Actually I have started this post several times and have erased it. There are just so many things going on in my state. There is even a widget for updates about the swine flu in English and Spanish on the CDC's website. There are 64 people so far for sure diagnosed with the swine flu in the entire United States. I just don't know, but if you need information from a reliable source here is a widget.
The World Health Organization has raised the alert level to 5 out of a max of 6. In Fort Worth so far we have 3 children sick with the swine flu. As of tonight the entire Fort Worth Independent School District is closed until at least May 11th. TAKS testing will be resumed after the kids return to school.
The thing I was thinking about earlier was last week when our Governor Perry was running around with his little tea bag and his buddies and having a rebellious tea party and talking, FOR REAL, about Texas seceding from the United States as a protest against the money being spent to get our economy back on some sort of track. He said in our, the Texas constitution, that Texas has the right to secede from the Union if it chooses. It was something written in sometime around the Civil War. Texas does NOT have the right to secede at all. Information on this webpage regarding this. He is wrong and should know better. Molly Ivins used to refer to him as Rick "Good Hair" Perry. His hair is really his best feature.
I'm so ashamed to show you this...oh my good gravy. Stand back he is all ours, ladies and gentlemen. *sigh*
Ok...back to Governor Perry and his wish to secede. He did not wish to accept any of President Obama's stimulus plan money. He didn't want to "burden" future generations and all that. Then after a while he thought well, maybe a little of the stimulus money wouldn't hurt...ya know. We do have a LOT of folks out of work and all...and maybe it would be ok. But Texas is a state that can secede and actually become 5 separate states, to boot...and don't you forget it! Rick says it is so and he has the teabag backers on his side. However, today after the swine flu and terrible flooding in Houston and the wretched wildfires we've had lately, our governor is asking for disaster funding for all that is happening in our poor state. Good thing he and his little teabag gang didn't actually go the full Monty and secede. He wouldn't have any right to federal funds if my state wasn't in the Union any longer.
I don't write political blogs or usually have much to say about politics other than in my own family room with my family, but this just got my goat about my governor's foolishness and the emails I've been receiving from other Texans about "Our Right To Secede". How silly....this website says it all for those who think clearly.
Good gravy? Seems like salty gravy to me! But every now and then, life needs a bit of salt to bring all its systems into balance.
ReplyDeleteI always approve when somebody speaks out to enlighten the masses and educate the ignorant. You are absolutely correct -- if Texas seceded from the union, then there would be no federal government aid of any kind. No border protection, no law enforcement, no National Parks, no military bases, and no leaving your little patch of ground without a passport. Sure Texas would have all that oil, but it would have to pay export fees and such -- and look at all the things Texas would have to import!
[shaking head] folks don't think
Oh my! Well... Quilly responded well... not much for me to add to that! You poor child... I thought the whole tea bag thing was bad enough -- and not just YOUR guys... We all shared in that fiasco... but threatening to secede - that's just DUMB!
ReplyDeleteI received a "spam" e-mail stating Texas had the right to secede, fly its flag even with US flag, etc. etc. Being a former Texan, I wonder who stated that blarney. I think state can fly its flag even with the US flag on a separate "junior" pole, but not the same pole. Hardly anyone does.
ReplyDeleteI supposed a state can secede illegally if it wants; the South did. Vermont is rattling sabers to become a "country." It is such a tiny state I wonder what size their militia would be! At least Texas could field a sizable militia--not sure about their weaponry.
The teabag episodes nationally were more about the future generational taxation burden.
Sometimes it takes a bit of thinking to unravel taxes which seem unfair.
Take our schools. We pay taxes now so the next generation can benefit from what we already have received. We did not pay for our own public education, someone before us did.
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ReplyDeleteHi! Just when I thought that this state was whackiest, Texas trumps us again. Well, I'm sure that Texas and Oklahoma will be locked in this sort of competition forever. I just hope that cooler heads in austin will prevail and Texas will not suceede from the union. Can't imagine Oklahoma becomeing "a border state".
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
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