This Man Is Not the Texas That I Know

I have posted several times now about Rick Perry, and I feel that I need to try to explain in more why I find his candidacy for the presidency particularly disturbing and threatening to the values and principles that I and many others hold as important.

I grew up in Texas, specifically in Lubbock, a medium-sized city surrounded by seemingly endless miles of cotton fields, out on the high plains of the northwest part of the state, approximately at the base of the Texas panhandle. I lived in Lubbock from the age of eight until I started college in San Antonio, and after that off-and-on until I finally moved for good to Charlotte, North Carolina at age 33, in 1997.

As I was growing up in the 1970s, I was very much aware that I lived in a conservative area, where Protestant Christianity was the dominant faith and "old-fashioned family values" ruled... probably all the more acutely aware being raised with my sister by a single mother who is an atheist and a liberal democrat. While there were certainly times, particularly in elementary school, when I felt somewhat out of place and self-conscious, I can honesty say that rarely if ever was I genuinely threatened or excluded because of my family's structure, attitudes, or beliefs. Looking back, I have to say that with few exceptions, the prevailing philosophy that I recall in Lubbock was one of political conservatism with regard to fiscal or economic issues, and a general "mind your own business" attitude toward most social issues. The social climate was certainly not one of genuine openness or tolerance, but on the other hand I recall few instances of true hatred, intolerance or bigotry. It's possible I could be wrong about this--time and distance can affect our memories and perceptions--but this is how I remember it.

I know that the description I've given must sound like damningly faint praise, and there are certainly reasons why I am glad I'm not living out the rest of my life in West Texas. But the point is that the toxic aura of radical intolerance and bigotry that I see surrounding Governor Perry is something truly ominous, much different from the more dignified conservatism that I remember from my time in Texas. When I see a man with Perry's popularity, who promotes policies and attitudes that directly exclude and demean anybody who does not share the governor's religious beliefs; who deliberately denigrates science and knowledge when it conflicts with his narrow interpretation of Biblical "truth" and suggests that the children of his state be indoctrinated with his beliefs; who pursues policies that are actively hostile and destructive to the health and well being of the people of his state and beyond... I find it abhorrent that this man might have the chance to do to the United States and the world, what he has already done to his, and my, home state.

Apparently Rick Perry Hasn't Been Praying Hard Enough

More than 90 percent of the state of Texas is under either "extreme" or "exceptional" drought conditions. A wildfire currently burning west of Dallas has destroyed twenty homes and forced evacuation of over a hundred others.

I thought that prayer rally in Houston earlier this month was supposed to take care of all this.

Seriously, I'm starting to wonder if the Texas drought is God's punishment on the state for inflicting Rick Perry on the world.

Ghosts

The past is a lying ghost,
the future, a taunting ghost,

and the present, afraid of ghosts, cowers trembling behind bushes
and rocks, sneaks around the corner, and slips silently away, escaping notice.

Squirrel Article

This is a really nice informational article about squirrels and their nests and young. I sure would like to have a nice cozy drey to curl up in sometimes. Here's a picture to illustrate what the article's author says about the mother squirrel carrying the babies.

The World I Know

Collective soul. This is one of my favorite songs, and probably my favorite music video ever. It's hard to watch this without getting choked up, and I definitely can relate to how the guy in this video feels. And I love that moment toward the end, when the pigeon lands on the guy's arm and suddenly the color comes back into his life. When he gets that sort of stunned expression on his face as he looks at the pigeon I get kind of nervous because maybe he forgot that he's standing of the edge of that roof.

I really miss the old MTV that showed music videos (get it? MTV? as in... Music TV?). I always kind of liked that device in a lot of the music videos where as the story of the video played out, the singer would just sort of show up in the background, like on this video where he's sitting on the bus that the protagonist is on.

I Only Wish I Could Have This Kind of Courage

Syrian political cartoonist Ali Ferzat was pulled off the street yesterday by government thugs and forced into a van. The hooligans worked Ferzat over, taking special care to break both of his hands, the tools of his trade, and then dumped him in the road, all because Ferzat has had the courage to criticize the corrupt and repressive regimes that rule Syria and other Middle-Eastern countries.

Here are a few of Ferzat's political cartoons. The captions under the cartoons are mine.

This is a drawing of Syrian President Assad, painting the tracks for the train of public protest that will ultimately run him over

This is a universal truth that is self-explanatory

I assume that this is, again, Syrian president Assad.

And here is a self-portrait that Ferzat created in his hospital room after, refusing to give in to the Syrian government's state terrorism:

One More Bob the Squirrel

I just had to share one more Bob the Squirrel comic. I could swear this same squirrel was sitting on my shoulder the whole time I was in graduate school working on my anthropology degree: