After being hit by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake last September, Christchurch, New Zealand has been hit again on Tuesday with another massive earthquake. Tuesday’s quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.3, but was very shallow, very near the city and struck in the early afternoon. Reuters reports that there are multiple fatalities

After the Guardian confirmed for the Anglo-American world what the rest of the world had already concluded–that Raymond Davis is some kind of spook–the government gave the American outlets that have been sitting on this knowledge the go-ahead to publish it.

The Oscars are Sunday, and as usual we’ll be live blogging them, so I thought tonight would be a good time for us to discuss what we’ve seen, what we liked, who are rooting for and to have a little contest. You can find a list of nominees here on the official Academy Awards site, and we’ve a got a few clips up as well.

Amid reports of at least 250 protesters killed today alone, scores of Libyan diplomats resigning and trying to distance themselves from Gaddafi and news that the airspace over Tripoli has been closed, making evacuations impossible, there are reports that Gaddafi is going to address the nation shortly – or possibly hold an interview according to [...]

Washington concerns aren’t being driven by outside agitators so much as by their penchant to cover up the misdeeds of elites. If we don’t address the financial system and their role in the crisis, if we don’t address the jobs crisis, then there’s really nowhere else to go to but the budget. And so we have this warped conversation where deficits stand in for economic growth and opportunity, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Wisconsin remains the main battleground for the broader assault on worker’s rights. But elsewhere in the Big Ten states and across the country, these battles have moved forward. In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich is pushing pretty much the exact same bill as Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Known as SB 5, the bill would strip collective bargaining rights from Ohio public employees. SB 5 is a piece of legislation, so Kasich isn’t trying to implement this under the cover of a budget bill. However, he has said that if he doesn’t get what he wants out of SB 5, he will put those items into the next budget bill. Alternatively, this could go to the ballot. So SB 5 won’t be the last showdown. The Governor, aping Scott Walker, claims this is a fiscal issue, but nobody can explain how much money SB 5 would sav

Just as we saw with the vaunted Bush-era color coded terror warning level charts that were overtly manipulated at election time and Obama-era rape-scanners that were turned off on national opt-out day, the increasing frequency of drone attacks in northwest Pakistan has been shown to be just another prop in the ongoing security theater farce directed by the US government and produced by the military industrial complex. Because drone attacks were simply “turned off” when the political pressure arising from the Raymond Davis affair got too high in Pakistan (and then turned back on when word got out), it cannot be concluded that the attacks are anything more than theater. Essential functions in a vital war cannot be turned off due to political pressure, just as essential screening practices cannot be turned off due to political pressure. Props, however, can be used as the situation allows.

The State Senate in Wisconsin plans to meet today, and take up items of a non-fiscal nature. Budget bills require a 3/5 quorum of the State Senate, but non-budget bills do not. So the Republican majority can operate on those bills if they so chose.

There are multiple reports of fighter jets firing on protesters in Tripoli as well as continued reports of live fire in the capital city. The Guardian includes a report of naval bombardment, as well.

Taking away labor’s right to collective bargaining because of a budget shortfall is like invading Iraq in response to 9/11. It’s a right-wing non sequitur.