A-Jam Enters The Mix by Peter Funt The launch of Al Jazeera America is arguably the best thing to happen in electronic journalism since the June evening 33 years ago when Ted Turner flipped a switch to inaugurate the nation's first all-news television service, CNN. The preceding sentence is hard for some Americans to swallow. After all, the new channel is owned and … [Read more...] about Al Jazeera America enters the cable news mix (Guest Voice)
Anger grows over gang-rape of photographer in Mumbai
Anger grows over gang-rape of photographer in Mumbai (via AFP) Five men gang-raped a woman photographer in India's financial hub Mumbai, police said Friday, fuelling protests and stirring memories of a similar attack last December in New Delhi. The attack took place on Thursday evening in an upmarket district of… … [Read more...] about Anger grows over gang-rape of photographer in Mumbai
Minimal Mobility and the Economy
Matt Yglesias over on Slate writes about how people not moving for the sake of employment is a factor in slowing up the economy. He lists many valid reasons for why people won't or can't move for the sake of a job. But he misses some. As is pointed out by some of the comments to the article, moving is expensive. If you own a home it's even more expensive, verging on … [Read more...] about Minimal Mobility and the Economy
Koch Industries won’t buy LA Times and Chicago Tribune
Here is definitive proof there is a God in heaven: Koch Industries will not be buying the Tribune Company’s eight newspapers, which include the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times, The Daily Caller has learned. Sources with knowledge of the business proceedings told The Daily Caller that Koch Industries, after conducting its due diligence, has not been interested in buying … [Read more...] about Koch Industries won’t buy LA Times and Chicago Tribune
GOP in Fantasyland
WASHINGTON -- The make-believe crusade by publicity hound Republicans to somehow stop Obamacare is one of the most cynical political exercises we've seen in many years. And that, my friends, is saying something. Charlatans are peddling the fantasy that somehow they can prevent the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act from becoming what it already is: the law of … [Read more...] about GOP in Fantasyland
Stand Up, Republicans
In a meeting with constituents, still another GOP office holder fails to stand up and just say "We have no real basis for impeaching President Obama." or at least a wimpy equivalent when confronted with a raging partisan. This time it's Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who occasionally seems pretty rational. “What you have to do is you have to establish the criteria that would … [Read more...] about Stand Up, Republicans
Explaining John Kerry’s Shellacking in Brazil (Estadao, Brazil)
Why, given the apparently close relationship between the U.S. and Brazil, and even an upcoming state visit to the United States by President Dilma Rousseff, was Secretary of State Kerry so publicly and undiplomatically rebuked when he visited the country last week? This editorial from Brazil's Estadao explains. The Estadao editorial reads in part: What led Chancellor … [Read more...] about Explaining John Kerry’s Shellacking in Brazil (Estadao, Brazil)
Georgia school shooting averted by a brave bookkeeper – and prayer
Georgia school shooting averted by a brave bookkeeper – and prayer (+video) (via The Christian Science Monitor) A sign welcomes Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy students in Decatur, Ga., as they return to classes at McNair High School on Wednesday after a man with an assault rifle and other weapons entered the academy Tuesday and shot at police from… … [Read more...] about Georgia school shooting averted by a brave bookkeeper – and prayer
Will elephants be extinct by 2025?
Is it time to say goodbye to the majestic elephant? The species has been hurt by habitat destruction and species fragmentation, but its biggest enemy has undoubtedly been mankind: An elephant is killed every 15 minutes. And now, one expert predicts that within 12 years, elephants will be extinct, the victims largely of poachers who sell their ivory, and the mostly wealthy … [Read more...] about Will elephants be extinct by 2025?
Israel: Chemical weapons were used in Damascus attack
Israel: Chemical weapons were used in Damascus attack (via GlobalPost) Enlarge JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded today to reports of a deadly nerve gas attack that killed scores outside the Syrian capital yesterday with words of warning to the West. "These events prove yet again that we… … [Read more...] about Israel: Chemical weapons were used in Damascus attack
Aaron Sorkin Has Won a Major Award
I've created The Fairly Spiritual Award to honor individuals who create content that has a soul. It is my pleasure to announce that the first recipient of this gotta-be-prestigious-to-someone award is screenwriter, producer and playwright Aaron Sorkin. Although such an honor is worthy of an in-depth essay, I will satisfy digital age attention spans with a short enumerated list … [Read more...] about Aaron Sorkin Has Won a Major Award
BREAKING: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner will resign tomorrow
NOTE: Due to a glitch this post that was on a timer for 12:01 a.m. went up immeidately. You'll note the report reproduced here says the resignation will come FRIDAY. We regret the glitch. BREAKING NEWS: As many expected, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner will resign, reports San Diego's ABC News station, KGTV: Team 10 has confirmed Mayor Bob Filner is prepared to resign … [Read more...] about BREAKING: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner will resign tomorrow
Bradley Manning: I want to live as “Chelsea Manning” a woman
In a new twist on a case that has been pitchforked into the headlines, Bradley Manning, the Army private sentenced to military prison yesterday for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks has told The Today Show that he wants to live his life as a woman, Chelsea Manning. Here's the full statement read for him on Today: Subject: The Next Stage of My Life I want to … [Read more...] about Bradley Manning: I want to live as “Chelsea Manning” a woman
CO GOP Sen. Vicki Marble: Black and Hispanics in Poverty Partly Because of ‘Fried Chicken’
Jesus take the wheel: Sen. Vicki Marble (R-CO) delivered a "long soliloquy explaining that more blacks and Hispanics live in poverty, in part, because of fried chicken," during a meeting of the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force Wednesday. This racial slight occurred as lawmakers on the committee were "presented with a number of statistics highlighting racial … [Read more...] about CO GOP Sen. Vicki Marble: Black and Hispanics in Poverty Partly Because of ‘Fried Chicken’
The Founding Fathers Would Weep
Chris Hedges writes that, with the sentencing of Bradley Manning, the United States is now a penal colony: There are strict rules now in our American penal colony. If we remain supine, if we permit ourselves to be passively stripped of all political power and voice, if we refuse to resist as we are incrementally reduced to poverty and the natural world is … [Read more...] about The Founding Fathers Would Weep
Antonin Scalia Doesn’t Understand What is Meant by Rights
Antonin Scalia gave a talk at a luncheon in Bozeman Montana sponsored by the Federalist Society Monday. In it he decried the creation of new rights by the courts. His overall theme was that items that have been decided on by the court should have been left to legislatures. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told a Montana audience Monday that American courts too often … [Read more...] about Antonin Scalia Doesn’t Understand What is Meant by Rights
Report: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner reaches deal in mediation: resignation soon?
On a day when the 18th woman came forward to accuse him of sexual harrassment, San Diego's beleaguered Mayor Bob Filner reportedly reached a deal in mediation -- and if you had to place money based on reports, you'd say he's likely to resign. The website of KPBS, the public broadcasting station that has been ahead of much of the local media on this story, gives these … [Read more...] about Report: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner reaches deal in mediation: resignation soon?
Noah’s Creationist Ark (Guest Voice Cartoonist)
Noah's Creationist Ark by Mike Peters OF RELATED INTEREST: --Dinosaurs Were On Noah’s Ark, Creationist Ken Ham Claims [Video] --Creation Museum employee struck by lightning --More creationist dishonesty --Creationist Darek Isaacs Calls Dragons Real, Says They Lived In Biblical Times (VIDEO) --Scientists criticize creationism, Louisiana Science Education Act at … [Read more...] about Noah’s Creationist Ark (Guest Voice Cartoonist)
The Furor Over the Rodeo Clown and the Obama Mask
Old joke: two cannibals are eating a clown and one says, "Does this taste funny to you?" In a case of life imitating joke, political partisans squared off in the case of the Obama-mask wearing rodeo clown over whether his act was funny, or in dangerously bad taste. But partisans and most of the media are missing the point of what happened. The issue was a professional rodeo … [Read more...] about The Furor Over the Rodeo Clown and the Obama Mask
San Diego Zoo (Cartoon)
See great cartoons by all the top political cartoonists at http://cagle.com. To license this cartoon for your own site, visit http://politicalcartoons.com … [Read more...] about San Diego Zoo (Cartoon)