Abbott and pastors; media gone wild; red-light cameras; Goldman, abortion

Abbott and pastors

On the front page of Friday’s paper, nestled in the middle of an Associated Press article concerning the unlikely passage of Texas’ idiotic transgender “bathroom bill,” was a sentence that made my blood boil.

According to the article, Gov. Greg Abbott has been calling pastors at evangelical churches around the state to increase public pressure for the bill’s passage.

If pastors around the state are going to be lobbying agents for the Republican governor of our state, then their churches are agents of the state and should be paying their fair share of taxes.

The Johnson Amendment to the tax code, proposed by our own former Texas Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson and passed into law in 1954, makes this quite clear.

Media gone wild

I am outraged by how the media in general have responded to President Donald Trump's legal firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Nothing that Trump has done or said supports some of the wild and downright ludicrous statements made by the media chattering class with regard to the firing.

To listen to them, the republic is about to fall and Trump is nothing more than a Russian collaborator.

Forget that there is no evidence to support such absurd claims.

All such talk is based on nothing but irresponsible speculation with no basis in fact.

Indeed, it would be like someone saying it is not known if I, a law-abiding citizen, am a bank robber and killer, so an investigation should be initiated to find out for sure.

This is the dangerous thinking of a media gone wild, which I submit is the true threat to the republic.

Red-light cameras

In 2002, our daughter, Sarah, was killed in a car crash because a man disregarded a red light and crashed into her car.

Our grandchildren lost their mother because someone ignored a red light.

Despite the overwhelming data showing red-light cameras work, Texas lawmakers are trying to limit or ban their use. This includes Senate Bill 87 and SB 88, which effectively allow red light runners to break the law without fear of repercussion.

If such a deadly bill were to pass, this decision would result in dramatic increases in red-light running and crashes. Houston, for example, saw a 117 percent increase in red-light running and 30 percent increase in fatal collisions when cameras went dark.

Cities using red-light cameras make it clear drivers who break the law and put others at risk will be held accountable.

If a law-enforcement tool is proven to prevent tragedies such as Sarah’s, why wouldn’t we use it?

Although nothing will bring Sarah back, we encourage the use of any tool to keep families safe and prevent senseless tragedies.

Goldman, abortion

I attended the Planned Parenthood Lobby Day in Austin recently and visited with Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth.

He said he could only support Planned Parenthood if they would stop performing abortions, and if women were really concerned about the abortion issue, they would run for office.

Abortions have been occurring since the Premodern era, and legislation won’t make them go away.

Goldman doesn’t realize that he is actually advocating for unsafe abortions and advocating for the loss of access to healthcare for millions of women.

To lower abortion rates, he should fight for Texas to provide free access to birth control and teach “real” sex education for teenagers.

Goldman should be alarmed that Texas has the highest rate of repeat teen pregnancy and the highest rate of maternal death in the nation.

He should support his female constituents regardless of whether we are in office or not.

Seventy-two percent of Americans do not support defunding Planned Parenthood.

Goldman needs to better understand his constituents.

This story was originally published May 12, 2017 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Abbott and pastors; media gone wild; red-light cameras; Goldman, abortion."