Blog Heap of Links for the day 10 June 2011

This method of using readers to dig dirt is actually called crowd sourcing. It is a method of mine data. What I want to know is why didn't the New York Times or the Washington Post employ this method on something that is truly vital to America like the 3,000 pages of ObamaCare. We all know no one in Washington read that monster before it passed. Yet, here are two supposedly legitimate newspapers getting a mob together to create a Palin Hating gang bang. The whole thing reeks of media bias and fascism to me. One thing for sure, Sarah Palin's greatest strength is that she generates so much hate from the left, that they are willing to drop all their phony veneers of compassion, tolerance, objectivity, you name it just to smear her. This unmasking will only work in her favor.

Barack Obama has come under fire for extending a formal invitation to a shamed African dictator who has ruthlessly plundered billions of dollars from his own country. The U.S. President is today having a coveted private meeting with President Ali Bongo of Gabon in the Oval Office despite his appalling track record. Bongo's family has ruled the impoverished African nation with an iron fist for five decades and have used its oil riches to fund a life of outrageous luxury.

An Ohio restaurant mentioned last week by President Barack Obama as an indirect beneficiary of the government's Chrysler bailout will go out of business Sunday after a more than 70-year history.

Texas authorities said suspected drug runners in Mexico began shooting at U.S. law enforcement agents from across the Rio Grande on Thursday, forcing the U.S. officers to return fire and injuring at least three of the suspects on the other side of the border.

The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets.... The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power....

Survivors from a World War II-era minesweeper sinking have traveled from across the state and country to celebrate their reunion in the City of Legends this week. During their stay in Bartlesville, the veterans — who survived an attack on the USS Salute on June 8, 1945 — will see local hot spots such as Discovery 1 Park, Frank Phillips Home and Woolaroc.

Senate Bill 978, a bipartisan measure introduced last month by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.), is backed by supporters who say it closes glaring loopholes in current copyright infringement law created by the realities of the digital age. ... But critics say a section of the bill provides for steep penalties -- up to five years in prison -- for "publicly performing" copyrighted material and embedding the video to sites like YouTube. "It seems like (the bill) is attacking the core of the Internet itself, which is to promote communication amongst people all over the world" ....

This strange, hypothetical, article, which first appeared on April 24, hammers home again and again the message that an Iranian nuclear test will not lead to disaster. On the contrary, life will go as before except that Iranians will feel better about themselves.

when I describe what's gone up as a "security fence", what I actually mean is "privacy fence". It's a shower curtain, not a ring of steel. And of course, by "privacy" what I actually mean is "shame". It's a shame fence. A massive white fence of embarrassment.

In a transparent effort to block access as attendees arrive for this year's Bilderberg meeting in St. Moritz, Switzerland, officials have claimed a bomb threat and closed a major road in and out of the historic alpine village.

According to AFP journalist and legendary Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker's inside sources, the agenda now under review includes a number of critical issues at the top of the elite's to-do list.... that the American Congress may soon turn against the illegal and immoral invasion under humanitarian cover by NATO and the UN against the north African dictator Moammar Gaddafi.... the global elite work behind the scenes to take take down national economies... The elite now meeting behind closed doors in Switzerland are pushing for a wider war and incalculable suffering in the Middle East.... concerned about a diverse liberty movement that has grown exponentially with the help of an open and free internet.... pocketed pawns in Congress have introduced a raft of bills over the last few months designed to take down the internet and blunt its impact as a medium for alternative news and information.... will work on an effort to sucker an already economically besieged American public into further fantastic debt producing bankster bailouts, specifically for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and other member EU nations sliding toward bankruptcy and social disruption on a monumental scale.... the plan is to take down national sovereignty, impose drastic austerity measures, hold fire sales on national assets, consolidate wealth and power, and use an endless economic crisis as an excuse to usher in world government, a one-world currency, and a sprawling high-tech police state.

The caller said he was being chased by a white sport utility vehicle — adding that he himself had a flat tire put was not stopping. Police sent to the area saw an older SUV on Adams go through the intersection with Dewey Avenue and then the light at Cherokee Avenue, but saw no SUV following it or any flat tire on the vehicle. At the request of police, the RV's driver — identified as Madera — pulled over and spoke with police. According to police, they found him "confused and incoherent" and found him telling conflicting stories. He seemed extremely nervous, said police. [Meth, of course]

A Chinese migrant seeking refugee status in Canada on the grounds that he faced persecution back home for his Christian beliefs was repeatedly asked by the Immigration and Refugee Board last year to describe what Jesus was "like as a person."

Trouble, the pampered pooch that Leona Helmsley bequeathed $12 million to, died in luxury at age 12.

A New Jersey Supreme Court decision announced Tuesday should make it easier for individuals associated with online publications and traditional media to invoke the protections of the state's shield law.... While the court... found that the shield law does not apply to the defendant in the case, the decision threw out parts of an appellate court decision that would have required those seeking the law's protections to show that they adhere to professional journalistic standards or have credentials from traditional media

An underwater "river" has been discovered snaking along the ocean bed off southwestern Australia. The undersea phenomenon — layers of dense water that creep along the ocean floor at a rate of about a half-mile (1 km) a day — was found to be some 65 feet (20 meters) thick and stretches for more than 60 miles (100 kilometers). Researchers say it's the first time these rivers have been glimpsed in such warm waters.

Last night Wichita experienced a very rare weather phenomenon known as a "Heat Burst." At 12:22 a.m. the temperature at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport was 85 degrees. At 12:44 the temperature spiked to 102 degrees. This was a 17 degree increase in only 20 minutes.

With Mine Division 34, Salute began the pre-invasion sweep for the landings in Brunei Bay, Borneo, on 7 June 1945. The next day, she struck a mine, buckled amidships, and both bow and stern began to sink. Two landing craft attempted to salvage the minesweeper, but they were unable to control her flooding, and the ship sank.

Delta Airlines has changed its luggage policy regarding U.S. Servicemen and women. The policy change comes after soldiers returning from Afghanistan claim the airline charged them hundreds of dollars in extra baggage fees.... They were told they had to pay an extra $200 for a fourth bag as excess luggage....

Aides to Newt Gingrich have resigned from his presidential campaign in protest of what they felt was a takeover by Callista Gingrich, the candidate's wife since 2000.

Of course Governor Palin was a public servant (Governor), so she, as a public servant, should be subjected to scrutiny and to the same rules and vigorous scrutiny as other politicians. We need to know about our public servants and all of them. That includes Governor Palin. No one — including Govenor Palin — should get a pass. It makes sense to spend resources to report about her — including reviewing her work — but of course it should be commensurate with how other public servants are reported and commensurate with its importance. It should be good, smart aggressive and thorough journalism — not more, not less. One question you might ask, is she getting about the same treatment as other politicians under about the same circumstances? If not, why not?

On Friday, the State of Alaska will release more than 24,000 of Sarah Palin's e-mails covering much of her tenure as governor of Alaska.... We're asking readers to help us identify interesting and newsworthy e-mails, people and events that we may want to highlight....

Over 24,000 e-mail messages to and from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin during her tenure as Alaska's governor will be released Friday. That's a lot of e-mail for us to review so we're looking for some help from Fix readers to analyze, contextualize, and research those e-mails right alongside Post reporters over the days following the release.

The entire top echelon of Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign resigned on Thursday, a stunning mass exodus that left his bid for the Republican nomination in tatters. But the former House speaker vowed defiantly to remain a candidate.... They cited differences over the direction of the campaign....

The family was going through security when two TSA agents singled Drew Mandy out for a special pat down. Drew is severely mentally disabled. He's 29, but his parents said he has the mental capacity of a two-year-old, which made the experience that followed at metro Detroit's McNamera Terminal that much harder to deal with. "You have got to be kidding me. I honestly felt that those two agents did not know what they were doing,"