SAR #14078

Data does not speak for itself, and the quality of interpreters varies.

Told Ya' So: Remember when they said the NSA did not listen to our phone calls and only performed analysis on the 'meta data'? Turns out they were telling a version of the truth. But now it turns out the can reach into that big closet of theirs and listen to them whenever they want. And they could do it to 100% of the calls in a certain 'unidentified' country back in 2009. That was then, this is now.

The Worm Turns: Nearly 75% of the US corn crop is grown from Bt-seed, genetically designed to be impervious to rootworms. Too bad the rootworms have evolved to happily munch away at Bt-corn. It's almost enough to make you believe in evolution...

Been There, Doing That: The concern is not that under some future stress America might turn to torture again. It's a valid concern, in that we never stopped. The real crime is that the torture we know about was not done to stop some terrorist plot, but to deliberately create false confessions. 
 
Seeing The Forest: Some 500 trees along a 15 mile stretch of Interstate 6 north of Tacoma will be sacrificed so NSA can better watch you via the traffic control cameras.

Cow/Cabbage: US productivity has quadrupled since 1947, and until about 1980 the workers shared in the gains, but since then. Oddly, that's about the time unions became obsolete. The ever widening gap is the defining issue of our time. It is not just about the money. It's about the pitchforks, too.

The J. Egdar Rule: Nancy Pelosi admits that Congress doesn't confront the intelligence agencies “because they come after you...”

Zero Tolerance: A kid in Jefferson, Ohio has been kicked out of school and arrested for having a pocket knife in his car parked on school property. Are lobotomies a prerequisite for school administrators? 
 
The Rest of the Story: In order to prepare their students to face the real world, many colleges have opened food banks for their students.

Diagnosis: According to Pat Robertson, God gave a woman cancer in order to encourage her to forgive her abusive father.

Porn O'Graph: Footprints.

The Parting Shot:

 Queen Parrotfish, Scarus vetula.