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to learn compassion by trial and error…

Filed under: Art & Literature, Being Mom, Love, Musicness, Nerdgasm, Politics — Leave a comment
August 8, 2013

Things are gearing up in Chicago. It’s going to be difficult to keep my eyes off of my feed and on my work tomorrow.

Right now, I’m freshly showered and staring at tiny lights in between words/thoughts.

Being a mama is so freaking difficult, you guys. My goal, as a parent, is to allow my children to have as much freedom as I feel like they are capable of handling responsibly, and to allow them as many choices as I can.

Sometimes, that makes things a lot more difficult. Sometimes…I’m not entirely sure I’ve made the right choices as a parent, so how can I expect my children to make the right choices as children?

I found this poem fragment in an old journal:

Usually my relationships die like Elvis

on the toilet.

This one

Kurt Cobained – offing itself

before it had a chance to become what it swore it never would be.

(I’m glad I still have heroes. I’m glad I still have dreams)

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Bella Ciao. Bella Ciao. Bella Ciao Ciao Ciao

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August 2, 2013
Image by US Action: http://usaction.org/

Image by US Action: http://usaction.org/

 

Dear Friends,

In solidarity with those who will be attending the 40th annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Chicago on August 7-9, local Austin activists are hoping to build a coalition in opposition to ALEC’s influence over our legislative process in Texas.

For those who are not aware, ALEC is an organization that promotes a pro-corporate agenda by way of aiding big business in drafting bills that our legislators then attempt to pass into law. On ALEC task forces, corporate lobbyists and special interests vote as equals with elected representatives on templates to change our laws, behind closed doors with no press or public allowed to see the votes or deliberations. This agenda is orchestrated on both a state and national level, and has been the process by which problematic laws have passed through the legislatures of several state governments.  For example:

• Anti-women’s health bills like HB2 in Texas (introduced by Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, ALEC’s Texas Chair), SB 353 in North Carolina, SB 206 in WIsconsin and HB 200 in Ohio

• Anti-justice legislation such as “Three Strikes”, Stand Your Ground”, and mandatory minimum sentencing laws

• Healthcare proposals to weaken FDA drug regulation, privatize Medicare and Medicaid, repeal laws that expand public access to health care, and bar the families of Americans injured or killed by drugs and medical devices from holding manufacturers accountable in courts of law

• “Ag Gag” laws that prosecute whistleblowers for even so much as taking photographs of feedlots and factory farms to expose animal cruelty and food safety concerns

• Anti-environment legislation to roll back pollution regulations and health safeguards, eliminate clean energy competition, and allow drilling and extractive mining on protected lands

• Privatization of public services including but not limited to public schools, foster care, adoption and child support enforcement, Social Security, correctional facilities, environmental research facilities and public utilities

• Opposition to initiatives to roll back the Citizens United v FEC decision or fix the worst aspects of it

• “Jobs” legislation that would lower wages, eliminate employee rights, bust unions and ship more American jobs overseas

• Voter ID and other voter suppression legislation

• Opposition to comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship

• And much, much more.

Since ALEC has its fingers in so very many pies, this is a great opportunity to connect the dots between all of the various grassroots organizations in Austin, and provide space for everyone to work together to oppose corporate influence over our representative democracy. Toward that end, you and your colleagues are invited to a meeting on Monday, August 5th at 7 PM on the Austin City Hall Plaza to plan a visual solidarity action aimed at building the coalition and educating the public about the various ways our issues are all connected.  This action will tentatively take place under the Rotunda at the Texas State Capitol on Friday, August 9th at 1 PM.  We’ll also discuss plans for the future.

Let’s show our legislators that Austin is united in opposition to corporate influence on our state Capitol.

If you are unable to make the meeting on the 5th or the action on the 9th, you can email me at lainie.duro@gmail.com for more information about future meeting dates and actions.

Here’s the Facebook event for the action that will take place on August 9th: https://www.facebook.com/events/493662220715367/

 

Sincerely,

 

Lainie Duro

Occupy Austin participant

Unruly Mob Media Team member

Rise Up/Levanta Texas participant

Mother of 2

❤

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Like a glamour billboard on a battlefield

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August 1, 2013

There is SO MUCH organizing going on in Austin these days. There are SO MANY things to be pissed off about. There are SO MANY ways to act upon creating a better world.

Since I’m feeling like I’m in Calendar mode, please allow me to map out the next few days for you – both personally and politically:

THURSDAY

(I’ll be working through most of these)

9-10:30 AM: Budget out Acevedo! (first of 2 events) @ City Hall – https://www.facebook.com/events/498508403561139/?suggestsessionid=6f0565fc5d7f29911673e8caea6e028d

1st event, 9-10:30am/City Hall
2nd event, 5:30-7pm/APD HQ

PROTEST AT CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSESSION—to “budget out” our Police Chief/budget for a police chief search:

After Byron Carter’s unjust murder and subsequent cover-up, some folks wanted to call for Acevedo’s firing, since that made it clear he is not the chief we thought we were getting (it proved his poor handling of Sanders was a pattern; not an isolated event). When he started, he made some good changes-on paper and in practice; built up some community trust simply by being present and responsive, then after the Sanders shooting/cover up, resorted to old skool bad-cop-no-donut chief, which only worsened with Carter’s death.

We can now see APD struggling GREATLY to justify the foot chase of Eugene Jackson; and therefore justify the killing…when it may even be that the gun went off accidentally! Of course, they know if it did or not by now, so the lies/spin has DEFINITELY begun – there is no more “waiting for the facts.” The fact is they are lying…the truth is now immaterial from an accountability standpoint.

This is the final straw for many…it’s time for Acevedo to go. He’s wiped away any good deeds from his first couple of years of his tenure, and now many feel we’re worse off than we were before he came.
==================================
Austin City Council has notoriously been silent when police shoot unarmed black men in our town. They are the boss of the City Manager, who is the boss of the chief. As our elected leaders, they have a duty to publicly ask questions/hold the chief accountable during these crucial community times.

THEY must make the decision to fire him, ultimately.

Thursday, starting at 9am, is Council’s first 2013/14 budget presentation/worksession. Let’s go for the 1st hour or so, while tv cameras are about, and hold signs demanding they budget for a new police chief search so they can fire him and we can move on as a community.

We can stand inside the boards/commission room at the back, or outside, holding signs up to the windows of the room.

Noon: Texas Solidarity Singers @The Capitol – https://www.facebook.com/events/525129900874018/

NOTE – 2 seperate sing-alongs are at:
Noon to 1pm and 8pm to 10pm
Come join our Solidarity Sing Alongs every Thursday at noon and/or evening during the 3rd Special Session of the Texas Legislature. We’ll have songbooks and smiles. You bring a voice, good, bad, or ugly. It all sounds good in the rotunda. You don’t have to stay the whole time, just as long as you can.Our purpose is to stand with Wisconsin and North Carolina and let the Texas Legislature know we haven’t gone away; we’re still watching. Wisconsinites have been doing this every weekday since 2011. North Carolina’s Moral Mondays just ended with about 1,000 people turning out for the last day of their legislative session.These singalongs are modeled after the Wisconsin Solidarity Sing Alongs. They designed and sent us this logo and shared their songbook. Our support means a lot to them.Noon sing alongs start at, well noon or as soon as you can get there from your lunch hour. You’ll get a musician with his instrument!Evening singalongs start at 8 p.m. The Capitol closes at 10 p.m. We will sing until then. Those who wish to keep singing can continue outside.Parking is free in the evenings in the visitor parking lot at 12th and Trinity.

5:30 pm: FIRE Austin Police Chief Acevedo – https://www.facebook.com/events/601762469869120/

2nd event:
After countless cover ups by the APD to protect criminal cops, the community is rallying to demand that the Mayor & City Council fire Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo. The rally will take place at the steps of the Austin Police Department on Thursday, August 1st at 5:30 pm. This is a community effort.

The latest killing of an innocent, unarmed, African-American man (Larry Eugene Jackson, Jr.) by APD compels us to say enough is enough. Art Acevedo and his cronies have once again come out and made up excuses for why his cop (who broke policy) ‘had’ to kill an unarmed man, and as per standard operating procedure, they have been working overtime to slander the victim of police brutality. The buck should stop with the city council and the police chief.

7 PM: Justice for Trayvon Organizing Meeting – https://www.facebook.com/events/295948833883408/

Organizing to plan for the national march on Washington and local events related to Trayvon Martin’s case and other cases of racism in ATX.

8 PM: Texas Solidarity Singalong, Take Two – https://www.facebook.com/events/525129900874018/ (See above description)

FRIDAY

(I’ll be doing mom/kid stuff all day)

SATURDAY

(I’ll be working most of the day, but this is going on…)

12:30 PM: Stand Up Against APD Brutality – #JusticeForJackson – https://www.facebook.com/events/171535619693256/ AS you may or may not have heard, the Austin Police Department is responsible for yet another death of an UNARMED, African-American Male.

Details on shooting:

1. Jackson was unarmed.

2. Detective Charles Kleinert enlisted a ride from a citizen to track down Jackson.http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime-law/police-investigating-detectives-tactics-in-shootin/nY7Wb/

3. Kleinert broke APD policy 216.

4. Jackson was fatally shot in the back of the neck.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Calling all activists, community leaders, church members, students, allies, and anyone that cares about this ongoing INJUSTICE SYSTEM here in Austin, TX to join me THIS SATURDAY @ 12:30pm in front of the Austin Police Department (8th and I-35) as we call for the following actions:

– Detective Charles Kleinert be punished and/or fired for his abuse of power and lethal force to an unarmed individual who was not being legally detained.

– An investigation into the ENTIRE Austin Police Department for police for their history of wrongful deaths caused by police officers

– Suspension and/or removal of current Police Chief Art Acevedo for his lack of leadership and failure to address these issues as they continue to happen.

– JUSTICE FOR LARRY EUGENE JACKSON!

SUNDAY

7:30 PM: 1984 Day Movie-Watching Party @location to be announced Join us on August 4th to watch We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists- a 2012 documentary film about the workings and beliefs of the self-described “hacktivist” collective, Anonymous who organize online and offline protests in efforts to protect free speech, internet freedom, and personal privacy.

This will be a fun opportunity to bring your friends to talk through the current level of surveillance present in all of our lives, so invite anyone affected by the NSA’s disregard of our fourth amendment rights- which is to say, invite everyone!

More details regarding event-specifics to come, but mark the date and time on your calendars folks! Our journey to restoring the fourth amendment is just beginning and we need one another’s support to continue fighting the good fight. Your presences makes a difference.

MONDAY
(more mom stuff for me, and…)

7 PM: Planning Meeting for ALEC Protest Solidarity Action and Coalition-Building @Austin City Hall (Facebook page not yet created.)

THURSDAY
(Worky worky…and then…)

5:45 PM: ACTION: Stop Marriott Developer from Cheating Austin!! @Austin City Hall – https://www.facebook.com/events/447144502047573/ The developer of the Marriott is lobbying City Council to get around the law and not pay workers their fair wages. Cheaters don’t get to change the rules of the game!! Come support workers and their allies on August 8th at City Hall!

Last month, we celebrated that the City of Austin had cut off all tax breaks to developer White Lodging, the largest hotel developer in Austin, because it failed to keep its promise to workers and taxpayers to pay fair wages to the workers building the JW Marriott. However, White Lodging’s high-powered lobbyists are pushing city council to re-write the law, so that the developer can get $3.8 million dollars in tax breaks without having to pay workers their fair wages.
Basically, White Lodging got caught cheating and now they want to change the rules of the game!

We need YOUR SUPPORT to tell Council on August 8t that our community expects them to uphold the terms of the original agreement: pay workers a fair wage in order to receive tax breaks.

Make sure our City leaders do the right thing!
EMAIL MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS the message below by clicking here: http://www.austintexas.gov/mail/all-council-members

Dear Mayor Leffingwell and City Council,

I respectfully urge you to defend workers and taxpayers, not back room developer deals. City Staff has already ruled that White Lodging failed to pay workers wages in accordance with the ordinance. If the city gives in to White Lodging and re-writes the rules of the game, we allow this developer to get away with $3.8 million in tax dollars while breaking their promise to the men and women who are building our city.

We should invest in responsible businesses; however, Austin needs to hold developers accountable who don’t uphold their end of the bargain.

FRIDAY

1 PM: Solidarity with ALEC Protest Action @TX State Capitol (Facebook event not yet created.)

Phew!

Also, look at this awesome sandwich. Best veggie sandwich in the world is at Little Deli right here in Austin. Not to be all advertise-y or anything, but I’m just saying…

Also…it took me far far too long to write this post. I’d like to post on upcoming activist events more often, but it’d be nice to know if it’s helpful…so let me know!

Also also…don’t even ASK me about the italics. Somewhere in the middle of this post, the formatting got all screwed up, and I’m too tired to fix it now. Hahaha. Deal with it!

 

❤

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New Clear Daze

Filed under: Being Mom, Love, Musicness, Nerdgasm — 2 Comments
July 30, 2013

So, this is what today is all about:

sweet, happy, fairy bed. ❤

 

*bliss*

In other words – today hasn’t been much about anything. But these pretty lights make me happy, so I’ll make the day about them.

Did I mention the lights?

Also, Tao of Bird and I made Beignets today. They were super yummy, and so fun and easy to make I decided I’m going to have a mimosa and beignet brunch next week.

beignets and coffee with whipped cream

There’s lots going on here. Birdy is going to be starting school this year. Public school. In 7th grade. I am at odds with that decision philosophically, but it’s one of those times in life when I had to make a choice based on nothing but bad options. My job now is to prepare him the best I can for that transition and be here to support him as he goes through it. I’m certain…beyond certain…that he is a wonderful, brilliant, charming boy who will adapt wonderfully and have tons of friends. And I know he has a good sense of who he is. He’s a strong little fart, in spite of his occasional bouts of insecurity. ❤

So, we’re preparing for that. In a variety of ways.

Buddha the Grouch, on the other hand, is getting ready for his own leap into more formally-structured schooling by enrolling in the Early College High School program at ACC.

I don’t want to talk too much about them, because they are getting older and they have their own lives, and they don’t need their mama blogging about them out in public, but I’m proud of both of those guys. They each have unique challenges and strengths, and it’s delightful to watch them both become the people they will be. Gradually and non-linearly. Being a mom is really fucking difficult, yes. But it’s hella rewarding to get to see personalities forming right before your very eyes – even when those personalities seem to conflict with each other’s and mine to a frustrating degree…hahaha.

As for me…my work week starts in the morning. 3 days on. 1 day off. 1 day on. 2 days off. It’s not a bad schedule at all. Totally bearable. I kind of hate that I’m growing to really enjoy this job, because I think I still have residual shellshock from how abruptly I was vacated from my last job (and, yet, when I look back at my last job, I realize I had not been happy there for YEARS…so it was actually a relief to be let go, even though it seemed like a terrible tragedy at the time.) It’s like a bad breakup that makes you feel insecure right on into the next relationship, even though the previous relationship wasn’t all that great in the first place and the breakup was probably long overdue.

I’m really fucking awesome at romanticizing something while it’s going on. Just being ok with it, because security. Even when it becomes practically unbearable and what sense security when you’re not safe where you are?

How is it possible that I am also a pro at romanticizing after the fact something that was totally shitty for the duration. WTF, me? Can you please maintain a level of consistency in your ability to turn shit into shinola?

But, whatever. As one of my favorite mentors once told me “Worry is negative goal setting.”

I’m just going to lay back and stare at little colored lights until they blur and fade to black.

❤

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…and left you with sweet fuck all.

Filed under: Musicness, Politics — Leave a comment
July 26, 2013

I haven’t much to say, really. It’s been a tough week.

I took a short walk tonight. Did some writing. Am in the process of dying my hair again. I didn’t have gloves, so I thought “fuck it. I’ll just have to deal with having purple hands for a bit.” And I can do that, because I am working from home now. Yay.

Not sure how long it will take for that to come out. hahhahaha.

I’m thinking tonight’s blog post will be one of those long, rambling, music-filled posts. In honor of my brothers and sisters in Wisconsin, who were arrested for SINGING in their capitol building.

The police come in waves, five times in the noon hour of singing. There are dozens. They surround a singer (why that one?) and grab him, grab her, asking if they are dispersing. No one consents to disperse. Zipties are ratcheted around wrists. I watch a cluster of black shirted black gloved grim men surround a middle-aged woman. They perform their wrist-twist jobs with the satisfaction of bondage well done. Craft. Take pride in your work. After all, she knew the new rules, and she was singing. We cannot have people expressing dissatisfaction with our government without permission from our government.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/25/1226622/-Songs-in-the-Key-of-Resistance-The-Police-Came-in-Waves-Today

The Solidarity Sing Along began in March, 2011, as a way to maintain an oppositional voice to Scott Walker’s government and policies after they rammed through Act 10, the law that all but busted public sector unions in the state. The law is being challenged and is still working its way through federal and state courts.

People who came to the capitol to sing in those early days did so out of a deep sense of frustration that the legitimate concerns of hundreds of thousands of people in the state were simply disregarded by the Republican controlled legislature and governor. If they had no power to influence legislation through their elected representatives, they would bring their concerns directly to the public forum that is the capitol rotunda in the form of song.

http://www.progressive.org/why-my-parents-got-arrested-in-madison

Dude. That’s fucked up.

So, in honor of the Solidarity Sing Along, I’m posting some non-political songs that I like to sing along to. Badly. Because it’s not illegal to sing in my own home…yet. And some songs that I just like to listen to. In no particular order, except they sounded good together…

 

Have a lovely today and a lovelier tomorrow… ❤

 

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Live It Now, ‘Cause There Ain’t Much to Die For

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July 24, 2013

I bulletin board

I’m a nice person. It’s actually always been a goal in my life to be a nice person, and I feel like I’m generally pretty successful at it. I’m a lot more selfish than I would like to be – mostly with my time and attention. I’m certainly not perfect. But I find it pretty easy to get along with people, I make it a point to be polite, and I’m generally pretty fucking accommodating.

I feel like I need to remind myself of that today. I’ve been having to deal with a person who feels I am none of those things a lot more than I like to have to deal with him, and it can be very easy to slip into the habit of seeing myself the way he does…especially when I’d like nothing more than to just be able to get along with this person enough to at least just get the shit done that needs to get done. The problem is, getting along with this person generally consists of doing everything this person demands or requests without question…and that’s just not something I’m willing to do. I guess, in addition to being nice, I have a pretty strong sense of fairness – and an unwillingness to compromise myself just to keep the peace.

I think to myself often how life would be so. much. fucking. easier. If I could ever make this person feel satisfied with whatever it is that he wants. The problem is, that desire is never outright stated, and is always shifting, so there’s really nothing I can do about it. And it’s not really my responsibility, anyway. In this situation, all I can do is hold tight to a strong center of what feels right and fair to me…and trust that my own intentions are good, but continue to check my intentions – allowing myself forgiveness for occasional bouts of frustrated venting.

I thought a lot today about that power. The power of never being clear about what you desire, so as to retain the power to be dissatisfied with whatever you get. My tendency is kind of on the other side of that same coin, which I imagine is equally frustrating: I am always trying to desire whatever I get, and I’m pretty fucking good at it…but that makes me pretty fucking bad at defining what I actually want.

What I need to focus on while I’m dealing with this is not how I’m expected to behave, but how I wish to behave, regardless of that expectation. To not measure myself with a flawed ruler. To not pay too much attention to the person in the distorted mirror that’s being held up to me, because that’s not the person I am.

❤

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Gone Daddy Gone

Filed under: Time Management — 1 Comment
July 22, 2013

The Fine Art of Dish Stacking

I’ve been…temporarily unavailable. After a month spent practically living at The Capitol, I’ve been pretty busy tending to my household, preparing for the upcoming school transition, taking care of myself, saying goodbye to my dear friend Pansy, who moves away in just a few days. Reacquainting myself with some familiar scars. Or attempting to. Wishing I could avoid some, but allowing myself to dwell on others.

I fell out of my rhythm, and now I need to regain. I seem to be staying up later and sleeping in until just a few minutes before work starts – falling out of bed and into work. Which is fine, but…no leisurely coffee/book transition into my day makes everything seem off. So this week I will try to have breakfast on the porch at least once. Take at least 3 3-mile walks. Write at least 3 blog entries. And Make soup and grain salad for dinner this week. This is where I’m failing myself. Not having a regular rhythm for exercise/cooking/creating…and relaxing. I end up relaxing in all the wrong ways – vegging out in front of a stupid game or something – and not doing anything useful or fulfilling.

And next week, I get back to my garden. My poor, neglected garden.

Hope all is well with you…

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July 16, 2013

Guest blog at The Rude Pundit

(Though I wasn’t as rude as I could have been, I don’t think…)

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Protecting vs. Silencing

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July 9, 2013

Let me tell you a little something about myself: I am not afraid to speak my mind, whether you are a mama, a child, a legislator, or a police officer. Wearing a badge and carrying a gun does not afford you the right to make me feel unsafe without allowing me to express my objection. When you take a crowd that has proven itself again and again to be peaceful, if not orderly, and you hem it into a corner without good reason, you are damn straight I am going to tell you that you are making me feel unsafe, and that what you are doing is not ok with me.

And to the woman who was offended and felt I was “embarrassing myself” for speaking out when I was made to feel unsafe BY PEOPLE WHO ARE ALLEGEDLY THERE TO KEEP ME SAFE. I’m so sorry if I made you feel embarrassed, but I am certainly NOT embarrassed for standing up for myself. I don’t even know who you are, and I allowed you to make me feel ashamed for a moment, but no. I am NOT ashamed. And please don’t try to shame your sisters. You have every right to disagree with me, and I’m more than happy to talk about points of disagreement, but please don’t use shame and insults to convince me to behave the way you feel I should behave.

And to everyone else – I know a lot of people have an kneejerk affinity for police officers. I have been known to indulge in a crush or two in certain overflow rooms, myself. 😛 But make no mistake – those officers are not there to serve and protect us when they are penning us in and herding us around. They are there to divide us, dissipate us, and SILENCE US. That is NOT ok with me.

Thanks so much for letting me express that. ❤

P.S. BY THE WAY – If you haven’t already noticed, the right for people to be autonomous is KIND OF what this whole thing is about. So, yeah, I get a little pissed off when my tax dollars are being used to pay for someone to police a crowd that needs absolutely no policing. There are so. many. fucking. police officers at that Capitol building now getting overtime to do what a crowd of passionate people can easily do for themselves with only the usual amount of officers there. The ONLY REASON there are that many officers there is for optics. To make us look as though we are out of control. To make playing music and chanting and singing seem like completely radical acts of near-terrorism. TO DRAG WOMEN WHO HAVE WAITED 12+ HOURS TO SPEAK OUT OF THE HEARING ROOM WHEN THEY ARE FINALLY *GIVEN* AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO THEIR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES IN THEIR OWN FUCKING STATE HOUSE.

I’m sorry that I can’t quietly sit and watch an elected official blithely state that she is aware that the “pro-life” bill she is pushing for will, in fact, kill “some” women. I will not ask my brothers and sisters to shut their mouths while they helplessly listen to men tell us that they will “protect” our sisters to death with their laws. AND I WILL NOT APPLAUD THE DECORUM OF A CROWD SILENTLY WITNESSING A MAN GLEE AND SALIVATE OVER THE EXAGGERATED GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF A MEDICAL PROCEDURE THAT MOST WOMEN, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, DON’T FIND ALL THAT PLEASANT TO UNDERGO.

Am I angry? Yes, you are damn right I am angry. Does that make me dangerous? Should I be embarrassed? Do I need to hide that anger? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

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The Full Version Of My Anti-SB 1 Testimony

Filed under: Uncategorized — 3 Comments
July 8, 2013

Good afternoon. My name is Lainie Duro, I am a single mother of two boys and an unruly activist for choice. I am against this bill.

I wanted to take some time today to represent a group of people who I haven’t seen represented in these hearings in numbers proportionate to how this bill will affect them. Over 60% of abortions are performed on women who already have children. Many of them, no doubt, are single parents like me. Some may be women in abusive relationships who do not wish to further complicate the lives they are already responsible for.

I am here to stand for these women because I am fortunate. My children are older, I’m able to take time off from work to be here, I have the financial means to stay here all day to ensure my voice is heard…and I don’t THINK I currently have to fear for my or my children’s safety if my ex-spouse finds out I am here.

The same things that cause people to be excluded from the legislative process also cause them to be inordinately burdened by a pregnancy, as well as by rules that limit access to abortion clinics. As it is, 85% of Texas women live in a county that doesn’t have an abortion clinic. Being a mom makes it extremely difficult to travel long distances or schedule several appointments in order to act on a difficult decision. Voting for this bill puts these women at greater risk of either choosing an unsafe abortion or being forced to delay an abortion. Which, by the way, WE ALL KNOW is not preferred.

Rather than spending a couple million dollars attempting to further limit a woman’s right to choose, why not SUPPORT the 70% or so of women who say they chose abortion for financial reasons? I am FOR legislation that ensures NO woman has to feel compelled to terminate a pregnancy based on strictly economic reasons. Legislation such as equal pay for equal work, so women-led families don’t have to be the poorest families in our state. Medicaid expansion – so our working poor families don’t have to worry about going bankrupt when a child they already have gets sick. Family-friendly work policies that allow for parents who have kids to stay home if they are sick – or if they need to kick the asses of their elected officials. Don’t tell me you stand for women until you are doing everything you can to ensure women and their families have ENOUGH resources to live healthy, dignified lives. Until we win THAT fight, we at least need to ensure that ALL women have the right to make the choices necessary to ensure the happiest, healthiest, most dignified lives possible for themselves and the children they already have. To me THAT is the definition of Pro-Life. I am very definitely Pro-Life.

I’m also an optimist. I know we’ve already won, and I think you know it too. We won when the whole world watched you change the timestamp on a vote. We won when the whole world witnessed you silence a female senator several times before finally committing that fraud. We won, because women of Texas and across this country are rising up to take back their power. We are mighty. We do not forgive, and we do not forget.

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