This is not a joke. Well, it is, but it wasn't meant to be:
The brutal crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad may finally be getting the attention of world leaders -- but apparently not enough to stop Syria from becoming the newest member of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The law gone amok. In England, a pub singer was arrested for his choice of songs:
A PUB singer was arrested for alleged "racism" after belting out the chart hit Kung Fu Fighting as two Chinese people walked past.
One of them complained to cops, who later nicked stunned Simon Ledger - in a Chinese restaurant.
Simon, 34, often performs the song in Sandown, Isle of Wight. He said: "I hadn't even seen these two."
It's a completely defensible use of tax dollars to fund access to knowledge for all, regardless of income, which is the function libraries have traditionally served. But what about now, when their role has changed so drastically?
Michael Kinsley asks a very good question:
If the national debt doesn't matter, why do we have taxes at all? Why not just borrow the entire federal budget?
And if it does matter, start reducing it. If $1.6 trillion isn't the point at which deficits start to matter, he adds, where in the world is it?
Aww, man; now inflation is hitting me where I live:
That morning cup of coffee is going to cost you more.
Coffee prices are at a 34-year high — $3 a pound.
Yet coffee drinkers plan on grinding out the extra cash because they need that cup of Joe, CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports.
Me, too, I'm afraid. And I buy Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which is pricier than most anyway.
I do like a woman in uniform:
Yeah, that darn freedom of speech is so dangerous when you allow too much of it:
Meanwhile, Facebook is talking with potential Chinese partners about entering the huge China market, where the government has been cracking down on dissidents. That crackdown has come in response to the uprisings shaking authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes, movements that have used U.S.-based social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter as organizing tools.
Despite growing concerns about the country's long-term fiscal problems and an intensifying debate in Washington about how to deal with them, Americans strongly oppose some of the major remedies under consideration, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Florida officials are investigating an unemployment agency that spent public money to give 6,000 superhero capes to the jobless.
Workforce Central Florida spent more than $14,000 on the red capes as part of its "Cape-A-Bility Challenge" public relations campaign. The campaign featured a cartoon character, "Dr. Evil Unemployment," who needs to be vanquished.
Indiana Senate. Dominated by Republicans. Taxpayer friendly. Not.
The Indiana Senate has turned down a proposal from Governor Daniels to have automatic tax refunds when the economy is in good shape.
[. . .]
The provision was taken out of the state budget yesterday, with senators calling it a waste of money.
