Texas Outlaw Writers: Betrayal Edition
For years I've suggested to any progressives that would listen that they need to incorporate the word "betrayal" as a descriptor for GOP policies and politicians. (They don't listen And yet I continue to howl at the moon.) It's a simple fact, and it's a powerful word. For those conservatives that claim to have a religious upbringing, there isn't a more powerful concept in their faith.
For years we were promised that the 'good guy with the gun' would protect us from the 'bad guy with the gun.' Ask the Uvalde parents about that promise. Those Uvalde parents are being promised that a new school with "better security measures" will protect their kids. Again, there are a lot of despairing parents that aren't buying it anymore.
And all of public education is on the block. Ask any red state rural town how much they rely on their schools. Ask them how they feel about their tax dollars flying off to a few tony private school kids in the urban cities. Ted Cruz's spawn attend St. John's in Houston where tuition is about 30K a year... you bet he'd like some farmers to pay for a nice coupon to lower that cost a bit... not that your kids or any kid in small-town American can pony up that kind of dough, even with a discount to attend St. Somebody Academy. Here's a piece on a couple of right-wing Christians that have, so far, spend about 18 million oil bucks on the transformation of public education in Texas.
“The goal is to tear up, tear down public education to nothing and rebuild it,” Dororthy Burton, a former GOP activist who joined Wilks on a 2015 speaking tour, told CNN. “And rebuild it the way God intended education to be.”
They don't even bother with the "quiet part" anymore. With money like that behind them, it's all "out loud." Betrayal out-loud.
It used to be considered hyperbole to suggest that the GOP's end game was a dominionist state. This last week, Justice Alito confirmed it. “Ultimately, if we’re going to win the battle to protect religious freedom, in an increasingly secular society, we will need more than positive law,” Alito said at a religious liberty conference held at Notre Dame.
Betrayal of the Constitution, betrayal of precedent set by over two centuries of law, and betrayal of our core concept of the separation of church and state.
A great example of betrayal comes in the form of the recent legislation that would (primarily) provide federal money in support of building back a domestic semiconductor chip industry. A no-brainer, right? Well, there was great intrigue to "git'r-done," and as the bill slid into home on a bunt by Sen. Joltin' Joe Manchin...the rest of the GOP led by Marvelous Mitch McConnell were a bit miffed that Manchin wasn't willing to throw the game for them. Their instinct was of course to take their ball and go home, (to continue this tortured analogy.) On a petulant whim, they decided to spank veterans by voting against VA benefits for a variety of pulmonary (and other) conditions caused by burn pits in the various Middle Eastern Wars. Roger Gray can explain this latest round of GOP wrath much better than I can, and as usual with Roger, he can tell you in that way that borders between a chuckle and absolute horror... that borderline where you can always find Congress. (BTW, the Dems don't get a pass here, either.)
Roger T. Gray
Because it did seem too bad to be true, James Moore also picked up a bit on the betrayal of our vets. We promise young kids an uber dose of patriotism, honor, a noble cause, and their country's loyalty should they fall in service to their country. The reality of that promise has not been met for years. Budget considerations and whatnot.
It's a pretty good gig if you can stay alive and perfectly healthy under battle conditions. But hey kids, isn't there a risk to everything? Free meals and housing! Enlistment bonus! College scholarships! You what? Breathed in some gawd-awful carcinogenic muck when you were ordered to burn some old munitions? I'm sorry, we can't answer your call right now. To leave a message, press 1, to leave a call-back number, press 2, to face reality and admit you're really, really screwed, just curl up into a fetal position and begin weeping quietly....
James C. Moore
Ever since the 4th of July, DeeceX has been stewing over the betrayal of American women. And let's be clear, women in Texas find themselves in an even more precarious position than in many other states. Right-wing Supreme Court Justice and Virginia Thomas's husband, Clarence, has out-loud signaled that birth control and same-sex marriage are also under "reconsideration." Come to think of it DeeceX, the fireworks on the 4th didn't seem as bright this year.
Deece Eckstein