Dickie's Quickies

I guess that emergency contraception pills are a "commonly prescribed medication" in Massachussetts. A board overseeing medications there ruled unanimously that Wal-Mart must stock the pills. Wal-Mart responded by stating that "women's health is a priority" however they only stock the pills in states where their stores are required to do so (Illinois). Time for Washington, which has had EC available for quite some time, to step up to the plate and require it.

Many news sources are reporting that Australian television (SBS) is showing previously unreleased pictures from Abu Ghraib. The pictures should have been released a long time ago so that we could deal with the images all at once rather than experience a slow trickle over several months or years. This statement in The Guardian is rather ominous:

There were reports today that the US government was trying to prevent the new images being broadcast in the US.

If true, it points to yet another case of attempted censorship by the U.S. government. It bolsters the case made yesterday by the Chinese that they censor the Internet in much the same way as the West. It also means that we can be outraged about censoring cartoons, but how dare we see pictures that should provoke at least equal outrage (though NOT violence).

From David Ignatious' column in the WaPo:

Let's say it plainly: This is the arrogance of power, and it has gone too far in the Bush White House.