilution.
Rick Perry: putting the ‘scorched earth’ back into ‘policy’.
Faith-based firefighting from the 10,000 churches in Texas. The downtime in the church-firehouse could be spent worshiping, whining, planning dominion and thanking yahweh they’re not gay. Am certain they would repeatedly slide down the big, slippery pole.
To be fair, the godly governor did declare a weekend of prayer back in April or May to end the Texas drought. God obviously did not answer those prayers, which means that God must intend that Texas undergo this drought. One consequence, of course, is these raging fires. It stands to reason, then, that God wants these fires, so cutting funds for fighting fires makes sense on a godly scale that mere godless mortals such as we simply cannot understand.
Well someone in Texas voted for a complete twonk.
It is their responsibility.
Let ’em stew in their own juices even secede from the union if they so wish…or just kick ’em out…whatever!
But no government help from the rest of the US.
Introduce passports and border checks.
Let them rot in their own pomposity
Let them have their heaven on Earth.
Let the companies, corporations and businesses that are based there pull out cos education and infrastructure is a complete joke.
And let the Texan voting public that were so well pleased with themselves for voting a muppet into office, finally wake up from their jeebus induced coma and deal with a complete plonker for running their state into the ground while making it the laughing stock of the world!
And while enjoying their self induced 17th century exiled life style replete with six guns, no services like electricity and sanitation.
Maybe they should pray for deliverance from their own utter moronic stupidity.
When that fails, which prayer does, that might convince them that a ballot box might provide a better solution and a far superior answer to their predicament.
And let the rest of the US, along with the rest of the rational world, hope against hope that this idiot gets no nearer the white house then a tourist queue.
Anubis Bloodsin,
I know you don’t care and shit… but people I know are homeless now. And ironically, no, they didn’t vote for him. So, you know what? Fuck you.
As for Perry… he doesnt’ give a shit about any of this. His friends are on their yachts and the rest of us can eat cake.
Attitudes like this always sadden me. There must be some decent folk in Texas. They are already in a minority, so people outside just giving up on them really isn’t going to help.
(If I get a “Your concern is noted” for this … oh well. It had to happen eventually. (Although, I think I made a faux pas that deserved and got that response in my very first post here some time ago, but I’m not sure any more.))
Remember folks – right now he leads the Republican race according to the polls. We could say that the crazier the better as it increases Obama’s chances – but what if the asshole wins. Brinkmanship like this scares the shit out of me.
The GOp – a race to the bottom. Too bad they have a chance to drag the whole country with them.
Surely this ‘god’ showing Perry what he really deserves.
Carlie @8:
Which is pretty much the entire ideological program of the Tea Party.
Fighting fires takes a large, reliable source of money. There are only a few ways to get it:
1. The state taxes people and provides fire service.
2. Counties tax people and provide fire service.
3. Cities tax people and provide fire service.
4. Fire service is private, and people have to pay a subscription to get it.
5. Fire subscription is private, and people have to pay per use.
1. – Ensures that everyone is protected from fire.
2. – Most people are protected from fire, but poorer counties have worse service (older trucks, not as many people on staff).
3. – Anyone in rural areas can just suck it, and are on their own. Also poor cities have crap fire protection.
4. – Poor people don’t get any protection. Fires rampage through neighborhoods and destroy blocks instead of being stopped at a single source point. Small businesses have a harder time getting started and surviving because of the extra cost to have a subscription.
5. – Same as 4, with the added benefit that fire companies can then charge exorbitant rates because people are under stress when their house/business is burning down and will agree to any amount of payment to get it stopped.
One can only hope that THIS TIME the electorate realize that voting GOP (you know, the party that cut fire department funding by 75%) is not particularly in their best interests.
If the following offends, well, too bad.
I’ve never had all that much sympathy for what happens to the former Confederate states. (Katrina/New Orleans excepted. One could make an argument for the death toll as evidence for an almost genocidal indifference by the state and feds.)
If they wish to join the rest of the Union here in the 21st Century, I will be happy to revise my opinions about those states.
How bold of you! Keep fighting that good fight fella!
If you keep electing idiots and voting against your, the state’s and the country’s interest, you shouldn’t expect a lot of sympathy. Texass elected a hairdo with no brain. In spite of the hairdo’s claim that god is punishing them, they really are punishing themselves.
Every single person in Texas chose him, right? Babies gurgled out that single word…. Perry. It probably sounded more like Pheeeee, but you know that they meant it. Let them suffer.
Carlie @22 – Option 1, maybe option 2, are really the only ones that applies here, where you have rural fires that have spread out of control. Once a wild fire becomes too big to contain, there is nothing that a municipal or private fire company can do except issue evacuation orders.
@Beatrice,
It isn’t the present suffering I am cheering, it is the continued failure (of a sizable majority) to recognize and correct for the mistakes of the past. Texass republican, big bidnez problems have been around for a damned long time. I am sorry that the minority are suffering at the hands of the majority. Time to move or move your asses and throw the bums out.
@AMW: God did answer. He sent them a rain…of napalm. ;-)
I really want to badmouth Texas here. You know, the usual stuff about getting what you deserve for voting the straight Violent Dumbshit ticket year after year, and then acting surprised when it turns out their policies are – literally -disastrous.
Then I remember how my state elected its second movie star governor, and is now billions of dollars in the hole.
*sigh*
Can we at least use this as a teachable moment and point out how government-by-oligarch hurts us? Draw a straight line from the fires to budget cuts and irresponsible tax policy? Maybe (pearl clutch!) blame somebody?
At the least, make this Perry’s Katrina and don’t let him slide on the question of firefighter funding and FEMA assistance. Make it clear that this catastrophe is absolutely typical of the results we get when unscrupulous demagogues are set loose in politics.
Of course taking the high road and allowing Republicans to act like this was totally unforseeable keeps everybody friendly in DC, so we can do that too.
When I saw the fires in Texas, one of my reactions was:
I bet one of Perry’s policies before the catastrophe was diminishing the fundings of the fire departement…
I wasn’t surprised when I learned that it was true.
But by 70%?! man… what an ass.
Sad thing, is I bet his reaction to all this is something along the lines of:
1) We need to please god more by praying harder
2) We need to please god more by making more money, by reducing more of the fundings of the different useless socialist things..
3) We need to get back into the white house, in order to be able to please god more.
So this is the caliber of success that is required to have a chance at becoming President of the United States.
Obviously we need MOAR PRAYUR. I’m talking sack cloth and ashes mother fuckers, prostration, sacrificing Mexicans, whatever it takes.
If I were a believer in Yhwh who lived in Texas, about now I’d have to be reevaluating some things. But that’s the beauty of Christianism, no need for thinking.
@Gregory #27
Every fire starts with a spark. These wild fires were once small and containable. But the FD couldn’t do it because they were underfunded.
Yep, I am no fan of the former Confederate states.
They suck up far more federal dollars than they send to D.C., they exalt ignorance and intolerance. They embrace the myth of ‘The Lost Cause’ and look to the most vile of the Confederate war criminals as heroes. The teabagger movement was born in the south and has its largest membership (in every meaning of the word) in the bible belt.
MLK was not murdered in Detroit, nor was Medger Evers gunned down in Providence. The Baptist church bombing that murdered those little girls did not happen in Boston.
Obviously what we need is better brush control. That means goats. Which means we could sell the goat hair and make goat cheese from goat’s milk. Texas could make a ton of money off it. handle it just right and the brush gets cleared away while Texas makes a ton off the by-products.
Something I remembered from the SB earlier this year is appropriate to quote. It’s a post from ‘Tis Himself from last June
Cor, remember, Howard Jarvis had a lot to do with the financial problems of California.
But, yeah. The Gropenator didn’t help all that much either.
God is the cause of all, you know, life, rain, and wildfires.
If God wants fire, God gets fire. You don’t fight God.
Glen Davidson
I didn’t read this post, but firefighters are all patriotic Americans—I remember 9/11—so this must be about Rick Perry giving them all healthy pensions, right?
Hi, Texan here.
Those who are sane here in Texas are a minority, I’m not going to attempt to even explain the insane’s motives for allowing Rick Perry, but it’s what it is, so I’m going to move on from that.
I was once told of a time, before I was born, but it wasn’t that long ago (yeah, I’m young ~ 23) Where Texas was in fact a Blue State of course it was filled with “Blue Dogs” or “Dixie-crats” but it was what it was… only after they decided to go into their true color (Republican Red) did the rest of the State follow.
Here in Texas it really has never been a Blue verses Red fight, it’s always been a one party system with the “looks” of democracy. Don’t let the looks fool you. The Repubs have had Texas since the early 1980s and they won’t let go of the only State this year or any other because it’s the only reason they still have any chance at the Presidency.
It’s not that I want to be in Texas – If I could move, I would of moved, but I happen to be one of the many people in Texas who have been boned time and time again by the Government to the point where I can’t ~ Hell, I wasn’t even given a fighting chance.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ, people, seriously? 150 years later still this ‘former confederate state’ bullshit? I expect as much from SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN morons, but I expect better from liberals. Shit’s done and over with.
Yes, Perry bears some responsibility for this bullshit. Yes, a nonzero number of the now-homeless voted for him. So what? They’re still suffering because of class war. We can’t leave them out to rot just because they didn’t vote for their own interests. Not that I’m in a place to do much of anything, but jesus fuck, can we at least not be heartless to folks who’ve lost everything?
am sorry that the minority are suffering at the hands of the majority. Time to move or move your asses and throw the bums out.
Fuck you, you fetid scumbag.
I live in Texas. I am further to the left than you are, most likely.
I worked my ass off trying to make things better here. I stumped for Democrat after Democrat after Democrat. I manned hundreds of phones, stuffed thousands of letters (staring with Bobby fucking Kennedy in ’68), was at the party HQ totting up donations and filling out FEC paperwork, I sat at tables on blazing hot days to get people to register to vote, I handed out flyers at intersections at the mall wherever the fuck I was needed, I knocked on doors you wouldn’t have had the fucking guts to approach to remind people to vote.
For my efforts trying to get people to vote Democratic, I got cussed at, spat at and shot at. When I complained to the (Republican) sheriff of the county when someone fired at me when I didn’t get off their property as fast as they liked, he said that maybe I should have been at home taking care of my husband rather than doing “men’s business.”
And just what the fuck, you piece of human filth, makes you think that everyone can just get up and move just because they want to–or even have to? Do you know what it’s like to try to make it on $30K a year? Do you have any fucking idea what it is never to be able to go out to eat, much less saving up enough to move?
Fuck you.
Take a decaying porcupine, and shove it so far up your worthless ass that you’re vomiting needles. It’s the least you deserve for being such a fucking lowlife with no compassion.
To those expressing disgust at the confederate states and the cultural problems there I agree. But that’s why such places must receive MORE of our sympathy and attention. They’re the weak link of the country. The nonsense is exported there to the fed level. Rather than swat one bee at time and focus only on blue states we need to double efforts and activism and reason evangelism there to take out the hive. The people of those states , yes including Perry voters, are the greatest victims in our country of this freemarket death cult nonesense. We need to be in there helping and making damn sure that these fuck ups are remembered and don’t fall down the memory hole. Texas came shockingly close against Perry last time…with a big push we may be able to wake up enough people and motivate silent doubters or closeted decent people and fundamentally change the voting climate.
This callous, “you get what you deserve” attitude towards Texans whose homes are burning is really disgusting. Yes, some of them voted for Perry, and some of them didn’t. Even those that did don’t “deserve” to have their lives destroyed because of it. Nobody deserves that.
In addition, you don’t suppose there are going to be any knock-on effects to the nation? Increased food prices as a result of crops being burned, for example?
Sheesh, people. We’re all on the same planet. We’re in this together, like it or not–and trust me, I really don’t like it, but there it is. We have to work with these fuckers and pointing and smugly declaring that they deserve to suffer during a time of tragedy is not just tacky and ugly, it’s also counterproductive.
I should say that including the phrase “these fuckers” in my previous comment kind of undermines my point. I apologize for that, it was an oversight on my part. “These fuckers” is part of my mental repertoire when it comes to referring to people who vote for politicians like Perry. I should have caught it, so I apologize.
The relation of North to South has always been problematic, even going back to colonial times. Hell, the ancestors of Northern and Southern colonists were typically on opposite sides in the English Civil war.
After the American Civil War, the two groups that Northerners blamed for the war were freed slaves and Southerners. And after the war, the South’s economy stagnated, and that was fine with the North.
The South has joined the ranks of the other “losers”–meaning those who lost–manufacturing workers, agricultural workers, anyone living in a small town…
These folks have been forgotten, and they’re pissed. They will vote in any idiot just to piss the rest of us off.
You sound a lot like the assholes around here who said things like “If you keep living in sin you should expect to be punished” and “If you keep sucking on the government tit (meaning people on welfare) you should expect it to dry up” about Katrina.
Seriously. You’re and asshole. And if this country goes to the Fundies you can expect to be waking up on the morning of a funeral, trying to catch up with people who are living with relatives while they figure out what to do next, hoping some how you might be able to get away from here and yet aching for the family you will leave to suffer and the elderly loved ones who you are probably leaving to die because no one else gives a fuck about them…
and some piece of shit from Germany will be laughing at you and saying how much you deserve it and how he doesn’t have any “sympathy” for you.
Stop lying, you don’t have any sympathy anyway. Go fucking hang.
For years I’ve responded to “The South will rise again” with, “What’s this ‘again’ noise?” No rational answers yet. (Flamethrowers please note: I was born in Texas – back before they changed the water; I have grandchildren older than Michael Z.)
Rick Perry demonstrates fruitcakeness at every opportunity.
More generally: why is it that politicians and the Law of Unintended Consequences seem never to get within shouting distance of one another?
1: Rick Perry scheduled a campaign appearance at an event sponsored by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.
2: News reports said 500 homes in Texas destroyed by wildfire.
3: Perry canceled his South Carolina event so he could return to Texas to manage the firefighting effort.
4: News reports say 1,000 homes in Texas destroyed by wildfire.
Awesome summary @22 Carlie. That list should be printed out and handed to every teabagger screaming for “smaller government” and ask them to circle which fire response they prefer.
If I were to pick health indicators for a civilization two of them would be the amount spent on non-police emergency services (fire, medic, disaster response) and public education. This year alone we have seen sweeping cuts in spending in both to the point of nearly rendering them ineffective. And when I see people who for all definitions of the word are heroes being neglected like the 9/11 responders and actively demonized as being lazy and greedy like we did this year in Wisconsin I fear that the US is well and truly fucked.
And remember, a vote for Perry is a vote for Koch Industries.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/09/06/2012-the-mother-of-all-wars-billionaire-koch/
And as I was writing this… holy shit! Aquaria, you are a superhero!!
The Invisible Hand of the Free Market will put those fires out. The Invisible Hand is magic, it can do anything.
Or just pray them out. That worked so well when they prayed for rain a month ago. God sent a huge storm which flooded New Orleans and spawned tornadoes in Georgia. Texas caught on fire. With the Deitys bad aim, that counts as almost on target.
Puts me in mind of the famous Mark Twain quote:
“If I owned Hell and Texas, I’d live in Hell and rent out Texas.”
Carlie,I’m going to steal your list too. That’s very succinct.
Perry right now is looking like a good bet for our next president.
1. Bachmann is flaming out. Her two top campaign managers just quit, a sign of dying. She is cognitively impaired and even the Tea Party won’t buy that.
2. Obama’s approval ratings are very low. When the economy is sick, usually the party in power gets tossed. This is how Obama got elected in the first place.
A lot can happen before now and the election. The other two more normal candidates are both Mormon though and the Tea Party hates Romney. The fundies hate everybody not them and Mormons are on their list.
The Federal Reserve report says it takes 10 years for an economy to recover from a severe shock. Their projections based on history are that the US economy won’t recover until ca. 2018. With another GOP wrecker like Perry, add another 10 years, 2028.
I’m beginning to see how the ancient Romans and the modern USSRians felt.
From our esteemed host’s first link:
So, under a Perry presidency, the Pentagon will have ultimate responsibility for emergency management. (Brings a whole new meaning to “friendly fire”, no?)
Militarizing the whole nation while simultaneously christianizing the military – the Republican platform for 2012!
That’s because he clearly angered Jim DeMint. God of the assholes.
Aww good for you. You’re really cute when you’re mad at whole geographical areas. Lumping in the contents. Maybe we should talk about the French next?
Really, you are precious. Cute little angry guy.
Why let pointing out the real reasons and people for your anger keep you from making an ass out of yourself and getting to make tired hackneyed insults to large groups of heterogeneous people?
Seriously. Being lazy is SOOOOOO much easier. And it’s cute too.
I have to side on the “you get what you deserved side”, because there have been 20 years of blatantly inept Republican rule. If you live in Texas, move out; scrape together bus fare and move. To be honest, I feel a great deal of sympathy for Texans and would definitely support those leaving. I don’t feel bad about moralising against Texans because I don’t have to armchair moralise, nature will do it for me.
Those of you familiar with history know about the Dust Bowl. This could happen again. I am not just saying that smart Texans should leave because stupid Texans are making life difficult. They should leave before they are driven from their homes, penniless, because of nature’s wrath (fire, draught, no power, no water, no sewage, no animal control) without any government to keep nature at bay. Civilization and government make uninhabitable land liveable, if those are gone, what do you think is going to happen?
If you can vote out the morons, do it now, RIGHT NOW, otherwise leave. Normally I would advocate fighting valiantly as some have done for years. But when the whole state is abdicating its responsibility in an incredibly arid and difficult land, then leave. It won’t be a little better, it will be big deserts.
You do realize how utterly fucking stupid this is?
Don’t you?
1. Pray to God to end the horrible drought.
2. ???
3. Catastrophic wildfires.
*clap… clap… clap… clap…*
Gov. Perry: All God loving Texans must pray to our almighty God to bring an end to this terrible, endless drought!
People: Dear God, please do something to remove this drought from our midst.
God: I’ll send a tropical storm to Louisiana. Is that close enough?
People: No, we still hear about the drought every night. Make it go away.
God: OK, I’ll burn down 1000 houses. That should take your minds off things.
People : Gov. Rick, WTF?
Perry: God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. Let us pray.
mike @ # 59: If you can vote out the morons, do it now, RIGHT NOW, otherwise leave.
I would, but my orbital habitat isn’t ready yet.
To the profound concern of the Pagans, the very earliest (“impious”) xtians where adamant that the entire world would be consumed by a vast conflagration.
Their concerns extended beyond the obvious blasphemy (they could not understand how God would destroy his perfect, eternal creation) to the problem of xtian fanatics actually setting fire to shit in order to bring on the end of the world and hence their passage to heaven.
True xtians should be running around Texas with buckets of gasoline.
Well, from this side of the Atlantic ocean, people like mike almost make me want to say that Americans deserve whatever they get because they are awful, hateful people without a trace of empathy or compassion…. But wait, I don’t make sweeping generalizations like that and don’t wish a bunch of people harm because some have made stupid decisions. I guess that’s because I’m not (or at least trying not to be) a self-important asshole who thinks that everyone who has shit happening to them must have somehow deserved it. It’s easy enough for you to advise people to just leave and deem them stupid if they don’t. For just one example of the problems: what would other states do with all the refugees from Texas?
Major Tom@53 said: “If I owned Hell and Texas, I’d live in Hell and rent out Texas,” was due to Twain.
Actually, it was Union Cavalry general Phil Sheridan. He also said “The only good Injun is a dead Injun.” How do you like him now?
Christopher Hitchens on “Rick Perry’s God.”
http://www.slate.com/id/2302661/
Excerpt:
I think that what the nimrods saying TX deserves the conflagration are missing is that it is the inherent lack of concern for people characteristice of the American Economy–the winner-take-all, devil-take-the-hindmost spirit–that has created pockets of ignorance, iniquity and ignominy like Texas. By leaving them to their faith, we are merely perpetuating and expanding the conditions that created them. We can always blame others for their predicaments. However, we are social animals–if a part of the nation–or the hive–dies–the hive dies.
Yeah because there aren’t any idiots in office anywhere but Texas. You might also take note of the fact that Perry was not elected unanimously, and the percent of those not voting repub is growing. Anubis, you need to consider where all that anger is coming from and why you are dumping it in such inappropriate places. Or, as Aquaria said, go fuck yourself with a rotting porcupine.
I just saw this on facebook: “I think we should aid Texas, but only if its political leaders agree to drug tests.”
Now that’s the kind of insult I can support.
Well, I’m sure Rick Perry has some private fire fighting company that will be making money on this somehow.
I guess it is back to the 1800s with private fire fighting companies again. Perhaps Boss Tweed will make a comeback – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Tweed#Early_life
(2nd paragraph is relevant)
Private fire fighting companies did not work efficiently at all and prioritized their work based on what the insurance companies paid for.
The question is, do you have your fire fighting insurance paid up? Hopefully you aren’t in a fire prone neighborhood, or the insurance company may drop your coverage unexpectedly…or just jack up your rates. Good luck finding a better insurance company…without any government regulations / oversight, they will have been mergered into only 2 companies now that talk to each other all the time to set rates.
#16 Algernon says:
” I know you don’t care and shit… but people I know are homeless now. And ironically, no, they didn’t vote for him. So, you know what? Fuck you.”
Fair enough comment, but I do care, my rant was directed at the dingbats that voted the doofus into office.
It is easy to be critical…that I accept…and it is also easy to forget the hardships being undergone by residents in Texas at this time.
I apologize for that lapse.
But again I reiterate the post was not directed at victims of present circumstance whatever political hue or indeed folk that did not vote for Perry at all.
I had hoped that would have been obvious.
If not…then my bad!
The point is that a majority of Texan’s did vote for him.
Presumably because he seemed to mirror their perceptions of the world.
And that is not only very sad but downright scary,because doofus prime is in the running for Pres of the US of A.
That concerns, or should concern, every contributor to this blog indeed the world.
The man is a class A imbecile, facts are facts.
Even if he does not believe the codswollop he regurgitates, then that makes him, a class A+ imbecile and an extremely dangerous one.
Because his moral integrity would be in question!
Therefore more then likely his ethical judgment.
Not a reassuring trait when the world is so unstable anyway!
It is either that or the doofus really does believe the nonsense he spouts in which case the world is even more unstable with such a xian clown at the helm of a major power!
#17 Beatrice, anormalement indécente says:
“Attitudes like this always sadden me. There must be some decent folk in Texas. They are already in a minority, so people outside just giving up on them really isn’t going to help.”
What is sad is that Perry has ambitions to to be top doggy and there seems little to actually stop him…except for the voting intentions of a country wide presidential election.
What are the odds on that?
Playing that kind of political Russian roulette has never been a particularly bright thing to do.
The stakes are way to high.
Yes there are decent folk in Texas as there are everywhere in the States.
But in Texas they seem to be a minority and in no real position to affect a ‘miracle’
For then I do feel sorry, it cannot be easy.
Not sure when ‘rick’ with the silent P tenure is up in Texas but certainly in the meantime he will be running in the pres election under the Texan governorship banner.
By the time his term comes up for reelection to Texas governorship it might well be to late to change a real disaster!
Sorry if I offended anyone …not intentional.
No, Martin Luther King wasn’t murdered in Detroit. And Malcolm X wasn’t murdered in Atlanta. I doubt those facts prove anything beyond being a reminder that crimes, like car crashes, tend to happen near the victims’ homes.
New American motto after 4 years of Rick Perry OR Michelle Bachman or any of the other Rethuglican wingnuts:
The US of A–think of us as Haiti with nukes.
Look, I’m in the damn center of most of these fires, and I didn’t vote for that god-botherer. My cousin’s house burned down Monday. He splits his time between here and L.A. He sure as hell didn’t vote for Gov. Goodhair. I only think of myself as living in “the South” as a compass point. I’ve never romanticized or glorified the Confederacy – I’m ashamed that I had ancestors who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. So all you yahoos who “don’t feel sorry for me,” or say I should just move, I offer you a well-aged porcupine. Please don’t generalize about “all Texans.” I hate Perry’s policies and platform too. I wish I could leave. Why don’t y’all try living here, imagining every day that your home could burn down while you’re at work and everything you own but the clothes you have on and the car you drove could be lost?
“…the problem of xtian fanatics actually setting fire to shit in order to bring on the end of the world and hence their passage to heaven…”
Isn’t this a sort of Heaven’s Gate manner of “solving” a problem?
Please, God, never let me piss off Aquaria. I don’t think I could survive such a letter-perfect verbal porcupine reaming.
If God does exist perhaps he’s a cat. It would explain things like this. People pray to God, and then he does something that seems to have little connection with the prayer requested, like causing Texas to burn. Other times he just ignores prayer. Sounds like a cat, who will frequently ignore you, and tends not to do what you tell it to when it does pay attention.
Drought, fire – what next – pestilence? And yet Perry still won’t shut the hell up and stop bothering god! Oh – hey – it must be the End Times in Tx? Come on everyone, grab a trailer and let’s move to Waco!
Aquaria, how is your mother doing?
Of course it’s obvious poetic justice: cut the fire department, get unmanageable fires. It’s the easiest joke. Ha ha Darwin award! Brought it on yourself! Ah, if only it were so…
Sadly, it’s other people who suffer for Perry and his ilk.
That was Philip Sheridan, not Mark Twain. The Texas felt much the same about Sheridan.
Well, fire departments are part of the socialist conspiracy, aren’t they? Right up there with police departments, public schools, libraries, road crews, and the weather service.
Oh, but for the grace of gawd…
What makes collections of people a nation is that in times of chaos, they pull together and help each other. Yes, Perry is an idiot. It is obvious his hair goes all the way to the center of his head. And, yes – a significant plurality of Texans put him in office. But, there is no margin in blaming the victims, no matter how addled they may be.
We need to help them, but this should be a perfect teaching moment for some of them. Texas and the rest of this country have lost the will to tax to provide BASIC services.
Maybe, just maybe, the Prez will send in the cavalry and point out that government is good for a lot more than their gov’s “The Response”.
Indeed not, Guv’nor! You don’t.
You know what that quote above applies equally well to – Anthropogenic Global Warming or as I (perhaps more accurately) prefer to call it Human Induced Rapid Global Overheating. (HIRGO.)
Y’know that whole climatology problem that Perry and the other republicans denies is real.
The news report segued from there into a story about an ominous new hurricane off the US eastern coast – and followed mention of the record breaking drought and heatwave that helped the wildfires get so severe. Go figure.
(Yeah, I know you can’t say any one of these disasters was individually caused by HIRGO – but the pattern that’s developing, the trend we’re seeing, yeah, that’s evidence of it.)
Also that whole cutting back the firemen’s budget by 70% thing :
What. The. Fuck!?
@ Steve : 7 September 2011 at 7:25 pm
Well said & seconded, my near-namesake. :-)
I’m beginning to think that my best chance of affecting the outcome of the 2012 presidential election is to change my voter registration to Republican, just to vote against Perry. Romney & Huntsman both appear to have some semblance of contact with reality, when compared to Gov Goodhair.
Unfortunately I’m a South Dakota resident, so it may all be over by the time our primary happens. Those of you in Iowa and South Carolina, however. . .
I’ve even got a bumper sticker:
VOTE FOR THE MORMON – HE’S THE ONLY SANE ONE
Sad, isn’t it. . .
Maybe God hates Texas so he sent them droughts, wildfires and Rick Perry
You know, I read this blog and others like it in order to gratefully absorb liberal intelligence and rational thinking, etc. And then I come across this, and my heart drops even further than my jaw. I’m an undergrad student at the University of Texas in Austin, an institution ranked 35th in the world, above schools like Duke and USC. But Texas isn’t worth shit, right? Just a bunch of worthless rednecks? How stupid and bigoted are you? And even if it were true, which it obviously is not, no one “deserves” to lose everything they own in an uncontrollable environmental disaster. I’ve spent the last 3 days handing out water to exhausted firefighters and hugging screaming children who can’t understand why mommy won’t quit sobbing, daddy won’t tell them where their pets are, and the mean police won’t let them go home. Yeah, they deserve it. Communities are being destroyed, lives irrevocably altered, years worth of hard work and dedication literally going up in smoke, and some of you have the gall to suggest that because we’re Trxans and our governor is Republican, we deserve this? You’re no better than the Christian zealots you loathe so much. In fact, you’re exactly alike, it’s only your prejudices that are different. You make me sick.
I think Cyanidesin is completely correct. I understand many of us – myself included — have strong dislike of what many Texas politicians have done and continue to do. But any thinking person knows the people of Texas don’t deserve disaster because of the political leaders some of them have elected…….additionally we all know there are many fine people and fine things done in Texas and all Texans deserve our help just now. Let’s cool it folks – don’t give liberalism, atheism, humanism and Pharyngula a bad name.
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