Governor Rick Perry, when not making noises about seccession, has tried to gain attention as one of the southern redneck "rejectionists" who have paraded their refusal of federal stimulus payments.
Although this grandstanding was a political draw in Texas( half supported, half objected), Perry has made no secret of his ambition to follow another ignorant fundamentalist from the Texas Governor's Mansion to the White House.
One result of Rick Perry's opportunistic posturing was that unemployment benefits in Texas were not expanded and increased, as they were in the 47 states accepting the federal stimulus funds.
It must be comforting and consoling to the unemployed in Texas to know that the Lone Star State WILL spend federal stimulus dollars to restore the Governor's Mansion in Austin. (The mansion was in the process of a extensive renovation when fire destroyed much of the interior last year).
If Americans need any more reasons to reject the small-minded sloganeering of the rapidly-dimishing Republican Party, here it is.
Putting millions in the hands of people who will spend it on staples of the economy (food, housing, clothes) is much less improtant than awarding contracts to construction firms that can make political contributions.
You can always tell who is getting "stimulated" when Republicans are in charge.
Here is the story from a Dallas/Fort Worth station
Bailout Money To Help Fix Governor's Mansion
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Comments: 53
Now that's why I pay taxes .... NOT!
I could not hate the anti-stimulus godforsaken morons more if one of them was my own governor. Oh, wait, he IS -- Mark "Richie Rich" Sanford, who's never held a job in his life that his wealthy family wasn't attached to somehow. Remind you of any former hated Presidents?
(Sorry for the diversion. It's frustrating to have gotten rid of one fool-in-chief to be strangled by another.)
Having seen Rick Perry, I'm surprised he hasn't spent a million on hairstylists alone...
My representative is Ron Paul. My senator is John Cornyn. My governor is Rick Perry.
Pity me.
I have Mark Sanford, Lindsey Graham, and (spits twice) Jim DeMint. When Lindsay Graham is your state's best senator, you're just doomed.
p.s. Good to see you, Steph! Hope all is well.
It is hard to say whether Stephanie or Kris has the worst trio of clownish idiots "representing" them.
Even Oklahoma, which sent two mental midgets to the Senate, has a decent Governor.
All is well, Kris, and I'm a wretch for not coming back here more. I've been busing noveling, fixing my house from Ike damage, blogging and, you know, living. Gather has slipped by the wayside.
Have you noticed that all of the Republican governors who have rejected stimulus money have all specifically rejected the boost to unemployment compensation? Hmmm... Remind you of anybody?
The only difference is how much more likable Scrooge is than most of them. Not to mention brighter.
Not only that, Sanford is trying to force the state legislature into cutting another 4700 jobs in a state that already has the 2nd (or 3rd, depending on the source) highest unemployment in the country. In several parts of SC it's over 15% already.
Please... Gov Rick Perry chose NOT to take the unemployment stimulus money because there were, as always, strings attached that allowed the feds to take even more strides to restrict state rights. He did the right thing. Its like dealing with the devil. Texas could have used that money but the "deal" was a very poor one if they had of taken it. Sort of like the Karma credit plan... buy now - pay forever.
And dont think for a second that Perry was grandstanding. Texas is a unique group of people... we dont accept being oppressed. We fight for what we think is right. We stand up to those who try to cause us harm. Win or lose, we do not go down quietly.
~M
The Unemployment stimulus package required states to move toward uniform national standards on eligiblity and length of benefits.
It did not cost Texas anything - Perry objected to the fact that it was time-limited (three years) and he claimed it would establish a "precedent" for the years to come in which the Feds would not be footing the bill.
Perry is also one of the southern politicians who create a "business-friendly" environment by holding down wages and being cruel to workers.
More poverty, less education, no safety net are hallmarks of "the Texas way".
Newspapers in Dallas and Houston (I fly through Texas with some regularity), as recently as this Spring, were still proclaiming that Texas would 'weather" this economic downturn.
Proclamations like this are part of the same narcisistic, naive, blustering style that the rest of the nation associates with Texas.
holding down wages? Cruelty to workers? More poverty? hahahaha.
You are kidding right? Texas is surpassing California in GSP. We have more green wind energy than any other state. Education has been on the increase for the last 8 years. Texans live well...we actually have cars and roads and even freeways... Houston is one of the most diverse cities in America with top global performance in medical, technology, and obviously oil and gas.
Get your facts straight.
~M
The size iof California's economy dwarfs that of Texas. new York has the second largest economy, and it is only 60% the size of California's.
As for Texas schools, they are a laughingstock. Bush imported his education guru from Houston, just before they discovered that the schools in Houston and elsewhere were fraudulently tracking graduation rates.
Even now, Texas shows that the schools are not failing by using the one of the nation's lowest measures of school "success". average achievement scores in massachussets are more than 30% higher than they are in Texas - and the same is true for almost all the Blue States.
Texas has one of the highest poverty rates, (this is the cruelty to workers, the third highest number of teen-age pregnancies, almost double the divorce rate, highter levels of domestic violence -and much more crime than New York City.
Oh yeah, Houston has worse air than Los Angeles.
All the measures - poor schools, high pollution, low achievement, high poverty, are the result of deliberate Republican policies.
And who are you calling rednecks?
~M
I'm from South Carolina and I'm calling them rednecks too.
I would love to see Gov Perry run in 2012 against Barack Obama so that President Obama can have a second term.
Perry is ambitious, but it is hard to imagine that the nation is going to look seriously at another cocky fundamentalist from Texas.
Brian, I'd vote for him.
Well I for one like the fact that Texas unemployment in nothing compared to California, Michigan, New Jersersy etc etc. Hmm what do all of those states have in common? OH, Democratic leadership. DUH.
I do not want to pay into eternity for the bail out programs, When people get hungary enough maybe they will decide to work for less money at a menial job. Bunch of lazy cop outs. The problem is that they wont' work at jobs "beneath" them. This country was founded by people who scraped their fingers to the bones ecking out a living. My feeling is, if they won't work at something, go hungary jor move to the above mentioned states.
When they get hungary enough?
What if they'd rather get Romania enough?
Can't you read and write what I assume is your native language?
Also, I'm sure you aren't aware of this -- man, am I ever sure -- but California's governor is a Republican. And there's no such state as New Jersersy, at least not in everyone else's reality. Maybe it's in Hungary.
Kris, dont be mean. You have nothing to benefit from being rude to others about the way they speak.
If you can't communicate effectively, you can't expect to be taken seriously. Not to mention "dont (sic) be mean" is a little hard to buy from a guy who falls all over himself insulting Don a few comments away from here.
I'm flagging this for hate speech!!! Or something. What's the flag for making fun of people's countries' names?!
My only problem with Perry is that he's hasn't built the "wall" or called up the national guard to protect the souther border.
Where's the "souther" border? Is it far away from the norther border?
Okay, so I type in a hurry and have WORK to do so I didn't take the time to proof read. Send me to the guillotine'
Good old hate the brown man sticks up it's ugly head.
All repugnicon governors should be taken to the wood shed , something these redneck morons would understand.
DON... wow. I've missed your narcissistic comments!
Hate the brown man, huh? You are still an idiot. The Hispanic population is larger than any other race in Texas moron. Our problem is the lack of border protection from the Mexican cartels... you know, the ones with the anti-tank missiles and 50 cal sniper rifles.
As some say from time to time mikey FU.
The comment in question "My only problem with Perry is that he's hasn't built the "wall" or called up the national guard to protect the souther border."
Moron.
Will they hire illegals to do the work? Wouldn't suprise me.
Perry like his buddy Bush never have had the best interest of Texas. Perry like Bush will abandon Texas oncehe gets his ducks in a row on the road to the White House.
They're spending almost $10,000 per month for RENT for the governors home? And this is the man who was unwilling to increase the money for the unemployed of Texas. Well I know what I think of him now.
Just the way republicans think, me ,me,me and my rich donors, the rest of the country should work for us for $2.00 a day.
Now that is utopia for a repugniCON.
Coming from YOU...that means NOTHING. Let me jar your memory....
Obama forces every American to pay over 26K per person for the bailout.
Job losses are still increasing.
Factories, even after the bailouts, are still closing.
Democrats are blocking the movement for another bailout.
Democrats are blocking the closing of GITMO.
You all cant even get your party in line when you've got both houses AND the White House. LOL.
~M
I had no idea anyone was still clinging to that faulty math, months after it's been revealed as grievously flawed. But I probably shouldn't be surprised.
Actual truth and facts mean nothing to faux "news" sheeple Kris.
Mikey has never had an original thought in his sad sad life.
All fox all the time.
Don, you are judging Obama very early. Do you know the future?
I have to say Leo huh?
I am often ashamed of my home state and Governor Perry. The rich love him and keep him in office.
Maybe you should move if you dont like it here.
~M
Now that shows maturity mikey.
I say give texas back to Mexico, you know the country we STOLE it from in the first place:-)
Maybe we shouldn't wait for them to secede. Let's just kick them out and let them be the Province of Tejas, Mexico! 26K per person...my ass!
Great article, Peter. I assume the money for the Governor's Mansion does not have any of these nefarious string-thingies sticking to it.
The size of California's economy dwarfs that of Texas. New York has the second largest economy of the US, and it is only 60% the size of California's.
As for Texas schools, they are a laughingstock. Bush imported his education guru from Houston, just before they discovered that the schools in Houston and elsewhere were fraudulently tracking graduation rates.
Even now, Texas shows that the schools are not failing only by using the one of the nation's lowest measures of school "success". Average achievement scores in Massachussets are more than 30% higher than they are in Texas - and the same is true for almost all the Blue States.
Texas has one of the highest poverty rates, (this is the cruelty to workers), the third highest number of teen-age pregnancies (hello, abbstinence education), almost double the divorce rate of the northeast (all that defense of marriage), highter levels of domestic violence - and much more crime than New York City.
Oh yeah, Houston has dirtier air than Los Angeles.
All the measures - poor schools, high pollution, low achievement, high poverty, are the result of deliberate Republican policies.
Sad, in many senses of the word.
It is outrageous, in the fullest sense of the word.
The day will come when the under-counted blue voices in Texas will begin to be heard again.
It is less acceptable than it was in Texas, too, Mary Louise.
Perry is now taking heat for having to raise the unemployment tax on businesses because the state's unemployment compensation fund is depleted.