Month: October 2007

Superbug Kills More Americans Than AIDS

Jon Ponder

Los Angeles Times:

The number of severe infections by a “superbug,” known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, isat least twice as high as researchers previously believed, and the bacterium now kills more Americans than AIDS, researchers reported today.

The antibiotic-resistant infections, commonly called MRSA, were once confined to a few hospitals, but a new study by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2005 they made an estimated 94,000 Americans seriously ill and killed almost 19,000, compared with 17,000 who died of AIDS…

The infections have been a growing concern, particularly over the last decade, as they have spread outside hospitals, popping up in prisons, athletic fields and locker rooms.

The study reported that nearly 14 percent of new antibiotic-resistant staph infections are not linked to hospitals or other medical facilities, indicating that the disease has become ingrained in parts of the wider community.

The finding was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Poll: Bush Approval at 24% – Still Incredibly High for Worst President Ever

Jon Ponder

Reuters/Zogby poll:

Bush’s job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month’s record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent.

By contrast, Pres. Nixon was around 25 percent in the polls on the day he resigned. Both his numbers and Bush’s reflect the fact that about a quarter of Americans are dangerously delusional.

Approval of Congress remains low:

A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month’s record low.

Ironically, the low approval of Congress is probably due to the fact they haven’t impeached Bush or stopped his war.

GOP Senate Leader Caught Lying about Smear of Young Graeme Frost

Jon Ponder

Think Progress:

On Thursday, ThinkProgress reported that Don Stewart, the communications director for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), had sent an e-mail encouraging reporters to cover the right-wing smear campaign of 12-year old Graeme Frost. But on Friday, McConnell claimed his office was not involved:

Q: Was there an indication that your office was trying to push reporters to dig into this 12-year old’s background?

McCONNELL: No

Q: Then what was the deal with the e-mail from your staffer?

McCONNELL:There was no involvement whatsoever.

Q: From your staff.

McCONNELL: None.

And yet:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s spokesman acknowledged [on Oct. 15] that he alerted reporters last week to questions bloggers raised about the financial circumstances of a 12-year-old boy Democrats had used to urge passage of an expanded children’s health insurance program.

Imagine the howling on the right and in the MSM if a Democratic leader had been caught telling a bald-faced lie.

Was Cruella de Malkin Fired by Fox over Smear of 12 Year Old?

Jon Ponder

Is it possible there is a bottom to the depths of rightwing hackery? Probably not, but there is a rumor going around that Michelle Malkin, the conservative pundit most likely to skin puppies to make a fur coat, has been fired as the occasional guest host for the Bill O’Reilly comedy hour on Fox News because of her vicious attack on 12-year-old Graeme Frost and his family.

Graeme and his sister were seriously injured in a car accident in 2004, after which SCHIP, the children’s health insurance program Pres. Bush has vetoed, covered the costs of their extensive hospital stays and rehab. On Sept. 29, Graeme gave the Democrats’ rebuttal to Pres. Bush’s radio speech in which he sought to justify vetoing SCHIP, and Malkin, along with Rush Limbaugh and their running dogs at sites like Free Republic and Redstate — and even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office and the Bush White House, no less — have been trying to silence and discredit the kid ever since.

Conservative bloggers even went so far as to publish the Frost family’s address online and, to no one’s surprise, the Frosts have been receiving death threats ever since.

The Malkin controversy arose just as the dust was settling after Bill O’Reilly’s racist comments about African-American restaurant-goers, and may have been too much for Fox executives and, more to the point, FNC advertisers.

If the rumor is true, Malkin’s cover story for her departure has it that she is leaving in a fit of pique because an apology she received from Fox correspondent Geraldo Rivera on an unrelated matter was not sincere enough:

[…]

Schwarzenegger Ran Against ‘Car Tax’ in 2003, Now Raises Driver Fees

Jon Ponder

One of the central issues in Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2003 campaign to recall Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was a phony claim that Davis wanted to raise the California “car tax.” In reality:

Raising fees on driving is a dead certain way to tick off Californians of every political stripe.

[The Vehicle License Fee had been] passed and signed into law under Davis’s predecessor, Republican Pete Wilson, and took effect only under emergency cash fall contingencies so that certain vital state governmental programs could continue.

(The fact that the revenue shortfalls were a result of Enron’s pillaging of California’s energy market — a plunder that many believe was conceived by Ken Lay and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney — is another story.)

Four years later, look who’s raising fees on California drivers now:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed into law a controversial increase in motorists’ fees that is intended to raise millions to develop alternative fuel and clean-air technology.

Consumer advocates condemned the bill for putting the costs on the backs of motorists rather than oil companies…

AB 118 … increases the fees charged to car owners in order to raise $210 million for new energy subsidies and clean-air programs.

The governor denied through a representative that he was being inconsistent in approving increases in the smog abatement and vehicle registration fees after initially winning election on a vow to kill an increase in the vehicle license fee.

Since his reelection last year, Schwarzenegger has done an excellent job of appearing in the news only when necessary and avoiding using cutsey catch-phrases (“girly men,” “I’ll be back,” etc.) when speaking in public, and has thus managed to be less annoying to independents and moderate Democrats. Conversely, however, while he has coddled California’s liberal majorities, he has become persona non grata within his own party.

It’s hard to discern a political advantage with this move. Raising fees on driving is a dead certain way to tick off Californians of every political stripe.

Stop Tossing Out Catalogs

Trish

We like to bring you ideas on how to tread a little more lightly upon the earth. The web site, catalogchoice.org, can help by keeping catalogs you don’t want out of your mailbox, recycle bin, or — yikes! — trash.

You register your name and primary mailing address (which are only used to match up your catalog solicitations), then identify which catalogs you don’t want from a searchable list.

After about 10 weeks, viola: no more catalogs. If any do come through after that, catalogchoice will follow up with the merchant for you.

The service is free — and quite reputable.

Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. It is endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, and funded by the Overbrook Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, and the Kendeda Fund.

And in case you’re feeling sorry for the nice folks who keep thoughtfully sending you these gifts in the mail, rest assured that they would prefer their catalogs go to people who actually want them. You’re doing them a favor by getting off their mailing list.