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I’ll be a sad day for this country if 
children can only attend their classes 
safely under the protection of armed guards.
                                                     Dwight D. Eisenhower
                                                               Sept. 13, 1957
                                                                Little Rock, AK
                                 EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN. 

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Texas Passed Abortion Laws
In a Special Session, Because Trampling
On Women's Rights Can't Wait!

Good-Bye Democracy, Hello Fascism

Late Tuesday night, the Texas Senate advanced anti-abortion legislation known as SB5, raising serious concerns for the future of abortion clinics in Texas.

Governor Rick Perry called for a special session to discuss redistricting issues which arose from the 2011 court rulings that deemed Texas' redistricting as discriminatory.

SB5 passed 20-10 in the Texas Senate, leading way to a vote in the GOP-dominated House of Representatives in Texas.

The bill includes many provisions to limit women's access to health care resources in Texas.

The bill would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy with one or two exceptions.

In addition, the bill also would require abortions to be conducted in ambulatory surgical centers by doctors with admitting privileges.

These surgical centers have to be within a 30-mile radius of a hospital near the clinic.

Furthermore, the bill would ban telemedicine, which would require doctors to only give abortion-pill prescriptions in person and not via telecommunications such as Skype or other means.

This provision would endanger all but five clinics in Texas, severely limiting women's access to healthcare options and limiting their right to choose.

This is in line with what Governor Perry and some other Republican state senators have said about reshaping a "Culture of Life" in Texas.

Such provisions have been said to "reshape the landscape" in the state, as fewer clinics and longer distances to reach them will make it far more difficult for women in many parts of Texas to obtain abortion if they choose to.

The Texas legislature has tried several times to get this passed, but has failed until now.

This is particularly why a special session has allowed several components of many of the previous failed bills to conglomerate into a omnibus bill. 

This bill will many problems for Texas in the future, specifically for women's rights in the state.

If the bill passes, it can close all but five of the clinics in the second most populous state in America.

The bill would also pose significant risks to Texas' booming economy.

While its political ideology seeks to turn stump speeches and "Culture of Life" arguments into reality, Texas faces realities it must deal with as its population demographics become more diverse.

Furthermore, it's not an enticing incentive to marginalize women's liberty through these bills by limiting access to health care facilities that they have a right to have.

According to Guttmacher Institute data, only 1.5% percent of abortions were committed after the 20th week in the United States.

That sound you hear is our democracy slamming shut!

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Characteristics Of Fascism

By Dr. Lawrence Britt

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of 
    Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

From Liberty Forum