scATX: Speaker's Corner in the ATX

From The Daily Texan (UT’s student-run newspaper):

State university campuses with gender and sexuality centers could have to add a “traditional family values center” that receives equal state funding if an amendment to the House Budget Bill from Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, succeeds.

The House passed a version of the budget that included this amendment Sunday. While presenting the amendment, Christian said universities such as UT and A&M would be affected because they have gender and sexuality centers that offer and encourage education about “alternative sexual practices.”

“This is not restricting [alternative sexual practice education],” Christian said. “If they’re going to [offer such education], they have to match the center, the dollars, the mortar and the cost of taxpayer dollars for traditional values. You would be able to go to The University of Texas and A&M and attend their heterosexual gender and sexuality centers.”

Gender and Sexuality Center director Ana Ixchel Rosal said according to her interpretation of the amendment, it will not affect UT since the center’s current $180,000 annual budget is not funded by state dollars.

I wish you could see how HARD I am rolling my eyes right now.  As a commenter to this DT article said:

IF ONLY there were some “safe place” where heterosexuals could go and find acceptance and get away from the persecution by those who don’t “agree” with them. Perhaps, with a “free exchange of ideas” and a program committed to educating the public, heterosexuals can gradually, with hard work, find acceptance in society.

Clearly, this shit goes DIRECTLY against the supposed focus on dwindling the budget (because who needs teachers when we could have a center dedicated to propping up patriarchy, heterosexism, and misogyny!?!?!).  In reality, it’s meant as a scare tactic so that the university shuts down the G&S center instead of funding an additional center.  They didn’t realize, though, that the center doesn’t take money from the state (probably for this exact reason).  They will need to find another way to destroy it, I guess.

According the G&S website, the center exists to serve the women and LGBTQA communities. It provides:

safe spaces for all members of the UT Austin community to explore, organize, and promote learning around issues of gender and sexuality. The center also facilitates a greater responsiveness to the needs of women and the LGBTQ communities through education, outreach and advocacy.

Oh, the horror!!!!

I’m feel so exhausted by everything that is happening right now, both in my backyard and at the federal level.  The GOP hates women, it hates minorities, it hates anyone who isn’t heterosexual, it hates anyone who would ever – gasp! – need some help from the government created to help its citizens.  I’m just tired.

This is a conglomeration of posts I did today over on my new tumblr site, Keep Your Boehner Out of My Uterus.

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I, scatx, creator and administrator of this tumblr, live in Texas.  While I know there is lots of legislation trying to curb the right to abortion throughout the nation, I am most keenly aware of what is going down in my own state legislature right now.

I posted earlier this week about our anti-choice governor, Rick Perry, and the fact that the first piece of legislation to be debated and voted on in the House this session would be a bill requiring women who want an abortion to first view a sonogram.  Instead of trying to tackle the massive budget crisis that our state is facing, we are instead focusing on legally curtailing a woman’s right to bodily autonomy.

The person proposing the legislation is Rep. Sid Miller:

House Bill 15, sponsored by state Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, requires a doctor performing an abortion to conduct the sonogram at least 24 hours before the procedure was to take place. The doctor also is required to show the woman the sonogram image, play the sound of the fetal heartbeat for her and describe in some detail the image that appears on the sonogram. The woman does not have to view the sonogram or hear the heartbeat, although she still would have to hear the doctor’s description.

Miller’s bill is a more stringent version of Senate Bill 16, sponsored by state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, which passed two weeks ago. Patrick’s bill, approved by a vote of 21-10, requires the sonogram to be performed within two hours of the abortion. It also makes an exception for women who have been the victim of rape or incest or where the fetus has fatal abnormalities. The House version does not allow exceptions. (via)

The legislation PASSED the House.  Miller won.  Women and children lost…again.

But there were a lot of Democratic (of course) representatives yesterday who stood up and spoke on behalf of women and children in this state.  And I want to thank them.  While it is hard to listen to what anti-choice people in my state have to say about me, a woman, I was heartened to see what these elected officials were saying.  It’s good to know that even if the numbers aren’t on their side, the reps are still fighting the good fight.  I am going to give each one them their own post to highlight their awesomeness and as an antidote for the real-life beliefs of Boehner et al. that go into the jokes we tell on this tumblr.

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#1: Rep. Jessica Farrar (D-Houston)

While she questioned Miller, R-Stephenville, on the bill, state Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, attempted to pierce Republicans’ argument that the bill was not about abortion, but about providing “informed consent” for women.

“It seems to me that the motive of this bill is to get women not to have abortions,” she said, asking Miller if he agreed with that statement.

“That’s fine with me,” he responded. (via)

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#2: Rep. Carol Alvarado (D-Houston)

The debate was sometimes uncomfortable. Intent on highlighting the invasive nature of sonograms during the early part of a pregnancy, state Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, asked how a woman unclothed from the waist down, with her “legs in the stirrups very far apart” was supposed to “get up and walk away” if she did not want to view the sonogram or hear the fetus’ heartbeat.

“I think it’s about shaming women, humiliating women and embarrassing women,” she said, adding, “Not even inmates in prison are forced to undergo such invasive procedures.” (via)

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#3: Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston)

State Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, offered an amendment that would, in the event that a woman decided to carry her child to term after undergoing a sonogram as required by the bill, require the state to pay for that child’s college tuition. When that didn’t work, Dutton proposed that the state pay for the child’s health care until age 18. That failed, too. He followed up with a similar amendment that only went up to age 6, but with no more success.

Dutton told the members that such amendments signaled that the state feels less responsibility to children after they are born. “We want to see all these children around, but the state of Texas ends its obligation to that child when it’s born,” he said. “We want it born, but we don’t want to do our duty.” (via)

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#4: Rep. Marisa Marquez (D-El Paso)

State Rep. Marisa Marquez (D-El Paso) offered an amendment that would have allowed pregnant women, who chose to not get an abortion, to apply for a court order requiring the father of the child to undergo a vasectomy, if the pregnancy occurred outside of marriage and the father previously had two or more children outside of marriage with two or more women.

State Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio) asked Marquez if it was her intent to insert a “severability clause” in the bill.

Miller opposed the amendment, saying lawmakers had already been receiving concerns from constituents about budget reductions. “I’m going to have to draw the line and say no more cuts,” he said. (via)

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#5: Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin)

State Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin) said she thinks the legislation is a “tactic to try to frighten the woman into not having the procedure, as though she already didn’t have the mental capacity to make the decision.”

“I respectfully disagree. Thank you for your comments,” Miller said. (via)

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#6: Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio)

“So why would we be considering a big-government kind of bill?” Castro asked during discussion on the House floor. “Do you feel that the author and others that support the bill feel that women are just too dumb to make a decision they’ve contemplated for quite awhile?” (via)

The official Facebook page of Austin Walk for Choice.

I don’t have much time to blog about the event today but I had a great time.  Even with the strong potential for rain, I thought the crowd was big (and as this was – gasp! – my first political rally, I have no way to judge the numbers of people out there.  A couple hundred?  We’ll see if the media reports about it at all and gives their own estimates).  And I adored all the chanting and yelling and camaraderie.  Overall, I found it a very emotional experience, especially when we marched down Congress avenue, past places where people were eating their lunch.  We were this united group fighting for the rights of women and it was powerful.

Two of the things that struck me about the crowd: 1) they were mainly young and 2) there were a lot of men.  Also, incredible sign makers.  Wow, the creativity was on full display.

One of my best friends was with me and s/he took pictures that I am simply going to embed here in a slideshow.  I hope to write more about this later.

On a related note: I think someone should purchase http://keepyourboehneroutofmyuterus.com immediately.  I mean, it’s screaming for a meme, right?

I’ve moved the slideshow to after the jump because it is causing my homepage to load slowly.  So, slideshow and gallery of the photos now after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

Super Bowl:

• State fund to help pay for Super Bowl expenses (Kelley Shannon of The Dallas Morning News)
• Super Bowl highlights super dispute about Sunday sales at Texas liquor stores (Texas on the Potomac)

Legislature:

• Insiders on Voter ID And Other Emergency Issues (Ross Ramsey at The Texas Tribune)
• Texas Lawmakers Propose Raiding Auto Theft Fund (Brandi Grissom at The Texas Tribune)
• Texas’ proposed budget cuts frustrate senators in both parties (Robert T. Garrett at The Dallas Morning News)
• Texas’ budget challenges could persist beyond 2011 (Kate Alexander at Austin-American Statesman)
• Texas state legislators eye pension funds during budget crunch, but will their own retirement plan hit the chopping block? (Steve Miller at Texas Watchdog)

More articles after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Children:

• Texas Children: Canaries in the Coal Mine (Pamela Oldham at Miller-McCune)

It looks like Texas’ longtime model of cutting spending and never raising taxes works exceptionally well, so it’s not surprising that many states are following Texas’ lead. But it’s less obvious that the state’s fiscal policies and widely admired approach to balancing its budget have created a devastating legacy. According to officials at Austin-based Texans Care for Children, a multi-issue, nonpartisan policy organization, Texas children are falling behind the rest of the country in nearly every aspect of child well-being.

The Elderly:

• State budget cuts may mean hundreds of nursing homes close, industry warns (Robert T. Garrett at The Dallas Morning News)

More articles after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

How to contact the people who were elected to represent you:

Here’s the website that helps you find all the people who represent you on the both the federal and state levels. It gives you their names, websites, mailing addresses, and phone numbers.

Do it today.  Even if you think they won’t care about your opinion.  It’s our most basic and easiest way (besides voting) to participate in this democracy.  You have a voice.  Exercise it.

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• Texas Budget Cuts Could Shrink Mental Health Help (Ben Philpott of The Texas Tribune)
• Perry’s Priorities Tell Tale of Texas (Lisa Falkenberg of The Houston Chronicle)
• Health Group Says Cuts More Like 33 Percent (Becca Aaronson at The Texas Tribune)

Lawmakers have proposed cutting Medicaid provider rates 10 percent to help meet the state’s budget crisis. But health care groups suggest the cuts are far deeper. In a press conference today, the Texas Health Care Association, which advocates for nursing homes, said the House and Senate’s recommended budgets for Medicaid services actually represent a 33 percent cut from current service levels.

“The problem is there are other things that are either being cut or resulting in budget reductions beyond that that are additive,” said Coyle Kelly, an economic consultant for the group.

For starters: Stimulus funding dramatically increased the portion of Medicaid costs paid by the feds during the last biennium — money that won’t be available in the next biennium. That drop, coupled with the proposed 10 percent rate cut, is where health care groups come up with the 33 percent figure, which they call devastating.

• TX GOP lawmakers push for free-market health care reforms; federal rules place a straightjacket on changes (Mark Lisheron at Texas Watchdog)

How to contact the people who were elected to represent you:

Here’s the website that helps you find all the people who represent you on the both the federal and state levels. It gives you their names, websites, mailing addresses, and phone numbers.

Do it today.  Even if you think they won’t care about your opinion.  It’s our most basic and easiest way (besides voting) to participate in this democracy.  You have a voice.  Exercise it.

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Julian Agular has a new post at the Texas Tribune about the (possible) controversial bills waiting to be put up to a vote in the state legislature. Below is me taking many, many bits from Agular and adding commentary.  So, if you don’t want the commentary, just click on over to the Texas Tribune:

• This all started with the voter ID bill that passed last night in the Senate.  If the house also passes it, Texas residents will have to show photo ID to vote.  Who will most likely not vote if it passes?  Minorities (read: Latinos), the elderly, and the poor, because they may not the means or the time to obtain photo ID.
• “State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has made national headlines for his “birther” bill that would require a candidate for president or vice president of the U.S. to show proof of natural-born citizenship to be placed on the ballot in Texas.”
• Berman is also trying to “provoke a legal challenge to the 14th Amendment, which bestows citizenship on anyone born in the U.S., regardless of the status of the child’s parents. House Bill 292, if passed, would prevent a county’s local registrar from issuing a birth certificate to a child born to undocumented immigrants in Texas. “Instead, they will be given a notice of birth, with instructions to take it to their own consulate or embassy to get citizenship papers or a birth certificate from the country of their parents,” Berman said, explaining his bill. “If it passes, we expect to be sued immediately, and that’s exactly what we’re looking for — we want to be sued in federal court so that federal judges will finally read the 14th Amendment.” After that, he said, it’ll only be a matter of time before the federal government realizes the amendment was ratified in 1868 only for those children born in the U.S. to black slaves.”"

Just so you know, that reading of the Constitution is 1) wrong, 2) seeped in Berman’s clear hatred of Latinos, 3) ahistorical 4) anti-conservative (except, you know, that conservatives love to hate, well, everybody that ain’t white, hetero, and rich)  and 5) the exact reason that a strict reading of the Constitution is hated on by so many.

Read the rest of this entry »

How to contact the people who were elected to represent you:

Here’s the website that helps you find all the people who represent you on the both the federal and state levels. It gives you their names, websites, mailing addresses, and phone numbers.

Do it today.  Even if you think they won’t care about your opinion.  It’s our most basic and easiest way (besides voting) to participate in this democracy.  You have a voice.  Exercise it.

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Texas Hospitals Could Face Cuts in Federal Funds (Emily Ramshaw at The Texas Tribune)

Texas hospital administrators aren’t thrilled by the Medicaid rate cuts they’re facing in the House’s proposed 2012-13 budget. But it’s the state’s plan to expand Medicaid managed care that’s keeping their CFOs up at night.

Proposed cuts in the rates health care providers are paid for treating patients covered by Medicaid would cost Texas hospitals a total of hundreds of millions of dollars a year. But that’s nothing, hospital officials say, compared to the expansion of Medicaid managed care — which could wipe out more than $1 billion in federal funds that sustain them each year.

“I would hope,” said Charles Barnett, president and CEO of the Seton Family of Hospitals, “that whatever solution we derive at the state Legislature does not reduce the amount of federal funds that comes into the state to help us provide care.”

Five more articles after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

How to contact the people who were elected to represent you:

Here’s the website that helps you find all the people who represent you on the both the federal and state levels. It gives you their names, websites, mailing addresses, and phone numbers.

Do it today.  Even if you think they won’t care about your opinion.  It’s our most basic and easiest way (besides voting) to participate in this democracy.  You have a voice.  Exercise it.

__________________

Finally, Rick Perry and I agree on something: Texas is in crisis. It is an EMERGENCY!

Here is what I said about the impending TX budget:

OMFG, Texas. Can you screw over the single mother any more? God, can you imagine the single-mother who is receiving child support, needs Medicaid, and works for the state. She is SCREWED. Sorry, lady. We just don’t care about you or your kid. But hey, look on the bright side, at least you won’t have any new taxes to pay. I’m sorry, I meant, at least wealthy Texans with private health care plans and big bank accounts won’t have to pay more taxes. Because those people and their lawmakers HATE when children have education and health care and we would hate for them to have to participate in providing those kids a future.

I think most people can agree that when the state’s budget is going to be so short that education, health care, and community services for the mentally ill and the disabled are cut, we are in an emergency situation.

Here is what Rick Perry thinks the emergency is right now in our state:

Governor Rick Perry said Saturday that legislation requiring a woman to have a sonogram before an abortion is an emergency item for the 2011 legislative session.

“When you consider the magnitude of the decision to have an abortion, ensuring that the patient understands what’s truly at stake seems a small step to take”, Perry said at a Texas Rally for Life.

Oh, wait. That’s right. We don’t agree on anything. Ever. Good to know some things never change. Like how much of an asshole Rick Perry is. Like how much he doesn’t trust women (which, you know, goes both ways because I don’t trust him at all). Like how stupid he seems to think we all are. Like how condescending he is when he explains the world to us idiotic citizens (well, I’m not sure if he considers me a citizen based on his emergency abortion bill – clearly my rights are not his concern).

To be fair, our dear Governor has declared the budget an emergency, too. Of course, he thinks that the budget is an emergency because we need to get rid of services FASTER! We need to get rid of that evil government-forced education and health care NOW!

He clarified today that the budget is the #1 emergency item:

“The budget is why you come; that’s what it’s all about,” Perry said. And he repeated that while advocates are worried about potential cuts in health care, education and transportation, taxes will not be increased.

“When the economy turns down, you make hard decisions and you prioritize,” he said.

Yes, my concern is that I may be taxed more. Not at all about my child’s education. Or anyone else’s children.  Or the fact that Perry and his like-minded conservative pals in office would like to take away my rights.  No, please.  Save me from taxes.

Let me translate my emotions in a way that even Rick Perry can understand: AAAAAAAHHHHHFFFFUUUCCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!

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Related:

• Chipping Away at Roe (Melissa McEwan at Shakesville)

From the Austin-American Statesman:

Facing one of the grimmest budgets in the district’s recent history, the Austin school board on Monday will consider a plan that would cut up to 300 secondary school teaching positions; 50 elementary art, music and physical education teaching positions; and one-third of the district’s school librarians.

And that’s just the beginning.

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