The Kansas state Senate approves a bill that would define life as beginning at the point of conception and is aimed at regulating clinics out of business. Included is a stipulation that doctors must discuss the connection between breast cancer and abortion -- despite the fact that the link exists only in anti-abortion fanatics' minds.
Former Republican congressman Asa Hutchinson says he's open to expanded background checks. Why should you care? He's the pointman on the National Rifle Association’s task force to improve school security, that's why.
Related: Sen. John McCain was for background checks when he was running for president, it obviously didn't hurt him in the primaries, and no one denounced him for it. How crazy the GOP has become....
Gun laws are going to be tighter in Connecticut.
You've probably heard that AP has updated its stylebook to bar the use of the term "illegal alien." And you probably won't be surprised to learn the right thinks this is the worst thing ever. Just your average mindless, panicked Republican elephant stampede -- you know, the kind that happens every freakin' day.
Top climatologist James Hansen will retire from NASA to work full time on climate change activism. We'll need all the help we can get.
OK, this is bad. A federal prosecutor withdraws from a case against the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood, after a string of high-profile killings of law enforcement. Not only is rightwing extremist terrorism real, but it's starting to work. It might be a good time to stop worrying about hurting the feelings of perpetual whiners and crack down on rightwing terrorists. Oh, and maybe make it a tiny bit harder for fucking terrorist assassins to get guns.
In crime news of the more ridiculous sort, an Oklahoma Tea Party leader is under investigation for trying to blackmail a legislator into moving a bill motivated by whackjob conspiracy theories about the UN.
Finally, Pat Robertson says that miracles don't happen very often in the US because we're too well-educated. I'm not sure Pat's getting what he's saying about miracles here, because he's basically arguing that we're not gullible enough to fall for them.
[cartoon via McClatchy Newspapers]
