Texas in the news

There was a quick piece on one of the morning news shows today about Gov. Rick Perry of Texas demanding an apology from one of the California newspapers which ran a cartoon of Perry in front of some businessmen proclaiming, "Come to Texas where business is booming." Clearly a reference to the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas last week. The newspaper has refused to apologize and I thought the cartoon was funny.

The following was published a couple of days ago over on Crooks and Liars.

Come To Texas, Where It's Better For Business!

Meanwhile, in the Texan business community …Well, come to find out, the West Fertilizer Company lied to the EPA.

    The fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in West, Texas, reported to the Environmental Protection Agency and local public safety officials that it presented no risk of fire or explosion, documents show.

    West Fertilizer Co. reported having as much as 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on hand in an emergency planning report required of facilities that use toxic or hazardous chemicals.

    But the report, reviewed Wednesday night by The Dallas Morning News, stated "no" under fire or explosive risks. The worst possible scenario, the report said, would be a 10-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one.

So the volunteer firefighters at the burning plant had no idea what they were dealing with. Because it's easy to lie in Texas. All ya gotta do is check a box.

And why would they lie? They were storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They didn't want EPA or the DHS in their business. That might cost them time and money.We all know how Rick Perry feels about the EPA, don't we? He thinks its sole goal is to kill jobs.

    "Somebody has to tell the E.P.A. that we don't need you monkeying around and fiddling around and getting in our business with every kind of regulation you can dream up," he said. "You're doing nothing more than killing jobs. It's a cemetery for jobs at the E.P.A."

So, Rick Perry handed us this mushroom cloud on a silver platter.

I cannot wait to hear hear him and Ron Paul explain how the market forces will correct this. The company will declare bankruptcy, its owners will keep their money and the injured people will hold bake sales to pay their medical bills. That's what we call "Business Friendly" in Texas.

But now Rick Perry, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz just love the Federal Government. I tell you what, I would buy Chris Christie an airplane ticket if he would come down to West, Texas, and shake his finger in Ted Cruz's face.

Cruz voted against aid for New Jersey but now wants aid for Texas.They can all kiss my big blue butt.