Rick Perry - Our Savior Reincarnate? Or Ridiculous Party Yes-man?

So I was reading through some of my classmate's recent blogs and found one that interested me. It was on the topic of Governor Rick Perry's current fight with Washington over the receipt of federal stimulus monies. The author makes a point that Texas is such a superior state that we need absolutely no assisstance from the federal government and especially Barack "Hussein" Obama. (Just in case we weren't sure which side of the fence the author was on....) This post reminded me of why I wanted to take this class in the first place, to dispell our radical beliefs about our dear Texas. I have even spewed unfounded Texas-loving garbage the majority of my life (at least the first 30 years) that had no fundamental basis for it, just crap I heard from people or read on the internet, or the worst place, my uber-conservative, ultra-right wing family. So I too sounded like someone who had a dixie flag painted tailgate, dipped Skoal, and was itching to start a survivalist community. Anyway....back to the subject. I too think stimulus monies should be spent wisely, and if there are ridiculous strings attached that somehow better any single individual or the Democratic party in any way, we should definitely bitch about it. That's just not the case. The "strings" are government programs that we will have to start with the stimulus package funds, and after those funds run out, we will have to continue to finance these projects. Big deal. Considering how little we spend as a state on our people, it isn't to much to ask. Especially since most of these projects are civil projects that benefit US. Perry being so adamant about not taking the money is just partisan politics at it's worst. It's not just about Texas. It's about the nation recuperating as a whole. National macroeconomics doesn't skip over Texas just because we are so "great". The stronger Texas' economy is, so will be the national economy. By the way, so there's no confusion, I have NO party affilation, do not and will not ever cast a vote until there's less 2 party dominated B.S. and more reality and less Hollywood in politics, but I am SEVERELY proud to be from this state and this country. I just recently spent five years of my life fighting for OUR freedoms in the military, but I am a realist who has no blinders on when it comes to politics, and I know a head-bobbing yes-man when I see one, and I know what a terd smells like.

P.S. - a third of Texas' yearly budget is money given to us by the federal government. Just FYI.

Where's Wyatt Earp When You Need Him?

So......I feel the urge to write about the new legislation presented by Rep. Joe Driver which would allow college students to carry concealed handguns on campus. There is already a law in place that allows individual school districts to allow concealed handguns by their faculty at the district's discretion. This would allow the students at colleges around the state to be armed as well. There would have to be some minimal training involved prior to the student's ability to carry a weapon, if that's any consolation to anyone reading this. Now I would think I was stating the obvious if I said that these ideas are crazy, but apparently I'm wrong. Because of incidents around the country such as the tragedies at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School, some people think it's a good idea for students or faculty to carry weapons to thwart any attempt on students lives by a gun-toting madman (wait - hasn't the "gun-toting madman/men" always been students..........with guns?). Personally, I think it is a horrible idea. First of all, the sources of these violent acts were students and no one saw it coming. Is giving these staudents authorization to bring guns onto campus going to help? It's not like the movie "Red Dawn" where we need to arm our faculty and students to fight the Russian invasion. (anybody else think that was weird that the Russians parachuted onto a Colorado high school?) Anyway, I feel that having people carry handguns with only little to no training is a horrible idea. In the military and police forces, etc., there are constant mishaps where someone accidentaly shoots themselves or is caught in friendly fire. And these are weapon EXPERTS! I think that it would turn campuses across the country into a bunch of Tombstones and Dodge Cities and other fomous wild west shoot-out towns. Kids get into fights at school now. What happens when they have guns on them or ones that are easily accessible? If this had any impact, I think it would only escalate any situation similar to the ones in the rest of the country. Unfortunately, we can not read minds and it is often very hard to tell if the kid that sits next to you in Chemistry is the one who is coming in tommorrow and spraying the class with his Dad's .45. People are unpredictable and some people are just plain crazy. Giving them a concealed handgun license isn't going to remedy the problem, on the contrary, it just might make it much worse.