Ann Romney's counter-attack fails @DLoesch if it looks like a douche and smells like a douche....

Mitt Romney at March campaign rally—before he had to pretend to care about the womenfolk.
(Marvin Gentry/Reuters)

From the latest CNN/ORC poll (PDF):

Thinking about the following characteristics and qualities, please say whether you think each one applies more to Barack Obama or more to Mitt Romney: Is in touch with the problems facing women today?

Obama 55
Romney 27

And that's why we see numbers like these:

As of today, do you lean more toward ...?

Women: Obama 55, Romney 39
Men: Obama 49, Romney 46

Total: Obama 52, Romney 43

That +16 advantage with women is in line with other pollsters, it's a bigger advantage than the +13 Obama enjoyed on election day against John McCain in 2008, and it comes after last week's ferocious GOP counter-attack on the war on women—you know the one, in which the war on women didn't exist, but it did exist and was being waged by Obama, but it was unpatriotic to call it a war on women, but it actually did exist and was being led by someone no one had ever heard of named Hilary Rosen, and boy, isn't that Ann Romney amazing?

Apparently, the GOP's version of "I know you are but what am I?" isn't doing much to erase the gender gap.

rest at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/16/1083852/-Ann-Romney-s-counter-attack-fails

In Arizona, Life Somehow Begins Two Weeks Before Conception. Don’t Ask.

Proving definitively that Arizona is the worst place in the country to be a woman, or even a biped, Gov. Jan Brewer has signed into law three extreme anti-abortion measures including a so-called "egg drop" bill that effectively bans abortion after 18 weeks, except in cases of medical emergency, by redefining pregnancy as beginning two weeks before conception. Also under the richly named Women's Health and Safety Act, schools and the state must promote adoption and birth as the best outcome for an unwanted pregnancy, in part by displaying images of fetuses. And clinics must have signs warning against abortion "coercion" - all this, in the name of  "protecting women from the serious health and safety risks of abortion." We're speechless.

rest at http://www.commondreams.org/further/2012/04/13-0

sustained attack on the U.S. public school system is being perpetrated by predatory entrepreneurs #p2 #tcot

"One of the biggest con games going on at the moment is the sustained attack on the U.S. public school system.  It's being perpetrated by predatory entrepreneurs (disguised as "concerned citizens" and "education reformers") hoping to persuade the parents of school-age children that the only way their kids are going to get a decent education is by paying for something that they can already get for free.  You might say it's the same marketing campaign that launched bottled water.

The profit impulse fueling this drive is understandable.  All it takes is a cursory look at the economic landscape to see why these speculators are drooling at the prospect of privatizing education.  Millions of students pulling up stakes, bailing out of the public school system, and enrolling in private or charter schools?  Are you kidding?  Just think of the money that would generate.

Mind you, these "education reformers" are the same people who want to privatize the world—the same people who want more toll roads, who want hikers to pay trail fees, who want city parks and public beaches to charge admission. Indeed, they're the same tribe who convinced a thirsty nation to voluntarily pay for drinking water that it could otherwise get for free.

Before comparing private and public schools, let's revisit that bottled water craze, the stunning marketing phenomenon that made beverage companies wealthy and added a billion plastic bottles to our landfills and oceans.  For the record, since passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974), municipal water, unlike bottled, has been stringently regulated by the EPA, which is why bottled water contains more impurities and bacteria. In truth, city water is safer, cheaper and better for the environment.

Of course, there are people who refuse to believe one word the government (municipal or otherwise) tells them.  They don't believe the census, they don't believe the figures in the federal budget, and they regard EPA statistics as state-sponsored propaganda.  Fine.  You'll never get these people to change their minds, so save your breath.  Let them, Grover Norquist, and Orly Taitz do whatever it is they do. 

And then you have your beverage connoisseurs who (even though blind taste-tests tend to dispute this) insist that they can not only instantly tell the difference between bottled and tap water, but can tell the difference between varying brands of bottled water.  I'm not saying that some of these epicureans (taste-test evidence aside) can't do this.  All I'm saying is that they're fanatical about it.  "

rest at http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/13-1

.@MittRomney How Did Mitt Romney Get So Obscenely Rich? Robert Reich Explains #p2 #tcot

"How exactly did Mitt Romney Get So Obscenely Rich? Robert Reich explains The Magic of Private Equity in 8 Easy Steps"

http://youtu.be/rodifJlis2c

Get ready for the next big Internet freedom fight: CISPA #p2 #tcot

Add CISPA to the list.

Judging by the Twitter feed of the House Intelligence Committee this week, free and open Internet advocates have another fight on our hands. Right on the heels of the SOPA debacle comes the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a bill that many are calling worse than SOPA. Here's some quick background from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which warns we're seeing another overly broadly written bill that "could have dire consequences for our Internet ecology."

The [bill] allows companies or the government free rein to bypass existing laws in order to monitor communications, filter content, or potentially even shut down access to online services for "cybersecurity purposes." Companies are encouraged to share data with the government and with one another, and the government can share data in return. The idea is to facilitate detection of and defense against a serious cyber threat, but the definitions in the bill go well beyond that.[...]

Under the proposed legislation, a company that protects itself or other companies against "cybersecurity threats" can "use cybersecurity systems to identify and obtain cyber threat information to protect the rights and property" of the company under threat. But because "us[ing] cybersecurity systems" is incredibly vague, it could be interpreted to mean monitoring email, filtering content, or even blocking access to sites. A company acting on a "cybersecurity threat" would be able to bypass all existing laws, including laws prohibiting telcos from routinely monitoring communications, so long as it acted in "good faith."

The broad language around what constitutes a cybersecurity threat leaves the door wide open for abuse. For example, the bill defines "cyber threat intelligence" and "cybersecurity purpose" to include "theft or misappropriation of private or government information, intellectual property, or personally identifiable information."

"Cybersecurity" actually isn't defined in the bill. By leaving that term completely open, it can and does include intellectual property, or as EFF says, "a little piece of SOPA wrapped up in a bill that's supposedly designed to facilitate detection of and defense against cybersecurity threats." We've got another bill that would give ISPs the power to monitor the communications of their customers for intellectual property infringement. Not for threats to take down wide swaths of the Internet. Not for threats to hack into the Pentagon's weapons systems servers. But threats to violation someone's copyright. That's the broad definition of "cybersecurity."

SOPA attacked the First Amendment, CISPA attacks the Fourth, according to the experts.

"It's a completely different issue [than SOPA]," says Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "This is about government monitoring. [SOPA] is about the First amendment, [CISPA] is about the Fourth, but they both take a legitimate problem and try to tackle it with an overbroad solution."

So here we go again, having a Congress with a poor grasp on technology and how the Internet works trying to regulate it with a sledgehammer, while giving the intelligence community—and private businesses—essentially free rein to delve into any citizen's everyday Internet activity. The PATRIOT Act already gives the government that power. Should  private companies be in on the act, too?

The House is expected to take up a vote on this bill the week of April 23, so back to your Internet freedom battle stations, and watch this space.

rest at http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=my#stream/user%2F16917392540631171723%2Flabel%2Fblog%20materials

Duke Energy CEO on Passing Amendment One: Years From Now We’ll ‘Think of it Like Jim Crow Laws’

"Rogers hesitated, but then couldn't stop himself from telling the crowd of 200 or so how he felt.

If North Carolinians put the gay marriage ban into the state constitution, Rogers said, "You're sending a message to the world that we're not inclusive."

Rogers emphasized that he was sharing his personal view and was not speaking on behalf of Duke Energy. He said "I believe we're all children of God," and that it's wrong to pass measures that discriminate against individuals.

"If this passes, we're going to look back 20 years from now, or 10 years, and think of it like Jim Crow laws" that discriminated against African-Americans. North Carolina is competing with the world for business, he said, and "we have to be inclusive and open.""

rest at http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/04/13/breaking-duke-energy-ceo-on-passing-amendment-one-years-from-now-well-think-of-it-like-jim-crow-laws/

Former Execs: JPMorgan @Chase Gambling Even More Heavily On High-Risk Derivatives ... At Jamie Dimon's Direction #p2 #tcot

here http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/former-execs-jpmorgan-chase-gambling-

This week in the War on Voting: Texas tea partiers indicted for voter fraud #p2 #tcot #teaparty

"In the news this week, James O'Keefe was at it again, proving that voter fraud is a fever-dream of the far right. But alert Kossack rm1948 sent a tip on a story that shows voter fraud isn't just a Republican stunt to try to prove that it's a problem: it's a governing strategy for the Right. The story comes from Montgomery County, Texas.

More than a year since a state district judge ruled 10 Montgomery County residents voted fraudulently in a Woodlands election, a grand jury last week indicted seven of those individuals for illegal voting.

The indictments stem from the May 8, 2010, election of The Woodlands Road Utility District No. 1. Ten individuals listed their voter registration address as that of a hotel in order to take control of the RUD board.

Former Montgomery County Judge candidate Adrian Heath heads the list of people charged with the third-degree felony. Heath declined comment, saying he was looking into hiring an attorney. [...]

According to indictments released by the Texas Attorney General's Office, the defendants voted in an election they knew they were not eligible to vote."

rest at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/14/1083268/-This-week-in-the-War-on-Voting-Texas-tea-partiers-indicted-for-voter-fraud-?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Single-Payer Health Care: $570 Billion Cheaper #p2 #tcot

"Economist Gerald Friedman has what looks to be the silver bullet against the claim that single-payer health care is infeasible on economic grounds, showing how "Medicare for all" could save billions of dollars while improving millions of lives. Study his easy-to-grasp charts and figures explaining how to fund the plan and how much it would save in the two-page document linked below."

rest http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/single-payer_healthcare_570_billion_cheaper_20120414/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Truthdig+Truthdig%3A+Drilling+Beneath+the+Headlines&utm_content=Google+Reader

Fading fast? Newt Gingrich selling donor lists to stay in the 2012 race #p2 #tcot

here http://shortformblog.com/post/21103485496/newt-gingrich-selling-donor-lists

How the hell is it legal for Newt Gingrich to hock people's personal information like that? #p2 #tcot

here http://shortformblog.com/post/21106392193/how-the-hell-is-it-legal-for-newt-gingrich-to-hock

@GOP Rep: ‘I have little tolerance’ for those with high student loans #p2 #tcot #outoftouch

"If someone is looking for sympathy for their high student loans, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) would not be among those providing any support.

According to audio obtained by Think Progress, the congresswoman appeared on G. Gordon Libby show Friday afternoon, saying she "never borrowed a dime of money" during her time in college before lashing out at those burdened with heavy loans.

"I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000 of debt because there's no reason for that," Foxx said. "We live in an opportunity society and people are forgetting that.""

rest at http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/14/gop-rep-i-have-little-tolerance-for-those-with-high-student-loans/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

@gop This week in the War on Women: Republicans are scared. They should be. #p2 #tcot

"Is there a war? Yes. No. Yes. No. They started it. They invented it. Pay no attention. Nothing is wrong. Everything's fine. Everything is fine.

• March 14: Pew Research Center:
  

  Women favor Obama over Romney by 20 points – virtually unchanged from a month ago – while men are divided almost evenly (49% Obama, 46% Romney). This gender gap is particularly wide among voters under age 50. Women ages 18-49 favor Obama over Romney by nearly two-to-one (64% to 33%), while men the same age are split (50% Obama, 46% Romney)."

rest at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/14/1083282/-This-week-in-the-War-on-Women-Republicans-are-scared-They-should-be-?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

.@McConnellPress McConnell Visits Kentucky County Hit By Tornadoes, Doesn’t Mention Voting To Hold Disaster Relief Hostage Last Year #p2 #tcot @gop

from http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/09/460524/mcconnell-kentucky-disaster-relief-hostage/

A month after deadly tornadoes ripped through Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) used part of his spring recess to visit storm victims. Five died in the March 2 tornadoes that hit Laurel County, Kentucky, where McConnell visited Saturday, and the area was among the most devastated by the storms.

McConnell came to Laurel County to "thank all the volunteers that have been helping this community come together and comfort those that lost their homes," he said, and the county's residents were happy to see him, WKYT reports:

"It's comforting to know not only for myself but also the other victims in the area that there is somebody that has their best interest at heart," said Jeremy Jarvis of Arthur Ridge Baptist Church.

Perhaps McConnell's visit would have been less comforting, however, had he mentioned how he helped hold federal emergency disaster relief funds hostage in 2011 before his own state needed them. Nearly a year before the March storms hammered Kentucky, a similar outbreak battered Joplin, Missouri, and 2011 quickly became a year of unprecedented natural disasters that drained the Federal Emergency Management Administration's budget. Republicans, led by House Minority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), opposed emergency funds to rebuild FEMA's coffers without finding spending offsets, and McConnell gladly went along with those plans.

"What's at issue is whether we are going to add to the debt or not," McConnell told CBS in September, less than a week after he voted against a measure that approved disaster funds without the partisan offsets Republicans sought. That position contradicts one held by McConnell's former leadership colleague, ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), who ignored Republicans calling for spending offsets in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. "It is right to borrow to pay for it," DeLay said at the time.

Study: Homophobic people likely repressing homosexual attraction

Topics: homosexual attraction ♦ University of California in Santa Barbara ♦University of Rochester

 

People who have negative feelings toward homosexuality often have secret attractions to the same sex — and are more likely to have grown up in households that forbid homosexual feelings, according to a recent study.

A research team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara found that "[h]omophobia is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires."

"Individuals who identify as straight but in psychological tests show a strong attraction to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves," the study's lead author, Netta Weinstein, explained.

rest at http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/09/study-homophobic-people-likely-repressing-homosexual-attraction/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29&utm_content=Google+Reader