Link dump: the rant-inducing subset

With minimal comment, given how long a stretch these have been collected over...

• The Cost of the Castle Doctrine -- PA wants to be among the states who shoot neighborhood kids
  
  
• U.S. College Degrees by County (a map) -- another reflection of the cultural and economic divide
  
  
• Republican fiscal hawks avoid Appropriations Committee like the plague -- it's easier to criticize than to do
  
  
• Antibiotic impasse: Resistant to progress -- if you're not scared about this, you're in denial
  
  
• A few TSA-related bits:
  
  
  
  1. Molecular biologist on the dangers of pornoscanners -- the TSA isn't worried about your health
     
     
  2. TSA has no regular testing system for its pornoscanners -- but they want you to trust them
     
     
  3. You Are No Longer Free To Move About the Country -- airport security is just the first step
     
     
  4. How our "security" obsession costs us -- our national life, not just our safety
  
  
• Paul Begala For DNC Chairman

  You can be on the side of angels without having to be cautious, indecisive, and paranoid all the time. The angels actually want you to be scrappy and assertive.

• Our Meth House -- a couple's dream home turns out to be uninhabitable
  
  
• In a Sign of Foreclosure Flaws, Suits Claim Break-Ins by Banks -- the amount of outright theft seems to be increasing
  
  
• Poll: 92% of Young Afghan Men Don’t Know about 9/11 Attacks -- what can we possibly achieve over there?!
  
  
• Memo to the media: They’re called “obstructionists” -- the watchdogs are asleep...
  
  
• Media Pay Insufficient Attention To Unemployment While Obsessing Over Deficits, Taxes
  
  
• Top Democrat Identifies Another Threat To Social Security In Obama Tax Plan -- oh well....
  
  
• We Wouldn’t -- want to think about the atrocities now commonly committed in our names, that is
  
  
• White House order would normalize under Obama "indefinite detention" introduced under Bush -- why are Democrats frustrated with Obama, again?
  
  
• The Myth of Pink and Blue Brains

  In the past 15 years, claims about hardwired differences between boys and girls have propagated virally, with no genuine neuroscientific justification. In reality, culture, attitudes, and practices influence boy-girl academic gaps far more than prenatal testosterone does. The sooner teachers open their eyes to such influences, the sooner we can bring out the best in every child.

• The Different Costs of Motherhood -- it's a bigger blow at the top of the economic spectrum