Sunday, May 31, 2015

Weekend Update: Texas In the Rear View Mirror

(The dawn broke this morning slightly overcast, still warm from yesterday's 80+ degrees.  It's stayed overcast all day, muggy and a bit uncomfortable, but still Spring.  Drove across town late this afternoon, the sun shining through a light cloud level like a flashlight through a dirty shower curtain. Eugene, Oregon was quiet.  Not much traffic.  Very little sound.  Like it's waiting for something.  A little thunder tonight maybe?  That would be fun.  At least it's not raining.  It's raining in Texas again tonight.  The deluge in Texas began several days ago and hasn't let up, Apparently it's the wettest May on record for Texans, they've estimated some 35 Trillion Gallons of precipitation have blessed the Lone Star State since the beginning of the month, with more on the way.  At least 20 people have lost their lives, and the damage from all the flooding will undoubtedly be in the millions.  Pat Robertson was quoted the other day as saying he doesn't really know who to blame for this. Ordinarily Pat blames things like hurricanes, tornadoes, plague,and  9/11, on pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays "and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle."  But shit, this IS TEXAS.  Shit-kicking true-believers.  Pat's having a hard time coming up with a religious reason why god is punishing Texans with all this weather related misery.  I got one for you Pat:  Rick Perry.  But I digress ...)

  • Conservatives generally agree that poor people in America "have it easy" thanks to government benefits. There exists in this country a dominate right-wing contempt for the poor, and yet compassionate conservatism (sic) is rampant in most, if not all, of the (10?) (15?) Republican candidates running for president in 2016.  But just listen to them - punishing the poor has become a campaign goal.  Don't expand Medicare, cut Social Security benefits, take away food stamps, get rid of health care - all mantras of the dark side of politics.  What's going on with these people?  Why do they seem to have no clue as to what happening to the average American?  Paul Krugman describes "The Insecure American," and it's a must read.
  • Now let's slip back into Rick Perry for a moment, okay?  He's running for President again, don't you know?  And if elected, let's contemplate for a moment what he would do to the United States, by comparing what he's done to the State of Texas.  A key element of the
    Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a Medicaid expansion clause which would cover uninsured patients, mostly working poor, who don't make enough money to pay for insurance on the exchanges.  Last year it cost Parkland Hospital $765 million to treat people without health care.  But when the all-knowing Supreme Court ruled that states could opt-out of Medicaid expansion, Rick Perry couldn't opt-out fast enough.  Thanks to Gov. Perry, Texas hospitals have had to eat $5.5 BILLION dollars last year.  Perry says Texas hates Obamacare. The business leaders in Texas are apoplectic.  "The problem is that in hating the Affordable Care Act, the state is leaving on the table as much as $100 billion of federal money over 10 years - money that could pay for health insurance for more than 1 million of its working poor." When I was in the service I had the misfortune to live in Texas for 2 years.  There are, to be real here, some places in Texas where rational and intelligent people live, like most of the people in the town of Austin. But for the most part, the best sight in the world is Texas in the rear view mirror.
  • Nine brains were found along a northern New York Village, but authorities said there was nothing to worry about.  Comforting.  But while checking this one out we find this story:  Last year, at the University of Texas, 100 brains, conserved in jars, went missing.  Think of it.  100 Texas brains, including perhaps the brain of Charles Whitman, the Texas tower shooter (or whatever he was called) just flat out went missing! Perhaps there's a chance for Rick Perry after all.  If we can just find his freakin' brain!
  •  Oh, and let's at least mention the terrible, awful, horrible, Texas biker brawl down in Waco, TX, where nine of them were killed, and 170 of them were arrested, at a bar right across the street from a Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Holy Shit.  And what were they fighting over?  What were these overweight, balding, crusty, bored, sunburned and drunk idiots fighting over?  Drugs, stolen cash, women, gold, meth?  Nope.  They were fighting over "territory."  Big boring slabs of Texas terrain.  Goddammit, I miss Texas.  Mark Morford reports.

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