The Texas Baby Purchasing Act of 2007

A member at Talk to Action (4.00 / 1)

John Anngeister, made this profound comment about bills introduced in the Texas Lege this year by Patrick, Paxton and other minions of the Christian right.

- How goes Texas - do they yet stand?  A question every friend of liberty might soon ask in earnest, as a smarmy coven of "Bad-Shepherd" bills pecks its way through the halls of that state's theologically compromised Legislature.
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I am floored by the cold-blooded self-righteousness of a state assistance program (SB 1567) which essentially aims to rent human wombs (at $500 - roughly $12.50 per week) as pre-natal state incubators for babies "contracted out" for adoption by families sharing the legislator's religious beliefs.  The evil flip-side to the Paxton bill - which provides a convenient legal avenue by which the same program agencies may literally cut off a woman who needs medical help going to term with a baby she actually wants or decides to keep.
:::
In my opinion, recognition of the evil nature of "faith-based" lawmaking does not constitute a "no-brainer."  To the contrary, the faithful are often too busy "acting out" their naive holiness to gain the untrammeled use of their god-given brains, and are  even prone to take faith as a kind of transcendent "dare" - that they do well to distrust their personal morality and sympathies whenever these are opposed to the static interpretations and creeds of the sponsor of their pastor's theological education.

So one error leads to another, until they are uncritically trusting that God wants only one more chance to vindicate some perfectly Biblical kingdom of sand.

In the case of present-day Texas "lawmaking," I would say a religious minority has succeeded in throwing the valid channels of government into the sink of its own narrowly-viewed path, and are accomplishing nothing so much as to foot a prime venue for the coming of their much-vaunted Anti-Christ (if indeed that oddly Zoroastrian notion has any validity at all).

And I think the Texas plan to run state-sponsored "pipelines" of intentionally orphaned newborns into all those smug Zoroastrian homes ought to be a matter of concern for the fate of most other half-way decent religions in the next Century.  : )

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by: moiv @ Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 22:41:03 PM CDT

Where do we find these screwballs to send to Austin? (4.00 / 2)

Don't they ever stop to think things through before they put their names on screwball legislation?

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by: faithchatham @ Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 23:19:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

No way to be absolutely sure, Faith (4.00 / 1)

but I'm persuaded that they think such things through very carefully. For example, this bill dovetails perfectly with Paxton's initiative for "Choose Life" plates, as both cut off women from any benefits unless they relinquish their children for adoption. To me, that looks more like a deliberate policy than a screwball coincidence.

At least now we know exactly what they mean when they talk about the value of the "sanctity of life." They mean $500.

As an aside, I'm advised by a friend in another southern state that where she is, the customary "love offering" to a "faith-based" agency for brokering the private adoption of a healthy white newborn is somewhere in the range of $50,000. If that same kind of thing were to be going on in Texas, well ... what a mark-up.

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by: moiv @ Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 23:41:29 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Screwballs? (4.00 / 1)

I'd say it's more like twisted, sick motherfuckers!


Barnett Shale: An Insatiable Thirst

My blog Bluedaze

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by: TXsharon @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 02:09:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

And I'd say (4.00 / 2)

you've summed them up nicely.

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by: moiv @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 02:13:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I couldn't sleep (4.00 / 2)

so I thought some reading might help.  It didn't.  This shit will surely give me nightmares!

Barnett Shale: An Insatiable Thirst

My blog Bluedaze

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by: TXsharon @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 02:15:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

This is just sick!!! (4.00 / 3)

Texas will soon be in the business of buying and selling babies.  Do none of these idiots not realize women are informed of all their options at any office and the last option offered is an abortion?  No one I know is pro-abortion, but intelligent and caring human beings are PRO-CHOICE as it is a woman's body and her decision. 

Doing My Part For The Left,

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by: refinish69 @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 06:24:42 AM CDT

Yes, of course they realize (4.00 / 1)

all of that. They just don't give a damn.

Today I mentioned to one of our patients that there's a bill in the legislature that would obligate us to give her an application for a $500 payment from the state, if she would give birth to a baby and sign it over for adoption.

First she laughed, then looked at my eyes, got very quiet, and said, "You're serious, aren't you? Who the hell do they think they are?"

Good question.

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by: moiv @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 18:51:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And how quickly that $500 will go (4.00 / 3)

to cover the lost/depressed wages that pregnant women often face. 

This is disgusting.  I can hardly believe he had the cajones to file it.  The only thing more surprising is that it didn't come out of Corte's office.

We have to become the leaders we seek.
-boadicea
There is not a sport invented that matches Texas politics for contact, blood or gratuitous violence.
-Harvey Kronberg

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by: sccs @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 08:36:48 AM CDT

You just know (4.00 / 1)

that Frank "The Fetus" Corte has to be so jealous he can hardly see straight. There are plenty of mean-spirited bills every two years, but Frank always walks away with First Prize for the most asinine anti-woman bill of the session.

This year he probably thought he had the award all sewed up with his goofy HB 23 that would put huge "IF YOU BELIEVE LIFE BEGINS AT FERTILIZATION ... " signs at every cash register of every drugstore in the state, and then along comes Dan Patrick.

After all these years, to be upstaged by a freshman ... oh, the humiliation.

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by: moiv @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 18:44:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What is wrong with that man (4.00 / 1)

He absolutely hates women or he has vagina envy. 

Corte and thinking that we could have had Larry Stallings just makes me NUTS and REALLY pissed.  Hell the TDP didn't even have Larry's name on the program at the convention.  SHIT!  There is hardly anyone more important to get rid of than Corte.  Damn it!

Okay, breathe, Sharon.  Going to have a glass of wine now.  SHIT!

Barnett Shale: An Insatiable Thirst

My blog Bluedaze

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by: TXsharon @ Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 20:32:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I know, Sharon (4.00 / 1)

Frank Corte has singlehandedly done more to increase the high school dropout rate among girls in Texas than NCLB.  Most women can't get abortion care in Texas anymore if they've been pregnant for more than 15 weeks. Almost all of the teens in this situation are low-income kids whose parents can't afford to take them out of state. Thanks to Col. Corte, there are only two licensed ambulatory surgical centers in the state where they can go, and if a girl's folks don't have $2,000-$3,000 plus travel expenses, they're out of luck.

When a teenager has a baby, her chances of finishing high school drop by 50%. For almost a year after Corte's legislation took effect in January 2004, I tried to keep track of how many kids we had to send away, but I lost count a long time ago. And that's the story from just one single clinic.

That man has a lot to answer for.

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by: moiv @ Fri Mar 16, 2007 at 00:13:47 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

When I was just out of high school, (4.00 / 2)

I had a friend who became pregnant.  At that time, you had to fly to Las Vegas to get an abortion.  Fortunately for her, the father paid for her to fly out there and paid for the procedure.

I'll never forget when I picked her up at the airport.  She could barely walk, was ghostly white, bleeding a LOT, and in quite a lot of pain.  I couldn't believe what she had to go through on top of the emotional stress.  She had to get on a plane, fly to Vegas and wait HOURS for her procedure then get right back on a plane and fly home.  Then travel a long way from the airport to her home.  She couldn't tell her parents or anyone.  She had no follow up care.  MAN!  She SUFFERED!  It made an impression on me that I'll NEVER forget.

Barnett Shale: An Insatiable Thirst

My blog Bluedaze

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by: TXsharon @ Fri Mar 16, 2007 at 09:41:14 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

U.S. Court of Appeals Limits Birth Control (4.00 / 1)

I thought this diary was a good place to put this latest travesty.

Court upholds excluding birth control from health care plans. But, if you need some Viagra, it's covered.

It all started when Union Pacific, the largest railroad in North America, made a reprehensible decision to cover Viagra and deny coverage for birth control.  Contraceptive coverage provides women with critical access to birth control they might not otherwise be able to afford.  Yet, Union Pacific deliberately chose to exclude coverage of prescription contraceptives from its health care plan.  And now, in a decision made public yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has decided to let them get away with it.

Barnett Shale: An Insatiable Thirst

My blog Bluedaze

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by: TXsharon @ Fri Mar 16, 2007 at 13:32:48 PM CDT

Just read that at DK (0.00 / 0)

And I am absolutely furious.

This should be appealed immediately.

We have to become the leaders we seek.
-boadicea
There is not a sport invented that matches Texas politics for contact, blood or gratuitous violence.
-Harvey Kronberg

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by: sccs @ Fri Mar 16, 2007 at 14:46:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]