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" Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what&amp;#039;s goin&amp;#039; down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin&amp;#039; gets done, and where they&amp;#039;re spoon-feeding Casanova to get him to feel more assured.  Let&amp;#039;s begin with a general survey of how The Invisible Hand is wrecking the natural world across several borders.   The oil spill came from a train carrying 103 cars of Bakken crude oil from North Dakota. On Thursday afternoon, 17 cars of that train derailed in northern Illinois, each carrying approximately 30,000 gallons of crude. EPA officials aren&amp;#039;t sure how much oil has spilled, but noted that a seasonal wetland has already been affected. The river, one of its tributaries, and the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge are all in danger of contamination, the agency said. This isn&amp;#039;t the first time in recent months that one of North America&amp;#039;s most powerful and historic rivers have been threatened by oil. In the last year, the Mississippi, the Yellowstone, the Missouri, and the Ohio Rivers have been contaminated because of oil train derailments, barge crashes, and pipeline spills.  Which means, of course, that we should build the Keystone XL pipeline. Why should people who live along historic waterways have all the fun? Me? I blame Lewis and Clark. Let&amp;#039;s pick up a year&amp;#039;s worth of bottled water and move on down to Texas, where the entire legislature is slapping each other silly over who wants to meddle the most in the ladyparts business. I&amp;#039;d say this is going to be hard to beat.  One of the signs appeared Wednesday morning on the wall outside Rep. Jonathan Stickland&amp;#039;s office. It identifies the Bedford Republican as a &amp;quot;FORMER FETUS,&amp;quot; using a format similar to the plaques near most members&amp;#039; doors. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s just been ripped down and thrown in my staffer&amp;#039;s face by Charlie Geren,&amp;quot; Stickland said, referring to the Fort Worth Republican who chairs the House Administration Committee. &amp;quot;I thought it was absolutely handled in the wrong way,&amp;quot; Stickland added. &amp;quot;I wish Rep. Geren was more professional about it instead of intimidating my staff.&amp;quot;  Children, children. Let&amp;#039;s pretend we&amp;#039;re actual legislators here for a moment, OK? No, wait. This is Texas. Feel free to finger-paint with the law. We&amp;#039;re out of here. But we&amp;#039;re only going as far as Arkansas, where we have an update on Justin Harris, the good Christian legislator who &amp;quot;rehomed&amp;quot; his adopted daughters into the custody of a guy who raped one of them. Apparently, Rep. Harris took all the standard precautions, including an exorcism.  She was often confined for hours to her room, where she was monitored by a video camera. The reason: The Harrises believed the girls were possessed by demons and could communicate telepathically, Goldsborough said. Harris and his wife once hired specialists to perform an &amp;quot;exorcism&amp;quot; on the two sisters while she waited outside the house with the boys, she said.  The power of derp compels you. And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, where newly enlisted Ringsend Cowboy Friedman Of The Plains brings us an update on how the battle for heteronormative nuptials is going. The answer is, as always, not well.  Supporters of HB 1125 said it fittingly removes the state from the marriage process. &amp;quot;Marriage was not instituted by government,&amp;quot; said Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan. &amp;quot;It was instituted by God. There is no reason for Oklahoma or any state to be involved in marriage.&amp;quot; Johnson did allow, however, that the state does have an interest in preventing such things as incest, polygamy and marriage of minors. Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, and Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman, suggested that preventing those things might be harder to do under Russ&amp;#039; proposal because court clerks would no longer be in position to require proof of identity and age.  This is your democracy, America. Cherish it. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a33618/the-laboratories-of-democracy-meet-the-devil/>