Quelle ironic!

Who would have thought pot could be the source of an appetite suppressant? The makers of Cheetos will be devastated!

Not sure about this one...

Castro has been pretty reprehensible over the years, but is this really in good taste? I have to wonder. Especially considering the city is organizing it and spending public funds on it. Its probably a popular use of time and funds in Miami, but should a local government be doing this sort of thing?

Yes, Virginia, there is identity theft on the way!

File under "Oh, shit!" :

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield says information for about 50,000 of its Virginia customers was stolen.

That information includes social security numbers and names.

Anthem says the information was on cassette tapes, being stored in a lock box, at one of its vendors.

What in tarnation is going on down there?

I gotta start going to Session! Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! So, according to previous posts, a Republican congressman's statements re: a new Muslim congressman do not represent the GOP.

How about these?

It's a whole New World, eh W?

The President is now finding out what its like to govern in a Post-11/7 World. He cannot do things like this with impunity anymore. And he certainly cannot get away with this. Must be hell trying to preside over the country when you have to abide by the law and cannot intimidate opposition into silence. He must be sooooo jealous of Hugo Chavez right now.

Oh well, 42 guys did it before you...

PS - in case the first link requires a password or something, here's a shorter alternative.

Jew, Republican, Environmentalist

I thought this was an interesting op-ed, especially the part about being a Republican environmentalist:

Which leads me to the final issue that makes me an increasingly strange republican: I'm sort of an environmentalist. Not a real activist, just a sympathizer. I watch helplessly as our national vistas are slowly destroyed. In 1993, Rush Limbaugh disingenuously remarked on his radio show that he didn't understand what all the fuss is about - he had gazed down out his airplane window at a landscape of endless forests on a cross-country flight. It's hard to believe that he couldn't distinguish between lush ancient old growth forests lost forever, and newer woods with little biodiversity. How can all the sequoias and redwoods that have been chopped down ever be replaced? They can't, and 98% have been felled, with some refugees surviving in national forests and parks. Meanwhile throughout North America, enormous ancient trees continue to be chopped down for...toilet paper.

It seems to me there's a new environmental movement in the far Right, based on traditional Christian values, that takes stewardship of the Earth as our collective reponsibility. Could tree-huggers and Left Behinders actually see eye-to-eye on some issue of importance? God forbid!

"Next Target Tehran"?

I was poking through The Guardian this morning and came across a troubling editorial that seems to suggest we are on the brink of war with Iran. I knew relations were strained, but I didn't realize we had started placing military resources in the Gulf, as Mr. Plesch suggests, for a pending action against the Iranian regime. Here's a brief excerpt:

"There's a strong sense in the upper echelons of the White House that Iran is going to surface relatively quickly as a major issue - in the country and the world - in a very acute way," said NBC TV's Tim Russert after meeting the president. This is borne out by the fact that Bush has sent forces to the Gulf that are irrelevant to fighting the Iraqi insurgents. These include Patriot anti-missile missiles, an aircraft carrier, and cruise-missile-firing ships.

Many military analysts see these deployments as signals of impending war with Iran. The Patriot missiles are intended to shoot down Iranian missiles. The naval forces, including British ships, train to pre-empt Iranian interference with oil shipments through the straits of Hormuz.

The Russert quote is a little ambiguous but also seems to suggest that Iran is soon to become THE issue for our country (which is hard to image considering how bad things are going in Iraq.) So, is Mr. Plesch being alarmist or are we really on the brink of war with Iran? I have to admit, the thought of another, ill-conceived war in the Middle East makes me sick to my stomach. How can the Bush administration possibly think the country will support such a move? And to use the WMD excuse again is just ludicrous. As is asking what we would be willing to do to prevent another Holocaust. Blair's quote about not being able to "pick and choose our wars" is ripped from the Bush book on arrogant and pigheaded leadership. Going to war is a choice, not an inevitability.

Excuse me, I think I'm going to go throw up now.

Smells Fishy

File under "that didn't take long."

Minimum wage increases for all!!! ...unless you're a factory worker for a global food processing multinational conglomerate headquartered in Speaker Pelosi's district.

The new minimum wage bill passed by the House that increases the minimum wage by more than 40% also includes a special exemption that exclusively benefits Del Monte and Chicken of the Sea, global food processors with respective headquarters in San Francisco and San Diego.

"I was troubled to learn of this exemption," said Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican. "My intention was to raise the minimum wage for everyone. We shouldn't permit any special favors or exemptions that are not widely discussed in Congress. This is the problem with rushing legislation through without full debate."

The Speaker's spokeswoman insists that she has not been lobbied by either company. Oh... well... that's good to know.

Just one week on the job, and we already have clues about the Democrats' new 'ethical leadership'. Stay tuned for more of the same.

Recent subject retread - SMOKING

I just reread the old post regarding Norfolk attempting to ban smoking -- they likely lack authority as a local unit w/o more state input.
How about this take on it: smoke
It is the choice of the business; the business most post signage; but the default is non-smoking.

Either way, it looks like DC is smoke-free unless you sell 10% tobacco - D.C. Smoking Ban.

Don't forget Maccacca-Man, Jr.!

Jim Gilmore is running for President.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010900451.html

Yippee. Now he can try to bankrupt the entire country. The only upside is that, if he wins, he'll be out in 4 years and ushering in an era where Democrats control the White House for elections to come. We'd just have to suck up the nightmare that would be a Gilmore Administration from 2008 to 2012.

Still can't figure out the friggin' Google hyperlink function.

Bad idea...

OK, I'm not a big fan of the "Surge" idea the White House is floating, but threatening to withhold the money for it is not how the Democrats should oppose it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070108/ap_on_go_co/congress_rdp

Of course, withholding money is the only way to directly stop the Commander in Chief from deploying troops in this situation, but it raises 2 problems. First, President Bush might send the troops anyway and just let them be un- or underfunded. This would not mark the first time the Bush Administration sent troops into battle without the necessary equipment, armor, etc. This is unacceptable. Regardless of how we might feel about sending additional troops over there, even if we know its a terrible error, we have to ensure that they're as protected and well-supplied as possible.

Second, as the leadership is saying, they will not deny funds to any troops actually on the ground, but the GOP will spin each and every vote to deny funding for troops GOING to be sent over as "The Democrats are withholding supplies from our troops during a time of war!" Might not be true, but since when does something have to be "Fair & Balanced" for the RNC and Fox News to say it.

I think a better way to oppose such a move is to make clear that everyone involved in the decision will be hauled before a committee and roasted over a spit. No more imposing decisions of questionable, if any, merit that cost American lives without being held to account. The Administration may be willing to play politics and try to save Bush's legacy by taking one more shot at pacifying Iraq, but they no longer can do it in the dark of night, behind closed doors.

Unfortunately, this will not save American lives if the Bush Administration pushes ahead even in the face of being hammered at home. However, history shows us that Bush rarely reconsiders any decision (or considers it, for that matter), so the ship may have sailed for our troops already. Neither withholding funds nor holding the Administration accountable will save them.

At least following this advice will mean that Bush and the GOP cannot profit politically from further American bloodshed.

PS - I still can't figure out how to make the IP address a wordlink in this new setup. Randy, you seem to be able to do it, how is it done now (since there are no more carrots to write between)?

Bienvienidos! Will that be VISA, MasterCard, or the currency of a neighboring country whose citizens are creating an illegal immigration crisis?

¿Puedo tomar su orden?

Pesos for pizza. Dallas-based pizza chain Pizza Patrón started accepting the Mexican peso in addition to the US dollar. See story here.

Good for America?

Mr. Goode can put this in his pipe and smoke it

... but he'd have to answer to some angry librarians at the Library of Congress and possibly a jihadist or two.

In a fitting response to the recent anti-Muslim and anti-immigration comments made by Congressman Virgil Goode, Congressman-elect Keith Ellison will be using Thomas Jefferson's Koran for his swearing-in ceremony.

Look for smoke to come out of someone's ears today in Washington.

Oh, so NOW its time to stop spending like a drunken sailor...

How convenient, Mr. President. After 6 years of spend, spend, spend, no pork you didn't like, backroom, GOP-only, wee hours of night deals being OK by you, suddenly fiscal responsibility is back in your limited vocabulary? What is it, Mr. President, a New Year's resolution? Hmmm, it has nothing to do with the fact that you no longer control the purse strings? Its not that money might now be spent on programs you don't agree with, does it? You $%*& two-faced piece of #^&@*!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_16

You don't want the government to spend less money, you want the government not to spend money on stuff you don't like. Not exactly a crazy notion, so why lie about it and pretend you are "fiscally responsible" and just want "limited government"? We have 6 years of evidence (and the Dept. of Homeland Security) to show us that this is not true. At least Congressman Goode let the American people see what he stands for.

Well, I hope the Democratic Congress DOES act more responsibly than Hastert, DeLay and the rest of the crew that has spent the new century on a Jack Abramoff-fueled spending spree.

We're still not going to authorize $1 billion for a program telling teenagers that abstinence and prayer is the only way not to get pregnant, so piss off!