Comments on the Flavor Of The Week...

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

“Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that." - Rick Perry, April 15, 2009. Nope, the state entered the union with the ability to divide into five states, not withdraw. And the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1869 (Texas v. White) that Texas cannot secede (again).

In 2007 Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring all sixth-grade girls to have a three-shot vaccination series (costing about $120 per shot). Gardasil, a preventative for cervical cancer, was made by Merck - which was pushing legislatures to put forward bills mandating the vaccine for preteen girls. Perry's former chief of staff was a lobbyist for Merck; the ex-staffer's mother-in-law was a sitting state representative and director of Merck's advocacy group. Needless to say, all hell broke loose. The state legislature overwhelmingly overturned Perry's executive order. In response to criticism of a government mandated vaccine, Perry's comment was: "That piece of legislation was not mandatory, in the sense of when you can say no, something's not mandatory." I wonder what his definition of "is" is.

Texas, South Carolina, Indiana, and Florida are the four weakest states when it comes to gubernatorial power. Perry's power as governor is divided among other elected Texas officials. Even Sarah Palin had more individual power as a governor.

This guy was a professional politician as a Democrat, and he's refined it as a Republican. Sucking up to the Religious Right, he has tried to appoint people to the Texas Board of Education who are committed to the teaching of "intelligent design" in schools. The state legislature, which is Republican-controlled, has had to consistently remind Perry that he doesn't run the show.

Whether you are a moderate conservative or Tea Partier, be aware that Perry can be expected to check which way the wind is blowing to keep his hair and political fortunes in place.

He has been trying to picture his youth as living on the brink of poverty in windblown West Texas. Rick, I grew up during the same era - not ten miles from you. We both drank the same gyp water from Stink Creek. I knew the same people, and knew your kinfolk. It wasn't the dust bowl of the 1930's; maybe you weren't rich, but you sure as hell weren't poor.

Links:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/2010-06-01/feature9.php
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1891829,00.html
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/07/legislature/4528909.html

Freedom circles!

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Hilarity ensue. Peter Phelps, an Aussie MP in the New South Wales parliament, has suggested that all traffic lights should be abolished and substituted with traffic circles, because circular traffic is the ultimate expression of Freedom(tm).

He claims the "Traffic lights are a Bolshevist menace... Traffic lights are things which are set up to try and control traffic to try and control individuals on the roads". So he's calling for adopting the ultimate weapon of Freedom(tm) and Democracy(TMtm):

Apparently, Phelps made this call during a parliamentary debate which was prompted by a decision of the new state legislator to remove 38 speed cameras, which some politicians argued had been put there by the previous state government, aiming not at saving human lives but merely at collecting more fines.

Personally, I've seen a combination of traffic lights AND traffic circles at the same place, and it worked beautifully. I even lived close to one for a time. I didn't feel any less free whenever I was driving through that area, but I might've felt a tad more secure. But what do I know.

The Brazilian indigenous people are going on the war path

[airiefairie.livejournal.com]

We often hear the success stories of the BRICS countries (I live in the "S" of the BRICS), the new tigers on the stage of globalised international economy. Many have said that those five emerging economies possess the potential to outlast the crisis and make it into the next stage of global development as some of the strongest players. We hear about the increased living standard in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and the emerging middle-class, and everything else. But we shouldn't forget that beneath the surface, beyond the optimistic reports in the TV documentaries, and behind the hugs between world leaders, there is a darker side of those societies, which is still far from being dealt with, and enormous social problems which are far from being alleviated. I could speak a lot about South Africa where I live, but what about another country I am closely associated with, Brazil? "We could take many lessons from Brazil", is the meme that I am often hearing around here. OK then, here is a lesson we would probably be willing to avoid...

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