RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/April 2011

April 2011
Would you pay $50 for a cup of shit coffee? What the anti-immigrant rabble-rousers don't want you to hear - Eastern European migrants add £5bn to British economy. The Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador erupts. In the UK, new EU trade regulations controlling the sale of traditional herbal medicines come into force. Federal regulators want our kids to eat their greens. Well, at least they aren't trying to ban Happy Meals in some noble crusade for "food justice."

Endeavour's "check engine" light is on - NASA postpones its final launch for at least 48 hours. SETI hit by cuts. If you're a church, and you host the President, and you question talk radio, you get death threats. Real carnival barkers get butthurt over Obama's use of the term "carnival barker" in reference to the Donald. Nearly 300 people have died as a result of the tornados and storms sweeping the US South East. But there's obviously no explanation for any of this other than "Godidit", as Congressional reps of the six worst-hit States have overwhelmingly voted to reject the science that climate warming is dangerous. Wingnuts are outraged as Superman renounces his US citizenship. Following the heavy-handed suppression of protests in Syria, Britain plays hard-ball by withdrawing their ambassador's invitation to the Royal wedding. The free market brought a wrecking ball to the movie Atlas Shrugged Part 1, so there won't be Parts 2 or 3. Oh, if only there'd been proper Government investment for independent filmmakers! Cuba is liberalizing its economy, which involves laying off 500,000 government workers. A University of Pittsburgh economist rewards a rare display of straight talk from the Cuban government by lambasting it for not making bullshit promises before announcing the layoffs. Dr. Lazar Greenfield cites a medical study indicating that semen can be beneficial to a woman's mood. The usual suspects take offense and he is forced to resign as president of the American College of Surgeons. President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi decides to dispel any notion that he does not tolerate criticism by expelling a British diplomat who claimed that he does not tolerate criticism. <vote poll=world3518 closed="yes">As if this will make the birthers shut up: Obama to release "long form" birth certificate. Addendum: A brief guide to what conspiracy theories birthers will rally around next. <vote poll=world3517 closed="yes">On the subject of Ron Paul, he's announced he's running for Pres in 2012. <vote poll=world3516 closed="yes">The Federal Reserve holds its first ever scheduled press conference tomorrow (Apr. 27). Say, who's the chairman of the House committee that oversees monetary policy? Oh, right, Ron Paul! This raises the question: Who will bullshit more about monetary policy: Paul or The Bernank? <vote poll=world3515 closed="yes">Good riddance! <vote poll=world3514 closed="yes">The Westboro Baptist Church had some difficulties picketing a funeral in Mississippi. <vote poll=world3513 closed="yes">Another day, another wingnut proposal in a state legislature: A Michigan (where else?) state senator proposes a bill that would ban foster parents from using the state-funded clothing allowance anywhere except thrift shops. <vote poll=world3512 closed="yes">King & Spalding, the law firm that the House retained to defend DOMA has withdrawn from the case. They cite "insufficient vetting" as the reason. Perhaps they realized the law was unconstitutional?

<vote poll=world3510 closed="yes">More good news from Afghanistan! (/sarcasm) <vote poll=world3509 closed="yes">More Guantánamo "secrets" revealed.More <vote poll=world3508 closed="yes">Gaddafi's forces are routed in Misrata. <vote poll=world3507 closed="yes">In a finding that will please RationaWikians everywhere, a link is suggested between consumption of alcohol and above average intelligence. <vote poll=world3506 closed="yes">Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) resigns to avoid pesky proceedings on his sex scandal. <vote poll=world3505 closed="yes">Amazon officially confirms that Skynet had nothing to do with our outages yesterday. <vote poll=world3504 closed="yes">Apes are monkeys - deal with it. A nice visual explanation of cladistics. Also available as a YouTube video. <vote poll=world3503 closed="yes">Memo to 9/11 first responders: SURPRISE!!! Thanks to an amendment that a GOP congressman tacked on to the 9/11 health fund, in order for you to get health benefits related to any injuries that you suffered during that terrible day, you must first submit yourselves to the FBI to be screened for any terrorist links. <vote poll=world3502 closed="yes">Shocker! [http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2011/0420/Castro-hails-new-generation-of-Cuba-leaders-but-appoints-old-guard Old-guard commies are appointed to fill the nos. 2 and 3 spots under Raul Castro.] <vote poll=world3501 closed="yes" closed="yes">Rick Perry develops a "faith-based initiative" to fight droughts and wildfire in Texas.

<vote poll=world3500 closed="yes">END OF AN ERA: Fidel Castro Resigns From Party Leadership And Calls For Liberalization. <vote poll=world3499 closed="yes">The list of losers, dopes, mopes and morons who have joined the Birther movement adds an unexpected entry, while losing an expected one. <vote poll=world3498 closed="yes">There really is no conceivable reason to implement gun control. <vote poll=world3497 closed="yes">For big-boys with $50,000 to spare; not your average Lego kit. <vote poll=world3496 closed="yes">The New York Department of Health, in an effort to rake in more $200 registration fees protect our children, has attempted to require the registration of summer camps that engage children in dangerous sports, such as Wiffle-Ball. <vote poll=world3495 closed="yes">An evangelical pastor suggests that Gandhi is not in hell. Fellow evangelicals try to tweet him out of the movement. <vote poll=world3494 closed="yes">An artist would like to post forged Department of Education signs along Interstate 75 to counter lies about American history, such as that George Washington wintered at Valley Forge with the Continental Army, or that James Buchanan was not gay. <vote poll=world3493 closed="yes">Supreme Court begins hearings on a global warming case. <vote poll=world3492 closed="yes">How Michigan trains "financial-emergency SWAT teams." <vote poll=world3491 closed="yes">How to solve municipal budget problems? If you're Gov. of Michigan Rick Snyder, just appoint an "emergency financial manager" to override local governments and pawn off their property. <vote poll=world3490 closed="yes">A Columbia University study of 32,000 Oregon teenagers finds that in conservative strongholds, not only are gay teens more likely to attempt suicide, but straight teens are also more likely to attempt suicide than straight teens in more liberal areas. <vote poll=world3489 closed="yes">Atlas may have shrugged, but nobody cared. <vote poll=world3488 closed="yes">"We must have universal healthcare, I'm a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one. We should not hear so many stories of families ruined by healthcare expenses." Thus spake new darling of the teabagger movement, Donald Trump, in his Jan 2000 book The America We Deserve. <vote poll=world3487 closed="yes">Republican committee member and teabagger circulates racist e-mail. But don't worry - she's not a racist! <vote poll=world3486 closed="yes">Southern USA reels from more than 240 tornadoes over the April 15-18 period. No claims yet that God was behind this natural disaster too. <vote poll=world3485 closed="yes">Over half of the students at Blue Mountain School, a private school in Virginia, have contracted Pertussis (whooping cough) due to the school's policy of allowing for religious exemptions to common vaccinations. This policy goes against Virginia law requiring schools and day care centers to maintain documented proof that their children have been vaccinated. <vote poll=world3484 closed="yes">NPR asks: Whatever happened to all the anti-war protesters? A University of Michigan study indicates that a number of them were motivated more by opposition to Dubya than by opposition to war. <vote poll=world3483 closed="yes">Finnish nationalist/anti-immigrant/Eurosceptic party makes big electoral gains. <vote poll=world3482 closed="yes">Kobe Bryant - bigot, or moron? Just because I called you a "fucking fag" doesn't mean I meant it literally. <vote poll=world3481 closed="yes">ACLU of Michigan makes a FOIA request on police cell phone scanning technology. <vote poll=world3480 closed="yes">Better take that cash out of your online poker account. <vote poll=world3479 closed="yes">A rider on the compromise budget bill that President Obama is about to sign has environmentalists wondering: Exactly how does removing a population of fewer than 2000 wolves from the endangered species list reduce the federal budget deficit? <vote poll=world3478 closed="yes">With just two weeks to go before her marriage to the future head of the Church of England, Kate Middleton suddenly remembers an important little detail. <vote poll=world3477 closed="yes">Dennis Kucinich asks Scott Walker, "How much money does the [Wisconsin collective bargaining] bill save?" Walker answers: "It doesn't save any." <vote poll=world3476 closed="yes">Upset at the Atlas Shrugged movie getting pummelled by the critics? Why not comfort yourself with new friends at the Atlasphere Objectivist dating site! <vote poll=world3475 closed="yes">Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein may face criminal charges for his "shitty deals." <vote poll=world3474 closed="yes">Dick Durbin rips JP Morgan-Chase CEO Jamie Dimon a new one. <vote poll=world3473 closed="yes">"Well, duh!" department: WND's Joseph Farah admits to publishing "some misinformation by columnists." <vote poll=world3472 closed="yes">Right wing propaganda outlet Fox News removes from their website a story linking a university student's suicide to Barack Obama's deficit speech. <vote poll=world3471 closed="yes">Dennis Kucinich and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture have both been trying, without success, to [http://www.truthout.org/my-experience-dealing-department-defense-regarding-pfc-manning-has-been-kafkaesque/1302764400 visit Pfc. Bradley Manning in jail.] <vote poll=world3470 closed="yes">The New York Times suddenly notices investigations of fraud in the financial sector have been few and far between. <vote poll=world3469 closed="yes">The Department of Obvious reports: Claims of looming genocide in Libya were massively overblown. Correction: The Human Rights Watch report cited does note eyewitness accounts of civilians being targeted, but notes that they have yet to be corroborated by outside sources. <vote poll=world3468 closed="yes"> Rick "Frothy Mixture" Santorum is using a campaign slogan very similar to a line from a Langston Hughes poem. I know we're not supposed to use the "irony meter" metaphor, but come on.... UPDATE: Santorum has completely disowned the slogan due to the gay liberal poet connection. <vote poll=world3467 closed="yes">A 14-member commission formed to investigate tax loopholes for religious organizations is exclusively composed of Evangelical Christians. Chances of bias: Low. Protest this farce here. <vote poll=world3466 closed="yes">[http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/14/trump-to-make-announcement-about-announcement/ One's a "reality" show with little relevance to the outside world. The other...]

<vote poll=world3464 closed="yes">I think most of us at RationalWiki suspected this all along <vote poll=world3463 closed="yes">Some guy thought it'd be funny to make a video singing with kids, and then edit it to make it seem naughty. Bad idea. Unless you are Monthy Python, in which case you win the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes... <vote poll=world3462 closed="yes">Mitt Romney: [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53073.html Obama was born here. Period.] <vote poll=world3461 closed="yes">Some universities would be happy that the federal government provides financial aid to so many of their students. Liberty University however, blocks campus access to newspaper website on the day it runs an article about just how much federal student aid is spent there. <vote poll=world3460 closed="yes">The people of China must now say goodbye to Bill and Ted, the flux capacitor, and the Enterprise crew saving the humpback whales. Their national Administration for Radio, Film & Television has has issued a ban on the use of a certain popular fictional plot device. <vote poll=world3459 closed="yes">Millionaires write Obama, Congress asking that their taxes be raised. "We all give to charity, but that's not the same as creating a more equitable society." <vote poll=world3458 closed="yes">The Armenian Genocide deniers who sued the University of Minnesota for labeling their website "unreliable" have had their backsides handed to them by the court. Being sore about this, they make some noise about how the ruling will lead to book-censorship, Nazi style. <vote poll=world3457 closed="yes">Some Chicago schools, trying to make students purchase more slumgullion from the school lunch caterers encourage Healthful EatingTM, have banned that ancient and venerable institution, the brown-bag lunch. <vote poll=world3456 closed="yes">The world's oldest LGBT person has been found in the Czech Republic. Update:' Though the "gay caveman" story in the Daily Telegraph has been overblown (not "gay" and not a "caveman"). <vote poll=world3455 closed="yes">What Donald Rumsfeld didn't want you to know: topple more regimes, lying generals and fuck the civilians. <vote poll=world3454 closed="yes">The most boring book ever - coming to a screen near your local right-wing neighborhood on Tax Day. <vote poll=world3453 closed="yes">Jesus died on the cross and now we have the nails to prove it! <vote poll=world3452 closed="yes">12 April: 50 years since the first human in orbit and 30 years since the first Space Shuttle flight. Time for a party! <vote poll=world3451 closed="yes">Mitt Romney decides to run in 2012 <vote poll=world3450 closed="yes">A group of prostitutes are challenging a Louisiana law that gives harsher penalties to the kinkier ones. <vote poll=world3439 closed="yes">The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant is upgraded to the same crisis level as Chernobyl. <vote poll=world3438 closed="yes">The future gets a little closer as the US Navy gets is first floating laser platform of death! <vote poll=world3437 closed="yes">Could Europe be about to start disappearing under Africa? <vote poll=world3436 closed="yes">When Senator Kyl (R-AZ) stated Planned Parenthood's involvement in abortion was 30x the actual number, his defense was that his remark was not intended to be a factual statement, but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, a organization that receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, does subsidize abortions." Surely then there's no problem when we say Jon Kyl has been heavily involved with incestuous relationships (we're not intending it to be a factual statement, but rather to illustrate that Senator Kyl is a motherfucker). <vote poll=world3435 closed="yes">Liar, liar, pants-on-fire. <vote poll=world3434 closed="yes">A BNP candidate tries to get in on the Koran burning action, is arrested. <vote poll=world3433 closed="yes">Gordon Brown and senior Labour MPs were lobbied by Rupert Murdoch to hush the phone-hacking scandal, claims an unnamed ex-minister. <vote poll=world3432 closed="yes">It doesn't matter if your state legislature is deadlocked: it's never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down... <vote poll=world3431 closed="yes">Shutdown averted...until next Friday anyway. <vote poll=world3430 closed="yes">Seventy-year-old Catholic priest -- a regular on TBN -- takes a leave of absence after admitting to an affair with his 59-year-old second cousin. She says they are soul mates, that the affair has lasted for 30 years, and that she hopes this will shed more light on the issue of priests and celibacy. <vote poll=world3429 closed="yes">Deniers lose an important battle as anti-climate amendments are shot down. <vote poll=world3428 closed="yes">Gen. Carter Ham (no relation to this Ham) hints at discussions of troops on the ground in Libya. Who coulda known? <vote poll=world3427 closed="yes">Political parties campaigning against the Alternative Vote in the UK include the Tories, the BNP, the Communists and... well that's it, really. <vote poll=world3426 closed="yes">On Tuesday (5 April), Wisconsin held an election for a seat on the state supreme court. The race involved an incumbent who openly supports Governor Scott Walker's union-busting programs. The challenger was up by about 200 votes on Thursday afternoon. But in the evening, the county clerk of a GOP-dominated county announced that she had "found" an extra 11,000 votes, which now puts the incumbent up by about 7500 votes. The clerk who found the votes has caused controversy during counts before, and is a former employee of the Assembly Republican Caucus. <vote poll=world3425 closed="yes">The Commodore 64 lives again! ..sortof... Nevertheless, I want one. <vote poll=world3424 closed="yes">More political pop-neuroscience making the rounds. This smells suspiciously like the "research" PZ Myers thrashed to pieces a few months ago. <vote poll=world3423 closed="yes">Archaeology? Yeah, there's an app for that. <vote poll=world3422 closed="yes">The Tevatron particle accelerator finds a new particle: not the Higgs Boson, but something more interesting. <vote poll=world3421 closed="yes">Rio school shooting 13 dead. "I've never seen anything like this. It's like something in the United States." <vote poll=world3420 closed="yes">The US federal government shuts down at midnight tomorrow (April 8) if a budget is not passed. <vote poll=world3419 closed="yes">Good news: Palin's support now lowest ever. Bad news: 25% of Americans still support her. <vote poll=world3418 closed="yes">Another earthquake hits Japan. Magnitude 7.4 this time. Tsunami warnings have been issued. <vote poll=world3417 closed="yes">The Chinese government feels the need to censor Bob Dylan (if only they knew how hard it is for most English speakers to understand what he's saying). <vote poll=world3416 closed="yes">Honestly, this is a WIGO:World thing, not WIGO:Clog or Blog... Donald Trump has hired people to look into Obama's citizenship. Honestly. Click the link. <vote poll=world3415 closed="yes">Glenn Beck is kicked off TV will "transition off of his daily program" later this year. <vote poll=world3414 closed="yes">An American woman attacks a painting by artist Paul Gauguin, claiming it to be evil. "He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it's very homosexual." <vote poll=world3413 closed="yes">The American Medical Association and The Lancet have been sucked into the vast global warming conspiracy. Don't these ignorant doctors understand that CO2 is plant food? <vote poll=world3412 closed="yes">An Ask Jeeves poll suggests many people think fictional characters are real and historical characters are made up. Though the 1% thinking Doctor Who is real must have been taking the piss, surely... <vote poll=world3411 closed="yes">More GOP spending priorities: removing a pro-labor mural from the Department of Labor building in Maine could cost the state $60,000. <vote poll=world3410 closed="yes">The Supreme Court of the United States decides that taxpayers don't have the right to challenge their government about tax, with the result that Arizona is free to keep providing a subsidy by providing a "dollar-for-dollar tax credit ... for donations made to organizations which pay tuition for students attending private or parochial schools." <vote poll=world3409 closed="yes">GOP Presidential candidates point their laser gunsights at Planned Parenthood next <vote poll=world3408 closed="yes">Need something to read on the atheist bus? Philosopher and humanist A.C. Grayling has written The Atheist Bible. <vote poll=world3407 closed="yes">Instead of complaining about wandalism and low quality, a leading cancer charity takes the radical step of actually working with Wikipedia to improve its accuracy and clarity. <vote poll=world3406 closed="yes">Barack Obama announces he's running for re-election. <vote poll=world3045 closed="yes">But, but, surely Glenn Beck couldn't be wrong about gold! <vote poll=world3044 closed="yes">Sylvia Browne is reported to have had a heart attack while performing in Hawaii. Browne's failure to predict this was quickly rationalised by her faithful followers, but they were unable to understand why the church founded by Browne would ask for prayers and not money? <vote poll=world3043 closed="yes">Adding insult to injury: Gulf oil spill executives get bonuses for "the best year in safety performance" <vote poll=world3042 closed="yes">Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, the man who once said one of the lessons of the financial crisis was to "apply basic standards to how we compensate people in our industry," is back to getting multi-million dollar bonuses. <vote poll=world3041 closed="yes">Is this the death knell of American higher edumacation? Just two weeks after the College Boards got reamed for including essay questions about Kim Kardashian and The Jersey Shore on this year's SAT, Rutgers University paid Snooki $32,000 to talk about herself to a group of students. (Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison seems to be a comparative bargain.  Rutgers signed her to deliver this year's commencement address next month for a mere $30,000.) <vote poll=world3040 closed="yes">This is not an April fool's joke: Republicans claim the new "force of law" budget bill passed in the House can become law without action by the Senate or the President. Maybe they need a refresher on how a bill becomes a law. <vote poll=world3039 closed="yes">The German Medical Association recommends homeopathy... sort of. <vote poll=world3038 closed="yes">A Koran-burning ceremony by a tiny Florida church's "Pastor" ends up causing 11 UN staff to be brutally murdered in Afghanistan. The Pastor demands retribution for the killings. UPDATE: 5 more die, as the Pastor says, "I'm in no way responsible". Email to the Church's own website is failing due to overload, but the Pastor has another website with links to his Facebook page. <vote poll=world3037 closed="yes">Newt Gingrich's tough balancing act - courting evangelicals and casino magnates, simultaneously. <vote poll=world3036 closed="yes">James Randi announces this year's Pigasus award winners for the "worst promoters of nonsense." <vote poll=world3035 closed="yes">Democrats in Wisconsin have enough signatures to force a recall election for the first of eight Senate Republicans.