Perry Problematic Among Indies

A piece at the “Perry Presidential” blog at the Chron has some polling results from Public Policy Polling that presidential candidate Rick Perry’s campaign has some inherent weaknesses among Independents. This is not a surprise to anyone, but still it’s nice to see that what you suspect might be true, is in fact, borne out by the data.

Rick Perry will win Texas, the poll shows, beating President Obama by 51 to 44%.

Duh.

The only surprise here is that the margin is so low. This is a Texas governor going presidential and he only gets a 51% vote in his own state? A Perry win in Texas is a no-brainer, the article goes on, but what about the margin in other states, swing states where the “Texas Factor” is a non-issue.

“He’s going to win Texas, so his approval numbers don’t matter that much in the overall scheme of the election. But they do raise some red flags about the kind of support he might see in some other places.”

And key to it all are Independent voters. According to the PPP poll, Perry does very poorly with Indies. Independents who approve of Perry were only 32% of those polled, while President Obama received 46% of Independent respondents.

Independents, as always, are going to decide this election, and for Rick Perry, that spells trouble for a positive outcome in November.

Making me wonder whether winning the General Election is actually Perry’s goal. We know from the far right positions he has advanced (except for immigration) he is appealing to the right wingers. And we know why. Right wingers show up at Primary Polls. Independents largely do not.

So I am starting to wonder whether the plan is to get the nomination and then use that to raise an amazing amount of campaign funds that will be necessary to run a presidential campaign. We know that Rick Perry really hasn’t a political bone in his body, and that it is all about getting rich and getting his friends rich, which gets him even richer. Rick Perry is in this whole thing for himself. And now I think I see why he is in this. He is a master of turning campaign funds into personal wealth.

Yep.

Two Down and One To Go

I need a hat trick. This past year the Texas Legislature passed some pretty bad legislation. Voter ID, of course, which I discussed previously, The Sonogram Law, also discussed previously, requires that women who seek an abortion, for any reason, have a sonogram done so they can be convinced one last time not to have the procedure done – a law so invasive on several levels that it greatly offends those who are lovers of liberty. And then there was the decennial redistricting where district boundaries were heavily gerrymandered to exclude minorities from having representation in the state house and in congress.

Well, as mentioned previously, enforcement of the Sonogram Law was stayed by Judge Sam Sparks in federal district court, thus eliminating that law that Rick Perry requested as “emergency legislation.” And now, today, we see that the Department of Justice has filed in court a lawsuit that challenges the way the legislature redrew state house and congressional district boundaries, saying that it was done specifically to discriminate against minority voters – voters who usually vote Democratic.

From Think Progress:

“The Department of Justice weighed in today on the controversial Texas redistricting map that Gov. Rick Perry signed in May and civil rights groups argue intentionally weakens the Latino vote to benefit Republicans. The DOJ signaled their concern that the map discriminates against minorities and therefore violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”

That’s two.

Now I am looking for a hat trick. I have been told that September 23^rd is a date that is important for the DOJ to challenge the Voter ID Law, arguably the harshest law ever passed anywhere recently that attacks one’s ability to vote in an election. Really. This law makes Jim Crow Laws look like decent treatment in that we know it is all about limiting Democrats’ ability to vote, but its stated purpose is to prevent foreign nationals from voting, a non-existent problem.

I’ve no idea what will occur on the 23^rd. It could only boil down to posing additional questions to the state, thus postponing a filing challenging the law as yet another VRA violation.

A filing that seems all but inevitable.

So that’s the three-fer I am hoping for.

But on the other hand, why not go for broke? Why not challenge the constitutionality of yet another bad law passed by the legislature this year? Why not challenge the constitutionality of the biennial budget? This is a budget, passed by a Republican-dominated state legislature that fails a constitutional requirement that public education be fully funded. With an anticipated rise in enrollment, the legislature passed a law that did not cover new students, or old ones for that matter.

So in actuality, I want a four-fer.

California GOP Hearts Ron Paul

So I guess I might have mentioned before that I am a California native living as an expatriate here in southeast Texas. I may have also mentioned my admiration for Californians as being mostly Democratic, and they even have a hefty number of progressives out there.

But it is now obvious to me that just as California’s left tack a little further left through their progressive component; it also seems that California’s right tack a little further right through their Libertarian component. The John Birch Society, after all, has its roots in deep red Orange County.

Obvious to me because of this new California GOP straw poll (they are meeting in a statewide convention in LA this weekend) that has Dr. Ron Paul far in the lead of those who they want to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States.

No, really. I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming. Paul garnered 44.9% of all votes cast in the straw poll compared to Rick Perry’s 29.3%. Darn near two to one. And why is this such welcome news? California, the country’s most populous state, has the most convention delegates, by far than any other state. What would have made this sweeter is that California used to be a “winner take all” state in the Republican Party. But it is still pretty sweet that Ron Paul arrives at next year’s GOP convention with a near-majority of California delegates in his pocket.

And don’t believe I want Paul to win the nomination, Perry would be a far more entertaining candidate in an intellectual debate with my President. If Paul got the nomination it will ruin the fun because he actually speaks very well. He’s a smart guy.

Smart, yes. But as cracked as the Liberty Bell.

How to Vote in Texas if You Are Not a Citizen

So I was at a couple of Democratic events today, a monthly meeting of the newly formed group Fort Bend Silver Democrats (website can be found here), and then in the afternoon a summit meeting of Democratic county chairs and other interested parties for Texas Senate District 18.

At both meetings, the same guest speaker, a local lawyer who volunteers his services to help people cast their votes, had a presentation on the newly passed but soon to be reviewed (by the Department of Justice) Texas law on voter photo ID.

Soon now, you will not be able to vote in Texas unless you have one of 5 forms of identification: A valid Texas drivers license, a DPS-issued election identification certificate, a United States passport, a US military ID card, and… and … a license to carry a concealed handgun issued by the Department of Public Safety.

Now, of the five forms of identification there is only one that does not require you to produce proof of US citizenship. Guess which one?

And yes, you guessed right. The License to carry a concealed handgun issued by the Department of Public Safety does not include a provision that ensures that the license holder is a citizen of the United States.

Don’t believe me? It’s here.

But I will post the required information to get a conceal/carry license below for those who are averse to clicking.

• Social security number,
• Valid driver license or identification card,
• Current demographic, address, contact, and employment information,
• Residential and employment information for the last five years (new users only),
• Information regarding any psychiatric, drug, alcohol, or criminal history (new users only),
• Valid email address, and
• Valid credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express)

Can foreign nationals not have any of the above? The answer is a definite no. So if someone wants to live in my country and not be a citizen, the only way that they would be allowed to vote under the new voter ID law is to have applied for and received a valid license to carry a concealed weapon.

I love irony.

And thanks to Don for putting this thought in my mind for further research.

Debunking the Texas Miracle

Last time that I was in California, and people heard that I was from Texas (well, no, I’m not from Texas, I’m from California, but I now live in Texas) they usually had some sort of remark that things in my state were better than they were in theirs. I would disagree, and if allowed would tick off the litany of problems in Texas.

Like a 28 billion dollar budget shortfall.

Like how they were laying off public sector jobs.

Like how that has a multiplier effect because when you lay people like teachers and firefighters they are no longer steady customers and business suffers.

And some listened and were surprised, but some were skeptical. The Texas Miracle, as it is being called, an urban myth if ever there was one, has been well-sold in the media, and as true as it is in science education, it is true in the media, you tend to believe and retain the information that is told to you first. Any attempt to fix mis-information subsequently falls on deaf ears.

Fact: most high school science students believe that the sky is blue because it reflects the ocean. This is because they are told this by an uneducated elementary school teacher or two.

And most people believe in the Texas Miracle.

Well, come to find out, FACT: Texas’s unemployment rate rose by 0.2 % last month. From 8.3 to 8.5 per cent. And guess where those jobs were lost? The public sector.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

“Those numbers come from the U.S. Department of Labor. The numbers were confirmed by the Texas Workforce Commission, which says the state lost 1,300 jobs in August. Texas gained 8,100 private-sector jobs, but those jobs were wiped out by job losses in the public sector.”

So when Rick Perry, who is running on his ability to create jobs, brags about the Texas Miracle, he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. It doesn’t hold water. He is . . . oh gosh darn it . . .what’s that word?

LYING.

He is lying.

And our governor is really good at lying. If he weren’t he wouldn’t be the state’s longest serving governor. That’s right, Rick Perry has been governor of Texas longer than one of its founding fathers: Sam Houston.

But Sam Houston, they say, was good at drinking. Drinking heavily doesn’t win friends and influence people.

Lying does.

Just a Brief Vacay

I apologize to those of you, 6 by my count that come here for an infusion of, I guess it is called, "half emptiness." I have been engaged in other pursuits. Like yesterday when I was hauled out on the carpet by someome who can be arguably considered my best friend, Susan, because I have not done my due diligence at a bank where we will maintain an account specially meant to defeat Republicans. And then today, when I went up north to visit my insurance agent who wanted an update on my rapidly concluding life. (No, no cancer nothing like that, just getting old...Ok?). I promise to post tomorow. I am really interested in a local school district's desire to buy Ipads and laptops for its students. How this happens when teachers are being layed off is beyond me.

How Much Will Buy Rick Perry?

OK, in last night’s TEA Party debate, Rick Perry got called onto the carpet over his executive order to have all 11-year old females in Texas vaccinated against Human Papiloma Virus (HPV). This has rattled both sides of the aisles as huge government intrusion into what should be a personal decision for parents.

The issue was candy-coated by Michele Bachmann who suggested that Merck’s $5000 contribution was all it took to get Rick Perry to order that the HPV vaccine, an exclusive product of Merck, be purchased by the state, and distributed to hundreds of thousands at state expense.

Perry took umbrage that he could be bought for a “mere” $5000. He was offended.

But the campaign contributions aren’t all of what Rick Perry is about, is it? As it turns out, Rick Perry’s former chief-of-staff, Mike Toomey, is the chief lobbyist for Merck in Texas. Rick Perry is also all about handing out sweet deals. Sweet deals handed out then come back to Rick Perry as other sweet deals.

And Rick Perry has profited on sweet deals from his friends.

One hand washes the other.

Will Rick Perry Learn to Walk Backwards?

Tonight’s Republican presidential candidates’ debate will be held in Tampa, Florida. Get it? Rick “Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme” Perry is going to have to speak to Floridians about this. And the reason that is remarkable is that a good portion of Floridians are transplanted geriatrics…on Social Security.

Rick Perry will have to walk back his inflammatory remarks on Social Security. Remarks that even the likes of Michele Bachmann isn’t willing to make.

No, Rick Perry has some ‘splainin to do, and he is going to have to do it carefully in a calm gentle voice.

Yeah, he needs to leave the defiant bluster in his hotel room.

Think he’s up to it? I’ve never actually seen Rick Perry walk back a simgle remark or opinion in all the time I have been watching him. It’s beyond his ability. It is not in his psychological make-up.

So this is going to be more interesting than watching a TEA Party debate on the defunding of public education. No, that’s really funny. You hear a true TEA partier offer that public education is unconstitutional and then you hear the audience say “Huh? We believe in THAT?”

In short, Rick Perry is darned if he does and darned if he doesn’t. If he doesn’t walk back his Social Security stance he’ll lose the geezers (who vote at every opportunity). If he does he’ll lose the crack pots (who also vote at every opportunity). Let’s see which group Rick Perry values more.

The 411 on 911

So we have a bit of an anniversary today, the anniversary of the day, ten years ago, when Arab, mostly Saudi Arabian, terrorists hijacked 4 jets and flew three of them into buildings, killing over 3000 people.

Thus began what was to be called the Global War On Terror.

And in the intervening 10 years life has changed for Americans.

Like the billions of dollars that were lost on the stock market that very week, one of Osama bin Laden’s stated objectives. He knew it is all about the money.

Like the trillions of dollars that were flushed down the toilet in an unnecessary Iraq War.

Like the tens of thousands of Iraqi lives lost merely be being in the crossfire.

Like going through airport metal detectors in your stocking feet.

Like full body scans and aggressive pat downs.

Like the Patriot Act, an act that was and is a singular attack on American constitutional rights.

Like state-sanctioned eavesdropping on any and all communications.

Like mindless attacks on anyone who looks like they might be from the Middle East (or even India), or who might be a Muslim.

Like the thousands of young American and British lives lost in a war started for no existing rhyme or reason, and the tens of thousands physically and mentally scarred.

911 was an event that caused Americans to rally around a president who then took that support and ran America over a cliff. Osama bin Laden might be fish bait now, or worse, but there is no doubt in my mind that the plans that were hatched 10 years ago today were wildly successful in their ultimate effect.

It changed America and Americans, probably forever.

There, You Got Your Federal Dollars, Now Shuddup

I heard this morning from Congressman Lloyd Doggett that President had signed a disaster declaration for the burning counties in Texas. Now I see that this is definite as discussed in this article in the Chron.

Now Governor Rick “Fed Up” Perry and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst can finally stop their whining. And the Senate-hopeful Lieutenant Governor can stop trying to reap political capital on the backs of now-homeless Texans.

But I wonder where is Eric Cantor in all of this? Aren’t we supposed to pay for this federal aid somehow? Maybe we should defund NOAA. Maybe paying for all those prescription drugs to keep our aging society out of the grave needs to be reconsidered. They’re really old, you know, and don’t pay any taxes.

One thing I am sure of, though. It is very probable that Rick Perry didn’t pray to Jesus for the President to sign the declaration. Because we know very well what happens when Rick Perry prays to Jesus for anything. Like the last time Rick Perry prayed to Jesus for Him to bring rain, Texas caught fire instead.

And Now David Dewhurst Asks for Federal $$$

Now if it weren’t for the fact that thousands of families in Bastrop County – and elsewhere – have been burned out of their houses I would be laughing aloud over this. Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst has sent not one, but two letters to President Obama asking that the burning counties in Texas be declared a disaster area.

Thus qualifying Texas for federal assistance.

Like taxpayer dollars.

Dewhurst sent the 2^nd letter because he says that there has been no reply from President Obama.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

"Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who attended the briefing, said that he wrote a second letter today to President Barack Obama, asking for aid. An earlier one was not answered, he said."

Dewhurst is obviously ignorant of the fact that there is a process and the President has people who handle this and make recommendations to him. Then he declares disaster areas.

Either that, or, more plausibly, David Dewhurst is trying to make political capital over the misfortunes of Texas homeowners who have lost everything in these fires.

He’s running for Senate, you know.

There is nothing lower than someone who tries to grab the microphone for a publicity moment my standing on the shoulders of these poor unfortunate ones. Not even a snake in a ditch is lower than that.

First Responders Getting Their Just Desserts

Nick Anderson has it exact.

Redistricting Case: Defense Goes for Suspension of Belief

I find it amazing that today, on the day of the first Republican Presidential debate to include the Texas governor, attorneys defending Texas’ redistricting plan are saying that because of new diversity trends in Texas, people of the Hispanic persuasion are less likely to vote for an Hispanic, a race vote they call it, and contend that there are some Hispanics that will vote for Republicans, and, they say to my shocked surprise, there are some white people who will vote for Democrats.

No, really, he said that.

Now while it is true that, nationally, Hispanics have voted for Republicans a third of the time, you have to look at what kind of Hispanic you are looking at. Cubans are also Hispanic, and Floridian Cubans tend to vote for neoconservatives because of their anti-Castro sentiments.

That and they still haven’t gotten over Jack Kennedy’s handling of the landing at the Bay of Pigs.

What is true is that Hispanics do like to vote for Hispanics, and African-Americans do like to vote for African-Americans. Ask Chris Bell if you don’t believe that.

This argument demands a suspension of belief. Hispanics in Texas would be absolutely crazy to vote for a Republican candidate these days, especially with all the rhetoric about immigrants, Sanctuary Cities, and solving the issue of illegal immigrants in Texas.

No, it is completely obvious what Republicans who drew the new congressional district boundaries had in mind. They wanted to take the increase in population, fueled by an increase in the Hispanic demographic, and turn it into a bigger Republican majority in congress by effectively negating the Hispanic vote in 3 out of the 4 new congressional districts. All you have to do is read the newspapers. When Hispanics vote, they vote heavily Democratic – when they turn out – which they didn’t do in 2010. And now, because of that in 3 out of 4 congressional districts, Hispanics are being disenfranchised.

This cannot stand, but I am not holding my breath that the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals will rule correctly. I am waiting for the Department of Justice to weigh in on whether the redistricting plan violates the Voting Rights Act. It does, they will, and another Republican project in the 82^nd Legislature will crash into a hillside.

Fed Up With Rick Perry

Presidential candidate Rick Perry, who last year co-authored a book that he entitled Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington, apparently isn’t all that “fed up.” According to this article in the Austin American-Statesman, today Rick Perry is “frustrated” that the federal government isn’t sending him the tools, manpower and capability that he feels he needs to fight the numerous wildfires that have sprung up in the past 3 days all over drought-stricken Texas.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

“Three days after fires started to burn in Central Texas, Gov. Rick Perry today expressed frustration that federal firefighting support, including equipment from Fort Hood, has yet to make its way to the firefighters.”

That’s right, Tea Party favorite Rick Perry wants federal assets to come to his aid, and right quick. And in his opinion the fires need to be fought now and “I don’t care who owns the asset.” That’s funny. Not funny ha-ha, funny strange. Because it is completely obvious to anyone who is paying attention that Rick Perry totally cares about who owns the asset. American taxpayers do. We pay taxes, not enough of them, but we do, to buy, maintain and operate these assets. You can’t have it both ways. Perry can’t on the one hand whine about federal intrusion into state affairs, and then on the other whine when the feds are slow to act in intruding into state affairs.

And there’s something else I’m concerned about. Where in the US Constitution does it dictate that the federal government must spring to an individual state’s aid in times of natural disaster? Rick “Read the 10^th Amendment” Perry should well-know that “rhe powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

As far as I know, the US Constitution does not prohibit the States from fighting fires, so that power is reserved to the States. Were it not for the fact that the federal government goes out of its way to interfere and intrude on states that have suffered a natural disaster like fires, floods and earthquakes, this country would truly be a Libertarian Paradise where YOYO principles rule the day.

YOYO: You’re On Your Own.

So, yes, I am fed up, too. Fed up with Rick Perry.

36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union

This past June as Tea Partiers in state governments attacked Union rights this list of 36 reasons why you should thank a Union was published here. And today it is Labor Day and I think it is appropriate to repost the list. Appropriate because I just watched my President address a Union audience in Detroit, Michigan, where he repeated several of these very same points: It wasn’t corporate America that came up with the 40-hour work week, sick leave and pensions. It was the Labor Movement.

A movement that has been increasingly attacked by the uberright.  

36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union

1. Weekends
2. All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks
3. Paid Vacation
4. FMLA
5. Sick Leave
6. Social Security
7. Minimum Wage
8. Civil Rights Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination)
9. 8-Hour Work Day
10. Overtime Pay
11. Child Labor Laws
12. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
13. 40 Hour Work Week
14. Worker’s Compensation (Worker’s Comp)
15. Unemployment Insurance
16. Pensions
17. Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
18. Employer Health Care Insurance
19. Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
20. Wrongful Termination Laws
21. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
22. Whistleblower Protection Laws
23. Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee)
24. Veteran’s Employment and Training Services (VETS)
25. Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
26. Sexual Harassment Laws
27. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
28. Holiday Pay
29. Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
30. Privacy Rights
31. Pregnancy and Parental Leave
32. Military Leave
33. The Right to Strike
34. Public Education for Children
35. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work)
36. Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States

Perry Fiddles While Texas Burns

Now on the one hand, there is not a whole lot that a Texas governor can do when unusually hot dry winds whip and fires start and get fanned. A Texas governor can’t for instance, man a hose or drop fire retardant chemicals from the air.

He really has no personal expertise in directing a battle against a wall of flames burning everything in sight in Bastrop, Texas. Just about the only thing he can do is beseech the Lord God to send rain, something that hasn’t worked out very well in the past.

But when the fires started here in Texas this weekend, Rick Perry was busy trying to look presidential in South Carolina. He was on the stump in South Carolina while Bastrop burned to the ground. And yes, while there is not a whole lot that he can personally do, it doesn’t look well in the eyes of voters to ignore a natural disaster in your own state while trying out for a federal job in DC.

So Rick Perry is leaving the campaign for a bit. He even gave up an opportunity to participate in a candidate’s forum and give voters a preview of his speechifying on the same platform as Mitt Romney. And you know, it might just be my opinion, but I suspect that Perry is probably a little relieved that he doesn’t have to make that forum. He spent half of 2010 avoiding being in the same television studio with Bill White after all.

So this massive fire and property loss in Texas is working out all right for Rick Perry.

Paragraphs

This Wednesday we are going to watch the entire field of Republican presidential hopefuls come together in debate – well, minus Sarah Palin, who has done everything but announce her candidacy.

And the nation will take its measure of the present Texas governor, Rick Perry, the front runner if we are to believe the polls. I’ll be there, tuned in, expecting these people, representing a fractured party to claw each other into gory masses. Ronald Reagan’s 11^th commandment or not, the time has come to narrow the field. And I am hopeful that Rick Perry will come through the process with all flags flying.

And why is that? Mainly because of all the people in the Republican field, except perhaps Michele Bachmann, I’d like to see Rick Perry emerge as the standard bearer of the Republican Party. I’d like to see him in a national debate with my president, Barack Obama.

A national debate that demands that Perry not speak with short glib zingers, but in long sentences that adds up to a paragraph.

Cal Jillson, a political science prof at SMU, and a longtime observer of the Texas governor, has said it correct. Jillson claims that Perry has “an attractive demeanor if he can hold the swagger in check a little bit. In this debate coming up, he'll do well because he's at his best in brief, bumper-sticker, red-meat answers”

And these kinds of things appeal to unschooled Texans. But the country as a whole has different expectations of national leaders. So if Perry makes it past the summer convention and becomes the Republican nominee the country will be able to compare the President to the pretender. As Jillson has said, “there will come a day when he has to talk in paragraphs. And that's when people will take his measure.”

Selling Out Our Lungs

Here’s the thing. When President Obama decided to relax the stringent air pollution standards, he didn’t do that because he thought the Republican congress wouldn’t support the standards with their votes. The Republican congress has no say in what the EPA can and cannot do. The EPA is in the Executive Branch.

No, this is all on the President.

And Republicans are doing handstands. They love that my president just sold out my lungs, your lungs and our children’s lungs to corporate polluters.

And Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee loves it too for some reason.

Here’s the thing. Nothing will come of this. Republicans will not produce a quid pro quo just because President Obama totally caved to corporate America. They’ll simply want more.

Now I admit, I have no insight into the President’s brain. I have no idea why he did what he did. I have questioned his actions before and then saw the wisdom of them further down the road. But at the present time I cannot see any good to come out of this. Having clean, unpolluted air is a right just as much as a right of free speech, or a right to bear arms (if you participate in a militia, that is). Just because the founding fathers did not know about industrial air pollution, that doesn’t make a right to breathe clean air unconstitutional.

Thank You, Bush and Cheney, for Getting Us Into This Mess

Hats off to Eugene Robinson today for writing this piece in the Washington Post where he points out the obvious: Bush and Cheney are two guys who got us into this mess, and now that they are both talking, Americans have an opportunity to place blame at the feet of the people, and the party, that has sent our country to heck in a hand basket.

He wrote this:

“It was the Bush administration, you will recall, that sent the national debt into the stratosphere and choked off federal revenue to the point of asphyxiation. Bush and Cheney decided to fight two wars without even accounting — let alone paying — for them. Rather than raise taxes to cover the cost of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush opted to maintain unreasonable and unnecessary tax cuts.”

“So far, the wars and the tax cuts have cost the Treasury between $4 trillion and $5 trillion. If Bush had just left income tax rates alone, nobody except Ron Paul would be talking about the debt.”

There’s more and you should go there and read every word.

Why Rescheduling Obama’s Jobs Speech Was a Good Idea

Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post makes a very good point in his blog post today on why it was actually a good thing to reschedule the Presidents speech on jobs before the House and Senate next week. His first point is the best one.

From the Washington Post:

“If Obama had doubled down on the Sept. 7 date, the coverage leading up to the speech would have focused heavily — if not exclusively — on the process (why the White House had done it, etc.) of the speech rather than the policy of it. Process battles, while beloved by reporters, are rarely a good thing for politicians and policy-makers.”

Heck yes. The message of promoting the creation of jobs would have been drowned out by the rightwing press who would have beaten their drums loudly. It would have been much worse than the present gloating that they seem to be affecting over how the Republicans made the President of the United States move his speech.

And I have one more reason why I am glad that he moved his speech to Thursday. I want to watch the Republican debate. I want to see Rick Perry on the stage trying to look presidential, but coming off like a country bumpkin. He wouldn’t debate Bill White in 2010 simply because both he and his handlers knew that to do so would only serve to increase Bill White’s numbers.

So yeah, given the choice between seeing my president speak before Congress, and seeing Rick Perry implode on national TV, well, it really is a no-brainer.

Sonogram Law Gets a Stay

Federal District Judge Sam Sparks, who first appeared on my radar when he famously told former Congressman Tom DeLay to “run like a rabbit” in his bid to exit his 2006 election after having won in his party’s primary, has ruled that the recently passed sonogram law is unconstitutional.

It violates the 1^st Amendment.

It seems that not only is it unconstitutional for someone’s speech be regulated by what a government entity thinks is inappropriate or wrong, it is also unconstitutional for a government entity to force an individual to say something, particularly if they are in opposition to what they are saying.

Cuts both ways.

The irony is that the sonogram law, a law that is invasive and intrusive on so many levels, was ruled unconstitutional not because it invaded a woman’s personal privacy as well as her corporeal body, but because it invaded a doctor’s right not to say what the state of Texas demanded them to say, or face a fine and loss of license.

And a woman’s right not to have to listen to what the doctor was saying.

Oh, and by the way, Presidential candidate Rick Perry, who ordered that the sonogram law be expedited by the legislature as an emergency issue, and State Senator Dan Patrick, who wrote this heinous, invasive, intrusive law that is guilty, guilty, guilty of Republican/Tea Party overreach, serenely predicted that the decision will be overturned when Attorney General Greg Abbott appeals the ruling.

Showmanship. All showmanship.

This law is as dead as Marley’s ghost.

Ron Paul Claims Survivors of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane “survived without FEMA”

Take a look at this short video of Congressman Ron Paul, ever the FEMA basher, having a senior moment in his recollection of the aftermath of the hurricane that struck Galveston in 1900, killing thousands.

Get that? Galvestonians “survived without FEMA.”

Now you have to understand that Congressman Paul is a Libertarian so he lets his political views (acquired as an adolescent, no doubt) get in the way of things like, well, like facts.

Like it is an absolute fact that in the aftermath of the 1900 hurricane, 85 Galvestonians lost their lives trying to evacuate the city on a train when the storm surge covered it, killing all on board.

Like it is an absolute fact that because all contact was cut off to the mainland after the hurricane passed, help was delayed because no one knew that the entire city of Galveston was destroyed.

Like it is an absolute fact that thousands of people died buried under debris, even as rescuers were working to free them.

Like it is an absolute fact that the dead were weighted down and buried at sea, only to have the waves wash human corpses back onto the beaches.

Like it is an absolute fact that in the aftermath of the hurricane, 30,000 Galvestonians had nowhere to live.

Like it is an absolute fact that, in the end, relief finally did come to Galveston. Federal relief. Yes, the US Army arrived and put up white tents for the homeless. It was called the “White City on the Beach.”

Like it is an absolute fact that before the hurricane, Galveston outshone Houston as the premier city in the region, the “Ellis Island of the West” and the “Wall Street of the Southwest.” After the storm, Galveston never recovered to its once former greatness.

So nice job, Dr. Paul. You got it absolutely wrong. 100%.

Lesson? If you want a pregnancy test, go see Dr. Paul, but never take a history lesson from a Libertarian Ob/Gyn.

Rick Perry On War

For the first time since he made his announcement that he was running for President, Rick Perry has gone on record vis-à-vis his thoughts on going to war. He had to, I think, because the speech where his thoughts were revealed was delivered to the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Conveniently, they are meeting in San Antonio this year.

So I had to read his prepared remarks, which can be found here at his official governor’s website, and find out where he stands on going to war. And I got the surprise of my life. The surprise was that every one of his points were made by a previous candidate for President of the United States: Barack Obama.

• We should only risk shedding American blood and spending American treasure when our vital interests are threatened.
• And we should always look to build coalitions among the nations to protect the mutual interests of freedom-loving people.
• It is not in our interests to go it alone. We respect our allies, and must always seek to engage them in military missions.
• At the same time, we must be willing to act when it is time to act.
• We cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multi-lateral debating societies.
• And when our interests are threatened, American soldiers should be led by American commanders.

Every one of these statements was uttered, in different words, by candidate Obama.

Making me wonder just who Rick Perry is going to run against should he get the nomination next summer. All of his points are direct shots against his gubernatorial predecessor, George W. Bush. Every one of them. Making me wonder if because he is a neophyte when it comes to foreign policy he has conceded all foreign policy points to Democrats.

If he has, then that’s just fine with me.