Who is Rick Perry?

[Laz]

Do not assume that Perry will win. He has not been seriously challenged yet but it is coming.

[oralick]

Excellent input by most. I initially started reading it for the laughs, but some great points and counterpoints have come up. Cannot believe Perry has a chance when the nation becomes familiar with what a hypocrite he is, and the "inoculation" and "toll road" fiascos should turn off anyone that believes what Perry "Preachs'. Great input by Billy Saul and Haley. I totally agree that we should be able to offer a better education for the money, and a lot of the problem is that we have handcuffed our teachers from being able to maintain control of the classroom because of parents on both political sides. But cutting the education budget and having more students per classroom is not going to help Texas' appalling education rating, just like cutting State Funding to Colleges has hindered middle and lower income students from getting a College Degree, which hurts our Nation's future. It appears our State Government does no better than Washington to implement common sense business practices, example TxDot.

[Laz]

Originally Posted by oralick

It appears our State Government does no better than Washington to implement common sense business practices, example TxDot.

That is a fact. We need education solutions that are developed in the private sector. The goverment has proven they cannot do the job. As for college funding the government should get out of the way. All they have accomplished is to drive the cost higher by enabling students to pay the costs with grants and loans. Colleges are a business, if the customers cannot afford the product the business will have to find a way to provide the product at a lower cost.

[poseidon]

This is what a lot of folks said to justify their vote for Bush. Unfortunately, once elected, the people he installed in power went and torched the country.

Originally Posted by DTorrchia

Let's not forget that that when we have a change of President, it's about much more than who is actually elected. It's about what kind of administration that President puts together. What kind of economic team, foreign policy team etc etc.

Perry is just the flavor of the month. He will fall and he will fall hard. Knowing that in order to win an election you've got to claim the middle ground, Bush's team at least had the brains to obfuscate his real agenda with crap-isms about passionate conservativism. Perry has no such clue. Hell, Bush served in office in Texas for 5 years and barely left an imprint...he did so little, inserted himself into almost nothing notable, that there was very little of a record that his opponents could use against him. On the other hand, Perry's opponents -- on both the right and the left -- have a treasure trove of valuable opp. research to clobber him with. Billy Saul noted 3 huge issues Perry will be slammed with in the primary alone.

Originally Posted by Billy_Saul

It's difficult to believe that anyone can rally around a guy who will forcibly take your land and give it to foreign interests, allow the government to take your children without due process, and forcibly injects disease into your body.

Perry may get through the R primary by playing to the evangelicals and tea party, but those constituencies aren't going to carry him through a general election. If you read the polls, most of the country seems to understand that Obama didn't put the country in the mess it's in. He absolutely hasn't been a great president thus far. But what seems to make Republicans happiest is unlimited hissy fits. That's what Perry's good at.

Originally Posted by Haley

Well Perry's grades do reflect his critical thinking skills. Here we see a wonderful idea planned out with his purple crayon.

[Billy_Saul]

Originally Posted by Wyldeman30

Haley, Back in the day I heard that the Hippies of Austin protested against mo pac, because they did not want Austin to grow.

I am not so sure that it was the hippies as much as environmentalists. There are some good scenes of a rather incomplete Mo-Pac expressway in the 1977 Peter Fonda movie titled 'Outlaw Blues'.

[Booth]

Originally Posted by Billy_Saul

I am not so sure that it was the hippies as much as environmentalists. There are some good scenes of a rather incomplete Mo-Pac expressway in the 1977 Peter Fonda movie titled 'Outlaw Blues'.

Hippies, liberals and environmentalists are interchangeable words for Wyldeman.

[Yssup Rider]

Actually, they were NIMBY's, not hippies. Homeowners who lived on or near the new "freeway." Don't recall much of a ruckus kicked up by environmentalists back in the early 70s. Austin wasn't really growing at much of a rate back then, either. MoPac connected downtown to 183 by the time you're referring... actually farther south.

I can't seen to find anything about that in the old archives, but I am pretty sure that you're misinformed about "back in the day" about MoPac.

Where do you come up with this stuff anyway?

[Booth]

There was more of a stink when ground was broken to build Barton Creek Mall in the mid 80s. I don't remember anything about MoPac either.

[DTorrchia]

@ Poseidon-I agree with some of your points and I have agreed with the 3 things that Billy Saul mentioned. I'm certainly not a Perry "fan" because I know the man has issues. You mentioned the Bush administration. While I agree that many mistakes were made, my point has been that Obama is just as culpable when it comes to the economic mess. I'm not in any way saying he created it, what I am saying is that he is in bed with some of the same people that helped contribute to this mess. The banking lobby, the Goldman Sachs's etc etc. If you don't believe that, when Obama and the Dems controlled both House and Senate, they failed to institute any meaningful regulation and took very little serious action against those in the financial industry that helped create the mess. So I fail to see how his administration is leading us down a better road at this point. I recently posted about Warren Buffet bailing out Bank of America. That fact is, we are nearly as susceptible today to another meltdown as we were under Bush. No meaningful regulation has been put in place to prevent that. The people involved have not been held accountable. So what's really changed?
http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/
There's few innocents in Washington when it comes to what's gotten our Country to this point.

[Billy_Saul]

Originally Posted by Yssup Rider

Actually, they were NIMBY's, not hippies. Homeowners who lived on or near the new "freeway." Don't recall much of a ruckus kicked up by environmentalists back in the early 70s. Austin wasn't really growing at much of a rate back then, either. MoPac connected downtown to 183 by the time you're referring... actually farther south.

I can't seen to find anything about that in the old archives, but I am pretty sure that you're misinformed about "back in the day" about MoPac.

Where do you come up with this stuff anyway?

And these people protested because they (NIMBY's as you say) were "hippies" or because it was going to have an impact on their environment? Duh.

[Billy_Saul]

Originally Posted by Booth

There was more of a stink when ground was broken to build Barton Creek Mall in the mid 80s. I don't remember anything about MoPac either.

Correct. Mostly watershed issues. It was 1982'ish when the mall was being built and the leg of Mopac S from Town Lake to 360 was under construction at the same time.

[Billy_Saul]

Originally Posted by Yssup Rider

Where do you come up with this stuff anyway?

I lived on Barton Creek in 1982 and walked to work at Barton Creek Mall everyday across the dirt that was eventually going to be a paved Mo Pac expressway. My memory isn't perfect but it isn't bad either. It is something that I actually experienced. Keep looking in your archives genius.

[poseidon]

@DTorrchia - I think we're in complete agreement about the control of Wall Street over the federal government. Obama could have done more to fight Wall Street BUT given the dynamics, it's a fight he would have lost. They have too much power - they control almost all the R party and most of the D. This dynamic isn't one that Rick Perry could change. Nor does he have any interest in doing so.

Originally Posted by DTorrchia

While I agree that many mistakes were made, my point has been that Obama is just as culpable when it comes to the economic mess. I'm not in any way saying he created it, what I am saying is that he is in bed with some of the same people that helped contribute to this mess....There's few innocents in Washington when it comes to what's gotten our Country to this point.

[DTorrchia]

Originally Posted by poseidon

@DTorrchia - I think we're in complete agreement about the control of Wall Street over the federal government. Obama could have done more to fight Wall Street BUT given the dynamics, it's a fight he would have lost. They have too much power - they control almost all the R party and most of the D. This dynamic isn't one that Rick Perry could change. Nor does he have any interest in doing so.

Agreed. So how do we as a people take back control over our government? Elections aren't doing it any more because as you stated, both parties are beholden to special interests, both parties lie, and the candidates these parties are putting forth are leading our Country further into chaos. Once in Office, neither side listens to the people. So what's the answer? We're running out of time. When our national debt stands at 14 Trillion dollars we can't afford to take another 30 years to try to turn things around.
I watched a documentary last night about Pat Tillman and it made me sick to see how some of our highest ranking military leaders lied under oath to Congress and Congress played right along and pretended they didn't know they were being lied to. I believe the system is broken and it's going to take a lot more than putting a different puppet in place every 4 years to fix it.

[Booth]

Originally Posted by Billy_Saul

I lived on Barton Creek in 1982 and walked to work at Barton Creek Mall everyday across the dirt that was eventually going to be a paved Mo Pac expressway. My memory isn't perfect but it isn't bad either. It is something that I actually experienced. Keep looking in your archives genius.

That section of the creek must have been spectacular back then. I saw many a topless UT honey down at the creek back in the day.