Who is Rick Perry? THE FILE (with investigative links), 18 Aug. 2011

[skip fox]

              Who Is Rick Perry?



THE RECORD

It would be useful to collect and have available an organized list of links to various controversies, accusations, and investigations concerning Rick Perry in a single location at DU.

If you have links to important Perry stories, please post them in a reply to this message and I will add and regularly update the entire in DU. I will give you credit and extend the list daily during the week.


************************


In General: Keeping Track of Perry:

DU's Ashling sent this fine overview link. A beautiful resource compiled by Katherine Haenschen as "Everything Everyone Thinks You Need to Know About Rick Perry" for The Burnt Orange Report, almost any investigation of Perry would do well to start here or consult this useful site early in the process.:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/11296/everything-everyone-thinks-you-need-to-know-about-rick-perry
The article with multiple hot links contains several sections: Perry Media Archives, Perry-Specific Micro Sites, Perry Important Reads, Perry Facts (in an easy-to-consult list form), and Perry's Major Speeches. A treasure trove! The archives section (archives of TX newspapers, weeklies, and monthlies on Perry) is invaluable for finding items on Perry's reactionary statements, misdeeds and potential misdeeds.


************************


Rick Perry on Social Security and Medicare:

From a Newsweek interview:
PERRY: I don’t think our founding fathers when they were putting the term “general welfare” in there were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care. What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government. I stand very clear on that. From my perspective, the states could substantially better operate those programs if that’s what those states decided to do.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/12/rick-perry-exclusive-newsweek-interview-calls-for-dismantling-social-security-and-medicare.html

CNN interview with Parker Spitzer (Nov. 4, 2010):
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/04/perry-let-states-decide-social-security/

Perry hedges on Social Security (Aug. 15, 2011):
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61403.html

Time's appraisal Aug. 15, 2011:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2088599,00.html


*******************************


Rick Perry's role in the execution of an innocent man on TX death row and covering it up:

Quick summary:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2011/08/16/rick-perry-cameron-todd-willingham-and-the-death-penalty

The original New Yorker article (Sept. 7, 2009):
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?currentPage=all

Salon's summary:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/25/cameron_todd_willingham_rick_perry

CNN on cover-up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpSn6rh4USE

Huffington Post's presentation:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/new-film-at-silverdocs-ex_b_883674.html


**********************************


Perry awarded his political donors huge contracts:

LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-0816-perry-donors-20110816,0,7718310.story

The Young Turks's Cent Uygur on the Los Angeles Times article above:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x610048

Wall Street Journal on Perry's "Crony Capitalism" (Aug. 13, 2011):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428262897285614.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet



**************************

Perry's Ties To Merek, makers of the HPV vaccine he promoted in TX:

Washington Post: (Feb. 21, 2007)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022102025.html

Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428262897285614.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet


*************************

Perry on TX secession: (April 15, 2009)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/gov-rick-perry-texas-coul_n_187490.html


************************


Perry's Jobs "Miracle":

Houston Chronicle blog (July 21, 2011):
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/07/ten-reasons-why-the-texas-economy-is-growing-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-rick-perry/

Daily Kos summary:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/16/1007494/-Rick-Perrys-Texas-miracle-is-built-on-minimum-wage-jobs


********************


Perry's mentor, Phil Graham, Exxon, financial collapse, etc. (a ripe area for investigation):

Thom Hartmann on YouTube:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x609867


*******************



Perry's relationship to Rove:

Today's Washington Post contains a decent little summary of their presuptive history:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/does-rick-perry-have-a-karl-rove-problem/2011/08/16/gIQACSXGKJ_blog.html


********************


Perry's TX/Confederate licence plate conundrum and potential controversy :

Reuter's summary:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/16/us-plates-perry-texas-idUSTRE77F70P20110816?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Politics+News%29


******************


Perry's hypocrisy concerning federal aid for TX:

Yahoo posts a Time story:
http://news.yahoo.com/rick-perry-aggressively-pursued-federal-aid-now-decries-095000694.html


******************


Perry's a $10,000/month rental house paid for by TX taxpayers:

DU's Ilsa sent a link to a Huffington Post item on Perry's expensive public housing running over $600,000 to date: "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. . . ." :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/rick-perry-rental-mansion_n_578311.html



******************


Perry's ties to religious extremists:

DU's Ilsa also sent links to Democracy Now's item on Perry's religious connections. The video, an interview with Texas Observer's Forrest Wilder, is everything you would expect from Democracy Now. The information is primarily on the New Apostolic Reformation's brand of radical evangelical Christianity with a very odd series of narrative beliefs (Christian takeovers, divine intervention through contemporary prophets and apostles, bringing Jews to Jesus to facilitate Christ's return, the End Times, etc.) Disturbing!
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/12/as_texas_gov_rick_perry_enters

The piece by Forrest Wilder (seen in the video above) in The Texas Observer (Aug. 3, 2011), "Rick Perry's Army of God," provides a more detailed picture (and disturbing: ceremonies with branding irons, Texas as the "Prophet State," Biblical government, etc.) of Perry's presumptive religious beliefs:
http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/rick-perrys-army-of-god

Michelle Goldberg's piece for The Daily Beast, "A Christian Plot for Domiation?" lumps Perry and Bachmann's beliefs in a fairly quick, general summary:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/14/dominionism-michele-bachmann-and-rick-perry-s-dangerous-religious-bond.html

Or perhaps Perry's conversion to evangelism was political as The New Republic's Tiffany Stanley suggests in her "Rick Perry's Conventionally Timed Conversion to Radical Evangelism" (Aug. 17, 2011). But, of course, a fraudulent believer might be more dangerous than a sincere one:
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/93781/rick-perry-religion-evolution


*****************

[skip fox]

1. Added under Perry's hypocrisy concerning federal aid for TX:

Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal even details how he sought earmarks (which he decries today) and actively lobbied, through K Street, for federal funds for TX (8.17.11):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/17/rick-perrys-k-street-proj_n_929584.html

[skip fox]

2. Qddition (this is getting rich):

*****************

Perry's sexual hyppocricy:
Sara Jones's reports on Perry's relationship to the porn industry for Politicususa:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/rick-perry-coverage-gets-sexy_n_930377.html

Huffington Post's report on Perry's potential contact with strippers (17 Aug. 2011):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/rick-perry-coverage-gets-sexy_n_930377.html

[benld74]

3. But REMEMBER, Molly Ivins TRIED to WARN USA ABOUT Shrub

and LOOK what happened.

KEEP ON THIS!!!!

People forget, get complacent, whatever you wih to call the excuse.

[skip fox]

4. Please send links to other stories. Here's the basis of tomorrow's version:

              Who Is Rick Perry?



THE RECORD

It would be useful to collect and have available an organized list of links to various controversies, accusations, hypocrisies, and investigations concerning Rick Perry in a single location at DU.

If you have links to important Perry stories, please post them in a reply to this message and I will add in the appropriate section (adding some as appropriate) and regularly update the entire in DU. I will give you credit and extend the list daily during the week.


************************


In General: Keeping Track of Perry:

DU's Ashling sent this fine overview link. A beautiful resource compiled by Katherine Haenschen as "Everything Everyone Thinks You Need to Know About Rick Perry" for The Burnt Orange Report, almost any investigation of Perry would do well to start here or consult this useful site early in the process.:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/11296/everything-everyone-thinks-you-need-to-know-about-rick-perry
The article with multiple hot links contains several sections: Perry Media Archives, Perry-Specific Micro Sites, Perry Important Reads, Perry Facts (in an easy-to-consult list form), and Perry's Major Speeches. A treasure trove! The archives section (archives of TX newspapers, weeklies, and monthlies on Perry) is invaluable for finding items on Perry's reactionary statements, misdeeds and potential misdeeds.


************************


Rick Perry on Social Security and Medicare:

From a Newsweek interview:
PERRY: I don’t think our founding fathers when they were putting the term “general welfare” in there were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care. What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government. I stand very clear on that. From my perspective, the states could substantially better operate those programs if that’s what those states decided to do.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/12/rick-perry-exclusive-newsweek-interview-calls-for-dismantling-social-security-and-medicare.html

CNN interview with Parker Spitzer (Nov. 4, 2010):
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/04/perry-let-states-decide-social-security/

Perry hedges on Social Security (Aug. 15, 2011):
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61403.html

Time's appraisal Aug. 15, 2011:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2088599,00.html


*******************************


Rick Perry's 2004 refusal to halt the Texas execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was known at the time to be an innocent man, and the subsequent cover up:

Quick summary:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2011/08/16/rick-perry-cameron-todd-willingham-and-the-death-penalty

The original New Yorker article (Sept. 7, 2009):
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?currentPage=all

Salon's summary:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/25/cameron_todd_willingham_rick_perry

CNN on cover-up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpSn6rh4USE

Huffington Post's presentation:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/new-film-at-silverdocs-ex_b_883674.html

DU's lumberjack_jeff sent this Salon link on how Perry used the execution politically:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/03/perry_willingham_survey


**********************************


Perry awarded his political donors huge contracts:

LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-0816-perry-donors-20110816,0,7718310.story

The Young Turks's Cent Uygur on the Los Angeles Times article above:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x610048

Wall Street Journal on Perry's "Crony Capitalism" (Aug. 13, 2011):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428262897285614.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet


**************************


Perry's Ties To Merek, makers of the HPV vaccine he promoted in TX:

Washington Post: (Feb. 21, 2007)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022102025.html

Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428262897285614.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet


*************************

Perry on TX secession: (April 15, 2009)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/gov-rick-perry-texas-coul_n_187490.html


************************


Perry's so-called "Jobs Miracle":

Houston Chronicle blog (July 21, 2011):
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/07/ten-reasons-why-the-texas-economy-is-growing-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-rick-perry/

Daily Kos summary:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/16/1007494/-Rick-Perrys-Texas-miracle-is-built-on-minimum-wage-jobs


********************


Perry's mentor, Phil Graham, Exxon, financial collapse, etc. (a ripe area for investigation):

Thom Hartmann on YouTube:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x609867


*******************


Perry's relationship to Rove:

Today's Washington Post contains a decent little summary of their presuptive history:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/does-rick-perry-have-a-karl-rove-problem/2011/08/16/gIQACSXGKJ_blog.html


********************


Perry's TX/Confederate licence plate conundrum and potential controversy :

Reuter's summary:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/16/us-plates-perry-texas-idUSTRE77F70P20110816?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Politics+News%29


******************


Perry's hypocrisy concerning federal aid for TX:

Yahoo posts a Time story:
http://news.yahoo.com/rick-perry-aggressively-pursued-federal-aid-now-decries-095000694.html

Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal even details how Perry sought earmarks (which he decries today) and actively lobbied, through K Street, for federal funds for TX (8.17.11):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/17/rick-perrys-k-street-proj_n_929584.html


******************


Perry's a $10,000/month rental house paid for by TX taxpayers:

DU's Ilsa sein a link to a Huffington Post item on Perry's expensive public housing running over $600,000 to date: "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. . . ." :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/rick-perry-rental-mansion_n_578311.html


******************


Perry's ties to religious extremists:

DU's Ilsa also sent links to Democracy Now's item on Perry's religious connections. The video, an interview with Texas Observer's Forrest Wilder, is everything you would expect from Democracy Now. The information is primarily on the New Apostolic Reformation's brand of radical evangelical Christianity with a very odd series of narrative beliefs (Christian takeovers, divine intervention through contemporary prophets and apostles, bringing Jews to Jesus to facilitate Christ's return, the End Times, etc.) Disturbing!
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/12/as_texas_gov_rick_perry_enters

The piece by Forrest Wilder (seen in the video above) in The Texas Observer (Aug. 3, 2011), "Rick Perry's Army of God," provides a more detailed picture (and disturbing: ceremonies with branding irons, Texas as the "Prophet State," Biblical government, etc.) of Perry's presumptive religious beliefs:
http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/rick-perrys-army-of-god

Michelle Goldberg's piece for The Daily Beast, "A Christian Plot for Domiation?" lumps Perry and Bachmann's beliefs in a fairly quick, general summary:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/14/dominionism-michele-bachmann-and-rick-perry-s-dangerous-religious-bond.html

Or perhaps Perry's conversion to evangelism was political as The New Republic's Tiffany Stanley suggests in her "Rick Perry's Conventionally Timed Conversion to Radical Evangelism" (Aug. 17, 2011). But, of course, a fraudulent believer might be more dangerous than a sincere one:
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/93781/rick-perry-religion-evolution


*****************

Perry's sexual hypocrisy:

Sara Jones's reports on Perry's relationship to the porn industry for Politicususa:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/rick-perry-coverage-gets-sexy_n_930377.html

Huffington Post's report on Perry's potential contact with strippers (17 Aug. 2011):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/rick-perry-coverage-gets-sexy_n_930377.html