9/11

1. A new report says Texas has the highest percentage of people without health insurance in the United States. That’s very reckless in any state where the Bush family has driver’s licenses. Apparently, most of the uninsured feel that Texas will just put them on death row eventually anyway.

2. Facebook has now launched Facebook Lite, a simpler version of Facebook for developing regions that don’t have fast internet connections. For example, anywhere covered by Time Warner Cable.

3. Two members of the community activist group ACORN were fired after an undercover camera showed them giving economic advice to a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute. For example, when buying a house, they reminded the couple that a whorehouse is not necessarily a whorehome. They also told the woman to register as a “performance artist” (true), maybe because she only did private exhibitions. ACORN says that the employees didn’t meet “ACORN’s standards of professionalism”, because they didn’t search the woman’s bags for cameras or try to get them to register clients to vote.

4. The U.S. Mint is going to make a new series of quarters, all devoted to national parks. You know, the national parks having been running a bad budget deficit. Maybe we could help them by using the money we’re spending to make new frigging quarters. Is there a reason for this? I understand when Coke or Nike come out with new designs, because they want to keep a buzz going, but are people not using quarters because they’re unfashionable? “Dude, fuck those ugly-ass quarters. The only coins I ever use are pennies, dimes, and gold doubloons.”

5. A new study says that the lowest-paid workers in America often get ripped off at work. The vast majority don’t get a full lunch break, don’t get overtime, and work off the clock. Wow, that sounds like they… work in America.