(Advanced) Happy Halloween, M-M-M-M-Mask; Debatable, Elections, Vote Machinations, Voter Suppression, Phoney Romney, Republicans, Banking, Inequality

(Advanced) Happy Halloween

• When Harry Met Sally 2
• Charlie Brown: Blockhead's Revenge
• Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

M-M-M-Mask

• Senior Citizen Mask
• 3DPF: Japanese Company Creates Super-Realistic 3D Face Replicas
• Masks so realistic they're arresting the wrong guy
• MythBusters: Faking Out the Fans
• "Winner" Charlie Sheen Mask
• Dynamic face substitution
• New York Robbers Unmasked by Grateful Note for Their Disguise

Debatable

• GOP blows secrets and risks lives in document dump ahead of debate--"Libyans who have been secretly helping the U.S. have had their identities exposed by documents released Friday by House Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, a senior administration official confirmed to NBC News' Andrea Mitchell."
• Democrats vs. Republicans
• Epic Rap Battles Of History Season 2: Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney

Elections

• Soup Kitchen Loses Donors Because Of Paul Ryan – What You Can Do About It
• Ohio Secretary of State Says Restoring Early Voting Is 'Un-American'--Freedom is slavery.
• CEO to employees: "Help yourself" by donating to Romney--"The CEO of a Florida-based software firm has repeatedly solicited his more than 1,300 employees not only to support Mitt Romney, but to donate up to the maximum $2,500 to Romney's presidential campaign, suggesting that their jobs may be at stake if Romney doesn't win, according to emails obtained exclusively by Up w/ Chris Hayes."
• Muscular men have self-interested politics, says study Salon
• xkcd: Electoral Precedent

Vote Machinations

• Virginia Attorney general won't investigate worker arrested for dumping voter registrations--Why is it that Republicans who cry bloody murder over voter fraud are the ones perpetrating it, and then disavowing it when caught?
• GOP Registered Dead Woman to Vote in Florida
• Romney-linked voting machine company to count votes in Ohio

Voter Suppression

• More Hispanic Voters In Arizona Given Wrong Date For Election Day By Maricopa County Officials
• Frightened Republicans Try To Shut Down Election Competitors
• Pennsylvania Newspaper Owned By Top Right-Wing Funder Falsely Claims ID Is Required To Vote

Phoney Romney

• Obama diagnoses GOP nominee with 'Romnesia'
• Finally Liberated From Facts, Mitt Romney the Pure Bull Artist Takes Flight
• RomneyTaxPlan.com--Everything you've needed to know in one easy-to-access resource.

Republicans

• Right-wing lies about Obama are greeted by willing believers
• Blue States are from Scandinavia, Red States are from Guatem ala--Why can't we just get along?
• Drunk woman attempts to avoid arrest by claiming she is a Republican

Banking

• Mitt Romney's Bailout Bonanza
• The Randian and the Bailout--"Bob Benmosche was perfectly happy to while away his retirement on his Croatian vineyard. But the image of AIG employees being beaten up for their bonuses was just too much to bear."
• Citigroup CEO Walks Off With $260 Million After His Bank Loses 88 Percent Of Its Value
• Unsophisticated investors were the 'golden prize' at Goldman, says Greg Smith in memoir
• Why It is Essential That Criminal Bankers are Prosecuted

Inequality

• Ben Stein: "With All Due Respect To Fox," We're Going To Have To Raise Taxes On The Rich
• Billionaires take lead in conservatives' self-pity parade--"Obama could have 'changed the direction of the American economy', just as FDR did during the Great Depression."
• Bill Moyers: The Plutocracy Will Go to Extremes to Keep the 1% in Control --Read an excerpt of his new book.
• Conservative Southern Values Revived: How a Brutal Strain of American Aristocrats Have Come to Rule America
• Monkey gets upset about receiving unequal pay

Fat Tuesday, School Meals, MickeyD's, Big Food, Monsanto, GMO, Health Care Reform, Bad Medicine

Fat Tuesday

• Child obesity: Why do parents let their kids get fat?
• As Waistlines Grow, So Do Refrigerator Sizes
• The Origin of Fat Albert: How Bill Cosby Did Obesity Right
• Anchorwoman fires back after weight critique
• "I'm Lovin' It": Fast-Food Logos 'Imprinted' in Children's Brains, Study Says
• Fast food: the reason behind our national incompetence
• Brighton all-you-can eat restaurant bans two 'greedy' diners

School Meals

• Putting Profits Before Nutrition: The Dark Side of the School Meals Business
• Stewart slams Fox News over hypocritical school lunch coverage
• Lunch lady slammed for food that is 'too good'--Apparently, this was all a 'misunderstanding.'

MickeyD's

• A Big Mac has 550 calories. McDonald's customers say: So what?
• McDonald's profits fall as strong dollar hits earnings
• The Burger Lab: Revisiting the Myth of The 12-Year Old McDonald's Burger That Just Won't Rot (Testing Results!)
• McDonald's sues Milan after getting evicted from Galleria
• The Most Beautiful McDonald's In America

Big Food

• Jamie's food revolution runs into $1.2bn suit
• Land acquired over past decade could have produced food for a billion people--"Oxfam calls on World Bank to stop backing foreign investors who acquire land for biofuels that could produce food."
• There Will Be No Bacon Shortage--"How a British trade association press release sent the Internet into a senseless panic."

Monsanto

• Kucinich: The Influence And Corruption Of The Political Process By Monsanto
• Monsanto donates $4.2 million to defeat food label measure in Calif.
• California Soccer Moms Face Off against Monsanto
• U.S. Supreme Court to review Monsanto seed patents
• Monsanto petition tells Obama: 'Cease FDA ties to Monsanto'

GMO

• France Says No to Genetically Modified Crops, No to Fracking--"Reuters reports that the ban specifically targets Monsanto's MON810 maize, as it is the only GMO currently allowed in Europe."
• Monsanto Roundup weedkiller and GM maize implicated in 'shocking' new cancer study
• Russia Suspends Use of Genetically Modified Corn WSJ
• Anti-GMO researchers used science publication to manipulate the press
• Opinion: We have the right to know what's in our food! NYT

Health Care Reform

• New Republic: Obamacare Means Higher Employment
• Krugman: Death by Ideology--"Despite what Mitt Romney says, the lack of health insurance does kill people." NYT
• 'Waiting Room': Hundreds a Day Seek Hospital of 'Last Resort'

Bad Medicine

• The drugs don't work: a modern medical scandal--"The doctors prescribing the drugs don't know they don't do what they're meant to. Nor do their patients. The manufacturers know full well, but they're not telling."
• Fake pharmaceuticals: The world's drug supply is global. Governments have failed to keep up
• MS drug 'rebranded' – at up to 20 times the price--"A pharmaceutical company stands accused of putting profit before patients after withdrawing a drug used in the treatment of a chronic debilitating disease – ahead of relaunching it at a price predicted to be up to 20 times higher."

Baby Steps, Thinking for the Children, Censorship, Kidnapped, Sandusky, Law and Disorder, Bullying, Educamation, Behavior Modfication

Baby Steps

• Exposing Kids To 10 Hours Of Science A Year Makes Them Smarter
• Omaha schoolgirl dresses as a different historical figure each day
• Argentina's Senate passes bill to lower voting age from 18 down to 16

Thinking for the Children

• Outlaw possession of written accounts of child abuse says MP
• Australian Medical Association president calls for legal drinking age to be lifted to 25
• Cops think pen is a rifle round, lock down Hopatcong High School
• Ban under-threes from watching television, says study
• Russia Wants To Ban Children From Using WiFi

Censorship

• Noted smut rag The New Yorker banned from Facebook for obscene cartoon
• The Man Who Banned Tintin From A Stockholm Library… For One Day
• CBLDF: Seattle Area Resident Shocked at Yaoi Manga, Asks Library to Revise Circulation Policy

Kidnapped

• Australia: Sorry for 30-year adoption policy--"The Federal Government will formally apologise to families torn apart by forced adoptions."
• China's stolen children--""Chinese authorities have hailed the success of an operation last week in which they arrested 800 human traffickers and rescued nearly two hundred children."
• Spanish Baby-Snatching Victims Seek Answers and Justice--These Niños Robados have been living a lie.
• India slowly confronts epidemic of missing children
• A new use for 404 pages: appeals for missing children

Sandusky

• Jerry Sandusky gets 30 to 60 years for child sex abuse
• Jerry Sandusky's court ramble reflects 'banal self-delusion'
• Sandusky begins grim transition to prison
• Jerry Sandusky and the Mind of a Pedophile --"Children constantly surrounded Sandusky, so much so that they became part of his persona," Joe Posnanski writes in his new biography of Jerry Sandusky's boss, the former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno.
• Prison sentence doesn't end Sandusky saga at Penn State

Law and Disorder

• History of boarding school 'torture' uncovered in Switzerland--"Thousands of children fell victim to violence and abuse in Catholic boarding schools in Switzerland up until the 1970s, according to a recent study decrying "sadistic" practices resembling 'torture.'"
• Doing What's Best for the Tribe--"Two-year-old 'Baby Veronica' was ripped from the only home she's known. The court made the right decision." The Indian Child Welfare Act was ignored despite Veronica's Native American heritage being known throughout the entire adoption process.
• Don't ask your grandson how his jaw got broken, say social workers--"An alarming story about a boy in foster care raises concern over 'child protection.'"

Bullying

• 8 girls charged in London, Ont. bullying case
• Japan: Kids and Laughing Teachers Bullied Suicide Teen
• Did Anonymous Unmask the Wrong Guy in Its Hunt for the Man Who Allegedly Drove a Teen to Suicide?--Did the wrong guy get doxxed?
• Cyberbullying-linked suicides rising, study says
• Mark Millar, others team up to take down online bully

Educamation

• In Victory for Common Sense, Minnesota Will Allow Free Online Courses After All
• My daughter can't be average Salon
• SMBC: College Degrees

Behavior Modification

• Sir, You Would Like To Be A Better Citizen
• U.K. school cracks down on bad manners
• When did the middle finger become offensive?

War on Women, Religion, Stateside, Progressive, Men & Women, Science of Sex, Tech, Masculine

War on Women

• Afghan woman beheads daughter-in-law for refusing prostitution, police say
• Indian baby suffers horrendous burns in shocking dowry dispute
• Teenage girl gang-raped, set on fire in Bengal
• As India Responds to Latest Rapes, the Unanswered Question is ‘Why?’
• Yemeni woman sentenced to death for killing male relative who tried to rape her
• Mali: Girl in Timbuktu whipped for speaking to men
• Sonia Dridi, Cairo Reporter, 'Savagely Attacked': France 24 TV

Religion

• After attack on Malala, Taliban threaten journalists who cover it
• Egyptian teacher 'cut hair of schoolgirls who refused to cover heads'--After she was fired, the teacher said that "it started as a joke."
• Pope condemns Pussy Riot

Stateside

• Romney in a bind over 'binders of women' comment--Mormon feminists aren't surprised.
• Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL): "With Modern Technology And Science, You Can't Find One Instance" In Which Abortion Is Necessary To Save the Life Or Health Of the Mother
• Kevin Bacon Draws the Line
• Letting women vote a bad idea - Central Mississippi Tea Party
• College Rape Survivor Told Not to Report Her Rapist, Drops Out While Alleged Rapist Graduates With Honors

Progressive

• Cairo: Video Experiment Gauges Public Response to Sexual Harassment--Awareness isn't enough anymore. Action has to be taken.
• Egypt: Are you man enough? Men on both sides of fight against harassment
• Telling Israel like it is — in Arabic--"A secular, liberal woman from the Galilee, Boshra Khalaila leaves passionate critics of Israel open-mouthed simply by describing the rights and freedoms she routinely enjoys."
• Uruguay legalises abortion
• 99 Ways to Be Naughty in Kazakhstan: How Cosmo Conquered the World NYT

Men & Women

• Woman who falsely claimed she was raped by three men because she regretted having sex with them jailed for two years--She almost ruined the lives of three people.
• Police: Man fires shots into crowd to impress girl
• Zimbabwe: Prostitute costs $850 000 for Govt--Examination papers that were allegedly lost were actually "taken by a prostitute after the teacher failed to pay for services rendered."
• China's 'Leftover' Women--"The Web site of China's state feminist agency, the All-China Women's Federation, presents a grim image of single professional women." NYT
• Breaking Up with Overly Attached Girlfriend

Science of Sex

• Why Sex Doesn't Gross You Out When You're Aroused
• Pucker Up! What Science Is Discovering About Why We Kiss
• It's a scientific fact: we're all crazy in love
• Boys Now Enter Puberty Younger, Study Suggests, but It’s Unclear Why NYT
• Chimpanzees 'have sex for gifts'--"Buying a woman presents could help men get them into bed, a new study which shows that chimpanzees have sex for gifts suggests."

Tech

• Fighting snark with snark: Bodyform viral video destroys commenter
• Why the First Laptop Had Such a Hard Time Catching On (Hint: Sexism)
• Is the iPad making men effeminate?

Masculine

• Fark title: Study finds that bald men shine brighter in job interviews--If you look like Picard, then yeah, baldness is a strength (Salon).
• Models on Abercrombie Jet Had Rules on Proper Underwear
• Music Video: Don't be slappin' my penis (a fearless journey of masculinity)

Bad Cops, NYPD, Undercover, Retribution, Traffic, War on Drugs, 420, Decriminalization and Legalization, Mexico

Bad cops

• Marseille police unit closed due to rampant corruption
• Suspended St. Louis police officer arrested again
• Officer Steve Bergren investigated for seemingly sexual and racist Facebook photos
• Officer defends tasering of man who died--"The police officer who brought down Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti with a Taser charge says he probably would have used the weapon even if he had known the young man was being sought only for stealing biscuits."
• Why Firing a Bad Cop Is Damn Near Impossible

NYPD

• Hope, Anger, and Courage: NYPD Arrests Veterans For Honoring the Dead--"Because it was time to 'close' the memorial and it was taking too long to read the names."
• Cold-hearted cops charge mom of dead son for dent in NYPD car
• Secret Recording of NYPD Stop-and-Frisk: "I'm Gonna Break Your Fu**in' Arm"

Undercover

• Woman accused of posting cop's pic on Facebook--He was working undercover.
• Australia: Facebook page reveals details of unmarked police cars--"Undercover detectives are being put at risk and covert operations in jeopardy by a Facebook page revealing details of the state's unmarked police cars."
• Blast from the Past: Is Facebook making it impossible to be an undercover cop?

Retribution

• Cop who punched woman in Philly will be fired
• Ex-HPD officer sentenced to life in rape
• St. Charles County sheriff's deputy gets 5 years on burglary charge

Traffic

• Undercover officer dressed as giant traffic cone helps nab motorists near school zone
• Woman Loses License Because Red-Light Camera Can't Read
• xkcd: Traffic Lights

War on Drugs

• The 1315 Project--An extended teaser trailer for a project about the American War on Drugs
• Drug testing: Peeing to participate--"[A]merican society is rampant with drug tests for academic and professional activities—joining the student newspaper, stocking shelves at a supermarket, selling real estate, computer programming—that are completely unaffected by an employee's preference for a joint outside of the office. In fact, there is little reliable evidence that drug testing has any positive effect on companies' productivity, safety or bottom line."
• Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers
• High school students suspended for possession of energy mints
• War on Drugs vs 1920s alcohol prohibition

420

• Alberta 'pot' turns out to be late-blooming daisies--All 1,626 pots of 'pot'.
• Michael Foster and Susan Cooper donated cannabis proceeds to Kenyan village--"A couple who handed out money to people in Kenya from the proceeds of their farmhouse cannabis factory have been jailed for three years."
• Crackdown on marijuana in California

Decriminalization and Legalization

• How Latin America May Lead the World in Decriminalizing Drug Use
• Decriminalise drug use, say experts after six-year study
• Colorado marijuana-legalization amendment's lead shrinks
• Canada: B.C. mayors vote to decriminalize pot
• Legalising marijuana: most Americans get it, so when will our politicians?--"The 'war on drugs', like 1920s Prohibition, has been a miserable failure. America would be better-off with a legal marijuana trade."

Mexico

• Mexico captures Zetas drug lord Ivan Velazquez Caballero
• Mexican navy says Zetas cartel founder Heriberto Lazcano apparently killed in confrontation
• Mexico: Body of Zetas drug cartel leader Lazcano stolen
• 7 Mexico officials detained for links to cartel
• Six in 10 Mexican prisons 'self governed' by gangs

DOMA devastation, Marriage Equality, BSA, Chick-Fil-A, International, Religion, Politics and Media, Comics

DOMA devastation

• Appeals Court Rules Against Defense of Marriage Act NYT
• Gay marriage to Supreme Court? More likely after latest rejection of DOMA.
• Linda McMahon supports non-existent federal law protecting marriage equality--Nonetheless, her change in stance is welcome and claims that she'd vote to repeal DOMA.

Marriage Equality

• Ryan: Preventing Gay People From Marrying Is A 'Universal Human' Value
• Schwarzenegger bucks GOP: I performed same sex weddings as governor
• Chris Kluwe, Minnesota Vikings Punter, Challenges Minnesota Rep. Mary Franson To Gay Marriage Debate
• Knights of Columbus Donate Millions to Anti-Gay Marriage Effort, Report Says
• Austin becomes first Texas city to endorse marriage equality
• Brigitte Van Nice, Iowa Court Official, Accused Of Gay Marriage Fraud
• Most Latinos back gay marriage, poll says--"For the first time, more than half of Latinos in the United States support same-sex marriage, according to a poll released Thursday.

BSA

• Intel ends funding of Boy Scouts troops that discriminate against gay members and leaders
• Teen denied Eagle Scout for disobeying 'duty to God' by being gay
• Local Eagle Scout gives his award to teen denied the honor
• Boy Scouts Grouped Gay Leaders With Child Molesters, Perverts
• Boy Scouts helped alleged molesters cover tracks, files show--"When volunteers and employees were suspected of sexually abusing children, Boy Scout officials often didn't tell police, files from 1970-91 reveal. In many cases they sought to hide the situation."

Chick-Fil-A

• Chick-fil-A Clarifies: Nothing Has Changed With Regard To Its Anti-Gay Giving--It was too good to be true.
• Chick-fil-A employee quit because it was "a safe place for people to hate" Salon
• Chick-fil-A chief: 'We support Biblical families'

International

• French President François Hollande tells UN to decriminalize homosexuality around the world
• France set to ban the words 'mother' and 'father' from official documents
• Serbia bans gay pride parade, citing risk of violent attacks
• British producer faces 2 years in prison for play about gay challenges in Uganda
• Belfast judge: Gay, unmarried couples can adopt
• Australian Senate votes down same-sex marriage 41 against 26
• Hong Kong Billionaire offers £40 Million marriage bounty for gay daughter

Religion

• Cross in the Closet: Straight Christian Lives a Year as Gay Man--"Timothy Kurek faced snickers, hostility and a mother who said, 'I'd rather have found out from a doctor that I had terminal cancer than have a gay son.'"
• Religious right attacks astronaut Sally Ride for being a lesbian
• Judge cites Bible to deny name-change to transgender woman
• California becomes first state in nation to ban 'gay cure' therapy for children
• Seeing a Homosexual Agenda, Christian Group Protests an Anti-Bullying Program NYT

Politics and Media

• Dan Savage to Tony Perkins: Sure, sue me Salon
• Scalia says outlawing "homosexual sodomy" is a no-brainer Salon
• CNN's Carol Costello destroys anti-gay hate group over Hitler claim

Comics

• Gay Marriage in Comics at NYCC
• Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #14--Contains spoilers of the story that introduces the first male Slayer who happens to be gay.
• Music Video: Superheroes can't be gay

War on Terror, Taliban, Blasphemy, Israel, Iran, Military Industrial Complex, DHS, TSA

War on Terror

• Key Suspect in 9/11 Attacks Calls U.S. the Bigger Killer--"The man accused of being the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks said in a courtroom here on Wednesday that the United States government had killed many more people in the name of national security than he was accused of killing." NYT
• Kofi Annan: Tony Blair could ultimately have stopped Iraq war
• Guantanamo detainee back in Canada to serve out sentence
• The Real Story Behind the Benghazi Attacks
• Over 100 militants attack Pakistani police station

Taliban

• As teen recovers from Taliban hit, Pakistanis demand answers--And the Taliban are demanding "unbiased coverage" for their attempted murder of a 14-year-old girl.
• Kids killed by Taliban after Afghan cop refuses to quit
• Gunmen kill polio vaccinator in Pakistan

Blasphemy

• West's free speech stand bars blasphemy ban
• Muslims protest 'age of mockery' as thousands descend on Google HQ
• No blasphemy clause in new Tunisia constitution: Speaker
• Egypt constitution: The good, the bad and the ugly--"Despite conservative Salafi Islamists having pushed for a provision that criminalizes blasphemy — and following years of censorship and oppression under Mubarak — Egypt's draft constitution now contains strong language that guarantees freedom of expression."
• Blasphemy: Time for Muslim soul searching--"Much of the scandalous consequences are attributable to an active history of hostility between the West and the Islam."

Israel

• Netanyahu's Iran cartoon bomb timed to make impact
• 'Washington Post' runs op-ed pushing Iran attack without saying authors work for Israel's registered foreign agent
• New Yorkers Plaster 'Racist' Stickers Over Islamophobic Subway Ads

Iran

• European Union Intensifies Sanctions on Iran NYT
• The Daily Show goes to Iran--Behind-the-scenes look at their visit a few years ago.
• Iran apologizes for citing Onion spoof Obama poll as fact

Military Industrial Complex

• Halliburton's missing nuclear waste found alongside Texas highway
• Army to Congress: Thanks, but no tanks
• Military Industrial Complex Cheerleader Schooled By C-SPAN Callers

DHS

• DHS Counterterror Centers Produce 'A Bunch of Crap,' Senate Finds
• DHS Issued False 'Water Pump Hack' Report; Called It a 'Success'
• DHS starts testing domestic spy drones

TSA

• Supreme Court won't hear body-scanner appeal--Losing your civil liberties a little at a time.
• Dying woman gets security pat-down at Sea-Tac--Stay classy TSA.
• TSA hired priest accused of molesting girls to do pat downs
• TSA screener accused of intentionally slapping flier's testicles
• Recovering the spread: Mom forces TSA to shell out $3.99 for seized peanut butter
• ABC News Tracks Missing iPad To Florida Home of TSA Officer
• Ex-TSA agent: We steal from travelers all the time

Phoney Romney, The Lyin' Ryan, Vote Machinations, Voter Suppression, 'Murica!, Anti-intellectualism, GOP, Koch

Phoney Romney

• Obama: 'Very Little Of What Gov. Romney Just Said Is True'--Also, Mittens says he was as 'pastor' when the real Mormon term for it is 'bishop', probably in an etch-a-sketchy attempt to connect with Christian voters.
• Romney stunned by debate moderator's fact check on Libya attacks
• Mind The Binder-"Hey, I know about that binder! And guess what -- Mitt Romney was lying about it."
• Is Mitt Romney's jobs plan a sham?--"Critics say the 12 million jobs Romney promises to create may well appear regardless of whether he or President Obama wins in November."
• Will Media Fact Check Romney's Assault Weapons Ban Claim?
• Joe Biden: Mitt Romney 'Had Nothing But A Sketchy Response To Everything'
• At Last Night's Debate: Romney Told 31 Myths In 41 Minutes

The Lyin' Ryan

• Charity president unhappy about Paul Ryan soup kitchen 'photo op'--"Photographers snapped photos and TV cameras shot footage of Ryan and his family washing pots and pans that did not appear to be dirty."
• Paul Ryan Is A 'Jackass,' Says Tom Morello
• Behind the scenes at Paul Ryan's bodybuilding photoshoot (video spoof)

Vote Machinations

• Bain-Controlled Company Owns 2012 Voting Machines
• Mitt Romney's Son Connected to 2012 Voting Machines
• Palm Beach County's 2012 Ballot Debacle--"Palm Beach's optical scan election system had – unbeknownst to anyone-mixed up the race results. As a result, the wrong winners and losers were called."

Voter Suppression

• Investigation Launched Over Trashed Voter Registration Forms
• Maricopa County Elections Department admits error on date of general election on voter ID cards--"In the corner of the document, it says November 6th in English but in Spanish it reads 8 de Noviembre, the 8th of November."
• Supreme Court clears way for early voting in Ohio
• Kansas officials: DMV-elections portal won't be ready by January--"A new system that links state DMV offices to county elections offices to help people register to vote in Kansas won't be up and running when the state's new proof-of-citizenship law starts in January...."
• South Carolina Court Puts South Carolina Voter ID Law On Hold Until After Election
• Peco admits sending incorrect voter ID info to customers--"Fresh off news of Philadelphia's mailing inaccurate information on voter ID to 34,000 retired city workers, the state's biggest utility, Peco, acknowledged a similar but more significant problem Tuesday - sending faulty voter ID information to 1.3 million customers in seven Pennsylvania counties." Empahsis mine.
• Playing the Voter ID Card--"A former voter-ID supporter realizes the real racial motive behind supposedly 'common sense' reforms."

'Murica!

• Patriot Acts: Learning from America
• New Oxford band show will remove hammers and sickles--"High school's field show was criticized by some as celebrating the Russian revolution that ushered in communist leadership."
• Hard right group attacks mixing in school cafeteria Salon

Anti-intellectualism

• Editorial: Meet a science committee that doesn't get science--But they sure can make up a lotta numbers.
• Bill Nye On Anti-Evolution Republicans: This 'Betrays The Best Use Of Our Brains'
• GOP Sen. says he will cut scientific funding because scientists read too much--Flaunting ignorance is no way to govern.
• Award-winning book-burning hoax saves Troy, MI libraries--The Tea Party opposed a 0.7% tax raise to keep the libraries open.
• Anti-intellectualism is taking over the US

GOP

• Jason Chaffetz Admits House GOP Cut Funding For Embassy Security: 'You Have To Prioritize Things'--From what I've seen on TV, he was acting like a 5-year-old trying to distract people from cutting funding over the year, and, to top it off, they blew the CIA's cover with their grandstanding congressional inquiry.
• Republican candidate Fuqua endorses death penalty for rebellious children
• Yet Another Arkansas Legislator Is Nuts: 'If Slavery Were So Godawful, Why Didn't Jesus Condemn It?'
• Maine Republican Party: Playing World of Warcraft Makes You Unfit for Office
• How The GOP Destroyed Its Moderates

Koch

• Koch Sued by Executive Claiming He Was Held Captive--"William Koch held a senior executive of his Oxbow energy company captive for almost two days after discovering his concerns about a plan to avoid U.S. taxes on $200 million in profit, the now ex-employee said in a lawsuit."
• Koch Industries Warns 45,000 Employees Of 'Consequences' If They Don't Vote For Republicans
• America 360, Pro-Scott Brown Super PAC, Funded Almost Entirely By Koch Brother Company

McKinnon extradition repudiation; Your Rights Online, Copyfight, Surveillance, Do No Track, Tech Tracking, Privacy, DMCA, Piracy, DRM, Paypal

Gary McKinnon extradition to US blocked by Theresa May--"Mrs May said the sole issue she had to consider was his human rights."

Your Rights Online

• CISPA Author Ramps Up The FUD: Claims He Can't Sleep At Night Due To 'Unusual Source' Threatening Us--One that's so secret even he can't talk about it.
• German Gov't Inadvertently Reveals Police Monitor Gmail, Skype, Facebook & Use Snooping Malware
• Saudi Arabia Suggests Global Internet Regulations To Preserve 'Public Order'
• Australia: Govt censors pre-prepared data retention bills
• Cybercrime law is suspended by Philippines court

Copyfight

• Canada-EU Trade Agreement Replicates ACTA's Notorious Copyright Provisions
• UN IP group tells Pirate Party: You can't even watch--"In Germany, the Pirate Party has sent a candidate to a state senate; in Sweden, the party has actually elected members of the European Parliament. But whatever its successes, the Pirate Party still won't be able to sit in on proceedings of the World Intellectual Property Organization...."
• Megaupload server seizures finally run into mega-due-process
• Judge Says Fair Use Protects Universities in Book-Scanning Project
• YouTube finally offers a meaningful ContentID appeal process--"But takedown policies are still favorable to large copyright holders."
• ICE Reluctantly Releases A Small Number Of Heavily Redacted Domain Seizure Docs, Holds The Rest Hostage

Surveillance

• The New Zealand institutions that broke our trust--"[T]hat's not a story about Kim Dotcom, that's a story about New Zealand institutions who got it wrong, so wrong, they even broke the law."
• Supreme Court Terminates Warrantless Electronic Spying Case--Giving the telcos the gift of immunity.
• FBI Rolling Out Hi-tech 'Big Brother' Monitoring System
• Why Is The Government Afraid Of This iPhone App?
• The Danger To Privacy Isn't Corporate Data-Mining Or Governmental Surveillance – It's Both Combined

Do Not Track

• Think tank's website rejects browser do-not-track requests
• Ad industry calls IE10's 'Do Not Track' setting 'unacceptable'
• The Do Not Track standard has crossed into crazy territory
• US Congress' Privacy Caucus says DAA's anti-'Do Not Track' stance puts "profits over privacy"
• Europe's Internet chief: Policy makers are compromising privacy with Do Not Track bickering
• Do Not Track is drawing advertisers' fire NYT
• Advertisers launch $1 million campaign to combat privacy concerns

Tech Tracking

• How much do Google and Facebook profit from your data?
• How to stop Verizon (and AT&T) from selling your location data and other usage stats to advertisers
• Verizon iPhone owners have 30 days to opt-out of sharing location, search data and more with advertisers
• Verizon draws fire for monitoring app usage, browsing habits
• Apple: How to opt out of interest-based ads from the iAd network
• An always-on Siri: MindMeld listens to you talk, finds what you need
• Amazon’s Next Big Business Is Selling You

Privacy

• FTC Releases Google Privacy Report – Minus The Juicy Details
• Google accused of spying on Gmail users
• Reading someone's Gmail doesn't violate federal statute, court finds--"SC court says Gmail not "electronic storage" by Stored Communications Act."
• Google told to fix privacy policy by EU data regulators
• Rent-to-Own Laptops Secretly Photographed Users Having Sex, FTC Says
• Students Refusing Tracking ID Cards Unable to Vote for Homecoming?

DMCA

• Microsoft DMCA Notice 'Mistakenly' Targets BBC, Techcrunch, Wikipedia and U.S. Govt
• "Online Thug" DMCAs Critic's Site Off The Internet Over 16-Word Quote
• How a single DMCA notice took down 1.45 million education blogs

Piracy

• Artist Can’t Get Pirated Music Off iTunes, Google and Microsoft Stores--"When The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, found out that another artist was selling a “copy” of his music, he learned that it is pretty much impossible to get it removed. According to Jordan the mainstream music industry only cares about profits, not the actual artists."
• Copyright Scofflaws Beware: ISPs to Begin Monitoring Illicit File Sharing--Six strikes and you're out, but not before you get a little reeducation.
• File-Sharers Buy 30% More Music Than Non-P2P Peers
• Swedish Pirate Party Surges After File-Sharing Host Facility Raided--"Following a police raid on the hosting facility PRQ that coincided with technical problems at the iconic The Pirate Bay, the Swedish Pirate Party is surging in member and activist count."

DRM

• Going blind? DRM will dim your world--"Many of us will start losing our eyesight as we age. The digital world can help get round some of these physical impediments - but not if digital rights management and the like blocks our accessibility."
• Übertroll firm bags DRM patent for 3D printing
• PSP Comic Store closing October 30--"PSP and PSP Go owners... will not be able to re-download most comics purchased."

Paypal

• Paypal bans users from joining class action suits
• PayPal Wants to Limit Your Legal Rights Against Them, Here's a Way Around That
• Paypal suspends domestic transactions in Argentina--"Locals were setting up two accounts under different email addresses and transferring money between the two, exchanging local currency pesos for dollars in the process."

Wall Street, Banking on Politics, International, Payback, Class Warfare, Public-Private Partnerships, Corporatracy

Wall Street

• Former Romney Campaign Co-Chair Tim Pawlenty: Banks Should Just Be Trusted To "Voluntarily" Self-Regulate
• 4 Years After Meltdown, Wall Street Still Calling the Shots
• When Banks Erase a Debt That Isn't There NYT
• How the banking crash sparked a credit union boom--"People are turning away from casino finance and towards a more democratic system that isn't just about money-making."
• Fired Wells Fargo employee cleared to work would have to reapply--"A 68-year-old Des Moines man fired from a Wells Fargo call center for putting a cardboard dime in a washing machine in 1963 has been cleared to return to work in the banking industry...." He lost his job over this, and those who've literally lost trillions of dollars are still running the joint.

Banking on Politics

• Goldman Sachs can't take a joke--"How Obama's mean standup comedy routine hurt the feelings of Wall Street's premier investment bank." Salon
• Half Of Scott Brown's Top Twenty Donors Are Big Banks Or Other Financial Institutions
• Banker Plan Would Fund Super-PACs to Sway Senate Races

International

• Proposed Split of Large Institutions: Fight Looms Over EU Plans for Bank Reform
• RBS traders boasted of Libor 'cartel'--"...that made 'amazing' amounts of money by rigging interest rates...."
• FSA: 'Ministers Must Outlaw Rate-Rigging'
• IMF: We got it wrong on austerity and made things worse
• Greek central banker's big pay-off--"The governor of the Bank of Greece was given a severance payment of 3.4 million euros when he left his former employer, a major bank that he now regulates, documents seen by Reuters show."

Payback

• J.K. Rowling: 'I didn't build this' on my own--"I worked extremely hard...I take credit for the work. But I received a free education. I received free health care."
• Hillary to World Leaders: Time for the Rich to Pony Up Their Taxes
• France budget: Taxes favoured over spending cuts

Class Warfare

• Unmasking the most influential billionaire in U.S. politics--"The most influential billionaire in America is Peter G. Peterson, whose misleading campaign to 'reform' traditional social welfare programs has subtly set the terms of the Washington debate."
• Billionaire says turn aid taps off--"[Lord Michael Ashcroft] has urged the British government to 'turn off the golden taps' of foreign aid and stop pandering to 'St Bob and Bono.'"
• Political and Class Issues Complicate a Colorado Land Dispute"Bill Koch's effort to acquire some public land, including a piece that cuts through his 4,500-acre ranch, has run into hostility from his neighbors." NYT
• Red Bull heir pays $97,000 to family of man he is alleged to have killed with a $1M Ferrari
• Death penalty for family members in India 'honour killing'--"The pair were tortured and electrocuted in a so-called honour killing by members of the girl's family who objected to the union on caste grounds."

Public-Private Partnerships

• Behind the closed doors of Washington lobbyists--"The 'influence business' is the third-largest industry in the nation's capital; Sharyl Attkisson goes inside the world of access to see what all that money buys."
• Wells Fargo increases its lobbying efforts--"Wells Fargo has built up a significant lobbying presence in state capitals to manage the torrent of mortgage-related bills flooding legislatures."
• Florida: Jacobs' texts show coordinated campaign with foes of sick time--They "paint the clearest picture yet of how the sick-time ballot initiative was kept off the Nov. 6 Orange County ballot. They also show the influence of corporate lobbyists and legal confidantes on Jacobs, who ran as a maverick outsider willing to take on powerful interests."
• Your Cynicism About Lobbyists Only Helps The Lobbyists Win
• US judge upholds Obama ban on lobbyists serving on boards

Corporatracy

• The Real Welfare Problem: Government Giveaways to the Corporate 1%
• Corporate Welfare Queens--"Romney has little to say about the many American companies whose profits rely, in one form or another, on government assistance."
• The two forms of corporate executive influence, illustrated--"What do Westgate Resorts' David Siegel and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan have in common? Hopeless entitlement." Salon

Fakebook, Loggedbook, Cashbook, Casebook, Checkbook

Fakebook

• Facebook cracks down on fake accounts and false likes
• Facebook 'likes' automatically added without user-clicks
• Juking Your Facebook 'Like' Stats Is as Easy as Sending a Message
• Most of Facebook's Billion Accounts Are Fake
• Anti-gay marriage group gets surge in Facebook likes … from Thailand--"There is a market for buying and selling 'likes' and other activity on Facebook and other social media sites."

Loggedbook

• Can Facebook Possibly Build a Business Model That Isn't Inherently Creepy?
• Facebook to delete all European facial recognition data
• Facebook Confirms No Private Messages Appearing On Timeline. They're Old Wall Posts
• Facebook Privacy: France Summons Bosses
• Facebook to let users view and delete search history in Activity Log
• Facebook accounts could be used to prove identity to access public services
• Facebook confirms researcher exploited privacy settings to quickly collect user phone numbers

Cashbook

• Facebook Want Button: Collecting massive amounts of data about you has never been easier
• Facebook raises fears with ad tracking--They've started sharing what it knows about you.
• Give a store your e-mail address, it'll find you on Facebook

Casebook

• Facebook Agrees to Pay $10 to Each 'Sponsored Stories' Victim
• Judge denies Home Depot's demand for worker's emotion-laden Facebook posts
• Employers Banned From Asking For Social Media Passwords In California
• Facebook sold you out, changed its mind, and now it's getting sued--"From 2008 to 2010, Facebook allowed Profile Technology to index user profiles, then pulling the access. Now the data crawler is fighting back."
• UK: Man charged over April Jones Facebook post
  

Checkbook

• Facebook Now Lets US Users Pay $7 To Promote Posts To The News Feeds Of More Friends
• Facebook-connected vest hugs you when you get a 'Like'
• Facebook shutters The Cool Hunter for copyright issues
• 'Immoral' Facebook paid less than 1 percent tax in U.K.
• Facebook Fought SEC to Keep Mobile Risks Hidden Before IPO

Separating Church from State, Islamists, Mali, Blasphemy, Scientology, In Bad Faith, Atheism, Politics and Media, Ecumenical

Separating Church from State

• Biden: I accept Catholic Church's pro-life view, but won't impose it on others
• 'Pulpit Freedom Sunday' Pastors Don’t Care About Religious Freedom--"A thousand Christian ministers plan to defy the law by endorsing candidates in their sermons. But they’re protesting an imaginary problem and ignoring the real challenges to others’ freedom of religion."
• The Point of the Pulpit
• Church and state shouldn’t merge
• Freedom from Religion Foundation--Ban the marriage between Church and State

Islamists

• Stop calling criticism of Islam 'Islamophobia'--Also applies to when 'Antisemitism' is thrown out to suppress criticism.
• 'It's for your good. Let me finish': Afghan-Canadian mother told police she stabbed her daughter with a kitchen knife
• Islamists who pose a threat 'have no place in France'

Mali

• Thousands Of People In Mali Are Begging For Help From The United Nations
• Women in northern Mali hold protest against Islamist in charge of veil requirement
• Mali Islamists compiling list of unwed moms--They've stoned couples for having sex outside marriage.

Blasphemy

• The Reality of Anti-Blasphemy Laws
• Two Coptic children arrested in Egypt for 'insulting Islam'--"[F]ather of children pleas kids are illiterate and were playing with papers near a garbage dump."
• Egypt: Rights groups condemn detention of atheist on blasphemy charges
• Blasphemy in democracy's birthplace? Greece arrests Facebook user.--"A Greek man could face two years in prison after being arrested last week for blasphemy after posting a Facebook page that satirized a famous Greek Orthodox monk."
• Attackers of Hindu temple charged with blasphemy
• Bangladesh Muslim protesters torch Buddhist temples over Facebook photo
• Egypt refers man who tore Bible to trial--"Egyptian prosecutors referred to trial Tuesday a well-known radical Islamist who tore up an English copy of the Bible during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States."

Scientology

• 70% Americans Doubt Scientology Is Real Religion According To Poll
• Scientology threatens Vanity Fair over Tom Cruise 'auditions' claims
• 'The Master' and Scientology--"Paul Thomas Anderson's impressive new film downplays its connection to the controversial religious movement."
• Man Claims A Scientology-Affiliated Clinic Drove Him To Attempt Suicide
• Church of Scientology opens center in Israel
• Scientology minister accused of molesting Thetans
• Blast from the Past: Scientology Brainwashing by Derren Brown

In Bad Faith

• Faith leaders across England in 'HIV healing' claims--"Dangerous cases of faith leaders who tell people with HIV to stop taking their life-saving drugs have been identified by African-led community groups in a number of locations across England."
• Ghana grapples with mental health
• Religious Beliefs Prevent Kenyan Parents from Seeking Conventional Medicine for Children

Atheism

• After High School Teacher Defends Atheist and Gay Students, He Is Forced to Resign
• Secularists are not atheists Salon
• 8 Countries Where Atheism Is Accepted, Even Celebrated, Instead of Demonized
• As Protestants decline, those with no religion gain
• Eastern Germany: the most godless place on Earth-"[T]he survey was unable to find a single person under the age of 28 in eastern Germany who believed in God."

Politics and Media

• Mormons Want to Excommunicate Romney Critic
• Florida Teachers Fired For Reporting Abuse at Catholic School
• High-Ranking Catholic Priest: Teens Seduced 'Poor Sandusky'

Ecumenical

• Bearded Sikh woman teaches Reddit a lesson
• Muslim Men Rescue Bagel Shop And Keep It Kosher
• xkcd: Fastest-Growing

International Day of the Girl, Sex Trafficking, War on Women, Abortion and Birth Control, Sex Trade

International Day of the Girl

• National Peace Award winner Malala Yousafzai injured in attack--The Pakistani Taliban says that, "If she survives this time, she won't next time. We will certainly kill her."
• Gang-rape trial shocks France and sparks row over justice system--"Two girls say they were raped almost daily by large groups of men in run-down estates outside Paris."
• Raped pupil expelled for 'tarnishing school's image'

Sex Trafficking

• In Obama's Speech, Their Voices--"These former sex slaves said the president gave the voiceless a voice in his landmark speech against human trafficking. Let's hope this is a turning point." NYT
• India's sex slaves face lifelong cycle of abuse
• Human trafficking: a misunderstood global scourge--"Sex trafficking has become an American cause célèbre. But does it divert attention from the broader human trafficking issue of modern-day slavery?"

War on Women

• Toronto mother of six drowned in her own blood after throat slit in alleged honour killing, court hears
• Lizz Winstead, co-creator of Daily Show, launches Lady Parts Justice
• Creeping Akinism--"Freshman Rep. Roger Rivard (R-Rice Lake) explains that his father warned of the dangers of premarital sex since 'some girls rape easy.'"
• Prime Minister Julia Gillard trades blows with Abbott over sexism, misogyny, Peter Slipper and claims about her father
• Forced sterilisations stoke Kenyan anger--"HIV-positive women plan to sue doctors who allegedly performed the procedure without consent."
• Allowing Women To Drive Would Mean No More Virgins, Saudi Arabia Religious Council Says
• Tunisia president offers 'state apology' to rape woman

Abortion and Birth Control

• Obamacare Contraception Mandate Does Not Violate Religious Freedom, Federal Judge Rules
• Free birth control cuts abortion rate dramatically, study finds
• Scott DesJarlais, Pro-Life Republican Congressman And Doctor, Pressured Mistress Patient To Get Abortion
• Morocco using warships to block "abortion vessel"
  
• France to cover 100 percent of abortion costs

Sex Trade

• Facing Crackdowns in the E.U., Hookers Find Sanctuary in Switzerland--"The world's oldest profession is now represented by a labor union in Geneva. It also has much more perks than the rest of Europe—or the world."
• Strippers banned from taking clothes off
• Whoops! Florida governor gives phone sex number for meningitis hotline