Surprise!!! NOT All Texans Are Rednecks!!!
http://www.sportssuck.org/phpbb2/viewto ... f=7&t=5007
As I had mentioned before, I subscribe to the TFN Insider Newsletter from the Texas Freedom Network.
We are trying to get House Bill 224 passed here in Texas to put an end to bullying in our schools.
But unfortunately, there are some right-wing religious groups who are opposed to this anti-bullying bill.
http://tfninsider.org/2011/03/02/rr-gro ... ying-bill/
And here is another article about the suicide of 13-year-old Asher Brown last September.
RR Groups Oppose Anti-Bullying Bill
By Dan
Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller testified yesterday at a Texas House Public Education Committee hearing in support of legislation to help schools better protect their students from bullying. Tragically, unrelenting harassment and bullying have led some Texas students â?? like 13-year-old Asher Brown last September â?? to take their own lives. Religious-right groups opposed to the bill, however, decided to put politics ahead of protecting Texas students from harm.
Supporters of House Bill 224 by state Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, pointed out that bullying has become a serious problem and that school administrators are practically begging for the training and legal tools they need to deal with it. In her testimony Kathy pointed to a TFN Education Fund poll last year that found overwhelming support among Texans for requiring schools to protect students from bullying. (You can read Kathyâ??s testimony at the bottom of this post.)
But lobbyists from religious-right groups offered a variety of disingenuous arguments against this common-sense bill. Texas Eagle Forum, for example, argued that bullying is a problem best handled at the local level. But some local school administrators are not handling the problem â?? Asherâ??s suicide should have made that clear. Too often administrators simply ignore bullying, excuse it or believe they donâ??t have enough authority to act effectively to stop it. Asherâ??s parents, for example, said they repeatedly told school officials about the bullying that tormented their son in the 18 months leading up to his suicide.
But perhaps the most cynical and odious testimony came from Liberty Institute, the Texas affiliate of Focus on the Family. LIâ??s argumentative and often rambling lobbyist appealed to anti-gay bigotry in his effort to defeat a bill protecting all kids from bullying. (The tragic irony of that strategy apparently escaped him.) He repeatedly insisted that the purpose of the anti-bullying bill was simply to provide â??special rightsâ? to â??homosexualsâ? and the transgender community. Then later yesterday, the same lobbyist actually mocked the billâ??s supporters, boasting that the bill would fail to win legislative approval â?? as if the issue were simply a political contest rather than a serious effort to protect students from harm.
The House Public Education Committee left the bill pending for now.
Here is Kathyâ??s written testimony from the hearing:
Note:Iâ??m Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an organization of 45,000 religious and community leaders who support religious freedom, civil liberties and public education.
My two daughters attend public schools here in Austin. Like other parents, I know that bullying is a serious problem in Texas schools. And I strongly believe that all schoolchildren deserve a safe place in which to learn. But itâ??s clear that too many students today are burdened not just by heavy textbooks, but also by harassment and violence at the hands of their peers. And too many administrators and teachers apparently lack the training they need to identify and protect those students who need their help.
Last year we asked the national polling firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner to survey Texans across the state on the issue of bullying in Texas schools.
What we found confirms that House Bill 224 represents basic common sense to the vast majority of Texans. In fact, 88 percent of Texans said they support requiring public schools to protect all children from bullying, harassment and discrimination in school, including the children of gay and lesbian parents or teenagers who are gay.
We found that overwhelming support across ideological lines: 94 percent of self-identified liberals and moderates, 82 percent of self-identified conservatives and 81 percent of self-identified conservative Republicans said they supported such a requirement.
In short, an overwhelming majority of Texans agree that bullying â?? no matter the reasons for it â?? should not be tolerated in our schools. This legislation would be an important step forward in addressing this critical problem.
This entry was posted on March 2, 2011 at 6:10 pm and is filed under bullying, Liberty Institute, religious right, Texas Eagle Forum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 20896.html
OK, the TFN, Texas Freedom Network is NOT anti-religious, not by any means. The TFN not only supports intellectual and academic freedom in our schools, but the TFN also supports religious freedom as well, as long as religious groups do not try to usurp the curriculum that is being taught in Texas schools.Houston & Texas News
Parents say bullies drove their son to take his life
They claim school district took no action
By PEGGY O'HARE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Sept. 29, 2010, 2:28PM
Family photo
Asher Brown, 13, shown in August, killed himself at
home in Cypress on Thursday. His mother, Amy Truong,
believes he killed himself because of bullying he had
endured at school. He attended Hamilton Middle School
in the Cy-Fair Independent School District.
Melissa Phillip Houston Chronicle
Amy Truong talks about her son, Asher Brown, 13,
who killed himself at home on Thursday. She believes
he killed himself because of bullying he had endured
at school. He attended Hamilton Middle School in the
Cy-Fair Independent School District.
Update: Asher Brownâ??s family has said everyone is invited to attend his memorial service, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at 13734 Lakewood Forest Drive in Houston. Mourners are asked to park directly next to Moore Elementary School. Brownâ??s family said those who attend can wear shorts, flip flops and T-shirts, which they said is â??the way Asher would want it.â?
People can make monetary contributions to Asher Brownâ??s family by mailing them to Pulse Missions, P.O. Box 570063, Houston, TX77257-0063, or on his uncle, Jonnathan Truongâ??s web site
â?¢ â?¢ â?¢
Asher Brown's worn-out tennis shoes still sit in the living room of his Cypress-area home while his student progress report â?? filled with straight A's â?? rests on the coffee table.
The eighth-grader killed himself last week. He shot himself in the head after enduring what his mother and stepfather say was constant harassment from four other students at Hamilton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District.
Brown, his family said, was "bullied to death" â?? picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said.
The 13-year-old's parents said they had complained about the bullying to Hamilton Middle School officials during the past 18 months, but claimed their concerns fell on deaf ears.
David and Amy Truong said they made several visits to the school to complain about the harassment, and Amy Truong said she made numerous phone calls to the school that were never returned.
'We want justice'
Cy Fair ISD officials said Monday that they never received any complaints from Brown's parents before the suicide about the way the boy was being treated at school.
School district spokeswoman Kelli Durham, whose husband Alan Durham is a Hamilton assistant principal, said no students, school employees or the boy's parents ever reported that he was being bullied.
That statement infuriated the Truongs, who accused the school district of protecting the bullies and their parents.
"That's absolutely inaccurate â?? it's completely false," Amy Truong said. "I did not hallucinate phone calls to counselors and assistant principals. We have no reason to make this up. â?¦ It's like they're calling us liars."
David Truong said, "We want justice. The people here need to be held responsible and to be stopped. It did happen. There are witnesses everywhere."
Numerous comments from parents and students on the Web site of KRIV-TV Channel 26, which also reported a story about Brown's death, stated that the boy had been bullied by classmates for several years and claimed Cy-Fair ISD does nothing to stop such harassment.
Durham said the school counselor and an assistant principal received an e-mail from Amy Truong earlier this month, asking them to keep an eye on her son, but Durham said it was because of ongoing concerns at home and not about bullying.
Shot himself with pistol
Brown was found dead on the floor of his stepfather's closet at the family's home in the 11700 block of Cypresswood about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. He used his stepfather's 9 mm Beretta, stored on one of the closet's shelves, to kill himself. He left no note. David Truong found the teen's body when he arrived home from work.
On the morning of his death, the teen told his stepfather he was gay, but Truong said he was fine with the disclosure. "We didn't condemn," he said.
His parents said Brown had been called names and endured harassment from other students since he joined Cy-Fair ISD two years ago. As a result, he stuck with a small group of friends who suffered similar harassment from other students, his parents said.
His most recent humiliation occurred the day before his suicide, when another student tripped Brown as he walked down a flight of stairs at the school, his parents said.
When Brown hit the stairway landing and went to retrieve his book bag, the other student kicked his books everywhere and kicked Brown down the remaining flight of stairs, the Truongs said.
Durham said that incident was investigated, but turned up no witnesses or video footage to corroborate the couple's claims.
'I hope you're happy'
The Truongs say they just want the harassment to stop so other students do not suffer like their son did and so another family does not have to endure such a tragedy.
"Our son is just the extreme case of what happens when (someone is) just relentless," Amy Truong said.
To the bullies, she added, "I hope you're happy with what you've done. I hope you got what you wanted and you're just real satisfied with yourself."
Services for Brown will be held Saturday.
The TFN has some Christian members, and Jewish members, and members from many different ethnic and cultural groups, and members who are gay and lesbian, etc. etc. But despite their many differences, they all have one thing in common, and that is, politics should not have any influence on education, that the school curriculum should not be altered in any way by those who have a political agenda, for example: attempts by Don McLeroy and extremists in the religious right-wing to have Thomas Jefferson removed from the history textbooks because he was a Deist and not a Christian, or to have Creationism inserted into science text books.
So, there are some Christians who are opposed making such changes in the school curriculum that are based on some kind of a political agenda, therefore, NOT all Christians are what I would refer to as Christards! There are in fact, some Christians who do accept Darwin's theory of Evolution.
OK, it's quite obvious why religious extremists on the far right want to have Thomas Jefferson removed from history textbooks, and why they want to insert Creationism into the science textbooks.
But why are they opposed to the anti-bullying House Bill 224?
Oh yeah! Now I remember!
NO, you fucking Christards! The anti-bullying House Bill 224 is to protect ALL students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, culture, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation, etc. etc.. . . the purpose of the anti-bullying bill was simply to provide â??special rightsâ? to â??homosexualsâ? and the transgender community.
Also remember, that 13 year old Asher Brown, who committed suicide as a result of bullying, was harassed, because of his religion, among other reasons as well.
This anti-bullying House Bill 224 would also protect children from bullying because of their religious affiliation, and NOT just children who are gay, or who have gay parents. It's to protect ALL children, ya morons!!!. . . his family said, was "bullied to death" â?? picked on for his small size, his religion and . . . etc. etc.
Therefore, this bill is not primarily to protect gay and lesbian students as these right-wing religious whackozoids claim, but to protect ALL children from bullying, regardless of their religious affiliation, race, ethnicity, culture, or sexual orientation etc. etc.
It is intended to provide a safe learning environment in our schools, you dumb asses!!!
So, now I must ask myself, just what is there REAL MOTIVE for opposing House Bill 224? Eh?
OK, maybe I'm some kind of kook! Maybe I'm whacked out myself!
But here is one of my probable conspiracy theories! OK?
Perhaps, maybe, just maybe, these right-wing whack-jobs really don't want our schools to provide a safe learning environment, a safe heaven, where GOD FORBID, our children might be better able to learn such things as . . . . (dare I say it?) . . . math and SCIENCE!!!
Now, just why is that???
OK, here is my whacked out dirty little conspiracy theory!
Through out history, religion has been opposed to science. Isn't that right Galileo!
Anyone who proposed a scientific theory that might be in conflict with religious doctrine as held by the Roman Catholic Church was branded as a heretic. Isn't the right Galileo!
But today, for example: it has been proven that the sun and planets do NOT revolve around the earth, as it was once held by Catholic Church doctrine, but instead, we now know that the earth and planets all revolve around the sun. Also, Darwin's Theory of of Evolution has been proven. The DNA evidence amounts to legal proof of Evolution in a court of law.
Now, religion can't very well play the heretic card anymore. Do to so, would expose them as the fools, morons, and jack asses that they really are!
So, they are now playing a new card instead. They gay card! That is how these right-wing religious whackos are opposing House bill 224.
They actually want the bullying to continue in our schools, to deliberately impede and disrupt the process of education, making it almost impossible for students to concentrate on their classroom subjects, especially math and science.
You see, it all makes perfect sense now!
Organized religion can't condemn anyone as heretics anymore, so lets just call some students in school "fags" instead, and allow them to be bullied around and make it impossible for students to learn anything, especially SCIENCE!
OH NO! We can't have our children learning science now, can we! GOD FORBID!
Otherwise, these students might successfully graduate from high school, and go on to college, and earn a PhD in science, and along the way, might propose some more "dangerous" new theories that might conflict with religious doctrine.
Oh! We can't have that now! Can we!
No, it's better to allow our children to get bullied around, and beaten down, and keep them dumb so we can have more uneducated sheeple people who will vote Republican (Retardican) and watch Pat Robertson's 700 Club, and get suckered into donating money to make these Ecclesiass-holes rich so they they can make the Retardican Party rich, and run our country back into another dark age!
OK! OK! I know that NOT ALL Republicans are what I call Retardicans! Here in Texas, surprisingly enough, a vast majority of Conservative Republican are opposed to bullying in our schools and would also support House Bill 224 to protect children from bullying in our schools.
So, it would appear, that only a small minority of Conservative Republicans are opposed to House Bill 224 and are perfectly willing to allow, and even encourage, the bullying to continue in our schools.We found that overwhelming support across ideological lines: 94 percent of self-identified liberals and moderates, 82 percent of self-identified conservatives and 81 percent of self-identified conservative Republicans said they supported such a requirement.
In short, an overwhelming majority of Texans agree that bullying â?? no matter the reasons for it â?? should not be tolerated in our schools. This legislation would be an important step forward in addressing this critical problem.
And that is what is so frightening!
It is frightening, that such a small minority of morons and jack asses can wield so much power, because of their money, and influence, and prestige, that they are able to block any progressive legislation, and to maintain the present status quo.
These are the right-wing religious Ecclesiass-holes who are opposed to any means to end the bullying in our schools, opposed to doing anything that might help to improve the quality of education, and to keep our children ignorant and uneducated, and to plunge us all back into the dark ages again!
Actually, it's really not so surprising that these right-wing ignoramuses advocate that the bullying be allowed to continue in our schools.
Hey! The Bush administration advocated the use of torture (such as water-boarding) on captured war prisoners, so we're well on our way back into a new dark age!
They would love it, if the USA was no longer a Democracy, and became a Theocracy instead.
Yeah! See how it works???
Makes perfect sense now! Doesn't it?
Or, am I just nuts, or what?
Ah! I just love a good conspiracy theory! Don't you?
Does anybody here think this qualifies?
Nah! I'm just nuts!
I'm fat and sassy! I love to sing & dance & stomp my feet & really rock your world!
It was always how homosexuals were out to "take over the country" if we didn't stop them.