The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance joins the rest of the country in honoring our first responders as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff discusses how many votes it will take to have a shot at winning citywide office in Houston this year.

Eric "Illegal Signs" Dick gets nailed to a utility pole the wall once more, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs laughs and points.

Bay Area Houston notices that a new flavor of ice cream has been created for the Tea Party: Schweddy Balls.

Don't use 9/11 to promote Bush or Cheney. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is appalled at the thought that anyone would give them credit for good actions.

Neil at Texas Liberal made note of his growing appreciation for Rick Perry. With his lack of second-guessing over all the people who have been executed while he has been governor, at least Mr. Perry embraces our culture of violence and death with open arms. The governor of Texas offers voters a clear choice. We'll see what people want in 2012 and we'll move ahead from that point.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson demonstartes that a picture is worth a thousand words: Perry/Texas GOP budget cuts already proving costly for Texas.

At TexasKaos, lightseeker ponders the relationship between Rick Perry, Wildfires and Cultism. Give it a read.

Did you watch the Republican debate last week? So did McBlogger...

Nation Would Rather Think About 9/11 Than Anything From Subsequent 10 Years

The Onion, in a searing bit of irony that transforms into reality before our eyes.

As media coverage of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 ramps up this week, citizens across the United States collectively realized they would rather think about the terrorist attacks of 2001 than about anything else that has transpired in the subsequent decade.

"The events of Sept. 11 were unspeakably tragic, but really, when you think about it, things have only grown more horrible and unbearable since then," said Phyllis Bennett of San Jose, CA, who considered 9/11 a notably less unpleasant topic than the Iraq War, the worldwide financial meltdown, Hurricane Katrina, the nation's debt burden, the deaths of 6,200 U.S. troops, China's rise into a global superpower, the housing market, relentless partisan bickering, millions of job losses, the war in Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation, unchecked climate change, declining household income, swine flu, or the 9/11 Truth movement.

"That was an awful day for America, but at least the nation came together and people actually seemed to care about one another. Just compare that to now, Jesus Christ."

While stating they felt "kind of terrible" about it, Americans expressed a longing to return to those "better days" of shared national agony in September 2001, when everybody truly believed things couldn't get any worse.

Of course if you would prefer to be consumed by grief and horror on this day, then go ahead and read this. Personally I was only able to read a few paragraphs in before becoming too nauseous to continue.

And if you would rather be reminded of the actions of one of 9/11's biggest heroes, Rick Rescorla, then by all means read his story. And be sure to click on the links embedded there.

Sunday Not Funnies At All

Ted:

It's been 10 years since the terrorists struck the Twin Towers in New York City, killing 2,973 people of all ages, sexes, colors, and many ethnicities and religions. And today there will be little else discussed. There will be myriad television programs reliving the horror both on news and entertainment channels. There will be articles in all the newspapers and across the internet. And there will be ceremonies, both large and small.

Even now, ten years later, the attack is still a national obsession -- one could say it has sort of morphed into a very macabre American holiday. Why is this? What makes this disaster so different from the many other disasters in our history?

Some might say it is because it took the lives of so many people. That doesn't really ring true. There have been American disasters that took more lives, and yet they weren't turned into some kind of sacred day of remembrance. The Galveston hurricane killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. The San Francisco earthquake killed between 3,000 and 6,000 people. The infamous Trail of Tears killed at least 4,000 people. And the Johnstown Flood killed 2,209 people. And yet there is no special day on the calendar on which the nation remembers these events.

Others will say it is because it was a terrorist attack on the government and people of the United States. And I'll admit that the idea of being targeted by terrorists is frightening. But wasn't the attack on Oklahoma City just 16 years ago also a terrorist attack on the government and people of the United States? It is nearly as recent as the 9/11 attack, and yet I doubt that many Americans even remember what date on the calendar that it happened.

Could the reason the 9/11 tragedy has struck such a chord with Americans be because it feeds into the innate bigotry and hatred of far too many Americans? Oklahoma City was done by white, male, christian, Americans, and that strikes too close to home for many people. After all, most of the people in power in this country (at all levels) are white, male, christian, and born in this country. Examining the Oklahoma City terrorist attack too closely would require we look in the mirror and consider the problems this country has.

But 9/11 was different. It was done by foreign, brown-skinned, muslims. It is tailor-made for the inherent bigotry of this country. It is easy to hate foreigners. It is easy to hate people of color. It is easy to hate people who believe in a different religion. To hate the terrorists of 9/11 doesn't require we look in the mirror and examine our own faults, because it is easy to tell ourselves they are "different" from us.

The sad fact is that 9/11 made it easy for too many of us to wrap ourselves in the flag and boast of a false patriotism -- and then use that to spread hatred and bigotry against muslims, immigrants, and brown-skinned people (many of whom are our fellow citizens). It has given bigotry a reason to rear its ugly head again in America -- disguised as patriotism (and even echoed in the halls of government by dishonest politicians).

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't remember the 9/11 disaster. It was a tragedy, and we should remember the innocent people who lost their lives. But we should remember it the same way we remember other American tragedies, and not use it as an excuse to foster hatred or encourage bigotry.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was also a great tragedy, and we still remember it on a specific calendar date. But we don't use it to spread hatred of Japan, Japanese-Americans, or Shintoism. Why can't we take the bigotry out of 9/11 and remember it the same way?

Neil:

I’m sorry for the people who died on 9/11.

I’m sorry we were told to shop after 9/11 and that many of us chose to consume beyond our means.

I’m sorry that some of the financial firms in Manhattan chose to cheat people and to rip people off.

I’m sorry we sometimes used 9/11 to scapegoat Muslims and torture people.

I’m sorry we used 9/11 to start wars based on lies, kill civilians, and then treat our veterans like crap.

We had choices to make about how we would honor the dead from 9/11 and honor our soldiers fighting abroad.

I’m sorry and ashamed that this is how our nation chose to act after we were attacked by the terrorists on 9/11/01.

The good news is that we always have the ability to learn from the past, and to make better choices for the future.

Last, from William Wordsworth's "Splendour in the Grass", via my mother:

That though the radiance which was once so bright
be now forever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
of splendour in the grass, or glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.

Rick Perry gets punked by Taiwanese animators, threatens Ron Paul

Thanks, TexTrib, for this.

Thanks to the folks over at Next Media Animation, Taiwan's premier purveyors of CGI-animated humorous political reenactments, many great moments in the life of Perry and his home state of Texas can be relived on YouTube. For example, there's the moment a snake jumped out of Karl Rove's mouth and convinced Perry to become a Republican, the time he recklessly wielded a human-sized needle full of Gardasil, his famous boxing match with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and that awkward strip-tease performed for him by Abraham Lincoln.

Speaking of fights, what do you suppose Perry said to Ron Paul last night when he took hold of his arm and wagged a finger at his nose?

During a commercial break, Perry walked up to Paul's podium, physically grabbed Paul's wrist, and pointed at Paul's face with his other hand ...

What's that about? "Imo kick yer ass" or some variation?

Why is our governor threatening an 80-year old Congressman? Is it just because he's getting worked like a sour mop in a debate? Or is there more to it?

Update: Mediaite has more photos and more snark.

Dick gets hammered again

Greg Wythe nails Eric Dick to a utility pole the wall, again.

But there are other times when you just know the candidate is flat-out lying about their very deliberate breaking of the law. And that’s what Eric Dick is doing when he says that there are nefarious “overzealous volunteers” placing yard signs 20-feet up on utility poles. If that’s how he runs his campaign, just imagine what kind of city councilman he’d make. 

I wish someone would get a few thousand signs made and have some overzealous volunteers attach them everywhere they see a Dick sign. Those signs would say: "No More Dicks On Houston City Council".

Marc Campos also piles on Illegal Sign Dude:

The slimy fella that makes a living putting out the campaign signs had a hand in recruiting candidates to run against the City Council District H and I incumbents.  He was at City Hall yesterday with one of the challengers.  Some folks will do anything to get campaign work.  Would Democratic candidates please stop paying this fella to put out your signs?  If he hasn’t already ripped you off or double dipped on you, you’ll soon get taken for a ride.  Commentary learned his lesson an election or two ago.

In a vaguely similar appeal, this is another reason you should vote for Amy Price in At Large #4. It's obviously a different race and different candidates, but the sentiments are exactly the same.