*Government* Jobs Led To Perry’s Texas Economic Boom

Governor Goodhair is not going to like this little bit of information from TalkingPointsMemo.com:

On the campaign trail, governor Rick Perry will claim credit for the so-called Texas miracle. His state weathered the housing and jobs crises better than many others, and he’ll happily tell voters it was the result of his small government conservative approach to running things.

But his state’s relative success has a lot to do with things out of his control — population growth resulting from an influx of immigrants from Mexico and of workers and retirees from other U.S. states, and high oil company profits, to name just a couple. Oh, and also federal stimulus.

What’s that you say?!

Despite being one of the loudest critics of President Obama’s stimulus, Perry used billions of dollars of federal money to patch Texas’ budget shortfalls, and was thus able to create and maintain lots and lots of public sector jobs. In fact, if you look at net job creation between 2007 and 2010, it’s clear the only thing keeping Texas buoyant was government jobs.

via CHART OF THE DAY: *Government* Jobs Led To Perry’s Economic Boom | TPMDC.

Leave a comment

Filed under Elections, Politics, Uncategorized

Happy Birthday Hubbell Gardner and the Sundance Kid: Robert Redford is 75 Today

I really can’t believe it….

The Golden Boy is 75 years old today.  Actor, Director, Humanitarian, Activist and Steward of the Earth Robert Redford is 75 today.

Here are a few of my favorite memories of this one of a kind legend:

First, my all time favorite Redford film that featured him at his most beautiful and iconic:

Another iconic performance with another icon, Paul Newman:

A little-known film that was one of his first and one of my favorites.  “Inside Daisy Clover” with his dear friend, the wonderful Natalie Wood:

Another quirky, very different film from the ’70’s, “Jeremiah Johnson”:

And finally, the classic film about Politics, “The Candidate”, that he produced himself in 1972:

Leave a comment

Filed under Elections, Movies, Uncategorized

American Idiots: How Washington is Destroying the Economy

Interesting article in “Fortune” magazine written by a soon-to-be ex-Republican.

Even the Business community and Wall Street are getting fed up with the Tea Party Republicans running the show in Washington and acting like spoiled children.

And these guys live in fear of the party nominating one of the extremist like Michele Bachmann or Rick Perry.  They don’t recognize the existence of Sarah Palin or little Ricky Santorum.

These are the guys who supported George W Bush and the other Republicans in the past because they served their financial interests.  They don’t give a damn about social issues.

Now, the GOP is dependent on the Tea Party followers, who are economically ignorant, racist and irresponsible and the Religious Right, who these guys despise.

They are wondering where all their friends, the Country Club Republicans, went….

I have an answer:  They are now Democrats.

From Fortune.com:

 

The root of our current problem is that there are no grownups in positions of serious power in Washington. I’ve never felt this way before — and I’ve written business stories for more than 40 years, and about national finances for more than 20. Look, I certainly don’t worship Washington institutions. I called former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan the “Wizard of Oz” when he was known as the “Maestro.” I’ve said for more than a decade that the Social Security trust fund had no economic value and would be useless when the system’s cash flow turned negative — which I also predicted. But despite being an irreverent professional skeptic, I never felt there was a total absence of adult supervision in our nation’s capital. Now I do.

via American Idiots: How Washington is destroying the economy – The Term Sheet: Fortune’s deals blog Term Sheet.

Leave a comment

Filed under Politics, The Economy, Uncategorized

Hightower: There’s a ‘very ugly side’ to Rick Perry

Interesting comments from Texas populist/progressive Jim Hightower….

It’s really kind of scary that he considers Perry to be like George Bush “without the intelligence or the ethics”.

As I said earlier, I expect Rick Perry to fizzle- if not explode.

And the Establishment GOP seems to be living in fear that he won’t.

Remember one thing:  Karl Rove and the Bushies do not like Rick Perry.  Rick Perry does not want people to know this….Rove has already hit him once over his comments this weekend about Ben Bernanke.  Keep an eye on this dynamic.

Instead of Texas seceding, as Governor Goodhair suggested a while back, the Texas GOP may be on the verge of it’s own Civil War.

 

Although the presence of Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican presidential primary may be looked upon warmly in the press these days, don’t expect that to last. Speaking with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Tuesday, populist author and Texas Observer contributor Jim Hightower cautioned that there’s a “very ugly side” to Perry that won’t be relatively unknown for long.

“They say the higher the monkey climbs, the more you see its ugly side,” Hightower said. “Well, Perry’s got a very ugly side. He’s going to get the kind of media scrutiny that he’s not had.”

“Republicans get a two’fer with him. One, they get one of the furthest-out of the far-out tea party right-wingers, sort of a Michele Bachmann with better hair. And also though, they get the real Perry, which is the exuberant, corporate Republican who never met a corporate lobbyist he wouldn’t hug as long as that lobbyist had a campaign check and a wish list.

“He really is kind of a George Bush plutocrat without the intelligence or the ethics. That’s the real Perry, is really going to be the corporate Perry. That’s the kind of governorship he has run.”

via Hightower: There’s a ‘very ugly side’ to Rick Perry | Raw Replay.

Leave a comment

Filed under Elections, Politics, Uncategorized

Tea Party Less Popular than Muslims and Atheists

Someone needs to tell this to the GOP….

But then, I suspect they know, but can’t do anything about it since they sold their soul to the Tea Party.

The Tea Party is now the Republican base.

But then, it always was….we’ve just seen behind the curtain now.

From today’s New York Times.  Emphasis mine:

Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later, Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent.

Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.

MORE:   Crashing the Tea Party – NYTimes.com.

Leave a comment

Filed under Elections, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

Happy Birthday, Eydie Gorme!

Let’s leave Rick Perry alone for  few minutes and talk about someone truly important;  Eydie Gorme is 80 today…

She’s such a part of the 20th Century Music scene, I couldn’t let this milestone go unnoticed.  She’s one of the last of the great Broadway belters.  I somehow think you could hear Eydie even without the microphone, no matter how big the house…

She also has one of the longest musical partnerships- and marriages- in Show Business with her husband, Steve Lawrence.

They are so “Vegas in the ’60’s” you can’t help but love them.  They are iconic 20th Century entertainment figures.

I bet Rick Perry even listened to her back when he was a cheerleader at Texas A&M….

Happy Birthday, Eydie.  I hope you have many more!

Here she is in 1966:

And a little Steve AND Eydie:

Leave a comment

Filed under Broadway, Music, Television

“Lost in the 21st Century” on Facebook

First of all, thanks to all of you who read this blog- regularly, occasionally or by accident.  I’ve had over 38,000 readers since I started this blog a year and a half ago and I’m still amazed.

And I’m still having fun with it…

I would appreciate it, if you read this blog and like it, if you would “Like” my Facebook page.  You will also then get notification of new blog posts in your Facebook News Feed.  You can click the link on the main page or go to this URL:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lost-in-the-21st-Century/205288282842352

Also, for individual articles, if you click the title, you will see the full article as a separate page as well as an icon, at the bottom,  to share that post on your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts.  I hope you’ll take advantage of this feature.

Please feel free to share these posts, like my Facebook page and send your friends on  over.

Feel free to comment-I encourage you to do so….

This is really about dialogue, not just my random ramblings…..

The more the merrier.

Thanks, again.

Scott

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Perry Dismisses Bush Comparisons

Yep, another example of Governor Goodhair’s striking wit and intelligence….

From Taegen Goddard’s Political Wire:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said it was unfair to make comparisons between himself and former president George W. Bush, CNN reports, noting that “I am Rick Perry and he is George Bush. And our records are quite different.”

Asked what the biggest difference is, Perry responded: “I went to Texas A&M. He went to Yale.”

He did not answer when pressed to name a policy difference.

via Perry Dismisses Bush Comparisons.

Leave a comment

Filed under Politics

Bachmann Wishes Elvis Happy Birthday on Death Date

Jesus Christ….

But I shouldn’t say that or she’ll wish him a Happy Birthday on Easter….

Michelle Bachmann has no clue when it comes to any cultural references.  She can’t get anything right- including hiring a competent staff to research these things for her and protect her from herself….

From Jim Davenport at The Associated Press:

SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann got her Elvis Presley dates all shook up during a campaign stop in South Carolina.

The congresswoman from Minnesota played the Elvis tune “Promised Land” on Tuesday at a restaurant in Spartanburg, and told the crowd of 300 that she wanted to say happy birthday to the King of Rock and Roll.

But Aug. 16 is the anniversary of Elvis’ death, in 1977, and someone in the crowd shouted back, “He died today!”

Bachmann didn’t respond and launched into her speech.

Bachmann has stumbled over cultural references before. In June, she kicked off her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, calling it the home of American actor John Wayne. The town was actually home for a time to serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

via The Associated Press: Bachmann wishes Elvis happy birthday on death date.

Leave a comment

Filed under Elections, Politics

Rick Perry: This Picture Should Kill Those Rumors…..

I can’t help myself…

Saw this at DailyKos and have to post it myself….

Rick Perry at the Iowa State Fair…

No further comment coming from me….

Talk amongst yourselves!

MORE:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/15/1007248/-GOP-candidates-gone-wild!-(Or,-TMI-inAmes)?via=blog_1

1 Comment

Filed under Politics