UPDATE: Not like there was any doubt, but the Texas State Board of Education approved the changes to the social studies and history curriculum we listed here last week. Who needs facts when there’s ideology? [MSNBC]

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France to Partially Ban Burqas

Under proposals from a cross-party Parliamentary Commission in France today, Muslim women face a ban on full veils on French transport and in other public services by the end of this year. MPs predicted that a law outlawing burqas or other face covering in state services could very well pass into law within months in [...]

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D.C Sports Club To Continue Using Racist Nickname and Logo, Unimpeded

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Native Americans who call the Washington Redskin’s name and trademark “disparaging,” thus continuing the 400+ year-old American tradition of simultaneously exploiting and totally ignoring the viewpoints and rights of Native Americans. The issue central to the ruling was whether the plaintiffs were decades too late in [...]

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Invasive Travel Searches To Continue

A policy disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security yesterday ratified and expanded the Bush administration’s procedures by which travelers’ laptops, cell phones, iPods, cameras and other digital devices can be searched and seized when they cross a U.S. border – without any suspicion of wrongdoing whatsoever. Which basically translates to some jackass in the [...]

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Discarding the Public Option

John Nichols over at The Nation gravely sums up the lie that’s currently being passed as health care reform: …he president’s [healthcare] initiative looks a lot like a bailout for the insurance industry –in stark contrast to the a single-payer reform that would replace industry profiteering with a not-for-profit system like Medicare. Without a public [...]

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Obama Uses Stimulus Money to Shape Education Strategy

The Obama administration is employing billions of dollars of economic stimulus money to persuade states to rewrite education laws to open the door to more charter schools and expand the use of student test scores for judging teachers. [NY Times] Is anyone else extremely put off by the administration’s willingness to expand the role of [...]

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Afghanistan Advancing Further Into Dystopian Shithole

Afghanistan has passed a new law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands’ sexual demands. So, basically, legalized rape, yes? The legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and requires women to get permission from their husbands to work. It [...]

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Iran Being Ruled by a 6 Year Old Child

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president, has conducted a flat out purge of the nation’s Intelligence Ministry and replaced them with loyalists, because, why not, really? It’s his country and he’ll do what he wants with it, even if means tyranny for his people. It’s just how he rolls. Shouldn’t have challenged his re-election, dudes… jus’ sayin’. [...]

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White House Admits Working With Drug Companies To Restrain Their Costs

Following pressure by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday explicitly affirmed the Obama administration still stood by its behind-the-scenes deal with drug makers to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an already agreed-upon $80 billion. An odd and possibly embarrassing assurance to make, considering just this week the House [...]

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DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who today eliminated ALL of the state funding for domestic violence shelters. Because clearly, women are second class citizens who do not matter. FAIL, dickbag. If you’re a resident of California, please click on Stop Family Violence’s action alert to urge lawmakers to reinstate funding for the [...]

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LOBBYISTS NOW WRITING FAKE LETTERS TO FENCE-SITTING CONGRESSMEN FROM BLACKS AND HISPANICS: I guess throwing huge piles of money at elected officials is just so démodé, huh? The forged letters urge members of Congress not to vote for things that are supposedly bad for poor minorities, but are in actuality bad for their corporate clients [...]

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Albania Looks To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

In maybe what is the only good news we’re bound to post today (um, hello … celebrity sperm, much? – Editor B C) , Albania is considering the legalization of same-sex marriages, making it the first country in southeastern Europe to give equal rights to homosexual couples. So, just to get this straight: A predominantly [...]

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What the “Dog” in Blue Dog Coalition Stands For

The Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 52 conservative Democrats who were increasingly unhappy with the direction that health-care legislation was taking in the House, have recently become key brokers in shaping this piece of legislation in the House. Their objections have resulted in a compromise bill announced this week that includes higher payments for [...]

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Fighting For the Little Man

Shout-y but effective Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is threatening the banks; if they don’t volunteer to save more homeowners from foreclosure, not only will his committee not consider legislation to help them lend, but Congress will pass legislation allowing bankruptcy judges to write down people’s monthly mortgage payments, thereby [...]

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Today’s Headlines: New York Senator To Send Military Gays Into Mexico To Fight The Drug Cartels

• The bipartisan Senate Finance Committee is edging closer to a health care compromise, according to the Associated Press. The latest draft of this measure completely omits a government insurance option, proposing a system of non-profit co-operatives in its lieu, and is not expected to require employers to provide insurance for their workers – both [...]

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Some Guy In Congress Drafting A Bill Demanding President Apologize To That Cambridge Police Officer

Stunningly handsome Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) believes Barack Obama is a super dooper cocksmoker for being mean to those cops in Cambridge who arrested his friend Henry Louis Gates Jr. inside his home last week or whenever; so mean, in fact, that if the President does not offer an official apology to Sgt. James Crowley, [...]

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The Government Will Soon Regulate Our Snacking and Nap Times, Because Democrats Are a Bunch of Communist Pansies

Why do Democrats Hate Our Freedoms? • Lawmakers are trying to curb TeeVee commercials for prescription drugs aimed at curing people of preposterous maladies like deficient eyelashes, restless leg syndrome, and male urinary urgency, that may cause obscene side effects like four-hour erections. (Because honestly, wouldn’t a four-hour erection cause urinary urgency and restless leg [...]

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Today’s Headlines: FEMA Trailers Make Homelessness Seem … Not So Bad

• Years of state and federal neglect have hobbled the nation’s unemployment system, leaving millions of needy people (roughly 40% of claimants) waiting for months for their checks. The number of jobless Americans seeking aid has doubled during the recession, while state funds have depleted, resulting in 16 states borrowing billions to pay out claims [...]

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Today’s Headlines: Barack Obama Breaks Into The Homes Of Hard Working Americans To Give Them Health Care Against Their Will

• President Barry had to go on the teevee last night to convince Americans they should want healthcare reform, and that having healthcare would be, you know, a good thing. Americans remain unconvinced however, as the system in place is working out so well for them. [NY Times] • When a reporter went off-topic during [...]

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Planned Parenthood Action

In case you haven’t heard, anti-choice groups all over the country are trying to use health care legislation to strip access to abortion and other reproductive health care from millions of women. Please take a couple of minutes to stand up to these bullies and protect women’s healtchare by just signing your name to a [...]

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Today’s Headlines: 98 Percent Of Humanity Is Miserable, Rotting Trash

• Amnesty International accused Saudi Arabia today of using its campaign against terrorism as a facade for “a sustained assault on human rights.” Its report states thousands of people have been arrested and detain in virtual secrecy, while others have been killed in uncertain circumstances, following Saudi Arabia’s numerous counterterrorism measures since 9/11 which, combined [...]

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The News Is Sorta Boring, But Here’s This Anyway (And An Irrelevant Picture That Is Funny!)

–> Ahh, there’s so little news these days, we’ve been forced to go slumming into stories about the crooks in the New York State Senate (ugh, I know). So read about State Senator Pablo Espada Jr. and his general treachery, with regards to an impending rent regulation crisis. He’s a keeper! [New York Times] –> [...]

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America’s Faux-Outrage Over Torture

A report by the Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal ethics unit within the Justice Department, has concluded that Bush administration lawyers committed serious lapses of judgment in writing secret memos authorizing brutal interrogations during the period from 2002 to 2007. The authors of the report are likely to ask state bar associations to consider [...]

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