Note: he’s also stoking fears based on utter b.s. and a complete lack of a sense of proportion.
The numbers of apprehensions of individuals from these countries is also incredibly low compared to the primary sources of illegal immigrants. In 2012, DHS apprehended nearly 450,000 Mexicans, 55,000 Guatemalans and 50,000 Hondurans. In contrast, officials apprehended 95 Afghanis, 458 Pakistanis and 56 Syrians.
Just over an hour after Texas legislators concluded their second special session — an extra lawmaking session they used to enact sweeping abortion restrictions — Gov. Rick Perry (R) called them back for a third one. An outstanding highway funding bill is the only item on the agenda. “When it comes to transportation, the stakes facing our state could not be higher,” the governor noted in a statement.
Perry cited that same transportation measure as one of the reasons he believed it was necessary to call the first special legislative session at the beginning of June. But instead of focusing on getting that done, the governor demonstrated a different set of priorities — adding a slew of anti-abortion provisions that were unable to advance during the state’s regular session to the docket.
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas Governor Rick Perry said on Monday his state will not implement a Medicaid expansion or health insurance exchange, two provisions of the federal healthcare law upheld last month by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I will not be party to socializing healthcare and bankrupting my state in direct contradiction to our Constitution and our founding principles of limited government,” Perry said in a statement.
“I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the Obamacare power grab. Neither a ‘state’ exchange nor the expansion of Medicaid under this program would result in better ‘patient protection’ or in more ‘affordable care,'” Perry said. “They would only make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care.
So if any of my fellow Texans were excited to finally be able to get insurance…Perry just fucked you in the ass. He was concerned Texas might lose its status as the state with the highest percentage of uninsured children. What an incredible douche.
Or in other words…a Republican.
Perry continues to display his own brand of “wisdom” that made him such a wonderful candidate for President.
AUSTIN — Rick Perry’s dismal showing in the presidential contest has plunged his approval among Texans to its lowest level in a decade, and more than half say in a new poll that he should not seek re-election as governor.
The poll by The Dallas Morning News shows that Perry now has a lower job approval rating in his home state than President Barack Obama, despite the GOP’s domination in Texas. Many also say that Perry damaged Texas’ image with his stumbles as a presidential candidate.
GREENVILLE, S.C., Nov 10 (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry vowed to press on with his campaign on Thursday, a day after a major debate stumble and turned to humor to try to answer doubts about his 2012 bid.
“One error is not going to make or break a campaign,” he said on the CBS “Early Show.”
Perry, already facing an uphill struggle to make a comeback, made a difficult situation worse on Wednesday by forgetting one of the three government agencies that he has repeatedly said he would eliminate if elected president.
The thing is…this isn’t his only mistake, only the latest and most ridiculous.
One woman who did not appear to be affiliated with the protesters ushered her son up to the governor and prompted him with questions for Perry like “do you believe in evolution?”
“It’s a theory that’s out there,” Perry told the child. “It’s got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both Creationism and evolution.”
The mother then told her young son:
“Ask him why he doesn’t believe in science,” as Perry continued into the cafe.
Trump also defended Perry’s suggestion Monday that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing a “treasonous” act if he pumped more money into the economy. “It was a meaningless phrase, it was just rhetorical. He’s very emotional about how the country is doing,”
Trump said of Perry, pushing back on President George W. Bush’s former political director Karl Rove and other Republicans who have criticized Perry’s comment. “Karl Rove is an empty hat,” Trump said. “We ended up with Obama because of Karl Rove and George W. Bush.”
My apologies for even mentioning this asshat, but the whole “treasonous” thing is not meaningless*.
Calling the Fed Chairman a traitor for “printing money” is dumb on so many levels I can’t evem….words fail….I’m going to have to find a PhotoShop.
Regardless, what Perry is doing is VERY SMART politics. That stock market rally/dump last week? The main reason is wasn’t completely one-sided was that Bernanke left the door open to QE3. It probably won’t happen, but it brought some calm to some very dangerous waters.
What Perry is doing is pre-emptively attacking any move by *anyone* that may do *anything* to improve our economy before 2012 as a partisan political move. “He’s only helping you find work so it’ll help Obama, that bastard!”
The Republicans are playing a dangerous game here. Running on a “failed recovery” for 14 months can get tiresome, especially when there is some improvement. Constantly saying “it’s been raining all summer” when it’s been over 100 degrees for 48 of the last 50 days eventually wear’s thin, one would think.
But as the Idiot Billionaire notes, by that time everyone will have forgotten that it was Bush’s policies, not his personality, that led to financial collapse. And if they sell it hard enough, Republicans might even convince enough folks that TARP, and the Stimulus, and the bailouts actually *caused* the worst financial crisis in living memory.
You’d be surprised what a catchy slogan and a billion dollars can do to shape a culture’s perception. Heck, it can even re-write history.
* check that Constitution you love so much, Rick, for that thing you like to do to people so much you don’t really care if they turn out to be innocent after all. There’s a specific penalty mentioned for that thing you just accused the Fed Chairman of. You hoping to pull the switch yourself? Or just hire a buddy to do it on taxpayer dime?
Funny note: From the linked article…
Dozens of studies have shown that witnesses’ memories of events often change when they are supplied with new contextual information. Itiel Dror, a cognitive psychologist who has done extensive research on eyewitness and expert testimony in criminal investigations, told me, “The mind is not a passive machine. Once you believe in something—once you expect something—it changes the way you perceive information and the way your memory recalls it.”
Reprising a line that Pawlenty had often used on the campaign trail, Bachmann noted that she is from Minnesota: “It’s not a conservative state; it’s more of a liberal state—”
“But a conservative district,” Crowley interrupted.
“It’s a swing district and it’s a district that elected Gov. Jesse Ventura, and so I’ve been able to attract a lot of people to vote for me who are Democrats and independents,” Bachmann said.
“That’s what we have to do. This won’t be just a conservative election, this is really going to be an economics election.
People will want to know who can turn the country around; that will be the big question.”
Here’s the thing, ‘Stop Obama’ might work, and people might see that as a coherent policy position, at Tea Party Rallies…but everyone else thinks you are quite crazy.
Take a loooong look in the mirror Republicans, this is the face of your party.
UPDATE: Here’s the results of the Iowa Straw Poll….
Bachmann took first place Saturday in the straw poll, with 28 percent of the nearly 17,000 votes cast. That was enough to beat close challenger Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who finished with 27 percent of the vote.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty finished a distant third at 13 percent, more than 2,500 votes behind Bachmann, leading him to drop out of the race. Bachmann wished Pawlenty well, saying he had been a “very good competitor.”
I’m pretty sure Rick Perry can outcrazy that. Let’s get it on!!!
HARLESTON, S.C. — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas announced Saturday that he was running for president, declaring it was “time to get America working again” as he sought to offer the Republican Party a candidate who appeals to both fiscal and social conservatives.
I’m totally cool with this, AS LONG AS HE RESIGNS AS MY GOVERNOR FIRST! I really don’t want to be governed by a guy that lost to Michelle Bachmann in any type of poll, straw or otherwise.
BTW, I would like to see a compare and contrast on the hair-styling prowess of Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Jon Huntsman. *That* is a tough one to call.
But plugging your ears and going “la la la la” doesn’t make global warming disappear. Perry’s state is getting absolutely hammered by heat and the worst one-year drought in its recorded history. The hot, dry weather in Texas is desiccatingrivers and lakes, devastating farmers and ranchers, and driving wildfires that have burned up millions of acres.
In the face of these crises –which are just what you’d expect in a climate-changed world –Perry proposes neither adaptation nor mitigation but rather supplication. He’s been praying for rain and calling on other Texans to do the same. So far no luck.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee just passed the “Choose Life” license plates bill by a 5-1 vote.
Dallas GOP Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, said he’d support an amendment that would create a license plate advocated by pro-choicers – who want the state to sell plates advocated both sides of the issue – if they can get the votes for it. But since the votes aren’t there for it, the bill will hit the Senate floor as is.
AUSTIN – A House panel is debating legislation that would require most voters to present a photo ID before casting a ballot.
The bill, being heard Tuesday in a special House committee, has already cleared the Senate and is on the fast track for approval in the Legislature. Democrats and civil rights groups say the legislation would erect new voting hurdles for minorities and the poor. Republicans say it’s needed to combat voter fraud.
You know how it is, separate rules, but “equal”. Should work just fine, like it did last time.
What other fine ideas are they throwing around in Austin? Let’s take a look..
As proposed, House Bill 2012 would create tough state punishments for those who “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly” hire an unauthorized immigrant. Violators could face up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
But it is an exception included in the bill that is drawing attention. Those who hire unauthorized immigrants would be in violation of the law — unless they are hiring a maid, a lawn caretaker or another houseworker.
That’s to make sure future gubernatorial candidates don’t have to pass jail on their way to the statehouse. See…it’s just fine to hire illegals, but only as servants. Can we brand them with little Mexcian-stars too? That will make them easier to round up when the next inevitable step is taken after de-humanization.
Other silliness?
Leo Berman [R] himself has filed a number of immigrant-related bills this legislative session. One would make English the official language of Texas, a move that would save millions in printing costs, he said. The law wouldn’t affect schools or ballots, he added.
Another bill would place an 8% surcharge on all money wired from Texas to Latin America. About $480 million could be collected from money sent to Mexico alone, the representative said. The proceeds would be earmarked for state hospitals.
This is pretty slick…get a bunch of cheap, underclass workers with no chance of assimilation, make it illegal to talk to them in their own language, and then rip them off when they try to wire the money home. Add in the extra 6.2% (well, 4.2% this year) that everyone with a fake social security number pays (they pay into the system, but never pull out), and you see why this quote came next…
Amid all of these tough proposals, why the large exception to Riddle’s bill on hiring unauthorized workers?
Riddle did not return repeated calls for comment. Her office said she would not comment on the bill because it could still be modified.
In a interview with the Texas Tribune, Riddle’s chief of staff, Jon English, explained that the exception was to avoid “stifling the economic engine” in Texas.
This, BTW, is an economic engine driven by cheap labor. The plan, as it stands, seems to be to try and set up a permanent underclass down around these parts. I’d guess it’s going to be a rather dismal failure, but then again, when has any government run by Republicans not been? (serious question…I’d love to see the record for *other* governments run by a single party of Republicans…like Texas is now…it led the U.S. into our worst economy in a century)
And as a final cherry in the you’ve-got-to-be-frickin-kidding-me news from Texas. Here’s out geographically challenged longest-serving governor ever…
During a sit down with reporters on Monday, the Texas governor incorrectly identified Juarez — located across the Rio Grande, and border, from El Paso — as “the most dangerous city in America.”
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
That’s some pretty good Bible, eh? It’s the next verse after the Byrds sing.
One of the big problems facing our country now is the internal division in the choice of directions to go. This causes a problem, as in times of crisis NOT ACTING is an act, and it is an act that can cause many more problems than acting (even if that act turns out to be foolish). And BTW, we are face more than just an economic crisis. That’s a big one, but there’s a few more coming along in the next little bit that we still need to deal with (social security and the retiring boomers, the global climate change that simply refuses to act like isn’t solid science, a global war on cave-dwellers wondering why they keep getting bombed (and the few people who run the show who know), and some others, that’s just off the of the head.)
So there’s a bunch of stuff, big stuff, going on. Quite frankly, it would take a “Messiah” to see us through this thing. I think we are pretty lucky to have the team at the top we do, but I have no illusions about super-powers in human beings. Obama is mortal, and will make mistakes. He already has, and has owned up to them. This is a useful trait for a leader, IMHO. Particularly one faced with as much, as quickly, as Barry.
So anyway, I voted for the guy, so I’m going with it. The problem with the opposition here is that there is no sense, yet, that we need to act, and soon. There is some soul-searching that is headed right back to the same place we spent 20 of the last 28 years. We are seeing more generally empty rhetoric about “fiscal conservatism” which, after 20 years of watching it, seems to be cutting taxes, and increasing spending. The only question is about which spending to increase.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. congressional Republicans, having vowed to return to the conservative ideals of limited government, denounced President Barack Obama’s $3.55 trillion budget on Thursday as excessive and misdirected.
—
“I have serious concerns with this budget, which demands hard-working American families and job creators turn over more of their hard-earned money to the government to pay for unprecedented spending increases,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
Umm, I’m sorry, but the only people getting a tax increase are the rich. And it’s not even a tax increase, it’s letting Bush’s tax cuts (the ones he made to pay for the war…wait…what?) lapse. Only in the rhetorical realm does a temporary decrease expiring equal “OMG, HE’S RAISING THE TAXES ON THE RICH?! Honey, do we clear a quarter million a year?” [From the other room comes laughter. Loud, continuous laughter].
“Hard-working” and “hard-earned” money, no doubt. However, I have yet to see anyone who makes that money simply by standing there and working hard. Most people who clear that kind of dough on a regular basis worked on Wall Street. Ya’ll remember them, right? Hard-working, no doubt…but working hard at what?
My building is currently being torn apart and rebuilt (long story, involving rotting wood and water), and there are 100 or so hard workers out there each day, firing up the powertools the second the clock strikes eight. They are earning hard money, and they get to keep every bit of it (many of whom quickly send it south, but that’s another story). Under the tax plan as I am aware of it, it is the workers on main street that get the help, and the folks with deep ties to Wall Street (either through direct action, banking work, or just having assloads of money to give to investment bankers) get to pay for it.
O.k., sorry, got off on a rant there about deregulating the credit industry and how we can try to fix the country. The whole derugulation kick used to be part of the “fiscal conservative” model, for some reason, but now it’s been dropped…I think.
Regardless, let’s continue with the reaction…
“I think we just ought to admit we’re broke. We can’t continue to pile debt on the backs of our kids and grandkids,” said House Republican Leader John Boehner.
I’m sorry, what? Where was this attitude when it was Repbulicans spending like mad on a war? And cutting taxes to pay for it? I mean, I hate to sound like a broken record here, but we’ve been running huge deficits for a while now, and it was the Republicans pushing it.
“The budget outline shows a half-hearted attempt to reduce the trillion-dollar deficits we face, largely through more tax hikes that will only hurt the economy, when it should take this opportunity to exercise aggressive spending restraint,” said Gregg, the top Republican on the Budget Committee.
Right! No money for Americans, but we’ll spend like drunken sailors on killing folks. Unfortunately, “aggressive spending restraint” isn’t what gets an economy moving. The economy is money moving around, people busy, buying, selling, shipping, making things happen. Not spending slows things down and sometimes they stop.
This is why I brought up the Byrds and the Economic Apocalypse. We really are that close, folks. We need to be working together here to get this thing re-started. Even the “fiscal conservative” Democrats realize that.
A group of 49 fiscally conservative House Democrats, whose commitment to deficit reduction has at times put some of them at odds with Obama’s economic program, hailed Obama’s budget for presenting what they called an honest fiscal picture.
“To begin to set our nation back on the right fiscal track, we must first understand and acknowledge how big of a hole we are in,” said Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, a leader of the Democratic “Blue Dog” Coalition.
And we’re in a damn, big, hole.
Reuters nails it on the head with this next statement.
Republicans have long touted themselves as champions of limited government, but surrendered that claim in approving a series of big-deficit budgets during the administration of Obama’s predecessor, Republican George W. Bush.
We got big government left, right, and center with Bush. And somehow that spending was o.k. One thing Obama is doing that Bush did not (and part of the reason the Wars are going to cost us so much) is putting the War Budget in the actual budget. Bush went through a special spending rigamarole that added another $150,000,000,000 or so a year on the ole company credit card. It’s a big part of our big hole.
The problem with military spending, and it is a problem, is that at the end of the day you end up burning that million dollar missile. Every loss of life is tragic and I don’t mean to downplay that side, at all, but we train the ever-living shit out of our soldiers. We have the best trained army in the world, no doubt, and each loss has a human side and an economic one. Sorry to be cold, and I’m trying not to be, but the cost of war is dramatic and not over when the guns stop shooting.
We’ve had a time for war, and now is a time for peace, and rebuilding. It’s a time for coming together. We can argue about it in a few years, if we are still talking, and have not become the Beasts of Ecclesiastes.
And just a quick primer, for those that don’t follow human nature…it’s a beast when things gets rough. If you can feel it at the top, trust me…they feel it at the bottom, multiplied be each economic ladder you move down. It’s kind of a primal thing actually.
Luckily, we can vote on things and don’t have to settle them in the schoolyard like they did in the old days. The votes, BTW, have already been cast. Trust me, my internet friends…those not on this wondrous network, have been feeling the pangs of the economic downturn since it first happened (generations ago), are about ready to burst. There’s a lot of them, and they have hope now that change is on the way.
Let’s keep it that way, and keep the beasts at the gate. Republicans shoud be like canyon water now, giving, fast, and learning. Going with the flow a bit, but always remembering that during a downpour, it doesn’t pay to be ice. The time for a change in course will come, but not next week, and not even next year.
There comes a time for everything, and given the economic and political situation, Obama is now a juggernaut. It’d be best to get out of the way for a bit. Rick Perry, I’m looking at you and your hair.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama singled out Texas on Friday as a state that could lose out under the newly enacted $797 billion economic stimulus package because Gov. Rick Perry hasn’t totally ruled out rejecting some funds.
That’s what they call a pimp slap on K Street. Obama wields the bully pulpit, and he actually knows where that term came from. Watch yo’self.
A’hem…
The huge stimulus bill includes a provision that allows legislatures to override governors and accept funding even if a governor objects.
“I haven’t spoken to the governor about it, but I hope that all Texans, regardless of politics, will make sure we maximize the use of federal funds available to the benefit of our taxpayers,” said Houston Mayor Bill White, a Democrat.
And that, boys and girls, is why the thing is 1,000 pages long. The long arm of the pimp slap, in legislative reality.
Robot Pirate Ninja 