Rick Perry says it’s not important that he make a decision about whether or not he’s gonna run for President because … ready for it? … people already expect him to run.

Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday he won’t make up his mind about running for president until the middle of next year, but he doesn’t feel pressure to announce sooner because most people expect that he will.

That there is what passes for logic in Republican circles.  Rick wants you to know that building expectations and announcing are two completely different things.

Coy little prissy thing, ain’t he?

“There’s not going to be a lot of hope in this country,” Perry said, if people don’t have the ability to recover from their past mistakes.

Perry also departs the governor’s mansion facing charges of felony abuse of power and the prospect that a court case could drag on for months and land him in prison. Yet Perry said he’s confident voters are willing to give him a second chance.

Pull in on those reins, cowboys.  Chance one: totally screwed up Texas education.  Chance two: hurt women all over the state.  Chance three:  oops.  Chance four: showed up at a campaign event drunk and/or stoned.  Chance five: failed to raise money for his PAC. …. Chance eleven: those glasses. Chance twelve: made a giant production of getting baptized outdoors. … Chance forty seven:  he’s not gay.  Chance forty eight: he’s dumber than bean dip. … Chance seventy nine: holy crap. He’s under felony damn indictment for extorting an elected official.

Second chance?  Hogwash, honey.  You passed second chance back in about 1987.

By Primo Encarnación

Growing up attending Catholic school, we were exposed early on to school prayer, scripture, theology, ethics, morals… you know, all the stuff that makes being a sentient being a lot harder. So of course, along the way, we learned the Golden Rule as expressed by our Lord in Matthew 7:12: “Do unto others…” Yadda. Yadda.

Then we would go to Pete’s, the corner tavern, and learn about real life – how it works, why it works, when it works, in the City that Works – from a barroom Bhagwan who hardly ever works: Uncle Jimmy “Barstool” Grobnik. From the top of his mountain, the end stool nearest the jukebox, Uncle Jimmy would dispense pearls of wisdom to us, along with the occasional quarter for the shuffle bowling machine. (We were nuts for that thing!)

Barstool’s take on the Golden Rule? “Dem dat gots da gold, makes da rules.” It’s a life lesson that has rung true. It’s also a life lesson that the Tea Party is about to learn.

The hard way.

They’ve been the unwitting, unwashed cannon fodder for their corporate overlords ever since they were astro-turfed into existence, voting as instructed to elect a cadre of Congresscritters only sometimes, and then only slightly, less idiotic than themselves, to further the interests of their masters. Global warming? Tax policy? Health care? All these mean less than nothing to the TeaBirchers, so long as they get to keep their guns and maybe shoot somebody, just as guns mean nothing to the oligarchs, so long as no one uses them to take away the TRILLIONS in cash they’ve been stockpiling offshore.

The only Superfly in the ointment of the super rich has been this Democratic President. So they will stop at nothing to avoid a repeat of 2012, where every billionaire had his pet candidate. Instead, they are scheming to throw the full weight of their oligopoly behind a single 2016 “establishment” candidate, mental-dwarf-tossing the Ted Cruzes, the Rick Perrys and the Michele Bachmanns of the world under the short bus they got off of, using the anti-democracy tactics they’ve been perfecting for the last 10 years. Turn out the lights, the Tea Party will be over.

Except for “dem dat gots da gold.”

After long, long years and more than a little smugness from Dick Cheney and a damn library for Dubya ….

The CIA’s harsh interrogations of terrorist detainees during the Bush era didn’t work, were more brutal than previously revealed and delivered no “ticking time bomb” information that prevented an attack, according to an explosive Senate report released Tuesday.

And just to make you run down the street naked, pulling your hair out and screaming …

Former president George W. Bush told CNN’s Candy Crowley last week that the United States was “fortunate to have men and women who work hard at the CIA serving on our behalf. These are patriots.”

“These are good people. Really good people.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney told the New York Times that claims that the CIA was out of bounds or that the interrogation program was a rogue operations were “a bunch of hooey.”

“The program was authorized. The agency did not want to proceed without authorization, and it was also reviewed legally by the Justice Department before they undertook the program,” Cheney said.

And did we impeach him?  No, we did not.

I just needed to say that.

The State of Montana has found it necessary to issue a dress code for members of the legislature.

No, seriously.  It’s like high school.

You have to wonder how the female members of the Montana Lege were dressed when this Call of the Modesty Police was issued.

For women, “a suit or dress slacks, skirt, jacket, and dress blouse or suit-like dress” are appropriate. However, “flip-flops, tennis shoes, and open-toed sandals” are not allowed.

Additionally women are warned to be “sensitive to skirt lengths and necklines.”

I do not know what being sensitive to hemlines is.

I don’t.  Does that mean you have to cry when your hemline is longer than all the other girls?

And, they have flip flops in Montana?  How do their feet not freeze?  I mean, there’s frozen tundra in Montana.

Now, in case you were wondering … yes, the document was prepared by the incoming Republican male house speaker.  You know, the guys who think a “nanny state” is bad and believe in personal responsibility.  Yeah, those guys.

The House minority whip, Jenny Eck, speaks …

Eck said the dress code singles out women for admonishment if they’re not sensitive to skirt lengths and necklines.

“That phrase is right out of the 19th century as far as I’m concerned,” Eck said. “Women can be trusted to get up in the morning and dress appropriately. How would it be enforced? Would the sergeant of arms be the clothes police checking our skirt lengths and cleavage? “

Hey, at least they revised it from burkas.

Thanks to Deb for the heads up.

Sheldon Adelson is a tad slow on the uptake.

He has just now come to the conclusion that all the money he gave Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney was wasted.  You know, you’d think he would have learned that after Newt wasted enough money to burn a wet elephant.  But, no, he didn’t.  He gave $10 million to Mitt, who already had enough money to burn a herd of wet elephants.

So he’s had a political epiphany.

So now Adelson is thinking of setting up his own super PAC to get involved in congressional and presidential races. The Times reports that Adelson is likely to be a bit more careful next time around on who to support in the primary.

“He’s very focused on picking someone who can win,” a Republican strategist “involved in the discussions” told the Times. “He wants to ensure whatever candidate he gets behind reflects that philosophy and can win the general election.”

But, see, here’s the problem.  If it’s someone who supports Adelson’s philosophy, they cannot win.  Because they support Adelson’s philosophy.

Which is probably a good thing.

Thanks to Deb for the heads up.

Ted Cruz is threatening to shut down the government of the United Damn States of America because he can.

No other reason.

Under Rule 22, even one senator can force two “cloture” votes and up to 30 hours of debate on any bill simply by objecting to a quick up-or-down vote.

There are two candidates for a potential filibuster that could force this scenario: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Both have been screaming bloody murder over the fact that the House GOP bill fails to block Obama’s executive actions which would allow more than 4 million undocumented immigrants to gain three-year work permits.

Ted knows that he cannot stop an executive order but that’s not the point.  Actually doing something is never the point with Ted.  Putting on a show and forcing everyone to look at him is the point.  He’s standing at the center of the government yelling, “Look at me.  Look at me.  Look. At. Me.”

Now Ted sees this differently than I do.  He says he’s not shutting down the government; Barack Obama is.  Barack Obama is forcing Ted to shut down the government so it’s Barack Obama’s fault.  Which sounds like every wife beater on the planet.  He’s saying, “Obama is forcing me to hit him.”

Look, I’m not saying that Ted Cruz is a juvenile narcissistic bully … wait … oh hell, that’s exactly what Im saying.