I can’t believe this is happening. In Manassas, Virginia, they just passed a law which limits the number of non-related people living in single family homes. They also redefined what a relative is (an uncle/aunt or niece/nephew is NOT considered a relative).
Since when did the government have the right to say who could and couldn’t [...]

From the Washington Post:
“Teams of undercover air marshals and uniformed law enforcement officers will fan out to bus and train stations, ferries, and mass transit facilities across the country this week in a new test program to conduct surveillance and “counter potential criminal terrorist activity in all modes of transportation,” according to internal federal [...]

Ok, so Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is officially crazy. Yesterday, he publicly stated that the Holocaust is a myth.
However, check out what he says later on in the same speech:
“If you committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price? This is our proposal: if you committed the [...]

Scientists have created mice in labs with human stem cells injected into their brains. It almost sounds like a Kafka story; I keep thinking of The Metamorphosis, instead this time with the character waking up as a rat instead of an insect. I’m sure people will bring up ethical issues regarding mixing human and animal [...]

I know it’s been a few weeks since he passed away and many people are probably thinking, “Who? Oh yeah, Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid.” But there was a really great op-ed in the NY Times:
Goodbye to Pat Morita, Best Supporting Asian
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
Pat Morita, the Japanese-American actor, died on Thanksgiving Day in Las Vegas. [...]

That’s right, you read correctly. A psycho 18- year-old woman hired a hit man to kill three people for what she thought was cocaine. Unfortunately, the white mass ended up being a block of queso fresco cheese. Ha. Brings new meaning to the term cracked out.

I’m telling you, Lenin and Castro are back in style — well, their HATS are anyway.
Look around and you see folks sporting hats very similar to those worn for decades by Fidel and those worn by Lenin in the early 20s.
But what does it mean?
The hats have little to do with idealogical revolution or political [...]

From the Washington Post:
“The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, but officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents’ misinformation.”
Click here for the full article
Um, yeah, but it’s still paying [...]

Peruvian livestock became ill after drinking runoff water from a U.S. gold digging operation recently, according to
this multimedia story
Locals resisted mining efforts of the Denver-based company that was digging there, but in the end capitalism was the victor. The company has since moved to exploit African land.
Make sure to listen closely to the mining manager’s [...]

There’s an interesting article on the main site about the neccessity of child translators…now here’s a fairly gut-wrenching account that balances out the issue.
Child Medical Translators — At Grandpa’s Bedside, Trying to Find Words for ‘Defeat’

Can an arsenal of non-nuclear weapons match the force of Googlebombing?

We’re running out of ad space. Bus stops, billboards, internet pop-ups, and radio and TV commercials ain’t enough. You want to put your business on the map? Why not pay a small town to rename itself after your business and literally put your business on the map?
Clark, Texas renames the town to Dish, Texas after [...]

From the Washington Post:
“House and Senate negotiators reached a tentative agreement yesterday on revisions to the USA Patriot Act that would limit some of the government’s powers while requiring the Justice Department to provide a better accounting of its secret requests for information on ordinary citizens.
But the agreement would leave intact some of the most [...]

Will historians look back on the early 21st century as the demise of newspapers?
It’s possible. Likely, even. Then again, newspapers survived the creation of radio and television before the Internet came along. But lately the newspaper “dinosaur” seems that much older and that much slower.
Knight Ridder, parent company of 32 newspapers including the [...]

From AP:
“An experimental project in Canada to inject carbon dioxide into oil fields has proven successful, removing 5 million tons of the heat-trapping “greenhouse” gas, while enhancing oil recovery, the Energy Department said Tuesday.”
Click here for the full article