Politicians

@Governor Perry, @Freedom2Care: Abortion Ideology Trumps Aid for Victims of Human Trafficking

Regarding Governor Perry’s comments about the Obama Administration’s  war on religion:

A grueling December 1 hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee revealed the disturbing answers to these questions, in the process infuriating Republican committee members and others concerned with aiding victims of human trafficking.

By the end of an over three-hour long grilling of U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials, one message had become clear about the Obama administration’s criteria for receiving the $4.5 million in federal grants for trafficking victims services:

Pro-life groups need not apply.

via Freedom2Care: Abortion Ideology Trumps Aid for Victims of Human Trafficking.

The regulations were written to prevent any pro-life group from receiving grant money:

The funding opportunity announcement for the “competitive” grant stipulated:

Translation: Participate in abortion or forget the grant.

Rick Perry Ad on “Faith” @TeamRickPerry

Rick Perry, “Faith”   My Texas Governor Rick Perry is not ashamed of his faith.

In call with Iowans, ‘Sheriff Joe’ endorses Perry for border security, opposition to illegal immigration | Iowa Caucus 2012

CEDAR RAPIDS — America needs to have a conversation about how to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants living in this country, but “it will not be amnesty in any form or fashion,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry promised Iowans Nov. 29.

The border state governor’s hard line on illegal immigration won him the endorsement of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has built a reputation for rounding up thousands of undocumented visitors to Arizona for deportation.

Arpaio, who is referred to as “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” called Perry “the only governor that really knows about the border.” He praised Perry’s commitment of $400 million in resources including deploying Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety and National Guard troops along the Texas-Mexico border to stop trafficking in people, drugs and weapons.

Perry, who asked for Iowans’ support in the Jan. 3 first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses, said he is the “only candidate with a record of addressing border security.”

Arpaio went further, calling Perry “the only one running for president who knows where Mexico is.”

Arpaio, who campaigned with Perry in New Hampshire Tuesday, made his comments in a conference call with what the campaign said were 15,000 “likely Iowa caucusgoers,” both Republicans and independents.

via In call with Iowans, ‘Sheriff Joe’ endorses Perry for border security, opposition to illegal immigration | Iowa Caucus 2012.

Perry on Cavuto November 18, 2011

Rick Perry on Neil Cavuto, November 18, 2011   Perry on Cavuto

Perry’s Energy Plan | JunkScience.com

Since everyone is talking about that third Agency that Governor Perry forgot in last week’s debate, I decided to post this note from “Junk Science” from last month.

Rick Perry has performed terribly in the presidential debates… no argument… but unlike, say Mitt Romney, the energy plan he released today aims directly at the runaway Obama EPA.

Perry’s four main goals are:

Expand energy exploration offshore and on federal and private lands across the country by executive order, creating over 1.2 million jobs

Eliminate current and proposed activist EPA regulations from the Obama administration, saving 2.4 million jobs by 2020 and lowering projected costs by $127 billion

Reduce, rebuild, and refocus the EPA federal regulators, returning authority to the states

Level the playing field for all energy producers, removing Obama’s practice of picking winners and losers and ending the Obama war on coal and natural gas production

via Perry’s Energy Plan | JunkScience.com.

Uproot and Overhaul Washington @TeamRickPerry for President 2012

From the Rick Perry for President 2012 website the plan to cut spending in the Federal Government::

 

 

 

 

“The federal government spends more than $6.5 million every minute on average. It takes the government less than half a second to spend an amount equal to the median household income in the U.S.3 And if you were to set $3.5 trillion worth of dollar bills next to each other – the size of the federal budget last year – they would span nearly 330 million miles, longer than the distance from Earth to Mars and back again.4 Stacked on top of each other, the dollar bills representing the towering $3.5 trillion federal budget would nearly reach all the way to the moon.

“Some have offered limited laundry lists of potential reductions in federal spending to address the nation’s fiscal mess – this approach suggests that any items not found in the laundry list are therefore pure and should be ignored and left alone. Instead of offering up token spending cuts, the next president should be direct and open with the American people and let them know that when it comes to federal spending, every single penny will be examined and all options are on the table. We believe that wasteful spending can undoubtedly be identified in every single program and every single agency, and should be rooted out and eliminated the second it is found regardless of whether it has a special-interest benefactor or constituency. Instead of increasing funding or demanding the federal government do more, we must have the federal government do less with less.

via Rick Perry for President 2012 | Uproot and Overhaul Washington.

Sexual Harassment is About Power, Not Sex

L.L. Lewis has written about her experience as a 17 year old college freshman, My surreal experience reporting staff sexual molestation to my college administration,” published in today’s American Thinker website.

“How many will blame this woman for writing her story now and claim that she’s exploiting Herman Cain’s “troubles” or the Penn State sexual molestation cases? She’s just asking for it, right?

Ms. Lewis did the right thing, even as a 17 year old, and was treated as though she was the perpetrator, not the victim. “Blame the victim” is common in sexual harassment and that is one reason why the perpetrators get by with it.

What’s often overlooked when we discuss sexual harassment is that the abuse is not due to sexual needs or attraction.  At its base is the power and control that the abuser believes he has. He does it because he can, because he’s smarter than the rest of us, and – because of the sexual element introduced by his actions – he can get his thrills (even without actual sexual acts) and she will be intimidated, limited and/or humiliated  – even more than she already is – if she objects.

The abusers are usually in positions of some power, but not always. They like to take advantage of hourly wage earners and students, but even professional women are not immune. The common thread is that there is some element of “deniability.” — because who would believe them? “He said/she said” is a powerful accusation as well as a comment on the circumstances.

Like this doctor: it’s just part of his job, he was just being friendly and helpful, making a joke, or it was just a compliment, etc. She misinterpreted, needs a sense of humor, or is fantasizing or is just plain ol’ crazy. And  – wait for it – she hates men or is prejudiced for some reason against the man.

There is also an underlying theme among those who should react and protect that “There but for the Grace of God go I,”  and the very real liability that lawsuits could bring. That’s why the Dean of Students in this story made such a point about the doctor being a good husband and family man: part defense, part inoculation against similar accusations.  Who among us has not had some moment when we were tempted or inadvertently found ourselves in a near-compromising position? And everyone has heard the stories about the litigious, gold-digger, the temptress who becomes the scorned woman and exploits laws against sexual harassment for money, advancement or out of meanness.

One of the best things my parents did was to teach me to speak up for myself and to protect myself. I remember Daddy teaching us girls “where to kick” when we probably were too short to kick “there.”  We certainly didn’t have any idea *why.*

I’m not saying that every act of sexual harassment is really threatening or requires a response. I would be willing to bet that every woman and most men remember some episode when they knew that they were made uncomfortable because of their gender, whether in a sexual way or professionally. Most of us let it slide, ignored it and learned to deal with it. I’m proud of similar times in my life. But my cheeks still burn at the memory of others and a couple are just confusing. I am also proud of times when I stood up to harassers and of the couple of times when I defended others.

There are certainly times – as with Mr. Cain’s troubles – when we must judge who is the victim and when “He said/She said” is all we have to go on. My wish is that we who call ourselves Conservatives will attempt to lay aside our own prejudices and emotions to defend the true victims.

Thomas Sowell Interview on Human Events (video) @TeamRickPerry

Landmark interview with a brilliant man who possesses a brilliant mind.

Watch the whole thing,  for a look back at this incredible man’s history and experiences. Beginning with an interview in 1981 with William Buckley, and moving on into the 2011 political climate. Dr. Sowell discusses his own evolution from Marxism to Conservativism.  Segment 5 includes comments on President Obama and the current Republican Presidential rate.

Peter Robinson of Uncommon Knowledge shows us his own brilliance by his questions and demeanor.

Courage: Perry in media Spin Room after debate

The Governor shows how a man acts with courage:

@governorperry @teamrickperry

The Land of OZ (Cain explains Opportunity Zones)

Whatever happened to the Conservative idea of “Equal Opportunity for all? For that matter, what about free market principles and the idea that no one is “to big to fail?”

Are Conservatives comfortable with the promotion of special interest groups by our candidates, with distinctions made on the basis of race and ethnicity? How Conservative is it to propose a complicated new tax scheme based on rewarding failure and corruption?

In a bloggers’ forum sponsored by TexasGOPVote.com, Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain answered questions last night after the debate in Houston.

Mr. Cain was explaining his “Opportunity Zones,” which would help the “poorest Black Americans” and the “poorest Hispanics” (no other demographics were mentioned) when I heard myself blurt out, “How is that different from a bailout?”

Mr. Cain scowled and said Opportunity Zones are not a bailout because no money would be sent to the cities: the businesses and the people would get tax breaks and incentives, instead.

Okay, we wouldn’t send checks to the cities in Mr. Cain’s scheme. But those of us who pay 9-9-9 would subsidize the beneficiaries of the 3-3-3 and 9-0-9 tax categories. In the case of the cities, we would be rewarding them very same people who have destroyed those inner cities with their corruption. How soon would the “Chicago Way” corrupt OZ?

Empowerment Opportunity Zones
for Corrupt Inner Cities

PERRY: When I am president …(Cut spending and regulations!)

From Governor Rick Perry, in an op-ed in today’s Washington Times:

“First, I will issue an executive order prohibiting the Department of Health and Human Services from any further implementation of Obamacare until we can fully repeal this unconstitutional government mandate, which, if it stands, will diminish our health care and kill jobs.

“Second, I will order federal agencies to begin opening American energy fields for exploration and development, which will kick-start economic growth, reduce our dependence on energy from hostile foreign sources and eventually create 1.2 million jobs across every sector of the economy. I also will work with Congress to ensure that new revenue generated from energy production on federal lands is used to pay down the national debt.

“Third, I will impose an immediate moratorium on all pending federal regulations, during which government agencies must audit every measure passed since 2008 to determine its necessity and impact on job creation. Those measures that kill jobs will be repealed.

“And fourth, I will deploy thousands of National Guard personnel to secure our southern border until we can provide the permanent increase in manpower, technology and fencing needed to protect the American homeland in the long run. If I am elected, Washington will no longer abdicate its constitutional responsibility to secure the border or force states to fend for themselves.

“In addition to exercising executive authority during the first 100 days of my presidency, I also will lay out a sweeping legislative agenda that will fundamentally change the way Washington works.

Read more . . . PERRY: When I am president … – Washington Times.

New Perry Ad – Spectacular!

Hat tip to Hot Air’s Ed Morrisey!

Texas is the perfect example of “supply side” finance and the result of limited interference on the part of government with business. All of this while standing on the front lines of the border and of border control.

Rick Perry’s Fix: 20% Flat Tax, Cap Spending at 18% of GDP – ABC News

“The plan starts with giving Americans a choice between a new, flat tax rate of 20 percent or their current income tax rate,” Perry writes. “The new flat tax preserves mortgage interest, charitable and state and local tax exemptions for families earning less than $500,000 annually, and it increases the standard deduction to $12,500 for individuals and dependents.”

The plan also drops the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and will temporarily lower the rate to 5.25 percent to promote companies working overseas to move to the U.S. along with implementing a “territorial tax system,” which will tax in-country income.

The plan will eliminate the death tax and end taxes on Social Security, which would help an estimated 17 million Americans receiving benefits today. It would also cut taxes on qualified dividends and long-term capital gains.

Perry sets a goal to balance the budget by 2020 by capping federal spending at 18 percent of GDP, banning earmarks and future bailouts and passing a balanced budget amendment.

Until the budget is balanced, Perry’s plan would freeze federal civilian hiring and spending, and place a moratorium on all pending federal regulations, along with auditing any regulations, instituted since 2008.

Perry promises the repeal of President Obama’s health care plan, Dodd-Frank and Sarbonnes Oxley.

On entitlement reform, Perry says his plan will stop the “raiding” of the Social Security Trust Fund and allow younger generations to set up personal retirement accounts.

via Rick Perry’s Fix: 20% Flat Tax, Cap Spending at 18% of GDP – ABC News.

Rick Perry: My Tax and Spending Reform Plan – WSJ.com

On Tuesday I will announce my “Cut, Balance and Grow” plan to scrap the current tax code, lower and simplify tax rates, cut spending and balance the federal budget, reform entitlements, and grow jobs and economic opportunity.

The plan starts with giving Americans a choice between a new, flat tax rate of 20% or their current income tax rate. The new flat tax preserves mortgage interest, charitable and state and local tax exemptions for families earning less than $500,000 annually, and it increases the standard deduction to $12,500 for individuals and dependents.

via Rick Perry: My Tax and Spending Reform Plan – WSJ.com.

Perry’s Flat Tax vs. Cain’s ?-?-? Tax: Which has less risk?

The Republican candidates for President have all promised to simplify the tax  code and make it more fair. Governor Rick Perry’s plan for a Flat tax will be revealed tomorrow (October 25) and it’s already being compared to Herman Cain’s “999” tax plan.

From what I’ve read about Governor Rick Perry’s flat tax plan (see the Wall Street Journal article, here, and Fox News article, here), the bureaucracies would be much simpler – that’s one reason they call it “flat:” a single tax bracket with a standard deduction per person would require very little in the way of new procedures at the IRS. If anything, it would decrease the personnel needed and there would be less need for “interpretation” of the tax code.

We certainly wouldn’t need more tax regulations, IRS employees or arbitrary decision making within the Treasury Department under Perry’s plan. The tax payers would have the option of using the old code or the new, flat bracket with a deduction off the top for each person in the family.

Currently, there’s a provision for a Newspeak-named “alternative minimum tax.” After a certain income level, people have to figure their taxes two ways, with and without certain deductions. They pay the greater amount.

There aren’t separate bureaucracies for those who pay the current regular tax and for those who pay the “alternative minimum tax.” The same crowd audits both.

On the other hand, Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan has already been tweaked, to make it more “fair.”

Mr. Cain says he has changed the 9% income tax (the middle “9” in that scheme) to the 9-0-9 with 0% income taxes for those that Washington deem “impoverished” and the brand new “empowerment zones” for favored cities and communities. In addition, the sales tax would require larger, newer bureaucracies, since there are currently no rules or regulations for monitoring or collecting a National sales tax, identifying who is paying it or who is not. That bureaucracy would have to be developed, along with reams of regulations made up from whole cloth.

In addition, the biggest flaw in Mr. Cain’s 9-?-9 tax plan in my opinion is that the very areas that are Democrat-controlled and and rife with corruption would be the places that Cain proposes to put “empowerment zones.” These “zones” nor the regulations to define or run them do not exist. How long ’till the corruption sets in? Who gets paid to develop more empowering empowering zones that favor the current powers that be? Who gets paid to look the other way when some are “empowered” more than others?

Edited for grammar – BBN 10/25/11, 4 AM

“If Only There Were A Vaccine for Hysteria” Redux*

World Net Daily sometimes goes off the path, but this time, they are posting emotional noise in the article, “’My headache’s about to explode’: U.S. girls just dropping dead.”  Author Joe Kovacs even goes so far as to support the claim by the organization, Judicial Watch, that the vaccine against Human Papilloma Virus, Gardasil, is harmful by citing a case of “meningococcal disease,” caused by the bacteria, Neisseria meningitides.

The article or the claims have no basis in fact. There was one case of anaphylactic shock, but no other deaths due to the vaccine. There has been no pattern of serious adverse effects and the major problems have been sore arms and fainting which looks like a seizure to those who haven’t seen it before. (I’m a Family Physician who has had fathers faint in my office and the hospital while watching procedures or shots. Mothers tend to sit when I ask them to, so they’re less likely to faint.)

Gardasil is not derived from the actual HPV virus. It is made the same way that insulin is made for patient injection for diabetes: bacteria is tricked into producing proteins that “look” like bits of the virus, but are never in any way active as an infectious agent.

The article notes that there have been over 35 Million doses of Gardasil given in the United States. We have 10 years of experience. Back in 2006, before Governor Rick Perry made news my adding Gardasil to the list of mandatory vaccines for school children, we already had five years of history and reviews of the vaccine. We have all sorts of studies and surveillance going on currently. Take a look at the world-wide surveillance.

Everything that has an effect is likely to have a side effect. However, this article and the hullabaloo over Gardasil is hysteria. There are mechanisms that allow us to predict bodily reactions and enable us to practice medicine: we know how the body is likely to react to disease, a new exposure or stress, or to medications. There is no mechanism for the “my head is going to explode” symptom.

We do know enough to be able to say what does not have a basis in science. Science and medicine are getting *better* at predicting outcomes, not worse. Read up on “biological plausibility.”

In the comments, people are saying that the CDC and FDA are part of big conspiracy, that people shouldn’t trust their doctors. The reason that there are more recommended vaccines is because we are doing research to find more vaccines to prevent diseases, not because some horrible conspiracy is growing.

* We don’t have a vaccine for hysteria, although Michael Fumento called for one back in 1999, in his op-ed on a similar hullabaloo surrounding the anthrax vaccine.

Rick Perry Needs a Miracle – Businessweek

“Here is what you need to impress upon your readers,” Rick Perry said, putting down his barbecue to jab a finger at me.

You know what? I don’t think Joshua Green, the author of this Business Week profile, likes Governor Perry. Maybe he’s got a lawyer in the family.

Perry has also taken advantage of the steady erosion of the Texas Democratic Party to protect business. In 2002, after Republicans captured the statehouse, he steamrolled the trial bar, a pillar of the Democratic Party  throughout the South, capping lawsuit damage awards. This year he added a “loser pays” provision on lawsuits.

By now much of his power in Texas derives simply from his having been around for so long. Nearly every agency and commission, the state supreme court, and the university boards of regents are stocked with his loyalists, and he’s built up a network of rich donors.

via Rick Perry Needs a Miracle – Businessweek.

While it’s false that, as stated in this article, Perry hasn’t had much opposition from within the state, it’s true that he has been in office a while, and has appointed and reappointed every position that comes under the Executive Branch. However, he has earned the support that he has, as shown by BW’s own graphics.

Who’s surprised that the successful businesses support Governor Perry or vice versa?

Our state revenues and GDP are up, our debt and spending is decreasing per the US Debt clock.  All without an income tax. Our population is growing from both US and foreign sources and our jobs grow both from within the State and from a little bit of raiding other states. 

Texas has the top two high schools in the nation per the Washington Post   and 6 schools in the top 15. Our students do quite well and our minority students do better than those of other states, according to this RAND report.

Texas Debt AND Spending Decreasing

I’m not sure how this works, but the Texas page of the “US Debt Clock”  website says that Texas’ Debt per Capita is down nearly a hundred dollars in the last two months. ( The number was $8345 on August 16th.)

The Spending and Debt clocks are BOTH going backwards!

(edit: fixed a math problem BBN)