good:

“You debate whether you get the birth control or food… I’ll forget about the birth control if it means being able to pay my rent or buying groceries.”

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, people think birth control is cheap. A new study with voices from low-income women struggling to afford their medication proves them wrong. 

Read the full story on GOOD.is

THE LEFT WANTS DEREGULATION. I’M SO PROUD I COULD CRY (well, if us cold-hearted libertarians *could* cry, I’m sure I would).

“The paper reports the average monthly cost of prescription methods for 45 low-income women in Boston was $22; for nonprescription methods, the average was $24. The median cost of a clinic visit to obtain a prescription for birth control ranged from $15 to $200. According to Republican opponents of birth control, these are reasonable amounts. But these ladies disagree: One insurance participant who used the Pill said, “It’s $26 every month…When you’re making minimum wage, it’s a lot of money.” Another insured participant chimed in, “you debate whether you get the birth control or food… I’ll forget about the birth control if it means being able to pay my rent or buying groceries,” echoing more than one of the women we heard from back in February. [I’M EVEN GOING TO IGNORE THE FACT THAT $24 = $8 x JUST UNDER 3.5 BECAUSE I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT THE NEXT PARAGRAPH]

“The study also underlined the more intangible barriers [HEY LOOK GUYS, ECONOMIC COST ISN’T JUST FINANCIAL] to birth control—convenience and a tangled maze of insurance bureaucracy—which led more than a few participants to long for an over-the-counter hormonal birth control option. One insured pill user said that over-the-counter access “would definitely be easier than having to go to the doctor’s” and take time off of work to coordinate with a doctor’s schedule. Every out-of-touch politician and commentator who assume everyone can handle copays and doctors visits should read the stories of these women for whom every dollar counts.”

tordify:

Tax and Spend vs. Spend and Tax

Bush and Obama should both be in the second panel. We’ve got bipartisan fiscal irresponsibility, after all.

(Source: http://www.tordifycom)

flybythroughthenight:

atheistme:

the REAL golden rule

This has been my golden rule for eons.

hipsterlibertarian:

My favorite exchange:  

Santorum:  How do taxes work?

Grover Norquist:  What the fu-

I also love the Gmail ads.

(Apologies if this is already going around and I’m just late to the game.  It cracks me up.)

My favourite is Rick’s Dry Cleaning: Sweater vests. All 14 are ready.

Paul hard.

good:

Free Jam: It’s Time to End California’s Law Against Selling Homemade Food

California is seen as the birthplace of the local food movement, but home-based food operations are prohibited. That may be about to change.

Read more on GOOD.is

Aw, yeah.

(Source: http://www.good.is/post/free-jam-it-s-time-to-end-california-s-law-against-selling-homemade-food/)

barackobama:

marybrollstonecraft:

Mine went on my clarinet case! It took me seriously eleventy billion tries to get it on straight, so you can rest assured that they really are ultra-removable 🙂

Rest: assured!

I know some people who bought used cars that can attest that the 2008 stickers were, indeed, NOT ‘ultraremovable’.

neightkelly:

theantistatist:

Ron Paul would obliterate that war mongering statist in a debate.

Any question on foreign or economic policy would result in endless amounts of tears. Joyous tears.

YES.

(Source: http://www.weloveronpaul.com)

barackobama:

backwardsted:

Well, since I’m going to be old enough to vote this year (I’m 21 now, but I didn’t turn 18 until the month after the 2008 election) I thought I would proudly show my support! Hopefully I’ve placed this in the right spot. I’m not sure it’ll come off at this point…

A++.

Was that not a real election I voted in, in 2010? I hate politics.

squashed:

laliberty:

barticles:

Funniest Graph of the Day: In 2006, 73 percent of Democrats said President Bush could do something about gasoline prices. Now only 33 percent think President Obama can do anything about them.

Likewise, in 2006 only 47 percent of Republicans thought Bush could fix gas prices. Now 65 percent of them think Obama can fix them.

Both parties’ rank and file evidently view supply and demand through a partisan filter. Democrats do so more than twice as often (40-point swing vs. 18-point swing) as Republicans.

Obama Apologetics. 

Wait a second, Barticles. You’re right that this is an interesting chart—but let’s treat numbers fairly rather than trying to score cheap points. There was a 12% swing between 2006 and 2012 between whether the administration could reasonably reduce gas prices. So once you factor that in, there would be a 28% swing in the Democrats and a 30% swing in the Republicans. Essentially, it’s the same for either party.

That is the fuzziest math I have ever seen in my entire life. Seriously.

Secondly, why were Americans more likely to blame Bush for high gas prices? Was Bush bad at messaging? Did we learn something about economics? Or did somebody notice that the 2006 gas spike had a lot to do with refineries going offline post-Katrina? Or perhaps there’s a perception that Obama’s administration has already done a lot of the things that can be done to reduce gas demand such as raising fuel efficiency standards.

You’re implying that somehow 12% of the population became knowledgable about the economics of oil prices, but somehow still has no understanding of the unemployment situation. Bush messaged like an idiot (probably because he was), but it’s not the messaging itself that was flawed; it’s just a lot easier to scapegoat someone who sounds like they have no idea what they’re doing than to scapegoat a college professor who’s also a very convincing orator. I mean, people bought ‘hope’ and ‘change’; there are a lot of people who desperately want to believe that Obama is this great guy, so they’re going to be more likely to give him some slack on issues they don’t understand, like oil.

People can be dumb and partisan—but maybe there’s a bit more to the chart than that.

And maybe there isn’t a college bubble. But I’d have to feign a great deal of ignorance to make that claim.