August 21, 2012

In 2007, Romney Touted Endorsement of Doctor Who Pushed

In 2007, Romney Touted Endorsement of Doctor Who Pushed "Legitimate Rape" Junk Science

Yesterday, Todd Akin talked about "legitimate rape," and did some mansplainin' on how women who are "legitimately raped" really wouldn't need abortions in any case because their magical lady powers prevent them from getting pregnant in case of real assault. Anyone else is just lyin' about how they got pregnant.

This lesson in voodoo reproductive biology finds it basis in a long line of witch doctors willing to make things up out of thin air in their quest to control women's bodies. One such "doctor" is John Wilke. It turns out that Mitt Romney is tied to Dr. Wilke through a campaign umbilical cord.

Mitt Romney himself welcomed and touted the endorsement of Dr. John Wilke in 2007.

According to a 2007 campaign press release:
http://web.archive.org/web/20071227112415/http:/www.mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/Endorsement_Willke

(snip)
Welcoming Dr. Willke's announcement, Governor Romney said, "I am proud to have the support of a man who has meant so much to the pro-life movement in our country. He knows how important it is to have someone in Washington who will actively promote pro-life policies. Policies that include more than appointing judges who will follow the law but also opposing taxpayer funded abortion and partial birth abortion. I look forward to working with Dr. Willke and welcome him to Romney for President."

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/08/20/in-2007-romney-touted-endorsement-doctor-who-pushed-legitimate-rape-junk-science

more on this thanks to SunsetDreams
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021166100

Did Todd Akin get his misinformation on rape and pregnancy from Physicians for Life?
By Dr. Jen Gunter

By now everyone knows that Congressman Todd Akin (Missouri’s 2nd District) thinks some rapes are legitimate and some are, well, apparently not legitimate. We also know that “what he understands from doctors” is that pregnancy from legitimate rape is “really rare” because women can block unwanted pregnancies through a stress response (“shut the whole thing down,” is the actual quote). But just who are these physicians feeding him this misinformation?

My guess is The Physicians for Life. So, I took a little gander at their website…

Here is a direct quote from the Physicians for Life, “Assault rape pregnancies are extremely rare.” The number they come up with is 500 “assault rape” pregnancies/year (yes, Physicians for Life apparently feel the need to qualify only some rapes as “assault,” which they use interchangeably with “forced rape”).

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/did-todd-akin-get-his-misinformation-rape-and-pregnancy-physicians-life

August 21, 2012

Akin Bails On Piers Morgan, Morgan calls him a "gutless little twerp"

Todd Akin Piers Morgan Interview Fail: Embattled Senate Candidate Bails On CNN Host

(snip)
The six-term Missouri GOP congressman, a candidate for U.S. Senate, apparently bailed on a planned interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, leaving the host to berate him as a "gutless little twerp" Monday evening.

Akin's troubles began Sunday when he suggested during a television interview that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" are biologically unlikely to become pregnant -- attributing the dubious science to "doctors." Numerous Republicans have called on the congressman to withdraw from his challenge against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Akin has apologized for his remarks, and insisted he'll stay in the race. However, the media firestorm shows little sign of abating after two days.

Staring at the empty chair, a nonplussed Morgan issued this challenge to Akin: "Congressman, you have an open invitation to join me in that chair whenever you feel up to it, because if you don't keep your promise to be on the show, then you are what we would call in Britain a gutless little twerp."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/todd-akin-piers-morgan-interview_n_1814683.html

August 21, 2012

Michael Moore and Oliver Stone:WikiLeaks and Free Speech

WE have spent our careers as filmmakers making the case that the news media in the United States often fail to inform Americans about the uglier actions of our own government. We therefore have been deeply grateful for the accomplishments of WikiLeaks, and applaud Ecuador’s decision to grant diplomatic asylum to its founder, Julian Assange, who is now living in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

Ecuador has acted in accordance with important principles of international human rights. Indeed, nothing could demonstrate the appropriateness of Ecuador’s action more than the British government’s threat to violate a sacrosanct principle of diplomatic relations and invade the embassy to arrest Mr. Assange.

Since WikiLeaks’ founding, it has revealed the “Collateral Murder” footage that shows the seemingly indiscriminate killing of Baghdad civilians by a United States Apache attack helicopter; further fine-grained detail about the true face of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; United States collusion with Yemen’s dictatorship to conceal our responsibility for bombing strikes there; the Obama administration’s pressure on other nations not to prosecute Bush-era officials for torture; and much more.

Predictably, the response from those who would prefer that Americans remain in the dark has been ferocious. Top elected leaders from both parties have called Mr. Assange a “high-tech terrorist.” And Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who leads the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has demanded that he be prosecuted under the Espionage Act. Most Americans, Britons and Swedes are unaware that Sweden has not formally charged Mr. Assange with any crime. Rather, it has issued a warrant for his arrest to question him about allegations of sexual assault in 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/opinion/wikileaks-and-the-global-future-of-free-speech.html?_r=4
more at link

August 21, 2012

Judge: Mangano can't slash employee benefits (LI, NY)

A federal court judge suspended a Nassau law Monday that would allow County Executive Edward Mangano to slash negotiated employee benefits, saying it "places a knife to the throat of the unions."

U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt issued a preliminary injunction preventing the law from taking effect in regard to the county's five labor unions. Spatt also indicated that if the county continues its court fight, he would likely rule that the law violates the U.S. Constitution's contract clause and make the injunction permanent. In his decision, Spatt referred to the clause, which says no state shall pass any law "impairing the obligation of contracts."

Spatt wrote, "The mere passage of this (Nassau) law renders the collective bargaining agreements essentially meaningless and makes the contracts less binding, or not binding at all, on the county. The likelihood of success on this constitutional deprivation is so great that irreparable harm is inevitably shown."

Union leaders cheered Spatt's ruling.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/judge-mangano-can-t-slash-employee-benefits-1.3916683

August 21, 2012

Paul Ryan's budget: 4 ways it proves he's not a fiscal mastermind

Mitt Romney's running mate has a reputation as a serious policy intellectual, but critics say his budget is just fuzzy math and magical thinking

Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate, is often characterized as the "Wonk King of the Republicans" — an expert on fiscal policy who enjoys perusing CBO budget estimates in his free time. The Wisconsin Republican's budget, titled "The Path to Prosperity," has been praised for its unflinching proposals to steer America away from a deficit abyss, particularly via a radical overhaul of Medicare and Medicaid. Ryan's critics, however, see the congressman as a salesman who has assiduously cultivated an image as a sensible wonk, but is really an ideological crusader using the aura of accounting to mask his tax cuts for the rich and spending cuts for the poor. Paul Krugman, the Nobel-winning economist and liberal stalwart, says Ryan merely "scribbled some stuff down, without checking at all to see if it makes sense," while David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director, says Ryan's plan is a fairy tale "devoid of credible math." Here, four ways Ryan's budget prove he's not the wonky fiscal mastermind he purports to be:

1. Ryan's numbers don't add up
2. His budget would balloon the national debt
3. He's performing some Medicare magic
4. He hopes to shrink the government to an unrealistic degree

more at link
http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryans-budget-4-ways-proves-hes-not-140400303.html

August 20, 2012

Tea Party Express: Akin ‘Should Step Down’

The Tea Party Express, the nation's largest tea party super PAC, is urging Todd Akin to drop out of the Missouri Senate race, citing the 2010 losses of tea party candidates like Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell to make their case in a press release Monday.

“One of the lessons we learned in 2010 is that we need candidates who are not only conservative, but are capable of putting together a strong campaign against liberal opponents," Amy Kremer, the group's chairwoman, said in a statement. Kremer followed Connie Mack's lead in comparing Akin's comments to ones made by Vice President Joe Biden last week: "Akin’s frequent ‘Bidenisms’ are distracting from the important issues at hand."

“Congressman Akin’s comments this weekend are not just unfortunate and inappropriate, but they are distracting from our main goal of defeating Claire McCaskill and taking the Senate gavel out of the hands of Harry Reid. At a time when our national debt is approaching $16 trillion, job growth is stagnate, and the Senate has failed to pass a budget in over 3 years, we need a candidate that is ready to help lead the charge for conservative solutions," Kremer said.

”It is critical that we defeat Senator Claire McCaskill in November, but it will be too difficult to achieve that with Todd Akin as the conservative alternative. He should step down and give conservatives a chance at taking back the Senate in November."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/tea-party-express-akin-should-step-down

August 20, 2012

In a bad sign for Todd Akin,Crossroads yanks Missouri ads

Another ominous sign for embattled Missouri GOP Senate candidate Todd Akin: the heavyweight conservative groups American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS are pulling out of the state and halting their advertising against Akin’s opponent, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

“The act speaks for itself,” Crossroads spokesman Nate Hodson said Monday.

Akin caused a furor Sunday after suggesting in a television interview that women who have experienced “legitimate rape” can biologically prevent a pregnancy.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-todd-akin-crossroads-gps-pullout-20120820,0,3641306.story

August 20, 2012

Rehberg Gives Akin Donation To Teen Pregnancy Center

Rep. Denny Rehberg, the Republican candidate for Senate in Montana, will donate $5,000 that he received from Todd Akin's PAC to a teen pregnancy center, Politico reports.

Rehberg got a $5,000 contribution earlier this cycle from Akin's Takin Back America PAC. That sum will now go to the Florence Crittenton Center in Helena, according to Rehberg's campaign.

The center "provides a wide variety of resources for pregnant and parenting teens and their children, as well as young families," the organization's 's website says.

Rehberg had already condemned Akin's statement Sunday night:

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rehberg-gives-akin-donation-to-teen-pregnancy-center

August 20, 2012

Obama Victory Fund Raised $30M In July

The Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee consisting of President Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, raised $30.4 million dollars in the month of July, per an FEC report that was filed today.
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00494740/805999/

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-victory-fund-raised-30m-in-july

August 20, 2012

Doctors appalled over Rep. Akin's comments that 'legitimate rape' prevents pregnancy

Source: NBC

(snip)
Physicians and rape experts say there’s no way the trauma of rape would prevent pregnancy from occurring.

“If a woman’s ovaries have already released an egg, she’s just as likely to get pregnant from a rape as she would be from a voluntary encounter,” Dr. Barbara Levy, vice president for health policy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told NBC News. “From the biological standpoint, a woman is at risk for pregnancy if she’s at a vulnerable point in her menstrual cycle when the rape occurs.”

(snip)
“My first reaction was OMG,” said Dr. Amy Rosenman, an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA. “It’s unbelievable. Stuff like that is from the dark ages...there is no physiologic method that prevents pregnancy in the case of rape. If there is an egg available and there are sperm available and they meet, then pregnancy occurs. The ovary and the ovum cannot differentiate sperm from friend or foe.”

In fact, each year 32,000 pregancies result from rape each year, according to an article published in 1996 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Read more: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/20/13378579-doctors-appalled-over-rep-akins-comments-that-legitimate-rape-prevents-pregnancy?lite