Voice in the Wilderness

Real Whirled
Austin set for season of manufactured reality
Austin will soon be home to the 16th season of MTV's "Real World" series. There are actually two, implicit lies in that statement though.

The first lie is that MTV, which ostensibly stands for "Music TV", actually plays music videos. MTV stopped showing music videos years ago when it figured out it would be more fun to push humanistic propaganda in between reruns of lurid, spring break shows. It would be more honest to call it "Marxist TV".

The second lie is that the "Real World" is real, or even remotely resembles reality. The laughably absurd premise is that several late teens/early 20 somethings all live together in swank digs with entry level (or no) jobs while MTV's unblinking eye follows them constantly, just waiting to pounce on their most unguarded and vulnerable moments...all for the audiences' pleasure, of course. The problem is that the show has to be more interesting than the target viewer's real life, or else they would not tune into this electronic voyeurism. So MTV has to engage in all sorts of media manipulation that would make Leni Reifenstahl, Hitler's filmmaker, proud.

• Selectively choosing the "cast" so as to assure maximum interpersonal friction
• Arranging the settings so that said friction is likely to occur (overcrowded quarters, shared bedrooms/bathrooms, etc). Even in a luxury loft, 8 people are going to get a bit edgy in a 1,000 square foot space after 3 months.
• Carefully parsing footage to spin or overdramatize seemingly mundane events
• No doubt, off camera, the producers are goading the cast into pre-packaged situations that will satiate the audience appetite for sex, scandal, innuendo, and intrigues. Anyone want to bet that cast members are offered incentive money for more debauched acts?
• Callously disregarding the well-being of the cast as they engage in all manner of self-destructive behaviors. True, they are there by their own choice, but MTV is paying the bill and purposely contriving this electronic fishbowl.

This "reality" racket has been a boon for TV produces. No longer having to employ real actors or screen writers, with their annoying union wages and rules, networks now only have to pony up for the set, wave some money in front of naive young adults, invent a premise that panders to basest instincts of their audience, and let the cameras roll. Of course, it's only a tortured facsimile of reality, poked and prodded nearly beyond recognition to fit MTV's ratings machine and worldview. "Real World", then, is just a reflection of its producers' unreal sensibilities.

Perry pumps property appraisal cap
An opportunity for fiscal accountability?
Governor Rick Perry gave his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature today.

Governor Perry, cleverly playing to the anxieties of many voters, said:

"Texans don't like taxation without representation and they are sick and tired of taxation by valuation. The time has come to draw a line in the sand for the taxpayer; let's cap appraisals at 3 percent."

Travis County property taxpayers are well acquainted with the stealth tax of increasing appraisals. This is how many people end up getting taxed out of their houses, even after they are paid for. With this proposal, the tyranny of the tax appraisal can be restrained.

Another encouraging thing about his policy is that it will cause cities and counties, many of who have grown accustomed to a growing property tax bounty, will now have to rework their budgets. Mayors, city council members, county commissioners courts, independent school districts, and community college boards of trustees will have to compete for more scarce tax money. In addition to much weeping and gnashing of teeth, this proposal may provide more visibility into the expenditures of each taxing authority as agencies will have to work harder to justify their expenditures. Amid the milieu, we may hear a voice from the wilderness cry out:

Where is all the money going?

Dream on
Austin's "air guitarists" get air time
Remember those scruffy, rat-tailed burnouts in high school who would turn up the stereo at parties when a Motley Crue song would come on and "play" an invisible guitar, thus demonstrating their lack of musical talent or social skills?

They're back.....

Apparently, Alamo Draft House is holding an air guitar "jam" in the near future. See http://www.austinairguitar.com/ for more details.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the song they played was "Too much time on my hands" by Styx. (Though, the same song could be sung about bloggers ;-) )

Little known factoids from Stick-Strama race and general election

The January 2005 issue of the The Lake Travis Republican included an in-depth analysis of the 2004 General Election in Travis county by Mac McGuire. The analysis includes curious details that raise intriguing questions, particularly about the House District 50 race between Republican Jack Stick and Democrat Mark Strama (which Strama won by 569 votes).

• Voter data for this race was not made available from the county voter registrar's office until nearly 4 weeks after election day. In the past, this data was available 10-12 days after election day.
• Of the 66,668 people who voted in HD 50, 3,138 were found to have invalid addresses. Of these, 718 no longer lived in Travis county, and 183 no longer lived in Texas.
• Countywide, there were 1,853 "Suspense" individuals who voted. Every two years, the registrar must send out new voter registration cards. If a registrant has moved, the post office must return the cards to the registrar. These voters are marked as "Suspense" voters. If these voters show up at the polls, they must fill out an affadavit including a statement of residence. Last election, every "Suspense" voter voted early, which is more suseptible to voter fraud.

So....

• Why was the HD 50 voting data so long in coming from the voter registrar office? How long did it take to provide data for other 2004 races in Travis county?
• In addition to the 718 out of county voters, how many of the remaining 2420 invalid address voters live outside HD 50?
• Why didn't the voter registrar office comply with Texas Election Code, section 15.022(b) and 15.002(a)(6) which state that the registrar must request change of address information from the post office every month and update voter registration rolls accordingly?
• How many of the "Suspense" voters voted in HD 50? What are the new addresses of these "Suspense" voters?

Statesman offers perfunctory coverage of Rally for Life
In addition to being uninspired and formulaic, the Austin American Statesman's coverage of the Rally for Life on Saturday completely missed the most compelling part of the rally, which was the powerful testimonies of the post-abortive women who spoke.

Of course, I understand the need to discuss Governor Perry's stance on the parental consent bill and how he's positioning himself against political opponents.

But, the story goes much deeper than the pols' machinations. Did it ever occur to the Statesman reporter to ask why post-abortive women are so much against abortion?

FoxNews and CNN also give a brief mention about the Rally for Life, both picking up the AP story. Interesting that the AP story mentions interviews with Dr. Joe Pojman of Texas Alliance for Life and Sarah Wheat, spokeswoman for Texas pro-abortion groups, but the Statesman account does not.

Parents' Rights Now!
The Texas Rally for Life leaves no parent behind

In the face of climactic variations that must seem symbolic for the ebb and flow of societal attitudes, the Texas Rally for Life stood firmly for parent's rights at Saturday's rally in Austin.

An expected crowd of 1500 trekked nearly 1.5 miles from Republic Square to the foot of the Capitol to hear Republican luminaries, pro-life organizers, grass roots activists, and women who have tread the painful path of abortion who were all of one mind: pumping up support for the as-yet unfiled Parental Consent bill, a bill that will require the explicit consent of parents before their minor children can have an abortion.

Texas Alliance for Life's well-organized and tightly-focused program featured several recurring themes designed to animate the Texas pro-life community to action on this issue:

• Abortion is based on lies
• Women are hurt by abortion
• Godly people must be ready to intervene between abortionists and protect emotionally vulnerable, young women
• The parental consent bill this legislative session is a practical way protect young women

So, let us strive without failing for the cause of life. Affirm life, defend life, pray for life. Equip yourself for battle in the arena of ideas. Take steps to take up the cause of single mothers and the fatherless:

• Go to Texas Alliance for Life's website to learn more about pro-life initiatives planned for the current Legislative session. Contact them at info@texasallianceforlife.org to subscribe to their email updates
• Identify your state representative and senator now
• Check out Texas Right to Life's website to research all manner of pro-life issues
• Be ready to contact or visit your legislators when pro-life bills are heard and debated. As a former legislative aide, I can assure you that phone calls, letters, and, especially, personal visits from constituents make a huge impact on legislators.

Press on!

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. " James 1:27

"The mountain of abortion will be moved!"

Texas Governor, Republican Rick Perry, was on hand to tout his impressive, pro-life bona fides to the grassroots faithful. Not coincidentally, Founders Vision PAC distributed flyers showing the how the Governor's pro-life stances compare to his likely 2006 primary opponents: Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. (The likely challengers are not friendly to the pro-life cause. Keep that in mind in March 2006).

Governor Perry has signed several, important pro-life bills in the past, causing Texas Alliance for Life Executive Director, Joe Pojman, to proclaim that he is loyal to Perry because he has been loyal to Texas most vulnerable citizens, a rousing and sure endorsement indeed.

The Governor made an interesting point about the current parental notification law: since its passage, abortions have decreased 26% in Texas! While this result is impressive in its own right, it should cause us to ask "what is it about parental notification that leads to such a big decrease in abortion?" This simple act tends to pierce the abortionists' facade that abortion is of no harm to women or their children. When mom or dad find out, they know it is bad for their daughter and move to intercede. If it was harmless, mom or dad wouldn't care or would probably encourage it because of the inconvenience of an unexpected grandchild.

What is based on lies cannot stand, whether those lies are of commission or omission.

Post-abortive woman, Mayalea Banks, was not told that abortion would end her child's life. She was told "you don't have to go through with the pregnancy", that abortion "was an easy way out". But, she says, it was not an easy way out. 20 years later, she is still recovering. Part of her healing process was to give her aborted child a name, Matthew Palmer. She understands now that an unborn child is a person.

Ms. Banks, and the other post-abortive women who spoke on Saturday, are the bold vanguard of a pro-life victory force. With 45 million abortions performed over the 32 years, there is a great mass of surviving mothers who now know the truth, and seek to set others free.