Kay Baily’s quitting the Senate to run for governor of Texas and then challenge President Hillary for most hated woman on the planet in 2012. Pretty sure who’s going to win that one.
Old Molly Ivins would have gotten a kick out of this one. Texas Governor Rick Perry (or Governor Good Hair, as she called him) has proposed selling the state lottery to a private operator for as much as $14 billion dollars, using the money to create an endowment for the uninsured, billions for cancer research and the rest going create a trust fund for education. We suggest Perry throw in a few more of the state’s holdings to like, you know, sweeten the deal. For example, I bet the Capitol building in Austin is worth a few bucks, especially if Rick includes the Governor’s mansion across the street. It may be small, but it’s homey and cozy, and I’m sure there is some massive holding company out there that could find uses for the buildings. We’ll stay on this one, because it’s silly.
Culture Warrior has its roots in the Lone Star state. We were of course, born at Rudyards in Houston on a November night not too long ago (if you’re ever at Rudz on a night a band is playing be sure to meet the girl taking the cover.) Anyway, we have nothing but love in hearts as we bring you this next item. Reports KHOU-TV in Houston:
Ask any rancher these days, hay is hard to find. But thousands of bales are now coming from an unlikely source. Not a farm. But Bush Intercontinental Airport.
The first cut was in October when a contractor rolled more than 2,000 bales. The airport made $10.50 off each one for a total of almost $25,000.
And this will get even funnier and more endearing after the jump.
In the Washington Post style section, where the real news is, there is a story about Mississippi’s new ad campaign to try and change the state’s image. It’s writer, a Mississippian named Neely Tucker (not the funniest name ever given to a Mississippian, but we have some anagrams after jump) takes some pot shots at his home state, which, as we have already demonstrated, isn’t really that hard to do.
if you’re a Mississippian and you’re in the departure lounge at LaGuardia, and you’re trying to tell a stranger what’s near where you’re from, you have to go outside the state to give them a clue. Sometimes it seems the rest of the country doesn’t know anything about the poorest state in America except that they never want to go there. Just ask the honorable gentleman from New York, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D), who wondered aloud to the New York Times a few weeks ago: “Who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?”
Too true Charlie, too true. Yet, not everyone has a choice and some people are born there. And then, after centuries of being the butt of the nation’s jokes (particularly in the states north, south, east and west of the Big Muddy) Mississippi is fighting back. The ads are actually, well, kind of funny. But you can laugh at those jokes on someone else’s time.
