NASA released an image of Saturn this week it described as the first-ever portrait of the ringed planet to include its moons, Earth, Venus and Mars all in the same stunning shot.

The imaging team of NASA's Cassini spacecraft worked with 141 wide-angle images that together sweep 404,880 miles across Saturn to create the natural-color panorama "as it would be seen by human eyes," according to a statement from NASA.

The post Astronomy Overnight Thread- Incredible New Image Of Saturn As It Would Be Seen By Human Eyes appeared first on The Political Carnival.

For the past couple years we’ve been lucky enough for people to want us to check out their stuff– books, art work, soaps, charitable groups, good causes, you name it– that they are proudly looking to promote. If there’s a site that we like or think others will like, we’re more than happy to add that in, or even a photo of what you produce. Note- If you have a promo copy or sample to send, that helps. Caveat emptor, we rec not guarantee!

I want to note that your charitable organization, book, product or site will get daily promotion to over 168k eyeballs for the holiday month. For free. This is what one of last years looked like.

So send us rec’s about worthy or interesting possibilities for holiday shopping, plus we’ll just add in stuff we like. If you have any suggestions, drop us an email here (subject line- Cool Things), or email me at ‘Paddy AT thepoliticalcarnival DOT net’

Send them in, plenty of time and we'll be adding every day.

The post Send In Your Suggestions For Cool Things 2013! appeared first on The Political Carnival.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rachel Maddow does her usually excellent job of sharing staggeringly jaw-dropping news that make us want to scream, "WTF?!" This time its about "constitutional Republican" and State Representative Mark Patterson, an admitted "attempted rapist." And hey! Conservative Congressman Raul Labrador vouches for this guy!

Did I mention he's part of the Ron Paul wing of the party?

To add fuel to this political grease fire, his website lies about his "accomplishments."

Please watch the entire video, because the excerpts don't include everything Maddow covered.

Take it away, Rachel:

His website described him as having been a student at the University of Southern California, having gone to USC. Turns out he never went to USC.

His website also described him as a petroleum engineer. Turns out he is not a petroleum engineer, he's not an engineer at all.

His website also described him as a professional bicyclist. He was not a professional bicyclist ...he had no professional license, even though he did ride a bike...

Now, though, comes the dark part of this story, which is that Republican State Representative Mark Patterson, it turns out, has twice been arrested and charged with forcible rape.

One of those times in Ohio, he was acquitted. He was found not guilty of those charges. But the other time he was arrested and charged with rape he plead guilty. He plead guilty specifically to assault with intent to commit rape.

He did some time in jail and did some probation, and because of the probation sentence and the plea bargain that went along with it, under Florida law, this all happened in Tampa, Florida, this went down on Mark Patterson's record as a withheld judgment on the assault to intent rape charge.

So fast forward to 2007 and across the country to Idaho. And in 2007, soon-to-be State Representative Mark Patterson applies for a license to carry a concealed weapon in the state of Idaho.

He presumably does not mention on his application the rape issue in his past, since Idaho law says you can't get a concealed weapons permit if you have committed a, say, assault with intent to commit a serious felony, like for example, rape. So apparently he didn't mention that on his application in 2007 or presumably again on his application in 2012.

His past rape charge, his guilty plea means, he should have been turned down when he applied for a concealed weapons permit. And so now, the Idaho sheriff to whom he has applied for the gun permit has revoked the permit, saying basically having a violent felony on your record means you can't have a weapons permit. And you certainly can't lie about your violent felony record in order to get a weapons permit.

This is not a hard call, right? ...That one time you plead guilty to assault with forcible rape, that means you can't have concealed weapons anywhere. Even if you are a newly elected state representative. Who knows why he was able to get away with lying on that application once, and at least for awhile on his second try, too. But eventually the sheriff in Ada County, Idaho, found him out...

In any normal world, this is the part where the guy  steps down to spend more time with his family. But because this is not a normal world... because this is our world now, the rape charges Republican lawmaker caught lying about it on his gun application has launched a counter attack, saying this is all just a  trumped up bit of police retaliation for some legislation he sponsored, because he is the guy responsible for the legislation that would have put the cops in jail if Idaho law enforcement officers attempted to enforce federal gun laws in the state of Idaho.

He says because he sponsored that legislation, this whole ruckus now is just The Man coming for him and his guns in retaliation. That sheriff that discovered my rape conviction was, he says, "angry about being exposed as an opponent of the Second Amendment"...

...Do you want to know what the resolution is to the story of the Republican state representative who it turns out was charged with forcible rape twice, and who plead guilty to assault with intent to rape, and then lied about it on his gun permit  application twice, and then got caught lying about it by the local sheriff, do you want to know how this story ends?

The guy gets to keeps his guns.

He gets to keep his concealed carry permit.

After all, even though, you know, right! And lying about it. Even though guilty plea to a violent felony, he gets to to keep the guns and keep the concealed weapons permit, because, turns out there is a state law that says if you're an elected official in Idaho, one of 3,000 elected officials in Idaho, at every level down to dog catcher, if you're an elected official in Idaho, there is a state law that says the legal requirements for getting a gun permit in that state don't apply to you....

...This country became the place where the response by law to the violence attempted rapist elected official who lied about it and who got caught lying about it, the only legal response to that man is, "Sorry, sir. Here is your gun, here is your gun, sir, here is your concealed weapons permit. Really sorry for the inconvenience."

That is the only possible legal response to the guy who plead guilty to assault with attempt to rape: "Sorry, sir, here is your gun."

How can this possibly be who we are right now?

The post VIDEO: Idaho law allows attempted "forcible rapist" to get a gun. "How can this possibly be who we are right now?" appeared first on The Political Carnival.

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash at Truthout, via my pal Mark Karlin:

A recent study by the International Forum on Globalization (IFG), provides evidence that the Koch Brothers could earn at least $1 billion from Alberta tar sand land holdings (with additional profit from their processing plants and related products and services).  This is despite the unconvincing Koch Brothers claim that they have no personal interest in the pipeline.

That disconnect reflects a larger problem that befuddles the northern section of the Keystone XL Pipeline decision. Tar sands oil is already flowing into the US and the Koch Brothers are already profiting from it through its conversion into petroleum coke. [...]

Major tar sands oil pipeline spills have already occurred in Michigan and Arkansas.  And the southern leg of the Keystone Pipeline -- the one Obama approved -- has already needed 125 repairs from faulty pipes, and it hasn't even started flowing yet. [...]

The carbon bomb come at either end of the process: primarily in the extraction of tar sands oil in Alberta and in the refining or conversion to petroleum coke at the other end of the pipeline. [...]

The carbon bomb comes from the increased processing that will result from a northern pipeline with more capacity; in short the size of the carbon bomb will be increased because more tar sands oil will be able to be extracted and carried efficiently (otherwise more train tankers and land transport options will need to be used, which will slow the processing and profit down). [...]

CommonSenseCanadian.com:

"The Kochs have repeatedly claimed that they have no interest in the Keystone XL Pipeline, this report shows that is false.” Said Nathalie Lowenthal-Savy, a researcher with IFG. “We noticed Koch Funded Tea Party members and think tanks pushing for the pipeline. We dug deeper and found $100 billion in potential profit, $50 million sent to organizations supporting the pipeline, and perhaps 2 million acres of land. That sounds like an interest to me.”

The report also asserts that the more money the Kochs and their ilk make from accelerating climate change beyond the tipping point, the more funds they will have to continue lobbying to increase the impact of their destruction of planet earth.

Please read the entire post here.

The post Koch "Carbon Bomb" Brothers Could Cash in Billions on Alberta Tar Sands Holdings appeared first on The Political Carnival.

The Grand Outdated Party. Yes, the familiar GOP.

Just look at them. Decaying echoes of a long time ago. Their hero has been dead for nearly ten years and who last held the reins some 24 years ago. Since then they haven't been able to find anyone to aspire to be. Like Moses, they'll be wandering in the desert for 40 years, the time it'll take for all first hand knowledgeable people of 'the Gipper' to have passed on.

And who was Ronald Reagan? A fair actor, destructive governor, and a criminal president -- Iran Contra and Arms for Hostages, lest you forget. Funny how these grey dinosaurs only remember Ronnie as that doting mannequin who ruled for 8 years. Eight years where our public services eroded as quickly as our infrastructure. Where the lead adviser to the president, was his wife's astrologer, Joan Quigley.

The reason for the rant will be evident shortly. The man who is still the Republican gold standard is a man who they wouldn't even let into the party today. He signed the immigrant amnesty bill. He raised various taxes 11 times. So much for the Grover Norquist pledged Republican.

During the Reagan years, the real glue and backbone in that family was Nancy. And during the last two years of her husband's administration, he wasn't well enough to govern. Nancy ran the show, and a good argument could be made that she actually was the first woman president of the United States.

So when I look at this video, I celebrate the strength of women politicians all over the world. And I lament how the GOP can turn their back half of our population. Actually, if you throw in Blacks, Latinos, Asians, the poor, the elderly, and immigrants, the GOP represents the interests of very few. Continuing in the direction they're going the GOP will become the G-O-N-E.

The future of both parties is in the video below. This thought provoking piece shows you how out of touch the Republicans really are. Look at all of the perceived GOP contenders for President. Not one woman. Look at the Democrats, two of the three main considerations, Clinton and Warren, are outstanding women.

When you look back 24 years for your last hero, what's that say about your future? Think about it, GOP when you watch the this:

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter: @Linzack

The post Here's Why Republicans Can't Be Elected President appeared first on The Political Carnival.

Hey chums! Enjoying North Carolina's restrictive Voter I.D. laws? Wish there were more where those came from? Well, sadly, no new laws have been introduced... yet.

But what the hey! Who needs new laws when North Carolina police can disenfranchise voters simply by-- wait for it-- arresting them!

Yesiree, neighbors, it's voter suppression time, new and improved! Tell a friend! In fact, tell all your white buddies! But shhh, don't let those black folks in on the dirty little secret.

Via The Institute for Southern Studies:

Residents of Mount Gilead, a town of about 1,100 people in central North Carolina, are reeling from a police sting operation that netted 59 arrests the morning of Election Day. All of those arrested were African Americans, all for possession of drugs, alcohol and guns. Some there are questioning the timing of the bust and believe it was an attempt to intimidate African Americans from showing up at the polls that day.

It goes without saying that the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, a civic-minded public official, would be more than a little knowledgeable about such matters as, you know, election days... right?

Right??

But North Carolina Department of Public Safety spokesperson Patty McQuillan said she doesn't believe it had anything to do with elections. "I didn’t even know it was Election Day... It's so hard to find a date where there isn't this or that thing happening," said McQuillan. "It's almost impossible to schedule anything because there is always something going on."

Yeah, you paranoid black people, there's always something calendared. If it isn't one thing it's another. Pesky events like voting day are always messing up everything!

So, see? She didn't even know! Who can blame someone who doesn't even know? I mean, come on, why would anyone in her position be expected to know when Election Day falls?

Why, the next thing you know, she'll be criticized for coincidentally arresting a whole bunch of African Americans on Sign Up for Voter ID Day!

Silly us. Everyone just leave Patty alone.

The post New and improved No. Carolina voter suppression? Arrest African Americans on Election Day! appeared first on The Political Carnival.

The latest farm bill which is headed to a vote includes a $40 Billion dollar cut to SNAP. the supplemental nutrition assistance program. This will directly effect 1 in 7 Americans -- men, women, children, seniors, military. No one who receives this food subsidy will be spared part or even all of their benefits.

Who's pushing for this? Guess!

To be fair there are some in the GOP party who want to vote down this bill. But their reason is frightening. They don't think that the cutting of $40 billion goes deep enough. They literally want to starve children and seniors to death. The less of them collecting, the better. They're  just moochers gaming the system. They don't add anything to the GOP way of life, so get rid of them any way you can.  After all, their crime is they're too young or too old to work. That's their fault.

The real ironic part of this farm bill are those who are pushing the hardest for it. It's not to help farmers. It's to help them, farm owners. Here's the rub, passing this bill puts money in their pockets while the needy starve.

Let me name a few congressmen(women) who are fighting tooth and nail for this bill to pass. And you want to know why? Check this out, courtesy of Buzz Feed:

During the food stamp debate, GOP Rep. Stephen Fincher, who received thousands in farm subsidies, responded to a Democratic Congressman during the debate over the cuts by quoting the bible, saying “the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

Fincher himself has received his own large share of government money. From 1999 to 2012, Stephen & Lynn Fincher Farms received $3,483,824 in agriculture subsidies. Last year he took in $70,574 alone.

Seems Fincher's up on his bible babble, but what about people who live in glass houses should not throw stones? Not the bible, a Spanish proverb, but perhaps a bit more appropriate. Then there's:

Another Republican congresswoman who voted to make cuts to the food stamp program was Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri. Her farm received more than $800,000 in Department of Agriculture subsidies from 1995-2012.

Rep. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, whos farm received $3.4 million in subsidies from 1995-2012.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman, a Republican Rep. from Indiana also received his fair share of government subsidies. He personally took in nearly $200,000 for the farm he co-owns with his father.

This is not a full list, but just a sampling.

Now I said there's a way for Democrats to stop the cuts all together. From Mother Jones:

And as Boehner saw in June, winning House Democrats' votes for a bill that slashes food stamps by billions of dollars is a heavy lift—after all, if no farm bill passes, food stamps spending would remain at current levels. Why compromise when you can win by doing nothing at all? "It would make sense," emails a House Democratic aide, "for progressives to vote against [the farm bill].

Need a visual: Here you go.

The post Fixing SNAP In A Snap appeared first on The Political Carnival.

Lawrence O'Donnell is known to glow, rant and rave. He loves, hates and skewers with the best of them. So it takes little to get him going, but it takes a lot to make him glow. If the lights went out on his set last night, you'd never know because his internal incandescence was burning bright.

Why? Because once again, Elizabeth Warren showed why she's quickly becoming the darling of her party. She's also staying under the radar of the GOP front runners for 2016 POTUS campaign. And if she keeps it up, even Hillary might stand aside and let EW carry the banner.

There's not a public voice that speaks more eloquently and pointedly toward the constitution and our rights. She's a champion of the little guy/girl and protective of the larger.

If Time Magazine thought Christie was the elephant in the room, Elizabeth Warren is the Kick Ass in the country. Here's why:

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter: @Linzack

The post What Did Elizabeth Warren Do To Put The Smile On Lawrence O'Donnell's Face appeared first on The Political Carnival.

Oh, those wacky London Bobbies. Those police sleuths that gave birth to Scotland Yard, always considered a crack group of law investigators. Now I think they may just plain have cracked up.

Reading the story that follows, you'll see why. HuffPo:

LONDON (AP) — A spy whose naked, decomposing body was found inside a padlocked gym bag at his apartment likely died in an accident with no one else involved, British police said Wednesday — a tentative conclusion that is unlikely to calm conspiracy theories around the bizarre case.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said the death of Gareth Williams, whose remains were found inside a bag in his bathtub in August 2010, was "most probably" an accident.

Okay, let's consider the facts of this accident for a moment. I'm no Sherlock Holmes so some "obvious" details might escape me. But others don't.

Start with the victim-- a spy.

Williams, a cyberwarfare expert, worked for Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping service and was attached to the overseas espionage agency MI6 when he died.

He's naked inside a padlocked gym bag? How'd he lock it on the outside while he was inside? And this gym bag was found in the bathtub. Did he hop himself home from the gym and try to shower without taking the locked bag off?

Is this starting to sound a bit bizarre to you?

Maybe in the spy world you have to learn all kinds of skills, but I doubt hiding out naked inside a gym bag and contorting yourself enough to lock it from the outside is on that syllabus. So based on what does Hewitt declare this incident is probably an accident? What was he doing in the gym bag, then, practicing some long lost Houdini escape illusion?

When does common sense take over an investigation like this? To borrow from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle through his Holmes character, The Sign of the Four, ch. 6 (1890) (Doubleday p. 111)

 "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,however improbable, must be the truth? "

I think Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hewitt better revisit this crime. He seems to be focusing on the impossible, rather than the improbable and he's missing the truth. I'm not alone in this thinking. A number of experts don't agree with his finding either.

The police verdict also disagrees with a coroner's inquest, which concluded last year that Williams had probably been killed by another person in a "criminally meditated act."

Hewitt defends his findings, saying there was no evidence that the apartment had been cleaned to remove forensic traces and nothing to suggest a struggle or a break-in. Yet at the same time, the police say that the lock on the gym bag had no prints or DNA that matched the deceased spy. So what did Williams, the spy, do? Did he wipe down his own prints from the lock, remove all the DNA and then make the cleaning rag disappear?

Maybe the part that the Deputy Assistant Commissioner doesn't understand is that if the late Mr. Williams was done in by another spy, perhaps the assailant knew not to leave any evidence behind or leave the place looking suspicious. Maybe he even wiped down the lock this dead man supposedly secured from the inside.

You gotta hand it to the Brits-- they sure know how to make an interesting mystery story a page-turner. If there ever was a case that called for the fictional Holmes sleuthing, this would definitely qualify. I think Commissioner Hewitt might be like Inspector Lestrade, in a bit over his head.

"Pip pip, ol' boy. Stiff upper lip, Lad. We'll eventually get to the tea twigs at the bottom of the kettle."

Oh, and don't forget to follow me on Twitter: @Linzack.

The post Sherlock Holmes Latest - The Dead Naked Spy In A Bag appeared first on The Political Carnival.

Here is the entire video of President Obama's remarks and Q and A from the Brady Press Briefing Room concerning the Affordable Care Act problems and fixes, as well as comments about Iran.

Excerpts, courtesy of WaPo's complete transcript:

[I]n the first month, more than a hundred thousand Americans successfully enrolled in new insurance plans. Is that as high a number as we'd like? Absolutely not. But it does mean that people want affordable health care....

In the first month, nearly a million people successfully completed an application for themselves or their families.

Those applications represent more than 1.5 million people. Of those 1.5 million people, 106,000 of them have successfully signed up to get covered. Another 396,000 have the ability to gain access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act...

[I]f every governor followed suit, another 5.4 million Americans could gain access to health care next year.

So bottom line is in just one month, despite all the problems that we've seen with the website, more than 500,000 Americans could know the security of health care by January 1st, many of them for the first time in their lives. And that's life-changing, and it's significant. That still leaves about 1 million Americans who successfully made it through the website and now qualify to buy insurance but haven't picked a plan yet...

I completely get how upsetting this can be for a lot of Americans, particularly after assurances they heard from me that if they had a plan that they liked they could keep it. And to those Americans, I hear you loud and clear. I said that I would do everything we can to fix this problem. And today I'm offering an idea that will help do it.

Already people who have plans that pre-date the Affordable Care Act can keep those plans if they haven't changed. That was already in the law. That's what's called a grandfather clause that was included in the law. Today we're going to extend that principle both to people whose plans have changed since the law too effect and to people who bought plans since the law took effect.

So state insurance commissioners still have the power to decide what plans can and can't be sold in their states, but the bottom line is insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be cancelled into 2014. And Americans whose plans have been cancelled can choose to re-enroll in the same kind of plan.

We're also requiring insurers to extend current plans to inform their customers about two things: One, that protections -- what protections these renewed plans don't include. Number two, that the marketplace offers new options with better coverage and tax credits that might help you bring down the cost...

It is important to understand, though, that the old individual market was not working well. And it's important that we don't pretend that somehow that's a place worth going back to. Too often it works fine as long as you stay healthy. It doesn't work well when you're sick. So year after year, Americans were routinely exposed to financial ruin or denied coverage due to minor pre-existing conditions or dropped from coverage altogether even if they've paid their premiums on time. That's one of the reasons we pursued this reform in the first place.

And that's why I will not accept proposals that are just another brazen attempt to undermine or repeal the overall law and drag us back into a broken system...

I understand why folks are frustrated. I would be too, because sometimes, you know, people look at what's taking place in Washington, and they say not enough is getting done that helps me with my life. And, you know, regardless of what Congress does, ultimately, I'm the president of the United States, and they expect me to do something about it...

On the website, I was not informed directly that the website would not be working as -- the way it was supposed to. Has I been informed, I wouldn't be going out saying, boy, this is going to be great. You know, I'm accused of a lot of things, but I don't think I'm stupid enough to go around saying, this is going to be like shopping on Amazon or Travelocity, a week before the website opens, if I thought that it wasn't going to work...

[T]here is no doubt that the way I put that forward unequivocally ended up not being accurate. It was not because of my intention not to deliver on that commitment and that promise. We put a grandfather clause into the law but it was insufficient...

[M]y expectation was that for 98 percent of the American people, either it genuinely wouldn't change at all, or they'd be pleasantly surprised with the options in the marketplace and that the grandfather clause would cover the rest. That proved not to be the case. And that's on me...

I am very frustrated, but I'm also somebody who, if I fumble the ball, you know, I'm going to wait until I get the next play, and then I'm going to try to run as hard as I can and do right by the team. So, you know, ultimately I'm the head of this team. We did fumble the ball on it. And what I'm going to do is make sure that we get it fixed...

I think it is not possible for me to guarantee that a hundred percent of the people a hundred percent of the time going on this website will have a perfectly seamless, smooth experience.

We're going to have to continue to improve it, even after November 30th, December 1st. But the majority of people who use it will be able to see it operate the way it was supposed to...

[T]here are going to be a certain portion of people who are just going to need more help and more hand-holding in the application process.

And so -- so I guess part of the continuous improvement that I'm looking at is not just a technical issue; it's also can we streamline the application process; what are we doing to give people more assistance in the application process; you know, how do the call centers and the people who are helping folks in person -- how are they trained so that things can go more smoothly, because the bottom line ultimately is I just want people to know what their options are in a -- in a clear way. And you know, buying health insurance is never going to be like buying a song on iTunes. You know, it's just a much more complicated transaction...

But I make no apologies for us taking this on because somebody, sooner or later, had to do it.

I do make apologies for not having executed better over the last several months.

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Picking up where Laffy left off yesterday in her great post Fed Up Dems...

If I knew what women want, I'd be a kazillionaire because I'd write a book about it and rake in the dough. The truth is I have no idea what women want. I know this because I'm married to a wonderful woman. And just when I think I've got it figured out, I'm told I'm wrong, asked what was I possibly thinking and then met with a silent shake of the head. My male, married buddies tell me I'm lucky that it's just a silent shake of the head.

So building on a platform of I'm no expert, I do know some things. I know that women want and deserve the right to self-determination, just like the guys. They don't want to be treated differently -- just fairly. And I don't have any argument against that.

But the Republicans do. Their mostly white, older men composite seems to feel that women are inferior mentally and emotionally, that they're not capable of rational decisions -- even with it comes to their own bodies and health issues. More of them think along the legitimate rape lines than in rational scientific reasoning. And those genteel, Southern Gentlemen who demurely dismiss women with their cloak of protecting them from themselves, "those sweet little souls. They are so lovely, aren't they -- like a field of violets or Lady Slippers, swaying in a warm, summer's night." And all the while the Lindsay Grahams spew their charming tripe, their mind is busy with the melodic refrains of "Dixie."

In the wake of Roe v Wade, individual states, feeling the decision of the SCOTUS was wrong, have set out to correct this injustice. They've taken a clearly decided issue and are chipping away at the rights determined by the highest court in our land. That's the conservative, right-wing way.

Finally, after assault on assault at the state's level, accelerated in every red state with a Republican-led legislation, women's rights and protections are being circumvented or even stricken. This has got to stop.

How?

Well, the slow moving but well-intentioned Democrats in Congress have finally had enough. They've gone from being a sleeping giant to a forceful vociferous champion of women.  Release the Kraken-- Sen. Richard Blumenthal.  HuffPo reports:

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) will introduce the Women's Health Protection Act of 2013, joined by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). The bill would prohibit states from passing so-called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws, which impose strict and cost-prohibitive building standards on abortion clinics, require women seeking abortions to have ultrasounds, and create other barriers to abortion access.

Looks like good ol' Connecticut Senator Blumenthal's gonna be gettin' sometin' sometin'  from Mrs. Senator B when he goes home on his next break. And you know what, he deserves it. My only criticism is why this took so long. The last pro-active abortion legislation to pass through the Senate was in 1994, with the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. That made it a federal crime to block or harass patients or doctors who entered or exited abortion clinics.

When Republicans don't like something, they propose a bill and there's immediate discussion, press coverage and oftentimes votes. In the case of Obamacare, 42 votes. Of course that's the House and they're led by government shutdown fever and Republican leader, Speaker John Blunder.

Blumenthal's bill wouldn't automatically overturn states' existing anti-abortion laws, but because federal law trumps state law, it would provide a means to challenge them in court. The bill would direct judges to consider certain factors in determining whether a restriction is legal, such as whether it interferes with a doctor's good-faith medical judgment, or whether it's likely to interfere with or delay women's access to abortion.

This bill will surely pass the Senate. In the House, it'll probably never even come to a vote. But when the 2014 elections come around, you can add that to the Democrats long list of things the Republicans did -- stopping immigration reform, shutting down the government, restricting women's rights, repressing voters rights, obstructing qualified presidential appointees to the bench, pushing for war with Iran, and so many others. I'll need another blog just to continue the list. And like my wife, I make lists.

The post Do You Know What Women Want And Deserve? appeared first on The Political Carnival.

“It says I wanted to eat her pussy and I have never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I’m happily married and I’ve got more than enough to eat at home."

Well, bully for you and Mrs. Ford, Rob! But does your wife ever show up with you, publicly?

Did I mention he is bound and determined to keep his job?

Dear Rob Ford,

Know when to quit.

Sincerely,

Everyone in the World

What next? The very sad, but darkly entertaining show goes on.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is responding to new allegations that he partied with a prostitute and snorted cocaine. He claims all those accusations are "100% lies."

Color me crazy, but I could have sworn that's what he previously said over and over again about using cocaine.

He says he's getting professional help. He clearly needs it.

Via the Toronto Star, we get the video and more. Here are a few things he's been saying:

The post VIDEO-- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford: "I’ve got more than enough [p**sy] to eat at home." appeared first on The Political Carnival.

Now come on, how can I continue to mock Fox "News" if their Fox Biz people keep sending me completely and unimpeachably accurate economic news like this?

So here you go, directly from an email alert from Fox Business.com, like it or not:

The number of Americans filing for first time unemployment benefits fell last week to 339,000 from an upwardly revised 341,000 the week prior. Wall Street was looking for claims to fall to 330,000 from an initially reported 336,000.

It may not be the best possible news, but at least jobless claims are falling.

The post Weekly Jobless Claims Fall to 339,000 #BlameObama appeared first on The Political Carnival.

Sniff. Via Sullivan.

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Scott Standis

Paul Fell

Mike Smith

John Darkow

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I could spend a month or two in that castle.

Man Dies Mysteriously After Opening Box Labeled 'Pandora'

The doodles of destiny: What those not-so-casual scribbles reveal about you

Best Car To Buy 2014 winners

Video- 'Smart' teddy monitors your child

Video- The best way to pee into a urinal — as explained by physics

Being bilingual could slow down dementia and have a better effect that strong drugs

Video- Rare photograph of (itty bitty) Earth as seen from Saturn

A mysterious form of water with unique chemical properties

U.S. prairies vanish in the push for green energy

The free iPhone app that turns your entire WINDSCREEN into a sat-nav device - and claims to make driving safer

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