The Party Of Stupid (Texas Edition)

It's the campaign season, you know.  And in a number of states a number of different races are being one - one of them for Lt Governor for the great state of Texas.

In a recent debate among the republican candidates for that seat, the question of how much money could or should be spent to "cool the environment" was raised to the front runner in that race, state Senator Dan Patrick (who's a republican, of course) and he delivered the stupid - three times over.

Time one:

Patrick said he would spend "zero dollars" to combat climate change.

"I understand why Obama thinks he can change the weather — because he thinks he’s God," he said, as recorded by Raw Story. "He thinks he is the smartest person in the country. He thinks he knows better in Washington what we do in Texas. He thinks he’s the one, through all of his executive orders, that Congress isn’t even up to his level, so I’m not surprised that he also thinks he can change the weather."

Time two:

"First of all, when it comes to climate change, there’s been scientific arguments on both sides of the issues," he said. "But you know, if you want a tiebreaker, if Al Gore thinks it’s right, you know it’s wrong."

And finally, time three:

"I’ll leave it in the hands of God. He’s handled out climate pretty well for a long time," he said.

This is what passes for intelligent discourse among Texas republican candidates regarding the warming climate.

Meanwhile, in reality, NOAA declared that globally, the month of April tied for the warmest April on record.  Some details out of NOAA:

The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for April 2014 tied with 2010 as the highest on record for the month, at 0.77°C (1.39°F) above the 20th century average of 13.7°C (56.7°F).

Meanwhile, in Patrick's own state of Texas, they've been experiencing a massive drought:

See all that brown and reddish brown in the northwest of Texas?  That's what NOAA's calling "extreme" and "exceptional" drought.

So I guess God hasn't been handling the climate very well in Texas.

I pass this along as someone who lived in NY for 15 years and who wouldn't live in TX for 15 days

Video Of The Day (What Passes For Freedom/Democracy/Free Speech In Texas)

From ThinkProgress:

Thousands of Texans have rallied against the restrictive bill that would criminalize abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and shut down most abortion clinics in the state. One activist, a 28-year-old Texas woman named Sarah Slamen, delivered a powerful speech against the legislation during a hearing on Monday. However, she was soon interrupted mid-sentence by the senators, and hauled out of the room by several state troopers.

And here's what she said before her speech was cut off:

I will thank you, though, first. It was destiny that you would discriminate against us and try to force your way inside the bodies of Texas women. Thank you! For finally working against women so publicly, and not in the shadows like you’re used to. Thank you for every single bad press conference with your bad information. Thank you for every hateful statement degrading women and girls to sex objects, and brood mares, and bald eagles, and leather wallets, like your eloquent pro-life supporters have done today.

Thank you for being you, Texas legislature. You have radicalized hundreds of thousands of us. And no matter what you do for the next 22 days, women and their allies are coming for you. Let’s start down the line. Senator Campbell, you’re an ophthalmologist. So I won’t be making you the expert on reproductive health. We can give you all the children with chlamydia and herpes in their eyes, since we don’t have Sex Ed in this state.

And the video:


When she was first challenged by a member of the committee, she's heard to say, "This is my government, I will judge you!"

Imagine the outcry if a Tea Partier had been so forcibly ejected from a similar hearing.  Or a pro-life advocate.

By the way Slamen was on Lawrence O'Donnell explaining her testimony:

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See what passes for freedom in Texas these days.

Texas Literally Turns Back the Clock on Women's Rights. Democracy Aborted. (UPDATE: WIN!)

 

Senator Wendy Davis (D) filibustered in the Texas state legislature for 13 hours yesterday in order to prevent a vote on a bill which would unconstitutionally criminalize all abortions after 20 weeks, close all but five of Texas clinics that provide abortions and defund Planned Parenthood. Aside from not being allowed to eat or go to the bathroom, she wasn't even allowed to lean against the podium. And, unlike filibusters you may have seen before, she had to stay germane to the topic -- no reading from the phone book -- and the decision as to whether or not she 'strayed' from the topic was decided by the men of the GOP.

Right before midnight -- the deadline for voting -- it was declared that she had achieved a third strike because she was talking about forced invasive ultrasounds which somehow wasn't on topic. Hundreds in the audience erupted in chants of "Let her speak!" as a bunch of men debated her right to continue and -- no surprise -- decided that she could not.

Then they took a vote on the bill -- over 100,000 watched a live stream of the vote, which occurred AFTER MIDNIGHT -- meaning too late to pass the bill.

So what did the legislature do? They turned back the clock on the vote just as they turned back the clock on women's reproductive rights.

Here's the original actual recorded time of the vote on the legislature's website which happened at 12:02 AM TODAY:

Here's the forged one which they are claiming took place at 11:57 PM yesterday:

Here's the actual time stamp:

And then they arrested the audience who were protesting the illegal vote.

Democracy. Too bad we don't have one in Texas.

Or as was tweeted by Martha Plimpton:

#TxGOP claims to know the exact moment at which life begins, but can't comprehend "midnight." Hi. #SB5 #TxLegeFail
— Martha Plimpton (@MarthaPlimpton) June 26, 2013

Yep, Texas finally found a real instance of voter fraud.

UPDATE: WIN!!! 

BREAKING: Texas lt. gov. reverses himself, declares vote on tough abortion bill came too late to pass.
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 26, 2013

On being terrorized

Just a reminder that between the carnage caused by the terrorists in Boston and from the horrible industrial accident in Texas in a substandard plant located right by a school and nursing home this week, it's actually the 'NO' vote from the fucking cowards in the Senate which will have the longest lasting impact and lead by far to the most deaths and grave injuries.