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

May 2011
Shocker: TV Executives Admit That Hollywood Pushes a Liberal Agenda. Hacking — the new act of war. The Westboro Baptist Church meets the KKK and the universe collapses into a singularity of hate Seismologists charged with manslaughter for failing to predict earthquake. Gil Scott-Heron: 1949-2011

May 26, 2011: Ratko Mladić, the ethnic Serbian military leader accused of being responsible for the murder of 8,000 Serbian Muslims at Srebrenica, the largest massacre since WW II, was arrested in Serbia after 16 years on the run. He will be extradited to the Hague to stand trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.  A priest working under the Vatican's special advisor on pedophilia: "I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues." allegedly. Single-payer health care plan becomes law in Vermont. Sarah Palin, known for her difficulties telling different countries and U.S. states apart, is now launching a bus tour with the aim of grandstanding "educating Americans about our nation's founding principles."

Michael Bloomberg calls for legalization of gay marriage. Ladies and gentlemen, may we introduce to you the escape hatch! Guess who's fear-mongering about terrorism now? (Hint: It's Harry Reid)

Something to look forward to: "Glenn Beck Planning Web TV Channel GBTV, Tagline: ‘The Truth Lives Here’" Rand Paul, in stopped clock mode, is holding a filibuster to try and force expiration of the Patriot Act, gaining supporters on both sides of the aisle. The Ryan budget dies in the Senate: Five GOP Senators vote against it. Egypt's top prosecutor is going after Mubarak. <vote poll=world3655 closed="yes">Teabaggers: We need Skousen-approved curriculum on the Constitution. <vote poll=world3654 closed="yes">Atheists have best sex lives. <vote poll=world3653 closed="yes">Pssst! Mr. President, it's 2011.

<vote poll=world3651 closed="yes">Cameron & co go anti-abort: by inviting " pro-abstinence charity Life to key sexual health forum, while omitting British Pregnancy Advisory Service". <vote poll=world3650 closed="yes">These little guys will grow up to be our ruthless overlords, but dang it, they're so cute... <vote poll=world3649 closed="yes">WBC gets trolled: A comedian makes a $50,000 donation to a gay charity in their name.

<vote poll=world3648 closed="yes">Did I say May 21st? My bad. I meant October 21st. <vote poll=world3647 closed="yes">Nudist company hiring people willing to work in the nude. "Currently looking for a partner, sales manager (preferably female), salespeople (men and women), and web-coders (girls only).". <vote poll=world3646 closed="yes">Stupid woman, you need to PLAN ON GETTING RAPED <vote poll=world3645 closed="yes">Minnesota fundamentalists and Catholics alike celebrate their legislature "protecting" "traditional marriage" by passing a law putting a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the vote on the 2012 ballot. This isn't open political gamesmanship or bigotry laid bare. This is good old-fashioned Christian values at work. Motherfuckers. <vote poll=world3644 closed="yes">The hangover from the failed rapture prediction begins

<vote poll=world3642 closed="yes">Camping still "missing" as world offers support to his dazed followers. <vote poll=world3641 closed="yes">It's not Eyjafjallajökull. TV journalists heave a sigh of relief.

<vote poll=world3640 closed="yes">"Los Indignados" protests sweep through Spain.

<vote poll=world3639 closed="yes">Some background on Israel's borders. <vote poll=world3638 closed="yes">Beware! The light bulb Gestapo is coming for you! <vote poll=world3637 closed="yes">A bomb thought to be the work of Irish Republicans has exploded in the city centre of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. No one has been injured. <vote poll=world3636 closed="yes">Catholic priest served on board of an organisation that "campaigns to end the Dutch ban on adult-child sex."

<vote poll=world3634 closed="yes">Pope calling Space Station, Pope calling Space Station, come in Space Station... <vote poll=world3633 closed="yes">May 21st came and went to a noticeable lack of Apocalypse. <vote poll=world3632 closed="yes">Amazon tribe lack the concepts of "time" mapping to "space" (one event being "ahead" of another) - once thought to be universal. (Except this claim was already made about the Hopi Language, and was debunked by Noam Chomsky himself.) <vote poll=world3631 closed="yes">German TV reveals the identity of Bin Laden's killer.

<vote poll=world3630 closed="yes">Lupron-injecting autism quack Mark Geier and his unlicensed son David Geier face professional and legal charges at last.

<vote poll=world3629 closed="yes"> The Catholic Church -- the American branch, that is -- has released the results of its five-year investigation into the priest child sex abuse scandal. And what a relief!!! They found the culprit!!! IT WUZ TEH HIPPIES!!!!! (Oh, and the fact that priests are an all-male bunch of cloistered celibates isn't a factor in the matter.) <vote poll=world3628 closed="yes">Barack Obama: The border fence is now "basically complete!" (If by fence you mean posts in the ground.) <vote poll=world3627 closed="yes">Quick, bid on the Unabomber's old junk online! <vote poll=world3626 closed="yes">The US imposes sanctions on Syria's Assad. <vote poll=world3625 closed="yes">The Fourth Amendment's not here, man <vote poll=world3624 closed="yes">Finish the dang fence...whoops, we put the dang fence through our own town!

<vote poll=world3623 closed="yes">Terrence O'Brien, president of Chicago's Metropolitan Water Reclamation District claims that by not removing the tons of untreated human waste from the Chicago River, he's saving lives: If the river were cleaned, people would swim in it and then they might drown. You don't want children to drown, do you? <vote poll=world3622 closed="yes">In Conservapedian reality, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver broke up because he should have married a conservative rather than a liberal. Back in that pesky real reality, it's actually down to yet another Republican politician who can't keep his dick in his pants. <vote poll=world3611 closed="yes">Are you soon to be Raptured? Have you thought about what may happen to your beloved cat when you're no longer here? Then worry no more, After The Rapture Pet Care will take care of your kitteh for the low, low, one-off fee of $10! Don't delay, sign up today!

<vote poll=world3609 closed="yes">Stephen H tells it like it is: "Heaven is a fairy story." <vote poll=world3608 closed="yes">Donald Trump announces that he won't run for president. Could this be because of NBC's ultimatum to him that they would say "you're fired" to him if he did run?  In an obviously unrelated story, NBC announced a few hours earlier the renewal of The Celebrity Apprentice with or without The Donald. <vote poll=world3607 closed="yes">First openly gay candidate wins in Japanese election. <vote poll=world3606 closed="yes">Ron Paul again states he would have voted against the civil rights act. When asked about the racism present at that time Ron states that it's ancient history, with the irony being that it's ancient history because of the civil rights act. <vote poll=world3605 closed="yes">In what is perhaps the biggest news story of the last two months, Sony relaunches the Playstation Network. <vote poll=world3604 closed="yes">Tired of screwing over countries, the head of the IMF allegedly screws his maid instead. <vote poll=world3603 closed="yes">Pop singer "Sweet Micky" Martelly — president of Haiti <vote poll=world3602 closed="yes">Moammar Gaddafi: "You can't get me!" (It's unknown if his next words were "Nanny nanny poo poo.") <vote poll=world3601 closed="yes">Rand Paul: Universal health care is slavery! (No word if he is "enslaved" by all that Medicare money.) <vote poll=world3600 closed="yes">A man in West Virginia was found by the police in a bedroom, dressed in a bra and panties, standing over the neighbours goat. The goat had "at least one stab wound". <vote poll=world3599 closed="yes">The UK's shiny new aircraft carrier will spend its first three operational years with no aircraft.

<vote poll=world3598 closed="yes">Osama also had the same kind of secret files on his computer that we do. <vote poll=world3597 closed="yes">Not content with owning the George Mason University econ department, the Koch brothers buy some Florida State professors. <vote poll=world3596 closed="yes">The hacking spree continues, this time hitting Square Enix and stealing emails and resumes. <vote poll=world3595 closed="yes">An eye for an eye... literally. <vote poll=world3594 closed="yes">Teen challenges Michele Bachmann to a history debate. <vote poll=world3593 closed="yes">Fukushima is still not fully stable. <vote poll=world3592 closed="yes">Donald Trump rented his name to apartment complexes and then got out of Dodge when the projects imploded financially. Who coulda known? <vote poll=world3591 closed="yes">Climate Scientists get REAL. <vote poll=world3590 closed="yes">In Minnesota, while debating a lovely measure to liberate the poor from liberal nanny-statism, a state senator suggests that state legislators try the measure personally before imposing it on the poor. She is greeted with stunned silence. <vote poll=world3589 closed="yes">Barack Obama: We doubled our exports during my administration! (If by double you mean increase by approx. 33%) <vote poll=world3588 closed="yes">Los Alamitos will teach the controversy... over global warming. <vote poll=world3587 closed="yes">Mike Huckabee is creating a childrens show, here is their first video: <vote poll=world3586 closed="yes">In a move that even Puritans might think goes too far, the Florida Senate bans sex with any other human being. Brings a whole new meaning to "freshly-squeezed Florida oranges". <vote poll=world3585 closed="yes">S&P downgrades Greece's credit rating as the country goes on strike. <vote poll=world3584 closed="yes">The Rajaratnam verdict comes in: Guilty. <vote poll=world3583 closed="yes">Citizens of Rome flee the city to dodge an earthquake predicted several decades ago, or was it? The very people who hold the documents of the late predictor say no such prediction was made. <vote poll=world3582 closed="yes">Teabagger leader: You get the gays out of the military and we'll give you the debt ceiling. <vote poll=world3581 closed="yes">Republicans discover the obvious: Gutting Medicare is not such a good move. <vote poll=world3580 closed="yes">Terrible, terrible people hacked the poor Fox web site. I'm soooo thankful no one here thought of doing that.

<vote poll=world3578 closed="yes">Northwestern University cancels the best Human Sexuality class ever. <vote poll=world3577 closed="yes">Simpsons voice actress Nancy Cartwright is attempting to peddle Scientology in Illinois public schools. <vote poll=world3576 closed="yes">Fed up with conservatives in Arizona, the liberals of Pima County want to split and form the state of Baja Arizona. <vote poll=world3575 closed="yes">Mexicans protest Felipe Calderon's war on drugs. <vote poll=world3574 closed="yes">Irony alert: John Ashcroft is Blackwater's new ethics chief Homosexual men more likely to have had cancer, says one study, although "The survey interviews "survivors" so is not a true representation of the number of cancer cases." <vote poll=world3572 closed="yes">Time for another bailout of Greece? <vote poll=world3571 closed="yes">A Hasidic paper refuses to print pictures of women, so it shops Hillary Clinton out of the situation room. Why aren't the conservatives protesting about creeping Halakha law? <vote poll=world3570 closed="yes">After big successes in the USA and Canada, the sluts march into London. <vote poll=world3569 closed="yes">The Pacific island nation of Samoa time travels into the future <vote poll=world3568 closed="yes">Despite all the conspiracy theories, nearly two-thirds of people back the decision not to release pictures of Osama Bin Laden. <vote poll=world3567 closed="yes">In a Twitter protest against the "Super Injunctions" issued so liberally by British courts, a user publishes details of what he claims are six of them. <vote poll=world3566 closed="yes">Fed up with your theology major? Pitzer College in California Adds Major in Secularism <vote poll=world3565 closed="yes">Some high-school students, being dismayed at the impending change in status for some classes that taught them "how to take part in a democratic pro­cess," display precisely how well they absorbed that knowledge by storming a school board meeting and declaring themselves the new school board. <vote poll=world3564 closed="yes">The fellows that Joe Arpaio employs to do his job while he is out grandstanding are now resigning amidst a bevy of corruption charges. <vote poll=world3563 closed="yes">The Galleon Group case (the biggest probe of hedge fund insider trading in history) resumes as jurors reconvene to deliberate the verdict on Raj Rajaratnam. The market is betting heavily against him. <vote poll=world3562 closed="yes">A Delta Air Lines pilot creates his own personal no-fly list because he doesn't like people wearing "traditional Indian clothing" or "Arab garb". UPDATE To double-down on the irony, the pair were on their way to a conference that intended to discuss prejudice against Muslims. <vote poll=world3561 closed="yes">[http://blogs.ft.com/businessblog/2011/05/monitor-scorched-by-mistakes-in-libya/ Whoops. Academic experts for hire were Libyan PR agents.] <vote poll=world3560 closed="yes">The GOP agenda is "Jobs, jobs, jobs," right? Well, shit ain't gonna pass the Senate so it's time to throw more red meat to the wingnut base, like passing H.R. 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion" bill <vote poll=world3559 closed="yes">The UK electorate rejects Alternative Vote in favour of continuing the First Past The Post system in a national referendum with an overwhelming 70% No to AV vote, proving once and for all that if you attack strawmen hard enough, people will not only begin to think they're the real thing, but will actually join in. <vote poll=world3558 closed="yes">So you're a Religious Education teacher in an English High School. What better way to communicate the rich cultural heritage of the world's faiths than by getting drunk, taking your students to the pub and kissing one of them? <vote poll=world3557 closed="yes">Al-Qaeda admits that Osama Bin Laden is dead. <vote poll=world3556 closed="yes">Besides crushing the unions, what other pressing matters do Wisconsin's Republican legislators have to worry about? How about making the cream puff the state's official dessert. <vote poll=world3555 closed="yes">Never forgive, never forget. China yet again asks Norway to apologise for that Nobel Prize. Let it go already... You won it fair and square. <vote poll=world3554 closed="yes">Don't know how to spend your Cinco de Mayo? Join the crowd of chirping crickets at the first GOP debate between Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Gary Johnson, and Rick Santorum.

<vote poll=world3553 closed="yes">David Blunkett admits that the No to AV campaign did just pull "AV will cost £250 million" out of their arse. <vote poll=world3552 closed="yes">Belief in "birtherism" plummets. <vote poll=world3551 closed="yes">Fatah & Hamas: "Let's kiss and make up." Israel: "Fuck that!" <vote poll=world3550 closed="yes">The battle over Benton Harbor, Michigan heats up as the city commission declares the takeover by the emergency financial manager unconstitutional.

<vote poll=world3549 closed="yes">The White House will not release the photos of bin Laden's corpse. <vote poll=world3548 closed="yes">Following a complaint from a parent, a teacher is admonished for proselytizing in class. The difference is that it took place in the Bible Belt, and it was a Christian parent who complained. <vote poll=world3547 closed="yes">For the first time in history, a rich guy got killed in a home invasion and Republicans didn't assume a black man was responsible. <vote poll=world3546 closed="yes">Study finds that pundits' predictions are generally no better than coin-flips, but the perpetually "shrill" Paul Krugman comes out on top of the 26 in the study.

<vote poll=world3545 closed="yes">What led to the capture of Osama? (Hint: It wasn't going Jack Bauer on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.) <vote poll=world3544 closed="yes">bin Laden wasn't the biggest target; his computers were <vote poll=world3543 closed="yes">Tornado causes deaths, damage... in Auckland? <vote poll=world3542 closed="yes">A Fox Affiliate Station's News, in a fit of wishful thinking, declares President Obama dead. (Rumours Sean Hannity orgasmed are unsubstantiated.) <vote poll=world3541 closed="yes">Conservatives to form majority government in Canada; New Democrats trounce Liberals, become Official Opposition. <vote poll=world3540 closed="yes">Study suggests politicians ignore black correspondents. <vote poll=world3539 closed="yes">Things you don't expect to hear: Rush Limbaugh saying "Thank God for President Obama". In other news, bin Laden is finding Hell to be extremely cold. UPDATE: He was being sarcastic. He's an asshole for doing itand I'm an idiot for falling for it.

<vote poll=world3537 closed="yes">[http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2011/may/01/obama-make-rare-sunday-night-announcement/ Osama bin Laden is dead. The US military has his body.] Everything will be all right now, we can return to total worldwide peace. Maybe. (BTW, in a bit of no-doubt intentional irony, this news comes on the eighth anniversary of Dubya's so-called Mission Accomplished speech.) <vote poll=world3536 closed="yes">Obama to Trump: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TwRmX6zs4 Go fuck yourself. lol.] (Seth Meyers, on the other hand doesn't pull any punches.)