Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) Indicted for Abuse of Power by Travis County Grand Jury (Update: Perry Fires Back Calls it Partisan Politics)(Update: Even Obama Political Adviser David Axelrod Thinks Indictment is ‘Sketchy’)

Travis County, Texas grand jury proves once again Judge Saul Wachler’s famous saying that a prosecutor can get a grand jury to ‘indict a ham sandwich.’”

Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been indicted by a Travis County grand jury for abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for prosecutors investigating public corruption. However, the indictment reeks of political payback and political disagreements being handled via the courts.  The indictment stems from when Perry promised publicly to veto $7.5 million over two years for the Public Integrity Unit run by the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. DA Lehmberg, a Democrat, was convicted of drunken driving with a blood-alcohol nearly three times the legal limit. Perry had asked for her to resign; however, she refused.

Fort Worth Star Telegram: Gov. Perry indicted, accused of coercion, abusing power.

A Travis County grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday, accusing him of abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for prosecutors investigating public corruption — making the possible 2016 presidential hopeful his state’s first indicted governor in nearly a century.

A special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting evidence that Perry broke the law when he promised publicly to veto $7.5 million over two years for the Public Integrity Unit run by the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.

Lehmberg, a Democrat, was convicted of drunken driving, but refused Perry’s calls to resign.

Although the Republican governor now has been indicted on two felony counts, politics dominates the case. Lehmberg is based in Austin, which is heavily Democratic, in contrast to most of the rest of conservative Texas. The grand jury consisted of Austin-area residents.

The unit Lehmberg oversees investigates statewide allegations of corruption and political wrongdoing. It led the investigation against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican who in 2010 was convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering for taking part in a scheme to influence elections in his home state — convictions later vacated by an appeals court.

Mary Anne Wiley, Perry’s general counsel, predicted Perry ultimately will be cleared of the charges against him — abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant.

“The veto in question was made in accordance with the veto authority afforded to every governor under the Texas Constitution,” she said.

UPDATE I: Gov. Rick Perry Fires back at the bogus indictment that he abused his power.

Gov. Rick Perry fired back at the indictments and called it nothing more than outrageous and partisan politics.

“We don’t settle political differences with indictments in this country. It is outrageous that some would use partisan, political theatrics to rip away at the very fabric of our state’s Constitution. This indictment amounts to nothing more than abuse of power. And I cannot and I will not allow that to happen … I am confident that we will ultimately prevail.  That this farce of a prosecution will be revealed for what it really is and those responsible will be held accountable.”

VIDEO Hat Tip – The Gateway Pundit

UPDATE II: KXAN Video – Jailers had to restrain DA Rosemary Lehmberg when she was nearly 3x’s the legal limit for DUI.

DA Rosemary Lehmberg initially denied that she was drunk to police as seen by dash cam.

DA Rosemary Lehmberg blames the police for pulling her over for DUI and ruining her career. In fact, the police did not pull her over, she had pulled over on her own in a Church parking lot. The police deputies could not believe they had the chief law enforcement officer in the country on DUI. Since then, not only did Gov. Rick Perry ask her to step down, the Austin police association asked for her to resign as well.

Honestly, how in the hell did this woman not have the common decency and respect for those who enforce and uphold the law, not resign?

UPDATE III: Even Democrat Obama political adviser David Axelrod thinks the indictment is sketchy.

“David Axelrod said that this was a very sketchy indictment,” Perry said. “Professor [Alan] Dershowitz, who’s not exactly my cheerleader, said that it was outrageous. So across the board you’re seeing people weigh in, reflecting that this is way outside of the norm…When you’ve got David Axelrod and Harvard law professor Dershowitz saying the things as they’ve said, I think it’s pretty reflective of what we’re working with here.”

Daily Commentary – Monday, April 28, 2014 – Will Govener Rick Perry Run Again in 2016?

• A group of key New Hampshire GOP activists are ready to listen to his ideas

Daily Commentary – Monday, April 28, 2014 Download

Don’t Mess With Texas… ‘Merry Christmas Bill’ Expected Soon to Become Law in Texas

It’s Christmas come early in Texas … ‘Merry Christmas Bill’ expected to become law in Texas soon.

It would appear that the following will no longer have to be asked by school children in Texas, “Daddy, why do we have a Christmas tree at home and a Holiday tree at school?”

Texas Governor Rick Perry is expected to sign legislation allowing public schools to celebrate Christmas and other winter holidays plainly and explicitly without fear of lawsuits. The proposed law, is called the “Merry Christmas Bill,” has already passed both the Texas House and Senate and now awaits the Perry’s signature. The bill allows “students and district staff” to declare such things such as “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukkah,” and even the soul-sucking “happy holidays.” Oh, the ACLU and anti-Christian organizations are going to lose their mind with this. How sad is it that we have to pass a law to prevent a school from doing this to exempt them from being sued? Is the “war on Christmas” over? Hardly, PC libs are sure to challenge it at the first chance. They will get some 7 year old to say they are being made to feel uncomfortable by being wished a Merry Christmas”.

The text of the bill specifically permits school districts to “educate students about the history of traditional winter celebrations.” More importantly and, somehow, controversially, the bill allows “students and district staff” to declare such things such as “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukkah,” and even the soul-sucking “happy holidays.”

The bill also unambiguously legalizes displays of the religious imagery associated with traditional winter celebrations including nativity scenes, Christmas trees and menorahs. The caveat is that all displays must include imagery from at least two religions or some additional secular symbol. (Messages encouraging adherence to a religion are verboten, too.)

 Merry Christmas bill website.

Full Text of Bill:

2012 Iowa Republican Caucus: Its a Three Way Race Between Romney, Santorum and Paul (Update: Ron Paul Finishes Third)

The 2012 Iowa Caucus as been a nip and tuck, too close to call horse race all night long. Its been back and forth between the three lead horses, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. What will come of this, is Iowa really going to make Ron Paul the winner? Really?

See real time poll results at Fox News.

Presently with 87% of the vote in at 9:50 PM CST … Santorum 25%, Romney 25% and Paul 22%. It is rather interesting that Paul’s negative and nasty ads may have cost him voted in the waning moments leading into today’s caucus vote. Paul may have savaged Gingrich; however, he might have done harm to himself as well.

Continued updates can be found at The Other McCain … Santorum having a hell of a showing tonight, Beating even surge projections. Talk about peaking just at the right time. Will Santorum be able to sustain the momentum and the slings and arrows that will follow not that he is a top tier candidate?

UPDATE I: Fox News predicts that Ron Paul finishes third. WOW, what happened to all the Paulies in Iowa? Third? Sorry folks but this is a major failure and set back for the Paul campaign.

UPDATE II: So far predicted finishes … 3rd Ron Paul, 4th Newt Gingrich, 5th Perry, 6th Michele Bachmann and 7th Huntsman. It is still up in the air as to who is #1 and #2, Romney or Santorum.

UPDATE III: At 10:44  PM CST with 95% of votes counted: Santorum 29,017 – Romney 28,908

UPDATE IV: 11:23 PM CST – Romney 29,625 – Santorum 25,584

Americans see President Obama as the Farthest Candidate from Them Ideologically Including All Republicans

Barack Obama … the most out of touch candidate for American ideology …

According to a recent Gallup poll should cause yet more concern for President Barack Obama for the 2012 elections. Americans see Obama as the farthest candidate from them ideologically than any of the GOP primary candidates. Should this really come as a surprise as Barack Obama is the most liberal and polarizing President ever elected. Although many Americans are not not sure of some of the Republican candidates, they have had three years to figure out exactly what Obama’s ideology is. 57% consider Obama vet liberal/liberal, while 15% polled were smoking crack stating that Obama was very conservative/conservative. If Obama has not yet convinced America that he is not “very liberal” at this point, it is a lost cause. America knows exactly what Barack Obama is and stands for, there is no fooling the public like 2008.

What should further trouble Obama is that Independents consider Obama the farthest away from their ideology as well.  As for Republicans, enough said. However, just how out of touch are Democrats with the main stream of society? They think Barack Obama is spot on with their ideology.

This is coupled with other polling data showing Obama loses a hypothetical match up with Mitt Romney 45% to 39%.

UPDATE I: Barack Obama’s job approval rating back down to 41% approval – 50% disapproval as per Gallup!