Another reason to oppose pseudoephedrine bill

Although Kentucky lawmakers softened their proposed law on allergy meds last month, don't uncork the champagne just yet.

While this hated bill was modified so the prescription requirement doesn't kick in unless you exceed a state-approved limit, the bill has now been amended to make it just as booger-brained as before. Rep. Joe Fischer - the far, far right-wing Republican from Campbell County - has amended the legislation so it would exclude Kentucky from the Obama administration's recently announced policy on insurance coverage of contraceptives.

Uh, Joe? Obama's policy is a federal rule. You can't just revoke benefits for your state's citizenry by pulling out of a legally enacted federal policy that doesn't even require the states to do anything. Plus, regarding this issue, it's Obama who's on the winning side of public opinion. Joe Fischer is not. I'm an economic populist first and foremost, but I just can't believe the Republicans are attacking Obama over his birth control policy, of all things.

And what do contraceptives have to do with allergy drugs anyway?

Supposedly, Fischer has claimed to be against further restricting allergy medicine, but I'm skeptical of that, because he's threatening to vote for this bill. If he doesn't like the bill, why did he choose this bill for his unrelated amendment? If he amended the bill in order to kill it, isn't that evidence that he knows nobody supports his amendment? It takes a certain degree of arrogance to pull a stunt like that.