The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Ramona's picture

    If Texas cared about Babies, they would take care of the Babies they have

    By Ramona on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 11:00am | Politics

    The Good Ol' Boys in Texas have decreed that they're in charge of women's reproductive decisions, and the little ladies just gotta take it.  If it was just making abortions more difficult for women that would be one thing. (We expect that sort of thing when privileged men get together to use their power.) But they want to make sure women are ground down even more by setting impossible standards for reproductive clinics, by forcing ultrasounds, and by banning the Morning After pill--a most merciful choice for avoiding unwanted pregnancies.  Why do all that?  Because you just can't punish women enough for having sex with men.

    Men?  Really?  What do men have to do with making babies?  In certain circles (read Texas legislature this time) absolutely nothing.  Only women can get pregnant, so the responsibility for that pregnancy lies squarely on the women.  Here's a thought:  If those men bear no responsibility for those pregnancies, then how about we take away their right to make decisions for women who find themselves pregnant? 


    What happened in Texas does not protect women, it punishes them.  It does not protect babies.  There is no provision in that Texas law (Or any other Texas law, apparently.  See below) for the care and feeding of the babies they're demanding to be carried to full term.  Poverty is rampant in Texas and women and children suffer terribly.  I'll believe they're concerned about all living children when I see them taking care of all living children.
     

    Rick Perry signing abortion law in Texas, surrounded by the wimmenfolk because. . .luv, luv, luv those wimmen.

    FACTS ABOUT POVERTY IN TEXAS

    •  WITH A POVERTY RATE OF 16.9%, TEXAS HAS THE 5th HIGHEST POVERTY RATE IN THE UNITED STATES
    •  APPROXIMATELY  842,000 TEXAS CHILDREN LIVE IN POOR FAMILIES.
    •  MOST POOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN IN TEXAS ARE HEADED BY A WORKING PARENT
    •  4.9% OF TEXAS POPULATION – MORE THAN ONE MILLION PEOPLE – EXPERIENCE HUNGER ON A REGULAR BASIS ACCORDING TO THE USDA FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE 

        Texas has one of the highest poverty rates in the country with nearly four million people living at or below the poverty line.

        Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show Texas poverty rate at 16.9% – well above the national average of 13.3%.

    The poor are concentrated in the state’s largest  cities and in the Texas-Mexico border region. Poverty rates are also much higher for the state’s large and growing Latino population and for African-American Texans. 

    Child poverty, particularly among young children, is significantly higher in Texas than in the nation as a whole.
    Topics: 
    Politics

    Comments

    Raising millions out of poverty would require an active, accountable government.  It would likely require raising taxes on corporations or the wealthy.  Using government to run other people's lives doesn't cost anything, except legal bills for years of litigation in court.

    Republicans believe the function of government is to ram their 'values' down the throats of others.

    They believe God forgives them when they are caught in violation of their own expressed moral code. They also believe that, unlike you, their own lives should be free from any interference by the government.


    by NCD on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 12:21pm

    They also believe that, unlike you, their own lives should be free from any interference by the government.

    Exactly. They run on "less government" platforms until they get in there and then the power trip is too much for them.  And who better to victimize than women?


    by Ramona on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 1:00pm

    'They cannot help themselves' is the answer.

    I always wondered why I have never seen a picture of this pretend Bush figure shooting a pistol in the air along side of a picture of Saddam shooting a pistol in his official capacity!

    That's Texas!

    Hell, give em a decade or so; the Texans might find a soul.

    But for now....?

    That's it, that is all we got!


    by Richard Day on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 9:24pm

    Lewis Black's NY-based rant on Texas seems apropos:

     

     


    by Verified Atheist on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 9:43pm

    LOL...boy that says it all. 


    by trkingmomoe on Mon, 07/22/2013 - 8:16am

    Texas will never be the same now that Molly Ivins and Ann Richards are gone.  Rick Perry wouldn't be Rick Perry if they were still here.


    by Ramona on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 9:42pm

    No. They don't care about babies, or children, or women.

    They "protect" women the way a wife-beater hits his wife "because he loves her so much." The reasons they give are not the reasons. The things they do explain their own reasons.

    Good post.


    by Doctor Cleveland on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 6:44am

    We might not have Molly and Linda anymore but there is a group of women that is fighting mad.  I would keep my eye on Battle Ground Texas and who is supporting it.  Rick Perry and his followers may find this riding herd on women biting them in the butt.  Texas population has a large group of under voters.  If Battle Ground Texas can get these ladies out of the house and office to register these people and get them to the polls 2014, this will shake up Texas politics.  They don't have to win many seats, just turn out an unexpected amount of new voters to put some fear into them.  Also this puts a bad face on the GOP nationally with all this stupid and crazy legislation going on in Texas.  The split in the GOP is growing and we are beginning to see it at the federal level in the Senate crumbling from the inside. 


    by trkingmomoe on Mon, 07/22/2013 - 8:06am