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"When you look at African American males, 40% of them are unemployed, those under 30 years of age. I understand exactly the entire nation must be involved in this recovery but the black community is experiencing a great recession. That's what we're experiencing," Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) told MSNBC. "And all of the growth in the past 30 years, we see it slipping away. From home ownership, the middle class; it's slipping away from our hands. And it has a lot to do with many issues. Racism, shipping jobs overseas, access -- no access to technology. You know, the digital...

Joining Ian Punnett, Daniel Drezner, professor of international politics at Tufts University, will examine how political leaders would react to a world-wide Zombie assault.

A panel of scientists has said that climate change was behind this years heavy snow and extreme storms that struck much of the planet. As temperatures continue to rise, affecting weather patterns, they are also warning that spring could come early, bringing with it devastating floods. The researchers say it has led to more moisture in the air is likely to bring about extraordinary flooding across huge areas when deep snow-pack melts and heavy rain falls as spring arrives. Global warming means that more water from the sea evaporates and the warmer the atmosphere is, the more the moisture it...

Exile is one option for Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday. When asked if the United States would consider military aid to help topple the regime, Carney said “all options remain on the table.” President Barack Obama was meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the White House on Monday to discuss sanctions and other potential actions against the Gadhafi government. Gadhafi has ordered the toughest crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators of any Middle Eastern leader whose rule is threatened by anti-government uprisings. The regime’s violent response prompted the United States, Britain and...

NEW YORK, New York elected officials said they want to sell a controversial statue depicting a male "civic virtue" stepping on female figures of "vice" and "corruption." The "Triumph of Virtue" statue, which is more than 100 years old and stands in the city's Queens borough, has been described as sexist by U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, D-Jackson Heights, because it depicts a nude male figure trampling on a pair of female figures, the New York Daily News reported Friday. Weiner and Ferreras have suggested selling the statue on Craigslist to raise funds for the...

President Obama insisted America was 'digging itself out of hole' today as new figures offered a glimmer of hope for the country's beleaguered economy. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1345047/Glimmer-hope-U-S-economy-jobless-rate-falls-lowest-level-19-months.html#ixzz1APgIdQ6H

Happy Festivus everyone!!!! May your Feats of Strength go well and have fun with the Airing of Grievances!

Liam Neeson has caused controversy by suggesting that Aslan, the Christlike character in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books, could represent the prophet Mohammed or Buddha. The actor who voices the lion in the film adaptations of the books has angered some fans of the stories, who claim he is distorting Lewis’s intentions to be “politically correct”. Aslan the lion features in all seven Narnia books, guiding children away from evil and harm and encouraging them to do good. Lewis was clear that the Aslan was based on Christ, and once wrote of the character: “He is an invention giving an imaginary...

A ban on singing “Happy Birthday” lasted all of four days at Chesterfield Elementary School in Missouri after angry parents bombarded the school with complaints. “Singing is not permitted due to the sensitivity of all student beliefs,” wrote Principal Jodi Davidson in a letter to parents dated August 13. On August 23 Davidson sent another letter reversing the policy noting that students “are permitted and encouraged to sing the happy birthday song in the classroom.” However, students will not be permitted to sing the traditional song in the cafeteria and all birthday treats must be individually

Scientists and composers have produced a new choral work in which performers sing parts of their own genetic code. Human DNA is made up of just four different chemical compounds, which gave musician Andrew Morley the idea of assigning a note to each of them. The new piece, Allele, will be performed by the New London Chamber Choir at the Royal Society of Medicine on 13 July. Each of the 40-strong choir has also had his or her own DNA decoded. "I'd sung quite a lot with choirs in my youth and I've written stuff myself, and so I was...

Congress is debating legislation that could grant the federal government new powers to mandate the features and design of every phone, computer, GPS or any other device with a screen that connects to the Internet. The bill - which has been dubbed the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 - will soon face a key vote before the Energy & Commerce Committee and the House of Representatives.

Tax-free charitable gifts along with federal grants and loans have been used to turn a section of South Philadelphia into an Islamic enclave. Universal Companies -- the charity established in 1993 by the artist formerly known as Kenny Gamble -- has spent $1.6 billion to promote Islam much of it in the 800 block of South 15th Street, according to Paul Williams , Ph.D, of FamilySecurityMatters.org. The neighborhood now has a mosque and an Islamic charter school and tough-looking security guards on corners in kufis . Gamble and Leon Huff are the founders of Philadelphia International Records and wrote some...

The University of Colorado regents – in a close vote -- decided today that the school will continue the legal fight to keep guns off its campuses. Regent Tillie Bishop, R-Grand Junction, sided with the Democrats for the 5-4 vote in support of appealing to the Colorado Supreme Court. He said his University of Colorado regent Tom Lucero, right, speaks during a Board of Regents meeting on Friday. At left is regent Stephen Ludwig. (Marty Caivano)decision was based on his belief that the regents should maintain their authority when it comes to setting rules for CU campuses. Otherwise, the votes...

Ted Turner: If We Don't Prepare For Global Warming We'll Be Extinct By Noel Sheppard Created 05/30/2010 - 18:09 CNN founder Ted Turner said Saturday that if we don't prepare for global warming, we'll be extinct. In a multi-part interview with CNN Newsroom anchor Fredricka Whitfield, Turner spoke about his own devotion and dedication to environmental causes. "Have you altered all your life, all your living so you are what one would call energy responsible?" asked Whitfield. "What we really have is a choice whether we want to do the right things from an energy standpoint or the wrong thing,"...

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced a bill Thursday that would make it illegal for people to carry firearms into commercial airports throughout the country. The measure would prohibit people from carrying guns into areas outside of the screening checkpoints at airports, including the airport lobby, baggage claim area and ticket counters. It would not alter laws that allow licensed gun carriers to check unloaded guns in a locked case in their baggage. “In the post-9/11 world, it simply defies common sense that it would be legal to carry a gun into an airport,” Lautenberg said in a statement. “Our airports...

We have just survived the worst debt-fueled binge since the Roaring '20s. Now two professors at Yale University are suggesting we introduce leverage into a new realm of our lives — our retirement portfolios. TIME's Barbara Kiviat asked economists Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff to explain themselves and the strategy they lay out in their new book Lifecycle Investing. You are advocating that people in their 20s and early 30s take all their retirement savings and buy stocks on margin. Can you explain why that's not as crazy as it sounds? Ayres: It's not as crazy as it sounds because...

Those members of Ireland's ethnic minorities who participated in last year's St Patrick's Day parade in Dublin want to be able to express their own cultures more fully in future events. The claim has been made by academics from Queen's University Belfast who have been working with colleagues in the University of Limerick and St Andrews in Scotland on a research project into Irish identities. While the parade participants congratulated the organisers on creating an impressive and inclusive event, many from Ireland's ethnic communities said they would prefer it if they were allowed to express themselves on their own terms,...

Most Americans trade an hour's sleep this weekend for more evening sunshine to enjoy after work. Officially the change to daylight saving time occurs at 2 a.m. Sunday, local time, though most folks set their clocks and watches ahead an hour before going to bed on Saturday

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top Democrat on the Senate health committee says insurance companies who refuse coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions are engaging in discrimination. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa told participants at the White House's health summit that such refusals are akin to racial discrimination that was legal during parts of the last century. Harkin says it's time to end discrimination based on health in this century. Democrats are pushing a health care overhaul that would make it illegal for insurance companies to refuse coverage to people who have conditions such as asthma or diabetes.

It turns out that crackpot Ron Paul’s son Rand can understand why poor, innocent Iran might want nuclear weapons—they feel “threatened” by big, bad America (hat tip to Rand Paul: Too Kooky for Kentucky for the video): Watch it at NRB - sorry, can't embed videos here at FR.

....In other words, the prize was conferred by experienced politicians who seem to know exactly what they were doing. Expressing its particular approval of Obama's "vision ... of a world without nuclear weapons," the committee wrote: "Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. ... Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. ... For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading...

The United States should find a way to collaborate with Russia in establishment of missile defenses, U.S. President Barack Obama said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 29). "It is important for us to reach out to Russia and explore ways in which the missile defense configurations that we envision could potentially lead to further collaboration," Obama said after meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "We want to improve generally not only U.S.-Russian relations, but also NATO-Russian relations, while making absolutely clear that our commitments to all of our allies in NATO is sacrosanct," the president added, according to Agence...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama recently shared sensitive intelligence with Russia and China about Iran's newly unveiled nuclear facility to get the two countries' leaders on board with new sanctions against Tehran, senior U.S. officials revealed Friday. President Obama speaks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, left, at the Group of 20 plenary session Friday. And the strategy to build a coalition with Russia and China "has already begun to bear fruit," one senior U.S. official said.

Purported non Muslim Barack Hussein Obama made a presidential appointment of Muslim Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Arif Alikhan for a top job at the federal Department of Homeland Security. In his new job, Arif Alikhan will be Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy Development at the Department of Homeland Security. Alikhan has been Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles--in charge of public safety for the city. Why Muslim Alikhan at the Department of Homeland Security you might ask? DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said Alikhan’s “broad and impressive array of experience in national security, emergency preparedness, and counterterrorism will make him...

"I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.” — Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to Sen. Theodore Bilbo (D-MS), 1944 Within the democratic party sits a former high member of the actual KKK. That's not taking a shot at someone, that's fact. The Congressional BLACK Caucus is saying that not punishing Joe...

SAN FRANCISCO—Doughnuts could be a distant memory for San Francisco city workers. They must now follow "healthy meeting" guidelines under a sweeping initiative unveiled by Mayor Gavin Newsom Thursday to encourage better eating. That means less junk food and smaller portions at staff meetings. The mayor is also ordering all city departments to help locate vacant or unused city-owned land that could be used to grow food. Vendors that offer healthy food will get preference for city contracts and permits. All vending machines on city property additionally will have to meet new nutrition standards.

RAPID CITY, S.D. - Custer rides again, although he's atop a plastic motorcycle and in a McDonald's Happy Meal box. And that doesn't sit well with some in the Native American community. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer was killed in 1876 along the Little Big Horn River by Native Americans he aimed to destroy. But Hollywood brought him back to life as a character in the Ben Stiller comedy “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” which opened in theaters May 22. McDonald's included characters from the movie as toys in its kid-sized Happy Meals. The fast food chain's...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder says recent violent attacks show the need for a tougher hate crimes law. Holder, speaking Tuesday at a luncheon for civil rights lawyers, noted the recent killings of an abortion doctor in Kansas, a soldier in Little Rock, and a guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. He called the attacks brazen acts committed in once-unthinkable places, and said it is past time for Congress to strengthen hate crimes laws to prosecute violence based on gender, disability, or sexual orientation.

Barack Obama is conducting his own affirmative action program to get more Muslims in the White House. The move began with Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn, who took his oath of office with a hand on the Quran, to solicit the resume of what he considered to be the nation's most qualified adherents of Islam. According to the Denver Post, when White House officials heard about the program, it was put on overdrive. So far, 45 Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and government officials have been submitted for consideration. J. Saleh Williams, program coordinator for the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association,...

Landmarks go dark for Earth Hour The Forth Bridge is usually illuminated by spotlights at night Dozens of Scotland's landmark buildings will be plunged into darkness later as part of a global campaign highlighting climate change. Edinburgh Castle, the Forth Bridge, the Falkirk Wheel and the Wallace Monument in Stirling will be among those taking part in WWF's Earth Hour at 2030 GMT. The environmental group hopes millions of people around the world will switch off their lights. WWF called for a "show of support for decisive action on climate change". Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when...

March 21, 2009 The Primal diet: the silliest diet ever? Hollywood's latest food fad is the most extreme yet. Do not try this at home Julia Llewellyn Smith John, a 36-year-old from London, is discussing the foods his diet allows. Carrots perhaps? Or quinoa? “I'm very keen on a raw hare carcass,” he says. “Raw mallard is good too. So's raw tongue and raw organ meat. Ideally, it'll have been sitting around for three or four weeks and be really off. Some people like it when it's liquid mush but I prefer it really off, but still so you can...

BEAVER DAM, Wis. — A Beaver Dam Middle School teacher is on administrative leave after school officials discovered a photo of her with a gun on Facebook. In the photo, Betsy Ramsdale was training a rifle at the camera. In an e-mail to WKOW-TV in Madison, Ramsdale said she removed the photo immediately and that she is not "interested in any controversy." Schools superintendent Donald Childs says a concerned staff member brought the photo to the district's attention. Childs says the use of the photo "appears to be poor judgment" and is unaware of any sinister intent. ....

We keep hearing that we are in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression, but occasionally even the liberal media are forced to report the facts, even if they gloss over them: On a day when the nation's gross domestic product suffered its worst slide in three decades, President Obama ordered the creation of a task force on the middle class and signed executive orders aimed at strengthening labor unions. Worst slide in three decades? Golly, whose presidency was it that caused the slide three decades ago? Ah yes, the President whose name must not be mentioned...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will tackle the threat of global warming by seeking a cap-and-trade system to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be U.S. energy secretary, told lawmakers on Tuesday. "Climate change is a growing and pressing problem. It is now clear that if we continue on our current path, we run the risk of dramatic, disruptive changes to our climate in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren," Chu said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

<p>The motto, fashioned by environmental groups' pining for the first 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency, envisions increased funding for alternative energy to go with regulations designed to clamp down on facilities powered by fossil fuels.</p> <p>But pro-environment advocates also see a policy role in a "green recovery," in the form of federal outlays for new jobs in the alternative-energy sectors that would constitute a "massive" transition to an economy that looks favorably on emissions-free energy sources and rewards ways to save energy.</p>

...The icy streets are the result of Seattle's refusal to use salt, an effective ice-buster used by the state Department of Transportation and cities accustomed to dealing with heavy winter snows."If we were using salt, you'd see patches of bare road because salt is very effective," Wiggins said. "We decided not to utilize salt because it's not a healthy addition to Puget Sound."...

This might be a good time for investors to pick up a copy of the Koran. Stocks and other investments that adhere to sharia, or Islamic law -- though hardly unscathed -- have fared better than the broader market. That's thanks largely to rules that forbid investing in collateralized debt obligations and other toxic assets that have caused the carnage in conventional financial circles. A big part of the appeal of Islamic finance is its simplicity. Speculation is taboo under sharia, and there's a ban on assessing interest because the Prophet Mohammed said debts must be repaid in the amount...

The new pastor at Barack Obama's church says his predecessor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was in a sense crucified just like Jesus Christ at the hands of the Romans. According to Fox News, Rev. Otis Moss III titled his Easter sunrise sermon "How to Handle a Public Lynching," focusing mainly on the media firestorm over the Chicago church attended by the Democratic presidential candidate. Moss reportedly did not specify Wright by name, but told the congregation at Trinity United Church of Christ that Wright, who has delivered sermons in which he likened the U.S. to the Ku Klux Klan and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U2 lead singer and activist Bono visited the Pentagon to discuss Africa and the fight against global poverty with U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, representatives of the two men said on Wednesday. Among the topics at the 20-minute meeting on Tuesday afternoon were U.S. plans to set up a new U.S. military command for Africa, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. "I think this was a chance for two people who care about the problems facing the continent of Africa to talk about their shared interest in solving those problems," Morrell said of the meeting that was...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Two days after naming its mascot "PorkChop," the Philadelphia Phillies' new Triple-A affiliate abruptly dropped the moniker after receiving complaints from Hispanics that it was offensive. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, whose mascot is a large, furry pig, had selected PorkChop from more than 7,300 fan submissions. The team, which begins play in 2008, announced Monday that the mascot will be named "Ferrous" instead. General Manager Kurt Landes said he heard from several Hispanics who said PorkChop was derogatory.

DENNIS TOWNSHIP - A single mother said the school district overreacted by suspending her 7-year-old son for drawing a smiling stick figure shooting another smiling stick figure with a gun. Shirley McDevitt said her son, Kyle Walker, was suspended Thursday for one day after school officials found out about the drawing, sketched on a piece of paper. Kyle attends second grade at the Dennis Township Primary School in Cape May County. McDevitt, of Belleplain, said she was told he was suspended because of the school's zero-tolerance policy for guns. "Are they abusing the zero-tolerance law? I'm sure it's a judgment...

"DENNIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. - A second-grader's drawing of a stick figure shooting a gun earned him a one-day school suspension. Kyle Walker, 7, was suspended last week for violating Dennis Township Primary School's zero-tolerance policy on guns, the boy's mother, Shirley McDevitt, told The Press of Atlantic City." " A photocopy of the picture provided by McDevitt showed two stick figures with one pointing a crude-looking gun at the other, the newspaper said. What appeared to be the word "me" was written above the shooter, with another name scribbled above the other figure." "Kyle drew other pictures, including a skateboarder,...

At the new mainstream voice of the Democratic Party, Jewish lesbian “sallykohn” explains: Daily Kos: Why I Have A Little Crush on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. No, it’s not a joke. And no, this is not an unusual sentiment at Daily Kos. I know I’m a Jewish lesbian and he’d probably have me killed. But still, the guy speaks some blunt truths about the Bush Administration that make me swoon... Okay, I admit it. Part of it is that he just looks cuddly. Possibly cuddly enough to turn me straight. I think he kind of looks like Kermit the Frog. Sort of....

A study funded by the US government has concluded that conservatism can be explained psychologically as a set of neuroses rooted in "fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity". As if that was not enough to get Republican blood boiling, the report's four authors linked Hitler, Mussolini, Ronald Reagan and the rightwing talkshow host, Rush Limbaugh, arguing they all suffered from the same affliction. All of them "preached a return to an idealised past and condoned inequality". Republicans are demanding to know why the psychologists behind the report, Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition, received $1.2m in public...

Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney has cited the social welfare network of the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group as a role model the U.S. should copy to help promote "goodness" and "freedom" around the world. Sections of Hezbollah's social welfare network, including schools and camps, are routinely used by the terror group to indoctrinate students in anti-Israel propaganda, instruct in military tactics and promote Shiite Islamic beliefs, including the waging of a final, apocalyptic world battle against "evil." The former Massachusetts governor this weekend was asked during a campaign stop in Iowa whether he would renew President Bush's $50 million...

AMSTERDAM, 27/04/07 - A school in Amsterdam has halted lessons on rural life because the Islamic children refused to talk about pigs. Reporting this, Alderman Lodewijk Asscher said he wants to take "tough measures." Subsidies for all kinds of dubious groups must stop and parents of unruly children penalised financially. Asscher told newspaper De Volkskrant: "A primary school in Amsterdam-Noord has decided no longer to teach about living on a farm. Various pupils began to demolish the classroom when the pig came up for discussion. Apparently it has gone that far. These children, 9, 10 years old, have not been...

Pakistani minister defies fatwa over hug By IANS Wednesday April 11, 11:24 AM Islamabad, April 11 (IANS) Pakistan Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar has defied the country's Islamic clergy which issued a decree against her for hugging a male coach after para-jumping, by saying she did it for a 'good cause'. Bakhtiar told a TV channel that she had 'jumped' to collect funds for the victims of the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, and would do it again for a good cause. 'We don't need to be intimidated by these people,' Bakhtiar said. The chief cleric of Islamabad's Lal Masjid last...

A convicted felon barred from carrying a firearm broke the law when he started toting a BB gun, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled. John Fleming Jr. couldn't legally carry a gun because of two felony assault convictions, so he packed a BB gun instead. Ramsey County prosecutors decided Fleming was splitting hairs and charged him with unlawful possession of a firearm. Fleming won when a Ramsey County District judge threw out the charge, ruling the statute doesn't apply to BB guns. But the appeals court ruled prosecutors could again take aim at the two-time felon. The appellate court...

All Things Considered, August 14, 2006 · In an effort to reduce the stabbings and slashings that stem from the country's "booze and blade" culture, Scotland is cracking down on the sale of swords, machetes, meat cleavers and other knifes. Knife violence accounts for almost half of the homicides in Scotland each year.

The United States will allocate $US10 million ($13 million) dollars for the Lebanese army so that it can move into the border zone near Israel currently controlled by the Hezbollah militia, the State Department said overnight. The aid is meant to help Lebanon modernise its force by purchasing spare parts for armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles needed to patrol the zone, as well communications equipment, Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman said. Congress must still approve the assistance, which is aimed at helping Lebanon work with an international force for the zone backed Friday in Washington by US...