I came thisclose to posting the picture of Bachmann--actually, both Bachmanns--basically deep-throating corn dogs at that Iowa event over the weekend, but decided it was kind of puerile and sexist. (Still, if you're into that sort of thing...) Then I look up at the TV in the gym and I see the dumbass media--CNN and MSNBC--basically doing the same thing. And I actually got a little pissed on Bachmann's behalf. Stupid bastards. As if these nuts need any encouragement to claim victim status.

idk, for a 55 year old...

I didn't know she was married to Benny Hill

dajafi wrote:I came thisclose to posting the picture of Bachmann--actually, both Bachmanns--basically deep-throating corn dogs at that Iowa event over the weekend, but decided it was kind of puerile and sexist. (Still, if you're into that sort of thing...)

Now we know why she won the Iowa straw poll.

Rick Perry made killing a catfish with your bare hands legal in Texas.

kopphanatic wrote:Well if Pawlenty quit because he realized he had no chance, why haven't Santorum and Gingrich done the same? They have to know the jig is up by now.

Because Pawlenty was going to have to write a check out of his own checking account to cover campaign operating expenses, whereas Santorum has been running his campaign on the cheap from day one and is essentially using it as a platform to expand his national profile (and turn it into a VP/cabinet nod or a pundit/talk show job on Fox News).

Phan In Phlorida wrote:Rick Perry made killing a catfish with your bare hands legal in Texas.

Shoulda always been a mans right. Is that the show Hillybilly Handfishing?

pacino wrote:texas' budget and employment numbers are perpetrating a fraud upon the american public

Rick Perry is not my guy for other reasons, but as far as those numbers go they're real, and they're spectacular.

TEXAS SWAGGER

Some other spectacular Texas numbers, courtesy of one of the commenters to the afore-referenced blog post:

Texas by the numbers:
47th in SAT scores
50th in percentage of population over 25 with a high school diploma
5th in percentage of children living in poverty
32nd in per capita income
49th in child immunization
1st in population without health insurance
3rd in poverty
3rd in malnourishment
5th in teenage birth rate
7th in obesity
18th in heart disease
1st in air pollution emissions
1st in carbon dioxide emissions
42nd in average hourly earnings
2nd in income equality between rich and poor
50th in homeowner’s insurance affordability
50th in electric bill affordability
6th in total crime rate
12th in violent crime rate

impressive

Yes but they have jobs.

Also I have a hard time wrapping my head around how a state can be 28th in median hourly wages, 42nd in mean hourly earnings and 2nd in income inequality.

JFLNYC wrote:Some other spectacular Texas numbers, courtesy of one of the commenters to the afore-referenced blog post:

Texas by the numbers:
47th in SAT scores
50th in percentage of population over 25 with a high school diploma
5th in percentage of children living in poverty
32nd in per capita income
49th in child immunization
1st in population without health insurance
3rd in poverty
3rd in malnourishment
5th in teenage birth rate
7th in obesity
18th in heart disease
1st in air pollution emissions
1st in carbon dioxide emissions
42nd in average hourly earnings
2nd in income equality between rich and poor
50th in homeowner’s insurance affordability
50th in electric bill affordability
6th in total crime rate
12th in violent crime rate

i wonder how those numbers rank with states such as california, arizona, and new mexico?

On an awful lot of quality of life indicators Texas is disadvantaged not just because of the huge number of illegal immigrants in the state, but also because old Confederate states have long lagged their northern counterparts.

I would never want to live in a state where Joel Osteen can sell out a football stadium

jerseyhoya wrote:On an awful lot of quality of life indicators Texas is disadvantaged not just because of the huge number of illegal immigrants in the state, but also because old Confederate states have long lagged their northern counterparts.

some Texans desire to live in a theocracy. I think that plays a part in the teenage child birth rate and the disgraceful lack of immunization

Eddie Jordan wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:On an awful lot of quality of life indicators Texas is disadvantaged not just because of the huge number of illegal immigrants in the state, but also because old Confederate states have long lagged their northern counterparts.

some Texans desire to live in a theocracy. I think that plays a part in the teenage child birth rate and the disgraceful lack of immunization

other than on the flds compound, that isn't the case.

hyperbolic, but I have a hard time believing the overall religious influence in the state of Texas doesn't play a part in it being somewhat of a piece of shit in many ways

jerseyhoya wrote:On an awful lot of quality of life indicators Texas is disadvantaged not just because of the huge number of illegal immigrants in the state, but also because old Confederate states have long lagged their northern counterparts.

But Texas isn't exactly an Old Confederate State--I mean, it is, but cotton growing does not have the legacy it has in other states, because Cattle, then Oil created an elite that had nothing to do with plantations. Texas, unlike the rest of the South has also had a serious entrepreneurial culture, again, partly because its elite was not concerned with holding back economic development in order to maintain its status. Add in the fact that Texas has a huge (and diverse) Hispanic population, many of whom have been in Texas from before it was Texas, and you've got a very different culture in Mississippi or Arkansas.

It probably makes sense to think about Texas in terms of Texases--there's East Texas, which is cotton, confederate, poor, and shitty. There's Houston, which is Oil and NASA. Austin, which is technology and hippies. The Mexican part, which stretches from El Paso to San Antonio, and then West Texas, which is oil and empty.

If anything, Texas shows that the more Hispanics you have, the better for your state. Cause, or effect?

I'm pretty sure that Michelle Bachmann is just someone Sarah Palin hired to make herself look better