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Calculated Risk picks up today on an overlooked outrage we’ve been writing about for a while now -- the way banks handle their inventories of foreclosed homes.

Opponents of Michigan’s Emergency Manager law say they have 80 percent of the signatures needed to put the measure up to a vote in a referendum next fall. On a conference call Friday, organizers with the repeal effort said that they have verified 130,000 of 200,000 signatures collected

As an addendum to this post, one thing that you do see on the #IranElection hashtag are requests for help with proxy servers and other means of either

The Minnesota for Marriage coalition, which is pushing a 2012 constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman, is mobilizing against state campaign finance rules that require disclosure of donors.

As has been widely reported, police crackdowns on the Occupy movement in cities across the country have extended beyond the protesters to include attacks on journalists as a way to stanch news of police action. Ten reporters were arrested in New York when police cleared Zuccotti Park on Tuesday, including reporters for the AP, NPR, and the New York Daily News, according to watchdog organization Free Press. The organization announced today it has launched a campaign “targeted at mayors around the country to demand they honor the 1st Amendment and drop all charges against journalists.” “If the mayor of our country’s largest city thinks protecting the press means silencing them, we’re in big trouble,” wrote Free Press Program Director Josh Stearns at the organization’s website

President Barack Obama (Pic by The White House, via Flickr ) Women’s health advocates all over the country were stunned yesterday when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reversed an FDA request to expand access to over-the-counter emergency contraception for teenagers under the age of 17. In press releases denouncing the decision, a common theme has emerged: President Obama has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, George W.

State Rep. Larry Ahern, R-St. Petersburg (Pic by Meredith Geddings, via myfloridahouse.gov) State legislators have introduced a new bill that has been popular among anti-abortion advocates for years.

Less than two weeks ago, Attorney General Eric Holder testified that the long-awaited report on the ethics of Bush-era Justice Department lawyers who sanctioned

A survey by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) found that there are at least 5,100 new credit union accounts in New Mexico because of Bank Transfer Day . The New Mexico Business Weekly reports: The number of new accounts in the state could be higher because CUNA didn’t survey every credit union, said Credit Union Association of New Mexico spokeswoman Mary Beth King. The amount of deposit transfers to credit unions was not immediately available, King said.

The Congressional recess grinds along -- somehow it doesn’t make Mike Lillis any less busy -- and yet Hill people are starting to get frustrated at the absence

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (Pic by Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons ) Republican presidential favorite Newt Gingrich has pledged his support for the controversial anti-abortion movement known as “fetal personhood,” by signing a pledge that has yet to be signed by opponent Mitt Romney. Personhood USA, the group behind “fetal personhood” petitions that have appeared in states across the country, announced yesterday that Gingrich had signed its pledge . In doing so, he opposes ”assisted suicide, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and procedures that intentionally destroy developing human beings” and agrees to “work to advance state and federal laws and amendments that recognize the unalienable right to life of all human beings as persons at every stage of development.” “To the best of my knowledge, I will only appoint federal judges and relevant officials who will uphold and enforce state and federal laws recognizing that all human beings at every stage of development are persons with the unalienable right to life,” Gingrich pledged

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum appeared on controversial preacher Bradlee Dean’s radio show Saturday, stating his support for so-called “sodomy laws” and criticizing supporters of same-sex marriage rights. “This is not about gay marriage, it is about changing what is right and wrong and fundamentally changing what people of faith can say and do in society,” Santorum said on Dean’s radio show

Pic by Oslo in the Summertime, via Flickr On Monday, Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski announced changes that would modernize the agency’s Lifeline program to give greater broadband Internet access to low-income Americans. Lifeline has traditionally provided “discounts on one basic monthly telephone service (wireline or wireless) for qualified subscribers.” While announcing a series of Lifeline reforms , Genachowski said, “Which brings us to the final but perhaps most important reform: beginning the process of modernizing Lifeline from telephone service to broadband. Broadband has gone from being a luxury to a necessity in the 21st century.” He added that “broadband Internet — wired and wireless — is the most transformative new technology since electricity

The Inspector General for the U.S. State Department has responded to a request from more than a dozen members of Congress for an investigation into the approval process for the Keystone XL pipeline, which critics say has been tainted by a cozy relationship between the agency and the company that owns the pipeline. Inspector General Harold Geisel told the legislators in a letter that he is initiating that investigation “to determine to what extent the Department and all other parties involved complied with federal laws and regulations relating to the Keystone XL pipeline permit process.” The investigation will include interviews with State Department personnel and a review of communications between the agency and TransCanada, the owners of the pipeline.

PG&E -- the owner of the natural gas pipeline that exploded in San Bruno, Calif., killing at least four people and damaging dozens of homes -- has set up a

All politics is local, especially when it comes to energy politics. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) proved that today in Fairbanks when she outlined a plan to

A burning sugar cane field (Pic by skatoolaki, via Flickr) The high costs of American sugar, coupled with quotas that make it near-impossible for the product to be imported, have led two congressmen to file a bill that would overhaul the way the industry does business.

Minnesota for Marriage, a coalition advocating for passage of a 2012 vote on a constitutional same-sex marriage ban, launched a campaign Wednesday that will award people prizes for obtaining pledges to support the ban. The campaign asks each person to obtain five pledges to support the ban in order to be considered for a prize drawing. Drawing winners will receive a $100 Visa gift card

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. (Pic via Facebook) The American Conservative Union announced today that Sen

Justin Elliot catches Andrew Breitbart giving a factual-but-tortured explanation of how Big Government was not responsible for James O’Keefe’s bungled phone

Protesters demonstrate against Arizona S.B. 1070 (Pic by ProgressOhio, via Flickr ) Former Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce — one of the most recognized architects of that state’s immigration enforcement law S.B

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney says almost half of the jobs created in Texas since the start of the economic downturn have gone to unauthorized

It’s hard to stay awake watching Congress. Jim DeMint doesn’t want gay people teaching in public schools. The Naked Cowboy announces he’s running for