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Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)
GILFORD, N.H. -- After a lunch speech today, Ron Paul slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and said that no national response to Hurricane Irene is necessary.
"We should be like 1900; we should be like 1940, 1950, 1960," Paul said. "I live on the Gulf Coast; we deal with hurricanes all the time. Galveston is in my district.
"There's no magic about FEMA. They're a great contribution to deficit financing and quite frankly they don't have a penny in the bank. We should be coordinated but coordinated voluntarily with the states," Paul told NBC News. "A state can decide. We don't need somebody in Washington."
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so Jim do you work for FEMA or some other federal government? whats funny is how nobody talking about the latest f u ck up by ATF another mistake federal agency.
Nope,,, I'm retired & the only government agency other than my career in the Navy I worked for was the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office in San Diego , where I had to bust them for theft, manipulating bonuses, tax payer funded golf trips to Mexico resorts & selling strategic military equipment to foreign agents.. I was just a temporary worker at that for 4 years before it was privatized ---- NO HELP FROM CONGRESSMAN DUNCAN HUNTER,, Hunter ignored my report
"You really need to return to the center & Ronald Reagan --- Conservatives, independents & libertarians have gone way to far to the right extreme to be worthy enough to serve in our nation's highest office"
yea Jim i see our community organizer doing awesome job, i bet you voted for him.
Doing a fine job in spite of right wing pledges to stop him... Got OBL, won a war in Libya on the cheap, found WMD's, disposed a terrorist dictator in a few months without the loss of thousands of perfectly good American troops
CBO reports that Obama's administration has actually reduced federal deficit spending, more next year & even more reductions in the future
His jobs Plan actually creates long term living wage jobs,, Whereas conservatives insist on more cuts that kill thousands of jobs for American Families
Every time the TEA PARTY demanded a government shut down & a default on our debt, slowed bank lending, market investments & sent panics around the world... Business froze hiring
Tea Party demands not only have hurt our economic recovery & American Families,,,, They caused more damage to our national security.... Our nation's national security relies on a recovery that conservatives attack to stop
I've seen quite enough of this falsh flag waiving from the Tea Party & their twisted concept of our founders & Constitution,,,,They are anything but patriotic & even moderate real Reagan conservatives have had enough of it too
@ lost, The typical "community organizer" comment is an attempt to demean and to deflect attention of the other things that the Presiden achieved before WINNING the election. Allow me to enlighten you, President Obama was the President of the Harvard Law review, he graduated as Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, (you can't receive that honor with bad grades). He he was a paid lecturer in Constitutional Law, he was a State Senator for two terms before being elected to the US Senate. And yes, he was also a community organizer. Community organizors certainly don't make very much money, they do that to serve their fellow citizens. So Mr. Lost, please share with us exactly what have you done to serve your community?
Obama / Biden 2012
Lost Planet,,,,, I'm probably the only one here who has met Ronald Reagan --- He would not accept this radical shift to the right nor the Tea Party of false patriotism
more of your nonsense-I also met President Reagan and worked on his campaigns in 80 and 84. Reagan would be very proud of the direction of the conservative movement and of the true patriotism of the Tea Party.
Some samples of Reagan that exactly line up with the Tea Party movement
and this Jim from Reagan (contrary to the out of context spin from the left) on the debt ceiling
Larry,, I'm calling you out --- You obviously never new him. he railed against any attempt to stop debt limiit increases -- He also advised against government shutdowns
Reagan warned that without a higher debt ceiling, the country could be forced to default for the first time in its history.
Reagan wrote: "The full consequences of a default – or even the serious prospect of default – by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and the value of the dollar."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/dire-warnings-on-debt-limit-hark-back-to-reagan/2011/05/14/AF0PJp3G_story.html
Larry,,, Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you another one who thinks Obama was born in Kenya?
Jim
I just posted the entire speech from Reagan in 87. Read his diaries and you find someone very different from the way you leftists attempt to mis-portray him.
Furthermore Reagan wasn't dealing with a debt that has increased by over 75% in just over 2 years; a percentage of GDP not seen since WWII; and an increase in socialist deficit spending larger than the entire Reagan budget.
And NO I'm not one who thinks Obama was born in Kenya. I fully accept and acknowledge that he is an American citizen and have never questioned that. You are just raising the typical Straw Man leftist argument rather than acknowledge the speech I posted from Reagan.
Larry,,, How about posting a link? I don't think Reagan would have supported any attempt at shutting down government & that is according to Ronald Reagan
Bachmann has been caught again on the crazy things that came from her lips.... She really does like federal government infrastructure spending,,, Here is an article about her wanting money for a bridge, "Stimulus money"
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/178479-bachmanns-bridge-project-could-draw-gop-rivals-fire
Oh my bad,,, Conservatives don't want us to believe what comes from the lips from conservative candidates
Ron Paul would be well advised to review the disaster response laws. No state will receive federal assistance until after a presidential declaration of emergency, which only follows a state request for that declaration.
Not saying it always works like that, but what I said above is the law.
Paul,,, Governors declare state emergencies
Obama just declared state emergencies for 9 states.
Jim, governors declare state emergencies, and request presidential declarations when they anticipate the response exceeding the capacity of state resources. I was an 'emergency preparedness liaison officer' for over five years. Things changed with President Bush's reorg and expansion - the same sets of actions that brought FEMA from independent agency to now a part of Homeland Security. But for natural disaster response, the only changes were semantical - Federal Response Plan to National Response Plan. The basic outline of roles and responsibilities didn't change a bit.
I can't use the word I want to to describe this guy without this post being taken down. He talks about living on the Gulf Coast. Guess what? FEMA has ALWAYS come to their aid. Now someone else is getting hurt, it doesn't affect him in any way, and he takes his shot. He represents the utter selfishness so many Americans seem to exhibit today.
Paul's demands of isolation & other demands hurt our national security & economy,,, That in turn hurts American Families & hurts the United States
Like OMama's demands haven't hurt our nation, security and economy? Are you that thick??
Take a look at Texas, Arizona...how many people have to die thanks to Obama and Holder before you wake up?
SueZQ- You do realize that illegal immigration is down, deportations are up, and violent crime is down on the border under the Obama administration, right? And there are more border patrol? See here: http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=126 and here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/25/AR2010072501790.html and here: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/02/20100502arizona-border-violence-mexico.htmland here: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/22/nation/la-na-border-patrol-20100623
I think YOU'RE the one sleeping....
LMAO your two articles posted are during the BUSH admin. March of 2009 Obama had only been POTUS for 2 months.
wake up and read the article before posting it.
This guy just lost what little respect I did have for him. My mother, aunts and uncles survived a "Katrina" type hurricane as children when they were living in Ft. Pierce FL in the late 1920's. And like Katrina, the death toll was in the THOUSANDS. Most of the bodies were buried in mass graves, some of which have recently been discovered. There was no FEMA of course and they lost EVERY SINGLE THING they had. Now I don't know what fantasy land Ron Paul is living in, but NOBODY helped them, or others, rebuild! My family had no choice but to LEAVE. My mom and her 5 brothers and sisters basically lived out of a CAR while travelling to somewhere where they could make a new start. Not unlike the "Okies" that all went to California after the dustbowl (no FEMA either). If this is what out of touch with reality AND history delusional people like Ron Paul envision for the future of our country then GOD HELP US ALL! And just to show you what hippocrites they are, I bet if good ole' Ronnie boy's house gets destroyed by some natural disaster I bet you every last cent that I have he'd be FIRST IN LINE for that FEMA check!
It's not so much as Paul and his ilk are living in a fantasy world, it's just that to them, what you described your family going though was perfectly acceptable.
People need to Man Up & confront conservatives & this unpatriotic Tea Party every time they overhear one of their comments... I don't care where it is, in a store, coffee shop or in pubs, or walking on a town sidewalk..
Man Up,, They are hurting Families, our national security, our economic recovery & this great country
well prepare to battle then, because we conservatives have reached our limit with you socialists. We are ready for revolution if necessary to roll back your 80 years of marxist/socialist coup.
This country could be great again if it turns from this socialism and back to obedience to the Constitution and individual liberty over socialist collectivism
Socialism again Larry??? You're own fingers show that you never met Reagan
The best example of "Socialim" is in America's Churches, seriously & I don't oppose churches, just some of their right wing nut job preachers. Reagan you could call a socialist for taking "Pure Socialism" to the Ukraine
Larry Robinson-1323081
LOL! Nice of you to speak for them, but what makes you think that real conservatives are going to be on the side of the lunatic fringe?
Man, Texas is really working overtime to turn out the wackos!
I love "Messing With Texass", they consider sheep "brides"
There was one study done just from internet comments that showed the majority in Texass loves anal
Better than having your brother for a bride in CA.
My brother is married to a woman in Vegas & I still prefer women.. I do support giving gays & lesbians the same rights as the rest of America has
That whole DOMA thing was just a homofobic attack against freedoms & liberties & simply not American ---- If they wanted to defend marriage in the least they would try to end divorce laws in their states
Not surprising Jim that as a godless atheist and marxist you support promoting perversion as normal.
Larry,,, from what I've been seeing from you on this post,, you are still a frigging "birther"
Somehow after Irene, not sure if the governmental officials and residents of the states where this storm hit agree with Ron Paul's libertarian ideology. Caution seems a better approach than a reaction after the affect.
Ruh row...
http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx
LOL! No way this POS is getting elected again!!
PERRY/RUBIO 2012!
...OR ANYONE OTHER THAN BOBO THE CLOWN AND MANSHELLE
Obama definitely should take the credit for this!! He OWNS it! ROFLMAO!
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/100102355/perfect-storm-of-hype-politicians-the-media-and-the-hurricane-irene-apocalypse-that-never-was/
Obama keeps you people all stirred up and pissed, while he keeps you dependent on government.
Get a life libs.
Got OBL, won a war in Libya on the cheap, found WMD's, disposed a terrorist dictator in a few months without the loss of thousands of perfectly good American troops
Broght in reform to the banking & finance industry, brought in reforms to Medicare that cost less than Ryan's plan costs & doesnt effect anyone on Medicare like Ryan's would have
Gave evryone tax cuts & even reduced payroll deductions for both business & workers
CBO reports that Obama's administration has actually reduced federal deficit spending, more next year & even more reductions in the future
His jobs Plan actually creates long term living wage jobs,, Whereas conservatives insist on more cuts that kill thousands of jobs for American Families
Get a life cons
Yawn. Your talking points get really old.
BTW, Obama didn't get OBL - the Navy Seals did. Unfortunately, they got us back for that one, didn't they? Obama didn't protect them did he?
Ya, we're still in Libya - how can we win a war we weren't fighting to begin with? You mean the illegal war Obama started?
What reforms to Medicare are you speaking of? The one where it costs us more and healthcare is rationed? He's cutting Medicare by $500 billion to fund Obamascare, right? Until it's finally ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Beings.
Wow, I could go on, but why bother. Your head is securely placed up his ass. No getting through to your @!$%# for brains.
Sue,,,, You are always good for a laugh even if you have no honor
You still think Obama was born in Kenya & is a Muslim
How's it feel since all 3 of your leading candidates blatantly lied on FEMA? And all 3 keep asking for more federal money?
Bachmann demands federal "Stimulus" money for a bridge she wants
It'll feel great once Obama is out of the WH.
Glad you can laugh.. because Obama is no joke and nothing to laugh about.
When you find some patriotism, come on back. America loves everyone. Lefties don't.
I like the old coot but it looks like he's been hitting the loco weed a bit too much in his later years. I know he's all for legalizing it but you shouldn't be floating major policy ideas when you're under its influence. It's governments first job to protect its citizens Ron. If you can't do that, what are you there for? This hate DC rant has gone a bit overboard with the TP nuts.
An idiot-I'm not sure which one-made the simpleton comment that Katrina was Bush's FEMA. Does everyone understand that bureaucrats outlast multiple Presidents. This makes me wonder if most people believe each President hand picks all the bureaucrats.
Amazing, but not surprising coming in a country that places more stock on American Idol than the truth (which you will never get from MSNBC or Fox)
Nobody blamed Bush for Katrina,,, Just his administration's disorganized efforts during it.. Every storm brought more improvements to FEMA after Katrina
Listening to the officials in New Jersey & elsewhere during Irene,, FEMA is a thousand times better
I find it morally dishonest for Perry or Paul to say anything about FEMA,, The Obama gave them millions through FEMA -- They both needed FEMA & Texass can't do it without help.. Perry tells you that
How Rick Perry Created His State's $27 Billion Budget Crisis
Since Perry is running for president on a record of fiscal responsibility, it’s important to understand his 2006 decision that wreaked havoc on his state.
August 24, 2011 |
The following piece appears in the current issue of the Washington Spectator. For more great stories, check out their site.
In his State of the State speech in February, Rick Perry described the $27 billion budget shortfall confronting the Texas Legislature.
“Now, the mainstream media and big government interest groups are doing their best to convince us that we’re facing a budget Armageddon,” Perry said. “Texans don’t believe it and they shouldn’t because it’s not true.”
The $27 billion equaled 15 percent of the $182 billion biennial budget the Legislature had passed two years earlier. If not Armageddon, an apocalyptic loss of revenue in a low-tax state that provides bare-bones public services.
Perry’s statement was even more remarkable because most of the budget shortfall was a consequence of a business-tax bill he pushed through the Legislature in a special session five years earlier.
With Perry running for president on a record of fiscal responsibility (and job creation, discussed later in this article), it’s important to understand the consequences of his 2006 “business margins tax” — and to ask if the governor knew that the tax reform he proposed would undermine the state’s budgets in the years that followed.
First, some background. Texas is one of nine states with no income tax. It relies on property taxes to pay for public services — notably, to pay for public education, which consumes the lion’s share of property taxes.
Because there is no income tax, property taxes are high. In 2006, Perry called a special session to address property taxes. With no income tax, there are no easy fixes. Yet Perry found one. A business-margins tax he said would provide enough revenue to allow for reductions in property taxes.
It was evident at the time that the new tax would not deliver what the governor promised. The state comptroller, Carole Strayhorn, had her staff run the numbers on Perry’s tax-reform proposal.
“In 2007,” she wrote in a letter to Perry, “your plan is $3.4 billion short; in 2009, it is $5.4 billion short; in 2010 it is $4.9 billion short, and in 2011 it is $5 billion short. These are conservative estimates.”
The comptroller warned that “no economic miracle will close the gap your plan creates. Even if every dollar of the current [2006] $8.2 billion surplus was poured into the plan, it would not cover the plan’s cost for more than two years, 2007 and 2008. The gap is going to continue to grow year by year.” The shortfall the bill created could only be closed by tax increases, the comptroller warned, “or massive cuts in essential public services — like public education.”
“It was not only Ms. Strayhorn’s letter,” Houston Democratic Rep. Scott Hochberg told me. “Every official document predicting the state’s financial crisis at the time predicted exactly what happened.”
Hochberg, the Legislature’s resident authority on public-education finance, also warned Perry that the tax bill he was promoting would not produce the revenue he promised.
“I asked the governor about this in a small meeting amongst legislators,” Hochberg said. “His answer to me, I remember it as clear as day, was ‘Scott, use your common sense. Don’t you know that when we cut property taxes we will see such an economic boom that you will never even notice the drop in revenue?’”
Perry’s response to the Democratic legislator was candid — and newsworthy. Perry admitted he knew that the tax reform he proposed would result in a “drop in revenue.”
Perry was not alone in that knowledge.
Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst told San Antonio Express-News reporter Garry Scharrer this past January that he, too, knew the new tax wouldn’t deliver what it promised:
“Dewhurst now says that he knew that revenue projections from the revised business franchise tax ‘were inflated’ and told Senate members in closed-door caucus meetings at the time that the business tax would not perform as advertised ‘and that we were going to create a structural funding deficit in state government.’ But Dewhurst said he also believed at the time that ‘we would grow out of it by now.’”
A state senator told me last month that Republican leaders in the Senate knew the tax they were supporting wouldn’t provide adequate revenue, and the “grow out of it” trope was their answer to questions from skeptics.
“They knew their projections were ########,” the senator said. “When you questioned them about it, they’d say ‘we’ll grow out of it.’”
That’s the story. The state’s Republican governor and lieutenant governor knowingly created a budget crisis.
As the state’s comptroller predicted, a surplus covered some of the 2007-2008 budget shortfall. In 2009, Perry used $17 billion of President Obama’s federal stimulus money to fill the funding gap for the following two years, and to cover a shortfall in the previous fiscal year’s budget. (Perry angrily refused $555 billion in stimulus money designated for the extension of benefits to the unemployed, protesting that the federal dollars came with strings attached.)
When the Legislature convened in January 2011, the federal stimulus money was spent, and the budget shortfall about which the comptroller warned Perry five years earlier had arrived.
Public education took the biggest hit. I asked Hochberg about the $4 billion cut from the state’s public education budget.
He said the funding gap is larger: $4.3 billion on the basic “formulas,” which have always been funded. And “a billion-plus” ($1.4 billion) in “categorical funding” to public schools — funds for teacher incentives, school facilities, pre-kindergarten grants.
Thus far, 12,000 teachers have been laid off. Add to that roughly 6,000 state employees cashiered because of budget cuts, a figure that doesn’t include university professors and other university employees who will lose their jobs because of the $1.2 billion cut from higher ed funding.
Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals were cut, and the final four months of Medicaid payments in fiscal year 2012 were not funded.
There was an alternative to the austerity budget the Texas Legislature passed in June. Democrats and some Republicans proposed tapping the state’s Rainy Day Fund, funded by oil and gas taxes, to cover part of the shortfall.
Perry, however, declared the $9.5 billion fund off limits. He ultimately acquiesced to demands from moderate Republicans and agreed to use $3.2 billion to cover part of the current fiscal year’s deficit. But nothing for the next biennium, when the state’s public schools are short $5.7 billion.
“The governor doesn’t do anything on his own,” Hochberg observed. “The governor was only able to do that because he had a large number of House members, particularly newly elected Tea Party House members, who were willing to say ‘I’m not going to vote against the governor.’
“But, clearly, he led the parade.” When the Legislature convenes in 2013, it will face a shortfall of $10 billion to $18 billion, plus the $4.8 billion in Medicaid expenses it failed to fund this year.
Jobs For Sale
By now we all know what Rick Perry is selling. He collaborates with the private sector to create jobs and to attract jobs from other states. The Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technologies Fund, his creations, have had unprecedented success.
It’s not as simple as Perry would have you believe.
The two big economic development funds Perry controls operate on a trickle-up economic theory. The state takes money from taxpayers and gives it to corporations to entice them to create new jobs.
Yet corporations often fail to deliver, and the governor and his staff rewrite corporations’ contracts to relax their job-creation requirements.
Grants are often made to companies that would move into the state or expand their workforce without a taxpayer-funded incentive.
The governor hands over millions of dollars to corporations whose executives have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns.
And Rick Perry holds all the cards. The lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House have a vote on which corporations get public money. But as a state senator explained to me, neither of them has the staff to evaluate candidates for taxpayer funding.
The same senator also said he would like to know how many times the speaker and lieutenant governor have said ‘no’ to Perry. There is no public record. The governor proposes and the governor disposes, in closed meetings.
And these are scarce dollars. In a low-tax and low-services state, the zero-sum-game nature of the budgetary process is painfully evident. For example, the biggest pot of economic-development dollars, the Texas Enterprise Fund, was started in 2003 by drawing $285 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund. The same Rainy Day Fund the governor this year declared off limits for the public schools.
The Enterprise Fund also withdrew $161 million from the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund in 2009, at a time when unemployment taxes paid by businesses tripled and only 34 percent of unemployed workers received benefits.
Add to that the total funds appropriated by the Legislature, and you get close to $500 million, all of which has or will be disbursed by the governor.
Perry has been in office for more than 10 years, which has allowed him to use his authority to make political appointments to expand the constitutionally limited powers of his office. He is, in other words, a very strong weak governor.
Every statewide elected office is held by a Republican. And the Republican Party holds a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature. This political hegemony has created a climate that discourages oversight of the Republican governor.
Public Interest Oversight
In the absence of official oversight, a good-government group, Texans for Public Justice (TPJ), did its own audit of the economic development funds and found that in 2009 the number of corporate grant recipients not fulfilling their obligations had increased from 42 percent to 66 percent.
TPJ also found that when companies failed to meet their contractual obligations to provide jobs, the governor’s office discreetly rewrote their contracts.
No state official, appointed or elected, it seemed, was working to ensure that the taxpayer was getting a reasonable return on the $368 billion the governor had handed out at the time TPJ’s report was released.
Beyond the sloppy stewardship of taxpayer dollars, many of Perry’s grants make little sense. Consider $600,000 paid to the Cabela’s sporting-goods chain for a commitment of 400 new jobs in two new super-stores. And the promise of “new hotels, entertainment parks, restaurants and complementary retail stores … expected to total over $250 million and create an additional 2,000 Texas jobs,” according to documents obtained by TPJ.
Cabela’s is not Disney. It created 241 jobs, with average annual salaries of $23,000. The hotels, restaurants, and various retail outlets never materialized. The state recovered $177,288, or 44 percent of the grant.
“It’s a slippery slope when you fund retail,” said Don Baylor, a policy analyst at the non-profit Center for Public Policy Priorities. “Because retail always follows where rooftops are.” In other words, where there are consumers, Cabela’s and other retailers need no incentive.
Other grants were made to corporations expanding facilities they are unlikely to abandon.
Motiva Enterprises, for example, is a joint venture of Shell Oil and the Saudi-Arabian oil company Aramco. In 2006, Texas awarded Motiva $2 million on the promise of 300 jobs it would create through a $3.2 billion project to make its Port Arthur refinery the largest in the nation. With a producing refinery on Port Arthur’s Sabine-Neches Waterway, Motiva was unlikely to take its $3.2 billion expansion project to another state.
Nor was Motiva so illiquid that it could not have expanded its refinery without $2 million from the public treasury. In the quarter in which Motiva’s $2 million check was cut, Shell reported $6.3 billion in earnings.
Taxpayers in Texas also wrote checks to mortgage bankers, while the bankers booked huge profits on the subprime home-loans that foundered the economy in 2007.
Countrywide Home Loans got $20 million in 2004, on a commitment of 7,500 jobs. It created 3,876. Then the bottom fell out of the housing market, Countrywide was charged with defrauding its clients, and was acquired by Bank of America. It has agreed to return 40 percent of its $20 million. By July 2011, the Countrywide loan portfolio, underwritten in part by Texas taxpayers, had cost Bank of America more than 50 percent of its share value.
Texas taxpayers also gave Washington Mutual $15 million in 2005, to open a new $50 million facility in San Antonio. At the time the deal was announced, WaMu had $300 billion in assets, $188 billion in deposits, and 43,000 employees. It was also in the process of dumping its 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage portfolio to clear the books for high-risk subprime loans.
“Those were really negative investments,” Baylor said. “You financed toxic financial products that sucked equity and wealth out of hundreds of thousands of people, not only in Texas, but nationwide.”
WaMu also consistently missed its job targets. TPJ found that the governor’s office amended its contract, allowing aggregated part-time jobs to count as full-time jobs.
Other grants fail to pass the smell test.
Bill White, Perry’s opponent in the 2010 general election, criticized an $8.5 million grant to Caterpillar Inc. to build an engine plant in Seguin. Perry’s office responded that White was desperate because he was trailing in the polls.
Perhaps.
But Peter M. Holt owns the Caterpillar sales outlets in Texas and had donated $424,000 to Perry’s campaigns. The decision to locate the plant in Texas, according to a company press release obtained by White, was made before Caterpillar’s grant was awarded.
Sanderson Farms got $500,000 in exchange for a commitment to build a $7 million chicken hatchery and processing plant in Waco. Sanderson Farms CEO Joe Sanderson had contributed $165,000 to Perry’s campaign.
Close ties between political donors and development grants are not isolated incidents. Texas Observer Editor Dave Mann found that executives and employees of 20 companies that received a combined $174.2 million had donated $2.2 million to Perry, and to the Republican Governors Association he chaired until he began his run for the presidency. In the 2011 legislative session, Democratic Senator Kirk Watson and Republican Senator John Carona passed a bill that provides some transparency in the grant process. Control of the funds remains firmly in Perry’s hands.
Don’t look for the pace of the grants to slow. A week before Perry flew to South Carolina to announce that he’s in the race, his office announced a $300,000 grant to Office Depot.
The company might need the help. Two days before winning the scratch-off lottery in Texas, Office Depot posted a quarterly loss of $29 million.
Whew, another article from the leftwingers. So loaded with BS I can smell it.
How can you read this crap?
Is this better Sue?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved 25 fire management assistance grants in April, specifically designed to support firefighting efforts. They cover 75 percent of the state's emergency response work for each fire, according to FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen who objected to Perry's claims of neglect in a statement
Perry has even said Texas couldn't do it on their own without federal FEMA help
Don't you still think Obama was born in Kenya?
I could care less where the idiot was born.
Good for Rick Perry. He's a great Governor and he'll be an EXCELLENT President!
Sue,,, Even Bush conservatives don't think Perry helped Texas in the least
Did you realize the only thing that kept Texas out of the economic collapse was "REGULATIONS"? Texas has some of the toughest mortgage banking REGULATIONS in the country... Oil companies created jobs, not Perry, his was minimum wage jobs & State Government jobs & that was done with Obama's money
As far as Perry saying creationism is taught in their schools,,, No teacher in Texas can tell you where any school is that does...
Gee, how would you know...have you asked them all?
New talking points I see.
You're still clueless lib and a waste of my time.
The quotes from Ron Paul are clearly short snippets from a longer conversation. I highly doubt that's all he said, so it's likely that some of his explanations of what he would do instead (or even why he brought up the year 1900) were excised from the conversation in order to make them sound the most uncaring as possible.
But is this really uncaring? FEMA is a giant bureaucracy. My mother works in public service and deals with them all the time; she absolutely hates dealing with them. I'm sure there are plenty of good people who work there, but the whole system is a mess.
As for the self-reliance thing, Ron Paul is obviously suggesting that we work together to help each other, rather than depending on the government to take care of us. When many people hear about a natural disaster, they think, "How sad. I'm glad the government is helping them"--and they do nothing else. In fact, they may even think that they are helping, since their tax dollars contribute toward the aid. But what if there was no government assistance? What if the only aid that existed came from the goodwill of our fellow man? If you knew that the victims wouldn't receive any help unless people like you volunteered, don't you think you might be a little more willing to lend a hand?
Churches, charities, and other caring groups generally do a much better job at assisting disaster victims, and we would all be better off if the tax dollars that would have been spent on FEMA were sent to our charity of choice. If we really care about helping people, then we should get rid of money-sucking bureaucracies like FEMA and focus on financing and volunteering with organizations that have a better track record for actually helping people.
Also, the people who live in disaster-prone areas might reconsider living there if they knew there would be no government assistance. It's well-documented that people who have insurance tend to engage in riskier behaviors than those who don't. Since most people, however subconsciously, think of government as providing emergency property and medical insurance in the face of disaster, they are more likely to live in areas that may be unwise to reside in. Of course, even if FEMA went away, some people would still consider it worthwhile to live in those areas, but that would be their choice. I can assure you that people would be more likely to think twice about living in those areas if they knew there would be no tax-funded assistance.
And why should people who choose NOT to live in those areas (because of the potential risk) be forced by the government (through taxation) to "bail out" those who did not more carefully weigh the costs involved? I don't mean for that to sound callous, because my heart truly goes out to people who experience extreme devastation of their property. (I've had experience with it myself.) But it's actually more compassionate to foster a system that encourages people to weigh the costs and benefits of where they choose to live. Just as it's more compassionate to encourage people to eat healthy, rather than eating whatever they want and then promising to pay their medical bills when their health fails, it's also more compassionate to encourage people to live in places that are less likely to be hit with disaster. FEMA and other government programs encourage riskier behavior, and that is the height of uncaring.
Some people will hate FEMA simply becuse it's government... In spite of all the help FEMA gave Texas on the request of both Perry & Paul
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved 25 fire management assistance grants in April, specifically designed to support firefighting efforts. They cover 75 percent of the state's emergency response work for each fire, according to FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen who objected to Perry's claims of neglect in a statement
Perry has even said Texas couldn't do it on their own without federal FEMA help
It's "people" who demand risky behavior... Big Insurance & states taking lobby money encourage it, I can see your point about where to build a house. We have that problem here in Ca. Big developers just can't stop building on eroding hills.. Any time someone says something, the usual response is it's Free Market & good, that was the response from conservative's own Dan Lungren when I asked him about it
"Churches, charities, and other caring groups generally do a much better job at assisting disaster victims..."
That's simply not true. They don't have the resources to operate when roads are flooded, power is out, cell towers aren't functioning. The best they can do in the immediate aftermath is help the people who are able to get themselves to those churches and charities.
There has to be someone who coordinates the activities of these churches and charities, as well as the rescue and infrastructure repair activities. Usually this someone is the local fire chief. A lot of local jurisdictions then have assistance agreements so they can overlap and help one-another if any one of them gets hit hard by something. Sometimes, like with hurricanes, everyone in the assistance agreement gets hit, overwhelmed, and needs state assistance. They don't need the state to step in and run things; but they do need specific resources the state can provide.
And sometimes, the disaster exceeds community and state resources. That's when the governor requests a presidential declaration, and when FEMA and other federal agencies can step in to assist. Again, they don't run the show; they just provide specific resources to the local and state coordinators.
That's called the National Response Plan. It's codified in law - a set of laws Ron Paul seems not particularly familiar with.
this old bastard is full of sh*t !!! if he is so opposed to government and FEMA, WHY IS HE IN GOVERNMENT AT ALL ???
How is that even remotely a valid argument? He's opposed to a government program ... so he shouldn't be in Government at all?
Hi, I'm a doctor, I don't support the fact the pharmaceutical companies are medicating our population in an overly and unnecessary manner. MAYBE I SHOULDN'T BE A DOCTOR AT ALL!!????
dear james
it is quite clear that there is an enormous difference between pushing drugs for "fun and profit" and helping people who have lost everything in a storm, flood or earthquake !!! I can choose to take a drug to lower my cholesterol or blood glucose !!! I can choose to take chemotherapy if I develop cancer !!! however, I have no control over earthquakes, tornadoes, floods or hurricanes that may affect me or my neighbors !!! It is the proper role of government to assist people in times of crisis when individual efforts are totally inadequate !!! and this is especially true when large numbers of citizens are affected from Florida to Maine !!! only selfish idiots like paul make such asinine statements and you must be a pathologist !!!
and one more thing james. you shouldn't be a doctor if you don't want to help patients and paul shouldn't be in government if he sees no use for government !!! the term that comes to mind when I think of paul is HYPOCRITE !!!
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.John 15:5
I am on the vine, Paul is still an idiot, isolationism will severely damage our national security, conservatives don't like him because he won't support Israel.. Eliminating FEMA will hurt Texas & Every American Family. Jim 8:28
Virgil: Find a thread where your New Testament quotations have some connection with reality. Otherwise, get off the blog!
Ron Paul has a point. FEMA and almost every other Federal beauracracy, is more about wasting money than helping people. Kinda like throwing a million dollars at a 20 dollar problem. How much has FEMA spent over the past 10, 15 years? Nobody knows. What exactly have they done to help people, solve problems, etc? Nobody knows for sure. There are so many "hands" in the Feds pocket that money flows faster than a swollen river, a tornado or a hurricane. I don't think FEMA is all bad, I just don't think the Federal government has the ability to oversee and maximize efficiency on anything.
I don't notice Ron Paul turning down federal help every time there's a disaster in Galveston. Just like I don't notice any of the "oh so pure" TeaPublican governors, senators, or U.S. representatives turning down federal help. Such a bunch of pansy hypocrits!
"We should be like 1900; we should be like 1940, 1950, 1960," Paul said. "I live on the Gulf Coast; we deal with hurricanes all the time. Galveston is in my district."
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Yeah, Ron, IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU! The country will be better if we can all be just like you. When was your town washed away and you pulled yourself up by the bootstraps? I do try to be respectful of others' opinions, but this is irrational pure and simple. If we all lived in log cabins and there were no cities, you might make sense. Someone should tell you we don't.
If I'm not mistaken that was before the days of modern weather satellites we use for hurricane early warnings
I think it's a conservative policy now to prevent funding for replacements & return us to those days.... Great Family Values, huh? Great as in Greatly Missing
They also want to shut down NOAA in their ludicrous quest for smaller government
Jim, ... Do you have links for your "thoughts"?
yea and last i checked gitmo still open, your golfer in chief does wonderful job.
There's only so much he can do when there are whiny CONservatives hounding him every single step of the way.
If you can't lead get out of the way!
That's the best you've got lost? Quit whining
Got OBL, won a war in Libya on the cheap, found WMD's, disposed a terrorist dictator in a few months without the loss of thousands of perfectly good American troops or one troop
Brought in reform to the banking & finance industry, brought in reforms to Medicare that cost less than Ryan's plan costs & doesn't effect anyone on Medicare like Ryan's would have
Gave evryone tax cuts & even reduced payroll deductions for both business & workers
CBO reports that Obama's administration has actually reduced federal deficit spending, more next year & even more reductions in the future
His jobs Plan actually creates long term living wage jobs,, Whereas conservatives insist on more cuts that kill thousands of jobs for American Families
not whining Jim, just dont drink his kool aid like you do. And just FYI he didnt win war in Libya, if anybody credit should go to France and Italy. I've got hell of lot more Jim, but kinda useless talking to you about because your messiah cant do no wrong, so keep drinking that kool aid and see you in November.
You are definitely whining
Your conservative candidates cant win battles against their own lips, let alone a Presidential election -- Ron Paul alreay lost 3 & so has Romney
Jim figures if he posts as fast possible the same thing over and over again, people will just give up and believe him and, the context of how he views the world.
But the failiure of the Libs is the same thing over and over..
What part of BROKE do you not understand? We have redundant groups that do the same thing FEMA does. There is no purpose for the group. There is no reason for it to pull our budget down.
like i said is useless talking to a lib with blinders on.
Still no socialism, still no tyranny, still no nationalization of the banks & business,,, Still no death panels or reeducation camps
Bachmann is demanding federal Stimulus for a bridge she wants, FEMA is a thousand times better than before, & no state even Texas can handle state disasters or wild fires without FEMA according to Gov Perry
Ron Paul wants to end both NOAA & FEMA & still won't support Israel
Oh, and still no bodies in Arizona with their heads chopped off
Liberalism is consistently wrong-Reagan's words in 1964 are appropriate for today-socialists like Jim give the same whining remarks as they did in '64
Ronald Reagan-Address to the nation, October 27, 1964
I gotta call you out again Larry... Reagan was quoting a Cuban who said that about Cuba
That was his Rendevous With Destiny speech.. YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ IT
You lied to me about ever meeting Reagan
http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/reagan101964.html
Jim why don't you go join your buddies Fidel and Hugo since you love socialism so much?
I'm sick of you marxists and your desire to destroy our Constitutional Republic that I served and fought to defend.
Larry,,, Just go back to your office in the John Birch Society, you can hate all the Americans you want to..
Nothing at all American or even patriotic in your rant. It shows a lack of education & total lack of honor to this country
There certainly is nothing patriotic or American in the Tea Party. Deliberately wanting our economy & nation to collapse is the opposite of Patriotic & borders on treason
Jim - one thing that's been overlooked...
The Kock brothers FATHER founded the John Birch Society;
These are VERY dangerous & disingenuous people parading around wrapped in a freakin flag!
Jim, you're giving Obama accolades for accomplishments like winning the war in Libya? Did you ever stop to ask yourself if the Libyan war was remotely constitutional or necessary? You support the last two administrations policies of preemptive warfare? We've removed Ghadaffi, but what good did removing Saddam do for us? Have these wars served our national interest? (Please leave the main stream media humanitarian angle out of this, the Rebels are raping, murdering, and pillaging).
Who won: Wall Street & The Miltiary Industrial Complex
Who has suffered: Our veterans and active military (there is a reason Ron Paul receives more donations from active military than all other candidates combined), our school children who are undergoing constant education cuts, our economy, and any american citizen who still believes.
Your time to wake up to the tyranny that's coming full circle in the United States probably won't happen anytime soon, but one day you will wake up.
You and this Larry guy are both the product of manipulation and poor education. Your mainstream media networks are pinning you against one another as a socialists vs conservatives vs tea party... but you're being kept in the dark as to who is really guilty. The democrats and republicans are one in the same, sure one party doesn't like gay marriage, or one party supports abortion generally speaking, but across the important topics like the economy they are one in the same. They've grown the size of government, expanded the wars, and spent more than anyone in the history of the world (Our debt is the worlds largest in history). Both parties have sold us down the river without respect for the future.
Do I agree with Ron Paul on all the issues? No. Will I still vote for him? Yes
Why? Well it's because he's the only honest person there, with an unwavering political record, and the integrity to actually do what he's promised to do. Obama has been holding hands with the corporatists and warmongers since he got into office, and I don't blame him, he just wanted to be president (who wouldn't), even if it means he had to sell his soul.
I voted for Obama in 2008, and myself, like many other democratically leaning people feel that we made a huge mistake. We were duped into the brilliant marketing campaign for change, and we were left with more of the same.
On a side note, the article provides no context for his statements about FEMA, and sort of paints the portrait that he's some crazy old nut. Please refer to his interview with Chris Wallace on Fox Sunday for clarification regarding these remarks about FEMA, not some bull@!$%# 4 paragraph MSNBC article.... my god is our media biased.