Is it me, or does this country seem like it's on a crazy, runaway anti-abortion train? I think we all have deeply ambivalent feelings about abortion. None of us are cheering, "YAY! ABORTIONS FOR EVERYONE! WOO!" But at the same time, there still seems to be support for the right to have an abortion under certain circumstances. Meanwhile, some legislators are trying to literally END abortion forever and ever. What a relief, then, to find out that Arkansas governor Mike Beebe is trying to stop the crazy train, at least in his state. He just vetoed a bill that would ban abortion after 12 weeks.

If passed, this bill would become the strictest abortion law on the books. Beebe says it's unconstitutional. But he may lose this fight -- he vetoed another bill banning abortion after 20 weeks, and the Arkansas legislature overrode his veto.

Banning plastic bags from grocery stores in recent years seems to be the hot new trend for progressive enclaves like Los Angeles and Seattle that, you know, care about the environment. Because apparently using plastic bags to carry your food purchases home is the equivalent of clubbing baby seals. Or something.

Anyway, we’ve known for a while that reusable grocery bags can make you ill (it seems that not everyone knows you’re supposed to wash them after carrying your raw chicken home in them), but now a new unintended consequence has come up -- shoplifting.

OMG, break out the champagne! Today the House passed a new Violence Against Women Act. This is the Senate's version of the bill, and its next stop is President Obama's desk. In a statement the President said the bill is "an important step towards making sure no one in America is forced to live in fear." He says he will sign it the minute he gets it.

The first Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994 and has been reauthorized since then. But when it came up for reauthorization last year, legislators failed to reach an agreement and more or less screwed women. ARGH! But this year it came back, and it's better than ever. Here's what the Violence Against Women Act means for you, your sisters, your mothers, and your friends.

This is the moment. Trayvon Martin died at almost this exact moment one year ago. Candlelight vigils are being held in his honor in Florida and New York City, social media has once again been leveraged to memorialize the tragedy, news outlets have marked the anniversary appropriately with reflective coverage and thoughtful commentary, but nothing will compensate for the final breath that 17-year-old child took on this day. Trayvon didn't make his mark on black history like he could have. He’s not the only young, unarmed African-American boy to be murdered without just cause or provocation and, unfortunately—but very realistically—he won’t be the last. But his is the story that brings the issue to the fore. His death has been the catalyst for the conversation about race that we’ve been avoiding as a country. 

It only took 148 years, but black people in Mississippi are officially free. Like officially officially. They probably thought they were, since this is 2013 and all, and the dark days of enslavement have ostensibly been left in the historical dust. Yet the 13th amendment, that heralded legal add-on that abolished the institution of forced servitude, was never ratified in that state. So even though chattel slavery has long been over, thank goodness, it’s still been on the books and hence, quite legal, up until February 7. This month. In 2013. Oops. Way to keep up with the paperwork, Mississippi. 

Poor Chubby Checker. Back when the singer skyrocketed to fame with "The Twist" in the early 60's, decades before things like celebrity sex tapes were commonplace and the need for dress codes at major award ceremonies, he didn't have to worry about his chosen stage name being used as a dirty double entendre. But times have changed, and in addition to sex tapes and dress codes we also have things like penis size-estimation apps, and, well, of course the developers of an app like that would name it "The Chubby Checker." Can you blame them? It's PERFECT. The Chubby Checker! Get it? HA!

Anyway. I can understand why the actual Chubby Checker (real name Ernest Evans) would be a little upset about having his name on this type of naughty novelty, especially since HP (the app was for the Palm OS) never got his permission and Evans did trademark "Chubby Checker" long ago. But suing HP for half a billion dollars upset?!

It’s been over three years since Nidal Hasan shouted “Allahu akbar” and opened fire at the Fort Hood Military base in Texas. He killed 13 people (14 if you include the child one female soldier was carrying) and wounded 32 others before being taken down by former Sgt. Kimberly Munley and her partner Sgt. Mark Todd.

Munley was honored by President Obama at the State of the Union address in 2010, but now she says she feels “betrayed” by the Commander-in-Chief. In a tearful interview, she told ABD News, “Betrayed is a good word … Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of … in fact they’ve been neglected.”

Comedian and frequent Obama supporter Chris Rock showed up on Capitol Hill Wednesday to champion the president’s gun control agenda. It’s unclear whether or not President Obama supports the second amendment, or thinks guns should be banned (to some extent at least), but Rock apparently thinks it’s our job to listen to the daddy-in-chief.

During this morning’s press conference, Chris Rock said:

I am just here to support the President of the United States. President of the United States is our boss, but he is also... you know, the President and the First Lady are kinda like the Mom and the Dad of the country. And when your Dad says something you listen, and when you don't it will usually bite you on the ass later on. So, I’m here to support the President.