Some catch on slower than others

Pat Robertson Believes in Global Warming

Well... Now it must be true...

Choking on Irony... or is it Hypocrisy?

The two taste so alike?

Kurt Michael, chair of the Augusta County Republican Party, told us on Friday why he was such a fan of U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va.

“Character of that level is not found in other people,” he said, referring to Allen, who is running for re-election against Republican-turned-Democrat Jim Webb.

We are troubled, however, that Allen is profiting off a drug that many of his evangelical supporters consider a form of abortion. Allen is staunchly pro-life yet owns stock in Barr Laboratories, makers of Plan B, or the morning-after contraceptive pill, according to his financial disclosure report.

Taken within 72 hours of intercourse, Plan B prevents pregnancy.

It seems hypocritical to oppose a woman’s right to choose while investing in a drug that does just that. Allen should dump his Barr stock.

DeLay Must Stay

Court rules against TXGOP:

CNN Story

KHOU Story

It should prove rather difficult to campaign in a district from which he tried so very hard to "move."

Divine payback, no?

The Birth Tax

Hmm... How many small business and farms are worth over $5 million? oh wait, none...

They want to talk about the death tax, let's talk about the birth tax.

Every child born today will owe $28,211.01. That number will be higher tomorrow. Taxing the inheritance of millionaires will help lower the birth tax for the rest of us (you know, the folks that actually do that whole work thing for a living).

As Mr. Hickenbottom told me in Economics (and he's a UT professor), a tax break now is a tax hike in the future.

Why shouldn't millionaires pay back into the society from which they profiteered? If it weren't for all the hard work of we that have to pay the birth tax, they wouldn't be rich enough to pay the estate tax.

Consider it a present Ms. Hilton, from the proletariat.




Class warfare, you're damn right!

Friendlies!

Another mistake made by Bush

Perhaps people who oppose the stem cell research have never had anyone that has Alzheimer's. Perhaps they have forgotten about President Reagan's family having to deal with this devastating disease. Or Michael Fox's ordeal with MS.
Any ordinary person that has to deal with either of these diseases realizes how much help this research could help their loved ones. The stem cells that would be used are ones that will be destroyed anyway. We have no way of knowing how much this research could increase our medical knowledge, or what other disease it could help.
Have you ever watched a loved one die from cancer? It's possible the research could bring forth a break in cancer treatments. I think our president has made another mistake.

Glenda Dale Funk


Marriage rights for gays
This letter is in response to William Murchison's article regarding marriage rights for gay Americans ("Judicial common sense," July 18 Editorials).

As a gay American, I have much in common with Mr. Murchison. I pay taxes, as he does; work hard, as he does; and exercise my right to vote, as he does. Why then would he be grateful that I am denied the same "rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that he has?

He makes an interesting statement regarding the language in the New York court decision: "A court should not lightly conclude that everyone who held this belief was irrational, ignorant or bigoted." Tell me, Mr. Murchison, when numerous state supreme courts upheld laws banning interracial marriages was "everyone" correct with this irrational, ignorant and bigoted mindset? At that time, the majority treated black Americans as trash, so was this behavior logical for "everyone" to participate in?

Regarding the statement, "Until a few years ago, it was an accepted truth for almost everyone whoever lived, in any society in which marriage existed, that there could be marriages only between participants of different sex," tell me, Mr. Murchison, was hanging a black man because he dared to look at a white woman an "accepted truth" that doing so was preventing a rape? It has taken years of injustice for Jewish Americans, Chinese Americans, black Americans and Native Americans to receive the level of equal treatment they have today, though it is still far from equal. Did the myths, lies and stereotypes directed at these cultures make sense to you because the majority held them to be "accepted truths"?

Regarding tradition, tell me, Mr. Murchison, does a tradition of injustice give any American the right to deny justice to another? Are you suggesting that tradition-based behaviors are logical for that reason? And if a judge recognizes this continued injustice, does a decision to change it take away your rights because they recognize mine?

I continually hear the statement that if gay Americans are allowed to marry the institution of marriage is threatened; I have yet to hear how. In 1963, I remember this exact same statement being made in our church by a couple who felt interracial marriage would "destroy the sanctity and tradition of marriage as ordained by God." That was the "accepted truth" at that time. Thank God we've at least gotten this far. It gives me hope, and as long as I have hope, I will not bow down to anyone's "accepted truth" that I am less than they are.

This is the bottom line: A whole bunch of people want gay Americans to be labeled as second-class, deviant sexual predators. (I can remember the same statements being made about young black men when I was a child.) But, oops, they can't say it out loud because state and federal data prove that straights, not gays, are the predominate pedophile population in this country. So now the only way to label us as second class is to say we're threatening the institution of marriage.

How does the marriage of two gay Americans threaten a marriage of two heterosexuals? Do you think that if I'm allowed to marry I'll try to prevent heterosexuals from doing so? What's wrong, Mr. Murchison, do you think I would try to copy hate?

Doris E. Bratton
Kempner


Published in the Tuesday edition of the Lampasas Dispatch Record, August 1, 2006

What Jessica Farrar has to say

Knowledge Is Good in the Reality-Based Community
August 01, 2006
Guest post: Jessica Farrar on OfftheKuff

Let me tell you why the recent immigration issue has little to do with the immigration issue and why the anti-immigration rhetoric affects not only Hispanics, but everyone.

To begin with, today's immigrants are to this year's election what gays were to last year's election, and what guns and abortion have been to past elections. This ploy is expected to drive the conservative voter base to the polls and dupe otherwise well meaning voters, much as the gay marriage issue successfully did last year. Given that proven strategy, we should all be concerned. What group is it going to be next year? Could it be African Americans? Or, will it be Asians? Maybe it will be non-Christians. Maybe it will be women since women's health is constantly barraged by so-called morals over science and medicine.

Don't be surprised when it's your group. Conservatives have been extremely successful with wedge issues. Now, they've become emboldened to go directly after individual groups. The immigration issue is really genius because it divides us by turning African Americans and Anglos against Hispanics at worst, or makes them complacent at best because it's not seen as their issue. This tactic alone should enrage everyone.

In last year's elections, conservatives were highly successful with the "gay marriage" issue. Who would have thought that something that was not legal in Texas, was not only made illegal but also written into the state's constitution writing off an entire segment of Texans? Same sex marriage had never been (pardon my pun) proposed. To my knowledge, a bill had never been filed in the State Legislature. Yet, conservatives convinced voters they needed to go to the polls to chisel it into the state constitution. It worked! Conservatives made up the numbers they lack in their voter base with Hispanics and African Americans and many other well intentioned people who don't normally vote for their political party. Conservatives convinced these voters that "gay marriage" was a real threat and had to vote to do something about it. Consequently, more conservative politicians were elected in those elections to the detriment of too many of the issues that actually do affect people's everyday lives, unlike their wedge issues. People have been convinced to vote God, gays, guns, and abortion while their ability to support their families or get ahead in life are being voted away by the politicians they've elected. It's happening again, only this year's wedge issue is immigration.

Another reason everyone needs to be concerned about the immigration issue is conservatives' call to revisit birth citizenship. Our Constitution says that if you're born in this country, you automatically become a citizen of it. But, what happens if this policy is changed? Then, everyone born in this country is affected, Hispanic or not. This tactic is really devious because it brings out the absolute worst bigotry in society. In the psyche of someone made to feel threatened by the diversity of this country, it's the nail in the coffin to those that don't look like them. It's a way of stopping those people who are taking over everything, in their minds. Not only does this question not have any practical solution, the sole purpose of bringing it up is to pour lighter fluid on the flames of racism. I know, racism is a bad word to say. Interestingly, the people who think it is are usually those that don't believe it exists or ever existed. Let's douse those flames with a fire extinguisher not a fire igniter. It's dangerous to allow those fires to spread.

I ask that we not be duped yet once again by the rhetoric of the Right. Don't allow conservatives to continue to bring out the worst in us. Great leaders don't incite fear. Instead, great leaders inspire courage and ask us to be greater than ourselves. Franklin Roosevelt, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, lifted us when he said that we had nothing to fear but fear itself. John F. Kennedy challenged us to ask not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country.

Though the qualities of hope, courage, and loving thy neighbor are absent in the political party in power today, create it for yourself on the immigration issue as well as with their future wedge issues. Have your own talking points. Arm yourself with actual answers to conservatives' charges. Combat their myths with reality. Our country can only take so much. There are real life consequences to today's voting patterns. The pendulum may indeed swing back one day, but many of their changes to our laws won't find the political will to be switched back and we may not ever recover from their ravaging of our country's resources and good will. Do what you can today to save our country's future by sealing our borders against further recklessness. Migrate away from their poisonous fertilizer. Don't allow conservatives to continue to use the tactic of divide and conquer. Instead, let us unite and conquer.

Jessica Farrar
State Representative
House District 148