Occupy Seattle is moving down to Olympia tomorrow to occupy the capitol.

A case over the state Pharmacy Board rules requiring pharmacies to stock and dispense medications “in demand in their communities” will be heard in the U.S. District Court tomorrow. A pharmacy in Olympia says it has the right to refuse to stock Plan B. The state says no way. The Pharmacy Board rules already allow pharmacists to decline filling a prescription if someone else is able to fill the order.

Apparently there was an Apple Cup yesterday and the Huskies won.

Newt Gingrich was endorsed by the major New Hampshire paper, although Romney still holds the state at 41%. Watch for minute-by-minute updates for the next 340 or so days.

The U.S. is extending its southern border fence 300 feet into the ocean. Yes, the ocean. It will reportedly cost $4.3 million. It’s too early in the morning for this shit.

Arab League has adopted unprecedented sanctions against Syria for the violent government response to civilian protest. According to state TV in Syria, the sanctions are “unprecedented measures aimed at the Syrian people.” Wow.

The FARC rebels in Colombia killed four hostages that they had held for over ten years. After the government killed a FARC leader earlier this month, the FARC issued a statement saying that “they would not end their guerrilla struggle.” Clearly.

Speaking of violence, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has banned political rallies after at least two people were killed. Elections are scheduled for tomorrow, although some international observers are concerned that ballots won’t be distributed across the country by tomorrow. The DRC is two-thirds the size of Europe.

Who else is excited to see The Muppets? Read Paul Constant’s review and watch this Muppet Show clip in anticipation.

19 replies on “Morning News”

  1. I look forward to seeing video of people being pepper-sprayed in Olympia. Because, you know, it’s just as illegal to pitch a tent there as it is everywhere else.

  2. So how will occupying the Capitol increase the state budget? Instead, I suggest that Occupy members remove facial piercings, work on their resume, apply for jobs, and count their blessings.

    (Formerly Phoebe on NE 79th)

  5. It’s imperative that we stop the penetration of our borders by illegal amphibians. They’re stealing our fall harvest jobs, and taking tons of free stuff from the gubment.

  7. @2 We don’t have a state income tax, so that plan wouldn’t work… Nice try though. They should protest till we have a state income tax and THEN go out and get all those jobs which pay over $250,000 a year so they can help the state budget. Perfect!

  8. @1, in preparation for the big kickoff, Olympia cops have been trained to deescalate using patchouli spray and clove cigarette smoke bombs. We’ll see if they reach for the pepper in the end.

  12. @9 Plan B is NOT an abortion. Plan B is emergency contraception.

    “All brands of the morning-after pill work by keeping a woman’s ovaries from releasing eggs — ovulation. Pregnancy cannot happen if there is no egg to join with sperm. The hormone in the morning-after pill also prevents pregnancy by thickening a woman’s cervical mucus. The mucus blocks sperm and keeps it from joining with an egg.”
    Educate yourself.

  14. Somewhat true – read sentence 3 in the quoted text. Just because an egg has been released, doesn’t mean pregnancy right away. Sperm can live for up to 5 days, can’t always hit the target.
    However, if someone is already pregnant, then Plan B won’t have any effect.
    More education

  15. @12: I thought it also worked by thinning the uterine lining so a fertilized egg couldn’t implant. Am I wrong? I don’t care, of course; I’ve used it myself and been awfully glad to have it, but those right-wing ninnies sure seem preoccupied with these sorts of details.

  16. @15 Yes – that’s another of the possible effects. Someplace I read that that depends on if you take the combined pill or the progestin-only pill, but I can’t find that link right now, so I may be in error.

  18. @16 (and thus, by association, @15) –

    Actually, no.

    A link to a Princeton site explaining this:
    http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/ecwork…
    A pdf is available at the end of the first paragraph that goes into a great deal more detail.

    The simplified version is that the observed effects of emergency contraception are entirely explicable by a mechanism that ONLY includes prevention of ovulation, which quite definitely occurs. There is no need to invoke any other mechanism. Moreover, studies do not agree about whether the sperm-slowing or lining-thinning effects occur at all, or to what extent – and even postulating for a minute that they might happen, it is unclear whether those effects would have any impact on the outcome of events.

    Can’t the Stranger do a little feature on this? Maybe their scientist-doctor could take it on as a public service. I actually feel sad for the fundies about this; they are so convinced that something really terrible is happening (and we might disagree that it’s actually terrible, but for sure they have feelings about it) and there is NO evidence that it does happen. Wouldn’t they feel better if they understood how it really works?

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