New stories:

• The Orphanage 10 by Jaypat
• Perspective by Londonboy
• Überteen by muscl4life

The California marriage decision and basic civics--Get ready for an influx of June brides and bridesgrooms, but how long will the party last?

Ex-spokesman McClellan blasts Bush administration in book--Shorter "What happened" by Matthew Baldwin: "I totally didn't know I was lying those 630,000 times."

5 Million E-Mail Messages -- How the White House Lost Them...

Politics and the media

• An open letter to Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos
• CNN reporter talks of pressure to be patriotic
• Fox News caught flashing subliminal image

Gamblers' shuttle gets terrorism funds--Money talks, soldiers have to walk

FBI Caused Delay in Terror Case Ahead of Senate Testimony

New story: The Boarding House No.1 by Glaucon55

Mr. President, the war isn’t about you — or golf

Nir Rosen

• The Myth of the Surge
• Selling the War with Iran--With the media's help
• Interview with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman: 1 | 2

Feith Blames Public For Feeling Misled About Iraq: 'I Think They Misremember A Lot'--Watch Jon Stewart rip apart 'the stupidest fucking guy on the planet'.

War Dodgers--Seeking asylum in Canada for those haven't been rebuffed.

Top Dems demand FCC review of Pentagon fake news

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' dealt body blow

Family's Sole Surviving Son Denied GI Benefits

Supporting the troops... by banning Playboy?--What do they expect these soldiers to do? Each other? Oh wait...

New stories: Captive by Redkage and Rage by xythan_shadow

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Religious nuts

• UK teen faces prosecution for sign calling Scientology a "dangerous cult"
• Wis. parents who prayed as diabetic daughter died charged
• Group finds Starbucks logo too hot to handle

Religion a figment of human imagination--Apparently, Einstein didn't think too highly of it either.

Creationists

• Texas higher education board rejects 'creation science' degree proposal
• 16% of US science teachers are creationists
• Garland man finds fossil of mosasaur in Duck Creek--"How can these be 3 million years old?" he asked, citing his belief that the world is much younger.

Appeals Court Rules Against Texas in Polygamy Case

New story and artwork: Here's another one of those better-late-than-never projects, this one conceived almost 3 years ago to the day. Read How Greg Louganis Joined the Junior Swim Team by Mike Neal.

A Veteran MAD Man Remains in the Fold

Cracked.com

• The 9 Most Obnoxious Memes to Ever Escape the Web
• The 6 Creepiest Comic Book Characters of All Time
• 7 Random Objects Sold as Exercise Machines
• Near Misses: The 6 Worst Movies Hollywood Almost Made
• 5 Psychological Experiments That Prove Humanity is Doomed

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull--While it doesn't have the same oomph The Last Crusade has, Crystal Skull delivers some old-school adventure fun and a fitting coda to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Salon

New comic: I started and got stalled with this comic over 2 years ago. That'll teach me to draw a story without an outline. Read Justin and Jon.

New stories: Boot Camp Runners by Peterbilt and Caleb's Big Problem by Londonboy

Government and Privacy

• Republicans push for phone company immunity--They make it clear where their priorities lie. Follow the money.
• FBI Targets Internet Archive With Secret 'National Security Letter', Loses
• Judge bars unauthorized sales of phone records
• Judge: Man can't be forced to divulge encryption passphrase
• NJ court requires subpoena for Internet subscriber records
• Canadian Privacy Commissioner Orders Bar to Stop Scanning IDs
• FBI wants to move hunt for criminals into Internet backbone
• Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime
• 'Big Brother' database for phones and e-mails--Hello, this is Orwell calling.

Anonymity

• Washingtonpost.com wants identities of readers who post comments
• Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal
• Yale students unable to identify anonymous forum bashers

Liberty and Justice For All

California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban--Oh, about those "unelected" judges, guess who put 'em there.

Why the California Supreme Court did more than legalize gay marriage

California's marriage ruling -- what it means and what it doesn't mean Salon

For Newsom, same-sex marriage ruling is vindication

Marriage Ruling Vaults Issue Back to Campaign Stages--"Gay marriage is an issue on which the three major presidential candidates... are pretty much in agreement. All oppose it...."

Protecting the Sanctity of Marriage

New stories: The Young and Not So Young by Peterbilt and Muscle for Hire 7 by Londonboy

Forget Miley Cyrus. Check out Disney's Chinese underwear ad.--Maybe Hannah should talk to Harry.

Educamation

• Teachers say principal threatened to kill them if TAKS test scores didn't improve
• Teacher fired for refusing to sign loyalty oath
• Teacher Fired for Magic Trick, County Calls It "Wizardry"--This is why Florida has a special Fark tag all its own.
• Maybe He Shouldn’t Have Spoken His Mind--One university's reprehensible retaliation against an outspoken critic
• 8-year-old boy suspended for sniffing marker
• School Bill Would Force Parents To Volunteer
• When school bullies get out of hand

Think for the children

• How Dangerous Is the Internet for Children?--Not as much as it's being hyped
• Sex Offender E-Mail Registry Proposed To Protect Minors Online--Completely ineffectual except at showing they're doing "something".
• MySpace to Let Parents Block Their Kids From Joining--Ditto this.

New stories: Dads and Sons by Peterbilt and The Trickster by xythan_shadow

Fair Use and copyright

• Big Content in worldwide "whisper campaign" against Fair Use
• Schneier on Security: Law Review Article on the Problems with Copyright
• Fair use advocates hit back with copyright principles of their own
• EU suggests singers and musicians should earn copyright fees for 95 years
• History suggests copyright crusade is a lost cause
• Controversial Pro-IP Act sails through Judiciary Committee--Can this be appealed to a higher standard?
• Troubling "Digital Theft Prevention" Requirements Remain in Higher Education Bill

Happy Mother's Day

New stories: Making Out of the Team Bus by Peterbilt and High School Bully 8 by BBMSN

Missed Spellings

• The Isle of White
• Poor spellers to be shamed by university
• Boulder County fixes historic typo near Gold Hill--"It could have been a mistake, like the pictures you see of the road-painting guys who misspelled 'school.'"

Shop 'n shave

• Man hair: How to Turn Your Body Into A Hairless Wonderland With Gadgets
• How To Shave The Modern Male
• Wax on, wax off

Rome, if you want to

• Cave of Romulus and Remus located in Rome
• Ancient Roman road map unveiled
• I'm Sorry, Marcus--The politics of computer gaming

Stories I'm Reading: Entries for the 2008 EroticGayHypnosis Master of Amateurs Story Contest

• All’s Fair
• Big Boy Billy
• Dan
• Defiance
• The Masseuse
• The MC Gym
• The Customer is Always Right
• Video Booth

Music

• Does She Look Like a Music Pirate?
• Why the Music Industry is Lying to You
• The Democratization of the Music Industry
• From major to minor
• RIAA: Piracy fight more important than net neutrality bill--A Democratic Senator begs to disagree
• RIAA files supplemental brief in Atlantic v. Howell; argues personal copies ripped to computer are unauthorized
• RIAA Believes MP3s Are A Crime: Why This Matters
• RIAA boss: Move copyright filtering from ISPs to users’ PCs
• Home copying - burnt into teenage psyche
• Why Apple is more expensive than Amazon

Stories I'm Reading: Entries for the 2008 EroticGayHypnosis Master of Masters Story Contest

• Detention
• Empathy
• In Too Deep, Part 1
• Just Right
• Lifetime Alterations
• My Wish is Your Command
• One Step at a Time
• Revisionist History (Lindros edition)
• Swap Around

Drug raising

• Father of LSD takes final trip
• Dutch bill to ban magic mushrooms
• 18 fictional drugs

A hoax upon you

• "Skeleton of Giant" Is Internet Photo Hoax
• China Eats Crow Over Faked Photo Of Rare Antelope
• Photofakery

Taking lapse

• CSS Homer--Drawing a character, character by character
• Cherry blossoms in bloom
• Clock of clocks

New story: Boarding House by Peterbilt

Happy 10th Anniversary PVP--Newsarama.com looks at the history and success of this webcomic in this four-part interview with creator Scott Kurtz.

Pics picks

• Shadow illusions
• Cube art
• Dirt car art
• Double entendre ads
• Sticking out
• Perfect timing
• Matchstick man

Sometimes keeping fit is not enough

New story: Jumper by zulator

Iron Man--For me, it's the best Marvel movie adaptation since Spider-Man thanks to Jon Favreau's skillful direction, ILM's amazing animation, and Robert Downey's wonderful portrayal of cool exec-with-a-heart-of-steel Tony Stark. Stick around after the credits for an ultimately cool comic book geek-out surprise. Salon

Borne false witnessing

• 26-Year Secret Kept Innocent Man In Prison
• Man falsely jailed for 20 years
• Exoneration Using DNA Brings Change in Legal System
• State doesn't have 'we're sorry' fund for Tim Masters
• How To Survive in Prison as an Innocent Man Convicted of a Sex Crime
• Man Threatens Suit After Being Wrongly Jailed For 37 Days
• Chicago Man Sues after Prostitution Arrest
• Duke lacrosse players file lawsuit against prosecutor, others
• Wrongly Convicted Man Sued for Child Support
• FBI's Bullet Lead Analysis Used Flawed Science To Convict Hundreds Of Defendants--The Silent Injustice is deafening
• Man Imprisoned for 9 Years for Murder Is Released in Wake of DNA Evidence