Here, you are urged and encouraged to run your mouths about something important.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Texas Governor Rick Perry Endorsed Hillary Care in 1993

It would seem Mitt Romney has a new weapon in his battle with Rick Perry. In particular, whenever the Texas Governor decides he wants to score some points by attacking his opponent for RomneyCare in Massachusetts, he needs to be ready to defend his endorsement of HillaryCare in 1993. Both are practically mirror-images of ObamaCare. What people need to understand about Perry is that he is long on rhetoric and short on conservatism as a guiding principle. He's following Donald Trump's playbook but he might just meet the same fizzling-out fate if these things continue to surface.

Via Daily Caller:
Texas Governor Rick Perry has been among the most vocal critics of President Obama’s health care reform initiative, and of Mitt Romney’s preceding health care program in Massachusetts. But in 1993, while serving as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Perry praised the efforts of then-first lady Hillary Clinton to reform health care, a precursor to Obama’s health care reform efforts.

In a letter to Clinton, who is now U.S. Secretary of State, Perry wrote: “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.”
Conservative voters are being fooled by this guy's rhetoric. In 2001, Perry signed hate crimes legislation; in 2007, he signed an Executive Order mandating all 4th Grade girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease; he was Al Gore's campaign manager; he supported the Trans-Texas corridor; and now this.

Read it all.

DOJ Throws Three to the Wolves in Fast and Furious Scandal

ATF Director Kenneth Melson may not have been thrown completely under the bus but he has given up his cushy seat for the storage compartment below. The thinking is likely that by demoting him, they will be able to keep him quiet while appearing to punish him for his involvement. Melson, if you remember, went against DOJ's wishes when he and his personal attorneys met with Oversight Committee investigators on July 4th. US Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke has resigned, making his case particularly interesting. Other than threats of bodily harm and similar types of intimidation, he really has nothing preventing him from spilling more beans. Asst US Attorney in Phoenix, Emory Hurley, has been re-assigned and is sharing the storage compartment with Melson.

Burke's situation seems to be the most intriguing because if he continues to cooperate with Issa and Grassley, he's more likely than Melson or Hurley to give the unvarnished truth. Interestingly, Burke has already spoken with congressional investigators and the session got cut short because he got physically ill.

Via Fox Nation:
Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson has been reassigned to a lesser post in the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney for Arizona was also pushed out Tuesday as fallout from Operation Fast and Furious reached new heights.

Melson's step down from his role as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to the position of senior adviser on forensic science in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Programs is effective by close of business Tuesday, administration officials announced. U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota B. Todd Jones will replace Melson.

U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, one of the officials closely tied to Fast and Furious, is also a casualty in a shakeup tied to the botched gun-running program. Burke was on the hot seat last week with congressional investigators and, according to several sources, got physically sick during questioning and could not finish his session.
I would love to know if Burke's weak stomach had anything to do with him going completely under the bus instead of meeting up with Melson and Hurley above the wheels below.

This shake-up has all the earmarks of the DOJ offering three players in the scandal to Issa and Grassley as sacrificial lambs. Not only is it unlikely to work, it may have made things worse for Attorney General Holder and this administration. That said, it may have been the best of several bad options for the Justice Department. While appearing on Greta, Issa was visibly disturbed by this latest trick by Holder's DOJ, saying he knows he is 'being gamed' by the DOJ.

Via Hapblog:



Statement from Issa's office that showed up in my in-box:
Issa Statement on Resignation of Arizona U.S. Attorney, Reassignment of ATF Director

(WASHINGTON) House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today released the following statement regarding Department of Justice personnel changes involving Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley:

“While the reckless disregard for safety that took place in Operation Fast and Furious certainly merits changes within the Department of Justice, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will continue its investigation to ensure that blame isn’t offloaded on just a few individuals for a matter that involved much higher levels of the Justice Department. There are still many questions to be answered about what happened in Operation Fast and Furious and who else bears responsibility, but these changes are warranted and offer an opportunity for the Justice Department to explain the role other officials and offices played in the infamous efforts to allow weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels. I also remain very concerned by Acting Director Melson’s statement that the Department of Justice is managing its response in a manner intended to protect its political appointees. Senator Grassley and I will continue to press the Department of Justice for answers in order to ensure that a reckless effort like Fast and Furious does not take place again.”
Looks like if Holder & Company were hoping for some heat to be taken off with these latest moves, they were sadly mistaken.

Here's another video report from Fox News about the resignations, h/t Sipsey Street:

Texas Abortion Law: Another Federal Judge Mysteriously Does Obama's Bidding

Just yesterday, I posted that another Federal judge struck down another state's immigration law - in Alabama. The immigration laws in Arizona, Utah, Georgia, and Indiana suffered similar fates. Now, we can throw Texas into the mix as a state that has seen one of its laws struck down by a Federal judge. Though it's not an immigration law, it's just as politically charged; it's a Sonogram Law. In essence, the law required doctors (abortionists) to perform a sonogram before performing an abortion. Coincidentally, just before the law was to take effect, Judge Sam Sparks pulled the rug out.

Wait until you see the logic behind the decision; it has to do with the first amendment.

Via the AP:
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked key provisions of Texas' new law requiring a doctor to perform a sonogram before an abortion, ruling the measure violates the free speech rights of both doctors and patients.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks upheld the requirement that sonograms be performed, but struck down the provisions requiring doctors to describe the images to their patients and requiring women to hear the descriptions.

The law made exceptions for women who were willing to sign statements saying they were pregnant as a result of rape or incest or that their fetus had an irreversible abnormality. Sparks questioned whether the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature was trying to "permanently brand" women who are victims of sexual assault.

The law — one of dozens of anti-abortion measures that advanced through state capitals across the United States this year — takes effect Thursday. The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights had sued to block it.
Keep reading because Sparks even argues that forcing doctors to perform sonograms forces them to push an ideological agenda with which they may not agree.

Aside from the fact that an organization from one state (New York) can successfully sue another state (Texas) over the legality of its own laws is absurd, it's mighty interesting how Federal judges across the land continue to do the bidding of this president when it comes to state legislatures.

h/t Weasel Zippers
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