I love Texas politicians. I do. They are so easy to mock. Want an example? How about this one?
The Texas state legislature made substantial cuts to family planning funds in 2011, which is estimated to result in almost 24,000 more children born to low-income women in 2014-15 and cost taxpayers $273 million, reported the Texas Tribune.
Now, those numbers are leading some lawmakers to shift their position, although the nonpartisan Legislative Budget Board released similar numbers when the law was being debated in 2011. […]
Republican state Sen. Bob Duell said that the government should not be involved in family planning, “But you have to look at what happens if we don’t.”
What did they expect would happen if they cut family planning funds? That people would stop having sex? Of course, I imagine it’s the increase in “low income women” (i.e., code for Hispanic and African Americans) having more babies that probably has them more freaked out concerned than the extra cost of $273 million to the state fr4om all those unplanned pregnancies.
I’m guessing that the Texas Republicans in the legislature thought getting rid of family planning would reverse the trend of white women having fewer kids. I’d laugh if I wasn’t crying at their stupidity and the resultant misery to which such stupidity consistently leads – more children born into poverty with fewer services and opportunities provided to them and their often young, single-parent families to improve their lives.
very nice! maybe even family planning funding increase!
Reality’s a bitch for those who have gone on narrative alone for a generation. The critters and punkins are coming home to roost.
Multiply this result out by the number of countries denied birth control subsidies during Reagan and Bushs’ admins. Do these guys ever consider real consequences? I’m thinkin God not real impressed with those who turn consequences like this over to him to sort out.
Yes, the Christianist will never learn that you cannot legislate adult sexual behavior.
There is only one cure for stupid: extinction. Rightfully so.
The problem is that we rational Americans (RAs) are along for the ride.
Good thing they didn’t screw the kitty.
That can get you clawed.
I really don’t think they were aiming to get white women to have more kids.
They just really hate women, period.
That’s sort of what I was thinking. We’re dealing with a group whose ideology has not really evolved much since the Medieval period in Europe went by the wayside. It’s an ideology that is fundamentally hostile toward and fearful of women.
They don’t so much hate women (in this context) as they simply hate hate HATE spending their tax money on poor people. Period. It doesn’t matter what… if it involves spending our tax money without zapping poor people, they hate it. Anytime, anywhere, for anything.
While not overtly stated, not enough white babies has long been the impetus behind the religious anti-abortion/anti-contraceptive/anti-feminist movement(s) in this country. Hence, the 2012 election was nightmare of their fears come true. Explains why they first accepted the creepy Mormon guy as their standard bearer and are so completely freaked out about losing.
Texas has been a rural agricultural state since the beginning when it was settled by Anglos who wanted slave-operated plantations to grow cotton on. The culture has been dominated by rural fundamentalist super-rigid religion. Until about a generation ago the only major non-agricultural industries were in the oil industry. Large oil companies are authoritarian monopolies designed to overcharge customers for their products and smaller oil companies have always been get-rich-quick schemes. The religious fundamentalist preachers have held this sick society together. It’s a class-based patriarchal society based on tribal behavior. The economics is cronyism within the upper class and exploitation of the lower classes.
But as the population of Texas has grown in the last generation the additional population has almost all moved to Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. These are major cities which really are quite liberal. They are also highly diverse economically. The suburbs remain mostly rural, but the cities themselves are modern and democratic rather than rural and patriarchal. It’s this change that frightens the conservatives, and the conservatives are reacting by getting more and more extreme.
Rick Perry is a small-farm farm boy who grew up outside a small farming village. Not even in the village, but on a distant individual farm. Yes, he’s dumber than a box of rocks, and he is representative of the old Texas. But he is also very socially capable. That’s the source of his success. He reads and reacts to others individually quite well.
Sortakinda stretching the thread’s theme but CNN’s GPS Fareed Zakaria had the head of MD Anderson on this morning discussing the cure for cancer and where the technology stands today. They also discussed funding for research and implementation.
It occured to me after listening to their fascinating discussion that we would be doing ourselves a service if we started to make ‘infrastructure’ funding more inclusive by adding NIH/ACA and such to the definition of ‘infrastructure’.
With funding in the last 10 years dropping 19% it’s hard not to recognize that the research ship is having a hard time staying afloat. And if the Rep’s have their way and cut charity deductions/credits out of the tax structure, funding for Altzheimer’s, Cancer & Diabetes and all the way down the line will hurtle into a black hole.
Then wrap your mind around this news:
Republican Gov. Rick Perry and his cronies in and out of public office have diverted funds intended for cutting-edge cancer research into the campaign pockets of Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
I saw that and considering MD Anderson is in Texas and is the best of the best when it comes to cancer research in the US, I imagine they will be on the frontline to challenge that. Perhaps that’s even the impetus for him coming on CNN.
One of the businessmen on the board explained that too much money was being spent on research and not enough on commercializing the results. That kind of short-term thinking is the reason why government needs to fund basic research. Of course, it went to the company this guy runs which is providing treatment based on what is already known.
Since my close relative is in remission but still getting treatment on (incurable) blood cancer through MD Anderson this guy is stealing money that might offer a cure during the period of remission. The cancer was asymptomatic and discovered during other treatment. She’d be dead today without MD Anderson. There is no known cure and most oncologists don’t have the resources or knowledge to treat it. Some of the planned research may offer a cure.
Are Republicans born greedy, murderous and ignorant or is there a training program they go through to become that kind of SOB?