(Crosspost from Impolite Company)
I went to a little girl's adoption homecoming party this weekend. I'm sure that most of you who read this don't know it but I'm adopted. You can't tell by the way I look or talk or dress but I was raised by two parents (eventually three after the death of my adoptive mom and my dad's remarriage) that I wasn't physically related to. There might have been some times when I was in grade school when I was secretive about this fact but for most of my life I've been pretty open about it, as my parents were open about it with me. It was always stated plainly and beautifully, "Unlike most parents, we got to choose you." And that had the desired effect, it made me feel special, made me think that I had gotten something extra rather than being denied something that everyone else had. So when I got invited to a friend's daughter's homecoming party I was very excited to be able to say "yes" and to be a part of making sure this girl felt special for being adopted.
Well, I guess the Straight Talk Express cannot get any straighter than this. McCain opposes gay and lesbian couples adopting children and thinks they would be better off without parents than having gay parents who love them. Nothing like having a presidential candidate admit he is a bigot and sucking up to the Religious Right. Could anyone say family values more times in such a short clip? Too bad our families are not considered families by this ancient dinosaur.
Blogging has a lot in common with playing the slots. We spend endless hours researching, writing, and then refining what we've written before pulling the lever one more time by hitting "submit." Most of the time we're lucky just to break even, but once in a while we hit the jackpot.
While driving home from work, I often listen to news radio and catch up with what has happened during the day. Last Thursday afternoon, KRLD 1080 alerted me to an upcoming story that already sounded familiar.
Lawmaker wants to pay women for choosing adoption over abortion
A proposal by state Sen. Dan Patrick would pay pregnant women $500 for choosing adoption over abortion.
The anti-abortion Houston Republican said Senate Bill 1567 would provide an incentive to forgo abortion, but critics questioned whether such payments would be viewed as baby selling or coercion.
That story sounded so familiar because I had posted it online in the wee hours of that very morning.
Sen. Dan Patrick has figured out that adoption tax credits have a serious limitation: they don't do anything at all to increase the number of newborn babies available for adoption in the first place. But Senator Dan's the man with a plan to even out the shortfall.
Under Patrick's SB 1567, AKA the Texas Baby Purchasing Act of 2007, women would qualify for a $500 payment from the state within 60 days of signing away all parental rights to their newborn children.
If Patrick gets his way, childbearing in the service of the state won't be just some creepy Handmaid's Tale fiction anymore. How's that for some Republican family values?
Sen. Dan Patrick has figured out that adoption tax credits have a serious limitation: they don't do anything at all to increase the number of newborn babies available for adoption in the first place. But Senator Dan's the man with a plan to even out the shortfall.
