Last Call For Climate Change Denial

The screaming headline from the Daily Mail, declaring (again) that Global Warming is over and government scientists are all liars:

And now it's global COOLING! Record return of Arctic ice cap as it grows by 60% in a year

Now with maps!

 

 

The reality:

 

 

Yep, a one-year rise in August sea ice means global warming is over.  The 35-year downward trend doesn't mean anything.  Just like 2007, when global warming ended.  Umm, I mean, 2004.  I mean 2001.  Oh that big sea ice jump in 1996, that certainly ended global warming.  1982!  Look at how much ice we had in 1982.  Virtually no change from 82 to 96, so that certainly means global warming is a myth.

Right?

Dear America

I am intellectually incapable of coming up with a plausible scenario in which one good thinking American approves of Barack Obama's job performance, much less 47% of us. I will therefore make a grand conjecture about if these evil, worhtless wayward souls are merely pitiful wretches on federal welfare, if they are simple morons, if they are brainwashed by the evil liberal media, if they are anti-white racists, or what is most likely, a combination of the above factors.

--John Hinderaker, Power Line

Bonus Verbatim Stupid:

I think that all of the above explanations account for some of the 47%. When the federal government spends $3.8 trillion a year, it can buy a lot of votes. Remember that every one of those 3.8 trillion dollars represents a check that someone cashed. Beyond that, I have written many times about the over-the-top emails with which the Democratic Party bombards its members, painting Republicans as, more or less, the Devil. Repetition is persuasive, and many millions of Democrats will probably say they approve of any Democratic president, regardless of how he performs. (The same, for better or worse, is not true of Republican voters.) And there is no doubt that a huge number of voters are astonishingly ignorant about the issues. This is demonstrated by every man in the street interview on YouTube. 

Ahh, if all of us would only watch FOX News and would learn the truth, Obama would have an approval rating of 0%.   On the other hand, the category of those people has now been expanded to include "anyone who thinks President Obama is doing a good job."

The GOP will have to make sure they get punished.

Strange, Possibly Insane Bedfellows

We're still allowed to ask why some Republicans are really opposing a strike on Syria still, yes?  Steve M. flags down this account of a McCain town hall:

"You and the rest of Congress, including the president of the United States have went against the will your people in Syria regardless of your position and vote, whether it is a yes or no is still a political smokescreen," the town hall attendee said to an irritated McCain. "I believe wholeheartedly you do not care about the will and well-being of America or its people. You lied the American people about the chemical attacks in Syria. The American people know that it was our government that is most likely responsible. There is strong evidence, including video, that these attacks were carried out by al Qaeda and you advocate starting a war, even maybe World War, by taking the same attack and blaming it on Assad."

Indeed, there are quite a few folks on the right who suddenly think this is a false flag operation, Steve reminds us:

Limbaugh's monologue is transcribed here. I also see Pam Geller banging this drum. And Pajamas Media. And, naturally, Alex Jones.

Good company, along with World Net Daily and Ron Paul...and I might add Alan Grayson on the left, too.

This is a bit of a sensitive subject, but the administration has been honest that they have no smoking gun that the attack was ordered by Assad. The evidence of his involvement is circumstantial. We’re two years into a civil war that he’s winning. The Russians and Iranians have told him not to use chemical weapons. Hezbollah has told him not to use chemical weapons because their fighters are at risk. So he’s winning, there’s scant and circumstantial evidence that he ordered the attack. Why are we gaming out his incentives when we don’t know he ordered it?

With all the valid reasons to oppose Syria (and I am still not convinced we should attack Damascus) "Driven by Obama Derangement Syndrome" is the one most likely to make me reconsider backing the President.  Any group on the same side as Alex Jones and WND?  No.  And that brings us to these clowns:

The 'International Human Shields' movement, started by a group of activists in Britain and the US, plans to bring to Syria civilians from countries around the globe, who will try to deter US strikes on the country by staking out potential military targets.

I just can't.

Last Call For The Future Of Tokyo

For in the year 2020, Tokyo is about to explode...with Olympic pride.

Tokyo has been chosen by the International Olympic Committee to host the 2020 Summer Games.

In voting Saturday in Buenos Aires, the committee picked Tokyo over the two other contenders, Madrid and Istanbul.

The announcement came at 5:20 a.m. Tokyo time, but a large crowd watching on an outdoor video screen burst into cheers.

Tokyo previously hosted the Summer Games in 1964.

Japan's bid for 2020 billed the city as the safe choice -- despite radiation leaking from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe personally made a presentation to the committee and promised an effective cleanup.

There is that whole Fukushima thing, yeah...but hey, Tokyo did come in with the lowest bid.

Tokyo's bid came in at $5 billion to $6 billion, compared to $19 billion pledged by Istanbul, said Ed Hula, editor and founder of aroundtherings.com, which covers the business and politics of the Olympic movement.

But Tokyo's government has already amassed a $4.9 billion Olympic fund to pay to prepare for the Games, Hula said. And a $1 billion national stadium that will be used for the athletic events and the Opening Ceremonies will already have been built for the rugby World Cup in 2017 and is not considered an Olympic expense.

But Istanbul and Madrid just weren't ready, and would have needed tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure to get there.  Still, guys, FUKUSHIMA.

On the other hand, can you imagine how fast President Obama would have been impeached if America had put $5 billion away for an Olympic bid?

Sorry Mr. President, I Have A Pryor Engagement On Syria

Facing a rough re-election road in 2014, Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor is turning his back on the White House over Syria.

The decision to use military force is one of the gravest responsibilities Members of Congress face, and it is one that I take very seriously. I have heard presentations and testimonies from the Administration on their case for military action, have read and studied the text of the authorization for the use of military force that will come before the Senate next week, and have listened to the concerns of thousands of Arkansans as I have traveled the state.

I have said, before any military action in Syria is taken, the Administration must prove a compelling national security interest, clearly define a mission that has a definitive end-state, and then build a true coalition of allies that would actively participate in any action we take. Based on the information presented to me and the evidence I have gathered, I do not believe these criteria have been met, and I cannot support military action against Syria at this time.

I actually don't blame Pryor for doing this, not after 3 days ago his Republican opponent, Rep. Tom Cotton, came out in full favor of attacking Syria in a WaPo op-ed piece.  In fact, Pryor may very well have just won the election.

That should tell you something.

Impeachable Me 2

Another GOP Congressman's town hall, another assurance that Republicans would impeach President Obama if given the chance to vote.

Texas Republican Rep. Bill Flores said at a town hall forum Thursday that if the House of Representatives had an impeachment vote, President Obama would be impeached. Flores said such a vote would be futile because it would fail in the Senate.

“I look at the president, I think he’s violated the Constitution,” Flores said. “I think he’s violated the law. I think he’s abused his power but at the end of the day you have to say if the House decides to impeach him, if the House had an impeachment vote it would probably impeach the president.”

The video was provided to BuzzFeed by former Obama campaign staffer Eric Aguirre, who shot the video last night.

“What’s gonna happen next,” Flores added. “It goes to the Senate and that’s step one. Step two is, the Senate’s got to have 67 votes. You’ve got 46 Republicans and 54 Democrats and independents. I’m not sure all the Republicans would vote for it and I know it’s gonna be hard to get another 21 Democrats to vote for it.”

“If you try and fail, are you willing to put Nancy Pelosi back in the speakership? I’m not,” Flores concluded.

Also note Flores doesn't actually have any specific charges to impeach the President over, but it's okay, he's a socialist tyrant or something, and surely there's a law against black Democrats being president somewhere.

The problem is those damn senators, he says.  He's not sure they would vote to convict, not even all the Republicans.  You know, because Flores is all but admitting that impeachment is really just a partisan hate vote to attack a Democrat who dares to get re-elected.  Making up the actual charges comes later in the process.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Thursday that President Barack Obama would run the risk of impeachment if he were to put "boots on the ground" in Syria.

McCain spoke to Phoenix KFYI radio host Mike Broomhead after getting grilled by constituents for supporting missile strikes on Syria at a pair of town halls. McCain specified that he did not favor sending American troops into Syria, however.

Laws that Congress passed giving power to the Executive Branch don't apply to Democrats, you know.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• Australian PM Kevin Rudd has conceded defeat for the ruling Labor party as Conservative challenger Tony Abbott has rolled to a landslide win.
• Washington State has officially published rules and regulations for the growing, distribution, and sale of marijuana in the state.
• Citing concerns with a possible US attack on Syria, the State Department is pulling non-essential personnel from embassy staffs in neighboring Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey.
• Regulators have signed off on Chinese firm Shuanghui International's planned $4.7 billion buyout of US pork giant Smithfield, pending shareholder approval.
• With Gov. Jerry Brown's signature, California will become the first state to pilot test electronic, digital license plates.

Last Call For The Rise Of The Emotarians

The unholy alliance between the "Obama has failed us completely!" left and the "Obama is a fascist tyrant!" right has now solidified into a such a looming defeat for the President's Syria resolution that it's to the point where John Boehner may simply refuse to bring it up for a vote.  Greg Sargent:

How real are the prospects for a genuine alliance against action in Syria between progressive anti-war Democrats and isolationist Tea Party libertarians?

Dem Rep. Alan Grayson, a leader of the anti-war wing of the House Democratic caucus, tells TPM’s Dylan Scott he is organizing across the aisle to create such an alliance by gearing up an “ad hoc whip organization.” This sort of right-left alliance is often discussed but rarely materializes. But this time there could be something to it.

Here’s a way to look at it. I compared the current whip count of Members of Congress who are firm or leaning No votes on Syria right now, with the Members who voted Yes on the recent amendment to end bulk NSA surveillance that corralled a surprising amount of bipartisan support. The vote on that amendment — which was sponsored by GOP Rep. Justin Amash and Dem Rep. John Conyers — was perhaps the clearest demonstration of such a developing alliance we’ve seen.

Nobody should be shocked by this.  The Alan Grayson wing of the Democrats has wanted to put this President "in his place" since 2009, and now they have their best chance ever to do so.  Ironic that the same people who accuse Obama of being as awful as a Republican are more than happy to work with the Tea Party for their own ends, both united over their sheer hatred for the man.

These are the same Democrats who will wonder why the country has become such an ungovernable  pit of chaos, with Republicans running rampant at the state and Congressional levels, why no good legislation can pass the House, and why the Tea Party will suddenly turn on them as soon as it's convenient.

But when these Democrats have even less power in the House in 2014, it'll be all Obama's fault.

Alan Grayson Goes Full Tinfoil On Syria

I've had problems with Alan Grayson in the past, but this is pretty much deep into Kucinich/Nader  territory and makes me think maybe not all the Obama-hating lunatics in the House have R's after their names.

Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., who is aggressively lobbying against a military strike on Syria, says the Obama administration has manipulated intelligence to push its case for U.S. involvement in the country's two-year civil war.

Grayson made the accusation in an interview published Wednesday by The Atlantic and offered more detail in a Thursday discussion with U.S. News. He says members of Congress are being given intelligence briefings without any evidence to support administration claims that Syrian leader Bashar Assad ordered the use of chemical weapons.

Grayson said he cannot discuss the classified briefings, but noted details in the administration's public, non-classified report are being contested.

Really?   President Obama has pulled a Cheney?  We've cooking intel now?  Seriously?  Not only is the guy openly backing Putin's play that the rebels are murdering their own citizens to draw the US into war but that now the Obama administration is going along with it, knowingly?

What's your proof, Alan?

He points to an article published by The Daily Caller that alleges the communications actually showed Syrian officers were surprised by the alleged chemical weapon attack. The communications, according to unnamed sources paraphrased in article, were intercepted by Israeli intelligence and "doctored so that it leads a reader to just the opposite conclusion."

"What they say in The Daily Caller is that [intercepted communications] would lead one to the opposite conclusion," Grayson said. "I don't know if it's right or wrong, [but] there's a very simple way to find out, that's for the administration to show me and other members of Congress" translated transcripts of the intercepts, he said.

The Daily Caller?  Tucker Carlson's version of Drudge Report?  Have a seat, Grayson, and shut it.  If I wasn't convinced you were an Obama-hating jackass before, I'm sold now.  That's not proof, that's a Breitbart article.

So sad to see such a potentially good liberal voice in Congress fall to the wingnut side, too.  You have a spine, Alan...but not much in the brains department, if you're being fooled by this.

Game Of Chicken

Colorado Republicans:  keeping "passive-aggressive minority outreach" to an art form.

Two weeks ago, the last meeting of a Colorado task force on economic opportunity and poverty exploded into allegations of racism when Sen. Vicki Marble, a Republican, attempted to explain high poverty rates among African Americans by talking about chicken.

Those comments drew a strong rebuke from Rep. Rhonda Fields, an African American lawmaker, and all but the most extreme Colorado Republicans distanced themselves from Marble, R-Fort Collins.

So on Wednesday, when the task force met for the first time since the Aug. 21 hearing, a box of Popeye’s fried chicken placed conspicuously on Rep. Lori Saine’s desk inside the senate committee room drew the attention of several lawmakers and observers in the room.

One witness heard Saine, who represents District 63 in Weld and Morgan counties, telling Marble that she brought the chicken in ‘silent protest’ of the uproar caused by Marble’s comments last month.

Le sigh, le groan.  Fried chicken in protest, huh.  That's classy.  Keep up the minority outreach!

StupidiNews!

• Ocean researchers say that the underwater Tamu Massif volcano west of Japan is not only the largest volcano on Earth, but ranks among the top in the entire solar system.
• The Dutch state is liable for the deaths of 3 Bosnian Muslims expelled from a UN compound in 1995, the Bosnian Supreme Court ruled this week.
• New Census data on immigration and the US shows one in five married households in the US has at least one foreign-born spouse.
• Norway is poised to deliver a major victory to conservative politicians in next Monday's elections as the ruling Labor Party's appeals for increased welfare allowances are falling short.
• Michigan lawmakers want to limit the state's automatic license plate readers to delete data within 48 hours.

Last Call For SNAP In Kentucky

Meanwhile, we do realize that Kentucky Republicans are screaming for cuts in SNAP benefits when Kentucky is one of the poorest states in the nation when it comes to food security, right?

One in six Kentucky households report having serious problems affording nutritious food, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The report released on Wednesday also reveals basic hunger needs in the statehave increased over the past decade even as lawmakers in Washington are proposing to dump millions of food stamp recipients.

Of the approximately 285,000 Kentucky households experiencing food insecurity, about 113,000 had at least one or more members living in the home forced to reduce their food intake. The agriculture department's report shows 15.6 percent lack adequate food choices, a five percent increase since 2003.

Many argue government help such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program combat those hunger issues. But food stamps face a possible $40 billion worth of cuts in Congress, which could eliminate benefits for up to 6 million Americans.

Jason Bailey is director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. He says the cuts are coming at a time when many families are still struggling economically.

"It’s not like they’re also proposing to create 4 to 6 million jobs that these folks can get to provide enough income for them to pay for their food needs. It’s an incredibly cruel and counter-productive proposal at a time when unemployment is still high," he says.

Of course, Kentucky Republicans don't seem too interested in creating jobs.  In fact, government employee Sen. Rand Paul will tell you that neither jobs nor food are in the government interest to worry about.   In fact, plenty of red states are moving to do things like kick people off food stamps by reinstating work requirements during high unemployment.  They know people can't get jobs to feed their families, but screw them, take their food stamps because they're probably those people anyway and hell, they don't vote Republican, right?

To make a few omelets, you have to starve a few million Americans, right?

Bill Clinton Finally Makes The Case For Obamacare

With just weeks to go before exchanges open for enrollment on October 1, former President Bill Clinton joined the White House push as "Explainer-In-Chief" this week to help make President Obama's case to the American people to enroll in Obamacare.

"We've got to do this," Clinton said in a speech to several hundred health care professionals and doctors in Little Rock, Ark. "The studies show that we are No. 1 by a country mile in the percentage of our income that we devote to health care costs, and rank no better than 25th to 33rd in the health care outcomes we get. This is the country that pioneered innovation in every other area of our national life; you cannot make me believe that we have to tolerate this from now until the end of eternity."

At a crucial juncture a few weeks before the Oct. 1 opening of the law's health insurance marketplaces across the country, Clinton scolded Republicans who have voted to repeal the law more than 40 times, arguing that they have not offered "real alternatives."

"The benefits of reform can't be fully realized, and the problems certainly can't be solved unless both the supporters and the opponents of the original legislation work together to implement it and address the issues that arise whenever you change a system this complex," he said during Wednesday's address at the Clinton Presidential Library.

He made a good case, although such a full-throated defense of Obamacare should have been made in 2010 and 2011, Bill.  Joining the fight this late in the game is better than nothing, I suppose, but with the problem being communication and a confused public, we could have used you years ago.

The administration has a difficult task ahead in selling the public on the new law given its unpopularity and confusion about its effect. In a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, four in 10 people believed the law had been repealed or overturned - or were unsure about whether it remained in place. About 50 percent of those who responded said they didn't know how it would affect their families.

Considering the amount of lies the GOP has spread about Obamacare and the tens of millions spent on those lies by conservative groups, I'm not surprised at all.  That was the Republican plan all along: to kill Obamacare enrollment through confusion and indifference.

Glad you can lend a hand, Bill.  After four years of sitting on your ass, finally jumping in with a month to go is a great way to show your support for President Obama, right?

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/04/201195/bill-clinton-offers-case-for-obamacare.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/04/201195/bill-clinton-offers-case-for-obamacare.html#storylink=cpy

Orange Julius Squeezed Out?

We've heard stories about John Boehner stepping down as House Speaker before, so I'll believe it when I see it.  Like it or not, he's too interested in self preservation to go without a fight.  The difference is this time, Boehner's former aides and compatriots are saying he no longer thinks the fight may be worth it.

All summer, rumors have been swirling around the Hill and K Street that the speaker has had enough and that 2014 would be his last year with the gavel. Then the message went out in July: Boehner (R-Ohio) is not leaving.

Boehner told his inner circle at dinner that there was no truth to the talk, and authorized his people to spread the word around town. A story appeared in Politico the next day, reaffirming Boehner's stated commitment to stay past 2014.

"These inside-the-Beltway parlor games take place every two years. The speaker has made clear publicly he intends to remain in his position in the next Congress," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told HuffPost.

But not everyone close to the 63-year-old speaker is so sure. "He has to say that. He can't not say that. The minute you say [you're leaving], you're done," said one former GOP leadership aide who is part of Boehner's circle. "Everybody around him thinks this is his last term."

Despite the effort by Boehner to tamp down speculation that he will depart the House after the 2014 midterms, multiple cooks in Boehner's kitchen cabinet think the Republican is still strongly considering making his exit just over a year from now.

"I'd be surprised if he did [stay]," said one former senior aide to Boehner, who, like many consulted for this article, spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their relationships. (HuffPost spoke to four top former Boehner aides, two current aides, five former leadership aides close to Boehner's inner circle, and a GOP operative on familiar terms with his circle.)

Again, Boehner may be forced out more than anything.  Yes, he helped get the House back for the GOP in 2010, but it's been disastrous for them since.  2012 was not a good year for them.  It it wasn't for the state gerrymandering, the GOP would have been in as much trouble as they were in 2006 and 2008.

Besides, it's gotten to the point where neither faction of the GOP can stand the guy anymore.  The McCain wing ignores him, and the Tea Party wing openly hates the guy.  But who would step in, Cantor?  He's blown it too.

Who would want the job, anyway?

StupidiNews!

• World leaders are gathering today in St. Petersburg, Russia for this year's annual G-20 Summit, where the topic of Syria is unofficially expected to be on everyone's lips.
• A Pennsylvania hospital is the first in the nation to open an inpatient program to deal with internet addiction.
• A USDA study finds that for the fifth straight year, a near-record number of American households face regular food insecurity.
• Evidence is mounting that Spain's austerity program will miss its deficit reduction goals, which could throw the fragile Eurozone recovery into chaos.
• Microsoft says it plans to support the Xbox 360 for at least another three years, despite the system's successor, Xbox One, premiering later this year.

Last Call For Obama's Syrian Endgame

So what's the goal in Syria?  We fire cruise missiles at the Assad regime and...then what?  TNR's John Judis has some thoughts on what would follow after John Kerry's testimony yesterday:

—The administration is not just contemplating a single punitive strike against Syria’s Bashar al Assad for using chemical weapons; it is planning a repeatable military campaign that would strike again if he were to use these weapons again.

—The military campaign would also have the “collateral” or “downstream” result of weakening Assad militarily and politically. It would cause defections and significantly weaken the Assad government.

—The goal of the military campaign, combined with aid to the opposition, would not be to defeat Assad. Instead, the war would be ended by an international negotiation in which Russians would play a very important role. Such a deal would eliminate any role in Syria’s future for jihadist elements, but it might include a role for allies of Assad, if not for Assad himself.

This all seems like three fundamentally incompatible goals.  The 60 or 90 day option for repeatable strikes does seem like a way to buy time for diplomacy, but only if diplomacy can actually settle this.  Weakening the Assad regime isn't exactly going to make them want to come to the table, not if they know they can wait it out and then resume the fighting.  And what about the rebels?  There are a number of pretty bad guys in there opposing Assad, but what will they do if Assad is sidelined?

And we're counting on diplomacy with the Russians?  OK.  I'm not holding out hope, but Putin isn't ruling out backing our strike now.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he has not ruled out backing a U.S.-led military operation in Syria if the Kremlin gets concrete proof than an alleged chemical attack on civilians was committed by Bashar Assad’s government.

“I don’t rule this out,” Putin said during a televised interview with First Channel, a Russian federal television network, and the Associated Press. “But I want to draw your attention to one absolutely principled issue: In accordance with the current international law, a sanction to use arms against a sovereign state can be given only by the U.N. Security Council.”

In other words, Russia may drop its blockade of UN Security Council action and back a coalition move on their timetable, which would granted, slow things down somewhat.  But, if that's what it takes, that's fine.

The question is can we get Russia and Putin on board before a strike is launched?  I think we should make every effort to try.

On the other hand, Joshua Foust sums up the Obama case for Syrian strikes thusly:

The logic for striking Syria is as bizarre as it is unconvincing:

• Assad used chemical weapons. This is bad.
• We should make chemical weapons use unacceptable and impose punishment.
• BUT, that punishment should not be regime change, because we don’t want Syria to “implode.”
• AND, that punishment should be narrowly focused only on chemical weapons.
• DESPITE our official policy of “Assad must go,” Assad will not be forced to go.
• THEREFORE, strikes will be limited enough to only attack his chembio weapons, but not his actual capabilities, nor his regime, nor is it calibrated to directly help the rebels apart from removing a single weapon that hasn’t killed 99% of all casualties in the conflict.

If this makes any sense to you — logically, tactically, strategically, or operationally — I’m sure there’s a bridge for sale somewhere. So what is the point of this? It is a terribly empty gesture that serves vanishingly small purpose. I don’t get it. Even our own senior intel officers say Syria is going to get worse whether Assad stays or go — so why aren’t we focusing on how to prevent, mitigate, or manage that rather than all this empty nonsense? It’s like the White House is determined to only accept blame but not help. It’s madness.

I don't know if I'm ready to go that far despite my continued misgivings about action in Syria.  There's still the very real concern of 100,000 dead, 2 million refugees fled, and another 5 million displaced within Syria's borders.  Doing nothing is still not going to improve anything.

But these are pretty crazy hoops to jump through just to get Russia to say "alright already" and agree to UN action on Syria, and this is still an abysmal situation we've gotten into in the first place.  Cleaning up the mess in Syria where there are no good guys?  That'll be loads of fun.

Candid Camera Clowns

Anti-choice activists appointed to the Iowa Board of Medicine by GOP Gov. Terry Branstad have eliminated the country's largest and safest telemedicine program helping low-income and rural women receive abortion medication because of "safety concerns".

Only one problem.  The doctors and medical experts who testified found no safety concerns and the anti-choicers crushed the program anyway.

On Friday, Iowa’s Board of Medicine voted to eliminate the largest telemedicine abortion program in the country. That means doctors in the state won’t be allowed to use video technology to prescribe abortion-inducing drugs to rural and low-income women who don’t have the means to travel to the nearest clinic — even though they’ve been safely doing so for the past five years.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland has been operating its telemedicine abortion program since 2008, and there’s no reason it should have come under any kind of particular scrutiny this summer. Studies have repeatedly found that it’s a safe method of delivering reproductive care, and patients are just as satisfied after speaking with a doctor over a video conference as they are after making an in-person trip to a clinic. Nonetheless, the Board of Medicine has been considering banning the practice for the past several months — and the Friday vote makes it official.

“This decision is a political attack aimed at restricting access to abortion in Iowa. Proponents of this rule aren’t against telemedicine technology; they are against safe, legal abortion and are unjustly targeting our system with no scientific information or evidence to back their claims,” Planned Parenthood of the Heartland’s president, Jill June, said in a statement.

Indeed, the telemedicine program was in effect for five years, three years in Iowa alone, helping some 3,000 women get safe first tri-mester abortions in clinics.   When Gov. Branstad found out, he fired everyone on the Iowa Board of Medicine and replaced them with his own anti-choice cronies, including former state legislator and Republican anti-choicer Greg Hoversten as chairman. 

The Medical Board chairman, Dr. Greg Hoversten, of Sioux City, also raised an issue with the fact that Iowa was among the very first states in the country to provide telemedicine abortion on a wide scale.

“That really bothers me that Iowa women are the first ones to get this in this fashion. There’s something wrong there. It just doesn’t seem right,” Hoversten said.

Except for the fact that the procedure was performed medically safely thousands of times in Iowa.  The Iowa Medical Society called the ban "premature" and "that more analysis, more evaluation, more study , more discussion with the profession is important."

But it took all of three days for the anti-choicers on the Medical Board to kill a safe program they state legislation couldn't kill for years.  It's not political, and it's not about cutting abortion access.  Nope.

Never.

Government Abuse Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Republicans went bonkers over the IRS supposedly targeting conservative advocacy groups for extra scrutiny on tax-exempt status.  The fact that liberal groups were also included didn't register on the Republican radar, of course.  But when it comes to using the power of the government to harass people based on partisan politics, Republicans have no problem when it comes to doing the harassing.

Fifteen Republican members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, including Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), are requesting detailed responses and thousands of pages of documents from approximately 60 percent of Navigator-recipients across the country by Sep. 13.

The tactic is reminiscent of the kind of practices Republicans had condemned over the summer, after news broke that the IRS subjected certain groups applying for 501 C4 nonprofit tax status to long, intrusive, questionnaires about their filings. Upton personally called such tactics a “thuggish abuse of power” and “simply un-American.”

But according to the GOP-backed letter, groups scrambling to begin enrolling individuals in coverage on Oct. 1, will have just two weeks to provide detailed written descriptions of their employees and activities, interactions with the Department of Health and Human Services, and “all documentation and communication related to your grant.”

Which of course is far more pervasive than what the IRS was asking for, and then, groups had months to get this information in to the IRS.  Obamacare Navigators?  They have two weeks to turn over everything related to the Navigator grant, personal info, communications, everything.

Now, I wonder why the same lawmakers who screamed that the federal government had no business prying into the information of citizens are suddenly okay with this.  Maybe it's because they're a bunch of hypocritical jackasses?

But freedom, right?

StupidiNews!

• Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man convicted of kidnapping 3 women and keeping them in his home for years, was found dead in his cell Tuesday night of an apparent hanging suicide.
• After testimony by Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to make an initial vote on Syria today.
• The latest NSA leak that the spy agency is keeping an eye on Brazil may prompt Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff to cancel a state visit to the US next month.
• Japan is increasing research on its own stem cell program by over a billion dollars to try to find cures for diseases affecting the country's rapidly aging population.
• A controversial science paper proposes that RNA molecules may have gotten a better start on Mars than Earth, then made the jump to our planet.

Last Call For Not (Voting) In Kansas Anymore, Toto

Kansas's new Voter ID law is making things very difficult for thousands of Kansans trying to register to vote.  As part of the new law, anyone registering to vote after Jan 1 of this year must show proof of citizenship, either a passport of birth certificate.  If that sounds familiar, it's the same unconstitutional provision that was struck down by a federal court in Arizona's Voter ID law.

Lee Albee never thought signing up to vote would be so cumbersome.

Earlier this year, the Overland Park man registered to vote when he renewed his license at the motor vehicle office. It was supposed to be easy. It wasn’t.

Weeks later, the Johnson County election office notified Albee he needed to prove citizenship — with a birth certificate or a passport — if he wanted to register.

As it turned out, no one had asked him for those documents at the DMV office. Now he doesn’t have the time to follow up.

“They’re making it incredibly difficult,” Albee said. “It’s a pain in the tush.”

Albee is among 15,622 Kansans who had their voter registrations set aside until they can prove their citizenship under a new Kansas law that started this year. About 30 percent of those suspended registrations were in Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties.

Most of the hiccups occur at the state’s motor vehicle offices, where drivers complain they aren’t being asked for citizenship documents when they register to vote. Almost nine in 10 of the voters who had their registrations suspended signed up to vote at the DMV.

If Kansas Republicans are trying to make things as difficult a possible for new voters to register, well, that's the entire point.  New voters -- young Americans just turning 18, new legal immigrants, people moving into the suburbs of Kansas City (like say, relatively blue Johnson, Wyandotte, and Leavenworth counties) -- tend to vote for Democrats.

As with Arizona, the ACLU is going right after the law.

The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to challenge the law, saying it’s essentially identical to an Arizona law that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional.

“What this law has done has made it very difficult for ordinary citizens to get registered to vote even though they’re citizens,” said Doug Bonney, chief legal counsel for the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri.

Meanwhile, Kobach is fighting back, filing his own lawsuit aimed at bringing the Kansas law into compliance with the Supreme Court’s decision.

Kobach said the law was written to ensure that it wouldn’t hinder people from registering to vote.

“There’s nothing difficult at all,” he said, “about proving your citizenship if you are a U.S. citizen.”

Except you know the cost for documents and the time to get them.   The hope is that new voters will give up, and grandfathered in Kansas Republicans will continue to vote Republican.  Can't have the state turning blue, you know.

Once again, Republicans seem to think the fewer people who vote, the better.  As long as the people voting are, of course, Republican voters.