Burning the Children in the Mansion

I've not said much about the burning of the Texas Governor's Mansion; it's a shame, accidents happen, bad people do bad things, and all that. But it wasn't an accident.  An arsonist burned it after Governor Perry repeatedly refused to advocate an adequate budget for the Department of Public Safety.  Now I suppose keeping a financial halter on Big Brother can be a fine task, but somewhere, it would be good if we had sufficient public monies to keep the government from burning itself down. 

What's ticked me off is the "Plan."  Yes, we all knew we'd need a plan to restore the mansion - and it may take an additional $40 million beyond the current $10 already earmarked for its previous re-modeling.  We've all been quietly accepting the inevitable price tag.  But the Austin Spin Society has tricked the Governnor's wife into asking the school children of Texas to re-build her home (for which her husband wouldn't support adequate security) while the Perrys live off an extra $10,000 a MONTH stipend to live elsewhere.  My Gawd, Anita, tell those folks to go sit behind the barn in this steam oven weather and cook themselves a new brain?

I say the big rich folks who've crammed the "no new taxes" down everybody's throat ought to just plainly pony up for the needed cash.  Somebody oughta shake down the housing, construction, insurance, and security industries that pay for Perry's campaigns.  If they don't have it fixed by the next campaign, it'll be the biggest, most photographed, plainest indictment of the current party's tenure.

Now having said that, our children do need to be proud of the mansion.  But they shouldn't be made to feel guilty about fixing it.  Besides, haven't you heard, most school children are from poor families.  Adults burned it, adults should fix it -  FOR the children.  It's called being the adult.

Here's a few recent links from my feed:

 

Texas' first lady rallies for Mansion restoration effort
Houston Chronicle, United States - Jul 15, 2008
It's important to get schoolchildren involved because "this is their history," she said. The Legislature will have to appropriate funding next year as part ...
Fund created to restore Texas Governor's Mansion 12:57 PM CT Dallas Morning News
First Lady Anita Perry's fund won't be enough to restore the Texas ... Austin American-Statesman
Fund Set Up To Help Rebuild Governor's Mansion WOAI
KXAN-TV - 1200 WOAI
all 64 news articles

 

[Now I'll return to my usual, quietly taken milk toast and gruel in a cardboard bowl.]