Happiest Puppies In The World

GOP congressman blasts proposal for Muslim cemetery...

"I am deeply concerned over the impact it might have on our community," says Rep. Scott DesJarlais.

An appeal to my fellow Tennesseeans:  Please, please, PLEASE stop electing people like this to represent us!   

But then, the truth was never really the point. Thin women don’t tell their fat friends ‘You’re not fat’ because they’re confused about the dictionary definition of the word, or their eyes are broken, or they were raised on planets where size 24 is the average for women. They don’t say it because it’s the truth. They say it because fat does not mean just fat in this culture. It can also mean any or all of the following: Ugly Unhealthy Smelly Lazy Ignorant Undisciplined Unlovable Burdensome Embarrassing Unfashionable Mean Angry Socially inept Just plain icky So when they say ‘You’re not fat,’ what they really mean is ‘You’re not a dozen nasty things I associate with the word fat.’ The size of your body is not what’s in question; a tape measure or a mirror could solve that dispute. What’s in question is your goodness, your lovability, your intelligence, your kindness, your attractiveness. And your friends, not surprisingly, are inclined to believe you get high marks in all those categories. Ergo, you couldn’t possibly be fat.

Kate Harding  (via shakethecobwebs)

This isn’t right. It’s time to raise the wage. 

Sign the petition now.

In November, Congress cut food stamps for nearly 50 million people, and even more cuts are on the table.

While the right-wing has worked hard to smear SNAP recipients, here are stories of real, live people who have been affected by cuts to the government program that they depend on to...

It Is Expensive to Be Poor

Minimum-wage jobs are physically demanding, have unpredictable schedules, and pay so meagerly that workers can't save up enough to move on.

Planned Parenthood is not selling organs.

Fetuses don’t have organs that are worthwhile to anyone. Most organs are developing throughout all 40 weeks. Most abortions (89% in 2010) happen in the 1st trimester/12 weeks. (For amount comparison: A fetus is 3 inches long and 1oz in weight at the end of the first trimester.)

Fetuses do have fetal tissue, which can be used to make stem cells.

Stem cells are used to find cures and treatments for various diseases (like diabetes and Parkinson’s) and injuries (like crushed spinal cords.)

Fetal tissue has already been used to make many of our vaccines.

Planned Parenthood performs abortions and - if the patient permits it - donates the fetal tissue to organizations who wish to use it.

This includes people who need abortions for health reasons.

There are people who have lost their wanted pregnancies due to disease and conditions.

They may choose to donate fetal tissue to help others from suffering through the same heartache.

As noted above, fetal stem cells do a lot of good. Even if the person chooses a “therapeutic” abortion, they may donate the fetal tissue to help people with diseases, conditions, and injuries that may benefit from research.

Planned Parenthood is charging for storage, handling, and transportation of the specimen.

At $30 to $100, that’s a pretty minimal cost and reasonable.

Also, it’s perfectly legal.

Seriously, research that needs/uses fetal tissue may help hundreds, maybe thousands, of people.

Planned Parenthood isn’t nefarious.

Fetal tissue may be the key to treating and curing diseases,conditions, and injuries that affect thousands and their families.

Abortion is going to happen, anyway. Fetuses are going to die, anyway. Their tissue can help people.

For whatever we lose (a you or a me) it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.  - E.E. Cummings