Seattle Zack
Count each one
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2003
- Posts
- 1,128
(sorry, Rumple, it's not that I hate your state. It's just very difficult to understand the people who live there....)
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from the Associated Press
By JAMIE STENGLE
Sunday, June 5, 2005; 10:12 PM
Does anyone but me think it's weird that a governor signs a legislative bill at what sounds like a church revival?
FORT WORTH, Texas -- In a ceremony filled with religious references, Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill at a church school gymnasium Sunday that imposes more limits on late-term abortions and requires minors to get written parental consent for abortions.
The signing came as several hundred demonstrators - some opposed to the signing of a bill on church property - protested outside.
Texas executed three black juvenile offenders in 2002, Napoleon Beazley, T.J. Jones, and Toronto Patterson. Amnesty International reports that seven countries since 1990 are known to have executed prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of the crime - Congo (Democratic Republic), Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United States, and Yemen. Of these nations, the United States has executed the largest number of juvenile offenders.
Texas Gov Rick Perry speaks in front of a painting of the Calvary Christian Academy's mascot during a ceremony held to sign the abortion consent bill in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, June 5, 2005. The bill signing was held in the school's gym.
"It has been a tragedy of unspeakable consequences that for decades activist courts denied many Texas parents their right to be involved in one of the most important decisions their young daughter could ever make - whether to end the life that was growing inside her," Perry told a crowd of about 1,000 people gathered at the Calvary Christian Academy. "For too long, a blind eye has been turned to the rights of our most vulnerable human beings - that's the unborn in our society."
Of 437 Texas Death Row male inmates in 2005, 178 are black. 123 are Latino. Since 1976, 337 inmates have been executed in Texas. 115 were black. 49 were Latino.
During the 90-minute program, Perry also signed a resolution to amend the Texas Constitution by banning same-sex marriages. However, that signature was only ceremonial since voters must approve the proposed ban in November.
"A nurturing home with a loving mother and loving father is the best way to guide our children down the proper path," he said.
A bill to prohibit the execution of the mentally retarded in Texas was
vetoed by Governor Rick Perry on June 17, 2001. The bill would have prohibited the death penalty if jurors determine that the defendant is mentally
retarded. In vetoing the legislation, Perry stated that although there
is no statutory prohibition, "we do not execute mentally retarded
murderers [in Texas] today." Without a legislative ban, those with
mental retardation can be sentenced to death because jurors are only
required to consider a defendant's mental capacity as a mitigating factor
during sentencing.
Texas already had a parental notification bill, approved in 1999. The new, tougher measure requires a parent to provide written consent for unmarried girls under 18. The bill also restricts doctors from performing abortions on women who have carried a child for more than 26 weeks unless having the baby would jeopardize the woman's life or the baby has serious brain damage.
Before Perry spoke, several pastors received standing ovations and shouts of "Amen!" from the crowd as they touted the two measures being signed by Perry.
"It seems to me that people of the great state of Texas will be silent no more," said Rod Parsley, of the Center for Moral Clarity in Ohio. "Folks in this room understand, God is still watching."
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God is still watching, indeed.
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from the Associated Press
By JAMIE STENGLE
Sunday, June 5, 2005; 10:12 PM
Does anyone but me think it's weird that a governor signs a legislative bill at what sounds like a church revival?
FORT WORTH, Texas -- In a ceremony filled with religious references, Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill at a church school gymnasium Sunday that imposes more limits on late-term abortions and requires minors to get written parental consent for abortions.
The signing came as several hundred demonstrators - some opposed to the signing of a bill on church property - protested outside.
Texas executed three black juvenile offenders in 2002, Napoleon Beazley, T.J. Jones, and Toronto Patterson. Amnesty International reports that seven countries since 1990 are known to have executed prisoners who were under 18 years old at the time of the crime - Congo (Democratic Republic), Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United States, and Yemen. Of these nations, the United States has executed the largest number of juvenile offenders.
Texas Gov Rick Perry speaks in front of a painting of the Calvary Christian Academy's mascot during a ceremony held to sign the abortion consent bill in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, June 5, 2005. The bill signing was held in the school's gym.
"It has been a tragedy of unspeakable consequences that for decades activist courts denied many Texas parents their right to be involved in one of the most important decisions their young daughter could ever make - whether to end the life that was growing inside her," Perry told a crowd of about 1,000 people gathered at the Calvary Christian Academy. "For too long, a blind eye has been turned to the rights of our most vulnerable human beings - that's the unborn in our society."
Of 437 Texas Death Row male inmates in 2005, 178 are black. 123 are Latino. Since 1976, 337 inmates have been executed in Texas. 115 were black. 49 were Latino.
During the 90-minute program, Perry also signed a resolution to amend the Texas Constitution by banning same-sex marriages. However, that signature was only ceremonial since voters must approve the proposed ban in November.
"A nurturing home with a loving mother and loving father is the best way to guide our children down the proper path," he said.
A bill to prohibit the execution of the mentally retarded in Texas was
vetoed by Governor Rick Perry on June 17, 2001. The bill would have prohibited the death penalty if jurors determine that the defendant is mentally
retarded. In vetoing the legislation, Perry stated that although there
is no statutory prohibition, "we do not execute mentally retarded
murderers [in Texas] today." Without a legislative ban, those with
mental retardation can be sentenced to death because jurors are only
required to consider a defendant's mental capacity as a mitigating factor
during sentencing.
Texas already had a parental notification bill, approved in 1999. The new, tougher measure requires a parent to provide written consent for unmarried girls under 18. The bill also restricts doctors from performing abortions on women who have carried a child for more than 26 weeks unless having the baby would jeopardize the woman's life or the baby has serious brain damage.
Before Perry spoke, several pastors received standing ovations and shouts of "Amen!" from the crowd as they touted the two measures being signed by Perry.
"It seems to me that people of the great state of Texas will be silent no more," said Rod Parsley, of the Center for Moral Clarity in Ohio. "Folks in this room understand, God is still watching."
------------
God is still watching, indeed.
