And They Need It
No, this is not from The Onion, its from The Washington Post.
Bush Orders Staff to Attend Ethics Briefings
No, this is not from The Onion, its from The Washington Post.
This truly makes me sad. These numbers are all the more reason to make education and education reform a much higher priority.

I like Tony Blair, I do. But he should really take these into account:
1: SET LEGALLY BINDING ANNUAL CO2 REDUCTION TARGETS
New law to commit the Government to reducing CO2 every year by a fixed amount - say, 3 per cent - audited by an independent body. A radical programme would then have to be implemented to meet the target.
2: DECENTRALISE THE ENERGY SUPPLY SYSTEM
Do away with the vast power stations serving the national grid: think microgeneration. Give every city, every town, every village, its own power station, fitted with a combined heat and power (CHP) system, which cuts CO2
3: ALL NEW BUILDINGS TO BE CO2-FREE
Put a power station in every basement: change building regulations to make all new buildings provide their own power, with solar panels, mini-wind turbines and CHP systems to soak up wasted heat.
4:INSIST ON USE OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT LIGHT BULBS
Ban standard light bulbs all over Britain and force us to use energy-saving bulbs instead, which soak up less than a quarter of the electricity. Hugely symbolic gesture which would save enormous quantities of CO2.
5: BOOST NEGLECTED RENEWABLES; SOLAR, WAVE, TIDE POWER
Start giving proper funding and backing to renewable energy other than wind: solar power, and power from the waves and tides. These have vast potential to supply CO2-free electricity, yet are underdeveloped.
6: FOCUS AGAIN ON OFFSHORE WIND POWER
Renew the impetus behind wind farms based in the sea with £1bn of subsidy: after a good start, development is slowing, because of technical and financial difficulties, yet we have unparalleled offshore wind resources.
7: GET RADICAL WITH ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Make sure every house in Britain that can be properly insulated is insulated; bring in much more rigorous labelling that can enable any consumer to see how much energy is used by a product.
8: TACKLE THE GAS GUZZLERS
Raise vehicle excise duty (VED) on cars such as 4x4s; make it more than £1,000 per vehicle and set it to rise further. If you want to be radical, insist on a health warning on the side: This Vehicle Damages The Environment.
9: CURB THE GROWTH IN CHEAP FLIGHTS
Raise air passenger duty to end the cheap flight bonanza, as CO2 emissions from aircraft are the most rapidly rising in Britain and also the most damaging: they go straight into the stratosphere. A vote loser and a tough choice.
10: HAVE A LATE-NIGHT TALK WITH GEORGE BUSH
Do anything you can to get George Bush to change his mind about climate change. The world needs America, the biggest CO2 emitter, to lead the fight against global warming. The President is denying the evidence.
Just a few quick thoughts... I really am amazed at the sharp contrasts between Ken Starr and Patrick Fitzgerald. For a start, Fitzgerald is prosecuting an actual crime. Second, everyone knows of Starr's notorious leakiness. He manipulated the press with his truckload of press conferences and leaked supposedly classified information like a sieve. He was a slimeball in that regard (as well as many other regards, too)
Interesting piece from the Star Tribune about Corporate forests.
The opportunity for people to use private corporate lands freely for hunting, hiking, bird-watching and other outdoor pursuits is disappearing in parts of northern Minnesota. "Things have really changed up here," said Bickford, of Crosby. "You could go anyplace and hunt, but now everything's getting built up and bought up."
Idiots..... the idiots!
Loggers, Scorning the Law, Ravage the Amazon
According to government figures, Brazilian timber exports from the Amazon increased in value nearly 50 percent in 2004 over the previous year, to just under $1 billion. In the first half of this year, when the rainy season traditionally slows down activities, exports rose an additional 20 percent in value.
Over all, nearly 40 percent of the wood cut in the Amazon is now being shipped overseas, compared with only 14 percent in 1999. Brazil's main markets are the United States, which accounts for one-third of all timber shipments abroad, followed by China, at 14 percent and growing rapidly, and European countries, which collectively account for 40 percent.
"The problem, though, is that the government's own figures indicate that about 60 percent of those exports are illegal," said Paulo Adario, who directs the Amazon campaign of the environmental group Greenpeace. "So you have to ask yourself: how is it possible that even with logging permits suspended since July 2004, wood exports are continuing to rise so frighteningly?"
I still firmly believe that the DLC is nowhere near the devil that a lot of liberals make it out to be.
Smilin' Norm strikes again...
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As a Senate candidate in 2002, Norm Coleman called Alaska's wilderness a "little pristine piece of the world" and pledged to oppose a plan to allow drilling in the state's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But with a showdown vote expected later this month, environmentalists fear that they're about to lose the support of Minnesota's Republican senator if -- as expected -- the provision is tucked into a year-end budget bill.
Their fears might be valid.
While Coleman still opposes oil and gas drilling in ANWR, his spokesman, Tom Steward, said Coleman also supports the budget he's worked hard on.
I came across this today, weird timing because I actually just saw a clip on the news about how fishermen in the northeast are having to move into other professions because of small catches.
This is an absolute disgrace.
It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution.
Just checking in on Minnesota's hot Senate race....
Warm climate transforms Alaska terrain
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) -- Sinking villages perched on thawing permafrost, an explosion of timber-chewing insect populations, record wildfires and shrinking sea ice are among the most obvious and jarring signs that Alaska is getting warmer as the global climate changes, scientists say.
"We are the canary in the mine, unfortunately, and the harbinger of what is yet to come for the rest of the world," said Patricia Cochran, executive director of the Anchorage-based Alaska Native Science Commission.
Atmospheric temperatures in the remote state have risen 3.6 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 3 degrees Celsius) over the past five decades, according to the recently released Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a comprehensive study by scientists from eight nations.
That heating, most pronounced in winter and spring, is much more dramatic than in the rest of the world, which has had an average increase in land surface temperatures of 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 Celsius) over the last century, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Global warming 'past the point of no return'
A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.
They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.
From AOL News last night:
Well it is an extremely rare occurance for this president...Why is it that Bill Clinton sees it, but other D.C. politicians (mainly Republicans, mind you) don't?
"Our government failed those people in the beginning, and I take it now there is no dispute about it. One hundred percent of the people recognize that -- that it was a failure."
If the Democrats were in control if Washington, this would have been the plan for Katrina. Its very thorough and long, I suggest you click on the link to read more of it. Yes Mr. Rove, we do indeed have a plan.
Just another reminder of how bad the federal response to Katrina was:
As the mess in New Orleans and the gulf coast continues, I have a few quick thoughts.
Insanity. Hurricane Katrina has caused pure, unfiltered insanity. This stuff is biblical, folks.
Two months ago, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) told an audience of congressional staffers and scientific experts the federal government needs to spend billions of dollars over the next two decades to restore her state's wetlands. She warned that intentional rerouting of the Mississippi River over the past century, coupled with rising sea levels due to climate change, had eroded Louisiana's natural buffer against massive storms.If only they'd have listened earlier.
Some happy news...
The cooperative action, the first of its kind in the nation, came after the Bush administration decided not to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Once a final agreement is reached, the legislatures of the nine states will have to enact it, which is considered likely.Again, GWB didn't do anything, so they had to take it into their own hands.
U.S. Proposes Higher Fuel Standards for Light TrucksThe Bush administration on Tuesday proposed higher fuel mileage standards for most sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans, but environmentalists assailed the plan — which spares gas-guzzling giants such as the Hummer H2 and Ford Excursion — as insufficient.
Lets play a game. You tell me who said the following quotes.
“Terrorism is the major threat to the security of Americans.”Hmm.... who was it? George W. Bush? Donald Rumsfeld? Some strong willed Republican congressman?
“Terrorism has become an equal opportunity destroyer with no respect for borders.”
“America must act and lead. Nowhere, is that responsibility more clear or more urgent than in the struggle against terrorism. “
“Terrorism is the enemy of our generation.”
Oy.... do you really expect good news in a post like this?
A third study shows that when the errors are taken into account, the troposphere actually got warmer. Moreover, that warming trend largely agrees with the warmer surface temperatures that have been recorded and conforms to predictions in recent computer models.In other words, the science actually shows that global warming is worse than the study said previously.
#1. Because she has so much hype about how she’ll supposedly steamroll over any competition, if she has even a remotely close race with an opponent in the democratic primary, the media will make it seem as if the sky is falling.
Higher college tuition quietly taxes parents
Mr. Bill Clinton has his very own music compilation coming out.... ought to be interesting. All that jazz - Bill's
Bill Richardson met with the Minutemen the other day. Finally, someone in the Democratic party is fully recognizing the problem with illegal immigration. Trust me, the issue is gaining importance.
There was once a scene in an episode of The Simpsons, in which a group of TV executives were sitting in a conference room, brainstorming thoughts for a TV show. And where did they go for inspiration? "I've got an idea," One said, "Turn to channel 4."
Scientists seeing more dead birds, fewer fish on Pacific Coast
SAN FRANCISCO -- Marine biologists are seeing mysterious and disturbing things along the Pacific Coast this year: higher water temperatures, plummeting catches of fish, lots of dead birds on the beaches, and perhaps most worrisome, very little plankton _ the tiny organisms that are a vital link in the ocean food chain.
Heres your amusement for the day.... from MTV News.
Hilary Duff won't use confetti at her concerts anymore, because she learned during her environmental science class on Harvard online that the excess paper is bad for the environment. "It's so weird now how much I conserve," she said. "I turn the lights out, and no more confetti, because that's not recyclable. I did the math for the amount we used, multiplied by 36 shows? We don't need it." Duff said that taking the class is really hard with her schedule, since she has to read 50 pages three times a week, but she loves whatshe's learned "about the ozone layer, about waste management." "It's so fun!" she said.