North Dakota lawmakers just passed a so-called "personhood" amendment -- basically saying that life begins at conception, effectively banning abortion and potentially banning some forms of birth control.
Right-wingers have been pushing their anti-choice agenda at the state level for years, and this fall, voters will have the final word on this amendment -- North Dakota could be the first state to enact a personhood abortion ban.
Anti-choice, anti-woman activists have been pushing for legislation like this all across the country. Now that they've scored a victory, they'll be embolded to push extreme measures like this everywhere.
This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. We need to stop these radical measures from taking hold in other states.
The United States has 58,344 Federally Licensed Gun Dealers. That's nearly twice the number of post offices.
See how many gun dealers are in your state here:
Background Checks are Quick and Easy -- And They Save Lives.
Under current law, federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks for all gun sales. However, private sellers can sell guns without background checks, no questions asked.
We need to close this dangerous loophole in our federal gun laws. Under the Senate Background Checks Bill (S.374), if you want to sell your gun, you'll simply meet your buyer at a local gun store and the store will conduct the background check on the buyer. The gun lobby has argued that it is inconvenient to the point of being unreasonable for gun owners to require a background check for every private sale. But the facts make it clear that no matter where you live in America, getting a background check is quick and easy.
How do you feel about America's gun industry? We want to hear from you in the comments.
Elizabeth Warren: "The minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour" if it had kept up with productivity.
During a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren continued her no nonsense efforts to make a difference for American families and change the way corporate America does business. After making her point, Warren went on to argue for raising the federal minimum wage to over $10 an hour in incremental steps over the next two years - a plan the President addressed in his SOTU.
What do you think the minimum wage should be raised to? Let us know in the comments.
Today Hillary Clinton backed Marriage Equality - contrast to - Speaker John Boehner's comments this weekend, 'I can't imagine" supporting marriage equality for LGBT Americans.
See Clinton's New Video here:
And this is what Speaker John Boehner said...
The contrast between the Democratic Party and Republican Tea Party could not be clearer. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explains why she supports marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples. Meanwhile, House GOP Speaker Boehner - who is spending millions of taxpayer dollars opposing marriage equality — insisted, that “I believe that marriage is a union of a man and a woman” and stated he would not change his mind, even if he found out that his own son or someone he loved very much was gay.
Who's position on marriage equality and human rights do you support? Let us know what you think in the comments.
CPAC 2013 begins and it is clear that the GOP looks more like the Tea Party than ever before.
Despite all the past failures it seems the Republicans are taking their new lead from the disastrous Tea Party movement. From Donald Trump’s offensive ‘birther’ stance to failed Vice President nominee Paul Ryan’s delusions of Obamacare overthrown, the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, is increasingly out of touch with the American people.
Here’s a list of the top seven most outrageous, problematic, and head-shaking moments seen at CPAC so far (prepare yourself they might be cringe worthy and eye rolling).
1. Wayne LaPierre: "To protect our schools, we recommend trained professionals with a gun. They recommend scissors. And they say we’re crazy." First, the NRA advocating for zero gun legislation—even with the majority of members in favor of background checks—is kind of crazy. Secondly, we’re pretty sure no one is promoting scissors as part of school security. Arts and crafts, absolutely.
2. “Grow up and assume the responsibilities of life, it’s fun!”—Michele Bachmann, kids. Bachmann gave a bizarre speech focusing on social media (we think?). She began by stating no one uses Facebook anymore…sweet... Introduced as a “true Tea Partier to the core” and “one of the number one targets” of the Liberal news media,” the congresswoman from Minnesota is a great addition to the nonsensical GOP house.
3. Marco Rubio walked on to a “One Direction” song. And if you don’t know who that is then congratulations, you are not a teenage girl. Rubio didn’t even mention immigration—as it would be unpopular with the crowd. Instead, he gave a fairly wishy-washy speech which included a few water jokes—because that isn’t old yet.
4. “Stale and moss covered,” a surprisingly moment occurred when Rand Paul called out the current members of his own party. However the Kentucky Senator’s hope to revitalize this party would create a whole new third party…so really, he’s kind of at the wrong conference… but moving on.
5. Donald Trump.
6. CPAC brings you the man who brought Ted Nugent to the State of the Union: Lou Gohmert. The new member of the US Congress is treated like a Rock Star on the CPAC stage. This guy who has said a series of endless inflammatory, stupid, and outrageous public statements. (remember his ideas of “oververt homosexuality in the military” to “repealing the 17th Amendment”) This guy who has no significant legislation accomplishments whatsoever: thus, he is the GOP Tea Party Elvis, naturally.
7. Alas, Mitt Romney returns. Nothing like starting a new chapter with the old one that failed - and Texan Gov. Rick Perry mocked as not a true conservative. Romney give CPAC his first public speech since his 2012 defeat because—well, we’re really not sure why.
All in all, one thing is abundantly clear: the GOP is tied to the Tea Party more than ever before—from the guest list onward it is clear this Republican party is indeed the Tea Party. From Rick Perry’s cries for a true conservative to take the Republican nomination (because Romney was not conservative enough…) to their continued efforts to hurt middle class American families by shunning education, healthcare, marriage equality, and women’s rights—CPAC is a celebration of all that is wrong with the GOP Congress.
For 2014 DFA is committed to taking the house back for the people. Let us know what you think of the Republican Tea Party.
