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Bush League

By Robert E. Martin

With the results of the ‘Super-Tuesday’ primaries in, it appears that GOP lame duck George Dubya Bush will be facing Vice-President Al Gore in the November Presidential election.

Bush keeps telling us he wants to do for America what he’s done for the great state of Texas.  As was pointed-out to me by a studied source, a cursory  examination of that particular state’s per capita statistics offers a startling glimpse into the sorry condition of Bush’s  Lone Star Utopia.

Let’s take a gander at the numbers, shall we?  o Texas is FIRST in toxic air releases.  o Texas is FIRST in Smog Alert Days. (That’s when the air is  so bad kids and old people can’t go outside) o Texas is FIRST in drunk-driving deaths (Texas likes to PARTY!) o Texas is FIRST in gun-related child injuries and deaths (Gee, I wonder where they rank in paid NRA memberships?) o Texas has the MOST children without any form of health insurance.  o Texas is FIRST in the number of prisoners executed since 1976. (Hell, they  blow away every other state COMBINED!  o Texas has the fifth highest teenage birth rate.  o Texas has the third highest number of children living in poverty.  o Texas is second in the percentage of their population who are currently behind bars. So of course, it would follow that Texas is ninth in spending on prisons...

Now, the low numbers:

o Texas is 41^st in spending on K-thru-12 education.  o Texas is 45^th in mothers receiving pre-natal care!  o Texas is 46^th in public library funding.  o Texas is 46^th in High School completion rates o Texas is 46^th in water resources-protection.  o Texas is 48^th in funding for public health.  o Texas is 48^th in spending for Parks and Recreation.  o Texas is 48^th in spending for the arts! (But then, who needs art when you’ve got the rodeo?)

And finally, after all of Bush’s squawking about the importance of education and how he’s going to make it one of his major concerns, it turns out Texas is 50^th in teachers’ salaries!  And there you have it!  Bush’s blueprint for a dumber, dirtier, sicker America.