READING FOR THE WEEK (March 25, 2014)

Reading after a London Air Raid, 1940

Lie by Lie ... A timeline of how we got into Iraq (Mother Jones).

A people's history of Koch Industries ... Or how Stalin helped fund the Tea Party movement (The Exiled).

10 famous geniuses and their drugs of choice (Salon).

$500 million of Bitcoin has been stolen since 2010 (Business Insider).

First amendment train wreck in the making ... The U.S. Senate will try to define who is a journalist (Alternet).


THE GAME IS RIGGED IN AMERICA
There is no meritocracy: It's just the 1 percent, and the game is rigged (Salon).

The Koch brothers spend more than double what the top 10 unions spend (The Investigative Fund).

Pensiongate? Christie campaign donors - and hedge fund managers - won huge contracts to "manage" pension funds (The Nation).

Forthcoming report ... Fortune 100 companies received $1.2 trillion in corporate welfare (Truth Out).

What's the primary cause of wealth inequality? Financialization (Global Research).

Wells Fargo caught forging mortgage documents ... Will we finally see jail time for the bankers? (Alternet).


HOW TO "UN RIG" THE GAME
Another minimum wage success story ... From San Jose, California (San Jose Mercury).

How wealth inequality is wrecking the world, and what we can do about it (The European Financial Review).

Employees sue McDonald's for wage theft (Generation Progress).


IDIOTS AND FOOLS
Pat Robertson suggests that a woman's atheism is a result of rape or demonic possession (Alternet).

Man credits God with saving him, files lawsuit against actual rescuers (Addicting Info).

GOP lawmaker introduces bill that would require divorcing couples to get court approval before dating or having sex, then says he didn't actually support the bill (Addicting Info).

According to a religious radio host God is holding back from striking down Bill Maher ... but says nothing about God striking him down for claiming to speak for God (Alternet).

Top 10 Darwin Awards for 2013 (We Know Memes).


ECONOMIC ISSUES
Why a melting Arctic could sink the global economy (Center for American Progress).

LIBOR, the world's most dishonest number (Bill Black / The Big Picture).

Currency Wars here we come? Russia sees Chinese Yuan as world reserve currency (Zero Hedge).

What's the problem with 401(k)s? You (The Big Picture).

The worst Bear Market in history ... it's Cyprus (The Big Picture).


MISCELLANEOUS
Duke Energy caught dumping 61 million gallons of coal waste into North Carolina water (Think Progress).

Spanish anti-austerity protesters "sick of this system they call democracy" (Zero Hedge).

Obamacare: Health insurance agents now the most popular in town (San Jose Mercury News).

California just had its warmest winter on record (MoJo).

Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses how science "got cool" and explains why he doesn't debate deniers (MoJo).

- Mark