“Politics have no place in health care”: Excuse me, are you *new*?!?

by Doctor Science

I didn’t post about The Great Komen Foundation vs. Planned Parenthood Clash of the Titans last week, mostly because D & I both had viral gastroenteritis. It was vile, but at least the kids didn’t get it.

Clash

A stained-glass window of Clash of the Titans, made for Ray Harryhausen’s house. I completely agree with Medusa.

Ta-Nehisi Coates noted that Planned Parenthood has a very deep bench:

I don’t think that Handel, or her allies, quite understood the nature of their adversaries. I mentioned this in comments the other day but it’s interesting to look at how Planned Parenthood has weathered under targeting from the Right, as compared with other groups. This is not like ACORN. Whatever their significant work in poor communities and black and Latino communities, Planned Parenthood has touched women across race and across class, and thus indirectly, touched men across race and class too.

I am one of those women.

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My mid-week shocker

by liberal japonicus This article, about the reinvention of malls, was moving past my eyes, when this paragraph appeared: A new enclosed mall has not opened in the United States since 2006, according to Professor Dunham-Jones, and many ambitious projects, like New Jersey’s Xanadu just west of Manhattan, have lain half-finished for years. (emphasis mine) … Read more

What do libertarians have against my marriage?

by Doctor Science In the last open thread, Matt McIrwin linked to a report about NH’s same-sex marriage debate: Rep. Seth Cohn, a Canterbury Republican who moved here as part of the Free State project, a libertarian movement to relocate to New Hampshire … said he plans to introduce an amendment on the House floor … Read more

Remix at the Super Bowl

by Doctor Science

When I heard the halftime show at the Super Bowl would be Madonna, I knew it was going to be something pretty flamboyant in the way of over-the-top entertainment. But I didn’t imagine that it was going to be a fannish remix.

To refresh your memory, or to let you see it for the first time:

(behind the cut: videos, also an image of classical artistic nudity)

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Your they write letters Friday open thread

This letter (picked up from Yahoo news), from a former slave answering his master's request that he return is the topic of today's open thread.  Apart from the wonderful window it opens up on history (and the exquisitely modulated sarcasm, excerpting it here would not do the letter justice), it provides a jumping off point for whatever … Read more