Female Ohio Democrat Introduces Bill To Regulate Men’s Sexual Health
Epic trolling from Ohio state Senator Nina Turner. I love this response to male Republican efforts to curtail women’s access to birth control and abortion (including the anti-abortion “Heartbeat Bill” just introduced in Ohio by Rep. Lynn Wachtmann). The Dayton Daily News writes:
Before getting a prescription for Viagra or other erectile dysfunction drugs, men would have to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test, receive information about “pursuing celibacy as a viable lifestyle choice,” and get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency, if state Sen. Nina Turner has her way.
The Cleveland Democrat introduced Senate Bill 307 this week. Turner said, “I certainly want to stand up for men’s health and take this seriously and legislate it the same way mostly men say they want to legislate a woman’s womb.”
The Declining Influence of the U.S. Constitution
Joel S. Hirschhorn writes at Common Dreams:
Among Americans there remains strong pride about the US Constitution, even though there is widespread support for creating reform amendments to it. Globally, however, what should surprise Americans is a significant loss of respect for it. Other nations, especially those creating new democracies, see better constitutions elsewhere. This is not opinion. It is fact. And it is important to understand this historic shift.
A new university study sends a disturbing message to all Americans that want to hang on to the fiction that the US constitution is not only the world’s best one, but does not need to be improved. Do not mentally block this finding: “The U.S. Constitution appears to be losing its appeal as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere,” according to the study by David S. Law of Washington University in St. Louis and Mila Versteeg of the University of Virginia.
What exists today is far different than what was…
President Obama’s Muddy Record on Government Transparency
Josh Gerstein reports in the Politico:
President Barack Obama set a high bar for open government, and he set it quickly. A minute after he took office, the White House website declared his administration would become “the most open and transparent in history.” By the end of his first full day on the job, Obama had issued high-profile orders pledging “a new era” and “an unprecedented level of openness” across the massive federal government.
But three years into his presidency, critics say Obama’s administration has failed to deliver the refreshing blast of transparency that the president promised.
“Obama is the sixth administration that’s been in office since I’ve been doing Freedom of Information Act work. … It’s kind of shocking to me to say this, but of the six, this administration is the worst on FOIA issues. The worst. There’s just no question about it,” said Katherine Meyer, a Washington lawyer who’s been…
Government Or Regime? The Language Guide
Via Parapolitical, a compare and contrast exercise in how the news media describes our world. Nations which do business with the United States, even those among the most brutally oppressive, are led by “governments”. If arms money is not flowing, the countries are ruled by “regimes”. What does “regime” imply? It sounds villainous and evil, less legitimate, more tenuous — as though overthrow (or invasion) is inevitable and warranted:
Freeman-on-the-Land: Canada’s ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Movement?
I’m aware of the seemingly growing movement of Freeman in Canada, I’ve done a little research of the idea in Canada and the UK, but Americans might be more familiar with the idea of a Sovereign Citizen. The ideas are interesting and appealing to many who see the take over of society by corporations and the erosion of citizens right, plus the ever increasing regulations being forced upon the general public. I’m neither for or against Freeman, I’m not sure if what Freeman say is true, you’re better researching it for yourself. Full report by the CBC is available here:
Ron Paul’s Rally Speech In Twin Falls, Idaho
Somebody get this guy a teleprompter; he keeps talking about living in a free society and peace and dismantling the federal reserve and the military industrial complex and ending the war on drugs….
Obama’s Crackdown On Military Whistleblowers
When it comes to abuses, the government is using severe punishment of high-profile whistleblowers as a method of encouraging silence, TomDispatch writes:
On January 23rd, the Obama administration charged former CIA officer John Kiriakou under the Espionage Act for disclosing classified information to journalists about the waterboarding of al-Qaeda suspects. His is just the latest prosecution in an unprecedented assault on government whistleblowers and leakers of every sort.
The Obama administration has already charged more people—six—under the Espionage Act for alleged mishandling of classified information than all past presidencies combined. (Prior to Obama, there were only three such cases in American history.)
By now, there can be little doubt that government retaliation against whistleblowers is not an isolated event, nor even an agency-by-agency practice. The number of cases in play suggests an organized strategy to deprive Americans of knowledge of the more disreputable things that their government does. How it plays out in court…
The Need For State-Based Innovation
Politicians and pundits constantly call for the government to step out of the way and let entrepreneurs and “job creators” build the industries of the future. New Left Project argues that this current conventional wisdom is all wrong, and more often than not, game-changing innovation is funded by the government, not the private sector:
The current debate, in the UK and abroad, on the need to cut back the state in order to unleash the power of entrepreneurship and innovation in the private sector, builds upon a stark contrast that is repeatedly drawn by the media, business and libertarian politicians: a dynamic, creative competitive private sector versus a sluggish, bureaucratic, inert, `meddling’ public sector.
It is assumed that the private sector is inherently more innovative, more able to think out of the `box’ and to lead a country towards long-run innovation-led growth. But many examples in the history of innovation, entrepreneurship and competition,…
The Third Constitution Of The United States
The Third Constitution of the United States
Preamble
We the People of the United States establish this Third Constitution of the United States of North America to promote human rights, social justice, ecological wisdom, peace, and egalitarianism for the citizens of our country and ultimately to all citizens of the world.
Neighborhood togetherness and community solidarity shall be valued above individual and corporate aggrandizement that jeopardize the participatory democracy of We the People. The Earth and the world will be viewed as one organism, like the human body: the cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems have to cooperate together or else the whole organism suffers and dies. (The first U.S. government was under the Articles of Confederation. The second was implemented with the presidency of George Washington in 1789.)
Human Rights
1. We the People have a right to participate in a government that is built from the bottom-up, something that has never been tried…
Ex-Marine Reoccupies His Own Foreclosed Home
There seems to be a trend by the Big Banks- wherein they resist all attempts to modify mortgages and commence foreclosure proceedings without justification. Private Property- what does it truly mean in a capitalist system? Via Democracy Now :
How To Be A Dictator
In the Economist, political scientist Alastair Smith explains, in a series of simple tips and instructions, how you too could successfully bend an entire nation to your cruel will:
It doesn’t matter whether you are a dictator, a democratic leader, head of a charity or a sports organisation, the same things go on. Firstly, you don’t rule by yourself—you need supporters to keep you there, and what determines how you best survive is how many supporters you have and how big a pool you can draw these supporters from.
You can’t personally go around and terrorise everyone. Our poor old struggling Syrian president is not personally killing people on the streets. He needs the support of his family, senior generals who are willing to go out and kill people on his behalf. The common misconception is that you need support from the vast majority of the population, but that’s typically not true.…
Ron Paul Highlights From CNN GOP Debate
He kills it in the debate, but the votes will be another story. Do you plan on voting for him?
The Internet is a ‘Series of Tubes’; RIP Senator Ted Stevens, Americans Elect These F-ing People …
The Oligarchy We Live In, Charted
Politics isn’t for everyone. Via Andrew Sullivan:
It just costs too much to run for Congress today for anyone who’s not fairly well off to do it. And that’s no coincidence. As income inequality goes up, campaign funding from rich donors also goes up. This creates an arms race that effectively precludes anyone who doesn’t have either money of their own or access to wealthy donors from running. And that means that Congress has fewer and fewer members with any real connection to the working world.
Chris Hedges On The End Of The American Empire
“Brace yourself, the American Empire is over, and the descent is going to be horrifying.” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges conducts an illuminating if depressing discussion on politics, poverty, and everything else regarding the way we live today and where we are headed:
40,000 New Laws For New Year Across United States
The libertarians are really onto something … From MSNBC:
About 40,000 state laws taking effect at the start of the new year will change rules about getting abortions in New Hampshire, learning about gays and lesbians in California, getting jobs in Alabama and even driving golf carts in Georgia.
Several federal rules change with the new year, too, including a Social Security increase amounting to $450 a year for the average recipients and stiff fines up to $2,700 per offense for truckers and bus drivers caught using hand-held cellphones while driving.
NBC News, the National Conference of State Legislatures, The Associated Press, and other organizations tracked the changes…
The Road to the Iraq War Will Happen Again
The power of the corporate media to deceive the people is simply astonishing, but, mind you, it depends on an already distracted, ignorant, semi-passive multitude whose marching values have been carefully cultivated.
In 2003 we went into Iraq under scandalously false pretexts, guns blazing—bragging about our ability to deliver “shock and awe” with impunity (the mark of the bully) and with one goal in mind: to rob and rape that country blind of its riches. The official excuse was that Iraq and Saddam were mortal threats that had to be neutralized.
Within a matter of weeks if not days, the official line—adopted without missing a beat by the entire punditocracy—was that we had gone in “to save Iraq”, “make it a democracy,” and all the rest of the self-serving claptrap we use over and over again to justify our uber-criminal behavior. With a straight face the official voices declared that those who…
Ron Paul, Sioux City Debate (Video)
Ron Paul in Thursday’s debate in Sioux City, Iowa. Much of this highlight reel is him defending his position on Iran; he appears to be the only candidate up there that thinks going to war with Iran is a bad idea:
