Rick Perry was born on March 4, 1950 in Paint Creek Texas in the western part of the state, and 60 miles north of Abilene. His father, Joseph Ray Perry , served as a long term Haskell County commissioner and school board member. Perry attended Texas A&M University, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets, and a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. He graduated in 1972 with a 2.22 GPA, earning a bachelor’s degree in animal science.
Upon graduation, he was commissioned in the Air Force, completed pilot training, and flew C-130tactical airlift in the United States, the Middle East, and Europe until 1977. He left the Air Force with the rank of captain, returned to Texas, and went into business farming cotton with his father.
Perry has said that his interest in politics probably began in November 1961, when his father took him to the funeral of U.S. Representative Sam Rayburn (D-TX), who during his long public career served as speaker of the Texas House for a short time at the age of 29 and then later for 17 years as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from district 64 that included his home county of Haskell. In 1987, Perry voted for a $5.7 billion tax increase proposed by Republican governor Bill Clements. Perry supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries and chaired the Gore campaign in Texas.
In 1990, as a new Republican, he challenged incumbent Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. Hightower had worked on behalf of Jesse Jackson for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988.
In 1998, Perry, ran for the office of Lieutenant Governor to succeed the retiring Democrat Bob Bullock and obtained 50.04 percent. He became the state’s first Republican lieutenant governor since Reconstruction, taking office on January 19, 1999. He assumed the governorship on December 21, 2000 following the resignation of then-Governor George W. Bush who won the election for President.
There are more links on this blog pertaining to Rick Perry, than anywhere we could locate on the internet. Again, we have attempted to post the links by subject, then date. In many cases, the dates are approximate due to the fact that articles, videos and other media was presented even weeks after a specific incident or issues pertaining to Perry.
Please accept our apologies, as we are altering the categories to links and other information on the page. Additionally links will be posted on a daily basis as time permits. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Categories
Abstinence curriculum in public schools
Debt
Education
Employment and job creation
Execution of a likely innocent man
Finance and Budget
Governor of Texas
Immigration policy
Other-Click here- Page-2
Miscellaneous
Presidential campaign
Sixteenth and Seventeenth constitutional amendments-see Social Security-Medicare
Social Security-Medicare-sixteenth and seventeenth constitutional amendments
Seceding from the union
Teacher Life Insurance Scheme
Abstinence curriculum in public schools:
October 15, 2010-Rick Perry Struggles to answer a question on abstinence in the public schools. A requirement that he instituted that does not seem to be effective. In fact, Texas ranks third in the country and teenage pregnancies. An excellent video showing how Perry cannot intelligently answer a question. Do we really want a person to serve as President that can’t respond directly to a question regarding a policy he instituted?
The Texas Tribune 10-15-2010
Debt
March 4, 2010-Bill White, Rick perry’s opponent for the gubernatorial election in Texas in 2010 indicated that the Texas debt doubled under the governorship of Perry. PolitiFact.com investigated the statement and determined that White’s was correct. As hypocritical as this statement appears, it has become commonplace among republican candidates over the past several years. The truth obviously this seems to escape them. What’s even more discouraging, is that republican voters are like sheep led to the slaughterhouse. That’s what you get when you have to sign a loyalty oath. PolitiFact
Education:
July 2, 2010-Congress creates law to prevent Rick Perry’s inappropriate utilization of Federal stimulus monies for education. In violation of the rules, Perry reduced state funding and supplemented the difference with Federal stimulus monies. This is an unethical practice which had to be stopped by Congress.
August 1, 2011- Rick Perry cut four billion dollars from the state education budget and as a result, 12,000 teachers have lost their jobs. Many more are expected to lose their jobs when administrators sort out the funding shortfall.
Employment and Job Creation
June 2011-Joshua Holland has written one of the better articles up outlining the truth regarding Rick Perry’s job creation in the state of Texas.
Execution of a likely innocent man:
Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in 2004 for an arson that many fire experts believe he did not start.The fire leveled his house and killed his three daughters. He was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to death, after refusing a plea agreement that would place him in prison for life. In 2004, Governor Rick Perry, denied a last-minute request for a stay of execution. New facts had emerged indicating through scientific analysis that there was no evidence of arson.
Perry, later removed several members of a state panel investigating the case — a move designed to delay a politically damaging report from the panel, critics charge. The vast majority of evidence and reports over the last several years indicated that governor RickPerry acted inappropriately by not considering the more contemporary findings. If true in the facts indicate same, he and the people that vote for him should be ashamed of themselves.
Perry, later removed several members of a state panel investigating the case — a move designed to delay a politically damaging report from the panel, critics charge. The vast majority of evidence and reports over the last several years indicated that governor RickPerry acted inappropriately by not considering the more contemporary findings. If true in the facts indicate same, he and the people that vote for him should be ashamed of themselves.
December 9, 2004-Several months after Cameron Todd Willingham, was executed, the Chicago Tribune consulted with four arson experts to investigate the evidence. This link and the report is one of the first investigations indicating fault the evidence was presented that resulted in a guilty conviction of William. The Chicago Tribune notes, “According to four fire experts consulted by the Tribune, the original investigation was flawed and it is even possible the fire was accidental.” Rick Perry, prior to the execution, rebuffed a report from an eminent fire scientist questioning the evidence.
September 7, 2009- this is an excellent read of approximately 17 pages long and presented by an outstanding columnist, David Grann. The New Yorker The Cameron Todd Willingham Website
The Innocence Project:–Offers their findings on the Willingham case. About the Innocence Project
Immigration
October 15,2010- An with Rick Perry’s Friday with the Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith. He questioned Perry extensively as to the status of taxes as a sanctuary state. Perry appears to contradict himself on a few occasions.
Miscellaneous:
June 10, 2011-The top 10 things Rick Perry does not want you to know about him.
Presidential campaign
August 29, 2011- New CNN Poll: Perry sits atop GOP field- CNN Politics
Seceding from the union
Social Security-Medicare
August 28, 2011- Perry again refers to Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme. Huffpost
Teachers Life Insurance Scheme:
August 25, 2011- Perry runs a gangster state government ( just as Bachmann describes ), in Texas. The recently released information regarding his teachers life Insurance scheme is deplorable behavior for any human being, especially an elected official whom we place our trust upon. As the current front runner for the GOP nomination, I am now 100% convinced that republicans could care less about ethics, morality, the middle class, senior citizens, and those others in need. Their only goal is to defeat the black man. President Obama. For more on Perry, click on the link.
August 26, 2011- Rick Perry Conspired with multinational bank to raise revenues off the Deaths of teachers-ThinkProgress
R.J. Intindola www.cmrji.com