Texas new speed law

When the Texas State Legislature did something really stupid, we used to say, "Only in Texas!" But that's no longer the case. With Repugnicans under the control of the Koch brothers and ALEC, the rich and the religious right, really stupid laws are being passed in almost every state!

But let's start with Texas. A 2011 law, passed by the Texas legislature, allows for a speed limit of 85 mph on some highways. It appears that will be the limit chosen for a new toll road currently under construction.

This is about as stupid as stupid gets. When 3,000 of our citizens were killed by religious nutcases in Manhattan highrises in 2001, the nation went into deep mourning - which has yet to abate completely. But we kill over 30,000 of our citizens EVERY YEAR on our nation's highways and nobody gives a damn!

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "Speeding is a factor in about one-third of all fatal crashes, killing 900 Americans every month in 2009."

In this country, people drive too damn fast!  In the 1950s, Phillip Wylie, in his book, "Generation of Vipers," came down very hard on speeding drivers. A car is a missile, he said, and we have all kinds of morons, idiots, incompetents, bumblers, and haters pointing these missiles down the road creating piles of carnage.  Today, speeding in the United States murders, on our highways, 10 times those killed by the religious nutcases who flew into the Twin Towers!

And murder it is! If you are exceeding the posted speed limit, or if you are driving too fast for local conditions, no matter what the speed limit, you are a criminal. You are disobeying the laws of the land! If we had enough highway patrol personnel, you'd be arrested. And if you run into another car and people in that car are killed, you are a murderer.

But speeding is "fashionable." Speeding is just what most people do. Try driving the speed limit on I-75 or any other Interstate Highway! The majority of drivers will drive by you so fast, you can't even make out the make of their cars!  That's hyperbole, but you get the point!

And I'll bet a lot of these folks are good, religious folk who think the laws of the land should be obeyed. In fact, on a lot of these speeding cars, I see bumper stickers about "keeping Christ in Christmas," or I see the ubiquitous fish symbol which is an acronym identifying the occupants of the car as followers of Jesus.  I'll bet many of these speeders are fine, upstanding Repugnicans who worry themselves sick over the nation's deficit or the non-existent voter fraud they're always blubbering about!  Bah, humbug!  Their religion is a sham, and their posing as concerned citizens is a cover for their own hypocrisy!

Speeding cannot be taken lightly. Speeding is not a joke. It is a serious and flagrant violation of not only the law but of common sense. Why would anyone with a sane mind direct a 4,000 pound missile down a road at 80-90-100 miles per hour. The slightest mistake, the slightest pull on the wheel, the slightest bump in the road can easily cause the driver to lose control and cause a catastrophe (NOT an accident!) in which people are killed.

If you crash because you are speeding, that is not an accident. If people are killed in that crash, you are a murderer!

But the great State of Texas, which has already dumbed down its educational system so that it's the laughingstock of the nation, is now about to allow people to drive even faster on their highways which means only one thing for sure: more people will die; more people will be murdered by speeders on Texas highways.

I'd suggest, if you must drive on Texas highways, you be very, very careful.  Don't end up a mess on the highways of Texas!