This is incredible:

Did Scott Walker Get Crank-Call Pwned? (AUDIO) UPDATE: YES

— By Adam Weinstein

| Wed Feb. 23, 2011 2:15 AM PST

Buffalo Beast

UPDATE (1): Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's office confirms that the recording of a call between the governor and an alt-weekly writer posing as David Koch, one of the billionaire GOP financier brothers, is real and that it is actually Walker on the recording. The governor's office has released a statement:

The Governor takes many calls everyday," Walkers spokesman, Cullen Werwie said in a statement. "Throughout this call the Governor maintained his appreciation for and commitment to civil discourse. He continued to say that the budget repair bill is about the budget. The phone call shows that the Governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having.

The Buffalo Beast site, which organized the prank, is down, but you can hear the call below.

UPDATE (2): Ian Murphy, the guy with the catch of the week, responded warmly to our questions about his call to Walker. His comments have been added in the original post below.

ORIGINAL POST: Is that really Scott Walker? [Update: Yep.] A New York-based alt-news editor says he got through to the embattled Wisconsin governor on the phone Tuesday by posing as right-wing financier David Koch...then had a far-ranging 20-minute conversation about the collective bargaining protests. According to the audio, Walker told him:

• That statehouse GOPers were plotting to hold Democratic senators' pay until they returned to vote on the controversial union-busting bill.

• That Walker was looking to nail Dems on ethics violations if they took meals or lodging from union supporters.

• That he'd take "Koch" up on this offer: "[O]nce you crush these bastards I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."

But was it for real? Check out the details on the guerrilla caller and audio of his conversation below the jump.

According to his Wikipedia entry, Ian Murphy is a gonzo journalist and editor of the BuffaloBeast, an online mag that was founded in 2002 as an alternative biweekly by gonzo Matt Taibbi and a band of colleagues. Murphy's probably best-known for a tough read about America's war dead called "Fuck the Troops." But if his latest Beast post, "Koch Whore," is to be believed, it's likely to be read a lot more widely.

When Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tim Carpenter complained that Walker wouldn't return any of the Dems' calls, Murphy says he wondered: "Who could get through to Gov. Walker? Well, what do we know about Walker and his proposed union-busting, no-bid budget? The obvious candidate was David Koch." Koch, of course, is one of the right-wing brothers behind Americans for Prosperity and a host of other GOP-friendly causes; MoJo's own Andy Kroll broke the news last week on the Koch brothers' past support for Walker and his agenda.

So, Murphy says, he managed to have a phone audience with the governor by posing as Koch. And he taped the whole thing, copied on the videos below. What Walker says on the tape is pretty convincing...and sweeping. There'll be no negotiations with the unions or their legislative supporters, he says; after all, he doesn't need them:

I would be willing to sit down and talk to him, the assembly Democrat leader, plus the other two Republican leaders—talk, not negotiate and listen to what they have to say if they will in turn—but I'll only do it if all 14 of them will come back and sit down in the state assembly…legally, we believe, once they've gone into session, they don't physically have to be there.

At one point in the tape, Walker dismisses the left-leaning MSNBC. "Who watches that? I went on Morning Joe this morning. I like it because I just like being combative with those guys, but, uh. You know they're off the deep end." In fact, Walker did appear on Joe Scarborough's a.m. show Tuesday; if this isn't an authentic recording of the governor, Murphy surely nailed down the little details. But hey, that's gonzo, right? Right?...

There are were plenty of unanswered questions, so we sought out Murphy online late Tuesday night, asking if he was still awake. "Sort of," he tweeted us. "What do you want to know?" We emailed him a list of questions, and he responded early this morning:

Mother Jones: Okay, why should we believe you?

Ian Murphy: Why wouldn't you? I'd send you the recordings, but they're already online. I guess you'd have to consult an audio engineer or mp4 expert or whatever the forensic audio analysis autopsy seance kind of person. It sounds like him to me. Maybe they punked me! Maybe it was Koch who actually answered the phone. Maybe I am living a double life in my sleep as Scott Walker! It's for real. I would have made the dialogue better and the audio worse. What, I am DARPA or some shit over here?

MJ: What number did you call to get through to Walker?

IM: I called the number on their website: http://walker.wi.gov/section.asp?linkid=1714&locid=177 I kept calling that same number, getting a busy signal, waiting through 20 rings. That Koch would suffer such indignities made it extra ridiculous.

MJ: Did you really think you'd get through?

IM: I couldn't believe it was that easy. Or why they wouldn't check around or something in between my calls. Or be competent. Or just not completely stupid. I blame it on the cheeseheads.

MJ: Did you ever freak out, almost lose your cool, etc.?

IM: Each time I called i presumed they be like, "Sir, we know you're not Mr. Koch. Please fuck the fuck off." Once Walker got on, I was more shocked than freaked. Now I'm freaked again.

He's yet to reply; we'll update when he does. And we'll check with Gov. Walker's office to see what they say, too. In the meantime, have a listen to the tapes. And tell us what you think in the comments.

Adam Weinstein is Mother Jones' copy editor. For more of his stories, click here or follow him on Twitter. Get Adam Weinstein's RSS feed.

Rolling Stone: Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/another-runaway-general-army-deploys-psy-ops-on-u-s-senators-20110223?page=1

American Corporations tied to Libya

Silence from the White House on Libyan military's killing of 300+ unarmed protesters. Could the fact that Chevron, Raytheon, Shell, Halliburton, General Dynamics, & Dow Chemical are all members of the US/Libya Business Association have something to do with it? Could it be General Dynamic's $165 Million contract to arm the Libyan military? Gotta love corporate America. 

Institutional Racism in the US

Here's a thread from a link I posted on FB:

JS- ‎"African Americans Arrested at Double, Triple, or Even Quadruple Rate of Whites, Though Young Blacks Consume Marijuana at Lower Rates."
http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/Targeting_Blacks_for_Marijuana_06_29_10.pdf

MH- I would like to think that the high arrest rates are not necessarily racially based, but socio-economically and geographically based, but then there isn't any information on that in the study.

JS- Got an answer for that. Of course us white people don't like to think it's 'racial'.
http://www.radioproject.org/2011/02/michelle-alexander-on-the-new-jim-crow/

PV- The social-economic & geographic situation of African-Americans is definitely racial-based!

MH- I don't disagree with that, however I think that if you have a concentration of lower income people there will be more crime, regardless of race or ethnic background, than in a concentrated area of high-income people.

PV- Well yes, and U.S. History shows that concentrations of low-income communities is racially/ethnically driven in our society, like the Irish & Italians of Boston & New York.

So although crime may be independent of race, social-economic status really isn't, and unfortunately, neither is racial profiling. Thus, one factor in explaining higher arrest rates among African Americans: race.

YL- no brainer, poverty + drugs=crime.

YL- young black male + hanging in the corner= police harrasment

JS- Here's a really awesome graphic of how stratified by race Chicago is:http://www.radicalcartography.net/index.html?chicagodots. The lines are drastically drawn. In Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point". He cites the fact that sociologists found when the population of a neighborhood reaches 20% black, there is a nearly immediate exodus from the neighborhood by remaining white residents.

JS- ‎"Black and Latino men accounted for 85% of the stops last year."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/02/22/2011-02-22_new_york_police_department_stopped_more_than_600000_in_2010_the_highest_number_e.html

YL- Josh, great sources. Dont need to talk, facts speak for themselves.

Rural-to-Urban Migration & "Arrival Cities"

Very interesting interview of Doug Saunders on "Arrival Cities" & the global phenomena of rural-to-urban migration.

Streetfilms on Moving Beyond the Automobile: Bicycling

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Biking from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Portlandia: Bicycle Rights!!

This is simply epic.

This is great.

Via Gawker:

50 comments, Feb 17, 2011 7:20 AM

CARS

Wind-Powered Electric Eco Car Drives 3,000 Miles on $13 of Electricity

 Gary Cutlack — This open-topped beauty is the Wind Explorer, a German-made electric car that's just driven across Australia. And it only used around $13 of electricity on its 18-day trip.

It's powered by two methods—a motor running on an internal battery that can be charged by the mains supply or a portable wind turbine, or, er, dragged along by kites. The turbine is a 20-foot-high telescopic bamboo mast that can be deployed in half an hour. Not particularly convenient for the daily commute, but a nice bit of thinking about how we might survive once the planet's oil's all been guzzled. [Wind Explorer via Like Cool]

A post I added to a military thread on SuicideGirls.

Hey gangsters & gangsteresses. I'm Joshua & I was a Navy Aegis Fire Controlman (Missiles) for six years. Worked on the test platform for Tomahawk block IV missiles, as well as on Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense with the the SM-3 anti-ICBM missiles.


Proud of my service, but have come to realize that our country's use of our tax dollars to send war to every corner of the planet in order to preserve our economic dominance is against everything I stand for. No offense to my brothers & sisters out there putting their ass on the line. Two of my brothers have done tours in Iraq & I work tirelessly for veterans rights/benefits/recognition. Mad respect.

If you guys happen to be questioning things like I am, you're in a very good position to have your voice heard. You've walked the walk, seen the shit, & know what's up. Consider getting involved with Veterans For Peace (http://www.veteransforpeace.org/) or Iraq Veterans Against The War (http://www.ivaw.org/).

HuffPost: To Ladies: "Why You're Not Married"

Great article.  I'm not in the market to get married but I hope the women who will be in the market at some point check this out.  No breezies!

Tracy McMillan

TV writer, Mad Men, United States of Tara

Posted: February 13, 2011 07:28 PM

Why You're Not Married

You want to get married. It's taken a while to admit it. Saying it out loud -- even in your mind -- feels kind of desperate, kind of unfeminist, kind of definitely not you, or at least not any you that you recognize. Because you're hardly like those girls on TLC saying yes to the dress and you would never compete for a man like those poor actress-wannabes on The Bachelor.

You've never dreamt of an aqua-blue ring box.

Then, something happened. Another birthday, maybe. A breakup. Your brother's wedding. His wife-elect asked you to be a bridesmaid, and suddenly there you were, wondering how in hell you came to be 36-years-old, walking down the aisle wearing something halfway decent from J. Crew that you could totally repurpose with a cute pair of boots and a jean jacket. You started to hate the bride -- she was so effing happy -- and for the first time ever you began to have feelings about the fact that you're not married. You never really cared that much before. But suddenly (it was so sudden) you found yourself wondering... Deep, deep breath... Why you're not married.

Well, I know why.

How? It basically comes down to this: I've been married three times. Yes, three. To a very nice MBA at 19; a very nice minister's son at 32 (and pregnant); and at 40, to a very nice liar and cheater who was just like my dad, if my dad had gone to Harvard instead of doing multiple stints in federal prison.

I was, for some reason, born knowing how to get married. Growing up in foster care is a big part of it. The need for security made me look for very specific traits in the men I dated -- traits it turns out lead to marriage a surprisingly high percentage of the time. Without really trying to, I've become a sort of jailhouse lawyer of relationships -- someone who's had to do so much work on her own case that I can now help you with yours.

But I won't lie. The problem is not men, it's you. Sure, there are lame men out there, but they're not really standing in your way. Because the fact is -- if whatever you're doing right now was going to get you married, you'd already have a ring on it. So without further ado, let's look at the top six reasons why you're not married.

1. You're a Bitch.
Here's what I mean by bitch. I mean you're angry. You probably don't think you're angry. You think you're super smart, or if you've been to a lot of therapy, that you're setting boundaries. But the truth is you're pissed. At your mom. At the military-industrial complex. At Sarah Palin. And it's scaring men off.

The deal is: most men just want to marry someone who is nice to them. I am the mother of a 13-year-old boy, which is like living with the single-cell protozoa version of a husband. Here's what my son wants out of life: macaroni and cheese, a video game, and Kim Kardashian. Have you ever seen Kim Kardashian angry? I didn't think so. You've seen Kim Kardashian smile, wiggle, and make a sex tape. Female anger terrifies men. I know it seems unfair that you have to work around a man's fear and insecurity in order to get married -- but actually, it's perfect, since working around a man's fear and insecurity is big part of what you'll be doing as a wife.

2. You're Shallow.
When it comes to choosing a husband, only one thing really, truly matters: character. So it stands to reason that a man's character should be at the top of the list of things you are looking for, right? But if you're not married, I already know it isn't. Because if you were looking for a man of character,you would have found one by now. Men of character are, by definition, willing to commit.

Instead, you are looking for someone tall. Or rich. Or someone who knows what an Eames chair is. Unfortunately, this is not the thinking of a wife. This is the thinking of a teenaged girl. And men of character do not want to marry teenaged girls. Because teenage girls are never happy. And they never feel like cooking, either.

3. You're a Slut.
Hooking up with some guy in a hot tub on a rooftop is fine for the ladies of Jersey Shore -- but they're not trying to get married. You are. Which means, unfortunately, that if you're having sex outside committed relationships, you will have to stop. Why? Because past a certain age, casual sex is like recreational heroin -- it doesn't stay recreational for long.

That's due in part to this thing called oxytocin -- a bonding hormone that is released when a woman a) nurses her baby and b) has an orgasm -- that will totally mess up your casual-sex game. It's why you can be f**k-buddying with some dude who isn't even all that great and the next thing you know, you're totally strung out on him. And you have no idea how it happened. Oxytocin, that's how it happened. And since nature can't discriminate between marriage material and Charlie Sheen, you're going to have to start being way more selective than you are right now.

4. You're a Liar.
It usually goes something like this: you meet a guy who is cute and likes you, but he's not really available for a relationship. He has some condition that absolutely precludes his availability, like he's married, or he gets around town on a skateboard. Or maybe he just comes right out and says something cryptic and open to interpretation like, "I'm not really available for a relationship right now."

You know if you tell him the truth -- that you're ready for marriage -- he will stop calling. Usually that day. And you don't want that. So you just tell him how perfect this is because you only want to have sex for fun! You love having fun sex! And you don't want to get in a relationship at all! You swear!
About ten minutes later, the oxytocin kicks in. You start wanting more. But you don't tell him that. That's your secret -- just between you and 22,000 of your closest girlfriends. Instead, you hang around, having sex with him, waiting for him to figure out that he can't live without you. I have news: he will never "figure" this out. He already knows he can live without you just fine. And so do you. Or you wouldn't be lying to him in the first place.

5. You're Selfish.
If you're not married, chances are you think a lot about you. You think about your thighs, your outfits, your naso-labial folds. You think about your career, or if you don't have one, you think about doing yoga teacher training. Sometimes you think about how marrying a wealthy guy -- or at least a guy with a really, really good job -- would solve all your problems.

Howevs, a good wife, even a halfway decent one, does not spend most of her day thinking about herself. She has too much s**t to do, especially after having kids. This is why you see a lot of celebrity women getting husbands after they adopt. The kids put the woman on notice: Bitch, hello! It's not all about you anymore! After a year or two of thinking about someone other than herself, suddenly, Brad Pitt or Harrison Ford comes along and decides to significantly other her. Which is also to say -- if what you really want is a baby, go get you one. Your husband will be along shortly. Motherhood has a way of weeding out the lotharios.

6. You're Not Good Enough.
Oh, I don't think that. You do. I can tell because you're not looking for a partner who is your equal. No, you want someone better than you are: better looking, better family, better job.

Here is what you need to know: You are enough right this minute. Period. Not understanding this is a major obstacle to getting married, since women who don't know their own worth make terrible wives. Why? You can fake it for a while, but ultimately you won't love your spouse any better than you love yourself. Smart men know this.

I see this at my son's artsy, progressive school. Of 183 kids, maybe six have moms who are as cute as you're trying to be. They're attractive, sure. They're just not objects. Their husbands (wisely) chose them for their character, not their cup size.

Alright, so that's the bad news. The good news is that I believe every woman who wants to can find a great partner. You're just going to need to get rid of the idea that marriage will make you happy. It won't. Once the initial high wears off, you'll just be you, except with twice as much laundry.

Because ultimately, marriage is not about getting something -- it's about giving it. Strangely, men understand this more than we do. Probably because for them marriage involves sacrificing their most treasured possession -- a free-agent penis -- and for us, it's the culmination of a princess fantasy so universal, it built Disneyland.

The bottom line is that marriage is just a long-term opportunity to practice loving someone even when they don't deserve it. Because most of the time, your messy, farting, macaroni-and-cheese eating man will not be doing what you want him to. But as you give him love anyway -- because you have made up your mind to transform yourself into a person who is practicing being kind, deep, virtuous, truthful, giving, and most of all, accepting of your own dear self -- you will find that you will experience the very thing you wanted all along:

Love.

Tracy McMillan is a TV writer whose credits include Mad Men and The United States of Tara. Her memoir I Love You and I'm Leaving You Anyway is now available in paperback from Harper Collins/It Books. She lives in Los Angeles with her 13-year-old son. Follow her on Twitter.