Dante’s Inferno and Governor Good Hair

By Dr. Herny Flores, NewsTaco

The recent behavior by Governor Good Hair (Rick Perry) of Texas led me to reflect on Dante’s famous work The Inferno.  I know that some of you think that I exaggerate a little at times but I really mean tere is a connection here.  Let me explain.

Dante’s Inferno

Dante wrote his famous work in a day when pundits could not openly attack the powers that be in columns such as this for fear of their lives.  Well thanks to the First Amendment of the Constitution I’m somewhat protected in what I can say about our contemporary politicians.  I’m somewhat limited because I cannot defame or slander anyone; I can, however, make fun of them as I describe their foibles and fumblings.

Anyway, I digress.  Dante wrote his very descriptive poem describing Hell (The Inferno) as being constructed of many layers.  The lower you descended the worse the conditions were.  The sinner who passed away was assigned to the specific layer reserved for those with similar sins and the worse the sins the lower the level.

Interestingly enough Dante placed politicians in the lowest levels where those who lied, committed treachery, fraud and treason against the state.  I couldn’t figure where Governor Good Hair exactly belonged because he has been guilty of so many infractions.  So, I stuck him in both levels.

Why Governor Good Hair Deserves Such Low Status

Fortuitously, at least for the nation, the esteemed governor of Texas was indicted by a Travis County grand jury because of abuse of power.  The Guv is claiming that because Travis County is the most liberal jurisdiction in the state, the indictment was purely political.  His “spin miesters” overlook the fact that there was a special prosecutor assigned to prevent any appearance of political prosecution/persecution.  One grand juror who was interviewed after the indictment was passé, disappointed at the governor’s behavior and arrogance saying that folks were going to be surprised when the trial begins and the facts and evidence is made public.

What was behind the indictment was the reason the governor acted against the Public Integrity Unit in the first place.  It appears that the PIU, before all of the broo-haha surrounding the DUI escapades of the Travis County District Attorney, had uncovered irregularities between grants extended to Gradalis, Inc., a biotech firm, and campaign contributions made to Governor Good Hair and Lt. Governor Good Face (Dewhurst).  It seems that there was a lack of documentation and therefore transparency involved in all of the irregularities and the PIU had uncovered a trail leading to the governor’s office.  This was the issue that drove Governor Good Hair to veto funding for the PIU not the drinking problems of the Travis County DA.  If drinking problems were at issue in the job status of politicians in Austin, half of the legislature and the governor’s staff would be gone!  No, Governor Good Hair decided to “wag the dog” to draw attention away from his potentially presidential campaign killing problem by insisting that the DUI issued to the DA of Travis County made her unfit to hold office and threatened a veto of the funding for the PIU unless she resigned.  It wasn’t even a demand for a full resignation, she could still work in the DA’s office just not supervise its operations.

President Good Hair

I’m not sure what has possessed Governor Good Hair to think he is presidential material.  You would think that when he decided to don glasses he would be able to see things more clearly but I guess he is still foggy about things.  On one level you have to feel pity for someone like this because, well, just because.  On another level you would think that he would know better or that one of his close advisers would just tell him to go off to Key West and enjoy the sun for the remainder of his life.

Instead, Governor Good Hair let his arrogance, greed, his narcissism get the best of him and committed the ultimate offense in a democracy. He violated the public trust.  For this he deserves to vacation, not in Key West, but in at least the Seventh Ring of Dante’s Inferno.