Dangerous Liasons: Sex and the Powerful Man

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few days, you have by now heard about CIA Director General Patraeus and his mistress, Paula Broadwell.

The War on Women, A Primer: Part One

Cops in riot gear prepare to meet anti-forced-ultrasound protestors in Virginia.

There has been a back and forth all campaign season about whether there is a War on Women.  Now setting aside the fact that the "War on" title is egregiously overused and somewhat inflammatory, the talk comes from somewhere.  There is a pretty well-acknowledged and consistent gender gap between our two parties.  Men lean right, women lean left.  But on top of that, are there reasons why, this year in particular, we hear about a War on Women?  Has something changed materially about the way Republicans are conducting themselves, or is it just a continuation of conservatives tending to favor policies that favor men over women?

Update: "Legitimate Rape" Edition

In a previous post, we explored current Republican contender for Missouri senator Rep. Tod Akin's controversial statements regarding "legitimate rape", and his curious notion that in the event of a legitimate rape, the human female body is capable of "shutting the whole thing down", and preventing pregnancy.  There have been several new developments since then.

"Legitimate Rape"

First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

                                                                                                             - Rep. Todd Akin

Game of Thrones Political Ads

Someone at Mother Jones decided to have a bit of fun during election season, and re-imagined what modern-day attack ads would like like if they were applied to the HBO Game of  Thrones characters. Here they are, with mild spoilers:

I especially like the Rob Stark "celebrity" ad, which I think is pitch perfect.