|
On the Issues 
Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 00:29 AM CDT
|
Final March: Call Congress
After months of hard work, the final vote on health reform in the House of Representatives is expected to be this Sunday.
But it's shaping up to be incredibly close -- so whether you've called your representative before or haven't yet spoken out on health reform, it's now time to raise your voice.
I called my Republican representative today, twice! Just heard a television ad asking us to not trust the "sleazy backroom deals."
Well, I say, don't trust the sleazy backroom antics being used to prevent Americans from having healthcare reform.
We all deserve to hear the truth. And it's not coming from those who are lying to us about all of this. I think that would be Republicans.
I called and asked my Republican congressman's office today if he was for or against reform...just to be certain. I guess I've always held out hope that he would suddenly see the light! But no go. No. No. And No.
Sunday. I heard a Republican say recently that it would be a cold day in hell before this bill passes. Well, it's going to be below 32 degrees here in the D/FW area on Sunday.
Welcome, cold day in hell.
It's going to be a beautiful day!
Forecast Details from the Weather Team
Sunday - Cloudy. A 20 percent chance of snow in the morning. Windy. Highs in the mid 40s. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts to around 40 mph. Wind chill readings as low as 18 to 23 in the morning.
Sunday Night - Mostly cloudy in the evening then clearing. Lows in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph.
|
|
Discuss
:: (3
Comments)
|
|
Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 10:32 PM CST
|
|
The anti-choice protest 40 Days for Life began yesterday, and for the next forty days clients of Planned Parenthood will be subjected to harassment from protesters. The protest, which takes place during the forty days of Lent and forty days in the fall, focuses on reproductive health care facilities and specifically on Planned Parenthood. This protest has been happening for several years and each year they have expanded the protest to more locations around the country. However, locally the protest has received less media coverage and the amount of protesters who have continued the vigil throughout the protest has also diminished. But, something is different this time.
What makes this 40 Days for Life different is that it is the first protest since the former director of Planned Parenthood Abby Johnson resigned, and joined the organizer of the protest the Coalition for Life. When Johnson first resigned I was among the first to question the validity of the claims that she made against Planned Parenthood. Recently investigations by Texas Monthly, and the Texas Observer also raised questions about the legitimacy her conversion. Fellow KEOS radio show host and blogger, Shelly Blair, was interview for both of those stories, and appeared on Biased Transmission last night and gave more insight into those events.
More Below the Fold...
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 357 words in story)
|
|
Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 04:00 PM CST
|
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
— Frederick Douglass Today, Rep. Coleman sent out an e-mail celebrating the one-year authorization of SCHIP reauthorization. With all the attention on what President Obama and Congress has done (and hasn't done) the last year, it is easy to lose sight of the real work that was accomplished with the election of a Democrat to the White House. Rep. Coleman (who I had the privilege to work for during the 80th Regular Session in 2007) has never lost sight of the real work, and his e-mail today reminds us of how important re-authorizing CHIP was, especially for a state like Texas. From his e-mail: Today marks the first anniversary of President Obama's reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The expansion of the program was crucial to providing health insurance to children from working families, and is expected to cut the number of uninsured children in our country by half in the coming years.
The reauthorization of the program was one of President Obama's first orders of business upon taking office and was particularly meaningful after President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar legislation. President Obama called the expansion a down payment on quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
In Texas, 495,781 children rely on CHIP to access health care. January was the only month that Texas' enrollment levels exceeded 500,000 since 2003, when Republican lawmakers instituted enrollment barriers that purged hundreds of thousands of eligible children from the program. The federal government gives Texas $2.52 for every $1 we invest in the program.
During the 81st Legislative Session, I authored legislation to increase enrollment in and public awareness of CHIP. My bill would have insured an estimated 80,000 Texas children from working families by allowing their parents to buy in to the program. Despite bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, political action by the Governor, conservative Republicans, and Senate leaders caused this bill to die in a Senate committee. As one of the original authors of CHIP in Texas, I will continue to work to eliminate the red tape that keeps eligible children from receiving health care.
Today, we have 495,781 reasons to thank President Obama. Rep. Coleman, as he notes, was one of the original authors of CHIP in Texas. Since then, he has championed it at every step of the way -- crafting legislation and drafting amendments for legislation to restore the devastating cuts and policies enacted by Rick Perry, David Dewhurst, and Texas Republicans in 2003. As he (and all of us) give thanks today to President Obama for his leadership on this issue, let's remember to thank our leaders in Texas, too. Thanks, Rep. Coleman. And congratulations on your appointment to serve on the Democratic National Committee. It is well deserved!
|
|
Discuss
:: (1
Comments)
|
|
Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 09:54 AM CST
|
|
Can't anyone here play this game? Casey Stengel's lament as coach of the New York Mets comes to mind as the Democratic leadership plays Chicken Little. Loss of a single Senate race has thrown the Democrats into a tailspin. Can they pull out?
Small change
The difference between Coach Stengel and President Obama is that Obama got to pick his own team. Yet, after a campaign built on change, he continued in power the same old team: Gates at Defense, Geithner at Treasury, Bernanke at Fed. And they're making the same old plays: big bank bailouts; weak regulations; tepid economic stimulus; troop surge in Afghanistan; persecution of gays in the military; protection for torturers. The President shrugged off his own deadline for closing the un-American prison at Guantanamo.
After leading the nation in a chant of Yes we can, Mr. Obama has spent his first year in office showing that No, they can't. Now David Axelrod is offering the excuse that change is hard. When did they figure that one out?
President Obama has managed to lose his Democratic base and independent voters at the same time, while gaining not a single friend in the opposition. When the President should have shown leadership, he stayed on the sidelines. Where are we going?
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 463 words in story)
|
|
Tue Jan 12, 2010 at 00:34 PM CST
|
(From a candidate for SBOE 3. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
Perhaps because I grew up an awkwardly lanky Little League pitcher, one of my childhood heroes was J.R. Richard, the improbably tall Houston Astros ace who was close to unhittable during his prime. Nothing could convince me to trade my J.R. Richard baseball card.
Not a championship season Willie Stargell card.
Not a mint condition Pete Rose rookie card.
Not even an autographed Roger Staubach card. (The Cowboys legend was another hero, so mixing baseball with football doesn't tarnish my logic too much.)
Would I part with J.R. Richard for Stargell, Rose, and Staubach? It's just a card, right?
Wrong.
Anyone who grew up loving baseball knows that a card isn't just a card. And what's true of recent sports history is truer still of America's intricate and splendid past.
The ongoing debate surrounding social studies standards in Texas public schools too often sounds like an unfunny parody of baseball card trading done by bratty kids who never really played the game.
|
|
There's More...
:: (3
Comments, 374 words in story)
|
|
Thu Dec 10, 2009 at 07:32 PM CST
|
|
The Coalition for Life holds an annual fundraiser to finance its anti-choice agenda, and each year the even usually attracts about 1,500 people to hear a pro-life speaker. Last year former Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican primary presidential candidate Mike Huckabee spoke at the event. This year it is expected that former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson will speak at the event, but it was announced that the keynote speaker will be former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
According to the Coalition for Life's web site the reason that they have invited the former governor to speak at the event is because "Jeb Bush has been very consistent in keeping a pro-life record." Among the reasons that the Coalition cited for this invitation was also the former governor's "attempted to have the unborn child of a severely disabled woman be appointed a court guardian."
In 2003 22-year-old woman living in a group home in Florida was raped, the woman was mentally disabled and had the cognitive and emotional capacity of a 1-year-old child. In addition to this she also suffered from cerebral palsy, autism and was prone to violent seizures. These conditions would make it very difficult for a woman to carry a pregnancy to term, in fact death is a real possibility if a woman with these conditions where to attempt to deliver the baby. Despite these facts then Governor Bush decided that it was more important to ensure that the pregnancy was carried to term, and that the abortion that could save the mother's life should be prevented from happening. Because of the ensuing legal battle the woman was forced to carry the pregnancy to term despite the risk, but a Florida appeals court panel later ruled that the action could not be taken by the state.
More Below the Fold...
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 359 words in story)
|
|
Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 04:38 PM CST
|
|
Today members of the Dem's Café and allied groups visited with Congressman Cuellar's aide to thank the Congressman for his support of the health care reform bill HR 3962, we also let him know that we weren't happy with his vote in favor of the Stupak amendment eliminating insurance coverage for abortions. We also delivered the following letter.
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 809 words in story)
|
|
Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 01:49 PM CST
|
The following is a link to HTML/JAVA Clock, which counts deaths from lack of Health Insurance. The count is based on 44,789 deaths per year from the American Journal of Public Health; the study Representative Alan Grayson cited on the House floor.
Death Count From Health Care Rationing
44,789 deaths per year equates to:
122.70 deaths per day
5.11 deaths per hour
1 death evey 11 minutes 44 seconds
|
|
Discuss
:: (3
Comments)
|
|
Fri Nov 06, 2009 at 08:27 AM CST
|
|
After being involved with Planned Parenthood for eight years, either as a volunteer or as an employee, Abby Johnson suddenly resigned this week and joined the Coalition for Life. So why would someone who had dedicated so much of their life working for reproductive rights suddenly not only change their views on abortion but on the complete scope of reproductive rights? After conducting an investigation and interviewing several sources it has become clear that this was not a spiritual awakening.
The story that Johnson has repeated is that she had a "change of heart" after witnessing an abortion through an ultrasound. According to an interview with ABC News, Johnson held the probe on the patient's abdomen during the procedure, and according to that interview Johnson was unclear as to the reason why she was there during this procedure because it was not a normal part of her duties. According to an interview with World Net Daily, Johnson said that for "whatever reason, the physician had called me back to assist with the procedure."
However, Johnson did not just happen to witness the procedure, and the procedure did not actually even take place at the Planned Parenthood that Johnson was the director of in Bryan, Texas. Johnson was visiting another clinic in the Houston area; she was there visiting a doctor that Bryan clinic was considering utilizing for abortion procedures. Johnson was specifically interested in the doctor because of the very fact that the doctor used the ultrasound, which makes the abortion safer, more efficient, and many believe more humane for the fetus. Confidential sources also confirmed that Johnson was pleased by the visit to the doctor and impressed with the procedure.
More Below the Fold...
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 404 words in story)
|
|
Wed Nov 04, 2009 at 08:59 AM CST
|
|
For over a year and a half I have been a volunteer escort at the Planned Parenthood reproductive health care facility in Bryan, Texas; this particular facility is located in a town home to arguably the most conservative public university, Texas A&M, and is known as one of the most anti-choice areas in the country. Located just steps from Planned Parenthood is an organization that opposes reproductive rights, the Coalition for Life. The fence that surrounds Planned Parenthood serves as the frontline between those that support reproductive rights and those that opposed reproductive rights. This week someone crossed from one side of the fence to the other: the director of the Planned Parenthood joined the Coalition for Life. How could something like this happen? The story is more complicated than the mainstream media is reporting.
Early on Saturday mornings, the days during which surgical abortions are performed; I arrive at Planned Parenthood and walk through the double doors and sign-in on the volunteer check-in sheet. I put on the yellow and orange volunteer vest, and check out a security badge. Over the next several hours I spend my morning escorting clients into the facility. Volunteer escorts meet clients at their cars and welcome them to Planned Parenthood, and as soon as the clients open their car doors the protesters being shouting through the fence. Escorts simply walk clients from their automobiles to the front door of the facility, and this demonstrates to the clients that we are there to support them. After clients leave the facility escorts walk the clients back to their automobiles, and then ensure that they have a clear path out of the driveway.
The protesters outside of the facility will shout through the fence at the clients the entire time they are arriving and leaving. Also, the protesters will stand along the driveway holding brochures and pamphlets while attempting to get the clients attention. The brochures and pamphlets include factually inaccurate information and intellectually dishonest claims. Often the false link between abortion and breast cancer is claimed in the literature, despite the fact that according to the American Cancer Society "the scientific evidence does not support the notion that abortion of any kind raises the risk of breast cancer." Also, the claim is made that women who have abortions will suffer "post-abortion syndrome," however, "post-abortion syndrome" is not recognized as a legitimate medical condition by either the American Psychological Association (APA) or the American Psychiatric Association.
It was during these mornings that I met Abby Johnson, the director of the Planned Parenthood in Bryan. Johnson was always open to talk about the issues dealing with reproductive rights, and I have always known her to be an outspoken and an opinionated advocate of reproductive rights. Sometimes Johnson would visit with the volunteer escorts in front of the facility, and complaints about the protesters seemed to always be one of the topics of conversation. When it comes to the protesters Abby had plenty to complain about. As a volunteer and then later as an employ of Planned Parenthood, she had seen times when the protesters were much more aggressive and much more hostile towards the clients, volunteers, and employees. In fact Johnson herself has been the victim of harassment, and even death threats. While Coalition for Life does not claim responsibility for the actions of all of the protesters, the Coalition for Life facilitates an atmosphere that contributes to those actions.
More Below the Fold...
|
|
There's More...
:: (1
Comments, 927 words in story)
|
|
|
|
|
| Poll |
| Who do you support in the 299th District Court Runoff? |
|
|
|
Results
|
|
