When did Texas politics go completely nuts?
The question came to mind when I read the NBC News story of the debate in the Virginia Legislature over a bill requiring ultrasound imaging. There was a huge fight over the bill, as there was in Texas. But something strange happened in Virginia. Here’s the story:
State Republican legislators have scrapped a bitterly contested proposal to require women seeking abortions to undergo invasive ultrasound imaging.
Shortly after Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell announced his opposition to the Republican bill, the state House on Wednesday approved a substitute version that still mandates an ultrasound but makes the transvaginal procedure optional.
The House of Delegates voted 65-32 for the watered-down version. Under the substitute, women would still be required to have an ultrasound before an abortion to determine the gestational age, but women subject to a transvaginal procedure would be able to decline [according to published reports--pb]. That likely dooms the measure.
The amended bill now returns to the Senate where its sponsor, Sen. Jill Vogel, said she will strike the legislation.
“There are moments when you are a legislator when you have to stop and you have to have a moment of real conscience,” Vogel said, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “I sort of had that moment this morning considering the outcome and the fate of this bill.”
Can anyone imagine Dan Patrick stopping to have “a moment of real conscience?” Or Jane Nelson? Or Rick Perry? Inconceivable. It doesn’t happen here. Our politics has gone off-the-spectrum nuts. The entire 2011 session was all about pandering to the far right. That is all our politicians know how to do–or want to do. Serious legislating has left the building.
I supposed I should answer my own question: When did Texas politics go completely nuts? I would say it was when Perry defeated Hutchison in the 2010 Republican primary, eliminating the constituency of moderate Republicans, particularly soccer moms, from the playing field.
Whoa Nellie! says:
Oh, my. It’s way too easy to just roll over and say, “It’s ALWAYS been nuts.” Has been since my family moved here in 1973. And from what I’ve read, the tradition goes back much further than that.
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anita Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 1:18 am
No, we always had a balance of liberal and conservative, even when the state was dominated by Democrats. There was the necessary give-and-take to produce moderate legislation. That simply doesn’t exist anymore.
I was struck by this story also, but moreso by Perry’s self-assessment of what did him in — his answer on the immigration question. His take away was that he should roll over on an issue where he appeared to speak from conviction, to his credit, to another position that he may not believe in but caters to the party line. That’s nuts — a leader would say he’s going to make an effort to educate Americans on the issue, as opposed to abandoning conviction for an expedient response.
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paulburka Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:25 am
Re “Whoa Nellie!”
But it hasn’t always been nuts. When Bush was governor and Bullock was lieutenant governor and Laney was speaker, state government worked fine — in fact, it was the best I’ve ever seen it. What changed is that Texas ran out of Democrats. The conservative Democrats became Republicans and the center disappeared.
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Reminder Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 8:01 pm
And the Democrats moved just as far to the left. Which means many Texans- who during the Bush and Bullock Days – who could come together, cannot. But that is not the Republicans fault alone- the two parties have to share the blame. Just as Bush and Bullock get credit.
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anita Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 12:10 am
Not in Texas. Maybe somewhere else but not here.
Blue Dogs Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 9:51 am
What about when Bill Clements was Governor and Hobby was Lieutenant Governor from ’79-’83 and ’87-’91 ?
Didn’t they get along as well ?
Robert Morrow Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 2:46 pm
Texas politics went “completely nuts” on 11/22/63 when a leading Texas politician, Lyndon Johnson, and his Texas oil executive allies (Clint Murchison, Sr. and H.L. Hunt) used their deep CIA/military connections to murder to John Kennedy for a host of reasons both personal and ideological.
Texas CIA operatives, David Atlee Phillips being just one, were involved in making it all happen. Their is a school of JFK researchers who believe that George Herbert Walker Bush, then age 39, was involved in the JFK assassination.
GHW Bush is on the record as saying he does not know where he was when JFK was assassinated – despite his being a Texas US Senate candidate staying in a Dallas hotel on 11/21/63.
Note that it was a bipartisan Texas killing of John Kennedy: Democrat VP Lyndon Johnson and Republican oil executives, military and CIA men at the highest levels of Texas politics.
Here is my current take on the LBJ-CIA Assassination of JFK: http://tekgnosis.typepad.com/tekgnosis/2012/02/lbjcia-assassination-of-jfk-1963-coup-d%C3%A9tat.html
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Robert Morrow Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 2:48 pm
I guess you could say the bipartisan Texas business, political and intelligence elite “aborted” the presidency of John Kennedy on 11/22/63.
That is when Texas politics went “hard fascist” and “completely nuts.”
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Sen. Dan Patrick says:
Paul,
I’m disappointed in your comments. You can disagree with me whenever you wish. You can criticize me as you wish. That is your right. But to suggest that we are not people of conscience is over the line.
I know that over the next 5 years, thousands of babies will be born that would not have had a chance to live without this legislation. If only one child is born because of the legislation, it will make it all worth it. I continue to be amazed that people who were not aborted, are so arrogant in their attitude towards those babies that are. You are alive. You can give your opinion. The babies who are aborted might have another view if they could speak. They might see you as the person without a conscience.
Our bill provides a woman with the information they would expect before any major procedure. I find it ironic that pro choice crowd objects to our bill because it gives women a choice to see the sonogram or hear a heartbeat. Planned Parenthood testified they always perform a sonogram. They have also been charging for them. They just didn’t allow women to see them. Did you know that Paul ?
We had witnesses who said they would have had their child if they had been told about the sonogram and saw their baby. We had a young witness who was told her baby didn’t have a heartbeat and she needed an abortion. She broke down in tears and ran out of the clinic. She sought a second opinion from a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Her baby was alive and she decided to keep it.
We have 80,000 abortions in Texas every year. I would think even you would celebrate if a life was saved because a woman, who chose to see the sonogram, or hear the heartbeat, decided to keep her child, or put it up for adoption. I don’t know how in good conscience you or anyone else would not want a woman to have all of the information they deserve before making a decision that can never be reversed.
The truth is how in good conscience could I not pass this legislation. I have spent years of research, years of listening to women who had abortions, and years of listening to current and former Planned Parenthood employees, including a former Planned Parenthood Employee of the Year, who quit because of the policies of PP. I don’t think you know anything about what has been happening in these clinics. I don’t think you know much about my legislation. I just think you hate this bill and those of us who support it. I’m not sure why, but it’s obvious.
The 5th Circuit upheld our legislation with a strong opinion. They know that under state law, as you apparently you do not, that we require a standard of care for procedures that often includes information that must be given to patients before many major procedures. People don’t just show up at a hospital an hour before heart or cancer surgery. And if a doctor didn’t share the risks, or show them the x-rays if requested, the patient would be outraged and the doctor would be in trouble. But this is what has been happening when it came to an abortion.
I may strongly disagree with the Democrats in the Senate on the issues that sharply divide our parties. But I never question their conscience or their heart. Senators Whitmire, West, Uresti, and others care just as much about their issues and their constituents as I do. Jefferson said, “every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.”
Both parties want the best for all Texans, both parties. We just have a different opinion on how to achieve that goal.
Personal attacks like this do serve you well. You are a better writer than this.
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Charlie Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 7:54 am
Mr. Patrick, You can protest all you want, but you don’t have a conscience. You say you want government out of our lives than you sponsor a measure like this. What I’d like is to have you out of TX government. Your attack on pregnant women was personal, why not an attack on you. I just wish there were more attacks like this on you and the likes of Marva Beck who is in bed (figuratively) with you. All the blather above is a cover for what you want from this bill, which is to cause angst to women who feel the need to do what is best for them and their families. I’m with Mr. Burka here.
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donuthin Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
very well stated.
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Joyfully Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 7:54 am
Thank you Charlie for saying what I was fixing to!
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Willie james Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Mr. Patrick, you are what is wrong with Texas politics. Your hard right views, uncaring positions, unwillingness to compromise or legislate hurt us. Your movement is apalling.
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paulburka Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
I don’t want to personalize this discussion so that it is about Dan Patrick. He is not what is wrong with Texas politics. It goes much deeper than that. The root of the problem is that the majority party has no interest in governing, only in appeasing the base by fighting culture wars.
Anonymous Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 8:03 am
Senator Patrick, “Instead of using political power to direct the lives of others through law, Christians should embrace true secularism as a neutral stage on which to explore and explain and witness to their actual faith.” ~ Andrew Sullivan http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/02/online-lent.html
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Willie james Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Christians need to keep it at home.
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paulburka Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:03 am
I appreciate Senator Patrick’s comments. My post was not about whether Texas legislators in general, or Mr. Patrick and Ms. Nelson in particular have consciences. I’m willing to stipulate that everybody has one. Rather, my post was about whether the process of government that took place in Virgina’s sonogram debate could take place in Texas. My answer was no, it couldn’t. The Texas Legislature is completely beholden to the agenda of the far right. That is all the Legislature did in 2011, was enact that agenda. Public policy has ceased to exist in Texas. Rather, our politicians rush to pass legislation that has absolutely no bearing on what state government does. Senator Patrick and others know that hot-button issues are what people care about; they empower people to hate the opposition. They build constituencies by demonizing the Other. Both parties do this. Schools, health care, transportation, water — that’s not what voters want to hear about. So the politicians gravitate to issues that move the extremes and the center disappears.
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donuthin Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Conscience maybe; principals no.
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Joyfully Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 7:55 am
Hear, hear Paul!
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paulburka Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Senator Patrick asked that I post the following:
Despite what others insist, including some legislators,the Texas sonogram bill does not require a trans vaginal sonogram. The type of sonogram performed is left to the decision of the doctor. According to testimony from Planned Parenthood, the reason abortion doctors and clinics have always performed sonograms, before passage of our bill, is to determine the type of pregnancy and location of the baby. The doctor as always decided what type of sonogram to perform. He has the same choice under our bill.
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paulburka Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Commenters: Let’s try to establish a little bit more of a respectful tone in the comments, please.
Anonymous Reply:
February 28th, 2012 at 11:56 am
How very generous of the Texas legislators to allow doctors to make medical decisions. Now, if we could just allow women to make personal decisions that would be lovely.
Russ Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Sen Patrick can get as mad as we wants. He stepped into an extremely personal issue for women. If he doesn’t like the taste of his own cooking, he needs to stop cooking. This sonogram bill doesn’t make sense as a legal mandate morally, or common sense wise.
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Sybil Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:12 am
Mr. Patrick asserts that his bill gives women a “choice” to view the sonogram or hear the heartbeat. Oh really???
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Whoa Nellie! Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:23 am
Mr. Patrick, most of the women I know do not appreciate being treated the way your legislation mandates. They consider it intrusive, insulting, totalitarian, degrading, a violation of rights, and a dozen other offensive things. And that’s all that matters to me.
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ComeandTakeIt Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:27 am
If one life were saved by restricting GUN OWNERSHIP, would you support it? If one life were saved by restricting FREE SPEECH, would you support it? IF ONE LIFE WERE SAVED BY SACRIFICING YOUR RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS, would you do it?
Hollow victories, all of the above. If you have to cheat people out of their rights, so other people can feel good, it’s no victory.
Sen. Patrick can’t convince women to make the decision he wants, so he’ll make it for them. Then convince you that he’s doing it in your best interest. This isn’t being a typical Republican, folks, this is being a bad person.
Sen. Patrick, the people who support these misguided socialist ideas will be your undoing. Your idea of socialism where the state forces its will on your body will haunt you forever and will be the reason we remove you from office.
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paulburka Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:09 pm
I don’t sign on to the idea that Senator Patrick, or conservatives in general, are “bad persons.” I do think that they are more concerned with pandering to the agenda of the extremists than about addressing the needs of the people of Texas. And you can’t blame them, really, because the Republican electorate has moved so far to the right.
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Admonkey Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 7:28 pm
Mr. Patrick,
Can I then assume you are in favor of repealing the death penalty? After all, if only one innocent life is saved…
My guess is, you aren’t.
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Carolyn Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 7:50 pm
You are perfectly happy to subject a woman to rape with a foreign object all the while saying it’s to defend children? Why not care about all the ones who are already here? You and your party are perfectly happy to cut funding for health care for women and children and scream about government intrusion. I should call your mother.
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Bullock Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:05 pm
Senator Patrick, why are you writing long-winded, defensive, @#&$(# posts on some &*($! blog at 3:28 in the %^& morning (that’s am, not pm)?
You better get yourself some rest son if you expect me to treat you like a @#$^& senator of the great state of Texas next session. Cuz right now, I’m inclined to take you to the ^&*@#$# woodshed and &@#$ your @%#^& %^$ off, do you hear me son?
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Earl Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 11:13 am
Sir,
Saving the baby before it was born is aa Republican stable. Show me one that cares for the baby after it is born? If the mother did not want the baby before it was born what makes you think she will love that child, that was forced on her twice mind you?
What happens next from the Republicans is the wallying of to many children on welfare, WIC, Chip and SChip. Thus putting an even heavier burden on an already strained Bridget.
Republicans love to save the child up to birth, then they could care less.
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Earl Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 11:15 am
*Budget (Bridget)
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Jake Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 11:18 am
Earl,
As a child of adoption, I would be happy to show you the one that cares for a baby after it was born. I’m thankful everyday that adoption was chosen over an abortion. I’m here able to defended that positions because abortion was not chosen.
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Sen. Dan Patrick says:
Obviously I left a key word in the last sentence. It should have read, personal attacks like this do not serve you well. You are a better writer that this.
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Julie Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 7:33 am
Sen. Patrick,
You argue that the sonogram law was necessary to help save the lives of children who might not otherwise be born.
Instead, your law is a blatant attempt to impose your religious beliefs on all women in Texas that abortion is unacceptable. Your argument relies on your belief that fetuses have a right to life and that the sonograms are necessary to provide women with information you believe they should have.
Your belief that fetuses have a right to life is a back door attempt to undermine what the U.S. Supreme Court has said. It found that fetuses do not have a right to life except in the third trimester.
Further, the Texas Medical Association (TMA) told the Legislature that pre-abortion sonograms are not medically necessary, so the only reason for your law is to make women feel guilty about their legal right to an abortion.
Texas already has a law on the books that conforms with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. State law prohibits third trimester abortions except in cases where a woman’s life is at risk. That law carefully balances the rights of women with the rights of fetuses in the third trimester.
Your law does nothing meaningful other than impose a guilt trip on women under the guise of providing women with the information you believe they need. The TMA does not believe women need the information, contrary to your opinion.
Sen. Patrick, you said, “I don’t know how in good conscience you or anyone else would not want a woman to have all of the information they deserve before making a decision that can never be reversed.”
Your quote provides me with the opportunity to suggest to you that the Legislature to get back to important matters like education. I don’t know how in good conscience you, Sen. Patrick, or anyone else would not a child to have the good education they deserve before they finish school and have little, if any opportunity, to reverse the failure of the system to provide them a quality education.
Please get back to the important issues in the next session of the Legislature.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 7:46 am
spoken like a true republican Julie
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Julie Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:47 am
Like a true Republican, I believe we need to rid the books of intrusive laws like the sonogram law.
The Archbishop Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 7:30 pm
I’m more conservative than Burka. And Burka has four times the IQ of Danny Patrick Goeb, a northeastern transplant to Texas who thinks he can be Texas Governor someday. LOL
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paulburka Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
I regard myself as an independent. That’s how I describe myself on surveys. I would love to see a restoration of the 76-74 House of 2009. I think public policy is strongest when it is determined by the center rather than by the extremes. The whole purpose of this post is to say that Texas politics has taken a wrong turn and it will continue to careen off course until demographics drive it back to the center.
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Fiftycal Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 8:16 pm
Hey Sen. Dan, why don’t you share with us the text of the speech that you wanted to include in the law? I believe it went something like this; Dr. speaking: “I am required by the state to read this to you, Ms. Patient. You are a filthy slut, a common whore. You spit on the gift god gave you, even if you were raped by a stranger or a relative. Those few cells that might develop into a human being are more important than you are. Now look at this baby and see what you want to destroy.”
Would that about cover it Sen. Dan?
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Paul Revere Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
So please do tell, Senator Patrick. Are you opposed to the death penalty, since banning it will save at least one innocent life?
Also, as you profess to be a born-again Christian, wouldn’t banning the death penalty give death row inmates more time to also become born again before they die, so that they may go to heaven instead of hell? Seems like a deeply worthy reason to ban the death penalty. Certainly just as important as what a sonogram gives.
What is your opinion on the death penalty Senator Patrick?
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Art Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Mr. Patrick, your service is a personal attack on the people of this state.
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Kim says:
I just wish our legislature cared about those babies as much once they are born by properly funding education. Of course, that wouldn’t help Perry’s POTUS hopes in ’12 or ’16. We all know that getting him to the White House is Job Number 1 for Texas Republicans.
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Buck says:
Dan, no defense of transvaginal wanding other than “if it saves one life?”
You have an honorable argument, but so do those who say the state should not be wanding women.
And if it’s all about life, why are rape and incest victims excluded from the sonograms? Why not wand them too?
It’s all about politics.
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Mother says:
Wait, I thought Sen.Patrick was against big government? Government doesn’t get any more intrusive than this.
I reject the idea that women have no idea what an abortion is when seeking one, and need to the state to show them.
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McNutty Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 9:28 am
Remember when they did an actual jelly-on-the-belly sonogram in front of a gaggle of smiling pro-life zealots in the Capitol press room? A transvaginal wand would surely have ruined the mood. Not to mention being totally awkward. But hey, that was only a pesky little fact about the sonogram bill that several women in the House had the balls to prove.
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Chris Miles says:
I’m pretty sure things went crazy when those who fight to save a child’s life are viewed as nuts while those that advocate the murder of children are lifted up as noble.
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paulburka Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:40 am
Literally, this is true. Not just Texas politics, but American politics went off the rails when abortion became a central issue with the decision in Roe v. Wade. It is impossible to govern when social issues engage voters more than “governing” issues such as education and health care.
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Pat Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Burka, world history tells us that it has always been easier to unite people against a common enemy than in favor of the common good. The Republican Party is simply the first political party in our nation to embrace this wisdom as a political and governing strategy.
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Anonnymoose Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:45 am
@chrismiles — we could substantially reduce the number of abortions by ramping up sex-ed and making contraceptives more easily available.
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Fiftycal Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
You know, the “pro-life” side never tells us HOW they are going to enforce their “no abortion” nirvana. I wonder why that is? Do they expect abortions to just cease if there was a law against it? People still rob banks and there are laws against that. So, are you going to put a cop in every doctors office 24/7? Or will you go the Chinese way and monitor every female that is capable of becoming pregnant? You know, requiring every woman to PROVE to some drivers license bureau equivalent bureaucrat that they aren’t pregnant by peeing in a cup every month. Tell me, anti-abortion zealots, since one life is so precious, would you file murder charges on a woman that has a miscarriage? Take a woman to court for a stillbirth? And would you require a pregnant woman to prove that she is doing everything to NOT harm the unborn fetus? And how would you do that? Come on “pro lifers”, HOW do you enforce your religious superstitions on everyone else, you bible thumping busybodies.
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paulburka Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
Either FiftyCal has had a personality transplant, or someone is appropriating his nom de plume, which is not allowed on this blog.
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Fiftycal Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Oh yee of little faith. I am a SMALL government conservative. Or more likely, an “independent”. And SMALL government means staying the hell out of people’s bedrooms and other intimate places. Too bad I didn’t fit your sterotype.
ghostofann Reply:
March 2nd, 2012 at 11:41 pm
It’s not a child. It’s a clump of cells.
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Charles Kuffner says:
If a TSA patdown saved even one life by leading to the discovery of a terrorist about to board a plane carrying a weapon, how could you in good conscience object to them? Funny how something can seem “intrusive” or not depending on whether it affects oneself, isn’t it?
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Anonymous Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:19 am
Here! Here!
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Mother Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
What if comprehensive sex education prevented one unmarried teenage mother?
(My kid took health in high school with a pregnant student in the class who did not learn how to prevent another unplanned pregnancy.)
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Joyfully Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 8:01 am
Well said!
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JohnBernardBooks says:
When did Texas politics go nuts? I’m glad you are noticing the impact of the democrats fleeing from California to Texas. Like their liberal brethern who flee their messes in the Northeast, the liberals fleeing their messes in Claifornia never learn its their ideals that are wrong.
I agree with Anita, Texas don’t need fixing or more liberals living here.
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Anonymous says:
JBB, your comment rings hollow when the Texas Legislature has record numbers of Republicans. Nice try, but a swing and a miss.
Kuffner, nice comeback. When does government intrusion for greater good begin and end? The doctor’s office or the airport terminal?
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Anonnymoose Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:42 am
Don’t feed the troll.
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Hooah! Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:58 am
PLEASE don’t feed the troll.
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Jeff Crosby says:
We’ve always had nuts around here. It’s the cowards who cave in to them that bother me.
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Hooah! Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:00 am
Jeff Crosby nails it. If you really need a starting point, try Pappy O’Daniel or Edmund Davis.
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paulburka Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:25 pm
Pappy was a nut. E. J. Davis was a sinister Reconstruction governor who was the most hated Texan of his day. I think Jeff Crosby is close to the mark. The current crop of politicians is scared to death of the far right and the tea party. They aren’t bad people, and that includes Sen. Patrick. They just have to keep pandering to save themselves.
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Joyfully Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 8:07 am
It’s always important to view history in the context of the day, so we must view “today’s” events in today’s context. For whatever reason normally sane, well-meaning people have decided to give common sense over to the fringes of the neo-conservatives and tea party extremists, they have. In the last Presidential administraton, but actually starting more with the Speakership of Newt, and his lieutenant Tom DeLay, it became de rigor to quit agreeing to disagree and, instead, to villify anyone who did not toe the line.
Civil discourse no longer exists and fear and hatred has become the norm. What more perfect atmosphere for those who would use social issues as clubs against other well-meaning sane citizens?
Fiftycal Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
As long as the Tea Party sticks to monetary matters, I’m with them. When the religious superstitionists try to take over and bring “god” into everything, then they can go fish.
Sam Jacinto says:
This just in from The Jalapeno (the Texas alternative Onion).
State Senate spokesman, Foghorn Leghorn, announced today that Republicans have pre-filed a bill for the next legislative session entitled “The Defense of Proto-human Life Act and key to winning Seinfeld’s Contest”
In the bill are provisions that specify that all media wherein the female form is depicted must include on their cover, introduction, entry point, or other initial scene a description and graphical depiction of the living human spermatozoa and the effects thereupon of its expiration in non-human “tissue” or other material.
Mr Leghorn stated that the bill is intended to prevent the unnecessary and barbaric sacrifice of billions and billions of innocent little wigglers that God intended to become human lives…
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Pat Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Every sperm is sacred,
Every sperm is great!
If a sperm gets wasted,
God gets quite irate!
-Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life
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leroy says:
While I appreciate the Senator commenting, I have a proposal for him and all the other pro lifers (I dont have a dog in the fight). If only one child can be saved lets do this.
Ammendment that makes abortion illegal, but adds a 15% tax on all income to pay for these precious lives. All income no matter the source and this is on top of current income taxes. It will surly save one life and no price is to much to pay right.
Want to bet on the % support that would get from the Republican Community. I have no problem with people who really believe it is a moral outrage, if they are willing to put money where mouth is. My bet is that this does not make it out of the committee at the local church, much less at the repulican convention. Sorry I am a little jaded cause I think this just stuff for the Rubes. Please prove me wrong Senator and file this bill/amendment keeping these two items together. I will make a campaign contribution at that time. Im not worried about making one though.If only the abortion size moves forward the bill dies is my only stipulation.
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leroy says:
Should be side not size sorry first time posting.
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Cow Droppings Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 11:21 am
Your position assumes that those who protect life must inherently pay for them. Those who pay taxes already shoulder that burden to some extent. Nonetheless, those who create life — parents — are primarily responsible for caring for their children, and inherent in that is assuming the financial risk that come with unprotected sex.
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leroy Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
I agree that parental responsibility is the most important in my world. I was trying to point out that everyone is willing to make someone pay for their moral beiefs, but few are willing to write the check themselves, it should just be because they think it is right. The $1 value menu has a price that is paid elsewhere but no one wants to think about that. It is like the criminal justice system, to use another example. Many are ready to lock people up for drugs ect. Wonder how that works when they lose the prison healthcare suit in a year or too. I remember a writer once saying that you judge a society by how it treats its prisoners. This costs money and I know it and you know it, but some want what they want, but no thought to costs. It is so easy to say a person should keep a special needs child or have that baby, but until we provide the resources to allow the child and the family (maybe others in the family) to have a decent life, it is just lip service and I lose respect quickly for those who want something but dont feel the need to pay for it.
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Jerry Only Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
yup, protect them from conception to birth, but after that, get a job.
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myers says:
Texas pol’s like Sen Patrick have become modern bolshiviks, so far detached from any common sense moderate middle they don’t even remember what pandering to the extreme is. Texas has a horrible 3rd world future until this changes, and it will. Demographics say 2020 should bring change, but they’ll cling to power as long as possible. As for when the end of reason came, I’d mark it around the end of Bob Bullock.
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Tom Barry Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
You hit the nail on the head, myers. People like Sen. Patrick creep me out.
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longleaf says:
I would guess that the more names you call Sen. Patrick, the more Christ-like he will seem to himself. It is the same with all when it comes to this type of “social wedge issue” politician.
I haven’t followed his career that closely, but I would imagine former Sen. Santorum is experiencing the same kind of theological “contact high” from the names he’s being called these days.
Faith and reason don’t mix very well. The faithful people will always view their disagreements with the reasoning people as more or less synonymous with being “persecuted.” Thomas Jefferson would not be on the side of Sen. Patrick in this debate.
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Jerry Only Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 2:38 pm
its hilarious when older wealthy christian white people see themselves as persecuted.
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Softie McGillicuddy says:
Paul, you are getting more and more out of touch with each passing day. Which makes you less relevant each day.
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donuthin says:
Wonder when Republicans will reclaim their party?
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leroy says:
Republicans and Democrats will reclaim America when someone finally tells America that the having the largest military in the world, a world class education system (for everyone) and medical care and a functional system of transportation costs money. Maybe when another WWII or someother galvanizing event comes along and we dont have a choice. Maybe never, maybe when news organizations start telling people yes this costs and should be paid for. We have always had this problem (dont tax thee, dont tax me tax the guy behind that tree) Eisonhower level taxation and protectionism for America would do a great deal to solve all this.
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Brown Bess says:
Many peer-reviewed and journal-published studies conclude that every year, the industrial pollution generated in Texas is responsible for more injuries to unborn children than all the abortions in Texas combined. Most of the time these injuries are caused by the fact that we have no choice about the air we breathe. We’re forced to let companies trespass into our lungs. Many more than “just one life” can be saved by reducing this pollution. I look forward to Senator Patrick’s sponsorship of legislation that will reduce this pollution.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
“People like Sen. Patrick creep me out”
this gem was from a typical supporter of the worst president in our history.
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Tom Barry Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Which president was that? I supported both Bushes and voted for McCain. And I use my actual name.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 4:28 pm
“Which president was that?”
confused on who you supported? Why am I not surprised.
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SusieQ says:
obviously you don’t read democrat blogs, we democrats have become nutty than a fruitcake.
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Kenneth D. Franks says:
Susie you can read my blog anytime and it is not nuts.
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Charlie Adaway says:
Tom Barry, how dare you poke fun at JBB for hiding behind a pseudonym.
Signed,
Charlie Adaway
Missouri City, Texas
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anonymous says:
Paul Burka should refrain from posting after 11 p.m. when he’s stinking drunk and letting the world know that he is full of hate. His column now is like watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta. It’s really entertaining to find out what fool comments he is going to say next!!
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Pat Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 6:06 pm
Atlanta? Nah, those women have way better mustaches than Burka.
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The Mustache That Dare Not Speak Its Name Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Not true! How dare you say that. And on this blog of all places…
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paulburka Reply:
February 25th, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Re anonymous at 4:17 p.m. –
I don’t consume alcohol.
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texun Reply:
March 2nd, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Sorry to chime in late in the exchanges, but I’ve been doubled up laughing over DP’s claim that he has been doing research for “years”. That’s a real tub-thumper. Patrick is just another loud-mouthed talk-show host capitalizing on the gullibility of his listeners.
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SusieQ says:
Yawl can kiss my big blue butt, I know I’m not very smart thats why I’m a democrat.
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Alan says:
My family moved to Texas about 70 years ago. My grandmother remembers her parents being the only Republicans in their neighborhood. She remembers when it was okay to be a Republican and support integration and the Civil Rights Act, when it was okay to be a Republican and support the Equal Rights Amendment and legalizing birth control. There isn’t room for people like her in the Republican Party anymore.
It was after Sharpstown that the Texas Democrats realized they needed to clean house. Something is going to have to happen in the Texas GOP to bring that party back to Planet Earth. Our legislature is filled with people more interested in pontificating than in governing. And Senator Patrick, with all due respect, you may be a good entertainer and radio host, but the Capitol is a place for statesmen, not entertainers.
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paulburka says:
The Capitol is a place for statesmen? Back in the days of “The Gay Place” — the best book every written about Texas politics except for the Caro biography of LBJ — it was said by the liberals that the Capitol was “built for giants but inhabited by pygmies.”
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Robert Morrow Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 12:46 am
There is a book on LBJ that is a must read:
“Power Beyond Reason: The Mental Collapse of Lyndon Johnson” (2002) by D. Jablow Hershman.
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Beyond-Reason-Collapse-Johnson/dp/1569802432/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330325040&sr=1-1
The book is about LBJ’s severe manic depression. Read that book and you will know LBJ was a psychopath capable of anything. I this book is a “smoking gun” for the JFK assassination.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 12:48 am
The “Gay Place” by Billy Lee Brammer:
http://www.amazon.com/Gay-Place-Billy-Lee-Brammer/dp/0292708319/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330325186&sr=1-1
“Set in Texas, The Gay Place consists of three interlocking novels, each with a different protagonist–a member of the state legislature, the state’s junior senator, and the governor’s press secretary. The governor himself, Arthur Fenstemaker, a master politician, infinitely canny and seductive, remains the dominant figure throughout. Billy Lee Brammer–who served on Lyndon Johnson’s staff–gives us here “the excitement of a political carnival: the sideshows, the freaks, and the ghoulish comedy atmosphere” (Saturday Review). Originally published in 1961, The Gay Place is at once a cult classic and a major American novel.”
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anita says:
We should strive for statesmen, but settle for leaders.
After some thought, it’s almost a cop-out to say the Capitol is “nuts” — the problem to me is a lack of leadership. Elected officials chasing the most extreme of primary voters and interest groups. Sometimes a leader needs to say “no” — he or she needs to set the agenda as opposed to the party hacks.
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trowaman says:
When the newspapers began cutting their budgets, removing many of their reporters and the reporters that were left became more interested in inside baseball (Can the ABCs ever succeed? Appointment rumors, and what Wendy is wearing) than how with a line by line comparison showing how the budget cuts affect the average Texan.
So, about 10 years ago.
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donuthin says:
Where are the “real” conservatives. The ones who would like a responsible government who pays their bills, takes care of their primary responsibilities like schools, roads, and law/regulatory enforcement. One which is not intrusive, involves itself little if any in the social issues and really believes we can do with less government. Is it possible they are the “new silent majority” which have allowed the extremist to control. Not sure they are the majority, but I do believe there are more out there than is currently apparent.
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Joyfully Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 8:16 am
In response to the last post, let me recommend the book Conservatives without Conscience by John Dean. He started his research on this book with Barry Goldwater…no questioning the conservative roots there. There are some extremely cogent explanations for what has happened to the “old” Republican party. A lot of it will also scare the average person.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
an example of a democrat “leader”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg
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anita Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 9:39 am
JBB has made our point by having to go back to March of 2010 to find an outrageously idiotic statement by a Democrat. Just in the last 48 hours we’ve seen former Senator and presidential contender Rick Santorum proclaim the president a “snob” for encouraging students to attend college, then mocking higher education as a tool for “liberal indoctrination”.
Having an accessible system of higher education that allows for movement between social and economic classes is one of the tenets that makes the United States the envy of the world.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 9:43 am
Trust me we don’t need to go back to find an idiot speaking for the dems. Just this week President Obama said “I did not kill that Keystone Pipeline.” reminding us of Clinton’s famous “I did not have sex …..”
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Mr. Smith says:
Politics in Texas became extreme when conservative voters completed their move to the Republican Party, and there was no longer true competition for votes in the general election. On a statewide level, the competition is in the Republican primary (as it is in many local primaries). The dynamic that results is that the majority of the Republican primary controls the Republican Party, which then controls the state’s agenda. Right now, that means the most conservative candidate wins most of the time in an open primary, and can take out an incumbent often. You lose Delwin Jones and Tommy Merrit. And even if you can squeeze a win (Solomons, Truitt) you come back shaken and changed. Forget local option, you’ve got those nuts ready to run against you, and its not worth it. Or why run again, its not worth it (Jerry Madden, Hartnett) Then you finish it off in Redistricing, where you either have an 80% dem district, or else all republicans. So the only remaining dems are the ones who can fall asleep on election night, and don’t have to moderate their positions or work with the Republicans. So the result is this mess.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
The democrats Party has become the party of useful idiots as Commrade Stanlin predicted.
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Anonymous Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
At least the Democrats’ idiots are *useful*. Republican idiots like Rick Perry are *useless*.
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Anonymous Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Perry has been a useful tool of Obama. He made the way for 4 more years.
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Blue Dogs Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 9:53 am
Anon, Perry hates Romney and wants ole Mitt to choke to Obama in November, so that he can run in 2016 when Obama is out of the picture.
You also look at Chris Christie as a likely GOP 2016 contender.
anita says:
Here’s Perry defending his doubling-dipping perk, the pension available before retirement, from today’s Texas Tribune:
“I would suggest to you that it’s rather inappropriate if you’ve earned something if you don’t take it and take care of your family,” Perry said. “This was put into place by the Legislature, and if your point is it’s not appropriate, then the Legislature will change it.”
Is there an adult in his employ who can tell him how ridiculous it is to barnstorm the country proclaiming to be a fiscal conservative while enriching himself at the public trough like this?
Is there an adult in his employ who can tell him that making statements that begin with the phrase ““I would suggest to you that . . .” is condescending and arrogant. It conveys a bluster that’s inappropriate. Texans deserve to be treated with more respect.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
I’m sure you meant the “Bob Bullock” perk. He invented it, and not one democrats criticized it as long as it was the dems doing the doubledippitydoo.
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Mr. Smith's Best Friend says:
Senator Patrick, women aren’t stupid. We understand more than you give us credit for understanding.
Your failure was in assuming that the only way to “save babies” was to force women to comply with your commandments. Had you crafted a bill that guaranteed women the option of having(not viewing)a sonogram, and trusted women to decide, you would have appeared consistent with your public position that this legislation is about making sure women have information. In doing so, you might have earned more public support. What you did, however, was require that women have a sonogram. You allowed women only the minutest of control in the situation by giving them the ability to opt out of viewing, but not hearing, the details. You assumed that, unless you dictated the terms of the situation, women could not be trusted to make a good choice. You put the state in between a woman, her family, and her doctor. This reveals your true belief that women are simply not intelligent or trustworthy enough to make these decisions.
Follow that with your votes on education and your insistence on cutting funds from the most vulnerable in our society, and your real intent is apparent. In your zeal to ensure control and mete out punishment, you overplayed your hand. What you’ve done is awakened a faction of potential voters who, until now, were mostly unconcerned with politics. Now, women are looking twice at what’s going on and realizing that the economy, jobs, all of the Republican talking points, are irrelevant if half of the population doesn’t have control over their own bodies.
It may take several voting cycles to realize the full outcome of your shortsighted choice. But you might want to start looking over your shoulder. You’ve awakened a sleeping giant, and we are not pleased.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
“Senator Patrick, women aren’t stupid.”
facts show us women vote for women, because they’re a woman, 70% of the time. You may want to rethink your statement.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
“Senator Patrick, women aren’t stupid.”
facts show us women vote for women, because they’re a woman, 70% of the time. You may want to rethink your statement.
If you vote for someone because of their gender/skin color/sexual orientation, you’re not the brightest bulb in the bunch.
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Jerry Only Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 3:48 pm
and men usually vote for men, whats up with that??
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Anonymous says:
In 2011 the Bush Republicans finally lost control of the zealots they needed to gain power. What happens when the lunatics take over the asylum? Trans-vaginal wanding and a legislature that ignores the immediate needs of the business community, like highways and water.
Anyone who watched the last Republican debate got a clear glimpse of what matters to the base. Jobs and the economy are an afterthought behind contraception and the retread culture war.
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Robert Morrow says:
If there is one guy I am rooting for it is Rep. James White. This guy was one of a handful that voted against toll roads the whole way through.
Of course, Straus is targeting him. From Empower Texans:
“Even as Texans move more solidly to the commonsense right this election season Robert, Republican House Speaker Joe Straus is betting against conservatives in the Lone Star State.
Straus’ Campaign Against Conservatives
Back in 2010, Joe Straus campaigned against a Republican super-majority, preferring to keep liberal Democratic incumbents like Patrick Rose and Jim McReynolds in office. Too bad they lost big to conservatives Jason Isaac and James White, respectively.
In fact, 23 Democrats lost in the general election of 2010. Mr. Straus held on to the speakership thanks to the purse-power of the lobby, pressure on new legislators from establishment donors, and the lack of an early, organized challenge.
This go-round, Mr. Straus began his attack on conservatives through the legislative redistricting process.
Few, though, have been targeted for destruction by Joe Straus more directly than James White, a retired African-American Army officer and school teacher-turned-rancher. But not only did the Straus-team radically redraw the district of the conservative Rep. White, a Straus committee chairman (Tuffy Hamilton) moved counties and switched districts to mount a lobby-funded challenge.
Mr. Hamilton has been the speaker’s go-to-crony to push gambling plans that would put money in the pockets of the Straus family and friends.
Topping it off, this Wednesday, Feb. 29, the Texas Association of Realtors (motto: “working to be the most influential political action committee in Texas”) are hosting an Austin-establishment event — headlined by Speaker Straus — to fund Lackey Hamilton’s race against James White.
Opposing Tort Reform Conservatives
It’s interesting to note that by raising money for Hamilton, Speaker Straus is now publicly engaged in a full-out campaign against tort reform powerhouse Texans for Lawsuit Reform.TLR endorsed the conservative Mr. White, and criticized Mr. Hamilton.
In fact, there are many primary races around the state where Mr. Straus’ consiglieres, advisors, lackeys and consultants are running just-below-the-radar races against tort-reform champions and tea party heroes.
Are you fighting back yet?”
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paulburka Reply:
February 26th, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Huh? James White wasn’t in the Legislature during the fight over the Trans-Texas Corridor.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 12:37 am
Rep. James White in last session was part of perhaps a handful of perhaps 6 legislators that voted against “Comprehensive Development Agreements” and the toll road lobby every single time.
White probably has the best grassroots Tea Party voting record of anyone in the legislature. The lobby does not like him because they don’t own him and he will vote against their garbage almost every single time.
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H. S. says:
Has Texas history ever reflected political sanity? And something similar can be asked of the country as a whole, right? How long have women been able to vote? How long have African-Americans been entitled to education? Yet today we should have a greater opportunity to develop the dreams of the founding fathers, as we have moved toward inclusion and shared responsibility. But politics attracts exhibitionists and egomaniacs and gold diggers and snake-oil swindlers and shifty shysters, and we chuckle and let them help themselves. I don’t see any grand solution, but at least we can try to get some transparency and accountability working together with common sense and require the more flagrant offenders to answer for their actions. If our governor thinks nobody in Texas minds his savage attack on education, an onslaught he based on financial prudence while he was blowing state cash wildly across the nation in a political wild-goose chase, perhaps a reminder would be in order. I also think that if he is a financial conservative and a friend of the Texas taxpayer he will cancel his retirement pension until he can honorably draw it. I hope other politicians will come to understand that the conservative vision requires paying as one goes, though that understanding will dawn slowly if our Texas journalists continue their fatal addiction to sensationalism.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 12:39 am
It is pretty funny when they say that “Chicago politics” or “Louisiana politics” or “New Jersey mafia politics” is the worst ever in the country.
The truth is you have your dirt everyone; and Texas has its fair share.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
I just wish democrats would quit fleeing to Okla so we can vote…oh wait that was 2003.
What are they doing to stop Texans from voting in 2012?
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BLue Dogs Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Hooks, because the TX Dems are DESPERATE for attention and can’t accept the fact they’re DOA.
I don’t see them winning statewide office until at best 2018 (the down-ballot ones) and the Governor’s Mansion will stay in GOP hands until 2022 or 2036.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
“A verdict has come down in the (D)Carlos Medrano case. The former Dallas County justice of the peace was found guilty of illegal voting.”
Another Tx democrat found guilty of voter fraud.
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landslide says:
It might have gone completely nuts in 2001, when the LRB’s statewide officials overruled the leaders of the two chambers (Laney and Ratliff) and passed legislative maps that led to Ratliff’s departure from the Legislature, quorum-busting trips out of state, and mid-decade re-redistricting.
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