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Sunday, January 29, 2012

You’ve Got to be Kidding

I used to think that Texas led the nation in wacky and unnecessary laws but we have to step aside for Oklahoma. Oklahoma passed a law banning Sharia law. It's a state where females are forbidden from doing their own hair without being licensed by the state. On a serious note, the Oklahoma Legislature overrode Gov. Brad Henry’s veto on two anti-abortion bills, one of which gives doctors immunity from being sued if they conceal information about a fetus’s possible birth defects from a pregnant patient. However, state Senator Ralph Shortey introduced a bill banning the use of the human fetuses in food, takes the cake. (No pun intended).

This is the same senator who came in with the 2010 wave of tea party folks, who wrote a bill denying Oklahoma citizenship (what da?) to children of illegal immigrants born in another state. Additionally he submitted a bill that would allow Oklahoma to confiscate homes and cars of illegal immigrants. As if that wasn't enough he also wrote a bill which would have required presidential candidates to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed on an Oklahoma primary ballot. Needless to say, none of those bills became law.

The Oklahoma Republican said that he did his research and was astonished to find that he had become the joke of the nation. I heard about this bill on HBO's Bill Maher, but I had no idea what it was about until I read more about it in today's Houston Chronicle. The senator's research was an article, he saw about reports of a 2010 boycott of the Pepsi Company by the Children of God for Life, an anti- abortion group based in Florida. The boycotters claim that Pepsi Company was in contract with Semomyx, a San Diego firm that the allegedly was using human embryonic stem cells in the testing of artificial flavors. Pepsi and Semomyx, they denied the allegations and the Fed food safety officials had never heard of such a thing.

Senator Ralph Shortey's assistant wrote a couple of paragraphs stating," no person or entity shall manufacturer or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption, which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which use of aborted human fetuses in the research development of any of the ingredients." When pressed, “Are fetuses being chopped up and put in our Doritos? Shortey asked. "No." The senator said he had thick skin and didn't care what people think of him. Obviously! This is just the first leg of the senator’s legislation named SB1418 it still has to go before a committee after some revisions.

These bills are examples of how legislators misuse state and Federal governments. The senator could have made his complaints known to the Federal food safety for them to investigate. The Federal government already has laws on what companies can and can't do with discarded embryos. I don't know whether this is a continuation of a recent appetite for state rights or just another exaggeration from pro-life groups to get sympathy from those who are opposed to government intrusion.

This is another one of those " It depends on what the meaning of is, is" that was uttered by President Bill Clinton when he was quizzed about the Monica Lewinsky affair. What are useless regulations that keep our companies from prospering? Can laws meant to apply to everyone be called government intrusion on the Catholic Church? Obviously, the discussions were led in part to the anniversary of the passage of Roe v Wade, but that doesn't mean we have to lose our sensibility or respect for our fellow human being. I saw where one poster called those that are not in lockstep with a pro-life movement “pro abortion" meaning it's an " either you're with us or against us" proposition for him. I've never seen a compromise come between a mindset like that. Hopefully, we have intelligent people that rise above the hyperbole and work on reducing abortions, while respecting the life and the health of the mother.

46 comments:

Mike said...

My wife and I just got back from our Sunday drive and as we were turning on Lindwood ,she said something that got to thinking..she said" You know the bike & walk trail,Lone Tree Park and the Caterpillar had to part of a coordinated plan." I  know of the time  differences in the building of those projects but it didn't take us over 10 minutes to drive  from the Business Park to  Airline even at a slower pace and the lights...  I can even see Memorial being part of the plan with   stadium renovations ...I know that I'm of the most uninterested persons when it comes to local politics but it seems to me someone or others have a grand vision....I know it's way off topic but I leave this as a note  to look back on to see if view had any basis.

Legion said...

If you go back through my comment history, I mentioned during the UHV switch thing that steps had been taken to extend Airline. Namely the Miori Rd. fire house.

A multi-million dollar firehouse gets built to supposedly replace a "old" firehouse less than two miles away on Airline, and according to Google maps, about 1.3 miles from the former newest multi-million dollar firehouse on Salem Rd.

I did not now about Caterpillar then, but like I said then, is it not convenient that a new firehouse was built that overlaps the Salem Rd. station, not really when the big plans of UHV become UV-AM and relocating to a extended Airline came to light.

Legion said...

Good grief, I could have written that better, but you get my drift.

I must need some fetus food!!!!! Good thing I don't live in Oklahoma. ;)

Mike said...

You know now that I'm thinking about it ,you mentioned Airline several times and I couldn't
figure out why because Airline was not mentioned in the original story...You know,my wife and I did question the new firehouse...We are still questioning the closeness of O'Conner and Torres elementary.....We might have the answer in 20 years..lol

Legion said...

Something I thought about after I posted.

Way back in the late 70's early 80's, when the northward expansion of Victoria had just started, I thought it can't go on.

Eventually the expansion northward will reach the Welder, Villifranca and formerly Murphy land and they won't sell no matter the price.

Lo and behold, the expansion is almost there. Now the Buhlers show signs of selling so Eastward it is.

Mike said...

Pretty observant but I've know Arnold,Manuel and old man Villafranca for a long time but I  always thought they were about money...The children became lawyers etc. and farming land was not in their interest but I may be wrong...Do you remember if the land Target sets on belonged to the Miori family or Neumann ?I think it was Neumann and Miori had the area where the Siesta is....You have a good grasp of Victoria.

Edith Ann said...

I often wonder about those folks who think up idiotic bills, expecting them to be passed! Well, what I really like is how crusty old men think they know what is right for a woman. Crusty old men don't get a say until one of two things happen--they grow a uterus, or they agree to have their ex-wife/girlfriend/mistress perform their prostate exams and surgery on them.

Anyway--

Legion could probably confirm this, but it has long been the rumor that the real estate groups (members of TREPAC) have orchestrated the direction of growth in this town. Ever wonder why 59 to Edna is not more built up with business?

I do believe there is a larger master plan, if you will, for growth in this town, and those discussions take place over drinks at the VCC or after the Tuesday Morning Partners Meetings. It not like it a formal document, but there is at least a notion. I do believe that.

Look at the size of Victoria--according to the City, every residential water customer got a recycle cart. They said they delivered 20,000. This is 20,000 homes, no businesses. Do we need 300 real eastate agents to handle this volume? I don't think so!

Legion is right. Subtle stuff all leading to the same conclusion. But of course no one is going to say what the real motive is behind many of these things.

I do believe they are positioning things for the great Bust-Out that I am sure they will beging to tout. The mayor has already said he wants one more term--he's not through with his plans...those will be that we are on the cusp of great things out 59.

I understand Paco Buhler is not in the best of health and his son is helping manage things. Back to what I said two or more years ago--Buhler will sell to the highest bidder, and they were all hoping that was UHV. With Tim Hudson exiting, perhaps, Texas Tech, that whole UHV fiasco seems to be dead in the water.

Mike said...

Actually I saw it differently without all the detail..As,Legion said the growth started north (mall,new schools,housing) but then it stopped and now the attention is on east central where we are.I think some people have a great vision for growth and we are not getting the full picture ,if you get what I mean.
But I am beginning to see your point but I lack a lot of background.

I have said that if men could get pregnant,there would be an abortion clinic on every block and they would advertise them on billboards.

Legion said...

The land where Target is was the Neumanns, I think the Mioris owned the land where Academy and Kohls are at now.

I wonder how Victoria would have grown if Foster Field would have been closed two years later than it was. Congress had already approved funding for improvements, including the extension of Airline to FF.

Mike said...

Good work Legion...I think you are right,I think Fred Neumann married a Miori..Funny how that works out...:-)

I've always thought FF needs to be leveled and renovated...That's the gateway to Victoria and all people see is rundown buildings and one or two old planes on the tarmac.

Edith Ann said...

According to "The History and Heritage of Victoria County", "In 1956 Fred [Neumann], Jr., married Marjorie Conti..." His brother Cecil married Shirley Jecker.

Fred, Sr., the father of these two, was married to Mary Jane Farley. After her death (when her boys were 6 and 7, Fred Sr. married Elizabeth Baass.

The two boys and their father establish Neumann Food Store in 1948.

Also, according to the same book, Fred, Sr., with his WWI veteran's bonus, Fred bought a small farm and that is now where Target is located.

Next question...

Mike said...

The Contis are related to the Miori family..At least that's what Marjorie Neumann told me.....My memory went astray a little bit....It's more like merging families accumaling wealth was the point I was making.

Edith Ann said...

I could not confirm that with my books, but I am sure that would be the case. Those early families were very tight-knit and had their own social circles. I can remember reading about the club that the Syrian women of the community formed to provide a venue for friendships and assimilation (that a poor word choice, but I think you know what I mean) into the community.

Mike said...

legion
I know it's on a different time scale and perhaps totally unrelated but the widening and resurfacing of Sam Houston street makes access to the projects much much better...

I've heard more people complimenting the Sam Houston project because of the fast pace of their work and the result of their handiwork; I'm sure some are complaining about the maze we have to drive through.. :-)

Perhaps I'm seeing more into it than there really is but last Sunday I got a glimpse of Victoria growing and moving in the right direction.

Mike said...

Exactly EA
I've been to parties where the Neumanns,Mioris,Contis were merged and one side they were talking cattle and farmland but Fred liked to talk about the stock market(differne int type of stock).

Yes the Dick's, Cattans, and Hyaks, had a corner market on small good quality friendly grocery stores.

The Villafrancas we're into farming and then moved to owning the Westerner, and other ventures. The family moved into law degrees and now one of the grandsons took over the running of the Westerner.They put their good fortunes to good use.

I just have to shake my head at the success of those families, when I learned that my ancestors owned 3/4 block of land of what is San Antonio street, but each brother sold their lot for pennies on a dollar just to blow it. My grand parents held on but when they died the heirs sold the last lot for a lot less than it was worth because a lot of it went to lawyers and realtors, they trusted. It might be just as well because the only business close to it is City Plumbing but it doesn't matter because they didn't have vision or patience.
Point is,land was cheap and some families took advantage of that.

Mike said...

Yikes! That's supposed to be different...lol,I thought my typing skills had improved because I typed that sentence pretty fast but "upon further notice"..:-)

Rebecca said...

My mom's maiden name is Jecker.

Mike said...

Rebecca
So you are a blue blood?.:-)..The Jeckers came in to Indianola in 1851 but they must be important because the first place we rented was on Jecker Street...You had to be someone to have a street named after you.

Rebecca said...

My grandpa Jecker dated an O'Conner. But, apparently she dumped him after he told her, when asked what he wanted to do with his life, "I want to live comfortably and make sure there is a roof over my family's head and that there is always a meal on the table." That wasn't good enough, apparently.

My grandpa has some really funny stories about how he got kicked out of high school (St. Joe's) several times. Once for slamming his locker too loud. I was like, "Grandpa! That was before people got in trouble for chewing gum in class!"

Mike said...

lol...A long time ago, a coworker had to leave work to pick up his expelled son -for holding hands with a girl on school grounds @ St. Joe.

And now you were also as elite as you can be ,if your grandpa would have married an O'Conner...:-)

Rebecca said...

Oh! He was the captain of the football team and while going down the stairs, the team would his a window (I assume the window frame). One day one of the guys on the team his the glass and broke the window. When the principal asked who did it, my grandpa, because he was captain of the football team, thought that he should take responsibility. "I did." he said. He was kicked out of school - again. LOL

My grandpa taught me how to shoot free-throws. (He was on the basketball team, too.) He taught me form so that I would never miss.

He also used to read books to the grandchildren. I say that he SCREAMED books at us. He would read, "You nasty dirty rotten kittens! You soiled your mittens!" He made Three Little Kittens sound like Three Little Verbally Abused Kittens.

Rebecca said...

*hit a window

*hit the glass

My dirty rotten typing skills!

Rebecca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike said...

The "Good ol boys" is all about sour grapes over the last election..IMO

Unsubstantiated charges of criminal behavior without any evidence and blown way out of proportion...I understand a series of complaints here and there because I've never heard of a city/county government being able to satisfy everyone.

Mike said...

I wish I could get a definitive answer as to whether Susan Komen's decision not to give grants to planned Parenthood was due to pressure from anti-choice groups.

Sugar Magnolia said...

Of course it was, Mike. Don't think for a moment it wasn't political.

Any organization can come up with new "rules" and "exceptions" to suit the situation at hand. Out of over 200 groups SGK gives handouts to, do they expect me to believe all of a sudden that PP is the exception to a NEW rule they decided to make up? Please.

I never liked SGK anyway, personally. The whole pink thing is overblown and a HUGE moneymaker for SGK. God forbid somebody would use their precious pink ribbon symbol, they get a lawsuit slapped on them. Nevermind other diseases such as lung cancer and heart disease are far greater killers of women than breast cancer ever has been.

SGK can kiss my sweet bippy. OF COURSE IT'S POLITICAL. And if I decide to donate money to a cause, you can bet it will be going to PP in a PINK envelope (and I really hate the color pink), and NEVER to SGK. You better believe that's political on my part, too! If SGK can play games, so can I!

Mike said...

I'm inclined to agree but there is that denial that has to be traced down..The director said it was because PP was under federal investigation but it may be more of "Karen Handel, who was hired by Komen last year as vice president for public policy after losing a campaign for governor in Georgia in which she stressed her anti-abortion views and frequently denounced Planned Parenthood.Continued."

http://tinyurl.com/7q7bt8k

Sugar Magnolia said...

Mike - EXACTLY. So is it any surprise? Did they think the public is really so stupid as to not see through their political games?

Just saw breaking news that SGK is reversing their decision. Too late; the damage has already been done. I hope they go down in flames.

Mike said...

How did I get in this pickle I'm in at the VA?...:-)

Sugar Magnolia said...

Mike, when you deal with religious extremist nuts, you can't win. No fault of yours, but you will never change their mind. I don't even get into discussions anymore with Mary Ann or Jared when it comes to religion. Reason is too much to ask when dealing with a catholic.

Sugar Magnolia said...

Mike, you have my sympathy for having wasted your time on the VA. I see the thread has been shut down and all comments removed. So all that is left standing is the unbelievably out-of-touch LTTE that started it in the first place.

See why I don't even bother anymore?

Mike said...

Sugar
I was wondering why I haven't seen your comments @ the VA....You know, maryann and I started pretty good and then everything went south....I don't know where Jared's question came from...I answered but he didn't respond...I noticed the comment section was closed..Did someone get out of line?Perhaps I was too harsh on Maryann and Jared.

Edith Ann said...

Mike and Sugar--

Go here and find comment #29 by a Lynne--

http://juanitajean.com/2012/02/03/because-theres-no-quittin-for-strong-women-and-the-men-who-really-love-us/#comments

Check out the SGK salaries...

Sugar Magnolia said...

Went to your link, Edith Ann, and I'm not surpised at all. The pink yogurt lids, pink tennis shoes, blah blah blah, I wish that people would realize so precious little of that goes to actual cancer research. And has anybody heard of any astounding breakthroughs in the treatment/detection of breast cancer within the last 20 years? Anybody? Not me. And I work in the medical field. No astonishing cures, no real advancements. Of course, the digital technology has gotten better, but that is true throughout the medical field, and not due in any part to SGK. So....if breakthroughs are not being made, charities are not receiving their grants, well.....yeah I think we can clearly see where the money goes. I have always suspected SGK was a huge scam. And don't get me wrong, I don't believe it started out that way; I do believe it's goals in the beginning were honorable and good, and it was run very well. Over the years, it has morphed into a pure money-making machine, and make no mistake, the head honchos do like their perks. So there ya go. I think this little fiasco will damage SGK far more than PP. Maybe there is such a thing as Karma after all.

Mike, from the thread I saw, and only the last couple of comments, I think from you and writein I didn't get to fully see, I really don't know why it was shut down. I have seen far worse left standing. But I won't even try to guess the reasoning of the VA. But truthfully, although stubborn, I thought everyone else was being respectful for the most part. I did notice that little missive by Jared got removed before the thread closed; his was the nastiest in tone that I saw on the thread, but even so, not really in violation....I just wish there were intelligent, non-accusatory discussions on the VA, the way there used to be. So many times in the past, we could actually LEARN from one another. Too bad. I know people have different opinions and religion and politics is inflammatory by its very nature, but to silence posters and shut down threads speaks a whole lot more of the VA's real motives than the commenters, I'm afraid.

Rebecca said...

It seems like some people are fighting more with people than they are FOR their cause. Also, when someone is so extreme, it starts to hint of mental disorders, and doesn't look genuine at all.

What is wild is that we probably all make the same life decisions and live in the same way, but because we don't use the same rhetoric, pick up the same causes, and argue to the same degree, we might be seen by some (extremists) as "enemies."

Mike and Edith, it seemed like you guys were just discussing something. I think there are people for whom a discussion is not in their mental make-up. Everything is a fight.

Don't be too hard on people. You never know what mistakes they have made that will put them forever in a state of ... making up for it.

Sugar Magnolia said...

Well now I just feel sorry for myself, as I have wasted my time on the VicAd too. I just made a small comment on the poorly written (surprise) article by Gheni in a bottle:

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2012/feb/02/gp_trial_sentencing_020312_166231/#c173383

Both ImRich and myself got deleted in rapid fashion. He just said it was the new journalism 101, you know kids fresh out of school as green as the local news. And I said, "Well, ImRich, it's either the poor journalism/formatting or the snippy, disrespectful responses by staff that have lead to subscribers canceling their subscriptions. Oh wait! My bad! It's BOTH!"

I can't say I didn't expect it. But then, there is another story that looked like it has some interesting comments, the one about the "teen" (yeah, right, he's 19) leading police on a chase, and went to read, and all the comments had been removed, and, you guessed it, the thread shut down.

And then there's this canned response from jpuente on PatB's blog about his "back" button bringing up pages of older VicAd stories: "What browser are you using? Sometimes certain browsers will cache in a weird way and that will be the result." Jeez, sounds just like what I was told when the VicAd was having issues, and I was communicating with the same person who kept insisting there was something wrong on my end, the browser, the computer, etc. Of course, there wasn't. And of course it will never be the VicAd's problem.

And speaking of canned responses, these from Camille Doty: "Thank you for taking the time to read my article. It was truly a pleasure to write." Not exactly the response one would expect after a couple posters pointed out egregious typos in the article. I would say at least it is not disrespectful or snippy though. Just of no substance, like most of the VicAd. More words of wisdom from Doty: "Thank you all for taking the time to read my article"
And this: "Thank you for taking the time to read my blog" and "Thank you for your comment and taking the time to read my article. " "Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and commenting"

OK, I think yall get the idea. But even if Doty sounds like a broken record, at least she's polite. Gheni in a bottle could learn a thing or two from her.

I will stop now, I know you've heard enough from me and no sense beating a dead horse. Just had to get stuff off my chest.

Long story short, DON'T waste your time on the VicAd. There are more intelligent people on Google that follow you, Mike, Rebecca, Edith Ann. And at least we always show respect to one another. I don't know about y'all, but that was the way I was raised. Too bad others never learned manners. Peace, all.

Mike said...

Rebecca

I felt really bad because I thought it was something that I had posted that got the thread shut down...I was blindsided (I thought) by Jared because he's an old veteran in the pro life/religious arguments,so he knew exactly what I meant by not wanting the government intervention in a woman's right to choose..Roe v Wade is the law,so a mother that makes a very personal decision should not be automatically labeled "Pro-Abortion." We both know that term is meant to inflame and take the discussion to a different level...Then the discussion moves to "when does life begin?"

I've always had a cordial discussion with Mary Ann and Jared and yesterday,I expected more of the same....It caught me by surprised because I was mocked for keeping my politics secular and it went south from there..That's the way I saw it because I still think my words were taken out of context.

Mike said...

Sugar
My wife has fully recovered from breast cancer because they caught it's very early stages. It left an impact on he and she donated money to the Susan G. Komen foundation, bought a pink cell phone, wore the ribbon proudly and was sympathizing with the foundation until she heard it was political. As we watching various news reports she kept saying" that's just not right" something like this foundation should not be politicized."

Mike said...

You I had the same thoughts on the response to Pat Barnes's blog.."hit the back button?"

What's next?
1. If you are using Explorer "hit the back button"
2. If you are using FireFox " hit escape 3 times"
3. Safari reload page
4. Any other browser {reboot} and try again.
5. WE are OK here at the VA

Mike said...

EA
I went against my better judgement and commented on that thread but I naively thought we could keep it on the constitution,health care law,mandate or better yet politics.

Never no more..I've learned my lesson after getting burned for the umpteenth time.

Rebecca said...

I think it's wise to keep your politics secular. Living what you believe may not get you all the pats on the back from extremists, but it is the most genuine expression of faith.

I think it's a waste of time to argue with strangers and it's certainly not genuine to expect the government to be an expression of your faith. That's your job as you live.

Rebecca said...

I think MA got the thread shut down by violating one of the terms. D=

Mike said...

A few years back I received an angry e-mail from a poster saying that the words" I keep my politics secular" is equivalent to turning my back on my faith... That stuck with me because like you say, we're just strangers, yet they judged me...I responded with "ye of little faith"but then I felt bad because we no longer correspond...

I've always thought that one's upbringing,life experiences, and beliefs( Christian or non Christian) were the driving forces on what they believe.

Tread closing is getting to be routine.

Legion said...

I didn't see anything wrong with the comments,last one I read was at 7 last night, just a re-hash of the same discussion that has taken place many times before. This time with politics thrown in.

I really don't see anything wrong with the ruling, in fact I commented years ago about Medicaid covering births but not covering birth control. Seems kind of backwards to me.

Mike said...

Good insight,Legion
We had all the polite conservation taboos in one thread :RAP.....religion,abortion, and politics.

That's the point I was trying to make but not as well as you just did because I had two hurdles to cross....First if 95% of Catholics are on the pill ;what religion freedom was violated?And second, birth control cuts down on abortion..Yea I know it's murder to some and that's where I get trouble..I'll leave it at that.

Anonymous said...

You all have to be the most miserable people on the planet so sit around and criticize people all day long. Get a life.