Dean vs. Bush Comparison........ have you seen this?

http://www.boomundo.com/dean/bvd.htm


Governor Dean's Vermont Record

Cut taxes three times and reduced Vermont's per capita debt by 23%

Insured 96% of Vermonters under the age of 18 under the Dr Dynasaur program.

In 1991 Vermont had the lowest bond rating in New England. Today Vermont has the highest rating in New England, AA+

Creating jobs – Under Dean’s tenure, Vermont added an astounding 56,000 new jobs, a 20% increase in the workforce.

Better wages – Governor Dean worked to create higher paying jobs. In 2001 the average income in Vermont grew 8th fastest in the country.

Putting Vermonters back to work – When Howard Dean became Governor, Vermont’s unemployment rate as 6.9%, slightly higher than the national average. By the time Dean left office, Vermont’s unemployment rate was 3.7%, far below the national rate of 6.0%,
Inherited a $60 million debt, but left office with a balanced budget

Signed the groundbreaking civil unions bill, which gave homosexual couples the same legal rights and responsibilities as hetero couples

High tech jobs – Dean understands that technology will help drive the 21st century economy. That’s why he focused on bringing high tech jobs to Vermont. The state now ranks 5th in high tech jobs per capita, with 3500 such jobs created between 1993 and 2000 alone.

Restricting development of hundreds of thousands of acres of land, preserving it for future generations.

Signed into law a mental health bill which ended discriminatory practices against the mentally ill and drug abusers

etc.........etc....etc.....



Governor Bush's Texas Record

#1 In overall toxic releases

#1 In recognized carcinogens in the air

#1 In suspected carcinogens in the air

#1 In developmental toxin in the air (affecting brain and nervous-system development in children)

#1 Cancer risk

49th in spending for the environment

#1 In major discharge facilities with 575 major facilities

#2 In total number of minor Nipdes facilities, about 5,700.

3,000 Miles, or one third, of Texas rivers and 44% of Texas bays are polluted to the point that they do not meet the standards set for recreational and other uses.

13 Texas lakes were covered by advisories or bans on fish consumption in 1996.

#1 in use of Deep Well Injectors as method of Waste Disposal

#1 in Total Number of Hazardous Waste Incinerators

#1 in Environmental Justice Title 6 complaints

#1 in production of Cancer causing Benzene & Vinyl Chloride

#1 Largest Sludge Dump in Country

#1 in the Emission of Ozone Causing Air Pollution Chemical

Where's the economic comparison for texas?

Your comparison means nothing if it isn't comparing similiar things.

i don't think we NEED to know BUSHIT #s which were from a Clinton boom.

Not many people know this, but the Texas Governor's office is the weakest Governor in the nation. The Governor here has almost no power at all( You have probably heard people complain a lot about his number of executions, but the fact is, he could do no more under Texas law than stay those executions 30 days, and he could do that only once per case. The Texas Governor cannot even pardon people or commute sentences). That is why Texas did not completely fold and go to hell while he was Governor, he lacked the power to do to it what he did to the nation.

In defense of my beloved country, I don't have any fondness for Bush's record, but Texas became what it is as a direct result of decades of monopoly Democratic rule, and that's just the fact. Until Bush, I recall exactly one Republican governor in my entire 34 years here.

#1 In overall toxic releases

#1 in chemical production facilities, per capita, and percentage of GDP, on the planet.

#1 In recognized carcinogens in the air

#1 in chemical production facilities, per capita, and percentage of GDP, on the planet.

#1 In suspected carcinogens in the air

#1 in chemical production facilities, per capita, and percentage of GDP, on the planet.

#1 In developmental toxin in the air (affecting brain and nervous-system development in children)

#1 in chemical production facilities, per capita, and percentage of GDP, on the planet.

Where are they taking these samples, anyway? Right next to an exhaust vent outside a Dow plant in Texas City? I live fifteen miles from a lignite strip mine and aluminum smelter, and the air's as fresh as a daisy.

Texas is big, people. We don't live surrounded by smokestacks and pumpjacks. I have a fair amount of dirt and foliage between myself and my nearest neighbor. As for Houston's air, live in the city, get what you get.

#1 Cancer risk

Ah, says who?

49th in spending for the environment

As defined by what? Per capita? Percentage of GDP? The stupefying majority of land in Texas is held by the state, the Federal government, and landowners of colossal scale. What small percentage is set aside as parklands and environmental preserves, is well taken care of. I'm sorry, but go visit Big Bend, Caddo Lake, any little town in the Hill Country, any little town in the Piney Woods, and you're not going to see a neverending, Blade-Runner-esque toxic waste dump looking like the dimmest outskirts of Houston.

Honestly, what percentage of DUers have ever set foot here, or have any intention to do so?

#1 In major discharge facilities with 575 major facilities

#1 in chemical production facilities, per capita, and percentage of GDP, on the planet.

#2 In total number of minor Nipdes facilities, about 5,700.

So who's number one?

3,000 Miles, or one third, of Texas rivers and 44% of Texas bays are polluted to the point that they do not meet the standards set for recreational and other uses.

Pfft! Says who, again? God, I could drive fifteen minutes in any direction and pull a catfish or a bass out of a creek, small pond or lake, cook it and eat it, and guess what - I'd be fine.

13 Texas lakes were covered by advisories or bans on fish consumption in 1996.

How many in New Jersey, California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania? Do you have any idea how many fishable lakes, major and minor, are in Texas? My brain goes into numeric seizure trying to count just those that have names, within an hour of here. Thirteen lakes? Just as a rough guess, I'd put that at about .01 percent of the total.

#1 in use of Deep Well Injectors as method of Waste Disposal

This is a good thing. Salt domes are strong enough to contain fusion explosions, and have. They exist hundreds or thousands of feet beneath the deepest water tables, and never the twain shall meet. You can either incinerate that level of toxin, encase it in concrete and dump it into an oceanic trench, or inject it into a salt dome, where it remains undisturbed for eternity. Which sounds best?

#1 in Total Number of Hazardous Waste Incinerators

#1 in chemical production facilities, per capita, and percentage of GDP, on the planet.

#1 in Environmental Justice Title 6 complaints

Filed by whom? Wouldn't have been the political enemies of the then-governor, by any chance, would it? Regardless, um, yeah, when you refine every chemical known to man, and most chemicals used by everyone else on the face of the Earth, and do so in an area roughly the size of New Jersey, that's not going to be good for that patch of land, by any stretch, but, people do need plastics.

#1 in production of Cancer causing Benzene & Vinyl Chloride

Yes, again, people do need plastics. Californians don't want to make them, so we will. You're welcome.

#1 Largest Sludge Dump in Country

You're welcome, again.

#1 in the Emission of Ozone Causing Air Pollution Chemical

You mean, um, automotive exhaust? Yeah, uh... sorry about that, I guess. We've been working on that time machine so we can go back to the early forties - when air conditioning became commercially viable, and a mass migration of people moved here for the oil - so we can build trillion-dollar subway systems beneath our gargantuan, sprawling megalopolises. Because if one thing's for sure, it's that people who live in 90+ degree heat for half the year will get out of their cars and walk the thirty blocks to the nearest light rail station. GUARANTEED.

Look, I'm sorry, and I like Dean too, a lot, but you've got plenty of national issues on which to stake the case now. This is not a festering hellpit - some of us have turned down job offers elsewhere to stay here, believe it or not - and every complaint raised about Bush's record could just as easily have been raised about Ann Richards before him, Mark White before her, and on up the long-running Democratic line.

Texas: Does a crappy job taking care of the poor refugees in the colonias.

Texas: Can't seem to get together with Mexico to clean up the Rio Grande.

Texas: Is run by dickheads who think it's more important to stick it to the Democrats in redistricting than actually fund the goddamn schools.

Texas: Will screw you to DEATH on property taxes but will be DAMNED if it's going to even CONSIDER a State Income tax.

Texas: Is still the only place most Texans will ever want to live.

(edit: changed "twain should meet" to "twain shall meet.")

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You live in Houston, and from that you derive your attitude towards the whole of Texas?

That's unfortunate.

Never spent an afternoon in the autumn trolling beneath the moss canopies of Caddo Lake?

Never been peaching in Fredericksburg?

Never been tubing down the Guadalupe?

Never taken a horseback ride in the Hill Country near Johnson City?

Never had dinner at a soul kitchen in the deep pines near Jasper?

Never smoked kind hydroponic at a rooftop cafe in Austin, hooked up with some luscious neo-hippie honey, and wound up marrying her?

Never gone to any of the wineries along the highland lakes?

Never swam naked in Hamilton pool?

Never blown out a tire in the middle of bumfuck nothing, hoofed it God knows many miles to the nearest "town," and been given free iced tea at the Dairy Queen while the local junkmen scrounged up a passable tire for $5.00?

I'm guessing not? Just... driven around in Houston, is that it?

Can't says I blame you for your perception, in that case.

All he had to do was talk a hell of a lot more about Texas asking the country is this what you want? It of course wouldn't have been true but it would have been effective.

"It of course wouldn't have been true?"

Did you consider that statement before making it?

Texans, native and otherwise, have plenty to be proud about.

"Never smoked kind hydroponic at a rooftop cafe in Austin, hooked up with some luscious neo-hippie honey, and wound up marrying her?"

Seriously, sounds like heaven to me... how do I get there from Ohio?

Please private message me so I don't lose your response in the clutter.

This is the capitol of Texas, a cultural mecca for every enlightened, progressive and intellectual type throughout the South, and certainly throughout the state.

Just go to http://www.austinchronicle.com and start reading for a decent overview of the prevailing culture here. Austin elected the only openly gay member of the state legislature in Texas history, and he (Glenn Maxey, current local chair of the Dean campaign) served until gerrymandering changed his district.

To get here, get on Interstate 35 and drive South. Rent an apartment within a mile of Mopac and five miles of downtown. If I had money, I'd recommend along Enfield near Town Lake, or in the downtown district proper. If I didn't, I'd find a place along Burnet Road near North Loop.

This all sounds pretty and WET---sounds like the damn eastern part of the state. Toodle on out my way to Midland/Odessa/Lubbock and then tell me about neo-hippie dope smokers and lakes and so forth.

Oh, and try Texas Monthly for the past 1o years on Bush and his disastrous "police your selves!" approach to enviro issues and his raiding of the state treasury that is killing us by inches.

But, I'm sure instead I'll get a homily about small town values and generosity0-----I've found loads of that in upstate NY when I lived there. Texas don't have the patent on it darlin' although we do it well too.

I don't have any correlating to VT-

but from a white paper entitled: Texas on the Brink: How Texas Ranks Among the 50 States.

1. Education:
o Texas is 45th among the 50 states in high school completion rate.
o Texas is 47th among the 50 states in SAT scores.
o Texas is 30th among the 50 states in average teacher salaries.

2. Health Care:
o Texas is 1st among the 50 states in percentage of population without health insurance.
o Texas is 44th among the 50 states in percentage of poor covered by Medicaid.
o Texas is 40th among the 50 states in physicians per capita.
o Texas is 45th among the 50 states in number of women receiving prenatal care.

3. Children:
o Texas is 1st among the 50 states in percentage of uninsured children.
o Texas is 50th among the 50 states in percentage of fully immunized two-year olds.
o Texas is 9th among the 50 states in percentage of population under age 18
who are living in poverty.

4. Welfare and Workforce:
o Texas is 6th among the 50 states in poverty rate.
o Texas is 1st among the 50 states in percentage of population that goes hungry.
o Texas is 44th among the 50 states in hourly average earnings.

5. Environment:
o Texas is 1st among the 50 states in the amount of toxic emissions from manufacturing facilities.
o Texas is 1st among the 50 states in number of clean water permit violations.
o Texas is 1st among the 50 states in number of environmental civil rights complaints.
o Texas is 2nd among the 50 states in the amount of ozone pollution exposure.
o Texas is 49th among the 50 states in park spending and acreage.

6. Democracy (political involvement):
o Texas is 46th among the 50 states in percentage of eligible voters that are registered.
o Texas is 47th among the 50 states in percentage of eligible voters who go to the polls.

edit to add link

Texas On The Brink

This all sounds pretty and WET---sounds like the damn eastern part of the state. Toodle on out my way to Midland/Odessa/Lubbock and then tell me about neo-hippie dope smokers and lakes and so forth.

Yeah, pretty much, everything from Fredericksburg east, I'd say.

Just because I love all of Texas doesn't mean I'd live anywhere in it that one would specify. But don't go slagging my beautiful Austin and Central Texas just because you loathe your dusty flatlands. The existence of one does not negate the existence of the other, however, the majority belief throughout the rest of the nation is that Texas is nothing more than what appears in the background of any Quickdraw McGraw cartoon. In truth, most of the state is nothing like that, especially where 9/10ths of the people live.

Oh, and try Texas Monthly for the past 1o years on Bush and his disastrous "police your selves!" approach to enviro issues and his raiding of the state treasury that is killing us by inches.

When did I ever dispute that? I only pointed out the fact that the Chemical Coast did not spring into existence the day Bush was inaugurated Governor, nor did any of the preceding Governors (or legislatures) do anything more or less about it than he. That's the truth, you know.

But, I'm sure instead I'll get a homily about small town values and generosity0-----I've found loads of that in upstate NY when I lived there. Texas don't have the patent on it darlin' although we do it well too.

I'm sorry that you resent my generally pleasant life experience in this state. Maybe I should go spend a few years on the East Coast, or in L.A., so I can understand what a waste of flesh my fellow Texans are, and learn to sneer at their "small town values and generosity," and anyone who expresses fondness for such.

Then again, maybe not.