Rick Perry's Free Market Paradise vs. My Socialist Hellhole of Massachusetts
Above: How Republicans imagine every town in Massachusetts.First, let's just consider that the unemployment rate in the free-market paradise of Texas stands at a freedom-y 8.4 percent. For contrast, the unemployment rate in my socialist hellhole of Massachusetts stands at communist-like 7.6 percent. Poverty rates are also intriguing, since 10 percent of Massachusetts residents live below the poverty line while 15.8 percent of Texas residents live below the poverty line.
But that's not all! My evil job-killing state has the lowest rate of uninsured people in the country, at 5.3 percent. Texas, on the other hand, has left a whopping 27.1 percent of its population uninsured. I'm not sure what's quite so miraculous about not having access to health care but then again I'm just a commie pinko. What the hell do I know?
And there are other things too. Like, education. In Massachusetts, 85 percent of eighth graders scored at or above basic in the National Assessment of Educational Progress math exam, while 52 percent scored at or above proficient. Texas' eighth graders scored 78 percent at basic, 36 percent at proficient. You see a similar trend for reading: 83 percent of Massachusetts eighth graders scored at basic in reading, with 43 percent at proficient. In Texas, 73 percent of eighth graders scored at basic in reading while 27 percent scored at proficient.
"OK, OK," you say. "So Massachusetts has a better economy, education and health care than Texas. But all those big government programs are surely sapping Massholes of their precious moral values and leading to crime running rampant in the streets and a breakdown in family values! DON'T YOU READ DAVID BROOKS!?!!?!"
Yeah, sure, let's go there. Violent crime rate in Massachusetts is 432 per 100,000 people. In Texas it's 511 per 100,000 people. In Massachusetts the murder rate is 2.6 per 100,000 people. In Texas it's 5.4 per 100,000 people. The Massachusetts divorce rate is 1.8 per 1,000 people. The Texas divorce rate is 5.4 per 1,000. The teen pregnancy rate in Massachusetts is 49 per 1,000 women while in Texas it's 88 per 1,000 women.
The point of this post isn't to dump on Texas (although I admit I'm not fond of many of the politicians it elects), nor is it to insist that everyone in America become a Massachusetts liberal like me (though it would make me feel a lot saner). The point is to provide some, oh, I don't know, reality to claims that my state is a decaying crap dive that people are fleeing in droves to escape tyrannical taxation and deteriorating standards of living. In fact, it's actually a pretty nice place to live. Feel free to share this with your conservative relatives the next time you hear them ranting about how awful Massachusetts is -- it may not change their minds but it may at least get them to realize that Rush Limbaugh may not exactly know what he's talking about. And that's good enough for me at this point.
But Texas has the best high school and college football! Look at the stadia. They even have magic unicorns grazing in the lush parking lots!
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
And don't forget the spectacular sunsets as tens of thousands of acres burn for weeks on end.
FREE FARM-FRESH BBQ FOR EVERYONE
couldn't drag me to texas. take it from one who lives close enough to know.
nevertheless, it must be said that 100 years of systematic suppression of socialist thought will put a country exactly where we are. what fascinates me is that the right (ron paul) and the left (bernie sanders) question the need for the good old usa to have over 700 overseas military bases, but yet the dimwits front runner, nor the puke perry, question this projection of empire. it is all very well to bemoan the slide to the right, what are the dimocrats doing about it? other than to support the status quo?
it's all synergistic, like a virus.
They just make them cling to their beliefs all the harder.
...that supports Geraldo's statement. This totally explains Fox viewers.
"Courtesy is owed. Respect is earned. Love is given." --Unknown author, found in Guide to Texas Etiquette by Kinky Friedman
Well, Texas is STILL better than Massachusetts! Why? Because SHUT UP, that's why!!!
"Whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, the Republicans are not the least bit interested in solving it. They are interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it."
As I type this, wildfires are sparking around my childhood hometown 50 miles to the north of where I am now. It hasn't rained for more than a few minutes in over two months, with no substantial rain in the forecast for another two months.
Global Warming denier Perry famously "prayed for rain" and God sent wildfires. You think maybe God is trying to tell Perry something?
These people who all claim to "talk to God" do lots of talking, they just don't do any listening.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
They would have been better off going to a shaman.
Ezekeiel 16:49-50: "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."
Perhaps that's why God is pissed at Texas.
..Mitt Romney?
Be back in a minute, folks. I need to check on Texas and see if it needs basting.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
is that the entire state hasn't been declared a superfund toxic waste site yet. between the petrochemical industry dumping god only knows how many tons of particulates into the air, and agriculture dumping additional god only knows tons of chemicals (fertilizer & bug sprays) on to the land, it's a miracle the place hasn't turned into some futuristic dystopian moonscape yet. yes, there are a couple of relatively nice places in texas, but for the most part, it's a wasteland.
of course, there may be a plan here: fuck it up beyond all repair, then give it back to mexico and let them deal with it. this would immediately solve two problems: illegal immigration and drug trafficing. maybe.
"Give it back".... I keep hearing that phrase.....hummm.. How do we get them to do it WITH Ricky still there so they can have him too!
several decades ago, and after driving to the southern part of the state a few years ago (Rio Grande valley) where a relative lives, the first thing I noticed when I stopped in Texarkana is the Texas smell of refineries and chemical plants. A lot of Texas smells like that. The Houston Ship Channel/Pasadena area is a toxic hellhole.
in Texarkana you must have still been downwind of Arkansas. As you can see on the linked map, there is not a refinery within a hundred miles of the place. Nor are there any chemical plants. (Well, maybe you can't see since there are no cities on the map. Texarkana would be up there in the right hand corner.)
http://205.254.135.24/state/state-energy-prof...
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Hey Brad Reed,
Speaking for a BLUE zip code way down here in Houston TX we think Perry is a lunatic as well. Not only that but we also realize that the Texas Board of Education is overrun with evangelicals and is pretty much the laughing stock of the education community for their inclusion of faux-science in science classrooms.
I assure you not all Texans are crazy like these fools are and that we are doing our part to ensure that these assholes are not re-elected nor do they represent Texas as a whole.
On topic, my wife is from Quincy, MA so we visit your wonderful state regularly and I agree with most everything you say with one exception. Compared to Texas the drivers in Massachusetts are CRAZY. Especially when it comes to lane merging on your toll roads. ;-) It's an insane asylum out there!
cheers.
Texas in-laws could not believe the blue skies over NJ at a recent visit. Shhh, no one tell them Texas is one of the most polluted states in the union, they will have none of it.
What are they putting in the water over there?
Unfortunately, there's not much water left for them to pollute. Some of the aquifers have run dry trying to put out the fires.
I really should say the "media" because it's more than just a particular portion of the media - it's ALL of the media...
I've lived in both places - Mass. AND tex... Although I NEVER want to see another snowflake in my walking around time here on this rock, I will admit living in Mass. was much nicer than living in tex... At least you knew where you stood in Mass.. If you lived in the next town over - you were the enemy... IF you weren't born and raised in Mass. - you were the enemy... if you weren't a red sox fan - you were the enemy... if you didn't at least try to go to every Patriots home game in Foxboro, even in blinding snowstorms - you were the enemy..... The list goes on and on, but if you go into Mass. knowing that, you'll be fine... and the snow would continue to fall, sometimes for days at a time....
Going to tex. is a completely different mess with your mind, with incredibly crude tools and methods (since they think they're still in the 18th century), and a blatant, phoney hillbilly sweet and soar approach that will catch you off guard if you don't know what they're up to. They try to captivate you with their drawl (most of it fake because they can't normally speak intelligible words in a sentence anyway) - they keep drinking their beer, they try to lure you into the texas myth that everything is cheaper there because they have no state income tax - it's a lie - property tax, school tax and sales tax totals over THREE TIMES what most states income taxes are. Housing is cheaper - on the face of it, it's true, BUT building the homes out of the cheapest possible materials (which is a common practice in most areas now days) will make the 'life standing' time for that home about 10 years before it literally starts falling apart.. that's if the termites haven't eaten most of it away.. Oh, and them pesky fire ants...You'll luv them.... Droughts for months at a time and because the ground gets so dried out and hard, YOUR HOMES' FOUNDATION cracks under the strain. Oh, and those A/C BILLS (electric companies are all texas owned and texas run and texas regulate because texas has it's own private electric grid - not on the rest of the nations grid) are ASTRONOMICAL... One pal of mine normally pays $800-$1000 A MONTH just for A/C power or die of heat stroke... then there is the heat/humidity... unbearable.. THEN their are the politicians... and "POOF !!"" Daddy Ricky comes along... fires thousands of school teachers so many students just drop out and are never counted again except maybe in the teen death rate... runs up the state deficit to over $25 BILLION and says not to worry... so they don't and drink their beers. and scratch their butts... spit a couple of times.. lean back their chairs, have another beer and make plans to go shoot something....
PASS....
If you are from the North (a Yankee) you are the enemy.
The oil company HQ folks transferred your Daddy or grandaddy.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
How about the nuclear waste dump that perry approved that lies on a massive water aquifer. That mutt just called for "state-wide prayer" to end the drought.... Didn't work, the state has been on fire for months (300 days 9/7/11) & you can see the smoke from space. Fail! This idiot approves a nuclear dump over an aquifer that supplies millions of people?!?! Is it a crime to murder 50-100 evil, stupid, fuckers in order to save millions of innocent people, or is it heroic? If Osama bin laden were still alive & came to the US & ran for election & won, HE WOULD LOVE TO MAKE A NUCLEAR DUMP OVER OUR WATER SUPPLY!!!! Fuck 9/11! If he pulled this off, he could claim responsibility for millions of deaths for thousands of years. http://www.truth-out.org/perry-hates-regulato...
Rick perry will be directly responsible for over 1000 deaths for every 1 bin laden had.
Bin laden killed in the name of Allah (yea, dumb shit but I respect this reasoning more than GREED)
Perry kills in the name of his back pocket
Conclusion: Osama bin laden was a dick but Rick perry wants to kill YOU PERSONALLY, your children, your children's children, your children's children's children, & so on.
A++++++++++++++++
He writes like he went to the bad public schools Mr. Reed implied Texas has.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I love your blog and read it daily but as a resident of Texas I feel like I need to say something.
Massachusetts isn't on the border of Mexico. A good deal of our problems related to poverty, health care, teen pregnancy and violent crime not completely unrelated to our the fact that we're the largest bordering state to Mexico.
People flee Mexico in search of a better way of life and that often means starting out below the poverty line, lacking in health care and often carrying religious values when it comes to things like pregnancy.
Mexicans did not edit the textbooks, put a nuclear waste dump on top of an aquifer, or add to the divorce rate- unless you are saying that religious beliefs prevent termination of a pregnancy but not the termination of a marriage.
Part of the problem in Texas is the mindset to blame those least responsible. Ask yourself, who in Texas has the power - it is not those seeking a 'better way of life'.
According to Homeland Security, California has more Mexican born residents than Texas.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
he is explaining without facts. Want some?
He said nothing, zero, zip nada about textbooks.
He said nothing about nuclear waste dumps or aquifers. You did so here goes:
1) Map of US Nuclear Waste sites. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0207/fe...
2) Map of US Aquifers
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/...
Report back on which sites are not over aquifers.
He said nothing about the divorce rate, much less correlate it to the age at which women become pregnant. But since you mentioned California, which has demographics similar to Texas, here are some facts. Notice the teen pregnancy rates among Hispanics, which make up bout half of the school age population in both states.
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/data/statistics/Docume...
And don't get me started on education. Comparing Massachusettes test scores, with a white student population of 70%, to states like Texas, which has a diverse population in which most of the children are minorities and low income, is an easy win for the Bay State. It would be better to compare Texas to California or New York. Perhaps I will down this thread. Guess who wins?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
most of the children are minorities
If we're talking about most of the children wouldn't they be a MAJORITY? But you're not a racist, I forgot. Just some sloppy "journalism" on your part. In fairness, yesterday you did say you were not an "award winning former journalist."
MA a *white student population of 70%, to states like Texas, which has a diverse population (you mean a bunch of non-white dummies?)
far left loon >.<
All Texas school children are minorities. Most who are from groups that have known historical legal segregation in this state (blacks and Hispanics) are low income.
Income is the greatest single predictor of educational outcomes.
No, I did not mean a bunch of non white dummies. Texas has three times the number of Limited English Proficient students as Massachusettes and about 66% more low income students.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
No need to clarify. I understood your original post- perfectly.
far left loon >.<
That is why you flitted off to attack me in a very vile and offensive way on a dead thread I wasn't participating in, using an hours old comment as a response vehicle.
You have very little intellectual integrity to begin with. Don't add cowardice to your shortcomings.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Texas is doing the best it can do to educate its citizens and provide services but considering what it has to work with. . .
But if you want to trot out the old NAEP stats, Texas usually does better than New York and beats California handily. And that is when you compare Anglos in each state, Hispanics in each state, and blacks in each state, not just all students. When you do it that way Texas comes close to matching Massachusettes in black and Hispanic test scores, but their Anglo kids do better consistently. They should be justifiably proud of their education record compared to most of the nation.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
..the thread is about what again? Did you read the post?
JH
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
Massachusetts sounds like a really nice place. I would actually consider visiting if it weren't for all those roundabouts. I once drove my GPS insane on a business trip as I rode around in circles desperately trying to find my exit.
The rotaries offer you as many chances as you like to make a selection of exits! Have a couple looks at each exit. Still confused? Keep circling!
And for FSM's sake, if they've painted any lines in there, ignore them! They only lead to confusion.
I love roundabouts. So sensible.
far left loon >.<
Too bad Tax-achusetts can't afford all this "prosperity". They're just as bad as the feds.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/44/debt-10_M...
When it comes time to pay the bills, MA is broke.
marital bliss, more mature in child rearing choices, and forced to buy health insurance, how come they still pee in the streets?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I'd like to call "bullshit" on some of what Mr Reed says here.
Let me start with my bona fides. I was born in Elmira, NY in 1955 but moved to Leominster. MA in 1959, where I lived until 1976, when I moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth where I still reside. My family moved here because my Dad was a machinist who had 22 years experience and couldn't find a job. When he arrived here he had work and a place to live in one day. The desperate situation in Massachusetts at the time was caused in part by Richard Nixon who made every effort he could to damage the state that spawned the Kennedy family that caused him such humiliation.
One of the upsides to Texas was that the cost of higher education was extremely low at $4 per semester hour at all state and county run institutions and it was readily available just about anywhere in the state. I attended Southern Methodist University which was considered to be the most expensive school in the South at $4,400 per year. This was equivalent to some of the smaller private colleges in New England. Harvard was $5,200 annually and considered stratospheric.
Another plus was the State fees were and are considerably lower in Texas compared to Mass. For example it costs me $62 and some change to register each of my cars here, There is no excise tax on automobiles and there is no state income tax and there can't be by state constitutional amendment. A drivers license in Texas is good for six years (12 in AZ) and costs $24. The Bay State requires a new license every four years and is $24.99. In Texas There are no Registry cops.
Healthcare in MA and TX are both very good. Bay State snobs might scoff at this because there are so many good hospitals in Boston but ask if any of them have four Nobel Laureates on staff as UT Southwestern does and if there is a better cancer hospital than UT MD Anderson in Houston. I'd call that a fair wash.
The weather in MA, except for some really beautiful days, can be dismal and cold, raw and depressing. The weather in Texas, except for some really beautiful days, is designed to kill you. Soul crushing heat, ice, tornadoes, straight line winds, grapefruit size hail, drought and floods are on tap all the time. In MA there are blizzards and the rare tornado and lots of cold. No fun, to be sure but one doesn't dodge hell-on-earth on a daily basis as one can in TX.
MA has factory towns. I know because I grew up in one. It also has Lawrence, Haverhill, Fitchburg, Lowell, and so many others. I know Leominster has become the bedroom community of choice for many from Boston but I still find it depressing whenever I go home for a visit. I don't miss the three story tenements and the dreary 19th century factories that seem to absorb light 24 hours a day. TX has its share of factories but they are newer and less foreboding even though many can be sweat shops providing their own view of hell. Texas is a right to work state and wages here are lower than they should be. Mass is a closed shop state and the wages are higher in general. Real Estate prices in MA keep working families from owning their homes. Home prices in Texas are considerably lower and one can own a McMansion in an overhyped subdivision for around $300k new and for under $200k after it's repossessed.
Massachusetts' public education has its share of flaws but seems to do its job. For me, this is the most confusing part of Texas. The largest share of our taxes is dedicated to public education. We have an amazing state college system in this state. Two of the largest universities in the United States are here (UT and A&M) as well as others that rival any in the country. Yet the literacy rate is abysmal. Just look at this: http://www.literacytexas.org/index.php/resour...
I know that MA has its beauty and culture and so does TX. But it's not as wonderful as you say and TX isn't the miracle that Governor Goodhair claims it to be. Hell, I didn't even get into the criminal justice system here or there. Is the Charles Street Jail still open?
But rumor has it that Southies still piss in the street.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Tuition is nowhere near that cheap now and SMU is now $54k a year. TX public colleges are still a pretty good deal. Most of MA doesn't understand Southies either. Most Texans don't understand Aggies either. WTF is "Whoop!"?
Whoop is the first word Rick Perry learned in college.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
...is not necessarily a bad thing in my book. The less I know about them the better off I think I am. :)
I know I'm not being fair here and the school is one of the best there is. My daughter graduated from A&M Magna cum Laude and I'm sure it ain't hurt her none.
.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
...We're estranged.
My Dad was estranged from his father for 3 years because he transferred from Texas A&M to the University of Oklahoma. That is four years less than his older brother was estranged for doing the same damnable thing.
Grandad played football for the Aggies. Before helmets I think.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I was born and bred in MA, tried living in Dallas TX for a year, but had to leave- The Texas landscape was boring, the temperature was too hot, the people were ignorant, the gaybashing was rife, and the religious zealotry was too nausiating
I think North Texas is the ugliest part of the state. I don't think any environment is there solely for our entertainment so North Texans have found lots of ways to entertain themselves with professional sports teams, a vibrant music scene and the like.
Heat? With a record 60+ days over 100º this year, I can't deny it.
People being ignorant? You think that is geographical in nature only? I remember the busing protests in the mid 70's while I was attending Suffolk University. I remember Louise Day Hicks in her olive drab tent and the prayer vigils she used to hold for the cameras. Ignorant people are everywhere. Fortunately there are enlightened people everywhere.
Gay bashing? I can't deny it. But I can say it is better than it was.
Religious tolerance goes both ways along with ignorance everything else. You give as good as you get. Baptists run everything as well as the R's but Dallas is a Democratic county now and change here is slow.
We were the first state to legalize gay marriage- and did it destroy the insititution of marriage everywhere? Not even close. MA has the lowest divorce rate in the country. One reason being because we are not a backwater Christian theocracy state
early on. Long before Texans decided to join the union for as long as they felt like it.
Down here if you are wearing the letter "A" on your clothes it is closely followed by "&M" and it isn't scarlet, it's maroon.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
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