Many of us have been objecting for years that we are closing down essential programs and selling off public lands on the state and federal level while we gush billions to fund wars like the one in Iraq — an oil rich country. The Iraqis, however, have called for billing the United States for damage to their country from the war. When Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, went to Iraq with a delegation he caused a diplomatic incident when he politely suggested that Iraq might want to pay some of the costs back now that it is again selling oil at record high prices. The response was a statement from the government that the entire delegation was not welcomed in the country after making such a “stupid” proposal.
Continue reading “Iraqi Leaders Denounce Congressional Delegation After One Member Suggests Iraq Should Help Pay War Expenses”
Author: jonathanturley
In New Hampshire, Wendy Bordeleau and her neighbors are up in arms over the repeated tasering of a 500-pound 1-year-old heifer that had escaped from her herd in Dracut, Massachusetts. People were trying to herd the cow back into the fenced area when police were called and began to taser the animal over the objections of onlookers.
Continue reading “New Hampshire Police Criticized For Tasering Wandering Cow”
Charles DuBose, 55, is accused of the heinous act of shooting Ivhan`e Merritt, 11, for the offense of playing on his front lawn in Cleveland at 10:40 p.m.
Continue reading “Cleveland Man Charged With Shooting 11-Year-Old Girl Playing On His Front Lawn”
China has released the details of the latest food scandal case. Gao Yanjun wanted his meat to look fresh when it wasn’t so he added industrial nitrate used in fertilizer. It produced better color and texture . . . and at least one death. The pig intestine meat cost only 5 yuan or 75 cents and, of course, your life.
Continue reading “Chinese Butcher Sentenced For Using Industrial Nitrates in Meat — And Killing At Least One Customer”
For over a week, an international campaign has grown — with growing media coverage from CNN, NPR, and other outlets — to support Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, a self-described 35-year-old lesbian who had been abducted in Syria after blogging about her life and dreams. The American-born Amina’s disappearance led to the creation of websites and set off demands for governmental inquiries and sanctions. She has now been found alive and well . . . and a man from Georgia with a rather twisted view of advocacy and integrity. Tom MacMaster, 40, a graduate student has now admitted that there is no Amina, no abduction, and only a very pathetic story about a man from Georgia.
Continue reading “Syrian Lesbian Advocate Amina Abdallah Is Alive And Well . . . And Living As A Man In Georgia”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The Republican spin machine is in overdrive working on their plan to replace a government-run program (Medicare) that directly pays health care providers with a program that would funnel taxpayer funds to private insurance companies (Vouchercare). They are trying to convince the media that their plan to end Medicare is actually a plan that creates a “new, sustainable version of Medicare.”
As Atrios puts it, “when we replace the Marines with a pizza, we’ll call the pizza the Marines.”
Submitted By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The Central Arkansas Coalition of Reason has a First Amendment problem. When the coalition of atheists, agnostics, and skeptics attempted to place advertising on Little Rock transit buses, they were met with an unusual demand. In order to place $5,000.00 worth of advertising, the Central Arkansas Transit Authority (CATA) required them to purchase insurance against angry Christians in the amount of $36,000.00. The policy was needed said the bus company’s ad agency, On The Move Advertising, because a handful of similar ads had been vandalized in other states.
Continue reading “Will Free Speech Have To Make A Bus Stop In Arkansas?”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Until last week, I had never heard of an organization called Personhood USA. Then I read a post about it on Think Progress titled Anti-Abortion Groups Push To Outlaw Contraceptives By Redefining Personhood. According to the
Think Progress piece, Personhood USA has been quite successful at pushing legislation in a number of states that would “redefine life as beginning at the moment of fertilization…”
Dr. Dan Grossman, an obstetrician/gynecologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said that the medical community has been in agreement that a pregnancy begins “once implantation occurs.” Only about a half of fertilized eggs, however, actually implant into a woman’s uterus and result in a pregnancy. The rest of the fertilized eggs never begin dividing, never implant, or spontaneously abort. In fact, some spontaneous abortions occur so early in a woman’s pregnancy that she may not even be aware that she is pregnant.
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Anthony Weiner may not be the only politician whose electronic shortcomings could derail his career. The State of Alaska has released 24,000 pages of emails by then-governor Sarah Palin pursuant to a FOIA request. The emails cover all sorts of Palin controversies like Troopergate, Travel Expense-gate, and even the flurry of activity surrounding her eventual selection as John McCain’s running mate. One email details Palin’s frustration with questions from reporters about whether she believes humans and dinosaurs co-existed.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
David Barton is an evangelical minister and author who describes himself as “an expert in historical and constitutional issues.” Barton is the darling of the religious right receiving praise from Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann.
In the video, below the fold, Barton makes some remarkable claims.
Continue reading “David Barton Claims Founding Fathers Debated Creation/Evolution”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
All’s fair in love, war, and now baseball. As the video below shows, notions like being kind to children at ball games is now passe.’ Gone are the days when the fan would be happy with making a great catch of a foul ball and then flipping the ball to a starry-eyed kid to make his day. Nope, here the unidentified sweetie grabs the ball from the little girl’s hand and then celebrates her big win over an apparent six-year-old. Brava!
The crowd wasn’t so impressed. They booed for five minutes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6locBvdMJtw&feature=player_embedded
Source: SF Gate
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
That’s Kearneysville, West Virginia, so I’m not sure if it’s a joke or not.
Police are searching for this man who, despite efforts of locals to stop him, axed down a 20-foot gingko tree in Brooklyn. The arborcide may have been committed by a former tenant at the nearby apartment building.
Continue reading “A Tree [Does Not] Grow in Brooklyn: Video Captures Arborcide Attack”
It is the ultimate example of voters getting the representatives that they deserve. A recent poll shows 56 percent of constituents of Anthony Weiner want him to remain in office. I spoke on the Weiner scandal on CNN last night.
Continue reading “Majority of Weiner Constituents Want Him To Remain Their Representative”
Deputy Dist. Atty. Juliet Schmidt, a member of the L.A. district attorney’s Public Integrity Division, is under fire after sending a letter to a law firm in a conflict-of-interest case that first suggested that its client “might” be exonerated and then asked if the firm would give her nephew of job. That is, of course, a conflict of interest itself.