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
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Pete Sessions Claims To Be A "Guardian For Seniors" While Voting To Gut Medicare
Does supporting legislation that could force seniors in our state to pay more than double for their health care make one a "guardian of seniors"? Pete Sessions and his 60-Plus Association friends must think we're stupid enough to believe that.
by alaprst | Daily Kos
23 May 2011
I do not find funny Pete Sessions' latest claim to be a guardian of senior citizens' interest.
The same Pete Sessions who seemingly couldn't say enough good things about the financially and morally irresponsible Ryan bill he so enthusiastically supports, now wants folks to think he is something he has shown clearly that he isn't.
The same Pete Sessions who voted to gut Medicare in favor of a voucher system that will cost seniors well more than twice what they currently pay for traditional Medicare, is now showing a picture on his taxpayer-supported web site claiming to be a "guardian of seniors' rights." If he is a guardian of seniors' rights, Al Capone was the greatest champion of law and order of all time.
Does he really think seniors (or seniors-to-be like me) think we're going to fall for his con and then claim that the shady "60-plus association" represents seniors? If he really thinks so, he really must think we're dumber than first graders.
LINK
by alaprst | Daily Kos
23 May 2011
I do not find funny Pete Sessions' latest claim to be a guardian of senior citizens' interest.
The same Pete Sessions who seemingly couldn't say enough good things about the financially and morally irresponsible Ryan bill he so enthusiastically supports, now wants folks to think he is something he has shown clearly that he isn't.
The same Pete Sessions who voted to gut Medicare in favor of a voucher system that will cost seniors well more than twice what they currently pay for traditional Medicare, is now showing a picture on his taxpayer-supported web site claiming to be a "guardian of seniors' rights." If he is a guardian of seniors' rights, Al Capone was the greatest champion of law and order of all time.
Does he really think seniors (or seniors-to-be like me) think we're going to fall for his con and then claim that the shady "60-plus association" represents seniors? If he really thinks so, he really must think we're dumber than first graders.
LINK
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Texas moves closer to expanding radioactive waste dump
by Kate Galbraith and Jay Root | 17 May 2011
texastribune.org
The House gave preliminary approval today to a bill that will give a politically-connected operator broad authority to set the rates it charges for radioactive waste imported into Texas for disposal.
The bill, sponsored by State Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, passed the House 108 to 36 after more than an hour of floor debate. It smooths the way for the company to accept low-level radioactive waste from several dozen states in addition to Texas and Vermont, which already have an agreement to use the West Texas site.
"Fundamentally what it represents is the biggest pork-barrel project in history," said State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, who said that Texas was effectively establishing a monopoly with potentially unlimited profits.
LINK
texastribune.org
The House gave preliminary approval today to a bill that will give a politically-connected operator broad authority to set the rates it charges for radioactive waste imported into Texas for disposal.
The bill, sponsored by State Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, passed the House 108 to 36 after more than an hour of floor debate. It smooths the way for the company to accept low-level radioactive waste from several dozen states in addition to Texas and Vermont, which already have an agreement to use the West Texas site.
"Fundamentally what it represents is the biggest pork-barrel project in history," said State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, who said that Texas was effectively establishing a monopoly with potentially unlimited profits.
LINK
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