Happy Friday everyone! I hope all is well and everybody is safe tonight. Please stay safe this weekend, especially if you’re in an area impacted by Ms. Irene! Now, let’s get to some news!

Hurricane Irene  As everybody knows by now, a huge Hurricane is bearing down on the East Coast, and apparently this is going to be a bad one! Just stay on top of the radar and be careful! Also, in a related note, this kind of weather might be the new normal. Climate change isn’t real though, right?

Gadhafi and Condi Sittin’ in a Tree  In a supremely weird story, rebels found a stash of photos of Condoleeza Rice in Gadhafi’s lair in Libya (also, how exactly do you spell his name??) He’s been quoted as saying, “I support my darling black African woman. I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. … Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. … I love her very much. I admire her, and I’m proud of her, because she’s a black woman of African origin.” Huh.

Boy Scout Homophobia   After they became aware of a troop leader’s sexual orientation, the Boy Scouts of America removed her from that position. The Boy Scouts don’t just discriminate against gay people though… I personally didn’t know that the Boy Scouts also prohibit atheists and agnostics, as well as gay people, from holding leadership roles within the organization. Can you imagine the outcry if they prohibited African Americans from holding leadership positions? How about people who are in an interracial marriage? This open display of discrimination is really disheartening, but a way to fight it is to boycott the Boy Scouts. We should ban together and do just that!

Drug Testing the Unemployed  The old “let’s drug test unemployed people because they’re all losers!” idea is back. GOP state representative, Tim Grendell, from Ohio is going to propose legislation that would require anybody taking any kind of government assistance (including unemployment) to get be drug tested first. It’s insulting on its face, but what people tend to forget is PEOPLE PAY INTO UNEMPLOYMENT. It’s not a handout – it’s a right and it’s INSURANCE that you pay into while you’re working. Who do these people think they are to legislate everybody else’s life choices?! This is so infuriating. Not only is it maddening and insulting, but it’s also unconstitutional.

Celebrating 91 Years of Women Voting 91 years ago today, women got the right to vote! This is a huge, amazing, wonderful thing that nobody is really talking about. In addition to not enough talk about the gains women have made in history, there’s also not enough talk about the efforts being made today (mainly by the GOP) to keep women down and reverse progress that has been made. Today, however, let’s celebrate the good things and look to the future to make sure women continue to make progress!

Oil is Resurfacing in the Gulf  Not that the oil ever really went away or just dispersed, but now there seems to be “fresh” oil bubbling to the surface.   The Coast Guard and BP claim they haven’t discovered a fresh leak, but they’ll keep searching for the source of the leak. So, let me get this straight – they won’t acknowledge a fresh leak, but claim they’re going to continue looking for the source. Makes sense.

Israeli Blindness As Israelis are organizing demonstrations to protest the skyrocketing cost of living and hardships they’re facing, they ignore the humanitarian crisis that is the West Bank. Israel is ignoring the crisis they are facilitating by justifying their actions with cries of “national security.” However, some Israeli citizens are acknowledging a problem and at times, putting their own lives on the line, to protest the situation. I really applaud those people and hope that we show them our support from across the world.

Thanks for checking in – please come back tomorrow, and again…. BE SAFE!

Sources: CNN, The LA Times, MSNBC, Think Progress, Daily Kos,