How An Excel Spreadsheet Error Hurt The Economy

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Soon, There May Be Fewer Doctors Receiving Birth Control Training, And That’s A Big Problem

Soon, There May Be Fewer Doctors Receiving Birth Control Training, And That’s A Big Problem: Thursday marks the last day to comment on a new curriculum for training medical professionals proposed by The Family Medicine Committee of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), a group that most Americans have likely never heard of before. But it’s an obscure issue with huge implications. Thursday’s deadline is important because it [...]/p

50 Reasons You Despised George W. Bush's Presidency: A Reminder on the Day of His Presidential Library Dedication | Alternet

50 Reasons You Despised George W. Bush's Presidency: A Reminder on the Day of His Presidential Library Dedication | Alternet
"Amazingly, the Bush library seeks to ask visitors "What would you have done?" if you were in this president’s shoes. The ex-president’s defenders are betting that the public will reconsider their judgments after a hefty dose of historical amnesia. Bush has been absent from political debates in recent years, instead making millions in private speeches."

New Mexico GOP Official Calls 19-Year-Old ‘A Radical Bitch’

New Mexico GOP Official Calls 19-Year-Old ‘A Radical Bitch’: Steve Kush, executive director of the Bernalillo County Republican Party in New Mexico, took to Twitter on Tuesday to verbally abuse a 19-year-old Working America volunteer who testified in favor of raising the minimum wage. Bernalillo County, the largest county in New Mexico, was considering a proposal to increase the county minimum wage from $7.50 [...]/p

How To Help The Middle Class Without Spending Government Money

How To Help The Middle Class Without Spending Government Money: The middle class has been shrinking since the recession as most of the country’s wealth has traveled upward. But any policy aimed at helping working families that also comes with a hefty price tag has little chance of passing through Congress and becoming law. That doesn’t mean there’s no hope for trying to bolster the [...]/p

Megachurch Pastor Preaches for Women to Submit: 'You're a Nag' Like Chinese Water Torture

Megachurch Pastor Preaches for Women to Submit: 'You're a Nag' Like Chinese Water Torture
"The founding pastor of a Washington state megachurch on Sunday told female parishioners that God wanted them to submit to their husbands and that they shouldn't be a "nag," likening them to Chinese water torture."

Conservative Group Photoshops Out Minorities In Mailer Opposing Pro-Voting Legislation

Conservative Group Photoshops Out Minorities In Mailer Opposing Pro-Voting Legislation: A conservative group connected to Colorado’s Secretary of State has been sending political mailers — including a picture of a darker-skinned woman whose face was digitally removed and replaced with a white woman’s face — in an attempt to oppose a landmark voting bill that may soon become law. Colorado is currently considering a major [...]/p

Republicans Too Busy Ranting on Fox News to Actually Write Any Bills | Alternet

Republicans Too Busy Ranting on Fox News to Actually Write Any Bills | Alternet
"Has the party become "post-policy"? The modern GOP simply have given up on and lost the capacity for developing policy ideas."

Kansas Governor Writes 'JESUS Mary' on Notes for Anti-Abortion Bill | Common Dreams

Kansas Governor Writes 'JESUS Mary' on Notes for Anti-Abortion Bill | Common Dreams
"Next to the extreme anti-abortion bill Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (R) signed into lawon Friday were notes on which he wrote JESUS + Mary at the top and further down that it was a bill that would create "a culture of life," an Associated Press photo reveals."

The Rightwing Donors Who Fuel America's Culture Wars | Common Dreams

The Rightwing Donors Who Fuel America's Culture Wars | Common Dreams
"Alabama, Tennessee, North Dakota, and Mississippi are among the latest to impose unprecedented restrictions on women's access to abortionservices. All told, in the first three months of this year, 694 provisions related to reproductive health have come before state legislatures, more than half of them involving abortion restrictions."

Michigan High School Chooses To Protect Star Basketball Player Instead Of His Rape Victims

Michigan High School Chooses To Protect Star Basketball Player Instead Of His Rape Victims: The National Women’s Law Center is joining forces with a Michigan-area law firm to file a complaint on behalf of a young woman who was sexually assaulted by one of her high school’s star basketball players. As RH Reality Check reports, the complaint alleges that high school administrators did nothing to help advocate for the [...]/p

Steubenville Football Coach Gets Contract Extension After Involvement In Rape Scandal

Steubenville Football Coach Gets Contract Extension After Involvement In Rape Scandal: Reno Saccocia has been the head football coach at Steubenville High School since 1983. He has won 311 football games, made 23 appearances in the state playoffs, and captured three Ohio state championships. That, apparently, is all that matters to the school board that covers the high school, because it just gave Saccocia — who [...]/p

Kansas Governor Approves Sweeping Anti-Abortion Law, Writes ‘JESUS Mary’ In His Notes On The Bill

Kansas Governor Approves Sweeping Anti-Abortion Law, Writes ‘JESUS Mary’ In His Notes On The Bill: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has signed a stringent anti-abortion bill that blocks tax breaks for abortion providers, requires doctors to tell women about the disputed link between abortion and breast cancer, and defines life as beginning at conception in the state constitution. However, despite the fact that the omnibus legislation is 70 pages long, [...]/p

Sen. Flake Lied To Shooting Victim's Mother -- In Writing

Sen. Flake Lied To Shooting Victim's Mother -- In Writing
"So Sen. Jeff "Empty Suit, Empty Soul" Flake, Scott Brown 2.0, is such a mewling little coward, he tells the mother of a mass shooting victim he, like her, supports expanding background checks -- then votes to kill the bill."

Senator Told Shooting Victim’s Mother He Supported Background Checks, Then Voted Against Them

Senator Told Shooting Victim’s Mother He Supported Background Checks, Then Voted Against Them: Shortly before the a crucial Senate vote to expand background checks in gun transactions, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) sent a letter to the mother of a shooting victim claiming that he was “truly sorry” for her son’s death and that “strengthening background checks is something we agree on.” A few days later, he voted to [...]/p

Plan B Ruling: Fox and Family Research Council Seize Opportunity to Spread Misinformation

Plan B Ruling: Fox and Family Research Council Seize Opportunity to Spread Misinformation
"The Fox News response to the recent Plan B ruling provides a graphic example of how the channel uses what it calls "fair and balanced" reporting to create false perceptions."

Why An Anti-Birth Control CEO’s Big Mouth May Force His Lawyers To Toss Him Under The Bus

Why An Anti-Birth Control CEO’s Big Mouth May Force His Lawyers To Toss Him Under The Bus: As ThinkProgress explained on Monday, the CEO of a company challenging the Obama Administration’s rules promoting access to birth control made statements to the press which could destroy the basis of this case. Since then, the CEO went even further in undercutting the basis of his case. Indeed, the CEO’s most recent statements are so [...]/p

Did a Spreadsheet Error Cost You Your Job? | Common Dreams

Did a Spreadsheet Error Cost You Your Job? | Common Dreams
"Did an Excel error cost you your job? This is what people around the world should be asking after researchers at the University of Massachusetts uncovered a serious calculationmistake. The mistake was in an enormously influential paper by Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff, two prominent economists, which purports to show that high levels of government debt lead to slow economic growth. This paper has been widely cited by political figures around the world who have been pushing the case for cutting back government spending and raising taxes. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan famously cited Reinhart and Rogoff when he laid out his budget earlier this year. So have many of the politicians now pushing for cuts in Social Security and Medicare."

Tucson Victim's Mother: We're 'Not Defeated'

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Senate Ignores Americans, Chooses Doing Nothing On Guns

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High Schooler Protests ‘Slut-Shaming’ Abstinence Assembly Despite Alleged Threats From Her Principal

High Schooler Protests ‘Slut-Shaming’ Abstinence Assembly Despite Alleged Threats From Her Principal: A West Virginia high school student is filing an injunction against her principal, who she claims is threatening to punish her for speaking out against an factually inaccurate abstinence assembly at her school. Katelyn Campbell, who is the student body vice president at George Washington High School, alleges her principal threatened to call the college [...]/p

Top Iowa Elections Official: Pass Voter ID So The GOP Can Kill Abortion Rights And Marriage Equality

Top Iowa Elections Official: Pass Voter ID So The GOP Can Kill Abortion Rights And Marriage Equality: At a social conservatives’ conference this week, Iowa’s Secretary of State argued that Republicans need to pass voter ID in order to advance their top policy goals, including banning abortion and same-sex marriage. Matt Schultz (R), elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010, spoke at length about his support for implementing voter ID in [...]/p

North Dakota, Home To Nation’s Strictest Abortion Law, Approves Yet Another Ban For Good Measure

North Dakota, Home To Nation’s Strictest Abortion Law, Approves Yet Another Ban For Good Measure: Last month, North Dakota enacted the most stringent abortion restriction in the nation: a radical “fetal heartbeat” ban to criminalize all abortion services after just six weeks of pregnancy. Women’s health advocates are preparing to fight the unconstitutional law in court, and North Dakota has already requested a $400,000 budget increase to fund those legal [...]/p

New Hampshire Lawmaker Calls All Women ‘Vaginas’

New Hampshire Lawmaker Calls All Women ‘Vaginas’: New Hampshire State Rep. Peter Hansen (R) sparked a firestorm in the state house after he sent a recent email to an internal house listserv that referred to women as “vaginas.” Hansen was defending the state’s “stand your ground” bill, which one lawmaker had challenged with stories about how retreating from a confrontational situation is [...]/p

Accused Rapists Scribbled Messages All Over 15-Year-Old Audrie Pott’s Unconscious Body

Accused Rapists Scribbled Messages All Over 15-Year-Old Audrie Pott’s Unconscious Body: In an emotional press conference on Monday, Lisa Pott, whose stepdaughter Audrie killed herself last fall after allegedly being raped, read a series of Audrie’s Facebook messages sent shortly before her suicide: “My life is ruined. I can’t do anything to fix it. I just want this to go away. My life is over. The [...]/p

How A Right-Wing CEO’s Big Mouth Could Kill His Attack On Birth Control

How A Right-Wing CEO’s Big Mouth Could Kill His Attack On Birth Control: pEden Foods is one of several for-profit corporations challenging Obama Administration rules requiring most employer-provided health plans to cover birth control, on the questionable legal theory that Eden is immune to these rules because its owner has religious objections to birth control. According to Eden’s legal complaint, Eden’s owner “Michael Potter holds religious beliefs that [...]/p

North Dakota Lawmaker: Banning Abortion Will Help Women ‘Realize’ They Don’t Want One After All

North Dakota Lawmaker: Banning Abortion Will Help Women ‘Realize’ They Don’t Want One After All: Rep. Bette Grande, one of the primary backers of North Dakota’s new unconstitutional abortion ban, is no stranger to anti-choice efforts to coerce women out of their decision to terminate a pregnancy. Four years ago, she spearheaded the state’s forced ultrasound law. Since then, she says young women have told her they decided not to [...]/p

How Right-Wingers in Congress Came to Represent a Whole Different Country | Alternet

How Right-Wingers in Congress Came to Represent a Whole Different Country | Alternet
"With an assist from some long-term demographic trends, House Republicans have redistricted, propagandized and policed themselves into another country.

As a result, they have become unmoored from the political incentives that typically drive law-makers' decision-making process. Public opinion no longer sways them, and that is creating a potentially insurmountable problem for the party establishment's efforts to broaden the GOP's appeal beyond angry old white people."

Middle Out Economics 101

Everything We Know About What's Happened Under Sequestration

Everything We Know About What's Happened Under Sequestration
"Children in Indiana have been cut from the federally funded Head Start preschool program. Last week, the White Houseannounced furloughs for480 staffers in the Office of Management and Budget. And cuts to Medicare have forced cancer clinics to turn away thousands of patients who are being treated with drugs the clinics can no longer afford.

We’ve taken a look at what’s actually happened in the six weeks since sequestration took effect."

Sen. Warren and End of the Minimum Wage Debate

Virginia Abortion Rights Undermined By TRAP Tricks

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Senator Elizabeth Warren's opening statement and Q&A at the April 11, 2013 Senate Banking Committee

BREAKING: Virginia Board Of Health Passes Regulations Meant To Shut Down Abortion Clinics

BREAKING: Virginia Board Of Health Passes Regulations Meant To Shut Down Abortion Clinics: The Virginia Board of Health voted 11-2 on Friday “to require abortion clinics to meet strict, hospital-style building codes” that many women’s health advocates say will put abortion providers out of business and prevent women from accessing essential medical services. Pending final approval by conservative state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) and Gov. Bob McDonnell [...]/p

Republicans Push 700 New Laws to Regulate Women's Bodies | Alternet

Republicans Push 700 New Laws to Regulate Women's Bodies | Alternet
"In the first quarter of 2013, states have proposed 694 provisions related to a woman’s body, how she gets pregnant, or how she chooses to end that pregnancy."

Organic Eden Foods’ Secretive Right-Wing Agenda | Alternet

Organic Eden Foods’ Secretive Right-Wing Agenda | Alternet
"The slogan for Eden Foods, which describes itself as the “oldest natural and organic food company in North America,” is “creation and maintenance of purity in food.” Its CEO and founder, Michael Potter, has been prominent in debates over labeling of organic food and GMOs. But the company has been quietly seeking in court another form of purity — to Catholic doctrine about sex being solely for procreation. That goes not just for Potter, but for all 128 of his employees."

Elizabeth Warren Tears Into Federal Regulators For Shielding Big Banks

Elizabeth Warren Tears Into Federal Regulators For Shielding Big Banks: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) embarrassed government regulators during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday morning as she demanded to know why they won’t reveal how frequently big banks illegally foreclosed on homeowners. In January, regulators abandoned a case-by-case review of foreclosure fraud conducted by some of the nation’s largest banks in favor of a [...]/p

Sen. Warren, Rep. Cummings Seek Docs To ID Mortgage Servicers

Sen. Warren, Rep. Cummings Seek Docs To ID Mortgage Servicers
"Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings sent a letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Comptroller Thomas Curry, challenging a decision by agency staff not to supply documents related to violations of federal and state law by mortgage servicing companies. This is why we wanted her, and by gum, it's good to have her!"

In Just Three Months, States Proposed An Astonishing 694 Provisions About Reproduction

In Just Three Months, States Proposed An Astonishing 694 Provisions About Reproduction: In the first quarter of 2013, states have proposed 694 provisions related to a woman’s body, how she gets pregnant, or how she chooses to end that pregnancy. A new report released on Thursday by the Guttmacher Institute takes a comprehensive look at how the War on Women has continued past the election cycle and [...]/p

Democrats Try To Force Republicans To Allow Vote On Pay Equity

Democrats Try To Force Republicans To Allow Vote On Pay Equity: Last summer, Republican senators filibustered the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have bolstered protections for women who are discriminated against in their paychecks and increased salary transparency to let women find out if they were being paid less than their male colleagues. The bill was filed again this year by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), with [...]/p

The Southern State Fast Becoming Ayn Rand's Vision of Paradise | Alternet

The Southern State Fast Becoming Ayn Rand's Vision of Paradise | Alternet
"As you would expect, this translates into hard times for its public school systems, which rank 48th in school revenues per student and 45th in teacher salaries. The failure to invest in education also corresponds with poverty: the state has the 40th worst poverty rate (15%) and the 13th highest state percentage of poor children (26%). 

Employment opportunities also are extremely poor for the poor. Only 25% have full-time jobs, 45% are employed part-time, and a whopping 30% have no jobs at all. So what do you do with all those low-income folks who don't have decent jobs? You put a good number of them in jail. In fact, only Louisiana, Georgia and New Mexico have  higher jail incarceration rates."

'There Are Now States Where It's Not Safe to Be a Woman' | Common Dreams

'There Are Now States Where It's Not Safe to Be a Woman' | Common Dreams
"Chalk another one up for the extremists. Three weeks after Arkansas’ legislature overrode a veto and prohibited most second trimester abortions, North Dakota’s Governor signed into law a ban that kicks in just six weeks after conception. As the Associated Press noted, both sides recognize the laws for what they are: “an unprecedented frontal assault” on the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade."

Arkansas Republicans Vote To Eliminate Sex Ed Program In Public High Schools

Arkansas Republicans Vote To Eliminate Sex Ed Program In Public High Schools: Abortion opponents in Arkansas are currently focused on targeting Planned Parenthood, apparently unconcerned about the fact that their crusade could actually have much broader consequences in areas unrelated to abortion care. On Tuesday, the state Senate voted to strip funding from the women’s health organization, advancing a measure that would effectively kill a comprehensive sex [...]/p

On Abortion, the GOP Tacks Right

On Abortion, the GOP Tacks Right
"Similarly, Kansas’s rigid changes to the tax code or the requirement that abortion material provide false information to patients could also catch fire around the country. What’s started in a handful of places isn’t likely to stay within state lines."

Thousands Rally To Protest Sequestration Cuts To Medical Research Programs

Thousands Rally To Protest Sequestration Cuts To Medical Research Programs: Thousands of researchers, patients, doctors, scientists, and advocates gathered rallied outside of Carnegie Library in Washington DC to protest sequestration cuts towards medical research. Organizers estimated that the Rally for Medical Research, protesting budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health, had around 10,000 attendees. “When [Congress] sees a grassroots movement rising up from doctors, [...]/p

The 10 Jobs With The Biggest Gender Wage Gap

The 10 Jobs With The Biggest Gender Wage Gap: Today is Equal Pay Day, the day of the year when the typical woman worker finally catches up to the wages the average male worker made last year. Women make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, and though that gap has shrunk since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in [...]/p

Rape Culture Claims Another Victim: Teen Ends Life After Photo Of Her Alleged Gang Rape Goes Viral

Rape Culture Claims Another Victim: Teen Ends Life After Photo Of Her Alleged Gang Rape Goes Viral: Seventeen months ago a Canadian teen was allegedly gang-raped by four of her peers and the photo evidence of the rape spread across her community. But unlike the situation that unfolded in Steubenville, where the victim was at least given the comfort of knowing her assailants received some measure of punishment (even if the media [...]/p

Rosie The Riveter On A Wind Turbine: Women And The Growing Green Economy

Rosie The Riveter On A Wind Turbine: Women And The Growing Green Economy: By Mari Hernandez and Rebecca Lefton In March, the Bureau of Labor Services released its green jobs report, which reported a total of 3.4 million jobs associated with the production of green goods and services in 2011 – up from 3.1 million green jobs in 2010. Growing at a rate four times faster than all [...]/p

Americans In All 50 States Speak Up In Support Of Obamacare’s Birth Control Provision

Americans In All 50 States Speak Up In Support Of Obamacare’s Birth Control Provision: The comment period for Obamacare’s birth control provision came to a close on Monday. According to a recent Sunlight Foundation analysis, that regulation — which seeks to help eliminate the gender-based disparity in health costs by requiring insurance companies to cover contraceptive services without a co-pay — was Obamacare’s most controversial provision, as more comments [...]/p

60 Minutes Talks To Sandy Hook Parents

60 Minutes Talks To Sandy Hook Parents
"If you don't at least get a lump in your throat at the raw pain and grief of these parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook shootings, you don't have a heart."

How One Multi-Millionaire Is Turning North Carolina Into A Tea Party Utopia

How One Multi-Millionaire Is Turning North Carolina Into A Tea Party Utopia: Shutting Down Abortion Clinics: Another bill in the state senate would add new restrictions to abortion clinics in an attempt to force them to close their doors. Among other things, the bill requires doctors to have admitting privileges in a hospital located within 30 miles of the clinic, an unnecessary restriction that serves little purpose other than to limit the pool of doctors available to clinics.

Kansas Is Poised To Become The Latest State To Define Life At Conception

Kansas Is Poised To Become The Latest State To Define Life At Conception: Last week, Dr. George Tiller’s former abortion clinic re-opened its doors to the Kansas public, a huge victory for the women in Wichita who haven’t had access to a nearby clinic since Tiller’s murder in 2009. One the heels of that step forward, however, the state’s anti-abortion lawmakers are working hard to pull Kansas yet [...]/p

Morning Joe Host Blasts GOP For Putting ‘Rapists’ Rights Over Parents’ Rights’ In Gun Debate

Morning Joe Host Blasts GOP For Putting ‘Rapists’ Rights Over Parents’ Rights’ In Gun Debate: Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough tore into the growing number of conservative senators who have pledged to filibuster a comprehensive gun safety bill without reading the proposal. The 13 senators — including likely 2016 presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Rand Paul — will win support “from a segment of your voting population,” Scarborough reasoned, but [...]/p

The Escalating War on Women

GOP Lost Without Bedroom Intrusion Agenda

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