"Rick Perry’s disastrous campaign deserves to be remembered for appealing to the darkest impulses of the right—and for wasting a phenomenal amount of money."

Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance

—By Barbara Ehrenreich

House Republicans' assault on our environmental laws must be stopped.

Due to the handiwork of a fringe religious activist, Mississippians will soon vote on a ballot initiative that would ban abortion in cases of rape and incest. ...If it passes, it would have a "chilling effect" on women's health care access—including seemingly unrelated procedures such as in vitro fertilization. "When you have in vitro fertilization, multiple eggs will get fertilized, but not all of them can be implanted," she explains. "And now you have that problem of eggs which can't be implanted, or of implanting too many or all of them, which would put the woman's health at risk. So really, the only choice the woman would have would be to not to go forward."

To our great shame, among the 20 major advanced countries America now has
the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children;
the greatest inequality of incomes;
the lowest government spending as a percentage of GDP on social programs for the disadvantaged;
the lowest number of paid holiday, annual, and maternity leaves;
the lowest score on the United Nations’ index of “material well-being of children”;
the worst score on the United Nations’ gender inequality index;
the lowest social mobility;
the highest public and private expenditure on health care as a portion of GDP,
yet accompanied by the highest

infant mortality rate;
prevalence of mental health problems;
obesity rate;
portion of people going without health care due to cost;
low-birth-weight children per capita (except for Japan);
consumption of antidepressants per capita;

A group of pastors and other conservative Christian leaders from across the country continue to plan their behind-the-scenes strategy to defeat President Obama in 2012.

However, the group does not seem likely to support a Republican during the primary race or even reach a consensus as to which candidate should receive the Republican nomination.

The group is connected to Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry's plan for a large prayer rally in August.

Read: Fascinating graphics. Mapping the Nation's Well-Being - Interactive Map #health #wellbeing #community #USA

He was the founding director of the Peace Corps, the signature success of Kennedy’s New Frontier. He founded Head Start, created the Job Corps and Legal Services for the Poor, and gave us Volunteers in Service to America, which was the domestic version of the Peace Corps. He served as president and chairman of the Special Olympics, which was founded by Eunice Shriver. Indefatigable and unrepentantly idealistic, Mr. Shriver may have directly affected more people in a positive way than any American since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The Colorado River, a water source to at least 30 million people in seven states and Mexico, is drying up. It hasn't reached the sea in ages, and in 2002, for the first time, total demand for the river's water climbed higher than the total river's supply.

For when unwarranted searches go too far:

The Bill of Rights – Security Edition Card is The First Ten Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, printed on each side of a sturdy, playing-card-sized, pieces of metal. The cards have been redesigned with slightly rounded corners to make a card easier to carry in a wallet or pocket. The next time you travel, it’s possible that the person confiscating your mouthwash may not be familiar with the Bill of Rights.

Bush: "Damn Right" I Ordered Torture.

the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling allowed this election to be the costliest and least transparent midterm in recent history.

RT @gumption Americans wildly underestimate income disparity, prefer far greater equitability @DanAriely

Top 10 (updated to 14!) Anti-Gay Activists Caught Being Gay:

“Nice middle class you got here,” said Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. “It would be a shame if something happened to it.”... Threats to punish innocent bystanders unless your political rivals give you what you want have no legitimate place in democratic politics.

With every new swipe at President Obama’s exotic background or cultural influences, a contingent of Republican leaders are signaling that they believe the coming elections are more than just a referendum on the administration’s economic policies. Rather, to a degree that is striking, conservatives are also trying to make the fall campaign about the president himself and the kind of societal change he actually represents.

The employment situation in the United States is much worse than even the dismal numbers from last week’s jobless report would indicate. The nation is facing a full-blown employment crisis and policy makers are not responding with anything like the sense of urgency that is needed.

With some shabby sleight of hand, Congress has begun tapping into the food stamp program for the hungriest Americans to help pay for lawmakers’ higher election-year priorities. The Senate approved two important measures this week — the $26 billion state-aid bill and the $4.5 billion school nutrition program — in part by shaving food stamp funds as a target of least resistance.

Endgame in Afghanistan: 'It's taken a year to move 20km'As the war in Afghanistan enters its final chapter, Sean Smith's brutal, uncompromising film from the Helmand frontline shows the horrific chaos of a stalemate that is taking its toll in blood.

I remember hearing on radio or the teevee many years ago that linguistic geographical ground zero of the US - the place, that is, where the accent is closest to "standard" American - is right around Steubenville. Ohio.

A look at thousands of abandoned pools in foreclosed California houses.
Eerily beautiful.

They groped. They skirt-chased. They lusted in their hearts. And now they will live in infamy

Read More http://www.gq.com/news-politics/politics/201006/the-twenty-five-greatest-philanderers-in-american-political-history#slide=11#ixzz0osKt3WTl

A proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean as early as this summer received initial permits from the Minerals Management Service office in Alaska at the same time federal auditors were questioning the office about its environmental review process.

The approvals also came after many of the agency’s most experienced scientists had left, frustrated that their concerns over environmental threats from drilling had been ignored.

Nice NYTimes infographic on 2010 midterm elections

“I think we should keep this clean, keep it simple, go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant,” she said. “They’re quite clear that we would create law based on the God of the Bible and the 10 commandments, it’s pretty simple.”

dang

Obama's plans for NASA get a thumbs-up from one of my favorite blogs, Bad Astronomy.

geographical breakdown of hcr vote

RT @laurelatoreilly Read @matthewburton's piece on @govfresh @AndrewPWilson Great idea: A Peace Corps for Programmers

Maira Kalman knocks it out of the park wiht this lovely piece: Back to the Land - http://bit.ly/7ukysV