Perry's Big Show

It seems Rick Perry has had a change of heart about several things.  He started wearing big, black-rimmed glasses to improve his appearance and, probably, to seem more intelligent. And he has quit wearing cowboy boots. And, apparently, he has changed his mind about children brought to America through no fault of their own.  

If you will recall in one of his debates the first time he ran for the Republican nomination for president, he allowed as how anyone who did not favor allowing children--brought here through no fault of their own--to finish their education had no heart.  Now it seems he’s joined the chorus, along with people like Ted Cruz, vowing to stop the invasion of all of these terrible people coming from South of Texas.  Cruz and Perry claim aliens have committed 3,000 killings in the past 6 years.  The Austin American Statesman has investigated this claim and found it totally false. 

Perry’s recent conduct once again confirms what a hypocrite he is.  He has always maintained he is a conservative, not wanting to spend any money belonging to the taxpayers, and even proposing we reduce taxes in Texas.  He is now spending a few million of our tax dollars traveling around the United States in his quest for the Republican nomination for president.  Even though he has several million on hand of campaign funds, he insists the state pay many of his expenses for his “Elect Perry” tour.

The latest stunt Perry has grabbed on to trying to polish his image as a right-wing conservative is to supposedly secure the borders. To that end he pushed a proposal through to obtain a multimillion dollar camera system to set up surveillance along the Texas/Mexico border.  A system of 29 cameras placed every 41 miles was installed but has not proven to be very efficient. The system was installed in 2006 and since that time has been responsible for the capture of 26 illegal aliens attempting to invade Texas.  If you divide the 26 illegals captured into the cost, this amounts to $153,800 per illegal alien captured.  This is from a governor who refuses to accept millions from the federal government to see that poor Texas citizens are afforded decent health care coverage.  His argument for turning down the federal bucks is that it would create a trend for which the state might be liable in the future. 

Apparently, cost is really no object when it comes to putting on a good show for Perry’s right- wing supporters.  He ordered several hundred state troopers to the border to do what border guards are supposed to be doing and then recently ordered 1,000 national guard troops to the border.  It’s estimated the collective cost of these two moves will cost Texas taxpayers $17,000,000 per month ($17 million).

The sad part of this story is that it appears finding illegals crossing into Texas is not a problem.  The recent surge of young people and children entering Texas produces a scenario where they immediately attempt to surrender to some local official.  Border county sheriff  suggests this move does nothing but assist Perry’s image among conservative Republicans.  

Because of a law called posse comitatus, military folks in the United States are not authorized to be law enforcement officers against civil populations.  They cannot arrest, they cannot even hold to interrogate, and they certainly would not be authorized to shoot any of these illegal children as they cross the border in what is described by Ted Cruz as an invasion.