http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/orly_taitz_obamas_long-form_birth_certificate_should_say_negro_not_african.php?ref=fpb

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/15/kyl-aide-not-intended-to-be-a-factual-statement/

Cartoon of the Week

Suspected It All Along

Study: Liberal brains bigger in areas dealing with complexity, conservative brains bigger in area of fear

READ about it at America Blog.
  

Bill Cosby to Donald Trump: ‘Run or shut up’

Legendary actor-comedian Bill Cosby said that Donald Trump is “full of it" and that "the only thing running is his mouth."

 

READ about it at MSNBC.
    

Poster (or button) Of the Day

  

Anti-intellectualism Thrives In Tennessee

Tennessee House Passes Bill That Lets Teachers Question Evolution In Science Class

Only if they also teach Pastafarianism.

READ about it at TPM.

Bonus bad joke: "I would get up off of all fours, too, if the guy behind me in line was named 'Homo Erectus'."

      

A Must Share E-Mail From Rep. Alan Grayson

Unless you've been living in a cave recently – Osama, you can stop reading here – you know that the Republicans have blocked the passage of the appropriations bills that apply to all federal spending between April 8 and September 30, so we are facing a government shutdown.

And as the White House has patiently pointed out, that means no more government-backed mortgages, which now account for 95% of the housing market. 

No more government student loans.

No more government small-business loans. 

No pay for the troops, who are now embroiled in three wars. They still have to fight. They just won’t be paid for it. Despite the Thirteenth Amendment. 

No tax refunds, just one week before taxes are due. 

No federal grants for roads, schools, or pretty much anything else. 

No new medical research at the National Institutes of Health. 

And hundreds of thousands of federal employees added to the unemployment rolls. 

But there is one thing that you can still do, if the government shuts down. You can go broke. 

I’m a licensed attorney, and yesterday I received this cheerful reminder from a bankruptcy court to which I’m admitted:

“The Court will continue to operate, business as usual, on Monday, April 11, 2011.”

The staff, the bankruptcy court explained, will be paid out of “fee revenue and other sources.” Anyone who wants to petition for bankruptcy will be welcome to do so. 

So there it is. When the Republicans shut down the government, health and safety, housing and even transportation are all at risk. But the one thing that you can be sure you can still do is ... go broke. 

For the bankruptcy courts, it’s “business as usual.” And the bankruptcy business is booming. 

But leaving that one exception to the government shutdown aside, it’s now official. The Party of No is now the Party of No Government. The Party of Anarchy. The Party of Chaos. 

And remember this: The White House and the Democratic Leadership have agreed (rightly or wrongly) to what the Republicans originally demanded for the 2011 budget -- $30 billion in social spending cuts. Yet now the Republicans are demanding twice as much: $60 billion in 2011 social spending cuts 

But just three months ago, the Republicans insisted on $70 billion in 2011 in tax cuts for the rich. I’m pretty sure that $70 billion is more than $60 billion, any way you look at it. So except for those tax cuts for the rich, we wouldn't be having this argument. 

Please make a note on your calendar. November 6, 2012. Election Day. That’s when it will be our turn to punish them, the way that they've tried to punish all of us.

Courage,

Rep. Alan Grayson

 

Easter Is No Treat For Pet Bunnies.

"Dogs and cats aren't the only animals waiting in shelters. In fact, pet rabbits are the third most abandoned animal at shelters. They make wonderful pets, but far too often they are purchased on impulse at Easter, without the owners being truly prepared for a new pet in the family."

READ about it at Care2. 

   

Bristol Palin's Nonprofit Paid Her Seven Times What It Donated

It's like paying Amy Winehouse a quarter-of-a-million to speak out against crack cocaine and heroin use. 

"The Candie's Foundation is under fire after it released its 2009 tax information, revealing that they paid Bristol Palin a staggering $262,500."

Wingnut 'Madonna of the Trail'

 READ about it at Care2.

   

And the Rightwing Asshole of the Day Award goes to...

Police Say School Janitor Is Hitler Worshiping, Gun Packing KKK Member

 

"Joseph Donato Jr., 34, a Long Island elementary school janitor, has been exposed as a hood-wearing, Hitler-loving klansman who kept an arsenal of guns and hate literature and practiced cross burning in upstate New York, authorities said yesterday."

READ about it at NewsOne.com.
   

Save the Chesapeake Bay

  

 

My Morgantown WV Creds

"Our long-ago ancestor, Morgan Tucker, who fought in the Revolutionary War, resettled there from Kent County, Maryland when Morgantown was still part of Virginia. The records all call it Monongalia, Virginia. I don't know if that was because they could not spell Monongahela or if this is a legitimate variant spelling."

"One of Morgan Tucker's daughters married James Power, who made his way from Monongalia to the town of Arbela in Scotland County, Missouri. He fought with the Confederate Army of Northern Missouri in the Civil War. The Powers were the parents of our great grandmother, Hettie Florence Power (Mom-Mom), Granny's mother. Hettie married Francis Marion Buckingham--the source of your middle name. So, in a roundabout kind of way, you are on home turf." 

(from my sister, the family historian)

Read more on the Web:

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/e/l/m/Deborah-L-Elmer/GENE5-0026.html

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/POTOMAC-HIGHLANDS/2009-01/1232212900

viii. Elizabeth 'Betty' TUCKER, born 04 May 1836 in WV; died 29 Oct 1888 in Arbela, Scotland Co., MO Buried:Scotland Co., MO; married James POWER 06 Jan 1856 in Scotland Co., MO.

More About James POWER and Elizabeth TUCKER:

Marriage: 06 Jan 1856, Scotland Co., MO

ix. Minerva 'Manney' TUCKER, born 28 May 1838 in Monongalia Co., WV; died 18 Jul 1918 in Arbela, Scotland Co., MO Buried:Scotland Co., MO; married James Patton POWER 06 Sep 1855 in Adair, Scotland, MO; born 1837 in Indiana; died 1912 in Arbela, Scotland Co., MO Buried:Scotland Co., MO.

More About James POWER and Minerva TUCKER:

Marriage: 06 Sep 1855, Adair, Scotland, MO

  

Now I have to figure out if my ancestor was actually married to two sisters at the same time!