Texas Update--Live and die by shades of gray...

So Bush goes to Baylor to hang out with the Cheerleaders... Besides just noticing an odd resemblance to the Oregon Ducks in terms of school colors, notice anything else? No people of color. Odd, that a major university in a very diverse state doesn't have anything but Anglos on the cheer leading squad? Or is it?

I love a lot of things about Texas, but I have to say things have not gone all that well for the great state in the past few decades. The Existentialist Cowboy connection between what's happening to Texas and the whole Rovian-Bushian-Rick Perry legacy...

As fundamentalism grows stronger, education declines and vice versa. The gulag 'state' of Texas, last among all states in high school graduations, is a prime example. The deterioration of public education in 'fundamentalist' dominated states is no coincidence. As they were in the middle ages, education, enlightenment, science and logic are considered to be enemies of 'the Church'. Fundie allies inside the GOP consider them to be enemies of the state as well. The back to back idiocies of George W. Bush and that of the 'hair club for men' representative, Rick Perry, sabotaged one's chances of getting a passable education in the gulag state of Texas. Texas recently beat out Mississippi for dead last in those graduating high school. Even Mississippi ranks higher! Think about it and tremble -- for our futures!

As I said, I love Texas. I wear boots a lot, and I wear Lucchese about half the time, and Frye's the other half. I love Fajitas, used to say that Lone Star was my favorite imported beer, and even enjoy Walker-Texas Ranger.  I subscribe to Texas Monthly, listen to Robert Earle Keene, and have a business plan someplace for a combination laundromat, coffee shop, honky-tonk and gym for Austin. I miss Molly Ivins,  But, some things about the place are just sad...You'd like to think that things are getting better, but I have to wonder. Texas used to have and probably does still have some great universities -- UT, A&M, Tech, Rice -- and a very strong state system. When I lived there, I was about half appalled and half impressed most of the time, but always kind of interested. But, Bush and band fucked the place up, and continue to do so. 

The idea that Texas high schools have bench marked Mississippi and then surpassed them in lousiness is really sad. Let's face it; Mississippi gets a really bad rap. It's a poor state, run by ignorant backwards inbred dickheads for the most part, but it has made some tremendous strides in the past few decades. It is no longer more awful than Bulgaria; in fact, it's probably at least as good in terms of services, infrastructure and the rule of law as is...Turkey. That said, having worse schools than Mississippi means you have high schools about as good as Bulgaria. At best. Now, Texas is bigger than Bulgaria, but sheeeeiiiitttt, as they say in Lubbock. A lot of Texas is empty. I think that sort of emptiness makes people crazy.

Well, if Kaye Bailey Hutchinson beats our goodhair, we'll have the oddity of a conservative female Republican with big hair who is interested in conservative values replacing a neo-con clown notorious for big male hair ( I wonder if he and Blago used to exchange hair gel tips? Politics is politics, but big hair is forever.) However, she wrote a book that wasn't completely ghostwritten or mad, and unlike some of her predecessors and contemporaries, she's not totally hateful. One thing that I do know about Texas women of a certain class -- they are mentally tough, organized and will cut you if they have to. That might help. Probably won't, because the governor-ship of Texas is less important to the actual running of the state than the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House. Will take some heavy lifting...and, then there's the legislature, gerrymandered out of all possible recognition. Well, one of the quickest way to get change is to overreach.