# Republican Lawmakers in Texas are Murderers
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 6, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408 "2011-09-06T17:23:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/1 "2011-09-06T17:23:14Z")
God is obviously not happy with Texas…
Disastrous Texas Wildfire Now Worst in State’s History
Read more: [http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/09/06/disastrous-texas-wildfire-now-worst-in-states-history/#ixzz1XC4zkQLv](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/09/06/disastrous-texas-wildfire-now-worst-in-states-history/)
Why won’t Republicans wake up and start governing the way God wants them to, by providing for those in need, taxing people more equitably, and not gerry-mandering the congressional districts to death???
I am pitting the Republican lawmakers who have angered God so much that he has resorted to not only an historic drought, but also an historic wild-fire season.
Also, one of these wildfires caused a minor inconvenience for me and my friends this weekend by shutting down State Highway 71, which forced us to take a 40 minute detour, but that IS not at all why I am upset with them, no sir!
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/2 "2011-09-06T17:50:14Z")
I guess I missed the part of Sunday school where they taught that God said governments had to do those things. I only learned about the part where individuals were supposed to take care of people in need, not force other people to do so.
Also, the drought and wildfires are not independent variables. The former generally includes the latter as a matter of course. Just sayin’.
God is trying your patience with the 40 minute detour. Say 3 Hail Marys and 2 Our Fathers.
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### Author:  [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/3 "2011-09-06T17:56:46Z")
I see the opposite conclusion. Clearly Texas hasn’t cut government enough! The wildfires are obviously meant to be a wake-up call to the Democrats in Austin. Also, they’re a message to voters that Rick Perry is too liberal! Bachmann '12!!!
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### Author:  [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/4 "2011-09-06T18:36:36Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Also, the drought and wildfires are not independent variables. The former generally includes the latter as a matter of course.
Very much so, yes. And don’t forget the once in a lifetime heat wave. It’s going to be the warmest year on record for the entire state.
Mixed blessings (thank you God or Og or the FSM or whoever) for the cold front that moved in. It felt nearly chilly outside this morning in 60 degree weather. Of course, it also means no chance of any rain for at least a week, if not much longer. The whole damned state has gotten barely more rain than a desert in the last year.
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> God is trying your patience with the 40 minute detour.
I’m not feeling any pity for the 40 minute detour either. I’m guessing somebody did a weekender out to Austin.
I’m reserving my pity for the hundreds of people who now have a burned out husk for a home and likely no chance for several days to survey the damage.
With as many dead or dying live oak trees in Houston’s inner loop, it’s a tinderbox waiting to go up. It’ll be fortunate if we can avoid more wildfires in East Texas.
I do get the tongue-in-cheek reference to Rick Perry praying for rain and several of his lackeys in Austin who vociferously agreed and encouraged local communities to do the same. But linking it to the misfortune of thousands of people displaced by wildfires is crass, at best.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/5 "2011-09-06T18:41:06Z")
The biggest irony to me is that Perry is a global warming denier. How arid and scorched does his state have to get before he acknowledges that it’s getting a little warm?
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### Author:  [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/6 "2011-09-06T18:42:36Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#):
>
> But linking it to the misfortune of thousands of people displaced by wildfires is crass, at best.
Does it get you fired up?
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/7 "2011-09-06T18:49:25Z")
Over 1000 homes and hundreds of square miles burned up so far and it ain’t over yet. 5 Billion in drought losses for ranchers and farmers. 66 million trees expected to die in the next two years just in the greater Houston area alone.
Legislators. A detour. What?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/8 "2011-09-06T18:57:15Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> The biggest irony to me is that Perry is a global warming denier. How arid and scorched does his state have to get before he acknowledges that it’s getting a little warm?
I think a lot of those folks accept that things are heating up. They just don’t buy that it’s caused by humans. They view any attempts to get us off the fossil fuels train as a leftist conspiracy to force people to conserve.
You’d think that if there one thing conservatives and liberals could agree on, it would be the value in cutting our dependence on a commodity we buy mostly from people who hate us.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/9 "2011-09-06T19:02:19Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> Over 1000 homes and hundreds of square miles burned up so far and it ain’t over yet. 5 Billion in drought losses for ranchers and farmers. 66 million trees expected to die in the next two years just in the greater Houston area alone.
That last is the one that’s freaking me out. Everywhere you look, one or two out of ten trees appears to be stone dead.
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### Author:  [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/10 "2011-09-06T19:07:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> The biggest irony to me is that Perry is a global warming denier. How arid and scorched does his state have to get before he acknowledges that it’s getting a little warm?
I firmly accept the scientific evidence of AGW, but this makes no sense.
One anomalous year is no basis for judgment. Even if the worst case warming models are correct, 2011 would be an [anomalously warm year](http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2011/09/august-in-houston-was-a-1-in-10000-year-event/) in Texas.
Dump on Rick Perry all you want (I do it near weekly) for not getting science. But don’t blame him for avoiding the trap of using 1 outlier data point to determine a trend. That’s the same thing deniers do in reverse.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/11 "2011-09-06T19:07:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> …one or two out of ten trees appears to be stone dead.
They probably just realized they were in Houston, and lost the will to live.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/12 "2011-09-06T19:12:57Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#):
>
> I’m not feeling any pity for the 40 minute detour either. I’m guessing somebody did a weekender out to Austin.
>
> I’m reserving my pity for the hundreds of people who now have a burned out husk for a home and likely no chance for several days to survey the damage.
>
> With as many dead or dying live oak trees in Houston’s inner loop, it’s a tinderbox waiting to go up. It’ll be fortunate if we can avoid more wildfires in East Texas.
I obviously didn’t want any pity. I feel truly terrible for the people who have lost everything in this blaze. I live just outside the 610 loop and I see a fair amount of dead and dry trees where I go, so your concern is entirely scary and justified.
> [@steronz](#):
>
> I see the opposite conclusion. Clearly Texas hasn’t cut government enough! The wildfires are obviously meant to be a wake-up call to the Democrats in Austin. Also, they’re a message to voters that Rick Perry is too liberal! Bachmann '12!!!
I hadn’t considered this possibility. You make some very good points. I might write in Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck just to be on the safe side.
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> God is trying your patience with the 40 minute detour. Say 3 Hail Marys and 2 Our Fathers.
I will never lose faith in the Almighty, no matter how many slight inconveniences he throws me!
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/13 "2011-09-06T19:21:03Z")
What I want to know is whether Rick will refuse Federal Aid unless other things are cut first - or if that policy just goes for the East Coast. I’m not sure if he did advocate this, but I haven’t heard him line up with Christie about it either.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/14 "2011-09-06T19:26:21Z")
If you think for one second that Gov. Goodhair will be troubled in the slightest by galactic hypocrisy…
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### Author:  [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/15 "2011-09-06T19:27:13Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> God is obviously not happy with Texas…
> Disastrous Texas Wildfire Now Worst in State’s History
>
> Read more: [http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/09/06/disastrous-texas-wildfire-now-worst-in-states-history/#ixzz1XC4zkQLv](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/09/06/disastrous-texas-wildfire-now-worst-in-states-history/)
>
> Why won’t Republicans wake up and start governing the way God wants them to, by providing for those in need, taxing people more equitably, and not gerry-mandering the congressional districts to death???
>
> I am pitting the Republican lawmakers who have angered God so much that he has resorted to not only an historic drought, but also an historic wild-fire season.
Are you fucking kidding me?
See, this is why people think your God, if He exists, is a total fucking asshole.
So, God is pissed with the LAWMAKERS in Texas, so He’s gonna burn up a load of other people who have nothing to do with it, to prove a point, but not explain that point, leaving it totally open to interpretation and the people He meant to warn walking free and able to ignore that it had anything to do with them?
Seriously? Your God is a passive-aggressive fuckhead. Why the fuck would you want to worship That?
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/16 "2011-09-06T19:29:11Z")
You appear to be suffering from humornemia, irony poor blood.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/17 "2011-09-06T19:35:04Z")
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> You appear to be suffering from humornemia, irony poor blood.
not sure if this was directed at me or Feyrat, but your Gov. Goodhair comment nearly made me spew water all over my monitor. Thanks a lot, jerk!
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/18 "2011-09-06T19:37:39Z")
“Governor Goodhair” is from the blessed Molly, who sips bourbon with Mark Twain today, and pinches Bill Hicks butt.
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### Author:  [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/19 "2011-09-06T19:37:52Z")
If there is a long term drought trend in Texas, it is hard to find in the actual data.
[http://www.drroyspencer.com/2011/09/dessler-vs-rick-perry-is-the-2011texas-drought-evidence-of-human-caused-climate-change/](http://www.drroyspencer.com/2011/09/dessler-vs-rick-perry-is-the-2011texas-drought-evidence-of-human-caused-climate-change/)
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### Author:  [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-lawmakers-in-texas-are-murderers/595408/20 "2011-09-06T19:46:14Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> I think a lot of those folks accept that things are heating up. They just don’t buy that it’s caused by humans. They view any attempts to get us off the fossil fuels train as a leftist conspiracy to force people to conserve.
>
> You’d think that if there one thing conservatives and liberals could agree on, it would be the value in cutting our dependence on a commodity we buy mostly from people who hate us.
The Candians _hate_ us? That does explain exporting Molson’s, Bryan Adams and The Barenaked Ladies! 😃
That also explains why my friend’s “Canadian girlfirend” in high school would never come to visit!
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