O’Melissokomos
The Bee Keeper

What’s New

Thursday, 23 May 2013

New story: Diary of a Teenage Hunk 8 by Peterbilt

Cable Bundling

• Keep dreaming, cord cutters: Time Warner chief says no streaming-only option for HBO GO
• Top cable lobbyist: No 'a la carte' needed, cable companies already provide 'unparalleled choice'
• ABC Declares War on Cord Cutters with Live TV App — Delayed Streaming to Follow
• Time Warner Cable eyes Aereo-like service as way to ditch expensive bundles
• John McCain Introduces Cable A La Carte Legislation To Stop Bundling & Broadcasters Moving To Pay TV

Netflix

• Netflix, Reed Hastings Survive Missteps to Join Silicon Valley's Elite
• Netflix's Ted Sarandos talks Arrested Development, 4K and reviving old shows—"[W]hen we launch in a territory the Bittorrent traffic drops as the Netflix traffic grows." Amazing how offering a product at an affordable rate works.
• AOL vs. Netflix: The Entire Internet In One Simple Chart
• Warner Bros., MGM, Universal Collectively Pull Nearly 2,000 Films From Netflix To Further Fragment The Online Movie Market—"You may recall that Warner recently launched this archive, which is an incredibly overpriced and ridiculously limited offering."
• Netflix Canada Could Be Bundled With Cable TV; Competition Could Soon Be On The Scene

Trouble with Telcos

• Telecoms' monopoly holding back U.S. innovation—"A law school professor is on a permanent campaign to argue that the telecom and cable industry has been overtaken by monopolists who resist innovation and overcharge consumers." NYT
• New FCC chairman is "former lobbyist for cable and wireless industries"
• Outgoing FCC chair says Verizon, AT&T duopoly would be a 'very bad thing'
• America's Carriers Are Terrible. It's Probably Your Fault.
• Dumb Attorney General Gets T-Mobile Plans Wrong

Net Neutrality

• A Ruling Could Support F.C.C.'s Net Neutrality Defense
• AT&T Continues To Mock The Concept Of Net Neutrality; This Time With Google Hangouts Block—They said sometime later that they will roll out the service.
• Deutsche Telekom Dumps Net Neutrality; Will Limit Bandwidth For Competing Video & Voice Products

Broadband

• American ISPs are now hated even more than airlines—This just gives Google Fiber a better chance of succeeding.
• US moves to free up spectrum for passengers
• Legislation would provide subsidies for low-income broadband access
• Japanese provider launches 'world's fastest home broadband'—"So-net - the Sony-backed provider - is now offering Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband deals with headline speeds of 2Gb."
• Vermont telephone company offering $35-per-month gigabit internet service

Google Fiber

• The Genius Of Google Fiber
• That Was Fast: Google Fiber Puts More Pressure on the Cable Guys
• The force of Fiber: Google Fiber is pressuring rivals to up their game
• Google Fiber spreads again, confirmed for Gladstone, MO
• Time Warner Cable in Austin sees new Google Fiber, raises with free Wi-Fi?—"Austin tech journo says TWC offer is laughable: 'It won't even make me pause.'"
• CenturyLink Whines About Google Fiber in Utah—"Uses sleazy tactics for a decade, cries about fairness."
• Good news for Google Fiber: Broadcast TV audiences are cratering faster than ever

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

New story: Pantheon by J_Alexander (scifi)

International Day for Biological Diversity

• Last rhinos in Mozambique killed by poachers—"The last known rhinoceroses in Mozambique have been wiped out by poachers apparently working in cahoots with the game rangers responsible for protecting them, it has emerged."
• There's a country that will pay $300,000 per rhino horn to cure cancer and hangovers, and it's wiping out rhinos
• Elephant 'tramples to death suspected poacher'
• Gabon steps in to help protect elephants from ivory poaching at Central African Republic site
• China is plundering the planet's seas—and it's doing it 12.5 times more than it's telling anybody
• 'Victory for bees' as European Union bans neonicotinoid pesticides blamed for destroying bee population
• DiCaprio's Movie Pals Aid Tiger in $39 Million Auction
• Indonesia's tropical forests set to benefit from further clearing ban—"Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expected to sign extended deal to help restore habitat of tigers and orangutans." Related: Can Ecotourism Save Indonesia's Disappearing Forests?
• Study links insecticide use to invertebrate die-offs—"Dutch research reveals correlation between water polluted with imidacloprid and low numbers of aquatic insects."
• Lion tacos spark outrage in Florida but will remain on menu—" Serving lion meat is legal in the US because lions are 'threatened,' but not 'endangered.'"

Oklahoma Tornado

• Don't cry climate-change wolf—"For now, blaming the Moore, Okla., tornado on global warming is bad science and bad politics." Salon
• Oklahoma Senators Jim Inhofe, Tom Coburn, Face Difficult Options On Disaster Relief—Inhofe claims it's "totally different." (Maybe because it happened in his state.)
• Tornado had winds over 200 mph
• How could so many have survived Okla. monster tornado?—Bill Nye says that "it's going to happen again."
• Wolf Blitzer Asks Tornado Survivor If She Thanked the Lord; Tells Him She's an Atheist

Climate Change

• Alaskan villages try "climigration" in the face of climate change
• Belief in biblical end-times stifling climate change action in U.S.: study
• Zombie climate sceptic theories survive only in newspapers and on TV

Environment

• Tribes vow to fight-to-the-death to save Amazon rainforest
• Peru spares Amazon rainforest from oil and gas push
• DENR's new mission takes wrong course—"DENR, prior to Gov. Pat McCrory, had a straightforward mission to conserve and protect North Carolina's natural resources. When McCrory became governor, the DENR revised its mission statement to fundamentally change its role."
• The GOP Walkout on Obama's EPA Pick Shows Senate Is as Polluted as Earth
• Carbon dioxide passes symbolic mark—"Daily measurements of CO2 at a US government agency lab on Hawaii have topped 400 parts per million for the first time."
• China agrees to impose carbon targets by 2016
• Texas to take BP and Halliburton to court—"Texas, alleges the companies and others 'engaged in wilful and wanton misconduct' in the 2010 Deep Horizon oil spill."

Pollution

• AR to Residents Sick From Exxon Oil Spill: You're On Your Own
• A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit—"Refining Canada’s petroleum-soaked oil sands produces petroleum coke, and the question of what to do with it has found at least one answer in Detroit, where a large coke pile covers an entire city block."
• Greenpeace blames Coke for Channel 9 'choke'
• China wrestles with stubborn air polluters
• 19-Year-Old Develops Ocean Cleanup Array That Could Remove 7,250,000 Tons Of Plastic From the World's Oceans

Animal Cruelty

• Amy Meyer's Ag-Gag Charges Have Been Dropped!—She was filming on public property.
• TN Governor to veto 'Ag-Gag' bill—"The governor released a statement saying his decision is based, in part, on the state attorney general’s opinion that the law would be constitutionally suspect. It also appears that it could repeal portions of Tennessee’s Shield Law, which protects news reporters from incursions by law enforcement."
• Opinion: The terrible price of ag-gag laws—"Rather than shutting observers out of slaughterhouses, we should open the doors even wider."
• Ag-Gag Laws Could Make America Sick
• How undercover animal rights activists are winning the Ag-Gag war
• State official pleads guilty in Butterball farm raid leak—"The state's top poultry veterinarian pleaded guilty Wednesday to tipping off officials at Butterball before a December raid on one of its turkey operations in Hoke County."
• Australia halts cattle exports to Egypt over 'cruelty'

Food Insecurity

• Rat meat sold as lamb in Shanghai, police say
• China arrests 900 in fake meat scandal—"Chinese authorities seize 20,000 tonnes of illegal meat products and detains gang passing off fox, mink and rat as mutton."
• Potato price-fixing costs consumers millions

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

New story: Old Man Stevens 11 by Londonboy

Culture Clash

• Lebanese Man Impregnates His Sister, Kills Her in 'Honor Crime'
• Man goes undercover as a woman to investigate sexual harassment in Egypt
• Gruesome Attacks on Egyptian Women Spawn Helmeted, Volunteer Protectors
• Tunisia topless Femen activist arrested for 'immoral gestures'
• Women's Prison in Gaza Swells With 'Moral' Criminals
• Saudi passenger demands air hostess be removed from flight
• Police take 16 year-old girl into custody for "dressing inappropriately"

Politics

• Women banned from Iranian election
• Conservative Afghan lawmakers block legislation protecting women's rights
• Pakistan politician Zahra Shahid Hussain killed in Karachi

Sexism

• Merida From 'Brave' Gets An Unnecessary Makeover, Sparks Change.org Petition—Successfully getting Disney to back down.
• Mother shuns Disney Princess ideal and dresses daughter up as five REAL heroines from history to commemorate fifth birthday
• Lego Apologizes for Cat-Calling Sticker

Rape

• UAE Rape Victim Jailed—"Gali was using her laptop in the hotel's staff bar when her drink was spiked. She awoke to a nightmare beyond belief: she had been savagely raped by three of her colleagues. Alone and frightened, she took herself to hospital. What Alicia didn't know is that under the UAE's strict sharia laws, if the perpetrator does not confess, a rape cannot be convicted without four adult Muslim male witnesses. She was charged with having illicit sex outside marriage, and thrown in a filthy jail cell for eight months."
• Japan WWII 'comfort women' were 'necessary' - Hashimoto
• Muslim Imam Claims Women Who Don't Wear Hijabs are "Asking to be Raped", Arrested for Trying to Rape Woman
• If women don't want to be raped they shouldn't drink too much, says Hong Kong official
• Focus On Women, Families Propels New York's Sen. Gillibrand—"Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand is introducing legislation with other lawmakers Thursday that would change the way the military prosecutes sexual assault cases."

Abortion and Birth Control

• Ireland: Pro-life activists threaten to slit throat of TD—"I have a number of people at the moment who are going to burn my house down with my children in it, they are going to spit at me when I walk inside my church grounds at Sunday morning at Mass."
• GOP attorney general candidate tried to force women to report miscarriages to police—"Virginia Sen. Mark Obenshain wanted to send women to jail who failed to report their miscarriages to the police." Salon
• Judge Mocks Obama Administration's Attempt To Restrict Morning After Pill As 'A Charade'
• OB-GYNs Are Confused By The Political Fight To Restrict Emergency Contraception
• No Exit: Life begins at erection

Monday, 20 May 2013

New story: Diary of a Teenage Hunk 7 by Peterbilt

And Justice for Some

• And Justice for Some—"Fifty years after a landmark decision to give the poor their day in court, Bill explores why they still can't afford justice -- with insight from Bryan Stevenson, Martin Clancy and Tim O'Brien."
• Some Public Defenders Warn: 'We Have Nothing Left To Cut'
• Sen. John Cornyn Surprised to Learn Judge-Blocking May Be Cause of Judge Shortages

Ohio Abductions

• Police Apparently Missed Multiple Calls About Women on Dog Leashes in the Castros' Yard
• Why the Web loves Cleveland hero Charles Ramsey
• Sylvia Browne: fans lash out at 'psychic' over false Ohio abduction prediction—"'Psychic' incorrectly predicted the death of Amanda Berry in 2004 – not the first time she's been wrong about a missing person."

Poison

• San Jose: Starbucks poison suspect booked on attempted murder rap
• Ann Marie Haines poisons burritos, feeds them to husband, daughter—"Woman was upset over not being invited on car shopping trip, police say."
• Two Chinese kindergarten students die after rival school poisons yogurt
• Old poisoning case grips Chinese netizens worldwide
• Backpacker Dies After Drinking 'Poison Gin'

War on Drugs

• OAS Drug Report Envisions Growing Legalization In Western Hemisphere
• Blow Back—"Sorry, Washington. If, after 30 years, Colombia can't win the war on drugs, no one can."
• Which Drugs Actually Kill Americans—"Hint: not pot."
• Blog del Narco: Author Who Chronicled Mexico’s Drugs War Forced to Flee
• Man arrested for having big muscles

420

• Obama Says No To Legalizing Marijuana—"In a speech in Mexico City on Friday, President Obama shut the door on any possibility that he'll support efforts in his second term to legalize certain recreational drugs."
• Vermont decriminalizes possession of marijuana
• Congressman Tears Into AG Holder Over Marijuana: 'This Is The Time To Remedy Prohibition'
• A GOP Bill To End the War on Pot
• Oregon Senate OKs bill to allow medical pot for PTSD
• Marijuana Repeal Considered In Colorado
• Washington lawmakers quietly approve bill to re-criminalize some marijuana possession

Bad Cops

• Federal Suit Claims Police Distort Marijuana Searches to Create Misdemeanors—"A lawsuit says that New York City police officers routinely stop black and Latino men without cause and then charge them with low-level misdemeanors when small amounts of marijuana are found." In other words, that's racist. NYT
• Wash. judge tells police to return marijuana—"The department could be found in contempt if they continue to refuse to return a small amount of marijuana seized from a man after a traffic stop."
• Police Forced to Return Over 60 Pounds of Marijuana to California Dispensaries

Law and Disorder

• Medical Marijuana-Hating Assemblyman Caught With Marijuana Gets Charges Dismissed
• Officials: Legal marijuana law jeopardizes all pot prosecutions
• Justices say marijuana possession not a deportable offense
• Woman claims she was fired for inhaling second-hand pot smoke
• Colorado appeals court OKs firing for off-duty marijuana use —"Coloradans who use medical marijuana off the clock can be fired from their jobs for doing so even if they aren't impaired on the job, an appeals court ruled Thursday in a major decision." State laws supposedly superceded by federal laws on marijuana.

Sunday, 19 May 2013

New story: Thrift Shop Vitamins by RdyRoger

Pope Francis

• Pope makes first big decision naming advisory board—"Pope Francis, in his first major decision, ... set up an advisory board of cardinals from around the world to help him govern the Catholic Church and reform its troubled central administration."
• Pope Francis hits out at global 'cult of money'
• Church must help the poorest, not dissect theology, pope says

Sex Abuse Scandal

• Pope Francis calls for action on clerical sex abuse—Total opposite of his predecessor espoused.
• Cardinal who covered up pedophilia says he forgives those who are mad at him—Probably has also forgiven all the little boys and girls who seduced those poor oh-so-susceptible priests.
• $3 billion and counting: the sex-abuse scandal continues
• Outrage in Spain over video game that depicts Pope Benedict XVI as pimp for pedophile cardinals
• Australia: 'Catholic mafia' covered up Hunter abuse

Blasphemy

• Bangladesh protesters demand blasphemy law—"Hundreds of thousands of marchers call for law that would include death penalty for bloggers who insult Islam." The PM has so far rejected the notion.
• Russian MPs back harsher anti-blasphemy law—Church and State colluding to espouse censorship.
• Russian court denies punk band convict Tolokonnikova parole
• Qatar jails a Nepali teacher on charges of insulting Islam—Thankfully, he's been freed and back home in Nepal.
• Turkish pianist sentenced to jail for criticizing Islam on Twitter Salon

Islamists

• Egyptian Activists: Our Religion Is None Of Your Business
• Morocco's High Council of Ulemas's Death Sentence Fatwa on Apostates Sparks Controversy
• Gaza police shaving heads of long-haired youths—"Police in Hamas-ruled Gaza have started grabbing young men with long or gel-styled spiky hair off the streets, bundling them into jeeps, mocking them and shaving their heads."
• 'Modesty police' arrests ratchet fears of radicalized Islam in Gaza
• Indonesia teens accused of blasphemy over Maroon 5 dance
• No 'Happy Easter': The Muslim Brotherhood's Bizarre Religious Intolerance
• They're taking our children—'West Papua's youth are being removed to Islamic religious schools in Java for 're-education...'"

Orthodox

• Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest over Israeli army enlistment
• Orthodox men hurl stinkbombs at women praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall
• No More Play Dates? Sex-Segregated Park Opens in New York
• Culture war erupts in Israel over attempts to end preferential budgets for ultra-Orthodox
• Them and Them—"Up in Ramapo, the immigrant community and the growing population of Hasidim had eyed each other with increasing wariness. Then the Orthodox took over the public schools and proceeded to gut them."
• In Israel, new modesty glasses for Orthodox Jewish men blur women out of their line of sight
• Orthodox Jewish Man Covers Himself In Plastic Bag On Plane

Christianists

• North Carolina Republican Equates Praying to Allah with Terrorism
• Detroit: Christian Extemists Force Cancellation Of Annual Dearborn Arab Fest
• Mississippi high school forces students to attend Christian lectures: lawsuit
• Some Don't Like BioShock's Forced Baptism. Enough To Ask For A Refund
• The Quiverfull: The evangelical Christians opposed to contraception

Creationists

• snopes.com: 4th Grade Science Quiz—The South Carolinian school administrator "was shocked at the level of hate that the atheists poured down upon her, the teacher, and the school in general."
• Senators again reject repeal of Louisiana Science Education Act
• Why Americans Love Creationism

In Bad Faith

• 2nd Child of Pa. Couple Dies After Only Praying—The other children have been getting court-ordered medical care.
• Opinion: Faith healing is criminal in modern society
• Doctors win right to save Jehovah's Witness boy's life

Religion

• Christianity declining 50pc faster than thought – as one in 10 under-25s is a Muslim
• Belief in Angry God Associated with Poor Mental Health
• Man Sues Bishop for Failing to Exorcise Flatulent Demons
• Papua New Guinea Considers Repealing Sorcery Law—"The prime minister has vowed to repeal a controversial sorcery act after the latest in a string of brutal public killings of people accused of practicing black magic." NYT
• 10 Faked Historical Miracles

Jesus

• A Feud Between Biblical Archaeologists Goes to Court—"Jacobovici has claimed to have some of the bones of Jesus and his family, their DNA from ossuaries. 'If the remains were reburied, then there could not have been any true resurrection.'"
• The Three Christs of Ypsilanti—A psychiatric case that "details the interactions of the three patients... who each believed himself to be Jesus Christ."
• Shape-Shifting Jesus Described in Ancient Egyptian Text

Saturday, 18 May 2013

New story: The Trainer 5 by AKA

Benghazi

• The real lesson of Benghazi—"It’s that the party-aligned press works so well for Republicans that they’ve become too lazy to bother explaining their ideas, or doing the hard work of actual oversight."
• Obama Tears Apart Benghazi Conspiracy, 'Who Stages a Cover Up for Three Days?'
• With Zero Evidence Republicans Call For Obama To Be Impeached Over Benghazi—One exception is John McCain.
• Gates: Benghazi-Obsessed Republicans Have 'Cartoonish' View of Military Capability
• Opinion: Symptoms of Benghazi Syndrome—"In the end, it all comes down to an irrational and absolutely rabid dislike of Obama that so clouds judgment that utterly preposterous statements are uttered, usually within the precincts of the Fox News studios."
• Oops: ABC's Benghazi 'scoop' was based on fabricated email—CBS News has suspicions as to who's behind it.
• More Costs of a Pseudo-Scandal
• Darrell Issa Is Refusing to Allow Co-Chairs of Benghazi Review to Testify in Public
• John Fugelsang: Oliver North talks about a Benghazi cover-up — and irony hangs itself
• Congressman Tears Into Fox News Host For Obsessing Over Benghazi Talking Points
• Stephen Colbert on Fox News' obsession with Benghazi
• 39% of people who think Benghazi is America's biggest scandal can't find it on a map

Scandals

• PostScript: Krauthammer and de-Watergating Benghazi
• Conspiracy of the unproductive
• Poll: Mostly Republicans Care About Obama's 'Scandals,' And That’s Bad News For The GOP—And they're just "falling apart."
• Heritage letter to Republicans on Capitol Hill: Don’t legislate, just scandalize Obama
• Obama’s latest scandal? Umbrella-gate.

Boston

• Hayden: Boston level attacks probably inevitable
• During the Boston Lockdown, What Would Have Happened if Someone Refused to Let Police Enter a Home?
• Va. woman has no regrets over role in burial—Kudos to Martha Mullen.
• FBI surrounds house of Saudi student following sightings of him with pressure cooker pot, only to find he was cooking rice
• The Boston Bomber: Why Do Some Teens Seem Obsessed?

Gitmo

• Gitmo lawyer found dead in apparent suicide—"The federal public defender left a note and a thumb drive with his case files." Salon
• Former Gitmo prisoner: It's like crawling with your weak body into a dark tunnel—"The author of a new memoir about life in the detention center details what it's like to be on hunger strike." Salon
• Will Obama close Guantanamo?—"As hunger strike by 100 detainees reaches its third month, the US president returns to calls for prison's closure."
• Hunger games: Critical health fears as Gitmo strike marks Day 100
• Political Barriers Stand Between Obama and Closing Guantanamo Facility
• Guantanamo camp burns through $900,000 a year per inmate
• How to Close Guantanamo—"Why Obama doesn't need Congress to start to make good on his promise."

War on Terror

• Washington gets explicit: its 'war on terror' is permanent—"Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two."
• Military Quietly Grants Itself the Power to Police the Streets Without Local or State Consent
• Lost identity: The incredible story of Kamran Rizvi

Follow the Money

• Karzai Says He Was Assured C.I.A. Would Continue Delivering Bags of Cash—"The C.I.A. money, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan told reporters, was 'an easy source of petty cash,' and he suggested that some of it was used to pay off warlords and power brokers." NYT
• Ottawa loses track of $3.1-billion meant to fight terror
• KBR Tells U.S. Army it will Cost $500 Million and Take 13 Years to Close out Its Iraq Contract

Israel and Palestine

• Israel PM Netanyahu 'curbs settlement construction'—That didn't last long.
• Hawking decision fuels Israel debate—"A decision by one of the world’s most famous physicists to withdraw from a conference due to be held in Israel next month has rekindled fierce debate in the United Kingdom over academic boycotts that are intended to protest against Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories."
• Israel says Google 'Palestine' page damages prospects for peace
• US Business Owners Can Be Fined and Imprisoned for Supporting Israeli Boycott
• Award-winning photo isn't a fake, say specialists—"Specialists tapped by World Press Photo debunk an analysis that concluded that Paul Hansen's photo of children killed in Gaza was a composite of multiple images."

Friday, 17 May 2013

New story: Slippery Slope 3 by DomPrep (hypno)

Obstructionism

• The GOP's Obama problem—"[M]any Republican senators refuse to support anything that would give President Obama a legislative victory."
• Contrary to popular belief, President Obama doesn't have a magic wand—"GOP opposition to everything Obama supports is the most important story of the last four years of American politics."
• Goldberg and O'Reilly agree: Obama could cure cancer and Republicans would still hate him
• The GOP's politics of dysfunction
• Opinion: House Republicans prefer sabotage to real solutions
• Republicans fall silent in face of Obama deficit success
• This Isn't Obama's Malaise, It's GOP Intransigence
• G.O.P. Delays on Nominees Raise Tension NYT
• Senate Republicans to oppose some nominees for hobbled labor board
• The Daily Show: Olympia Snowe of bipartisanship

Republicans

• House of Un-Representatives—"This Republican House is almost like a parallel government, sitting in for some fantasy nation created in talk-radio land." NYT
• Boehner On Obamacare, Debt Limit Strategies: Take It Up With My Members!
• Even Counting Votes too Scientific for North Carolina—"In a voice vote so close that both sides claim they would have won if the votes had been counted, Rabon declares that the bill has passed and runs off."
• Secret Tape: Top GOP Consultant Luntz Calls Limbaugh "Problematic"—"At a talk to college students, Republican pollster Frank Luntz would only chastise Rush Limbaugh and right-wing radio off the record." There were bound to be repurcussions for the school.
• Tea Partyers boycott Fox News for being too "left"—"A three-day boycott of the network protested a lack of coverage of the attacks on Benghazi, among other things." Salon

West, Texas Explosion

• The Texas fertilizer plant explosion cannot be forgotten—Fourteen lives lost due to corporate greed and negligence.
• Perry: State Oversight Not to Blame for West Blast—That's a lot of fertilizer right there.
• Rick Perry 'explosion' cartoon published to make a point
• Officials: No breakthrough yet in Texas explosion
• Texas fertilizer plant that exploded carried only $1 million in liability coverage

Guns

• The RNC blasts Obama for not passing gun reform bill—"In reality, Republicans and the National Rifle Association had been rallying against the bill, which would have strengthened background checks."
• GOP fundraising video mocks grieving Sandy Hook mom who lost 6 y.o.
• Ultra-conservative gun group outspends NRA on lobbying
• The Science of Guns Proves Arming Untrained Citizens Is a Bad Idea
• 7-year-old boy gets handwritten letter from Biden—"A Wisconsin boy wrote Vice President Joe Biden with an unusual suggestion for making the nation safer: Create guns that shoot chocolate bullets."

NRA

• New NRA President Calls Obama 'Fake President' Civil War 'War Of Northern Aggression'
• National Rifle Association Bans Bleeding "Obama" Target, Others Remain
• An Open Letter to Wayne LaPierre

3D-Printed Guns

• State Department orders firm to remove 3D-printed guns web blueprints
• 3-D-printed gun moves to Pirate Bay after State Department crackdown
• Offshore 3D Printed Gun Blueprint Protector Kim Dotcom Reportedly Deleting Files
• 3D Gunmaker Defense Distributed Has Already Changed The World
• Sen. Leland Yee Proposes Regulations On 3-D Printers After Gun Test

Shootings

• Kentucky Shooting: Boy, 5, Shoots And Kills 2-Year-Old Sister, Police Say
• 19 wounded in New Orleans Mother's Day parade shooting
• Aurora, Colo. High School Student Suffers 'Significant Injury' In Accidental Parking Lot Shooting

Thursday, 16 May 2013

New story: Diary of a Teenage Hunk 6 by Peterbilt

IRS

• IRS apologizes for targeting tea party groups
• IRS Officiall: 'I'm not good at math'
• The Daily Show: Barack Trek—"The IRS shifts the burden of proof from the tinfoil behatted to the government by targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups."
• Remember When Andrew Joseph Stack Flew a Plane Into a Texas IRS Building?
• The I.R.S. and the Tea Party: Where Is the Scandal?
• IRS Chief Says 'Mistakes Were Made' But Weren't Partisan
• IRS Sent Same Letter to Democrats That Fed Tea Party Row
• When the IRS targeted liberals—"Under George W. Bush, it went after the NAACP, Greenpeace and even a liberal church." Salon
• Marco Rubio Calls on Nonexistent IRS Commissioner to Resign
• 'Angry' Obama announces IRS leader's ouster after conservatives targeted

Vote Machinations

• Bipartisan Bill Would Expand Disclosure Of Political Money
• Obama's campaign finance reform plans have faded
• The IRS should do more, not less, scrutinizing of political groups—"Since Citizens United, the super rich are using nonprofits to shield their political spending. They need more oversight."
• Justice O'Connor: Maybe Bush V. Gore Was A Mistake
• Fear of the youth vote, now in Ohio—"[T]o force Ohio’s universities to do the dirty work of voter suppression is unconscionable."

Public-Private Partnerships

• The Shadow Lobbyist—"Corporate America is relying on new tactics to shape the legislative outcomes it wants." NYT
• Why Lobbying Is Now Increasingly In The Shadows
• One Reason To Apply For Tax-Exempt Status: Anonymity
• 74% of lobbyist spending on Kansas lawmakers unaccounted for
• Public money, private profit
• Ties to gov., clients put NC law firm in spotlight
• North Carolina May Ban Tesla Sales To Prevent "Unfair Competition"—Car dealerships don't like being cut out as the middle man and have resorted to legislating their business model.

Economy

• Republicans Refuse to Negotiate Unless They Can Take a Hostage
• The Facts Are In and Paul Ryan Is Wrong
• Reinhart and Rogoff aren't the problem. The Republican Party is.
• Hurricane Sandy and the Myth of the Big Government-vs.-Small-Government Debate—"In the abstract, most Americans want a smaller and less intrusive government. In reality, what Americans really want is a government that spends less money on other people."
• NC Senate GOP debuts far-reaching tax overhaul

Postal

• Congressman Finally Takes Action To Remove Needless Requirement Bankrupting The Postal Service
• U.S. Postal Service posts $1.9 billion loss, despite efficiency efforts
• Last of a Breed: Postal Workers Who Decipher Bad Addresses NYT

Racism

• RNC Hispanic Outreach Director Becomes A Democrat
• The GOP Doesn't Need Hispanic Outreach—It Needs a Hispanic Takeover
• As controversy swirls, Heritage report author resigns—"An author of a highly critical report on pending immigration legislation has resigned his post at the conservative Heritage Foundation after his previous writings, including a dissertation citing lower IQ among immigrants, drew widespread anger."

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