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How A Bill Becomes A Law of the Day: Meanwhile, in Virginia’s House of Delegates, Republican David Albo of Fairfax regales his colleague with a humorous anecdote about how his wife shot down his sexual advances after seeing his name attached to the ultra-controversial “trans-vaginal” ultasound bill.
And, before you ask, yes: He does play porn music for his fellow politicians before illustrating his “moves.”
Follow Up of the Day: A day after Virginia lawmakers were compelled to pass a non-invasive version of the state’s controversial ultrasound bill, the full Virginia Senate voted this afternoon to table the equally contentious “personhood” bill, which would have defined life as beginning at conception.
A motion by Senators Thomas Norment (R-James City County) and Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax County) to send the legislation back to committee passed by a measure of 24 to 14, meaning the bill can no longer be voted on this year.
Modeled after a Missouri law, the personhood bill would have conferred certain legal protections on fetuses, making the vast majority of abortions illegal after conception.
Despite amendments to protect contraception and in-vitro fertilization, Sen. Norment said he recognized that “there are more legal complexities to this issue than I was aware of.”
[pilot.]
Abortion Bill Amendment of the Day: The Virginia state Senate went ahead today with a bill that would require pregnant women to obtain an ultrasound prior to an abortion, after rejecting a Democratic senator’s amendment that would have required men to undergo a rectal exam and cardiac stress test prior to obtaining erectile dysfunction medication.
The amendment’s author, Fairfax County Democrat Janet Howell, said she was merely trying to add “a little gender equality” to the bill.
“It’s requiring [women] to have unnecessary medical procedures, it’s adding to the cost and it’s opening them up for emotional blackmail,” she told her colleagues from the Senate floor. “And I was upset because it’s disrespectful of doctors. It’s forcing them to perform procedures they don’t think is necessary.”
She says she got the idea for the amendment after watching an erectile dysfunction drug ad which listed the pill’s myriad side effects.
“So, I said, it’s only fair, that if we’re going to subject women to unnecessary procedures, and we’re going to subject doctors to having to do things that they don’t think is medically advisory, well, Mr. President, I think we should just have a little gender equity here,” Howell said.
The amendment was ultimately defeated by a relatively narrow margin of 21 to 19. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 484 moves forward to a final floor vote tomorrow.
[roanoketimes.]
Trick Or Threat of the Day: A local Republican committee in Virginia used an image of President Obama with a bullet hole in his head in a mass Halloween-themed e-mail. Not surprisingly, some people have a problem with this.
The image in question was a zombie-fied spoof of the iconic Obama “Hope” poster. It was featured in the Loudoun Republicans mailer alongside likely unauthorized images from Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead and one of a grossly disfigured Nancy Pelosi.
“This is a disgusting and violent portrayal of the president of the United States,” Democratic Party of Virginia spokesman Brian Coy said. The Republican Party of Virginia condemned the imagery, and Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, asked the Loudoun GOP to apologize.
“Apparently, some individuals have interpreted an image of Barack Obama that appeared within the email as intending to portray the President as a victim of a violent crime,” Loudoun County GOP chairman Mark Sell said in an email to The Associated Press. “Nothing could be further from the truth, and we deeply and sincerely apologize to the President and anyone who viewed the image if that was the impression that was left.”
A Secret Service spokesman reached for comment said the situation was being monitored.
[wtop / wapo / image: tooconservative.]
Presidential Teleprompter Thievery of the Day: Thieves temporarily made off with a truck containing $200,000 worth of sound equipment and podiums belonging to President Obama. Also among the stolen wares: His trusty teleprompter.
The truck was lifted from the Virginia Center Commons Courtyard Marriott parking lot in Henrico. It was reportedly on its way to Chesterfield, where the president is due to speak tomorrow.
The vehicle was later recovered near a Holiday Inn Express parking lot by the airport. No word on what, if anything was stolen.
A Defense Information Systems Agency released this statement: “No classified or sensitive information was in the vehicle. We take incidents such as this very seriously and a formal investigation is continuing.”
[nbc12.]
