Now, from Georgia: After an emotional 14-hour workday that included fist-fights between lobbyists and a walk-out by women Democrats, the Georgia House passed a Senate-approved bill Thursday night that criminalizes abortion after 20 weeks. The bill, which does not contain rape or incest exemptions, is expected to receive a signature from Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. Commonly referred to as the … Read More
So What If The Mandate Fails
If the Supreme Court decides it doesn't like the individual mandate, what happens to the rest of Obamacare? The Supreme Court can go three ways: (1) If the mandate falls, the rest of the law stands. The outcome: The narrowest ruling the Supreme Court could issue would be one where the individual mandate falls by itself but leaves the rest of … Read More
What’s Being Argued Today — A Summary for Layman
At the heart of health care reform lies the individual mandate, which makes it so that individuals must purchase health insurance or else face a fine assessed by the government. The question before the Court will be whether Congress has the power under the Commerce Clause to require that individuals purchase health insurance. The Commerce Clause states that “the Congress shall have … Read More
Supreme Court Starts Hearing Arguments in the “Obamacare” Case
Is the Affordable Care Act consitutional? The lower courts are divided, and today the Supreme Court beings three days of oral arguments on the matter. Somewhat oddly, the most controversial part of the legislation — the individual mandate which requires everyone to purchase health insurance (or pay a fine if they don't) — is only slotted for 90 minutes of … Read More
How’s Susan Komen Foundation Doing? — A Look Back
After their public relations debacle back in February, when Komen attempted to defund Planned Parenthood, things looked really bleak for the womens cancer foundation. But it eventually tried to amend its wrongdoing, the story fell off the front page, and the nation's attention went elsewhere. So has the Komen Foundation recovered? Hardly, according to the Washington Post: Fallout from the Planned … Read More
And Netflix Makes Thirty
Moments ago, Netflix emailed a statement to the tech website Boing Boing indicating that the company will ensure that its ads never appear on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show again: Spotted your tweets and wanted to let you know that Netflix has not purchased and does not purchase advertising on the Rush Limbaugh show. We do buy network radio advertising and have confirmed … Read More
Full Circle
Wow. Saint Vincent's Hospital in Connecticut, a Catholic medical center, is withdrawing its advertising from Rush Limbaugh, according to the hospital's Twitter feed. Remember, this all started because Catholic insitutions were upset and having to "pay for" contraception coverage. Apparently, Rush stunk up his side so badly that even his allies are distancing themselves.
Limbaugh’s Non-Apology
Posted on his website Saturday: "For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke. I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political … Read More
The Right’s Sex Obsession Explained
Shorter Aaron Worthing: Rush Limbaugh was wrong to call Sandra Fluke a slut. As for me, I would prefer not to inquire into whether women in college are sluts or not, but Obamacare is forcing me to ask.
A Schiavo Moment
Chuck Todd thinks we've seen this before, and I agree: When the Terri Schiavo controversy first turned into a full-blown national story — in March 2005 — no one was sure of its political implications. Even some Democrats feared it was a loser for them. But after congressional Republicans and the Bush White House acted to keep the Schiavo alive, … Read More
White House To Cave On The Contraception Thing
It's an election year, and Obama doesn't want a culture war… even if he IS on the winning side of it, and most people support him on it. The White House will announce some sort of compromise later today. Wooses. And by the way, don't expect the "compromise" to satisfy the right. UPDATE — per a fact sheet being … Read More
What’s Good For The Goose…
This is pretty badass and hilarious. The Virginia legislature is trying to pass a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound for having an abortion. According to CBS: The legislation would require all women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image taken to determine the gestational age of the fetus. It says each patient must be given the opportunity … Read More
Mass Hysteria Starts With Cheerleaders
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the strange situation in upstate New York, where twelve girls in the same junior-senior high school have developed strange tics, not unlike Tourette's, and nobody knows why. It's now 14 girls, and possibly one boy, who have developed the strange behaviors. One of them is posting her ordeal on YouTube. It's still … Read More
Twelve Girls In The Same High School Suddenly Develop Tourette’s
Or, if it's not Tourette's, it's like Tourette's. Any way you look at it though, it's weird: Le Roy, N.Y.— ( By: Angela Hong courtesy: 13WHAM ) Wednesday night, James Dupont attended a meeting at Le Roy Junior-Senior High School hoping to find some answers about what may be wrong with his daughter. Since the first week of December, his 17-year-old … Read More