The decision by Justice Antonin Scalia to serve as a featured speaker in an event on January 5 organized by far-right Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's Tea Party-oriented "Constitutional Conservative Caucus," is just the latest in a series of actions and statements by the Justice that threaten the integrity of the federal judiciary.
A cornerstone of the American legal system is the notion that judges and justices interpret the law fairly and impartially. This fundamental principle of our democracy is undermined when Supreme Court justices serve as willing agents of a transparently political entity like the Tea Party movement, which has an aggressive legislative and judicial agenda that is directed, in part, at the Court itself.
So Much for "Impartial" Justice: Antonin Scalia Attends Michele Bachmann's Tea Party
Outgoing GOP Senator Joins Lobbying Law Firm
Outgoing Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) is headed for a pay raise, announcing on Tuesday he'll be joining a high-profile law firm that lobbies on transportation issues. While in Congress, Bond served as ranking member on a subcommittee that doled out transportation funds. Now he is joining the St. Louis-based law firm Thompson Coburn as a partner.
"I joined this firm to be a lawyer, not to be a lobbyist," Bond told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday, pointing to ethics rules that ban former lawmakers from lobbying for two years after leaving the chamber. "I do not plan to be involved in lobbying Congress."
Study Says Thousands Get Unneeded Heart Devices
Doctors are implanting high-tech heart devices in thousands of people who probably do not need them, a new study finds. The procedures cost more than $35,000, involve surgery and anesthesia, and may unnecessarily harm some patients.
The devices, called defibrillators, fire an electrical shock to jolt the heart back into a normal rhythm if it starts to beat in a disordered way that can cause sudden death. In people who truly need them, for conditions that can fatally disrupt heart rhythm, defibrillators can be life-saving.
Stem cells clue to beating baldness
Activating dormant stem cells in the scalp could be the key to banishing baldness, scientists believe. Researchers made the discovery after examining tissue sample from men undergoing hair transplants.
Comparing follicles from bald and hairy scalp patches, they found that both contained the same number of stem cells.But more mature cells called progenitor cells were lacking in the bald areas.Stem cells in the scalp normally develop into progenitor cells, which in turn give rise to new hair growth.
WikiLeaks releases documents about anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd
Japanese and American officials discussed taking action to weaken a prominent anti-whaling group, with Tokyo insisting that Sea Shepherd's confrontations on the high seas actually hurt efforts to reduce whaling, U.S. diplomatic cables show.
The U.S. representative to the International Whaling Commission, Monica Medina, discussed revoking the U.S.-based conservation group's tax-exempt status during a meeting with senior officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan in November 2009, according to the documents released by WikiLeaks on Monday.
PTSD Linked To Long Term Physical, Emotional And Cognitive Symptoms

The authors wrote: "Nearly 2 million troops have been deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom since 2001. High levels of combat exposure have been documented among Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom-deployed soldiers, with increased risk of blast exposure and injury and development of post-deployment mental and physical health problems."
Researchers find "alarming" decline in bumblebees
Four previously abundant species of bumblebee are close to disappearing in the United States, researchers reported Monday in a study confirming that the agriculturally important bees are being affected worldwide.
They documented a 96 percent decline in the numbers of the four species, and said their range had shrunk by as much as 87 percent. As with honeybees, a pathogen is partly involved, but the researchers also found evidence of inbreeding caused by habitat loss.
Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions
Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics.
State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees, which typically make up a significant percentage of state budgets. On Wednesday, for example, New York’s new Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, is expected to call for a one-year salary freeze for state workers, a move that would save $200 million to $400 million and challenge labor’s traditional clout in Albany.
Wayne Madsen: Sweden co-opted by CIA/Pentagon to launder Wikileaks cables
WMR has learned from a long-time Republican Party consultant that the CIA used Sweden to launder the transfer to Wikileaks of carefully screened and redacted State Department cables and the subsequent release of the cables to pre-selected corporate news media entities. Sweden was chosen because of its so-called “press freedom and freedom of expression” traditions in an effort to make the release of the cables by Wikileaks appear to be unconnected to a covert CIA and Pentagon psychological operations program designed to place further controls on the Internet.
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- Human embryonic stem cells may help older people battle blindness
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