Rick Perry for President??????

Last night during my wanderings on the internet I came across an article touting former Texas Governor Rick Perry as the G.O.P.s best choice for a presidential candidate. My first reaction was ARE YOU F****** KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?! But after some quiet contemplation and reflection my thoughts were ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?


The gist of the article was that Perry should be president because he flew a C-130 tactical aircraft in Europe and the Middle East between 1972 and 1977, while briefly touting the "Texas economic miracle". While his military service is commendable, is that in and of it self qualification enough to hold the highest office in the land? I say no, and in fact there are many reasons Rick Perry should never ever be allowed anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania avenue. I will list a few of them here.


First and foremost in my mind was the wildfires that ravaged Texas in 2011. Prior to these wildfires the Republican dominated Texas legislature (at the urging of then Gov. Rick Perry) cut the volunteer fire department grant program from $23 million to $7 million. That is a 70% cut!And Gov. Perry signed off on that budget. Shortly thereafter wildfires began to ravage the state during a severe drought. Who could have seen that coming?!?!?


So after this blunder of epic proportions what did Gov. Perry do? Hold an emergency session to allocate the funds needed to fight these fires? Admit cutting the fire departments budget during a drought was a disaster? Oh no my friends that is what sensible people would do. So what did he do you ask? First he begged the Federal Government for emergency funds to fight these fires (even though at the time, Texas had a rainy day fund in the billions of dollars). These types always hate the Feds until they need them to bail them out from their own stupidity. Then Gov. Perry did something truly amazing. He called on everyone in the state to PRAY FOR RAIN!!!!!!! Seriously?!?!?! I can imagine "god's" response (if indeed there was a "god").
 Seriously Ricky?!?! I have allowed mankind and especially America to discover, develop and deploy some of the most advanced fire fighting techniques and equipment in all of recorded history. This is all readily available to you. And yet during the worst drought since the 1930's you cut the fire departments budget by 70%!!!!! Sorry little buddy but I have better things to do then continually pull your butt out of the fire (no pun intended) both metaphorically and in this case quite possibly literally. You are on your own this time.
                                                                                                        Good luck and me speed
                                                                                                             God
p.s. You and your party need to stop co-opting my name. Seriously.


This alone should disqualify little Ricky from ever even being considered for President of The United States, but wait there is more.....................................................


...... to be continued.






sources    here and here


article that inspired this article   here




The "Texas miracle" 


There has been much ado about the "Texas miracle" and how this makes Rick Perry uniquely qualified to POTUS. But as usual with republicans this "miracle" doesn't stand up upon closer inspection. Lets take a brief look shall we?
This miracle centers around the claim of job growth. From 2009-2011 37% of the new jobs created in the U.S. have been created in Texas. Pretty impressive right? On closer inspection, not so much. Most of these new jobs have been minimum wage jobs and in fact Texas has the highest percentage of minimum wage earners in the country. This has lead to over 16% of Texans living in poverty making Texas number 9 in most residents living in poverty (not a model to emulate). And a lot of these jobs created had nothing to do with any policy set forth by Perry or republicans in general. In fact a large percentage of the job growth is a natural extension of Texas' population growth during this time.
One of the reasons Perry touts for this growth is his states low business regulation environment. But a low regulation environment while a boon to business and the rich turns out to be very bad for everyday people. One example of this is the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas. Turns out that Texas has little to no zoning ordinances (allowing this plant to be located in a residential area near homes and a public school). Texas also has no state fire code and prohibits smaller counties from having such codes. Texas’ more than 1,300 chemical and industrial plants puts it at the top of the list for most high risk sites. By comparison Illinois (which has the second largest number of high risk sites at more than 950) but much tighter fire and safety codes, Texas had more than three times the number of accidents, four times the number of injuries and deaths, and 300 times the property damage costs.
But wait there are many more problems with Texas' low regulation environment. In addition to the hazards of a fertilizer plant being in a residential neighborhood Texas also has a very poor record on worker safety in general. Texas had the nation’s highest number of workplace fatalities — more than 400 annually — for much of the past decade.
I was going to insert some pithy comment here about the natural result of the low regulation ideology but I think this gentleman sums it up best. "The Wild West approach to protecting public health and safety is what you get when you give companies too much economic freedom and not enough responsibility and accountability," said Thomas O. McGarity, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and an expert on regulation.
Now I admit this just barely scratches the surface of the "Texas miracle" but, I believe this gives a good overview for debunking the "miracle". 
So readers ask yourself this. Is the "Texas miracle" really something we want to emulate nation wide? I know what my answer is.



sources   here, here and here