This week on the AlterNet Radio Hour, Joshua Holland talks to John Nichols, author of Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street, about the latest in the effort to recall bought-and-paid-for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and four Republican Senators.

Then we talk to Chris Hellman, a senior analyst with the National Priorities Project, about his group's new report showing how our "defense" spending is about twice as high as most people think.

Finally, we're joined by frequent AlterNet contributor Chauncey De Vega, who brings us up to speed on the right-wing media's fabricated race war -- you wouldn't know about it unless you watch Fox, read Drudge and Breitbart, or listen to conservative hate radio.    Read more

 Remember the Dinesh D'Souza book that charged Barack Obama with getting all his ideas from a father he met only a couple of times? The one that made the cover of Forbes, and that Newt Gingrich was quoting for a while?

Well, now we learn from The New York Times that D'Souza has a fan and financial patron for this work -- Joe Ricketts, the guy who for whom that Jeremiah Wright attack ad was being prepared until theTimes wrote about it last week:    Read more

 WASHINGTON — US rights activists Friday condemned a lack of disclosure in the case against WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, saying there was even less transparency than proceedings against the alleged September 11 attackers.

A coalition headed by the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a petition asking the US Army to order the judge in Manning's court martial to allow access to government papers, court orders and transcripts of proceedings, "none of which have been made public to date."    Read more

 Good news, criminals: You can sexually assault someone, get caught, decide you simply don’t feel like being questioned right at this moment and then walk free. Or at least those are the rules the NYPD plays by:

New details have emerged about a 22 year-old woman who was attacked yesterday morning around 5:30AM by a Hispanic male in his 40s. CBS New York reports that the woman was returning home from her job at a Manhattan night club when she exited the 4th Avenue/9th Street F/G station. As she walked on 16th Street between 4th and 5th Avenues she noticed a man was following her, but thought that she’d shaken him. Soon after, the man jumped at and groped her. Neighbors heard the young woman scream, and as they ran outside, the assailant fled. He didn’t get far though — a neighbor cornered him on Prospect Ave and 3rd Ave.    Read more

Cross-posted from Political Animal at The Washington Monthly

You remember, Florida, right? Land of the hanging chad? A state in which a margin of several hundred votes could determine the outcome of a presidential election — that is, of course, if the U.S. Supreme Court allows the votes to be counted.

ThinkProgress’ Judd Legum today has a disturbing report from the Sunshine State:

According to the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, eligible voters will be removed from the voting rolls as a result of the massive voter purge ordered by Governor Rick Scott. “It will happen,” Mary Cooney, a spokeswoman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, told ThinkProgress.    Read more

 As investigations continue of a potential terror plot in this week's clinic fires in two different offices of doctors who either perform abortions or spoke out against the Georgia 20-week abortion bant, other providers around the country are being warned to stay alert.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, National Abortion Federation sent out notifications to their network, alerting providers of the Georgia burglaries and arson, and telling them that although there is no evidence of attacks outside the state, they should still be vigilant.     Read more

 Former Rep. Claudine Schneider (R) was the first — and only — woman to represent Rhode Island in Congress. Over five terms in the House (from 1981 to 1991), she helped pass key environmental, health, and gender-equity laws, including the Economic Equity and the Pension Equity Acts. Like former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO) and former Rep. Connie Morella  (R-MD), Schneider told ThinkProgress there is no longer a place for centrists like herself in the modern Republican Party:    Read more

 If Walker wins in Wisconsin she apparently believes

“there aren’t going to be any repercussions,”

Because:

“But I think it’ll be, at the end of the day, a Wisconsin-based election, and like I said, across the rest of the country and including in Wisconsin, President Obama is ahead.”

I would have thought after the recall that this was a must win for the Democratic Party. A Walker win will encourage other radical right wing governors and state legislators that they can basically do what they please; because money is enough.    Read more

While watching all the tweets about today's Environmental Protection Agency public hearings in DC and Chicago on the agency's proposed carbon-pollution safeguards, we saw this tweet from the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago:

Hmm, is the coal industry astro-turfing again? The coal industry has to pay people to say they support coal?

A little Internet digging turned up the ad on Craigslist, only it had already been deleted. The best we could find for awhile was just this Google search showing part of the text (this is a screenshot -- click to enlarge it):    Read more

 The groundswell of opposition to the dirty and dangerous practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in New York has come from all corners of the state and from all types of people. Parents have raised alarm over the prospect of fracking just feet from their children’s schools and playgrounds. Business owners have voiced concern over a loss of revenue from tourists and local patrons who could be frightened off by the drilling. Farmers wonder what will become of their pristine fields and pastures, and New Yorkers of all stripes are fearful of the potential for chemical spills, contaminated drinking water and even earthquakes - all sad symptoms of fracking in neighboring states.    Read more