Rob Borbidge, former Premier of Queensland, put his political career on the line in order to take a stand for gun control in Australia.
Meanwhile, American politicians bow under the pressure put on them by the NRA.
“Look, there are Australians alive today because we took that action. I mean, how much is a life worth?”
(via laughterkey)
EPA chief Lisa Jackson suddenly resigned last week because she was convinced that President Obama is planning to green-light the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, The Post has learned.
If this is what we get for winning an election, I’d hate to see what losing looks like.
I’m about to blow a rage gasket, if this is true.
Nicholas Kristof, “Profiting From a Child’s Illiteracy”
22% is a frightening, shameful number.
(via thelifeguardlibrarian)
(Source: The New York Times, via thelifeguardlibrarian)
(Source: skrullings, via virginiachance)
Chris Howard: America really looks like this - I was looking at the amazing 2012 election maps created by Mark Newman (Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012 ), and although there is a very interesting blended voting map (Most of the country is some shade of purple, a varied blend of Democrat blue and Republican red) what I really wanted was this blended map with a population density overlay. Because what really stands out is how red the nation seems to be when you do not take the voting population into account; when you do so many of those vast red mid-west blocks fade into pale pink and lavender (very low population).
So I created a new map using Mark’s blended voting map based on the actual numbers of votes for each party overlaid with population maps from Texas Tech University and other sources.
Here’s the result—what the American political voting distribution really looks like.
Oh hey look at all those blue spots in those “red” states. This is why it makes me ridiculously angry that Democrats just abandon the South to its right-wing fate.
I’ll be coming back to this, I’m sure.
This happened in March 2012. The memory of my fury & disgust over this exchange at the time quieted a bit with my vote this morning. Because this kind of man is in the party that would take away my rights to make my own choices. And I sure as hell didn’t vote for that party.
Faces of the Voted: The Rockaways, Queens
“Here in the Rockaways, people are voting in the dark. There are no lights, there is no heat.”
It was how NPR’s Robert Smith described the situation at the polls early this morning, in the Rockaways, which is in one of the regions hardest hit by Sandy’s wrath. Of the 38 polling stations relocated in Queens, 23 are here — in tents, outdoors, running on generators, or some without heat at all.
(via thelifeguardlibrarian)
Three intelligent, educated women have told me JUST THIS MORNING that they are having nightmares about what will happen if Romney is elected.
That’s right. Nightmares. The kind that wake you up out of a dead sleep because you’re that close to falling off a building or you are falling off a building or you’re being chased to the point of hyperventilation.
Don’t give me bullshit about economic policy if you choose to reblog this.
If Romney is elected and has the opportunity to place a man on the Supreme Court (and he will place a conservative right-wing man not a woman or a minority or a rational human being), the lives of women around the world will be affected.
He will take away our rights to make decisions for ourselves. He will legislate that we are less-than adult, less-than intelligent, and less-than capable.
It’s not about one medical procedure or the circumstances under which that procedure may happen. It’s about having the right to say “this is my body and I get to decide what to do with it.”
In your heart, you can tell yourself, “well my husband/father/brother/boyfriend would never make me do something I don’t want,” and excuse your vote for economic philosophy or whatever to yourself.
But you know what?
We are not alone.
And there are women whose husbands/fathers/brothers/boyfriends would make them do something they don’t want to do.
This lack of choice - it does not only apply to my right to do what I want with my body. It applies to the man who wants to marry his boyfriend. It applies to the women who have been in a committed relationship for a decade and want to adopt a child.
It applies to every person who wants to be equal with every other person they encounter.
Also, I wrote this because I am seriously concerned that I might have an ulcer that’s been caused by (drinking and popping Aleve and) the debates. Or it’s gas.
That said, it’s ridiculous how certain experiences in my life caused me less anxiety than all this political stuff is right now. Instead of criticizing me for being selfish and having a high forehead, my sisters are now calling me a heathen elitist socialist evil moron.
IT’S STRESSING ME OUT.
(Source: thebrittaoftimelines, via paperclippe)
The DNC released a new microsite this morning: RomneyTaxPlan.com.
Good luck getting the details.
You have to admit, it’s kind of brilliant.
(via flavorpill)
