Ultra-sounds: Let’s point out the worthless dogs

MoonHowler

ultra soundSenator Ralph Northam introduced a bill in the Virginia Senate to give legislators the opportunity to redeem themselves and to remove Virginia from the embarrassment list.  His efforts failed.  It was last year during the legislative session that Virginia became the laughing stock of the nation, especially late at night because of their governor, Governor Ultra-Sound.

In all, the members of the Senate Health and Education Committee, had 3 reproductive rights bills to consider.  Only 1 made it out of committee.  2 were staked  by an 8-7 Republican vote.

According to the Huffingtonpost.com:

A Republican-controlled committee in the Virginia State Senate voted 8-7 on Thursday to block Democrats’ efforts to repeal a new mandatory ultrasound law and a set of regulations that could shut down many abortion clinics in the state. The committee also voted down a new anti-abortion bill that would have prevented Medicaid from paying for low-income women’s abortions in cases where there is a severe fetal anomaly.

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Cho: A study in what’s wrong

MoonHowler

Most of my information comes from wikipedia under VA Tech Massacre.

So many things were wrong in the Cho case that I am surprised something like the VA Tech Massacre doesn’t happen monthly.

In the first place,  Cho was disturbed when he lived in Fairfax County and went to Westfield  High School.    He was diagnosed with selective mutism and major depressive disorder.  He was treated for these illnesses and he received special ed services for at least 2 years of high school.

Tech was never told about this.  Apparently it violates a student’s privacy to pass this information along to a receiving school.  This law needs to change.  A receiving school should have every right to know this about a student.  He graduated in 2003.

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No gunshow loopholes? Lawmakers prove the loophole exists

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Two Virginia legislators pushing for stricter gun laws made an undercover video of themselves buying a gun without undergoing criminal background checks.

“You don’t look like you’re ready to go do a bank heist or something,” a gun show vendor remarks to state Sen. Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and Del. Patrick A. Hope (D-Arlington) before they buy a handgun and a high-capacity magazine.

The sales were perfectly legal under Virginia law, which does not require background checks on gun sales between private individuals, or on any ammunition sales.

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President Obama: Executive action

MoonHowler

Let’s keep it simple.

Today, the President is announcing that he and the Administration will:

1.    Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevan tdata available to the federal background check       system.

2.  Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health InsurancePortability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from makinginformation available to the background check system.

3.  Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.