fiscal years

It seems a lot of the right is gaga over Rick Perry and his entering the 2012 race. The media is working hard to talk him up and he will most likely become the front runner at a pretty rapid pace.

So what do we know about Rick Perry? Unless you live in Texas or follow politics really closely then the answer is not much. So let's start off with some things Perry has done, especially this from Bob Cesca:

Texas, which crafts a budget every two years, was facing a $6.6 billion shortfall for its 2010-2011 fiscal years. It plugged nearly all of that deficit with $6.4 billion in Recovery Act money, allowing it to leave its $9.1 billion rainy day fund untouched.

“Stimulus was very helpful in getting them through the last few years,” said Brian Sigritz, director of state fiscal studies for the National Association of State Budget Officers, said of Texas.

Even as Perry requested the Recovery Act money, he railed against it. On the very same day he asked for the funds, he set up a petition titled “No Government Bailouts.”

“Join our fight and add your voice to a growing list of several thousand Americans who are fed up with this irresponsible spending that threatens our future,” Perry wrote on his blog on Feb. 18, 2009.

Yup - as Rick Perry was out there blasting the stimulus as a "waste of money" and even using it as an excuse to remove Texas from the union, he was sitting out there, with a big grin you would expect to find on a snake-oil salesman, hand opening, going "gimme, gimme!". This guy is another one of those big hypocrites that is plaguing the Republican field.

This is another look at how our country has headed in the wrong direction since 9/11:

Federal prosecutors are targeting a rising number of law enforcement officers for alleged brutality, Justice Department statistics show. The heightened prosecutions come as the nation's largest police union fears that agencies are dropping standards to fill thousands of vacancies and "scrimping" on training.

Cases in which police, prison guards and other law enforcement authorities have used excessive force or other tactics to violate victims' civil rights have increased 25% (281 vs. 224) from fiscal years 2001 to 2007 over the previous seven years, the department says.

During the same period, the department says it won 53% more convictions (391 vs. 256). Some cases result in multiple convictions.

I think back to the early 90's when I was a firefighter/paramedic. On numerous occasions I was called to scenes with people acting violently. I have seen a lot, from knifes to guns being waved. The police on the scene never had to shock the person or beat them. They did have to wrestle the person, but the outcome was always the same - the person ended up in cuffs and we ended up laughing it off without a scratch. Now we got police that either beat or shock people for simply not answering a question. Is this the America George Bush envisioned? It certainly will be tagged to his legacy.