National Review: Victims Of Violent Military Rapes Struggle In Life Because Of ‘Their Own Bad Decision-Making’

National Review: Victims Of Violent Military Rapes Struggle In Life Because Of ‘Their Own Bad Decision-Making’: In Thursday’s paper, the New York Times ran the harrowing story of Tiffany Jackson, a female veteran grappling with the effects of military sexual trauma. Jackson had been violently raped while deployed overseas at the Suwon Air Base in South Korea, and upon her return to the states had difficulty finding and keeping a job, [...]/p

Bill Blum: The Political Forces Behind the Attack on the Voting Rights Act - Truthdig

Bill Blum: The Political Forces Behind the Attack on the Voting Rights Act - Truthdig
"Those organizations—whose ranks range from well-known right-wing think tanks such as the Federalist Society and the American Enterprise and Cato institutes to relatively obscure nonprofits such as the Virginia-based DonorsTrust foundation and the Project on Fair Representation—form a de facto alliance that aims at nothing less than a wholesale transformation of constitutional law to limit, if not altogether prohibit, the use of federal power on behalf of historically oppressed minorities. The Voting Rights Act is simply the target of the day."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren vs. Bernanke/Banksters

SCOTUS Conservatives Signal Intention To Dismantle Voting Rights Act

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The Nine Republican Men Who Won’t Consider Any Version Of The Violence Against Women Act

The Nine Republican Men Who Won’t Consider Any Version Of The Violence Against Women Act: Nine Congressmen — all male Republicans — voted Wednesday against a resolution to allow the U.S. House to consider re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The vast majority of House Republicans (214) and all 200 House Democrats voted for rule, which will allow votes Thursday on the watered-down GOP version of the bill [...]/p

Kansas Bill Would Protect Doctors Who Mislead Women About Their Pregnancies

Kansas Bill Would Protect Doctors Who Mislead Women About Their Pregnancies: The Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee recommended a bill yesterday that would effectively allow doctors to lie or withhold information about debilitating genetic conditions or birth defects in order to influence women’s decisions about their pregnancies. Kansas SB 142 provides blanket protection from “wrongful birth” lawsuits to doctors, with section 1(a) reading: “No civil action may [...]/p

Why We Still Need The Voting Rights Act: Perspectives From Supreme Court Spectators

Why We Still Need The Voting Rights Act: Perspectives From Supreme Court Spectators: The US Supreme Court heard a challenge to the 1965 Voting Rights Act today, attracting hoards of voting rights advocates, speakers, and a massive line of people vying for a spot in the courtroom. Today’s argument could lead to the elimination of Section 5, which protects minority voting rights in states with historically discriminatory election [...]/p

How The Looming Sequester Will Have A Disproportionate Impact On Women And Children

How The Looming Sequester Will Have A Disproportionate Impact On Women And Children: In constructing the sequester — a series of automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that will go into effect unless Democrats and Republicans can come to an agreement on the federal budget — lawmakers intended to design cuts that would be equally painful for Democrats and Republicans, by mandating cuts to both social programs and defense spending. [...]/p

Your Glossary To Decoding The GOP’s Anti-Abortion Rhetoric

Your Glossary To Decoding The GOP’s Anti-Abortion Rhetoric: Anti-choice Republicans are chipping away at reproductive rights from all angles, particularly on the state level. Often, lawmakers advance several different abortion restrictions simultaneously — as is currently the case in Arkansas and North Dakota — and it can be difficult to unwrap the rhetoric to figure out exactly what all of those proposed measures [...]/p

Conservative Blog Compares Ashley Judd’s Feminism To Todd Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment

Conservative Blog Compares Ashley Judd’s Feminism To Todd Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment: Whether or not film star and progressive activist Ashley Judd decides to challenge Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for his seat in 2014, conservatives seem to be gearing up for a fight. On Tuesday morning, right-wing website The Daily Caller compared Judd’s unabashed feminism and environmentalism to former Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), whose campaign [...]/p

Five Ways The Sequester Will Harm Women

Five Ways The Sequester Will Harm Women: If sequestration is allowed to take effect as scheduled on March 1, $1.2 trillion will be automatically removed from the federal budget in across-the-board spending cuts that would potentially reverse our economic recovery. These cuts — which take money out of critical investments in education, public health services and research, disaster preparedness, and national security [...]/p

Female Yahoo! CEO Kills Work from Home Option? Why Americans Need a More Flexible Workplace | Alternet

Female Yahoo! CEO Kills Work from Home Option? Why Americans Need a More Flexible Workplace | Alternet
"How are you supposed to raise a family these days without a flexible work schedule?"

For Iraqi Women, America's Promise of Democracy is Anything But Liberation | Common Dreams

For Iraqi Women, America's Promise of Democracy is Anything But Liberation | Common Dreams
"Human rights, including women's rights, are a litmus test for democracy. Statements by senior officials, including the prime minister himself, show that – contrary to what some Iraqis had hoped for – the "liberators" have actually set the conditions for the continuity of injustice. And that, in turn, gives rise to extremism."

Republicans Call For Government Study To Justify Their Efforts To Defund Planned Parenthood

Republicans Call For Government Study To Justify Their Efforts To Defund Planned Parenthood: Republicans have made Planned Parenthood into a top target in their ongoing War on Women, repeatedly attempting to strip funding from the national women’s health organization because some of its affiliates provide abortion services. Despite the fact that federal law already prevents taxpayer dollars from funding abortion — which means that Planned Parenthood’s federal and [...]/p

Most Mass Shootings Target Women and Families; Study Finds Men With Legal Guns Are to Blame | Alternet

Most Mass Shootings Target Women and Families; Study Finds Men With Legal Guns Are to Blame | Alternet
"Data suggests that a gun present in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide for women by 500 percent."

College Rape Victim Faces Expulsion for Speaking Out | Alternet

College Rape Victim Faces Expulsion for Speaking Out | Alternet
"A sophomore at the University of North Carolina is facing potential expulsion from her school for what the college calls 'intimidating' behavior."

Breakthrough In Breast Cancer Treatment Could Increase Life Expectancy, Reduce Side Effects

Breakthrough In Breast Cancer Treatment Could Increase Life Expectancy, Reduce Side Effects: A breakthrough in cancer treatment could potentially have a big impact on the 1 in 8 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. The New York Times reports that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug that, when used in conjunction with the popular breast [...]/p

Violence Against Women Act Isn't Just A Good Bill In Name Only

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What's It Like to Wake Up From a Tea Party Binge? Just Ask Florida!

Indiana Bill Would Force Women to Endure Two Medically Unnecessary Transvaginal Probes

Indiana Bill Would Force Women to Endure Two Medically Unnecessary Transvaginal Probes
"Indiana Gov. Mike Pence may be set to follow in Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's shoes and take over the title of Governor Ultrasound if he ends up supporting this bill that just passed his state's Senate."

Oklahoma May Deny Women Affordable Birth Control Because It ‘Poisons Their Bodies’

Oklahoma May Deny Women Affordable Birth Control Because It ‘Poisons Their Bodies’: Oklahoma already prevents women from using their insurance plans to help cover abortion services, but Republicans aren’t stopping there. One state lawmaker wants to continue stripping insurance coverage for reproductive health services, advancing a measure that would allow employers to refuse to cover birth control for any reason — based solely on the fact that [...]/p

House Republicans Strip Protections From LGBT Victims In New Violence Against Women Act

House Republicans Strip Protections From LGBT Victims In New Violence Against Women Act: The Violence Against Women Act expired at the end of 2012 after House Republicans refused to accept the Senate bill’s protections for LGBT, Native American, and undocumented victims. Though the Senate passed another VAWA reauthorization over a week ago, House Republicans may derail passage once again. On Friday, House GOP leaders released their own VAWA [...]/p

Mike 'Two Times' Pence To Steal 'Gov. Ultrasound' Title

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Indiana Bill Would Force Women To Undergo Two Transvaginal Probes To Take A Pill (UPDATED)

Indiana Bill Would Force Women To Undergo Two Transvaginal Probes To Take A Pill (UPDATED): A medication abortion pill, officially known as RU-486, is the earliest available abortion option for a woman. A patient could be as little as one week pregnant and take the pill to terminate. But despite the incredibly early stage at which the pill is administered, a new bill proposed in the Indiana State Senate would [...]/p

Top GOP Senator: Native American Juries Are Incapable Of Trying White People Fairly

Top GOP Senator: Native American Juries Are Incapable Of Trying White People Fairly: INDIANOLA, Iowa — Republicans have offered a number of reasons why they oppose the Violence Against Women Act. Some think it’s unconstitutional. Others argue that it’s just a meaningless bill with a patriotic title. On Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley added a new one: Native Americans supposedly aren’t capable of holding fair trials. Last week, Grassley [...]/p

Middle Out Economics 101

200,000 Demand House Republicans Pass Violence Against Women Act | Alternet

200,000 Demand House Republicans Pass Violence Against Women Act | Alternet
"Remember when the House Republicans blocked the passage of approximately a million pieces of legislation last session—including the renewal of the act to prevent violence against women? Remember when the U.S. public considered blocking that legislation to be so pathetic, so despicable, just so downright offensive that President Obama coasted to victory on one of the largest gender gaps in modern electoral history?

Yes, all that happened. But here’s the clincher: It’s still not over. In fact, in some ways, this whole rape-denying thing is getting even more egregious."

You've Got a Long Way to Go, Baby! | Alternet

You've Got a Long Way to Go, Baby! | Alternet
"What the next half century will bring for the women's movement."

How Abortion Opponents Have Forced A Double Standard For Advances In Reproductive Health

How Abortion Opponents Have Forced A Double Standard For Advances In Reproductive Health: Nearly ten percent of the hysterectomies in the U.S. are now performed with robot-assisted technology, according to the results from a new JAMA study. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of women who are opting for the new technology, which can help make the procedure slightly less invasive than a traditional [...]/p

Indiana Bill Would Force Women To Undergo Transvaginal Probe Before They Take A Pill

Indiana Bill Would Force Women To Undergo Transvaginal Probe Before They Take A Pill: A medication abortion pill, officially known as RU-486, is the earliest available abortion option for a woman. A patient could be as little as one week pregnant and take the pill to terminate. But despite the incredibly early stage at which the pill is administered, a new bill proposed in the Indiana State Senate would [...]/p

Anti-Abortion Trap Laws Spread To Circumvent Legal Rights

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Coming Sequester Cuts Will Make Most of Americans' Lives Worse -– And People Are Mobilizing | Alternet

Coming Sequester Cuts Will Make Most of Americans' Lives Worse -– And People Are Mobilizing | Alternet
"In just over a week the government is probably going to enter full-scale austerity. Republicans are refusing to end tax loopholes for big corporations and billionaires, choosing to let the “sequester” occur instead. Unless something changes, and soon, $1.2 trillion in cuts to defense and domestic spending begin to kick in. This will hit jobs, growth, and above all it will hit real people."

Colorado Republicans Try (And Fail) To Turn Sexual Assault Into A Joke

Colorado Republicans Try (And Fail) To Turn Sexual Assault Into A Joke: Colorado Republicans are rushing to condemn the offensive comments about rape recently made by one of their Democratic colleagues — but their attempts are quickly devolving into even more inappropriate responses to the serious crime of sexual assault. After Colorado Rep. Joe Salazar (D) suggested that women are too paranoid to responsibly carry a gun [...]/p

Why Women Aren’t Being ‘Selfish’ When They Wait Longer To Have Kids

Why Women Aren’t Being ‘Selfish’ When They Wait Longer To Have Kids: Yet another article has been published bemoaning the declining birthrate in the United States. Perhaps as a result of treating anecdotal evidence gathered from four people at a hookah bar as if it were actual research, this latest piece gets a number of things wrong. According to the authors, young people no longer want to [...]/p

Your Guide To The Looming Spending Cuts: Where They Came From And What They Will Mean

Your Guide To The Looming Spending Cuts: Where They Came From And What They Will Mean: The United States is rapidly approaching March 1, the date on which the automatic spending cuts put in place by the summer 2011 debt ceiling deal will begin taking effect. There is little indication that Congress will avert the cuts as it did in January, as Republican leaders have thus far been unwilling to negotiate [...]/p

The Cooperative Way to a Stronger Economy | Common Dreams

The Cooperative Way to a Stronger Economy | Common Dreams
"Co-ops—just like people—can get more done together than anyone can do alone. The good news is that co-ops come in many forms and are more common than you might imagine. They are owned by workers, residents, consumers, farmers, craftspeople, the community, or any combination. What they have in common is that they circulate the benefits back to their member-owners, and these benefits ripple out to the broader community."

Republican Party 2013: D.O.A.? | Alternet

Republican Party 2013: D.O.A.? | Alternet
"There's the oft-mentioned electoral data—those vast demographic changes that are seeing the GOP's ability to win grossly compromised. Mitt Romney's strongest age demographic was seniors, his weakest was the youngest voters. The circle of life guarantees that Democrats will come out of that divide looking quite good. And of course, not entirely unrelated, is the rise of the Latino and Asian vote, as those young groups begin entering the voting age population in force.  Remember, every month, 67,000 Latinos turn 18, while 100,000 (predominantly white and conservative) seniors die. Do the math."

They Are Coming for Your Birth Control | Common Dreams

They Are Coming for Your Birth Control | Common Dreams
"Think that anti-choice politicians and activists aren’t trying to outlaw contraception?  Think again."

Chipping Away At Roe: Arkansas And North Dakota Advance ‘Fetal Pain’ Abortion Bans

Chipping Away At Roe: Arkansas And North Dakota Advance ‘Fetal Pain’ Abortion Bans: So far this year, GOP lawmakers in Arkansas and North Dakota have practically tripped over each other to see which state can introduce more anti-abortion legislation. Among other abortion restrictions, each state is currently advancing a “fetal pain” measure to outlaw abortion procedures after 20 weeks of pregnancy — based on the scientifically disputed notion [...]/p

Alabama Lawmaker Thinks a Fetus is 'Largest Organ in the Body'

Alabama Lawmaker Thinks a Fetus is 'Largest Organ in the Body'
"There need to be some improvements to Alabama's health education programs, and soon, because this little slice of inanity actually came from a female lawmaker."

Scott Walker’s Budget Cuts Force Planned Parenthood To Close Four Clinics In Rural Wisconsin

Scott Walker’s Budget Cuts Force Planned Parenthood To Close Four Clinics In Rural Wisconsin: Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin have singled out Planned Parenthood in their crusade against women’s reproductive health — a popular anti-choice tactic that states like Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona have also employed over the past year. And now that Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) budget has stripped over a million dollars of funding from the women’s health [...]/p

Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers Make Mandatory Transvaginal Ultrasounds 'Top Priority'

Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers Make Mandatory Transvaginal Ultrasounds 'Top Priority'
"Wisconsin Republicans never fail to disappoint when it comes to bizarre, authoritarian, ultra-conservative behavior."

Elizabeth Warren's Big Moment

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GOP ‘Savior’ Marco Rubio Falls Back On The Same Old Anti-Woman Policies

GOP ‘Savior’ Marco Rubio Falls Back On The Same Old Anti-Woman Policies: In an interview on Thursday with conservative magazine Newsmax, Tea Party standard-bearer and so-called ‘savior’ of the Republican party Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) revealed that he will become a cosponsor of the “Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.” The bill is a concerted effort to prevent girls in dangerous family situations from going across state lines [...]/p

Sen. Ron Johnson Joins The Violence Against Women Act Is Unconstitutional Club

Sen. Ron Johnson Joins The Violence Against Women Act Is Unconstitutional Club: Four senators, Jim Risch (R-ID), Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) previously suggested that any effort to prevent violence against women exceeds the federal government’s power under the Constitution. Earlier this week, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) joined their club of senators who think legislation reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act is [...]/p

Putting a $9 minimum wage in context | Economic Policy Institute

Putting a $9 minimum wage in context | Economic Policy Institute
"Raising the minimum wage to $9.00 per hour, as the President called for in his State of the Union address, would be a good step toward reversing some of the huge decline in the purchasing power of the minimum wage that has occurred over the past 45 years."

Texas Pushes Restrictive Abortion Regulations That Could Force More Than 60 Clinics To Close

Texas Pushes Restrictive Abortion Regulations That Could Force More Than 60 Clinics To Close: Texas Republicans have introduced a measure to impose unnecessary, overly restrictive regulations on the state’s abortion clinics — a move that could ultimately force more than 60 clinics to close, as RH Reality Check reports. Even though the state senators pushing for the legislation claim it will “force abortion clinics in Texas to put women’s [...]/p

Wisconsin Republicans: Forcing Women To Undergo Transvaginal Ultrasounds Is Our ‘Priority’

Wisconsin Republicans: Forcing Women To Undergo Transvaginal Ultrasounds Is Our ‘Priority’: At the Wisconsin Right to Life Legislative Conference this week, the state’s top Republican lawmakers assured attendees that they will do everything in their power to enact a forced ultrasound bill, which would mandate an invasive transvaginal probe for some women seeking first-trimester abortions. “This bill is a priority,” Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald [...]/p

Around the World, A 'Billion Rise' to Fight Violence Against Women and Girls | Common Dreams

Around the World, A 'Billion Rise' to Fight Violence Against Women and Girls | Common Dreams
"Across the globe today women are dancing, striking, and in other ways "rising" to call attention to the plight of violence against women and girls across the many cultures of the planet."

Sen. Warren Questions Bank Regulators About Whether Wall Street Is ‘Too Big For Trial’

Sen. Warren Questions Bank Regulators About Whether Wall Street Is ‘Too Big For Trial’: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) used her debut on the Senate Banking Committee to question financial regulators about the lack of accountability for Wall Street banks’ role in the financial crisis, challenging them to name the last time a Wall Street bank was taken to trial over allegations of fraud and other crimes instead of [...]/p

Child-Sex Offender Part of Joe Arpaio's Armed School Posse

Child-Sex Offender Part of Joe Arpaio's Armed School Posse
"What’s worse is that Arpaio has been facing heavy criticism for his alleged laxity on prosecuting sex crimes, particularly sex crimes against children."

Could You Live on $2.13 Per Hour -- Even With Tips? That's the Minimum Wage for Waiters | Alternet

Could You Live on $2.13 Per Hour -- Even With Tips? That's the Minimum Wage for Waiters | Alternet
"The president's call to raise the general minimum wage will do nothing for tipped workers. Congresswoman Donna Edwards wants to change that."

Break the Chain | Common Dreams

Break the Chain | Common Dreams
"Today's V-Day celebrations for the One Billion Rising campaign were sparked by an appalling statistic: One in three women in the world - one billion in total - are victims of violence during their lifetimes."

Federal Appeals Court: For Profit Companies Cannot Flout Birth Control Law

Federal Appeals Court: For Profit Companies Cannot Flout Birth Control Law: Late last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied a for-profit company’s request for an order permitting it to ignore federal regulations requiring it to provide birth control coverage to its employees. As with many of these cases filed in other courts, the corporation argued that it should be immune [...]/p

Rubio's Response Shows GOP Failure To Solve It's Policy Problem

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Denying Minimum-Wage Workers A Raise Is Craven and Grotesque | Common Dreams

Denying Minimum-Wage Workers A Raise Is Craven and Grotesque | Common Dreams
"The president ignited a controversy in his state of the union speech by saying he wants to raise the minimum wage by $1.50, to $9 an hour. He argued that it is shameful that someone working full-time for the current minimum wage of $7.25 would still be below the poverty line."

GOP 'Savior' Rubio Votes No on Violence Against Women Act

GOP 'Savior' Rubio Votes No on Violence Against Women Act
"Florida senator Marco Rubio led a group of 22 male Republicans who voted against the bill, which established a system for helping women in danger from domestic violence. No women or Democrats opposed the bill and it passed 78-22. That's right, the guy that Time magazine hailed this week as the "GOP Savior" voted against helping protect women from violence."

Why The Minimum Wage Is A Women’s Issue, In Three Charts

Why The Minimum Wage Is A Women’s Issue, In Three Charts: During Tuesday night’s State of the Union, President Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour. Not only is the proposal potentially good for business, but, according to a report released Wednesday from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, raising the minimum wage would also be a [...]/p

Arkansas May Pass The Nation’s Most Restrictive Abortion Ban, Even Without The Governor’s Support

Arkansas May Pass The Nation’s Most Restrictive Abortion Ban, Even Without The Governor’s Support: After Republicans won big gains in the Arkansas legislature in the 2012 elections, they’ve wasted no time pushing their anti-abortion agenda in the state. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe (D) has already signed one new abortion restriction into law already, and he hasn’t specifically confirmed whether or not he’ll sign the other proposed anti-choice legislation in [...]/p

The 2013 State of the Union Address

Of Rape and Roe - In These Times

Of Rape and Roe - In These Times
"Forty years after Roe v. Wade, even as polls show a majority of Americans supporting women’s reproductive rights, the possibilities for women’s reproductive justice feel surprisingly dim. Each day, it seems, brings another effort to undermine and attack women’s life choices, one of the most recent being abill introduced in New Mexico to jail rape survivors who choose abortions. The bill follows months of Republican legislators' trotting out recycled rape myths, undermining rape survivors to bolster anti-abortion policies. These disembodied debates over rape and abortion dangerously overlook the complex contexts in which young women struggle to make choices that will impact the rest of their lives."

Women Promise Revolt over GOP Stance on Violence Against Women Act | Common Dreams

Women Promise Revolt over GOP Stance on Violence Against Women Act | Common Dreams
"Women's groups are promising swift revenge come election season to a group of male Republican Senators who voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which passed the Senate Tuesday despite their best opposition efforts."

Fall on Hard Times, Have Your Kids Taken Away? How America Treats Poor Parents Like Criminals | Alternet

Fall on Hard Times, Have Your Kids Taken Away? How America Treats Poor Parents Like Criminals | Alternet
"At the root of the problem is America's vastly inequitable education system. School districts in poor areas are routinely shortchanged--and that’s even according to the U.S. Department of Education."

President Obama throws his support behind increasing the minimum wage | Economic Policy Institute

President Obama throws his support behind increasing the minimum wage | Economic Policy Institute
"That analysis showed that more than half of those who would be affected are women, more than four in five are 20 years of age or over, more than a quarter are parents, and over a third are married.  Moreover, the average affected worker earns about half of his or her family’s total income.  While the demographic breakdown for a $9.00 minimum wage would differ slightly, these breakdowns would still be in the right ballpark."

Speaker Boehner Rejects Obama’s Proposal To Raise The Minimum Wage

Speaker Boehner Rejects Obama’s Proposal To Raise The Minimum Wage: President Obama called for an increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour during his State of the Union last night, a proposal that was quickly rejected by top Republicans like Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Paul Ryan. Today, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) also came out against the proposal. “When you [...]/p

GOP Rep Mocks Congresswoman’s Outfit At State Of The Union

GOP Rep Mocks Congresswoman’s Outfit At State Of The Union: A Texas-based conservative talk radio host, Michael Berry, ran a betting pool during Tuesday night’s State of the Union over what color Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s (D-TX) outfit would be. But while that action alone might be blatantly sexist — would one ever make a bet over hue of a Congressman’s suit? — what makes [...]/p

The Case For Expanding Preschool Access To Every American Child

The Case For Expanding Preschool Access To Every American Child: With successful programs that boost pre-school education facing significant budget cuts at the end of the month, President Obama laid out an ambitious plan to expand preschool education to all American children during his State of the Union address Tuesday. Programs like Head Start and Early Head Start have increased access to early childhood education [...]/p

6 Game-Changing Ideas In The State Of The Union

6 Game-Changing Ideas In The State Of The Union: On Tuesday night, President Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union and laid out an agressive agenda that could set the nation on a more progressive course. Below are 6 of his most ambitious and far reaching proposals: 1) Executive action on climate change. “I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution [...]/p

A Bunch of GOP Men Still Don't Think Women Need Protection Against Domestic Violence But Thankfully They're Outnumbered | Common Dreams

A Bunch of GOP Men Still Don't Think Women Need Protection Against Domestic Violence But Thankfully They're Outnumbered | Common Dreams
"The Senate managed to pass the no-brainer that is the Violence Against Women Act today with bipartisan support, but 22 conservative white guys still voted against it - including GOP rising star and terrible human being Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) - for reasons that remain elusive."

BREAKING: Senate Passes Violence Against Women Act, With No Help From 22 Republican Male Senators

BREAKING: Senate Passes Violence Against Women Act, With No Help From 22 Republican Male Senators: The Violence Against Women Act reauthorization passed through the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, by a vote of 78 to 22. Of those opposing the legislation, all 22 were Republican men. Every female Senator supported the bill. Among the most notable votes against the bill were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Sen. Marco Rubio [...]/p

New Report Urges Research Into Environmental Causes of Breast Cancer | Common Dreams

New Report Urges Research Into Environmental Causes of Breast Cancer | Common Dreams
"A federal report released Tuesday urges more research into the environmental causes of breast cancer, including the "cocktail of carcinogens and endocrine disruptors" people are exposed to every day."

New Voters, New Values

New Voters, New Values
"Women, Latinos, African Americans, and the 
young don’t believe what older white men believe. Their views fueled Obama’s victory and may portend a new Democratic majority."

Personhood Advocates Continue War On Women’s Rights Despite Growing List Of Defeats

Personhood Advocates Continue War On Women’s Rights Despite Growing List Of Defeats: Every year, on the anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade case, anti-choice conservatives flock to the Supreme Court building in Washington D.C to protest against abortions and demand that the high court reverse its decision and once again. But overturning Roe v. Wade is no longer the grand prize it once was. Instead, hardliners [...]/p

Conservative Pressure To Stop Violence Against Women Act

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The Real Story of the Religious Right -- A Movement Born to Defend Racial Segregation | Alternet

The Real Story of the Religious Right -- A Movement Born to Defend Racial Segregation | Alternet
"In other words, as Randall Balmer has succinctly put it: “the religious right of the late twentieth century organized to perpetuate racial discrimination.”

Only after the movement was underway did it begin advocacy on abortion. It did so, in large part, based on highly dubious arguments advanced by the popular writer Francis Schaeffer."

Federal Judge Prevents Arizona From Defunding Planned Parenthood

Federal Judge Prevents Arizona From Defunding Planned Parenthood: In a blow to anti-abortion activists looking to use Planned Parenthood as a political pawn in their crusade against women’s reproductive health rights, a federal judge has overturned an Arizona law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) in May 2012 that prohibits using Medicaid funds for services provided by Planned Parenthood facilities in the state. [...]/p

Republicans Take Abusers’ Side on VAWA | Common Dreams

Republicans Take Abusers’ Side on VAWA | Common Dreams
"It’s amazing to me that some Republicans and rightwing groups are intent on holding up the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act."

Teen Birth Rates Plunge To Record Low As Adolescents Now Have Better Access To Birth Control

Teen Birth Rates Plunge To Record Low As Adolescents Now Have Better Access To Birth Control: U.S. teen birth rates have dropped to a record low, down nearly 50 percent since 1991, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics. There was only a slight decline in the number of teens having sex, suggesting that more adolescents are preventing pregnancy by practicing safer sex. Experts caution [...]/p

Transvaginal Ultrasound: Rape Is Not A Medical Procedure

Transvaginal Ultrasound: Rape Is Not A Medical Procedure
"Republicans failed in massive numbers to attract women’s votes this past election – and quite probably a good number of men equally appalled at how their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters were being treated. Yet despite criticism on all sides, despite the objections of doctors themselves, despite condemnation by women’s groups, despite their losses at the polls, they’re still trying."

Ignore The Political Rhetoric: Women Support Gun Safety Laws

Ignore The Political Rhetoric: Women Support Gun Safety Laws: Last week, at a hearing on gun safety legislation, a witness from an anti-feminist group was brought forth to argue that the US’s current gun laws are a boon to women’s rights. Women, witness Gayle Trotter said, need AR-15s because, “They have good handling. They’re light. They’re easy for women to hold… And the peace [...]/p

Iowa Bill Would Jail Raped Women for 'Murder' of Single-Cell Zygotes

Iowa Bill Would Jail Raped Women for 'Murder' of Single-Cell Zygotes
"A bill introduced by nine Republican state lawmakers in Iowa on Wednesday would define abortion as "murder," sending doctors and raped women who terminate pregnancies to jail.

State Rep. Tom Shaw says that he authored House File 138 to protect human life, whether “you’re a zygote, an infant, a teenager or an adult"."

Watch: A Video Message from Eve Ensler — 1 Billion Will Rise in 1 Week | Alternet

Watch: A Video Message from Eve Ensler — 1 Billion Will Rise in 1 Week | Alternet
"In one week, Eve Ensler’s exciting project, One Billion Rising, will culminate in 48 hours of striking, dancing and rising. The project is a movement to raise global awareness and combat violence against women. 197 countries will be taking part in this event."

8 Programs That Have Already Faced Devastating Budget Cuts (And Could Be In For More)

8 Programs That Have Already Faced Devastating Budget Cuts (And Could Be In For More): Women, Infants, and Children programs: The WIC program helps low-income women who are pregnant or have infant children up to age five. “If the same rate of growth that the discretionary budget caps permit through 2022 had been used to determine WIC funding over the last eight years, some 970,000 women, infants, and children would not have been able to receive much-needed supplemental foods this year,” according to the report.

How Republicans Quietly Mandate Transvaginal Probes When They Think No One’s Paying Attention

How Republicans Quietly Mandate Transvaginal Probes When They Think No One’s Paying Attention: During the height of last year’s outcry over the GOP’s “War on Women,” transvaginal probes became one of the most recognizable symbols of the Republican Party’s overreaching anti-abortion policies. Particularly when Virginia pushed forward with a controversial measure to require all women seeking abortions to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound, women’s health advocates decried the practice [...]/p

Alabama Republicans Advance Bill To Close Last Five Abortion Clinics In The State

Alabama Republicans Advance Bill To Close Last Five Abortion Clinics In The State: Republican lawmakers in Alabama took a crucial step on Wednesday towards their goal of shuttering the state’s last five abortion clinics, advancing a bill to the full house that would impose strict requirements on abortion providers. The bill, the so-called “Women’s Health and Safety Act,” passed the Republican-controlled House Health Committee on Wednesday morning, and [...]/p

Why Are Conservatives Trying to Destroy the Voting Rights Act? | The Nation

Why Are Conservatives Trying to Destroy the Voting Rights Act? | The Nation
"The current campaign against the VRA is the result of three key factors: a whiter, more Southern, more conservative GOP that has responded to demographic change by trying to suppress an increasingly diverse electorate; a twenty-five-year effort to gut the VRA by conservative intellectuals, who in recent years have received millions of dollars from top right-wing funders, including Charles Koch; and a reactionary Supreme Court that does not support remedies to racial discrimination."

Five Reasons Why Fewer People Trust Fox News Than Ever Before

Five Reasons Why Fewer People Trust Fox News Than Ever Before: A poll released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling shows that fewer people than ever trust Fox News as a source for accurate news and reporting. Just 41 percent expressed trust in the network — down from 49 four years ago — while 46 percent said they distrust Fox. There’s an obvious reason why: Fox misrepresents [...]/p

Michigan GOP Would Force Women To Undergo Invasive Ultrasounds Before Getting An Abortion

Michigan GOP Would Force Women To Undergo Invasive Ultrasounds Before Getting An Abortion: Michigan Republicans introduced a mandatory ultrasound bill this week with a carefully-worded clause that threatens to stir up controversy that first erupted during the height of last year’s “War on Women.” By stipulating that the ultrasounds must use the “most technologically advanced equipment on site,” Michigan lawmakers would require women seeking abortions to undergo an [...]/p

Offshore Tax Havens Robbed States of Nearly $40 Billion in 2011 | Alternet

Offshore Tax Havens Robbed States of Nearly $40 Billion in 2011 | Alternet
"States across the country lost nearly $40 billion dollars of revenues in 2011 due to offshore tax havens, according to a new report by U.S. PIRG Education Fund. The study reveals that corporations account more than $26 billion of lost revenue, while wealthy individuals are responsible for the rest. The blow to states rests on top of nearly $150 billion of lost annual federal revenue due to corporate loopholes.

In a statement, PIRG said everyday Americans bear the burden when the nation’s wealthiest elites avoid paying their fair share. Tax haven abusers benefit from our markets, infrastructure, educated workforce, and security, but they pay next to nothing for these benefits. Ultimately, taxpayers must pick up the tab, either in the form of higher taxes, cuts to public spending priorities, or increased national debt."

Meet The Four Republican Senators Who Think The Violence Against Women Act Is Unconstitutional

Meet The Four Republican Senators Who Think The Violence Against Women Act Is Unconstitutional: Since then-Delaware Senator Joe Biden first authored the law in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has earned bipartisan praise for providing vital protections against domestic violence and assistance to victims. But of the eight Senators — all Republicans — who voted Monday against even considering VAWA renewal, at least four apparently did so [...]/p

Thanks To Congressional Incompetence, Saturday Mail Delivery Is History

Thanks To Congressional Incompetence, Saturday Mail Delivery Is History: Under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, Congress has for years forced the USPS to pre-fund 75 years’ worth of pensions for its employees, a requirement not made of any other public or private institution. That means that the Postal Service is footing the bill for employees it hasn’t even hired yet.

The USPS doesn’t actually receive money from the government, but still needs Congressional approval to make any changes to its structure. An analysis in July showed that the USPS, without its pension requirement, would have a $1.5 billion surplus.

GOP Tries To Hide Extremist Base With A Rebranding

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Right-Wing Congressman Suddenly Embraces A Health Care Mandate…For Immigrants

Right-Wing Congressman Suddenly Embraces A Health Care Mandate…For Immigrants: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, suggested, during an immigration hearing on Tuesday, that American farmers should be required to provide health care coverage to temporary workers. Speaking before the House Judiciary Committee, Gohmert raised concerns about immigrants benefiting from tax-payer funded health care programs and argued [...]/p

8 Reasons Why Cantor’s Rebranded GOP Looks Just Like The Old GOP

8 Reasons Why Cantor’s Rebranded GOP Looks Just Like The Old GOP: On Tuesday afternoon, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) delivered a speech that sought to “rebrand” the GOP as a party that can advance legislation that would improve the lives of the “most vulnerable” Americans. “Our solutions will be based on the conservative principles of self reliance, faith in the individual, trust in the family, [...]/p

Demanding Women | The Nation

Demanding Women | The Nation
"when it came to women’s rights, the GOP’s burning cross on the women’s movement’s metaphorical lawn certainly cast a distinguishing light. It wasn’t hard for the president and his party to play up the contrast between themselves and the party of fetal rights, forced pregnancy and “legitimate rape"."

Republicans Return With a New Scheme to Rig the Electoral College | Common Dreams

Republicans Return With a New Scheme to Rig the Electoral College | Common Dreams
"Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus has been blunt about his determination to rig the Electoral College. So it should come as no surprise that, even after his partisan minions were "named and shamed" into distancing themselves from an initial strategy for gaming presidential politics, keyRepublicans have returned with another plan to make it possible for a GOP loser to "win" the 2016 presidential race."

On The 20th Anniversary Of The Family Medical Leave Act, Meet The Republican Men Who Voted Against It

On The 20th Anniversary Of The Family Medical Leave Act, Meet The Republican Men Who Voted Against It: Twenty years ago today, President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The law, which passed with bipartisan support, gave workers new job protections in the event of a pregnancy or family medical emergency, mandating 12 weeks of unpaid leave. And while FMLA has failed to cover all workers — only employers [...]/p

Eight Senators Vote To Block Violence Against Women Act

Eight Senators Vote To Block Violence Against Women Act: Eight Senators on Monday voted not to consider the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a bill that protects victims of domestic violence. The Senators who voted against moving to debate on the bill were: Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Tim Scott (R-SC), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Rand Paul (R-KY), [...]/p