SPU's take on Perchlorate

From the Seattle Public Utility 2007 Water System Plan:

Two additional emerging contaminants, MTBE and perchlorate, have received increasing national attention in recent years, but are not concerns for SPU. MTBE is a gasoline fuel additive that has been used since the late 1970s. Perchlorate is a strong oxidizer that is present in paints, oils, aircraft oxygen generators, flares, and other sources. There is a high likelihood that the EPA will propose to regulate perchlorate and MTBE in 2008. However, the impact of regulation on SPU will be low, since SPU’s sources have no history of detectable levels of those contaminants, and there is little
possibility of future contamination

Because our friends in the Bush admin's EPA are watching our back as always:

In early 2005, the EPA adopted the academy's conclusions on what constitutes a "safe dose" for humans, even though they translated to perchlorate drinking-water levels more than 20 times higher than the 1 ppb standard that the agency had last endorsed. In a rare step, the EPA placed the new dosage on its risk-information Web site without allowing public comment.

List of Bush Admin Officials Involved in Scandals

As the saying goes..."you can't keep up without a scorecard." Here you go:

TPM Muckraker

BTW, way to go Josh Marshall. For those of us who've read you for years it's very satisfying that at least some of the MSM is catching up [FINALLY!] Bill Moyers' piece on the failure of the MSM and the success of TPM was very well done. You're a great journalist and a sign of journalism to come.

More lessons from Bush Admin appointees

Along with our previous lessons of:

"I don't recall" (Gonzo)

We now focus on:

"Do as I say, not as I do" (this is a big one with the Bushies and many on the right)

"Abstinence is for suckers"

From ABC

Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation...

As the Bush administration's so-called "AIDS czar," Tobias was criticized by some for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.

In a 2004 interview, Tobias explained his approach as "A and B and C. . . Abstinence works. 'Be faithful' works. Condoms work. They all have a role. But it's not a multiple choice, where there is only one answer."

Tobias says it was "gals [beware men who call women "gals"] coming over for a massage." Yeah, right. Cause I'm sure there are no reputable massage ceneters in DC. Look, I get massages. They are at MASSAGE businesses - not "ESCORT SERVICES."

Buh-bye hypocrite. Say "hi" Ted Haggard et al in "rehab".

BTW - Why is it that leading a nation into an unnecessary war and being responsible for thousands dead and billions squandered doesn't merit a resignation, but getting a "massage" does? If only the right were as concerned about the human condition as they are about who's putting whose where.

Yes, I'm blogging about this idiot, but I'd much rather that those responsible for the Iraq debacle would resign than that some two-bit politician resign over a "massage." But I will play by the rules currently in effect: sex is more important that life.

Sirota examines journalism vs. transcription

David Sirota recaps Moyers' great piece last night on PBS. When our children ask what happened to our democracy and our middle class, we can show them this piece and try to explain how we were too busy to spend 20 minutes a day tracking down real news.

In interview after interview after interview, we hear top journalists and opinionmakers declare that they believe journalism is no longer about basic, hard-scrabble reporting or getting scoops. As the Washington Post’s Walter Pincus says, most reporters today actually try to avoid getting scoops because they “worry about sort of getting out ahead of something” and - gasp! - making their friends inside Official Washington mad at them. So rather than, say, do the real work of reporting news, journalism has become a profession that is almost entirely about PR, transcription and packaging Establishment spin for news copy. This is why, for example, many of the highest-profile political “journalists” like Joe Klein and David Broder never bother to actually report anything anymore - but instead spend most of their time pontificating on horse race polls and campaign gossip, expecting us to believe that’s real “news.”

Warmongers who never saw battle...

...who have never been away from loved ones in a hellhole wondering if or when they would see those loved ones again

...who have never been away from children as they grow and change from month to month and year to year

...who have never had their marriages strained to the breaking point by financial worries and stress caused by absence and worry

...they love to send others' children, parents and spouses into war. Glory Hallelujah.

Bill Kristol

Go ahead, make my day

"Mommy, you're a great mommy today."

I love the "today", as in "let's take this one day at a time."

Okay by me, peanut.

How's the pocketbook?

From Blog IronMouth

Since the mid-1970's, the Fed has been preoccupied with core inflation, the consumer price index stripped of items prone to volatile price increase, like oil and food, the idea being that temporary price shocks are not necessarily representative of inflationary pressures in the economy as a whole. This I can understand, but its hard to fathom how you totally discount the effects of what are becoming large regular increases in the cost of food, transportation, energy and medicine at a time when most people's salaries and wages aren't even keeping up with core inflation? Also, its clear that so-called volatile prices in most of the aforementioned areas aren't just spiking and returning to lower levels, but are remaining higher in most cases. For instance, five years ago the most I spent on a gallon of gas was maybe $1.30, but even with seasonal adjustments I don't think I would have expected that same gallon of gas would cost at least a dollar more a gallon and almost never go below $2.00 a gallon which is where we've been at least the last couple years. Sure, by concentrating on core inflation it means the Fed doesn't feel the need to raise interest rates every time gas hits $3.50 a gallon, but the cognitive dissonance is real and I think its easy to see why most polls show Americans don't believe the economy is doing well or the country is going in the right direction. That doesn't mean core inflation isn't a useful tool to financial analysts and policymakers, it just means its increasingly irrelevant to everyone else.

Interesting how, in light of the next post, the frame of reference is most important. In the next post, the Bush Admin selectively decides which deaths are deaths when it comes to gauging the success of the surge.

In this post, IronMouth reminds us that the "core inflation" rate is still quite low, but what's the frame? "Core inflation" doesn't include gas, medicine and food.

Shouldn't there be an acknowledgement that you need a rolling average of food, medicine and gas in the core rate? I understand spikes being discarded, but keeping a rolling 12-mo. average would smooth out the spikes without completely ignoring what most of us spend most of our money on?

Beware the frame.

Redefining Success

McClatchy Bureau

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians.

Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

President Bush explained why in a television interview on Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose....

"Since the administration keeps saying that failure is not an option, they are redefining success in a way that suits them," said James Denselow, an Iraq specialist at London-based Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank....

"I don't think you're ever going to get rid of all the car bombs," Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said this week. "Iraq is going to have to learn as did, say, Northern Ireland, to live with some degree of sensational attacks."

Um, General Petraeus, Northern Ireland had a total 1798 fatalities over 24 years (1969-1993 according to Malcom Sutton in "Bear in Mind These Dead"). Iraq is at 300 people killed in March alone in over 70 bombings.

This is not "Northern Ireland" level of car bombing - despite your desire to downplay the hell that is Iraq. I hope we never have car bombings in the US, because our administration's perspective seems to be "deal with it."

Feeding kids' eyes

National Academies

A new study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that children of all ages are being exposed to TV commercials for junk foods at an alarming rate. The study concluded that children 8 to 12 years old viewed the most food ads, an average of 21 a day or more than 7,600 per year. The study also examined exposure among other age groups. Teens viewed approximately 17 food ads per day or over 6,000 a year, while children ages 2 to 7 saw about 12 ads a day or 4,400 a year. The study, considered the largest ever done on television advertising aimed at kids, had researchers look at and analyze ads during 1,638 hours of TV programming on such networks as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, the Cartoon Network, Disney, MTV, and Nickelodeon.

Vicky Rideout, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and co-author of the study, said that one thing she found to be significant about the study's findings was "that most of the food ads that kids see on TV today are for foods that nutritionists would argue children probably need to be eating less of, not more of, if we're going to get serous about tackling childhood obesity in this country … things like sugared cereals, candies, chips, fast foods, sodas, and soft drinks, which together comprise more than 80 percent of all the ads targeted at children and teens." Nearly 25 million of children and teens in the United States are either overweight or obese.

But regulation is bad and free markets are good. Got that? OK.

Regulation, we don't need no stinkin' regulation!

Boston.com

While FDA inspections have steadily dropped in recent years, the proportion of imported food used in domestic manufacturing has skyrocketed. There is no requirement that the FDA conduct an in-person inspection before a foreign producer begins to ship ingredients to US suppliers seeking bargain-basement prices.

Paul K. Henderson , Menu Foods Income Fund chief executive , told members of the House panel that should change. Henderson said that before Menu Foods is allowed to ship products to Europe , its US and Canadian manufacturing plants must be "qualified."

It would be "a very good, positive step" if Chinese exporters shipping food ingredients to the US undergo similar accreditation, certification, and inspection process for their plants, Henderson said....

In addition, the FDA will begin domestic tests of corn gluten , corn meal , soy protein , rice bran , rice protein concentrate, and wheat gluten imported from China to determine if those products are also tainted with industrial chemicals. Such ingredients are used in breakfast cereal , pizza dough , baby formula, and protein shakes , but Dr. David Acheson , chief medical officer at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition , said there is "no evidence" those human foods contain contaminated ingredients.

Since mid-March, the Menu Foods' recall has taken 60 million cans and pouches of pet food off store shelves. But the recall could have easily included human food, ChemNutra , the company that imported the tainted wheat gluten, testified before Congress. The gluten was certified as suitable for human consumption.

"We just dodged the bullet," lMAYBE] said US Representative Jay Inslee , Democrat of Washington . Democrats say they will introduce legislation that would permit the FDA to force mandatory food recalls -- a power it now lacks -- and increase funding to hire more inspectors.

Ya think?

The choice in pro-choice

Men, you think you'll never have to worry about "having an abortion?" Maybe reading this will have you thinking again. Riveting blog entry:

...Nothing is stopping the bleeding. There seems to be nothing they can do. They talk about trying some drugs, but then they decide things are going too fast to give time to let them work. So that leaves only surgery as a possibility. Surgery means hosing her out. It means killing the baby. So obviously, we look into other options. Only now, my wife is so out of it, from blood loss, from the painkillers, that the doctor said she is no longer able to legally consent. Now I'm handed a clipboard. On it is consent to basically give my wife an abortion and kill our future child. And it is all on me, my decision, mine alone. Something I never thought I'd ever face, ever have to deal with. Made worse by being a decision of either kill the baby or potentially watch both my wife and the baby die. The doctors did not say at this point that it was absolutely necessary. Maybe more blood could be transfused in. Maybe she wasn't dilated - they hadn't figured it out yet. Still too much blood. So then there I was, facing the sort of choice that you usually see only in hypotheticals in ethics and philosophy classes.

It's all just hypotheticals until someone really does need to make a choice.

Ask any toddler (the blogger above had a 17-month-old child when this happened) whether they want a new brother or sister to come home from the hospital or do they want mommy to come home from the hospital. How do the little kids understand the value of real-live healthy mommy, but grown-ups have such a hard time with it?

UPDATE: Here's a post about some of the comments that the blogger got - just sick and creepy - like the commenter who would choose his child over his wife because his child has HIS genetic material (so important) and his wife doesn't. Because, yeah, it's all about the guy isn't it? Update

Potentially Habitable Planet Discovered Outside of our Solar System

AP

For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. But the star it closely orbits, known as a "red dwarf," is much smaller, dimmer and cooler than our sun....

"It's a significant step on the way to finding possible life in the universe," said University of Geneva astronomer Michel Mayor, one of 11 European scientists on the team that found the planet. "It's a nice discovery. We still have a lot of questions."

The results of the discovery have not been published but have been submitted to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Speaks for itself.

WWJS?

ESPN

Kauzlarich, now a battalion commanding officer at Fort Riley in Kansas, further suggested the Tillman family's unhappiness with the findings of past investigations might be because of the absence of a Christian faith in their lives.

In an interview with ESPN.com, Kauzlarich said: "When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don't believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt. So for their son to die for nothing, and now he is no more — that is pretty hard to get your head around that. So I don't know how an atheist thinks. I can only imagine that that would be pretty tough."

I don't know how Kauzlarich thinks (or that he thinks) but Tillman's family's "search for closure" likely has nothing to do with their religious beliefs and A LOT to do with their feelings that they were duped and lied to by the military who, for weeks, knew that Tillman's death was caused by same-side fire.

The value of your life has to do with the VALUE OF YOUR LIFE - not the comfy-cloud-life you might be living in in the hereafter. The value of your life is your kindness, your compassion, your care for your fellow human. Whether you are worm-food or wearing angel's wings it does not change the value of your life one iota.

I don't know much about Tillman or what happened in Afghanistan, but I do know that comments like Kauzlarich's make me ill. The sanctimonious holier-than-thous who pretend to know how others think.

I guess it's par for the course though for many neo-con believers. Anyone who disagrees with the administration or who tries to get at the truth behind this forsaken war, like the Tillmans, must be dragged through the mud.

Though rarely for public consumption, the Tillman family has continued to try to push through layers of Army bureaucracy for answers, about both the death of their son and the appearance that Pat Tillman's Army life, and death, might have been used for political purposes.

What would Jesus say (WWJS)?

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Limbo out of limbo

AP

The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went.

In a long-awaited document, the Church's International Theological Commission said limbo reflected an "unduly restrictive view of salvation."...


"People find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document said.

Glad that's settled. It only took 2000 years too. Whew.

The theologians might also want to cosider that some people "find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he" demands the blood sacrifice of his son to atone for sin that he knew ahead of time would be committed (being omniscient and all), and that it would be commited by those "without knowledge of good and evil."

Kind of like me knowing that Catharine is a child and "without knowledge of good and evil" (that's what the parents are supposed to teach, right?). Then me telling Catharine don't touch this shiny thing when I go away. Catharine, "without knowledge of good and evil", but with strong childish curiosity, touches the shiny thing. I come back, see that she has touched the shiny thing, and blow my top and condemn her and all her children and grandchildren to go away from me forever. Can you imagine any parent doing that? Yeah, me either.

But then, wait, after a while, I calm down and say, OK, you did this thing that I knew you were going to do since you are "without knowledge of good and evil", so now I'm going to demand that you accept the blood sacrifice that I myself will provide in order for us to no longer be estranged.

Seems like a lot of leaps for a little kid who just wanted to touch a shiny thing and was "without knowledge of good and evil".

Thus Spake Michael Medved

Regarding the VT shooting:

"Glib, shallow explanations allow us to turn away from the one real lesson of these events: that evil exists, and that dark forces - forces believers would call demonic or diabolical - play a powerful role in our world..."

Forces others would call "mental illness."

Seriously Michael, stick to movie reviews. Or better yet keep your peace. Try not commenting on issues you don't understand.

"Regardless of the background or motivation of the killer, Virginia Tech reminds us of the most important truth of our time: that terrorist monsters can't be explained, or excused, or appeased, or ignored, or negotiated into civilized behavior..."

How do we know that they can't be explained or negotiated back to civil behavior? Have we ever tried? Do we spend $500 billion A YEAR on science and mental health and brain mapping or is it on subs and tanks? What if we tried putting the best and brightest minds and money, year after year, into science that helps us understand and cure mental illnesses and ease people's suffering instead of science that lets us kill each other faster and better?

I'm not going to link to Medved directly, but here's a link to a link: Huff Po

Thus Spake Grady McMurtry

On the Virginia Tech shooting:

For years, he[Grady McMurtry of Creation Worldview Ministries] says, public schools and universities have taught the theory of evolution as fact, with no opposing viewpoints -- and the result, he contends, is a lack of respect for human life.

...when the biblical account of creation is taken out of the public arena, human life has no meaning. In contrast, creation teaches that there is a purpose.

"It is only in the teaching of creation that we are a creation of God," says the creation teacher; "that we have infinite eternal value in worth; that God has a purpose for each and every one of us, no matter who and what we are."

Um, but wouldn't feeling that this life is the ONLY life (as opposed to an after-life) give this life FAR MORE VALUE? Wouldn't you treat it as sacred and special and not just a rest-area on the way to the final Heavenland vacation? If it were me, and someone told me that the rest-area was all I got and that I would never leave it and go someplace more magical, I might paint the walls, put up some curtains, make a few knick-knacks and have some people over for beer and popcorn. I wouldn't just take a dump, kick the vending machine and throw trash on the floor on my way out.

I'm not saying that's what I believe, I'm just positing an alternative view on what "no afterlife" might mean for people.

I'm not going to link to his web site, you can google him yourself. And what's with the

"if you have excess people, then you can just put them in a bag, throw them in the river the way you would too many kittens or too many puppies."

Um, I wouldn't do it with people and I wouldn't do it with kittens or puppies. By their words shall ye know them.

Birds of a Feather Connect via Complex Spatial Group Patterns Together

Science Daily

There is a scene in the animated blockbuster "Finding Nemo" when a school of fish makes a rapid string of complicated patterns--an arrow, a portrait of young Nemo and other intricate designs. While the detailed shapes might be a bit outlandish for fish to form, the premise isn't far off. But how does a school of fish or a flock of birds know how to move from one configuration to another and then reorganize as a unit, without knowing what the entire group is doing?

New research by University of Alberta scientists shows that one movement started by a single individual ripples through the entire group--a finding that helps unravel the mystery that has plagued scientists for years.

"It is known that there is a connection between the signals animals use to communicate with each other and their behaviour," said Raluca Eftimie, a graduate student in the U of A's Centre for Mathematical Biology. "But until now, the connection between the complex spatial group patterns that we can see in nature and the different ways animals communicate, has not been stated explicitly."...

Until Eftimie's work, these complex emergent patterns could not be connected clearly to simple rules for the small scale communication between individuals. People have had some success in proposing rather complex and detailed explanations for how specific species form into groups, says Lewis. "What Raluca's work does is show that very simple and straightforward sets of rules can produce the complex kinds of patterns seen in nature," says Lewis, also from the Department of Biological Sciences. "Her work has stripped out the unnecessary detail to the core elements of communication that give rise to the patterns found in large scale groups."

Fighting "voter fraud" where the "fraud" is that the voter will not vote for you

Think Progress

For the past six years, the Bush administration and the Justice Department’s political appointees have “pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates. … On virtually every significant decision affecting election balloting since 2001, the division’s Voting Rights Section has come down on the side of Republicans.”

In 2005, the Justice Department sued Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (D) for not keeping the state’s voting records up-to-date. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey sharply criticized the Justice Department’s weak case and ruled in favor of Carnahan:

Laughrey said it was difficult to gauge the scope of the problem “because the United States has not presented the actual voter registration lists and shown who should have been included or excluded and why.”

“It is also telling that the United States has not shown that any Missouri resident was denied his or her right to vote as a result of deficiencies alleged by the United States,” Laughrey wrote. “Nor has the United States shown that any voter fraud has occurred.”

You see, when the opposition party is planning to add many voters to the rolls and those voters will likely vote in their best interests and against the interest of the wealthy, it's time to pull out the old "Voter Fraud" canard. But Rep. Rick Renzi in sponsoring legislation that will help his dad's Defense Contractor company is, surprisingly, not considered "voter fraud." It's just considered "the way things are done in the quid pro quo that is republic politics."

Opacity

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold

On the Anonymous Republican Hold on the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

April 17, 2007

“I am disappointed that a Republican Senator has chosen to block my bill to require Senate campaign reports to be filed electronically. This bill has bipartisan support in the Senate and significant support around the country, from editorial boards to bloggers on both the left and the right. I am aware of no opposition to it at all. I do not understand why someone in this body would block a bill that simply brings the Senate filing process into the 21st century, and do so anonymously and without explanation.”

S.233: To require Senate candidates to file designations, statements, and reports in electronic form.

Seems someone in the Republic caucus doesn't want too much transparency in our government of, by and for the Republics. And definitely not online and searchable in a matter of days. No, better to have documents in paper form and not available for immediate searching. That'll definitely help keep politicians honest.

Quote of the Day

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. --George Bernard Shaw

Our Budget

From Consumerist



Here's my take on it from the 2007 budget. I took out Social Security and Medicare which can be self-funding (if we would remove caps on the amount over which you don't pay Social Security).

Scaring even the "free traders"

SeaTimes

The master plan, it seems, is to move perhaps 40 million high-skill American jobs to other countries. U.S. workers have not been consulted.

Princeton economist Alan Blinder predicts that these choice jobs could be lost in a mere decade or two. We speak of computer programming, bookkeeping, graphic design and other careers once thought firmly planted in American soil. For perspective, 40 million is more than twice the total number of people now employed in manufacturing.

Blinder was taken aback when, sitting in at the business summit in Davos, Switzerland, he heard U.S. executives talk enthusiastically about all the professional jobs they could outsource to lower-wage countries. And he's a free trader.

More from David Sirota with links:

The article begins with a sensationalist headline that only Bill Gates and Tom Friedman could love: “Where Are All The Workers? Companies worldwide are suddenly scrambling to manage a labor crunch.” This is the public rationale from corporate executives (especially in the high-tech industries) for massive job outsourcing and exploitation of the H-1B program: We can’t find the workers we need.

We are expected, for instance, to ignore academic studies published recently by the National Academy of Sciences showing that, in fact, there is no shortage of high-tech engineers here in America. We are expected to ignore the data showing that companies are using the H-1B program to drive down domestic workers’ wages by forcing them into competition with imported workers from impoverished countries.

We are expected, in short, to believe that layoffs, wage stagnation and pension/health care cutbacks have absolutely nothing to do with corporate executives trying to line their own pockets, and everything to do with workers themselves - and we are expected to believe all this at the very same time new government data shows that the share of national income going to wages is at a record low, and the share going to corporate profits is at a record high.

Aid and Comfort

WaPo

[Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that] demands in the U.S. Congress for a timeline to withdraw American troops from Iraq are constructive because they exert pressure on Iraq’s leaders to forge compromises.

“The debate in Congress … has been helpful in demonstrating to the Iraqis that American patience is limited,” Gates told Pentagon reporters traveling with him in Jordan. “The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably has had a positive impact … in terms of communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment.”

But, but, but, I thought the President, Vice President and the right-wing media machine made it very clear that timetables = "Comfort" to the enemy (you know, TREASON?). Now Gates says that the talk of timetables is actually helpful in dealing with the Iraqis?

Hunh, would'a thunk it?

Oh, yeah, the Democrats, who've been saying this all along.

Using the Government - Installment V

Boston.com

The White House threatened on Tuesday to veto a Senate bill proposing to allow the U.S. government to negotiate prices for prescription drugs under the Medicare program.

The Senate was expected to cast a test vote on Wednesday, when Democrats try to end debate and go forward with consideration of the bill. Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, who opposes the bill, has vowed to filibuster or talk the bill to death.

In a statement, the White House said the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate bill "would have a negligible effect on federal spending and provide no substantial savings to the government or Medicare beneficiaries."

"Negligible", hmmm. I suppose compared to a $500 Billion dollar war a few billion saved by Medicare negotiating drug benefits might be "negligible". But for the senior who's saving even $10 a month, it's worth it. Why do the republicans not want to lift a finger to help middle-class Americans? Oh, that's right, because it's more important to reward your friend in Big Pharma than to help Grandma Millie.

And isn't it interesting that the VA already negotiates drug prices and very successfully?

And isn't it more interesting still that Congress has health care and drug coverage paid as part of their overall compensation?

Another case of "do as I say, not as I do."

We have to fight them over there so our oil buddies can reap insane profits over here

Money News

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said drivers paid an average of $2.876 for a gallon of regular gasoline in the week ended April 16, up 7.4 cents from a week ago and up 9.3 cents from a year ago.

Over the past 11 weeks, the national average price has surged 71.1 cents, or 33 percent, from $2.165 on Jan. 29.

Not to mention that gas was around $1.50 when Bubble Boy took office.

The poor oil companies and refineries (most of whom are owned by the oil companies). The pain at the pump must be really hard for them to bear.

What!?! They're making record profits?!?! You're kidding.

War's a bitch. But not if you make armaments or supply their fuel.

Wrong place, wrong time

I am so sorry for the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, grandparents and friends of all those killed and injured today in Virginia and Iraq, whose only reason for being hurt or killed was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Pew Survey on Awareness of National Affairs

Editor & Publisher

NEW YORK A new survey of 1,502 adults released Sunday by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that despite the mass appeal of the Internet and cable news since a previous poll in 1989, Americans' knowledge of national affairs has slipped a little...

Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot -- with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind...

Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News. Only 1 in 3 could answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. Fox topped only network morning show viewers...

Men scored higher than women, and older Americans did better than younger, on average. Democrats and Republicans were about equally represented in the most knowledgeable group but there were more Republicans in the least aware group.

Ya think? Thankfully, having no cable, Fox has never spit its venom in our house even during random channel-surfing. And the morning (propaganda) shows I gave up on years ago after Katie Couric stood on a map of the Middle East with some former general or other demonstrating to the world in visual visceral format that we step all over them. Thank heavens for the inter-tubes, or I'd never get to see clips of Stewart, Colbert or Maher. I'll take reading the news I choose on the inter-tubes over being force-fed by GE, Viacom, et al. anytime.

Using the Government - Installment IV

Boston.com

Some lending companies with access to a national database that contains confidential information on 60 million student borrowers have repeatedly searched it in ways that violate federal rules, raising alarms about abuse of privacy, government and university officials said.

The unauthorized searching has grown so pervasive that the Education Department is considering a temporary shutdown of the government-run database to review access policies and tighten security.

Students' Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and sensitive financial information such as loan balances are in the database, which is covered by federal privacy laws.

"We are just in shock that student data could be compromised like this," said Nancy Hoover, director of financial aid at Denison University in Ohio.

She's in shock? Just shows she's not paying attention. The republicans don't hate government. They love government as a vehicle for corporations. Getting student data for free and then passing it off to corporations? Great. No problem. That's what government is for in the minds of "government haters". They don't so much want to "drown it in a bathtub" (Grover Norquist) as they want to harness it to control the airwaves, make laws that benefit the wealthy and well-connected, use it as a big shiny present to reward good obedient donors (Ambassador Fox, paging Belgian ambassador Fox).

Another example, and conveniently enough, also related to the Dept. of Ed. (from Wikipedia):

Neil (Silverado) Bush co-founded Ignite! Learning, an educational software corporation...

To fund Ignite!, Bush raised $23 million from U.S. investors, including his parents, Barbara and former President George Bush, as well as businessmen from Taiwan, Japan, Kuwait, the British Virgin Islands and the United Arab Emirates, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Russian billionaire expatriate Boris Berezovsky (and Berezovsky's partner Badri Patarkatsishvili), Kuwaiti company head Mohammed Al Saddah, and Chinese computer executive Winston Wong are documented investors.

Have your brother and pals suggest and pass legislation. Set up a company. Make money from the legislation. How convenient.

More on government data security ratings.

"Rock" On Mary Schweitzer

News Observer

N.C. State University paleontologist Mary Higby Schweitzer struck scientific gold when she found soft tissue in a dinosaur fossil.

Molecules never before observed survived 68 million years in that goo, Harvard University scientists revealed Thursday. The discovery of protein fragments breaks open a new way to research extinct animals and fill in blanks on the tree of life....

"This is another fascinating discovery by Mary Schweitzer, who has become a veritable pioneer in the area of molecular paleontology. It remains to be seen whether there are other fossil occurrences that have this remarkable kind of molecular preservation."

Schweitzer, a paleontology curator at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, rocked her field of study twice in 2005. First she found the soft tissue in the T. rex bone.

Then she identified a thin layer of bone tissue in the fossil.

Iacocca understands the difference between bravery and swagger

Detroit News

"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?" Iacocca writes. "Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.' ...

Iacocca has tough things to say about Congress, corporate America, the press and even the voters who put the nation's current leadership in power. But his harshest criticism is saved for Bush.

He savages Bush's famous determination: "George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping," Iacocca writes. "There's a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty." [uh, ya think?]

He accuses Bush of substituting macho for courage: "Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk.""

Thank you Lee. Too many Americans think that negotiation is for sissies. They think it's braver for a superpower to "shock and awe" a two-bit military (kind of like Romney "varmint huntin'") than to sit down and negotiate. Anyone who's ever had to make something work knows that negotiation can be hell. But it doesn't make for good screenplay. Not enough action. Not enough adrenalin. Not enough turbo-boosters and bunker-busters.

Quote of the Day

Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted.

- John Lennon (and a variation by Bertrand Russell)

Emails? What emails?

The White House acknowledged yesterday that e-mails dealing with official government business, possibly including missives related to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, may have been lost because they were improperly sent through private accounts intended to be used for political activities.

Administration officials said they could offer no estimate of how many e-mails were lost but indicated that some may involve messages from White House senior adviser Karl Rove, whose role in the firings has been under scrutiny by congressional Democrats.

Democrats have charged that Rove and other officials may have used the private accounts, set up through the Republican National Committee, in an effort to avoid normal review. Under federal law, the White House is required to maintain records, including e-mails, involving presidential decision-making and deliberations. White House aides' use of their political e-mail accounts to discuss the prosecutor firings has also fanned Democratic accusations that the actions were politically motivated.

They don't care about the law. They will do what they will do and the American people and our laws can go F(#$* themselves as far as this administration is concerned. Their motiviation is enriching themselves and their friends and crushing their enemies. That's it. There is no love of the law. There is no love of the Constitution.

That's two things the administration has taught me if I ever get into a jam:

1. "I don't remember"
2. "I lost it"

UPDATE

Then to add insult to injury, the White House lied today about the entire scandal:

Said [White House spokesman Scott] Stanzel: "I guess the bottom line is that our policy at the White House was not clear enough for employees."

But when I asked Stanzel to read out loud the White House e-mail policy, it seemed clear enough to me: "Federal law requires the preservation of electronic communications sent or received by White House staff," says the handbook that all staffers are given and expected to read and comply with.

"As a result, personnel working on behalf of the EOP [Executive Office of the President] are expected to only use government-provided e-mail services for all official communication."

The handbook further explains: "The official EOP e-mail system is designed to automatically comply with records management requirements."

And if that wasn't clear enough, the handbook notes -- as was the case in the Clinton administration -- that "commercial or free e-mail sites and chat rooms are blocked from the EOP network to help staff members ensure compliance and to prevent the circumvention of the records management requirements."

From John at Americablog

A College Basketball Post w/no reference to Imus or Rutgers

In College Girls, [Lynn] Peril has an interesting section on the popularity of women’s basketball at the turn of the 20th century. Mind you, this was no small thing—it was believed by a lot of people at the time, as Peril demonstrates, that the mild running around and dribbling and passing the ball (which was done at a reptilian speed then compared to now) would actually knock women’s uteruses out of place. Yes, tossing a ball to your friends was treated as a bigger strain on your innards than pushing a baby out was, which sort of lends credence to the idea that concerns about women’s health that were brought up were bad faith arguments to disguise the real concerns that women were getting a tad too ballsy...

Uniforms like this were the source of much hand-wringing and concerns about lack of modesty, and as Peril makes it clear, barely concealed concerns that the clothes were simply too freeing and easy to move in. That these clothes symbolized an unheard-of amount of physical freedom for women speaks volumes about how little physical freedom women were extended at the time....

Peril doesn’t make that mistake and reads the endless fear that being in college and away from parental control would sexualize girls for exactly what it is—fear that women won’t be controlled. This fear was hardly sublimated to the degree it is now. She thoroughly documents how education was feared not only as something that would free women up sexually, but would make them too brainy to be marriageable, would make them resistant to being housewives, would make them buck unfair restraints, would lure them into demanding political power and would even increase the growth of the dreaded movement feminism

Oh the things you can learn through reading. Thank you Lynn Peril and thanks Pandagon

Coincidence or Conniving

Reuters

Menu Foods' recall list was originally announced on March 16. It was updated late last week to cover foods produced between November 8 to March 6.

The latest update -- the first to involve its Ontario plant -- comes amid news that the chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund sold nearly half his units in the pet food maker less than three weeks before it announced its massive product recall, according to insider trading reports.

The reports show that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for C$102,900 ($89,700) on February 26 and February 27. As of Monday's close of C$4.46, the units would be worth C$62,440.

Hmmm. Interesting. Tell us more Mr. Wiens.

Fox in Box

Catharine and I were in her room getting ready for bed. There was an empty box in her room for her dolls to play with. We were talking about it for a while.

I asked how to spell box. I did "beh, beh" and she said "B!"
I did "ah, ah" and she said "O!"
I did "xs, xs" and she said "X!"

Thank you Dr. Seuss

Quote of the Day

Middle age is when a broad mind and narrow hips change places
-E. Joseph Cossman

Dems move to cut middle-class taxes

NY Times

House Democratic leaders, in an effort to upstage Republicans on the issue of tax cuts, are preparing legislation that would permanently shield all but the very richest taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax, which is likely to affect tens of millions of families as early as next year if it is left unchanged...

Between now and the end of May, House Democratic leaders hope to draft a permanent overhaul of the tax that would effectively exclude anyone who earns less than about $200,000 a year — about 97 percent of taxpayers...

Senior House Democrats caution that they have not decided any of the details of their plan. Mr. Emanuel would exclude families with incomes below $200,000 or even $250,000 a year from the tax, but keep the tax for people with incomes above $250,000 and add new taxes for people with incomes above $500,000.

The Republics would probably filibuster any bill with a tax increase for the wealthy, but wouldn't that be a fun debate?

Boycott the Bolthouse (Farms)

Bolthouse Farms is the premium producer of the Earthbound Farm® carrots, the most recognized organic produce brand. Our organic carrots have all the quality and reliability consumers expect from Bolthouse Farms - and they're 100% organic certified by C.C.O.F., an accredited USDA National Organic Program third party certifier. From snacking to juicing, Bolthouse Farms offers a variety of organic carrots to fit your lifestyle.

Sounds good, hunh? Healthful carrots AND organic too. What a deal. Why not buy them?

Well, here's one reason:

Last year, ADF received over $21 million in individual and foundation funding. Some of the major donors include the Covenant Foundation, financed by the "Granddaddy" of the Texas Christian Right, business mogul James Leininger; various members of the Amway-Prince Automotive empire, including the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, whose vice president, Erik Prince (Edgar and Elsa's son, and brother of Betsy DeVos, wife of the Amway magnate, right-wing financier, and unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard DeVos), founded the Blackwater USA military-security firm; and the Bolthouse Foundation, which is underwritten chiefly with profits from Bolthouse Farms, a family-run California company whose products are often seen at organic markets and Whole Foods. Bolthouse requires recipients of its grants to pledge adherence to a statement of faith that includes the declaration that "man was created by a direct act of God in His image, not from previously existing creatures" and a belief in "the everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting punishment of the lost."

Thanks anyway Bolthouse, but I'd just as soon not have my carrots with a side of fear and loathing. The ADF's (Alliance Defense Fund) three principle goals are:

protecting the "sanctity of human life" (through litigating cases relating to abortion and end-of-life issues); promoting the "traditional family" (via cases concerning gay marriage and adoption); and ensuring the "religious freedom" of Christians (by portraying them as victims of discrimination on the part of those who seek to silence their ability to "speak the Truth" by preaching the Gospel).

Yummy!

This is not America

Reuters

Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s (NYSE:OXY - news) chairman and chief executive took in more than $400 million in compensation last year, the company said in a filing, one of the biggest single-year payouts in U.S. corporate history.

The largest part of Ray Irani's 2006 payout was $270.2 million from the exercise of options awarded from 1997 to 2006, representing more than 7.1 million shares, according to the company's annual proxy statement, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March.

400 million. This is a banana oligarchy. Concentration of money corrupts. Concentration of money concentrates absolutely.

Why is it not OK for the government to charge $5 or $6 a gallon and take $1 or $2 a gallon in taxes? They could use that money for enforcement, for safety nets, for so many things. But no, some moran [sic] will raise a fuss about the "high price of gas!!!!"

In a few years when gas is there anyway and the CEOs are topping 700 million, no on will raise a whimper about the "high price of gas." They will pay it and that extra $1 or $2 a gallon will go straight to the Caymans instead of staying in the US economy.

When did Americans become so unable to think?

400 million!!!!!!

And can someone remind me why the top marginal tax rates are so low? Why is it again that over $5 million, or $10 million or $20 million that we can't tax your income at 80% or 85% or 90%. Would that really be such a hardship?


400 freakin' million!!!!!!

What's wrong with Theocracy anyway?

Here's my contribution to the Blog Against Theocracy Weekend.

What's wrong with Theocracy anyway?

1. Theocracy is not religion. Religious beliefs are a person's own business. Theocracy is politics. It is enshrining your personal beliefs into law.

Because some people think that masturbation, fornication, contraception and same-sex desire are terrible sins, their goal is to prevent you from committing those sins by making them illegal rather than just concentrating on not committing these "sins" themselves. The only prohibitions from the Ten Commandments that are laws are those against murder, perjury (though regular old lying gets a pass) and robbery. These are pretty much against the law all over the world - regardless of the religion of the people in the location. Yes, there are a few quaint places in the US where adultery is a crime, but they are fewer all the time. Face it, NOT devoting your Sabbath to quiet God contemplation versus, say shopping, is not only legal it is highly encouraged by the corporations.

2. Theocracy is precisely what the founders worked so hard to prevent in this new nation. ""Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" The best and brightest minds that formed the United States of America would surely have put that differently if what they meant was "America is a Christian Nation":

The U.S. Constitution is a secular document. It begins, "We the people," and contains no mention of "God" or "Christianity." Its only references to religion are exclusionary, such as, "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust" (Art. VI), and "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" (First Amendment). The presidential oath of office, the only oath detailed in the Constitution, does not contain the phrase "so help me God" or any requirement to swear on a bible (Art. II, Sec. 1, Clause 8). If we are a Christian nation, why doesn't our Constitution say so?

3. Theocrats go on an on about America being anti-religion just because their particular brand of belief is not part of the laws of the land. America is not "anti-religion". Have you walked your neighborhood lately? Passed any of those large buildings with all the tax exemptions on revenue (i.e., churches, mosques, synagogues, temples). If America were anti-religion it would tax those entities and at a high rate. Why not? That would be a great way to make some money in the short term and try to eliminate organized religions in the long term. But that's not what we do as a country. We allow any manner of personal religious expression. We allow religious organizations to operate without tax on revenue.

4. There is no quicker way to war than to allow those with opposite unprovable beliefs to come to blows and then come to arms.

Easter Origins

From Slate

For Christians celebrating Holy Week—the eight-day period preceding Easter—it's hard to imagine Palm Sunday without a procession of palms or Good Friday without the adoration of the cross. Given the sacrosanct nature of worship services this time of year, it is worth remembering that, far from being handed down directly from God, much of the Easter and Holy Week liturgies come to us by way of a little-known, naturally inquisitive fourth–century Spanish nun named Egeria.
...
Though Holy Week's practices owe much to Egeria, the impact of her writings is not limited to the drama of modern liturgy exclusively. Her travel narrative also paints a picture of an adventurous and spirited church woman outside the monastic mold.

To reiterate, it's different if you're a D or an R

Michael A. Fletcher writes in The Washington Post that Vice President Cheney yesterday "said that the congressional efforts to set a withdrawal deadline infringe on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief. . . .

But there's another view if the president is D (from Think Progress:

Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) is “leading the effort” to force a House vote on a “binding measure to prevent cutting or restricting money for the war.” During last week’s Iraq debate, Johnson attacked Iraq war critics relentlessly:

Debating non-binding resolutions aimed at earning political points only destroys morale, stymies success, and emboldens the enemy.

The grim reality is that this House measure is the first step to cutting funding of the troops…Just ask John Murtha about his “slow-bleed” plan that hamstrings our troops in harm’s way.

But as Digby first noted, Johnson had a much different view of the “power of the purse” when President Clinton sent U.S. forces to Bosnia in 1995. Here’s Johnson on the House floor on 12/13/95:

I wholeheartedly support withholding funds… Although it is a drastic step and ties the President’s hands, I do not feel like we have any other choice. The President has tied our hands, gone against the wishes of the American people, and this is the last best way I know how to show my respect for our American servicemen and women. They are helpless, following orders. But we, we are in a position to stop this terrible mistake before it happens.

Lurker in Chief

You Tube

The man behind the curtain

The scamming won't end 'til Bush is out of office

Democrats had denounced Fox for his donation to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential campaign. The group's TV ads, which claimed that Sen. John Kerry exaggerated his military record in Vietnam, were viewed as a major factor in the Massachusetts Democrat's election loss.

Recognizing Fox did not have the votes to obtain Senate confirmation in the Foreign Relations Committee, Bush withdrew the nomination last week. On Wednesday, with the Senate on a one-week break, the president used his power to make recess appointments to put Fox in the job without Senate confirmation.

This means Fox can remain ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress, effectively through the end of the Bush presidency.

"It's sad but not surprising that this White House would abuse the power of the presidency to reward a donor over the objections of the Senate," Kerry said in a statement.

Recess appointments are supposed to be used when the Congress is on a LONG break - not the short spring break that they're currently on. But leave it to the Bush admin to scam around and use every legal option - no matter how slimy. The admin will use any excuse to thumb their noses at Congress and the American people. There will be no respite until this administration is shown the door in 2009. Was there ever more blatant subversion of the law? After all, as Bush himself said of the Constitution, it's just a piece of paper.

Lots of Pork on the Railroad to Nowhere

Funny how when democrats do something it has one meaning, but when republicans do it, it takes on a completely different meaning. Case in point: The PORK PORK PORK PORK in the Iraq Supplemental bill (why after 4 years are we still funding a war on supplemental legislation Mr. Bush? Shouldn't it be part of your submitted budget by now?!!?!?). Far as I can tell there might be a litte pork in the bill. But a lot of it is for better homeland security, more help for Katrina victims, etc.

But, from ThinkProgress, here's how the republicans treated PORK PORK PORK back in the day when they were in charge:

Because Americans strongly back a timeline to redeploy from Iraq, conservatives have focused their opposition to the recently-passed Iraq redeployment legislation on the domestic spending that’s attached:

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “They used this serious effort, what should have been a serious effort to fund the troops as an opportunity…to get pork for various and sordid products back home.”

Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS): “So why are we going through this exercise of heaping pork on the backs of our men and women in uniform and trying to put artificial dates which will not occur?”

We know this isn’t true. Just last year, these same conservatives endorsed the emergency supplemental bill that included $15 billion in domestic spending, including “$4 billion for farmers, $1.1 billion for Gulf Coast fisheries, and $1 billion in grants to states.”

The bill also included the notorious $700 million Railroad to Nowhere in Mississippi, reportedly the largest earmark ever, sponsored by Senate Minority Whip Lott. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) introduced an amendment aimed at eliminating Lott’s egregious pork project, but it was defeated. Fully 18 senators who last week opposed the Iraq spending bill — including Minority Leader McConnell and Minority Whip Lott — voted last year to preserve the Railroad to Nowhere.

It's funny how a little D or R after you name can change the meaning of your actions so very much

Amelia Earhart was a girl and therefore incompetent or arrogant

Yep, no other excuse for her. She was a girl and therefore her failure to respond to radio comms from a Coast Guard Cutter off Howland Island was either because she was arrogant or incompetent:

During the night, Itasca's radio operators had become increasingly exasperated. Earhart's voice had come through in only a few, brief, static-marred transmissions _ "sky overcast" was one _ and hadn't acknowledged any of Itasca's messages or its steady stream of Morse code A's sent as a homing signal: dot-dash, dot-dash... They decided the glamorous 39-year-old "Lady Lindy" was either arrogant or incompetent.

What nobody knew _ not Earhart, and not Itasca _ was that her plane's radio-reception antenna had been ripped away during the takeoff from Lae's bumpy dirt runway. The Itasca could hear Earhart, but she was unable to hear anything, voice or code.

This story fries me in so many ways. Nope, couldn'ta been any kind of MECHANICAL problem that prevented her from hearing the Cutter's signals. Nope. Musta been that she's one of those damn uppity females. You know the kind who think they can do things that only men are supposed to do.

Here's more from James Carey's diary, recently reviewed after being acquired on Ebay

In small notebooks, he jotted down comments about the island's "gooney birds," beachcombing and poker games in Itasca's wardroom. He also noted how Earhart's delayed departure from Lae was affecting crewmembers' morale, writing on June 30: "They are getting tired of waiting for a `gooney' dame who doesn't seem to be aware of the annoyance the delays have made."

Stupid "Gooney Dame." How dare she attempt a circumnavigation of the globe. And then women will think about what they're capable of.

At 7:58 a.m., there was a nervous edge to Earhart's normal calm. A log entry had her saying, "we are drifting but cannot hear you." An operator changed this to "we are circling." Gillespie believes she actually said, "we are listening."

We are LISTENING but we cannot hear you. Like women keep listening for equal rights and recognition. Amelia, we still can't hear them.

How many ways can you skirt oversight?

Thank heavens for Henry Waxman. Letter from the Congressman to White House late last week:

On Monday, I wrote to the Republican National Committee and the Bush Cheney'04 campaign directing them to preserve the e-mails of White House officials. In those letters, I cited multiple examples of the use of political RNC e-mail accounts by White House officials conducting official government business. [n one example I cited, an associate of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff was advised by a White House official not to send communications through the official White House e-mail system because "to put this stuff in writing in their email system ... might actually limit what they can do to help us."'

Since Monday, I have learned of new examples of the use of RNC and campaign e-mail accounts by White House officials, including:

New Abramoff E-Mails. Susan Ralston, who was Karl Rove's executive assistant, invited two lobbyists working for Jack Abramoff to use her RNC e-mail account to avoid "security issues" with the White House e-mail system, writing: "I now have an RNC blackbeny which you can use to e-mail me at any time. No security issues like my WH email."3 Ms. Ralston similarly wrote Mr. Abramoff: "I know [sic] have an RNC laptop at the office for political use. I can access my AOL email when necessary so if you need to send me something that I need to read, you can send to my AOL email and then call or page me to check it."4

New Scott Jennings E-Mails. Scott Jennings, the deputy director of political affairs in the White House, and his assistant used "gwb43.com" e-mail accounts to communicate with the General Services Administration about a partisan briefing that Mr. Jennings gave to political appointees at GSA on January 26,2007.' When Mr. Jennings's assistant emailed the PowerPoint presentation to GSA, she wrote: "It is a close hold and we're not supposed to be emailing it around."

It seems the scammers at the White House (always looking for ways to get around the laws) decided to use non-White House emails for official government business under the impression that the personal emails would be subject to less scrutiny. Luckily Waxman is on the case and requesting the non-White House email systems maintain the emails for possible provision to the House Oversight Committee. I thank goodnes for Henry Waxman and his unflagging determination to get to the bottom of the scamming and sleeze in Washington.

Grow your own Viagra

From the The UK

The latest gardening craze was triggered by a discovery by a 55-year-old furniture restorer, Michael Ford, on his allotment. He was always experimenting with drinks made from different plants and one day he tried an infusion from his winter-flowering heather. He said: "The effect was almost immediate. I had to stay in my potting shed for an hour or so before I could decently walk down the street."

He then contacted the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, famous for their work with the heather family, to see if they could offer an explanation. They could. Botanist Alan Bennell said: "This first surfaced when East European chemists reported finding a Viagra-type chemical in the floral tissues of winter-flowering heaths. They were able to isolate measurable amounts of material that is an analogue of the active principle in Viagra."

The article talks about how to concoct the viagra-analogue by mixing it w/Vodka. Oh yeay. Just what the world needs, more drunk horny guys. ;*) Though I love the idea of cutting big pharma out of the mix.

Bubble boy Bush and his staged photo-op

WaPo

Bush at Walter Reed: “Journalists were allowed to take pictures and watch for only a few minutes before being ushered out, though not before Bush told photographers to take pictures of Sgt. Mark Ecker’s tattoo of a naked woman. [heh, heh heh] Reporters were not allowed to interview patients in Abrams Hall, hospital officials said, citing logistics. The hospital instead made available two doctors, who spoke glowingly about the president’s visit and had no information to provide about the facility’s problems.” Bush wrapped up his visit an hour before the scheduled time.