Second Bad Texas High School Sports News Story of the Day

via the Houston Press. A high school softball player was outed to her mother by her coaches and then kicked off the team. Possibly because the player was dating an ex of one of the coaches. Girl and mother are suing the school district. For chrissakes Texas school districts, stop doing illegal shit to your female athletes!

Silsbee, Texas Cheerleader Appealing to U.S. Supreme Court

Update on the case of a Silsbee, Texas cheerleader who was kicked off the team after refusing to participate in individual cheers for the basketball player who raped her. The girl took her high school to court and lost, and now she's appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle,

The case has drawn national attention since a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled in September that the cheerleader was speaking for the school, not herself, and had no right to remain silent when called on to shout the athlete's name. Legal commentators said the ruling illustrated courts' increasingly restrictive view of free speech on campus.

How bad could the cheer have possibly been, you ask? Surely she couldn't object to something like, "Rakheem, Rakheem, you're so great, get that pitch over home plate?" (Okay, I know he was a basketball player and not a pitcher, but I'm not good at making up cheers) No, the cheer wasn't something innocuous at all. It was

2, 4, 6, 8, 10, come on, Rakheem, put it in

Not so hard to imagine now why the girl didn't want to participate.

Racist Anti-Abortion Campaign Comes to Austin

"The most dangerous place for some children is in the womb."

The Majella Society, d/b/a Heroic Media, is Austin's own do-nothing anti-abortion propaganda provider and they're back in force with this new, racist billboard on I-35 south at 8th street near downtown. It appears that this billboard is part of a larger campaign targeting black women, like the one reported in Atlanta earlier this year, and this message represents an interesting change for Heroic, which has typically focused on "Pregnant? Scared?" messages.

Last year Majella ran the "I Am A Life" ad during the season premiere of CSI: Miami, which is a CBS show. RH Reality Check reported in February that the Atlanta billboards were owned by CBS Outdoor and that CBS, which broadcast the Superbowl this year, allowed the tacky Tim Tebow anti-abortion commercial paid for by Focus on the Family.

On the website mentioned in the billboard above, there are several videos, including the one below. While the video itself doesn't explicitly say that African American women are contributing to black genocide, the Youtube handle of the uploader is "PPAbortsAA." The video itself includes language like "baby daddy" and the woman and the child presented--who is not an infant--are both black. The rest of the ads on Dangerousplace.org feature non-white women and children, too.



The downloadable "fact sheet" is also clearly targeting black women, and includes several spurious "facts" about abortion among African Americans. The website also links from this factoid: "In 2007, one pro-choice organization made only 4,912 adoption referrals while performing 305,310 abortions" to PPAbortsAA.org, which has the below super-obvious image on the homepage.



The text on the homepage is below:

Planned Parenthood's actions are the ultimate exploitation of African American women and an assault on the dignity of life. Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger had a plan. She wasn't interested in removing the cause of poverty, illiteracy, illegitimate births, or other social ills, she just wanted to eliminate the result, the pregnancy, ...the innocent life. She wanted to, "stop the reproduction of the unfit". Please help us, provide another voice for African Americans to listen to, to choose. A voice that encourages the heroic decision to become a mother.

And so on. But the curious thing is that, according to Statehealthfacts.org, black women in Texas account for a lower percentage of abortions in the state (23.2%) as compared to the national proportion (35%), and this Guttmacher report shows that black Texas teens have an abortion rate less than half (20) that of the national rate of 44. This may be more of an indication of how hard it is to get abortions in Texas, but regardless, there is not a "black abortion epidemic" in Texas.

So why Austin? The Census Bureau shows only 8% of the population here is black, as compared to 18% in Houston and 20% in Dallas. My money is on the Legislative session, which convenes on January 11th. The billboard's proximity to the capitol suggests the target of these ads may not be black women at all, but those in power who have the ability to make abortion that much harder to get for all women.

Texas to Receive Millions in Federal Anti-Trafficking Funds?

Texas is widely considered a hub for human trafficking and by some estimates, 25% of all human trafficking victims wind up in the Lone Star State. Dallas Cowboys stadium will play host to the Superbowl in 2011 and in preparation the state Attorney General Greg Abbott is committing funds to fight the "influx of human trafficking" expected to take place around the event.

From the Star-Telegram:

Abbott cited a report from a Florida task force estimating that tens of thousands of women and minors were trafficked in the Miami area during the last Super Bowl. The game is considered "one of the biggest human-trafficking events in the United States," he said. "We know that the sex traffickers and the girls they enslave are going to be out in full force," Abbott said. "We are going to be helping out by putting boots on the ground."

The lege has made efforts to increase punishment for "traffickers" (read: pimps) to 25 years in prison, at least half of which must be served before parole, among other consequences. Change.org called last month for more support for shelters for victims of trafficking and, lo and behold, a $15 million per year bill to establish support services for victims of trafficking sponsored by Our Fair Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has just passed the Senate unanimously.*

If the bill passes the House, the grant program would provide funding for 6 states to pilot services for victims and to increase prosecution of pimps and traffickers.

Speaking of which, Youthradio.org's recent story on human trafficking revealed one pimp's "business plan" which, suprisingly, did not include any mention whatsoever of the Big Game this February. The Pimp Author did talk about setting up an "international operation" and attending the Players Ball in Las Vegas, so perhaps the federal prosecutors should go there instead of trying to use government money to score tickets to the Superbowl.

Or get in touch with Big Al in Florida.




*How interesting that a press release heralding this bill's passage appears on the cosponsor's (Wyden, D-OR) Senate webpage but not Cornyn's.

Trojan Makes Another Terrible Commercial for Tri-Phoria

I mean seriously, who are these ads intended for? The last ad was cheesy as hell and this one is worse. Blow your hair back? For $39.99? Trojan is banking on the fact that women who watch infomercials have never been to a sex toy store, ever.

My favorite part is when the bride-to-be shares with her man that they got not one! not two! but three! Tri-Phorias and he slaps the counter and says "SAWEET!" Surely he's thinking, "One for each of my balls and one for the taint! Best bridal shower EVER!"

The ads for the Trojan Triphoria represent the first sex toy ads ever to screen during primetime, so for that we can thank our pals in Princeton who have the big money to get sex ads on TV.

Still not for sale in Texas though. Sorry, ladies (and gents).


Buy it here!

Austin-based Fleshlight Totally Better than a Real Woman for Men's Rights Activists

Picture of "better than a woman" Succudry via Gizmodo.

Look, I am all for the fundamental right to have both a partnersex life and a solosex life. Masturbation is key to figuring out what you like sexually and getting it when you have sex with a partner. And Christine O'Donnell is nuts, so no one should ever listen to anything she says, ever. Much of the objection some women have to pornography is that porn is a vehicle for arousal and masturbation--sexual release that doesn't require (and might very well preclude) a partner's participation. Not that we can't watch porn with our partners, masturbate together, and so on, but most of the time, masturbation is a solo activity. In our delusional, fidelity-obsessed, "save it til and for marriage" culture sexual release that falls outside that norm, whether by men (porn) or women (sex toys) is threatening and subject to regulation.

Over at ManBoobz they investigated weird anti-feminist "men's rights activist" blog The Spearhead's terror that The Women are coming for their sacred right to masturbate. Where they're wrong, of course, is accusing feminist women of being anti-masturbation. Indeed, the majority of anti-sex toy laws prohibit items that replace penises (dildos and vibrators, natch), and thereby allow women to achieve sexual satisfaction without a man, assuming that they ever got it from a man in the first place. If there's one thing feminists can agree on, it's vibrators y'all.

The MRA blogger had this to say:

When a man uses a fleshlight he is attacked for being a loser who can’t get laid. This is very similar to the anti-male masturbation shaming language used by religious conservatives. Both groups are worried that men may not be sexually dependent on women. That is what they are really afraid of.

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. We're worried that men might not be sexually dependent on women? I don't think there's a single shred of evidence to that effect. Fleshlights are so popular because they more closely approximate a vagina than a dude's hand. More than a million of these miraculous, pussy- (or ass, or mouth, or vampire) substitutes have been sold and I have it on good authority from several men that I know and trust that they are well worth the hefty price tag. None of the guys I've known who cop to having Fleshlights have any trouble getting laid, nor would they ever choose their Fleshlight over a real, live female partner--they were just looking for a novel jerk-off tool.

But in the same way that men don't really need to fear being replaced by a vibrator, women shouldn't feel threatened by men's masturbatory habits. One million Fleshlights or not, most men who are otherwise sane and healthy are not going to replace a real-live pussy with a cyberskin substitute that comes in a giant flashlight case. I mean, seriously.

And with that, tomorrow look for Go-To Girl's Holiday Gift Guide which will present must-have sexy gifts for both men and women. And not because we're at war and need to "replace" eachother due to our neverending conflict over who will best "control" their "prey."

Watch a video of the thing an MRA might replace you with. Be afraid ladies. Very, very afraid.

Adam Reviews the Fleshlight Motion from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Austin Public Clinics to Provide Opt-Out HIV Testing

Great news via the Statesman.

Seventeen public health clinics operated by Travis County's CommUnityCare will begin providing opt-out HIV testing to adult patients beginning in January. The CDC recommended in 2006 that HIV testing be a part of routine health care for all adults, because the public health authority estimates that a large percentage of those infected with HIV are unaware of their status. Presumptive testing includes HIV in the regular battery of tests an adult receives at a checkup, like blood pressure, cholesterol, and so on, and a patient must "opt-out" not to receive the test.

Presumptive testing is controversial because in public clinics, where patients may have no access to other, expensive health care services (and in Texas, where Medicaid is incredibly restrictive, this is often the reality), an HIV diagnosis could be considered a death sentence. When the New York City health department and hospitals in the Bronx implemented opt-out testing in emergency rooms some HIV rights activists raised concerns that doing so reduced the likelihood that patients would undergo the informed consent process, which (though required by law) has been shown to reduce the chances that a person will get tested. The then-head of the NYC department, Thomas Frieden, is now the head of the CDC.

Considering that Texas has the 4th highest number of AIDS diagnoses in the country, behind epicenter states California, Florida and New York, moving toward presumptive testing is a good idea. I hope that a commitment to providing access to care for those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS will follow, because Texas has the highest percentage of the population without health insurance of any state, and HIV meds are expensive as hell.

Until there's a cure...

PS-Won't you please vote for me for Austin's Best New Blog? Thanks!!

New Use for Texas Social Studies Textbooks: Doggy Style for Short People

Won't you take a minute to vote for me for Best New Blog in Austin? Thanks!


Why not put your Glencoe Health book under that pillow? (Cosmo)

Dear Julie,

I love getting fucked from behind, it's my all time fav position. Problem is, I'm 5 feet tall and my current partner is pushing 6 feet. So unless there's something (a bench or bed at perfect height for example) for me to "prop" myself up on, we find it hard to make it happen. We love switching up location as much as possible so we don't always have the right equipment. Any advice???

Kitty

Dear Kitty,

As a fellow lady of diminutive stature, I can totally relate to your height disparity problem. But in Texas we're fortunate that the State Board of Education earlier this year approved another mountainous set of textbook requirements, meaning that young'uns all over the state will soon be in possession of yet another 1000 page behemoth, useless textbook to make sex with a partner of great height that much easier.

If you'd prefer not to use textbooks (or, say, aren't in high school), there is a manufacturer making products designed for precisely this type of dilemma: Liberator. The Ramp is designed for just your purpose--and it can be used for other positions to boot. Check out the extensive videos on the website if you need some inspiration (NSFW, but hot). At $145 it's pricey for a pillow, but a good investment for a petite lady who likes it from behind.

If you don't have that much cash to blow on a piece of sex furniture, you may just need to get creative in your locations: find shelves, chairs, high heels, phone books, end tables, desks, counters, and more to get your legs to be as long as your boyfriend's.

Additionally, there are other ways to have sex from behind besides standing up; you can put your head on the floor, on the bed, on a stack of useless Texas-approved textbooks, on the desk, the stairs, whatever happens to be available. Give it a shot. And this one, too. And in case you like a little dose of Disney in your lovin:


The new Social Studies book should come in handy for this one. The "Magic Mountain" (Cosmo)

You can get the sensation of sex from behind at a variety of angles--remember also that you can sit on top of your man, facing his feet, and whatever he's hitting inside you from behind will get stimulated that way as well.

In case none of these tricks work, here's Cosmo's best advice for attracting hot dudes "like crazy"--maybe you can find someone closer to your own height.

Good luck!

Julie

PS-Won't you please vote for me for Best New Blog in Austin? Thanks!

LAST DAY to nominate How to Have Sex in Texas for Austin's Best New Blog!!

OMG SRSLY. There are these awards. The Austin Blogger Awards. For the best blogs in Austin. I think you know that in spite of the stiff competition from all the other great blogs in Austin, How to Have Sex in Texas clearly deserves an award. Please please please nominate me. Thanks a million, loyal readers.

Julie Sunday

New CDC STD Surveillance: Texas Doin' Its Part for the Dirty South

In WWII we understood that condoms prevent STIs. Someone ought to tell Rick Perry.

Today is the day that public sexual health nerds like myself wait for all year: the new CDC STD Surveillance Report is out! In support of the "Most Sexually Active City in America" crown bestowed upon us by Men's Health earlier this fall, the CDC has confirmed again that the good men and women of Texas know how to get it on. Someone ought to tell Rick Perry, what with his embarassing video about the effectiveness of abstinence and all.

Take, if you will, Chlamydia. Of the 50 counties contributing most to the rate of chlamydia in the US, Texas has 5 counties* on the list, none lower than #31. Hook 'em, Gig 'em, and Guns up, y'all! Everyone in the state worked hard to contribute to this one.

For Gonorrhea, which fell to its lowest level nationally since 1941, Texas ranks #14, with more cases (29,295) than any other state. Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties are all in the national top 10 for gonorrhea. Don't mess with Texas!

The rate of my personal favorite, syphilis, puts Texas at #6, by far our most impressive showing. California does beat us on the raw number of cases but our rate is higher, so take that, Golden State! Texas represents more than 10% of the total number of cases in the US.

So, Texans, as much as we might want to win something (especially considering our absence from the national sports stage this year) let's all decide to use condoms and get tested, mmkay?




* #7: Harris County (Houston)
#9: Dallas County
#13: Bexar County (San Antonio)
#22: Tarrant County (Ft. Worth
#31: Travis County (Austin, WOOT!)

Repost: ACLU of Texas Takes Walgreens to Task for Refusing EC to Men

I love the Walgreens down the street from me but according to the ACLU, not all Texas Walgreens are created equal:

Walgreens Continues Gender Discrimination at the Pharmacy

Couples who work together to make healthy decisions about contraception should be supported. So why is it that local Walgreens in Texas have repeatedly refused to sell contraception to men, despite corporate headquarters policy and federal guidelines to the contrary?

That is exactly what happened to Adam Drake, who tried to purchase emergency contraception from a Walgreens in Houston. He was shocked when the pharmacy unequivocally denied him the product because he is a man. When he complained to the store manager, she stood by the pharmacist’s decision....

To read the rest, click here.

With Hilarious New PSA, Austin Abstinence Organization Finally Gets In On the Joke

Pants! Now why didn't I think of that?

You heard it here first, folks: our own Austin LifeGuard, the educational arm of Austin LifeCare Crisis Pregnancy Center has decided to spend some of its federal abstinence money making public service videos. The PSA above promises that wearing pants is "the only 100% guarantee to avoid the unwanted side effects of sex." They even come in a variety of shapes and sizes! I'm glad you finally get the joke, Austin LifeGuard.

Not satisfied with infomercials, Austin LifeGuard has created a website, IHeartPants.org, and is selling I Heart Pants t-shirts for just $12. They promise that pants will provide a variety of benefits, including a "revolutionary way to prevent: regret, jealousy, heartache, ended friendships, ruined reputations, and more!" Plus they can make your ass look great!



According to the SIECUS state profile for Texas, Austin LifeGuard/LifeCare will receive $582,900 in Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) funds for FYs 2008-2013. CBAE money goes directly from the federal government to "community based" (read: religious) organizations for abstinence programs that the state has no control or veto power over. Austin LifeGuard/LifeCare also received $70,245 as a Title V subgrant, funds to provide education in public schools. But what of the news that Austin Independent School District (AISD) will be piloting PREP funded-programs in partnership with Planned Parenthood?

With less business, perhaps LifeGuard decided to spend its funds on media campaigns, which are allowed under the grants. I can only imagine these videos are in response to the Texas Freedom Network's satirical videos which took their scripts verbatim from Pam Stenzel and other abstinence educators' presentations (see below).

The perfect Christmas gift for that irritatingly chaste member of your family could be the "I Heart Pants" t-shirt and the Original Handjob. While I doubt Austin LifeGuard would describe handjobs as safe, even the abstinence kids deserve some sexual gratification and, besides, if it's just your hand, you can't get pregnant!

In total, the PSAs have only garnered 1,965 views. Make sure to check out their other video about an awkward dad bragging that his son has genital herpes and the heartbreak that is fake social networking. While I appreciate this cheeky and novel approach, these ads are being paid for with federal tax dollars. And you know what's really hard if you never take off your pants? TEABAGGING.


Think this sounds ridiculous? Check out the original.

Atty General Abbott Goes After Teen Sexting, Still Seems Obsessed with Teen Sex

image from Love, Niko

KUT reported this morning that Texas Attorney General and Craigslist world's oldest profession hater Greg Abbott is teaming up with Texas State Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin) to...wait for it...crack down on teen sexting. I'm so glad these two venerable politicians are diving into the hot tub of bipartisanship to address this vitally important iss...oh, fuck it.

According to Abbott's website, the legislation would create a program to "educate" offending teenagers about sexting and how it's illegal because sending sexy pictures of an underage person is considered child pornography. It seems that being arrested for sending a grainy picture of one's dick would get that message across pretty clearly. But the law would also reduce the charges teens would face to a misdemeanor.

Back in February Abbott's website carried this "alert" to parents and teenagers about the dangers of sexting and the potential legal consequences, informing readers that:

Clearly, this dangerous technological trend can haunt children for years, and it is impacting schools and communities statewide. Of course, investigators and prosecutors consider the circumstances of each case before deciding whether – and which – charges charges may apply. By the time law enforcement has gotten involved, however, someone has already gotten hurt. Education and active parenting present the best way to ensure children avoid this dangerous activity.

This dangerous trend is impacting schools all over the state! Riiight.

The consequences those caught sexting would face would include forced participation in the "educational" program and "reduced cell phone usage." So what we've got here, in a time when Guvnuh Goodhair is downplaying our billions-big state budget deficit, is a proposed law that would create an educational program and require cell phone monitoring for teenagers who send pictures of their tits or whatever. Will this be a revenue-generating program or does Texas just have cash to throw at teenagers engaging in regular, normal teenagery sexytime?

While I'm all for eliminating child porn charges for sexting, really, Greg Abbott? First you try to eliminate prostitution by shutting down the "adult services" section of Craigslist and now you're going to go after teenagers for sending sexy notes? In my day we made paper dolls out of porn magazine cutouts and put our friends' faces on them. To think I could be a registered sex offender if I'd been caught in Texas with those materials.

Perhaps the "educational" component of the law would create a program like p.a.p.a., the Attorney General's mandatory "paternity and parenting awareness" program in place in secondary schools in Texas that focuses on the consequences of teen childbearing and the responsibilities of fathers, but fails, of course, to include any information about, say, how to wrap up one's dick to prevent pregnancy.

One thing is for sure--Greg Abbott spends a shit-ton of time thinking about teenagers having sex. You'd think a state with 23 million people and the largest border with Mexico might have some more pressing legal issues he could address than teenagers sending sex texts.

Silsbee, Texas High School Takes Rape Culture Acceptance to a New Low

Via Ms. Blog.

Texas has been wrestling for some time now with the contradiction of having sexy young cheerleaders being sexy and stuff in an official school capacity when the state attempts to punish teen girls who, you know, have teh sexxx. In an unfortunate turn of events in the far East Texas town of Silsbee, a cheerleader was raped by a football player from her school. The dude pled guilty to lesser charges, but admitted guilt, and was given a slap on the wrist. The cheerleader was advised by her school to "avoid the cafeteria" and "keep a low profile."

She refused, and refused to say her rapist's name during a cheer--and was kicked off the squad.

This isn't the first time Texas cheerleaders have got what was coming to them. In 2005 Texas Representative Al Edwards (D-Houston) proposed a bill, which passed the Texas House 65-56, which the Houston Chronicle described thusly:

The bill seeks to punish risque cheerleader routines allowing the Texas Education Agency to cut off state funds and ban performances by the offending group for the remainder of the school year.

Why, you ask? From Mr. Edwards' mouth to God's ears:

"It's just too sexually oriented, you know, the way they're shaking their behinds and going on."

If that's not "she was asking for it" I don't know what is. Just a reminder: rapists are responsible for rape. Even if a cheerleader is "shaking her behind and going on" at an officially sanctioned school event wearing the required uniform she is still not at fault for being raped.

Jonas Brother Selling "Texas Sex Castle" Which Exists, Apparently

via Gawker:

Kevin Jonas, the freakiest member of funk-metal band The Jonas Brothers, is selling his Westlake, Texas home for $2.2 million. Imagine the insane sexual craziness that went down between those walls. I'll bet you can almost smell the debauchery.

Fortunately this is Dallas's Westlake, so we in Austin are safe from the Jonases and their dirty, ungodly sexytimes.

Penthouse Founder Bob Guccione Dies in Plano

image via the Guardian

Add this to the list of things that suck about Plano: it will now be known as the place that second rate pornographers go to die. Seriously though, Bob Guccione, founder of Penthouse and ever in the shadow of the more classy (Hugh Hefner) or more edgy/trashy (Larry Flynt), died yesterday in Plano, Texas at the age of 79.

After filing for bankruptcy in 2003, Penthouse was acquired by FriendFinder.

My favorite memory of Guccione's handiwork is the classic 1970s horror-sex movie Caligula, for which Gore Vidal was the screenwriter. Guccione insisted on adding soft-core scenes featuring Penthouse Pets to the movie after the fact (if you watch the 'director's cut' of the film it will be obvious which scenes have been added) and Vidal sued unsuccessfully to have his name removed from the film entirely. The movie was a colossal joke but a cult classic in my book and well worth watching for those with a strong constitution.
But Guccione first brought pubic hair and full frontal nudity into mainstream magazine porn, and for that, I suppose, we should thank him. And for Penthouse Forum.

UT on Bryant: We Don't Know Nothin', We Won't Say Nothin' So Don't Ask Us Nothin'

This is gonna be huge. A little-known figure who has been in Mack Brown's shadow since his time at the University of North Carolina, Cleve Bryant, and his wife have "voluntarily" taken "administrative leaves of absence" due to a potential tinderbox of a story out of UT's football operations office.

In yesterday's Daily Texan, a letter from Bryant's attorney denied all:

“He was not involuntarily placed on leave,” [attorney] Nesbitt wrote. “After Mr. Bryant was instructed not to discuss the investigation with several co-workers with whom he works closely on a daily basis, he requested a leave of absence to avoid even the perception that he was talking with potential witnesses or interfering in the University’s investigation.”

Bryant's wife Jean also requested a leave so that she, too, could avoid talking to her co-workers about the unspecified allegations, which are definitely not true.

But according to UT's Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Policy, a formal investigation is initiated only when:

a complaint is complete, timely, within the scope of this policy and articulates sufficient specific facts, which, if determined to be true, would support a finding that this policy was violated.

Nowhere in the policy does it suggest that persons against whom complaints have been made could choose--or have imposed upon them--a leave of absence during an investigation, nor does it suggest that they cannot talk about such allegations with coworkers.

Leaves of Absence, according to UT's policies, can be granted for "personal reasons." The term "administrative leave of absence," used in the Daily Texan article, does not appear anywhere in UT's Human Resources Handbook of Operating Procedures. Leaves of Absence are also clearly designated as "leave without pay." If Bryant and his wife are collecting paychecks during their leave, they--and UT football--are in violation of UT's human resources policy.

Any Longhorn fan with a pulse knows that Gloria Allred, celebrity attorney, has been hired by a former employee at football operations and when the big GA is involved, something truly terrible is afoot. Her past clients include Nicole Brown Simpson's family, a witness against Scott Peterson, the woman who sued Schwarzenegger for sexual harassment when he ran for governor, a girl who was denied entry into the Boy Scouts, and so on.

So either something really bad happened or Allred is eagerly taking the opportunity to go up against one of the strongest college football teams in the nation as a feminist statement. Or both. Either way, I can't wait to find out.

This is Texas's Bravest Elected Official

via Gawker TV.

Fort Worth City Council Member Joel Burns tells kids "It Gets Better."

Wait a tick: this guy is a cowboy's son and proposed to his spouse at sunset on a west Texas ranch surrounded by black angus cattle? Write-in campaign for guvnuh, anyone?

UT Falls 11 Spots on Trojan's Sexual Health Report Card

Well, damn. After a metoric rise from 54 to 11 in the past two years, it looks like the Longhorns have fallen back down in the rankings to 22 in the 2010 Trojan College Sexual Health Report Card. At least we beat OU, though.

In case you're wondering, here's the criteria they use:

Sexual Health Report Card Categories:

1. Health center hours of operation
   
2. Availability of patient drop-in vs. appointment only
   
3. Availability of separate sexual awareness program
   
4. Contraceptive availability and cost
   
5. Condom availability and cost
   
6. HIV testing, cost and locality (on- vs. off-campus)
   
7. Other STI testing, cost and locality (on- vs. off-campus)
   
8. Availability of anonymous advice via email / newspaper column
   
9. Existence of lecture / outreach programs
   
10. Existence of student peer groups
    
11. Availability of sexual assault programs
    
12. Website usability and functionality

What this really reveals, however, is how unbelievably flawed Sperling's Best Places research methods are, because UT not only has services but also kicks ass in every one of those categories.

Shameless Repost: "Texas Tries to Cockblock Lawyers"

Sorry guys, I'm going on vacation so this is a repost from our pals at Above the Law. This is an interesting case because the lawyers who object are using the "False Rape Accusations" handbook to fight against this proposed rule. First they try to ban cowboy boots in the courtroom and now sex with clients? What the hell good is going to law school anymore? Read more below.

"Stud lawyers in Texas could have a more difficult time mating with their own clients.

Today many people made time to talk about Texas legal ethics — specifically, a proposal in front of the Texas bar that would prohibit lawyers from having sex with their clients. It’s a rule most jurisdictions have in one form or another. It’s not obvious that getting this rule enacted in Texas would be a huge problem.

But to paraphrase Louis Gossett Jr., “only two things come from Texas, steers and [a horribly anachronistic term that rhymes with 'steers'].”

Let’s deal with the steers first. It seems that the people against the new Texas Bar proposal are afraid that clients might just make up tales of affairs, and Texas lawyers — you know, people specially trained in methods of recognizing and producing evidence — will have no way to defend themselves…

The Dallas Morning News did a full report on the proposed rule, which prompted additional coverage from the ABA Journal and the WSJ Law Blog. The Dallas paper has this summary of the new rule:

As written, the rule states that lawyers (a) won’t condition representation on having a client engage in sexual relations, (b) won’t solicit sex as payment of fees and (c) won’t have sex with someone the lawyer is personally representing unless the sexual relationship is consensual and began before the attorney-client relationship began. It also excepts spouses.

Seem straightforward to you? Well, it seems like a straightforward invitation for more malpractice lawsuits, according to one Texas lawyer:" Read more by clicking here!