By David G. Savage (Los Angeles Times) Mary Brown, a 56-year-old Florida woman who owned a small auto repair shop but had no health insurance, became the lead plaintiff challenging President Obama’s healthcare law because she was passionate about the issue. Brown “doesn’t have insurance. She doesn’t want to pay for it. And she doesn’t want the [...]
SC county GOP primary candidates must pledge to give up porn
By Jillian Rayfield (TPM) Before you can join the Laurens County Republican Party in South Carolina and get on the primary ballot, they ask that you pledge that you’ve never ever had pre-marital sex — and that you will never ever look at porn again. via SC County GOP: If You’ve Had Pre-Marital Sex, You Can’t [...]
A conservative lawyer tells Freepers: ‘ …it’s clear that Limbaugh defamed her repeatedly.’
By Scoutmaster (FreeRepublic.com) When Rush Limbaugh called Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” repeatedly over the course of four days, he constantly made specific allegations about what Fluke had said. Among the four days of comments, Limbaugh said Fluke was “a woman who is happily presenting herself as an immoral, baseless, no-purpose-to-her life woman.” Which [...]
What good is Black History Month?
By Sharon Kyle (LA Progressive) I have this gnawing sense that with the exception of official national holidays, the only time our nation honors people with a special day or month is when they are members of an exploited group. I’m sure I’ll get some feedback on this and I welcome it. But Secretaries’ Day [...]
States that legalize medical marijuana show decreases in suicides
(Norml) The enactment of statewide laws allowing for the limited use of cannabis therapeutically is associated with reduced instances of suicide, according to a discussion paper published in January by the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany. Researchers at Montana State University, the University of Colorado, and San Diego State University assessed [...]
Anti-immigration sheriff’s Mexican ex-boyfriend says he threatened deportation to keep him from disclosing their relationship
By Monica Alonzo (New Times) Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu — who became the face of Arizona border security nationally after he started stridently opposing illegal immigration — threatened his Mexican ex-lover with deportation when the man refused to promise never to disclose their years-long relationship, the former boyfriend and his lawyer tell New Times. [...]
Wikipedia policy scrubs historical facts in favor of popular myths
By Timothy Messer-Kruse (Chronicle of Higher Education) For the past 10 years I’ve immersed myself in the details of one of the most famous events in American labor history, the Haymarket riot and trial of 1886. Along the way I’ve written two books and a couple of articles about the episode. In some circles that [...]
Scalia says Soviet constitution was ‘much better than ours’
By Ian Millhiser (ThinkProgress) During a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said that U.S. Constitution is vastly inferior to that of one of our long defunct enemies: The bill of rights of the former evil empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was much better than ours. I mean it literally. [...]
Gingrich urges students to get jobs, but his wife and family paid for his school
By Karen Tumulty (Washington Post) Newt Gingrich thinks today’s youths have it way too easy. Gingrich said. “I would tell students: ‘Get through as quick as you can. Borrow as little as you can. Have a part-time job.’ In a 1995 profile for Vanity Fair, author Gail Sheehy discovered that Gingrich financed his own education [...]
Paul Krassner’s Lunar New Year predictions for 2012
By Paul Krassner (Moronia) Politics: The electoral college will be replaced by a system where voters will choose the polling firm they trust the most. Rick Perry will copyright the word “Oops.” Show Business: Angelina Jolie will legally adopt Brad Pitt. The Tea Party will become a popular sitcom. Capital-punishment executions will become a top-rated [...]
