with that alone, you can ignore what you hear from egghead “scientists.”
when time magazine sums up the twenty first century it will just be the word scientists in sarcastic quote marks
I like the implication that TIME magazine is run by and written for cockroaches
TIME 2100: They blinded us with “Science.”
Maybe it is!
dude! ugh.
woah really, I thought he’d already been executed
blago’s wife is my landlord — thankfully my rent being four days late this month is prob the least of her worries now
haha that’s awesome jord
I really need to figure out who’s who in this here sandbox.
oh god:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the scientists at the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday and refused to allow emergency contraceptives to be sold as freely as aspirin, setting up just the kind of clash between politics and science that President Obama had promised to avoid.
Under the law, Ms. Sebelius has the authority to overrule the agency, according to an F.D.A. spokeswoman, but no health secretary has ever done so before. Her decision continues a history of political meddling in the agency’s decisions regarding emergency contraceptives that tarnished the drug administration’s credibility during the Bush administration. Ms. Sibelius’s decision to overrule a recommendation by government scientists will also almost certainly reverberate in this presidential election season.
rust belt catholics, thumbs up to u
weak. i kinda haven’t heard a lot about her since she’s been in the admin but sorta remember feeling like she was one of the good guys, blarg
This is such bullshit, but it doesn’t surprise me.
Catholic bishops for Obama 2012
wow what the fuck at that hhs ruling, fucking shameful
otoh mumia!
What devotees of sadomasochism do to their bodies is nothing compared to the torments that those addicted to the news and political commentary inflict on their minds almost every hour of the day.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/dec/05/goodbye-serenity/
Just noticed these details on this...
The drug, Plan B One-Step, has been sold for several years over the counter to women age 17 and older, but girls under that age need a prescription.
“I have concluded that the data … do not conclusively establish that Plan B One-Step should be made available over the counter for all girls of reproductive age,”
loved that, kinda a perfect halfway between a newspaper letter & a sobering memoir
xp
btw
“Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut, I will reject,” Obama said. “Everybody should be on notice. The reason is because the payroll tax cut is something House Republicans and Senate Republicans should want to do regardless of any other issues.
The tax cut “shouldn’t be held hostage to any other issues they may be concerned about,” Obama continued. “My warning is not just related to Keystone. Efforts to tie a bunch of other issues to something they should do anyway will be rejected — by me.”
mad ups to obama for this
I’m still worried that he’ll just approve it 2013 but who knows...
re: payroll tax cut, he knows he’s got the GOP backed into a corner so he can afford to be a dick about it
Backed into a corner... Reid and company keep watering down the Dems proposal and nobody mentions that the Republicans never insisted that the Bush tax cuts be paid for
nobody mentions that the Republicans never insisted that the Bush tax cuts be paid for
uh Obama and Reid have both said this iirc
also I don’t know how it’s been watered down...? Bill in the Senate sets the payroll tax cut even higher than it currently is now, unless I’ve misread something.
has this been posted? the boy boy young ratigan went ham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=G4yDCUJJm_U
yeah that’s relatively old i think—ratigan is pretty awesome
yeah i think that happened 2 or 3 months ago. i’m pretty bummed that it doesn’t have 3 million views and my idiot facebook feed wasn’t saturated with it for a solid week following
this plan b no longer OTC bullshit has me exactly as fucking pissed off as y’all might imagine
this kind of has to go here too btw
this plan b no longer OTC bullshit has me exactly as fucking pissed off as y’all might imagine
― undervalued aerosmith tchotchkes sold in bulk, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 9:06 PM (5 minutes ago)
it still will be available w/o a prescription to 17+; nothing’s changed, but the FDA had voted to make it available OTC for anyone
this woman: not a doctor, not a pharmacist, no background in medical or outcomes research i can find, no prior public health experience other than her work at the HHS. but she knew better than the scientists on the FDA panel. she does have a pretty strong pro-choice background though
this is complete bullshit, there is truly nothing else to be said
the thing is back when she was a veep possible I really thought she seemed ok, she was strong pro-choice. this is such a bullshit next-year’s-an-election-year move (at the expense of pregnant teenagers)—politicians second-guessing the fda is up on some “global warming? it snowed today, ya morons!”
otm
see man, one of the things i thought i liked about obama—and a point in his favor over any GOP prez—was that i thought in some ways he was at least could be a pretty good and effective bureaucrat—cf his administration’s decision to require all insurers to provide OCs without copay. but fuck them for this
(i know this doesn’t fit squarely into a u.s. politics thread, but the underlying reasons are very closely intertwined with u.s. politics, and also i don’t feel like creating a climate change/energy sandbox thread)
at the UN Climate Talks in Durban, the U.S. is pushing a proposal to delay significant action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions until at least 2020. for those that don’t follow climate science, delaying action until 2020 is essentially a guarantee that temperatures will rise at least 2 degrees Celsius, which is more than enough to absolutely alter life as we know it. And delaying action until 2020 makes it even more likely that we’ll approach utterly catastrophic scenarios (4, 5, 6+ degrees celsius increase). David Roberts writes:
It might seem that, given the extraordinary difficulty of hitting 2 degrees C, we ought to lower our sights a bit and accept that we’re going to hit 4 degrees C. It won’t be ideal, but hitting anything lower than that is just too difficult and expensive.
It’s seductive logic. After all, to hit 4 degrees C we would “only” have to peak global emissions in 2020 and decline thereafter at the relatively leisurely rate (ha ha) of around 3.5 percent per year.
Sadly, even that cold comfort is not available to us. The thing is, if 2 degrees C is extremely dangerous, 4 degrees C is absolutely catastrophic. In fact, according to the latest science, says Anderson, “a 4 degrees C future is incompatible with an organized global community, is likely to be beyond ‘adaptation’, is devastating to the majority of ecosystems, and has a high probability of not being stable.”
anyway, tying it back to “U.S. Politics”, what a fucking disappointment. the fact that the U.S. negotiating team is pushing this indicates that the people in the Administration who actually knew what they’re talking about (Holdren, Browner, Chu, Jackson, Van Jones (RIP)) didn’t really get through to Obama.
seriously, what a joke
sorry, let me turn my outrage elsewhere.
so, a top-secret U.S. drone crashed in Iran. serious question: what do you think the reaction would be in the U.S. if a top-secret drone from another country crashed here?
i don’t accept your premise b/c we da best
who we?
i mean, if the drone were from a country that was considered not the bestest of friends with the U.S., i wonder if a significant part of the media (and administration) would immediately consider war
for argument’s sake, imagine the drone that crashes over the U.S. is from Iran.
I think we wouldn’t consider war and instead would ramp up a cold war.
Iran is scary.
this plan b no longer OTC bullshit has me exactly as fucking pissed off as y’all might imagine
― undervalued aerosmith tchotchkes sold in bulk, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 9:06 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Permalink
otm
washingtonpost The Washington Post — Obama now: “Ask Osama Bin Laden... or whoever’s left out there, if I engage in appeasement” http://wapo.st/k5onQj
wow
this man is usually sane:
The Churchill Comparison
December 8, 2011 11:39 A.M.
By Ramesh Ponnuru
My friend Steven Hayward isn’t exactly for Gingrich’s nomination. He just thinks we ought to consider the possibility that he might turn out to be a great statesman–just as Churchill did, even though people criticized him in terms similar to the ones Gingrich’s critics use. “[W]e cannot prospectively identify those whom we will later come to laud as great statesmen.” He wonders whether we need someone unconventional given the special challenges of our time. And he thinks it’s possible that Gingrich has learned lessons from his earlier failures, as Churchill did.
These strike me as equally good arguments for giving the presidential nomination to Alan Keyes. People have called him grandiose and erratic, just as they said of Churchill. We can’t rule out with 100 percent confidence that he will be a fine statesman. He is certainly unconventional. And we can’t rule out the possibility that he has learned from his mistakes
I’m gonna go ahead and rule out some of those possibilities, if that’s okay with y’all
Sebelius is making the correct political calculation. The majority of parents think they wouldn’t want their young daughter to have unfettered access to contraception without their knowledge. Apparently, they would prefer to find out their daughter is having sex when she tells them she’s already pregnant, wtf.
lol @ President Brown
“When the regulators go to work everyday, like most people go to work, their work assignment’s a little different,” Poe said. “In my opinion, they sit around a big oak table, sipping their lattes. They have out their iPads and their computers, and they decide, ‘Who shall we regulate today?’ And they write a regulation and send it out to the masses and make us deal with the cost to that.”
oh my god
tbf he’s correct *sips latte*
wanna regulate some shit?
there’s an app for that
there’s no way that will stand up in court, even if it passes the senate (and Obama—any president, really—would surely veto anything this stupid anyway...?)
regulations create jobs. fact.
regulations created MY job, at a small business, in the private sector.
hey decide, ‘Who shall we regulate today?
Yup. This is how it works.
Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), argued that if Congress can stop rules in their tracks, businesses will flourish.
“Poll after poll of small business owners, of medium-sized business owners — they will show you and tell you that major regulations are holding back their expansion and the ability of them to hire more workers,” Quayle said.
less flashy but this is a bigger lie
yeah that really irritated me
like what regulation is there that says “don’t hire people”
dude fuck you:
President Obama, noting that he was the father of two daughters, threw his wholehearted support on Thursday behind a decision by his Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, not to allow emergency contraceptives to be sold over the counter, including to young teenagers.
Related
“The reason Kathleen made this decision is that she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going to a drug store should be able — alongside bubble gum or batteries — be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could have an adverse effect,” Mr. Obama said to reporters at the White House.
the Welfare Queen again, buying vodka with food stamps.
^^ overregulated
Over-pampered petulance.
re: plan b, all politicians bend before Big Dad
regulations create jobs. fact.
this is as stupid as ‘regulations destroy jobs’. ‘regulations’ is a word that encompasses both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ regulations. and sometimes even things that we all agree are ‘good’ regulations are still going to, as a whole, result in a net job loss, which is still fine because it’s prob not a good idea to run your economy w/ absolutely nothing but ‘the most jobs possible’ as the goal.
‘ALL POSSIBLE JOBS’ for campaign slogan
All those stupid anti-sweatshop and child-labor laws prevent this great nation from creating all the jobs we could be creating.
the obama/paternalism thing is just the worst; even on the purely political level all of this is meant to be operating on, he’s forgoing so much high ground—the ability to say “believe in science, not spin”, wrt climate science or a million other things; the promulgation of the idea that we should educate people in the use of something, rather than withdraw something from use lest it be used. a million things. awful.
What really smarts is Obama’s invocation of his daughters to justify his own bad logic. It’s emblematic of the limits of the “As a father of daughters” strain of support for women’s rights. As a father, Obama may hope that he has created a family environment in which his daughters would feel comfortable telling him or Michelle if they need to use EC. Good for him. But he’s not Dad-in-Chief to all teenage girls. You don’t want to think about your daughters making a decision about their sex lives without consulting you? Too bad, Mr. President: there are thousands of girls and women who need to be able to make that decision without involving their family or doctor. You’re not their father; you’re their president.
*lest it be misused
“The reason Kathleen made this decision is that she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going to a drug store should be able — alongside bubble gum or batteries — be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could have an adverse effect,” Mr. Obama said to reporters at the White House.
So he’s taking acetaminophen off the shelves as well?
regulations create jobs. fact.
this is as stupid as ‘regulations destroy jobs’. ‘regulations’ is a word that encompasses both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ regulations.
I was simply pointing out that the inverse is true as well, something the GOP cannot acknowledge.
Relevant excerpt from Ha-Joon Chang’s “23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism” (looks like an interesting book, btw):
http://truthout.org/there-no-such-thing-free-market/1307462405
this is great.
Relevant excerpt from Ha-Joon Chang’s “23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism” (looks like an interesting book, btw):
http://truthout.org/there-no-such-thing-free-market/1307462405
― o. nate, Thursday, December 8, 2011 3:32 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink
v v good book
Obama’s “my daughters” speech is so, so, so, so embarrassingly awful and grotesque
i think i’m pretty good about understanding what i consider his shortcomings, but i honestly did not foresee him going that route
local neighborhood news that feels emblematic:
The Lower Merion Board of Commissioners Finance Committee on Wednesday night voted unanimously to recommend that the full board amend the proposed 2012 budget in order to recognize an estimated $6.9 million in additional General Fund revenue from outstanding business taxes.
However, when it came to discussing what should be done with the $6.9 million, commissioners disagreed along political party lines, with Republicans proposing to give the some or all of the money back to taxpayers, and Democrats saying the money should not be refunded and instead be used for other purposes, such as paying down township debt.
Oh, paying off debt. I guess that’s not a big Republican concern?
I shouldn’t complain too much. We did approve a $4.4 million library renovation. Who is renovating libraries in America in 2011? We are!
regulations create jobs. fact.
this is as stupid as ‘regulations destroy jobs’. ‘regulations’ is a word that encompasses both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ regulations.
I was simply pointing out that the inverse is true as well, something the GOP cannot acknowledge.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, December 8, 2011 2:46 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink
true dat. my livelihood depends on regulations and shit. i r rent seeker yay.
i think i’m pretty good about understanding what i consider his shortcomings, but i honestly did not foresee him going that route
Whatever his other flaws, he was never mawkish.
I shouldn’t complain too much. We did approve a $4.4 million library renovation. Who is renovating libraries in America in 2011? We are!
― Mordy, Friday, 9 December 2011 00:07 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink
lol, bravo at repping for this, i hope you enjoy your library, that’s great news.
“ask bin Laden” is pretty mawkish, in a time-honored lethal ‘Murrican way
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-appeasement-20111208,0,7522921.story?track=rss
It’s an effective line though. He should have included Gadhafi as well.
American forces didn’t actually kill Ghadhafi, and if he had everyone would have trotted out those pictures of him shaking dude’s hand
The point is Ghadhafi is no longer a threat though—not that US forces killed him.
handshake pics are hard to supress
The point is Ghadhafi is no longer a threat though—not that US forces killed him.
so then why should he have taken credit?
Because US air power was a major factor in driving Gadhafi from power?
This election might be the reverse of the usual Democratic advantages, in that Obama might be better off trying to change the subject from the economy to his foreign policy successes.
A mistake: voters, Democratic or otherwise, are in no mood to hear about our success killing evil Muslims.
I’m not so sure about that. The GOP nominees seem to think that there is some electoral advantage in out-hawking Obama on Iran.
and you think that crew of goblins has one brain among them?
Well, to some extent it may just be going through the motions. It’s obligatory for GOP candidates to show they’re more muscular on foreign policy than Democrats, so it may not be a major theme in the general.
OTOH, military action against Iran may be the only form of politically-feasible fiscal stimulus that a GOP President could support, given all their tough talk on deficits. So expect that option to start looking very attractive come Jan. 2013 if the economy continues to stagnate.
^^ sad but true
the ‘attack iran’ chorus needs to be understood in light of what spencer ackerman is talking about here
http://www.attackerman.com/the-awful-geopolitical-viability-of-an-undemocratic-israel/
ie i think that kind of saber rattling less about any geopolitics and only nominally about israel at all but about flattering conservative christian sensibilities