Of all the astonishingly bad reasons conservatives oppose reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, concern for men is probably the worst. Make that definitely the worst. Via Sahil Kapur at TPM: Claiming that the reauthorization would expand the definition of domestic violence to include “emotional distress,” Heritage [Action] declared that the “expansive and vague language will increase fraud and false allegations, for … Read More
North Carolina Appoints Fox To Protect Hens
North Carolina has a Health and Human Services Department, and within that department is the Child Development and Early Education. The Division of Child Development and Early Education, or DCDEE, oversees the state's child-care program as well as NC Pre-K. So you would think that the person placed in charge of DCDEE would have an interest in North Carolina pre-K education. You would be … Read More
Headlines I Love, Part XXIII
I've seen the show. The ONLY good parts are the parts likely to trigger an autistic episode.
It Never Ends
Tennessee Senator Jim Tracy introduced an ultrasound bill yesterday. This, in and of itself, is not particularly newsworthy since ultrasound bills have become all the rage in the last couple years. What is newsworthy is just how far Forced Birthers will go to ensure that women who choose to have an abortion are traumatized by the experience. If women don’t want … Read More
PBS Is Just Adding Salt To The Wound Now
Watch Downton Abbey: Sybil and Tom on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.
Right Continues To Lose Culture Wars
(1) NBC: The Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation’s largest private youth organizations, is actively considering an end to its decades-long policy of banning gay scouts or scout leaders, according to scouting officials and outsiders familiar with internal discussions. If adopted by the organization’s board of directors, it would represent a profound change on an issue that has been … Read More
Downton Abbey, Season 3, Episode 4 Thoughts
Spoiler Alert, as always Before I begin, I thought I would share this cheeky tweet from yesterday — Hugh Bonneville (who plays Lord Grantham) to U.S. Downton Abbey viewers: To the US tweeps who've managed to avoid spoilers about tonight's ep of #DowntonAbbey – hope you both enjoy it 😉 — Hugh Bonneville (@hughbon) January 28, 2013 Very funny. He's … Read More
Downton Abbey, Season 3, Episode 3 Thoughts
Spoiler alert, as always. Downton has become a strange little show, moving at a fast pace with short scenes, and yet not seeming to go anywhere. There's seems to be more foreshadowing than actual plot. But it's still fun to watch — don't ask me why. So we had a scene where Mary was again frosty to Matthew. Hard to … Read More
Goodbye Twitpic, Hello Vine
This morning, Twitter debuted a new app called Vine. It works just like Twitpic (an app that allows you to attach pictures to your tweets), except that Vine allows for six-second loopable movie clips to be attached to your tweet. So far, the results are…. boring.
News From The Fetus Front: Maybe Fetuses Aren’t “Persons”
(1) A New Mexico bill introduced Wednesday would force rape victims to carry their pregnancies to term during their sexual assault trial or be charged with “tampering with evidence.” If a woman ended her pregnancy after being raped, both she and her doctor would be charged with a third degree felony under HB 206: Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating … Read More
G.I. Jane
A lot of people might miss this, but I think this is kind of a big deal: The U.S. military is ending its policy of excluding women from combat and will open combat jobs and direct combat units to female troops, CNN has learned. Multiple officials confirm to CNN that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will make the announcement tomorrow and notify … Read More
I’m Back
Went to NYC with the girl, and saw some good shows, but missed several things. The Patriots losing for one, which I could have missed anywhere. And the inauguration. Inauguration speeches, particularly those for a second term, often become historical (or, at least, a line or two does). And Obama is a good orator, so I thought maybe there … Read More
Kodachrome Taken Away
In 2009, Kodak announced that it would stop producing its iconic Kodachrome film after nearly 75 years in production. Famed photographer Steve McCurry (the man who photographed the Afghan Girl for National Geographic — on Kodachrome!) asked to be given the last roll of Kodachrome off the assembly line. Kodak agreed. Then National Geographic followed McCurry as he shot those last 36 exposures. You can see them here.
Downton Abbey, Season 3, Episode 2 Thoughts
Spoiler alert, as always. It's strange why some stories pop up, and are resolved the following week, while other stories seem to linger on interminably. In fact, some plots don't even last a week. They planted something in Bates' prison bed — this could be a turn of events that effects the whole rest of the season, you think. Nope. … Read More