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Texas, Sex, and Separation of Church and State
Governor Rick Perry of Texas has thrown his hat into the presidential contender ring, and his nascent campaign has quickly came to demonstrate why the blurring of the distinctions between church and state are so dangerous, especially to women. His campaign has surprisingly been even more of a demonstration of this than that of Michele Bachmann’s, even though the mainstream media consensus is Bachmann is more of a theocrat. Part of the reason is that Perry has been the governor of Texas for over a decade now, and his experience and power as an executive has simply given him more chances to blur the lines….and more reasons to be called out for it.
The incident that got the most attention was Perry’s prayer rally in Houston, TX, where Perry, in what many (including myself) consider a flagrant violation of the First Amendment, led 30,000 evangelical Christians in a day of prayers for the state and the nation. Perry’s contempt for constitutional restrictions on government establishing an official religion throws into stark relief how much the anti-choice movement, to which he is currently pandering as hard as he can, is basically just one arm of an overall theocratic movement in the U.S. to wed state to a very particular interpretation of the Bible.
To begin with, Perry did show some sign of willingness to separate church and state while governor, when he issued an executive order requiring girls in Texas entering the 6th grade to be vaccinated against HPV. This is how it should be. Regardless of one’s personal religious convictions about female sexuality, when you’re the governor, your job is not setting the religious dogma for the state, but prioritizing the public's health. HPV is a public health issue (just because you personally may feel contracting HPV is just desserts for having sex, the people you pass it to may not be burdened with such anti-sex superstitions) and Perry acted like an executive handling this public health issue, and not a theocrat foisting his own sexual judgments on his citizens.
Of course he had to take it all back, claiming it was all a mistake and that he should have left the decision to the legislature, knowing full well the fundamentalist-heavy state legislature would have killed the requirement. The fact that Perry feels he has to apologize for putting the health of Texas girls ahead of fundamentalist over-the-top hatred of female sexuality--hatred that now runs so deep that they support letting 4,000 women a year die of cervical cancer rather than do anything that could be construed as accepting that sex happens---is just one example of how much the theocrats have taken control of our political process. And how they intend to flex that power by attacking the very concept of a healthy sexuality.
Also indicative of the problem was Perry’s response to a question about sex education in light of empirical evidence that abstinence-only doesn’t work. Perry, unable to deal with the conflict between the demands of fundamentalists that secular government promote their dangerous views of sex as deeply sinful and the demands of public health, flubbed the question. Paul Waldman of the American Prospect explained the flub:
Liberals may think that conservatives support abstinence education because they believe it will reduce teen pregnancy, when the truth is that stopping teen pregnancy is at best a minor consideration for conservatives. If there’s going to be any discussion of sex in school at all, they believe it ought to express the categorical moral position that sex is vile and dirty and sinful, until you do it with your spouse, at which point it becomes beautiful and godly (you’ll forgive a bit of caricature). The fact that abstinence-only education is far less effective at reducing teen pregnancy than comprehensive sex-ed isn’t something they’re pleased about, but it doesn’t change their conviction about the moral value that ought to be expressed……
So while it’s true that Rick Perry is not a particularly smart guy, the difficulty he has here comes from the fact that his stance on sex education is about 95 percent moral and 5 percent practical.
Waldman's right, but the problem runs even deeper than liberal empiricism vs. conservative “morality.” (I question a “morality” that hates something as life-affirming as sex, and believes that it’s so sinful it should result in disease, life destruction, and even death for people who engage in it outside of their incredibly strict parameters.) The problem goes right to the separation of church and state. The belief that sex is “immoral” isn’t a standard-issue moral belief shared across cultural or religious differences, unlike other moral beliefs such as the wrongness of murder or stealing. This is a question of religious freedom, and whether or not religious beliefs that sex is wrong should be imposed on minors. Standing with religious freedom means standing with comprehensive sex education and mandatory HPV vaccines, on the grounds that people who get these things will still be free to believe sex is wrong. In fact, whether or not your religion teaches that sex is dirty, you still benefit from vaccination and education---that way, if you slip up and have sex, you can have a clean, pure guilt trip of self-hatred without having a bunch of unnecessary health problems. And if you ever get over your commitment to such a misanthropic, sex-phobic faith, you will be able to start your new, sex-positive life with a clean bill of health.
But even more for the rest of us, we should have secular, evidence-based policy instead of fundamentalist faith-based policy not just because it has better health outcomes for everyone, but also because the belief that church and state should be separate was baked into our Constitution right from the beginning.
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34 Comments so far
Show AllPerry may very well be our Buzz Windrip.
Anyway, we already have a state-mandated religion. Why else does our money say, "In god We Trust" on it?
>>Perry may very well be our Buzz Windrip.
Version 2.0, as they say these days. I thought George W. Bush was already Windrip, with Dick Cheney as Macgoblin. If Perry does get the GOP nomination, it will be interesting to see who the Svengali behind him will be, AKA the Veep nominee.
The slogan on our currency should more properly read, "In Mammon We Trust." At least that is truth in advertising.
Or why do we pledge allegiance to a graven image, under god? OK so this one was to show those crummy Soviets how godless they were.
Good point. Yet, many of the politically naive Obama Bashers here on CD will claim not to see the difference between the Democrat and Republican candidate. When the Bachman/Perry God fearing crew gets after the commie/liberal/pinko/tree-hugging/abortionist traitors of God and Country many will learn that "It Can Happen Here" The religious right has the guns and are very fearful of those who deny their world view informed by ancient mythology
oh, good, an obamabot is here to tell us all about how different O is from Bush. In spite of the evidence that they're governing in the same way.
Do tell me more about how O is going to end the war in Iraq, how he's going to shut down gitmo, how he's going to bring in universal health care, how he's going to provide jobs and prosperity for all citizens. I'm listening.
I agree with most of your article, except for the HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccine requirement is the result of lobbying by big pharma, especially Merck(http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14401), to garner even more profit from the state.
While 6,000 might sound like a lot, it's pretty minuscule compared to deaths from other ailments, and there's other options to protect oneself aside from having foreign bodies injected in oneself.
Yea, Marcotte flubbed the story on the HPV vaccine. Many of us in Texas were flabbergasted when we first heard that Perry approved the vaccine requirement. But then we found out that the vaccine was manufactured by Merck and Merck was one of Perry's biggest supporters, and so we could all rest easily, knowing that the world had not actually been turned upside down. After that came out, and the Religious Right began to give Perry hell, he backed down.
It is a shame that Marcotte and others flub the story because it is crucial in understanding Perry. Perry will throw the Religious Right under the bus in a heartbeat if he sees an advantage in it for Rick Perry. He is a pure opportunist, no doubt stupid as the day is long, but still an opportunist who will do whatever the powers that be want, which may and often does include bamboozling the poor confused members of the Religious Right to get their votes, as long as he gets his cut.
WTF do you think manufactures most vaccines? Big Pharma. So, by your argument, everyone should stop using vaccines?
Either you were responding to the above commenter, or you completely misunderstood my comment. I was explaining that Perry did not approve of the vaccine because he had any concern for the long-term welfare of the young girls of Texas, but because he was in the pocket of Merck. He temporarily exposed himself as a fraud to the Christians, but many of them have short memories and most forgave him. But it is important in understanding Perry to recognize that he is a faux Christian and that virtually everything he says or does is motivated simply by his lust for money and power. He doesn't even hide it well, though in Texas, which is dominated by certain industries that he serves, he does not have to.
Fair enough.
The reality is that few of these pols are actually religious Christian nutters. Bachmann actually is one, but, IMHO, none of the others are. They mouth the words.
Nonetheless, Marcotte's point still stands. Whether Perry is faux or not, regardless of Perry's motivations, Marcotte's point is the separation between religion and gov.
Visiting with a pair of lifelong Texas residents/retirees yesterday, the wife observed that in addition to being known in Texas as Mr. Big Hair, Rick Perry was also tagged as Mr. Big Crotch from his years in the Texas legislature when his chosen attire was very, very tight fitting pants which nicely outlined his genitals. And Perry was known for frequently adjusting their position. Best leave it to the amateur psychologist in each of us to interpret this but it does seem clear that he wasn't shy about advertising/empha-"sizing" his own sexual equipment. Maybe there's some video out there somewhere. And what a hoot to get Perry's fundamentalist fans take on his legislative act. Was it Perry's version of sex education with the male anatomy in barely concealed display? Maybe it is just that endless macho male game of "Mine's bigger than yours".? Now ponder what Mitt Romney is doing with his California beach house. Demolish a multi-million dollar house and replace it with one three times as big. And he has three other houses to boot. Catching up with McCain. So who's got more and whose is bigger? Waiting expectantly for the other candidates to enter the "mine's bigger" competition.
I hereby volunteer to ball his ass. My crazy landlord will too and the dude running the scrap yard across over across the creek will bring some axle grease!
hoooo-eeee!
When that HPV vaccine come out and there was a big push to make it mandatory for all eleven-year-old girls to get, the thought flashed in my mind that a day will come, a year from now, or in twenty, when those vaccinated will pay dearly for what the adults had done to them. I was very thankful when making it mandatory didn't pass. But of course I won't be around to see if my thought was a premonition or just a random thought. I truly hope it's the latter.
If you do your homework ....since when has any vaccination been safe.
Yes, think of how many thousands of children are crippled each year by polio... Oh, right...
Wait, what about all those kids who die from smallpox every year... Oh, yah...
Ummm, there might indeed be some small risk from the vaccine, but the certainty of death or serious injury from NOT vaccinating people is far more grave. Literally.
Says someone who grew up in a rich modern western society, who has never had to face the spectre of smallpox, polio, measles, being fatal.
You do know that smallpox, polio and every other disease known to man used to sweep through western society as regularly as the seasons a few decades ago, eh? Diseases never respect the colour barrier, or the economic one for that matter.
From NaturalNews.com Tues Aug 23 Article by Christina Luisa: Rick Perry_Big Pharma's Candidate [www.naturalnews.com/033410_Rick_Perry_Big_Pharma.html ]:
Rick Perry has officially announced he is running for president... Not only does Perry have a bad track record - including having the death and harm of young women on his hands -- he "has shown himself to be a very duplicitous & deceptive politician...
There are many reasons that you don't want this guy holding office of any kind, least of all president. If you don't remember the forced vaccinations of young girls with Gardasil back in 2006 and 2007, let's get you up to speed.
In Feb 2007 Texas Governor Perry issued an executive order that bypassed the will of the Texas people and the entire legislature, mandating the vaccination of young girls -- in Grade 6 in Texas -- with the HPV vaccine Gardasil.
Merck, the pharmaceutical company in charge of the villainous venture and the chief distributor of the vaccine, was the same drug company that was reported to have given thousands of dollars to Perry's campaign efforts (http://www.politicolnews.com/gardas...).
Gardasil was approved by the FDA in June 2006 & then rushed to the market without proper testing through clinical trials, as more of an experiment than a vaccine that was proven effective. Only 8 months later Gov. Perry signed the executive order mandating this vaccine to all young girls (and later young boys were also made to be vaccinated).
Gov. Rick Perry knowingly lied and told Texas families that he had the power to force their young girls to be vaccinated with Gardasil, the same vaccine that he knew was killing people in the few test trials that were run on it.
This fraud of a vaccine is not only completely worthless as a medical method for protecting girls from cervical cancer, it is also obviously lethal - a fact that was proved after there were countless cases of adverse reactions and multiple deaths reported after the vaccine was administered.
Only four months after Perry signed his order for mandated Gardasil vaccines, there were 13 cases of adverse vaccine reactions reported to FDA's VAERS system, a database of Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting system. There were thousands more negative reactions reported that were never touched by the mainstream media. Thus Gov Perry should have dismantled his executive order - yet didn't.
Judicial Watch reported through documents they received under the FOIA Act that thousands of girls reported adverse reactions to the vaccine shortly after receiving the shot (http://www.politicolnews.com/india-...).
By June 2008 there were multiple reports surfacing of girls having convulsions, going into comas and dying after being given the vaccine. Still, Perry did not remove his mandated vaccine law in Texas until he was finally forced to do so by lawmakers and parents when they learned they had been misinformed that Gardasil was proven to prevent cervical cancer.
One 19-year-old girl was given the vaccine and was found dead in her bed the next morning. Over 10 young mothers reported spontaneous abortions occurred after the vaccine was administered to them, and countless more were seriously damaged or made significantly physically ill as a the result of the Gardasil vaccine.
Gardasil has caused many deaths in school-aged girls around the world -- from India and Indonesia to Australia, all of which have all halted the administration of Gardasil vaccines completely due to the deaths...
One of Merck's main lobbyists, Mike Toomey, served as Perry's chief of staff; in other words, a former man of top power for the governor now works for Merck, the same Big Pharma company that funded the campaign for Perry.
Perry used dictatorial power to mandate - with a lack of any public debate or approval - the mass vaccination of young girls with a dangerous drug that earned millions of dollars in profit money for Merck.... Perry acted as Merck's ace in the hole, and now he will be their man in the White House if the corrupt company has their way. THUS WE CANNOT ALLOW RICK PERRY TO BECOME PRESIDENT!!!
_______________________________________________________________________
IMO this is far more reason to fear this guy than his so-called 'religious' beliefs [or lack there-of]. But the author apparently thinks Perry's decision regarding Gardasil was a GOOD THING. This is how screwed up so many so-called 'liberal leftists' have become in their thinking. Too often they put too much emphasis on whether someone believes in Biblical principles, but then think that a guy who abused his authority to enforce a mandate for a potentially dangerous drug [specifically targeted to teen-aged girls & young women] - while all the time in cahoots w that Drug's maker & distributer - was a GOOD THING?! - Because it falls in-line w their so-called feminist political agenda?!...
Your Natural News link appears to be playing games details. I cannot find any Australian gov site that says Australia has halted the administration of Gardasil completely.
A search of the Aussie gov's TGA site:
http://www.tga.gov.au/index.htm
shows nothing to back up Natural News' claim about Australia.
As for Indonesia, AFAICT, Gardasil is available, but not paid for by the Indo gov, ie, if you want it, you pay out of your own pocket.
Furthermore, if it is "on record" that Gardasil has caused the death of MANY school aged girls around the world, Natural News should have no problem providing some evidence for that claim, ie some academic article in a medical journal for example, or any evidence for that matter, yet do they not. They make a lot of claims, but do not provide any kind of evidence. (note, I am not arguing in favour of HPV vaccination, just that I find your Natural News link a bit hysterical and over the top)
Do you dispute the Rick Perry / Merck connections made in this Natural News article? If not then- unless Gardasil [which especially targeted teen-aged school girls by Perry's mandate] was / is proven very SAFE & EFFECTIVE- doesn't this smack of POLITICAL CORRUPTION?!
Do you dispute that initially Merck claimed Gardasil was 75% effective against targeted HPV infections, then they dropped it 35%, then it went down to 17% ...? Sounds like they were over-hyping & faking evidence for their product which they stood to make $BILLIONS on - especially if mandated by the Gov of a state the size of TX.
Just that alone is enough to question every thing about this episode - ESPECIALLY THE MERCK & RICK PERRY CONNECTION!
I think yours is a common 'Miss the Forest for Trees' / 'Lost in the Devil of the Details' Mistake... The point of the article was about more than the dubious safety & effectiveness of Gardasil [as important as that is] - JUST AS Important- it's about corrupt politics - the unHOLY matrimony of Gov't w Big BIZ [IE: Prostitution of Gov't Officials' Services - bought & paid for by the Corp Elites]! Its about a high Gov't official ABUSING his authority to MADATE [using Dictatorial / Undemocratic Power - in the same way that the Gov'nrs of WI & OH have abused their authority to attacked public-sector workers for the benefit of BIG-BIZ] that all 6th grade & up school girls in TX be vaccinated for a basically non-communicable infection which is unlikely to have any serious health effects in the long-run, & if so will certainly take decades to develop! In doing so he usurped parental authority [vis-a-vis their own daughters] in the process [IE: he didn't give the parents the option to decide whether or not to have their daughter vaccinated]! AND THE WHOLE TIME THIS PERRY GUY WAS GETTING POLITICAL PAY-OFFS [IE:Campaign Contributions] BY THAT SAME DRUG'S MAKER [MERCK]!!! AND NOW THIS SAME GUY WANTS TO BE US PRES?!!!
No, I do not dispute Perry's connections with Merck. What I am disputing is the claims made by Natural News.
What I am disputing is your claim that:
"his is how screwed up so many so-called 'liberal leftists' have become in their thinking. Too often they put too much emphasis on whether someone believes in Biblical principles, but then think that a guy who abused his authority to enforce a mandate for a potentially dangerous drug [specifically targeted to teen-aged girls & young women] - while all the time in cahoots w that Drug's maker & distributer - was a GOOD THING?! - Because it falls in-line w their so-called feminist political agenda?!."
And it isn't "missing the forest for the trees". Natural News might have good intentions, intentions I might even agree with, but, when they so blatantly overstate their case, when they appear to be lying, they are not doing anyone good. Australia is one of the major proponents of HPV vaccination, anyone who pays any attention to the HPV vaccination issue would immediately find that claim about Australia very suspicious.
The response to people like Perry spreading around lies, spreading around Fear, Uncertainty and Despair, is not to engage in the same behaviour, to spread more FUD of your own. Answering lies with more lies just ends up with you being discredited.
The vaccine might be dangerous. It might also be beneficial. Spreading around hysteria about it, as your link does, as you are doing, as is increasingly common among those who oppose any and all vaccines categorically, certainly does not benefit girls and young women.
[From Wikipedia- Cervical Cancer’s Cofactors:
The American Cancer Society provides the following list of risk factors for cervical cancer: human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, smoking, HIV infection, chlamydia infection, stress and stress-related disorders, dietary factors, hormonal contraception, multiple pregnancies, exposure to the hormonal drug diethylstilbestrol [DES], and family history of cervical cancer. Early age at first intercourse and first pregnancy are also considered risk factors, magnified by early use of oral contraceptives. There is a possible genetic risk associated with HLA-B7...
Women who have many sexual partners (or who have sex with men who had many other partners) have a greater risk…
Use of condoms reduces, But Does NOT ALWAYS PREVENT TRANSMISSION…. In males,.. HPV is thought to grow preferentially in the epithelium of the penis’ glands, and cleaning of this area {&/or circumcision – my note} may be preventative.]
NOTE: HPV / HIV / Chlamydia infections suggest promiscuity. Early age intercourse & pregnancy = teen-age sex. Hormonal contraception = Birth Control Pills. SMOKING – Speaks for Itself. Plus - Poor [fast food / junk food] Diet & other Stress conditions [IE: poverty, poor sanitation, lack of access to medical care, etc.] - are the major co-factors in cervical cancer.
But for too many so-called ‘liberal feminists’ [like this author] their “Magic Bullet Theory’ says “Lets just focus on one factor HPV’ [via Gardasil & Cervix] – Not advise children to ‘If at all possible avoid sex until adult-hood [IE: age 18y+ ] & MOST DEFINITELY REFRAIN from having more than 1 sex-partner' [FYI: SEX = vaginal, oral, &/or anal]. However 'If you insist on HI-Risk sexual activity- then at-least use a condom & get regular medical check-ups' [PS: there’s nothing wrong w regular medical check-ups for every-one any-way]- NOTE: This approach is documented to have worked quite well in Uganda.
Because too many so-called ‘liberal feminists’ insist on saying ‘Abstinence doesn’t work’ when in fact it is the only thing that’s virtually 100% GUARANTEED TO WORK [for both preventing STD / VD infections & un-wanted pregnancy] IF [& only if] YOU WORK IT FAITHFULLY! By contrast condoms are only 85% effective as a contraceptive [& even less effective against HIV infections] & that’s only if you use it EVERY-TIME YOU HAVE SEX! I wonder how many of these so-called ‘liberal feminist’ talking heads who go out their way to diss abstinence [IE: this author & Rachel Maddow, etc] ARE ACTUALLY PARENTS [Ms Maddow, an avowed lesbian, is almost certainly not]?! And these ‘liberal feminists’ [let alone the Big Pharma drug makers] will NEVER advise caution / avoidance when it comes to using birth-control pills! NO for too many so-called liberals this is too much like ‘Legislating Morality’ – even if it is Truly FACT-BASED [not merely Faith-Based]!
Hell few even mention smoking [& most likely alcohol consumption too] as a known risk factor for cervical cancer. Let alone the mal-nutritional role of the fast food / junk food SAD diet that too many of our children [& adults] over-consume in addition to the stress of poverty! NO – for too many like this author their ‘Magic Bullets’ boil down to Gardasil [vaccines] & Condoms!!! This doctrine conveniently assures that BIG PHARMA continues to rake-in BIG BUCKS!
PS: Since you are so concerned about Natural News over-stating their case against Gardasil - lets apply the same standard to Merck & this author. Merck initially claimed that Gardasil was 75% effective against HPV linked cervical cancer. Then that number dropped by half to about 35%, & then in half again to about 16.5%. Thus Merck was most likely 'Stacking their Data Deck' & 'Cooking their Books' concerning Gardasil from the GET-GO!
AND- This author states: 'The fact that Perry feels he has to apologize for putting the health of Texas girls ahead of fundamentalist over-the-top hatred of female sexuality--hatred that now runs so deep that they support letting 4,000 women a year die of cervical cancer...'
BUT That 4000 number is the estimated cervical cancer deaths/yr for All OF the US & FOR ALL CAUSES [not just HPV]. Thus TX [= 8.33% of the total US Population] accounts for more like 335 of those deaths/yr. But since Gardasil is only effective in about 1 in 6 cases- the actual number that Rick Perry's mandate MAY have prevented is about 55 - 56 [about 50 - 60] of those deaths / yr!
Abstinence doesn't work. How often has it been tried, how often has it failed vs succeeding, compared to a public health approach?
"O for too many so-called liberals this is too much like ‘Legislating Morality’ – even if it is Truly FACT-BASED [not merely Faith-Based]!"
Nope, it isn't fact based. Your anti-vaccination "Evil Big Pharma" at all costs screed is hardly fact based. And the use of Gardasil is not as some magic bullet, but simply as a bullet, one tool.
"S: Since you are so concerned about Natural News over-stating their case against Gardasil - lets apply the same standard to Merck & this author."
You completely miss my point. That Merck lies, does not make Natural News' lies legitimate. Merck is lying, Natural News is also lying. And anyone citing and linking that Natural News article, that is you, is also lying.
Abstinence doesn't work?... Is it not a scientific-biological & PHYSICAL fact that if you refrain from sexual activity it is 100% IMPOSSIBLE to become pregnant [female] or to impregnate [male] [disregarding in-vitro fertilizations & The so-called 'Immaculate Conception' myth]?! Is it also a fact that if you do not have sexual contact it is virtually IMPOSSIBILITY to acquire &/or transmit STD / VD infections?! And is it also a fact that NO pharmaceutical modality &/or drug [pick your choice] can give a virtual 100% guarantee of protection against unwanted pregnancy or STD / VD infection &/or transmission?
This does NOT require a long drawn out dissertation... ONLY a YES or NO Answer is required!
Since the only Truthful answer to these questions is YES - then your assertions are rooted in politics - NOT TRUTH! Thus any failure is due to transmission &/or reception as it relates to adherence to the Abstinence Message, NOT BECAUSE THERE'S A FLAW IN THE BASIC METHODOLOGY! But since you [like this author ] seem to have so much FAITH & Trust in a BIG Corp, BIG PHARMA giant like MERCK - because its all about science - so they would NEVER 'Fudge the Numbers' nor co-opt poly-tricksters like Rick Perry- FOR THEIR OWN PROFIT.... [FYI: I totally reject your assertion that there’s a moral equivalency between Natural News on one hand -&- the MERCK / Rick Perry / Gardasil connection on the other!]
Now for my position on vaccines in general & Gardasil & Cervarix in particular - which I come from a parent's perspective. Except there is a major out-break [or in its immediate aftermath] of a very virulent, deadly & highly communicable disease [which HPV infection is not] - it should be up to the parent(s) to make a fully informed decision as to whether their children should or should not be vaccinated - & Gov't should respect that decision. They call it 'freedom of parental choice' [since so many so-called 'liberals & feminist' claim to believe in 'freedom of choice' - except when it comes to principled, informed & thoughtful parental decisions regarding their own children]. The problem w too many commercial vaccines are too many have questionable safety &/or effectiveness records, are too often imbedded w known toxins [IE: mercury based preservatives, aluminum, etc], & then are too often forced down the public's throat via questionable Gov't mandates [IE: Rick Perry's Gardasil mandate or even Obama's health insurance mandate]- all the while w Big Parma Corps [or so-called 'health insurers'], like Merck, RACKING UP BIG TIME - In the Process!
Perry can lead 30,000 athiests in a day of godless thanksgiving for life.
Oh Heck. To think I will visit the U S A and Texas next month. (they are, metaphorically, separate aren't they?) I'm beginning to worry, it seems today's Texas is not the place I enjoyed in Jan/March 45.
There must be more than a handful of intelligent, thinking, free from religion Texans.
If not I'm going to be very lonely.
DDT from OC You are nearly right. It is just the "God" in which we trust can be,
like Lewis Carrol's admonition in"Alice".. "It can mean whatever I want it to mean. Any of the thousands of Gods invented over the millenia, Mammon included.
Someone commented recently: "The last time religion was confused with politics, people were burned at the stake." Later it occured to me that now we have more extreme poverty, drugs and HMO's.
Why everyone knows that in Texas men are men and the sheep are terrified.
"The fact that Perry feels he has to apologize for putting the health of Texas girls ahead of fundamentalist over-the-top hatred of female sexuality--hatred that now runs so deep that they support letting 4,000 women a year die of cervical cancer rather than do anything that could be construed as accepting that sex happens" Let's see, the "they" of "they support letting 4,000 women . . ." can only refer to the "Texas girls" as that is the only antecedent in the sentence that is plural. So Texas girls support 4,000 women dying of cervical cancer a year. I don't think that is what she meant. But if she meant that Perry supports those 4,000 deaths that would be wrong also as the 4,000 refers to the total in the US and not only those in Texas. This is a very misleading statement by the author. (I think she wanted to say that fundamentalists do not care about those 4,000 women).
I thought the idea was presented clearly...
Sorry to feel the necessity to observe that the theory of vaccination is not inherently wrong. It is the adulteration of the process taken over by Big Pharma---which finds vaccines less profitable than chronic disease, as well as the gutting the the U.S. public health system (see Laurie Garrett for starters on the betrayal...).
Profit before people, yea...
-30-
Corporate science is very corrupt, an Italian medical researcher team a few years ago found evidence in 40% of corporate medical studies showed signs of fakery. Some other studies just had their fakery more cleverly hidden. The rich can afford the extra expensive vaccines made in Europe without the brain poison neurotoxin preservatives mercury, formaldehyde and aluminum. These single unit shots from the factory without the poisons are more expensive so the drug companies are not interested in doing this for everyone. Vaccines are now genetically engineered. A gene is involved with more than one set of genes producing more than one chemical. Thus altering genes for one chemical produces unknown other chemicals. Thus the dangerous effects of genetically engineered food and vaccines. The fascist old rich banking families control the pharmaceutical, petroleum and high tech weapon corporations. They are destroying human society and life on Earth.
Vaccines are created by Big Pharma, yes, but once we get some brains/morality instilled into the American psyche, we will reorder society so that health issues are not dealt with in a for-profit manner. Also, by then we hopefully will have dropped that paranoid vaccines-cause-autism bullshit from our discourse as well. (I say that as the parent of an autistic child who has never been vaccinated, and whose other parent refuses to consider vaccination--a very contentious dispute in our family, and one which I fear will have unhealthy consequences down the road.) Of course, actually instilling brains and real morality into the American psyche will probably require reordering society as a prerequisite, so I'm not holding my breath. As for Perry, I suspect he is slightly less of a theocrat than Bachmann, but only because his ruthlessness and self-interest outweigh his religious nature. Both of them scare the royal fuck out of me.
"has quickly came to demonstrate "?