Absolutely nothing about the royal baby....

Republicans are begging please please oh please that there be riots because of George Zimmerman.  Because it will be Obama's fault.  Because he dared talk about race or something.

We already live in a surveillance world.  What can we possibly do about it?

Goldman Sacs playing the aluminium market.

Darrel Issa's manufacturing of the IRS 'scandal'.

Defense contractor employee resigns and says why.

Poison ivy is getting more potent with climate change.

A Hyundai that will help fight off zombies in the next apocalypse.

A pregnant woman needing a life saving abortion is only a 'matter of convenience' to Missouri Republican.

YOLO.

From Cops to Corn Syrup

Why cops don't often believe a rape victim.

The Republicans self-made straitjacket.

Rep. Issa is sad.  Aww.

The world's vegetation.

Moving into a new neighborhood?

Asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon sailed within 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers) of Earth on May 31, making their closest approach to our planet for at least the next two centuries. New radar images captured by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico are revealing just how unique this binary asteroid is, researchers say. 

“Asteroid QE2 is dark, red, and primitive — that is, it hasn’t been heated or melted as much as other asteroids," Arecibo's Ellen Howell said in a statement. "QE2 is nothing like any asteroid we've visited with a spacecraft, or plan to, or that we have meteorites from. It's an entirely new beast in the menagerie of asteroids near Earth."

And NASA finds “unprecedented” black hole cluster near Andromeda’s central bulge. Sounds faintly pregnant?

Male/Female is no longer a binary selection....

Sneaking High Fructose Corn Syrup into our food.

Monday minibits..

Rep. Darrell Issa's big day... oops.  And Issa's interesting background that people seem to ignore.

Eat more bugs and save the world!  Basically because we are cooking the earth and things are going to die.  C02 in the air.

Europe banned these food production practices... and the US does them.

Normality v Normalcy.  Normality, please.  Normalcy just grates on the ears...

Life in the background

Now that the first debate is over....

The sunken ancient Greek ship that had a 'computer' gets a revisit... they're going back to see what other wonderful things can be found.  (I love this kind of archaeology.)

Your hate and fear of the 'other' is used to manipulate you.

Bubbles...

What could possibly go wrong? To quote Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park,"...scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."

Pesticide use rises as genetically modified crops backfire 

Look, Romney! A poor person using the ER... and being told they could not help her.  Obamacare saved her.

Marijuana helps cure cancer? It will be made only if the big Pharmaceutical corporations can control it:

Marijuana And Cancer: Scientists Find Cannabis Compound Stops Metastasis In Aggressive Cancers

Darrel Issa is out to sea.  But we knew that already.

Stop it!

Being clueless and rich is hard!

Burns?  Or Romney?

Darrell Issa hits the big time...

Dealing with a troll.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

In Arizona, where anti-abortion crusaders have passed some of the most restrictive women’s health laws in the country, abortion rates seemed to have increased. 

And by the way, good Christian women? Shut up.

High Fructose Corn Syrup must be called that, not the 'disguised' name of Corn Sugar.

Maybe the Earth had two moons at one time?

Bobbins and beads

Wonderful Kate Beaton recognized by the Guardian.

 The sorrow of Darrell Issa.

 Forgiveness after the most horrible crimes.

 The GOP war on women:

 

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves, and the only way they could do this is by not voting.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Fish that's ok to eat.

Voter suppression.

Global Warming's Terrifying New Math

The Post Office is one agency explicitly authorized by the Constitution

As it says here. But Issa wants to change all that....

Blog sprinkles

A curbside view of an Australian flood taking out cars.

Purposely misunderstanding Martin Luther King.

Where hate talk leads.

Last chance to see Tutankhamen's tomb. The next one will be fake.

Make note: Australia Floods: Blow-up Sex Toys are “Not Recognized Flotation Devices

Tiger mothering: Get straight As or I'll burn your stuffed animal collection!

Arizona, where the American Dream went to die

Krugman: The war on logic.

Who actually has abortions in the US:

INCIDENCE OF ABORTION

Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.

Frank Rich: No One Listened to Gabrielle Giffords

Darrell Issa:

Stupid is as stupid does.

And this is a lot of stupid.

Oklahoma Is At It Again: State Legislature Passes Bill Stripping Abortion Coverage From Health Insurance.

And Arizona keeps digging deeper:

Arizona Governor signs law banning ethnic studies programs in public schools

And Tennessee is allowing guns in bars. What could possibly go wrong?

Louie Gohmert does his part for Texas:

[Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)] was first to respond: "An absolute breakdown in morality," he said. "And when you lose morality, you get economic chaos. And when you have economic chaos, historically, people have always been willing to give up liberty. And that's what we're seeing."

Even California's Issa tried to get on the stupid before running away:

Rep. Issa Wants To Strip Provision Promoting Gender Parity In Academic Science And Technology

(He walked it back later.)

Pelosi is evil and bad because she visits Syria part 2

Chester of Vanity Press discusses the Logan act and provides a list of all the other Speakers of the House and errant Congressmen who have stepped over the line:

The clear intent of this provision [Logan Act] is to prohibit unauthorized persons from intervening in disputes between the United States and foreign governments. Nothing in section 953 [Logan Act], however, would appear to restrict members of the Congress from engaging in discussions with foreign officials in pursuance of their legislative duties under the Constitution.

But, let's pretend for a moment that Pelosi's trip really did violate this act that has never been enforced and which does not apply to members of Congress in pursuit of their responsibilities. All right: let's look who else would have to be arrested for violation of the act:

• Newt Gingrich, for interfering with the Clinton administration's policy in China in 1997, and in Israel in 1998.
• Dennis Hastert, for interfering with the Clinton administration's policy in Columbia in 1998.
• Arlen Specter, for interfering with the Bush administration's policy in Syria in 2006, and offering to meet with the president of Iran.
• "Representatives Frank Wolf of Virginia, Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania and Robert Aderholt of Alabama," for interfering with the Bush administration's policy in Syria three days before Pelosi.
  
• Jesse Helms, for undermining the Clinton administration's policy before the UN Security Council in 2000 (h/t John).
  
• Darrell Issa, for undermining the Bush administration's policy in Syria one day after Pelosi.
• David Hobson, for undermining the Bush administration's policy in Syria at the same time as Pelosi.
• Condoleeza Rice, whose State Department facilitated the visit, and thereby collaborated in the commission of a felony.
  
• George W. Bush, who specifically permitted the visit, and thereby aided and abetted the commission of a felony.

Would that be all right? Can we get these ten prominent Republicans in prison right away?

Update: Olvlzl of Echidne of the Snakes notes that Bush blocked Carter from visiting Syria; Issa (R) criticized Bush after visiting Syria right after Pelosi had been there and Pelosi had not said anything negative about Bush, and Pelosi has shown world class leadership. Thank god.