The monthly newsletter of
Texas Eagle Forum
In This Issue:
 May 1997 |
 |
The Texas Healthy Kids Corp., HB 3
Baby Steps Toward Socialized Medicine
by Cathie Adams, president of Texas Eagle Forum
House Bill 3 establishes the non-profit and tax exempt Texas Healthy Kids Corp. (THKC). It's creation is easily traceable to Hillary Clinton, who made it clear that if "universal health insurance" failed at the federal level, it would be pursued state-by-state, first using children then progressing to adults. The THKC is Hillary's fallback plan: baby steps toward socialized medicine. Most every state is pursuing the same course even though it is built upon a false premise that there exists an uninsured children crisis; the US Census Bureau refutes the claim.
Even though the House vote on April 1st was an overwhelming defeat, 115 for and 27 against, the original filed bill was dramatically changed because of our work. You made a significant difference; we must maintain eternal vigilance.
Insidiously, the bill was initially exempt from open records and open meetings laws; we were successful in changing that. The boondoggle is also subject to state audits. The bill establishes a state-run public-private program which gives tax incentives to private companies offering insurance for children. Taxpayers will pay for the new director (his salary is yet to be determined) and whomever he hires, as well as for it's Governor-appointed board's travel expenses (page 6, Sec. 109.034, line 12, Sec. 109.035, line 23). It will require significant funds to "start-up" the new bureaucracy; yet the fiscal note said the state would be making money because it is allowed to garnishee parents' wages for insurance premiums (page 16, Sec. 109.103, line 5). I wonder if anyone thought of how its "right" to garnishee wages might be abused? If an employer fails to garnishee the wages, he is subject to penalties and fines (page 16, Sec. 109.103, line 11).
The THKC is immune from liability (page 3, Sec. 109.004, line 10). It is criminal that the entity will be legally unaccountable as it "provides health benefits for primary and preventive health care for children." It is also exempt from licensing requirements under the Insurance Code and other state insurance laws.
During debate on the House floor, Rep. Charlie Howard wanted assurance that "no state funds could be used to pay premiums." The fact that the amendment failed makes our point that while it is not an insurer and cannot self-fund the coverage provided through the program, in time it could develop into a primarily government-funded program (page 11, Sec. 109.062, line 14)! I'm also concerned that another Howard amendment which would have strengthened the privacy elements of our children's health records failed. Is confidentiality of medical records guaranteed?
While the participation criteria for authorized insurers that provide coverage under the health benefit program may not REQUIRE that an eligible coverage provider provide benefits to a school-based clinic, there is NO prohibition of funds going to school-based clinics (page 12, Sec 109.063, line 24). Doesn't that provide an incentive to establish school-based health clinics?
I am still concerned that most of the uninsured children, according to the US Census Bureau, are children of legal immigrants and illegal aliens. Being a border state, Texas is especially vulnerable to abuse of the THKC by non-citizens. No amendment was offered during the House debate to address this concern.
Texans should learn from the problems experienced by the state of California. Such readily available social services there have led to extreme controversy, even a statewide referendum that passed overwhelmingly which would have required proof of citizenship before services were rendered. But, arrogant activist judges have halted its implementation in California.
Texas Eagle Forum will continue to work for the demise of HB 3. Since it has passed the House, it will now be introduced in the Senate. If it passes the Senate, it will go to a conference committee to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions. Finally, it will have to be signed by the Governor.
- Ask your State Senator to vote NO on HB 3. (Capitol switchboard
512-463-4630) The Texas Healthy Kids Corp. (THKC) is a baby step
toward socialized medicine.
- THKC is not legally liable.
- State funds may be used to pay insurance premiums.
- It provides incentives for participation by illegal aliens.
- It's funds may go to school-based clinics.
- Ask your Rep. and Senator to vote NO on the conference report.
- Ask Gov. Bush to VETO HB 3. (800-252-9600)
- It is extremely important that we thank the 27 House members who
voted against HB 3 on April 1st's passage to engrossment:
Joe Crabb, R-Humble
John Culberson, R-Houston
Mary Denny, R-Aubrey
Carolyn Galloway, R-Dallas
Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington
Will Hartnett, R-Dallas
Talmadge Heflin, R-Houston
Fred Hill, R-Richardson
Jim Horn, R-Denton
Charlie Howard, R-Sugarland
Suzanna Hupp, R-Lampasas
Carl Isett, R-Lubbock
Mike Jackson, R-LaPorte
Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin
Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell
Nancy Moffat, R-Southlake
Joe Nixon, R-Houston
Sue Palmer, R-Ft. Worth
Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie
Bob Rabuck, R-Conroe
Elvira Reyna, R-Mesquite
William Roman, Jr., R-College Station
John Shields, R-San Antonio
Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton
Robert Talton, R-Pasadena
Ric Williamson, R-Weatherford
Arlene Wohlgemuth, R-Burleson
On April 2nd's third reading and final passage, two more Reps. voted against HB 3:
Tom Craddick, R-Midland and Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville
BIG BROTHER'S BABY BRAINSTORMING
Government-controlled Parenting
By Columnist Robert Holland
It was eerie to hear President Clinton rhapsodizing in his State of the Union address about brain research showing that an infant's emotional and intellectual development begins in the very first days of life.
Citing his wife Hillary's "It Takes a Village" advocacy in this realm, the president announced that he and the first lady would convene a White House Conference on Early Learning and the Brain this spring. Thus, as part of their 10-point education pronunciamento, the Clintons and other village people would instruct parents and educators how to put to work the supposedly "startling new findings" of neuroscience.
Yet, this is the same president who vetoed a bill to ban partial-birth abortion, a hideously bizarre procedure targeting the preborn child's cranium.
A president who can't bring himself to protect a full-term baby a few inches from birth professes now to be terribly concerned about brain development in the earliest stages of life. Thus, evidently there is an absolute individual right to inflict brain death on an infant, even a partially-born one; however, if the baby continues safely on tract to birth, the government has a proprietary interest in how the child is mentally stimulated. (Got to develop that "human capital," you know).
To be sure, a carefully prepared objective conference on brain research and its implication for education could serve to inform the public. But one must wonder about the attention to detail going to the Clintons' gathering.
A White House spokesman told me the conference "probably" would be held in mid-April, although not necessarily at the White House. (Perhaps the "people's house" already is booked with fat cats taking overnights). She suggested I call back the first of April.
A conference exploring all sides of a scientific issue would have been planned many months ago. But the haste of preparation doesn't mean the Clintons' confab will lack an agenda; indeed, that seems to be its purpose--to beat the propaganda drums for an agenda of ever-earlier governmental intervention in child-rearing.
Hollywood is cranking up to tout brain development--not, one hopes, in its typically brainless way.
Just before the State of the Union Address, TV producer Rob Reiner (formerly "Meathead," foil to Archie Bunker on the sitcom "All in the Family") appeared at the closing session of the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington to gush about studies "showing very clearly" that a child's future is determined between ages zero to 3 (zero, of course, including time spent in the mother's womb).
Meathead is a big fan of what huge foundations like Carnegie and Robert Wood Johnson are doing for the cause of social parenting, and he'd like all parents to be instructed by such forces of enlightenment.
How are we going to end teen pregnancy and crime, unless government oversees the care and stimulation of infants? Honest, conferees made that connection.
Another major player in the systemic restructuring of schools and society, The Pew Charitable Trusts, currently has its own website (http:/www.pewtrusts.com) a paper on "The Status of Parenting Education in the U.S." Author Nick Carter, former president of Parents, Inc., notes that, "The vision of universal parenting education to support all parents is no longer a naive dream. It is a fast-approaching reality." (After which, no doubt, comes state licensing of parents.)
After taking a slap at religious conservatives and praising "progressive" groups like the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Mr. Carter reports that Rob Reiner is producing a "major national TV special on parenting to air in the spring of 1997."
Ah, so now the timing of the While House conference becomes clear. Bill and Hillary's excellent White House Conference will be held just before the April 28 ABC-TV special, the better to maximize the media impact.
Carnegie Corp. president David Hamburg ebulliently observed that the videos spun off from the ABC special could help advance the foundation's agenda, including "comprehensive prenatal and primary health care (and) a variety of approaches to community organization--Family Child Resource Centers, service integration at accessible sites, business participation locally, media participation locally."
None of that sounds much like helping parents make their own decisions. Rather, it appears the idea is to get parents and infants more entangled in the seamless web of statist control, which is not the way to broaden the intellect.
One final, sure sign that the propaganda campaign is in full voice: Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association, hyped the Clintons' brain summit and ominously shilled for the role of NEA trade unionists "in shaping the minds and the characters of the nation's children." "The new research," he concluded, means the NEA has a "moral imperative to advocate for children's education from Day One."
What's so new and startling about the brain research? Nothing, according to Dr. Dennis Cuddy, former senior associate in the U.S. Department of Education. The kinds of data now being hawked have been around for 20 years or more in UNESCO and Carnegie-backed projects.
What's new is the opportunity the statist nannies see to translate their fondest dreams into public policy during the second Clinton term. Science is, by its nature, subject to further testing and revision, but here it is being expropriated for the most chilling of causes: government-directed child-rearing from Age Zero Day One.
Source: The Washington Times, 3/16/97
WHAT YOU CAN D0: Psychologist John Rosemond says,
"Implicit to all this liberal scheming is the belief, firmly held by
many mental health professionals, that families are closed pathological
systems that must, in the best interests of the helpless child-prisoners
within, be made subject to state scrutiny, reorganization and
management." Since this issue which ultimately leads to licensing
parents was a topic at the National Governors Assn. meeting, we must
express our opposition to state parenting education to Gov. Bush at
800-252-9600.
CLINTON'S 10-POINT "CALL TO ACTION"
The President Wants to Control YOUR "Village"
- Promote national standards reflecting what all students must know to succeed in the 21st century and create voluntary new national tests of student achievement in math and reading.
- Provide funding to help the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards meet the goal of certifying 100,000 teachers as masters in their professions.
- Help more children learn to read through the America Reads initiative, which calls for 1 million volunteer tutors to make sure every child can read by the end of third grade.
- Expand Head Start to 1 million children by the year 2002.
- Create 3,000 charter schools by 2000.
- Teach character education and support school uniforms, curfews, and zero tolerance for guns and drugs in schools.
- Provide $5 billion to help communities pay for $20 billion in school construction over the next four years. (See Cliff Note on page 8.)
- In an effort to make 14 years of education universal, give federal tax credits and deductions for post-high school study, allow expanded IRAs that can be tapped tax-free for education, and increase Pell Grants for needy students.
- Pass a "GI bill" for American workers to promote skills training.
- Connect every classroom and library in America to the Internet by 2000.
SCHOOL-TO-WORK WILL TRAIN, NOT EDUCATE
If Our Children are "State Resources," then...
By Phyllis Schlafly, national director of Eagle Forum
School-to-Work (STW) is the most
recent "reform" that is "restructuring" the nation's
public schools. It is not just a fad like self-esteem; it's a systemic
change in the schools' mission, the curriculum and its lasting effects on
students.
The STW Opportunities Act signed by
President Clinton in 1994, codifies that concept that schools should track
and train students into specific jobs, instead of educate them, so they
can make their own life choices. STW is being implemented nationwide by
STW state laws, federal and state regulations, and the federal mandates
that encrust the granting of STW funds.
Dictionary definitions explain the
difference. To educate means to develop the faculties and powers of a
person by teaching. To train means to cause a person or animal to be
efficient in the performance of tasks by responding to discipline,
instruction, and repeated practice.
That's exactly what STW is:
"performance-based" training of students to move into
predetermined jobs. This is in contrast to the traditional purpose of
education: the older generation imparting basic knowledge and academic
skills to the younger generation in order to enable each child to achieve
his God-given potential.
STW changes the traditional function
of education from academic (reading, writing, math, science, history,
etc.) to mandated vocational training to serve the work force. Reducing
class time spent on an academic curriculum makes time available for field
trips, encounter groups to discuss feelings, and long sessions with
counselors.
STW laws and regulations require
vocational training to start "at the earliest possible age, but
beginning no later than middle-school grades." The federal STW
statute even says that "career awareness should begin as early as the
elementary grades."
How many elementary-school or even
middle-school children do you know who are capable of choosing their
life-time career? Obviously, these decisions will be made by the school,
not by the individual or his parents.
The STW plan is for work-force
development boards, in a "partnership" between school and
business administrators (usually appointed by the governor, bypassing all
elected bodies), to determine what jobs are needed in the coming years.
The schools then construct the curriculum to meet these governmentally
determined work-force needs, and use counselors and computers to
"job-matching" and tracking.
The goal is not to graduate highly
literate individuals but to turn out team workers to produce for the
global economy. In the STW scheme, individual grades are inflated or
detached from academic achievement, individual honors are eliminated or
de-emphasized and instead we have "team" techniques as group
grading, cooperative learning, peer tutoring, horizontal enrichment, block
scheduling, job shadowing, mentoring, and job-site visits.
Computers are an essential component
to STW. A computer profile is to be inputed for every student, containing
an awesome array of personal and private family information. The data will
be available to the school, the government, and prospective employers.
The social engineers driving
school-to-work include Robert Reich, Ira Magaziner, and Marc Tucker. They
dream of using the schools to implement industrial policy, a.k.a. national
economic planning, following the German and East European model.
Robert Reich's and Ira Magaziner's
1982 book entitled Minding America's Business bemoans America's
"irrational and uncoordinated industrial policy" and that we
lack a single agency to monitor our domestic economy and adjust it to
changes in the world markets. They think we need an economic czar.
In his 1983 book The Next American
Frontier, Robert Reich wrote enthusiastically about Germany and Japan,
where government-managed industrial policy uses loans and subsidies to
shift resources into favored industries, and "induces"
disfavored firms to exit from the industry. He praised the high percentage
of their national economies that is poured into numerous, generous,
tax-financed social benefits and "elaborate programs of job
training," which he claimed resulted in low unemployment.
Marc Tucker, in his 1992 book,
Thinking for a Living, expressed admiration for the Soviet bloc countries.
He wrote that they "have done a better job than we of building
human-resource development programs."
The alleged success and efficiency of
the German and Eastern bloc countries, so highly praised by Reich,
Magaziner and Tucker, is now on the rocks. Germany's unemployment rate is
12%, and the extravagances of the welfare state are heading that nation
into economic decline.
STW is the "human-resource
development" segment of the Reich-Magaziner-Tucker strategy to
inflict America with a national industrial policy dictated by government
czars. These elitists have convinced themselves that they possess
"extraordinary insights," but the world's experience teaches us
that central planning is a failure everywhere in the world. *
STW is a direct threat to the
individual student, his privacy, his goals and his acquisition of an
education that can help him reach them. It's also a direct treat to
freedom as we know it in America.
SAME-SEX "MARRIAGE" BILL STUCK IN COMMITTEE
Licensing Perversion; You Decide!
By Ashley Callahan, Texas Family Association
HB 11, which forbids Texas from
recognizing so-called "homosexual marriages" performed in other
states, has 76 authors and co-authors in the Texas House of
Representatives. The bill is awaiting a hearing in the State Affairs
Committee, where 9 of the 15 members are co-sponsors of the bill.
HB 11 was introduced by Rep. Warren
Chisum (R-Pampa) in response to the expected court ruling in Hawaii that
will make same-sex "marriages" legal in that state. While Texas
already defines marriages as the union of one man and one woman, HB 11
expressly prohibits recognition of same-sex "marriages"
performed in other states.
Under the full faith and credit
clause of the U.S. Constitution, states must recognize legal actions that
take place in other states, unless such actions are deemed
"repugnant" to state policy. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
which was passed last year by the U.S. Congress and signed by President
Clinton, allows states to pass laws that refuse recognition of same-sex
"marriages" performed in other states.
However, laws banning same-sex
"marriages" have failed in 19 states. Often the reason for the
measure's failure was the lack of priority it was given by the leadership
of the legislative body. Such a situation appears to be happening in
Texas.
While a majority of the House is
co-sponsoring HB 11, as well as the chairman of the powerful Calendars
Committee and a majority of the committee chairman and vice-chairmen
appointed by House Speaker Pete Laney, the Speaker himself and State
Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Wolens (D-Dallas) have given no priority
to the bill. Dozens of bills have already passed the House, but HB 11,
arguably the most popular bill introduced this session, is stuck in
Chairman Wolens committee.
WHAT YOU CAN D0: HB 11 is a "now or never" issue.
It is urgent that supporters of traditional marriage contact Rep. Wolens
(512-463-0746) and Speaker Laney (512-463-3000) and ask them to schedule a
committee hearing for HB 11. If this bill fails to pass, Hawaii will
likely legalize homosexual "marriages" during the interim, thus
making it impossible for Texas to prohibit recognition.
TEXAS "GRACE" COMMISSION WOULD CUT STATE BUDGET
Reduce Government, Provide Taxpayer Relief
Rep. John Shields (R-San Antonio) has proposed a Texas version of the 1980s J. Peter Grace Commission; its purpose would be to recommend cuts in the government budget before increasing taxes. "I believe that the Texas "Grace" Commission could find $2 billion or more in state government cuts," says Rep. Shields. The proposal for the Texas "Grace" Commission embodies the sentiment of many when the issue of taxes comes up: "Cut the government's budget before you raise tax rates or create new taxes."
Rep. Shields bill, HB 1781, calls for the governor to appoint nine members to the commission and be privately funded and staffed under the governor's budget. Over a 9-12 month time period, the commission would compile a list of cuts and cost controls in the state budget that make common sense and business sense. These budget cuts would then be voted on in the 1999 Legislative Session. The commission would dissolve in 1998. "We prioritize our (personal) spending and cut our budgets, " comments Rep. Shields. "Government should do the same."
Source: The Lone Star Report, 2/21/97 & Rep. Shields' office
THE GIFT OF MOTHERHOOD
Experience Eternal Life
By Janet Parshall, mother of four and radio talk show hostess
A long time ago, on a starry night in a middle eastern town, one young woman's motherhood experience began. Like all new mothers-to-be, she wondered what her baby would be like. Would he have a dimple in his smile? Would his eyes be brown and soft like hers? Would he enjoy working with his daddy's wood-working tools?
But she worried about something else. What kind of mother would she be? She had never had a baby before, and the whole idea of raising this little one was a bit overwhelming. She found comfort in the knowledge that her child would be very special, and more than anything else, she already knew she would love him with her whole heart. But would she be able to create the kind of home that surrounded him with all that he needed--the perfect blend of tenderness and admonition?
As this teen mother and her baby grew, she struggled with the same things all of us deal with as moms. We discover, like she did, that as we walk with our children through the various stages of their lives, we are sometimes a teacher, sometimes an observer, always a nuturer. We instruct our little ones to guard their hearts, renew their minds, walk upright, trust and obey.
We lead by example, learn through failure, discipline with love. We encourage, extol, educate and exhort. We try to consistently meet all of our children's needs. We fill them up, fix them up, dress them up and build them up.
But this young mother from long ago learned something the night her baby was born that every mother who has come before and after her knows. Being a mother is the highest calling any woman will ever have. It is a precious and awesome privilege to be able to shape a mind and mold a heart.
For women, motherhood moves us into that wonderfully mysterious place where we begin to understand in a very intimate way the ultimate parent-child relationship--that relationship between our heavenly Father and those of us who have accepted the gift of salvation by grace.
The famed evangelist Billy Sunday said it best of all when he said, "Mothers...fill places so great that there isn't an angel in heaven who wouldn't be glad to give a bushel of diamonds to come down here and take their place."
At this very special time of year, we mothers have so much for which to be thankful. Not only have we been given the gift of eternal life born that starry night so long ago, but we have been given the priceless gift of motherhood. Happy Mother's Day!
Source: Family Voice, Nov/Dec 1993
WHAT YOU CAN D0: You can be sure that you will receive the
gift of eternal life. How? By faith alone (not by good works) in Jesus,
who fulfilled numerous prophecies including: He was born of a virgin; He
lived a perfect life; He died on an old rugged cross providing the perfect
blood sacrifice for all sins past, present and future; He was buried and
rose again on the third day. If you believe in Him, you have assurance of
eternal life!
CLIFF NOTES
COMMUNIST CHINA SECURES STRATEGIC GLOBAL SITES SOURCE: Washington Update, 2/19/97
THE UNITED NATIONS OWES US, BUT... SOURCE: The InterDependent, Winter 1997
THE FALLING-DOWN-SCHOOL CRISIS SOURCE: Ed Facts, 3/21/97
ARMY IS TOO "MANLY" SOURCE: Washington Update, 4/3/97
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, MAY 1
Many Americans are
still scratching their heads over why the Clinton administration would
encourage Long Beach, California to "lease" the Naval Station
there to a Chinese government-controlled shipping firm. The national
security implications are ominous. Now word comes that a Hong Kong
conglomerate with ties to the Chinese government has gained control of
both ends of the Panama Canal! The Panamanian government has given a
25-year lease to the company to operate ports that anchor the Canal on the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Our President is asleep at the switch,
American foreign policy continues to drift, and China is taking advantage
of the opportunities.
When the 105th Congress
takes up the President's budget for fiscal year 1998, every member will
have received an open letter from 138 organizations calling for prompt
payment of the United Nations dues (over $1 billion "due"). The
letter was drafted and circulated by the UN Association-USAs Council of
Organizations-Washington (founded by Eleanor Roosevelt and other concerned
Americans "to build public understanding and support for greater
international cooperation...achieved only through the UN"). The
groups demanding payment include, the National Council of Churches, U.S.
Catholic Conference, B'nai B'rith International, League of Women Voters,
National Education Association, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club,
Communications Workers of America and YWCA of America. Also, President
Clinton recently assured the new UN Secretary General that "the U.S.
is prepared to pay its way."
Senate Democrats have
set up a toll-free hotline and e-mail address to gather complaints about
conditions of school buildings. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD)
says anecdotes will be used to advance legislation that would provide $5
billion in federal interest subsidies for school infrastructure
improvements. School construction was cited as a part of President
Clinton's 10-point education agenda. School disrepair can be attributed in
part to a lack of local ownership. Federal involvement in school
construction would only exacerbate the situation.
A paid advisor to Army
Secretary Togo West just completed an analysis of the U.S. military and
has reached some interesting conclusions. The consultant, Madeline Morris,
a law professor, believes that the military must eliminate its "masculinist"
tendencies and adopt an "ungendered vision." This may be the
first time anyone seriously suggested that our military is too
"manly!"
Can there really be any doubt that the
Clinton administration sees the U.S.armed forces as a gigantic laboratory
where they can try all their radical ideas on gender and homosexuality?
The boys that died on the beaches of Normandy 50 years ago and those
"in harm's way" today will surely be interested in discovering
that the government is afraid they are too masculine.
"If My people, who
are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face,
and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will
forgive their sin and heal their land."
II Chronicles 7:14
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"The people of God are crucial to
the future of America. Whatever hope our nation has is totally dependent
upon the people of God living as the people of God. If God's people today
will hear and obey, they may expect response from God which He has
promised. If they refuse and continue in a self-indulgent disregard for
justice, America has no hope."
Richard C. Halverson, Former
Chaplain of the United States Senate