Link round-up for 26 June 2011

A road trip through the South encounters ominous signs.

Alexandria VA has curious safety priorities.

Louis CK looks at why people object to gays.

Women in New Zealand are going wild for an innovative new beverage. Offer to buy one for the next lady you meet in a bar!

This may be the dumbest fence-building mistake ever (found via Mendip).

Here's a take-down of some standard Christian clichés.

Murr Brewster watches the Portland Pride Parade and considers the future of equality.

Ranch Chimp pays tribute to Lady Gaga.

Last weekend's Seattle SlutWalk looks like a fun event.

An MRA in church probably isn't there for the religion stuff.

Family values evolve over time.

Explore the dark sexual undertones of.....Captain Hook? (found via Mendip).

Check out the 100 longest Wikipedia articles -- some are just lists, but does The Young and the Restless really merit a longer article than Hitler?

Here's one pastor who understands why Christianity has an image problem.

As migration depopulates the Great Plains, it may be time to bring back the buffalo.

The Christian Right finally finds some religious-themed public art that it objects to.

What's the problem with Texas? Demons, apparently. But there are good people there too.

The "Give us your cash, bitch" ad works its magic on Republicans' image in California.

Gingrich didn't realize his Tiffany credit line would need to be disclosed.

Huntsman's campaign kick-off wasn't exactly a masterpiece of organizational competence.

Bachmann hates socialism, except in her own case.

Parsley's Pics looks at the four brave Republicans who made the New York victory possible. Ed Brayton and Good As You have round-ups of right-wing reactions; see also (inevitably) Maggie Gallagher.

Yes, an uninsured person can get medical care in the US, and James Verone has proven it.

The Old Testament is invoked to justify a modern stoning -- in Philadelphia.

Don't be chicken -- boycott Chick-Fil-A.

Robert Lee's enthusiasm for the Bible didn't stop him from abusing a child to death -- but then, why would it?

Van Jones eloquently explains the differences between us and them (read about his potential lawsuit).

Several Congressional Democrats (and Ron Paul) try to repeal Prohibition.

Congress can balance the budget by doing nothing at all.

Obama's cautious line on Afghanistan carries little domestic political risk.

The CIA's standard plan for destabilizing a target government is being followed in an unlikely place -- and some Democrats are starting to point it out.

Voters are still moving away from the Republicans, especially the governors (but note that Brewer surged in popularity after signing the Arizona anti-illegal-alien law, and may well use the same issue again).

House Democrats vow to fight for Social Security.

Romney and Bachmann emerge as the candidates of, respectively, the Sane and Nutty factions of the right, but Rick Perry also has his supporters (found via Republic of Gilead), there are dark horses to consider, and Palin could still upset the whole applecart (snicker).

A partnership between Delta Airlines and Saudi Arabia leads to accusations that the airline condones Saudi anti-Jewish policies; Delta denies it. The airline has other issues, though (found via Mendip).

Modern pagans celebrate the summer solstice at Stonehenge.

The British use the same language as we do, but sometimes with a style all their own.

Gypsy artists challenge stereotypes in Europe.

Young Norwegians launch an eye-catching campaign against deforestation.

The Elvis cult lives on -- in Denmark.

Der Spiegel recently published research confirming that the English people are mainly of Germanic origin; the story set off a tongue-in-cheek tabloid war of stereotypes between the two countries.

The struggle for secular education continues in Ireland.

Britain's Parliament is reforming the country's most disgraceful law.

Silvana Koch-Mehrin committed such gross academic fraud that the University of Heidelberg withdrew her PhD -- but that didn't stop the EU Parliament from giving her a plum appointment (she later resigned under pressure from scientists).

As Spain's economy stagnates under EU-imposed austerity poli- cies, the educated young seek a future in the booming economies of Latin America. In Greece, facing similar EU plans that would hit the poor hard while letting the rich continue to avoid taxes (sound familiar?), the protest movement promises the mother of all fights.

Even the pro-EU Der Spiegel now describes the euro currency as "the greatest threat to Europe's future". Greece may need to leave the euro currency zone to escape its problems; some in Britain want to cut Greece loose.

The real problem is the shift of power from democratic national governments to unaccountable EU institutions and market forces, which are spreading ruin and anger across Europe. Meanwhile the EU is spending over $300 million on a lavish new headquarters for itself, which will be finished in 2014 -- but will there still be an EU then?

This widely-seen map is a lie (found via Daphne Anson).

As rebels gain ground in western Libya and close in on Tripoli, diplomats flock to their Benghazi headquarters.

The Iranian theocracy is still trying to build nukes and abusing political prisoners.

While Republicans cut US investment in infrastructure, China literally races ahead.

Britain is building a new flying machine combining the features of airship and airplane.

Environmentalism is fighting to save not nature, but ourselves.

Type 2 diabetes, long thought incurable, can now be cured by a tough diet.

If you want children to learn, teach them to ask smart questions instead of stupid ones.

We should stop performing cruel experiments on close relatives.