Link round-up for 21 May 2011

Well, this is one way to reward employees, but I wonder what they do for female sales people?

What an utter wanker.

Annoyed by lousy spelling? Payback is sweet (found via Mendip).

An anti-gay preacher causes a stir with a prayer in the Minnesota House. (Anti-gay? With that hat? And that hair?)

Ranch Chimp looks at Boston's Museum of Bad Art.

Harold Camping's end-of-the-world drivel has inspired idiots to throw away their life savings and sane people to plan parties (here's one) and other fun ways to spend the day. Impending doom is all the gays' fault (so if the world doesn't end, does that mean the gays are off the hook?). Dead Logic has a recommended reading list, StormWatch 7 has a weather forecast, and SpoonBlog has a student FAQ; in any case, God may be running late (last 3 links found via Mendip).

See a collection of heart-warming photos from President Obama's visit to Booker T Washington high school in Memphis.

PZ Myers fisks Deepak Chopra's befuddled gibberish.

Defending the First Amendment earns the hatred of fanatics -- and they'll violate it anyway. Here's why it matters, and a history of the case (where you can also donate to a scholarship fund).

A study of the problem of child-raping Catholic priests, funded by the Church itself, completely exonerates the Church; it was all the liberal counter-culture's fault. Glad that's been cleared up.

Krugman warns Obama against yielding to debt-ceiling blackmail.

Here's more about that "Welcome" ad rejected by the Sojourners: "taking sides", widespread prejudice, an open letter, and a waffling defense.

The US faces a new terrorist threat.

With Huckabee out, Republicans have lost their top voice for the middle class -- and Bachmann has a better shot at the nomination. Gingrich has spectacularly self-destructed (found via Plutocrap). And Republicans in general aren't too happy with the problem- plagued candidates they've got.

Gay marriage now has firm majority support among people under 50 and among religious groups other than evangelicals.

Republicans like to call regulations, tax hikes, and minimum-wage increases "job killers"; here's empirical evidence that they're wrong (found via Plutocrap).

A new website, DropFox, focuses on efforts to get advertisers to stop supporting Fox News.

It's the workers, not the rich, who create wealth and jobs.

Here's a guide for the religious on re-absorbing young escapees -- is this really the best they can do?

High-school student Amy Myers, who challenged Bachmann to a debate, is being barraged with frightening threats.

Now that bin Laden has met his deserved end, we should bury the Patriot Act with him.

There's more to Republican hypocrisy about taxes than meets the eye.

Haters respond to gay-marriage prospects in New York state -- with another vehicle tour.

Why is the Washington establishment so out of step with voters' concerns about the economy?

In every religion, some women choose abortion.

It's our country too -- ten great things about America (found via Republic of Gilead).

Arch-teabagger Scott Walker is now trying to roll back the basic rights gays have won in Wisconsin -- things like hospital visitation rights. Here's an online petition against his attack.

The whole passel of nasty teabagger governors elected last year is already in the doghouse with their voters.

Gingrich wants to remake the US in the image of Texas.

From the viewpoint of religious morality, genocide is logical.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn's fall may be another blow against the embattled euro currency.

Anti-austerity protests have spread to Spain, with Tahrir-Square- inspired protest camps in Madrid and other cities (more here, with pictures). As in Egypt, tone-deaf authorities reacted with a ban.

In Britain, spending cuts and austerity are already suffocating the economic recovery.

In Australia, a Christian mob attacks a peaceful gay rally (found via Republic of Gilead). And evangelists in that country are in damage-control mode after their underhanded proselytizing of school-children is exposed.

Escalating the struggle to oust Qaddhafi, British jets obliterate the fighting power of the Libyan navy.

Bello Maasaba had a good reason for marrying 107 women -- God told him to.

Natural selection explains the prime number cycles of cicadas.

Chimpanzees' self-awareness is even more sophisticated than we thought (found via Kiko's House).

"Sex addiction" is a stupid concept.

New technology enables a paralyzed man to stand and walk.