A Georgia college student saved his family’s home and their lives from masked intruders when he updated his Facebook profile with a message asking for help. (March 18)
Continue reading …Click here to view this media [Video from CBS 47 ] We’ve been getting lots of confirmation lately that, contrary to the claims undergirding Rep. Peter King’s Islamophobic witch-hunt hearing, the greatest domestic-terrorism threat to average Americans is not from homegrown Islamic radicals, but from the same singular source of domestic terrorism we’ve had to deal with for more than a generation: the radical right. David Holthouse at Media Matters directs us to the most recent ‘isolated incident’: Compared to the political theater of the King hearings, these busts of accused right-wing domestic terrorists received scant media attention. Even less publicized was the arrest, also on March 9, of another accused right-wing extremist who allegedly firebombed a Planned Parenthood clinic and vandalized an Islamic center in Madera, California. The case of Donny Eugene Mower further illustrates the narrow-mindedness of Rep. King and his conservative media cheerleaders for focusing on Muslim domestic terrorists to the exclusion of all other violent extremists, including white supremacists, militia members and anti-abortion radicals. According to the federal criminal complaint against Mower, he admitted to throwing a Molotov cocktail through the window of the Planned Parenthood clinic in the middle of the night last September 2. No one was injured, but the damage was extensive. Mower left a note at the scene: “Murder our children? We have a ‘choice’ too. Let’s see if you can burn as well as your victims.” The note was signed “ANB,” short for American Nationalist Brotherhood. The same entity had claimed responsibility for menacing letters posted outside the Madera Islamic Center. The first of those messages appeared last August 18: “No temple for the God of terrorism at Ground Zero. ANB.” At the time Fox News and others were feverishly manufacturing outrage at the supposed “Ground Zero mosque” in New York City. Two days later, according to investigators, Mower threw a brick at the Islamic center, causing minor damage, and then returned his focus to the Planned Parenthood clinic, posting another threat: “Murdering children? That is your choice? Reap your reward. ANB.” On August 24, another message appeared at the Islamic center: “Wake up America. The enemy is here. ANB.” The ANB, like a number of hate groups, really is just an army of one — Mower himself. He wrote a manifesto outlining his ideology: ANB is AMERICAN nationalist, not white nationalist, black nationalist, or any other racist motivated group. The signs posted, the things to come, and yes even the brick, are not hate motivated, but rather messages. The (sic) are the voices of us who refuse to allow America to continue to be torn down brick by brick. Notice also, that the mosque was not the only target of choice. We are here to revive American pride, which has been dampened by a lot of things: The rise of Islam in America, despite 9/11; the sickening number of murdered children since 1973, hidden behind the guise of “abortion” or “choice”; the abomination of homosexuality being rewarded, while those who chose (sic) natural relationships are bigots. These and so many more are (sic) the hate crimes, they hit America with a sucker punch… isn’t it time that someone hit back? As Digby sez : Sadly, the lack of attention to this problem — or our blase acceptance of it — has even led people like Bill Maher to speciously contend that homegrown Islamic terrorism presents a much greater threat than any other kind of homegrown terrorism. I honestly don’t know why he thinks that. These are really the same kind of people except for the fact that they are being radicalized for similar purposes by Americans instead of foreigners. There are reasons why these things crop up at times of great social transition and stress. And that’s worth looking into and attempting to deal with. But those who are pretending that it’s a”foreign problem” are coming to the point of being culpable. After all, when the department of Homeland Security merely noted the potential of a problem in their annual report, the right wing didn’t distance itself from these radicals, it sprung into gear and basically shut the report down. Cui bono? Here’s our interactive map and listing of domestic-terrorism incidents involving right-wing extremists since July 2008. We’re up to 24 now — and still counting:
Continue reading …Saturday’s full moon will be a supermoon. A supermoon is a new or full moon that happens to coincide with a close approach of the moon to the earth. Saturday’s full moon will be the closest it has been to Earth in 18 years, according to Spaceweather.com. The distance between the Earth and the moon during the event will be about 221,567 miles, as compared to the average distance of 238,000 miles, according to Space.com. That may not seem like much of a difference (and compared to the distance it’s not), but the diameter of the moon is only 2,159 miles. That means the moon will be over 7.5 diameters closer to Earth than average. While many believe the ‘supermoon’ can be linked to natural disasters (namely the Japan earthquake), Space.com says that’s not the case. From Space.com: It was astrologer Richard Nolle who linked the full moon of March 19 to natural disasters. He claimed that this “supermoon” would trigger massive earthquakes, volcanoes and powerful storms when it arrived. But scientists assure that this is not the case. [Noted NASA scientist Jim] Garvin, for example, said the moon’s effects on Earth have been the subject of extensive studies. “The effects on Earth from a supermoon are minor, and according to the most detailed studies by terrestrial seismologists and volcanologists, the combination of the moon being at its closest to Earth in its orbit, and being in its ‘full moon’ configuration (relative to the Earth and sun), should not affect the internal energy balance of the Earth since there are lunar tides every day,” Garvin wrote. The supermoon is also often linked to astrological changes. Lynn Hayes of beliefnet detailed some of those potential changes here, though also ties the moon to Earth’s motions and many theories that have been challenged by NASA.
Continue reading …After a litany of stories toeing the Democratic line on a variety of issues, Washington Post reporter Shailagh Murray decided to make it official: the Post announced Friday that she has taken a job in the office of Vice President Joe Biden. Murray marks the 18th journalist to move from a reporting position to a post in Democratic politics or vice versa since President Obama took office. The revolving door between journalism and the Democratic Party underscores the extent to which the ideologies of each overlap. The bias dossier on Murray is thinner than, say, Katie Couric's, but contains a number of telling items. Let's review a few of the highlights. Just last month Murray labeled GOP budget cuts “drastic” and “painful” – while giving Republicans a single paragraph to defend them, next to six paragraphs of Democrats' attacks – even as WaPo hailed the Obama budget's “cautious trades.” Murray has also been quick to write of the unpopularity of Obama's economic policies to failures in “messaging” – a popular tactic among White House officials and congressional Democrats who simply cannot comprehend that Americans are not fans of their schemes. Murray shares that confusion, apparently. “How can nearly $1 trillion flush through the U.S. economy, with tangible results, and still leave voters dubious?” she wrote of the stimulus . Vice President Biden has been the administration's point man on touting the supposed successes of various economic policies, so it seems Murray will fit right in. Murray has done more than simply wonder how various White House policies could be so unpopular; on one occasion she even proactively lauded the president's unpopular stance on school choice, calling his move to kill the popular Washington DC school voucher program a “middle way on a contentious issue.” “Love all these objective journalists signing up to sell Dem agenda,” quipped Jonah Goldberg on Twitter after the news of Murray's move broke. But hey, at least now it's official.
Continue reading …Ahh, college: that magical time when women dabble in same-sex experimentation. Or not. A new study from the CDC shows that women who did not finish high school were actually more likely to have dipped their toes in the same-sex pool, the New York Times reports. “It may be that…
Continue reading …One of the world’s top charities supporting retired racehorses has fallen far behind in payments to support the horses, leaving scores of the creatures malnourished, starving, or dead; at least two have had to be put down, the New York Times reports. The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation in upstate New York…
Continue reading …You may remember the nostalgic look back at the different versions of the Windows operating system, a video by Andrew Tait which chronicled the upgrade processes from the first version of Microsoft Windows to the latest. Well, Tait is back again, this time detailing the install processes and features of each version of Internet Explorer, Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Next Web Discovery Date : 17/03/2011 17:20 Number of articles : 5
Continue reading …Moammar Gadhafi is not taking the UN resolution authorizing military attacks against him well. Last night, his defense ministry warned that Libya might retaliate against “any foreign military act” by attacking “all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea” as well as “civilian and military” facilities, the Telegraph reports….
Continue reading …We’ve already heard a fair bit about RIM’s plans for NFC -based mobile payments, but it’s starting to look like some of those plans don’t quite line up with what the carriers have in mind. As the Wall Street Journal reports, there’s a brewing dispute between RIM and a number of carriers including AT&T, T-Mobile and Rogers over just how NFC payment-related data, or “credentials,” are stored, and who actually controls that data. For its part, RIM unsurprisingly wants to store the data in a secure area of the phone itself, which would obviously tie folks to their BlackBerry more than ever, while the carriers are pushing to have that data simply stored on the phone’s SIM card, which would let customers move from one phone to another more easily. While things apparently haven’t gotten that heated just yet, it does certainly seem like there’s a bit of a fight in store — according to the Wall Street Journal , RIM is already reaching out to banks on its own in an effort to strike some deals, while Canadian carriers have apparently been telling RIM in a “gentle” way that “you won’t be doing this.” Carriers at odds with RIM over NFC payment data originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Today On TDW: Geek — Above: First Person Mario needs to be real yesterday. RIP: Doctor Who / Batman actor Michael Gough . Darren Aronofsky quits Wolverine . An Internet meme becomes Superman canon . Brand new still from Deathly Hallows Part II . Photo of methane rainstorm captured for the first time . Andy Tait installs every version of IE in chronological order . Need help getting over your Angry… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Daily What Discovery Date : 18/03/2011 00:35 Number of articles : 6
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