New Jersey governor Chris Christie quietly signs wagter privatization into law.

One more reason to mess with Texas.

Veterinarian bow-hunting kitty cats.

Ugh. Gog, I saw that. That's so horrible and the fact that she posed with it. (By the contrary to what she implied, that cat wasn't a feral; it was someone's pet.

And she even joked about it. "Vet of the year...gladly accepted."

I hope find the owners of that poor cat. That's conversion of property and probably animal cruelty.

I don't have a link to post with this, but I have a question to ask of the thoughtful posters here.

I think the word "homophobia" should be retired. Not because hatred against homosexuals doesn't exist, but because it implies that discrimination based upon sexual orientation goes only one way.

A white person who hates black people is called racist. And that term equally applies to black people who hate whites.

On the other hand, a homophobe is someone who hates homosexuals. But what about those who hate heterosexuals. Or bisexuals. There's no word that covers describes hatred based on sexual orientation, regardless of which direction it goes in.

So, is there a word someone can think of that would describe someone who hates based upon sexual orientation, whether it's hetero-, homo-, bi-, or a-?

Patrick, I tried to find a generic Greek word for "orientation" that could be used with "phobia," but that turned out to be beyond my linguistic ability. I'd think "bigot" would be as descriptive a term as any, but might be a little too general to be really useful.

As far as racism goes, I've heard the argument that to be racist, you have to be in a position of power. Everyone else is merely prejudiced. While that argument can be used by minorities to defend themselves against charges of racism, it carries its own rhetorical pitfalls that people using it might not be aware of.

More bad news from the global warming front.

Wait...longer growing periods lead to increased crop yields?

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/04/reed_college_students_group_se.html#incart_most-read_portland_article

College man fights back.

Old RPM Daddy: As far as racism goes, I've heard the argument that to be racist, you have to be in a position of power. Everyone else is merely prejudiced. While that argument can be used by minorities to defend themselves against charges of racism, it carries its own rhetorical pitfalls that people using it might not be aware of.

I've heard the "racism must come from a position of power" argument and I think it's crap.

The dictionary does not include a "position of power" in the definition. I checked dictionary.com and the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

It's simply the belief that some races are superior to others. Louis Armstrong could be described as racist because he once that white musicians were always slightly behind the beat.

Amy, thought you'd like this...

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/19/garbage-pat-pope-photography-you-sold-17-million-albums-and-you-want-to-pay-me-nothing

Oh, I like this guy.

How to cable your valuables together to thwart TSA thieves.

Former head of security at Ben Gurion Airport explains why the TSA is a piece of ineffective crap.

Nice article - he pulls no punches.

"I think the word "homophobia" should be retired. Not because hatred against homosexuals doesn't exist, but because it implies that discrimination based upon sexual orientation goes only one way."

If you are in the habit of being politically correct, then I suppose you won't recognize when the meaning of a word has been perverted...

A phobia is "an unreasoning fear". It has absolutely nothing to do with hate beyond its utility in branding people in this case. The word itself, if subjected to the same rigors as used to describe other phobias, would be, "fear of man", which pretty much covers everybody.

I find it sad that so many manipulate language to get what they want, because it makes it vey hard to explain processes in engineering and the sciences.