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The Personhood Mississippi logo (Pic via Facebook) Despite past statements to the contrary, some “fetal personhood” supporters are now admitting that, if enacted, their legislation would likely not only outlaw abortion, but some forms of birth control, as well. Supporters of Mississippi’s “personhood” bill have long argued that it would only outlaw abortion, but many critics say that the vague wording of Amendment 26 (which would give fertilized human eggs legal status) would likely outlaw birth control pills. Speaking with NPR’s Diane Rehm yesterday, Personhood spokesperson Walter Hoye stated that if birth control ends the life of a “human being,” it would indeed be impacted by the measure

On Friday, Amazon discontinued its affiliation with websites in Connecticut and Arkansas in retaliation to new legislation in both states that attempts to

In what has become an all-too-familiar refrain among the more radical members of the anti-abortion movement, Personhood Mississippi is comparing abortion rights to slavery. A website touting Mississippi’s Amendment 26 says that, at its core, the “Personhood” movement is about challenging legal decisions: “When a court makes a horribly unjust, immoral, and unconstitutional ruling , it should not be allowed to stand in perpetuity – if so, we would still be treating some African Americans as property because of Dred Scott.” In a blog post on Colorlines , Akiba Solomon writes that the group is perverting black history in its to fight to end abortion.

The ACLU of Michigan has filed a lawsuit against Genesee County challenging the constitutionality of restrictions on where Michigan residents could distribute petitions to recall Gov. Rick Snyder. According to the ACLU, the Genesee County Parks department told a petitioner that she could only solicit for signatures in a 3X3 area of a 165 acre park in the county and also has a rule requiring those who distribute petitions in public parks to get a permit to do so

Democratic members of Congress balked at being called socialists during a debate on Friday over the Republicans’ proposed budget and the Progressive Caucus’ proposed budget. Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama accused the progressives in Congress of being socialists who are putting America “at risk.” Rep.

Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote to President Obama yesterday urging him to block the impending release of photographs showing

While President Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy review gets underway in earnest, several Afghan ministers are on their way to Washington for meetings with

Here’s a head-scratching quote from today’s Politico piece on how Republicans struggle to deal with conspiracy theorists who don’t think Barack Obama is a

At today’s just-begun Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Afghanistan, Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass.), the committee chairman, subtly implored the Obama

As I clicked publish on Art’s TV-pushes-the-vaccines-autism-line post a minute ago, I noticed CNN was airing a press conference held by parents of an autistic

A new report shows the state’s general fund took in $5.8 billion in the fiscal year that ended in July, $319.8 million or 5.8 percent more than in the previous fiscal year. The report from the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency notes that total is $45.5 million more than projected by the Revenue Estimating Conference for fiscal year 2011. The REC in March estimated a similar increase in general fund revenue for the current fiscal year: $309.6 million, pushing total revenues from $5.8 billion to $6.12 billion

A round-up report for 2011 found that last year was one of the worst for reproductive health and reproductive rights across the country. The Guttmacher Institute reports that a record-setting “1,100 reproductive health and rights-related provisions” were introduced by state legislators last year

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemns D.C.’s most famous psychic octopus. Rod Blagojevich is not corrupt; he’s just not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Now

An official familiar with the task force’s work cautioned that experienced interrogators on the task force believe that a narrow focus missed the point of interrogation work.

Although Eric Holder has been careful not to say he made a mistake in recommending a pardon for the members of FALN, a Puerto Rican paramilitary group regarded

At last night’s reception for the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s Hold Their Feet to the Fire campaign, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) gave a spirited

Greg Sargent has the scoop on an internal GOP poll that tests the effectiveness of attacks on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) credibility on the

As part of my continuing quest to one-up Laura McGann -- you guys have been reading her great Alaska stuff, right? -- I’ve got an announcement. By this time

Laura Rozen at the Cable has the scoop. This will provide an interesting test of the Clintons’ marriage. Will the Haitian government view Clinton’s envoyship

New York Republican Congressman Peter King said the point of the controversial Homeland Security Committee “Islamic radicalization” hearings he is holding this week is to discover how Muslim Americans can help fight terrorism. He got an answer from Keith Ellison, a Muslim Representative from Minnesota, who broke down this morning and sobbed during testimony.