If it weren't for Ray Manzarek, the world would never know the genius of Jim Morrison. RIP Ray. Story here: Ray Manzarek, the founding keyboardist for the Doors, passed away this morning in Germany, according to a statement from his publicist. The cause was bile duct cancer. As a member of the legendary rock band that formed in 1965 in Los Angeles and effectively ...

Louisiana's legislators are continuing their legislative jihad to keep the theory of evolution out of the state's public school science classrooms. On 1 May, legislators killed a bill to repeal Louisiana's creationism law, the misnamed Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA). The law allows non-science to be snuck into science classrooms by teachers who use supplemental materials to "critique" politically controversial (but not scientifically ...

Court records did not identify Rosen by name, but government officials confirmed to the Post that he was a target in the case. Both Rosen and Fox News declined to respond to the paper about the allegations. In the court documents, FBI agent Reginald Reyes described a cloak-and-dagger system of communication and meetings between Kim and Rosen, including one or more "face-to-face" meetings ...

As much of the nation continues to debate gun control and as Colorado gets ready to implement sweeping new gun control laws just passed in the latest legislative session, one small town in southwest Colorado has decided to go in the opposite direction by passing an ordinance that makes gun ownership mandatory. Nucla, Colo., about 50 miles south of Grand Junction and with ...

CNN's Howard Kurtz, who knows a little bit about being in the line of media fire for his own work, offered ABC News's embattled Jon Karl the chance to defend himself on Reliable Sources Sunday. Karl, of course, is in hot water because his "scoop" revealing that the White House tampered with Benghazi talking points relied on doctored email leaked by House Republican ...

Only 300 points now separate the #1 surfer in the world (Adriano de Souza) and the #3 surfer in the world (Mick Fanning). And this guy, Jordy Smith, is right there between them. And between tubes at Kirra, turns at Bells and airs in Rio, he didn't get there by surfing safe. More: JORDY SMITH WINS BILLABONG RIO PRO

"He was misled and I don't know how you can stand by a story if the story is wrong," Shuster argued. "He could have put this email out and said, 'I've been debriefed on the email from a Republican congressional source and here's what they tell me.' Instead, ABC News said that they 'obtained' the emails and Jonathan Karl made it seem if ...

A new study confirms that the vast majority of scientists who research the climate accept that the planet is warming and human beings are largely responsible. Yet a large slice of the American public believes that scientists are deeply split about global warming. More: Scientists Agree on Climate Change, Why Doesn't the Public? : NPR

A Travis County district court judge ruled this week that a Houston-based tea party group is not a nonprofit corporation as it claims, but an unregistered political action committee that illegally aided the Republican Party through its poll-watching efforts during the 2010 elections. The summary judgment by Judge John Dietz upheld several Texas campaign finance laws that had been challenged on constitutional grounds ...

Having failed twice before, Rep. Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe, is promoting another stealth creationist bill, House Bill 116, which "provides relative to textbooks and other instructional materials for [public] elementary and secondary schools."When Rep. Gene Reynolds, D-Dubberly, expressed concern that HB116 could permit adoption of controversial books on evolution and other subjects (Advocate May 13), he was exactly right. Hoffmann responded, "That is ...

Are you ready for the imagery war -- the war against personal photography and capturing of video? You'd better be. In some cities, like New York, the surveillance-industrial complex has its fangs deeply into government for the big bucks. It's there we heard the Police Commissioner -- just hours ago, really -- claim that "privacy is off the table." But what about the ...

More: PBS Killed Wisconsin Uprising Documentary 'Citizen Koch' to Appease Koch Brothers "Citizen Koch," a documentary about money in politics focused on the Wisconsin uprising, was shunned by PBS for fear of offending billionaire industrialist David Koch, who has given $23 million to public television, according to Jane Mayer of the New Yorker. The dispute highlights the increasing role of private money in "public" ...

Global warming isn't happening, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) argued over the weekend, pointing to the fact that it was snowing in Alaska in May. "Global warming my gluteus maximus," she wrote in a post on her Facebook page, adding a small dose of politics to a picture of her youngest daughter Piper in the snow after graduation. "This is what 'Grad ...

More: Secret Service Eyes Right Winger Who Wants to 'Shoot Hillary Clinton in the Vagina' The Secret Service is following up on recent comments by right wing radio host Pete Santilli, who claimed to want to shoot former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the vagina and see President Obama tried and shot for treason. “We are aware of Mr. Santilli’s comments and will ...

It's not easy to be a socially responsible consumer. Even if you buy mostly local products and diligently keep track of corporate environmental footprints, you may still be leaving a trail of slaves in your wake. After all, who do you think is digging up the minerals in your smartphone or picking the cotton for your T-shirts? Slavery Footprint, a new website and ...

Obesity is on the rise-- as is the incidence of Heart Disease, Diabetes, Stroke and various forms of Cancer. And, shockingly, diseases that had in the past begun in old age are now appearing at much earlier ages. A groundbreaking scientific study showed how easily (and inexpensively) the rate of occurrence of these and other serious illness could be greatly reduced-- but this information ...

How do you stop one anti-government extremist from coordinating a trillion dollar "paper terrorism" scheme involving a raft of false financial documents, or deal with another who sues prosecutors for allegedly conspiring against him by using poor grammar? This is the question that state governments and federal agencies are faced with, ever since a surge of people who consider themselves "sovereign citizens" began ...

Tim Minchin's live performance of Woody Allen Jesus at the Coronet in London, November 2012. I am just amused.

Very good commentary on the AP scandal by MSNBC's Chris Hayes. Video

73 years later is still relevant and powerful as ever. It's also because of this movie that Charlie Chaplin was labelled a "premature anti-fascist."