• Today’s comic is But what do they want by Tom Tomorrow:
  
• CNN “reporter” Alison Kosik is receiving a lot of criticism for her unprofessional tweets that mocked the Occupy Wall Street protests (“bang on the bongos, smoke weed!”) that she was covering. Of course that criticism isn’t coming from her bosses at CNN.
• Happy Columbus Day!
  
• The slumping economy:
  

  In a grim sign of the enduring nature of the economic slump, household income declined more in the two years after the recession ended than it did during the recession itself, new research has found.

  Between June 2009, when the recession officially ended, and June 2011, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 6.7 percent, to $ 49,909, according to a study by two former Census Bureau officials. During the recession — from December 2007 to June 2009 — household income fell 3.2 percent.

• Hank Williams Jr. is striking back … at Fox and Friends. He wrote a song. Oh, ouch.
• Uncomfortable with her?
  

  A Muslim woman is suing Southwest Airlines for being kicked off her flight after a flight attendant reported hearing her say “it’s a go” into her phone — though according to the suit, she was just saying “I’ve got to go” as the plane was preparing to take off. [...]

  Once at the jetway the TSA agent explained to [Abbassi] that the flight attendant believed that she had been acting suspiciously. Although the flight attendant admittedly could not adequately hear [Abbassi], she reported that [Abbassi] might have uttered ‘It’s a go’ into her cell phone.

  Shortly after, the complaint alleges, the TSA agent determined that Abbassi was not a security risk, and said she could re-board the plane. But at the gate she was told that the captain would not let her board because the crew was “uncomfortable” with her on the plane.

• Cost-cutting gone mad:
  

  Officials in southeast Georgia are considering a money-saving program that would put inmates in fire stations. [...]

  Officials say the inmates would respond to all emergencies – including residential fires – alongside traditional firefighters.

• Everything did change after 9/11:
  

  Dozens of foreign insects and plant diseases slipped undetected into the United States in the years after 9/11, when authorities were so focused on preventing another attack that they overlooked a pest explosion that threatened the quality of the nation’s food supply.

  At the time, hundreds of agricultural scientists responsible for stopping invasive species at the border were reassigned to anti-terrorism duties in the newly formed Homeland Security Department — a move that scientists say cost billions of dollars in crop damage and eradication efforts from California vineyards to Florida citrus groves.

  The consequences come home to consumers in the form of higher grocery prices, substandard produce and the risk of environmental damage from chemicals needed to combat the pests.

• Those candy cigarettes aren’t looking so bad now, are they?
  

  Candy shaped like marijuana that’s showing up on store shelves around the country won’t get kids high, but aghast city leaders and anti-drug activists say the product and grocers carrying it represent a new low. [...]

  The “Pothead Ring Pots,” “Pothead Lollipops” and bagged candy are distributed to retail stores by the novelty supply company Kalan LP of the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdowne. It also wholesales online for $ 1 for a lollipop and $ 1.50 for a package of three rings.

• A sad sign of the times:
  

  Illegal immigrants in Alabama are signing documents allowing others to care for their children if the parents are arrested or deported, The Associated Press reports.

  Many parents are responding to the state’s tough new immigration law by seeking legal power of attorney papers so friends and other acquaintances can care for their children if they are kicked out of the country.

  “People are scared, and they want to be sure their kids are safe if something happens to them,” said Jazmin Rivera, a social worker at the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama who helps Spanish-speaking immigrants with paperwork.

• When reading about the Detroit revival, remember that if the GOP had its way, the auto industry would have been dead:
  

  For years, this blue-collar city has been synonymous with the ills suffered by the decline of great American cities — crime, poverty and abandonment.

  These days, people think about Detroit a little differently.

  A new spirit is heard in the euphoria for its professional sports teams: The Tigers are in the American League Championship Series, while the Lions are 4-0 for the first time since 1980 — and playing on Monday Night Football for the first time in a decade.

  That spirit is celebrated in an Emmy-winning Super Bowl ad that touts the city’s working-class roots. It’s felt in the resurgence of the auto industry, which has seen sales rebound with new products and improved technology three years after almost collapsing.

Daily Kos