According to a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Texas ranks 34th nationally in a state-by-state study on the well-being of America's children. There are also significant areas in which Texas is among the worst in the nation, and these ranks represent a failure in many of the public policies instituted over the last two decades.
Texas is among the very worst in preventing teenage pregnancies. The teen birth rate in Texas in 2007 was 64 births per 1,000 females ages 15-19, which is considerably higher than the national rate of 43 births per 1,000. Texas ranked 48th in the nation in teenage pregnancies, and only New Mexico and Mississippi ranked higher. This follows a nationwide trend of increased teenage pregnancies. According to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, after a decade of declining teenage pregnancies the nationally teen pregnancy rate rose 3% in 2006, which reflected an increase in teen birth of 4%. The report notes that the cause of the decline in teenage pregnancies in the 1990s was due to more and better use of contraceptives among sexually active teens. However, during the 2000s sex education programs aimed exclusively at promoting abstinence, and these programs have lead to increasing teen pregnancy rates especially in states such as Texas.
Obama just needs to trust The People. They'll figure it out. Tell us the truth. Show you care about us (but don't call us "little people" cause we are equal to the BP Mega-Buckers). Watch out for us in a way that we can tell you care about us beyond your term of office, win or lose re-election. Even the numbskulls in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida will see that the guy who just kicked BP's ass is on their side, more than the GOBP that apologized to BP today for having to deposit the money they owe the people in those states.
Lamar Smith, undistinguished Representative from not-very-close to where I live, supports racial profiling by supporting the new Arizona immigration law which requires persons to present proof of their citizenship upon request, and requires law enforcement offices to ask for it upon "reasonable suspicion".
Is Mr. Smith ready to put himself in the shoes of thousands of legal darker-skinned citizens in this country and carry around his own citizenship papers and surrender them upon request?
Yesterday, Travis County supporters of Congressman Lloyd Doggett held a celebration to thank Congressman Doggett for the passage of the health care reform bill. Predictably, protesters showed up, as they did last summer when a mob of Tea Party protesters disrupted Congressman Doggett's appearance at a local grocery store. What caught my attention was the reporting the local NBC affiliate, KXAN did on an incident that occurred before the event, and the different take reported in the Austin Statesman. I was not there, so I'm hoping some of you in Travis County who were there, can shed more light on what happened.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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?
(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.
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.
