White House, San Francisco Chronicle spar over video; Husband and Wives, Splitsville, Relationships, Men and Women

White House, San Francisco Chronicle spar over video--"It follows a day of off-the-record exchanges with key people in the White House communications office who told us they would remove our reporter, then threatened retaliation to Chronicle and Hearst reporters if we reported on the ban, and then recanted to say our reporter might not be removed after all." Just what we need, Bush-era-style tactics.

Husbands and Wives

• Don't be a sissy! A marital guide flashback - Coupling: Dating, marriage and other relationships Salon
• The Key to Wedded Bliss? Money Matters
• Due to snafu, marriage wasn't legal--Found out 40 years later
• Recycling litter funds honeymoon
• I couldn't get my man to propose - until our house blew up
• This Is Why Most Women Like To Shop Alone
• Desire To Ejaculate Motivates Local Christian To Wed The Onion

Splitsville

• Divorce makes men richer
• New York Man Demands $1.5M From Estranged Wife for Kidney
• 92-year-old Clara Tang on trial for murdering her 98-year-old husband in Australia--A Farker linked to this relevant comic.

Relationships

• Happily never after--Interview with Susan Squire, "I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage" Salon
• The Half and Whole Truths About Relationships
• Downside of dating a beauty: If a woman's more attractive than her man, the relationship may be doomed

Men and Women

• Good-looking women discriminated against by female recruiters
• Gender stereotypes woven into language of toy ads
• "Women, sort yourselves out"
• One-child policy condemns 24m bachelors to life without a wife
• Driver's Test

Thor almighty; Trumped, States of the Nation, TSA; Captain America trailer

Thor almighty--I would have loved this movie just from watching Chris Hemsworth's god-bod fill the big screen (finally a reason to make movies in 3D!), but kudos to Kenneth Branagh for putting together a compelling story of father and sons. Kat Dennings as Darcy was kittenishly cute, and I could've sworn Josh Dallas as Fandral was channeling The Princess Bride's Westley. I can't wait how all these Marvel movies will come together in The Avengers.

Trumped

• Donald Trump's Mexican Birth Certificate
• Donald Trump's racial discrimination problem Salon
• Robert Gibbs to Donald Trump: Where are the tax returns?
• Deferments Helped Trump Dodge Vietnam--How the presidential aspirant avoided fighting for his country
• Trump Unable To Produce Certificate Proving He's Not A Festering Pile Of Shit The Onion

States of the Nation

• How America became the land of Truthers, Triggers, Birthers, and Dan Brown fans
• A New Study Says America Is Losing Its Empathy
• The 50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2010
• Rudeness Is a Neurotoxin
• Most Of What Americans “Know” About The Federal Budget Is Wrong
• What's the Constitution? Don't bother asking 70% of Americans: Alarming number of U.S. citizens don't know basic facts about their own country
• 26% of U.S. don't know who we declared independence from
• Why are so many of the answers on the U.S. citizenship test wrong

TSA

• Former Miss USA left in tears at TSA checkpoint--"I’m sure this woman was just doing her job. But she…I mean she actually…felt…touched my vagina."
• The unvarnished truth about Un-American TSA
• Why airports' "liquid and gels" rules are absurd Salon
• An infuriating search at Philadelphia International Airport
• TSA a stupid game and we should stop playing it
• TSA security looks at people who complain about ... TSA security
• Video shows young girl receiving full pat-down from TSA --They said they were going to stop doing that. Apparently not.

Captain America trailer: will the gung-ho title put audiences off?

Are Republicans Trying to Hurt the Economy for Political Reasons? Birther a Nation; Islamophobia; Religion and Politics; Fascism; Dichotomy; Let's Not Be Civil

Are Republicans Trying to Hurt the Economy for Political Reasons?--It's their best weapon against Obama come 2012.

Birther a Nation

• An embarrassment to the country--"It’s just racism. ... [T]he vast majority have been deliberately misled by an unscrupulous conservative media and by conservative elites who have failed or refused to challenge these doubts."
• Unequivocal Evidence that Birtherism Is a Big Thing--Among Republicans.
• Romney to Trump: Obama Doesn’t Need a Birth Certificate
• Court-Martialed Birther Army Doc Supporters: If Only Obama Had Released The Birth Certificate a Year Ago!
• Would Superman Pass the Birther Test?--So much for the American way.

Joint Chiefs Staffers Issue Paper Saying America Has Overreacted To Islamic Extremism

Religion and Politics

• Republicans Can't Stop Confusing Our Constitution With Their Bible
• Wisconsin Mayor Tells Agency Heads To Read and Discuss Book By Christian Author With City Employees--Paid for with taxpayers' money.
• Texas GOP Fights Catastrophic Wildfires With Prayer and Global Warming Denial
• If Religion Kills America There Will Be No Resurrection
  
• Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus

Fascism: Left Wing or Right Wing?--A history lesson.

Dichotomy

• 2008 Graduation Rates vs. 2008 US Presidential Election--Correlation isn't causation, but the coincidence is curiously captivating.
• Infographic: What Congress Would Look Like If It Really Represented America
• Left and Right

Let’s Not Be Civil--Bye-bye bipartisanship. As Steve Benen puts it, "Both sides have nutjobs; only one side thinks their nutjobs are sane."

Happy Administrative Professionals Day; Health at Work; The Onion; College Humor; Sony's Playstation Network Disaster

Happy Administrative Professionals Day

• Good News: Wasting Time on the Internet Makes You a Better Worker
• "The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise" Salon
• Try Saying...

Health at Work

• Going to the gym in a lunch-break makes you work better
• How to drop pounds with all-day activities, not exercise
• Valley Kidney Donor Fired From Job--"Donor says she failed to meet sales goals due to tests before surgery."

The Onion

• Supreme Court Overturns Bush v. Gore
• Rain Told To Go Away In 1986 Returns
• Everything Taking Too Long

College Humor

• Font Conference
• Street Fighter: The Later Years
• We Didn't Start the Flame War
• Web Site Story
• Motherf***ing Parking Ticket

Sony's PlayStation Network Disaster: What Happens Next?

Young? Need a Job? Join the Briefcase Brigades; Oily, BP; Taxes; Medicare; Your GOP at Work; PSN hacking

Young? Need a Job? Join the Briefcase Brigades--"On Wednesday, April 27th, when members of Congress are home for recess, we're going to their offices all around the country to demand they prioritize jobs over budget cuts."

Oily

• The scam behind the rise in oil, food prices
• Secret memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq
• White House: Oil firm subsidies 'crazy' amid corporate profit reports

BP

• A year after spill, BP gives political contributions to GOP leaders
• BP To Cut Tax Bill By $13B But Won't Say What It's Paying IRS For 2010
• Leaked: 30,000 BP oil spill memos, emails and transcripts

Taxes

• The Public Overwhelmingly Wants It: Why Is Taxing the Rich So Hard?
• Pay Your Taxes? These 10 Companies Didn't.
• Undocumented Workers Pay More Taxes than Major U.S. Corporations
• America's Tax System In Just 72,536 Easy Pages
• Roseanne and Taxes

Medicare

• Poll: Taxing the rich favored over Medicare cuts--Tell that to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter.
• Republicans in Swing Districts Take Heat for Supporting Ryan's Medicare Plan
• Republicans Running for Cover After Budget Vote to End Medicare

Your GOP at work

• Sean Duffy gets peeved: "Let me tell you what. When you have your town hall you can stand up and give your presentation."
• Ensign Resigned to Avoid Testimony to Senate Ethics Committee
• Barton denies any ‘medical negative’ from mercury, smog, or soot pollution
• Michigan Solves Deficit By Forcing Foster Kids Into Thrift Store Clothes
• Florida Gov. Rick Scott behind a push to kill Citizens Insurance, documents show

PSN down due to "external intrusion," no news on fix, credit card security--The 5-day (and counting) outage has reduced many a gamer to tears. UPDATE: ArsTechnica reports that personal data has indeed been compromised. If you've used a credit card on the PSN, it's suggested that you cancel that ASAP.

Manning, Wikileaks, War on Terror; Wake up Jesus!

Manning

• WikiLeaks suspect Manning will be transferred from Quantico to Fort Leavenworth--"We just wanted to get him to a place... where his well-being and his care and his pre-trial confinement could be the very best we could provide." Yeah, right.
• The vindication of P.J. Crowley Salon
• President Obama speaks on Manning and the rule of law Salon
• Protestors interrupt Obama fundraiser to sing for Bradley Manning
• Dubya vs. Manning

Wikileaks

• WikiLeaks discloses new details on whereabouts of al-Qaeda leaders on 9/11
• Shep Smith: WikiLeaks Releases 'The Only Straight Answers We Get Any More'
• Assange vs. Zuckerberg

War on Terror

• The Guantanamo Files: Classified Files Offer New Insights Into Detainees
• Documents shed light on Tillman’s death
• The Kill Team--"How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses – and how their officers failed to stop them."

Wake up, Jesus!--So wrong in so many levels.

Israel and Palestine; The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science; Science vs. Religion; Happy Easter!

Israel and Palestine

• Palestinian Christians denied access to holy places in Jerusalem during Easter
• Israel intellectuals and artists back Palestinian state
• UN chief: Israel's occupation is 'morally, politically unsustainable'

The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science--How our brains fool us on climate, creationism, and the vaccine-autism link.

Science vs. Religion

• The tantalising proof that belief in God makes you happier and healthier
• God's little rabbits: Religious people out-reproduce secular ones by a landslide
• Model predicts 'religiosity gene' will dominate society
• The History of Everything Timeline
• Bottled Water facts that Science WON'T tell you!
• Here there be dragons
• NASA Completes 52-Year Mission To Find, Kill God The Onion

Happy Easter!

• How God and the Devil Spend Their Time
• Jesus hung out with 12 guys and a prostitute
• Isn't Religion Fun?
• Any Questions?--Actually... there is.
• God hates what now?--There are so many parts of the Bible that should never be taken literally.
• The God Of Abraham, Isaac, And Jacob
• "I'm sorry if my insensitivity towards your beliefs offends you."

The Science of Men; Phallus-y; Male-factory

The Science of Men

• How to Drink Sperm to Become a Strong Man
• Men's taint-size correlated with fertility
• Male biological clock 'ticks too'
• Man Milk: It's Real
• Researchers discover baldness gene: 1 in 7 men at risk
• Daily sex 'best for good sperm'
• Study Links Gene Variant in Men to Marital Discord
• Men 'unhappy' with their bodies
• Bikini-clad women make men impatient--I want a study on bikini-clad men.

Phallus-y

• Dear Prudence... I've got a big problem
• Cop mistakes penis for gun
• Fake-piss-dispenser inventors busted
• Secrets of the Phallus: Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?
• Art of the Accidental Penis
• Masturbation Facts
• Elusive Release
• Great Danes
• This Day In History: The Invention Of The Handjob The Onion

Male-factory

• More Men Getting Plastic Surgery
• My wife didn't make that quilt. I did.
• MP Dominic Raab says men victims of discrimination
• It's Raining on Men: Balls Deep at the Conference on Male Studies
• Austerity style: Men of Britain, put down your hair gel

Church and State; Abortion and Birth Control; Religious Intolerance; Last Supper

Church and State

• Religion continues to impact voter decision
• God tells Michele Bachmann that he doesn’t like gays
• Barton: The Bible Opposes Net Neutrality
• House votes to direct $ 100 M in taxpayer dollars to religious private schools
• Evangelical Liberty University received half a billion dollars in federal aid money--One conservative college got more government cash than NPR last year Salon
• To all the right-wing zealots who claim the US was founded as a Christian nation by religious, church-going men... please say hello to a few of the Founding Fathers
• Intelligent Design

Abortion and Birth Control

• What's really driving the GOP's abortion war Salon
• House GOP tames Dems' efforts on abortion bill
• Republicans Upset That Democrat Said "Uterus" on Florida House Floor
• Arizona enacts ban on abortions based on gender, race
• Indiana GOPer: Women Might Pretend To Be Raped To Get Around Abortion Laws--At least "one Republican state senator--Sen. Vaneta Becker--actually noted an all-too-common hypocrisy in Republican anti-choice efforts."

Religious intelorance

• Attack on 'blasphemous' art work fires debate on role of religion in France
• Reedley Teen Badly Beaten, Family Charged--A valley teen is recovering after being tied up and beaten. [...] Witnesses tell Reedley Police the girl's family became enraged after finding out she was dating a boy who was not Muslim.
• 78% of "British Muslims" want limits on Freedom of Speech when it comes to "insulting religion"
• Afghans Avenge Florida Koran Burning, Killing 12--"Friday’s episode began when three mullahs... urged people to take to the streets to agitate for the arrest of Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who oversaw the burning of a Koran on March 20."
• Only 14, Bangladeshi girl charged with adultery was lashed to death --The Bangladeshi clerics who ordered the illegal fatwa have been arrested.

Last Supper

Good Parenting; Parent of the Year nominees; Kids These Days; Think of the Children; How neighborly; Carolina Beach restaurant says "no" to screaming children

Good Parenting

• Dad turns in own kids for bullying
• What happens when mom unplugs teens for 6 months?
• 27 Stresses

Parent of the Year nominees

• I give my girl, 8, Botox for pageant
• Unruly 8-year-old pepper sprayed by police--And for many good reasons, one of them, being raised by a inept mother.
• "Mommy! My friends at school called me ugly."--Hmmm... there may be something to this.

Kids These Days

• Are You Raising a Douchebag?
• Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps
• Childhood isn't a race
• Toddlers & Tiaras with Tom Hanks
  
• Fun Toy Banned Because Of Three Stupid Dead Kids The Onion

Think of the Children

• Stop worrying about your children! Salon
• Mall implements 'youth escort policy'
• Eek! A Male!--What has the country turned into?

How neighborly

• HOA Wants Kids Banned From Playing Outside
• Disabled boy can keep his pony, Caledon rules--Neighbor/s claimed about the smell, but how can one pony's stable compare to a cattle farm?
• Neighbors Go To War Over 4 Year Old Boy

Carolina Beach restaurant says "no" to screaming children--Good for them.

4/20, Prosser says there's no need for recount; Vote Machinations; Ag-Gag; Photoshopping the President; MLK Day, Racism; AZ Immigration

4/20

• "Most laws aren't about you, they're about paying off campaign contributors."--Hemp was too much of a commercial threat.
• Jamaica to Look Again at Decriminalizing Marijuana
• Judge blasts Govt opposition to Medical Marijuana
• Ontario closer to legal pot
• I Need 50 CCs Of Bubblegum Kush

Prosser says there's no need for recount--"We will take every and any step to prevent this frivolous matter going forward," his lawyer said. Frivolous, my ass.

Vote Machinations

• Hacking Democracy--I linked to this documentary on Google Video back in 2006, but since the service is shutting down soon, thought I'd put in a new link.
• Programmer under oath admits computers rig elections
• How To Steal an Election

Five Years In Jail For Exposing Animal Abuses In Minnesota--Republicans protecting corporations, again.

Photoshopping the President

• Jack Cashill: Take A Knee--Pathetic attempt to discredit Obama.
• OC Republican allegedly sent offensive Obama email--"A Southern California Republican Party official is under fire after allegedly sending an email that included an altered photo depicting President Barack Obama as an ape." Marilyn Davenport refuses to resign, insisting that "she wasn't trying to be racist."
• The Economist Photoshops Obama's Picture

Alleged MLK Day Terrorist Apparently Has neo-Nazi Ties

Racism

• Public Policy Polling in Mississippi--Money quote: "We asked voters on this poll whether they think interracial marriage should be legal or illegal- 46% of Mississippi Republicans said it should be illegal to just 40% who think it should be legal."
• Donald Trump Blames The Blacks For Obama’s Presidency
• Ariz. Legislature OKs presidential 'birther' bill--Against expectations, Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed it.
• Student Quits At U.C.L.A. Over Rant
• Alta High School students targeted with KKK Hoods and Hail Hitlers
• Racist Grocery Store Picture
• "Dear Caucasian neighbor..."

Arizona's Immigration Bills Voted Down: Children Lead the Way

Light-up cereal boxes; Corn, Fat Tuesday; Pepsi & Mountain Dew Throwback; Nutrituion; NY Chefs; The Food Reviewer's Channel

Light-up cereal boxes powered by shelves on display at CES--What will they think of next?

Fat Tuesday

• Fat Stigma Spreads Around the Globe
• New Study Suggests Food Can Be an Addiction
• Texas beauty queen Domonique Ramirez wins 'fat' case
• 400-pound sumo wrestler, Kelly Gneiting, sets record for heaviest person to finish a marathon
• Overweight Americans throwing off safety of city buses
• Americans Are Now Fat Enough to Require Lower Passenger Limits on Boats
• Study: Moms, kids more overweight than they think
• Childhood obesity: Requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts won't put a dent in the nation's obesity rates.
• Boy, you are one big baby! Lu Hao, the three-year-old who weighs a staggering 132lbs - and he's still growing--Hopefully he'll get the help he needs.

Pepsi Throwback, Mountain Dew Throwback become permanent--Using real sugar instead of the dreaded HFCS

Nutrition

• My Unhealthy Diet? It Got Me This Far
• What The New "Low Carb" Study REALLY Says
• Group Sues Coke Over Vitaminwater Claims--There's a dark side to everything.

New York's Puritan Chefs Want It Their Way

Corn

• The FDA May Change High Fructose Corn Syrup Name to Corn Sugar
• American fast food is almost entirely made of corn
• Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury

The Food Reviewer's Channel

FDA and Makena; Wisconsin, Florida, Monsanto; Benton Harbor; BP; The Prosecution Rests, But I Can't; Railway; Encyclopediadramatica.ch

FDA and Makena: Agency opens up competition for premature pregnancy drug--"Then K-V sent letters to pharmacies threatening that the FDA would punish them if they compounded their own versions of the drug. On Wednesday, the FDA declared it would do no such thing." And caused their stocks to fall, rightfully so.

Wisconsin

• Waukesha voting irregularities go back to 2004
• Walker And Prosser Crushed Regulations On Koch Industry’s Phosphorus Pollution In Wisconsin
• Gov Walker Admits Stripping Collective Bargaining Rights Is Not About the Budget
• Gov. Scott Walker Reportedly Planning Financial Martial Law In Wisconsin
• Analysis Shows Gov Walker’s Budget Only Raises Taxes On the Poor

Florida's Gov. Rick Scott plummets in the polls: DO-Over please.

Monsanto

• GMO Giant Monsanto Loses Another Day in Court
• Farmers and Seed Producers Launch Preemptive Strike against Monsanto
• Wikileaks: GMO conspiracy reaches highest levels of US Government

Benton Harbor emergency manager strips power from all elected officials--Ah, the smell of fascism in the morning.

BP

• BP anniversary: Toxicity, suffering and death--The big question is: Where did the oil go?
• Emails expose BP's attempts to control research into impact of Gulf oil spill--And it seems like no one from BP's going to go to jail because of this. 'Failed state' and all that.
• No, the Gulf Oil Spill is NOT Old News

The Prosecution Rests, But I Can’t--A Supreme (Court) Injustice NYT

Railway

• How Flaws Undid Obama’s Hope for High-Speed Rail in Florida--Or perhaps it was because one of the Florida Governor Rick Scott's lawyers lied about the money spent on the project.
• Political Opposition to High Speed Rail is Beyond Stupidity
• George Will Says High Speed Rail is a Liberal Delusion. He's Dead Wrong

Encyclopediadramatica.ch--The original Encyclopedia Dramatica got sold and neutered, but now it's back.

Budget; Business; Collusion; Workers; Money, money, money

Budget

• How Democrats Railroaded Republicans Into Almost Passing A Budget Too Conservative For Them--A surprisingly masterful move by the Dems
• Gridlock Could Eventually Shrink Deficit--By letting the Bush-term tax cuts expire.
• Who’s Serious Now?--"Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, sounds upset. And you can see why: President Obama, to the great relief of progressives, has called his bluff.
• "Obama unplugged, tells Republicans: 'You think we're stupid?'
• Congressman Crowley Is SPEECHLESS!--It's been over 100 days since the Republicans have taken over the House and job creation is not in their top 3 priorities.

Business

• America is a 'failed state' with a 'dual justice' system... one for ordinary people and then one for people with money and enormous wealth and power
• The Real Housewives of Wall Street--"Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?"
• In Financial Crisis, No Prosecutions of Top Figures

Collusion

• House Votes Against 'Net Neutrality'--"The action, which is less likely to pass the Senate and which President Obama has threatened to veto, is nevertheless significant... ." It's practically a blatant paid-for money-grab executed by paid-off legislators.
• Three largest online poker sites indicted and shut down by FBI--For financial trickery that bypassed the 'laws' that protect the brick-and-mortar casinos. It's the kind of bank fraud Wall Street was into but the Feds seem to have no interest in pursuing. Fancy that.
• Legislation could affect broadband access--Those who preach about the 'Free Market' don't take into consideration how companies subvert the laws, but that's ok because it's 'selfish', right?

Workers

• American workers got what they deserved
• Fire 100 years ago gave birth to worker rights
• In 2010, CEO Pay Went Up 27% While Worker Pay Went Up 2%
• Daily Show: I Give Up - Pay Anything...--"As greedy public workers bankrupt states, America makes it harder for honest corporate citizens to create jobs."
• March to stop the freeloaders
• Craig Ferguson on Capitalism and Democracy
• American People Hire High-Powered Lobbyist To Push Interests In Congress The Onion

Money, money, money

• Hedge Fund Manager John Paulson Earned $5 Billion In 2010
• Borders Group Awards Executives Millions for Putting 6,000 Out of Work
• Was Monopoly originally meant to teach people about the evils of capitalism?
• Corporate Persons Are Jerks
• CEO Pay On The Rise Again The Onion

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes--Or 'Who watches the watchmen?'

• The War on Cameras
• Rodney King: 20 years of citizen photojournalism
• What's wrong with these cops?
• Michigan high court rules for Dr. Dre--"The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in favor of rapper Dr. Dre in a case involving a very important legal principle — whether the police have a right to privacy while performing their duties. The state high court said no."
• "Connecticut State Sen. Martin Looney (D-New Haven) has introduced a short bill  that not only acknowledges the right of citizens to record on-duty police officers, it also provides for a civil action against police officers who violate that right."
• L.A. Critical Mass Rider Sues City For LAPD 'Beating' Caught On Cell-Phone Video
• Weare police charge man for recording traffic stop
• Robert Graham Was Detained by the TSA for Taking Photographs
• How to Record the Cops
• Ass. Police Chief arrests CT man for filming cops with iPhone, confiscates and deletes videos
• We were permanently banned from the Miami-Dade Metrorail for taking photos
• Young photojournalist detained for army cadet pics
• Photographers Are NOT Terrorists
• Is it legal to take photos of people without asking?

Budget and Taxes; Koch; Republicans; Tea Party

Budget and Taxes

• Obama urges spending cuts and increased taxes on rich
• Nancy Folbre: Taxing the Rich
• Tax Me, I'm Rich, Says Deep-Pocketed Group--Millionaires demanding higher taxes say they have lost faith in Obama
• 2011 budget cuts revealed--"WIC, a program that uses federal money to subsidize the food and nutrition needs of children from low-income families, is cut by more than $500 million. [...] The Pentagon would end up with a boost of about $5 billion above last year's level."
• Sanders to vote NO on budget deal--"I will not support a budget that will cut programs for struggling working families, the elderly, children and the poor while expanding tax breaks for billionaires, maintaining corporate tax loopholes and increasing military spending. That is just plain wrong."
• The worst idea in Washington--"Every single Senate Republican has endorsed a constitutional amendment that would’ve made Ronald Reagan’s fiscal policy unconstitutional."
• Planned Parenthood Donations Up 500 Percent After Budget Fight--The Republican's plan to hold it hostage could have backfired.

Koch

• You Thought the Koch Brothers Were Bad? Turns Out They're Even Worse Than You Thought
• The Contango Game: How Koch Industries Manipulates The Oil Market For Profit
• The Koch Brothers: What You Need to Know About the Financiers of the Radical Right
• Billionaire self-pity and the Koch brothers Salon
• 2,000 Protesters March On Koch Industries’ D.C. Office

Republicans

• Republicans in 2003 and 2011
• Eric Cantor rewrites the Constitution Salon
• Rep. Bachmann proposes tax code to promote 'family formation'--By punishing single moms with higher taxes.
• Huckabee Hearts Secrecy--Computer drives containing records of his time as governor "were erased and physically destroyed by the Huckabee administration as the governor prepared to leave office and launch a presidential bid."
• Jon Kyl inspires Stephen Colbert to tweet non-facts--Kyl makes a lie about abortion stats and says it's "not intended to be a factual statement."
• Martin Harty Resigns In Wake Of Suggesting Mentally Disabled Be Sent To Siberia
• Gov. Rick Scott orders immediate cuts to programs for disabled
• Michigan Awakens As 10,000 Protesters March Against Rick Snyder
• Sex outside marriage should be illegal, says Parnell nominee
• Fischer: All Immigrants Must "Convert To Christianity"
• The Right-Wing War Against Sarah Palin
• Even Newt Gingrich A Little Depressed By Prospect Of Him Running For President The Onion

Tea Party

• The Original Tea Party was not Anti-Government but Anti-Corporation
• Institute for Liberty - Tea Party Group With Business Agenda
• Tea Party figures found failing to pay taxes
• CNN Poll: Unfavorable view of tea party on the rise
• Daily Kos: Fox News and today's tea party rally

Action Center, Earth; Bradley Manning; The U-turn President; Budget; Wisconsin; Courts and Corporations; Banks and Foreclosures; Anonymous: Boycott Sony

Action Center

• Veterans For Peace Endorses the April 15th Rally and Protest in Union Square Park--"Veterans For Peace has joined in endorsing 'Sounds of Resistance,' a concert and protest against Wall Street banks that draws the connections between militarism, Wall Street, the wealth divide and the downward spiral of the wealth of most Americans."
• Protest ALEC – APRIL 29th, 2011--A day of resistance against the American Legislative Exchange Council, "a conservative think-tank run by right-wing politicians and corporate and financial interests within the banking industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the big oil and gas industries, and others.
• 5th of November--Remember the date.

The Earth's Destiny and Our Fates are Being Determined by Approximately 500 Wealthy Men and Corporations

Bradley Manning

• Vote for Bradley Manning to be included as one of the Time 100 for 2011
• Bradley Manning case sparks UN criticism of US government--The US refuses to have a UN representative to meet with Manning.
• Bradley Manning: top US legal scholars voice outrage at 'torture'--The list includes one of Obama's professors

The U-turn president: Barack Obama's top ten flip-flops

Budget

• Government shutdown averted: Winners and losers
• CBO: GOP Budget Would Increase Debt, Then Stick It To Medicare Patients
• It’s Not Really About Spending
• Let There Be Light Bulbs
• GOP Completely Fixes Economy By Canceling Funding For NPR The Onion

Budget-Conscious House GOP To Put ‘In God We Trust’ On All Buildings--A monumental waste of money, much less unconstitutional, and besides, the Founding Fathers had a national motto: E Pluribus Unum

Wisconsin

• Scott Walker’s Election Nightmare in Wisconsin--Though Prosser has won this time, he "lost a full 50% of that voter base" who voted him in before. Scott Walker no longer has a mandate.
• Wisco county clerk whose homemade voting software found 14K votes for Tea Party judge is an old hand at illegal campaigning--Ever since Bush v. Gore, they're not even trying to hide it anymore. And anyone who Microsoft Access for government elections ought to be outright fired.
• Is Wisconsin 'broke'? Answer is in the eye of the beholder, experts say
• 84% Vote against Citizens United! Same votes nationwide will help Dems win in 2012--The people in Madison don't want corporations to be treated as people
• Lobbyist's son to return to old job in Walker administration--"The son of a prominent lobbyist is being demoted following controversy over his selection as a high-paid supervisor in the Walker administration."

Liberals Need to Take Court Races as Seriously as Corporations Do--Hopefully what happened in Wisconsin will be a wake-up call.

Banks and Foreclosures

• Banks Are Off the Hook Again--But the "little people" who aren't too big to fail continue to get screwed.
• Wachovia Paid Trivial Fine for Nearly $400 Billion of Drug Related Money Laundering--Why is this not part of the War on Drugs?
• Bank Of America Paid Nothing In Federal Income Taxes Last Year And Got Almost $1 Billion From Taxpayers
• Banks Push to Weaken Dodd-Frank Risk Rules--They know they got bailed out before; they'll get bailed out again since they're too big to fail.
• Fed-up judges crack down on foreclosure disorder in courts

'Anonymous' Plans Sony Boycott on April 16--I've been boycotting Sony for years ever since the rootkit fiasco, and the GeoHotz debacle just reaffirms my observation that this company's actions to jack up its profits hurts legitimate consumers.

TSA, War on Terror, The Unfriendly Skies, Up in the Air

TSA

• Man With 4th Amendment Written on Chest Sues Over Airport Arrest --But most other passengers have already been bullied into submission.
• TSA Admits Bungling of Airport Body-Scanner Radiation Tests--"The flawed results showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected." Emphasis added.
• Man faces $11K fine for refusing TSA screening
• Amtrak vs. TSA
• Worst Homeland-Security Menace--"According to documents obtained by the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center, the TSA in 2006 began planning pilot programs that, if ever fully implemented, would expand its reach into the everyday lives of American citizens."
• TSA Surveillance: Peep Show, Police State, Privacy Invasion or All Three?
• Bill Would Make Some Airport Screening Sexual Assault
• After touching your junk, TSA now wants to scan and harvest your DNA
• Documents Reveal TSA Research Proposal To Body-Scan Pedestrians, Train Passengers
• Could Backscatter Scanners Be Coming To City Streets?

War on Terror

• Ridiculous DHS list: You might be a domestic terrorist if...
• Passenger vigilantism strikes again Salon
• Southwest Apologizes for Removing Muslim Passenger From Flight

The Unfriendly Skies

• 6ft 7ins passenger 'forced to stand for two-hour flight'
• Sick of Surly Airline Staff? Delta Sends 11,000 Employees to Charm School
• Passengers not told pilot of NJ-bound jet had died
• Overheard locker tot outrage
• Delta says no to advertising the SCOTTEVEST

Up in the Air

• Deployed soldier charged $500 to change flight-- Delta Air Lines reportedly dinged a soldier who needed to change his flight $500. He said he just wanted to visit his family before being sent off to serve his country in Afghanistan.
• Continental Kills Free Snacks In Coach
• Airlines quietly "adjust" checked bag fees
• Spirit Airlines adds new fees for luggage
• 'Cheap Flights' the Song

Best horse name ever; Pic picks; Yoga vs. Vodka; Advertisements; 25 Stunningly Dumb Warning Labels; Tattoo; Roar!

Best horse name ever

Pic picks

• 60 Beautiful Examples Of Night Photography
• 40 Examples of Minimalist Photography
• 33 Pictures Caught at the Exact Right Moment
• The 25 Best News Photographs
• 16 More Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped
• Long Exposure Photography: 15 Stunning Examples
• 10 Fascinating Last Pictures Taken

Yoga vs. Vodka

Advertisements

• Vintage ‘gay’ ads
• The 13 Most Creative and Interesting Billboard Advertisements--This should be in the list.
• 40 Seriously Funny Print Ads
• Funny old-school vintage advertisements
• If Advertisements Were Truthful
• Isaiah Mustafa Reveals Secrets Behind Old Spice Commercial
• Rejected Super Bowl ads
• Advertising which tells us something serious
• Hot Wheels
• "Finding new bands will never be hard again."

25 Stunningly Dumb Warning Labels

Tattoo

• "Yakuza 3" fan gets a Yakuza tattoo worth $9000
• Marc Ecko Responds: People are Actually Getting Tattoos--For the "Branded for Life" campaign
• Tattooed clubber is 'turned away'--I wouldn't turn away someone this hunky.
• World's Geekiest Tattoos
• Awesome Spider-Man tattoo
• Cover up tattoos, some employees told
• Why is this anti-gay Leviticus tattoo extra absurd?

Roar!

Mexico, War on Drugs; Medical Marijuana, 411 on 420, MJ

Mexico

• Bodies found as Mexicans march against drug violence--Mass graves found.
• Javier Sicilia's Open Letter to Mexico's Politicians and Criminals
• Mexico's drug war takes increasing toll on children; 1,000 reported killed since 2006
• Fury in Mexico as brave activist mother who lost her daughter in drugs war is gunned down while demanding justice
• US ATF Secretly Arming Mexican Drug Cartels
• Mexican President Felipe Calderon on the war on drugs
• US ambassador to Mexico quits amid WikiLeaks furor--The statements that got him fired seem to have been (sadly) vindicated. Salon

War on Drugs

• War on drugs has failed, say former heads of MI5, CPS and BBC--What's been fueling it? Follow the money.
• FDA Suddenly Bans Drugs That Have Been On The Market For Decades--Coincentally, the DEA bans chemicals used to mimic marijuana thus preserving the profits of some pharmaceutical companies who stand to benefit from these moves.
• The Wire's War on the Drug War--Two words: "Jury nullification"

Medical Marijuana

• Blowing Smoke: Obama Promises One Thing, Does Another on Medical Marijuana
• New Poll: 81 Percent Of Americans Support Legalizing Medical Marijuana
• New Hampshire House Passes Medical Marijuana Bill
• Delaware Senate passes medical marijuana bill 18-3
• Hit the drug cartels by legalizing pot
• WA Supreme Court Hears Case: Woman Fired For Med Pot Use
• Will Medical Marijuana Sellers Get the Capone Treatment?

411 on 420

• It's Time for Sensible Marijuana Laws
• Congressman Calls For an End to the War on Weed
• How $31 of pot gave mom a 10-year-prison sentence
• Cops Who Smell Marijuana Coming From Your Pad Might Legally Be Able To Break Down The Door And Arrest You
• National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse--The Commission found even way back in the 70s that "[T]he criminal law is too harsh a tool to apply to personal possession even in the effort to discourage use. It implies an overwhelming indictment of the behavior which we believe is not appropriate. The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior, a step which our society takes only 'with the greatest reluctance."

MJ

• Taking a hit in the name of science
• Marijuana Does Not Cause Erectile Dysfunction
• Employees of bankrupt Borders recommends...

It's a plutocracy, stupid; Class Warfare; Taxes; Government of the People? More like bought off by a few people, then forced on the rest of the people

It's a plutocracy, stupid

Class Warfare

• Fed Survey: We're 45% Poorer
• Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
• Michael Moore: The Rich Are Committing Class Warfare On Us
• Democrats, Progressives and Class War Denialism
• With Income Gap at 80-Year High, Solutions Remain Elusive
• Bernie Sanders - Don't Balance Budget on the Most Vulnerable
• A Scandal
• Cornel West and the fight against injustice
• The Brits are furious: Why aren't we?
  
• Down and out on $250,000 a year?

Taxes

• Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution
• 2/3rds of US Corporations Pay Zero Federal Taxes: US Uncut Movement Builds to Make Them Pay Up
• G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether--And asks "its union workers to make wage and benefits concessions".
• Three States Propose Massive Tax Cuts For Millionaires, Tax Hikes for Middle Class
• Californians back raising taxes on state's wealthy

Government of the People? More like bought off by a few people, then forced on the rest of the people

• Gov. Kasich’s Jobs Plan: Drink More Booze, Hand The Profits To A Private Development Company
• Artist upset over removal of her mural from Maine Dept. of Labor--"The mural was removed last weekend after Gov. Paul LePage said it was biased toward organized labor and out of line with his pro-business agenda."
• Scott Walker Gives Donor's Kid an $81K Job--"Well, it probably didn’t hurt that dad Jerry Deschane is a longtime lobbyist for the Wisconsin Builders Association, and that the group’s PAC was one of Walker’s top five campaign donors—ringing up $121,652 in donations."
• Chart of the Day, Big Government Nanny State Edition
• Time Warner Cable Muni-Fiber Killing Bill Moves Forward --The Republican-dominated NC House, allegedly lobbied by the telcos, approve the Orwellian-named "Level Playing Field" bill.

Father of alleged Libyan rape victim says she is still missing; LGBT and Religion; Politics; Marriage Equality; Transgender; Comics

Father of alleged Libyan rape victim says she is still missing

LGBT and Religion

• Evangelical shift on gays: Why 'clobber scriptures' are losing ground
• Arkansas Christian University Blocks Access to Student-Published Gay Webzine
• USCCB Urges HUD Not to Include Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Among Protected Categories--Basically, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops want to be able to evict gays from their federally-funded housing programs.

Politics

• Newt Gingrich Secretly Funneled $350,000 To Anti-Gay Hate Groups Last Year
• US anti-gay rights senator Roy Ashburn comes out--Oh FSM, how many more of these guys are there who are actively working again?
• Huckabee Compares Gays To Drug Users, Says They’re Unfit To Adopt Kids
• Lady Gaga dumps Target over anti-gay donations--Last year Target's CEO apologized for donating to a political group with a homophobic agenda.
• For Younger Class Of Political Operatives, Gay Rights Issues Often Pit Them Against Their Candidates
• Gay families more accepted than single moms--"Pew study find Americans are split evenly overall on accepting 'non-traditional families' but disparage single moms"
• Anti-Gay Protesters Turn Out In Florida The Onion

Marriage Equality

• Only Those with Blind Eyes and Dead Hearts Can Deny Same Sex Marriage
• Short Votes, Maryland Democrats Withdraw Same-Sex Marriage Bill
• For The First Time, Majority Of Americans Support Gay Marriage
• What will happen if gay marriage is legalized?
• Town Of Davenport, Iowa Descends Into Hell Following Gay Marriage Ceremony The Onion

Transgender

• I want to be more than just a man or a woman Salon
• Transgender New Yorkers sue over birth certificates--"A group of transgender residents filed a lawsuit against New York City over what they say are burdensome requirements for them to change the gender on their birth certificates."
• Somebody who's imaginary
• $3,000 later...
• Award-winning female manager was born a man
• Seizure makes woman believe she’s a man
• Before, during and after

Comics

• Coming Out in Comics
• Archie, Meet Kevin, Riverdale's New Gay Student--Soon to star in his own comic book.
• A Kiss Is Still A Kiss – Wolverine’s Son And Bullseye Get It On--To think Marvel would've slapped a vertiable scarlet letter on their own titles many years ago.
• In Defense of Robin
• PVP Online: Fire!

Injustice; Debt; Jerks; Stephen Colbert Sings "Friday" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Injustice

• High court snubs Ga. death row inmate
• This is what it's like for an innocent man to spend thirty years in jail
• Tennessee inmate released after 22 years on death row
• Innocence Lost
• Court tosses sex offender's 28-year prison term
• Texas Comptroller Denies Compensation To Man Wrongly Imprisoned On Death Row For 18 Years
• The Impunity of the Roberts Court--"John Thompson spent 14 years on death row because prosecutors withheld evidence, but the Supreme Court refuses to hold them accountable."

Debt

• Indonesia: Citibank debt collectors arrested in death of client over credit card
• Debt collection tactics, new and abusive, are in 'dire need of reform'
• Bill Bartmann Pushes For Reformed Oklahoma Debt-Collection Laws
• Minn. AG accuses debt buyer of chasing wrong folks--And "taking steps to sue a debt collection company that she says has filed false and deceptive court documents against Minnesota consumers."
• Will the Government Protect You From Debt Collector Abuse?
• FTC wins largest civil penalty on nasty debt collector: $2.8M
• Disabled Janitor's $311,000 Victory Against Abusive Firm Trying To Collect $3,800 Debt
• Man Wins $5,000 Suing Debt Collectors, Thanks To Google Voice
• Woman Sues Debt Collectors For MySpace Posting--They've been gunning for Facebook too.
• For Debt Collectors, the Dead Are a Healthy Bet
• Video Of Bully Debt Collector Crumbling
• 10 ways to fight back against a debt collector

Jerks

• DelDOT takes away McCafferty family basketball pole, after clearly promising to leave it
• An attack on tradition: Toomer's Oaks unlikely to survive after poisoning--The man who claimed on a radio show to have poisoned the century-old trees got arrested.
• Man stole money raised for dying wish
• Tuba Man killer, arrested again, bragged about crime
• Calif. Woman Charged With Scamming $285,000 From Nuns
• Richard Ludwig, Millionaire Dentist, Finds Student's Lost Credit Card, Charges Pizza
• Tow trucks swoop in on paradegoers' cars

Stephen Colbert Sings "Friday" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon