Saturday link dump

[tangaroa]

• Two on the Deepwater Horizon disaster:
  • A satellite image shows an oil slick covering the entire northeast quarter of the Gulf of Mexico.
  • There is another report of Louisiana state police and British Petroleum security harassing journalists.
• The Texas Republican Party platform has gone even further to the right than it already was. The new platform calls for the abolition of Social Security and all federal agencies not explicitly mentioned in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution, calls for criminal penalties for sodomy and abortion, opposes protection of endangered species, and supports government promotion of Christianity.
• Senator Al Franken of Minnesota has raised the obvious antitrust concerns over the proposed merger of television network National Broadcasting Corporation and cable television service Comcast.
• The Washington Post fired conservative writer Dave Weigel for opposing the far right.
• Massachusetts Governer Deval Patrick gave a goodwill appearance at the jihadist-linked Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. The Center's Imam Abdullah Farooq has expressed sympathy with Aafia Siddiqui and told his congregation "after they're finished with Aafia, they're going to come to your door".
  • Very curious followup: 70 Boston rabbis condemned the researcher who raised awareness of this issue.
• Ben Cohen notes that the magazine The Nation exposed those who would boycott Israel as right-wing anti-semites in 1981, but is now promoting this right-wing racist policy.
• Evelyn Gordon of Commentary accuses the corporate media of deliberate collusion with Hamas to fabricate the impression of a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
• Alan A. at Harry's Place: "Gay Rights No Longer Count As Human Rights"
• Ben Adler of Newsweek notes that "the Associated Press just published a 2,300-word stemwinder examining how and why a variety of individuals became involved in the Tea Party movement without once asking what precisely the platform consists of."
• Police in Orlando, Florida accused a 14-year-old boy of kidnapping for helping a lost 3-year-old girl find her mother.
• Police in Clear Creek, Colorado charged a river guide with obstructing government operations for rescuing a girl from a river before the police could launch a rescue operation.