WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID IN TEXAS

        Yeah, we do. It's all over the net despite the fact that the T.V., radio and newspaper reporters continually ignore it or downplay it. The Governor of Texas has not only dumped on his own state and its people but he has been lying about it in every speech he makes in the presidential campaign. Just some of the facts, ma'am --

        Ø Education is touted as being the "hallmark" of W's campaign, but it turns out to be more like the dirty scribbles one finds in boy's toilets. The improvements in student testing that he claims were made under his terms have turned out to be mostly lies and clever manipulation of fact. The non-partisan Rand Report showed that the gains Bush claimed Texas students made were the result of teachers being ordered to "teach the test." Of course test scores will improve if the students are taught only what is on an exam.

        Ø Environmental claim made by Bush: "You've got to ask the question, is the air cleaner since I became governor? And the answer is yes." George W. Bush, May 1999. Molly Ivins, a Texas columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes concerning that statement, "That's not a stretcher -- that's a whopper. It's a perverse distortion of reality, since Bush is, to put it mildly, part of the problem." And, "Since Governor Bush's election, Texas air quality has been rated the worst in the nation, leading all fifty states in overall toxic releases, recognized carcinogens in the air, cancer risk, and ten other categories of pollutants." [Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush, Random House 2000]

        Now Bush wants to spread Texas environment to pristine Alaska.

        Ø Gun Control is simply a laughing matter in Texas. Bush signed laws to allow people to carry concealed weapons everywhere in church, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. After claiming that trigger guards did no good, he offered to give them out to any Texan free, when the polls showed him he was losing this issue. He has also fought against a hate crimes bill.

        Ø Choice is denied to women. Bush tells you he is for choice, that he trusts the people to make choices. He doesn't trust women to make choices concerning their own bodily functions. For all his avowal of the sanctity of life, he enjoys killing those who may not have had a fair trial.

        Ø Medical coverage for children authorized for Texas by the Federal Government was used for other purposes. This from the candidate that promises he would "leave no child behind." He told a nationwide audience in one of the debates that he passed a patient's bill of rights bill as governor. He didn't. He vetoed it and it was passed over his veto.

        Ø Capital punishment in Texas under Governor Bush gives new meaning to being poor and proving oneself innocent. Public defenders are few and badly funded and Governor Bush revels in putting people to death. While other state governors are suspending capital punishment until evidence is thoroughly reviewed, Bush jokes about a woman pleading to him for her life and shows this country in a debate how much he enjoys killing. He also showed his abysmal lack of knowledge when he joyously claimed that the three men found guilty of a vicious hate crime were put to death, while the truth is that only two of them were and the third got life.

        Ø Prosperity for all -- "I want prosperity to spread its wings all across America. I don't want to see anybody left behind." Governor George W. Bush. Yet the terrible conditions that still exist in a part of Texas known as colonias (subdivisions) do not appear to concern him: Developers never got around to providing the streets sewers and drinkable water they promised when the sold the lots. Crop dusters wash the adjacent fields with herbicides and pesticides.

        Entre dicho y hecho, hay un gran trecho -- (Between the word and the deed lies a big trench) Mexican proverb.

        TODAY TEXAS,
        TOMORROW THE REST OF THE UNITED STATES!

        The Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader is helping to elect Bush, who is a proven polluter of the environment, by taking votes away from Al Gore. The Republican Party is buying ads for Nader's candidacy. Nader is also downplaying the importance of reproductive rights for women.

        twanda@gendergappers.org  

        2000-044

        Copyright 2000 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@gendergappers.org.

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