Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Rick Perry: why his Texas record is a 2012 campaign liability
Abby Rapoport | The New Republic
June 21, 2011
Following his media blitz, few articles have cast a skeptic’s eye on the governor’s Texas record. “Texas Governor Calls for Halt of Economic Ruin” read one recent Bloomberg headline. The narrative is appealing: Small-town guy becomes Texas ...governor and makes (the economy) good—all by sticking to conservative principles.But while Texas remains “open for business”—the slogan of his successful re-election campaign in 2010—the state’s Legislature is in the process of a going-out-of-business sale.
The Texas budget for the next two years is a mess of accounting tricks and gutted programs, thanks to an unprecedented budget shortfall. The state’s business tax has not only been unpopular, it also doesn’t generate nearly enough revenue. Operating at a structural deficit, the state has even begun to attack funding in the once-hallowed ground of education. And while Perry has spent a good bit of June on his non-campaign-campaign, state lawmakers from both parties are fighting tooth-and-nail to legislate around his dictums.
In the face of Perry’s promise to veto any use of the rainy day fund, lawmakers turned to accounting tricks like deferred payments to soften the blows to state programs. Fees, too, on everything from getting help collecting child support to registering as a lobbyist, are going up all over the state, and almost nowhere does the budget account for normal growth in social services enrollment. The final budget short-funds Medicaid by almost $5 billion. Legislators had to return for a special session to hammer out the cuts to education, which will likely end up around $4 billion. It will mark the first time Texas has cut funding for public schools since 1949, when the state first took a prominent role in financing them. Even the Texas Association of Business, a conservative, pro-business coalition if ever there was one, has expressed concerns over some of the cuts to schools and early childhood education. “Our state runs the risk of falling short on our commitment to Texas school children and businesses that rely on a well-educated workforce,” the group proclaimed in one March press release.
Of course, many lawmakers didn’t want to use the rainy day fund in the first place, but that’s because they know a dirty little secret: Even after this two year budget period, the state’s fiscal woes are far from over. The Lone Star State has a standing $10 billion shortfall every two-year budget cycle, thanks to a faulty tax system pushed by Perry that fails to balance the budget. Although the governor normally stays away from the state Legislature—sightings in either chamber are rare and exciting—Perry engineered a new business tax in 2006 to replace a prior one riddled with loopholes. Ostensibly a good idea, his new tax nonetheless suffered from the simple fact that it didn’t bring in enough revenue. Furthermore, it turned out to be incredibly complex, leaving many business owners scratching their heads. Those who figured it out, meanwhile, realized that, because the new tax was levied on gross margins as opposed to profits, companies could be losing money and still find themselves on the hook.
Read it here:
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Latino officials give Perry a subdued greeting
Dave Montgomery | 23 June 2011
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
SAN ANTONIO - Gov. Rick Perry, who is nearing a decision on a presidential run, drew a tepid response Thursday as he reached out to Hispanics at a national gathering of Latino officials and political leaders.
After his address at the 28th annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Perry told the Star-Telegram that he is continuing to eye a potential 2012 bid for the White House.
Perry spoke for nearly 13 minutes, touting his record of Hispanic appointments and striking familiar themes about Texas job growth and the state's robust economy. The more than 600 Hispanic leaders applauded politely after the address. A few stood, but the remainder stayed seated.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
SAN ANTONIO - Gov. Rick Perry, who is nearing a decision on a presidential run, drew a tepid response Thursday as he reached out to Hispanics at a national gathering of Latino officials and political leaders.
After his address at the 28th annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Perry told the Star-Telegram that he is continuing to eye a potential 2012 bid for the White House.
Perry spoke for nearly 13 minutes, touting his record of Hispanic appointments and striking familiar themes about Texas job growth and the state's robust economy. The more than 600 Hispanic leaders applauded politely after the address. A few stood, but the remainder stayed seated.
Rick Perry's nightmarish flip-flop on the DREAM ACT
Ray Medeiros | Politicus
23 June 2011
Anyone who has paid attention even the slightest bit knows Republicans have been hypocritical in regards to policies they are objecting too. One well known example is the federal healthcare mandate. Newt Gingrich once supported it in the 1990s and the Heritage Foundation conservative think tank also promoted it as well as the former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney.
Now we have a potential Republican candidate who signed into law the Texas DREAM Act. It was passed with ZERO no votes in Texas and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry. EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN in Texas voted in favor of the bill. This bill actually extended in state tuition to undocumented children of undocumented parents.
Perry stated:
As a compassionate state, we know that for our children to succeed, they must not only be healthy, but educated. The future leaders of our two nations are learning their fractions and their ABC’s in classrooms all along this border. Immigrants from around the world are being taught in Texas classrooms, and our history is rich with examples of new citizens who have made great contributions. We must say to every Texas child learning in a Texas classroom, “we don’t care where you come from, but where you are going, and we are going to do everything we can to help you get there.” And that vision must include the children of undocumented workers. That’s why Texas took the national lead in allowing such deserving young minds to attend a Texas college at a resident rate. Those young minds are a part of a new generation of leaders, the doors of higher education must be open to them. The message is simple: educacion es el futuro, y si se puede.
Read it here:
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sen. Sanders exposes the Koch echo chamber
EXPOSE THE KOCHS: The Koch brothers fund multiple think tanks and academic centers to promote their ideology and grow their profits, a Brave New Foundation investigation reveals. Let's create an echo chamber of truth to protect Social Security and counter the Koch billions.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Rick Perry resurrects DPS records confidentiality issue
He wants bid to keep travel records secret added to school finance bill.
By PATRICIA KILDAY HART | Houston Chronicle
21 June 2011
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's office has asked lawmakers hammering out details of a school finance bill to include an unrelated provision that would keep secret the expenses of the Department of Public Safety team that provides security when he and his wife, Anita, travel.
The issue is pending before the Texas Supreme Court, which is considering an appeal of two lower court decisions favoring the public's right to review the travel records under the Texas Public Information Act. The San Antonio Express-News, the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman filed suit in 2007 to obtain records after the DPS withheld them, claiming security concerns.
Lawmakers during the regular session failed to pass two proposals to keep the travel expenses private, but Perry's office last week resurrected the issue by asking lawmakers to add it to the school finance bill, according to members of the conference committee.
“We are discussing it and evaluating the merits of the idea,” said State Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock.
Some members of the conference committee were skeptical about including language that would limit the public's ability to know about government expenditures.
“Until I see the language, I am not sure I agree with it,” said Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. “Details like which hotel, restaurants or car rental — I am not sure those are relevant. But the cost and how many people travel — those kinds of things are important. Transparency is important to my constituents.”
DPS attorneys contend security efforts would be harmed by the public knowing details of how many officers travel with the Perrys or their patterns of travel. The newspapers have argued that security could not be an issue because the records are being sought long after the travel has occurred.
Read the rest...
By PATRICIA KILDAY HART | Houston Chronicle
21 June 2011
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's office has asked lawmakers hammering out details of a school finance bill to include an unrelated provision that would keep secret the expenses of the Department of Public Safety team that provides security when he and his wife, Anita, travel.
The issue is pending before the Texas Supreme Court, which is considering an appeal of two lower court decisions favoring the public's right to review the travel records under the Texas Public Information Act. The San Antonio Express-News, the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman filed suit in 2007 to obtain records after the DPS withheld them, claiming security concerns.
Lawmakers during the regular session failed to pass two proposals to keep the travel expenses private, but Perry's office last week resurrected the issue by asking lawmakers to add it to the school finance bill, according to members of the conference committee.
“We are discussing it and evaluating the merits of the idea,” said State Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock.
Some members of the conference committee were skeptical about including language that would limit the public's ability to know about government expenditures.
“Until I see the language, I am not sure I agree with it,” said Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. “Details like which hotel, restaurants or car rental — I am not sure those are relevant. But the cost and how many people travel — those kinds of things are important. Transparency is important to my constituents.”
DPS attorneys contend security efforts would be harmed by the public knowing details of how many officers travel with the Perrys or their patterns of travel. The newspapers have argued that security could not be an issue because the records are being sought long after the travel has occurred.
Read the rest...
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Rick Perry: God crashed economy to return us to Biblical principles
By Marie Diamond
thinkprogress.org
Jun 13, 2011
For the past week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has been roundly criticized by religious and LGBT groups alike for inviting other governors to join him at an anti-gay prayer event hosted by stridently bigoted American Family Association. Not only has Perry courted the radical wing of the religious right for years, he has a history of bucking responsibility for tough problems by invoking God. For instance, while Texas was facing a historic drought and rash of wildfires, Gov. Perry extolled Texans to “pray for rain,” as he tried to cut funding for the agency battling the wildfires.
As Perry is poised to sign the most draconian state budget in recent history that slashes essential services for the poor and middle class while potentially laying off 100,000 teachers, Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch Kyle digs up this gem of an interview from May in which the governor sheds some light on his motivations. During an appearance on James Robison’s Life Today television program, Perry says he sees a silver lining to the devastating recession that has cost millions of families their jobs, homes, and livelihoods: it will return America to “Biblical principles” and free us from the slavery of big government:
PERRY: I think in America from time to time we have to go through some difficult times — and I think we’re going through those difficult economic times for a purpose, to bring us back to those Biblical principles of you know, you don’t spend all the money. You work hard for those six years and you put up that seventh year in the warehouse to take you through the hard times. And not spending all of our money. Not asking for Pharaoh to give everything to everybody and to take care of folks because at the end of the day, it’s slavery. We become slaves to government.
Perry twists a famous Biblical story into a bizarre anti-government tirade, comparing the U.S. government to slave masters in ancient Egypt. Skewing religion to reinforce his personal political ideology, Perry chastises people not to rely on government for help in hard times, and suggests those who are suffering have no one but themselves to blame for not making adequate preparations.
Of course, the most alarming take away is that Perry seems comfortable plunging his own state into economic ruin because he thinks it will encourage people to come back to God. By signing this budget, a nonpartisan state commission estimates that Perry will cost more than 300,000 Texans their jobs and purge millions from the Medicare roles — but Perry apparently believes that to be God’s plan and himself just an instrument of it.
LINK
thinkprogress.org
Jun 13, 2011
For the past week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has been roundly criticized by religious and LGBT groups alike for inviting other governors to join him at an anti-gay prayer event hosted by stridently bigoted American Family Association. Not only has Perry courted the radical wing of the religious right for years, he has a history of bucking responsibility for tough problems by invoking God. For instance, while Texas was facing a historic drought and rash of wildfires, Gov. Perry extolled Texans to “pray for rain,” as he tried to cut funding for the agency battling the wildfires.
As Perry is poised to sign the most draconian state budget in recent history that slashes essential services for the poor and middle class while potentially laying off 100,000 teachers, Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch Kyle digs up this gem of an interview from May in which the governor sheds some light on his motivations. During an appearance on James Robison’s Life Today television program, Perry says he sees a silver lining to the devastating recession that has cost millions of families their jobs, homes, and livelihoods: it will return America to “Biblical principles” and free us from the slavery of big government:
PERRY: I think in America from time to time we have to go through some difficult times — and I think we’re going through those difficult economic times for a purpose, to bring us back to those Biblical principles of you know, you don’t spend all the money. You work hard for those six years and you put up that seventh year in the warehouse to take you through the hard times. And not spending all of our money. Not asking for Pharaoh to give everything to everybody and to take care of folks because at the end of the day, it’s slavery. We become slaves to government.
Perry twists a famous Biblical story into a bizarre anti-government tirade, comparing the U.S. government to slave masters in ancient Egypt. Skewing religion to reinforce his personal political ideology, Perry chastises people not to rely on government for help in hard times, and suggests those who are suffering have no one but themselves to blame for not making adequate preparations.
Of course, the most alarming take away is that Perry seems comfortable plunging his own state into economic ruin because he thinks it will encourage people to come back to God. By signing this budget, a nonpartisan state commission estimates that Perry will cost more than 300,000 Texans their jobs and purge millions from the Medicare roles — but Perry apparently believes that to be God’s plan and himself just an instrument of it.
LINK
New School of Tropical Medicine in Houston is bad news for Rick Perry
Why is it bad news for Gov. Perry when Science Magazine reports that the head of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Peter Hotez, is leaving George Washington University and moving the 20 plus person vaccine development team to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston?
Part of the problem for Perry is that Hotez is setting up the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor's College of Medicine in Houston's Texas Medical Center because this expert in tropical diseases finds Texas interesting "Because there is a lot of poverty; it has the highest rates of parasitic and neglected infections anywhere in the U.S." He continues "In 2008 I described a group of six neglected diseases that are common both in African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans. In addition, dengue has emerged along the Gulf Coast. That's another rationale for being based in Houston."
LINK
Part of the problem for Perry is that Hotez is setting up the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor's College of Medicine in Houston's Texas Medical Center because this expert in tropical diseases finds Texas interesting "Because there is a lot of poverty; it has the highest rates of parasitic and neglected infections anywhere in the U.S." He continues "In 2008 I described a group of six neglected diseases that are common both in African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans. In addition, dengue has emerged along the Gulf Coast. That's another rationale for being based in Houston."
LINK
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Rick Perry said he was just like George W. Bush
nymag.com | 15 June 2011
"We're different people," Perry said last October, perhaps already privately entertaining the possibility of running for president. "We came from different backgrounds. Philosophically, we weren't peas in a pod." But in December of 2000, when Perry was about to take over the governorship from president-elect Bush, he said something that could come back to haunt him. "Certainly, you are not going to see a great philosophical difference between Rick Perry and George Bush," he said. "We share the same type of philosophy." Hard to claim you're nothing like Bush after saying something like that.
LINK
"The Texas Miracle"
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 23 states — including New York — have lower unemployment rates than Texas.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
China Wants To Construct A 50 Square Mile Self-Sustaining City South Of Boise, Idaho
"One of these "special economic zones" would be just south of Boise, Idaho and the Idaho government is eager to give it to them. China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach for short) plans to construct a "technology zone" south of Boise Airport which would ultimately be up to 50 square miles in size. The Chinese Communist Party is the majority owner of Sinomach, so the 10,000 to 30,000 acre "self-sustaining city" that is being planned would essentially belong to the Chinese government. The planned "self-sustaining city" in Idaho would include manufacturing facilities, warehouses, retail centers and large numbers of homes for Chinese workers. Basically it would be a slice of communist China dropped right into the middle of the United States."
Contact Idaho Sen. Michael Crapo (R)
239 Dirksen Senate Office Building
(202) 224-6142; 228-1375
Boise: (208) 334-1776
Tell him you are against a communist Chinese cheap labor camp of imported Chinese workers that takes away jobs from Americans. Most Americans can unite behind this, as China is still our ideological enemy. Call or write today!
Read it here.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thursday, June 09, 2011
The Rise of the Second-String Psychopaths
David Schwartz | CommonDreams.org
5 June 2011
The great writer Kurt Vonnegut titled his final book "A Man without a Country". He was the man; the country was the United States of America. Vonnegut felt that his country had disappeared right under his – and the Constitution’s – feet, through what he called “the sleaziest, low-comedy Keystone Cops-style coup d’état imaginable.” He was talking about the Bush administration. Were Vonnegut still alive in the post-Bush era, he would not have felt that his country had returned.
How had our country disappeared? Vonnegut proposed that among the contributing factors was that it had been invaded – as if by the Martians – by people with a particularly frightening mental illness. People with this illness were termed psychopaths. (The term nowadays is anti-social personality disorder.) These are terms for people who are smart, personable, and engaging, but who have no consciences. They are not guided by a sense of right or wrong. They seem to be unaffected by the feelings of others, including feelings of distress caused by their actions. Straying from a decent way of treating people, or violating ethical codes causes no anxiety, the anxiety which is what causes the rest of us to moderate our more greedy impulses.
If most children feel anxiety when they are pilfering the forbidden cookie jar, psychopaths feel just fine. They can devour the cookies, shatter the jar as evidence and stuff it in the trash can. When accused, they can argue with apparent sincerity that the cookie jar has been missing for at least a week. There suffer no remorse, no guilt, no shame. They are free to do anything, no matter how harmful.
LINK
5 June 2011
The great writer Kurt Vonnegut titled his final book "A Man without a Country". He was the man; the country was the United States of America. Vonnegut felt that his country had disappeared right under his – and the Constitution’s – feet, through what he called “the sleaziest, low-comedy Keystone Cops-style coup d’état imaginable.” He was talking about the Bush administration. Were Vonnegut still alive in the post-Bush era, he would not have felt that his country had returned.
How had our country disappeared? Vonnegut proposed that among the contributing factors was that it had been invaded – as if by the Martians – by people with a particularly frightening mental illness. People with this illness were termed psychopaths. (The term nowadays is anti-social personality disorder.) These are terms for people who are smart, personable, and engaging, but who have no consciences. They are not guided by a sense of right or wrong. They seem to be unaffected by the feelings of others, including feelings of distress caused by their actions. Straying from a decent way of treating people, or violating ethical codes causes no anxiety, the anxiety which is what causes the rest of us to moderate our more greedy impulses.
If most children feel anxiety when they are pilfering the forbidden cookie jar, psychopaths feel just fine. They can devour the cookies, shatter the jar as evidence and stuff it in the trash can. When accused, they can argue with apparent sincerity that the cookie jar has been missing for at least a week. There suffer no remorse, no guilt, no shame. They are free to do anything, no matter how harmful.
LINK
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Rick Perry to Host Hate Group-Funded Prayer Summit
Tim Murphy | Mother Jones
6 June 2011
Texas Governor Rick Perry has a plan to bring down unemployment, pay off the national debt, stop natural disasters, and smoke the terrorists out of their spider holes: He's hosting a prayer summit.
LINK
6 June 2011
Texas Governor Rick Perry has a plan to bring down unemployment, pay off the national debt, stop natural disasters, and smoke the terrorists out of their spider holes: He's hosting a prayer summit.
LINK
Saturday, June 04, 2011
“... Perry may be the perfect candidate for those Republicans who viewed George W. Bush as just a little too cerebral.”
Houston Chronicle...
Will he or won’t he?
Ever since Gov. Rick Perry revealed last week that he was mulling a possible presidential campaign, that’s been the question on the minds of Texans, Republicans across the country and the political pundit elite.
Political swamis from Austin to Concord, N.H., are trying to divine through the words and actions of the Texas governor whether he’s going to enter the 2012 GOP White House sweepstakes — or is simply basking in the spotlight thrust upon him by conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham, who have implored him to run.
“He’s sort of caught in a whirlwind,” said Mark P. Jones, a Rice University political science professor. “At the beginning of May, running for president was not on his radar screen. But then things changed.”
LINK
Friday, June 03, 2011
Drought worsens in Texas
by Citizen Carol | texasvox.org
3 June 2011
It has been estimated that Texas farmers and ranchers have already lost $1.5 billion in revenues this year, and officials say if the drought continues into June, losses will top $4 billion, making it the costliest season on record, impacting the entire nation since Texas is the nation’s second largest agriculture producer.
Texas could be well on its way to breaking the record of 2006 as we contemplate this May’s estimated rainfall totals, which were only about 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches of rain across the state. This would make the March-May spring period the driest on record once the totals are confirmed.
Texas has a long history with droughts, but it is still early and we will have to wait a bit to determine how this year ranks in the history of Texas droughts, but it is not looking good and so far the governor’s call for prayer for rain has yet to be answered.
LINK
3 June 2011
It has been estimated that Texas farmers and ranchers have already lost $1.5 billion in revenues this year, and officials say if the drought continues into June, losses will top $4 billion, making it the costliest season on record, impacting the entire nation since Texas is the nation’s second largest agriculture producer.
Texas could be well on its way to breaking the record of 2006 as we contemplate this May’s estimated rainfall totals, which were only about 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches of rain across the state. This would make the March-May spring period the driest on record once the totals are confirmed.
Texas has a long history with droughts, but it is still early and we will have to wait a bit to determine how this year ranks in the history of Texas droughts, but it is not looking good and so far the governor’s call for prayer for rain has yet to be answered.
LINK
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