About Face of the Week

Earlier today, Texas Gov. Rick Perry requested that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide more than 37,000 courses of antiviral medications from the Strategic National Stockpile to Texas in order to prevent the spread of swine flu. At the moment, three cases of the virus have been confirmed in Texas.

How quickly things change? As I mentioned in a recent posting, Perry addressed a group of tea baggers (still funny) at a Tax Day Tea Party and discussed the possibility of secession: "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot." And on April 9th, Perry joined sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. During that press conference, Perry stated that "I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens and its interference with the affairs of our state. That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential Tenth Amendment will free our state from undue regulations and ultimately strengthen our Union." How about this? Since (1) Perry has already hinted at Texas seceding from the United States and (2) cases of swine flu have been reported in both Texas and Mexico, why don't we just be proactive and trade Mexico to Latin America now for a country to be named later?