Today's Cartoon - A Lead Pipe Cinch

(click on image to enlarge)



(Tom Toles, once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle)

Dave Dayen has a great article about how the water crisis in Flint, MI, brought on by a bridge collapsin', plant explodin' right- wing Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, illustrates a larger problem. He launches from a comment by Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio (R-MIAmi), whose affinity for water is well known, saying he (Glug Glug) hadn't focused on or been briefed about the crisis.  It's worth an extended excerpt:

Let me give Senator Rubio a refresher course. Michigan officials, who commandeered control of Flint’s local government through a disenfranchising emergency-manager process that suspiciously lines up with the main concentrations of African-Americans in the state, decided to temporarily use water from the Flint River for residential consumption while awaiting a new pipeline to Lake Huron. This was done to save money—to balance Flint’s budget, much like the persistent calls from Rubio and his Republican allies with respect to the federal budget.

The water from the Flint River was dirty, unfit for drinking or washing, and it corroded the lead-based service lines distributing water to 99,000 citizens. Residents immediately complained about the foul-smelling, bad-tasting water. It turned out the entire city suffered lead poisoning, as research demonstrated, for well over a year, with toxicity levels 13,000 times above a safe reading. The emergency manager in Flint, state environmental officials (who failed to properly treat the water), and Governor Snyder ignored this as long as they could, even withholding information from the public.

None of this is worth knowing about, according to Marco Rubio. He can’t be bothered with the mass contamination of an American city—not when the public is potentially, hypothetically unsafe from ISIS! Never mind the fact that you’re more likely to be hit by lightning or crushed by furniture than killed in a terrorist attack.  [snip]

Indeed, as the Flint crisis shows, you are far more likely to be killed as a result of conservative austerity and deregulatory policies. Not only are they self-defeating when it comes to infrastructure—Michigan has already paid far more for the Flint disaster than it ever saved from temporarily re-routing the city’s water supply—but basing policy priorities on cost-cutting rather than human need inevitably leads to choosing winners and losers, and not in a benign way.  (our emphasis)

Of course, as Dayen points out, Glug Glug is right in the mainstream of his party's attachment to laissez faire (except when it comes to deregulation and tax cuts for corporations and plutocrats, and control over ladyparts) government.  It's in the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ Shooter's Party DNA.

Gov. "Oops" Perry and Texas' Race To The Bottom

Texas Rethuglican Gov. Rick "Oops" Perry has been traveling around the country recently touting his State's booming (that's "BOOM!", as in unregulated fertilizer plants exploding) economy.  The pinhead has recently been seen in a video running in Maryland inviting bidnesses to come to Texas for all that FREEDUMB!  (And don't forget their edumaction!) Today, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley took to the op-ed pages of the once great Washington Post  Bezos Bugle to offer a rebuttal.  Here's an excerpt, but you should read the whole piece:

Perry and like-minded Republican governors subscribe to the slash-and-burn economic philosophy — a belief that “less” will somehow become “more.” In Texas, he has implemented this vision with gusto, cutting taxes and slashing funding for critical middle-class priorities such as public schools, higher education, health care and infrastructure. The results? Texas ranks 49th in high school graduation, 10th in the rate of poverty and 50th in the percent of residents with even basic health insurance.

And while Perry likes to promote the job creation in Texas during his time in office, he leaves out a critical point: The jobs “miracle” he touts is driven by low-paying, non-sustainable jobs. This year, Texas — tied with Mississippi — leads the nation for the percentage of hourly paid workers earning equal to or less than the minimum wage. More than one in 10 workers nationwide earning at or below the minimum wage works in Texas.

Anyone who can listen to Perry, at this stage of his public life, and not look for the ventriloquist standing behind him seriously needs to smarten up.  

BONUS:  There's this, too.  "Conservative dystopia," indeed.

Today's "Hair" Perry Cartoons

Texas dimbulb Gov. Rick "Hair" Perry (Rethug-BOOM!) is fast becoming the political cartoonists' greatest friend.  He recently criticized an editorial cartoon in the Sacramento Bee for drawing attention to his laissez-faire, "e coli / bridge collapse conservative" deregulation policies that many are blaming for the recent catastrophic fertilizer plant explosion.  First, here's a well-placed shot at the defender of the public his sacred reputation (click to enlarge):

(Jen Sorensen, via gocomics.com)

Now, here's the cartoon "Hair" Perry was offended by (but not nearly as much as we are offended by him):

 (Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee)

Have A Blast Cartoon of the Day

(click to enlarge)

Texas secessonist Rethuglican and future Just For Men spokesman Gov. Rick "Hair" Perry loves to trumpet his administration's aversion to gummint regulations and taxes.  When the West, Texas fertilizer plant blew up, killing 14 and injuring scores more,  Gov. Hair seemed to be at a loss to explain how his brand of small gummint squared with public safety and disaster-avoidance through sensible regulation and oversight.  Maybe we should let this nimrod self-secede.

(cartoon: Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, via GoComics.com)