Blog 5- The Swell Texan Governor

Since I have been unconsciously writing about Rick Perry in my past blogs, I figured it was time to discover the man behind the mask. The first placed I looked was his own presidential campaign website where he had a few essays dedicated to his accomplishments and future presidency plans.

The first essay covered Perry’s extensive resume, ranging from his humble origins in the small community of Paint Creek, to a twice elected Aggie Yell Leader with a bachelor’sdegree in Animal Science, to a C-130 pilot of the Air Force and finally to a three times elected Texas Governor. The rest of the essays were used to shine on Perry’s widely known achievement within the Texas economy and how they could be taken as a reference to impulse the US economy if Perry was to ever get his shot at Washington.  Each of the essay’s title exemplified Perry’s goals for the future; Jobs, tax relief, spending, liberty, security and prosperity. Not very original, but I guess it’ll do.

The last essay, “BelieveAgain” was the one that caught my attention. Not because I wished to believe again in the government but because of the remarkable similarity it held with the 2008 Obama’s campaign slogan; “a Change we can believe in”. It’s not only because both contain the word “believe” that I found the similarity, but the intentions behind are the same, show the public that their approach is something new and unique and that this time it will actually work, and set Washington straight.

Both Perry and Obama had similar plans, both wanted to lower taxes and increase jobs, both wanted to minimize unnecessary federal government spending in order to maximize the use of tax payer dollars and both wished to “restore the confidence in the American dream” where everybody has an equal and fair chance. Essentially both had the same bottom line. The only distinction between both candidates was that one had solid hard rock solid data while the other one didn’t. Perry has a lot more statistical facts than Obama does, all ranging from jobs created to approval of government jobs, which is why for Obama the slogan “a change we can believe in” may no longer work for the upcoming elections since Perry’s statistical data is something no one wants to compare themselves to.

Overall I find Perry to be the Obama’s republican, except with more hair and a lot more candidates to battle before obtaining Republican nomination to the presidency.  

Blog 4- Can't swoon nobody

Can Mitt make theladies swoon? An interesting title, definitely catchy, unfortunately the story doesn’t live up to it. As I read the article I was expecting more information about Republican policies that would affect women. Instead I found the same shallow subjects that I characterize the Republican Party with; looks. For some reason the author felt it was imperative to spend a whole paragraph comparing Romney to a “more Ralph Lauran” and Perry to “the traditional Marlboro Man” followed by the comparison of the two candidates to a perspective High school stereo group. As the economy is right now, with the 99 percent people crowding Wall Street ready to change everything, I think comparing and analyzing our future president looks to popular figures is the last thing anybody should worry about.

Though I did like her effort to try and make a political blog, by adding statistics every so often. First starting with Obama’s triumph over Sen. John McCain “70 to 29 percent among single women”, and moving right along today’s polls: Obama versus the Republican candidates, where the closest “49 percent would go to Obama, and 41 percent to Romney.” But then the public reaches the question. Who are these women? Single women only? Middle aged and married only? Or are we speaking of certain race groups? Socioeconomic groups? Who are these women that support either candidate? That’s a prominent issue I saw in her blog, defining who the women are because no longer can one generalize by gender only, other factors must be taken into consideration. especially in a country where more than 50% of the population is Hispanic, like it or not the Hispanics will play a vital role in the upcoming election thus their opinion may be valuable.

Another thing I could not help but point out, was the paragraph she wrote on Romney’s undivided attention to a woman speaking, for “he listened intently, without a hint of condescension” treating the “attractive and articulate” woman like “an equal”. The fact that she referred back to beauty made me loose all hope on the blog, because listening to a woman and treating her like an equal has nothing to do with her attractiveness or unattractiveness but instead her coherence of words and ideas.

Writing a blog is not about choosing a topic, picking a side and adding statistics. It’s about putting actual effort and thought into a subject, especially one with such importance as the presidential candidates. 

Blog 3

Last month the massive wildfire that swept through Bastrop made it to The New York Times editorials, but with a new twist. The editorial was titled “Life without Government” by Bill Keller, and similar to any story written recently about the Bastrop Wildfire area, its primary focus was the devastation the fire had caused, but brought in a critique to Governor Rick Perry. 

Keller had an interesting way to indirectly blame Perry and the Republican Party for the damage done, since neither believes in the theory of Global Warming Keller relied heavily on that point. He first set up the scene by mentioning Obama’s statement against Perry in one of his visits, “you’ve got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change” then brought evidence from scientists who would  not claim a direct relationship between global warming and the wildfire, “….. But most would say confidently that the global trends tipped the odds towards disaster….” Leaving the reader if with nothing else the thought that Perry doesn’t believe in Global Warming thus he is the causing agent of this disaster. In my opinion an interesting tactic to lay out there information while pointing a discrete finger towards the Republicans.

With all taken into consideration, the Republicans or Perry shouldn’t be held accountable for a horrible incident as such. This sort of incients should be used to build a better society rather than a dived one. Even if it does seem it was Perry’s fault since the legislature that happened during Perry’s reign caused the counties to not have any “zoning power” therefore virtually no space between houses which caused the fire to engulf the houses so quickly thus causing this horrible event.

Blog 2

It's no news that Government spending in education has decreased, even so more now with the Budget deficit crisis. As a student who is about to begin college next year, I find this issue to be of moderate importance. Since it appears to be less and less money going around to help pay for college and more people trying to compete for that money. 
I read Pain, some Gains: House Bill on Education spending by Kristina C., and to be truthful I found it some what depressing, which is odd because it's informative. The article talked about the Budget plans recently employed, a lot of green being cut from federal programs, and a billion or two scattered in the system. Mayor programs, such as Advance Placement were receiving a cut of $43.4 million. Sad because those programs definitely help kids get a head start in college and save money while doing so. Advance Placement courses, for those who do not know, are courses offered at high schools that assimilate a College class,. The class prepares the student to take an exam at offered the end of the School year, and if the student passes it counts as a college credit. Typically the Advance Placement is offered to take a required class such as English and knock it out of the way, college Freshmen year English. 
What I found perturbing, mostly because I was unaware, were the cuts being employed to the Latino population. Spending on programs to aid the Latino population were being cut, meaning less Latinos finishing college thus putting forward, yet another uneducated generation of Latinos. Another thing I was unaware of were the Pell Grants, whose eligibility not only downsized three years but the income downsized as well, to 5,500 dollars. Ironic, since United States has the best economy in the world, but according to the Education Spending chart, United States holds the 38th place in  money spent on education, with a mere 17 % of the country Government expenditure used for Education falling behind third World countries such as Yemen, who spend roughly a third of the Government expenditure on education

It seems that now a days there are no good news, this was not the exception.