Friday Roundup: VX Nerve Gas, Coming to Your Town

Activism is important, and it allows ordinary citizens to address questionable practices by government in a reasonable way. For instance, the State of Texas is shipping by- and waste-products of VX nerve gas across Texas to Port Arthur, where it is incinerated. Not everyone is happy about that.

Over two dozen state lawmakers and several environmental groups got together on a letter to Governor Perry in which they ask him to knock it off, please. The response?

Katherine Cesinger, a Perry spokeswoman, said the governor's office had no plans to intervene but expects Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to monitor the shipments.

She said Mr. Perry has been assured by the commission that the waste incineration "is not endangering public health or the environment."

Well then. Problem solved! I'm sure that TCEQ is totally independent under its new leadership of... oh, wait. Perry just appointed H.S. "Buddy" Garcia as chair of TCEQ. The Texas Observer has an interesting rundown of Buddy and Perry's relationship and who else had been up for the job, and some pondering as to why they weren't chosen instead.

I really wanted to lead this paragraph off by saying "In other environmental news..." and then talk about how TXU spent some $17 million on media buys and lobbying during the 80th Lege, because I thought it would be funny. The more I thought about it, though, the less funny it became. Most of that money was on advertising, and I'm sure you consumed plenty of it. The Dallas Morning News and Texans for Public Justice bring the story linked above.

Here's a story that surprised me: most people on the Texas State Board of Education aren't crazy about the idea of including intelligent design in the public school curriculum. Again from the DMN, even the new chairman, who describes himself as a creationist, says the following:

"Creationism and intelligent design don't belong in our science classes," said Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, who described himself as a creationist. "Anything taught in science has to have consensus in the science community – and intelligent design does not."

Mr. McLeroy, R-College Station, noted that the current curriculum requires that evolution be taught in high school biology classes, and he has no desire to change that standard.

So there you go. It is so unexpected; I don't really have a witty comment on that.

Here's something else that was unexpected, but that's just because I had no idea this happened: in the past, immigration raids would be put on hold while the census was taking place. For the 2010 census, no such delay will occur.

In other (inter)national news, you may have noticed there was some recent hubbub over whether US troops would go into Pakistan to pursue terrorists. At issue was whether the order would be given and whether that order would depend on permission from Pakistan's government. Well guess what? The order was already given. There's plenty to be said about rules of engagement in conflict with geopolitical dealings, and it's more than can be said here. So, instead of analyzing, I point you to the story to draw your own conclusion.

Lastly today, one more Senator has come out in favor of troop withdrawal, and this version begins at Christmas. Which Democrat would deliver such a plan? Why, none other than Senator John Warner, the senior Republican Senator from Virginia! The September report gets nearer every day, guys, and the environment continues to get less favorable for any of Bush's past policy initiatives on Iraq.