Daily Blend: Saturday, May 15, 2010

And the quest to get myself a credit card begins …

• Shocker: GOP now blocking legislation that would increase liability caps for oil companies. Quote: “[it] would unfairly advantage large oil companies by pricing the small companies out of the market”. Except that it isn’t a freaking tax; it’s to put pressure oil companies large and small to improve their safety precautions and to ensure that they will pay the appropriate price if they fail to do so.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Radley Balko notes how the phrase “police militarization” could reasonably be seen as an insult to the military. And that’s just fucked-up.

• Weird beyond comprehension: GOP kills a scientific research and education funding bill by including a sneaky provision to penalize government employees caught watching porn at work, thus “forcing” Democrats to vote against it. I don’t even know what the hell this means. Somebody explain to me how or why voting in favor of this would’ve been a bad thing?
  (via @BadAstronomer)

• More corporate douchiness: Subway wants to trademark a unit of measure and have everyone else stop using the term “footlong”. The only way I won’t cry myself to death is if this gets laughed out of court within 10 seconds of its introduction.
  (via Fark)

• 14-year-old autistic boy makes a stick figure, labeled as himself, pointing a gun at another stick figure representing a teacher. Naturally, that’s a terrorist threat, folks.

• Economic hitmen.

As always, if you have any story suggestions, feel free to send them in.