Virginia Republicans Gov. Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli have gotten their way; the state board of health has followed their directives to approve the unnecessary abortion provider regulations proposed by the state legislature, which are meant to close as many abortion clinics in the state as possible. Just a few months later, the effects of that legislation are already being felt.

Original image

Hillcrest Clinic has offered safe, legal abortion care for four decades. But now that care will be coming to an end. Hillcrest recently announced it would not be seeking renewal of its license, deciding that the new architectural regulations required by the state—widening hallways, changing the size of rooms, adding specialized sinks and sprinklers—would be too much of a financial burden.

…snip…

Because it is so early, it’s unclear how many other clinics may follow in Hillcrest’s footsteps. After Pennsylvania passed a similar targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) law, the state went from 22 clinics down to 13, and some of the clinics that remained open had to stop accepting patients for periods of time while renovations were completed.

The clinics that do stay open are likely to see those doorways darkened by abortion opponents. Hillcrest had long seen anti-choice protesters at its building. With the closure, those anti-choice protesters are going to look for a new place to roost.

At a Senate hearing on gun violence Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was humiliated by a police chief who abruptly interrupted his talking points to insist that he’s “wrong” on how enhanced background checks for gun buyers would work.

Echoing the National Rifle Association, Graham argued before the Senate Judiciary Committee that enhanced background checks are not needed because the laws currently on the books are not enforced well enough.

“When almost 80,000 people fail a background check and 44 people are prosecuted, what kind of deterrent is that?” he asked. “I mean, the law obviously is not seeing that as important, if it’s such an important issue, why aren’t we prosecuting people who fail a background check?”

Original image

Prepare to get spanked, Lindseypoo!

“Just for the record, from my point of view, the point of a background check…” Milwaukee police chief Edward A. Flynn began. “Senator…”

“How many cases have you made?” Graham pressed. “How many cases have…”

“You know what?” Flynn said. “It doesn’t matter. It’s a paper thing.”

“Can I ask the questions?” Graham interjected.

“I want to finish the answer,” Flynn replied.

“I want to stop 76,000 people from buying guns illegally,” he said. “That’s what a background check does. If you think we’re going to do paperwork prosecutions, you’re wrong.”

The Senate committee’s audience erupted into applause, which committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinsten (D-CA) asked to quiet down.

…snip…

At a prior Senate gun hearing in January, Graham bragged that he personally owns an AR-15 assault rifle, the same customizable assault rifle platform that was used to kill 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut.

Oh, Lindseypoo, are you really that frightened of getting primaried by some whackadoodle Teabagger?  Is keeping your seat in the Senate more important than protecting little kids and innocent people?  Or do you just think that having an AR-15 assault rifle actually makes you look manly?

When Sen. Marco Rubio took that awkward break from his State of the Union response to take a sip of water, some questioned whether it would mean the end of his political career. Instead, Rubio has shown how to capitalize on a viral sensation—even one that made him look bad—to raise some cash. The Florida senator has now raised more than $100,000 for his Reclaim America political action committee by offering a branded water bottle to anyone who donates $25 or more.

Original movie poster
(Click on image for larger version)

I have questions, kids.  For example:

Polish Spring?  What’s wrong with American Spring or, at the very least, Freedom Spring?

Is Marco Rubio a Rethuglican because he has the same ears as Dumbo?  Seriously, I wouldn’t want to stand next to him in a strong windstorm.

Does he have any other credentials other than being Cuban?

Why does Dumbo Rubio love PACs so much?  Keep reading, kids…

From THE HUFFINGTON POST:

WASHINGTON — Addressing the nation on Tuesday night, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio came with a simple message.

“More government isn’t going to create more opportunities. It’s going to limit them. And more government isn’t going to inspire new ideas, new businesses and new private sector jobs,” Rubio said. “More government isn’t going to help you get ahead. It’s going to hold you back.”

That might be true for you. But it’s not true for Marco Rubio.

For Rubio, a rising star in the Republican Party, more government did indeed create more opportunities. As the Tampa Bay Times reported during his U.S. Senate run in 2010, it’s hard to determine with Rubio where politics stops and the private begins:

As Rubio climbed the ranks, he began to use little-noticed political committees to fund his travel and other expenses and later had a Republican Party of Florida credit card.

What emerged, records show, is a pattern of blending personal and political spending. Over and over again Rubio proved sloppy, at best, in complying with disclosure requirements.

Virtually broke, the 31-year-old lawmaker began campaigning to be House speaker in 2003 and created a political committee — Floridians for Conservative Leadership — to help elect other Republican candidates and curry their support.

With his wife serving as treasurer, Rubio did not wait for the state to authorize the committee before accepting campaign donations.

The committee listed its address as Rubio’s home, a modest place he and his wife bought in West Miami in 2002, but reported spending nearly $85,000 in office and operating costs and $65,000 for administrative costs.

Over 18 months, nearly $90,000 went for political consultants, $51,000 went for credit card payments and $4,000 went to other candidates. That’s less than the $5,700 that went to his wife, Jeanette, much of it for “gas and meals.” (Mrs. Rubio does not work and the couple file joint tax returns.)

…snip…

HuffPost has previously noted the extent to which the government and private sector overlap for Rubio:

• Rubio’s law firm lobbied on behalf of an earmark sponsored by Rubio.
• Rubio earmarked money to Florida International University and later got an unadvertised job as a part-time professor at the school. The former school president, Mitch Maidique, said Rubio was “worth every penny.”
• Rubio inserted special language at the behest of his friend Max Alvarez to help him win a turnpike contract.
• After appropriating millions of dollars to Miami Children’s and Jackson Memorial Hospitals, Rubio formed a lobby shop and got contracts with the hospitals.

…snip…

In his speech Tuesday, Rubio spoke about the desire to defend his neighbors from Obama’s tax-and-spend policies. “Mr. President, I still live in the same working class neighborhood I grew up in. My neighbors aren’t millionaires,” he said.

Rubio recently put his house up for sale for un-working-class price $675,000. His spokesman told The Daily Caller that he hopes to use the money to buy a house in Washington.

Eric Cantor, the often combative second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, sought on Tuesday to rebrand himself and his party, voicing hope that they can work with President Barack Obama for the sake of all Americans.

While not wavering from his conservative principles and desire to tame the record U.S. debt, Cantor expressed a new eagerness to help the needy in such areas as education, health care, immigration and moving up the economic ladder.

“Over the next two years, the House (Republican) majority will pursue an agenda based on a shared vision of creating the conditions for health, happiness and prosperity for more Americans and their families,” Cantor said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.

Because Widdle Ewic and his merry band of Ayn Randian teabaggers are all about health, happiness, and prosperity for everyone [insert eyeroll here].

Original DVD cover
(From Left to right in back, top row: Paul Broun, Trent Franks, Joe Wilson. Bottom row: Louie Gohmert, Steve King)

Some Democrats mocked Cantor’s bid to “rebrand” his party, with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer noting that it was at least Cantor’s fourth time to do so.

…snip…

The House Republican leader did not endorse immigration reforms backed by Obama but voiced an openness on the matter.

Cantor said he favored providing “an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home.”

That appeared to represent a reversal for Cantor, who in 2010 voted against the Dream Act, which would have cleared the way for such young people to remain in the United States.

Cantor gave little ground on any of the other differences between House Republicans and Obama in his speech, which his office billed as a major policy address. But he offered a marked change in tone and a new willingness to get things done on a number of fronts important to voters.

…snip…

As Cantor spoke, Republicans and Obama exchanged barbs in their latest standoff over deficit reduction, one likely to lead to $85 billion in damaging across-the-board budget cuts in March.

Cantor made only passing reference to the bitter fights with Obama over “cliffs, debt ceilings and budgets” in which he has played such a visible role.

…snip…

Cantor, 49, from Virginia is widely seen as a possible successor to Ohio‘s John Boehner, 63, as House Speaker, the chamber’s top job.

While the two insist that they have a close working relationship, at times they have offered competing visions. On Tuesday, however, Boehner said they were on the same page.

…snip…

During the past two years, the White House has tried to make Cantor the face of the unpopular Republican House, and has made it clear that Obama prefers working with Boehner.

Here was the magic moment:

Thanks so much to all the Raisinettes.  ♥

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 36,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 8 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Michele Bachmann, who had more than $2 million in her congressional campaign account at the end of November, is embroiled in a dispute with a former presidential campaign aide over back pay of $916.

In what had been a private matter that has now become a nasty public squabble, Peter Waldron, who served as Bachmann for President national field coordinator, contends he is among five former Iowa staffers whom Bachmann has refused to pay unless they sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding campaign activity in Iowa.

Original DVD cover

Waldron, an evangelical activist, exposed the dispute in a Jan. 10 press release issued from his Tampa office. He said while Bachmann’s campaign finance chairman James Pollack had promised payment several times, no payment ever came. He said he appealed to Bachmann and congressional staff to no avail.

…snip…

Bachmann, R-Stillwater, is a defendant in a lawsuit filed last summer alleging that Bachmann’s Iowa campaign chairman stole an email database belonging to The Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators.

…snip…

On Wednesday, Waldron said he had filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, accusing Bachmann for President of campaign violations and extortion. The complaint alleges the Bachmann campaign attempted to hide payments of $7,500 a month to its Iowa campaign chairman and that there was illegal coordination between a Bachmann campaign staffer and an independent political action committee.”Bachmann for President denies the allegations contained in the complaint filed with the FEC and intends to file an appropriate response,” said William McGinley, a lawyer with Patton Boggs LLP. “We are confident this matter will be resolved in the campaign’s favor.”

Here’s the most hilarious part, kids:  from CITY PAGES:

In an interview with BuzzFeed Politics, Peter Waldron, Michele Bachmann’s National Field Coordinator during her ill-fated presidential campaign, says that Michele developed an “unnatural” and “Rasputin-like” relationship with her former debate coach, Brett O’Donnell.

Here are direct quotes from Waldron’s email to BuzzFeed:

[Bachmann's former debate coach, Brett O'Donnell] prohibited her husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann, from sleeping in the same room with wife while on the campaign trail. He prohibited legendary consultants Ed Rollins and Ed Goeas from attending debate prep sessions. He told her when she could get off the bus, he wrote most of the words that came out of her mouth, he wrote all of her speeches…

Frankly, Brett exercised ‘Rasputin-like control over Michele [sic]. More than one staffer was grateful to God that she didn’t win the nomination because of the influence that Brett had over her…

He attempted to re-shape Mrs. Bachmann’s personality from her popular 2010 to spring 2011 into his own image. Pastors in IA and SC complained to me privately that Mrs. Bachmann spent too much time alone with Brett, they even criticized the times the two of them held hands to pray apart from others.

(Emphasis mine)

SAYREVILLE, N.J. — Since Hurricane Sandy devastated his beloved state, Chris Christie, the bombastic, shout-first-worry-later Republican, has gone soft on President Obama.

When a resident in this hard-hit town approached Christie on Wednesday to complain that FEMA had failed to help his neighborhood in the past, the governor assured him that his buddy in the Oval Office would make it right.

“Don’t you worry, pal,” said Christie [...] “I will be with the president this afternoon.”

Hurricanes are scary!!

Original image

The sudden love-in between Christie and Obama entered its second day Wednesday, when the two surveyed the destruction from helicopters that glided over submerged streets, blown-out windows, and homes flattened and aflame. They walked together and posed for photos with locals and schoolkids along the coast, with Christie taking the lead, connecting physically and emotionally and acting like the president’s ambassador to his cherished New Jerseyans.

…snip…

At a subsequent news conference in front of a pile of boats at the Brigantine marina, Christie thanked the president for their “great working relationship” and said Obama had “sprung into action immediately.”

Christie would spring into action, too, but his springs broke about 100 pounds ago.

Original image

A Springsteen-quoting Jersey native, Christie has won the hearts of conservatives for pushing tough fiscal measures, including deep cuts that were setbacks for unions, through a Democratic legislature. He has also relished his role berating anyone and everyone who stands in his way.

That has often included the president. As a leading surrogate for Republican Mitt Romney, Christie has been a regular critic of Obama on the campaign trail.

At a Romney rally 10 days (and a seeming lifetime) ago, the governor offered that Obama is “blindly walking around the White House looking for a clue,” adding that “he’s like a man wandering around a dark room, hands up against the wall, clutching for the light switch of leadership, and he just can’t find it.”

Now he is more apt to describe his relationship with Obama as “wonderful,” as he did in the aftermath of the disaster.

Original image

Whether or not there is a political motivation here for the governor, there is certainly a potentially big benefit. Insofar as he is talked about as a serious contender in the 2016 presidential race — he nearly took the plunge this year — putting himself above politics to help his home state in a time of disaster is the sort of thing that voters tend to admire.

The friendship is also not a bad development for Obama. With only a week until the election, the president doesn’t seem to be the least bit bothered to have one of the most charismatic figures in the Republican Party at his side. The obvious odd man out is Romney.