The GOP's Big Love

One of the more interesting battles in the House this year will be for Utah's newly-created 4th congressional district as the state has gained a House seat after the 2010 Census, consisting of the areas in and around Salt Lake City.  It's pitting current Utah Democrat Jim Matheson of the 2nd district (who has now seen all the urban vote split and moved into the new 4th) against Saratoga Springs mayor Mia Love, who surprised everyone in April's primary by becoming the first African-American Mormon woman to become a congressional candidate in the state.

Love, who has attracted lots of national Republican support, also stands out because of her religion: She’s a Mormon. The politician is a poster child for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ campaign to present a more diverse face to a historically very white church.

“There are a lot of people who have tried to define me as a person,” Love, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, told CNN’s Kyra Phillips in an interview Tuesday. “I’m not a victim, and I don’t allow anybody to put me in a box.”

Speaking from Salt Lake City, she said, “There may be some challenges. But ... I love this place and love the people that are here, and I represent their beliefs and values.”

Love is featured in a video series produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of its “I’m a Mormon” campaign, which aims to bring the faith of about 14 million members worldwide into the mainstream.

In the CNN interview, Love talked about how Mormonism would affect Mitt Romney’s candidacy more than her own, which is happening in the most Mormon state in the nation.

“You know I don’t think those are the issues that Americans really care about,” Love said when asked about the role of Romney’s religion in the presidential campaign. “I think Americans care about jobs, the economy; they care about the debt and deficit spending. … Being a Mormon is part of who he is as a person, and I don’t think it should deter from the issues.”

I'm glad that Mia Love is expanding people's views in the state, lord knows Utah needs it.  But her political stance is pure Tea Party nutjob.

If elected in November, Love would be the first black Republican woman in Congress and Utah's first black representative. She said she would join the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C., should she win.

"Yes, yes. I would join the Congressional Black Caucus and try to take that thing apart from the inside out," she said.

Though officially nonpartisan, the caucus has been more closely identified with the Democratic Party.

"It’s demagoguery. They sit there and ignite emotions and ignite racism when there isn’t," Love said. "They use their positions to instill fear. Hope and change is turned into fear and blame. Fear that everybody is going lose everything and blaming Congress for everything instead of taking responsibility."

The caucus isn't the only thing Love said she would dismantle in Washington. The departments of education and energy must go, she said. States, she said, should take back those duties along with health care.

Needless to say, the Republicans would dearly want to have Mia Love as the new face of their big tent.  Unfortunately she's being used to see their same old crazy ideas.  Take apart the Congressional Black Caucus from the inside, because why should African-Americans have a group in Congress?  Good grief, she's Allen West in heels.

Democrat Joe Matheson is going to need some help, as the national GOP will certainly be invested in Love's win.  Polls taken before the primary showed Matheson had a narrow lead at best against any of his GOP challengers, including Love.  You can bet Karl Rove and his Crossroads buddies are going to try to bury Matheson under a tsunami of cash tying him to the Obama administration, which is annoying because he's one of the few remaining Blue Dogs in the House right now and voted against the PPACA, raising the debt limit, for the 2011 GOP House budget, he's got a lousy NARAL record (30%), etc. but he voted for Dodd-Frank and a number of other regulatory issues.

But if the choice in Utah's 4th is between a Blue Dog and the female version of Allen West, I'm going with the Blue Dog every time.  Period. 

Totally Organic Assistance

I normally append the Privacy Stupidity tag on to just about any Facebook story (because Mark Zuckerberg owns the 64,000 ton Privacyosaurus in your family room and increasingly at your workplace) but every now and then the beastie learns a trick that really does help the planet out.

On Tuesday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg released a joint statement announcing a new feature. Users in the U.S. and the U.K. can now add a new post to their Timelines, the individual chronological life histories on the website, indicating when they decided to register as an organ donor.

The new feature can be found in the “Life Event” tab at the top of a user’s profile page, located immediately below the “About” section.

After clicking “Life Event,” a user can choose between five categories. Clicking “Health and Wellness,” the user can see a list of options to add to their Timeline, and “Organ donor” is at the top. Clicking it, a user can choose to share with specific groups of Friends or the public at large that he or she has registered.

If a user isn’t yet a registered organ donor or would like to become one, Facebook has also attached a database to the tool directing users to their official local registry. 

Organ donor registrations were up Tuesday by 800% or so over normal.  I'm pretty sure that Facebook might be able to give such a movement legs.  If you do decide to become a donor on Facebook, make sure you've registered on your state's official registry too.  The Facebook organ donor page does have a link to the various state registries, so make it official, folks.

Pretty awesome, Facebook.  Pretty awesome.

And Speaking Of Bullying...

And in a textbook Republican move, they are now pushing to remove mention of anything that might possibly lead to sexual thoughts.  In high school.

This is crazy.  Just crazy.

Sticking your head in the sand hoping something will go away simply will not work.  I tried, and Sarah Palin is still around.  Pretending teenagers won't have sex or experiment with sexuality is not only insane, it's putting them at risk for disease and ruined lives through unwanted pregnancies.  Just so some smarmy, equally sinful folks can feel good about the hoops they made you jump through.

And now they have sent a bill to Gov. Bill Haslam that would bar sex-ed teachers in public schools from promoting “gateway” sexual activity. Teachers must “exclusively and emphatically” endorse abstinence or risk a $500 fine. They may mention contraceptives only in the context of pointing out their inferiority to simply not having sex.

This bill is a disaster in the making: It relies on the definition of sexual activity in state law, which includes any contact with even the clothed inner thigh of another person. Critics say it’s so vaguely written that if a teacher doesn’t stop a student from sitting in another person’s lap, he could face punishment.

But don’t get the wrong idea. Tennessee’s Republican legislators know the government can only do so much to enforce morality. Last year, they revised an anti-bullying law so as to exempt anyone who voices a religiously motivated belief.

Sure, said Rep. Jeremy Faison, a few teenagers committed suicide after getting bullied about their sexuality, but “they committed suicide because they were not instilled the proper principles of where their self-esteem came from at home.”

“We can’t continue to legislate everything,” he said.

Only when it suits them, and works against the people they view as enemies.  Never mind the fact that "those people" were citizens given the same rights and protection, right?

Bullying Not A Problem? Really?

It amazes me how the topic of bullying, which people have endured since Cain slew Abel, has divided the popular crowd.  To further complicate the matter, we have people who claim bullying any time someone hurts their little snowflake's feelings.

And then we have this.

SAVANNAH, Mo. — A teenager appeared in court Monday for allegedly pouring gasoline on a child and then setting that child on fire.

The child sustained first- and second-degree burns on his face, right arm and in his nose and throat on April 19. The child was transferred from Heartland Regional Medical Center to the Kansas University Hospital burn center for treatment.

The state charged Joseph Gardner, 17, with first-degree assault for the alleged burning. Court records alleged that the teenager threatened to hit the child in the face unless he let Mr. Gardner pour the gasoline. Mr. Gardner allegedly threatened to murder the child and his family if he told anyone about his bullying.

According to a probable cause statement filed by Tommy Hudson, an Andrew County sheriff’s deputy, after allegedly setting the child on fire, the defendant stood there and laughed.

I really don't think kids are born evil, but this has to be the exception that proves the rule.  This is more than hormonal aggression, or mommy issues.  This goes so far beyond bullying that I don't think it belongs in the same ballpark.

Still, maybe cases like this will bring  about change. Maybe this is what it will take, which is scary but if it works I'll call it a victory.

The Promised Land

If you're wondering what the PUMA contingent of the Democrats Who Aren't Sure If They Should Vote For Obama Or Not are up to, Taylor Marsh is a pretty reliable weather vane when it comes to accepting the Big Dog is backing POTUS.

What many anti-Obama Democrats simply will not accept is that when your average Democratic voter meets his or her choices inside the voting booth, looking at Mitt Romney’s willingness to adopt Paul Ryan austerity, as well as the hard right’s war on women, there isn’t a more practical choice than to pull the lever for Pres. Obama, even if it requires holding your nose to do it.

Pres. Clinton’s presence makes this more palatable.

Yeah, it's not like Obama actually did anything other than stop Hillary from winning and ushering in a Golden Age of something or other, but at least he's letting Big Dog play, right?

Who should really be holding their nose is the people who backed President Obama the whole way, putting up with insufferable egotists like Taylor here, because we have to accept that her statement is more or less correct.  We need the votes to stop Romney and his GOP nutjob friends, period.

Of course, let's not forget Taylor's real goal here:

Left out in the cold are The Gays, as Kathy Griffin would say. Neither Obama or Romney have the courage required to make equality a reality for all families. In 2016, you can bet Republicans still won’t be on board with that one, but just maybe if Hillary Clinton runs she will. 

Yep.  Why would LGBT people vote at all, especially when, you know, Hillary husband gave us DADT and Obama ended it?  Hmm.

Meanwhile In Afghanistan

President Obama made a trip to Afghanistan on Tuesday, sending a clear message on the anniversary of Bin Laden capture and death, and signed a deal with Afghan President Karzai to lay out the plan to leave.

“As we emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home, it is time to renew America. An America where our children live free from fear, and have the skills to claim their dreams. A united America of grit and resilience, where sunlight glistens off soaring new towers in downtown Manhattan, and we build our future as one people, as one nation."

The details of the Afghan deal are pretty specific: 

The agreement, completed after 20 months of arduous negotiations in Washington and Kabul, pledges American support for Afghanistan for 10 years after the withdrawal of the last American soldiers at the end of 2014. More symbol than substance, it nevertheless marks a pivotal transition for the United States from the largest foreign military force in Afghanistan to a staunch, if faraway, ally. 

For the president, facing a re-election battle in which his conduct of the war is likely to be debated into November, the visit is laden with political significance. Senior officials said the agreement showcased Mr. Obama’s determination to end the war responsibly, even as they conceded that the country that American troops leave behind will be a messy, violent place, where the Taliban will keep a foothold. 

Still, the agreement, a senior administration official told reporters traveling on Air Force One, will give the United States “the capacity to carry out the counterterrorism operations that are necessary for Al Qaeda not to resettle,” and help ensure “a regional equilibrium that serves our national security interest — and that’s ultimately why we went in there in the first place.” 

No doubt Republicans will tell us that having a timetable is an impeachable offense, and the usual suspects on the left will tell us having even one support troop in place is worthy of letting Mitt Romney win the White House.

On the other hand, he's ended the war in Iraq and is now ending the war in Afghanistan.  There will also be no permanent bases there, unlike every other US war that we've fought in the last 70 years or so.  No, the GOP wants to fight the President on his foreign policy accomplishments?  Go right ahead, gentlemen.

Last Call

• As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepares for high level talks with Beijing this week, China is demanding an apology as blind activist Cheng Guangcheng has left the US embassy there.
• Mitt Romney's openly gay foreign policy spokesman, Richard Grenell, has resigned after just two weeks due to sharp criticism from social conservative Republicans.
• May Day protests in Seattle have left what city officials are terming "thousands and thousands" of dollars in damage as police made five arrests.
• More wealthy Americans are renouncing their citizenship and remaining in Switzerland in the wake of last year's overseas tax evasion crackdown by the IRS.
• The latest browser share numbers find as many as one-third of Firefox users are using out of date versions of the software, leaving them vulnerable to outside threats.

Last Call

Conservatives are screaming themselves hoarse over President Obama even mentioning that Bin Laden was turned into compost on his watch.  Now a number of Navy SEAL vets are attacking their Commander-in-Chief, saying he deserves zero credit.

Ryan Zinke, a former Commander in the US Navy who spent 23 years as a SEAL and led a SEAL Team 6 assault unit, said: ‘The decision was a no brainer. I applaud him for making it but I would not overly pat myself on the back for making the right call.

‘I think every president would have done the same. He is justified in saying it was his decision but the preparation, the sacrifice - it was a broader team effort.’

 Mr Zinke, who is now a Republican state senator in Montana, added that Mr. Obama was exploiting bin Laden’s death for his re-election bid.  ‘The President and his administration are positioning him as a war president using the SEALs as ammunition. It was predictable.’ 

Oh, so you mean the headline should be "Republican veterans attack Commander-in-Chief for making correct call."  Now, when have we run across Republican veterans going after a sitting CiC?

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) continued to hammer the Obama re-election team over its use of the death of Osama bin Laden in a campaign commercial, echoing Mitt Romney's statement that any president - including Jimmy Carter - would have made the same call.

“I say any president, Jimmy Carter, anybody, any president would have, obviously, under those circumstances, done the same thing.  And to now take credit for something that any president would do is indicative of take over campaign we're under -- we're -- we're seeing…So all I can say is that this is going to be a very rough campaign," McCain told Fox News in an interview set to air Monday night. "And I've had the great honor of serving in the company of heroes.  And, you know the thing about heroes, they don't brag.”

If the President is Barack Obama, he gets nothing.   The black guy should be impeached for even mentioning the fact he did something that Bush didn't do for, oh, seven plus years.  After all, when Bush didn't kill or capture Bin Laden, he kept us safe through his failure.  These guys keep bringing up Jimmy Carter as a mantra.

Really?

Remember, Republicans want you to think that getting rid of the guy who was responsible for killing 3,000 New Yorkers was a failure on the President's part, and want you to punish him in November for it.  That's where we are right now with our "patriotic" friends on the right.  He's guilty of making George W. Bush look bad, and that's an unpardonable sin.

The Kroog Versus Diggy Diggy Hole

Paul Krugman.  Ron Paul.  The Bloomberg TV top card fight between the King of the Keynesians and the Gollum of Goldbugs is pretty gripping stuff here, even for laymen.  For econ nerds like myself, it's watching Optimus Prime and Megatron slugging it out for 20 minutes.  Grab some popcorn and pull up a chair for this one:

Love this. Ron Paul opens up with about 5 minutes of stump speech, but Krugman is having none of Paul's "get off my lawn" crap and goes after him on policy arguments and doesn't back down. It's a good battle and Paul gets increasingly desperate at it progresses as Krugman points out that austerity is killing Europe. I'd like to see a longer debate on this, frankly. Do watch the whole thing.

Rupert's Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad, No Good Morning

It seems that Britain MP's have decided that Rupert Murdoch running a major media empire in their midst is not in Blighty's best interests.

Global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is not a "fit and proper person" to run a major international company, British lawmakers investigating phone hacking at his tabloid the News of the World reported Tuesday. The ruling could prompt British regulators to force him to sell his controlling stake in British Sky Broadcasting, a significant part of his media empire.

This one's pretty big, folks. It means whether or not old Rupert here was actually the fellow behind the phone hacking nonsense, British lawmakers have decided that he should be held responsible for it. Bloomberg News is even more blunt:

Murdoch “turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications,” the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee said in a report published in London today. “This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organization and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corp.”

Ouch. The question now is the level of punishment that Murdoch and News Corp will receive. It could be nothing. It could be having to divest itself of all B Sky B holdings. We'll see. But this is the first real blow to Murdoch we've seen from the fallout of the phone hacking, and I'm betting it won't be the last.  The Guardian article contains the full text of the Select Committee report and opens with this:

Labour MPs and the sole Liberal Democrat on the committee, Adrian Sanders, voted together in a bloc of six against the five Conservatives to insert the criticisms of Rupert Murdoch and toughen up the remarks about his son James. But the MPs were united in their criticism of other former News International employees.

The cross-party group of MPs said that Les Hinton, the former executive chairman of News International, was "complicit" in a cover-up at the newspaper group, and that Colin Myler, former editor of the News of the World, and the paper's ex-head of legal, Tom Crone, deliberately withheld crucial information and answered questions falsely. All three were accused of misleading parliament by the culture select committee.

Interesting breakdown of the votes there.  We'll see how this treacle rolls downhill.

StupidiNews! Potpourri Stupidity

Short bits of stupidity from all over.

BEAVER, Pa. (AP) — Police say two teenage girls who fell asleep while sunbathing on a rural Pennsylvania road have been struck by a car. The Beaver County Police Department tells WTAE-TV (http://bit.ly/KoTXi9 ) that 13-year-olds Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George were hit by the vehicle Sunday afternoon. Two of Samantha's cousins tell the station that their 19-year-old brother had stopped at a stop sign and made a turn before striking the girls with his car.

Jesus take the wheel.  But even He wouldn't likely think someone would be so stupid as to fall asleep in the middle of the road.

A 21-year-old woman stopped a deranged father who was slashing his son's arms in a San Diego cemetery, U-T San Diego reports.

Jaymisha Pires was visiting the Mount Hope Cemetery on Saturday afternoon with a friend when they spotted the man with three young children. He began slashing his 8-year-old son, saying, "We're going to Jesus."

The man, identified as Joseph Ramirez, 30, of San Diego, pushed his son aside and fled, but was tackled by a 60-year-old security guard. Pires' friend wrapped a T-shirt around the boy's bleeding arms before he was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Finally, we caught one before it happened.  I hope Mr. Ramirez gets the help he needs, but thank goodness his son was spared.

The New York mother who was fired after she donated her kidney to save her boss's life demanded that the woman return the organ. "You hate me so much, and I'm so despicable -- give me my kidney back!" wailed 47-year-old Debbie Stevens, of Long Island.

Her employer at Atlantic Automotive Group, Jackie Brucia, also 47, thanked Stevens for the gift Monday -- and then "wished her the best."

This is problematic because Stevens didn't actually give Brucia her own kidney, but donated one so that Brucia would be bumped up faster, which worked.  She blames Brucia for taking advantage of her, but I have to say that if you let yourself go to such extreme lengths, you can't really cry foul later.  Stevens donated a kidney to a man in Missouri.  Brucia's kidney was the gift of another donor.  While Stevens got the shaft, there is no kidney-swapping way to make this right.

Rethinking The Phrase "I Can't"

A woman named Lee Hee-Ah started playing the piano when she was seven.  She was born without limbs below the knee, and only four fingers.  It was likely suggested in hopes it would encourage dexterity and range of motion, but turned her into an amazing classical musician.

Please click here to watch the video.  It's ten minutes long, but the first ninety seconds is enough to show you the heart of her story.  With ten musical fingers I could never come close, and for those who play if you notice how perfect her timing is it will blow your mind.

The next time you want to say you can't, realize you may well be using the wrong word.  You may (even rightly so) be making a choice or drawing a line on what you are willing to do.  There are only a few people like Lee Hee-Ah, who make life happen after being dealt a few serious setbacks.  She's amazing by any standards, but I hope you go see for yourself.  

Ritchie Wretch

The always awesome Yellow Dog has the roundup of everything you need to know of the latest embarrassing scandal here in the Bluegrass State:  former KY GOP Ag Commissioner Ritchie Farmer's massive fraud, corruption and double-dealing while in office.  Joe Sonka, Page One Kentucky, Barefoot & Progressive all get in on the action on this week's big story.

A distant relative of former Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer worked in the Department of Agriculture for nearly five years as an amusement ride inspector despite never receiving certification to do the work.

George "Doug" Begley worked from July 1, 2007, to March 12 inspecting amusement park rides in Eastern Kentucky, according to documents obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader under the state's Open Records Act.

 Documents in Begley's personnel file show he voluntarily accepted a demotion to the department's fuel-testing division in March after Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who took office in January, discovered that Begley never received his certification.

And so on and so forth.  The real issue of course is the fact that Farmer's replacement, Jamie Comer, is even more of a wingnut asshole who is already taking all the credit for cleaning house.

What should have been new computers for employees, ended up missing from the Department of Agriculture office all together. State Auditor Adam Edelen says the man who was supposed to be leading the office took them. Of the three they were able to get back, they say they have no way of knowing what work was being done with them. "The hard drives were wiped in a way that would be beyond the capability to a lay person," explains Edelen.

Edelen says they are just one example of the many ways former Commissioner Richie Farmer was taking advantage of his role and the taxpayer dollars. "The former Commissioner had state employees on state time take him hunting and shopping, build a basketball court in his backyard, mow his lawn and even chauffeur his dog."

Current Commission Jamie Comer says he ordered the internal audit when his new staff started coming forward with concerns about their old boss. It looks at everything from hiring practices to the money spent starting back in January 2004 when Farmer took office. Edelen says they are only now uncovering the claims because people finally felt safe to speak up.

"This was a climate where staff was directed not to use email. There was a calculated effort to run the office for the benefit of the former Commissioner and folks who got in the way tended to be punished," says Edelen.

Farmer was just corrupt and stupid.  He's also counting on being a former UK college basketball star to get him out of this mess.  He's got another thing coming.  Comer is ambitious and a lot smarter, and he's figured out that he can propel his career rocket quite a distance if he stuffs Farmer in the fuel tank and lights this candle.

Of course, all that depends on Jack Conway, the current Attorney General.  He'd be the man who would have to serve up Farmer's head on a pike.  If he does, he removes a rival for Dinosaur Steve's job in 2015...only to open to door to Comer being able to make his bones and become an even more dangerous one down the road.  On the other hand, should Oldage Mutant Nimrod Turtle retire in 2014, all bets are off.

We'll see where this goes.

The Austerians Get The Boot

With ten countries in Europe now in the midst of a double dip recession (Spain officially made it ten with their 0.3% GDP contraction numbers on Monday and if you're wondering, the other nine are Britain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Czech Republic, and Slovenia) elections this year are going to be a referendum on the austerity measures ripping into the pocketbooks and wallets of the EU's middle class.  France's Sarkozy government looks to be the first to fall on Sunday, and it won't be the last as Socialist candidate Francoise Hollande is poised to take victory on a platform of reversing steep social cuts.

The American Prospect's Yannis Palaiologos dissects Hollande's rise:

Francois Hollande has long made it clear that he will not be the obedient junior partner to Angela Merkel that Nicolas Sarkozy has been. In particular, he has issued calls for a renegotiation of the fiscal compact agreed by 25 out of 27 EU members earlier this year, to make it more growth-friendly. He has insisted that without a supplementary package of pro-growth measures, he will refuse to ratify it. the German chancellor insists that the pact is not negotiable, but Hollande claims to have support for his approach from many European governments, including conservative ones. As he stated in a television appearance last Thursday: “It is not for Germany to decide for the rest of Europe." Even internally, Merkel cannot ratify the fiscal compact without support from the SPD, which, emboldened by Hollande, is demanding a stimulus program for weaker European economies as the price for its support. The fact that Mario Draghi himself, the head of the arch-conservative European Central Bank, spoke, after the first round of voting in France and the resignation of the Dutch prime minister, of the need for a “growth compact” to complement the agreement to tighten fiscal rules is a signal that the eurozone may, finally, be moving in a different direction.

This is not to underestimate the task facing Hollande and the European pro-growth alliance he hopes to lead. A party man without previous governmental experience, he is expected to goad the notoriously stubborn Merkel into a U-turn that, to be meaningful, will need to go beyond a relaxation of the pace of fiscal adjustment. Countries with strong public finances and high competitiveness will need to embrace stimulative short-run policies, which will increase consumption, allow the troubled countries of the periphery to export more and improve growths prospect throughout the continent. They will also have to accept some form of a joint guarantee of the debt of eurozone member-states, to put to bed once and for all market fears about a break up of the euro. The French Socialist must, at the same time, deal with deficits and structural sclerosis at home, the latter an area he has shown little inclination to tackle. It is a tall order but, as things stand, its success may be the eurozone’s last chance.

And Greece is also facing a round of parliamentary elections in the coming weeks as well, which could seriously change the political landscape in that country.  We'll see how it pans out, but Hollande is leading in all the polls right now because the French right remains split between Sarkozy and hard right National Party conservative Marine Le Pen.  Le Pen in fact has all but publicly said that she wants Hollande to win in order for him to fail so tremendously that she becomes the new de facto leader of the opposition with Sarkozy discredited.

2012 is not just about US elections, after all.

StupidiNews!

• Homeland Security is leading a separate investigation into the US Secret Service prostitution scandal as USSS director Mark Sullivan comes under increasing pressure.
• Oklahoma's state Supreme Court has unanimously ruled the state's "personhood" ballot measure that effectively outlaws abortion is unconstitutional.
• With the needle installed on the new One World Trade Center building, it captures the title of "tallest building in NYC."
• The Occupy Wall Street movement plans worldwide May Day protests and disruptions today to bring attention to worker conditions and income inequality across the globe.
• The case of Oracle vs Google is now before a California jury as Oracle's lawyers made closing arguments that claim Google's Android OS stole from Java.