Top Headline Comments 12-14-12

Happy Friday!

Gov. Bobby Jindal's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal is going to get a lot of attention today, so we might as well start with that. The governor is proposing that birth control be available over-the-counter with out a prescription to adults. Read the whole thing. (If that link stops working, google "bobby jindal birth control" and click the WSJ link.)

It seems like Gov. Jindal's reasoning comes in two flavors and I agree with both. First, and he starts with this, it is politically better to be in favor of this sort of thing because it will make the GOP look less like the mutant-creep-Akin party. Second, as a practical matter, there is simply no reason, medical or moral, that oral contraceptives should require a doctors visit. He lists some policy aberrations that result from the current situation, including that it's possible to get the morning-after pill without a prescription, but not birth control.

Anyway, you're going to see some discussion of the op-ed today, so I thought I'd put it on your radar. I wonder if Sen. Santorum has a position on it and if he'll be aggressive enough to state it publicly. This is, after all, Gov. Jindal's opening salvo in his 2016 run for the White House. For that purpose, it is well-chosen. No matter what the economy or foreign policy or federal spending looks like in 2016, you can take it to the bank that cultural issues like binders and birth control will be part of the 2016 contest.

In other drug news, President Obama says enforcement of federal marijuana laws against users of weed in states where it is legal is not a "top priority" of his Administration. Sure, but he said the same thing about medical marijuana four years ago and AG Holder just spent those four years raiding and shutting down dispensaries.

And one more drug link, Reason's Mike Riggs takes Politifact to task for shoddy ratings on Obama's drug policy promises. People, even supposedly research-based fact-checkers, really are just kidding themselves when they claim to know what Obama is about.

Another Senator breaks ranks, says GOP should give in on the middle class tax rates, let the upper rates revert to their pre-Bush levels, and revisit the issue later. It's North Carolina Senator Richard Burr.

NASA is so confident the world isn't going to end on December 21, that they put together a video gloating about it and debunking the various permutations of the Mayan calendar myth. Clearly meant for release on December 22 (it begins, "December 22, 2012. If you're watching this video, it means one thing. The world didn't end yesterday."), it seems to me they're being a bit premature. Maybe they just wanted people to see their nifty video before it all ends. Watch:

posted by Gabriel Malor at 06:50 AM

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