Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) has collected the signatures of 26 Senators on a letter respectfully requesting that Gov. Rick Perry pull down his executive order requiring immunization for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) for girls before they enter the sixth grade.

Fran Eaton is a "completed" home school mom that we have known for many years and she hits the nail on the head here.
Tim Lambert

Few things set a person back on his or her heels quicker than getting a call out of the blue from the former chairman of the Republican National Committee asking how he or Merck could convince you to support mandating a vaccine against a virus transmitted by sexual activity.

Even though the states of Michigan, Maryland, and Indiana have killed, pulled down, or gutted proposed legislation to mandate the controversial new vaccine called Gardasil made by Merck for the sexually transmitted virus HPV, our Texas governor Rick Perry did the unthinkable by bypassing the entire Texas legislature from the process and issuing an intrusive executive order forcing all of our 11 and 12 year old little girls to be vaccinated against this sexually transmitted virus in order to attend the 6th grade!

Gov. Rick Perry's order requiring schoolgirls to get inoculated against a sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer may be unpopular with social conservatives, but another important group also is lining up against it: doctors.

Rep. John Zerwas, MD (R-Katy) -- the House's only practicing physician -- issued the following statement on Gov. Rick Perry's recent executive order:

“In this golden age of modern medicine, mankind has seen tremendous improvements in the quality of our health care, and there is no question many of these hopeful advances are due to the use of specific vaccines. Therefore, I appreciate and applaud most efforts to treat preventable disease through the use of these remarkable medicines.

However, Governor Perry's mandating the vaccination of 11 year-old girls against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually-transmitted disease, to me represents a radical and unwise shift away from the state’s current policies for vaccinating children.”

Conservatives are complaining about Gov. Rick Perry's executive order that parents must vaccinate all female children for the human papillomavirus (HPV) before the sixth grade. They instinctively feel that the governor has exceeded his authority. The conservatives are right. He has. This is not the first time, though.

Gov. Rick Perry, you should listen closely to Sen. Jane Nelson, your close ally and chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. She and many others wisely point out that you erred in signing an order requiring sixth-grade girls in Texas to get a new vaccine that protects against four strains of the virus that causes cervical cancer.

Gov. Rick Perry today issued the following statement regarding his HPV vaccine executive order:

“Never before have we had an opportunity to prevent cancer with a simple vaccine. While I understand the concerns expressed by some, I stand firmly on the side of protecting life. The HPV vaccine does not promote sex, it protects women’s health. In the past, young women who have abstained from sex until marriage have contracted HPV from their husbands and faced the difficult task of defeating cervical cancer. This vaccine prevents that from happening.

That’s how big the $14.2 billion surplus is -- $600 per Texan. That’s a lot of cash. A good many folks in Austin think they can spend it better than you. If you’d like your money back, you need to make your voice heard. A lot of tax relief can be accomplished with that much money.

School vouchers aren't just policy; they're personal. Gripping signs in English and Spanish, thousands of people from across Texas descended on the state Capitol on Wednesday to rally for a new law to provide public money for students to attend private schools.

The rally under sunny skies was part of a renewed push by supporters of so-called school choice legislation after years of failure in the Legislature.

James Leininger, who has spent millions of dollars on Texas political campaigns, said Tuesday that the 2,000 students in the private school voucher programs he personally bankrolls will be "out on the street" if the Legislature does not approve a publicly funded voucher plan this year.

Framing the issue as the latest front in the civil rights movement, thousands of parents, educators, and students descended on the state Capitol on Wednesday to support school vouchers.

A bill filed in the state Legislature would send parents who miss conferences with their children's teachers to criminal court. Parents are outraged, teachers are amused -- but nobody seems to strongly support the measure.

Senate Republicans yesterday blocked a resolution that would have condemned President Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.

Senate Democrats last night fell 11 votes short of the 60 votes needed to end a Republican filibuster of a non-binding resolution opposing President Bush's plan to reinforce our troops in Iraq. The vote was 49-to-47 with four senators not voting. Fortunately, this crude political ploy, that served no purpose other than to embarrass the president, failed.

The German government is again persecuting homeschooling families. Please read the following email and write to the German authorities at the addresses provided.

A few days ago, Henryk M. Broder wrote in the Welt am Sonntag, “Europe—thy name is appeasement.” It’s a phrase you can’t get out of your head because it’s so painfully true.