COVID-19 & Healthcare

From DC to Texas: Men Behaving Badly (video)

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Texas-flagby Pamela Powers Hannley

From the failure of the Farm Bill to the ups and downs of Immigration Reform to last-minute,late night anti-abortion bills– it’s been a wild ride lately. And, the craziness is not likely to stop any time soon.

After the jump, check out several news stories and two videos which highlight [Republican] men behaving badly in the Congress and multiple state legislatures. Heavy sigh. Will this strategy of "subtraction" work for them in 2014 or 2016? I personally don't see how it can.

The GOP war on women: ‘This is Texas, baby. Remember the Alamo’

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

While the Christian Taliban is still working on its anti-abortion bill in the North Carolina Legislature, the Christian Taliban in the Republic of Texas Gilead wrapped up its work today, just in time for Sunday services!

The Texas Senate voted 19-11 early Saturday to pass sweeping
restrictions on abortions, the conclusion of a weeks-long standoff over
reproductive rights in the state.

Although the bill’s passage was all but assured, opponents still turned
out in droves. One T-shirt favored by protesters invoked another lost
cause: “This is Texas, baby. Remember the Alamo.” Fearing a disruption,
Department of Public Safety officials confiscated anything that could be
thrown from the gallery — leading some protesters to lose tampons,
condoms, glitter and other potential projectiles.

Tampons of mass destruction — who knew? You can carry a gun in the Texas Lege, but security will confiscate tampons? Wow.

Screenshot from 2013-07-13 15:36:54

“The fight for the future of Texas is just beginning,” said Sen. Wendy Davis (D) as the vote on the legislation she successfully filibustered last month neared.

Questions for Martha McSally: What is your position on women’s access to health care, contraception, and safe and legal abortions?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to
the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics — I am
not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

Preface: The GOP war on women continues unabated. Halfway Through 2013, States Have Already Enacted More Than 100 Provisions Related To Reproduction, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute. On Thursday, the North Carolina House Passed New Restrictions on Abortion. The Texas Senate takes up abortion this afternoon.

In 2012, the Arizona legislature enacted a 20-week ban on abortions, and attempted to defund Planned Parenthood clinics. Both measures have been enjoined by the federal court as violative of federal law, and the constitutional right to a abortion recognized in Roe. v. Wade.

The Arizona legislature also enacted a law granting an exemption to religious organizations to provide contraception coverage in health care insurance, and a Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law creating arbitrary standards that apply only to abortion clinics and providers aimed at closing down abortion clinics. A bill for unannounced surprise inspections of abortion clinics died late in the legislative session this year, because it would have been in violation of a court decision.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) last month introduced a similar 20-week ban on abortions in Congress to extend the ban to all states, which the GOP controlled House recently approved.

Martha McSally frequently refers to herself as a "woman warrior" (because she was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force). But will she be a "warrior for women"?

What is Martha McSally's position on women's access to health care, contraception, and safe and legal abortions?

PDA Street Heat: Prosperity Not Austerity Rally at Raul’s

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Poverty-sig-sm72by Pamela Powers Hannley

Progressives in Congress and across the country are fighting the tide of right wing extremism on multiple fronts– from food stamps to cuts in Social Security to stalled immigration reform to anti-woman legislation to austerity for the middle class, while the wealthy live high on the hog.

Congressman Raul Grijalva has been at the forefront of the progressive movement in Congress. As another budget battle heats up in the House of Representatives, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) want to thank our stalwarts like Grijalva, and at the same time want to celebrate Medicare's 48th birthday.

This rally at Grijalva's office  is part of a nationwide action at multiple Congressional offices by PDA and National Nurses United (NNU). The event is 10:30 a.m.-12 noon at the old YWCA (738 N. 5th Ave.)

At some locations– like Congressman Ron Barber's– PDA members will do letter drops urging Congressional representatives to support certain bills or issues. This month the focus is on prosperity vs austerity, Medicare expansion, jobs, and progressive financial legislation like the Robin Hood Tax. (More details below.) At Grijalva's office and others, there will be street heat rallies, as there were last month when PDA members were protesting cuts to food stamps nationwide and helped stop the Farm Bill.

Details are still being formulated; so, watch this blog and the PDA Tucson Facebook page for updates. Details after the jump.

Speaking truth to power at the Texas Lege

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Yet another hero emerges from the resistance to the Christian Taliban's war on women in the Republic of Texas Gilead. We need more people like Sarah Slamen who are fearless and willing to speak truth to power. Ann Richards and Molly Ivins would be proud of this fearless Texan woman. Texas woman pulled off Senate floor after fiery testimony against abortion bill:

Sarah Slamen left her home in central Texas at 5:30 a.m. Monday to
testify at the Austin Senate against the state’s controversial abortion
bill. She didn’t get to speak until 11:00 pm that night, after listening
to hours of what she described
as a “parade of anti-choice zealots and misogynists.” By the time she
was called, Slamen had scrapped her prepared speech about Gov. Rick
Perry’s sister’s ties to surgical centers and doctor-owned hospitals that would benefit from the bill’s passage, and went for the senators themselves.

“Thank you for being you, Texas legislature,” Slamen said. “You have
radicalized hundreds of thousands of us, and no matter what you do for
the next 22 days, women and their allies are coming for you. Let’s start
down the line. Senator Campbell, you’re an ophthalmologist. So I won’t
be making you the expert on reproductive health. We can give you all the
children with chlamydia and herpes in their eyes, since we don’t have
Sex Ed in this state.”

Video below the fold.