Let Them Eat Cake, Taxing the Rich, Hard LIBOR, Banks, Playing Politics with the Economy, Workers, Youth

Let Them Eat Cake

• The Best Quotes From Guests at Romney's Hamptons Fundraisers
• Romney Donor Says 'Lower Income' People 'Don't Understand What’s Going On'
• Texas spends $25 million rebuilding mansion as Gov. Perry seeks cuts
• Actually, We Shouldn’t Soak the Poor
• Brooks: Why Our Elites Stink NYT

Taxing the Rich

• Obama to call for one-year extension of some Bush tax rates--"President Obama will call for a one-year extension of the George W. Bush-era tax rates for people who earn less than $250,000 per year."
• Why Letting the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich Expire Will Not Hurt the Economy
• One Chart That Shows What The Bush Tax Cut Battle Is All About
• Republicans Were Wrong in 1993 On The Effect Of Upper-Income Tax Increases
• François Hollande keeps election promise of raising taxes for wealthiest

Hard LIBOR

• Banks face billions more in Libor losses--Check out what's behind the Libor scandal (NYT).
• Libor: Who lost out when the rate was fixed?
• New York Fed Was Aware of False Reporting on Rates--It seems as far back as 2007. NYT
• Bob Diamond to receive £2m payout--"Ex-Barclays boss Bob Diamond will receive his salary and benefits worth in excess of £2m, but has given up bonuses worth up to £20m after resigning amid the bank Libor scandal."
• New York Times, Gretchen Morgenson Applaud British, Issue Challenge To American Regulators Over LIBOR Scandal
• Rules of American justice: An American banker is shocked to be held accountable in Britain Salon
• The Libor Scandal and Capitalism's Moral Decay

Banks

• Too big to fail - too lofty to learn?--"With investigators zeroing in on over a dozen big banks in the Libor rate rigging scandal, the timing couldn't be better for a structural overhaul of Europe’s banking sector. Not so fast, says the banking lobby."
• Time for 'Banksters' to be prosecuted--Why aren't more of them behind bars?
• Dimon Faces Image 'Nightmare' With Energy Probe at JPM--"JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) (JPM)’s refusal to turn over e-mails in a federal probe of potential energy-market manipulation is the latest challenge for Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon as the bank faces multiple investigations."
• JPMorgan's trading loss: $5.8 billion--How'd Dimon hide $6 billion in losses?
• Bailed-out AIG sues US government for $30M
• Brian Cox: Bank bailout costlier than UK science 'since Jesus'
• Iceland Has Hired An Ex-Cop To Hunt Down The Bankers That Wrecked Its Economy
• The price of gold has been manipulated. This is more scandalous than Libor

Playing Politics with the Economy

• David Stockman economy Q&A: Economic disaster in the works
• Is Congress to blame for a downshifting US economy?--"Evidence is mounting that the economy is taking a hit because Congress can't – or won't – deal with the 'fiscal cliff' looming at year's end. The fight on Capitol Hill last summer over the national debt limit also took an economic toll."
• The Road to More Jobs--"[I]t was the Republicans’ relentless opposition to constructive policies that has kept unemployment high, from their resistance to the 2009 stimulus to their blockage of Mr. Obama’s proposed $450 billion jobs bill in late 2011. " NYT
• 14 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever
• George H.W. Bush Challenges GOP On No-Tax Pledge: 'Who The Hell Is Grover Norquist, Anyway?'
  

Workers

• Jobs Are Not Enough
• The Incredible Shrinking Pay Raise: Wages Can't Keep Up With Inflation
• Forced Labor on American Shores--"It is time to banish the idea that forced labor and sweatshop exploitation are problems of bygone eras or distant countries. These conditions exist within America’s borders." NYT

Youth

• Three Ways the Rich and Powerful Have Cheated Young Americans
• The young don't buy into propaganda of war between generations--"Despite efforts to portray Social Security and Medicare as giveaways to undeserving seniors that rip off the young, some young people believe they must work with older people to make the programs work."
• Drum: We Make More Money Than Our Parents, But We Aren't as Rich

Costumes, Aquaman, Batman, Joker, Manga-fied

Costumes

• Spandex to Nipple Suits to Kevlar: The Evolution of Superhero Movie Fashion
• 10 'Sexy' Super-Heroine Costumes That Really Aren't
• 9 Extremely Impractical Marvel Illustrated Swimsuits
• The Best of "Geek" Body Painting
• Costume Play at San Diego's Comic-Con
• Best Cosplay Ever (This Week)
• Halloween Comes Early With New 'Avengers' and 'Amazing Spider-Man' Movie Costumes

Aquaman

• The History of Aquaman Explained
• The Gutters: Under the Sea
• A Laughingstock? 10 Reasons AQUAMAN is a BAD ASS!

Batman

• 'Batman 'producer explains his road to film success
• Camila Batmanghelidjh: Not in my name: these Batman ethics are repellent
• Holy windfall, Batman!--Packrat father leaves behind a fortune in comic books
• Batman has a conversation with Bruce Wayne
• Batman loves Robin?
• The Perils of Batman--YahooGroup dedicated to "the tantalizingly erotic perils of the Dark Knight and his friends!" Continued in The Further Perils of Batman and Perils of Batman Continue.
• SMBC: Batman

Joker

• Why The Joker and Not Batman is the Savior of Us All
• Mark Hamill Retires From His Role as The Joker After 19 Years
• Batman 2: Jokeback Moutain--Wait till you get a load of Heath.

Manga-fied

• Charlie Brown Manga-Style
• Ghostbusters
• Sabrina

Marvel, Avengers, Gender Bender, Art, Comics

Marvel

• Marvel NOW! refreshes creativity and characters--Guess it's a way to stave off the publishing world uncertainties.
• The amazing Steve Ditko--Marvel Comics pays tribute to comic book piooner Salon
• Are Mutants Human?

Avengers

• That’s not the original Hulk! Salon
• Ty Templeton Tells You Everything You Need To Know About Thor
• Comics, Everybody: The History of Captain America Explained
• Chris Evans is Captain America
• Could the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Fly?

Gender Bender

• Gender-swap Justice League at WonderCon (Nerd pr0n!)
• And Finally… X-Men Gender Bending
• If Male Superheroes Posed Like Wonder Woman
• "Archie" Takes a Trip To Reversedale in August with Archina, Ronnie and Billy
• Committed: Regarding Male Superheroes as Sex Objects

Art

• '100 Bullets' Cover Artist Dave Johnson Picks 'Wins and Fails' of Comics Cover Design
• Todd Klein Chooses Comics' Greatest Logos
• Superhero Where's Waldo: Find the Invisible Woman in a Marvel vs. DC Battle Mural
• Vintage photos transformed into superhero portraits
• Minimalist Superman and Wolverine Posters by Jeremie Brunet

Comics

• IMAGE @20 Erick Larksen & Whilce Portacio
• Archie Out of Context
• Hostess Comic Book Ads

World Population Day, Climate Change, Heat Wave, Environment, Fracking, Australia, Ecology

World Population Day: Is a human 'population bomb' ticking?--"Scientists warn that overpopulation and consumption could lead to a forbidding future."

Climate Change

• Schneiderman crushes Koch Brothers in climate-change lawsuit
• The Great German Energy Experiment--"Germany has decided to pursue ambitious greenhouse-gas reductions—while closing down its nuclear plants. Can a heavily industrialized country power its economy with wind turbines and solar panels?"
• In Rising Use of Air-Conditioning, Hard Choices--"Gases that damage the ozone layer are mostly out of use in air-conditioning, but replacements used in developing countries are potent agents of global warming."
• Scientists attribute extreme weather to man-made climate change
• Climate change drives salmon evolution--"Salmon DNA records stretching back over 30 years show that nature has increasingly selected for fish that migrate from the ocean earlier in the year. It is among the first pieces of genetic evidence that climate change is driving the evolution of a species."
• Chihuahua: Where the rain doesn't fall any more--"A record drought in northern Mexico has prompted warnings that the region's climate may have changed for good."
• Rise in sea level can't be stopped, scientists say

Heat Wave

• U.S. Sees Hottest 12 Months And Hottest Half Year On Record
• US record heatwave leaves dozens dead
• US wildfires are what global warming really looks like, scientists warn
• 2011 Texas drought was 20 times more likely due to warming, study says
• Feeling the heat--"Still don’t believe in climate change? Then you’re either deep in denial or delirious from the heat."

Environment

• The Daily Show Uncovers Corporate Conspiracy -- And a Big Revolving Door -- Behind Simplot's Water Contamination
• Don't Scuttle The U.S. Navy's Biofuels Program
  
• Senate Blocks Attempt to Overturn EPA Emissions Standards
• Hungary's Thick Red Line--"Spanish photographer Palíndromo Mészáros documented the effects of a massive toxic aluminum spill in Hungary."
• Mexico axes Baja resort over environmental fears--"Mexican President Felipe Calderon says he is cancelling the construction of a huge tourist resort in Baja California over concerns it could damage a nearby marine reserve."

Fracking

• Confirmed: Fracking can pollute--"A new study explodes the gas industry's claim that fracking won't contaminate local drinking water." Salon
• North Carolina Lawmaker Presses Wrong Button, Accidentally Legalizes Fracking--Thankfully for her, the NC governor vetoed the bill.
• New Anti-Fracking Film by Gasland's Josh Fox Targets Cuomo: 'Governor, What Color Will the Sky Be Over New York?'

Australia

• Shallow and transparent? Australia's ocean protection plan comes under fire
• Australia creates world's biggest marine park, bans drilling
• Australia introduces controversial carbon tax

Ecology

• 20,000 sea turtle eggs crushed by heavy machinery on Trinidad beach
• 21 Nations Block Effort to Turn Southern Atlantic Into Giant Whale Sanctuary
• We’re destroying the seas--"As big fish dwindle from the oceans, swordfish, tuna and marlin could disappear." Salon

Obamacare, Big Pharma, Health Scare, Abortion and Birth Control, War on Women, Culture Clash

Obamacare

• States With Most Obesity Oppose Obamacare The Most
• New Financial Forms Show Clarence Thomas's Wife Continued to Lobby Against Healthcare In 2011
• Affordable Care Act means $1.1 billion insurance rebate
• Yes, Actually, Obamacare Is the Biggest Tax Increase in History--"Just because a headline or an idea is repeated over and over again doesn’t make it true."
• Rick Perry To 6.5 Million Texans With No Healthcare-You're On Your Own
• Why have Republicans voted 30 times to repeal Obamacare? To increase uncertainty.
• Dems finally defend Obamacare--"After ignoring the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Democrats have begun using it as a political weapon this election." Salon

Big Pharma

• GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3bn in US drug fraud scandal
• How Not to Get Big Pharma to Change Its Ways--"$3 billion may sound like a lot of money, but during these years Glaxo made $27.5 billion on these three antidepressants alone, according to IMS Health...."
• Big Pharma criminality no longer a conspiracy theory: Bribery, fraud, price fixing now a matter of public record
• McCain Denounces Big Pharma Lobbyists Who Just Killed Cheaper Drugs Again
• Big pharma is cut out by India's plan to bring medicine to masses--"Ambitious $5bn push deals blow to global firms with focus on generic alternatives above branded drugs."

Health Scare

• Worst TB outbreak in 20 years kept secret--"The CDC officer had a serious warning for Florida health officials in April: A tuberculosis outbreak in Jacksonville was one of the worst his group had investigated in 20 years. Linked to 13 deaths and 99 illnesses, including six children, it would require concerted action to stop. That report had been penned on April 5, exactly nine days after Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill that shrank the Department of Health and required the closure of the A.G. Holley State Hospital in Lantana, where tough tuberculosis cases have been treated for more than 60 years."
• California doctors sue Aetna for coverage denials--"Thousands of doctors in California are suing the health insurance company Aetna Inc., claiming the company routinely denies patients access to out-of-network doctors even when the patient has purchased a policy giving them the right to choose providers."
• Use of government aid for junk food questioned--"As Republicans prepare to cut billions of dollars from food stamps, a Bay Area activist has stirred a hornet's nest on the left by questioning how much the program ends up benefiting corporations that peddle soda, candy and other junk food to low-income people."
• UK: Hospitals 'letting patients die to save money'--"Hospitals may be depriving elderly patients of food and drink to hasten their deaths as part of cost-cutting measures to free up bed space, leading doctors warn."
• Xavius Scullark-Johnson, Prisoner, Dies After He's Denied Health Care--"[W]hen an ambulance showed up to take Scullark-Johnson to a hospital, the nurse on duty, Denise Garin, turned it away. Scullark-Johnson was pronounced dead hours later. The Tribune notes that ambulance runs are 'strictly monitored' in 'an effort to cut costs' by Corizon Inc., the for-profit company contracted by the DOC to care for its prisoners."

Abortion and Birth Control

• Abortions Have Made Life Better for Millions Of Men: It's About Time to Speak Up in Support
• House GOP Blocking Abortion Access for Soldiers Who Are Raped
• Ohio personhood campaign aborted after signature drive implodes--"An Ohio campaign that sought to change the state’s constitution to ban all abortions and hormonal birth control drugs was itself aborted on Tuesday evening after organizers revealed that they had failed miserably at collecting the necessary voter signatures."
• Republican senator holds up flood insurance bill for a vote on abortion
• Rape Victim Can Sue for Denied Contraception--"A Tampa rape victim can sue the Hillsborough County Sheriff for allowing a jail guard to refuse to give her a prescribed emergency contraception pill because it was against the guard's religious beliefs..."
• More Irish women seeking help for British abortions, says charity--"Ireland's abortion ban means women with severe pregnancy complications are going abroad for terminations."
• After A Forced Abortion, A Roaring Debate In China--"Deng Jiyuan and Feng Jianmei, a couple from northwest China's Shaanxi province, have a 6-year-old daughter. Under China's complicated birth calculus, they were barred from having another child. But they tried anyway."

War on Women

• 1% Wives Are Helping Kill Feminism and Make the War on Women Possible
• GOP State Senator Will Teach Brooklyn Women To Act Like Ladies
• Rep. Joe Walsh Blasts Double Amputee’s Military Service, Says She’s Not A 'True Hero'

Culture Clash

• The crimewave that shames the world--"It's one of the last great taboos: the murder of at least 20,000 women a year in the name of 'honour'. Nor is the problem confined to the Middle East: the contagion is spreading rapidly."
• Sex Grooming Cases Spark Racial Tensions
• Popular female Pakistani singer killed in drive-by shooting--"A popular female Pakistani singer who defied the Taliban's decree against singing and dancing was shot and killed in northwest Pakistan Monday night, police and hospital officials told CNN."
• Militancy: A progressive voice for tribal women silenced in targeted attack
• Afghan woman publicly executed near Kabul
• Indian father accused of killing baby 'for being a girl'
• Indian man beheads daughter in rage over lifestyle--"Police say a man upset over his daughter's lifestyle chopped her head off with a sword and then paraded it through his village before surrendering to authorities in western India."
• Liberian effort to end female circumcision runs into opposition
• Saudi Arabian women risk arrest as they defy ban on driving
• Sweden moves to outlaw forced marriages

The LIBOR Scandal, Murdoch Mysteries, Corruption in Asia, Mexico, Vote Machinations

The LIBOR Scandal

• The rotten heart of finance: A scandal over key interest rates is about to go global
• Libor: The Crime of the Century
• Explainer: Why the LIBOR scandal is a bigger deal than JPMorgan
• Another Domino Falls in the LIBOR Banking Scam: Royal Bank of Scotland
• Rate rigging probe escalates in UK and Germany
• Serious Fraud Office launches Libor investigation
• Libor rate-fixing scandal spotlight now on Citi, JPMorgan
• LIBOR-Gate Will Take Down Many More Bankers, And The Claims Will Spiral Into The Trillions
• Bob Diamond would have known about Libor rigging, claims whistleblower
• 'Big five' bank customers vent anger by taking their money elsewhere

Murdoch Mysteries

• Rupert Murdoch concedes News Corp faces divided future--"Mogul finally admits that his worldwide media empire may have to be split after being tarnished by phone-hacking scandal."
• Rupert Murdoch: News Corp. Split Has Nothing To Do With Phone Hacking
• Gordon Brown Hints Murdoch and Brooks Misled Leveson Inquiry

Corruption in Asia

• Sixth Philippine massacre witness killed
• Chinese corruption and looting on a vast scale: industry, government, and military
• Inquiry Declares Fukushima Crisis a Man-Made Disaster--"The nuclear accident at Fukushima was a preventable disaster rooted in government-industry collusion and the worst conformist conventions of Japanese culture...." NYT

Mexico

• Computer files link TV dirty tricks to favourite for Mexico presidency
• More than half of the vote in Mexico’s presidential election to be recounted
• Mexicans await definitive presidential election result
• Protesters march against Mexico's president-elect
• Tens of thousands protest 'vote-buying' in Mexico--"Protesters are accusing Enrique Pena Nieto, Mexico's newly elected president, of giving gifts to voters before the election."

Vote Machinations

• The 'vanishing ink' plot in Egypt vote--"Rumor had it a devious conspiracy was afoot: Egyptians voting for a new president Saturday were being tricked into using pens with disappearing ink so their choice on the ballot would vanish before it was counted."
• Ireland: E-voting machines to be scrapped--"In a final vote of no confidence, Ireland’s ill-fated e-voting machines are finally headed to the scrap heap."
• Libya elections: Polling station raids mar vote--But the over-all turnout was impressive.

Video Game Day, Violence, Rip-offs, DRM, Gamer Grrls, Online Games

Video Game Day

• Smithsonian To Feature Video Game History
• Growing Up With Computer Games
• Games Now Legally Considered an Art Form (in the USA)--Still can't understand why Ebert was so adamant against it.
• The Gaming Fix for the Real World--"Games, McGonigal writes, can fix what’s wrong with reality on small or large scales."
• Do Positive Mass Effect 3 Reviews Reveal A Conflict Of Interest In Gaming Journalism?
• 10 year game of Civilization II turns into Eternal War--What a great foundation for an alternate history novel.
• Inside the geeky, revolutionary world of "Minecraft" Salon

Violence

• The Most Violent Video Games of All Time
• Real world violence blamed for increase in video game violence
• Oklahoma Lawmaker Proposes Tax on Violent Video Games

Rip-offs

• Standing up for ourselves--"We (Spry Fox) have filed a copyright infringement suit in federal court against 6Waves LOLAPPS in response to their release of Yeti Town, their blatant copy of Triple Town."
• Zynga Shamelessly Rips Off 'Tiny Tower' With Canadian Release of 'Dream Heights'--And they've been caught trumping up reviews.
• Blast from the Past: Most Egregious Videogame Ripoffs
  

DRM

• Ubisoft DRM games to be temporarily unplayable--"Publisher's antipiracy scheme will prevent customers from playing some of its Mac and PC games for an undetermined period of time during server transition ...." And those who pirated the games won't have this problem at all.
• Diablo 3 Item Duping Videos Surface, Always-On DRM Proven Useless
• GOG Talks Preserving Value Of Games, Death Of DRM

Gamer Grrls

• Aisha Tyler. The lady who hosted Ubisofts Press Conference dishes a well deserved verbal ass whooping to all of her haters.
• XBox Girls Get Revenge
• Why videogames haven't grown up yet: sex
• Girl Deletes Boyfriend's World of Warcraft Characters
• UK Woman Drives Over Boyfriend Twice Because He "Cheated Her at a Computer Game"

Online Games

• Spin the Black Circle
• Hedgehog Launch
• Fantastic Contraption
• Big Box
• Passage

News Biz, Sourcing and Attribution, Advertising, Paywalls, News You Can Lose

News Biz

• First, stop the lawyers--Jeff Jarvis looks into the legislative lobbying of the newspaper industry.
• Newspapers Gather In Secret (With An Antitrust Lawyer) To Collude Over Paywalls
• European publishers want a law to control online news access--Yet another attempt to legislate dying business models.
• Newspapers Are Big, Not Bloated
• 'Playing it Safe' Is Killing the American Newspaper
• Why Can't Old Media Understand the Viral Effect?
• How not to defend newspapers

Sourcing and Attribution

• Using the 'Steal-O-Meter' to Gauge if Stories Steal or Promote
• How Gawker Ripped Off My Newspaper Story
• "Tech tapeworms": Bloggers denounce "parasite" label at FTC
• 'N.Y. Times' columnist used blogger's words
• How To Assert Copyright Over Your Work When It’s Been Plagiarized

Advertising

• Not death of newspapers but death of advertising
• Craigslist's Forced Censorship of Erotic Ads Saves Journalism Industry--The mainsteam media really doesn't like Craigslist.
• They came for the classifieds... and then the sports...
• Publishers Are Killing Web Advertising’s Potential With Misguided Pricing
• Analysis: In scare for newspapers, digital ad growth stalls

Paywalls

• Columnist Quits After Newsday Starts Charging for Its Web Site
• Local News Website Says You Need To Pay To Read Its Stories, Says It's Collecting Visitor IPs To Sue
• Paper to readers: Comments now cost 99 cents and your name
• What worked for HBO won't work for news
• Dear newspapers: I will pay for your content, once

News You Can Lose

• Kicking Ink: The Struggles of a Print Newspaper Unsubscriber
• Ink Will Win
• I studied print journalism: Now what? Salon
• Marketplace: The fate of comics after newspapers
• Publisher Lays Out Plan to Save Newspapers
• Old Growth Media And The Future Of News
• Penny Arcade: The Way of All Flesh