“President Obama plans to propose his jobs plan in a prime-time address to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 7, a week from today. That’s the same night as a scheduled debate among the Republican candidates who would like to replace Obama — and both are set to start at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.” [USA Today]

Green Valley man survives shears impaled in skull [Arizona Daily Star, via Nerdist]

Our guest columnist is Really Big Coloring Books.

To the American people and all others who may read this child’s coloring book, We Shall Never Forget is designed to be a tool that parents can use to help teach children about the facts surrounding 9/11. This book also describes basic freedoms in America. We suggest parental guidance. As the 9/11 events are shown countless times on national media, this book will help children understand the meaning of these events. The book was created with honesty, integrity, reverence, respect and does not shy away from the truth. In this book you will see what happens to a terrorist who orders others to bomb our peace loving wonderful nation.

We Shall Never Forget 9/11 Kids Coloring Book [Really Big Coloring Books]

9/11 Coloring Book Draws Criticism for Portrayal of Muslims [ABC, via ThinkProgress]

“Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is facing a new challenge: He’s having trouble raising money from some Jewish donors who mistakenly believe one of his opponents, Michele Bachmann, is Jewish.” [NY Post]

When those on the left end of the political spectrum seek to argue that the modern Republican party has taken a decidedly anti-scientific turn of late, picking targets and providing examples to support their case is far from difficult. With the Republican presidential primaries in full swing, it is of note that only one of the major GOP hopefuls has come out in support the scientifically accepted theory that recent warming trends in the Earth’s climate are anthropogenic in nature, that is, they are caused by increased atmospheric density of man made heat trapping gases like CO2 and methane. This is far from a controversial statement among those scientists who study the Earth’s climate as part of their vocation. However, among Republican public officials and the vast majority of the GOP electorate, acceptance of climate scientist’s findings on the matter are greeted with more than mere skepticism. Current GOP frontrunner Rick Perry, for instance, has publicly accused the scientific cummunity of a wholesale falsifying of climate data to secure research grants.

Much the same can be said of acceptance of Darwin’s theory of Evolution. Despite the fact that Evolution by Natural Selection is the fundamental, unifying principle of modern Biology, has been for well over 100 years, and is universally accepted by all serious academic biologists outside fundamentalist Bible colleges, GOP candidates routinely proclaim themselves skeptical of the theory of Evolution (libertarian Ron Paul included).

Read more »

Our guest columnist is Justice Joseph Gordon of the Illinois Appellate Court. The plaintiffs, who grew up in a $1.5 million home, were represented by their father.

Twenty-one-year-old Steven A. Miner II and 18-year-old Kathryn Miner, the children of Kimberly A. Garrity, brought suit against Garrity for “bad mothering.” Both sought damages in excess of $50,000 for intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress, as well as punitive damages…

Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that on November 17, 1995, when Steven was seven and Kathryn was four, Garrity and their biological father were divorced. The father was granted sole custody of Steven. The parents had joint legal custody over Kathryn, who resided at her father’s house and had visitation with her mother.

According to the complaint, ever since the divorce, Garrity has “engaged in a course of conduct which has caused both the intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress to STEVEN and KATHRYN.” The complaint alleges that this conduct is fueled, in part, by Garrity’s desire to retaliate against her ex-husband, toward whom she harbors great animosity.

The complaint provides a lengthy list of the many ways in which Garrity allegedly inflicted emotional distress upon the plaintiffs, as follows:

Read more »

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is:

Monday the internet was aflame yet again with an apparent “whitey” tape — this time featuring not Michelle Obama, but Michele Bachmann.

The highly edited video made its rounds through email, Twitter, and Perez Hilton’s site. As you can see below, it appears to show Bachmann taking the stage at a campaign event and asking the crowd, “Who likes white people?”

However, the full version of the tape reveals a rather different story. Bachmann is clearly referencing the weather conditions outside the tent in which she appearing. “Who likes wet people?” she asks, to cheers from the crowd.

With so much good Crazy Eyes material already on the record, we don’t see the need to embellish reality. And all you do in a case like this is give her Martyr Points. Can’t we get back to salacious insinuations about the Mister?

Michele Bachmann’s Very Own ‘Whitey’ Tape Turns Out To Be A Dud [TPM]