I definitely have to stop sipping coffee when reading the Houston Chronicle in the morning. Too many times my freshly brewed favorite morning beverage is spat out because I am appalled and/or disgusted by something I read.
This morning happened to be one of those days when my morning joe ended up on the front page of the Houston Chronicle.
The headline that captured my attention:
A case of mistaken identity?
Environmentalists surprised that A&M scientist named to board has sided with industry
By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE
Apparently a Texas A&M educated scientist who holds two advanced degrees and a doctorate in agricultural engineering to boot, is skeptical of the proven science supporting the rather inconvenient fact that human activity is largely responsible for pollution.
According to Gail Collins of the New York Times (see below) Rick Perry and other Republicans are behaving like gerbils that just bit an electric wire.
I don't think anyone could have said it better. Ms. Collins is absolutely right and she is not the only one who thinks so.
The words "looney talk" "nuts" and "whacko world" are the terms used by Hardball's Chris Matthews when he refers to Rick Perry and Tom Delay's views on secession and state sovereignty.
Markos Moulitsas ("Kos") founder of Daily Kos recently observed that his two year old daughter had reached a Republican stage in her development because the majority her vocabulary consisted of two words: "NO!" and "MINE!"
Indeed. At least Markos understands that his two year old will grow out of her stubborn and selfish phase.
But those of us who live in Republican run states do not have the luxury of believing in or hoping for the evolution of maturity where our childlike NO! and MINE! lawmakers are concerned.
According to a source cited over at Daily Kos Kay Bailey Hutchison will not give up her U.S. Senate seat while running for governor.
It seems that some of these naughty, nasty boys charged their palling-around-with-call-girl activities on their corporate credit cards.
Uh oh. Are these guys still in charge of their businesses? Are they the ones who received the bailout money?
The scandal may have happened pre-TARP, but this kind of behavior should make us wonder about what kinds of scumbags and whackos we have bailed out.
According to Raw Story and ABC News today these boys used a $2,000 per hour call girl service where the "firm's" Madam disguised the charges as business related, e.g. "computer consulting, "roofing construction," etc.
For the last few weeks we have been listening to wall-to-wall coverage 24/7 about the flamboyant governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, and pay-to-play politics. As we all know by now the Illinois governor is charged with criminal conspiracy for attempting to sell President Elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat. Rod Blagojevich is clearly another crooked and arrogant politician who thinks he is above the law. But at least this one found himself impeached by the Illinois House.
It is nice to know some states have lawmakers who have an ethical spine where such blatant corruption and beyond the pale pay-to-play politics are concerned. Too bad Texas is sorely lacking in this area. But one has to remember the Party that is running the state at this time, although not all Democratic politicians would receive A's in ethics and integrity departments either.
When the Blagojevich scandal broke, several of the cable TV talking heads and pundits appeared especially outraged by pay-to-play politics and so I promptly sent off an email to MSNBC and CNN and suggested that if they are so livid about pay-to-play, they ought to send their research staff down to Texas to see how it works in a state where purchasing elections and pay-to-play is business du jour. Apparently other folks from around the U.S. contacted the media with the same request. Chris Matthews of Hardball responded with a chart that listed the most offending states. Texas is among them.
