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Gay Texas judge won’t marry straight couples
Tonya Parker, an African-American lesbian judge in Texas, refuses to marry straight couples until everyone in the state has the right to marry.
Turning away would-be newlyweds is “my opportunity to give them a lesson about marriage inequality in this state,” Parker told a meeting of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas earlier this week.
She said it’s “oxymoronic” for her to perform a ceremony that can’t be performed for her.
Instead, she refers couples to other judges in the courthouse with an explanation along the lines of “I’m sorry. I don’t perform marriage ceremonies because we are in a state that does not have marriage equality, and until it does, I am not going to partially apply the law to one group of people that doesn’t apply to another group of people,” she told the meeting.
#perfecthumanbeing
No. Wrong. When you’re being treated unfairly you don’t treat other people unfairly. That’s just a vicious cycle, because then when this judge treats those straight people unfairly, they’ll feel justified in treating gay people unfairly, and then gay people will feel justified in treating straight people unfairly, etc etc.
This is not how you get your way. You don’t act like a brat and say “Well if I can’t get married, NOBODY CAN!!!!!!!!!”
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
she controls all the marriage licenses in the WORLD
STRAIGHT PEOPLE CANT GET MARRIED
REVERSE RACISM! but you know with gay people
This is mad rad. I love it.
(Source: le-kif-kif, via amodernmanifesto)
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Texas loses Medicaid funding in effort to spite Planned Parenthood
Last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that they would be informing the State of Texas that the state would lose basic health and family planning services funding from Medicaid because it is in violation of federal law. The state wrote Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Women’s Health Program, a Medicaid-waiver program. As of today, Texas has been officially informed that the funding is lost, via this letter from HHS official Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations (CMSO)…
An HHS official told reporters today:
“Medicaid law is very clear; a state may not restrict patients” choice of providers of services like mammograms and other cancer screenings, if those providers are qualified to deliver care covered by Medicaid. Patients, not state government officials, should be able to choose the doctors and other health care providers that are best for them and their families. In 2005, Texas requested this same authority to restrict patients’ choices, and the Bush Administration did not grant it to them either.”
The war on women’s health just resulted in 130,000 casualties in Texas.
Yep. This guy, who STILL jokes about his inability to count to three, thinks he knows best for Texas women.
You know, I was thinking about Texas for law school…
So, they’re losing that funding from our socialized medical system for doing EXACTLY what they think say socialized medicine wants to do- namely, restricting patient’s choice in their own healthcare. Seems pretty obvious that the only people in our government who want to make patients’ decisions for them are republicans. Texas just shot a big hole in the conservative argument against single payer healthcare, if you ask me.
(via vinegarwilliams)
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High Resolution(Source: stephherold, via political-cartoons)
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The Attack On Planned Parenthood: Texas Edition
More than a dozen Texas Planned Parenthood clinics have closed “after financing for women’s health was slashed by two-thirds by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The cuts, which left many low-income women with inconvenient or costly options, grew out of the effort to eliminate state support for Planned Parenthood. Although the cuts also forced clinics that were not affiliated with the agency to close — and none of them, even the ones run by Planned Parenthood, performed abortions — supporters of the cutbacks said they were motivated by the fight against . Now, the same sentiment is likely to lead to a shutdown next week of another significant source of reproductive health care: the Medicaid Women’s Health Program, which serves 130,000 women with grants to many clinics….
Gov. Rick Perry and Republican lawmakers have said they would forgo the $35 million in federal money that finances the women’s health program in order to keep Planned Parenthood from getting any of it.” Several other states are trying similar stunts. “Nationally, the newest target is Title X, the main federal family planning program. All four Republican presidential candidates support eliminating Title X, which was created in 1970 with Republican support from President Nixon and the elder George Bush, then a congressman.”
The conservative campaign against women is absolutely heartless and targets the most vulnerable and in need. Clinics closing is beyond comprehension. You’re pro-life and you go this far out of your way to hurt mothers and young children?
I’m too disgusted to even comment. :(
The Douchebaggery know no bounds. NO bounds!
(via skepticalavenger)
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TransCanada to Build Texas Segment of Keystone XL Pipeline
TransCanada Corp. will proceed with building a $2.3 billion segment of its Keystone XL oil pipeline from Oklahoma to the Texas coast so that it isn’t delayed by U.S. approval for the rest of the line.
The company, based in Calgary, expects the segment to begin carrying crude from the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast as soon as mid-year 2013, according to a statement today. TransCanada is separating the Cushing line from its application to President Barack Obama for approval of a Keystone expansion that will bring crude into the U.S. from Canada’s oil sands.
“We remain committed to building this overall project in a timely and efficient manner and to meet demand of shippers,” said TransCanada Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling in an interview today. Shippers are making multi billion dollar commitments spanning decades and “they haven’t wavered from Keystone,” he said.
Texas Landowner Group Forms To Fight Keystone Pipeline
“President Obama’s decision to halt construction of the Keystone tar sands pipeline has not stopped plans for segment passing through East Texas. And KERA’s Shelley Kofler reports a group of landowners has organized to fight back.”
Texas landowners thwarted the ambitious Trans-Texas Corridor, and Texas landowners just might be able to stop the construction of the last leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline project. […]
So, the oil industry plans on laying its pipe, with or without our consent. TransCanada: “They say no, but I know they mean yes.”
(Source: kileyrae, via theamericanbear)
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Why is this happening? Why is he allowed to execute 234 people? And why is that the thing that gets the most applause?
I hate the world.
It shouldn’t be surprising how much Christians LOVE executions, the whole religion is based on one.
(via stfueverything)
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High ResolutionYou’re our man, Perry.
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"Here’s why I find it impossible to be a Republican: any crowd that instantly cheers the execution of 234 individuals is a crowd I want to flee, not join."
-Andrew Sullivan on the debate crowd’s positive response to the large number of executions that Perry resided over while governor of Texas. (via liberal-life)
Never talk politics and religion. I don’t have a political blog but, we are talking about republicans, so this is about religion.
(via thereisnogod)
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Texas cut fire department funding by 75 percent this year
Under Gov. Rick Perry (R) this year, Texas slashed state funding for the volunteer fire departments that protect most of the state from wildfires like the ones that have recently destroyed more than 700 homes.
Volunteer departments that were already facing financial strain were slated to have their funding cut from $30 million to $7 million, according to KVUE.
The majority of Texas is protected by volunteer fire departments. There are 879 volunteer fire departments in Texas and only 114 paid fire departments. Another 187 departments are a combination of volunteer and paid.
For that reason, aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could be more important than ever to the state where wildfires have recently been raging.
At a press conference Monday, Perry promised to seek federal disaster relief and said that FEMA would be in the state by Wednesday.
While the Texas governor has been highly critical of FEMA in the past, he told CBS’ Erica Hill Tuesday that now was not the time to worry about reforming the agency.
“The issue is taking care of these people right now,” Perry insisted. “We can work our way through any conversations about how to make agencies more efficient, how to make Department of Defense equipment, for instance, more available. There are a lot of issues we can talk about, but the fact of the matter is now is not the time to be trying to work out the details of how to make these agencies more efficient. Let’s get people out of harm’s way.”
Hypocrisy and anti-government rhetoric has consequences when the legislature takes it to heart. I feel terrible for the people of Texas, but I feel no pity for their governor, who was the ultimate signing authority on spending cuts. Ever heard of the Boy Scouts and their whole ‘always be prepared’ thing? I’ve seen people defending Perry by saying, “There’s no way he could have known this would happen!”
Precisely.
Seriously, we need to come up with a stronger word than “hypocrisy”. The right has actually become Contemptuous of consistency. It’s like they’re running an experiment to see how much blatant double speak they can get away with. When it comes to their base, the answer is turning out to be “quite a bit”. They hate earmark spending, except their own. They hate taxes, then suggest raising them on half the population. They’re “Fed up”, except when they need help. They are pro-life, except when people need to be killed. They’re crazy about free-market capitalism, except when they’re fighting to subsidize the most profitable industries in the world with tax dollars. I could go on.
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High ResolutionImage above: BalloonJuice
There are better ways to pick presidents…
Haven’t we learned our lesson about Texans who like to play dress up?
More comparisons (in response to this):
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Rick Perry: Ok this is going to sound crazy...
I’m a fearless person, but Rick Perry’s Brand of Lunatic Christian Dominionism is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen — even worse than Palin’s witch doctor.
They get in power, it’s Amsterdam for me.
RELATED:
Here’s the Texas Observer article Rachel referenced: “Rick Perry’s Army of God”
ThinkProgress: The Outlandish Beliefs Of Rick Perry’s Prayer Rally Endorsers
RightWing Watch: Perry’s Christian Extremist Allies
I might be a little concerned…
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WATCH: Rick Perry Consults the Big Guy in the Sky [Cartoon] | Mother Jones
Omnipotent One Whose Secret Words Only I Can Hear and Interpret, I promise to slash the size of government just like I have in Texas, where government spending and debt has almost doubled in the 11 years I’ve been governor.
O Big Man in the Sky Who Can Kick The Ass of All Other Gods, I promise to focus on jobs, like we do in Texas, where more of our workers earn the minimum wage than in any other state.
O Magical Daddy Who I Must Obey If I Know What’s Good For Me, I promise to keep cutting taxes on corporations and rich people by slashing school budgets and using phony accounting gimmicks.
O Secret Henchman Who Wreaks Revenge on Anyone Who Gets On My Nerves, I promise to bring to the nation the educational results we have in Texas, where we are ranked 47th in literacy.
O Jumbo Being Who Cannot Be Detected in Any Way, But Who I Not Only Detect But Speak For, I promise to force vaccines on children, especially vaccines made by drug companies that give me campaign contributions and hire my staff to lobby for them.
O Invisible Friend Who Only I Am Seeing at the Moment, I promise to shrink government but impose mandatory ultrasounds on women trying to get abortions.
O Incomprehensible Giant Guy Who Despite My Lack of Education or Insight I Am Able to Comprehend (and Translate For), I promise to oppose and criminalize everything gay.
O Unproveable One Who I Can Use as Validation for Doing or Saying Anything I Want, I promise to make schools teach Intelligent Design as a legitimate scientific alternative to evolution.
O Best Friend in the Sky Who Passes Me Secret Notes, I promise to fight against the global warming hoax being perpetrated by evil scientists and government bad guys!
(Source: tinfoilandtea)
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The news just called Rick Perry a “swaggering Texan.”
I wonder if they meant swaggering as in “drunken” or “style without admitting greatness.” I’m guessing the former over the latter because the latter is beyond LAUGHABLE.
Divine Irony
is a rich archive of religious delusions, scientific truths and political implications.
"Tell people there’s an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure."
-George Carlin
“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed”.
-Albert Einstein
