Hot off the Press: Matryoshka doll government edition

Terry Braindead explains the reason he felt it was okay to close 36 state unemployment offices but criticizes the USPS for planned post office closures across the state (reiterating it has nothing to do with the fact he co-owns 12 post offices): http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/09/06/branstad-unemployment-office-closures-were-planned-post-offices-were-not/.

Who's afraid of the big, bad buildings? The small business owners in Radio Row who were displaced by the construction of the World Trade Center: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,785206,00.html.

German cities are cracking down on Bierbikes: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,784910,00.html. Look! It's a pub crawl on wheels!

I cannot say I have ever read a George F. Will column before, but, then again, I cannot say something he wrote ever appealed to me as much as this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sept-11s-self-inflicted-wounds/2011/09/08/gIQAfjm5FK_story.html?hpid=z1.

Thoughts on the pitfalls of a third-party presidential candidacy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-pitfalls-of-a-third-party-candidacy/2011/09/08/gIQA4axWQK_story.html?hpid=z5. Here's an interesting tidbit:

If no candidate gets a majority in the Electoral College, the House decides the outcome among the top three vote-getters, voting by state. In other words, a third candidate would have to prevail in a House where all but a handful of representatives are Democrats or Republicans, and where small delegations with strong partisan leanings — think Wyoming, South Dakota, Delaware and Hawaii — are the least likely to vote for a third candidate.

A Germany liquor manufacturer has trademarked a schnapps brand named "Ficken," which is German for "fuck": http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,786190,00.html.

The Danes have swung left and elected the country's very first female prime minister: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,786652,00.html.

"A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected the claim of a San Diego-area mathematics teacher that his 1st Amendment rights were violated when the school's principal ordered him to take down classroom banners that referred to God": http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0914-religious-banners-20110914,0,7964326.story.

The sparkle of Germany's energy revolution has benefited from a little greenwashing. Instead of producing its own nuclear energy, Germany will import it from the Czech Republic and France: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,786048,00.html.

"Australian passports will now have three gender options male, female and indeterminate under new guidelines to remove discrimination against transgender and intersex people...": http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/15/australian-passports-third-gender-option. I have to say, the Aussi passport is probably the best looking passport I have seen.

Two dumbasses somewhere (I think Colorado) tried to pull a real-life version of Weekend at Bernies when they found their friend dead: http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2011/09/16/denver-dead-friend.html.

With all males over 12 banned from attending the game, it was lady's night at Istanbul's Fenerbahce: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,787627,00.html.