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Mac only: Multiple monitors do great things for your desktop space, but your menu bar sticks to one screen. If you're looking for more menu access, free utility SecondBar puts one at the top of each monitor.

As veteran Mac users know, each application's menus fill in the menu bar at the top of the desktop, not the window of the app itself, as in a Windows desktop. When you have a lot of apps open in different spots, it becomes inconvenient to access an app's preferences or deeper features with a mouse. SecondBar adds a customizable menu bar to your second, third, or tenth monitor, letting you keep your focus on one screen at a time.

SecondBar has all the features of OS X's built-in menu bar, along with being drag-able and having the half-and-half resizing features of Windows 7's Aero Snap. The app is still in its super-early development stage, but it seems stable enough for regular use at the moment, and more features appear in the works.

SecondBar is a free download, Mac OS X only. Thanks, Douglas!

SecondBar


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Michelle Miller, CBS Concluding a report on proposed soda taxes across the country on Monday's CBS Evening News, correspondent Michelle Miller gleefully proclaimed how such a tax would help fight obesity and fill local government coffers: "New York's mayor estimates a tax would raise a billion dollars, suggesting what's good for the waistline could be good for the bottom line."

Miller began the segment by touting: "When former President Bill Clinton enlisted the beverage industry in fighting childhood obesity, he did not expect this much progress in just four years." A clip was played of Clinton reporting: "There has been an 88% reduction in the total beverage calories shipped to schools." Miller then declared: "That's still not good enough, say some public health officials. A growing number of cities and states wants to reduce adult consumption of sugary drinks by taxing them."

Revealing how bad such a tax would be for the "bottom line" of consumers, Miller explained: "New York has revived a proposal to impose a penny per ounce tax on sweetened beverages....[that] would mean this two-liter bottle of coke, which now retails for $1.79, would cost you 68 cents more, for a total of $2.47." She managed to find one man who was happy to pay an even higher amount: "I think it should be two cents per ounce. I don't mind paying more for it, it would probably discourage me from drinking it."

Miller noted how the American Beverage Association was opposed to a tax and played a clip of president and CEO Susan Neely explaining: "It won't work. If it's supposed to solve a complicated problem like obesity, the tax is not going to change behaviors." Miller disagreed: "A study released today suggests it would, claiming an 18% price increase on soda would lead people to trim 56 calories from a daily diet. That's a five-pound weight loss over a year." Bobby Popkin from the Nutrition Department of the Gilling School of Public Health, UNC added: "It's the first study to actually follow people over time and show this...increase in prices will matter for our public's health."

Anchor Katie Couric introduced the story by equating the American people with school children: "For years there's been an effort to make students healthier by keeping sugary soft drinks out of schools. And a report out today says it seems to be working....Now Michelle Miller tells us this campaign is expanded beyond the classroom and from kids to adults."

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Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) has caused students across the Old Dominion to "rise up for gay rights,"* reporters Daniel de Vise and Rosalind Helderman insisted on the March 9 Metro section front page of the Washington Post.

Helderman and de Vise failed to consider the liberal leanings of the protesters, tagging the demonstrators in the lead paragraph as mere "campus activists" who are steamed over the state AG's "letter advising public universities to retreat from their policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orienation." A few paragraphs later, Helderman and de Vise suggested that an "erosion in gay rights at state universities" would have detrimental effects on attracting and retaining students and faculty.

The problem is, Cuccinelli's legal opinion does not mandate a "retreat" from discrimination, he just noted that under Virginia law, any change in non-discrimination policy wording must be authorized by legislation.

Counseled Cuccinelli:

It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including ’sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ ‘gender expression,’ or like classification, as a protected class within its nondiscrimination policy, absent specific authorization from the General Assembly.

What's more, reports the Associated Press, Virginia colleges and universities cannot discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation anyway, pursuant to a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court:

The attorney general said his letter merely stated Virginia law, which prohibits discrimination because of "race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, or disability," but makes no mention of sexual orientation.

Cuccinelli said the criticism was coming from people who have been frustrated in their attempts to change the law.

"None of them suggest our reading of the law is wrong. It's people who don't like the policy speaking up because it's their opportunity to go on the attack," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg said colleges are bound by U.S. Supreme Court decisions not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

The Attorney General's ruling cannot overrule the High Court on this matter of policy, but Cuccinelli has every right to advise state agencies if and when they are deviating from the letter of the law.

The Virginia electorate, acting through their legislature, is more than free to change the law to specifically list "sexual orientation" on state institution non-discrimination policies. 

But that's not as juicy a newspaper article as one that loads its language with the objective of demonizing a conservative Republican office holder.

*"Students rise up for gay rights" was the print headline. The washingtonpost.com version headline reads, "Students irate at Cuccinelli over gay-rights policies."

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Last week we asked you to share your favorite VPN tool, then we rounded up the top five contenders for a vote. Now we're back with the results.

Leading the pack was OpenVPN with 29% of the vote, followed closely by LogMeIn Hamachi (28%). Both are notable for being free although only OpenVPN is open source. In third place, the built-in Windows VPN software grabbed 19% of the vote, followed by Cisco VPN with 13% and Shrew Soft rounding out the Hive Five with 4%.

Check out the full Hive Five for additional information about VPNs and contenders. As always, if you have a great idea for a Hive Five shoot us an email at tips@lifehacker.com with "Hive Five" in the subject line.



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MSNBC's David Shuster on Tuesday continued to attack the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) for the organization's reference to Charlie Rangel as a "Harlem Democrat." He reiterated, "I pointed out the NRCC did not call him a corrupt New York Democrat or just corrupt. Rather, a corrupt Harlem Democrat. And I asked a guest if this was racially tinged."

Shuster, however, was silent on the fact that MSNBC reporter Luke Russert basically did the same thing. Appearing on the March 3 edition of the Ed Show, he commented on Democrats who wanted to strip the controversial Rangel of his chairmanship.

Russert explained that these politicians are in "conservative districts, who really saw problems back home in their rural districts in the mountains being associated with a Harlem Democrat who writes the nation's tax laws who a lot of folks say is not paying their taxes." Does this mean that Luke Russert is using "racially tinged" language? Will Shuster call on his colleague to apologize? (Hat tip to Clay Waters of Times Watch for noting the Russert comment.)

Shuster recounted the E-mails he received slamming him for challenging the NRCC: "First of all, I didn't say the NRCC or the press release was racist. I asked a guest if it was racially tinged." So, Shuster wasn't calling Republicans racist, just wondering if they were racist-leaning?

Shuster first attacked the NRCC on Monday for releasing a press release on Rangel which used the supposedly controversial term. More on the original story can be found here.

A transcript of Shuster's comments, which aired at 3:55pm EST, follow:

DAVID SHUSTER: Finally, I received several complaints about a segment I did yesterday that touched on New York Democrat Charlie Rangel. During the segment, I reported on a press release by the National Republican Congressional Committee, or NRCC. It described Rangel twice as, quote, "a corrupt Harlem Democrat " I pointed out the NRCC did not call him a corrupt New York Democrat or just corrupt. Rather, a corrupt Harlem Democrat. And I asked a guest if this was racially tinged. Several of you e-mailed, "You blank-edy blank! Harlem is in Rangel's district? And how dare you say this was racist?" First of all, I didn't say the NRCC or the press release was racist. I asked a guest if it was racially tinged. Secondly, note the difference between the NRCC's treatment of Rangel and their approach towards other Democrats. An NRCC press release criticizing Representative Earl Pomery calls him a North Dakota Democrat, not a Bismarck Democrat. A press release criticizing Representative Michael McMahon calls him a New York Democrat, not a Staten Island Democrat. But, Rangel gets called a corrupt Harlem Democrat. I stand by my reporting on this and I stand by my questioning as to whether the press release by the National Republican Congressional Committee was racially tinged. I've asked officials at the NRCC to come on the show and respond. So far, they've refused. I'll keep you posted.

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