Rick Perry fancies himself a King decreeing benevolence, but is in fact a purveyor of nanny state policies, a usurper of democracy, and a moron

Have you seen this man?


He is Rick Perry, Governor of the great state of Texas, and he has a terrific head of hair.

NOTE: Were my mother still alive, she would need to stop reading at this point, for (like many of your mothers) she told me that if I could not say something nice about someone I should not say anything at all. And my niceness has now ended.

Last week, after our state's legislature had adjourned for the weekend, our Governor issued an Executive Order...

...directing the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to adopt rules requiring all girls age 11 and 12 to receive the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prior to entering sixth grade, effective September 2008.

Perhaps he thought it would not be noticed on Super Bowl weekend. Perhaps he thought everyone would instantly agree with him and his benevolence. He thought wrong.

You see, many people in the great state of Texas, both Republican AND Democrat, are independently minded, which is to say that we want as little interference by our government as possible. It's one of the reasons that our state legislature meets only once every two years. The less time they are in session, the less damage they can do and the fewer rights they can take away from us. This attitude stems from, among other things, our state's history, first as an independent republic and then as the 28th state. Had the founding fathers of Texas been spineless lemmings, Texas would not be.

And when our Governor acts in a way reminiscent of the monarchs of whom our nation fought to be free, well . . . you might say that it gets folks attention. In a bad way.

a purveyor of nanny state policies
Texans do not want their governor telling them how they have to live their lives. And we certainly don't want him telling us that our daughters need a vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease when they are 11 years old. This reeks of HillaryCare. And it reeks of a liberal nanny state, where you are no longer responsible for your actions, but instead need the government to care for you and make important decisions for you.

a usurper of democracy
Rick Perry ordered Texans to get this vaccine after the legislature had retired for the weekend. Without the possibility of discussion among our elected representatives, our Governor arbitrarily decided to make law. What event necessitated your action here? Did HPV cases suddenly become an epidemic that hasn't been reported anywhere? For the record, Rick, you don't do this in Texas. Already, members of the legislature are moving to nullify your actions. And my own state senator had this to say:

“The Governor owes it to the Legislature and to the public as to why these emergency actions are justified. Governor, is HPV the new black plague? If not, then we should respect the elected representative process. Let us debate these issues in public as it was intended.”

a moron
Sorry to be crass here, but I just gotta say it. Purposefully trying to circumvent the legislature. Issuing an order in a state known for the independent mindedness of its citizens. And digging in your heels on the issue even when everyone else tells you you're wrong.

By the way, here are a few things I found out about Gardasil, the vaccine in question:

1. The vaccine only decreases your chances of getting cervical cancer, it doesn’t eliminate the risk.
2. Even without the vaccine, the number of cervical cancer cases is trending downward and has been for years.
3. Gardasil is one of the most expensive vaccines ever.
4. Merck will not be liable if Gardasil turns out to be harmful some time in the future.
5. There have been no long-term studies done on the effect of the vaccine after 5-10 or more years, and testing on young girls has been extremely limited.
6. It is unknown how long the immunity provided by Gardasil actually lasts.
7. The studies done on Gardasil were not set up to investigate whether the vaccine itself has the potential to cause cancer.
8. Gardasil is one of many vaccines containing aluminum, and there is increasing evidence suggesting that aluminum-based vaccines can have harmful effects.
9. Gardasil is only for women.

Finally, here's the opening two paragraphs of a press release from the National Vaccine Information Center concerning Gardasil.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the nation's leading vaccine safety and informed consent advocacy organization, is urging state legislatures to investigate the safety and cost of mandating Merck's HPV vaccine (GARDASIL) for all pre-adolescent girls before introducing legislation amending state vaccine laws. In an analysis of reports made to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since the CDC's July 2006 universal use recommendation for all young girls, NVIC found reports of loss of consciousness, seizures, joint pain and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. In a separate evaluation of costs for young girls being vaccinated in private pediatrician offices, NVIC discovered that parents living in the Washington, D.C. area will be paying between $500 and $900 to have their daughters receive three doses of GARDASIL.

"GARDASIL safety appears to have been studied in fewer than 2,000 girls aged 9 to 15 years and it is unclear how long they were followed up. [1] VAERS is now receiving reports of loss of consciousness, seizures, arthritis and other neurological problems in young girls who have received the shot," said NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher. "At the same time, parents who take their daughters to private pediatricians are going to be shocked to find that they will be paying two to three times the widely publicized $360 cost for the three-dose series. The cost is going to break the pocketbooks of parents and break the banks of both insurance companies and taxpayers, when the reality is that almost all cases of HPV-associated cervical cancer can be prevented with annual pap screening of girls who are sexually active." [emphasis mime]

Next time you see this man, don't think "King." Think "moron."