.

The upside is that we won’t have to put Texas on maps anymore.  If people want to find us, they can just look for the big glowing light.

Or, in the alternative, the gigantic piles of Governor Rick Perry’s money should be seen from several states over.

Reporting in April that Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons had contributed $620,000 to Governor Rick Perry, Lobby Watch questioned how Perry’s appointees could objectively regulate Simmons’ nuclear ambitions. That question looms larger after Simmons gave Perry another $500,000 this year. Having given him a total of $1,120,000, Simmons now ranks as the governor’s No. 2 individual donor. That sounds like a pile of cash…until you consider the enormity of what Simmons demands in return.

Simmons seeks a permit to dump low-level nuclear waste from all over the nation in West Texas. He effectively completed the political portion of that application when he surpassed the $1 million mark with Texans for Rick Perry. Now Perry’s appointees are fixing to act on Simmons’ demands. Despite what’s at stake, playful politicians have made a game of it. They want everybody to pretend as if Simmons’ application would be treated the same whether or not he submitted it with a $1.1 million check.

“Rumor has it that for TWO million dollars, Perry will let the Taliban have a training camp in Fort Worth,” Juanita smiles.  For four million, he’ll throw the Texas-OU game.”