Seizing on the Benghazi tragedy, IRS probe, and whatever else they can get their claws into, today’s Republicans on Capitol Hill and the outraged echo chamber at Fox News are vultures of the breed Sam P. Jones saw in the political world of his day. The fresh meat they have no taste for is what we might call productive reform legislation, which their diversionary tactics prevent from being put front and center. The vultures feed instead on rotten issues like abortion (how many babies did Planned Parenthood kill today?) or dismantling Obamacare before it can do good, put government in a positive light, and lead to further reform of a system that is stacked in favor of private insurance companies.

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Without comment, the justices turned away Indiana’s defense of a 2011 law that would ban all Medicaid funds to an organization such as Planned Parenthood whose work includes performing abortions.

The high court let stand decisions by a federal judge in Indiana and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that blocked the measure from taking effect. The “defunding law excludes Planned Parenthood from Medicaid for a reason unrelated to its fitness to provide medical services, violating its patients’ statutory right to obtain medical care from the qualified provider of their choice,” Judge Diane Sykes said last year for the 7th Circuit.

The Obama administration had joined the case on the side of Planned Parenthood and argued that the Medicaid law gives eligible low-income patients a right to obtain healthcare from any qualified provider. This is known as the free-choice-of-provider rule.

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The theatrical protest, organized by Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, wasn't the first time activists have employed a bit of razzle dazzle to draw attention to an issue and get people talking.

Below, a roundup of five protests that show how, sometimes, a little flare can make a big difference.

Mad, Mad Women

As noted above, the North Carolina group made a splash on Tuesday, wearing dapper vintage outfits to make their point that access to birth control is basic health care. The Republican-controlled judicial committee went on to approve the measure, which now heads for a full vote in the General Assembly, but the Mad Women caused a social media stir and brought national attention to a bill that may have otherwise flown under the radar, as Laura Basset reported for the Huffington Post:

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First, the much-needed fact-check, as ever. Rubin erroneously said on the show, "We have 12 states that have prohibitions on late-term abortions" (the actual number is 41), and that "There's a case from Nebraska that has went its way -- that is at the Supreme Court where we're going to see that." Either she's referring to a case that the Supreme Court heard in 2000, or to a 20-week abortion ban -- well before viability -- Nebraska passed in 2010. There's literally no reason to believe that law will make it to the Supreme Court, because no one has challenged it in court.

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In a comment to critics, Brewer explained that she already signed legislation to prevent funds from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System from being used to support Planned Parenthood-affiliated services, a move that was reversed in federal court for violating Medicaid law.

"We went down that route last year," she said in remarks about the decision. "We lost."

"It's probably time that we just move on," she added.

But her decision may lose her support among state Republicans hellbent on more abortion show pony legislative antics, similar to the measure the Arkansas state Senate passed on Wednesday.

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No more sex education? That should bode well for a state that just banned abortion at 12 weeks.

The Senate measure also prohibits any organization that holds contracts with abortion providers or referrers, including, as Laura Basset at the Huffington Post notes, power companies, water companies, health insurers and medical suppliers, from receiving any state money.

Despite the fact that Planned Parenthood does not currently receive any state funding for abortion care or family planning services, bill sponsor Republican state Rep. Gary Stubblefield and other supporters argue that it will prevent taxpayer money from paying for abortions. In reality, the only loser under the new measure is the state's sex education program. And, of course, Arkansas students.

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But the six week abortion ban came fast on the heels of an Arkansas law restricting the procedure at 12 weeks and, as Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told the Washington Post, other states are following suit:

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From the Associated Press:

State Senator Jason Rapert, who was behind legislation banning nearly all abortions beginning with the 12th week of pregnancy, now seeks to cut all public funding to Planned Parenthood, which does not perform surgical abortions in Arkansas but distributes the abortion pill. And the state’s top anti-abortion advocacy group is urging lawmakers to prohibit providers from remotely administering the abortion pill via a videoconference consultation.

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But in Texas, Planned Parenthood's women's health clinics were a separate legal and administrative entity from their abortion-care providers, so tax dollars never funded abortions in the first place. Instead, the cuts made it nearly impossible for low-income and working-class women in the state to see a physician for contraception, breast exams, pap smears and other basic care.

And now, Texas lawmakers are learning a little lesson: Take away women's access to contraception and abortion, and they will have more babies. (Them's the breaks when it comes to forced pregnancy, Gov. Perry.)

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A couple of weeks ago, Karl Rove went on the O'Reilly Factor to explain why he'd decided to run a campaign video attacking a woman who has not yet declared she's running. "She's going to get to know that she is not going to be able to wait until, you know, the screen writers from California and the producers could make her look good, and prepare the ads and give her lots of lines to memorize so that she can handle these things," he said.

O'Reilly had one question: "If you make her cry, will you feel bad?"

"No, I wouldn't," Rove responded. "O'Reilly, only you could be concerned with making a political figure cry. I mean, please."

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You don't avoid religion, you embrace it head on.

Oh, and you don't say the word "abortion."

Or so says James Bowley, Ph.D., a professor of religious studies at Millsaps College in Jackson, and a strong advocate for women's reproductive rights.

"Change the language," Bowley told Robin Marty of RH Reality Check. "Talk about it as women's reproductive rights. Don't talk about it as abortion rights. It is a much larger picture than that. This is about women -- who owns their bodies, who gets to decide these things for them. The terminology matters a great deal in framing the debate and winning the debate. Positive demonstrations like this where people aren't yelling and screaming. Where people are being civil and engaging each other in civil ways. That can be appreciated in society."

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The women's health provider has long been the target of conservative chest-pounding (and budget slashing), and their latest video "Not In Her Shoes" is their first effort to get past the divisive rhetoric:

Most things in life aren’t simple. And that includes abortion.

It’s personal. It can be complicated. And for many people, it’s not a black and white issue.

So why do people try to label it like it is? Pro-choice? Pro-life? The truth is these labels limit the conversation and simply don’t reflect how people actually feel about abortion.

A majority of Americans believe abortion should remain safe and legal. Many just don’t use the words pro-choice. They don’t necessarily identify as pro-life either. Truth is, they just don’t want to be labeled.

What they want is for a woman to have access to safe and legal abortion, if and when she needs it.

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This year, only a few days into 2013, a Republican has spouted off about women lying about rape and our bodies shutting down pregnancy. States are at it again, and the House has kicked off the legislative session by trying to defund Planned Parenthood.

Happy new year, everyone: The  GOP soul-searching is over, and Republicans are back to square one on reproductive rights.

Today's congressman seeing to add his name to the illustrious rape-explaining pantheon is Georgia Republican Phil Gingrey, one of several antiabortion gynecologists serving in the House. “Part of the reason the Dems still control the Senate is because of comments made in Missouri by Todd Akin and Indiana by Mourdock were considered a little bit over the top,” Gingrey explained at a recent breakfast.

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And then I stopped short, in self-reflective surprise. What do you know? I was excited about technology, again.

As of today, Salon is relaunching a section dedicated to covering technology. Or rather, that constantly bubbling territory where new technology intersects with our evolving culture -- a beat that naturally touches upon politics and economics along with entertainment and media. If you can fit it in a smartphone, I'm going to write about it. And what, really, doesn't fit in your phone anymore?

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It began after Planned Parenthood posted a video called "How to look your best the morning after" on one of its Facebook pages. The video, produced by a London-based domestic abuse hotline, features a woman giving tips on how to cover up bruises and other signs of domestic abuse. At the end, it says:

65% of women who suffer domestic violence keep it hidden.

Don't cover it up.

Share this and help someone speak out.

But following an article called "Is Planned Parenthood Showing Teens How to Hide a Beating With Makeup?" that appeared on the anti-abortion site LifeNews.com, right-wing activists accused Planned Parenthood of advising women to hide abuse.

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House Democratic Rep. Lon Burnam’s bill seeks to rid government code of language barring women’s health care funds from going to centers that “affiliate” with abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood. Texas’ plans to enforce the rule would jeopardize access to breast- and cervical-cancer screenings, diabetes and STD testing, and birth control services for nearly 50,000 of the state’s poorest women.

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As the state attempts to implement a rule barring Planned Parenthood clinics from participating in the government-funded Women’s Health Program, the health commission has directed low-income women­ to use its online database to search for a new provider.

Nearly half of the women served by the program currently rely on Planned Parenthood. The commission says that more than 3,000 providers are available to serve these women, but many experts are skeptical that these facilities will be able to accommodate the women displaced by the new rule.

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The doctor, an avuncular, silver-haired man who's been providing abortions, in the words of one colleague, “pretty much since Roe v. Wade,” turns the screen toward her and traces the outline of her uterus and the embryo, while the girl looks on blankly. He plays the heartbeat, which rises from the machine in a loud, shrill electronic pulse. The ritual, which is repeated several times a day at this Planned Parenthood in Houston and in clinics across the state, is mandated by a new Texas law designed to intensify the experience of abortion — to impress upon a woman, with images and sounds, the sense that she's about to terminate a living thing.

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A Nebraska native, a veteran of seven Republican conventions and the co-chair of Republicans for Planned Parenthood, Moody was at the 1976 convention in Kansas City, when Phyllis Schlafly almost managed to reverse the party's support for the Equal Rights Amendment. (She succeeded later.) "But even in 1980, the Reagan people let us put in language to recognize there are diverse views [about choice] within the party."

Not anymore. By 1992, the official Republican platform opposed abortion even in the cases of rape, incest and severe risk to the life of the mother. And this year, Romney representatives stood by while Schlafly – she's still at it! --  and Family Research Council head Tony Perkins drove even uglier policies into the party's official stance. Moody and a handful of opponents tried to stop them but failed.

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