Separation of Brain and State

From El Paso Times:

HOUSTON — Spotlights shined on a stage that seemed set for a massive rock concert.

Three 18-by-24-foot projection screens allowed an estimated 30,000 people to watch and pray, sometimes on their knees, as Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other speakers took the stage and called on God to lead “a nation in crisis.”

Attendees at The Response, a Christian prayer event and brainchild of Perry, at times appeared as if they were at a rock performance: raising their arms in the air, weeping and singing along to lyrics that included “God end abortion.”

And, like a rock star, Perry, 61, beamed as he twice walked on stage to adoring fans or, in this case, the conservative Christians he eagerly hopes to woo as he weighs his national political aspirations.

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Holy Crap

From Mark Warren at Esquire  (I’m providing snippets, but you really should just go over and read the whole thing. There’s a video, too):

Lord knows they’d like to water the tree of liberty here in Texas — right now, before it’s too dang late — as the Obammunists pillage and seize everything that’s not tied down, and hollow out the Constitution and enslave us and subvert our food pyramid. Trouble is, it hasn’t rained in, like, a year down here. All the trees are parched, and a bunch of them are on fire. And so as a 21st century man, the governor, Rick Perry, did the only reasonable thing recently and had a resolution passed through the legislature asking for all of his fellow Texans — Mooslims and everybody — to pray for rain […]

…snip…

Now, as the Republican field of likely and announced candidates fails to excite anybody, and as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich lurches to his knees like a tranquilized elephant, and his staff quits en masse and heads to New York City where this week Governor Perry was the featured speaker at a gathering of the city’s roomful of Republicans, speculation is high that Perry is the candidate who will force a complete recalibration of the Republican field and Republican chances next fall — that he is the change we’ve been waiting for, just the man to retake the White House for Texas. (This despite the fact that he is barely more popular than the president in his own state.)

Especially now that Perry has increasingly become the subject of Republican powerbroker fantasies, take a good look at his rain resolution.

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Silly Season

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

In a three-way Tennessee Republican gubernatorial primary to be held this Thursday, two right-wing candidates have been splitting what Monty Python would call the “silly vote,” leaving Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam as the de facto “sensible candidate,” and thus making him the frontrunner.

A recent Mason-Dixon poll gave Haslam the lead with 36%, followed by Rep. Zach Wamp at 25% and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey with 20%. To be sure, Haslam has tacked right somewhat. For example, he used to be a member of New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s (I) Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition. But in early 2009 he left the group and joined the National Rifle Association.

But with that said, there’s nothing that Haslam has done or said that compares to the other two.

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Schlemiel, Schlimazel, Batshit Goopers Incorporated!

Kids, have you heard? There might be a remake of the old sitcom, Laverne and Shirley, in the works. From The Boston Globe:

Director Garry Marshall has told TV Guide that a few of the stars his flop “Valentine’s Day” may be teaming up in a film version of popular 70s TV show “Laverne & Shirley.” Marshall said Ben Affleck’s bride Jennifer Garner and Jessica Biel would star in the film. “Jamie (Foxx) and I are trying to do it,” Marshall said. “He’s writing it. It’s a whole different modern day take on how they came up on the streets during difficult times. Laverne would be this very tough girl with a big ‘L’ tattooed on her arm. Jennifer Garner would play Laverne and Jessica Biel would play Shirley.” On the show, Laverne was played by Penny Marshall and Shirley by Cindy Williams.

Oh hell. If they’re going to rehash the show, I think it should be a little more relevant as to what’s going on in the country. I can think of 2 broads who would be much better than Jennifer Garner and Jessica Biel. Behold, Lashrew and Squirrely!

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You Can’t Spell Prick Without R-I-C-K!

From the Star-Telegram:

In recent months, Gov. Rick Perry has savaged the stimulus package, lambasted federal attempts at healthcare reform and hinted at secession because of federal tax-and-spend policies.

A Web site paid for by Perry’s re-election campaign says Washington’s “increasingly pervasive embrace of bailouts . . . must be stopped before it drowns us in debt and destroys our national tradition of self-reliance.” The governor has also said that accepting federal stimulus money would burden the state with programs Texas couldn’t sustain.

Then, on June 19, Perry applauded the state’s “balanced” budget, which he’d just signed, noting that lawmakers had left the state’s Rainy Day Fund untouched and had cut taxes for 40,000 small businesses.

Some people credit conservative fiscal leadership by Perry, who vetoed $288.9 million in spending, and by lawmakers for balancing the budget.

But records show that it was the much reviled federal stimulus money that saved the day.

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Czars in Her Eyes

From Alex Koppelman at Salon:

Lately, conservatives haven’t shown much of a knack for the facts. The healthcare reform debate has been marred by bogus accusations of death panels and the myth that reform will include a government mandate that taxpayers foot the bill for abortions. Now, some Republicans are extending that same treatment to the personnel decisions in President Obama’s administration.

On Sunday in the Washington Post, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, wrote a column warning of the number of informal policy “czars” employed by the White House.

Oh noez!!!!! Not the czars!!!!!

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South Caro-whiner

From the Los Angeles Times:

The congressman who heckled President Obama during a televised address found that while the president accepted his apology Thursday, the furor over his outburst did not let up.

“I’m a big believer that we all make mistakes,” Obama said in acknowledging the apology from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.). The lawmaker’s shout of “You lie!” during the president’s speech on healthcare was a significant break in decorum.

“I do think that, as I said last night, we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name-calling, without the assumption of the worst of other people’s motives,” Obama said.

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Campaign Pain

(Note: This post was put together before the breaking news today that Princess Sarah has resigned.)

(CBS) The tension between Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and top McCain campaign aides in the closing days of last fall’s presidential campaign is elucidated in a profile in the new issue of Vanity Fair.

…snip…

Internal campaign e-mails exchanged three weeks before Election Day offer a rare look at just how frustrated then Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had become with the manner in which top McCain campaign aides were handling her candidacy. The e-mails, obtained exclusively, also highlight the power struggle and thinly veiled acrimony that pervaded the relationship between Palin and the campaign’s chief strategist, Steve Schmidt.

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