Blog Heap of Links for the day 10 March 2011

Thousands of protesters pushed past security, climbed through windows and flooded the Wisconsin Capitol on Wednesday night after Senate Republicans pushed through a plan to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights. [We've gone to mob action. Yup, that's how I learned in grade school that American politics is supposed to work. Now LET'S GET A ROPE!... oh, wait...]

PolitiFact Wisconsin has compiled promises that Scott Walker made during the 2010 campaign and is tracking their progress on our Walk-O-Meter.

France is the first country to formally recognise the legitimacy of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council and will open an embassy in Benghazi, the government announced after meeting with NTC representatives in Paris Thursday.

In the middle of a grueling campaign during World War II, the young soldier from Tulsa, desperate for food, had been searching a dead German's body in a foxhole he'd discovered. But when he heard it - the voice like his father's that he swore had called his name - Bell froze. Dropping an unopened can of rations, he quickly climbed out of the hole. Before he could ascertain what he'd heard, though, a deafening explosion knocked Bell off his feet.

The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee says Thursday's hearing on Islamic radicalism could be used by terrorists to inspire a new generation of suicide bombers. [PC has reached its zenith! Now we can't speak of opposing murderers lest we inspire murder! OH boy!]

Three Oklahoma lawmakers who advocate stricter immigration controls are among a dozen U.S. legislators targeted by the Southern Poverty Law Center for their "radical" beliefs. Republican state Reps. Sally Kern and Charles Key of Oklahoma City and Randy Terrill of Moore are highlighted in the "Attacking the Constitution: State Legislators for Legal Immigration & the Anti-Immigrant Movement" report. "It's astounding how far outside the mainstream they are," Heidi Beirich, research director for the center, said of the legislators. "These folks are flat-out extremists."

Marlboro & Campbell's mashup

Ronald Searle has sold 2,000 sketches, 50 books of drawings and lithographs — the bulk of his original artwork — to a German museum who paid 1 million Euros ($1.4 million). The work spans six decades.

The Oklahoma House has approved a measure barring abortions on fetuses more than 20 weeks after conception... Its author, Rep. Pam Peterson of Tulsa, said research indicates pain receptors exist in a fetus that is 16 weeks old, and nerves linking the receptors to the brain exist by 20 weeks. ... The bill exempts pregnant women whose life or health is threatened. The measure makes it a felony to perform an abortion in violation of the act....

Graham Waspe's guide dog is not just aiding his owner to carry out everyday tasks, but also helping his previous one to get around in Stowmarket, Suffolk.

It remains unclear why it took 10 years for authorities to discover that the children were missing.

The keys were left with the teens so they could listen to the radio, he said. One girl went to the casino while the daughter stayed behind and began huffing compressed air from a can, O'Mara said. The girl told deputies she was circling the parking lot in the van when she blacked out. The van jumped three curbs, hit a security car and then hit the casino building about 3 p.m., O'Mara said. No one was injured, he said. The girl who drove the van told deputies that she had taken an unknown number of prescription pills, not knowing what effect the pills would have

Two teenage girls were arrested Wednesday after crashing a van into the Will Rogers Casino near Claremore... Deputies said the girls, both 15, had been huffing compressed air....

Inhofe called the administration's $556 billion proposal for the next rewrite of the nation's massive transportation bill the most unusual budget request for highways he has seen in his 20-plus years in Congress. "What is unusual is that it ignores the fact that there is no money to fund it," the Oklahoma Republican said.

While mothers and fathers are away, serving in the military, some children are finding comfort in pillowlike dolls decorated with their photos. Operation Hug-A-Hero has provided thousands of the dolls to families of soldiers.

While mothers and fathers are away, serving in the military, some children are finding comfort in pillowlike dolls decorated with their photos. Operation Hug-A-Hero has provided thousands of the dolls to families of soldiers.

The West is now home to the four fastest-growing states - Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Idaho - and has surpassed the Midwest in population, according to 2010 figures. California and Texas added to the southwestern population tilt, making up more than one-fourth of the nation's total gains since 2000.