No clear explanation for Wall Street’s wild plunge

After stocks plunge, search begins for cause

Computer programs exacerbate losses; Was there a ‘fat finger’ trade?

Another busy day at ‘As It Stands’

It’s 2:32 p.m. PST, and 845 viewers have stopped by to visit thus far. It’s fun seeing where visitors come from and wondering what they think when they stop by and take a peek. My thanks to you all, and don’t hesitate to stop by again.

Guest Opinion: As oil leaked, Interior Dept. official rafted with wife

“Though the Obama administration has stressed its involvement with the April 20 BP oil spill since "day one," at least one Interior Department official decided instead to phone it in and go white water rafting in the Grand Canyon with his wife and other officials.

Tom Strickland -- who serves as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's chief of staff and the department's assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks -- traveled to the Grand Canyon on official business on April 27, three days after the oil leak was initially discovered.

The incident bears similarity to the decision by National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter to stay on a ski trip with his son in the days following the thwarted Christmas Day bombing.

Other administration officials have canceled trips and events to focus on the spill. The Minerals Management Service wisely canceled an awards luncheon in Houston with the oil industry (where BP was a finalist)!

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson stayed away from the TIME 100 banquet where she was honored and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declined her Washington Post invite to the White House Correspondents Dinner in order to track the spill.”

Go here to read the rest.                                   Photo source

Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees

I re-read this article three times and each time I came away with mixed feelings. Students were told they couldn’t wear an American flag on their T-shirts (a normally accepted practice at the school) on Cinco de Mayo because the majority of the school is Mexican-American, and would be offended because it’s “their holiday.”

One excuse was that the principal wanted to avoid fights between the five students wearing the flag and the angry Latino population. I thought this was AMERICA. What happened to those student’s rights? They can’t wear something that is normally acceptable because the Latino population wants to celebrate “their holiday?”

Those boys were being intimidated for doing nothing wrong and school authorities threatened suspension – and finally sent them home – for what reason?

Fear perhaps? Did school authorities think they’d lose control of the students if their flag-wearing peers didn’t concede and turn their T-shirts inside out? If so, then that’s pretty scary and tells you what’s happening on that campus – racial discrimination.

What do you think about the school’s action? Right or wrong?

Excerpt:

"They said we could wear it on any other day," student Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today."

Read the full story here.

Poisonous chemicals used to fight Gulf oil slick

A deadly side-show to the massive oil spill drama is playing itself out with marine wildlife as BP uses record amounts of a toxic stew (environmentalists don’t even know all the ingredients in it, making it difficult to access the damage being done) that is supposed to help disperse the gushing oil. 

Dispersants’ ingredients — ‘proprietary recipes like Coca-Cola’ — are secret

PHOTO: A sea turtle in the gulf surfaced Wednesday to feed, swimming through patches of oxidizing oil mingling with chemical dispersants used by BP to break up oil.

Why Was an Ad Criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for NYC's Marijuana Arrest Policy Censored?

New York City has the dubious distinction as the marijuana arrest capital of the world. The mayor's office doesn't seem to want to allow attention drawn to it.

Excerpt:

“Most New Yorkers don’t know that last year, the New York Police Department arrested close to 50,000 people for marijuana possession at a staggering cost of nearly $100 million.”

California To Collect $100 million in Cannabis Taxes This Year

While the State of California begins to debate the consequences of taxing and regulating cannabis for personal use, it's important to note the state is already taxing and regulating the agricultural product used by 2.9 million Californians monthly.

California Board of Equalization official Anita Gore told the Express this week that the board estimates it collects anywhere from $50 million to more than $100 million in sales taxes per year from medical cannabis dispensaries.

Go here to read the rest.

Sex toy spurs evacuation of South Tahoe CHP station

“SOUTH LAKE TAHOE —

An anal vibrator believed to be a bomb caused the California Highway Patrol to briefly evacuate its South Lake Tahoe area office on April 7.
The incident began around 4:30 a.m. when a California Highway Patrol officer contacted a 60-year-old man in a “No Parking” zone on Highway 89 near Luther Pass, according to a CHP report.
The officer arrested the man after allegedly finding what was believed to be methamphetamine.
During a subsequent search, officers found “a suspicious wire, with an on/off switch” in the man's front left pocket leading to his anal cavity, according to the report.
Officers planned to have the device removed by medical personnel at Barton Memorial Hospital, but during an interview with the man at the CHP office, “the subject began to explain his knowledge of explosives and bomb-making,” according to the report.”  

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The Great Anti-War Cartoons

By Daryl Cagle

“My fellow Muppet alumni, Craig Yoe, sent me a copy of his newest book for a review. I collect editorial cartoon books and this is an unusual one.

 “The Great Anti-War Cartoons” from Fantagraphics reflects Craig’s non-mainstream tastes applied to historical cartoons; he’s chosen cartoons that tend to use few or no words (American cartoonists in the 1800’s and early 1900’s were typically quite wordy) and Craig has chosen cartoons that focus on no war in particular, featuring common symbols that we’re used to seeing as favorites in international cartoon competitions, such as: bombs, skulls, generals with medals and images of the victims of war.”

 Go here to read more.

Message to seniors from congressional candidate: fear communism and bring back the ‘good old days’

Challenger to Democratic congressman hopes to ride wave of anti-government fervor to victory

Jackie Walorski has jumped from the Tea Party to the Republican Party in hopes of winning a Congressional seat. She brought all of her rhetoric with her:

Excerpt:

For Republican congressional candidate Jackie Walorski, this city is 2010’s version of the Normandy beaches on D-Day 1944.

Today’s senior citizens “fought for us” in World War II and “left bodies and blood on the beaches of Normandy,” Walorski said at a recent campaign stop in Kokomo, Ind. “Our fight of this generation is this ideological war that is brewing in this nation that is going to determine in November who we are as Americans.”

Here we go again. Walorski wants her country back. Note; she’s addressing senior citizens and invoking the 1950s as the good old days. For who? Oh that’s right…white middle classed Americans. Not for people of color at that time.

The fifties was full of paranoia that escalated into the sixties when people were building bomb shelters in case the Russian attacked. people like Joe McCarthy violated people’s rights and got away with it for a long time. I was there. It’s all about perceptions, and the angry white people calling to “take back the country” now are those same people – but older. 

Excerpt:

“This is our country. It is time we stand together and take it back,” said Walorski, the favored candidate of the Tea Party movement. “This Constitution that I have raised my right hand to defend is under direct assault and I will not stand for it.”

Right on cue, these angry white Americans calling for their country back are accusing our president of being a Communist. Shades of McCarthyism still resonates with that generation. They will die someday, firmly convinced Communism is just around the corner.

Excerpt:

“I think he’s trying to turn the country into a communist nation,” Michigan City, Ind., insurance agent John Palman said about Obama. “And this is America. We’re not socialists; we’re not communists; this is America, we’re free, so far.”