Hoo boy am I tired of anti-protest memes like the one described here. The Shell Oil protestors drive in cars that run on oil and wear clothes manufactured using oil ha ha ha snort! Essentially, they're saying you're a hypocrite for not being God -- for not literally creating the world you live in (since you didn't conceive of, design, and build the air conditioner you put into your window, for example). I say I've known since forever that we're all potentially part of the solution as well as part of the problem, and walk away. And when big oil corporations claim to care deeply about the environment, then fight government regulations that would force them to turn that "caring" into action? You wonder why some folks' keen attention to hypocrisy hasn't spotted that one.
The now-bankrupt electronics chain Radio Shack might sell tens of millions of customers' data, including names and email addresses. Because, gosh, what else are they going to sell? Attenuating patch cords were all the rage back in the day, but not so much now. The FTC might stand in its way, though, having already told Radio Shack they'll have to get permission from those customers to sell that data. It might be an empty threat, but a Bush (or Walker) FTC would more likely download porn all day than even try to do its job.
FAIR finds "liberal" media journalists too quick to condemn Seymour Hersh's work questioning the official story about how Mr. bin Laden died. Mainly, they knock Mr. Hersh for using anonymous sources, when "liberal" media outlets use anonymous sources from inside our government all the time when they're busy writing our government's PR releases. And, ah, has the "liberal" media completely missed the Obama War on Whistleblowers?
Gov. Brownback steps in it yet again, as Kansas's recently-enacted limit of $25 in ATM withdrawals for welfare recipients might run afoul of federal law -- specifically, the Social Security Act, which mandates that folks "have adequate access to financial assistance" -- and thus put over $100 million in federal funding in danger. $100 million ain't chump change in Kansas; it might keep the lights on in that state, in fact. Meanwhile, Republicans will never put limits on lightning-fast bankster trading, even though that does more damage to the economy, because freedom!
Finally, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker met with religious evangelical elites in Washington, D.C. yesterday in a supposed effort to reassure them he's one of them, but Steve Benen is rightly skeptical that a "rift" exists between Mr. Walker and the right-wing evangelical brain-trust, calling the notion of a rift "bizarre." Let me guess how this story plays out: the brain-trust come away "reassured," and Mr. Walker won't talk about what he said to reassure them. This was how it played out for George W. Bush all those years ago, after all -- a man who also pretended to be a moderate so more people would vote for him. We'd be fools to fall for it again -- but I expect the "liberal" media will fall for it, though I'd be happy to be wrong about that.
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