Wednesday Toon Roundup 3- The Rest

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US

Wednesday Toon Roundup 2- It's different for Girls

Wednesday Toon Roundup 1- Creators and Destroyers

Maybe we should stop calling it 'birth control'

Amanda Marcotte @AmandaMarcotte

Maybe we should stop calling it "birth control" and calling it "child support prevention". If it's for *men*, well, then it's untouchable.

http://whatwouldjackdo.net/events/2014/07/maybe-we-should-stop-calling.html

Powerful Republican state senator in New York charged with lying to the FBI

Source: UPI

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., July 1 (UPI) --A powerful New York State lawmaker, Sen. Thomas Libous, was charged Tuesday with lying to FBI agents investigating whether he used his influence to get his son a job.

Libous' son, Matthew, was charged in a separate indictment with filing false tax returns and obstructing a tax investigation. Father and son appeared separately before a federal judge in White Plains for arraignment.

Libous, a Republican, is in his 13th term in the state Senate representing a Binghamton-area district. He is deputy majority coalition leader, making him the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, and a close ally of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Federal investigators charge that Libous lied to FBI agents, who interviewed him in 2010 about allegations that he used his influence to secure his son a job with a Binghamton law firm. He also allegedly denied -- falsely -- that he knew nothing about an arrangement with a lobbying company that paid the law firm $50,000 a year to cover part of his son's salary.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/07/01/Powerful-Republican-state-senator-in-New-York-charged-with-lying-to-the-FBI/9151404244118/

Ted Rall Toon- Dear Female Laborer

Texas Democrats respond to GOP, call for ban on gay conversion therapy in party platform

Three weeks ago, the Texas GOP made headlines by endorsing the discredited practice of gay conversion therapy in its 2014 party platform.

This past weekend, the Texas Democratic Party responded in its 2014 platform by calling for a ban on gay conversion therapy, also known as “reparative therapy.” While the Texas GOP’s reparative therapy plank drew international attention, the Democrats’ response has gone largely unnoticed.

LGBT delegates reportedly stormed the floor at one point during the state Democratic Party’s convention in Dallas, carrying signs emblazoned with the hashtag “#WeDontNeedFixin.” Democrats later approved a platform alleging that the Texas GOP “continues to encourage violence against the very souls of LGBTQ people through the quackery of reparative therapy, which is now illegal in two states.”

“Texas Democrats strongly oppose the use of any public funding for this demonstrably harmful practice,” the Texas Democratic Party platform states, before calling for the state to sanction those who practice reparative therapy.

more

http://www.lonestarq.com/texas-democrats-respond-gop-reparative-therapy-plank/

Chrispie Christie sez: 1% pay too much Tax!

The richest 1 percent of Americans carry the biggest tax burden, which suggests the wealthy are taxed too much and it's time for "serious, across-the-board tax reform," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told CNBC on Tuesday.

The Republican governor appeared on "Squawk Box" the day after signing the state's budget, in which he vetoed more than $1 billion in tax increases. New Jersey's wealthiest 1 percent already pay roughly 41 percent of the state's total income tax, Christie said. If taxes were to rise, he fears high net worth people would simply pack up and leave the state.


"I have a constitutional requirement to balance the budget and I have a state that's already high taxed and I'm not going to raise taxes on the people in the state of New Jersey and drive more people out," said Christie.

more
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101804028

Pot researcher abruptly fired by University of Arizona

The University of Arizona has abruptly fired a prominent marijuana researcher who only months ago received rare approval from federal drug officials to study the effects of pot on patients suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

The firing of Suzanne A. Sisley, a clinical assistant professor of psychology, puts her research in jeopardy and has sparked indignation from medical marijuana advocates.

Sisley charges she was fired after her research – and her personal political crusading – created unwanted attention for the university from legislative Republicans who control its purse strings.

“This is a clear political retaliation for the advocacy and education I have been providing the public and lawmakers,” Sisley said. “I pulled all my evaluations and this is not about my job performance.”

more

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pot-researcher-fired-20140701-story.html

Pakistan has convicted zero people for rape over the past 5 years. zero.

Zero. That is the conviction rate for rape cases filed over the last five years in Pakistan, according to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Syeda Sughra Imam. Speaking before the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice, the senator said the dismal statistics led her to move a bill to amend existing laws on the issue.

The committee met under the chairmanship of the PPP’s Senator Kazim Khan for a roundtable discussion with representatives from bar councils. “We will first determine why the conviction rate is zero and whether [it is something inherent] in the laws, the judiciary or the legal procedure itself,” Senator Kazim told The Express Tribune on Sunday. “In my opinion, the stages of legal procedure, investigation and trial require comprehensive legislation,” said Senator Imam.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP) 2013 report, 2,576 cases of rape were registered in Punjab in 2013 – the highest among all provinces. According to official records, 127 cases of rape and three cases of gang-rape were registered in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa last year, whereas 27 cases of gang-rape were reported in Sindh. The conviction rate in cases of sexual and other violence against women remained critically low and on December 13, female senators staged a walkout from the Senate to protest the lack of convictions.

According to a research study by Rutgers World Population Foundation (WPF) in Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Jaffarabad, and Naseerabad districts, 66 per cent of women interviewed said that they had experienced sexual violence, whereas 93 per cent said that they had been subjected to marital rape.

more

http://tribune.com.pk/story/728949/zero-conviction-rate-for-rape-senator-proposes-constitutional-changes/