Tag: Rick Perry

The drive in with NPR

Well I had to drive to work today due to meetings in Mesquite later today.

And I have to say, despite the annoyance that sometimes comes with having to wait on a DART bus or sitting next to someone who’s a heavy smoker — I’d rather do that any day than have to drive and sit in traffic day in and day out.

However driving to work does give me a better opportunity to catch up on the day’s news with NPR.

Some interesting stuff today that you may or may not know…

  • If you have an accident in the City of Dallas and are not a city resident, you’ll be charged $600 if you request police or fire assistance.
  • 12 people were killed in Sherman, Texas this morning when their bus (carrying them to a mission project) likely blew a tire and ran off an overpass.
  • Folks in Fort Worth aren’t happy and are protesting the continued drilling of gas wells within their city.
  • Texas Gov. McDreamy Perry requested that the EPA waive their requirements to add ethanol to gasoline within the state. The EPA told Perry to dream on.
  • Despite a jury saying a former driver for bin Laden would only have to serve out 5 more months at Guantanamo – the Pentagon tells everyone, “So what? We’re the US Government, we can hold him as long as we like.”
  • Ammon Shea likes reading — a lot. So he decided to read the nearly 22,000 pages in the Oxford English Dictionary. Among some of his favorite words :: bedinner; bemissionary; gymnologize; twi-thought; and vocabularian.
  • The US Government says they have found “without a doubt” the Anthrax killer from 2001. Apparently for the US Government, “without a doubt” can be based primarily on “circumstantial evidence.” Sadly, their suspect committed suicide last week – meaning there will never be a trial to prove or disprove the government’s statements given at a press conference last week.
  • Oh and the Olympics have started in China.

So there you have it, all the news that matters to you/me.

related ::
KERA main newsroom
NPR’s morning edition
SSL :: why i ride dart

Confederate Nugent

This morning we ran a story on Ted Nugent’s appearance at Gov. McDreamy’s inaugural ball early this week.
Nugent showed up wearing a cut-off T-Shirt with a Confederate flag on the back.
Gary Bledsoe, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People of Texas, said the Confederate battle flag is never appropriate.
“Whenever someone sports the Confederate battle flag, many Texans will be offended, and rightly so, because of what it symbolizes the enslavement of African-Americans and more recently the symbol of hate groups and terrorists,” Bledsoe said.
Perry’s spokesman Robert Black said the governor would never try to squelch anyone’s freedom of speech.
Locally, Ellis County Republican Chairman Rusty Ballard said he didn’t have a problem with Nugent playing.
“He believes in many of the conservative issues the Republican Party does,” Ballard said. “I thought it was a great deal having him play. Nugent is a great supporter of the governor.”
Ballard said he also had no issue with Nugent’s use of the Confederate battle flag.
“The flag is a part of Texas’ history and it doesn’t represent what a lot of people have come to believe that it does,” Ballard said. “You can’t try to restrict people’s freedom of expression – especially artists. I don’t think there was any political statement being made, it was just typical Ted Nugent.”
I don’t have a problem of granting free speech as long as you’re not going to harp on someone else’s right to free speech when it offends you.
Just this week I read about people getting up in arms when the F-word was shown on TV, or when Howard Stern says something offensive but if there are threats of the government censoring them they claim freedom of speech as well.
Where do you draw the line? Can you draw the line and still grant freedom of speech?

Perry looking for VPOTUS?

According to a very reliable source, Perry has said quite profanely that he is not interested in the VP job in 2008. The AP also ran a story last week confirming that.
But Vince over at Capital Annex is pretty certain Perry is thinking otherwise with his inauguration speech today.

Pop Quiz time!
Who said the following:
Our greatest threat is no longer a Cold War enemy that advances a Godless ideology, but fanatics that kill the innocent and themselves in the name of a Higher Power. Rogue states and terror cells have made nuclear proliferation a greater threat, and leaders in Europe and Latin America have risen to power and popularity based on anti-American appeals.
Was it: A. President Bush, B. Condoleeza Rice, C. Rick Perry, or D. John McCain?
If you answered “A” you’re wrong. If you answered any letter other than “C” you are wrong.
Yep, those words escaped the lips of Texas Governor Rick Perry today during his inauguration.

The governor also addressed Sudan and AIDS in Africa and Asia. For that I applaud him for thinking globally. Not sure what the Governor of Texas can do other than raise awareness – but I’m all for anyone that wants to help the cause. Maybe he’ll surprise us with a very bold initiative in the coming months.
Vince continues:

Even though he’s evidently actively campaigning for a Veep spot (wouldn’t Texas bloggers love that?), he evidently didn’t get the memo that Republicans don’t talk about the genocide in Sudan.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Republican say that we ought to do something about genocide in Sudan. It’s interesting, because it shows that Perry is trying to (a) show people that, in spite of being an Aggie and former Agriculture Commissioner, he can think globally; and (b) he’s evidently advocating a—hold onto your chairs for this one—less isolationist foreign policy!
You can bet Perry just got a big “check plus plus” on Rudy G’s “Possible Veep Candidates” scorecard, and a big red “x” on Senator McCain’s “Monitoring Sheet Of Conservative Tendencies Of Potential Vice Presidential Nominees.”

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next several months. I heard on NPR today that Barak Obama plans to officially announce his campaign for POTUS in mid-February and it’s almost a given that Hillary will announce very soon as well.

Mr Way too Liberal for Texas Guy

Chris Bell and me at a campaign stop in Waxahachie

As a follow up to the “Mr Way too Proud of Texas Guy” from Budweiser, the Rick Perry campaign is about to drop a new radio ad against Chris Bell. It goes to show you that the Republican campaign has a sense of humor too.

It is absolutely hilarious.

I may have to vote for Perry just for releasing this ad.

[audio:http://casadeblundell.com/jonathan/wp-content/uploads/MrWayTooLiberal.mp3|titles=MrWayTooLiberal]

According to “insiders” the radio ad drop this afternoon on the air.

I’m not a coward

According to DallasBlog.com, Gov. “McDreamy” has agreed to join the Oct. 5 debate hosted by local PBS affiliate KERA Channel 13.

Apparently Perry stood up to the challenge after being called out by a former wrestler.

Perry’s announcement comes after former Minnesota Gov. Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a Friedman supporter (and former WWF/WWE Superstar), denounced as “cowardly” any candidate who refuses to debate.

I guess Perry was afraid Ventura might pull out his signature Body Breaker move.

Here’s a breakdown on a Ventura v. Perry matchup:

Jesse “The Body” Ventura:
1-Time AWA World Tag Team Champion (with Adrian Adonis)
2-Time National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion
5-Time NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champion (with Bull Ramos twice, Buddy Rose twice and Jerry Oates)
1-Time NWA World Tag Team Champion (Central States version) (with Tank Patton)
2-Time Mid-Southern Heavyweight Champion
WWE Hall of Fame inductee; class of 2004.
1-Time Governor of Minnesota
Height & Weight: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 245 lb (110 kg)
Trained by: Eddie Sharkey

Gov. “McDreamy” “The Pit Bull” Perry:
3-Time State Legislature
2-Time Agricultural Commissioner
1-Time Lt. Governor
2-Time Governor of Texas (after the title was vacated by George W. Bush when he won the Leader of the Free World title belt)
Height & Weight: unknown
Trained by: Politicians

Boy if we could just throw politicians into a wrestling ring, I’m sure we could get rid of voter apathy. At least in the 18-30 male demographic.

Leno gets Kinky

Kinky Friedman Scene In SA
Kinky Friedman | Photo by HMK

From Dallasblog.com:

Kinky Friedman was the subject of a “60 Minutes” special report last Sunday.

Now NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” has invited Kinky to be a guest this Wednesday, January 25th.

He of course said “yes.”

The show begins at 10:30 PM in Dallas.

This is the kind of coverage that Rick Perry and Carole Strayhorn can’t buy and why Friedman could be a factor in November.