Emma Berry

Posts Tagged ‘Rick Perry’

Even a Chicken knows more than Rick Perry–They don’t even like to step in it, much less use it as a flavor for their drinking water.

Hundreds of our streams, rivers and lakes are too polluted for swimming and fishing — and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has implemented new rules that would make them worse.
The rules would allow even more health-threatening bacteria into waterways where people aren’t likely to ingest the water.That means if people like to wade, but not swim, in a creek, it can stay polluted.

To show the TCEQ that Texans want clean water, we need you to voice your opposition to these rules. Can we add your name to our petition to the TCEQ?

There’s a lot at stake.
In 2007, the chicken company Pilgrim’s Pride discharged more than 1.5 million pounds of toxic pollution from its Mt. Pleasant processing facility into Tankersley Creek. The creek feeds into the Lake O’ the Pines, a popular swimming spot in northeast Texas that saw several beach closures this summer due to high bacteria levels.

We need to show the state we demand clean water. Click the link below to sign a petition protesting the new rules.

http://www.environmenttexas.org/action/water/ecoli-in-water3?id4=ES

http://www.environmenttexas.org

Fellow Texan,

Who pulls the strings in Rick Perry’s Texas?

It will be obvious later tonight at his big “Lobbyist Ball” fundraiser in Austin — 29 out of 30 members of the steering committee are registered lobbyists. Many of those lobbyists are former Perry staff members who then cashed in for millions after working for Perry.

Please help us send a clear message that Texans from all backgrounds are tired of the “politics as usual” that has brought us rising tuition, insurance, and utility rates.

Click here to contribute $5 to make sure ordinary Texans — not lobbyists — pull the strings in Austin.

All contributions in response to this email will be counted toward our “Say No to the Lobbyist Ball” goal of surpassing 20,000 individual donors to our campaign — we are now at 19,523.

Our campaign is building momentum, as you can see from the crowds and energy growing statewide.

If you are ready for a new governor, please contribute today and help us move Texas forward.

Respectfully,

Bill White

Under Rick Perry, state debt has doubled and state spending has nearly doubled.

If anyone is looking for a petri dish to examine  as test of one of the cornerstones of conservatism–”privatization” then they can look to Perry and his efforts to steal from taxpayer coffers for entitlement programs like unemployment insurance with his “Texas Enterprise System”. For that little piece of fraud, Perry with the assistance of the Texas legislature  robbed the coffers of our state unemployment insurance tax that workers pay out of their weekly paychecks to protect them against unemployment to the tune of over $350 million to date.

What has he used that money for?  To make extortion payments to Wall Street corporations who then in turn contribute millions of dollars to his campaign. He says he did it to create jobs in Texas; however, the job creations have fallen a great deal more than short as promised.

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UNDERSTAND THIS ABOUT ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS

Social Security; Unemployment Insurance; Medicare–all these are examples of what are sometimes referred to as entitlement programs.   YES YOU ARE ENTITLED TO THE PAYMENTS JUST AS YOUR ARE ENTITLED TO RECEIVE PAYMENTS WHEN YOU SUBMIT LEGITIMATE CLAIMS ON ANY INSURANCE.  But to listen to some Conservatives you would think that this was some gift from the government that the rich gave to you.  In addition conservatives often insinuate that something is morally wrong with people who collect such payments.

and NO, Social Security is not broken!  Far from it.  Social Security can fund at 100% until 2037 provided that the conservative republicans keep their hands off it. After 2037, provide out do nothing Congress continues to do nothing, Social Security will still continue to fund at 75%.  AND if the multimillionaires in Congress really wanted to fix Social Security they could do it in less than an hour by passing a bill that says that ALL Americans should bay social security on 100% of their income.  Currently those who earn over $106,000 a year don’t have to pay social security tax on the amounts above $106,000.  Those of us who earn below $106,000 must pay social security taxes on 100% of our income.  Thus a millionaire only pays on about 10% of his income while you pay on 100% of your income.

ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE NATIONAL DEBT AND THUS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANNUAL DEFICITS EITHER. They are not part of the national budget. Think of them as insurance that comes out of your paycheck to protect you if you happen to need it.  In terms of unemployment insurance you may be lucky enough to never need it.  Just as with care insurance that you pay.  You may be lucky enough to never have to submit a  claim.  BUT the point is that if you do submit a claim you will be covered, in part because other people are paying in as well. That is how insurance works.  It is designed as a way to pool money for the common good.

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Rick Perry and the Texas legislature have literally dipped into the unemployment insurance pool OWNED by working Texans and given this money to Wall Street corporations.  Perry has profited from it because he has gotten campaign donations from the people to whom he has given your money.

IF YOU ARE A WORKING TEXAN WHO GETS A W2 EVERY WEEK OR TWO, AND YOU VOTE FOR RICK PERRY THEN ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS THAT YOU ARE AN IGNORANT FOOL BECAUSE PERRY IS QUITE LITERALLY JERKING THE RUG [THAT  YOU PAID FOR] FROM BENEATH YOUR FEET.  SORRY BUT THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO PUT IT STRONG ENOUGH TO GET MY POINT ACROSS.

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YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SEE ME GETTING OUT THE POM POMS FOR BILL WHITE EITHER, BUT HE IS A DAMN SIGHT BETTER THAN PERRY.  At least with White we will have a few crumbs tossed our way.

The Texas attorney general sued the Obama administration Wednesday over its new deep-water offshore drilling moratorium, claiming it is unjustified and federal officials did not contact the state before issuing the ban.

Attorney General Greg Abbott filed the 18-page suit in federal court in Houston against Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The ban halted the approval of any new permits for deep-water projects and shut down drilling at 33 exploratory ocean wells in the wake of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS DO  YOU THINK THESE ANTICS FROM RICK PERRY’S REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION WILL COST THE TAXPAYERS?

Yet these same jackasses would be at the front of the line claiming that tort reform was the second best thing to holy water from Lourdes to cure what ails us.

One of the biggest expenses that our nation is facing today is the continued Republican obstructionism and their lawsuit-happy mentality.  Of course THEY are not the ones paying for these frivolous law suits!  It is  you and me–Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer who are footing the bill for the Republican grandstanding.

There was Robin Hood who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor and then there is Rick Perry who is robbing the ‘hood with his “Texas Enterprise Fund.”

No greater example of a Republican violation of public trust than Rick Perry’s robbery of the Texas Workers State unemployment fund.  Every week taxes are taken out of your paycheck and put into a public fund as insurance to pay you compensation should you lose your job.  The state of Texas currently has a shortfall of these funds.

AND DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?

It is not because of the recession.

It is because Rick Perry and the Republican State legislature have defrauded you and hundreds of thousands of worker like you all over Texas. They have robbed the coffers of the taxpayer’s money that workers put there weekly out of their own paychecks as insurance to protect them if they lose their jobs. To date, over $300 million dollars has been taken from this unemployment insurance fund.

AND WHERE DID THIS MONEY GO? It went to large Wall Street corporations as enticements to get them to create jobs here in Texas.  And have these Wall Street corporations kept their promises?  Not even close.  But of course they they kept the taxpayers money.  It is no accident that the current shortfall of money to pay workers unemployment compensation is close to exactly the money that Perry and his buddies have forked over to Wall Street corporations like Bank of America.

Perry’s  scheme is called “The Texas Enterprise Fund”.  It is nothing more than outrageous fraud on the people of Texas.  Perry should be impeached on this one act of malfeasance alone.

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VOTE FOR BILL WHITE.

Not because I expect him to be a great governor, but he will at least provide the people with a few more crumbs than the robber baron we now have living in the  rented palace in Austin.

With the state facing a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent almost $600,000 in public money during the past two years to live in a sprawling rental home in the hills above the capital, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

It costs more than $10,000 a month in rent, utilities and upkeep to house Perry in a five-bedroom, seven-bath mansion that has pecan-wood floors, a gourmet kitchen and three dining rooms. Perry has also spent $130,000 in campaign donations to throw parties, buy food and drink, and pay for cable TV and a host of other services since he moved in, the records show.

Texas Alliance for Retired Americans President Shane Fox will speak at a free covered dish luncheon in Grand Prairie. Join us!

·         Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Social Security!

·         Stand up for another 75 years!

·         11 AM Thursday, August 12

·         UAW 848 Hall, 2218 E Main in Grand Prairie

Jobs with Justice will be helping plan ways to advance this battle while looking at a number of other important developments affecting our coalition. We meet every 2nd Wednesday. Join us this month:

• 7 PM, Wednesday, August 11
• UAW 848 Hall, 2218 E Main in Grand Prairie

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* AMERICANS WHO WORK FOR A LIVING AND  DON’T LIVE OFF THEIR WALL STREET INVESTMENT NEED TO KNOW WHAT RICK PERRY, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE TEXAS STATE LEGISLATURE DID TO TEXANS.

TheY created the “Texas Enterprise Fund”, another of the great privatization schemes of the “conservatives.”  This fund GIVES, yes GIVES millions of dollars to large Wall Street Corporations such a Bank of America to create jobs in Texas.  These jobe never materialize in the amounts promised, but you can bet your ass that the corproations hang onto the money.

And where do you think that this money come from?  It comes from the Texas Unemployment Insurance Fund. This is money that is taken out of the checks of working Americans to defray the costs of unemployment should they lose their jobs.  This is money that Republicans like to refer to as “entitlements”.  FANCY THAT!  Money that is paid for by YOU to ensure coverage in the event you lose your job is an “entitlement.”  I think that Republicans need a good dictionary because they clearly have some serious gaps in their vocabularies.

To date, over $300 million dollars has been taken from this unemployment insurance fund and forked over to rich Wall Street corporations.

RICK PERRY?  IF YOU ARE A WORKING PERSON AND  YOU VOTE FOR THAT JACKASS, THEN YOU ARE A FOOL WHO LIKES TO GIVE YOUR MONEY TO WALL STREET.

No, Bill White is not much better, but at least he would be an improvement.

IF YOU WORK FOR A LIVING WAKE UP!  YOU CANNOT AFFORD RICK PERRY!

Look at this

Recent TEF Contracts That Qualified For the Death Penalty But Have Not Been Terminated

TEF contracts typically permit the state to terminate an agreement—and recover public funds—when a TEF recipient falls woefully short of its initial job target. The Governor’s Office has enforced the death penalty on just two TEF recipients—though many more companies have qualified for it under the terms of their contracts.

Notice that some of the companies are not even headquartered in the USA, much less Texas.

These corporations shown below are only a part of the picture.  There are many other Recipients who have failed to keep their promises.  Not a bad deal in terms of ROI, even if they were to pay their fines, which they haven’t even done that much.

AND YOU WANT TO VOTE FOR A GOVERNOR THAT DOES THIS?  IF YOU WORK FOR A LIVING AND  YOU WANT TO VOTE FOR PERRY, THEN YOU ARE VOTING AGAINST YOUR BEST INTERESTS AND THAT’S A FACT.

I just read in the Collin County Observer where property taxes were increasing in Frisco, Texas.

Just last week I read that property taxes  were increasing in Plano for second time in as many years.

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What I want to know is when are citizens going to wise up and get the connection between the high property taxes that they pay and their “conservative” local government and local Chamber of Commerce’s tax give-aways to Wall Street Corporations to make their communities more attractive to what amounts to a Wall Street fleece.  Talk about a “shake-down”, Joe Barton would serve his constituents better if he pointed out real instead fake shakedowns.

IT IS TIME FOR WALL STREET CORPORATIONS TO START PAYING THEIR OWN WAY IN TERMS OF TAXES IN THE COMMUNITIES WHERE THEY ARE LOCATED.

When someone gets a free ride, the taxpayers are the ones who make up the difference.

The biggest “entitlement” programs that we have going today in the USA are the Wall Street entitlement programs that serve rich Wall Street investors–many of whom are not even citizens of our nation.

IT’S TIME FOR THE PEOPLE TO TAKE BACK THEIR  LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND REPLACE THEM WITH PEOPLE WHO WILL TAKE BACK THE TAX GIFTS TO WALL STREET CORPORATIONS.

Why should Wall Street pay no taxes and citizens be required to make up the difference?

YOU WANT TO KNOW ONE OF THE REWARDS FOR MAKING SUCH SACRIFICES TO CORPORATIONS?

Count the number of ozone orange air pollution alert days–that’s the thanks we get we get here in Texas.  Count the number of Texans who died in the BP Texas Refinery explosion or the 170 who were injured because investor profits came before worker safety.

Count the $161 million dollars that Rick Perry  has taken from unemployment insurance paid by Texas workers for his “Texas Enterprise Fund” and forked over to large Wall Street corporations since 2006 for “job creations” that never materialized.  That’s the thanks we get.

Local government leadership need to start representing the citizens of their communities by establishing locally owned corporations that make goods and provide services that are consumed locally.  Such corporations could be formed as local cooperatives owned by people who live in the area.  Shares in the company would not be sold to people living outside the community and when a citizen moves, they would be required to sell their shares.  Such corporations would stabilize local economies and make them less vulnerable to outside influences.  Corporations that supplied goods and services that meet basic needs such as food and clothing would provide the most economic security for the community.  This is not to exclude outside businesses in the community, but it would reduce the need for leaders of local governments to bend over and drop their pants in order to attract a polluting, non-tax paying Wall Street leech.  To say no is not “isolationism”.  This is protection of the citizens of a community who have been fleeced long enough by the actions of so called “conservatives.”

BUT OF COURSE, IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE TO HAVE YOUR PROPERTY TAXES RAISED, THEN YOU GO AHEAD AND CLING TO THE “CONSERVATIVE” CLICHES. I think it is time that Americans pull the wool out of their eyes and see exactly how they have been hoodwinked.

Those of you who live in the Dallas area, be sure to write Governor Rick Perry a thank you note for our air pollution alert today as he and his Republican good ole boy and girl cronies are largely responsible for the air that we cannot breathe as well as  other pollutions issues that we face as a state.

When  you have multi-billionaire polluters such as Harold Simmons contributing upwards to $600,000 to Perry’s campaign, “Houston, we have a problem.”

Their stinking me-first business pirate ideology for the already rich is making a cesspool of our state.

AIR QUALITY ALERT MESSAGE
TXZ103>105-117>121-131-133>135-022030-

AIR QUALITY ALERT MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
118 PM CDT SUN AUG 1 2010

...AIR POLLUTION WATCH LEVEL ORANGE...

AIR POLLUTION WATCH - LEVEL ORANGE - FOR DALLAS-FORT WORTH.

THE TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (TCEQ) HAS ISSUED A
LEVEL ORANGE AIR POLLUTION WATCH FOR THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH AREA
FOR MONDAY, AUGUST 2, 2010.

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE FAVORABLE FOR PRODUCING
HIGH LEVELS OF OZONE AIR POLLUTION IN THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH AREA
ON MONDAY. OZONE LEVELS COULD REACH THE LEVEL ORANGE "UNHEALTHY
FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS" CATEGORY.

ELEVATED CONCENTRATIONS OF OZONE CAN ACT AS A LUNG IRRITANT.
INDIVIDUALS WITH CHRONIC LUNG DISEASE, SUCH AS ASTHMA AND
EMPHYSEMA, AS WELL AS THE ELDERLY AND YOUNG CHILDREN, ARE
PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE TO OZONE AND SHOULD ATTEMPT TO AVOID
EXPOSURE.  TO AVOID EXPOSURE, MINIMIZE EXERTION OUTDOORS DURING
THE MID-DAY TO EARLY EVENING HOURS OR STAY INDOORS IN AN AIR-
CONDITIONED ROOM DURING THIS TIME.

In Rick Perry’s Texas, no sacrifice is too great for a job–and that includes giving up the air you breathe.

Perry’s commission over the years has granted over 140 pollution permits to large petrochemical companies and other large industries in an attempt to skirt the Clean Air Act.  That is why we have an orange alert OZONE alert several times a month in Texas.

All Republicans and Corporate Centrist Democrats smooch corporate behinds, but some like Rick Perry, Sam Johnson, Joe Barton and Pete Sessions are professionals at it.

I don’t know why the Bill White campaign is not making a bigger fuss over Perry and his “Texas Enterprise Fund.”  [But then Bill White is somewhat of a corporate centrist Democrat himself. Still at least Bill White is calling for an audit of Perry's corporate ass-kissing. ]

Short of the Republican Collin County Commissioners giving a multimillion dollar no-bid contract in 2006 to 20-year incumbent Republican US Representative Sam Johnson’s son, I  can’t think of a more corrupt use of taxpayer’s money than what Rick Perry, with the assistance of the Texas legislature, did to the working people of Texas in the creation of the “Texas Enterprise Fund.”

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Bill White is Calling for an Independent audit of the “Texas Enterprise Fund”  –Perry’s corporate giveaway whereby Perry has taken millions out of the unemployment insurance that is taking our of working people’s checks and handing it over to corporations in the promise of bringing jobs to Texas.

GO HERE TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THAT AUDIT.