Re: Texas Legislators Block Shots for Girls Against Cancer Virus
From: Charlie Chambers (ricechaz@earthlink.net)
Thu Apr 26 17:07:07 2007
Sorry, I don't see how that represents a "liberal" bias. I agree that
omission of "mandatory" slants the headline, but how is that liberal
bias? I see that term thrown around so frequently without merit. If
anything, you could accuse them of conservative bias because the
headline puts the Texas Legislature at question for not allowing
girls to get a cancer vaccine. I don't agree with the tact by the
article, but I don't think it represents a conservative or liberal
bias. I think the omission of "mandatory" is merely to inflame the
argument.
On Apr 26, 2007, at 12:48 PM, Anna Meenan, MD wrote:
> Prime example of liberal bias in the media. It's subtle sometimes, so
> you gotta watch for it, but note how the omission of one word
> ("mandatory") from that headline changes the entire slant. Just an
> observation. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
>
> Anna Meenan, MD
>
> At Thu, 26 Apr 2007, Dean Huffman . wrote:
>>
>> ..
>>
>> Texas Legislators Block Shots for Girls Against Cancer Virus
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/us/26texas.html?ref=us
>>
>> By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
>>
>> Published: April 26, 2007
>>
>> HOUSTON, April 25 — A revolt by lawmakers has blocked Gov. Rick
>> Perry’s effort
>> to make Texas the first state to require sixth-grade girls to be
>> vaccinated
>> against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.
>>
>> In a 135-to-2 vote that appeared veto-proof, the Texas House gave
>> final passage
>> on Wednesday to a Senate bill that bars the state from ordering
>> the shots until
>> at least 2011. Even many supporters of the governor resented Mr.
>> Perry's
>> proposal as an abuse of executive authority.
>>
>> "There was no public testimony — why we were jumping so fast into
>> a vaccine that
>> was not for a true communicable disease," said Senator Glenn Hegar
>> Jr., a
>> Republican representing a district just west of Houston who
>> sponsored the
>> Senate bill to overturn the governor’s order. It passed 30 to 1 on
>> Monday.
>>
>> But Senator Leticia van de Putte, a Democrat from San Antonio who
>> is a
>> pharmacist and was the lone Senate vote for the vaccination
>> program, said that
>> with 400 deaths in Texas from cervical cancer each year, "I'm
>> thinking of the
>> women that will die because we didn’t act."
>>
>> Governor Perry, through his office, voiced regret at the
>> legislative action but
>> declined to say what his next step would be.
>>
>> "The governor stayed true to his word to Texas women and continues
>> to be their
>> advocate," said Krista Moody, a spokeswoman in Austin.
>>
>> Mr. Perry, a Republican who was narrowly re-elected to his second
>> full term in
>> November, surprised almost everyone on Feb. 2 by bypassing the
>> Republican-controlled Legislature and announcing the initiative.
>>
>> He said he would sign an executive order directing the Texas
>> Health and Human
>> Services Commission to adopt rules requiring all 11- and 12-year
>> old girls
>> entering the sixth grade to be vaccinated against the human
>> papillomavirus, or
>> HPV, starting in September 2008. The order allowed parents to let
>> their
>> daughters opt out of the program.
>>
>> The vaccine, Gardasil, is manufactured by Merck, which was
>> represented in Austin
>> by the lobbyist Mike Toomey, who was chief of staff for Mr. Perry
>> from 2002 to
>> 2004.
>>
>> The governor’s office denied any connection between the governor’s
>> proposal and
>> Mr. Toomey. A Merck spokesman declined to comment on the company’s
>> lobbying.
>>
>> But Merck, which had begun a campaign for Gardasil in legislatures
>> around the
>> country, reacted to growing opposition to proposed vaccine
>> mandates by
>> announcing in late February that it was dropping its legislative
>> campaign.
>>
>> While some health authorities and public advocates in Texas
>> praised the
>> governor’s order, many reacted angrily. Legislators argued that
>> their authority
>> had been usurped by the executive branch, which the state’s
>> founding fathers
>> intended as a weak branch of government.
>>
>> On March 14, the Texas House voted 118 to 23 to prevent the health
>> commission
>> from issuing any vaccination mandate. But a Senate version of the
>> bill, which
>> prevailed Wednesday, provided that the ban would expire in four
>> years, allowing
>> lawmakers to revisit the issue. The next Legislature meets in 2009
>> and could
>> vote to take up the issue then.
>>
>> "We did not want to be the first in offering young girls for the
>> experiment to
>> see if this vaccine is effective or not," said Representative
>> Dennis H. Bonnen,
>> a Republican from Angleton, who sponsored the ban in the House.
>>
>> The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among
>> other health
>> authorities, describe Gardasil as safe and effective when given as
>> approved to
>> girls ages 9 to 26 in three shots over eight months.
>>
>> Some Texas political analysts said Governor Perry had miscalculated.
>>
>> Harvey Kronberg, editor of the legislative Web site Quorum Report,
>> said the
>> governor had failed to consult his two leading fellow Republicans,
>> Lt. Gov.
>> David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, and the House
>> speaker, Tom
>> Craddick.
>>
>> "This kind of imperiousness offended his base," Mr. Kronberg said.
>>
>> Bill Miller, an Austin lobbyist close to the Republican
>> leadership, said the
>> mixture of “under-age girls, cancer and sex” had proven too volatile.
>
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Charlie Chambers
Hood River, OR
cchamber@alumni.rice.edu
"... all good things, trout as well as eternal salvation,
come by grace and grace comes by art
and art does not come easy."
-Norman Maclean
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