Good news/bad news on the Republican presidential trail

The good news? Rick Perry dropped out of the Republican pursuit for the presidency.

More good news--he endorsed Newt Gingrich in his concession speech, God love him. The bad news? There are still officially four candidates in the hunt. No, wait. That's still good news. The longer they tear each other down, the better. It just gives yet more fodder for the candidate on the "other side." Link: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/perry-to-end-bid-for-presidency/

Because someone needed to say it...

Jesus Responds to Rick Perry's "Strong" Ad from DC Pierson

Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

The President on his 2012 opponents

'We may just run clips of the Republican debates verbatim,' he added, 'we won't even comment on them...'" --President Obama. (And yes, obviously he's kidding but, you know? It might just work).

Rick Perry, going down just as Herman Cain is

From tonight's debate:This, ladies and gentelmen, is about the only reason I love this guy.

Bill Maher on Rick Perry and the Republican Candidates

Great question for Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Perry

Like now-former Texas Governor George W. Bush before him, it's easy to be certain and sure of yourself if a) you're rather simple-minded and b) you don't care for detail. Or facts. Or hard, conscientious work. (Thanks and another hat tip to Joe My God blog for this link).

Rick Perry: That's some scary stuff

Notes to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Rep Bachmann and their ilk

Link to original post: http://mockthedummy.com/2011/09/07/when-dummies-pray-for-a-savior/

Notes on Texas' wildfires

Texas has really caught heck this year, what with their drought and then all the wildfires, for sure. With this, I thought there were a few notes worth mentioning today. First is that the current set of wildfires aren't considered to have been from arson, thankfully, but instead, horribly and ironically are blamed on the tropical depression that has dumped so much water on so much of the Eastern part of the country: "The wildfire currently raging in Texas’s Bastrop County near Austin is the single worst blaze in the state's history: it has burned 1,000 homes so far, more than any previous fire in the state. The fire—one of at least 63 currently burning in the state—has scorched 100,000 acres so far, fueled, in part, by strong winds from Tropical Storm Lee...The fires have been fanned by winds from a tropical depression that hit the southern United States over the weekend and have flared across ground left tinder dry by a summer drought, killing at least two people." Then, as though that's not bad enough, there's this: "'There will be more flare-ups with the cool air,' a spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service (TFS) said Monday, referring to a predicted drop in temperatures later this week." That's all those poor people down there need. More: "In Bastrop county, scene of the biggest Texas fire, officials said at least 500 homes had already been destroyed, a state record for a single fire. 'We're not fighting this fire at this point. We're just evacuating people,' assistant fire chief Rod Stradling told local media. Mark Stanford, the TFS fire chief, described the fires as 'catastrophic.' 'It's a major natural disaster,' he told The Austin American-Statesman newspaper, as new fires hit a huge swath of central Texas. A TFS official told Fox News that the situation was 'unprecedented.'" For a bigger overview of Texas' burning year: "Since the beginning of the wildfire season, Texas has dealt with over 20,900 fires that have destroyed more than 1,000 homes and burned 3.6 million acres, according to local and state officials. It's bad and not getting better anytime soon, tragically and unfortunately. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-wildfires-see-perry-leave-campaign-trail-011951290.html; http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/06/texas-bastrop-fire-photos-videos-of-blaze.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29

An apology from the State of Texas

Good on you, Texas, and thanks. At least this time it's not just the Dixie Chicks owning up to the ignorance of this buffoon but the whole state. (If even in jest). Thanks and a hat tip the The Immoral Minority blog for bringing this to our attention. Link: http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/

From the "you gotta' be kidding" file

Texas chops $34 million from Forest Service during wildfire problem

Cutting unnecessary programs or duplicate or ineffective programs, sure, everyone gets that, but cutting programs to be cutting programs and reducing spending when the spending is necessary and wise is just, well, ignorant and unfortunately needs to be pointed out, in this case.

How's that succession idea seem now, Gov. Perry?

Texas Governor Seeks U.S. Help to Fight Wildfire

Headlines from Texas today

Kid takes gun to school; 3 youths hurt

TEXAS: Double-Homicide By Man Angry Over Daughter's Lesbian Relationship

Just makes ya' wanna' move South right away, doesn't it?

Texans: Not very bright but not hypocrites, anyway

News out yesterday:

Texas poised to pass bill allowing guns on campus

By JIM VERTUNO, Associated PressSun Feb 20, 2:24 pm ET
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms.

More than half the members of the Texas House have signed on as co-authors of a measure directing universities to allow concealed handguns. The Senate passed a similar bill in 2009 and is expected to do so again. Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who sometimes packs a pistol when he jogs, has said he's in favor of the idea.

Right, because you need a gun when you jog.  I get that.  (dripping sarcasm)

We need guns at colleges and universities like we need 'em in our national parks--that is, not at all.

As I've said many times before, here and otherwise, "more guns" is not an answer to problems.  Not a good answer, anyway, and not a smart one.

And as said over at Americablog:  "What do you mean I didn't get an 'A'?"


Link to original story:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110220/ap_on_re_us/us_guns_on_campus_5/print

This is so irresponsible of Texas Governor Rick Perry, I can hardly contain myself

I can just imagine all the rednecks, coast-to-coast, picking up on this, thinking they know something about the US Constitution and wanting to yee-haw themselves out of the Union.

It's dangerous.

This divisiveness and attacking is getting ugly and out of hand.