Texas Senate Passes Voter ID Law, Making Its Passing Inevitable

The Texas State Senate passed the Voter ID Law, yesterday. This new law will make a requirement for everyone but the elderly, 70 or older, show a valid ID, whenever they go to vote:

With a strong push from Republicans and over the vigorous objections of Democrats, the Senate on Wednesday approved legislation requiring all but elderly Texans to show a photo ID before voting....

In the end, the measure was approved 19-11, with all Republicans backing it and all but one absent Democrat voting no.

Democrats argued that this would be a violation of the Voting Rights Act:

Democrats warned that the bill will run into trouble under the federal Voting Rights Act, designed to protect minority voting rights in several southern states — including Texas — and Alaska, Arizona and some urban areas. Under that law, the U.S. Justice Department must review all changes in election laws in those states.

“This requirement is just a poll tax by another name,” said Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, referring to the now outlawed practice of requiring voters to pay a fee before voting. The poll tax was used to discourage voting by minorities decades ago....

The bill would require Texans to show a driver’s license, state ID card, military ID, concealed handgun license, passport or citizenship ID to vote. An effort by Democrats to include student IDs with photos was rejected by Republicans.

However, Indiana passed a similar law in 2005, and the Supreme Court upheld it, when it was challenged as a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

This law is designed to curb voter fraud. If they have to show identification, it'll make it less likely that people are able to vote more than once, dead people voting through ID theft, and keep illegal aliens from voting.

The Democrats' poll tax argument is no quite on point. The poll tax was a tax only had to be paid when people went to vote. The price that people pay for the ID card will be spent anyway.

People will have to get an ID for many reasons, including getting a job or into college, apply for any sort of assistance from the government, or driving a car. So, the great majority of people will have an ID anyway.

The Senate was the biggest obstacle that this law had before it could be made into law. Now, the bill will go to the House where there is a huge Republican majority and will have no trouble passing. There is, also, no doubt that Governor Rick Perry will sign it into law.

TX Gov Rick Perry Rejects EPA's Christmas Power Grab, Let The Battle Begin

In an effort to succeed in regulation where they failed in legislation, the EPA under the Obama Administration is trying to force states to cut down on carbon pollution. However, the Texas Governor is bucking Obama and refusing to willingly comply:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it will take control of carbon-emission rules in Texas after Governor Rick Perry rejected new federal regulations intended to combat climate change.

The EPA will decide directly on greenhouse-gas permits for companies seeking to build or upgrade power plants and oil refineries in Texas, the agency said today in a statement. The EPA’s nationwide carbon rules, imposed under the Clean Air Act, take effect Jan. 2.

Texas is the only state that has refused to implement the new rules. President Barack Obama is pressing ahead with the regulations after Congress failed to pass legislation capping carbon emissions. Perry, a Republican, calls the rules overreaching by the federal government that will cripple his state’s economy.

“The EPA’s misguided plan paints a huge target on the backs of Texas agriculture and energy producers by implementing unnecessary, burdensome mandates on our state’s energy sector, threatening hundreds of thousands of Texas jobs and imposing increased living costs on Texas families,” Katherine Cesinger, a Perry spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement.

The Obama Administration couldn't get cap-and-tax or any other significant environmental bill passed in the 111st and is even less likely to get any passed over the next two years, as the Republicans gain control of the House and get stronger in the Senate. So, they are trying to do the next best thing, which is to force it through by any means necessary.

Of course, just as they did with the new "end-of-life incentives", they tried to hide this story from us by coming out with it, while Santa was coming down the chimney and when we were too stuffed to care about politics. I agree with Ed Morrissey as he questions the timing of it all:

The timing is certainly interesting. The EPA made this move two days before Christmas, when most people had stopped paying attention to political news. The EPA’s move thus got missed by most of the national media, even though it demonstrates well the Obama strategy in 2011 to win through regulation what it could not win through legislation. And by focusing on Texas, where Republicans have a chance to redistrict with practically no interference from Democrats, the move will certainly incentivize the GOP to limit as much as possible the representation of Democrats in their Congressional delegation as the Republican-controlled House attempts to stymie the EPA’s regulatory innovation.

This also will vault Rick Perry to the highest level of national politics, even as he continues to insist that he won’t run for President. With a third term as governor in hand and a perfect political battle opening in front of him, though, the opportunity may be too much to resist for a man who could possibly unite conservatives and the GOP for a big run against a stumbling Obama in 2012.

I don't know about the wisdom of this, if Obama puts his foot down on this. It'll definitely invigorate the Republican base against him going into the 2012 elections. Obama and his fellow Democrats will be having enough trouble as it is getting re-elected. They don't need any more controversies surrounding their policies.

Of course, I believe that Democrats ultimately care more about furthering their own liberal agenda that no one wants more then they care about getting re-elected. Although, they obviously care about it some, which is why they chose Christmas to release some of the more controversial regulations. They know that the more people know what it is that they are doing the more that they won't like it. So, it's better for them to try and do it, when they think that most people aren't looking.

Former Planned Parenthood Director Says She Had Abortion Quotas

A few days ago, a story came out about a director at a Planned Parenthood location in Bryan, Texas who quit, after she saw an ultrasound of an abortion.

Now, she has been talking to WorldNetDaily that there is more than meets the eye going on at Planned Parenthood, not any pro-life advocate's surprise:

The former Texas-based Planned Parenthood director who recently quit after seeing an ultrasound video of an abortion says high Planned Parenthood officials wanted her center to meet quotas for the number of abortions done. Abby Johnson had been the director of the Planned Parenthood in Bryan/College Station.

These quotas weren't just for her. Upper management pushed her to push her employees to "keep abortion numbers high."

"There are definitely client goals," she said. "We'd have a goal every month for abortion clients and for family planning clients."

These weren't any "soft" quotas. They were pushing her hard to kill more unborn babies. Why? Hint it's not for their patients' wellbeing:

She said her facility did abortions every other Saturday but began increasing the number of abortions in order to increase revenues. One method involved increasing the number of abortions done with the dangerous mifepristone abortion drug.

"One of the ways they were able to up the number of patients that they saw was they started doing the RU-486 chemical abortions all throughout the week," she said.

Just show how much that Planned Parenthood officials didn't care about the health of the woman, this is what one abortion drug mentioned above has done to women nationwide:

Johnson told WND that abortions using the drug, which has killed 13 women worldwide and injured at least 1,100 in the United States alone according to the FDA, would bring in between $505 and $695 depending on the age of the baby at the time of the abortion.

They push this drug even though they very well know the side-effects.

There are a few supporters of the abortion that claim that Planned Parenthood is not all about abortions, but these stats seem to paint a different picture:

Yet, prenatal care and adoption referrals resulted for only 5 percent of the total services provided to women in 2007 while abortions accounted for 95 percent of the services that year, according to Planned Parenthood's own figures.

This organization is nothing but a baby killing factory. The premise of them being a women's health clinic that is only interested in the health and well-being of women is a joke. It seems to care very little about it. They should pull any and all federal funding for the immoral operation.

Texas, Arizona No Sanctuary Bills: Law Enforcement Will Actually Enforce Laws

Texas and Arizona are considering bills to ban cities from enacting "sanctuary policies" that discourage them from enforcing federal immigration laws.

Witnesses testified Wednesday before a Texas Senate committee for a bill aimed at "sanctuary cities" like Austin and Houston that tell police officers to avoid determining the immigration status of those they deal with, the Houston Chronicle reported.

That's a radical idea by those "extremists" in Texas and Arizona. The FBI needs to start an investigation on them. This is exactly the type of extremism that Napilitano was talking about. Imagine, law enforcement actually enforcing laws. That's unheard of in the Age of Obama. Stop them!

Oops! Sorry, Nancy Pelosi just invaded my body for a moment.

These bills would be a great step in curbing violence by criminals from south of the border. The Mexican drug cartels have brought the violence to our cites and neighborhoods. Maybe the Governator and Richardson will push for similar bills in California and New Mexico where illegal immigrant and drug cartel is, also, leaking through into the US as much as it is in Texas and Arizona.

Probably not. They're too beholden to the left to push for that.

I'm not against immigrants just the ones that break laws and endanger our lives. Both hearings had weighed in horrific crimes committed by illegals that the "sanctuary cities" wouldn't turn over to ICE.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/15/texas-arizona-lawmakers-considering-ban-sanctuary-cities/
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6374846.html
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http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/topstories/articles/0414sanctuary0414-ON.html
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Texas: Judge Upholds "Under God" In Pledge of Allegiance

Judge Rules 'Under God' May Stay in Texas Pledge of Allegiance
Saturday, March 28, 2009

DALLAS —  A federal judge has dismissed the claims of a parent who wanted to remove the words "under God" from the Texas pledge of allegiance recited each morning by public schoolchildren.

U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade ruled Thursday the state pledge may continue to reference God because the national pledge and four other states reference God or divine grace in their pledge, The Dallas Morning News reported Friday.

"A voluntary recitation of the Texas Pledge of Allegiance simply does not coerce students in the same way a school-sponsored prayer might," Kinkeade wrote in his opinion.

David Croft had argued that inserting the words were unconstitutional and amounted to a violation of separation of church and state. He and his wife, Shannon, sued on behalf of their three children who are enrolled at the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.

Previously, the Crofts unsuccessfully sued after an elementary teacher told one of their children to keep quiet because a minute for silence after the pledge was a "time for prayer."

A provision that took effect September 2003 changed the way schools start their days in Texas. Children are now allowed to "reflect, pray, meditate or engage in any other silent activities" for one minute after the state and national pledges of allegiance have been recited. A federal appeals court ruled last week that the law is constitutional.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,511196,00.html
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My Thoughts

As this is my hometown of Carrollton, Texas, I was very interested in this story. I'm glad to see that the childrens' freedom of religious expression was held up in this case.

Although, I don't agree with the judge that the school sponsored prayer wouldn't be voluntary or would coerce anyone to pray. That didn't make sense.

Our freedoms our under fire by liberals and judicial activists. We must stand up and fight to make sure that we get the freedoms that we have lost and keep them from taking more freedoms away.