Month: February 2012
Female Legislators Turn the Tables on Reproductive Rights Bills
Even before Republican Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell’s “oops” moment — when he admitted that he had no clue how the mandatory ultrasound he originally backed “unconditionally” worked — women knew that most men don’t bother their pretty little heads with the details of contraception. Such lady business is just not theirs to contemplate.
So female legislators introduced a string of bills in state houses intended to help them “get it.”
O.K. Republican Taliban guys, we’ll break down what you’re advocating for you, analogy style. First, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D).
Sen. Janet Howell proposed an amendment requiring men to undergo a rectal exam and cardiac stress test before getting prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs.
Santorum Caught Lying – Claims the Netherlands Involuntarily Euthanizes the Sick and Elderly
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Remember death panels — the “lie of the year” in 2009? Well, now GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum has come out with a false statement along similar lines that is a contender for 2012’s lie of the year — in the Netherlands:
Mitt Romney, 65,000 Seats, 1,200 Chairs, Four Cars and Two Teleprompters
Mitt Romney gave a speech at Ford Field in Michigan today. Apparently, the only venue his advance team could find was an indoor football stadium that reportedly seats 65,000, so they set up a stage on the 20 yard line and brought in seats for the crowd, reported to be 1,200. At the end of the event, Romney extemporized with this riff:
California Ranked Least Popular State in PPP Poll – And That’s OK
As a longtime Californian, I was more than a little surprised to learn that my adopted state had been rated dead last in a poll on the popularity of the 50 states conducted by Public Policy Polling, a highly respected, Democratic-leaning pollster based in Raleigh. (See PP’s chart below.)
My reflex was to go on defense. We are, after all, the world’s seventh largest economy. We are home to the nation’s second-largest and most beautiful cities — Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively — as well as economic engines like Hollywood, the Silicon Valley, the Wine Country and our own self-contained agricultural breadbasket in the San Joaquin Valley. Our population is larger than Canada’s or Australia’s. There are few states with more scenic beauty, pound for pound, and few places in the world with better weather.
But my next impulse was, nah — really, haters, go ahead and hate. Enjoy yourselves in the top five most popular states, Hawaii, Colorado, Tennessee, South Dakota and Virginia.
Still, last? It prompts the question, what is the beef? According to PPP’s analysis, one reason California fared so poorly reflects one of the same reasons I love living here.
Republicans hate California:
Marco Rubio Says He Used to be a Mormon
Not since Justin Bieber’s biopic, “Never Say Never” has an autobiography been so premature. But first-term Sen. Marco Rubio isn’t letting lack of material keep him from writing a full-length, in-depth look back at his life: all 41 short years of it.
Rubio’s main accomplishment so far has been being born at the right time with genes for attractiveness steeped in his parents’ ideology as Cuban emigrant, right-wing anti-Communists.
The book, reportedly titled, “An American Son,” will acknowledge Rubio’s personal story line deficit of triumph over adversity by drawing heavily on his parents’ lives. That includes their decision to leave Cuba after the Vegas-style excesses of the Batista regime began to fade, and before Castro came to power.
Rubio spokesperson: ‘His faith journey was part of the pitch to the publishers’
It also reveals his father’s role in a plot to overthrow the Dominican Republic’s dictator, Rafael Trujillo, when the elder Rubio was 18.
But perhaps one of the most interesting tidbits to surface will be Rubio’s admission that when he was 8-years-old, his parents began practicing Mormonism.
Rating Candidates’ Economic Plans: Obama and Ron Paul Plans Produce Lowest Debt to GDP Rate
Based on data [PDF] from US Budget Watch from CRFB, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget — analysis from libertarian Reason Magazine:
How is it that Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich would end up increasing the federal debt? It’s pretty simple, really: They would cut taxes, but wouldn’t cut spending to match. Santorum’s policies would reduce spending by a little more than $2 trillion, but would cut taxes by $6 trillion. Gingrich would cut slightly more in spending—about $2.7 trillion—but would cut taxes by $7 trillion and actually add $1.6 trillion in spending to overhaul Social Security, among other policy changes. Romney’s vague plans score better, but wouldn’t reduce the debt, and would probably push it slightly higher than it otherwise would have been. Ron Paul, on the other hand, would cut taxes, but he’d cut spending even more. His tax cuts would reduce the tax burden by $5.2 trillion; meanwhile, he would reduce spending by $7.2 trillion.
H/t: Daily Dish.
Most Americans Disapprove of Auto Manufacturer Bailout
51% to 44%
Margin by which Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of the federal government’s bailout of U.S. automakers three years ago, according to Gallup. A majority of Democrats, 63%, approve, while a majority of Republicans, 73%, disapprove.
Ultrasound Mandate: Transvaginal Procedures Are Already Required in Texas
Early last year, Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry declared the passage of a law requiring women seeking abortions to undergo sonograms an “emergency item” on the Legislature’s calendar. Despite the fact that the procedures are medically unnecessary, the Big Government Republicans who control the Texas Legislature passed the bill, and Gov. Perry signed it into law in May 2011, three months before he launched his bid for the GOP presidential nomination.
Earlier this month, after challenges to the law failed in court, the government’s ultrasound mandate — which includes the transvaginal ultrasounds that are so controversial now in Virginia — went into effect in Texas:
