How about this? A legislative branch standing up to the douchebaggery of the executive branch:
House members virtually wiped out Gov. Rick Perry's office budget Friday in order to help veterans and the mentally ill.
With little debate, the House on a voice vote approved erasing 96 percent of the nearly $24 million that budget writers had recommended for Perry's office operation over the next two years.
This brilliant move by the Texas House should end the need for every other new diary to be about letting Texas secede, calling them dumb rednecks, etc., because Texas state legislators, both Democrat and Republican, rebuked Governor Perry for his secession comments in a way no one in the blogosphere could, by using legislative checks and balances:
The first whack at Perry's budget was by House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jessica Farrar, D-Houston. She took $4 million for veterans' programs. The biggest hit, though, was proposed by Rep. John Davis, R-Houston. His provision would switch $18.7 million from Perry's office to community mental health "crisis services" that try to keep the mentally ill out of jail and hospital emergency rooms.
Don't mess with Texas? How about, don't mess with the Texas House!
"That's the headline: 'Two days after governor says we ought to secede, House zeroes out the governor's budget,'" said Appropriations Committee vice chairman Richard Raymond, D-Laredo
This may be simply a symbolic move that won't pass muster when it comes to finishing up the state's budget, but it is an important one. One moronic Texas governor doesn't mean the entire state is worthless, just as one moronic president from Texas doesn't make an entire country worthless.
If you wish to do so, as I have done, you can send Rep. Farrar an email (or a campaign contribution) thanking her for standing up for the real Texas.
Rep. Davis, even as a Republican, also deserves our thanks. It's tough to stand up to the governor of your own party, even when he's an idiot. Send him some love as well.
Rep. Raymond, whose quote above is nothing but sheer brilliance, can be thanked here.
Rec List! Thanks a lot, everybody. I want to dedicate my Rec List status to my brother, a student at the University of North Texas' College of Music, who has his sights set on playing the euphonium in one of our military bands.