Several weeks ago, Dan Gainor of the conservative Media Research Center told Fox Business host Eric Bolling that "The Muppets," the new movie starring Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, had a liberal agenda.

"It's amazing how far the left will go ... to manipulate your kids to ... give them the anti-corporate message." Gainor went on to say that Hollywood is trying to brainwash kids. Bolling later apologized (sort of).

The film's villain is an oil baron named Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) who wants to destroy the Muppet studios in order to dig for oil.

The stars of the movie, Kermit and Miss Piggy, recently responded to the accusations. As Forbes reports, at a press conference in the U.K. for the movie's premier, a reporter asked Kermit how he felt about the charge that the film is "dangerous."

A sarcastic Kermit responded, "Oh, it's so dangerous! No, it's a funny thing. They were concerned about us having some prejudice against oil companies. And I can tell you that's categorically not

Buckle up, kids. BoingBoing has posted an amazing video that was shot inside a failed Fukushima nuclear reactor.

The video, you will not be surprised to learn, was shot via remote control. Not even the most dedicated cinematographer would volunteer for this gig--the reactor was significantly damaged in the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan in April of last year. The three Fukushima reactors that were operational all experienced full meltdown. The video was shot by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in reactor number 2, and showed the level of coolant water is lower than experts expected.

The Japan Times says that while the video will help experts learn the amount of internal damage at the plant, it is "unlikely to help Tepco to determine the state of the melted nuclear fuel, much of which is believed to have burned down to the bottom of the containment vessels."

As the Japan Times puts it, "Obtaining a clearer picture inside the containment vessels of the three crippled

(Domnica Cemortan)

Francesco Schettino, captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia, may be the least popular man in Europe. However, he does have at least one fan. Domnica Cemortan (sometimes spelled "Dominica Cermotan") of Moldova is doing her best to defend Schettino's honor.

The 25-year-old gave an interview with Moldova's Jurnal TV. She claims Schettino "did a great thing, he saved over 3,000 lives" and that he stayed on deck until 11:50 p.m., an assertion that contradicts other reports. The ship sank on Jan. 14. Eleven people have been confirmed dead; 21 more are missing.

Cemortan has worked on cruise ships, but she claims, according to ABC News, to have been onboard the Costa Concordia as a passenger. The trip, she has said, was a birthday present.

Seafarers outraged that captain jumped ship

Over the past several days, web interest in Cemortan has skyrocketed. Information about the Moldovan is scant; several photos, however, apparently from her Facebook account, have surfaced.

(Domnica Cemortan)

According to the

Anybody who has seen James Cameron's Titanic, about the 1912 sinking of the eponymous ocean liner knows that when a ship is sinking, women and children have first dibs on the lifeboats. The recent capsizing of a cruise ship off the coast of Italy, which killed at least 11 passengers, has inspired many to ask if "women and children first" is an official rule or just a popular convention. Here's the scoop.

During an evacuation, men may choose to give up their seats on lifeboats to women and children, but there is no official maritime rule that mandates they must do so. An article from the BBC helps explain the process that crews follow when a ship is in danger of sinking.

Upon boarding, all passengers are assigned a lifeboat based on the location of their cabins. If an accident should occur, it is the captain's decision whether or not to evacuate the vessel. The BBC quotes Rob Ashdown, operations director at the European Cruise Council, who says men on a sinking ship have no legal

After quitting his job, photographer and artist Kien Lam took a trip around the world. Over the course of a year, he visited 17 countries and took 6,237 photographs. Wanting to share his epic journey with others, Lam put his photos together to create a kind of time-lapse video that has enthralled the Web.

In a little less than five minutes, viewers are treated to beautiful shots of the U.S., England, France, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.

On Lam's official site, he explains that he didn't really have an itinerary in mind when he set out.

I had a direction I wanted to head and a goal of following the sun to get as many warm days as possible. 2010 was a particularly cold year in San Francisco and I just wanted to wear shorts and flip-flops as many days as possible to make up for that. I would usually figure out my next destination when I was ready to leave my current one. Sometimes it was a

It's been a challenging week for Mitt Romney and it's only Wednesday.

The Republican presidential candidate had a tough exchange with a gay Vietnam veteran in New Hampshire on Monday. On Tuesday, he was lampooned for knowing how to speak French. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is ahead of him in the national polls, after a strong showing in Saturday's Yahoo/ABC News debate in Iowa.

And now, political researchers have reported that a phrase Romney recently used -- "Keep America American"-- was used by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. It was also used in the 1800s by the Know Nothing Party, an anti-Catholic group.

Of course, it's fair to assume that Romney's campaign didn't know that the white supremacist group had used the expression  as a kind of motto against African Americans, gays and Jews. Nevertheless, the unfortunate coincidence has led to a slew of blog and search activity on Yahoo!.

We first spotted the news at the Huffington Post. Americablog, a liberal news blog, first

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega returned to his home country on Sunday after spending 22 years in prisons in the United States and France on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. The 77-year-old still isn't a free man, though. Immediately upon arrival, he was taken to Panama's El Renacer prison to serve more time.

The return of Noriega spurred a massive amount of searches on Yahoo!, especially on his ouster from rule 22 years ago and the tactics U.S. troops used during the 1989-1990 Panama intervention, known as Operation Just Cause. American troops played loud rock music during the siege because, according to legend, Noriega loathed it.

Over the past 24 hours, online searches for "noriega music" and "manuel noriega rock and roll" both jumped. Clearly, people want to know which songs the troops blasted at Noreiga's stronghold in the Vatican Embassy in 1990. The most famous example is, of course, "Panama" by Van Halen. But, according to documents from the National

Newt Gingrich's front-runner status in the race for the Republican presidential nomination has inspired a surge of interest in the late Chris Farley's impression of the former Speaker of the House.

Farley, who died in 1997, was well known for parodying Gingrich on "Saturday Night Live."  In one memorable instance, Farley stormed into the House Republican Conference to celebrate the first 100 days of the Republican-controlled Congress. Farley (sporting a gray wig) shook hands with Newt and then proceeded to talk about some of his favorite books, including one by romance novelist Danielle Steele. To his credit, Gingrich himself was laughing as hard as anybody.

You can check out the video above. And keep your eyes peeled for a young John Boehner in the beginning of the clip.