Texas Cheerleader Law

[JerryStopher]

Y'all -

Check this out!

story.news.yahoo.com/news...eerleading (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=9&u=/ap/20050504/ap_on_re_us/suggestive_cheerleading)

What next? Will they ban padded bras for junior high girls? Ban makeup for preteeners? Oh, I know, they'll make it a state jail felony for a twelve-year-old girl to wiggle as she walks from class to class!

But they won't pay the teachers a living wage, they won't provide healthcare for little kids....

[amielou]

Some of the dances that cheerleaders and dance squads do sometimes seem inappropriate to me. But...this is not a problem that should (or can) be remedied by making a law. School administrators and the adult sponsors of the teams need to monitor the choreography. I teach in a high school and our teams don't do overly sexual routines because their adult sponsors supervise the choreography of routines.

As you pointed out, Jerry, this kind of legislation is just a slippery slope. And, besides, whatever happened to the conservative ideal of limited government? (Or is it as was said on a West Wing episode a few years ago...they want to "make the government just small enough to fit in our bedrooms"?)

[Jayjen36]

Edwards argued bawdy performances are a distraction for students resulting in pregnancies, dropouts and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Ribald performances are not defined in the bill. "Any adult that's been involved with sex in their lives, they know it when they see it," he said.

This persons seems...well, a little out of it to me. I mean what kids see on a football field during half-time causes them to go out and get pregnant, drop out and pick up and spread STDs??? If this is not incredibly grand and IMO irresponsible over-reaction and political grand-standing I don't know what is.

Frankly I think that it was just a red herring. The article says that one of the official said that they hadn't debated stem cell research, or how to deal with health care for the sick and dying or SCHOOL FINANCE. The conservatives get to strike a blow for that cultural warfare thing and rack up brownie points with their social conservative constituents, while in reality doing absolutely nothing but making some poor cheer-leading coaches life more difficult. And staving off the bitter reality of having to deal with their ill and dying, un- and under employed, voters and their underfunded failing school systems.

You know, if you watch cheer-leading and dance team competitions you know that the style of choreography is usually whatever is winning competitions at the time. So, if they win competitions with it, that's what the coaches and choreographers have their teams do.

I agree that there have been a lot of things done that I thought were inappropriate for minors to do. But that is a matter for the principles, coaches and parents to decide. To tell the plain truth often parents either are too busy to see what their daughters do in cheer-leading, or are encouraging the girls to do the choreography because that is what wins competitions.

edited to add the word "research":o

[Krista]

I agree that there have been a lot of things done that I thought were inappropriate for minors to do. But that is a matter for the principles, coaches and parents to decide. To tell the plain truth often parents either are too busy to see what their daughters do in cheer-leading, or are encouraging the girls to do the choreography because that is what wins competitions.

I agree.

[EigthAv]

I don't see a problem.This should be a matter of common sense and decisions for families,not state houses,the congress and the courts.If little Jeannie has a cute hiney and wants to show off,go for it.God didn't give her that pretty thing to sit on and hide. Then again,we don't have predators here in Lower Alabama and all our young teen and preteens girls are 13th degree black belt gung fu artist/switchblade toting badasses,so look but you better not touch! <!--EZCODE BR START--><!--EZCODE BR END--><!--EZCODE BR START--><!--EZCODE BR END-->Seal Our Borders! (http://www.ReformUS.org)<!--EZCODE BR START--><!--EZCODE BR END-->Mike

[JerryStopher]

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/sugge...eerleading (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/suggestive_cheerleading)

Thank goodness Session is almost over!

(The Texas Lege meets for 140 days every two years, as determined by the State Constitution.)

[4dogknight]

From usatoday - today

Texas bill to ban suggestive cheers stalls (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-15-texas-cheerleading_x.htm)

{snip}
"A bill approved by the state House to ban bawdy cheerleading routines apparently isn't going anywhere in the Senate this year. The legislation prohibits "overtly sexually suggestive" cheerleading routines at school events and gives the state education chief the authority to ask school districts to review performances. It does not define sexually suggestive.

The House approved the legislation May 3 and sent it to the Senate Education Committee, where it is expected to die."

{snip}
"We have some very important work to do in the next two weeks, and that's not one of them," Republican state Sen. Florence Shapiro, who chairs the education committee, said Friday."


4dk

[moxie]

I really do wish schools would encourage more athletic-style uniforms for their cheer squads & also have the dance teams tone down all the bump-and-grind moves; it should be possible to choregraph interesting routines that don't rely on strip-club cliches.

But that's an issue for communities, parents & even the students themselves to decide & control. We certainly don't need more government intrusion over what should be a local matter.

[EigthAv]

Moxie,good post! I haven't been to a high school sports event in years.I suppose the girls may have had slightly provacative rotines when I was a high schooler,depending on what you call provacative.In those days,a girl with a pretty face and good legs who could do the newer dances was a bit of a turn-on.We had one cheerleader in particualr,who stood out.Stone good looking and she knew it.:lol Take a similar 16 or 17 yr olde girl,put her in a skimpier costume,tell her to turn it loose and you might have some unwanted problems.In those days,most of us dogs knew the drill.Get you good look,but don't touch and don't harass.There is a fine line somewhere between close to the edge and over the edge.Leanne Rimes,at 14,was close to edge and this wasn't a matter of her being indecently exposed.The girl had this huge-big talent for singing big league country western songs and the voice itself sparked a few debates.As most of you already know,figure skaters fall into "is this too provacative" debates sometimes.Would we want the congress or the United Nations trying to control it? I think not.

[4dogknight]

And just when you thought you had heard it all:

Never Steal a Turkey in Lubbock, and Other Tales of Texas Justice (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ivins20jun20,0,860047.story?track=tothtml)

{snip}
"The U.S. Supreme Court rules yet again that another Texas case was wrongfully decided — this time because 19 of 20 blacks had been knocked off the jury pool — and I'm asked to explain what's wrong with criminal justice in Texas, in 750 words. Sure, no problem.

I don't like to be cynical, but one can get a little tired after a long time watching justice meted out in this state. The story doesn't change much, and nothing seems to get better. But for what it's worth, here's what's at the bottom of it. "

COMMENT: The author goes on to detail seven (7) examples - read the article for the details. Very interesting and full of facts. We all remember those, don't we?

{snip}
"But please don't get the idea that just because a few of these errors were caught on long-shot appeals, justice actually works here. We know about so many more miscarriages it would make you vomit, and can't even guess at how many we don't know about.

I'm at 932 words and I haven't even gotten to the 5th Circuit, the parole board, why you can spend months in jail without ever seeing a lawyer … "

COMMENT: And now you are asking why is this political and what does this have to do with the current administration and the answer is: George W. Bush and Kenneth Delay. Any more questions, I thought not.

4dk

[JerryStopher]

Yup. "If you do the crime, you do the time." That's what Ann Richards said, and she made it stick. She appointed a friend of mine to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and when he was only a coupla years into his ten-year term, there was a contract out on him, cuz he never let anyone out of prison. By the time he retired, he couldn't go into an interview with a crook, without taking a coupla guards along to protect him.

And when Dubya was elected, his campaign against Ann included the oft-repeated suggestion that she was Soft on Crime, which many voters actually believed! And then Dubya set a new record for number of executions.

So: it's not just W Bush and Tom DeLay, it's Texas politicians in general. The Repugnicans may be worse, but that doesn't mean the Democrats are angels!

[EigthAv]

Jerry,would you prefer that we just turn the other cheek to serial killers,child rapists/murderers and try to just change them with kindness? I have no problem with whacking dudes like Couey and Gilmore.I'd do Couey personally,if they'd let me.Gilmore was begging to be executed........after he got caught.

[JerryStopher]

8A, as I recall, Jesus said "Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone." Therefore, because I am a Christian, I am against capital punishment.

Some folks need to be removed from society, to protect us from them. They may be responsive to treatment and/or punishment. But to kill them is not, in my opinion, appropriate.

[EigthAv]

Jerry,I could debate the death penalty with you and will do so,but since this thread started out about something not nearly as serious as murder,the chair and the resurection,I'll wait on a more appropriate thread.

[4dogknight]

Actually 8A, I really think this is the place to talk about the death penalty since Texas leads the league in putting prisioners to death.

I'm also looking at this thread as the place to post about Texas related incidents. For example the first post was about the cheerleading thingy, then I posted about the judicial system, trying to tie it into stuff about GB and especially KD.

So in my mind, this is a logical place to discuss prisioner abuse and/or death penalty. Course you could start a new thread too!

4dk - who resides in Texas but is not that enamoured with it as Jerry.

[EigthAv]

Okay,let's discuss the electric chairs,gas chambers and lethal injection.First let me remind everyone about seperation of church and state. "Thou shall not kill" is from the Ten Commandments,not the US Constitution. Some might have religious oriented objections to cheerleaders being used to help lure fans to sports contests,but tough.As long as they aren't breaking state and/or local indecency laws,they can lure all they want to.It's business,not a personal thing.<!--EZCODE BR START--><!--EZCODE BR END--><!--EZCODE BR START--><!--EZCODE BR END-->Do you buy what many experts have said about pedo-predators? Are they all hopelessly incurable? Do you really believe people like Gary Gilmore,the Couey who recently raped and murdered the little girl in Florida and Jeffery Dahmer are/were curable? When they commited their crimes against humanity,they knew full well of the consequences.They made a conscious decision to trade their very lives for their sick pleasures.In all 3 cases,there were "smoking guns". Whack them and the sooner the better! Charles Manson should have been excecuted years ago.He has been allowed to continue to preach his twisted philosphy and is still reaching new followers.I'm not for wholesale assembly-line executuion,but do firmly believe that the death penalty is appropriate for certain crimes and circumstances.When there is a "smoking gun"..........in other words,it is sooooo obvious that this is "the one",and the crime is scarier than most slasher horror movies,move swiftly to eliminate this person.When a so-called white collar criminal has systematically robbed the working poor and the elderly of their life savings and/or posibilities of retirement and there is a "smoking gun"? The death penalty would be appropriate.You don't have to take a gun and shoot a person to kill.When you destroy lives without remorse,you don't belong on this planet.The person Jesus was protecting when he issued the famous "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" statement,was Mary Magdalene,not a serial killer.There are human parasites and human sharks.Coddle them at your own risk.