Texas: Wendy Davis Is “Too Stupid To Be Governor”
Apparently even Texas’s top political operatives are not above middle-school-style name-calling. David Carney, the top political adviser for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who wants to fill Rick Perry’s shoes as the next governor, tweeted a link to a post on the conservative blog UrbanGrounds along with its full headline: “Total Recall in CO (and Why Wendy Davis Is Too Stupid to Be Governor).” The article Carney tweeted refers to the Democratic state legislator—who gained notoriety this year for her 11-hour filibuster attempt to block state abortion restrictions—as “Abortion Barbie” and describes her as “even dumber than her fake blonde hair would imply.” It might be worth mentioning that Davis got her law degree from Harvard Law School, but clearly that means very little when you consider that she has blonde highlights and supports gun control. Just a few weeks ago Abbott thanked a supporter on Twitter who called Davis “Retard Barbie,” only to later clarify that he didn’t endorse the supporter’s “offensive language.” This isn’t the first time Carney, who ran Perry’s Texas campaigns from 1998 to 2012, has gotten in trouble for his immature insults either. He pissed off GOP darling Sarah Palin by complaining that the logistics for a 2010 gubernatorial debate were not only “just retarded,” but “the most retarded thing I’ve ever heard.”
Iowa: You Don’t Have to Be Able to See to Carry a Gun
Far be it from the state of Iowa to deprive anyone of the right to carry a concealed weapon in a public place—even someone who can’t see where they're aiming. While other gun-loving states like Nebraska and South Carolina require gun-permit applicants to show “proof of vision,” The Des Moines Register reported this week that Iowa now allows its legally blind to not only own but also carry guns in public. The rule is, unsurprisingly, hotly debated, as some, like Disability Rights Iowa executive director Jane Hudson, argue that the visually impaired have Second Amendment rights, and denying them would be a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The Iowa law also allows the legally blind to hunt with laser sighting devices as long as they’re accompanied by someone who can see, which sounds at least somewhat safer, though given what we know about the dangerous mistakes sighted people tend to make while hunting, it isn’t all that reassuring. The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action praised the Iowa measure for encouraging “more disabled sportsmen to pursue their love of hunting.” Opponents obviously think that giving guns to blind people is dangerous and irresponsible. Famous blind person and gun-control advocate Stevie Wonder marveled at the ease with which he could purchase a weapon earlier this year, telling CNN’s Piers Morgan, “Imagine me with a gun. It’s just crazy.”
Texas: Textbooks Should Offer Creationist Alternative to Evolution
Texas’s state textbook-review panels are stacked with conservative creationists determined to block several proposed high school biology textbooks that do not offer alternatives to the theory of evolution. The panels’ creationists are pushing the State Board of Education to reject the proposed books unless they are republished with several suggested disclaimers, such as “‘creation science’ based on biblical principles.” Some of the books’ reviewers also charged that “no transitional fossils have been discovered,” and there is no evidence of a human carbon footprint or that climate change has affected the diversity of species, among other anti-evolution claims. In an article titled “Textbooks Under Attack in Texas,” the National Center for Science Education’s Joshua Rosenau explained, “This is scary because of Texas’s big influence on publishers and on textbooks used across the country. Publishers should listen to real experts, not unqualified reviewers who don’t seem to understand even basic scientific terms.”
WND: Obama’s Sending Secret Messages to the Muslim Brotherhood
Nothing gets past Andrea Shea King. This clever WorldNetDaily writer has cracked the president’s secret code, calling Obama out on sending “a wordless message of support to the Muslim Brotherhood, Arab street, and Islamic community in general,” through a photo of him with his foot on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office. To the naked eye, the photo in question, taken by White House photographer Pete Souza and plastered across the Drudge Report, may look simply like the president was caught stretching or even taking an aggressive stance while talking on the phone. But King knows better. Obama deliberately put his foot on “an historic American treasure” as a symbol of his “disdain and disregard for all things traditionally American.” In her post, King proves her point by citing an Al Jazeera article that explains, “In Arab culture it is considered rude to even display the sole of one’s shoe to a fellow human being.” Also, she points out, this isn’t the first time the president has been photographed with his feet up, so it must be true.
Florida: Information on Obamacare Not Welcome Here
The Florida Department of Health is so determined to block Obamacare from taking hold in its state that it has gone out of its way to ban federally sponsored “navigators” from coming to their offices to teach people how to sign up for insurance coverage. According to a directive sent to local county health departments, navigators are not allowed to conduct outreach on their grounds. County health departments could get information on how to sign up for coverage from the navigators to share with citizens, but only if citizens request it. Though the directive was issued quietly, it didn’t take long for some health departments, like Pinellas County’s, to push back, arguing that the health department is in a county-owned building, and therefore the state cannot control who works on its property. The state Health Department, under the direction of anti-Obamacare Gov. Rick Scott, gave in to the Pinellas health department’s complaints and said it could hire whatever staff it wanted—but for now the directive to block Obamacare information stands for the rest of the Florida.
