Perhaps the biggest recent change in the nature of politics is the new ability of criminal corporations to buy Republicans (and some DINOs) for almost any purpose, no matter how obscene. For example, states have been playing NIMBY (not in my back yard) over nuclear waste for years. However, Republican presidential candidate, Rick Perry, traded the health and safety of Texans for campaign cash. Guess what’s happening in your back yard, Texas, even though the state employed scientists, who were evaluating the project, objected to putting nuclear waste just fourteen feet from ground water.
Like so many Republican officials of the tea party persuasion, Rick Perry despises the Environmental Protection Agency — a feeling he has expressed repeatedly in speeches, lawsuits, legislation and even a book titled "Fed Up!" Perhaps that is only natural for the governor of Texas, a "dirty energy" state where the protection of air, water and human health rank well below the defense of oil company profits for most politicians.
But Perry has at least one other reason for smacking down those bureaucrats so eagerly. When environmental regulators do their job properly, that can mean serious trouble for Perry’s largest political donors.
The outstanding example is Harold Simmons, a Dallas mega-billionaire industrialist who has donated well over a million dollars to Perry’s campaign committees recently. With Perry’s eager assistance — and despite warnings from Texas environmental officials — Simmons has gotten approval to build an enormous radioactive waste dump over a crucial underground water supply.
"We first had to change the law to where a private company can own a license, and we did that," Simmons boasted in 2006, after the Texas legislature and the governor rubber-stamped initial legislation and approvals for the project. "Then we got another law passed that said (the state) can only issue one license. Of course, we were the only ones that applied."… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Real Clear Politics>
I urge you to click through and read the rest of this article. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Rachel Maddow covers this abuse of power in more depth.
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I like the way, she expanded the issue to the larger picture of campaign finance in general. I think the best solution is 100% public financing for all federal campaigns. To make this possible we need to keep a democrat in the White House until the balance shifts from the Injustices of SCROTUS, who have ignored the Constitution to call corporations people, and money, speech. Then the Justices of SCOTUS can overturn Citizens United.
14 Responses to “In Your Back Yard, Texas!”
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why do Texas Governors always imagine themselves as kings?
Because Texans see themselves as serfs.
I hate the generalizations people make about Texans. Bush got half the country to vote for him but I bet you guys aren’t willing to be counted as bushites. Please stop dissing Texans. You would be considered a low life racist if you made such generalizations about a black person. Just because a majority of voting Texans got conned by perry doesn’t mean we all did.
Fair enough – and it’s always sound advice not to paint with too broad of a brush.
But Perry got elected governor THREE times.
And as the old saying goes, “Once Is Chance, Twice is Coincidence, Three Time Is a Pattern”
Bush said it best.
I felt so ashamed of my country in 2004.
True, Nameless, but that doesn’t negate the existence of a sane minority.
Perry got elected three times because Texan’s liked what he was doing for Texas. Find or make up all the BS you want about the man, He’s still done a great job for the Texas economy while the rest of the countries economies sucked BIG time. Almost three years of the failed policies of the current President, couldn’t bring Texas down like it did other States.
I really like the gaff “Jerry Critter” linked to. It was just about a s bad as the many gaffs Biden and Obama have been making. At least Bush knew there weren’t 57 states in our country. Take away the teleprompter and Obama in nothing but “uh’s”, “ah’s”, and mis statements when he talks.
oh oh, … there an Independant in the house.
Murkey, I understand how you feel, but the half the country that voted for Bush were fools. By the same token, those that opposed them were not.
That’s true of some, but not all.
Only the Republican ones.
And just think! He want’s to do the same thing for America that he did for Texas.
Bingo!
My Dad’s home town in Texas hosted very healthy senior citizens, all with pearly white teeth and health gums. Why? It was the water. Some of the naturally occurring artesian water available in different parts of the state. Made the best ice tea as well. Well now, they won’t have to worry about their teeth any longer–they will go the way of their gums, their hair, and of course their lives and the lives of their grand children.