Texas, WTF ?

[gotsnowgotslush]

How the Texas Media Screwed-Up a Voting Rights Story

AUGUST 4, 2016

Words matter - and when media use Republican message frames they then serve to promote that agenda


Texas voter ID law is one of the strictest in the nation and only allows certain identification. For instance, the law considers a gun license an acceptable form but not student ID's. Courts have now twice ruled that the law has a discriminatory effect and it must be amended.


Here are some headlines that got it right:

San Antonio Express-News: Texas, minority groups agree on temporary remedy for voter ID

Houston Press: DOJ-Approved Plan Would Gut Restrictive Voter ID Law in Texas

And here are those who got it wrong...way wrong:

Dallas Morning News, via the Associate Press: Texas agrees to weaken voter ID law for November elections.

Houston Chronicle: Texas agrees to water-down voter ID law for November election

Texas Tribune: Texas agrees to weaken voter ID law for November election


The point is, words matter - and when media use Republican message frames (a frame is how a concept is visualized in someone's mind) they then serve to promote that agenda. We see this when the media uses terms like "Sanctuary Cities" instead of "Cities that have not adopted Republican immigration laws" and "Women's Health" instead of "abortion access." Whether intentionally or unwittingly, the media uses these frames and thus skew public opinion instead of reporting on it.

http://progresstexas.org/blog/how-texas-media-screwed-voting-rights-story

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

600 women die of pregnancy complications in Texas

WTF, Texas ?

Acceptable levels of deaths, counted as collateral damage in the war on Democrats ? Women ? Pregnant teenagers ? Migrants with no documents ? Poor people ? Non- Christians ?

Rick Perry refused Federal dollars because Fetus Worshippers did not want Planned Parenthood to get funds.

Or any clinic that was associated with Planned Parenthood.

SEPT. 28, 2012

The Source, a Christian crisis pregnancy center, opens a fake clinic in Houston

"The Source for Women (Christian crisis pregnancy ) clinics, in fact, will be part of Texas’s own Women’s Health Program, and Planned Parenthood will not be."
-Rick Perry

LGov. Rick Perry showed up last night for a photo op in a poor part of Houston expensively made up to conceal its poverty. The Source for Women was opening a new crisis pregnancy center in Spring Branch, and Perry sailed in, crowed a little, and cut a fat pink ribbon with an actual pair of oversized scissors."

https://www.texasobserver.org/relie...ice-perry-helps-open-crisis-pregnancy-center/

(What kind of women's health clinic gives no pap smears, gives no breast exams, gives no contraceptives, and no medications?)


Rick Perry, who on Tuesday spoke at the group's ribbon cutting ceremony in Houston. "Here in Texas, we've worked hard to strengthen our abortion laws, empower families, and protect our children's future," reads the text of Perry's speech. "We've banned the use of your tax dollars for abortion procedures in Texas, and expanded that ban to include those affiliated with abortion providers in the case of our Women's Health Program," he continued. "We've stood strong ... and proclaimed the truth that protecting the rights of abortion providers and protecting women's health are not the same thing."

https://rewire.news/article/2012/09...ancy-center-is-future-texas-womens-health-pr/

Anti-Choice Group to Receive $1.6 Million Health Grant

AUG. 15, 2016

The Source!
(for women)

Round Rock-based Christian nonprofit that advocates against abortion – stands to gain the second most sizable annual contract

In 2012, anti-choice politicians kicked Planned Parenthood, the program’s dominant provider, out of the program, leaving 50,000 low-income women to find a new health care provider.

With the blessing of former Gov. Rick Perry, crisis pregnancy centers jumped at the opportunity to replace the void left by Planned Parenthood.

“It is still on the table at the board level as to which contraceptives will be provided. No “abortifacients” will be available."
- Cynthia Wenz

(Cynthia Wenz had two abortions, went on with her life, and became a CEO. When did she decide other women should not have access to a safe, legal abortion ? )


That’s a term that has very specific meaning to crisis pregnancy centers and anti-choice activists, and it goes well beyond what the word might mean medically and biologically and to a layperson who assumes it deals with the termination of an existing pregnancy. Instead, anti-choice activists and crisis pregnancy centers consider almost all forms of hormonal contraception and even IUD’s to be “abortifacients,” asserting that the pill can cause a “very early abortion,” and that “the pill kills.” Same goes for Depo-Provera, Norplant and the morning-after pill. So that basically eliminates all effective contraception.

Fact is, a place like The Source has no interest—indeed, a demonstrated disinterest—in women not being pregnant. What the Source does have an interest in is dictating to women, using sketchy non-science and thinly veiled religious dogma, what it believes they should do with their bodies and what kind of medical care it is appropriate for them to receive. Why should a board of directors—a group of total strangers—decide what kind of contraception is appropriate for a woman to use?

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2012/09/25/the-future-of-texas-womens-health-for-rick-perry-its-cpcs/

Should we be asking the Texas Health And Human Services Department why women must not be pregnant, when women try to enroll in a program based on health services ?

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

Say what they want to hear, and you will win a prize!

June 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas’s restrictive abortion law requiring doctors have admitting privileges at local hospitals and demanding clinics meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers.

There were plenty of Republicans that were willing to say the law was intended for the benefit of women's health and safety.

Compelling government interest, they said.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/dail...ce-group-to-receive-1-6-million-health-grant/

http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-08-05/fetal-burial-saga-continues/


If you were would have been willing to say that you were frightened, that a deceased “pre-born child" would give you A.I.D.S, HIV, or an STD, you might be lucky. Carol Everett was willing, and she was very lucky.

She was willing to help her favorite people to pass a law, that would force women to cremate or bury a fetus, as if it were a dead person.

June 2016, a federal judge blocked a similar law in Indiana, writing that the “state’s asserted interest in treating fetal remains with the dignity of human remains is not legitimate given that the law does not recognize a fetus as a person.”

Carol Everett, founder of the anti-choice Heidi Group, delivered a wild hypothetical, bereft of medical science, during her testimony. Everett cautioned that a supposed sewer line that holds disposed fetal tissue could break down, exposing the public to the potential STDs and HIV in fetal remains. “What if one day something horrible escaped into the sewer system?,” she said, to hearty laughs from pro-choice advocates in the room. Her unfounded worry becomes a little less comical when you consider Everett sits on HHSC’s Women’s Health Advisory Committee, which advises the state agency on critical reproductive health issues.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-08-05/fetal-burial-saga-continues/


More taxpayer dollars for Carol Everett's the Heidi Group

The Heidi Group has raked in thousands of taxpayer dollars over the years as part of the Alternatives to Abortion program, a pot of millions that subsidize CPCs in Texas. Everett has also helped distribute another stream of CPC funding generated by the Texas “Choose Life” license plate sales as an appointee of the attorney general.


So who is Carol Everett? A former abortion clinic worker (who wanted the abortion field to make her a “millionaire”) turned anti-abortion champion, Everett is a vocal figure in the anti-choice movement, penning a book on the subject titled, Blood Money: Getting Rich off a Woman’s Right to Choose.

Just days after Carol Everett said, "What if one day something horrible escaped into the sewer system?," Texas awarded Everett and her anti-choice organization, the Heidi Group, with some $1.65 million in public funding.


http://www.austinchronicle.com/dail...ce-group-to-receive-1-6-million-health-grant/


http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/tex...can-get-hiv-from-fetuses-flushed-into-sewers/

 

[Boxlicker101]

Say what they want to hear, and you will win a prize!

June 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas’s restrictive abortion law requiring doctors have admitting privileges at local hospitals and demanding clinics meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers.

There were plenty of Republicans that were willing to say the law was intended for the benefit of women's health and safety.

Compelling government interest, they said.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/dail...ce-group-to-receive-1-6-million-health-grant/

http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-08-05/fetal-burial-saga-continues/


If you were would have been willing to say that you were frightened, that a deceased “pre-born child" would give you A.I.D.S, HIV, or an STD, you might be lucky. Carol Everett was willing, and she was very lucky.

She was willing to help her favorite people to pass a law, that would force women to cremate or bury a fetus, as if it were a dead person.

June 2016, a federal judge blocked a similar law in Indiana, writing that the “state’s asserted interest in treating fetal remains with the dignity of human remains is not legitimate given that the law does not recognize a fetus as a person.”

Carol Everett, founder of the anti-choice Heidi Group, delivered a wild hypothetical, bereft of medical science, during her testimony. Everett cautioned that a supposed sewer line that holds disposed fetal tissue could break down, exposing the public to the potential STDs and HIV in fetal remains. “What if one day something horrible escaped into the sewer system?,” she said, to hearty laughs from pro-choice advocates in the room. Her unfounded worry becomes a little less comical when you consider Everett sits on HHSC’s Women’s Health Advisory Committee, which advises the state agency on critical reproductive health issues.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2016-08-05/fetal-burial-saga-continues/


More taxpayer dollars for Carol Everett's the Heidi Group

The Heidi Group has raked in thousands of taxpayer dollars over the years as part of the Alternatives to Abortion program, a pot of millions that subsidize CPCs in Texas. Everett has also helped distribute another stream of CPC funding generated by the Texas “Choose Life” license plate sales as an appointee of the attorney general.


So who is Carol Everett? A former abortion clinic worker (who wanted the abortion field to make her a “millionaire”) turned anti-abortion champion, Everett is a vocal figure in the anti-choice movement, penning a book on the subject titled, Blood Money: Getting Rich off a Woman’s Right to Choose.

Just days after Carol Everett said, "What if one day something horrible escaped into the sewer system?," Texas awarded Everett and her anti-choice organization, the Heidi Group, with some $1.65 million in public funding.


http://www.austinchronicle.com/dail...ce-group-to-receive-1-6-million-health-grant/


http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/tex...can-get-hiv-from-fetuses-flushed-into-sewers/

What do you think happens to garbage? Generally speaking, it is incinerated or buried in land fills. Some of it is recycled or otherwise used. As far as I can see, fetal tissue that results rom an abortion or miscarriage can be recycled - that is, it can be used in medical laboratories, possibly resulting in cures for diseases or for regenerating missing limbs or other body parts. What isn't used in that way is usually either cremated or buried, just as any kind of garbage.

I suppose the product of a spontaneous miscarriage is frequently flushed down a toilet, and is then combined with fecal matter or other human waste. I don't consider this to be good or bad, just a fact of life.

 

[phrodeau]

Texas was the fourth state to require that aborted fetuses be given cremation or interment rites. No donation to medical science permitted.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Texas was the fourth state to require that aborted fetuses be given cremation or interment rites. No donation to medical science permitted.

That is strictly wrong. The disposition of the aborted cells should be up to the woman who underwent the abortion, either spontaneous or induced. Those laws are probably unconstitutional, if anybody were to fight them.

 

[JackLuis]

That is strictly wrong. The disposition of the aborted cells should be up to the woman who underwent the abortion, either spontaneous or induced. Those laws are probably unconstitutional, if anybody were to fight them.

I agree with yu Box. If we had a law that said the pol's who pass these types of laws could go to jail until they understand the Constitution, no bail, no time off for good behavior, living in a tent in Phoenix, maybe things would change?

 

[Hard_Rom]

I agree with yu Box. If we had a law that said the pol's who pass these types of laws could go to jail until they understand the Constitution, no bail, no time off for good behavior, living in a tent in Phoenix, maybe things would change?

Politicians usually think of the voters as young children with themselves as our parents not as our servants. Do as I say not as I do.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Politicians usually think of the voters as young children with themselves as our parents not as our servants. Do as I say not as I do.

Well looking at Clinton I'd say you're spot on Rom.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Politicians usually think of the voters as young children with themselves as our parents not as our servants. Do as I say not as I do.

And that's pols regardless of Lib. or Con. That's one of the reasons people get into politics.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

I was ready to go to bed, and get some rest.
But, this was too much to resist,
and worth staying up late, to get this out into a post.

Yay, Texas
You have done it, again

Senseless ? Unbelievably strange ? Of course, Texas is involved.

You would not expect the Education Board overseeing our nation's school books, to go so far, out on a limb...

But, it is Texas

A Texas loony wrote a book, titled "Mexican American Heritage"
You would expect the book to center on Mexico, and Mexican Americans, wouldn't you ?
If the book was being considered by an education board, you would expect it to have facts and accurate information for students, wouldn't you ?

Ah, but, no. It is appalling collection of words, that is being considered as a school text book-"amateurish, error-ridden and rife with offensive stereotypes."

(Written by a lunatic)

From the Washington Post article-

The proposed Mexican-American studies textbook for Texas high school students is written by authors with no expertise in Mexican-American studies, contains large sections that have little to do with Mexican-American history and includes language that depicts Mexicans as lazy, opponents of the book say.


"Celina Moreno, an attorney with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in an interview Monday. “It’s not only highly offensive, but it’s filled with factual inaccuracies. Even though this is supposed to be about Mexican-American heritage, much of the book actually talks about Latinos of other ethnicities. The publishers don’t know the difference between a Mexican and a Chilean.”


This text has the look of a task given to an intern who has been told to cobble together what they can using the Internet,” Jose Maria Herrera, an assistant professor in education at the University of Texas at El Paso, said in a statement. “It is criminally shallow and, in some cases, factually ignorant.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...cans-as-lazy-new-coalition-works-to-block-it/


"The United Kingdom newspaper the Daily Mail reports the book takes a rather … elastic view of what constitutes Mexican-American, with a curriculum that includes writers Gabriel Garcia Marquez (who was Colombian) and Isabel Allende (who is Chilean-American), but no actual Mexicans. It says the book implies that Mexican-Americans originated the tango (which is Argentine) and salsa (Puerto Rican and Cuban by way of New York City)."

(gsgs comment-
The Daily Mail is a newspaper that has a stock in trade of inaccuracies, exaggerations, and tall tales,with very little facts to them, and the Daily Mail is outraged over how something like this book might be allowed to masquerade as a school text book. The Daily Mail does not pretend to be anything other than it is, which is an entertainment and a distraction. It does not attempt to pretend it is a factual document, that could be used for instruction./end gsgs comment)

yikes

http://www.adn.com/opinions/nationa...rives-where-ideology-kicks-truth-to-the-curb/

"There is much here that should appall: the lies, the low-rent insults, the notion that a Mexican is a Colombian is a Chilean; the fact that Texas' dominance of the textbook market could put this thing into classrooms around the country."
-Author: Leonard Pitts

 

[Sean Renaud]

Well looking at Clinton I'd say you're spot on Rom.

Can you show where the American populace has not fully earned that treatment?

 

[BotanyBoy]

Can you show where the American populace has not fully earned that treatment?

Nah....they earn it with their vote.

Thing is for me it's not a matter of them earning it. The USA was born and indented to be the anti nanny state. "Fuck the nanny state!" sums up the M'arican spirit

It has become that because most people like being slaves.

And you may love the nanny state fucking with you just for fun!! God knows if I wasn't forced under penalty of law to hire a licenced contractor to change the batteries in my smoke alarms I just don't know how I would make it in life.


But it shouldn't be.....America should't be a nation of fuckin' babies. It's a fucking crime we've catered to that shit. Shit drives me fucking insane, I hate it and I can't wait to cast off my shackles and escape.

 

[Sean Renaud]

See I don't think we were born or intended to be anti-nanny state. The concept didn't exist back then. What we were was the frontier and that shit's over. The next "America" will be Mars/The Moon or it won't happen. Even then it's gonna be a helluva lot harder than it was here even initially to set up shop in the same mannor.

Most people don't like being slaves, we do however realize that life is better when you are well kept.

See aside from traffic tickets that I deserve but don't like it leaves me the fuck alone. Actually whom I kidding. The Nanny State essentially pays me because it turns out that people don't want pedophiles hanging around their kids or known thieves working in banks. Somehow that's something people find "important" (I know you don't. If the person lies to you about their past it's on you to hire Batman to figure it out for each and every employer. But most of us aren't awesome as you.)

There is no place to escape to. Well Somalia is nice this time a year but other than that there is no escaping it because most of us like most of the machine. I might bitch that I have to listen to country radio, I might hate that I must wear a seatbelt, I even hate that I can't drink if I'm in the back. I mean why the fuck not? I'm not even a danger back here! But if you tell me to walk ten miles to the nearest grocery store, round trip, I'm gonna remember how much I love leather seats, air condition and traveling at 60mph.

 

[BotanyBoy]

See I don't think we were born or intended to be anti-nanny state.

The concept didn't exist back then.

The founding documents, fathers and nearly everything they wrote on the subject were pretty anti-nanny state. Huge individualist minimalist government libertarian types.

And practically no indication of a desire for the country to eventually become some communist totalitarian regime, thought police and all that Democrats aspire to.

Don't offend anyone or it's a felony!

Trigger the right snowflake and you might end up on death row!

What we were was the frontier and that shit's over.

That's not a reason to force me to hire a contractor to change my smoke alarm batteries.

Or to ask permission from the state to paint my own fuckin' mail box.

Most people don't like being slaves, we do however realize that life is better when you are well kept.

Only if you're suckin' on that tit.

See aside from traffic tickets that I deserve but don't like it leaves me the fuck alone.

LOL that's bullshit, you know how I know? You live in SoCal.

You're just so used to ultra, super, omega, over the fuckin' top need a permit to wipe your ass control freak government it doesn't even register to you.

Actually whom I kidding. The Nanny State essentially pays me

BOOM there it is....I'd be a fan if they were paying me too.

There is no place to escape to.

Bullshit, there are all sorts of remote nooks and crannies that are essentially ungoverned.

Well Somalia is nice this time a year

It's still hotter than fuck over there. But then again I'm more of a cold weather fan.

 

[underguy1]

Why are libertarians so dumb?

 

[BotanyBoy]

Why are libertarians so dumb?

I dunno.....

Who's a libertarian? What dumb shit did they say?

 

[Sean Renaud]

I'm used to it sure. But I also would never randomly do any of the things they fuck you for. I would never paint my mailbox unless it was chipped or something. I don't pay anybody to change my smoke detectors and have never been called out on it. My landlord pays for my fire extinguishers to have that check done.

The government NEVER fucks with me and does pay me and should fuck with me more than they do to be perfectly honest. I could do all sorts of shady shit if I wanted and they essentially go "naw, you're a good guy."

 

[BotanyBoy]

I'm used to it sure. But I also would never randomly do any of the things they fuck you for. I would never paint my mailbox unless it was chipped or something.

See I want to paint mine purple, bedazzle it and stick a 10" rubber cock on top of it.

And I don't think I should have to ask the fucking state permission.

My landlord pays

There ya go.

The government NEVER fucks with me

Because they are fucking with your landlord.

They won't get out of my ass...always want forms or money, usually both.

should fuck with me more than they do to be perfectly honest.

See I find that idea fuckin' insane. And it just demonstrates even moderate lefties such as yourself really do want a totalitarian police state.

Shit you probably would back the thought police too, would you? Should we get on board with the social justice crowd and start policing thoughts? End freedom of speech, religion, press and association for the greater good?

 

[underguy1]

Just retarded.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Just retarded.

The hot air master strikes again.
http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv67/henktermaat/suprise.jpg

 

[Sean Renaud]

And where I live it's not the goverment who would stop you from doing that to you mailbox anyway. It's your neighbors who aren't gonna let you rob them.

I don't want a totalitarian police state. But someone who's job is doing background checks and who stores thousands of names, addressses and social security numbers on their premises should have had their DOJ liason come down in person at least ONCE over the last 10 years! If I wanted to reak havoc I could do real damage over a very short period of time. We live in a society where ID theft is a very real thing and people in prime positions to do it aren't even casually tracked! It's fucking absurd.

My being glad they don't fuck with me on a personal level is not the same as my knowing it's irresponsible on their part that they don't.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

And where I live it's not the goverment who would stop you from doing that to you mailbox anyway. It's your neighbors who aren't gonna let you rob them.

I don't want a totalitarian police state. But someone who's job is doing background checks and who stores thousands of names, addressses and social security numbers on their premises should have had their DOJ liason come down in person at least ONCE over the last 10 years! If I wanted to reak havoc I could do real damage over a very short period of time. We live in a society where ID theft is a very real thing and people in prime positions to do it aren't even casually tracked! It's fucking absurd.

My being glad they don't fuck with me on a personal level is not the same as my knowing it's irresponsible on their part that they don't.

DOJ has proven to be corrupt ever since that obama came into power ...

 

[BotanyBoy]

And where I live it's not the goverment who would stop you from doing that to you mailbox anyway. It's your neighbors who aren't gonna let you rob them.

Neighbors can fine you under penalty of law? Since when?

I'm rather certain every letter/fine I ever got about working on my car with the garage open or painting my fence etc. have all come from the city/county.

Because if my neighbor wanted me to give them 180 bucks for the privilege of working on my own car I'm pretty sure I would have told them to get fucked and there wouldn't have been anything they could do about it.

I don't want a totalitarian police state. But someone who's job is doing background checks and who stores thousands of names, addressses and social security numbers on their premises should have had their DOJ liason come down in person at least ONCE over the last 10 years! If I wanted to reak havoc I could do real damage over a very short period of time. We live in a society where ID theft is a very real thing and people in prime positions to do it aren't even casually tracked! It's fucking absurd.

My being glad they don't fuck with me on a personal level is not the same as my knowing it's irresponsible on their part that they don't.

That would be a waste, if they aren't having any problems why should they fuck with you?

Why is it irresponsible not to fuck with people just because you can?

 

[Sean Renaud]

HSAs mostly, but lets not pretend that those laws were set by government busy bodies, they were set by people protecting their homes and forced the government to get into goddamn line.

I've never had it happen to me, seen it happen, your the first person I've even heard claim they got in trouble for working on their car in their yard. I'll take your word for it that it happens but never around me.

Because they ARE having problems. How much identity fraud is there in the US every goddamn year? Given the thousands of people I see a year (quick estimate here because obviously it fluctuates quite a bit but a low month is 400 bodies) if NOBODY has gotten robbed by now that's just sheer luck. The information is secure of course but they don't know that. They just have blind faith for no reason.

It's irresponsible to trust people that you don't know with things that are important. Hell it's irresponsible to trust people that you DO know with things that are important. I wouldn't let my mother due my taxes without at least checking up on them later and she's better at math than me, has more complicated taxes and is literally twice my age and working four times as long as I have been and I still would look that shit over! It's mind boggling.