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The National Rifle Association just wrapped up its annual meeting in Houston back in the Lone Star State. Some highlights: Texas Governor Rick Perry fired a big gun for funsies, a bleeding Obama zombie target was banned, and Sarah Palin recieved a standing ovation for her speech. This is the same speech in which she represented her 4.5 million “brothers and sisters” of the NRA by wagging her finger at the “lamestream media,” a “poodle-skirted cheerleader for the president” and giving her audience the wink and nudge of the elbow with names in her family like “Trigg” and “Remington.” Palin’s...

On Friday's All In show, with the words "The Sickness" displayed on screen behind him, MSNBC host Chris Hayes began the show with a commentary in which he tagged the NRA as a "far-right fringe organization" that "might be spelling their own demise" by celebrating the defeat of the universal background check proposal. Hayes: While they did win the short-term victory with the background check bill, that vote could ultimately prove to be the NRA's undoing. Because, in a lot of ways, it's a classic wedge-issue vote, in that it separated the NRA from mainstream gun owners. And if they...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be among the speakers at the "Stand with Scouts Sunday" nationwide simulcast event to support Boy Scouts of America's membership policies on homosexuality. Perry, a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, will be joined by Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, the organization that's hosting the Stand with Scouts Sunday event, along with John Stemberger, Eagle Scout and founder of OnMyHonor.Net, a coalition of BSA parents and scouting leaders, who are asking members of the national council to vote "No" on the BSA's resolution to lift the ban on openly gay membership.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be among the speakers at the "Stand with Scouts Sunday" nationwide simulcast event to support Boy Scouts of America's membership policies on homosexuality. Perry, a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, will be joined by Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, the organization that's hosting the Stand with Scouts Sunday event, along with John Stemberger, Eagle Scout and founder of OnMyHonor.Net, a coalition of BSA parents and scouting leaders, who are asking members of the national council to vote "No" on the BSA's resolution to lift the ban on openly gay membership....

**SNIP** The short video played just before Perry took the stage to a welcome applause from the crowd. It shows Perry taking aim at an egg from about 100 yards out with a LaRue Tactical rifle, which is made by a company that recently opened up shop in Texas. The video then shows Perry hitting metal targets like a marksman. The video got quite a reaction online, and not all of it was good. The responses on Twitter ranged from folks saying Perry’s video did nothing but “promote and excite the already gun-thirsty and violent society” to others saying “I...

This video was played prior to Governor Rick Perry's walking on-stage -to great applause- at the IRL-NRA Leadership Forum in Houston yesterday, part of the 2013 NRA Annual Meetings: 'Welcome to Texas, ladies and gentlemen!'  YouTube -here-

The National Rifle Association just had an amazing victory in defeating a bill to require universal background checks on gun purchases — something it endorsed 15 years ago — and yet the speakers at its 142nd annual convention in Houston sounded awfully bitter. Several speakers devoted part of their speeches to media criticism, saying the big bad MSM had been mean to them. "Those in the media — yeah, you know who I'm talking about — they think they know better than we do, they think they're msarter than us," said Wayne LaPierre, the gun lobby's executive vice president. "Some...

Like an aging rocker, Texas Governor Rick Perry is currently on the 2013 I’m Coming For Your Jobs tour across America. His first stop: California a couple months ago. This week he’s in Illinois, where he got a nasty reception from public officials. The trips are part of an effort to get businesses from highly taxed and heavily regulated states to relocate down South — but his efforts may fall flat, if recent history is any indication. Texas has arguably become one of the few true economic success stories since the recession. The state has an unemployment rate of around...

Laugh all you want about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's campaign to recruit businesses from Illinois to the Lone Star State. We don't know whether Perry will succeed in prompting a commercial exodus from the Land of Lincoln to the land of droughts, fire ants and deadly fertilizer-plant explosions. Yet Perry's stunt is another serious wake-up call for Illinois politicians and the inhospitable business climate they've created. Perry can boast to Illinois business leaders of a Texas unemployment rate that has fallen to 6.4 percent. That's an excellent barometer of his state's economic health. By contrast, the unemployment rate in Illinois...

States: The governor from a thriving free-enterprise state travels to the U.S. counterpart of Greece and Cyprus with an invitation: Come to where folks are friendly to business. Texas' Rick Perry arrived in Illinois Monday to lure businesses away from a state that we and other's have dubbed "America's Greece" — beleaguered by debt, punished by regulations and subject to ever-rising taxes — to one that's leading the pack in job and economic growth. Taking umbrage at Perry's visit was Chicago Mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. He took the occasion to taunt the governor with...

CHICAGO — Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave Rick Perry a Chicago-style greeting Monday, challenging the Texas governor to remember the reasons for his visit to Illinois — a jab at Perry's presidential debate forgetfulness. "I hope when he comes he remembers all three of his reasons," Emanuel said. "Because it will be a real test for him." Perry was in Illinois Monday to encourage businesses to move to Texas and was scheduled to address a Chicago business convention Tuesday. Emanuel made pointed reference to a campaign gaffe Perry committed while running for president. At a Republican debate late in 2011, Perry...

In a changing technological landscape, the news media industry has faced great upheaval, and the relationship between political actors and journalists has changed significantly. On April 3, a group of journalists gathered to discuss this changing relationship. The panel, entitled “The Role of Media in the U.S. Political System” and sponsored by the HLS American Constitution Society, featured CNN’s John King, Melinda Henneberger, political reporter for the Washington Post, and Peter Hamby, national political reporter for CNN. The entire industry has faced cutbacks, Henneberger said, so news organizations are working with fewer resources than in the past... ---snip--- The “underappreciated...

Last week, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy signed into law what advocacy groups are heralding as the strictest gun limits in the nation, including measures that expand the state’s list of banned ‘assault’ weapons and restrict magazine capacities to ten rounds — and it didn’t take long for one of Connecticut’s gun manufacturers to follow suit on a phenomenon that’s already started in other states. A manufacturer of military-style rifles says it is leaving Connecticut and is encouraging other companies to do the same after last week’s signing of sweeping gun legislation.PTR Industries of Bristol said the bill approved by the...

Texas Governor Rick Perry on Friday said a gun manufacturer that has decided to leave Connecticut should "come on down" to the Lone Star State. PTR Industries, a maker of military-style rifles, threatened to leave Connecticut after the passage of one of the toughest gun-control laws in the United States. Connecticut enacted the measure in the wake of the Newtown school shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six adults. "Hey, PTR," Perry posted on Twitter on Friday. "Texas is still wide open for business!! Come on down!" The Connecticut law bans high-capacity ammunition clips of the kind used in the...

Gov. Rick Perry speaks wistfully — almost lovingly — about a rifle he recently fired while he was at a range in Leander owned by the manufacturer LaRue Tactical. “I’m incredibly passionate about a well-made piece of equipment,” Mr. Perry said in a phone interview last week, “whether it’s an automobile or a weapon.” After the visit, LaRue posted Mr. Perry’s results online. From 100 yards away, the governor took three shots and grouped them — two shots hit the same spot — mere millimeters from the center of the target. “That was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Mr. Perry said,...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) doubled down Monday in his opposition to expanding Medicaid under President Obama's healthcare law, even though opposing it could cost his state $90 billion. At a press conference where he was flanked by other conservatives, Perry argued expanding the health insurance program for the poor would make Texas “hostage” to the federal government. “It would benefit no one in our state to see their taxes skyrocket and our economy crushed as our budget crumbled under the weight of oppressive Medicaid costs,” Perry said at the state capitol. States can choose whether or not to allow...

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/564bdba2-99f3-11e2-83ca-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2PA9gX3iV Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, is facing pressure from fellow Republicans to drop his opposition to accepting billions of dollars in federal funds under the “Obamacare” reforms and extend health insurance to 1.5m of the state’s poorest citizens. Mr Perry, a failed presidential candidate who has not ruled out running again in 2016, is on Monday expected to defend his...

If as has been widely suggested, CPAC 2013 marked a paradigm change, a generational change, a new direction of conservatism, it is possible to speculate that someone who fits the new paradigm could be president in 2016. Among them: Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sarah Palin, all of whom starred at the Conservative Political Action Conference. For any one of these, the perfect choice for vice president should be David Petraeus. Patraeus always wanted to be president. He still does. His admission to an extramarital affair was timed to the...

Call it the Rick Perry gold rush: The governor wants to bring the state's gold reserves back from a New York vault to Texas. And he may have legislative support to do it. Freshman Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, is carrying a bill that would establish the Texas Bullion Depository, a secure state-based bank to house $1 billion worth of gold bars owned by the University of Texas Investment Management Co., or UTIMCO, and stored by the Federal Reserve. The idea isn't entirely new. Some Republicans worked on a gold bill last session that was never filed. And gold-standard-backing Ron Paul,...

Recently, Republican Governors Rick Perry of Texas and Terry Branstad of Iowa appealed to those wanting to flee liberal California. “Move your business to our state,” they implore. “We’ll welcome you with open arms here.” They should be careful what they wish for. When my wife and I used to vacation in Colorado in the 1970s, I started noticing bumper stickers that read “Don’t Californicate Colorado.” The initial movement that spawned that sentiment was a way for Colorado residents to express their disapproval of how Southern California had exploded with seemingly unlimited development. However, since that time, “Californicate” has taken...

“The popular media narrative is that this country has shifted away from conservative ideals, as evidenced by the last two presidential elections. That’s what they think. That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates in 2008 and 2012.”Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas) drew applause with that line, as he spoke at last week’s “Conservative Political Action Conference’ (“CPAC”) in Maryland. And if there’s any sure-fire way to draw applause from a conservative audience in 2013, taking a swipe at both the media and the Republican Party is probably a good strategy. Yet if there is somehow a...

California now works on the principle of the mordida, or "bite." Its government assumes that it can take something extra from residents for the privilege of living in their special state. Gov. Jerry Brown made that assumption explicit in his latest back-and-forth with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who keeps luring Californians to lower-tax, higher-employment Texas. Recently, Brown said of Texas, "Who would want to spend summers there in 110-degree heat inside some kind of fossil fuel air conditioner?" Translated, Brown's retort meant that despite California's sluggish economy, high taxes and poor services, it's still worth staying there to enjoy its...

An Advanced Placement World Geography teacher at a Texas high school who encouraged students to dress in Islamic clothing also instructed them to refer to the 9-11 hijackers not as terrorists – but as “freedom fighters,” according to students who were in the class. Students at Lumberton High School were also told to stop referring to the Holocaust as Genocide – instead they were told to use the term “ethnic cleansing.” John Valastro, the superintendent of the Lumberton Independent School District, tells me that the teacher did absolutely nothing wrong. “What is more dangerous – fear and ignorance or education...

It is a matter of public record that the United States Senate is a terrible place where serious policy issues are ignored; routine votes are occasionally delayed over concerns about non-existent terrorist groups; and proverbial cans are proverbially kicked down the proverbial road of sadness, gridlock, and despair. What's less clear is why the Senate is such a congress of louts. Is it the endless pressure to raise money? The never-ending campaign? The fact that Americans hold lots of substantive disagreements on important things and are themselves—it's been said—somewhat dysfunctional? Actually, according to Georgia state Rep. Buzz Brockaway, the biggest...

Critics of a free market economy are also critics of individual responsibility. Because they believe in higher taxes, centralized control, and absolute intolerance to other viewpoints, they find themselves reducing free market ideas to that of human flatulence. At least the current governor of California--Jerry Brown--did this week. The seventy-four year old was quite taken aback. He was asked by California media this week if Texas Governor Rick Perry's recent poaching expedition would matter much to the state's future. His reply was direct. "It's not a serious story, guys. It's not a burp. It's barely a fart," replied Brown. Maybe...

What could be more fun than a throwdown between Governor Goodhair and Governor Moonbeam? Rick Perry is on a four-day “business recruitment trip” to California, escalating his raids on Jerry Brown’s economy and getting enough attention to, maybe, get some businesses to think about moving. With new taxes that were imposed by California and Congress at the end of 2012, Californians — including decision-making executives — are among those who pay the highest taxes in the country. Mr. Perry recently spent a pittance — $24,000 for a radio advertisement in a state like California has a smaller audience than a...

I love federalism. Which is to say, really, that I love competition. When states, like businesses, compete for their desired goals in a free-market scenario, everybody wins in the long run, because the policies that really work and appeal to the most people will come out on top.Texas and California are often compared as polar opposites in terms of their business-friendly policies; i.e., Texas is reliably ranked number one and California usually comes in around dead last. There are plenty of traditional and cultural factors that keep California an attractive place for venture capital investment, but an incoming raft of...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said emphatically Saturday that the Boy Scouts of America shouldn’t soften its strict no-gays membership policy, and dismissed the idea of bending the organization to the whims of “popular culture.” Perry is an Eagle Scout and in 2008 he authored the book “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.” It detailed the governor’s deep love for the organization and explained why it should continue to embrace traditional, conservative values—including excluding openly gay members and Scout leaders. … Even though the Boy Scouts reaffirmed the no-gays policy just seven...

OK, raise your hands — how many of you are surprised by this? Governor Rick Perry gave Barack Obama a Texas-sized pushback on the new gun-control agenda at the White House: “The Vice President’s committee was appointed in response to the tragedy at Newtown, but very few of his recommendations have anything to do with what happened there.“Guns require a finger to pull the trigger. The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror.“There is evil prowling in the...

Gov. Rick Perry released the following statement regarding President Obama's executive actions: "The Vice President's committee was appointed in response to the tragedy at Newtown, but very few of his recommendations have anything to do with what happened there. "Guns require a finger to pull the trigger. The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror. "There is evil prowling in the world - it shows up in our movies, video games and online fascinations, and finds its way...

The Huffington Post reports that a bill to move the District of Colombia toward statehood has been introduced in the Senate. Buzzfeed says “the 51st state would be called New Columbia” and be granted full voting representation in the Senate and House. A group called DC Vote has launched a White House petition to call on President Obama for support. It is indeed time that D.C. voters become fully enfranchised as the 51st state. But it is also high time that the nation’s capital be moved from its quaint antiquarian, Eastern enclave to the center of our country. Louisville would...

Obamacare doesn’t have much of a chance of working because of the wariness of states over the creation of health insurance exchanges, according to Texas Gov. Rick Perry. … “The idea that you’ve got a state instituted exchange, but it has to be federally approved. So the fact is the federal government’s going to have to run these. And they don’t have the expertise, nor do they have the money,” Perry said. …

Back in October 2010 I warned of the consequences of naming a stealth jihadist with ties to Islamic subversives whose stated goal is to "eliminate and destroy Western civilization from within and sabatoage its miserable house."more here ... Secretary Napolitano named devout Muslim Mohamed Elibiary to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (Department of Homeland Security.) Texas Department of Public Safety now says Homeland Security Advisory Council member Mohamed Elibiary may have been given access to a sensitive database of state and local intelligence reports, and then allegedly shopped some of those materials to a media outlet. Who else is the...

Back in October 2011 Congressman Louis Gohmert (R-TX) questioned Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about Mohamed Elibiary, a member of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with a high level security clearance who allegedly accessed, illegally from his home computer, a Texas State and Local Intelligence Community database. Napolitano denied knowing anything about it, and told Gohmert she would personally do the investigation. See the video below. Gohmert charged that Elibiary shopped information marked For Official Use Only, [classified] about Texas Governor Rick Perry and other Texas officials, to a left-leaning media outlet. See my original article from January 2012 for...

The Obama administration on Friday rebuffed requests by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the leaders of several other states to waive a federal renewable fuel mandate that requires ethanol to be blended into the nation's gasoline supply. In rejecting the waiver requests, the Environmental Protection Agency effectively disagreed with the states' concerns that the mandate was spiking corn demand and prices following a drought that devastated crops in the Midwest. The EPA concluded the Renewable Fuel Standard would not cause "severe economic harm" to states and regions. "We recognize that this year's drought has created hardship in some sectors of...

“The American people have given President Obama a chance to start over. He can take steps this time to govern responsibly. He can work with, not against, Republicans in Congress and governors around the nation. He can put an end to his reckless disregard for our rule of law and spare our nation another long, painful and expensive four years for American families, taxpayers and employers. “We must hold his and Congress’ feet to the fire to once and for all cut spending, repeal Obamacare and withdraw federal encroachment into state decision-making and personal liberties. Our nation’s long-term prosperity and...

Gov. Rick Perry's Facebook page is definitely interesting right now, to say the least. There is a lot of talk, urging him to consider having Texas secede from the union. While I believe that talk of secession is a bit dramatic right now, I understand where people are coming from. Frankly, I would support getting a coalition behind Gov. Perry for 2016 to take back the White House! Thoughts?

Headline and link only http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/26/us-usa-health-texas-idUSBRE89P00A20121026?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=574655

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry said college students in Texas should be able to lock in four-year tuition rates when they arrive on campus, and lawmakers could consider the idea when they return to the Capitol in January. The proposal is Perry's latest push against rising higher education costs, which has sometimes caused friction between the governor and administrators and faculty at some of the state's largest campuses. Perry also has championed $10,000 bachelor's degrees and called for greater efficiencies at state universities to improve graduation rates. Speaking Friday at the Texas Tribune festival, a three-day public policy forum in...

The Houston Chronicle is calling the huge Ted Cruz win over current Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, an embarrassment for Governor Rick Perry who backed Dewhurst. Photo: Sarah Palin at Ted Cruz rally wearing boots given to her by Governor Perry Perry took aim during the campaign at various out-of-state Tea Partiers who supported Cruz, including the Tea Party Express and Sarah Palin. The governor, who is also a Tea Party favorite, chided them to "come to Texas and learn how to do it right." Cruz defeated Dewhurst by nearly 14 percentage points. The former state solicitor general is now the heavy...

On a village green in The Woodlands, north of Houston, Friday evening, an enthusiastic crowd of approximately a thousand tea partiers joined U.S. Senate hopeful Ted Cruz in a “Yes, We Can” chant parodying the current occupant of the White House and gave a rapturous welcome to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who told the crowd that those “who cling to our guns, God and Constitution” have a friend in Cruz. A relaxed Cruz, wearing boots and faded Levis, his wife Heidi standing on an outdoor stage with him, told the crowd on a hot, sultry evening they had the...

Gov. Rick Perry is putting his months of attacks on Mitt Romney behind him and rallying to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's banner. The Texas Republican makes his first campaign trip on behalf of Romney on Friday when he visits Elko, Nev. He'll make two evening stops there Friday evening, with visits to the Silver State Stampede Rodeo and a Romney campaign office. Romney, who's a former Massachusetts governor, isn't expected to appear. Nevada is a key state Obama won in 2008.

Black Residents in Jasper, TX are stepping up and speaking out against CNN and the New York Times. The Former Police Chief, Rodney Pearson, was fired and the City Council members who hired him were recalled. Pearson is black. Pearson says he was fired because of his race even though he was fired because of, among other things, his low qualifications, low performance, and a criminal record. The liberal media gets contacted by Pearson's race baiting lawyer and next thing you know there are stories on CNN and the New York Times alleging that the white people in Jasper are...

Governor Rick Perry said on Monday Texas will not implement an expansion of the Medicaid program or create a health insurance exchange, placing the state with the highest percentage of people without insurance outside key parts of President Barack Obama's signature law. The announcement makes Texas the most populous state that has rejected the provisions. Some 6.2 million people are without health insurance in Texas, or 24.6 percent of the state population, the highest percentage in the nation. California has more people without insurance but a lower percentage. Perry joined fellow Republican governors of Florida, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Mississippi and...

Texas will not expand Medicaid or establish a health insurance exchange, two major tenets of the federal health reform that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld last month, Gov. Rick Perry said in a Monday morning announcement. "I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the Obamacare power grab," he said in a statement. "Neither a 'state' exchange nor the expansion of Medicaid under this program would result in better 'patient protection' or in more 'affordable care.' They would only make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care." Perry's office sent...

Midland, TX – CBS 7 has confirmed that Governor Rick Perry will be in Midland on Monday to attend a press conference for a special announcement regarding XCOR Aerospace. Griffin Communications, the Public Relations company handling the event, confirms the Governor will be in attendance along with XCOR Aerospace and community leaders. As CBS 7 News broke first, The Midland Development Corporation and The City of Midland are working on a deal with XCOR Aerospace. This coming Monday, The MDC and City Council will be voting on the agreement, which includes $10 million in incentives for the company to move...

....Under the health care law, by 2014, states must implement a health insurance exchange, or a Web-based marketplace where people can shop for insurance, or defer to a federal program. States need to submit plans to the federal government by Nov. 16 that demonstrate their readiness to launch health exchanges. ....."We care about having a health care safety net for the vulnerable Floridians," Scott said on Fox. "But this is an expansion that just doesn't make any sense." ....."Hopefully we won't have to worry about it because by November we're going to have a new president-elect who is going to...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said on Sunday President Barack Obama's claim of executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents was "Nixonian," even seeming to indicate that he thought the scandal was worse than Watergate.  "Now you have a president who is using his executive privilege to keep that information from Congress. If that's not Nixonian, then I don't know what it is," said Perry on CBS's "Face the Nation."    The former Republican presidential candidate seemed to indicate that the Fast and Furious gun-walking operation was worse than the Watergate scandal that brought down Nixon.   "We've had over 300 Mexican nationals killed, directly...

The addition of former Perry presidential campaign spokesman Mark Miner to Senate hopeful David Dewhurst’s campaign means that the three most important positions in the Dewhurst bid to go to Washington are held by Perry people. Dewhurst, who’s in a battle with former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz for Texas’ open U.S. Senate seat, has former Perry strategist Dave Carney as his senior campaign adviser. A pro-Dewhurst super PAC, Texas Conservatives Fund, is run by Rob Johnson, who managed Perry’s 2010 re-election campaign and worked in his failed presidential effort in the 2012 cycle. Miner, another Perry presidential campaign worker...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was booed at the state GOP convention Thursday when he mentioned his support for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s candidacy for Senate...Dewhurst is facing former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz in a run-off election for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Cruz has largely drawn support from more conservative elements of the party.