As usual the TeaBag GOP is going out on a limb to protect Oil, Coal, and Nuclear energy producers. NREL - the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado is on the chopping block. I did an internship while in graduate school at the Washington State Energy Office in 1993. The program I worked for was the Energy Ideas Clearing House which was funded by grants through the Department of Energy. The funding source was through the DofE's Office of Science and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programs.

Many of us on the left used to grind our teeth at the frequency with which Newtie (hey, that's what his mama used to call him...) was invited to the sunday morning TV follies.  That is, until he self-destructed ("Anyone who quotes me is stating a falsehood..."  Huh?) after rashly speaking the truth about Ryan's kill-Medicare budget.

Sun-bong Choi is the Korean version of Susan Boyle.

He is the street urchin who made good.

You can read the article in Time.

He has an operatic voice to be sure.

And he was a bit of a set-up since he attended the Korean equivalent of Julliard whilst the audience is given to believe he is a homeless urchin wandering the urban streets in search of a mommy.

Greece is once again rioting over the austerity cuts and the unemployment situation here is worse than the depression of the 1930s. 

Capitalism as a way to trade goods and services - which it is in it's most basic form - works pretty well in certain situations. Just look in any school cafeteria. You will see goods and services traded like crazy. And it anyone tries to cheat the system, they are generally dealt with  - usually on the play ground. 

And in most societies and countries for a long time this was pretty much the case. Where it did break down, it was caused either by some unforeseen natural occurrence - crop failures and the like - or because a few people got greedy and these were eventually dealt with. Sometimes quite brutally.

In a video released today Al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn encourages terrorists to use American gun shows to arm themselves for potential Mumbai-style attacks.  Gadahn's video laid out a new tactic for Al Qaeda to continue their murderous terrorist agenda:

America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?