The state of Michigan

Has come up with a dandy new law that essentially forces all its ladyparts citizens to purchase rape insurance.

Starting in March 2014, Michigan health insurers will not be allowed to offer abortion in their coverage except in cases where the woman's life is in danger.  Folks with ladyparts in Michigan instead will have to purchase a separate new policy (that does not exist yet) in anticipation that they might be raped, and/or would possibly want an abortion.

But it gets better.  Even in cases of rape or incest, if said ladypart lady wants her abortion covered but has not purchased said special insurance (that does not exist yet) beforehand, well, she is SOL.

Look.  This bill is dead in the water already.  It will be tested in the courts, and demolished.  And, the Michigan GOP know this.  This is a deliberate poke in the eye to all women across our country.  The GOP does not like women, and I do not see that attitude changing any time in our near future.  It is disgusting.  UGH!

************

Meanwhile, on a much lighter note, I had a good chuckle over tea last Friday, reading Jeremy W. Peters' NYT story about how Harry Reid has gone too far this time, what with his using the nuclear option, and finally getting so many of those backlogged presidential appointments confirmed.  Gosh dang it, if the Senate might have their holiday plans scuppered this year! The poor lambs!

The GOP blame Harry Reid, natch, whilst clutching their pearls.  The incivility! Yet, no one in the GOP Senate caucus think that using every single technicality they have at their disposal, including holding up every single confirmation for a day-long "debate" has anything to do with why they are still at the Senate, and not knocking back eggnog 'round the fire with their families.

Those day-long debates are awfully long, and the GOP have got to say a whole lot of really really stupid shit just to keep the lights on.  But the money quote for me has got to be (Ayn) Rand Paul, who said, “Senate Democrats have for petty partisan reasons taken away the power of Congress, taken away one of the checks and balances on a rogue presidency.” (Italics mine.)

I know he has time to fill.  He has got to keep obstructin' up a storm, and is liable to say just about anything, but, it would be nice if someone from the frickin' Courtier Press could please ask him exactly what he means by a "rogue presidency".

Does Paul mean Obama is not eligible to be president? Or, that the past two elections have been rigged? Please tell us what you mean, Senator.

These asshats are not public servants.  They are ... well ... asshats!





















mds

Charlie Pierce is on fire today.

Here is the link to his great post about the GOP's War on Women and Their Ladyparts, and how much money is to be made for them while they do it.

Be sure to read all the way down to the end and go to the Rude Pundit link.  It is fantastic.  Real life stories from women about the choices they have had to make in their lives.

All my love,



Michael

That disgusting anti-choice bill in Texas is going to pass today,

And Gubner Haircut will waste no time, at all, in signing it.

It will be challenged in the courts immediately, and will not take effect until the courts (possibly The Supremes) have the final say.

We need to keep up the good fight, folks.

We will win eventually on this issue, and the GOP's War on Women can be blunted, if not vanquished entirely.

Keep fighting brothers and sisters.


mds

I was going to go off on Pliny the Elder cult worshippers today,

But, will save my wrath for them until tomorrow.

Wrapped around our Marriage Equality victories last week is an seemingly unending rash of terrible political defeats and just general crap:  The GOP's War on Women, The Voting Rights decision, Snowden, Greenwald, Paula Deen, Immigration Reform, the delay for ACA, et cetera et cetera et cet a bloody cetera, ...

But, I am going to focus on the frickin Right to Choose struggle right now, and am going to cede the floor to blogging legend Charlie Pierce right here.

Never flipping forget that absolutely none of this GOP crap has anything to do with a woman's health.  This is all about vanquishing clinics, making it nearly impossible to even have a right to choose in states that pass these shitty unconstitutional bills.  In Texas there would be five clinics! In Virginia, one! 

And, big bad old asshat Rubio is now trying to build up his cred again, after the teabaggers have ditched him on account of the whole Amnesty Amnesty Amnesty For All! crap.  He is introducing to the Senate the twenty week limit with absolutely no exceptions, even in the case of rape or incest.

The GOP seriously seem to think they can win nationally with this shit, with pissing off all people of color and  women.

The problem is that even though this strategy is a dud at the national level.  It plays great at your local bar, coffeehouse, and state house.  And, that is where the good guys are getting their asses kicked every damn day.  

Do something! Let the world flipping know we can not take this anymore.  Vote in all elections, not just the General.  Organize, get on the barricades! Donate! Do something.  There is a nation to win, a nation we might actually become proud of on flipping holidays like July 4th.

P.S.:  Man, it is gonna be an Au Pairs marathon for me the next few days!

Good god almighty, when will these guys

Figure out to keep their frickin' mouths closed?

Our esteemed House of Representatives are debating and voting on their ever so important anti-choice bill today, a bill that even if it passes (which it will), that the Dem controlled Senate will not even consider.

These are our elected Public Servants.

Gosh, I am proud.  Are not you?

(Serious h/t to ABL at Balloon Juice.)

Nope, there is absolutely nothing to see here,

Just neveryoumind, already! Got this from Charlie Pierce today, who got the picture from Gawker.  I already knew about the heinously unconstitutional anti-choice law signed by Governor Brownback the other day, but I had no idea about the whole Jesus hearts Mary angle for Brownie's notes.  Kissing in a tree, indeed.  (Plus, am I wrong, or is the bill called Mega abortion bill?)

Meanwhile, Fox News wants to get the towels ready for another waterboarding party.  The Koch brothers are interested in buying eight newspapers, including the LA Times.  No one seems to be the least bit interested in doing something about the West, Texas fertilizer plant owners, despite the fact that they were in serious violation of just about every regulation imaginable and had not had a inspection by OSHA since 1985(!)  Really, I know.  I should just lay off those guys. Goshdarnit, they are the job creators in the boo-ti-ful Right to Work Bidness Paradise that is Tejas.

Then, there is the extremely icky icky story about Adam Savader.  Sad, too, as this might end up putting a crimp in his plans for his shiny new political blog that he had planned to unveil on us (and the world.)

Anyhoo, there is an antidote for all this awfulness.  On May 8, in Oakland, California at the Paramount Theater, Noam Chomsky will be a voice of reason to talk you off the ledge, and, perhaps get you in to the streets instead, trying to change life, as opposed to just reforming capitalism (policy, laws, etc, whathaveyou, ... )

(Oh, and two days after Chomsky's rap at the Paramount, the Paramount will be showing the noir classic, Laura, too.  Sweet!)

Mwah, ... 

From a commenter on TPM:

subzeroepsilon  sdpt45 • 3 hours ago

• −

The Supreme Court does know this, or at least they used to. In West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, the Court wrote:

The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections., 319 U.S. 624 (at 639).

************

This is why we have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights.  The minority's rights must be protected from a possibly wrong and tyrannical majority.

************  

(After reading about oral arguments, I am starting to believe the Supremes might not grant standing, and Prop 8 would be overturned in California.  The villains would try again in court, I am sure.)

Meanwhile, North Dakota just had their Governor sign three disgusting anti-choice bills in to law today.  Those will be tested in the courts, too.  And not even this SCOTUS would find them Constitutional.

mds

Here are the twenty-two Senators,

All men, all from the GOP, who voted against the Violence Against Women Act yesterday, including Marco Rubio, who gave the SOTU GOP response last night.  The bill passed anyway, thank goodness.

(h/t to Think Progress and ABL at Balloon Juice.)

mds

Thin Mints for all the Socialist Heathen Moochers!

The Right Wing's War on Women has always included girls and gays, too:

Well, excellent.  That leaves a lot more for me then.  

And, now that The Boy Scouts of America are considering lifting their ban on gay scouts and scout leaders, we can be safe to conclude that the end-times are truly nigh.

Good grief.

Serious h/t to John Cole and Anne Laurie at Balloon Juice where I got the photo.

UGH!

Michael D Spitler

So, this idiot Teabagger Rep

Has got be one of the worst human beings ever.  His name is Scott DesJarlais and he is an Anti Choice Rep from Tennessee.  But when his mistress got pregnant by him, Anti Choice Douchwacket DesJarlais got her bundled up to Atlanta to get that "taken care of" pronto.  It nearly makes me sick.

Yeh, I should just run more John Lennon vids, hunh?

UGH!

P.S.:  I swear I am going to write about The Master, and also The Front (the video above), Elia Kazan, naming names, and why I am disappointed with Martin Scorsese.



mds

There is a fantastic, though prob

Apocryphal story about Austim's insanely fabulous Texas Instruments:  That someone from the calculator company actually traveled down to Austim to see the band, decided that they were not going to be any big deal, or threat to the company name, and went back home.  Even if that story is not true, it is true that the calculator company was upset, and did everything in their power, surreptitiously, to sabotage the band's success.  The band eventually changed their name, and then disbanded.






The (Austim) Winona Ryders opened up for t.i. (as most folks called them, anyway) at a BBQ joint in Austim, TX.  It was my first gig ever, and they were very kind to split the extremely modest door receipts with us after the show.

I am thinking of t.i. right now because of Todd Akin and the 2012 General and the GOP's War on American Women™.

The song Decade of Denial comes to mind:

"We'll all be better off under a Conservative sun/We're gonna legislate your bedroom/Tell you where and with whom/I was only doing my part/And pledge allegiance to the holy ramparts/You were only speaking your heart/We better stop/And arrest ourselves."

I would advise all of you folks to hunt down t.i. records, cds, downloads, whatever you can.  They are difficult to find, and, if any of my friends close by would like me to burn you a cd, or let you tape my Sun Tunnels vinyl, I would be glad to oblige.

They are certainly worth it; one of America's most thoughtful, sensitive, and greatest bands ever.

Ardent

Gosh, my friends with ladyparts, I did not know you had such amazing powers!

I mean, you really do learn something new every day.

And, I am shocked -- shocked! -- that Fox News has not said a single word about this piece of work today.

But, this is not just some unhinged "I'm running for Senate!" dude.  This "argument" has been popular with the forced pregnancy crowd for decades now.

Nope, Fox News has nothing to say about Todd Akin today.  They are going on non-stop about this guy, instead.

Mittens mumbled something about how awful Akin's statements were, but, do not forget that LL Cool P co-sponsored a "personhood" bill with this Akin jackwagon just last year.  You know, one of those amazing teabagging "jobs" bills they all promised we were going to get?

Dang, if Claire McCaskill messes this up? UGH!