Alabama State Senator  Shadrack McGill has given me a splittin’ headache.

McGill

In the DeKalb County Times-Journal this week, McGill says that the answer to about half the Alabama legislature being under indictment for kickbacks and bribes is to pay them more.  He says that their salary of $47,500 a year makes them susceptible to taking kickbacks and bribes.

“That played into the corruption, guys, big time,” he said. “You had your higher-ranking legislators that were connected with the lobbyists making up in the millions of dollars. They weren’t worried about that $30,000 paid salary they were getting,” McGill said.

You know, I’ve heard that argument before.  And I might tend to think he’s got a point, but he steps on his dinky in the very next sentence.  He wanders off into the fact that school teachers don’t get paid much but that’s different.  If you increase a teacher’s salary, you will not get more qualified teachers.  And how does he know that?

“It’s a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher’s pay scale, you’ll attract people who aren’t called to teach.”

Oh wait, I didn’t mention that he was speaking at a prayer breakfast?  Well, I can’t imagine why I would miss that.

But, he hadn’t finished dancin’ with this brilliance yet. Speaking eloquently about teachers, McGill went on and on and on ….

“To go in and raise someone’s child for eight hours a day, or many people’s children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn’t want to do it, OK?

“And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It’s just in them to do. It’s the ability that God give ‘em. And there are also some teachers, it wouldn’t matter how much you would pay them, they would still perform to the same capacity.

“If you don’t keep that in balance, you’re going to attract people who are not called, who don’t need to be teaching our children. So, everything has a balance.”

Except you, McGill.  You are unbalanced.

Let me get this straight:  we have to pay legislators more to keep them from getting corrupt, but we should pay teachers less to keep them from getting corrupt.

It’s Biblical.

Didn’t you just know it would be?

Thanks to Deb for the heads-up.

As most of you have heard by now, most experts believe that Karen Handel’s decision to dump Planned Parenthood from the Susan G. Komen Foundation has been seen as the complete destruction of all the hard work done to get the Komen Foundation a recognized and respected organization.  Overnight.  Ka-boom.

AmericaBlog has a re-tweet of Handel’s that explains a lot.

Excuse me, JadeMorey, if that is your real name, but you folks built the bomb, put the timer on it, and left the building.  You didn’t even have the courage to admit that was what you were doing.  Get yourself a mirror, woman.  And I am delighted that Handel re-tweeted it.  It’s just more evidence that she brought the fertilizer for the bomb.

All I can say is that Republicans have a habit of ruining everything they touch.  Do NOT let them near social security.   Oh hell, don’t let them near anything.

Thanks to Paul for the heads-up.

Dear Republican Party,

I’ll make you a deal.  I’ll stay out of running for President if you’ll stay out of political humor.

Love and Fried Okra
Juanita

It is beginning to look like Texas is going to sit out the election this year.

I know that comes as a relief to you folks from foreign states.

However, I wouldn’t mind having an election.  Sadly, I’ve grown accustomed to it, even though Texas Democrats haven’t won a statewide election since Elvis died.  Lord, people, we can’t even beat Rick Perry.  Does that tell you something about the effectiveness of Texas Democrats?

Texas Republicans are determined to disenfranchise Hispanics.  So, we’re in a redistricting fight that might last until after the election in November.  We’ve moved the primary once and now it looks like we’ll have to move it again.  The DC Court says a decision is at least 30 days away, so the April 3rd primary is out the door.

I would try to explain the whole redistricting mess to you but it’s complicated and I have attention deficit dis …. oh look, a bird!  Check here if you like complication and fancy lawyer talk.  Michael Li is the aphrodisiac of lawyer-talk.

I will say this:  we Democrats have smarter lawyers than they do, but that’s not saying much because Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is dumber than bean dip.

Jay Kimbrough is a long time close friend and confidant of Governor Rick Perry.  That means he’s the guy who slams the closet door every time one of Rick’s femur bones tries to fall out.

Jay the Closet Door Holder

He has held about every job there is to hold in Texas government and hasn’t done any of them worth a flip.  But he needs an income and so jobs are created for him.  His last job didn’t work out too well.

Kimbrough made news last fall when he was abruptly ousted from his $300,000-a-year job as deputy chancellor of the Texas A&M System and brandished a pocket knife in the presence of university lawyers after they advised him that he was terminated.

Since he’d already held every other job on the taxpayer’s teat in Texas, they had to create a new one for him.  So, the Department of Public Safety created a brand new position for him.  He will oversee Homeland Security for DPS.  His salary is $147,500, and he starts Monday.

Yes, we already have a Homeland Security director for Texas.  In 2003, that position was held by — wait for it — Jay Kimborough, but that didn’t work out too well.

However, Kimborough is so danged qualified that he’s going to start the job next Monday, even before it is officially approved on February 16th.  Because, dammit, Texas needs all the Homeland Security directors it can get!   And if we have to fire 2 and half teachers to pay for one, so be it.  What do you want?  Educated kids or several guys arguing over who’s in charge?  Yeah, Texas needs more arguing old white guys protecting the Governor’s reputation.

I’m thinking about submitting an application to be Deputy Homeland Security Director of the third floor women’s bathroom at the state capitol.  I’m sure that job pays at least $100 grand a year and, as far as I know, that bathroom is totally unprotected from terrorist attack.  If only I had some dirt on Rick Perry …..

Helluva job, Kimmy!

Thanks to Barry for the heads-up.

Thanks to a customer who has the fortitude to subscribe to all the Republican stuff to keep up with what the crazies are doing, we have this snickeroo —

Click the little one to get the big one.  Or, click here to see the whole thing.

They had to cut their ticket price in half to get people to come.  They couldn’t get the illustrious Andrew Breitbart to come because they couldn’t even cover his travel expenses, but, hey, that’s no small amount considering that Breitbart has to buy an extra seat for his ego and an entire overhead compartment for his gall.  Besides, the chemical reaction of bacon grease, Aqua Velva, and burning mental health that surrounds Breitbart has been known to cause cancer in cockroaches.

Okay, that was mean.  I shouldn’t have said that.

Want me to say it again?

Kiddos, it’s a true blessing that Breitbart can’t come.  Texas air is bad enough as it is.