Musing's musings

You have GOT to be f**king kidding me

Gov. Rick ("Goodhair") Perry (R-TX) has not just jumped the shark, he has, for all intents and purposes demonstrated that he is unfit for the company of rational, reasonable people. What follows is a partial transcript of remarks he made at a press conference today in which he declared Texas's sovereignty:

I believe the federal government has become oppressive. It’s become oppressive in its size, its intrusion in the lives of its citizens, and its interference with the affaris of our state.

Texans need to ask themselves a question. Do they side with those in Washington who are pursuing this unprecendented expansion of power, or do they believe in individual rights and responsibilities laid down in our foundational documents.

Where’re you gonna’ stand? With an ever-growing Washington bureaucracy, or are you going to stand with the people of this state who understand the importance of state’s rights.

Texans need to stand up. They need to be heard, because the state of affairs that we find ourselves in cannot continue indefinitely...

...We think it’s time to draw the line in the sand and tell Washington that no longer are we going to accept their oppressive hand in the state of Texas. That’s what this press conference, that’s what these Texans are standing up for. There is a point in time where you stand up and say enough is enough, and I think Americans, and Texans especially have reached that point.

I'm speechless. I'm appalled. I'm furious.

Where the fuck was this guy for the last eight years? And has he ever actually read the Constitution of the United States? While I'm at it, how the fuck did this loser manage to get himself elected governor of anything bigger than an island--on which he is the only human resident?

George W. Bush (R-TX) violated the Constitution--and the rights of individual citizens--at every possible opportunity. Rick Perry not only did not speak up against those abuses, he encouraged them. He actively supported them. He campaigned on behalf of those who were committing them. For him now to stand up and, with a straight face, argue that some line has been crossed is, well, the kind of ὕβρις that even the great tragedians of classical Greece would boggle at. Agamemnon, Oedipus, Medea--they were all pikers in comparison to Governor Goodhair. Perhaps all those hair-care products have leached from his scalp through to his cerebral cortex. Or perhaps there was never much in the way of a cerebral cortex there to begin with.

I'll tell you exactly where I'm gonna stand, governor. I'm gonna stand with the President of the United States. And I will quite happily wave bye-bye to all y'all when Texas decides to try to become an independent country. You all don't have a single goddamn thing any normal human being would want--and as far as I'm concerned, the remaining United States are better off without you. And if you think you're ever going to be allowed into this country, forget it. Forget about walling off Mexico, we need to build a wall around Texas, lest your kind of crazy should prove to be contagious.

Sorry, NPR

It was recently the semi-annual begging week for our local NPR news station. (Though, to be accurate, it's more of a talk-and-occasional-news station anymore.) I always hate these times of year--both because they mess up my schedule and interfere with my ability to get the news I'm interested in, and also because after you've heard three or four of these things, the schtick really gets monotonous.

Truth in advertising: I used to be an NPR subscriber. I woke up to "Morning Edition" every morning and listened to it, either at home, on the way to work, or at work, until it ended. Then I switched over to the classical music station until it was time for "All Things Considered" to come on in the afternoon, which took me home. Mornings on the weekends meant at least some of the morning news shows, plus "Car Talk" and "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me." At least in my younger days, Saturday afternoons meant the Metropolitan Opera, in season.

Now, however, I listen to roughly an hour of "Morning Edition" on weekdays, between the time my alarm goes off at 10 to 6 and the time I leave the house. I still catch "Car Talk" most weekends, and I listen to "Wait, Wait" pretty regularly. But that's about it. I stopped giving money to my local station probably about 10 years ago, when it became apparent that they were sliding more and more into the conservative, Fox News style of "journalism," and away from actual journalism of the kind that NPR had been justifiably proud of and for which it had been famous for years. At around the same time, the classical music station began cutting back on local programming--and has now gone completely to a satellite rebroadcast format. I've seen nothing in the intervening decade to induce me to go back to being a subscriber.

We can start with the local coverage. For all intents and purposes, there isn't any. And when there is, it's almost exclusively about Rockford. If this station wants to be "my" public radio station, then it needs to do a much better job of covering "my" neighborhood.

Then there's the trend toward less and less actual news. I'll grant you that it's difficult to do an all-news format on the radio, but even during the "news" time, I'm hearing more and more promos for other shows, more and more sponsorship spots, and far more fluffy-feel-good stories than I like. I don't listen to NPR for sports news: and that's a good thing, because if I did, I'd have a hell of a time keeping up. And when they are broadcasting actual sports news, I usually don't want to hear it, since it involves sporting events that are on satellite delay or which I've recorded on my TiVo to watch later, and consequently I don't actually want to know who won or how they turned out until I have a chance to watch for myself."