Blog Heap of Links for the day 3 May 2012

Twitter has become the battleground for the 2012 elections and the fight to push the country further left or closer to the right. It is the vehicle that not only informs and influences the opinions of others, but often it is Twitter that actually drives the news cycle.... thought this might be the perfect opportunity to share a list of the “Top Ten Dirty Tricks Leftists Play Online...." there are some on the left who vehemently disagree with such tactics.... there are some on the right who might not play entirely fairly, either.... the instigators of such tactics I’m about to list below appear to be overwhelmingly left-leaning....

Photos... show five men arrested Monday, April 30, 2012... accused of plotting to blow up a bridge near Cleveland, Ohio... no danger to the public... explosives were inoperable... controlled by an undercover FBI employee... target of the plot was a bridge that carries a four-lane state highway over part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in the Brecksville area, about 15 miles south of downtown Cleveland... [alleged that] the five #occupiers repeatedly attempted to blow up the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Bridgey bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, about 15 miles south of downtown Cleveland.... The bridge links two wealthy suburbs.... Occupy Cleveland group says the men were associated with the movement but don’t represent Occupy Cleveland or its nonviolent views. [Of course not.]

The blind Chinese human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest on April 22 and may be under the protection of the U.S. Embassy, was initially detained for exposing the massive abuse of Chinese women under China’s one-child policy. His documentation of forced sterilizations and abortions landed him in jail for four years, followed by a year and a half of house arrest. His daring escape has now triggered renewed attacks on organizations engaged in helping Chinese women keep and feed their infants.