A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated. A judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta’s west suburban outskirts. Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing

dignity and civility to Code Pink. Message sent, not received. One cannot fault his effort, though. On a related note, the troll problem has gotten bad enough that I’m going to recommend Jeff make the site registration only.

NPR: Women still earn much less than men, and minority women fall even lower on the pay scale. This, according to a new report by Women’s Way advocacy group. Valorie Rawlston Wilson, a scholar with the National Urban League Policy Institute, and Melissa Weiler Gerber, executive director of A Woman’s Way, discuss gender discrimination in pay. NPR reported its five highest paid employees were: 1. Managing Editor Barbara Rehm, $383,139

I was relieved to give my sister the good news: “Your boy is straight, and he can ball.” Well, I can see where that would . . . um . . . be . . . a, uh . . . relief.

with the candlestick? No? Well, don’t ask Snopes. And at David Thompson’s, Atomica.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips.

Via Hot Air Headlines: I have no sympathy for Madoff. But the fact is, his alleged Ponzi scheme was only slightly more outrageous than the “legal” scheme that Wall Street was running, fueled by cheap credit, low standards and high greed. What do you call giving a worker who makes only $14,000 a year a nothing-down and nothing-to-pay-for-two-years mortgage to buy a $750,000 home, and then bundling that mortgage with

It may be too late to stop the Caroline Kennedy juggernaut. But, sooner or later, New York Democrats will have to ask how – despite decades of House delegation dominance – they found themselves in the position of needing a Clinton or Kennedy to preserve a Senate seat. Where are the apparent losers that they’ve been nominating for safely gerrymandered House seats all these years – the folks who were

Read the whole thing, at NRO: In September 2002, senior leaders on the Senate and House intelligence committees — Democrats and Republicans — began receiving briefings on the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation program,” including the use of waterboarding on top al-Qaeda operatives. Among the leaders briefed was Nancy Pelosi, now speaker of the House. The lawmakers raised no objections. According to Porter Goss, a congressman at that time and later head

And the D.C. City Council recently created a new concern: The panel passed emergency legislation that would allow bars and restaurants to stay open around the clock and serve alcohol until 5 a.m. from Jan. 17 through Jan. 21. What could possibly go wrong?