Working like a dog

I’m finally drafting that post for Raleigh Public Record that I was working on last week. So just links today, starting with my new And column on the current state of endless war. Related to which, we have this Prospect post arguing that Congress isn’t doing its duty to check-and-balance the executive branch. And the media fall down on the job too.
•Speaking of the media, Fox News explains that Germany has a better solar power program because it’s so much sunnier there than anywhere in the US.
•Salon lists bad arguments for refusing to reaauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. The most batshit is that offering women protection increases the risk of abuse: ““Women are about twice as likely as men to be injured in a domestic violence incident and we’re forced to conclude that one of the most important things we can do to protect women is teach them ‘don’t hit first.’”
•Digby glumly concludes that Obama’s going to steer us toward greater austerity in return for things like military spending cuts that will easily be put back. In another post, she ponders why so many Americans are supportive of drone strikes.
One factor Digby touches on here is that some people are fine with it just so long as it’s their president in charge of the power. Roy Edroso looks at rightbloggers divided between supporting drone warfare (since after all we’re at war/9-11/Muslims!) and not wanting to endorse Obama doing it.
•Getting through airport security with a Costco card for ID. And here’s a puzzler: An American veteran living in the Middle East is allowed to fly home to visit his ill mother. He spends a couple of weeks with her, no problem. But he’s too dangerous to allow to fly back out of the country.And since the “no fly list” doesn’t offer specific charges, he can’t counter them.
•A woman tries to attract support for her Kickstarter art project by showcasing other people’s art (as an example of the sort of thing she’ll be doing, she says).
•A homeowners association bankrupts itself over a yard sign that was four inches too tall. More detail here.
•Another story of criminal foreclosure practices.
•The World Economics Forum reports the US is Number One on GDP, but scores much lower on pretty much everything else.
•David Sirota says it’s hard to be a Randian if you see the levels of suffering in the Third World.
•While I doubt I will ever be writing about female musicians, here’s some good advice for anyone who does: Do you compare the artist only to other women? Would your writing sound ridiculous if you said the same things about a guy?