Breaking: Rick Perry Admits That He Is Indeed Dumb

By Gary P Jackson

On Tuesday I addressed Rick Perry's letter in support of Hillary Clinton's plan to "reform" health care in America. I noted this was just one in a series of poor judgements, and even poorer policy, that render Perry unfit to hold the highest office in the land.

What I didn't address what his campaign's weasel words on the subject, as quoted in the Daily Caller: [emphasis mine]

Asked by TheDC about the 1993 letter, Perry’s presidential campaign defended it, saying the full scope of Clinton’s healthcare plan was not yet known when Perry signed it.

"You need to read the letter," top Perry political strategist Dave Carney told The Daily Caller. "He praised her efforts in trying to tackle the issue and urged her not to overlook rural Americans. The letter was at the onset of her efforts before she proposed anything. No one could have imagined the horrible monstrosity she cooked up, in fact not to be outdone until ObamaCare years later."

"As Agriculture Commissioner he was concerned that rural Americans would be overlooked and their options even more limited," Carney continued. "Working with the administration regardless of party, working with members of the other party, as long as you don’t violate your principles, is important to getting things done."

I'm getting old, but my memory of the events is Conservatives not only "could have imagined the horrible monstrosity she cooked up" but did from the second it was announced Hillary had started!

The socialist wing of the democrat party spent almost the entire 20th Century attempting to engineer a government take over of America's health care system. I posted video of Ronald Reagan talking about this in my previous article. It's worth revisiting.

Like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton is a Saul Alinsky communist. Unlike Obama, she knew Alinsky personally, to the point he tried to hire her as a "community organizer." Hillary wrote an analysis of Alinsky’s methods for her senior thesis at Wellesley College. They remained friends until Alinsky’s death in 1972.

This is rather common knowledge. Since many, if not most democrat politicians, are followers of Alinsky, surely Rick Perry knew of Clinton's communist leanings.Perry was a member of the democrat party until 1989.

One of Alinsky's teachings is to drop the openly radical nonsense, like the terror bombings Obama's buddy Bill Ayers was into. Alinsky advised his pupils to take a bath, cut their hair, and put on a smart suit. The idea was to blend in with the establishment, and eventually BECOME the establishment. It was a good plan that worked out well, for the hard left. They are now part of the establishment.

Hillary was able to blend in and look respectable, but Conservatives saw her coming a mile away when she pounced on health care. It was a disaster for Bill Clinton, as even some democrats opposed the idea, and would be one of the reasons the democrats lost their 40 year control of the House.

But Rick Perry's campaign would have you believe "No one could have imagined the horrible monstrosity she cooked up"? It's more like everyone, but Rick Perry, could imagine it!

This is nothing more than a typical politician trying to spin a horrible decision. A fellow who has a history of supporting plans that Conservatives will never approve of. A candidate who is saying don't look at my record, just listen to my pretty words.

In the end, there are only two possibilities regarding the Clinton letter. Rick Perry really didn't have a clue, which makes him incredibly dumb [and naive] or he and his campaign are being a whole lot less than truthful.

Either way, this is not the sort we need leading this nation. We already have Barack Obama, who is both dumb and a liar.

Sarah Palin To New Hampshire On Labor Day

By Gary P Jackson

After what is expected to be a landmark speech in Iowa on Saturday, Sarah Palin will spend Monday, Labor Day, in the first primary in the nation state of New Hampshire. Sarah will headline a Tea Party Express event.

"We are always thrilled to have Sarah Palin join one of our rallies," Tea Party Express chairman Amy Kremer said in a statement released late Tuesday.

"She is an electrifying figure in conservative politics and a hero to the tea party movement."

Game on.

The Letter In Which Rick Perry Praises Hillary Clinton For Her Socialized Medicine Scheme Shows A Pattern

By Gary P Jackson

One of our readers sent this a couple of days, now I see Drudge has picked up on it, and Team Perry is scurrying to explain it all. This is more than a letter from one democrat to another, it shows a pattern that Perry can't escape.

From the letter:

I think your efforts in trying to reform the nation’s health care system are most commendable.

I would like to request that the task force give particular consideration to the needs of the nation’s farmers, ranchers, and agriculture workers, and other members of rural communities," Perry continued, noting his administration’s focus on economic development for rural Texans. "Rural populations have a high proportion of uninsured people, rising health care costs, and often experience lack of services.

Again, your efforts are worthy, Perry concluded, "and I hope you will remember this constituency as the task force progresses.

Perry ends his letter:

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance

Now in all fairness, Perry was a democrat back then. But despite reports to the contrary, democrats in Texas were and are just as whacked out as any other democrat. And supporting socialized medicine goes against the very fiber of the American soul.

To me, this shows a pattern for Perry, and no, I'm not just talking about the Gardasil fiasco, which was nanny statism and crony capitalism deluxe. Earlier we reported that in 2001, as the REPUBLICAN Governor of Texas, Perry backed a bi-national insurance scheme that would have included Mexico.

Let's not forget that as Charmain of the Republican Governor's Association, Perry teamed up with his democrat counterpart, Joe Manchin to write a series of letters begging Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to pass TARP. Bi-partisanship at it's "finest"!

Patterns ....

Perry talks a different story now, but I'd much rather look at the man's actual record as Governor of Texas. No smears, no BS.

The more you dig into Perry's actual record the more you realize that he isn't all that much of an upgrade from the current president. Yes, Perry would make a better president than Obama, but so would almost anyone, that's not a very high standard.

Again, Perry has talked big lately, but with the campaign disavowing much of that fiery rhetoric, it all becomes meaningless.

We all give Mitt Romney hell for creating the first socialized medicine program in America, giving the Obama regime the needed blueprint for a national version of the same thing, on steroids. And we are right in giving Romney hell. That said what Hilary Clinton had proposed, and Perry enthusiastically backed, was not much different. Given the fact Perry backed a plan that would have not only included Texas, but another COUNTRY, please tell me how Perry is much different than Romney?

There's a lot of things in Perry's record as Governor to give Americans great pause. There are better choices.

As a reminder, here's what the great Ronald Reagan had to say about socialized medicine. This applies to HillaryCare, RomneyCare, and ObamaCare.

Flashback: Sarah Palin: Alaska’s Promise for the Nation

By Gary P Jackson

One of my favorite things that shows up in my mailbox regularly is Imprimis from Hillsdale College. If you aren't a subscriber, you are missing some great commentary. It's free, so sign up here.

On August 2, 2008, before she was chosen as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Governor Sarah Palin gave a speech outlining Alaska's role in America's future. Specifically she's talking about energy independence, and national security. What strikes me most is Governor Palin's consistency. She was saying the same thing in 2008, before most Americans knew who she was, as she does today in 2011, when everyone knows who she is.

More importantly, she's just as correct today, as she was in 2008. Sarah is the only candidate who seems to understand the link between energy independence and national security. She's absolutely the only one talking about it. She's also the only one with actual executive experience in the energy sector. When she talks energy, she talks from first hand knowledge.

Sarah Palin actually has a solid plan for making America energy independent. A plan that will create millions of jobs, jump start our economy, and make us a lot safer and more secure.

From Imprimis online:

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on August 2, 2008, aboard the Regent Seven Seas Mariner in Juneau, Alaska, to Hillsdale College friends and supporters during the College’s "North to Alaska" cruise from Seward to Vancouver.

NEXT YEAR IN ALASKA we are celebrating 50 years of statehood. We are still a very young state, and we’re still experiencing some growing pains, perhaps, as we seek opportunities for Alaska to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on the federal government. And the key to our becoming self-sufficient—and doing our part for our fellow Americans—is to develop further our state’s vast natural resource wealth.

Fifty years ago, this was our deal with the federal government—that we pull our own weight. And we’ve already come a long way from being known as "Seward’s Folly," back when Alaska was purchased from the Russians for two cents an acre. We’re earning our keep, largely by tapping our energy resources such as crude oil and liquefied natural gas. In fact, Alaska has our nation’s only liquefied natural gas export facility, located in the south-central Alaska town of Nikiski. But Alaska could and should be doing much more.

Being an Alaskan today is especially exciting and historic, as the energy and fuel crisis in our nation spawns creativity and makes us reevaluate what is important and necessary. As we consider where our energy will come from in the future, Alaska can and must be a big part of the answer. In fact, Alaska has already begun to take the lead on a sorely needed national energy policy. Groundbreaking history was made just up the hill at the capitol building yesterday, as Alaska’s lawmakers voted to award TransCanada Alaska a license to proceed with fieldwork, permitting, and development of the biggest construction project in the history of North America—the building of a natural gas pipeline, a project we have been fighting to begin for three decades. Once constructed, this pipeline will supply four to four-and-one-half billion cubic feet of natural gas per day—roughly six percent of America’s demand—to our fellow countrymen in what we call "the lower 48."

Just to provide some perspective, Alaska has tens of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas under the surface, especially on the North Slope. Alaskans have longed for the right to access our gas and more of our oil to assist in supplying the U.S. market, and now we are finally on the road to doing so. This $30-40 billion infrastructure project—which will be built by the private sector—is one of the most exciting and progressive events in Alaska’s history.

This is a good start, to be sure. But Alaska has much more to offer in the way of resources. And let me tell you clearly that we can do so in a way consistent with good environmental stewardship. Each and every Alaskan recognizes that our most precious resource is the pristine environment in which we are privileged to live and where our "First People" still subsist to this day. No one can love or care for Alaska more than Alaskans. And we who live here recognize that sound science and constantly improving technology make it possible to extract oil and gas safely and responsibly. Furthermore, with gas and fuel prices reaching record highs, oil and gas must be extracted—even as we move in the direction of renewable and alternative sources of energy.

Because of the lagging economy, Americans do not have time for "all talk and no action." Here at home, Alaskans struggle with the highest gas prices in the nation—the cost of gas in parts of Alaska is four to five dollars more per gallon than gas in the lower 48—and many face the choice between heating their homes and putting food on the table. Now other Americans are experiencing the same challenges. And we are in this position only because Alaska’s vast resources are being warehoused underground by Congress—placing us in a ridiculous and difficult position.

The price of oil, and now gasoline, has always been sensitive and subject to events occurring outside the U.S. We have placed ourselves in the position of having to plead with Middle Eastern suppliers to increase production, when instead we could lift the development bans that are keeping us from our own resource independence—namely, the bans relating to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and offshore drilling.

Alaskans find it incredibly frustrating that others—many of whom have never even set foot in our state, much less lived here—dictate how and when we can best use our own resources. Whether over the barren tundra or in our majestic mountains, we have a strong history of responsible development. To date, Alaska has sent more than 15 billion barrels of oil, safely and efficiently, to the lower 48. One look at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System illustrates that development and wildlife can and do coexist.

I’ve heard it said by some politicians that Alaska doesn’t have enough oil to make a difference. I can tell you honestly that we do have enough. And while consultants and experts debate the current energy crisis, Alaska is already preparing for its next role—providing American consumers with a safe and secure domestic source of crude oil and natural gas. In fact, if energy imports were curtailed completely, Alaska could provide our nation with seven years of crude oil independence and an eight-year supply of natural gas. These are numbers that reflect known and recoverable oil and gas deposits.

To repeat, Prudhoe Bay has produced 15 billion barrels of crude oil, and there’s more where that came from in ANWR, which is home to more than ten billion barrels of oil and nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas. I know this is a controversial issue. But most Americans do not realize that of the 20 million acres that make up ANWR, we are asking for the right to access just 2,000 of them—a mere 1/10,000th of the total area. Opening up just that sliver of ANWR—which would create a footprint smaller than the total area of Los Angeles International Airport—could produce enough oil (an estimated one million barrels per day) to ease America’s fuel crisis and greatly reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

It is also estimated that there are 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil and another 104 trillion cubic feet of natural gas offshore. In other words, offshore areas that are geologically promising, such as the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, hold roughly three-and-one-half years of U.S. oil consumption and four-and-one-half years of natural gas.

Congress can make it possible to take advantage of these resources right now, by streamlining access to offshore areas. As usual, outside interests are throwing up roadblocks and manipulating the legal system to achieve their agenda. But we need to bring some sanity back to the legal and permitting processes in the area of energy production.

In calling for bans to be lifted in order to get our nation out of the chokehold of high oil prices and dependence on the Middle East, I am certainly not rejecting the idea of alternative and renewable resources. I believe that we need to move in that direction, ultimately weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels. But we can’t do it overnight—or even over a decade. In Alaska, we have almost limitless opportunities for thermal, wind, solar, and hydroelectric energy. In fact, our capital city of Juneau receives 80 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric energy. Recently we have created a renewable/alternative energy fund with an initial $50 million that will build to $250 million over a five-year period. Yet until the science is fully developed, until all our vehicles are green, we must wisely and responsibly utilize known and given oil and natural gas resources so that we can provide for ourselves.

Alaskans are a very unique kind of people. We hear this on a regular basis from our visitors from the lower 48. One thing that makes us so unique is that we are at once fiercely independent and incredibly community-minded. It may seem as though these two qualities would be in conflict, but I believe they are the complementary qualities which, in tandem, drove the American Revolution. Our forefathers fought and died for liberty and independence, but they did so together. Today, as we seek freedom from dependence on foreign oil—and freedom from having to send our presidents to plead with the Saudis for more oil production—we must join together again, in the spirit of freedom and independence, to gain access to our own energy resources.

I say this to you not just as Alaska’s governor, but as the mother of a soldier—my son, Track, will soon be deploying overseas in service to his country and to a war that is certainly complicated by our dependence on foreign resources.

We must open ANWR and lift the ban on offshore drilling. The science and technology to harvest our resources responsibly and safely are in hand. The time for congressional action and leadership is now.

~ Sarah Palin

Happy Anniversary Todd and Sarah Palin

By Gary P Jackson

Todd and Sarah Palin are celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary today. Here's some photos of them together:

Todd and Sarah share each others adventures:

Aboard the USS Stennis:

The Iron Dog!

On this date in 2008 Sarah and Todd started out a big adventure:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg0darQB7r4?rel=0]

All things point to an even bigger adventure to come.

Here's wishing Todd and Sarah many more years of happiness together.

There is a neat slideshow of Sarah and Todd together here.

Perry Campaign: Everything in "Fed Up!" Was Meaningless BS

By Gary P Jackson

I have a copy of Rick Perry's Fed Up! on my bookshelf. In the book Perry sounds like the kind of solid conservative Americans would like to have in the movement. I must say I enjoyed the book, and agreed with what was written. Thing is, it seems Perry himself does not.

One of the main themes of the book was going back to the Founder's original intent of a decentralized government, with the states more in charge and responsible for things affecting the people. The entire book is an homage to the Tenth Amendment.

Another strong theme is, Perry wants nothing to do with Washington, or it's politics. He also says [as he has many times] that being Governor of Texas is the "greatest job on earth." And yet, he wants to leave that and go to the cesspool that is D.C.? The D.C. that he said in his book he wanted nothing to do with? Hmm.

Perry has also said that Tenth Amendment stuff was just BS as well, if not in words, then by his actions.

When he first got serious about running for President, and the issue of gay marriage came up, he got it right, at first. It's a states' rights issue. Then when pressured, he flip-flopped faster than Mitt Romney on his best day, and said we need a federal ban on gay marriage.

Same goes for abortion. That Tenth Amendment became meaningless as soon as Perry was approached. The reason Roe v Wade is bad law is because it usurped states' rights. The federal government has no business dealing with this issue. Left alone, most states would ban, or severely limit abortion all on their own. Perry should know this, as Texas, thanks to our legislature, is doing everything it can to limit the slaughter of the innocent.

That said, you can't have it both ways. You either believe the Tenth is the law of the land, or you don't. You can't say you are 100% for it, except when it's inconvenient.

Recently Perry, who talks tough, was called out for statements he made about Social Security. Neil King Jr writes in the Wall Street Journal: [emphasis mine]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry used to be pretty frank when it came to the country’s Social Security system. In his fiery anti-Washington book, "Fed Up!", published last fall when he had no plans to run for president, Mr. Perry called the program, which turned 76 on Monday, "a crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal."

He suggested the program’s creation violated the Constitution. The program was put in place, "at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government," he wrote, comparing the program to a "bad disease" that has continued to spread. Instead of "a retirement system that is no longer set up like an illegal Ponzi scheme," he wrote, he would prefer a system that "will allow individuals to own and control their own retirement."

But since jumping into the 2012 GOP nomination race on Saturday, Mr. Perry has tempered his Social Security views. His communications director, Ray Sullivan, said Thursday that he had "never heard" the governor suggest the program was unconstitutional. Not only that, Mr. Sullivan said, but "Fed Up!" is not meant to reflect the governor’s current views on how to fix the program.

The issue bubbled up Thursday, when a gaggle of protestors confronted Mr. Perry outside a café in Portsmouth, N.H., accusing him of trying to destroy Social Security and Medicare. Mr. Perry didn’t respond when one of the protesters inside the café accused him of believing the Social Security system was unconstitutional.

In an interview, Mr. Sullivan acknowledged that many passages in Mr. Perry’s "Fed Up!" could dog his presidential campaign. The book, Mr. Sullivan said, "is a look back, not a path forward." It was written "as a review and critique of 50 years of federal excesses, not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto," Mr. Sullivan said.

The campaign’s disavowal of "Fed Up!" is itself very new. On Sunday evening, at Mr. Perry’s first campaign stop in Iowa, a questioner asked the governor to talk about how he would fix the country’s rickety entitlement programs. Mr. Perry shot back: "Have you read my book, ‘Fed Up!’ Get a copy and read it."

In the book, Mr. Perry dings politicians who don’t have the courage to take on Social Security. So what is his position now? "The governor wants to see the benefits for existing retirees and those close to Social Security be strongly protected," Mr. Sullivan said. Beyond that, "he believes a full review and discussion of entitlement reforms need to be had, aimed at seeing that programs like Social Security and Medicare are fiscally responsible and actuarially sound."

The fact that Perry's campaign is saying the book is not a "2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto" while Perry himself is saying "read my book" [rather than just answer a question] should bother voters. It should bother them a lot.

The Perry campaign is saying "don't believe a word in it, it's irrelevant now" while their guy is saying hey, go read my meaningless words!

We already know we can't trust the words written on the page, so why bother?

It's also hypocritical for to Perry call out others who don't have the courage to do something about Social Security, when it sure sounds like he doesn't either.

Now wait, hold the phone, as I write this, I see a new report from the Los Angeles Times. It's all OK now, Perry is back to attacking Social Security again![emphasis mine]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is standing firm in insisting that Social Security, the federal government’s insurance programs for retirees and disabled, is a Ponzi scheme designed to deceive the young.

In a weekend campaign stop in Ottumwa, Iowa, Perry, who has surged into the lead in the Republican presidential sweepstakes in at least one major poll, repeated his characterization of the social insurance program that is generally supported by the electorate. He has made the same point before, especially in his book, "Fed Up!," though at one point his campaign tried to explain that he had softened his language.

There's more.

So Perry "softened" his rhetoric, his campaign disavowed his book, and now it's all back on. See, it's all better now!

The Hill reported a few days ago that something else Rick Perry was all for in the book, the "flat tax" is being distanced by the campaign:

The campaign of Texas governor and GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry is being hounded by statements he has made.

The Perry campaign on Monday was, once again, trying to distance itself from another policy prescription in Perry’s book, "Fed Up!," which was released last year.

In the book, Perry argues that the federal government should repeal the 16th Amendment — which grants Congress wide leeway to levy income taxes — and institute instead a "flat tax" that would tax all Americans at the same rate, regardless of income.

But a Perry spokesman conceded Monday that dramatic income tax reform was likely a non-starter, according to The Washington Post. The campaign declined to reaffirm support for the repeal of the 16th Amendment or the passage of a flat or national sales tax, despite continuing to assert that the current tax code is "onerous, complex and confusing."

Read more here.

So which is it?

The book is a full throated defense of the flat tax, and Perry laid out a reasonable plan, but now the campaign "declined to reaffirm support"? Does Perry believe a flat tax is the answer, or not? Or is it all just too damned hard?

How does one count this anyway? Is it a flip-flop, or pure political cowardice?

Sorry, but I want a candidate who says what they mean, and means what they say. I don't want "nuance" or "softened" rhetoric. I don't want someone who'll write a book, and when asked a question, instead of answering, refers people to that book, while at the same time his campaign is saying you can't really believe a word in that book!

I want someone, who when talking tough, and prescribing tough medicine, has the courage of their convictions. Someone who not only knows what must be done, but will actually do it, if elected. 

This is vintage Rick Perry though. Talks a good game, but when it's post time, he comes up limp. Texans know this already.

I read Fed Up!. I enjoyed Fed Up!. I'd vote for the character "Rick Perry" portrayed in Fed up!. Sadly, "Rick Perry" is a fictional character, and doesn't exist. The real Rick Perry is just another politician, and not a particularly appealing one at that.

I've asked readers before to look at Perry's record. Not the media nonsense, not the smears, just his actual record as Governor of Texas. That's all one needs to know to understand Perry is not suited for the job of President of these United States.

The book deal proves Perry is just another pandering political hack who wrote Fed Up! because he figured that's what people wanted to hear. I'm not saying Perry didn't believe some of what he wrote. [though his campaign is] What I'm saying is Perry isn't prepared to defend what he said, or live by it.

Perry, like most career politicians can talk the talk, but has no intention of walking the walk.

America deserves better.

Audio: The Victory Sessions Stephen Bannon Hosts Jedediah Bila and Peter Singleton

By Gary P Jackson

On Sunday night Jedediah Bila and Peter Singleton were guests of Stephen Bannon on KABC Radio’sVictory Sessions.

RuBegonia has the audio. Click here and listen.

Jedediah Bila: Hey Pundits, How About We Talk About Sarah Palin's Record?

By Gary P Jackson

Jedediah Bila takes on the chattering class in a big way. She challenges them to talk about Sarah Palin's actually record, instead of the ridiculous nonsense they are talking about now. It should be noted that she's talking to the Republican Establishment™.

While some pundits are busy calling Sarah Palin thin-skinned, claiming that there is "no space for her" in the 2012 race and incessantly speculating about her potential announcement date, some of us are sitting by laughing, sufficiently amused by typical establishment tactics that have grown tired, old and frankly a little boring.

In a previous column, Jedediah talks about attending a Manhattan cocktail party, filled with hard core lefties. They are quite worried and know that Sarah can win it all, and they understand why.

I'm amazed that it's been "" for Sarah Palin to enter the race for oh, about four months now. Funny how it wasn't "too late" for the establishment's favorite son Rick Perry to enter, and no one has said it was too late for Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, or anyone else. That rule only applies to Sarah Palin, no one else. Hmmm.

Jedediah goes on to list what we really need to be discussing. Here are just a few of them:

As governor in 2007, Palin was responsible for the largest veto totals in state history, while investing $1 billion in forward-funding education and fulfilling public safety and infrastructure necessities.

1. Palin invested $5 billion in state savings during a time of economic surplus.

2. Palin reduced spending by 9.5% from 2007 to 2010 and slashed earmark requests by over 80% during her time as governor.

3. Under Palin, Alaska’s total liabilities were reduced by 34.6% overall.

4. As governor, Palin was the CEO of the state and had substantial authority. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, "In Alaska, the Governor has line-item veto power over the budget and can only be overridden by a three-quarters majority of the Legislature."

Jedediah has much more, read it all here.

We all know why the Establishment™ [in both parties] don't want to talk about Governor Sarah Palin's record. Not even Mayor Sarah Palin's record. Both independently and separately, either record shows more ability and success than Barack Obama or any of the current Republican candidates could ever muster.

If we talk about Sarah Palin's actual 20 year record, instead of all of the media created nonsense, it's all over for Obama, the other GOP candidates, and more importantly, the Republican Establishment™. And just like those ladies in Manhattan, they know it too.

**Here is what Sarah Palin's résumé looks like:

* Sports Reporter/Anchor, KTVA-TV Anchorage/KTUU-TV Anchorage/Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (1987 – 1992)

* Co-owner, Commercial Fishing Operation (1988 – present)

* City Council Member, City of Wasilla (1992 – 1996)

* Co-owner, Snow Machine, Watercraft, & All-Terrain Vehicle Business (1994 – 1997)

* Mayor/City Manager, City of Wasilla (1996 – 2002)

* Board Member, Alaska Municipal League (199x – 1999)

* President, Alaska Conference of Mayors (1999 – 2002)

* Chairperson, Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (2003 – 2004)

* Director, Excellence in Public Service, Inc. (2003 – 2005)

* Board Member, Valley Hospital Association (2005 – 2006)

* Governor, State of Alaska (2006 – 2009)

* Chairperson, Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission (2008 – 2009)

* Chairperson, National Governors Association Natural Resources Committee (2008 – 2009)

* Vice Presidential Nominee, Republican Party (2008)

* Founder, SarahPAC (2009 – present)

* Speaker, Washington Speakers Bureau (2009 – present)

* Author, Going Rogue: An American Life (2009)

* Contributor, Fox News Channel (2010 – present)

* Author, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag (2010)

* Host/Executive Producer, Sarah Palin’s Alaska (2010)

Also:

* Board Member, Salvation Army

* Member, Alaska Miners Association

* Member, Alaska Outdoor Council

* Member, American Management Association

* Member, Chambers of Commerce (Various)

* Member, Iditarod Parent-Teacher Association

* Member, National Rifle Association

* Member, Resource Development Council of Alaska

* Member, Youth Court Steering Committee

* Coach/Hockey Team Manager, Valley Youth Sports

This doesn't include all of the work she did in 2010, helping take back the House, and add numbers to the Senate, or the work she did in local and state elections. Nor does it count the many ways she has changed the national debate since 2008. It does however show someone who has a wealth of experience both in politics and the real world. Please note that as Mayor, Palin was term limited, and the terms were three years long.

** H/T Pennsylvanians for Palin

Flashback Video: Mexican President Vicente Fox Thanks Governor Rick Perry For Dream Act

On November 6, 2003, Mexican President Vicente Fox publicly thanked Rick Perry for offering in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

By Gary P Jackson

How is it, people from another country, whether they are here legally or illegally, can get a deal on college tuition, when American citizens from other states cannot?

Something to ponder, just as RomneyCare was the blueprint for ObamaCare, Rick Perry's Dream Act will serve as the blueprint for a national version. In fact, it already is.

Something else, how is allowing illegals a chance to attend Texas universities, and subsidizing it with in-state tuition, not a form of Amnesty? Think about it. Instead of arresting them, they are giving them a college I.D.

Is this the sort of America we want?

Gibson Guitars, Barack Obama, and Gangster Government

By Gary P Jackson

Barack Obama is a thug. A Chicago street thug, and nothing more. In case you really don't know what a "community organizer" is, at least as far as democrats go, they are like mob enforcers. Groups like ACORN, where Obama used to work, and the purple shirted SEIU union leg breakers, are nothing more than thugs for hire. They are paid mobs who show up where ever they are told to to intimidate whoever is being targeted. Often violence occurs.

This is the environment Barack Obama spent his formative years working in.

There are many examples of the Obama regime targeting specific businesses and organizations for destruction. The latest is Gibson Guitars. The regime has been hassling the company over the exotic woods it uses for it's fretboards. The same wood other companies use without any problems whatsoever.

Last week the regime's Justice Department went after Gibson again, over their use of Indian rosewood. It should be noted the Indian government, as far as we can tell, has lodged no protests or asked for any investigations. Again, other guitar companies use the same exact wood, and the regime has no issues with them.

It should also be noted that Gibson's CEO Henry Juszkiewicz is a Republican and support's Republican candidates. Also Gibson is a non-union shop. These tactics are an obvious attempt to intimidate Gibson in the fine tradition of another famous Chicagoan, Al Capone.

Dana Loesch interviewed Henry Juszkiewicz for her radio show:



This wood must be certified before it's used, and according to Juszkiewicz the wood Gibson is using has been certified as good to go.

The plot gets thicker, as it always does with the regime. John Nolte at Big Hollywood reports:

One of Gibson’s leading competitors is C.F. Martin & Company. The C.E.O., Chris Martin IV, is a long-time Democratic supporter, with $35,400 in contributions to Democratic candidates and the DNC over the past couple of elections

Nolte goes on to point out Martin uses the exact same wood Gibson does. Read more about this here.

This is how Obama and the regime work.

The story of how Obama and his campaign chief-of-staff Pete Rouse, along with Phil Munger, recruited Alaska bloggers and other malcontents to harass Sarah Palin during the 2008 elections, and after she returned home, filing dozens of bogus ethics complaints, as well as planting false stories in the media, is well documented. Once in office, Rouse ran the operation out of the West Wing of the White House. In case you're not familiar with all of this, here's our latest on the subject.

This is not the only attempt by Obama to intimidate Governor Palin though. In 2009 Obama decided to target the surviving members of the Alaska Territorial Guard, the brave men who defended Alaska when the Japanese invaded during WWII. The group is now known as The Alaska Defense Force. We're talking a handful of men, 26 in all, but Obama cut off their pensions, citing priorities for a military spending bill. There was no reason for this, other than to mess with Alaska. As Commander-in-Chief of the ADF, Governor Palin took quick action, fought the regime, and got these men reinstated. She also signed into law a bill that insured they were paid by Alaska while all of this was going on.

This was a thuggish and childish act. The regime has tried to stop Governor Palin's gasline, as well.

There are plenty more examples: Also in 2009, when the regime basically took over the Chrysler Corporation, breaking centuries worth of contract law in the process, it was noted many of the dealerships forced to close were owned by Republicans. Mark Tapscott reported:

Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Republicans. What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the Right side of the Blogosphere has gathered some steam today with revelations that among the dealers being shut down are a GOP congressman and closing of competitors to a dealership chain partly owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty.

The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008?

Read more here.

Of the the action by the regime, Todd J. Ziwicki wrote:

The rule of law, not of men -- an ideal tracing back to the ancient Greeks and well-known to our Founding Fathers -- is the animating principle of the American experiment. While the rest of the world in 1787 was governed by the whims of kings and dukes, the U.S. Constitution was established to circumscribe arbitrary government power. It would do so by establishing clear rules, equally applied to the powerful and the weak.

Fleecing lenders to pay off politically powerful interests, or governmental threats to reputation and business from a failure to toe a political line? We might expect this behavior from a Hugo Chávez. But it would never happen here, right?

Until Chrysler.

We all remember the huge floods that devastated Nashville and the surrounding areas. Obama was nowhere to be found. And when half of Texas was on fire this year, the regime flat out refused to send disaster relief.

The regime is going after Boeing because they dared to build a new aircraft in the Right-to-Work state of South Carolina, out of the reach of union thugs.

One could fill an entire book with instances of Obama's gangster government intimidating businesses and groups. It's evil, and immoral.

I know one thing, if you are looking for a new guitar, check out Gibson's line-up. They could use our support. Don't let the regime get away with bullying them!

Let's end this with one of our favorite Gibson guitar slingers, Carolyn Wonderland from Austin, Texas, as we think about Obama's judgement day, which will come real soon:

Corporate Puppet Erick Erickson Weighs In On Sarah Palin With Predicable Conclusions

By Gary P Jackson

Erick Erickson, editor of Red State and CNN commentator, weighs in on Sarah Palin's potential run for the presidency. As expected he finds nothing new, or even creative, to tell his readers, only that Sarah Palin likely won't run, and surely couldn't win if she did.

I'll give him this, unlike the rest of his fellow travelers in the Republican Establishment™, at least he admits Sarah has said she won't be announcing on September 3, in Iowa, something Palin supporters already know.

That said, it's just the typical boring crap everyone else says, including the "she can't string her supporters along forever" tripe. Palin's supporters know her and trust her, most have been solidly with her since 2008, some of us long before. She's our candidate, not only because of who she is, but who she isn't. By that I mean she is not like anyone currently in the field. She has a solid record, can point to big accomplishments, and is by far the best vetted candidate we've seen in our lifetimes. There are no surprises with Sarah Palin waiting to bite us in the butt.

We don't think she's stringing us along, we feel she has a solid strategy and is sticking to it. We also feel she has the best record and by far the best ability to do what must be done to save our Republic.

What gets me about Erickson is he quotes Organize4Palin's Peter Singleton, a man he claims to "know and respect," in his little tirade. Our readers know who Singleton is. He spent much of the day with Sarah Palin when she was at the Iowa State Fair. In a lengthy interview with Tammy Bruce, Peter describes what he has been doing, and is asking for volunteers to mount a solid 2012 campaign.

An honest man, especially one who "knows and respects" Singleton, would understand that none of this would be going on if signals weren't sent during the meeting between Sarah and Peter. And yet ....

Of course, the truth wouldn't help Erickson's latest flavor of the month candidate, Rick Perry, who announced at Erickson's yearly get together. Now I know some will be angered at me for calling Erickson a Perry shill with an agenda. Deal with it..

Perry supporters have been spreading the "she'll sit this one out and endorse our guy" BS for months, something Governor Palin herself put an end to when she tweeted an article by Contributing Editor Whitney Pitcher, something we discussed here.

Since that won't work any longer, the "it's too late for her to run" or "she can't win anyway" silliness is in full bloom from these clowns. Funny, there are four or five others who have said they may jump in the race, and there is never any mention of it being too late for them. I wonder why!

Riddle me this: If it's too late, and she can't win, why is so much effort being expended trying to stop her from even attempting a run?

Erickson as much as admitted his nothing more than a puppet for his corporate masters when he abruptly stopped supporting solid Virginia Tea Party senate candidate Jamie Radtke and got behind George Allen, because Allen is buddies with the owners of Red State's parent company. All well and good, but it sort of takes Erickson and Red State out of the "trusted and respected" category of websites, doesn't it.

You'll be reading a lot more about the Red State- Radtke fiasco in the coming weeks, some are even calling it a "proxy war between Governor Palin and Governor Perry. I don't know about that, but according to what I'm reading, Erickson blew that last ounce of what little credibility he had, by the actions he's taken against Jamie Radtke, a fine, solid Tea Party candidate, he once supported.

In other words, Erickson is nothing more than the type of paid political mercenary we all detest. The sort whose convictions are tied to a paycheck. A paid shill.

Full disclosure, when I first started blogging, and was trying to figure all of this out, I had a dairy at Red State and was banned. Being a Palin supporter I was never all that welcomed, and several of the regulars there were loud and nasty Palin haters, posting the same old lies we've all seen before in the comments section. It seems they got quite upset when called out for it. And as our readers know, none of us here are bashful. We'll call people out. That didn't set well with the frat boys at Red State!

That was a blessing though as it got me off my butt, and I started my own blog.

That was a long time ago. This is today. And today we have a serious problem with a phony conservative posing as a journalist, giving an opinion of a candidate that is not based in reality.One who'll throw his support behind good candidates one minute, then throw them under the bus the next.

All of us have strong opinions, that's why we got into blogging in the first place, but most of us try to base our thoughts and opinions on facts, not who writes our paychecks.

Tammy Bruce Talks About Rick Perry, The Dangers of Gardasil, and Crony Capitalism That Surrounds Governor's Office

By Gary P Jackson

Meant to post this the other day after Stacy Drake wrote about some of the pay-for-play dealings Rick Perry is famous for. Since then we've learned more about the dangers of Gardasil.

Meanwhile, Tammy Bruce calls out Perry for wanting to inject this potential poison in Texas school girls. As she points out, in typical Perry weasel fashion, he claims he saw the error of his ways and backed off. The fact is, Texans raised holy hell, and the Texas legislature stopped Perry, something they've had to do before.

You see, the position of Governor of Texas is constitutionally weak. But unlike previous governors, Rick Perry has often chosen to usurp the legislative process and issue an executive orders time and time again. This almost always gets him in trouble, and the legislature has to deal with his messes.

The Gardasil mandate would have never made it through the Texas legislature, and Perry knew it.

This may not seem like a big deal to some, but Perry is the sort who would do the same thing in Washington. As Dan Riehl pointed out on Thursday, Rick Perry is very much aligned with the establishment. As he put it:

For what it’s worth, I’m getting a sense that, within the conservative movement, Perry may come to more represent the old line conservative movement, much of which is seriously compromised as a result of having been established in Washington for so long.

In other words, Perry represents business as usual, the very last thing we need in a new president.

It should trouble voters that Perry has no respect for the Texas Constitution and the legislative process set forth in it. It should trouble them even more that he was willing inject innocent Texas school girls with a drug that hadn't been fully tested, and has issues, all so his buddies at Merck could make a quick buck.

One correction to Tammy's monologue, it's not $120 per student, it's $360. It's a three shot regimen. That's retail, but even at wholesale prices a lot of money for Perry's cronies.

Something for voters to ponder. Between forcing people [mandating] a medical treatment, and all of the pay-for-play crony capitalism that surrounds the Texas governor's office, how exactly is Rick Perry much of an upgrade from Barack Obama?

Throw in the fact he's tripled Texas' debt since taking office and ... well ... you get the idea.

PPP Ohio: Governor Sarah Palin Highest In Favorablilty Ratings: A Key Finding

By Gary P Jackson

Ohio is one of the all important swing states, a must win, if someone wants to become President of the United States. Making a favorable impression on Ohioans goes a long way towards winning over the entire nation.

Though some national polls that over sample democrats and don't include likely voters [the only reliable group to sample] have shown Sarah Palin has a "favorability problem," every legit poll that specifically targets likely Republican voters and Republican leaning independents has shown Sarah Palin to have the best favorability among the candidates. This has been consistent since serious polling for 2012 started.

Ohio is no different. Democrat polling firm PPP's latest poll shows Governor Palin has 65% approval rating as compared to Rick Perry at 50%.

We're 15 months out from the general election of November 2012, and some 8 to 10 months away from settling the primaries. That's too far away to use votes as a guide as to who will be the Republican nominee. In fact, history shows those who lead early also peak early, and rarely make the final cut of candidates vying for the nomination. After all, other than a few debates, no one is really campaigning yet.

Favorability is the key this early on. The fact that Sarah's favorability is always higher than any one else, among the folks who will actually nominate her, is the key. High favorability means people will listen to what she has to say, and once she starts putting forth more of her plans to Revive, Renew, and Restore America, the likelihood of a large, receptive audience is far greater than with any other candidate.

A lot of folks live and die by polls that show supposed vote count, and over a long period of time one can spot certain trends, but the numbers to look at this far out are the ones measuring favorability. Those trends show Sarah Palin is consistently seen in the best light by Republicans and Republican leaning independents.

In my opinion, favorability equates to potential voters. At the very least it means a large group of people who will listen to what a candidate has to say.

In a key state like Ohio this spells trouble, not only for the rest of the Republican candidates, but Barack Obama too.

Sarah Palin's Libyan Statement Shows Leadership and Common Sense

By Gary P Jackson

Sarah Palin has released a strong, common sense statement on the Libyan revolution. Measured and concise, she shows once again the sort of leadership America needs. Recently both Caroline Glick and Walter Russell Mead have spoken of the Jacksonian/Reaganesque sort of foreign policy that needs to make a return to the U.S. Both have mentioned Sarah Palin as the sort who can bring this about, with Mead going so far asking if Governor Palin is our foreign policy "messiah."

Anyone who has kept up with Sarah's many op-eds and Facebook notes knows she's been very consistent about these sort of things. Cautious and reluctant to put American lives on the line in an effort to "spread democracy," which amounts to nation building, costs America blood and treasure, and rarely ends well.

Here she cautions the Obama regime, and others, not to get too excited about all of the latest developments in Libya. Instead she warns of the real possibility of a new government with direct ties to al Qaeda. She also points out we do have ways of supporting those who want a western style of democracy, and should do what we can to make sure they are victorious in this struggle, through diplomatic means.

From Sarah:

We join the Libyan people in gratefulness as we hear of Col. Gaddafi’s defeat. The fall of a tyrant and sponsor of terrorism is a great day for freedom-loving people around the world. But the path to democracy in Libya is not complete, and we must make wise choices to ensure that our national interests are protected.

First, the White House needs to avoid triumphalism. Gaddafi may be gone, but the fighting may not be complete. As we’ve seen in Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we must not celebrate too quickly. There are now mounting concerns that we will see tribal and sectarian fighting in Libya like we saw in Iraq. Let’s hope that is not the case, but it must be prepared for.

Second, we must be very concerned about the future government that will emerge to take Gaddafi’s place. History teaches that those with the guns usually prevail when a coalition overthrows a tyrant. We must remember that military power ultimately resides with the rebel commanders. This should be a source of some concern. The armed opposition to Gaddafi is an outgrowth of a group called Islamic Libya Fighting Group, and some rebel commanders admit that they have Al Qaeda links. The rebel fighters are from different tribes, and they have a variety of political views. Some are Islamists, some appear to favor some sort of western democracy. We should work through diplomatic means to help those who want democracy to come out on top.

That said, we should not commit U.S. troops or military assets to serve as peacekeepers or perform humanitarian missions or nation-building in Libya. Our military is already over-committed and strained, and a vaguely designed mission can be the first step toward a quagmire. The internal situation does not seem stable enough for U.S. forces to operate in a purely humanitarian manner without the possibility of coming under attack. Troop deployment to Libya would mean placing America’s finest in a potentially hostile zone that is not in our vital national security interest.

Finally, we must make sure that terrorist groups don’t try to co-opt the revolution, as Al Qaeda is trying to do in Syria. We should continue to use our intelligence assets to monitor the situation in Libya to ensure that potentially dangerous weapons are secured, and that terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda don’t gain a foothold in Libya.

People of Libya, be vigilant. May this opportunity be used to build a free and peaceful country.

~ Sarah Palin

Dan Riehl: It Will Take a Sarah Palin [Not a Rick Perry] To Re-Vitalize The Conservative Movement

By Gary P Jackson

Dan Riehl nails it, as usual. In just a few words he gets to the heart of the Palin vs Perry battle. Rick Perry is very much an establishment candidate, no matter the rhetoric he uses. He represents nothing more than more of the same.

Sarah Palin is the true outsider. Beholden to no one. A fresh voice and a true Reagan Conservative. Someone who's record proves she doesn't just talk a good game, she puts her words into action. She's been a Reagan Conservative throughout her 20 year career.

Dan doesn't get into either governor's record. He doesn't have to. This brilliantly sums up the entire issue:

For what it's worth, I'm getting a sense that, within the conservative movement, Perry may come to more represent the old line conservative movement, much of which is seriously compromised as a result of having been established in Washington for so long.

At the same time, I'm getting a sense that if the movement is to truly be re-energized and move forward from something it's been for decades - something already bound up in Washington - it may take a Sarah Palin to move forward along that path. If that does become the case, the two paths do lead to a different place.

Ultimately, I believe the older line path - Perry, ultimately may only lead to more of the same - a lot of good talk, but not a lot of change. It may take Sarah Palin, or a Sarah Palin, or some number of them over time to truly re-vitalize the conservative movement in America. But I'm far from certain of it at this point, it's simply beginning to look that way.

Riehl adds at the end that he's not exactly a Palinista, something many of us can attest to! That said, I've always found that even when he says something I don't agree with, he's always fair about it. In this day and age, that's getting harder and harder to find.

Read more here.

Gardasil’s Adverse Effects: The Institute of Medicine Report To Be Released Thursday

By Gary P Jackson

Stacy Drake wrote about the crony capitalism involved in Rick Perry's decision to mandate Texas school girls be injected with the highly questionable drug Gardasil. Perry's chief-of-staff lobbied for Merck, the drug's maker, and the CoS's mother-in-law, Dianne White-Delisi works with an organization that gets significant funding from Merck. Perry himself received campaign money from Merck.

That's bad enough, but now there are many concerns that Gardasil is not well tested, and at best, is ineffective, at worst, downright dangerous.

Diane Harper, a pioneering researcher in the field of HPV viruses calls what Perry and Gardasil wanted to do "a great big public health experiment":

Dr Diane M. Harper, a lead researcher in the development of the humanpapilloma virus vaccine, says giving the vaccine to 11 year old girls "is a great big public health experiment" The lead researcher who spent 20 years developing the vaccine forDr Diane Harper humanpapilloma virus says the HPV vaccine is not for younger girls as it has not been tested for effectiveness in younger girls, and administering the vaccine to girls as young as 9 may not even protect them all. And, in the worst-case scenario, instead of serving to reduce the numbers of cervical cancers within 25 years, such a vaccination crusade actually could cause the numbers to go up.

"There is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue".

"Giving it to 11 year olds is a great big public health experiment", said Diane M. Harper, who is a scientist, physician, professor and the director the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire.

Internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field, Harper has been studying HPV and a possible vaccine for several of the more than 100 strains of HPV for 20 years - most of her adult life.

All of her trials have been with subjects ages 15-25. In her own practice, Harper believes the ideal way of administering the new vaccine is to offer it to women ages 18 and up. At their first inoculation, they should be tested for the presence of HPV in their system.

If the test comes back negative, then schedule the follow-up series of the three-part shots. But if it comes back positive?

"Then we don't know squat, because medically we don't know how to respond to that" Harper said

Harper is an independent researcher whose vaccine work is funded through Dartmouth in part by both Merck & Co and GlaxoSmithKline, which means she is an employee of the university, not the drug companies. Mercks's vaccine, Gardasil, protects against four strains of HPV, two of which cause genital warts, Nos. 6 and 11. The other two, HPV 16 and 18, are cancer-causing viruses.

Not tested on young girls

The idea is to inoculate them before they become sexually active, since HPV can be spread through sexual intercourse. But that idea no matter how good the intentions behind it, is not the right thinking, Harper said. The zealousness to inoculate all these younger girls may very well backfire at the very time they need protection most, she said. "This vaccine should not be for 11 year old girls", she reiterated. "It's not been tested in little girls for efficacy. at 11, these girls don't get cervical cancer - they won't know for 25 years if they will get cervical cancer."

"Also the public needs to know that with vaccinated women and women who still get Pap smears (which test for abnormal cells that can lead to cancer), some of them will still get cervical cancer". The reason she said, is because the vaccine does not protect against all HPV viruses that cause cancer - it's only effective against two that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

For months, Harper said, she's been trying to convince major television and print media to listen to her and tell the facts about this vaccine. "But no one will print it", she said

Read more here.

The website Gardasil Side Effects announced the Institute of Medicine will release a report on Thursday afternoon that will include information on Gardasil and it's side effects. To find out more, and how you can participate in a question and answer session, click here.

All medicines have possible side effects, some severe, some mild. Even aspirin can kill you. That said, a quick look at some of the information on the Gardasil Side Effects website is enough to cause one great concern. Besides a report on "tainted debris" found in some lots of the vaccine, there are reports of serious side effects such as seizures and the development of other diseases, and their links to Gardasil injections.

Anyone with young daughters must take a look at this website and read the various articles. I can't stress this enough.

What's really maddening is, only now, are we finding out the dangers of Gardasil. Rick Perry had his little pay-for-play deal with Merck was going on in 2006!

Trying to usurp the legislative process, mandating school girls be injected with this questionable vaccine, through an executive order, Rick Perry showed Texans exactly what he thought of the Texas Constitution. Perry knew this deal would have never made it through the normal legislative process, so he tried to force it on Texans by executive fiat.

Thankfully, the Texas legislature overrode his executive order, possibly saving a whole lot of girls some serious health issues.

I'd love to say that Perry's heart was in the right place, even if his zeal was misplaced. I mean who DOESN'T want to wipe out cancer? Sadly, the more I read about the heavy lobbying done by Merck and the cash that changed hands, this seems to be nothing more than the typical Rick Perry crony capitalist, pay-for-play, way of doing business.

In 2010, while running for re-election, Perry was running ads with this image:

The sign should read "Rick Perry: 'Open for Business'"!

Rick Perry Won't Answer Voter When Respectfully Asked Why Texas Debt Is Up 184.2% On His Watch

By Gary P Jackson

What happens when a college student respectfully questions Rick Perry on his record:

What I asked Governor Perry was "Considering state debt has nearly tripled and spending has increased by two thirds since you were governor, and also that ACORN considered your help their ‘proudest moment,’ what were the differences between him and the current liberal president?" As you can see, he immediately tried to excuse away the numbers.

~ Drew Hjelm

This is completely unacceptable.

The real Rick Perry showed himself when a student in Iowa and why Texas' debt has tripled on his watch. Perry, who claims to be a fiscal hawk, has a record that says something quite different. Debt is up 184.2% since Perry took office.

Drew Hjelm the young man who talked to Perry tells his story:

What I asked Governor Perry was "Considering state debt has nearly tripled and spending has increased by two thirds since you were governor, and also that ACORN considered your help their ‘proudest moment,’ what were the differences between him and the current liberal president?" As you can see, he immediately tried to excuse away the numbers.

I found the debt numbers at Politifact from Bill White, who quotes the Texas Bond Review Board. I asked Perry about the raw numbers, which show that in 2000 Texas state debt was $13.7B, and by 2009 that number had grown to over $34B (Mitchell Schnurman found more recent numbers for 2010: $37B.). Bill White at Politifact adjusted for inflation and found the debt merely doubled under Perry.

Perry’s record on spending can be found at Texas Budget Source. In 2000 when Perry took over, Texas spending was $49.7B and the latest numbers the site has available show that spending was $82.1B, a 67% increase. Adjusting for inflation and population growth, the growth in the size of the Texas government during his time as governor is a paltry 36%.

Finally, I found that Perry had good friends in ACORN, a community organization that Republicans love to hate. In 2006, Perry signed into law a bill which benefited low-income homeowners. ACORN called this their "proudest moment." When Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson opposed funding ACORN in 2007, he attacked her.

This brings me full circle back to my question, what are the differences between him and the current liberal president? The Republicans love to attack President Obama for being a tax and spend liberal, being friends with all sorts of liberal organizations, and so on. Governor Perry’s record shows that he isn’t much different than President Obama, and he didn’t want to comment on this. His campaign website spouts platitudes about a record of cutting spending, which don’t jive with the numbers.

Read more here.

Hjelm is a little off on his calculation, using numbers all of the way back to 2000, which was still Governor Bush's budget. Perry didn't have budgetary authority until FY2002. Whitney Pitcher took a hard look at the record of all five Governors who were potential presidential nominees, Huntsman, Palin, Pawlenty, Perry, and Romney.

Rick Perry is in a whole class by himself on this deal. Anyway you slice it, debt has grown at an average of just over 20% a year since Perry has been in office.Roughly double that of Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, and more than five times that of  Governors Jon Huntsman and Sarah Palin:

During the fiscal years for which Sarah Palin exercised budgetary authority as Governor of Alaska (FY08 through FY10)

• Debt outstanding increased 12.7%, or 4.2% per year

• Per capita debt outstanding increased 7.4%, or 2.5% per year

• Total liabilities decreased 34.6%, or 11.5% per year

• Total liabilities per capita decreased 37.7%, or 12.6% per year

During the fiscal years for which Jon Huntsman exercised budgetary authority as Governor of Utah (FY06 through FY10)

• Debt outstanding increased 21.0%, or 4.2% per year

• Per capita debt outstanding increased 6.8%, or 1.4% per year

• Total liabilities increased 41.1%, or 8.2% per year

• Total liabilities per capita increased 24.5%, or 4.9% per year

During the fiscal years for which Tim Pawlenty exercised budgetary authority as Governor of Minnesota (FY04 through FY10)

• Debt outstanding increased 66.0%, or 9.4% per year

• Per capita debt outstanding increased 58.5%, or 8.4% per year

• Total liabilities increased 40.7%, or 5.8% per year

• Total liabilities per capita increased 34.3%, or 4.9% per year

During the fiscal years for which Mitt Romney exercised budgetary authority as Governor of Massachusetts (FY04 through FY07)

• Debt outstanding increased 44.3%, or 11.1% per year

• Per capita debt outstanding increased 43.3%, or 10.8% per year

• Total liabilities increased 19.5%, or 4.9% per year

• Total liabilities per capita increased 18.7%, or 4.7% per year

During the fiscal years for which Rick Perry exercised budgetary authority as Governor of Texas (FY02 through FY10)

• Debt outstanding increased 184.2%, or 20.5% per year

• Per capita debt outstanding increased 140.4%, or 15.6% per year

• Total liabilities increased 60.6%, or 6.7% per year

• Total liabilities per capita increased 35.8%, or 4.0% per year

Even Mitt Romney looks like a serious fiscal hawk compared to Rick Perry!

I have several problems with this situation. One, the student asked a legitimate question of Perry, and was nice about it. For Perry to blow him off like that, and call him a liar is unacceptable. But it is typical Rick Perry.

During the 2006 gubernatorial election, Perry was neck deep in the Trans-Texas Corridor fiasco. The people who would have been effected by this half-million acre land grab weren't exactly pleased. The Blackland Coalition hosted several events including candidate forums. Perry refused to attend any of them and answer the public directly about this theft of land and the crony capitalism involved. We heard from all of the other candidates, even democrat Chris Bell. [Note, a democrat hasn't been elected to statewide office in almost two decades.]

This is how Rick Perry operates. Texans know this well. The rest of the nation better find out and find out fast.

Something else to think about. It's accepted fact among Conservatives that nominating Mitt Romney would be a disaster [on many levels] mainly because it takes ObamaCare discussions off the table. It's hard for Romney to credibly take on Obama over this since Mitt is the father of socialized medicine in America, and his plan served as the blueprint for ObamaCare.

The question America has to ask itself is how can Rick Perry can credibly take on Obama over his massive debt creation, when under his watch debt in Texas has tripled? The Obama regime will be on that like white on rice.You can take that to the bank!

My biggest fear is Conservatives will listen to Perry's rhetoric on the campaign trail, and not look at his actual record as Governor of Texas. While Texas is certainly doing better than the rest of the country, Perry inherited a state from George W Bush that was already business friendly and free of the tax policies and draconian regulations that make it hard to succeed. Texas was already the greatest place on earth! While it still looks good today, under the surface there are some serious fiscal issues that are about to boil over.

Caveat emptor.

Obamanomics: Half-Million Dollars Creates Exactly 1.72 Jobs

By Gary P Jackson

The best of both worlds in this story. Government waste at it's worst, and "green jobs" all combine for exactly the kind of failure that is destroying the nation.

Oh and there is this little nugget as well:

The grant also funds Spanish-language training for Hispanics in the landscaping and tree care industry to "develop employability skills and increase job retention."

Conrad could not say how many, if any, jobs were created by that training.

I can't help but wonder why Americans, or legal immigrants, would have the need to learn basic English. I also wonder why it's the Clark County Urban Forestry Revitalization Project's responsibility to train them. I'm all for helping those who want to better themselves, and learning English will help them tremendously, but all of this stimulus money was supposed to create jobs.

A lot more than the 1.72 that it has.

From Peter Griffin at Fox News:

A federal stimulus grant of nearly $500,000 to grow trees and stimulate the economy in Nevada yielded a whopping 1.72 jobs, according to government statistics.

In 2009, the U.S. Forest Service awarded $490,000 of stimulus money to Nevada's Clark County Urban Forestry Revitalization Project, aimed at revitalizing urban neighborhoods in the county with trees, plants, and green-industry training.

According to Recovery.gov, the U.S. government's official website related to Recovery Act spending, the project created 1.72 permanent jobs. In addition, the Nevada state Division of Forestry reported the federal grant generated one full-time temporary job and 11 short-term project-oriented jobs.

It also resulted in the planting of hundreds of trees -- which critics say is about the only good thing that came out of this stimulus project.

"Looking at the failure of the stimulus to live up to its promises, not just in Nevada, but throughout America, I think the question becomes ‘is there any good use of stimulus money?'" said Douglas Kellogg, communications manager for National Taxpayers Union, in an email to FoxNews.com.

A Nevada state official has a simple explanation for the low job growth.

"If the question is ‘was this a job-creating project?’ the answer is 'no, it wasn't,'" said Bob Conrad, public information officer for the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. "It was one of a number of projects that we do believe helped improve natural resources in the state."

Conrad said the $490,000 is being used for a number of projects. Those projects include tree inventories, salaries for staff at the nurseries through the Nevada Division of Forestry, plant material and plant supplies.

"The goal obviously was to make trees available to local government entities, parks, schools, things like that, at our state nursery," said Conrad. "We basically grew and provided about 2,000 trees to these local entities."

The grant also funds Spanish-language training for Hispanics in the landscaping and tree care industry to "develop employability skills and increase job retention."

Conrad could not say how many, if any, jobs were created by that training.

"We had to put together projects within very specific parameters. If the particular project you're referring to didn't create jobs necessarily, that's really something that's beyond the parameters of the program and it's really something you'd have to ask the federal government, the U.S. Forest Service."

Repeated calls by FoxNews.com to the U.S. Forest Service were not returned.

A project summary provided by Conrad showed an even lower amount of full-time jobs, with 1.37 full-time employees at the Las Vegas Nursery.

Conrad explained that the number of full-time jobs is low because most of the tasks, such as planting trees or driving plants from the nursery to participating schools or parks, are given to individuals on a short-term basis via a temp agency. For example, 11 people were hired temporarily for different aspects of the project, such as planters, trainers, drivers, and individuals to develop programs.

"You're not going to hire a driver full-time for this entire project if the driver is only needed for a limited number of hours," said Conrad. "It wouldn't make good business sense to hire a full-time person to do something that's really just a short-term need for the project."

Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, which, according to latest U.S. Department of Labor statistics, stood at 12.9 percent in July.

Kellogg said that the low job growth from this project could rub taxpayers the wrong way.

"Job-killing taxes, or more debt for a downgraded nation, are not likely to bring relief to our unemployment crisis," said Kellogg.

Conrad said that only 60 percent of the stimulus money has been used so far and of that amount, 90 to 95 percent of it is already allocated to salaries, sub grants, and other projects.

"The project isn't done," said Conrad.

But Kellogg believes it's a bad use of taxpayer money during these tough economic times.

"The president may well propose new stimulus efforts when Congress returns from recess," said Kellogg, "and those who learn from past stimulus debacles will not be fooled again."

I'm stunned. How was Nevada growing trees before this deal came along? Did the American taxpayer really need to pay a half-million dollars for this?

It's time for the Obama regime to get out of America's way and let us do what we do best. If Obama would take his boot off the neck of the American entrepreneur he and she will create more jobs than anyone can imagine.These stimulus programs are worthless.

Obama's New World Record of Debt: $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days!

Please, no one tell President Obama what comes after trillion!

~ Sarah Palin

By Gary P Jackson

There's not a whole lot one can say here that doesn't involve an unnecessarily long, multi-sylable curse word filled rant! Obama is a menace. His record setting spending, along with record setting debt, is immoral and downright evil. He is enslaving generations with this. For the first time in the history of the United States, this generation won't be able to pass on to the next the prosperity and Freedom, it has known.

Since the founding of our great nation, every new generation has had it better than the previous. Thanks to Obama, that is no longer the case, and if someone doesn't stop him, it well never again be.

Obama and his radicals have spent out children's future. Their children's and their children's children's future as well. All to fund Crony Capitalism. Under Obama his rich supporters get richer, and the rest of us get poorer.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Swallow all liquids in your mouth before reading any further.

Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It's now $14,639,000,000,000.

When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000.

That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That's the fastest increase under any president ever.

Remember the day the Democrat promised to close the embarrassing Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility within one year? That day the national debt increased $4,247,000,000. And each day since that the facility hasn't been closed.

Same for the day in 2009 when Obama flew all the way out to Denver to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill that was going to hold national unemployment beneath 8% instead of the 9.1% we got today anyway? Another $4,247,000,000 that day. And every day since, even Obama golfing and vacation days.

Same sum for the day Obama flew Air Force One nearly four hours roundtrip to Columbus, Ohio for a 10-minute speech about how well the stimulus was working in the politically crucial Buckeye state. Ohio's unemployment rate just jumped to 9% from 8.8% anyway.

Or last week's three-day Midwestern tour in the president's new $1.1 million Death Star bus? National debt went up $16,988,000,000 while he rode around speaking and buying ice cream cones.

Numbers with that many digits are hard to grasp, even for a Harvard head. So, let's put it another way:

One billion seconds ago Bill Clinton was nearing the end of his two terms and George W. Bush's baseball collection was still on the shelves in the Austin governor's office.

The nation's debt increased $4.9 trillion under President Bush too, btw. But it took him 2,648 days to do it. Obama will surpass that sum during this term.

Read more here.

I'm sure Obama and his people will tell us that if we just borrow [and spend] a few trillion more, it'll all be fine.