In the battle over "conscience rights" of pharmacists, a Washington State Board of Pharmacy rule that requires pharmacists to fill contraceptive prescriptions is making its way through federal courts.

In the battle over abortion, the Bush Administration's Health and Human Services Department has drafted a new rule, ostensibly to ensure that "doctors, hospitals and health plans would not be forced to perform abortions."

These two fronts are related. Trust me and read on!

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Posted 02.19 Pacific; updated 19.57 Pacific
According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the attention that the TV networks are giving Sen. Barack Obama this week is par for the course. Amazingly, CBS chief anchor Katie Couric, ABC's Charles Gibson and NBC's Brian Williams have each flown oversees to interview Obama this week. For once, the networks decided not to compete with one another: their interviews are on successive days.

Moreover, as Andrea Mitchell reports, we're seeing PR footage from Iraq and Afghanistan being presented on TV as though it were press pool footage. "We've not seen a presidential candidate do this in my recollection ever before."

Add this to the recent dust-up over the New York Times refusing to run a McCain op-ed after giving Obama a slot, and one could be forgiven for mumbling about the "liberal media."

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Conventional wisdom suggests that Republican presidents are good for the economy, compared to Democratic ones. However, a comparison of data from 1980-2007 shows that the economy was more robust during the Clinton Administration -- primarily with an opposition Congress, I might add -- than during Reagan, Bush41 or Bush 43.

Paul Krugman compares the 2001-2007 "expansion" to other post-World War II "expansions." Its conclusion? Only corporate profits grew more than average: not employment, wages, net work, investment dollars, consumption, or GDP.

In a companion column, Krugman writes:

Over all, Mr. Bush will be lucky to leave office with a net gain of five million jobs, far short of the number needed to keep up with population growth. For comparison, Bill Clinton presided over an economy that added 22 million jobs.

Remember that Bill Clinton defeated Bush41 with a campaign focused on "it's the economy, stupid."