31% of Detroit Pregnancies Aborted

Nearly one-third of all pregnancies in the city of Detroit end in abortion, a statistic public health officials blame on rising poverty and dwindling access to affordable contraception.

Of an estimated 18,360 pregnancies among Detroit residents in 2012, the most recent year for which data are available, 5,693 ended in abortion, or 31 percent.

During that same year, an estimated 160,219 pregnancies were reported in Michigan, with 22,699 abortions.

That translates into a Detroit abortion rate — the number of abortions by population, including women who weren’t pregnant that year — of 37.9 per 1,000 women aged 15-44. That’s up from 27.5 per 1,000 women in 2001.

It’s a staggering three times greater than Michigan’s statewide rate, which declined from 12.6 abortions per 1,000 women during child-bearing years, to 11 per 1,000, over the same period.



http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140522/LIFESTYLE03/305220030#ixzz32fDMgBGL

How the NRA Enables Massacres

After attending the NRA's Convention in Indianapolis, I wrote recently in these pages about all the NRA does to encourage paranoia and hatred while selling the weaponry not of self protection or hunting, but war, to anyone with a stack of bills and a glint in their eye.

But this past week we've seen the other side of the coin. How the NRA works to suppress information that would lead to treating a public health catastrophe that claims over 30,000 lives per year and injures over 100,000 as that very thing, while fighting to ensure we have as little access to information as possible that might help save lives.

The simple fact is, much like with their friends on the right from the tobacco industry to the oil industry to the megachurch, science and information are the enemies of the NRA. They have proven they will do whatever it takes to make sure we have less of it, and more Santa Barbaras.

The clearest example, of course, is the NRA's labeling a bill sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) to allow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to once again use its considerable expertise to research gun violence prevention, “unethical.” Yes, they actually said that.

Because anyone who does statistically significant research on a public health problem from the angle of helping people and not profiting from misery, and again and again finds obvious truths such as owning guns makes you more likely to get shot, is not someone the NRA and its allies will countenance without smearing. I debated one of these types from the Second Amendment Foundation on NPR recently regarding the CDC. It is amazing how tongue-tied they get when you present them with irrefutable information.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/24/the-nra-s-all-out-assault-on-accurate-information-about-gun-deaths.html

Alleged stalker wins Republican Senate nomination in Oregon.

Reports in local and national news outlets about harassment complaints from her ex-husband and an ex-boyfriend did little to injure her campaign in its last week. Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon, had long been the frontrunner in the race, especially after running a series of emotional campaign ads that stressed her medical experience and condemned the Democratic Party's positions on health care.

Wehby finished her victory speech tonight with, "Keep your doctor, change your senator," riffing on the "keep your plan" line that plagued the White House during the Affordable Care Act's rollout.

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney endorsed Wehby in early May. Many other senators have donated money to her campaign — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sens. Kelly Ayotte, John McCain, Susan Collins and Saxby Chambliss — believing she could run a strong race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley in a moderate state.

Before the polls closed in the state on Tuesday evening, Merkley's campaign released a statement that said the Republican primary candidates were "deeply flawed" and "support a national Republican agenda that would hurt Oregon." Merkley, who won his first race in 2008 after a boost from the Obama campaign's coattails, has been seen as a more vulnerable candidate given Obama's dampening approval ratings. The Washington Post Election Lab currently gives him a 93 percent chance of winning the race.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/05/21/monica-wehby-wins-republican-senate-primary-in-oregon/

Ruling allowing gay marriage in Pa. won't be appealed by state attorney general

Pennsylvania's ban on gay marriage was overturned by a federal judge Tuesday in a decision that legalizes same-sex marriage throughout the Northeast. Pennsylvania's Attorney General Kathleen Kane says she won't appeal.

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III called the plaintiffs — a widow, 11 couples and one of the couples' two teenage daughters — courageous. "We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history," Jones wrote of the 1996 state ban.

Kane released a statement in support of Jones' ruling:

"Inequality in any form is unacceptable and it has never stood the test of time. I have remained steadfast in my decision not to defend Pennsylvania's Defense of Marriage Act because I made a legal determination as to the unconstitutionality of this law. I am pleased that a learned legal mind such as Judge Jones ruled similarly."

Jones declined to put his ruling on hold during a potential appeal by the governor's office, which defended the ban in court. The order was therefore expected to go into immediate effect Tuesday, unless Republican Gov. Tom Corbett successfully moved for a stay while he appealed.


http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/05/ruling_allowing_gay_marriage_i.html

Chipotle Courts Controversy With Pro-Gay and Antigun Stances

Chipotle delivered a controversy-stoking double whammy for the right wing this month by running a new ad supporting LGBT equality and taking a stance against customers carrying firearms in its restaurants, reports The New Civil Rights Movement.

Following an outrageous stunt pulled by members of the pro-gun Texas group Open Carry Tarrant County – who walked into a Dallas-area Chipotle and frightened customers earlier this month as they posed for Facebook photos in the restaurant’s dining room with semiautomatic handguns – the fast-food chain issued a statement requesting that customers refrain from bringing guns into its restaurants.

“Recently participants from an ‘open carry’ demonstration in Texas brought guns (including military-style assault rifles) into one of our restaurants, causing many of our customers anxiety and discomfort,” Chipotle officials wrote in the statement. “Because of this, we are respectfully asking that customers not bring guns into our restaurants, unless they are authorized law enforcement personnel.”

Gun rights activists immediately took to Twitter, calling for a boycott of the restaurant chain.

However, Chipotle’s courting of controversy with the right didn’t end there. The company released a new ad supporting LGBT equality (pictured above) that is bound to ignite a One Million Moms hissy fit any moment.

As The New Civil Rights Movement points out, Chipotle’s move to support LGBT rights in its marketing efforts is a bold one, as the company does not have the financial strength of a top 10 fast-food chain. It had $327 million in sales last year from approximately 1,600 locations and is still growing.


http://www.advocate.com/business/2014/05/20/chipotle-courts-controversy-pro-gay-and-antigun-stances

Chinese Country Western. No, it's not a joke. (VIDEO)

I absolutely LOVE Orange is the New Black!!

I just spent the last weekend binge-watching the first season and was simply BLOWN AWAY. I don't think I have any more words for it.

Just cast my California primary ballot.

I proudly voted for Jerry Brown who is running the hell out of this state and look forward to doing it again in November.

EPA Employee Downloaded 7,000 Files Of Porn At Work And Watched Them 2-6 Hours A Day

An employee at the Environmental Protection Agency allegedly downloaded over 7,000 files of pornography on a government computer and watched them two to six hours per day, the agency's investigative unit revealed Wednesday.

"When an OIG special agent arrived at this employee’s work space to conduct an interview, the special agent witnessed the employee actively viewing pornography on his government-issued computer," Allan Williams, deputy assistant inspector general for investigations at the EPA, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"Subsequently, the employee confessed to spending, on average, between two and six hours per day viewing pornography while at work," he added.

The improper conduct emerged as a result of a broader investigation into the agency following the 2013 conviction of senior EPA official John Beale, who falsely claimed to have been working for the CIA and defrauded the agency out of almost $900,000 in pay and benefits.

The employee's identity has not yet been released pending an ongoing Justice Department investigation, but he is still on the government's payroll earning about $120,000 per year.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) expressed outrage at EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe during the Wednesday hearing, demanding to know why the employee hasn't been terminated yet.

"Fire him! What's the question?" Chaffetz said.

"We need to wait for the inspector general's report. I don't know if they're going to send him a criminal notice," Perciasepe responded.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/porn-epa-employee_n_5283106.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Someone remind me I should be grateful that I'm working.

Because right now that's all my job has going for it.