Contenders in the Republican presidential contest have been going after presumed front-runner Rick Perry for a number of reasons, but they’ve focused in on one issue that truly seems to resonate with conservatives — the HPV vaccine.

Rick Perry, the Texas Governor who recently celebrated his decision to run for the Republican presidential nomination by “deep-throating” a vegetarian corn dog, has placed the responsibility of accounting for his campaign finances in the hands of the individual who had been doing the same job for Stephen Colbert.

Ever since legislation was introduced in the D.C. Council that would mandate vaccinations for the HPV virus, the issue has moved to the forefront of the public health debate around the country. With an increasing number of states considering a mandatory vaccine — at least 20 to date — debate has raged between advocates that believe that a vaccine could prevent a serious public health crisis, opponents who claim that it infringes upon the rights…

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into…