In early August, the City Council will consider an ordinance to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the discrimination ordinances in the city code. The proposal would ban anyone that has ever opposed (“demonstrated bias, by word or deed…”) homosexuality from being involved in city government and/or performing a city contract/subcontract. The proposed ordinance provides no exemptions for religious beliefs on homosexuality, even beliefs expressed in Church. - See more at: http://txvalues.org/2013/07/25/san-antonio-looks-to-ban-christians-from-city-government/#sthash.r9UdVQA2.dpufIn early August, the City Council will consider an ordinance to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the discrimination ordinances in the city code. The proposal would ban anyone that has ever opposed (“demonstrated bias, by word or deed…”) homosexuality from being involved in city government and/or performing a city contract/subcontract. The proposed ordinance provides no exemptions for religious beliefs on homosexuality, even beliefs expressed in Church.
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This ordinance is filled with serious legal (and moral) problems (see here for more detail).
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- The ordinance directly violates the First Amendment freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
- The ordinance violates the Texas Religious Freedom Act by infringing on religious liberty while not proving a compelling need for the law and not using the least intrusive way to address the issue.
- The ordinance further violates the Federal and Texas Constitutions by creating a de facto religious test for involvement in city government.
- The ordinance does not provide any protection for religious organizations, non-profits, or businesses, thus forcing these organizations to provide services that may be in direct violation of their religious beliefs.
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The continued push to accept homosexuality and redefine marriage will continue to put our precious religious freedoms in grave peril. As evidenced by this ordinance, little tolerance will be given to those, particularly Christians, that continue stand for the biblical truth on marriage and homosexuality. And, the successful passage of this ordinance will certainly tempt other cities in Texas to follow suit.
The Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance (WSFA) is always working to advance the recognition of sexual, gender, and family diversity. As the nation’s leading sexual freedom and human rights organization, honored by Proclamation in Washington, DC, we are uniquely positioned to bring together allies and partners, thereby maximizing our effectiveness and theirs. Together, with your support, we can move mountains! - See more at: http://www.woodhullalliance.org/about-us/#sthash.FTqzgwVe.dpuf
What did they do last year?!?
The Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance (WSFA) is always working to advance the recognition of sexual, gender, and family diversity. As the nation’s leading sexual freedom and human rights organization, honored by Proclamation in Washington, DC, we are uniquely positioned to bring together allies and partners, thereby maximizing our effectiveness and theirs. Together, with your support, we can move mountains!
What do they oppose?!?
We launched the Family Matters Project, which is dedicated to advancing and protecting the fundamental human right to family by eliminating discrimination based on family structure and relationship choices.
But at least they have a solid understanding of their friends and enemies, right?!?
Prostitution-free zones: Working with United Nations human rights treaties as a foundation, we testifiedin Washington, DC against proposed “Prostitution Free Zones.” Our testimony pointed out the PFZs violate DC’s own human rights policies, the US Constitution and the United States’ commitment to the United Nations with regard to ending violence against sex workers.
No condoms as evidence: Part of an on-going effort to eliminate the use of condoms as evidence of commercial sex work in New York, Woodhull joined advocates representing a broad coalition of public health and reproductive rights advocates, civil and human rights organizations, LGBT groups, and sex workers’ rights organizers to meet with dozens of legislators to ask for their support in moving New York SB323/A1008 to a vote in 2013!
Now, who was Victoria Woodhull?!?
We continue to work collaboratively with other organizations, even at the level of the United Nations, to advance and affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right...
As part of this collaborative effort, we participate in the ongoing United Nations Universal Periodic Review monitoring process for human rights violations in the United States.
That's just their "about me" page; there's a lot of other terrifying crap on their website here.
Victoria preached a doctrine called “Free Love” that included the odd notion of marrying for love, as well as an easement of the divorce laws. She was radical even by today’s standards, asserting: “Women are entirely unaware of their power. Like an elephant led by a string, they are subordinated by just those who are most interested in holding them in slavery…Sexual freedom means the abolition of prostitution both in and out of marriage, means the emancipation of woman and her coming into control of her own body, means the end of her pecuniary dependence upon man…means the abrogation of forced pregnancy, of anti-natal murder of undesired children and the birth of love children only.” [emphasis mine]
Victoria preached a doctrine called “Free Love” that included the odd notion of marrying for love, as well as an easement of the divorce laws. She was radical even by today’s standards, asserting: “Women are entirely unaware of their power. Like an elephant led by a string, they are subordinated by just those who are most interested in holding them in slavery…Sexual freedom means the abolition of prostitution both in and out of marriage, means the emancipation of woman and her coming into control of her own body, means the end of her pecuniary dependence upon man…means the abrogation of forced pregnancy, of anti-natal murder of undesired children and the birth of love children only.” - See more at: http://www.woodhullalliance.org/about-us/about-victoria-woodhull/#sthash.CCy2JR8M.dpuf
We continue to work collaboratively with other organizations, even at the level of the United Nations, to advance and affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right - See more at: http://www.woodhullalliance.org/about-us/#sthash.FTqzgwVe.dpuf
We launched the Family Matters Project, which is dedicated to advancing and protecting the fundamental human right to family by eliminating discrimination based on family structure and relationship choices. - See more at: http://www.woodhullalliance.org/about-us/#sthash.FTqzgwVe.dpuf
Regarding the message itself, note the language PP suggests that you send to your state senator:Please oppose all efforts to restrict women's access to the Pap tests, breast cancer screenings, and access to birth control that are important to our health. These attacks on women's health will deny access to basic care to thousands of women and will limit access to safe, legal abortion in Texas.First of all, HB2/SB1 have nothing to do with Pap tests, breast cancer screenings, or contraceptives. Not a darn word of the bill addresses those issues. There is also nothing in the bill that "denies access" to health care for women. In fact, during this year's regular session, the Legislature actually increased state funding by $179 million dollars for women’s health services including annual visits, preventative screening, and contraceptives.
It's doubly ironic for them to make this argument because it's been well-documented that Planned Parenthood doesn't actually perform any mammograms at any of their facilities nationwide. Not a single one. Never have.
What the bill actually requires is for abortion clinics to meet the same safety standards as ambulatory surgical centers. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, the fact is that abortion is a medical procedure and, like with all medical procedures, there can be risks and complications. The bill requires clinics offering abortions to meet the same standards as clinics that remove your tonsils, perform cataracts, or other similar outpatient surgical procedures.
....Anyway, if a clinic doesn't want to invest the resources necessary to comply with the bill, they can still continue to remain open and provide women’s health services such as obstetric care, annual gynecological visits, and (gasp!) even contraceptives.
Read the whole thing here.Planned Parenthood's ad is beyond misleading: it is a blatantly false representation of what HB1/SB2 actually do, and is an egregious attempt to scare women.
The sound in the rotunda was like nothing we have had ever heard before. It was inhuman, almost demonic. They chanted slogans like, “Whose choice? My choice” and “Pray, You’ll Need It, Your Cause will be Defeated” while periodically breaking into primal screams that echoed around us. As we watched from the top floor with a group of pro-life students, surrounded by a deluge of orange shirts, we could see DPS officers move into the crowd below to remove the blue shirts that had been peacefully praying amongst the crush of angry protesters.Read their full account (and watch the videos) here.
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As the situation grew uglier, DPS directed all pro-lifers to leave the rotunda for their own safety. The mob did not care for or respect the well-being of anyone wearing blue. Pro-life senators and representatives were offering their offices as safe places for us. Most of the Students for Life of America students and staff had already left the rotunda. And as our team directed the retreat, some of our staff found themselves stranded on the top floor with a few students, looking for a way out. They took the elevator to the bottom two floors, but found their paths blocked both times and had to ascend back up to the top of the building. They then found a side staircase that brought them down to the ground floor. But, as they rounded the final curve to the landing, they stopped dead in their tracks; they were again confronted by a sea of orange shirts.
Confident in the presence of news cameras to keep them safe, our team managed to slide along the railing, cut through the swarm of angry pro-aborts and escape behind them. Texas Representative Bryan Hughes offered our team and students safe haven in his office (guarded by DPS officers), where we gathered to watch the end of the debate and anxiously awaited the final, victorious vote on the Senate floor shortly after midnight.
@jpodhoretz @bdomenech I really can't make out the chant. *Maybe* that 1 girl at the end. But isn't sharia law the new satan worship?
— EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) July 3, 2013
@powellnyt that's what I thought, but this will probably be a full-blown right-wing meme by tomorrow morning
— EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) July 3, 2013
@JonAshDaniels @BDayspring @powellnyt @sunnyright In general, I don't think people should judge any group by one member thereof (#radical)Cahnman's Musings has nothing to say about the politics of Mrs. Grieder's tweets; Erica Greider's politics speaks for itself. We met her last January and found her to be diligent and fair. Mrs. Greider's tweets, however, illustrate the spiritual reality behind this legislative fight.
— EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) July 3, 2013
Cahnman's Musings finds it tragic that Mrs. Grieder buys into the same spiritual deception as all the other orange shirt people. That deception manifests itself in a misplaced pride that suggests there is a constitutional right to consequence free sex. Nothing could be further from the truth. You're free to engage in sexual activity, but if that sexual activity results in the creation of new life, then that new life deserves legal protection. Cahnman's Musings urges Mrs. Grieder to repent of such absurdities while she can.God’s Warning Rejected
12 And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord:“Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14 Will a man leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?
15 “Because My people have forgotten Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
16 To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy;
I will show them[a] the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity.”
For the record: They've been doing this all day, this is just the first time we caught it on video.Well guess what, it turns out we have video of the original incident.
Right now on the Senate floor, Wendy Davis is filibustering a bill that, if passed, will protect those among us that cannot speak for themselves. Those that do not have a voice. The innocent. The unborn.Amen.
Wendy Davis is holding that bill hostage so that it does not pass. She wants the world to think she's doing this to stand for "women" and "families". That, my friends, is the height of hypocrisy. So typical of a politician - to use something like this for political gain.
I say... enough. Wendy Davis does NOT speak for me.
Pass it on.
#WendyDavisdoesnotspeakforme
TARRANT CONSERVATIVE MEMBERS RESPOND TO WENDY DAVIS’S REQUEST“Delivering 84,610 blank letters representing those letters that will never be written”(Austin, TX) In response to Senator Wendy Davis’s request for citizens to send in their stories for her to read during her filibuster on the Senate floor, Conservative Representatives from Tarrant County decided to answer her call Tuesday afternoon by delivering 84,610 blank sheets of paper. Each piece represented a child’s life that was ended in 2011, the most recent year of abortion statistics in Texas.Texas State Representative Jonathan Stickland commented on the letters, saying “It is my hope and prayer that Senator Davis would recognize all of the letters that will never be written due to the tragedy of abortion today.”Referring to the ambulatory services center portion of the legislation, Representative Klick said, “Senate Bill 5 raises the standard of health care for Texas women, but Senator Davis claims it is somehow a ‘war on women’. Tarrant County constituents know better. This is simply a political stunt aimed at the far left of the Democratic Party.”Representative Capriglione said, “I will never meet thousands of my potential constituents - men and women who, instead of serving our great state, have been taken by the tragedy of abortion.”Representative Krause explained the significance of the letters saying, “As a father of three, the thought of how many innocent pre-born children are denied the most basic right to life every year in Texas is both alarming and heartbreaking. It is my sincerest belief that every life is unique and special, and it is our duty as Americans to defend and advocate for the most fragile and helpless of our society."
Representative Zedler called on Senator Davis saying, “Wendy Davis does not represent the voters of Tarrant County by her actions today. She’s playing political games with the lives of Texans who deserve protection.”####
"This thing still has eight and a half hours to go; pray for Wendy Davis to have a repentant soul and overflowing bladder.
Senate leaders “chose to push through their red meat, partisan political agendas, sacrificing women’s options and endangering their health in the process.”
Many Texans are “afraid, genuinely afraid, of how this Legislature treats women,” state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said before the final vote on SB 5. He said the bill would create obstacles to safe, legal abortion services and “creates a back room process to negate women’s constitutional rights over their own bodies.”Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D - Austin):
Governor Perry's war on women's health advances, and as I told this reporter, it's not another “oops” moment, but another of many “ugh” moments so typical of Rick Perry’s wrongheadedness.Cahnman's Musings finds getting your insides scraped out by some abortionist to be a strange definition of 'women's health.'
"The horrors of the national late-term abortion industry are continuing to come to light, one atrocity at a time. Sadly, some of those same atrocities happen in our own state. In Texas, we value all life, and we've worked to cultivate a culture that supports the birth of every child," Gov. Perry said. "We have an obligation to protect unborn children, and to hold those who peddle these abortions to standards that would minimize the death, disease and pain they cause."This special session just got a lot more interesting.
State Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, who fought unsuccessfully against a 2011 measure requiring sonograms for most women who seek to terminate a pregnancy, said Texans don’t want lawmakers to engage in another divisive debate over abortion.
She said the new agenda item will mark a major departure from the relatively peaceful regular session, which started in January and ended late last month.
“I think we have so many other priorities,” she said. “We’ve been able to compromise. We’ve keep those wedge issues off the House floor, and this is going to change what progress we’ve made with a bipartisan take-care-of-business attitude."
“Sen. Patrick seems to think someone has appointed him Texas classroom czar, with the power to dictate to local teachers what they can and can’t do in their own classrooms,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network.Unfortunately, the Star-Telegram neglects to mention that grassroots pressure forced CSCOPE into the spotlight in November 2012, but Senator Patrick didn't get involved until January 2013.
The Characteristics of Toxic Curriculum Include:
1. A 21st Century learning curriculum
2. Constructivism or Progressive Teaching Philosophy
3. Project Based Learning– Projects that have students reinventing the wheel.
4. Not available to be viewed by parents. Anything–ANYTHING used to instruct students should be visible to the public.
5. Self-directed learning, discovery learning, cooperative work in heterogeneous groups
Example of a problem with heterogeneous grouping: Two elementary students worked together and their work was videoed. The parent was not allowed to see her son’s class work because the video contained another child. Parents of the other child had to give permission. Who gave the teacher to video tape elementary children?
6. Emphasis on the “whole child” approach that blends psychological, social and cultral well-being of the child, which are all subjectively measured. The increase in the number of dyslexic students may be due to these children not being taught how to read during the most important formative years. A Texas teacher has reported removing the dyslexic label from a student–HOW? By teaching the child phonics–sounding out letters–etc.. in other words, teaching the child how to read. The progressive education approach has been tried and proven not to work.
7. Whole-language–Doesn’t teach kids phonics–This was and is the CSCOPE approach to learning. Students need phonics —students need grammar—students to know how to write in script—in other words, use computers as resources that complement traditional teaching techniques.
8. Interactive and discovery learning–”fuzzy” math–CSCOPE promotes not teaching multiplication tables. Kids are not taught traditional –tried and true –methods of solving math problems.
The terms used for progressive instruction sound wonderful. Interactive—it is good for students to interact with each other. Science students always work in groups when doing science lab investigation. Discovery learning–this is what science is all about. But the progressive interactive discovery learning means students are given a problem to solve and they interact and share ideas and discover facts. This is much like having students pretend they are scientists of the past. But even these scientists first learned everything that has been previously discovered about a problem. They were not trying to reinvent the wheel, which is what progressive education is doing. This is what project based learning is: giving students a project that results in their reinventing the wheel.
9. Focus on diversity, multiculturalism, and global citizenship
Even the science lessons in CSCOPE included biased social issues.
10. The 4 Ps–Posters, portfolios, projects, PowerPoints.
Most of the Projects that assessed CSCOPE lessons were for students K-12 to make a poster, a portfolio, or some time of organizer. Thus, subjective assessments.
11. Do not Use An Online Curriculum to replace student textbooks. Students need to have books to learn about using indexes, glossaries. CSCOPE directors scorned the use of textbooks. Thus, students in one Texas CSCOPE algebra 2 class spent two to three days copying equations flashed on the screen by an over head projector. That left two days for instructions. How 21 Century is this? I’ve pleaded with this school district to give students books.
