Archive for February 20, 2012
Bob McDonnell, Keep Your “Small Government” Hands Out of My Vagina
The party that claims to champion small government is at it again.
This month Republican majorities in both chambers in Virginia’s Legislature passed one of the strictest mandatory pre-abortion ultrasound bills in the nation — a measure that’s certain to require women seeking early-stage abortions to submit to being vaginally penetrated by a condom-covered electronic probe before the abortion is allowed to proceed.
The procedure is called a “transvaginal ultrasound,” and it’s the best and sometimes only way in the first stages of pregnancy for physicians to obtain images that “contain the dimensions of the fetus, and accurately portray the presence of external members and internal organs of the fetus,” as the bill requires.
Such ultrasounds are common medical procedures. But make no mistake. The proposed regulation, which Republican Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell previously indicated he will sign if, as expected, legislators send a final version to his desk next week, has nothing to do with the practice of medicine.
It’s designed to attempt to confront women seeking abortions with fetal images and the sounds of fetal heartbeats in hopes that they’ll change their minds about going through with the procedure. That’s why the law specifies that the ultrasound be performed “at least two hours before the performance of an abortion,” and that the results be offered to the woman before she signs off on going through with it.
Bob McDonnell is the Governor of Virgina and he’s expected to sign this legislation, meaning that if I lived in that state and I wanted an abortion, my doctor would be required to put this probe into my vagina:
Photo via: Allimaging.com
even if it wasn’t medically necessary. My doc wouldn’t have a choice, nor would I.
Men: How about if the government says if you want Viagra you get something stuck up your penis? No choice. It’s a done deal?
This is News? Really? REALLY?
If we didn’t click on headlines like this, “news” organizations wouldn’t publish them:
Geezus. Thoughts about the collapse of civilization come to mind.
What Does This Look Like To You?
Wasilla, Alaska is in the news again:
WASILLA — Jim Dault and Shala Dobson are proud to display their artwork at Wasilla High School. After all, the Meadow Lakes artists are Valley residents and have a familial connection with the school.
That’s why Jan. 29 was an exciting day, Dault said. That’s the day they installed their sculpture “Warrior Within” in front of the Mat-Su Borough School District’s largest high school. Three days later, however, the $100,000 work of art, contracted through the state’s Percent For Art Program, was covered by tarps and has remained under wraps since.
The reason? Some students think the stone and concrete sculpture that features a pair of shields surrounded by feathers resembles female genitalia. The oblong shields, one made of aluminum and another of bronze, are emblazoned with warrior symbolism, the artists say in a description of their project.
“Emerging from the powerful stone form are two warrior shields encircled by glowing feathers,” the description says, adding the art is a monument to the warrior spirit. “The bronze shield has a hand impression showing ‘good deeds.’ The aluminum shield has a flame symbol representing the ‘spark of inspiration.’ The stone form represents the strong material from which a warrior is made.”
Here’s the sculpture.
Photo: Jim Dault
It wouldn’t have occurred to me to think female genitalia if that hadn’t been suggested in the article above.
Geezus. “Porn” is so subjective. It’s in the eye (and the mind) of the beholder.
Oh, and here’s the sculpture today:
Heather A. Resz/Frontiersman
Russian Scientists Grow Plant From 30,000-Year-Old Seed
Wow, is this ever cool:
Russians Revive Ice Age Flower From Frozen Burrow
MOSCOW (AP) – It was an Ice Age squirrel’s treasure chamber, a burrow containing fruit and seeds that had been stuck in the Siberian permafrost for over 30,000 years. From the fruit tissues, a team of Russian scientists managed to resurrect an entire plant in a pioneering experiment that paves the way for the revival of other species.
The Silene stenophylla is the oldest plant ever to be regenerated, the researchers said, and it is fertile, producing white flowers and viable seeds.
The experiment proves that permafrost serves as a natural depository for ancient life forms, said the Russian researchers, who published their findings in Tuesday’s issue of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” of the United States.
“We consider it essential to continue permafrost studies in search of an ancient genetic pool, that of pre-existing life, which hypothetically has long since vanished from the earth’s surface,” the scientists said in the article.
And here’s the plant:
Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences / AP
That’s exciting. Gotta love science.
Why Santorum is Getting Crazier by the Day
Is it any wonder Rick Santorum is saying crazier and crazier things by the day? He can’t match Rmoney’s money machine so he’s got to get media attention somehow:
The pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future spent $14 million in January, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday.
That’s more than twice the nearly $7 million the super-PAC raised in January, although Restore Our Future finished the month with more than $16 million in the bank, according to a report in The New York Times.
The bulk of the fundraising came from wealthy donors, including Marriott International Chairman J.W. Marriott and Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, with three individuals contributing $500,000 each.
Not only that, what Santorum is doing is working. He’s crushing — crushing! — the other GOP contenders in Texas, for example.
Millionaire Romney Using Millionaire Trump to Appeal to Blue Collar Workers in Michigan
Some crazy strategy:
With just over a week to go before Michigan voters head to the polls, Mitt Romney is enlisting the help of one of his highest-wattage surrogates: Donald Trump.
The real estate mogul is preparing to spread his pro-Romney, anti-Rick Santorum message in a series of radio interviews this week on local stations from Traverse City to Detroit.
Trump’s effort begins Monday morning with an interview on the “Art Lewis Show,” on WSGW news radio in the Flint-Saginaw media market.
Earlier this month Forbes named Flint the third most miserable city in the country:
Flint razed 775 abandoned homes in the year ending October 2011, to try and change the city landscape. The state of Michigan appointed an emergency manager last year to take over Flint’s budget and operations. Crime remains a severe problem with the violent crime rate the third worst in the U.S.
So I would tend to think people in that neck of the woods aren’t going to be too impressed by a millionaire touting a millionaire. Another indication, imho, of how out of touch Romney is.
