Evening News Reads for Wednesday: Solar Storms and Cool Dogs

Good Evening…

My daughter is watching one of her favorite movies, Bend it like Beckham, so I am writing this post to a wonderful sound track.

I was able to find one of the songs from this movie…enjoy.

I really wanted to keep this post light, but unfortunately we are living in disgusting times. So I will speed through the depressing and maddening links:

Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Senator, Says Unplanned Pregnancies Are The ‘Choice Of The Women’

Wisconsin state senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) said “unwanted or mistimed” pregnancies are the “choice of the women” who should learn “that this is a mistake.”
Grothman recently introduced Senate Bill 507, which would formally consider single parenthood a contributing factor to child abuse if passed into law. During an appearance on the Alan Colmes show Friday to discuss the bill, Grothman hit at women who have children out of wedlock and chastised American culture for encouraging “a single motherhood lifestyle.”
“There’s been a huge change over the last 30 years and a lot of that change has been the choice of the women,” Grothman said, noting that he thinks “we should educate women that this is a mistake.”
“I think when you have an epidemic of this great proportion, people are not so dumb that it’s surprising when they get pregnant,” Grothman said of “unwanted or mistimed” pregnancies. “I think people are trained to say that ‘this is a surprise to me,’ because there’s still enough of a stigma that they’re supposed to say this.”

What an asshole! There is a petition on Change.org, if you would like to express your disgust at this ridiculous piece of legislation.

Here is a story that really hits home with all the talk of right-wing righteous dumbshits whose only concern is for the clump of personhood they called a baby…what do they do with the former fetus mother to be? Humiliated, But Not Beaten. Fighting Back on Behalf of Pregnant and Parenting Teens

When I walked into the school gymnasium, every kid in my entire middle school was staring right at me — all 400 of them. It was like a bad dream.

I was confused why the middle school department head had called me into the junior high assembly in the first place. Students who had attended this particular assembly last year didn’t have to attend again and were free to work on homework and other assignments in their home room.

But I soon found out why.

After they called me away from homeroom into the assembly, the school department head made me stand up in front of my entire middle school and announced to everyone that I was pregnant. Until that moment, the only other student at school who knew was my sister. I was embarrassed, hurt and angry.

This bullying attempt at shaming the girl out of the school was in reaction to her not withdrawing from classes “voluntarily.”

Two weeks before they announced my pregnancy to all my classmates, they tried to kick me out of school completely. When my mother told the school department head that I was pregnant, they said I could no longer attend my school because I would “set a bad example for the other girls.” My mother contacted the ACLU and they told my school that it is illegal to discriminate against students because they are pregnant. After four days of missed classes, the school finally told me I could come back.

So when they couldn’t kick me out of school, they decided to publicly humiliate me. Maybe they thought if they embarrassed me enough, I’d leave on my own. But I won’t. I’m going to finish my education, graduate from high school then go to college so I can study nursing or criminal investigation.

She has since had the baby, and returns to school later this month.

Update on the latest advertisers to leave Rush Limbaugh: Rush Limbaugh: Over 40 Advertisers Flee, Host Says ‘Everything’s Cool’

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh sought to reassure listeners Wednesday after the tally of local and national companies that have pulled their advertisements from his time slot topped 40, insisting that the show will go on and that the program is not losing revenue from the exodus.

At last count, 42 advertisers, two radio stations and two musicians have closed the door on Limbaugh following incendiary comments he made last week about a Georgetown law student who testified before Congress in favor of having birth control covered under insurance plans.

[…]

Limbaugh told his listeners today that “everything’s cool,” noting that many of the advertisers that have yanked their support are local and thus have little if any impact on the show’s revenues.

“Nobody is losing money here, including us, in all this,” Limbaugh said on his radio show Wednesday. “[The advertisers] are not canceling the business on our stations. They’re just saying they don’t want their spots to appear in my show. We don’t get any revenue from ‘em anyway. The whole effort is to dispirit you.”

Oh yeah, he says that he has 18,000 sponsors and that the “few” he has lost is like losing a couple fries out of a container when you reach for it in a drive thru. Ah, I will pass on the fat jokes, I am sure we can have fun with that analogy in the comments.

“None of what’s happening is out of the ordinary,” Limbaugh said. “It’s just part of an onslaught to try to convince you that this show’s history and our days are numbered. And I’m happy to tell you nothing could be further from the truth.”

Here is the list of confirmed companies who have officially pulled their advertisements from the Rush Limbaugh radio show.

1. Service Magic home contractor
2. Hadeed Carpets
3. Accuquote Life Insurance
4. Vitacost vitamin supplier
5. Bonobos clothing company
6. Sensa weight- loss program
7. Thompson Creek Windows
8. AOL
9. Tax Resolution Services
10. ProFlowers
11. Legal Zoom online document creator
12. Carbonite web security firm
13. Citrix software maker
14. Sleep Train Mattresses
15. Sleep Number mattresses
16. Quicken Loans
17. Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington
18. Cascades Dental
19. Consolidated Credit Counseling Services
20. Constant Contact email marketing firm
21. Philadelphia Orchestra
22. Reputation Rhino online reputation consulting firm
23. St. Vincent’s Medical Center
24. Cunningham Security
25. Regal Assets precious medal investment group
26. Freedom Debt Relief
27. Norway Savings Bank
28. Portland Ovations performing arts center
29. Stamps.com

These companies say their ads were mistakenly run during Limbaugh’s program and have contacted radio stations and media buyers to ensure their ads do not run during his program again.

1. JCPenney
2. Capital One
3. Goodwill
4. Geico
5. Sears
6. PolyCom web conferencing
7. Matrix Direct
8. Netflix

The following companies said they did not intentionally have their ads run during Limbaugh’s show, but are also not specifically taking steps to remove the ads from his time slot.

1. John Deere
2. Bethesda Sedation Dentistry
3. Amberen menopause medication

Other news outlets have reported that the following companies have pulled their advertisements. ABC News is working to confirm.

1. Downeast Energy in Maine
2. RSVP Discount Beverage  of  Portland, Maine (declined to comment to ABC whether they had pulled their ads)

Over at CNN they have a new section in their political ticker, it looks like they are picking up on the success blogs within the liberal political blogging community that post daily news round-ups like we do here on Sky Dancing.

CNN’s GUT CHECK for March 7, 2012 – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs

ATTENTION POLITICAL JUNKIES: This week we are debuting CNN’s Gut Check, written by CNN Political Director Mark Preston and CNN Executive Producer Michelle Jaconi. We hope you find it useful; send us feedback at gutcheck@cnn.com. With Super Tuesday behind us, onward to Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi and beyond.

CNN’s GUT CHECK | for Wednesday, March 7, 2012 | 5 p.m.
- n. a pause to assess the state, progress, or condition of the political news cycle

the LEDE
Did you miss it?

Leading CNNPolitics.com: Analysis: In key Romney win, some warning signs remain
Leading Drudge: Ron Paul: 0-for-23
Leading HuffPo: Chellie Pingree Announces She Will Not Run For Retiring Senator Olympia Snowe’s Seat
Leading Politico: Mitt fights back with math
Leading New York Times: For an Upbeat Romney, the Bottom Line Is the Numbers
Leading Leavenworth (Kansas) Times: Organizers prepare for Republican caucus

Interesting isn’t it…take a look at the post…

Anyway, a big ass solar storm is heading out way:

Strong solar storm heading for Earth – Africa – Al Jazeera English

Earth treated to a solar spectacle

Largest solar storm since 2005 engulfs planet this week, bringing fantastic skies to some areas. ( 25-Jan-2012 )

A strong geomagnetic storm is racing from the Sun toward Earth.

Its expected arrival on Thursday could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, US space weather experts said.

The storm, a big cloud of charged particles flung from the Sun at about 7.2 million km/h, was spawned by a pair of solar flares, scientists said.

This is probably the strongest such event in nearly six years, and is likely more intense than a similar storm in late January, said Joseph Kunches, a space weather specialist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

And now for something completely different…and a bit funny first…

This cartoon from Mike Luckovich is one I thought was real cute: 3/8 Mike Luckovich: Mitt Romney | Mike Luckovich

You bet it does.

And this commercial from Guinness, h/t The Dish Andrew Sullivan:

So that is all for this round up! Catch y’all later in the comments.