Obama on Keystone XL pipeline: 'just gutting our environmental protection — that's not a jobs plan'

FDA: Red Lobster, Olive Garden served salad contaminated with cyclospora parasite from Mexican facility, possibly via feces-laden water

The salad mix was served at Red Lobsters and Olive Gardens in Nebraska and Iowa and was traced by the FDA to Taylor Farms de Mexico, part of Salinas, Calif.-based Taylor Farms. More than 400 in 16 states including hundreds in Nebraska and Iowa have been sickened by a recent outbreak of cyclosporiasis, caused by the Cyclospora cayetanensis parasite and associated with severe diarrhea, fatigue, cramps and a lack of appetite, among other symptoms.
     Darden Restaurants, the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster, released a statement Friday saying, in part, that “nothing we have seen prior to this announcement gave us any reason to be concerned about the products we’ve received from this supplier” and that "it is completely safe to eat in our restaurants.”

Former NU Chancellor Graham Spanier to stand trial in Penn State Sandusky child abuse scandal

Graham Spanier, left, with Jerry Sandusky (Reuters)

Former NU Chancellor Graham Spanier, an author of a study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior concerning the practice of mate swapping, or "swinging," earned, according to Wikipedia, earned an annual salary of $545,016 while President of Penn State. His compensation was ranked third among his peers at surveyed public universities nationwide, and was the fifth-highest university pay in America, a total annual package in excess of $800,000.

     "Spanier spent five years trying to block the release ... by The Patriot-News of Harrisburg [of] the salaries of Penn State’s highest-paid officials, including [Joe] Paterno, from the state retirement system. ... The university lost before the pension board, the Commonwealth Court and, in 2007, the State Supreme Court."

     Tuesday, Spanier and two former top school administrators were ordered to stand trial on charges accusing them of a cover-up in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal...

     The men engaged in a "conspiracy of silence," the lead state prosecutor, Bruce Beemer, said during his closing argument. They covered up their failure to tell police about a 2001 allegation that Sandusky was molesting a boy in a university locker room shower, despite knowing that police investigated complaints about Sandusky showering with boys in 1998, Beemer said.
     "When they were finally asked about (the 1998 investigation), it was 2011 and what happened in the interim?" Beemer said.
     ...Spanier's lawyer, Elizabeth Ainslie, told Wenner that the case against him "amounts to innuendo and far-fetched inference." Meanwhile, Curley's lawyer, Caroline Roberto, took aim at McQueary, saying his testimony included "embellishment" and that every time he testifies he says "something more or different." On Monday, McQueary also testified that Paterno criticized Penn State's handling of the Sandusky allegation and Paterno warned him that school officials would try to make him a scapegoat.
     Penn State and the Paterno family declined to comment.

Robbie Joe Banfitch — gay online rejection tutorial

President Carter supports Snowden disclosures, tells Der Spiegel 'America does not have a functioning democracy'

Via FireDogLake:
     Former President Jimmy Carter, in an interview with Der Spiegel, said he supported whistleblower Edward Snowden and that the NSA’s domestic spying program was against American values. Carter went on to say he does not believe that America currently has a functioning democracy.

---

Former President Jimmy Carter announced support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden this week, saying that his uncovering of the agency’s massive surveillance programs had proven “beneficial.”
Speaking at a closed-door event in Atlanta covered by German newspaper Der Spiegel, Carter also criticized the NSA’s domestic spying as damaging to the core of the nation’s principles. “America does not have a functioning democracy at this point in time,” Carter said, according to a translation by Inquisitr.

---

Despite armed intimidation by gun nuts, Gilberton, PA, suspends rogue police chief Mark Kessler

Thousands of firearm festishists, openly sporting pistols and assault rifles, descended on Gilberton, PA as the borough council decided whether to suspend police chief Mark Kessler for using "borough property for non-borough purposes without prior borough permission" when he made the video where he's seen shooting semiautomatic and automatic weapons.
     The council wasn't cowed, voting 5-1 to suspend Kessler for 30 days without pay.



AFLAC advertising is now appearing in Kessler's profanity-laced video on YouTube.

Gay state Rep. Brian Sims explains fight over same sex marriage in PA

Iowa rhubarb lady upholds Steve King / Bob Vander Plaats versions of 'Iowa Nice'

Iowa Dept. of Public Health still refusing to issue correct birth certificates to married same sex couples

Dr. Marianne Miller-Meeks, Gov. Terry Branstad's
appointee to direct Iowa Department of Public Health

One Iowa weighs in on continued refusal by Iowa Authorities to immediately issue accurate birth certificates to married, same sex Iowa couples. KCRG video here.

     ...Despite a previous ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court in the case Gartner v. Newton, the Iowa Department of Public Health is still refusing to immediately issue accurate birth certificates for all children born to married lesbian parents like Joanne Abbas and Lindsey [Clark.]
     The Gartner case was decided unanimously in May of this year by the Iowa Supreme Court as part of a Lambda Legal lawsuit challenging the Iowa Department of Public Health’s refusal to issue an accurate birth certificate to MacKenzie, daughter of married same-sex couple Heather and Melissa Gartner. Iowa’s highest court ruled in favor of the Gartners, stating that the department would have to change its practice of refusing to issue accurate birth certificates listing both mothers.
     Instead, same-sex married couples are being told by the Iowa Department of Public Health that they must follow an affidavit process and obtain certified copies of their marriage license before accurate birth certificates can be issued. Yet these requirements do not apply to non-gay Iowa families.
     It is unacceptable that the Iowa Department of Public Health is still dragging its heels on this very important issue of granting accurate birth certificates to children born to married lesbian mothers. The Attorney General’s office knew at the time of the Gartner decision that a process needed to be in place, and they have failed.
     These couples are forced to jump through bureaucratic hoops and spend time and money to attain what is rightfully and legally theirs. The Iowa Department of Public Health is playing procedural games with the lives of the children of these married couples and that is simply outrageous and unfair.
     The Attorney General’s Office and the Iowa Department of Public Health owe Joanne and Lindsey and their family an apology. They owe every same-sex couple treated in this manner an apology.
     It is time, once and for all, for the Iowa Department of Public Health to end its shameful practice of denying children their legal bond to both parents.
     Equality in Iowa should mean something.
     PLEASE NOTE: Iowa couples who encounter problems obtaining an accurate birth certificate are encouraged to call Lambda Legal’s help desk in Chicago at 312.663.4413.

#NyetRussianCaviar

Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out has issued a press release reminding LGBTs and their friends that vodka isn't the only popular Russian export:

Another Russian enterprise susceptible to pressure is caviar. Due to fishing restrictions in the Black Sea, an American caviar industry has sprung up and is beginning to prosper. It would behoove these American caviar companies to join our efforts to boycott Russian caviar and fill the demand for this product. This would be a wonderful way to increase business, while creating American jobs in a time of high unemployment. Furthermore, there are many who say that American caviar is superior because of the freshness of the product.

Ohio Bank empties wrong house in foreclosure; blames GPS, offers to replace $2,300 Bowflex with one it found on the side of road

Consumer Watchdog: Keystone XL pipeline could raise gas prices up to 40¢ per gallon in Midwest

Thanks, Rep. Lee Terry! Omaha: (402) 397-9944; D.C.: (202) 225-4155

Bold Nebraska's Ben Gotschall: why TransCanada is deregistering pipeline easements with 288 landowners

No one should let his/her guard down. It ain't over 'till it's over. This may be an attempt to weaken a landowner suit which has TransCanada worried. Full Post is at BoldNebraska, here. An excerpt:

     According to TransCanada's release, "TransCanada representatives will de-register easement agreements on properties in the following [Nebraska] counties: Boone, Garfield, Greeley, Hamilton, Holt, Jefferson, Keya Paha, Merrick, Nance, Rock, Saline, York and Wheeler. In total, the easements that will be de-registered involve 288 landowners who controlled 367 properties and 58 temporary work space agreements."  The release also states that landowners will be able to keep the payments made to them on the now-unnecessary easements.
     Now for a warning. We are pretty sure TransCanada made this announcement hoping folks would think – ‘Well, if they are letting them keep the easement payment maybe I should sign up and hope the route is moved or not approved and I can keep the money.’ This is exactly what TransCanada wants us to think so they can tell the State Dept., President and the press that all the landowners are on board, its just a vocal minority that is against the project. TransCanada has recently hired a bunch of new lobby and PR firms and each and every move is calculated. The only reason we see victories like today is because of the hard work of citizens and landowners standing in solidarity and holding out. You are forcing them to be more reasonable. Each of this victories is no mystery and no coincidence.
      TransCanada's announcement on easements comes on the heels of the news that the landowner lawsuit against the state of Nebraska will go to trial.  The State of Nebraska and Attorney General Bruning have twice attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed, and three times the judge has ruled in favor of citizens to uphold the process.  The new route, approved by Gov. Heineman as a result of LB 1161, could be nullified if citizens win that lawsuit and Heineman's route approval is deemed unconstitutional.

Below: new TransCanada Keystone XL lies and half-truths, the most outrageous of which is a slide which claims Keystone operates under "strict" Alberta environmental rules. Yeah. So strict that there have been 9,000 violations of those rules in recent years (that we know about) and just 37 actions by the Alberta Province regarding them.

Welcome aboard Putin Airlines

As seen on Americablog and JoeMyGod...

Video: Spanish high speed train leaving the track

78 died and 140 were injured in Spain's deadliest train accident in 40 years and the country's first significant high-speed rail accident. The train was doing 120 mph in the curve, despite the posted 80 km/h (50 mph) limit. All eight cars hit the concrete wall.

#NyetRussianVodka gets traction as gay bars start a Putin pushback

From the Spectrum Human Rights Alliance, which advocates for LGBT rights
in Eastern Europe, comes a horrifying report:  

The perfectly constructed hashtag, coined by twitter user Str8grand­mother, is now a clearinghouse for twitter info about boycotting Russian Vodka to show disapproval of scapegoating of gay Russians and increasingly frequent violence against them.
      Vladimir Putin, the ex-KGB thug, diamond thief and current leader of the mafia state that describes Russia today, has concocted, with the help of fellow connivers in the Russian Orthodox Church, draconian laws against gay Russians and foreigners which criminalize both the existence of gay people and the speech of straights who would defend them.
     (RT, the English language Russian news product which sharply criticizes homophobia in the USA, has said little about the savage targeting of gay Russians under cover of state-sponsored, church-encouraged antigay policies and laws.)
     Stolichnaya Vodka is a $2 billion company owned by one of the 100 richest men in Russia and probably doesn't deserve to be boycotted, as it has been supportive of gay alcoholism customers, will be the first target of those withholding their dollars, euros, francs, etc. from Russian businesses.
     Nothing personal, Stolichnaya. Don't be any more offended than those gay Russians being maimed by skinheads encouraged by Putin and his religious allies looking for distractions from the consequences of their wretched, corrupt governance.




British woman gives birth to a boy; infant to be trapped in unrelenting reality show until it dies

Time Magazine reminds Americans, who, of all people, should know better, that royals aren't just garish anachronisms, but the living link to histories of misrule and injustice.

NSA surveillance: Lee Terry, Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith, Steve King and Tom Latham approve continu­ation of massive NSA spying on your phone calls

Every GOP congressman in Nebraska and Iowa sold out your privacy to the constitutionally dubious NSA dragnet and every Democratic congressman (Loebsack and Braley of Iowa) voted to defend the privacy of law-abiding citizens from relentless government snooping.
     In a Thursday morning print edition story about the vote, the Omaha World-Herald did not tell its readers in Nebraska and Iowa how their representatives voted on the issue.
    That roll call, in the U.S. House last night, after an hour of debate, was 205 in favor and 217 against an amendment by Michigan GOP Rep. Justin Amash to a $598.3 billion appropriation to fund the Pentagon in 2014. It would have cancelled the statutory authority for the NSA program which collects and stores telephone records and calling locations of everyone in the United States, under the USA Patriot Act, unless it identified an individual under investigation.
     Rep Mick Mulvaney, (R-S.C.) remarked, about the supposed "balance" between civil liberties and national security: "Right now the balancing is being done by people we do not know. People who lied to this body."
     The lying reference was to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who admitted that he gave misleading statements to Congress on how much the U.S. spies on its citizens. He apologized earlier this month, after outrageously claiming in March that the U.S. does not gather data on its citizens, a spectacularly shameless and pugnacious whopper.
     For that alone, AKSARBENT thinks he should be in a cell beside Bradley Manning. Certainly he is not fit to be Director of National Intelligence.
   

Meet Gilberton, PA, Police Chief Mark Kessler, also a member of the North Schuylkill School Board, who once shot himself in the hand in a bar

Kessler's boss, Gilberton Mayor Marylou Hannon, also a nutcase 2nd amendment Teabagger, says she's in favor of protecting Kessler's First Amendment rights, meaning she won't discipline him for the national ridicule of Gilberton that he is inviting as more people see his Youtube videos.
     "It would be terribly inappropriate to comment on or restrict what our employees do on their free time," said Mayor Hannon.
     Kessler himself has no qualms about restricting free speech; he has disabled comments on his YouTube videos. (The second one below is a repost on an account which is allowing comment on Kessler's bizarre behavior.)
     In 2011, Kessler shot himself in the hand when he, "off-duty at the time, became involved in an altercation already under way among patrons inside a crowded 2nd Street Pub about midnight...
     After Kessler was shot, he had left the scene with a friend to seek emergency treatment at Saint Catherine Medical Center Fountain Springs before troopers arrived.
     On Thursday, Kessler referred all comments to his attorney, Joseph Nahas, Frackville, who was unavailable."

After community pressure, Ottumwa, IA high school principal Mark Hanson cancels Laramie Project production; 'We were on the fence with it'

Former Ottumwa City High
Principal Mark Hanson

According to the Cincinnati-based Educational Theatre Association, The Laramie Project was the tenth-most-frequently produced non-musical play on high school stages during 2011-12, but after pot-stirring by a local radio station and local pressure, including an attempt by a local father to recall school board members who greenlighted the production, it was cancelled. “Could we have done it? Yeah,” said Hanson, the former principal at City High. “We were on the fence with it, but we came to the conclusion that it would be better at a community theater...” From the Iowa City Press Citizen:

     In Iowa, 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn of Primghar killed himself last year after coming out to his classmates, who had taunted him on Facebook. The documentary “Bully” brought national attention to Sioux City public schools around the same time. After the “Laramie” production at Valley, former Gov. Chet Culver visited the school to sign a bill to ban bullying in all Iowa schools.
     So Ottumwa students say it’s hard to understand why school administrators wouldn’t want them to produce a play that confronts those issues head-on.
     “It doesn’t make any sense,” said Jordan Young, a junior in the thespian group. “This is a show that deals specifically with bullying and the outcome that it had on an entire town because of one bullying incident. If they’re trying to get rid of bullying, then why would they say ‘no’ to this show?”  
      ...Ottumwa resident Pam Schulz, who has nine grandchildren in Ottumwa schools, was relieved to learn that the play will not be a high school production.
      “When I saw the article in the paper, I thought, ‘Well, that’s certainly the right approach,’ ” she said. “That’s not a play that should be promoted for any family entertainment.

NC GOP pulls a last-minute switcheroo to try to enact USA's most aggressive voter supression law after recent SCOTUS ruling on voting rights act

Iowa Rep. Steve King says ratio of illegals brought in by parents to those with cantaloupe calves from weed smuggling is 100 to 1

The Des Moines Register is on record as calling Rep. Steve King an "embarrass­ment" to the state of Iowa. The Omaha World-Herald is on record as repeatedly endorsing his reelection. Which paper's editorials do you read?


(Via JoeMyGod)

VA's Ken Cuccinelli gets raked on The View

(Via JMG)

You go, boys: Septagenarians Gary Player, Geraldo Rivera

Golf legend Gary Player is 77 and Geraldo Rivera is 70. By the way, the correct term for someone in their 60s is sexagenarian.

Watch Dan Savage deliberately creep out Grover Norquist

(Via JMG)

Why ET will never replace TMZ

Erosion of liberty in the name of national security

Pentagon winning its battle against meaningful sexual assault reform: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's law to take the chain of command out of sexual assault cases

The Pentagon's utter failure, despite repeated promises to the contrary, to lessen sexual assaults in the armed forces was the reason for Gillibrand's attempt to remove the military's authority to prosecute rape. The military's response has been a full court press in lobbying to defeat her legislation and to make more promises that it will do what it hasn't done despite decades of waiting.
     Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is adamantly opposed to Gillibrand's reform.

Lone Star goober, Louie Gohmert, trolls likeminded Texans by wondering how two males who mate evolve the species; evokes the smug laughter of idiots

Here's an answer, Louie: because they don't, as a group, contribute much to overpopulation, consequent global warming and the ensuing destruction of humans on earth. What's that you say? Not the answer you were looking for? Well, go fuck yourself.

Atheist Christopher Hitchens on 'ultimate wickedness' of Christian, Jewish and Muslim death cults