Matt Yglesias asks a good question about contraception

New Research On Male Contraceptives | ThinkProgress: "But isn’t the real issue with male contraceptives the question of trust? After all, if something goes wrong, it’s the woman who ends up pregnant and has a lot more on the line."

On Keeping The Nation Secure

The Right in this country keeps claiming things like :

Democratic governments have many demands on tax dollars, but none is more important than defending the lives and security of our citizenry.

Sadly, they tend to define this in very narrow, mainly military, terms. I would like to expand it somewhat and offer the following list as belonging in that category.

• Security from bankruptcy due to medical bills
• Security from poisoning due to tainted food
• Security from poisoning due to polluted air and water
• Security from having a bank foreclose on your house even though they don't hold the note
• Security from having their email read and phone calls listened to
• Security from dying of heat because they cannot afford the electricity needed to keep them cool
• Security from being discriminated against because they want to marry someone that happens to be of the same sex

I could go on for pages but won't. I don't expect any of my conservative friends to agree with me but I do expect them to start to think a little more broadly about what security means.

Jennifer Rubin Doubles Down on the Stupid

Evil in Norway. - Right Turn - The Washington Post:

That the suspect here is a blond Norwegian does not support the proposition that we can rest easy with regard to the panoply of threats we face or that homeland security, intelligence and traditional military can be pruned back. To the contrary, the world remains very dangerous because very bad people will do horrendous things. There are many more jihadists than blond Norwegians out to kill Americans, and we should keep our eye on the systemic and far more potent threats that stem from an ideological war with the West.

This is in her followup to the initial story in which she blamed it on Islamists. No apology. No backing off her analysis. Full speed ahead!

Ladies and gentlemen, I have called people hacks before and I was wrong. This is what a hack looks like. She was proved wrong by events and pulls a Goldbergian "that is central to my point" out of her ass and carries on.

Wow.

On David Wu

Sources: Young woman accuses Oregon Rep. David Wu of aggressive, unwanted sexual encounter | OregonLive.com:

"A distraught young woman called U.S. Rep. David Wu's Portland office this spring, accusing him of an unwanted sexual encounter, according to multiple sources.

When confronted, the Oregon Democrat acknowledged a sexual encounter to his senior aides but insisted it was consensual, the sources said."

19 year old women do not generally have consensual sex with 56 year old men. This story doesn't pass the smell test and I am guessing that it is a very short period of time before we see the tearful entry into rehab followed quickly by resignation.

Vince Cable On US Default Negotiations

Cable attacks 'right wing nutters' | UK news | guardian.co.uk:

"But he added: 'The irony of the situation at the moment, with markets opening tomorrow morning, is that the biggest threat to the world financial system comes from a few right-wing nutters in the American congress rather than the eurozone.'"

Spencer Ackerman on Breivik

Whether He Knows It Or Not, Breivik Is A Member of al-Qaida - Attackerman:

"Notice the essential point: for both the Islamic supremacist and the Islamophobe, what matters most is winning the battle with the apostates. It's not an accident that al-Qaida kills orders of magnitude more Muslims than westerners. Nor is it an accident that Breivik targeted white Norwegians instead of the Muslim immigrants that so stir his ire. For both, the stated grievance is pretextual. 'Before we can begin our Crusade,' Breivik states, 'we must do our duty by decimating Cultural Marxism!'"

On Thers leaving the FDL Asylum

Whiskey Fire: Pull up and lighten yr load: "The association between Firedoglake and Whiskey Fire has ended."

I only have this to say ...

"Free TBOGG"