Fact-Checking Ruth Ann Dailey

The P-G's Ruth Ann Dailey has a column out today about Rush Limbaugh, Sandra Fluke and birth control.  It has the expected right wing nonsense and some unexpected Limbaugh bashing.  But for the fact fetishists, we have to begin with this passage.   She asserts that :

In an age of one-minute network news stories and cable television's distortion-as-debate, the nuance of shared principle but different practice would be lost, and all the big, bad Puritans and Inquisition throwbacks would be melded into one scary, woman-hating monster.

As Mr. Limbaugh himself had pointed out, that's exactly what the White House wanted. It can't defend its economic record -- the recession and jobless numbers now belong solely to Mr. Obama -- so it needed to shift the campaign focus to social values.

Take a look at the unfacts slipped in, ever so gently, into that second paragraph.  She's trying to get you to think that all that bad news (recession, high unemployment) is the fault of the current administration.  We'll take them one at a time to see how she's misleading you, her loyal reading public.

A Brief Note RE: The Trib

From the beginning of one of today's op-eds:

How can Pennsylvania add jobs and boost its economy? The Tax Foundation says that's elementary -- lift the crushing tax burden on businesses.

The nonpartisan research group's study, billed as a "landmark, apples-to-apples comparison" of state and local taxes, says Pennsylvania's overall tax burden is heaviest among the 50 states on mature businesses, retailers, research-and-development centers and corporate headquarters.

Nonpartisan?  That's not what Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor of the National Review, said just last November:

The Tax Foundation, a conservative think tank, has estimated how many people paid income taxes each year going back to 1950.

See?

By the way, according to mediamatters, two Scaife foundations (Carthage and Sarah Scaife) have given more than a million dollars to the "nonpartisan" Tax Foundation over the years.  Perhaps that should have been mentioned somewhere in the Trib's editorial.

Oh, those two Scaife foundations have given more to the Tax Foundation than the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and Exxon Mobil combined.

Nonpartisan?  Really?

Two local boobs on the wrong side of history

Just in time for Women's History month, PA's Forced Ultrasound Bill and The Blunt Amendment allowing any employer to deny birth control coverage any insurance coverage requirement on moral whims objections both went down in flames. One would be tempted to decry Republicans again and their relentless War on Women, but we can't ignore the Democratic douchebags are who foot soldiers in this war too.

The Trouble With Harry

PA State Rep. Harry A. Readshaw (D, PA-36) not only cosponsored the odious Forced Ultrasound (Rape by Any Other Name) Bill, he was completely out of line when replying to a constituents' letter to him about it (blogger Amadi). He began his thoroughly condescending letter to her by addressing her by her first name only. He proceeds to divulge his daughter's private medical condition as a part of his argument and concludes by letting Amadi know that he's looked up her voting record. Amadi also notes that the letter is handwritten -- perhaps to ensure that there is no digital trail (I guess he neglected to find in his inquiries that she is a popular blogger). Please read her account of it here, including a photo of his correspondence). I'm embarrassed to add that he is also my Rep.

What's the Matter With Bob?

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) was one of only three Democratic US Senators to vote against killing the Blunt Amendment. One must suppose that he favored it on the basis of his Catholic faith -- even though it was so broad as to allow employers to willy-nilly ignore any insurance coverage requirement (and as noted by Sen. Barbara Boxer, allow insurance companies free rein to deny coverage on "moral" grounds as well -- like that wouldn't be abused). Here's Obama for America's take on the bill, Bob:


(Click to enlarge)
Hey! Wait a minute? Doesn't Bob work for us? I think we should all vote on what health care coverage we want to deny him. Please be as arbitrary and capricious as you like! Also, I agree with Marcy Wheeler that Bobby (as someone who's been on the public dole for many years) needs to disclose to us, his employers, details as to what his history of reproductive choice has been, including details on what kinds of birth control he and his wife have used and who paid for it, as well as whether he's used erectile dysfunction drugs, and who paid for it. It's only fair! After all, employers have a right to have a say in these matters.

Song of the Day

Somewhere, Marcia Brady is still crying inconsolably.

Local Member of Congress Embarrasses Himself

This time it's Representative Tim Murphy (R-PA).

From the Maddow Blog:

And in an unfortunate exchange during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on contraception, a confused Republican congressman, Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, falsely accused HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of lying about the administration's policy, and argued that understanding whether the morning-after pill is an abortification is a "religious" question, not a scientific one.

Embarrassingly, to Murphy religious opinion trumps science.

Tracking Teh Crazie

The Racist Birthers -

This from the Southern Poverty Law Center:

An Alaska man who is challenging President Barack Obama’s eligibility for office on the grounds that the president is a “mulatto” based his complaint on an argument common to the neo-Confederate and antigovernment “sovereign citizen” movements, Hatewatch has learned.

In a complaint filed Tuesday with the Alaska Division of Elections, Gordon Warren Epperly of Juneau argued that Obama isn’t eligible for office because, as a person of mixed-race descent, he is not a “natural-born citizen” of the United States.

“As Barack Hussein Obama II is of the ‘Mulatto’ race, his status of citizenship is founded upon the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Before the (purported) ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the race of ‘Negro’ or ‘Mulatto’ had no standing to be citizens of the United States under the United States Constitution,” the complaint says. “As the Fourteenth Amendment is only a grant of ‘Civil Rights’ and not a grant of ‘Political Rights,’ Barack Hussein Obama II does not have any ‘Political Rights’ under any provision of the United States Constitution to hold any Public Office of the United States government.”

The Anti-Semitic Holocaust Deniers -

This from The Oak Lawn Patch:

A congressional candidate running as a Republican in the upcoming Illinois primary says the “Holocaust never happened.”

Arthur Jones, 64, a Lyons, IL, insurance salesman who organizes family-friendly, neo-Nazi events around Adolf Hitler’s birthday, hopes to be the Republican candidate chosen to run against Democratic Congressman Dan Lipinski in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Holocaust is nothing more than an international extortion racket by the Jews,” Jones said. “It’s the blackest lie in history. Millions of dollars are being made by Jews telling this tale of woe and misfortune in books, movies, plays and TV.

"The more survivors, the more lies that are told."

And the (at best) Racially Ignorant -

This from The Great Falls Tribune:

Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull on Wednesday admitted to sending a racially charged email about President Barack Obama from his courthouse chambers.

Cebull, of Billings, was nominated by former President George W. Bush and received his commission in 2001 and has served as chief judge for the District of Montana since 2008.

The subject line of the email, which Cebull sent from his official courthouse email address on Feb. 20 at 3:42 p.m., reads: "A MOM'S MEMORY."

The forwarded text reads as follow:

"Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.

"A little boy said to his mother; 'Mommy, how come I'm black and you're white?'" the email joke reads. "His mother replied, 'Don't even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!'"

Though to be fair to Judge Cebull, he's already apologized for the joke, though his apology seems to miss the point:

"The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan," Cebull said. "I didn't send it as racist, although that's what it is. I sent it out because it's anti-Obama."

Um, what? So sending the email is not a racist act even though he's admitted the email itself is racist?

And we wonder why the political climate is so polarized.

Here's a reason to vote for Patrick Murphy!

Via Patrick Murphy who's running for PA Attorney General:

Ultrasound Bill Unconstitutional, Legislature Must Stop Attack on Women
The legislature has no authority to force women to have an unnecessary, invasive medical procedure

(Philadelphia, PA) –Today, Iraq war veteran and former prosecutor Patrick Murphy issued the following statement in response to House Bill 1077, the so-called “Woman’sRight-to-Know Act,” which would force women to undergo a mandatory and invasive ultrasound at least 24 hours before receiving abortion care:

“We all support programs to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. But this legislation is an outrageous assault on women’s rights in Pennsylvania and an unprecedented intrusion into decisions that should be made exclusively between a woman and her doctor. The proposal is demeaning and wrong. There is no legal justification for shoving an ultrasound screen in a woman’s face and forcing her to deliver printout image to her physician – all so she can get permission from the government to have a legal medical procedure. The legislature has no Constitutional authority to require women to have this unnecessary and invasive medical procedure and,therefore, must abandon this insulting attack on women’s rights. Even Bob McDonnell, the conservative Governor of Virginia, was forced to abandon a similar bill, admitting that it ‘might run afoul’ of the Constitution and open up the state to serious legal problems. If the legislature here in Pennsylvania moves the bill despite overwhelming objections, it is Governor Corbett’s responsibility to veto it.”

University of Pennsylvania Professor of Law Tobias Barrington Wolff agreed that the bill is unconstitutional, saying:

"The Supreme Court has held that a State cannot pass laws for the purpose of obstructing a woman's access to a legal abortion, nor impose undue burdens on that access. A law mandating that doctors perform a medically unnecessary procedure, including the use of an invasive transvaginal probe in some cases, and requiring doctors to position an ultrasound monitor in the woman's face whether or not she wants to watch it, appears designed to intimidate and humiliate. Pennsylvania cannot mandate such mistreatment of women."

www.murphyforpa.com

Sad Sad Trumpet News...

From The Beeb:

World famous classical trumpeter Maurice Andre has died aged 78, it has been announced.

And with that, another of my heroes has passed away.

PA's Forced Ultrasound "Women's Right to Know Act" (Women's Right to No Rights Act)

Ladies! It's time to hide your vaginas from the probing of the Pennsylvania General Assembly who's attempting to get all up close and personal with your lady business.

Pennsylvania's state legislature knows that women folk have very little actual knowledge of their own bodies -- especially when they have a bun in the oven. They know that the little ladies are weak in mind and could use a helping hand (holding a transvaginal ultrasound) when contemplating an abortion. (You know, like the old joke about whacking a mule with a 2-by-4 to get its attention.)

They know that to keep the ladies on the righteous path, they need to mansplain to them what's happening in their special lady parts so that they can see the error of their ways. After all, who knows better than them (83% of whom are male) what women want and need?

Little things like facts -- 42% of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level and 61% of abortions are obtained by women who already have one or more children -- mean little to them. The ladies are simply being hysterical if they think they can't afford more kids or need to keep a job. They obviously need a thought adjustment.

That's why the PA General Assembly has decided that the best way to get their attention is to force them to have a medically unnecessary ultrasound 24 hours prior to an abortion. It also forces doctors to turn the ultrasound screen towards the woman’s face. It then forces the woman take TWO prints with her (one for her scrapbook, and the other one SHE has to bring to the doctor performing the abortion.) And, furthermore, it forces civil and criminal penalties for doctors and patients who dare defy their legislating of medicine.

You can read PA House Bill 1077 in all its gorey here. (The bit about “free ultrasound providers” is included so they can funnel women to so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” where they can be fed state-funded, unregulated misinformation by ultrasound providers that don't even have to have any training!)

Have a problem with it?

Here's what you can do:

1. Call your state representative.
(Find yours here.)


2. Write your state representative.
(Find yours here.)


3. Sign the petition here.
(They smashed through their old goal of 10,000 signatures and are now going for 50,000.)

Then, be sure tell all your friends to do the same.

Just do something!

Nice To See We Agree On Something!

And by "we" I mean me and Scaife's braintrust.

As I've written before, they're surprisingly critical of our Rick.  Ostensibly it has to do with Rick's then support of Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in 2004 - and they're not alone in their conservative disdain of Rick.  But given the vitriol on their part, I suspect it's something deeper.  But it's just an evidence free gut feeling, if you will.

Which brings me back to today's criticism of Rick by Scaife's braintrust.  When they get something right, they should be congratulated.  CONGRATULATIONS TO SCAIFE'S BRAINTRUST!  THEY GOT ONE RIGHT.

Let's go take a look at the editorial: