Texas has now defunded Planned Parenthood over those doctored videos. Well of course they did.

"Government should stay out of our business. Except vaginas. Government should all up in that."

Courtesy of Time: 

Texas is eliminating taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood in the state, based on concerns over the organization’s fetal tissue donations, the governor announced on Monday. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office issued a statement, saying Texas is ending Medicaid’s participation with Planned Parenthood, which means the women’s reproductive health nonprofit will no longer receive Medicaid funding in the state. The decision came in a letter sent Monday by the Office of Inspector General at Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Abbott’s statement said. 

“Following the release of gruesome videos filmed at Planned Parenthood facilities, including Gulf Coast in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott announced his LIFE Initiative to provide greater protections for children in the womb and prevent the sale of baby body parts,” Abbott’s statement reads. 

The cancellation “calls for funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers out of taxpayer money to be eliminated completely, both at the State and local levels,” according to the announcement. 

Abbott said that canceling Medicaid participation for Planned Parenthood in Texas moves the state closer to “providing greater access to safe healthcare for women while protecting our most vulnerable – the unborn.”

Of course neither those last two statements are accurate as health clinics for women in Texas are rapidly disappearing and without access to safe legal abortion services women will resort to the same back alley butchers that performed them BEFORE Roe vs Wade.

By the way let's remember that Planned Parenthood has already said that they will no longer charge for the shipping of fetal tissue, and not only that Texas Planned Parenthood NEVER participated in fetal tissue donations.

So this defunding does NOTHING to address the concerns brought up by those bullshit videos, but instead puts the health of Texas women at serious risk and gives Governor Greg Abbott another victory against women's rights.

Hey, I tried to get y'all to vote for Wendy Davis. But did you listen? Hell no!

Update: Well guess who felt the need to chime in on this story?

None other than Nancy French wearing her Bristol Palin skin suit:  

There is no reason that an organization that has proven itself so untrustworthy and that has based its business around the murder of innocent babies should be receiving tax-payer dollars. Yet, Planned Parenthood has rallied its friends in the media, in Hollywood and in the White House to try to deflect our attention from the truth. 

It is so refreshing to see state’s standing up for life and refusing to be bullied by Planned Parenthood and all of their allies! I hope that my state follows suit soon!

Well I assume that when French says "my state" she is referring to Tennessee where she and her husband actually live, because now that Alaska dumped Sean Parnell there is no way we are doing anything this fucking stupid.

I assume at some point today Palin will link to this Brancy post and the trifecta of ignorance will be complete.

With the media heat officially turned to "Who gives a shit?" Sarah Palin is now back to pimping Teabagger candidates full time.

From the Urban Cowpie's Facebook page:

I love to tease our Texan relatives and friends that they're living down in our "Little Sister State of Texas!" I do love your state, and you are blessed to have Greg Abbott there as such a strong leader. He's fighting to defend freedom! Like Alaska, Texas is all about personal and economic liberty. But did you know President Obama is determined to undermine that with a “blue takeover” he envisions? Well, thankfully Greg Abbott will assure that won’t happen. Support a true patriot and proven leader as your next governor, and send a message to Team Obama at the same time: Texas—and the nation—will NOT go the way of any liberal state! Please find a polling location in your county before early voting ends tomorrow.

And, by the way, this Greg Abbot campaign sign is the best I've seen yet! 

 Oh yeah, that's just adorable.

Well unlike Rob Maness at least Abbott has a better than even chance of winning his race. In fact right now he is leading Wendy Davis by over 15 points.

You're just breaking my heart Texas, you really are.

You know you can tell a lot about a candidate by the friends he keeps. Besides Palin Abbott has been cozying up to a certain poopy pants pedophile (Warning link takes you to WND): 

I already got my invitation to Greg Abbott’s victory party for the evening of Nov. 4 as we celebrate his landslide victory over Wendy Davis as the new and well-deserved governor of the Great Republic of Texas. 

This Texas race is a microcosm of elections across the country. Thank God there are still way more Texans that stand in defiance of the lying, scamming, America-hating, Texas-hating scammers and scoundrels that infest and steer the Wendy Davis campaign of deception. 

Oh yeah, he's a gem. 

But come on, if an endorsement from Sarah Palin AND Ted Nugent is not enough to sink your campaign, what does that say about your state?

I am beginning to wonder if Texas is a lost cause for liberals, despite the demographic shifts. 

And Jon Stewart of the Daily Show shares my concerns.

Sarah Palin decides it is safe enough to come out and launch a Facebook attack against Wendy Davis.

Courtesy of Matriarch of the Palin Punching Bags Facebook page:  

Any wonder why so many Americans are turned off by politics when contemptible ads like this are endorsed by pretty desperate candidates? Greg Abbott will make a great Governor in the great state of Texas, and I am proud to support him. Wendy Davis better strap on those pink running shoes again – the road ahead looks really long for her after this latest stunt.

Palin then links to a Breitbart article attacking Davis for that anti-Abbott ad I shared with you this morning. (I of course will not provide the link to that Breitbart piece because I actually like you people.)

You know when I saw that Davis ad I was not convinced that it was a good idea to use Abbott's disability to demonstrate his hypocrisy, but now that I see how wee wee'd up it has made the anti-Wendy Davis I now recognize the brilliance of the ad.

However to be honest I really don't care what Palin thinks about anything at this point. All I want to hear is her pathetic attempt to explain to the American people how she could raise such a disappointing pack of drunken losers, who start fights they can't finish, and continue to make Alaska the laughingstock of the world.

Does this new Wendy Davis commercial go too far?

Courtesy of TPM:  

A new ad by Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis's (D) gubernatorial campaign hits Attorney General Greg Abbott, her Republican opponent, for not doing enough to help disabled victims even though after Abbott himself was paralyzed he sued the homeowner and a tree company connected to the oak tree that caused his paralysis. 

"A tree fell on Greg Abbott. He sued and got millions. Since then he spent his career working against other victims," the voiceover in the ad said. "Abbott argued a woman whose leg was amputated was not disabled because she had an artificial limb. He ruled against a rape victim who sued a corporation for failing to do a background check on a sexual predator. He sided with a hospital that failed to stop a dangerous surgeon who paralyzed patients." 

"Greg Abbott. He's not for you," the voiceover in the ad said. 

I have to admit that I am kind of at a loss on this one.

I certainly see how it could offend some people, but I also see the point that the Davis campaign is trying to make. 

So this post is really to ask for your take.

The winds of change are blowing in Texas.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Houston is not merely more Hispanic; the fastest-growing ethnic group is Asian. The kimchi taco is a hit. Some 90 languages are spoken. The city government will soon publish information in six languages. And 98 percent of the population growth in the first 10 years of this century has been nonwhite. 

This diversity is rippling out to the far suburbs, counties that have long been white and Republican — and vital for winning statewide office. The most diverse part of the Houston region is now Missouri City, which straddles Brazoria County and Fort Bend County on the city’s southwestern edge and is filling with Hispanics, Asians and African-Americans seeking bigger homes and better schools. 

The same trends are found in the Texas Triangle, an increasingly dense region bounded by Houston, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth. It includes less than 20 percent of the state’s land but all its biggest cities. Conservative politicians do poorly in these settings. 

The political shift is unmistakable. In Houston, 83 percent of residents favor a legal path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Six in 10 say abortion is morally wrong but oppose making it harder for women to get one. In August, an effort to repeal Houston’s new equal protection ordinance for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people failed. 

Not only did Harris County vote for Barack Obama in 2008, but in 2012 it was joined by all of Texas’ big urban counties and cities, which Democrats have controlled for years. Republican strength is on the wane in some of those key suburbs, too. The Republican margin in Fort Bend County shrank in 2012 from double digits to just six points.

The article goes on to say that this does not mean that Wendy Davis will necessarily win the gubernatorial election this time around, though she might, but that moving forward it will become much harder for conservatives to get elected, and that in upcoming presidential elections those 34 electoral votes that the Republicans have counted on for years may soon be up for grabs.

And that is nothing but good news.

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis writes about terminating pregnancy in new memoir. I am torn between "How brave of her" an Oh shit!"

Courtesy of ABC News:  

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis reveals in a new campaign memoir that she terminated two pregnancies for medical reasons in the 1990s, including one where the fetus had developed a severe brain abnormality. 

Davis writes in "Forgetting to be Afraid" that she had an abortion after an exam revealed that the brain of the fetus had developed in complete separation on the right and left sides. The Associated Press purchased an early copy of the book, which hits stores Tuesday. 

The memoir also describes ending an earlier ectopic pregnancy, in which an embryo implants outside the uterus. Davis disclosed the terminated pregnancies for the first time since her nearly 13-hour filibuster last year over a tough new Texas abortion law. 

Both pregnancies happened before Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth, began her political career and after she was already a mother to two young girls. 

She writes that the ectopic pregnancy happened in 1994. Terminating the pregnancy was considered medically necessary. Such pregnancies generally aren't considered viable, meaning the fetus can't survive, and the mother's life could be in danger. But Davis wrote that in Texas, it's "technically considered an abortion, and doctors have to report it as such." 

Davis said she and her former husband, Jeff, wound up expecting another child in 1996 after they decided to stop taking birth-control measures. During her second trimester, Davis said she took a blood test that could determine chromosomal or neural defects, which doctors first told her didn't warrant concern. After a later exam revealed the brain defect, Davis said she sought opinions from multiple doctors, who told her the baby would be deaf, blind and in a permanent vegetative state if she survived delivery. 

"I could feel her little body tremble violently, as if someone were applying an electric shock to her, and I knew then what I needed to do," Davis writes. "She was suffering."

Holy crap! Not just one, but two abortions!

Well after reading the descriptions of the problems facing these two unborn children, it seems to me that almost any woman would have made the same choice that Davis did.

However considering that she is running for Governor of a state that has all but criminalized abortion, and the fact that the Right has already labeled her "Abortion Barbie," I ma wondering how this will play out during the campaign. 

Well one thing is fro damn sure, the woman has guts!

I mean she has to know that this will be played up by the Republicans as if she ran down a toddler on the street, not that she made an incredibly personal and heartbreaking choice for herself, the unborn child, and her family.

After all she could have taken the cowards way out and attempted to Wite-Out the whole thing.

Finally some good news for the women of Texas.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

A federal judge in Austin, Tex., blocked a stringent new rule on Friday that would have forced more than half of the state’s remaining abortion clinics to close, the latest in a string of court decisions that have at least temporarily kept abortion clinics across the South from being shuttered. 

The Texas rule, requiring all abortion clinics to meet the building, equipment and staffing standards of hospital-style surgery centers, had been set to take effect on Monday. But in his opinion, Judge Lee Yeakel of the United States District Court in Austin said the mandate placed unjustified obstacles on women’s access to abortion without providing significant medical benefits. 

The rule “is unconstitutional because it imposes an undue burden on the right of women throughout Texas to seek a pre-viability abortion,” he wrote.

Of course this is exactly what Wendy Davis was fighting against when she staged her 11 hour filibuster in 2013. Sadly however the Republicans and Rick Perry, have worked overtime to erode women's rights since that event.

This is how things would have turned out if the judge had not found the new restrictions unconstitutional.

Liberals United offers a sequence of events:

1. Texas GOP introduces anti-choice, anti-abortion HB2 Bill in the Spring of 2013 
2. Wendy Davis holds a 13-hour filabuster in June 2013 
3. GOP passes HB2 Bill anyway in July 2013 
4. Planned Parenthood sues September 2013 
5. Judge Yeakel strikes down abortion restrictions declaring them unconstitutional in September 2013 
6. DU Greg Abbott appeals and wins in October 2013. Restrictions reinstated. 
7. Judge Yeakel strikes down key abortion restrictions August 29, 2014 (see above) 
8. Prediction: Greg Abbott appeals, but will he win?…

Of course electing Davis as the new Governor would change this scenario completely.

 Come on Texas have you not yet had enough?

Greg Abbott backs out of only state wide televised debate with Wendy Davis. Pansy ass! Update!

Courtesy of WFAA: 

Republican candidate Greg Abbott has reversed his decision to appear in the only gubernatorial debate to be broadcast statewide on television. 

Abbott and his Democratic opponent, Wendy Davis, had both agreed to participate in a roundtable debate in Dallas on Sept. 30. 

But on Friday morning, Abbott's team reversed an earlier decision and said it will not participate alleging concern over the format. 

"Due to our inability to agree on specific details of the format, Attorney General Greg Abbott will regretfully not be participating in the WFAA debate," said Robert Black, senior campaign adviser on Friday morning.

Yeah I imagine the specific details that the Abbott campaign was opposed to was the detail where he had to actually stand on stage with Davis and debate her. (Update: I have been reminded that Abbott is paralyzed and wheelchair bound, so obviously "standing on stage" is not an option. Sorry for my insensitivity.)

By the way I really had to censor myself writing he headline because as a man of a certain age my usual go to word would have been "pussy." But as I realized in this situation is was the person with the vagina that was showing her cojones and the guy with the dick that was embarrassing his gender.

Which reminded me of a quote often attributed to Betty White, though she has since stated that she never said it, which states the following:
  
“Why do some people say, ‘Grow some balls?’ Balls are weak and sensitive. If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina. Those things take a pounding.” 

Which I think is a very good, though admittedly crude, point. 

And in this case it is certainly Wendy Davis who is demonstrating her courage and toughness and Abbott who seems to be shaking in his cowboy boots.

After all it's kind of hard to hit the campaign trail acting all macho if you are too afraid to face off against a little girl? Right Texas?

New Wendy Davis ad is sure to attract the attention of female voters in Texas.

This from Politicususa:  

Abbott has been claiming that he loves women, after all he married one and has a daughter, for as long as Davis has been using his record as a Republican AG to prove otherwise. But last Thursday she launched an ad against him charging that as a Supreme Court justice, he sided with a vacuum cleaner manufacturer against a woman raped by a salesman in her home. 

In his 1998 dissent, Abbott found that a company selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door “had no responsibility” in the hiring of a salesman who raped a customer.

This of course elicited an angry response from the Abbott camp:

“No one has a stronger record fighting the heinous crime of sexual assault than Greg Abbott,” Chasse continued. “Not only did he create dedicated units to arrest and prosecute sex offenders and protect women and children from assault, he’s responsible for putting more offenders in jail than all of his predecessors combined. In the case referenced in Sen. Davis’ despicable ad, Greg Abbott’s decision left intact the liability against the sex offender and his employer. No amount of desperate distortion attempts or token ad buys by Sen. Davis can change the facts of Greg Abbott’s record of fighting for Texans.” 

" No amount of desperate distortion attempts or token ad buys by Sen. Davis can change the facts of Greg Abbott’s record of fighting for Texans.” Well unless they're Texas WOMEN of course.

Politifact did a little checking and found that the ad was "mostly true." Quibbling only with the fact that Abbott felt that it was up to the distributors of Kirby vacuums to perform background checks to keep their customers safe, instead of the manufacturer themselves.

This was his dissent:

"Failure to require background checks of potential dealers relates to who is a dealer, not where the dealer works," Abbott wrote. "As a result, the requisite relation between the control retained and the alleged injury is missing. Because the Court holds to the contrary, I dissent."

Maybe it's just me, but if a woman opens the door becasue she trusts the name "Kirby vacuum cleaners" then it would seem to me that the company has a duty to ensure that such trust is justified.

I think this ad is a big win for Wendy Davis, and I also think that the women of Texas are going to think so as well.

Getting an abortion in Texas is becoming virtually impossible. Welcome to 1969.

Courtesy of Mother Jones:  

You can see women's abortion access trickle away in the interactive map above. Some things to note: Before the state required admitting privileges, 13 cities had abortion clinics. Now, just seven do. After September, only five Texas cities—Dallas, Forth Worth, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston—will will have abortion clinics. Women in the Rio Grande Valley must now travel to Corpus Christi, a two-and-a-half hour drive, for abortion services. Soon, there won't be a single clinic providing abortions west of San Antonio. A clinic in Dallas that will operate as an ambulatory surgical center opened after the state's new law passed and does not initially appear on the map. 

In addition to making it harder for abortion providers to operate, the law also bans abortion 20 weeks after conception and forbids the use of medication to terminate pregnancies. At the time of its passage, anti-abortion lawmakers claimed that tougher requirements for abortion providers were necessary to safeguard women. But mainstream medical groups, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, argue that requiring admitting privileges doesn't increase the level of care. Transfer agreements with hospitals offer patients the same protection in the rare cases when an abortion requires hospitalization. Plus, abortion foes have made it highly controversial for hospitals to grant abortion providers admitting privileges. In April, for example, two Texas providers claimed in a lawsuit that a Dallas hospital withdrew their admitting privileges because associating with them ginned up negative publicity. 

The restrictions that go into effect on September 1, mandating that clinics meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers, are even more cumbersome. For an abortion clinic to meet this requirement, it must have the ability to administer general anesthesia and its doorways and hallways must be a certain width. These requirements aren't medically necessary for an abortion, and they cost a lot of money to implement. One of the few abortion clinics in Texas that qualifies as an ambulatory surgical center, for example, costs at least $40,000 per month more to operate than an average clinic, according to the New York Times. 

Reports of the law's aftermath show that Texas women who have lost access to abortion clinics and medication have been traveling to Mexico or turning to the black market to obtain abortion-inducing drugs.

And the Republicans say there is no War on Women. 

Of course the law that has made all of this possible, was the one that Wendy Davis so famously stood for 11 hours to filibuster. However her efforts were for naught as Governor Rick Perry called for a second session and then fast tracked the bill so that he could personally deny women access to control over their own bodies.

Clearly Texas needs to do something drastic in order to get the state to start treating women as more than simple breeding stock, and a very good start would be to elect their first female Governor since Ann Richards left office in 1995.

Gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis responds to the GOP platform embracing "reparative therapy."

Unlike @TexasGOP, I believe that LGBT Texans #DontNeedFixin. #RPTCON14 pic.twitter.com/UxdNGEEJX1
— Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) June 6, 2014

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:  

This week the Republican Party of Texas drafted their 2014 platform and included a plank that states they believe in and support reparative, or “ex-gay” therapy for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Reparative therapy, or sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) have been deemed harmful, ineffective, and dangerous by every major medical organization in America, and by many around the world. 

Wendy Davis, who made a national name for herself by actually filibustering a Texas anti-abortion bill, is running for Governor on the Democratic ticket. While she faces a steep challenge against far-right Republican Greg Abbott — who opposes both a woman’s right to choose and same-sex marriage — she is proving herself to be a strong liberal.

I posted about this yesterday. 

And I ended the post with these words: "Oh yeah, Texas needs Wendy Davis alright. Desperately!"

Anybody think I'm wrong about that?

Wendy Davis welcomes the GOP delegates to Fort Worth. Oh this is good.

Click image to play video

Oh man that's going to ruffle a few Republican feathers.

I have to say that I really like Wendy's style.

And I hope Texas gets it act together and puts this lady into the Governor's mansion. Because then we will REALLY see some feathers get ruffled!

Especially since the Texas Republicans are rapidly devolving into  a bunch of slack jawed, knuckle dragging, cultural cavemen (and women.)

At least according to the first draft of their 2014 platform:  

Homosexuality: Delegates have stripped language from the party’s plank on homosexuality that says: “we affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God.” However, delegates have inserted language that supports therapy or treatment to “escape from the homosexual lifestyle.” 

“We recognize the legitimacy and value of counseling which offers reparative therapy and treatment to patients who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.” 

Note: This change drew some ire during testimony Thursday morning, with at least one delegate imploring the committee to return to the platform language about homosexuality tearing at the fabric of society. 

Abortion: 

This language looks new: “Until our final goal of total constitutional rights for the unborn child is achieved, we support laws that restrict and regulate abortion including, but not limited to: 

1. parental and informed consent; 
2. prohibition of abortion for gender selection; 
3. prohibition of abortion due to the results of genetic diagnosis 
4. licensing, liability, and malpractice insurance for abortionists and abortion facilities;
5. prohibition of financial kickbacks for abortion referrals; 
6. prohibition of partial birth late-term abortions 
7. the prohibition of the manufacturing and sale of abortifacients (e.g. morning after pill);
8. new causes of action for so called “wrongful birth” or “wrongful life”; 
9. enactment of any other laws which will advance the right to life for unborn children; 
10. health insurance coverage for abortion services and abortifacients under Texas law should be considered supplemental coverage and billed to the beneficiary; 
11. and repeal of judicial bypass. 

Fracking dollars for counties: 

Delegates putting together the draft platform also threw counties a bone: 

“Counties with oil and gas production should receive a portion of the production taxes the state collects so that the road system can be maintained for the dual purpose of accommodating the needs of the industry and providing adequate public safety.” 

Benghazi 

And then there’s this: 

“We call upon the United States House of Representatives to appoint a select committee and a special prosecutor in order to subpoena testimony to fully investigate all aspects of the Benghazi debacle, including, but not limited to, the reason Ambassador Stevens was in Benghazi; the denied assistance before and during the attack, the accounts of personnel who participated in the defense of the Embassy Annex, and the apparent attempt by the White House to deceive the American public with a concocted story about a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video. We call for bringing those responsible to justice.”

Embracing reparative therapy, which the psychiatric community has condemned has harmful to gay people, adopting draconian abortion standards, and doubling down on Benghazi?

Oh yeah, Texas needs Wendy Davis alright. Desperately!

Head of Texas Republican PAC in support of Greg Abbott, says they don't need the Lilly Ledbetter Act to get equal pay in this country, because "women are extremely busy." Wait, what?

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

The head of RedState Women, a new Republican PAC in Texas aimed at rallying women voters for GOP gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott, got a little tripped up on Sunday trying to explain the GOP's alternatives to the equal pay laws they oppose. 

Cari Christman, executive director of the PAC, told WFAA that Republicans oppose the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act because "women want real-world solutions to this problem, not more rhetoric." The law, signed by President Barack Obama in 2009, allows women to file a claim against pay discrimination when she discovers it, not a limited amount of time after the unequal pay began. 

When asked what her proposed solution to the gender pay gap might look like, she began repeating the point that women are "busy." 

"If you look at it, women are extremely busy," she said. "We lead busy lives, whether working professionally, whether working from home, and times are extremely busy. It's a busy cycle for women, and we've got a lot to juggle. So when we look at this issue we think, what's practical? And we want more access to jobs. We want to be able to get a higher education degree at the same time we're working or raising a family."

Well that..uh...that makes..uh.....what just happened?

And since when does Sarah Palin wear a blonde wig?

I think Greg Abbott's new campaign slogan should be, "Vote Greg Abbott, the perfect candidate for those who just don't know WHAT the hell is going on."

P.S. Just in case you don't realize that the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is a whole lot more than simply "rhetoric."

As Texas closes two more Women's Health Clinics, legal abortion, for all intents and purposes, has been rendered virtually impossible in most parts of the state.

Courtesy of the Guardian:  

This week’s closure of two more Texas abortion clinics in the wake of the state’s strict new regulations means women from rural areas seeking to end pregnancies face journeys of hundreds of miles to the nearest facility. 

Workers and activists held a candlelit vigil on Thursday night outside the Whole Woman’s Health clinic in McAllen to mark the closure. The shutdown means that people in the Rio Grande Valley, an area on the Mexican border with about 1.3 million inhabitants, will face logistical and financial challenges to undergo legal abortion procedures. 

The valley’s metropolitan areas are often cited as among the poorest in the country. The nearest abortion clinic that meets the new required standards is in San Antonio, 240 miles away. While abortion is largely illegal across the nearby Mexican border, black-market drugs are widely available, leading to fears that women could put their heath at risk by crossing the frontier and attempting to terminate their pregnancies using unapproved and unsupervised methods. 

The McAllen facility stopped providing abortions last year after doctors were unable to obtain admitting privileges at local hospitals – a new state requirement – but remained open to provide other services. However, management decided that the restrictions meant it was no longer feasible to continue operating. 

The other clinic was in Beaumont, a city of about 120,000 people near the Louisiana border that is a 90-minute drive from Houston. 

Amy Hagstrom Miller, the chief executive of Whole Woman’s Health, said: “Families from the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico, to east Texas and western Louisiana, have been turning to our clinics for safe, compassionate care since abortion was made legal in 1973. We have done everything possible to keep our clinics open but we are simply unable to survive with the new, medically unnecessary guidelines required.” 

Her statement added: “The consequence of [the bill] is an injustice, plain and simple. It is an injustice to the women we serve and to our communities.”

Not only are legal abortions, which were guaranteed by Roe vs Wad, becoming a ting of the past in Texas, but these clinics also provided caner screenings, prenatal tests, and birth control, which means that Texas is now becoming a third world country when it comes to providing health care for women.

Especially poor women, because Texas also refused to implement the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.

For the record Texas had 44 clinics in 2011, and today only has 20.  And that should send a chill up every Texas woman's spine.

But you know what Texas?

You can do something about it.

And it can start happening this year.

Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott win their party's nomination and will face off to become the next Texas Governor.

Courtesy of TPM:  

State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) and Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) won their respective nominations in the Texas gubernatorial race on Tuesday. 

The primaries were called for Davis and Abbott about an hour after polls closed. 

Davis is the first female Democratic nominee to be nominated for governor of Texas since Ann Richards. 

"And now it's time, it's time for each of us to work as hard as we can and to fight for the very future of this great state, thank you so much for your help," Davis said in her victory speech. "I'm looking forward to working with you on this journey. God bless you all, and God bless Texas."

There is really nothing surprising about this outcome however I decided to write this post because the other day I watched a commentator on MSNBC, Chris Cillizza, say that he did not see a victory for Wendy Davis moving forward.

His claim is that the slight inconsistencies in her personal story, that the Right Wing blew WAY out of proportion would undermine her campaign and that the best hope for Texas to go blue was in the future.

This infuriated me to no end.

Look I don't expect every pundit on MSNBC to be a cheerleader for Davis, or ANY Democratic candidate for that matter, but to unfairly handicap the race as un-winnable against an opponent who thought it was a good campaign decision to have Ted Nugent show up on stage with him is ridiculous.

Especially after others have pointed out that the biography snafu will unlikely have a much of an effect on the election outcome.

But look ultimately it is up to the fine folks of Texas to get motivated and prove people like Chris Cillizza and Fox News wrong.

I swear if I were there on election day I would be offering rides to the polls for those who could not get there on their own. But I'm not, so it is up to those who are to make this the biggest midterm turnout for Democrats in American history.

And not just in Texas, we need to get our people motivated and mobilized ALL over the country.

We do that and we will greatly improve our chances of making some serious and very necessary improvements in our government, and set the stage for a much better future.

And just to help build a fire under folks, remember who is shaking her fake water filled pom poms for the other side: 

It was a great night for conservatives in Texas last night – despite what the D.C. media would have you believe. Voters wisely selected many Tea Party candidates across the board. Congratulations to Greg Abbott, we’ll work hard to make sure he is the next Governor of Alaska’s little sister state. We were proud to support Katrina Pierson as well – a bold conservative woman who has overcome bigger challenges in life than election results. Katrina has a bright future ahead, and we know she will continue her fight for conservative values – after all, you don't need a title to make a difference. We need more bold women like Katrina in the GOP. 2014 is just underway, and together we’ll continue to give a leg up to grassroots conservatives, despite the odds, who embrace inspiration, ingenuity, and integrity. We’re just getting started! 

That's right the Queen of Mean is already starting her victory lap, so let's do everything we can to trip her up, shall we?

Wendy Davis uses Ted Nugent in new ad to shame Republican Greg Abbott.

Courtesy of Politicususa:

The ad features rape survivor Nicole Anderson speaking out, “I am speaking out because it really bothered me for Greg Abbott to partner with Ted Nugent knowing his history of being a predator. I was at home. I heard about it on the news. It made me feel like the it minimized the fact that Ted Nugent is a predator. I think that it sends the wrong message that he partnered up with this man that is very vocal about liking underage girls. There’s something wrong with that. It’s not okay.” 

This ad is important on a couple of different levels. First, it is telling the truth about Ted Nugent. These types of ads should make Republican candidates think twice before they decide to cozy up to, and appear with, a self admitted sexual predator. 

Secondly, the use of Nugent as a campaign booster by Abbott is an escalation of the Republican war on women, and the men who support the rights of all women. Abbott’s embrace of Nugent is sending the message to all voters that if Greg Abbott is elected governor, open season will continue on the rights of women.

You know I said when Nugent first appeared on stage with Abbott that this would do wonders for the Davis campaign, and clearly they agree with me.

Not only that but I can only imagine how much money Davis has raised off of Ted Nugent's interjection into the Abbott campaign.

Ted Nugent is a sick POS and it the Republicans are ignorant enough to bring him along on the campaign trail, then Democrats are going to be smart enough to use that against them.

Seriously, at this point, if any other Republican or Libertarian links themselves to Ted Nugent we really have to question their mental health. My guess is nobody will go there, but considering how stubborn and self delusional these idiots are anything is possible.

Wendy Davis already reaping the benefits of her opponent's choice to bring Ted Nugent onto the campaign trail.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Texas gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott might be making waves with his Ted Nugent tour this week, but his opponent Wendy Davis is making money. 

Specifically, her campaign is seeking to harness the controversial rocker’s presence on the trail to attract donors who disagree with his statements about women. 

In an email with the subject line “outrageous,” Davis says Abbott had embraced “an admitted predator who takes advantage of young girls, and calls successful women vulgar and disgusting names.” 

“Ted Nugent calls Greg Abbott his ‘blood brother.’ I call their alliance repulsive,” Davis says in the email. “I find Ted Nugent disgusting, and I find it disgusting that Greg Abbott is sharing a stage with him. 

Like I said yesterday, Nugent represents the opportunity for a financial windfall.

Not for the politician ignorant enough to have him show up at his rally of course, but for the person running against him it is like Christmas all over again.

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis is getting help from none other than Ted Nugent. No he is not campaigning for her, he is campaigning for her opponent.

The "Nuge" and gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott.

Courtesy Political Ticker:  

Controversial 65-year-old rock star Ted Nugent is campaigning Tuesday with likely Texas GOP gubernatorial nominee Greg Abbott, the state's current attorney general who makes no apologies for inviting Nugent on the trail with him. 

Democrats were quick to point to Nugent's outlandish comments, with likely Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis calling Abbott's decision "repulsive." 

But a senior Abbott aide admitted their campaign is only bringing on the gun rights activist to help spur voter turnout among the base, as the state begins early voting for the upcoming March 4 GOP primary. 

The aide said the campaign originally had 100 people commit to their event Tuesday morning at a Denton restaurant, but when they announced Nugent was coming, the number of expected attendees tripled. 

"On a Tuesday mid-morning at a local restaurant in Denton, Texas, that's a lot of people," the campaign aide said.

Sure, Ted Nugent can help attract a few hundred crazy people in Denton, Texas, but somehow I don't think that appeal works outside of 2nd Amendment gun nuts and 70's hair band aficionados. 

However his presence does wonders for Wendy Davis who is presenting the grownup's version of a campaign.

Ted Nugent represents all that is wrong with the conservative party, and by associating with him perhaps he will help demonstrate everything wrong with Greg Abbott.

Who is he planning to bring in next to demonstrate his poor judgement and desire to pander to the wackos?

On today's episode of Hating on the Gays.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

It seems Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has taken up a new cause in Congress -- defending states' right to regulate marriage. 

Amid a wave of court decisions striking down anti-gay marriage laws in states, the Texas Republican introduced a bill to the Senate Wednesday to amend U.S. law "with regard to the definition of 'marriage' and 'spouse' for Federal purposes and to ensure respect for State regulation of marriage." Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is the bill's only co-sponsor so far. 

The bill's authors sent out a release about the bill Thursday afternoon, saying "it will ensure the federal government gives the same deference to the 33 states that define marriage as the union between one man and one woman as it does to the 17 states that have chosen to recognize same-sex unions." 

“I support traditional marriage. Under President Obama, the federal government has tried to re-define marriage, and to undermine the constitutional authority of each state to define marriage consistent with the values of its citizens,” Cruz said in a statement. “The Obama Administration should not be trying to force gay marriage on all 50 states. We should respect the states, and the definition of marriage should be left to democratically elected legislatures, not dictated from Washington. This bill will safeguard the ability of states to preserve traditional marriage for its residents.”

Oh yeah, coming out on this side of this issue now is kind of like coming out in favor of prohibition on the eve of its repeal. I swear Ted Cruz may be the most self destructive politician in American history.

Even Kansas has decided that their bill, which would allow businesses to discriminate against gay people, cannot pass.

This according to HuffPo: 

The Kansas Senate will not pass a bill in its current form that would prevent lawsuits against someone who refuses, for religious reasons, to provide services to gays and lesbians, the chamber's president said Friday. 

Senate President Susan Wagle said the bill, which was approved Wednesday in the Kansas House, goes beyond protecting religious freedom. She raised concerns about how the measure could impact businesses that would refuse services to gay couples. 

"I believe the intent of the House was to protect religious liberties. We respect that, but the business implications are going to harm the practice of employment in Kansas," said Wagle, a Wichita Republican.

As Slate magazine pointed out, essentially gay rights are here to stay, and there is not much that can be done to stop it.

Smart Democrats, like Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, recognize which way the wind is blowing. And are embracing this new progress even in deeply red states: 

Sen. Wendy Davis said Thursday that she supports same-sex marriage and that Attorney General Greg Abbott, her presumed general-election opponent in the race for governor, should stop defending the state's ban. 

“It's my strong belief that when people love each other and are desirous of creating a committed relationship with each other that they should be allowed to marry, regardless of their sexual orientation,” Davis told the Express-News editorial board. 

Davis, D-Fort Worth, said she is “pleased” that the state's constitutional definition of marriage, as being between a man and a woman, is under challenge in federal court. 

“I think that what we see happening at the federal level in terms of constitutional interpretations on that provide some hope that it may be found unconstitutional,” she said.

Smart woman.

And this new acceptance of the LGBT community has empowered those in the closet to come out in ever increasing numbers.

Even the adorable Ellen Page:  

"I am tired of hiding," Hollywood actress Ellen Page announced Friday at an LGBT youth conference in Las Vegas. "I'm tired of lying by omission. 

"I’m here today because I am gay," Page, 26, told the audience to a raucous standing ovation. "And because maybe I can make a difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility." 

There was a time when the Republicans could run on "family values"  and be assured a political victory. But those days have passed.

It is a new day in America. A new gay day in America.

Wendy Davis does what Wendy Davis needs to do in order to win election in Texas.

.@WendyDavisTexas receiving Ann Richards' shotgun at #tcdplive #txgov pic.twitter.com/x7B3BAOGc1
— Texas Democrats (@TXDemParty) January 29, 2014

Courtesy of TPM: 

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) is backing a proposed "open carry" law that would allow licensed Texans to wear a pistol on their hips in public, the Associated Press reported Thursday. 

In a statement to the AP, Davis said her support for expanding gun rights for Texans includes open-carry. She joins her rival in the gubernatorial race, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R), in supporting the proposed open-carry law for handguns (Texas already allows open-carry of long firearms, like rifles and shotguns). 

Davis said the "open carry" law should allow private property owners to decide whether to allow openly carried weapons on their property, according to the AP, adding that background checks and training requirements would "help ensure that only mentally stable, law-abiding citizens may carry, whether concealed or open." 

Her support for the law is at odds with the state party's stance.

There are a lot of progressives and Democrats freaking out about this, but as a liberal in Alaska   I understand completely.

Look do you think I like it when Mark Begich talks about opening ANWR?

Hell no I don't!

But I know that if Begich did not at least give lip service to the idea, that he could not get elected dog catcher up here. Period!

So Davis comes from a state that thinks the 2nd Amendment is the ONLY amendment that really counts. She has no choice but to support a law that gives the Right Wing funny feelings in their naughty parts.

Besides if enough of these inbred disphits walk around with loaded weapons it can only help to thin out the herd, and THEN Democrats can step over their still twitching carcasses and take over the entire state.