The GOP Drive to Deregulate Industry Goes ‘Boom’ in Texas – But Gov. Perry Diverts Attention by Feigning Outrage over a Political Cartoon

The loss of life in West, Texas, was tragic, but the tragedy itself is an illustration of the downside of the Republicans’ unstoppable zeal for deregulating industry at any cost. The cost in this case included the lives of 14 people who were killed when a fertilizer plant exploded on April 17.

In the wake of the blast, however, Gov. Rick Perry, who loves to brag about “poaching” businesses from California, where regulations are enforced, in part because the environment is fragile, deftly sidestepped accountability in the media, at least, by feigning outrage over a cartoon in the Sacramento Bee that shows depicted him saying, “Business is BOOMING in Texas,” in one frame and a giant explosion in the next. Perry has created quite a kerfuffle in the media by demanding an apology from cartoonist Jack Ohman.

For his part, Ohman is not budging:

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