The Republican War on Women

The mostly white, male, Republicans of Texas,  whose party mantra is less government,  are following in the Taliban’s footsteps in denying women their rights.  With their actions they are saying to all women, “you are too stupid to choose the right path so we are going to make the decision for you” and use the Bible as their source of conduct. The  Pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution and our Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion but not so in Texas where the state is  controlled by religious Republican men.  This group is harassing women with their latest witch hunt by denying funding to Planned Parenthood.   Where are the women of our country to go to escape the religious persecution they are experiencing every day in Texas and the United Sates as a whole?  

According to the federal government, for every dollar that is invested in planning a family, instead of just getting “knocked up” saves taxpayers four dollars in other health care costs. This means that the $60 million that the Republican controlled Texas House has stripped from the budget for family planning and shifted the money to anti-abortion programs, will end up costing tax payers $240 million.  Planned Parenthood has been around for 90 years and does so much more than perform abortions; it does everything in its power to prevent an abortion in the first place.  By denying funding to family planning the need for an abortion will increase.  I may not believe in abortions but I definitely believe that the government has no right to tell a woman what to do and that goes for the Taliban as well.  

Whatever your personal beliefs are about when life begins, supporting the bills that are being introduced across the country to cut funding to Planned Parenthood are saying that women are incapable of making the right choice.  The women of Texas are so stupid that they need Rick Perry and Dan Patrick to make decisions for them instead of their families, doctors, clergy or friends.

The irony of the situation is that Republicans believe that life begins at conception but as soon as that baby is born it is just about kicked to the curb.  As I have written about before, Texas children are 93 percent more likely not to have health care,  are more prone to drop out of school and are 83 percent more likely to have a mother who has no health insurance with little to zero prenatal care.   Texas has the highest rates of child fatalities from abuse or neglect. Pre-kindergarten programs have been slashed as well which would prepare these children for higher education goals.  

Is the next step for the Republican Party to start stoning women to death if they’re not virgins on their wedding day?  It’s in the Bible.  In my opinion the religious zealots of the Texas Taliban and their War on Women has to stop.  

Equal rights may come one day soon

A recent blog posting by Kelsey Scott,  a young conservative in support of gay marriage,  gives hope to people like me that one day, soon, I will be able to marry the man I love.  It is like a breath of fresh air to hear self-identifying Republicans coming out in favor of equality contrary to their party guidelines.    

Kelsey makes the comment that the Republican party is Christian and uses religion as their basis for denying equal rights to a minority population.  In their Texas party platform they have stated that "homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God."  This is the same type of religious zealotry that occurs in the Middle East that so many Republicans are against.  When anyone uses the Bible as a source for their bigotry against gays it is hypocritical.  The book of Leviticus,  that is so often cited by Christians,  contains passages against eating shrimp, getting tattoos, mixing threads in a garment and setting a price for selling your daughter into slavery.  If you are going to reference the Bible in your hate against gays, you must also also accept slavery.  Why are there no religious campaigns to outlaw tattoos or picket lines in front of seafood restaurants?  Why do the Christians who oppose gay marriage get to pick and choose which parts of the Bible they want to follow?  Some of the Biblical arguments used against gays are the same ones that were used to condone slavery, oppose interracial marriage and denying women the right to vote.  As Kelsey says,  the Republican Party is “pushing Christianity."  Listen up Republicans, separation of church and state is a good idea.

Ms. Scott also debunks the Republican platform where they state that homosexuality “leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases.”  She says, rightly so, that homosexuals will still exist but just won’t have equal rights.

Times are changing.  Kelsey identifies herself as “in the Enterpriser typology group which is classified as being 81% Republican, 18% Independent,and 1% Democratic.”  She is definitely more that 1% Democratic, as shown by her blog, and she follows in the footsteps of some other staunch Republicans who have come out in favor of equal rights including family members of big name conservatives such as Bush, Cheney and McCain.

Kelsey, thank you for your understanding and mature ideals.  Hopefully more people like you will see the light and understand that allowing a person,  like me,  to marry the person they love affects the couple and not the state or nation at all.  Kelsey,  please plan to vote and vote often; I want your voice to be heard.

Texas vs. the Supremacy Clause

I am gay.  As Lady Gaga would say, I was "born that way."  I did not have a choice and if I did have a choice I probably would not have chosen a “lifestyle” that would have me declared a second-rate citizen.  My long-term, loving relationship is not accepted as a union in the eyes of Texans who voted overwhelmingly to write into the Texas Constitution that a marriage is between one man and one woman.  All men are not created equal in Texas and for people like me even the U.S. Constitution should begin with, “We the Straight People”.  There are literally thousands of state and federal benefits that my partner and I are not entitled to because our love and support for one another is not accepted legally or by the general population.  The three branches of our United States government were created with systems of checks and balances,  the judiciary branch is there to help protect the rights of minorities,  like me.  In the landmark case, Lawrence vs. Texas, the U.S Supreme Court voted for my rights and ruled that the persecution of same-sex relations is unconstitutional.  You would think that would be in the end of it.  The Supremacy Clause states that Federal Law trumps state law but Texas continues to defy that Supreme Court ruling and still has “homosexual conduct” on the books as a crime in Texas; it is a class C misdemeanor.    

There are a few bills in motion to strike this law but they are not getting any serious attention.  The Texas House has 101 Republicans in its 150 seats; it is a supermajority.  This conservative group can be summed up by a comment made by Republican Wayne Christian, the president of the Texas Conservative Coalition, when he said that the law “better reflects the views of a lot of citizens” the way it is right now.  Yes, Wayne, it probably does but six out of nine Supreme Court Justices do not agree with you.  

The Texas Republican platform has it in writing that it wants to continue persecuting people based on their sexual orientation and their straight allies.  It seems that they want to ignore the Supreme Court and the Constitution when it best serves their agenda.  Keeping “homosexual conduct” as a crime fully demonstrates the hypocrisy of the conservatives when they call for less government but want to intrude into my bedroom.  

I have not given up hope; I still have a dream.  In my dream I live in a country where my love for another human being does not brand me a criminal.  I live in a country that is free from discrimination and bigotry.  This dream will come true, it is just a matter of time.  Equal rights will always prevail.  

Friends Without Benefits or Bend Over and Grab 'em

After an unexpected layoff, I have just found myself on the job market for the first time in many years of gainful employment.  I  am receiving unemployment benefits for the very first time, actually, benefit, I have received one check.  It is not a good feeling.  

An article that caught my attention is a satire piece, “Friends Without Benefits”,  written  by Eileen Smith from her blog, In the Pink Texas about two pieces of legislature in Texas that will require drug screening in order to receive financial assistance, House Bill 126 by Rep. Ken Legler, R-Pasadena, and House Bill 139 by Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, R-Rockwall.  Smith has won awards for her blog and was the first editor of texasmonthly.com.  Her humor is shown when she describes her like of Twitter over Facebook because “followers” sounds more loyal than “friends” and in her spare time she enjoys telling people that she’s working on a book. Her blog is approved on the list of suggested sources for my Texas government class where she is listed under the “left-leaning (liberal) blogs column.  

Smith knows her politics and backs up her stance against drug screening by recalling a constitutional challenge in Michigan in 2003 that dealt with the same issue; it was struck down as unconstitutional.  According to the ACLU, it violated Fourth Amendment rights.  Ms. Smith makes a key, although satiric,  statement when she said that “balancing the budget by targeting the poor and downtrodden is a longstanding political tradition”.  This has been shown through Jim Crow laws and has continued with the war on drugs.  She mentions cavity searches as well.  What hoops to jump through will be designed by the next Republican who wants “less government” but really wants to deter any financial assistance and to peek into everyone’s private life?  

Smith also mentions that if a mother tests positive for drugs she will be ineligible for assistance for 12 months.  What will happen to their children?  Will the drug addicted mother turn to a life of crime?  I for one know that financial assistance is just that, assistance and there is not enough extra money to feed a drug habit.  

Smith ends her article with, “I'd be careful if I were Ken Legler or Jodie Laubenberg. Come next election season, either one could be out of a job and at the front of the pee-cup line.”   With humor Eileen Smith shows that these politicians should be on their way out.  Let’s hope so.   I don’t envy anyone receiving financial assistance; I never thought I would be one of those people. Let's not make it more undignified by urinating on command.   

Rolling blackouts and the millions that were made

On February 22, 2011 Ross Baldick, whose information can be found here,  wrote an opinion piece in the Austin American Statesman  concerning the February 2nd rolling electrical blackouts and the role that ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, played.  Baldick is a professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of Texas and ERCOT supports his research.  Baldick is an educator by profession and his credibility is genuine. The opinion piece he wrote is intended to educate the average citizen as to what ERCOT actually does and whether they prepared responsibly to avoid the kind of massive failure that occurred. What he does not do is answer the question about why so many plants failed and does note mention the “coincidence”  that the day of the cold snap wholesale power prices were 100, or more,  times what they were the day before according the ERCOT website.  Someone made many millions that day.  As a concerned electrical customer I would like to know exactly who profited the most from this market manipulation epic failure. 

During the rolling blackouts electricity prices peaked at the cap of  $3,000 per megawatt hour. The week before the cap had been set at $50. Some consumer advocacy groups estimate that the utility companies made anywhere from $46 million to $149 million that cold morning. 

“Historically, it is a very rare event for more than two generators to fail in a single day” writes Baldick but more than 50 generators failed that day.  There is a senate hearing and a federal investigation as to what caused these rolling blackouts.      I knew to prepare for the cold by wrapping my pipes and opening the cabinet doors under sinks so that nothing would freeze and cause damage.  Anyone who turned on the news knew that a big freeze was coming.  It is hard for me to fathom that power plants did not prepare adequately for the extreme weather; this is not the first time it has gotten cold in Texas.  

Since this article was written a Texas Senate hearing has started and there is a separate federal investigation as to why so many power plants failed.  ERCOT is the one that has structured the energy market and set the record prices.  Let's hope that all that money that was made is not spent in hushing up who made the most.

Many third world countries live with rolling blackouts on a daily basis.  Is this where Texas is headed? 

The Irony is Lost on Republicans

Texans can sleep easier tonight due to an “emergency” piece of legislation that has been approved by the Senate State Affairs Committee.  A pregnant woman  will be required to have a doctor perform a sonogram that she will have to see and listen to before she can get an abortion. 

The grand irony of the situation is that there are many more urgent issues in Texas.  This is a wedge issue and a smoke screen designed to further divide Democrats and Republicans.  Republicans want less government unless you have a womb and then they want to control what women can do with their bodies.  The further irony is that according to a report from the nonprofit Texans Care for Children compared the average American child to children living or about to be born in Texas.  Texas children are 93 percent more likely not to have health care,  are more prone to drop out of school and are 83 percent more likely to have a mother who has no health insurance with little to zero prenatal care.   The nonprofit Every Child Matters Education Fund ranked Texas as having the highest rates of child fatalities from abuse or neglect. 

These atrocious numbers are much more of an emergency for Texans.  

Palin Without Lipstick

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