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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (186102)	3/28/2012 10:15:13 AM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542918

Where is Molly Ivin when we need her. This stuff is just too good. ------------------------------------------------------ Ron Johnson, contraception, and the power of the Internet By Steve Benen Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:07 AM EDT I've long been concerned about whether Ron Johnson, elected to the Senate in 2010, is really up the job. After all, the Wisconsin Republican has argued that snow in Greenland is evidence of global cooling; he thinks " sunspot activity" is responsible for global warming; and at the height of the BP oil spill, he said he'd sell his BP stock, just as soon as it was more profitablefor him. This week, however, Johnson broke new ground, sharing his unique perspective on contraception access. Scott Keyes asked the far-right senator about the issue, and posted this startling clip. For those who can't watch clips online, Keyes asked Johnson about the millions of American women who can't afford access to birth control. The Republican replied, "My wife actually went online here in Wisconsin and typed in, 'what if I can't afford birth control?' Came up, bam. If you can't afford it, you can get birth control in this country." When Keyes asked what that meant, Johnson added, "You can get it. Go online, type it in. It's easy to get." I can appreciate the power of the Internet as much as the next guy, but if Ron Johnson believes low-income Americans can simply go online and -- "bam" -- easily find cheap contraception, he seems to have a comically exaggerated sense of the efficacy of online services. Indeed, ThinkProgress put the senator's advice to the test. ThinkProgress went online and Googled "what if I can't afford birth control?" The very first link explained that the entire process, from the initial exam to a follow-up to the pills themselves, can cost upwards of $210 the first month. The rest of the first-page results included two sites informing women that if they can't afford contraceptives, "don't have sex," four sites attacking Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, and one site explaining how birth control is a lot more expensive than many believe. Bam? maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com

To: JohnM who wrote (186102)	3/28/2012 11:10:35 AM
From: Steve Lokness	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542918

<<<<Krugman on the logistics of the austerity arguments.>>>> Yesterday I was in at the local building department and the place was like a cavern. Big building with no people in it. One customer, but he was showing one of the officials color swatches for .....something. The change from before the housing crash was shocking. I know they cut staff - and suspect they could cut more yet as they have nothing to do. Ya, ya, I know we need teachers and such - but to think we could kept this department going with the same number of people is absurd. They had to cut! The most severe cuts from a republican turned state from your post was 5%. Is there really anyone who thinks that a 5% cut is not justified when we have people standing around doing nothing? And how did we get the bloated building department of a few years ago?