Idaho, Gynecology, Stupid Legislative Tricks, and The Blastocyst Absurdity.

Much hay has been made of Idaho State Representative and knuckle-dragging jagoff Vito Barbieri, and his question during hearings concerning a bill to ban video medical consults for prescribing abortifacient drugs:

Barbieri asked: “Can this same procedure then be done in a pregnancy? Swallowing a camera and helping the doctor determine what the situation is?”

Madsen said no, because when women swallow pills, those don’t go to their vaginas.

The question looks idiotic, because pretty much everyone knows that babies don't come from the GI tract. In the short run, it served its purpose, which was to win cheap points against a witness against the bill. Fortunately, thanks to social media and military-grade snark, the forces against this bill have been able to paint Barbieri as a moron who doesn't know his cock from his asshole. To you, I say: well done, Internets.

Of course, we who seek truth know that Barbieri knows damned good and well Where Babies Come From. What I really want to know from Barbieri is (a) whether he really thinks he's helping to improve the quality of women's health care, (b) whether his actual goal is to prevent abortions, (c) whether he gives a god damn about unintended pregnancies, (d) whether he and his fellow Republicans have considered scientifically proven methods to reduce unintended pregnancies like cheap and easily available birth control, (e) whether he's more concerned about good public policy or enforcing some idiot sky-god's moral code. I'm pretty sure I know the answers to all five (no, yes, not really, hell no, sky-god in a slam dunk); but I'd like him to at least think about it.

By the way, I have no doubt what he did is enormously popular with is constituents. Idaho's 2nd LD has a lot of natural beauty. It's also one scary fucking place for liberals.

PPP: Walker leads GOP race for White House (for now)

Fellow EBC veteran and Texas progressive holdout Russell pointed his friends to today's PPP poll. Quoting:

PPP's newest national Republican poll finds a clear leader in the race for the first time: Scott Walker is at 25% to 18% for Ben Carson, 17% for Jeb Bush, and 10% for Mike Huckabee. Rounding out the field of contenders are Chris Christie and Ted Cruz at 5%, Rand Paul at 4%, and Rick Perry and Marco Rubio at 3%.

This is just a poll of the GOP field, and as is pretty typical of these polls at this time of the primary, there's instability among the first preference. (Remember when Michelle Bachmann was the front runner in 2012?) I would be VERY surprised if Walker held his own against Jeb Bush. Walker isn't nutty enough to be third tier, but he's probably second tier.

Still — if you're not exactly enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton for President, and not a lot of lefties are, ask yourself whether she's better or worse than Scott Walker. That makes the decision disappointingly simple.

Who should Quentin Tarantino Beat Up this year?

By way of background, each year I write up a short treatment for a movie I'd love to see, "Quentin Tarantino Beating People Up," a Quentin Tarantino Production starring and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Previous guest stars (victims) have included Tucker Carlson, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Keith Olbermann, R Kelly, John Boehner, and so on. Recently I've also added Christoph Waltz as a special guest star to assist Quentin in these epic, and epically shot, beatdowns. Each edition is a feature length film, professionally produced, and a guaranteed money-maker.

Since LJ is almost a dead medium, I now submit to the audience: who would you pay ten bucks to watch Quentin Tarantino beat up? Keep in mind, the guest star won't actually get beat up. This is Hollywood, and while Quentin Tarantino will use all the usual Hollywood magic to make the beating look realistic, poetic, and brutal, no guest stars will be actually harmed in the making of this film. The guest stars get triple scale for a couple days' work, IMDB credit, and craft services; we get to enjoy seeing them getting beat up.

So far I've come up with the following candidates for this year:

Rudy Giuliani
Gov. Scott Walker
E. A. Koetting
(Seahawks head coach) Pete Carroll
Roosh V
Chevy Chase
Johnny Manziel

I ask you, dear readers, who am I missing?