Month: August 2007

Alaska Republican (A Different One) Suspected of Biggest Earmark Grab Ever

Trish

The stench from a recently discovered earmark in the 2005 Federal Transportation bill is making members of the Lee County, Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization board swoon. They are also demanding an explanation.

Back in 2005 — before voters the following year tossed out corrupt Republican politicians by the handfuls — it was business as usual for Transportation Committee Chair Rep. Bob Young (R-Alaska) to pay back a donor with a gift from the public till. He appears to have done just that by slipping into the bill new I-75 exit and entrance ramps to a development project being built by a crony.

“I’ve seen little gimmicks and little tricks used to make sure somebody’s friend or contributor is taken care of but this is by far one of the more underhanded, surreptitious examples I’ve seen — ever.”

Young visited Southwest Florida in early 2005 to attend a town hall meeting.

While in town, Daniel Aronoff, a wealthy part-time Naples resident who owns property east of Coconut Road and would benefit from the interchange, held a fundraiser for Young…

The words “Coconut Road interchange” were not in the federal transportation bill approved by Congress in 2005.

Those words were attached to a $10 million earmark sometime after the House and Senate votes but before the president signed the bill into law.

Young can at least be proud that people are hailing his alleged move as one of the most egregious ever. After all, if you’re going to go then go big. But if he did it, as O.J. would say, then how?

The language within the earmark was changed during a process called “bill enrollment,” when technical corrections are made to legislation before being sent to the president. Such corrections include changes to punctuation, section numbers or updates to reflect final actions taken by the House and Senate.

“This goes beyond the intent of the technical corrections process,” said Keith Ashdown, a researcher for the Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington, D.C., watchdog group. “It’s supposed to be about getting your punctuation right, not about making sure that your major benefactor is getting their pork…I’ve seen little gimmicks and little tricks used to make sure somebody’s friend or contributor is taken care of but this is by far one of the more underhanded, surreptitious examples I’ve seen — ever.”

Even after people started getting whiffs of the stinky largess, Young and fellow Republican Rep. Connie Mack tried to make it sound like an offer Naples, Florida couldn’t refuse.

In letters to county leaders, Young and U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, warned that the money could be lost and future funding jeopardized should it be rejected.

In fact, funding reallocations happen all the time.

Board members want to get to the bottom of the issue by their Aug. 17 meeting when they will decide how, with all the actual urgent priorities for roads in their area, the money should best be spent.

Bush’s Doctors Kept Lyme Disease Secret for a Year; Is the Condition Why His Mind is Degenerating?

Trish

We’ve all seen the video, and if not, you really can’t watch it enough: George Bush when he was governor of Texas, using big words and whole sentences, making sense and not embarrassing anyone. It’s a marvel!

“Brain fog” involves episodes of cognitive dysfunction or confused thinking and is associated with forgetfulness, losing one’s train of thought, depersonalization, and the inability to remember the correct words when speaking or writing

But Bush now is a whole different animal, leading many to wonder if it’s Alzheimers, if he’s back on the sauce, or if Dick Cheney is slipping something into his fried quail.

An even better explanation is Lyme disease. Although doctors one year ago treated him for what they now claim was early stage Lyme disease, who knows when he got it? And dementia is one of the main manifestations of undiagnosed Lyme disease.

Bush was treated for what his doctors described as “early, localized Lyme disease” last August after developing the characteristic bullseye rash. The doctors said he has had no recurrence.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the disease was not disclosed earlier because it happened after he had his last physical, on Aug. 1, 2006.

Right. So why bring it up until now? After all, it’s not like we ever hear about any of the other Bush health problems, like hangovers — whoops, I mean stomach flu — at global summits.

The president’s main form of exercise and recreational activity is biking. His doctors advised him to wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts and use bug spray when in risk-prone areas, such as Maine, where the president is spending a long weekend starting Thursday at his parents’ summer home on the coast.

Bush has had a lifetime of opportunities to contract Lyme disease, if you can get it from mountain biking in Maine. But the curious circumstances of his recent annual exam have really got me wondering what gives.

Last year’s presidential physical was conducted as usual on a visit to the National Naval Medical Center in suburban Maryland. This year’s took place in a series of exams at the White House starting July 17 and ending Tuesday night. The exams were not revealed until Wednesday…

A total of 11 doctors were involved in the exams, overseen by White House physician Richard Tubb and Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the president of The Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. The group included skin, hearing, heart, eye, neurological and sports medicine specialists.

Each signed a statement saying that “within the scope of my specialty” he found Bush “fit for duty” with the expectation that he will remain so for the duration of his presidency.

It’s all kind of odd, don’t you think? It seems like presidents always have their exams at Bethesda. I wasn’t aware the White House kept the equipment on hand that you’d need for 11 different specialists to perform tests.

But listen to what happens when, instead of the early stage Lyme disease the White House claims Bush had, you don’t know you have it and it goes untreated too long. Symptom types include:

[…]

FOX Called on Compact Fluorescent Hatchet Job

Trish

The Sierra Club’s “Mr. Green” rebuts the FOX News (motto: “Don’t ask me, I watch FOX News”) slam against compact fluorescent bulbs. FOX’s own “Junk Science” columnist says the bulbs, which contain mercury, require hazardous materials clean-up if broken and that mandating their use denies consumers choice. After all, if people want to burn up scarce resources we might have to invade other countries to secure, it’s their own business.

Mr. Green corrects the misinformation.

The people at Fox News are either brain-damaged from huffing mercury (they do seem to have a fondness for the highly toxic) or they have unscrupulously cherry-picked their facts…

Imagine that all 4 billion residential lightbulbs have become CFLs. Even in the incredibly unlikely scenario that every single dead bulb were smashed and its contents released into the environment, switching to CFLs would yield a maximum 3.1 tons of mercury each year. Coal-burning power plants emit 50 tons.

This classic example of enviro-bashing is full of flaws. First, the Fox writer trots out one report of one environmental bureaucrat’s overreaction to a bulb breakage to make it sound like a busted CFL will turn a house into a Superfund site. The fact is, CFLs do contain mercury, but nowhere near enough to provoke panic or evacuation. If you break a bulb, you can do the cleanup yourself, without renting a moon suit or contacting authorities.

The EPA advises the following treatment:

1. Open a window and leave the room for at least 15 minutes (to let the mercury vaporize).

2. Remove all materials (i.e., the pieces of the broken bulb) without using a vacuum cleaner. You don’t want even a small amount of mercury lurking in your vacuum. To do so:

* Wear disposable rubber gloves, if available. (Never touch the bulb pieces with your bare hands.)
* Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard (you don’t want the stuff to get on your broom or dustpan either).
* Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or disposable wet wipe. Sticky tape, such as duct tape (yet another use for the versatile material!), can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.

3. Place all cleanup materials in a plastic bag and seal it. If your state permits you to put used or broken CFLs in the garbage, seal the CFL in two plastic bags and put into the outside trash (if no other disposal or recycling options are available). If your state doesn’t allow this, consult the local hazardous-waste authority for safe-recycling information. Some hardware stores will also accept old bulbs; to find a recycler near you, try Earth 911, or (800) CLEAN-UP…

4. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

5. The first time you vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag once done cleaning the area (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag and/or vacuum debris, as well as the cleaning materials, in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash…for normal disposal.

So much for that part of Fox’s story, but I’m not quite done with calling them on their hokum.

[…]

Global Warming Sucks

Trish

According to www.weather.com, it is currently 85 degrees in Jacksonville (near me) and 84 in Miami. The expected low here tonight is the mid-80s.

It is so frickin’ hot I can’t believe it. The company I’m doing some work for had the grand opening of our newest branch today from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and the flowers on the outside tables wilted. The cheese on the cheese tray melted. And don’t even ask about whatever that red, meat-looking stuff inside those egg roll shaped things did.

We went for beers afterward but we were so sluggish and damp by them that we just nodded off. I’m miserable. Good night.

Hillary: If You Want Someone Who’ll Stand Up to the Righwing Machine, ‘I’m Your Girl’

Jon Ponder

As soundbites scripted for debates go, I really like this one from today’s event in Chicago:

I’m much less irked about Hillary Clinton’s politically calculated vote for the war in 2002 than I am about John Kerry’s wimpy-ass presidential campaign in 2004

“For 15 years, I have stood up against the right-wing machine and I’ve come out stronger. So if you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I’m your girl,” [Sen. Hillary] Clinton said.

What’s important this time is winning, and not just in the margins. It’s clear that Bush will not be impeached. The only recourse to accountability left for impeachment advocates is to ensure his party gets a thumpin’ of biblical proportions next year.

I’m still undecided about Clinton (and Obama and Edwards) and leaning toward Bill Richardson. But the threshold issue for me has never been Clinton’s politically calculated vote to authorize Bush’s war in 2002. It’s which candidate is the least likely to run a wimpy-ass campaign like John Kerry’s in 2004. If you can’t defeat Karl Rove, the Swiftboaters and their ilk, you don’t deserve to be the Democratic nominee, much less the president.

The candidate who wins the Democratic primaries next year needs to go on the offensive out the gate. Standing up to the rightwing lies and smears is a good first step. If Clinton walks the talk, who knows, she could be just the woman to do it.

Iraq So-Called Government Falls Apart as Remaining Sunnis Quit Cabinet

Trish

I hate to break away from Utah mine collapse coverage just as Lindsay Lohan, in the state for more rehab, might make an appearance but…

The Iraqi government is falling apart.

…five more ministers announced a boycott of Cabinet meetings — leaving the embattled prime minister’s unity government with no members affiliated with Sunni political factions.

Clueless State Dept. calls Sunni boycott “very healthy political debate”

…The new cracks in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government appeared even as U.S. military officials sounded cautious notes of progress on security, citing strides against insurgents linked to al-Qaida in Iraq but also new threats from Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

…The Cabinet boycott of five ministers loyal to former Iraqi leader Ayad Allawi left the government, at least temporarily, without participants where were (sic) members of the Sunni political apparatus — a deep blow to the prime minister’s attempt to craft reconciliation among the country’s majority Shiites and minority Sunnis and Kurds.

The defense minister is from a Sunni background but has no political ties and was chosen by al-Maliki.

The Allawi bloc, a mixture of Sunnis and Shiites, cited al-Maliki’s failure to respond to its demands for political reform. The top Sunni political bloc already had pulled its six ministers from the 40-member Cabinet of al-Maliki, a Shiite, last week.

So there are no Sunnis at all in the Iraqi Cabinet anymore. But hey, the U.S. State Department isn’t worried. That’s because they’re also clueless.

“There’s a very healthy political debate that is going on in Iraq, and that is good,” [State Department spokesman Sean] McCormack said. “It’s going to be for them (the Iraqi people) to make the judgments about whether or not that government is performing.”

What we need in this country is a very healthy Iraqi-style debate on whether our government is performing.

Bush’s Unpopularity Streak Beats Nixon’s – Could Best Truman’s

Jon Ponder

George Bush’s favorability rating has now been below 40 percent for 18 months, which beats the 15-month streak of Richard Nixon’s unpopularity, which ended in his resignation under threat of impeachment. And with 17 months left to go, Bush still has time to beat the all-time record of 30 months below 40 percent held by Harry Truman:

George W. Bush has sunk below Richard Nixon and could break Harry Truman’s record for persistent unpopularity among modern U.S. presidents.

The latest Gallup Poll found that Bush’s popularity had been below 40 percent for six consecutive quarters [18 months], the Dallas Morning News reports. Nixon ended his five-quarter [15-month] streak by resigning in 1974.

Truman’s approval ratings were below 40 percent for 10 [quarters], the longest ever in the history of the Gallup Poll. Bush, with six quarters [18 months] remaining in his second term, could surpass Truman.