EPA Led Mercury Policy Shift (washingtonpost.com)

"For nearly 21 months, a government task force steadily moved toward recommending rules that within three years would force every coal-fired power plant in the country to reduce emissions of mercury, which can cause neurological and developmental damage to humans.

[...]

But in April, the EPA abruptly dismantled the panel. John A. Paul, its co-chairman, said members were given no clue why their work was halted -- that is, until late last month, when the Bush administration revealed it was taking an entirely different approach, using a more flexible portion of the Clean Air Act. "

Now here's a deal that even many Texas Bubbas can understand. The Bubba Bush administration removes EPA regulation that would seriously reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired plants. There are many such plants in Texas, from energy plants to aluminum, and the mercury levels are very high along the coastal bend, to the point that it is advised not to eat shellfish.

Too bad that the much-lauded Bubba-in-chief axed the new regulation.

Israeli Protestor Shot

"The army's shooting of a Jewish Israeli peace protester has sparked a fierce debate about the conduct of the military in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Gil Naamati, 21, was seriously wounded in the legs when soldiers opened fire last Friday on demonstrators who were trying to cut through a gate in Israel's controversial separation barrier. An American woman tourist was also lightly wounded.

As the army launched an internal inquiry into the incident, leftwing politicians demanded to know why live fire had been used against unarmed protestors.

'An order to fire on people that do not fire on you is a completely illegal order,' Ami Ayalon, former domestic intelligence chief and co-author of an unofficial peace initiative, told army radio on Sunday.

Others rushed to defend the army, including Uzi Landau, a Likud minister without portfolio, who said the soldiers had been protecting the citizens of Israel by acting against 'collaborators with terror'."

Guilt by association and summary justice via immediate capital punishment. Uzi's law of the Middle East sounds a lot like the law of the old west.

Army Stops Many Soldiers From Quitting (washingtonpost.com)

"'I'm furious. I'm aggravated. I feel violated. I feel used,' said Eagle, 42, the targeting officer, who has just shipped to Iraq with his field artillery unit for what is likely to be a yearlong tour of duty. He had voluntarily postponed his retirement at his commander's request early this year and then suddenly found himself stuck in the service under a stop-loss order this fall. Eagle said he fears his fledgling business in West Virginia may not survive his lengthy absence. His unexpected extension in the Army will slash his annual income by about $45,000, he said. And some members of his family, including his recently widowed sister, whose three teenage sons are close to Eagle, are bitterly opposed to his leaving.

...

"Some guys who are Vietnam vets are with us," he said in an interview at his home in Holland, Mass., shortly before he was to return to his unit in Iraq. "They said even in Vietnam, as difficult as it was there, you knew from the time you hit the ground to the time you returned it was one year -- whereas with this it's really up in the air." "

Is this supporting the troops?

French Defend Their Approach to Terror Threats (washingtonpost.com)
"Noting History of Attacks and Defensive Measures, Experts Dismiss U.S. Suggestions Security Is Lax "

Once again the Bubba Post. Instead of an article about another US intelligence failure, we get an article about French "defensiveness" as if security measures in France had been denigrated.

I don't know if there were US intimations about airport security in France. But I can say that my experience with airports in France is that the security is very high and much higher than in the states. For the past few years I've regularly had my luggage searched in France but never at IAH (Bush International they're calling it these days).

Mad Cow from Canada

"Canada's federal Agriculture Minister Bob Speller criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture for publicizing the Alberta link before it has been confirmed.

'While the cow may or may not have originated from Canada, statements made by the USDA may have been premature and are only part of one line of the investigation,' he said in a statement.

Speller said DNA tests must be performed before confirming the case's Canadian origin."

Reminds me of the NY blackout. Big problem in the US? Blame it on Canada or France!

story Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | New theory for Iraq's missing WMD: Saddam was fooled into thinking he had them

"The theory, which is doing the rounds in the upper reaches of Whitehall, is the result of an attempt to find what one official source called a 'logical reason' why no chemical and biological weapons had been found in Iraq.

According to the theory, Saddam and his senior advisers and commanders were told by lower-ranking Iraqi officers that his forces were equipped with usable chemical and biological weapons.

The officers did not want to tell their superiors that the weapons were either destroyed or no longer usable.

The trouble for Britain was, the theory goes, that MI6's informants were the senior officials close to Saddam - with the result that British intelligence was also hoodwinked.

The hypothesis, which is being spread privately by officials, is open to the interpretation that the government is searching for an excuse, however implausible, for failure to discover any WMD in Iraq. "

So here's the new theory: the UK and the US were fooled by false evidence presented to Hussein himself to convince him that he had WMDs. How convenient this is indeed:

-- US and UK no longer have to explain why they didn't find WMDs because there weren't any
-- The don't have to explain why they thought there were weapons because Hussein himself believed in them
-- At any rate, we don't need to belabor the point since the real reason to go to war was to liberate Iraq from Hussein, right? (No need to mention that the US put Hussein in there in the first place._

French Find No Terror Tie to Six Flights

"French security officials said Thursday that they had found no terrorist links among the people booked for the six Air France flights between Paris and Los Angeles that were canceled on Wednesday as a result of warnings from American officials."

Some interesting twists to this story.

First off, the US newspapers, outside of the NY Times, have largely been presented the "terrorist threat" as real. The WashPost implies that the French authorities had agreed that the threat was positively identified. The chronicly Bubba Houston Chronicle headlines "U.S. claims attack on Las Vegas foiled". So any casual reader, listener or spectator is left with the impression that the attempt was real and somehow France was behind it.

Over in Europe, on the other hand, the general impression is quite different. In France, the information about the decision to cancel the flights is that the US would have, in any event, forced the planes to turn around so why even bother to fly them. Nobody in France buys the threat argument but, seeing it at best as a another US intelligence failure and at worst as another politically motivated ploy against France. These conclusions are, in fact, the only credible conclusions at which one can arrive under the circumstances.

But going further, the real question is "what to do with war-oppressed US"? The US is now in a perpetual state of war, the orangish-red alert being only the latest manifestation. What to do with these frightened, paranoid Americans?

Army Thin-Skinned Over Homemade Armor (washingtonpost.com)

"The possibility that soldiers could be denied extra protection because of an Army policy has outraged some of the friends and neighbors who helped the Jefferson City-based unit.

'I think it's the stupidest thing I ever heard of,' said Virgil Kirkweg, owner of a Jefferson City steel company, which rushed to meet the reserve unit's armor request. 'I just hope the government is not dumb enough to make them go out there without something that's going to protect them somewhat.'"

Now here's an interesting twist! Friends and neighbors, worried about the safety of the local boys, decide to add some extra armor to the vehicles that are being sent to Iraq. A couple of obvious conclusions from this information:
-- folks are very concerned about the dead and wounded in Iraq (American, that is)
-- folks do not trust the current military to provide adequate protection

The Vietnam war replay continues ...

Whitehouse.gov: A Season of Stories

"Just like the holidays, great stories have a way of bringing families together."

Here's a sure-fire way to lose weight before the holidays. Just watch Karl Rove read a Christmas story online -- you're sure to lose your lunch!

Interesting that Dubya does not read, further motivating the rumour that our executive-in-chief is illiterate.

At least the page head is unwittingly apt: instead of a "Season of Stories" we could say "an Administration of Stories".

Thanks to cursor.

No Joke! 37 Years After Death Lenny Bruce Receives Pardon

"'Lenny was sentenced to jail for what you see nightly on HBO and the Comedy Channel, except he was better,' said Jules Feiffer, the cartoonist and playwright, who testified for Mr. Bruce as an expert witness on satire at the trial. 'The satirist in me is thrilled because it's hilarious. The point might have been better made while he was alive."

Good article with lots of Bubbaisms, especially those claiming that this very belated pardon is a triumph for the First Amendment. Rather, statements like these are the triumph of those wanting to cash in on Bubba mentalities.

Just think about it: the Manhattan DA sets his sights on Bruce, convicts him and the nightclub owner. Lenny Bruce is out of a job, blacklisted, spirals into depression and finally ODs on morphine. The establishment wins, free speech loses. End of story.

But no! Now people like Pataki are "channeling Bruce", trying to win some points with those free-speech advocates who know the story. Perhaps Pataki is himself a free-speech advocate, perhaps not, but his actions are, on the contrary, an action against the First Amendment. He shouldn't pardon Bruce but rather should condemn the system that convicted him. Pardons don't change laws and don't make jurisprudence, but overturning a conviction does.

To put things into seasonal terms, it's like pardoning Pontius Pilate for crucifying Christ and calling the pardon "a celebration of Roman law".

Documents: Rumsfeld Made Iraq Overture in �84 Despite Chemical Raids

"As a special envoy for the Reagan administration in 1984, Donald H. Rumsfeld, now the defense secretary, traveled to Iraq to persuade officials there that the United States was eager to improve ties with President Saddam Hussein despite his use of chemical weapons, newly declassified documents show."

To anyone who has been following US ties with Iraq in the past, this is not news. It's a well-known fact that the US takes up ties with political leaders who practice the worst kinds of atrocities but in order to take a hold on foreign politics. The US relations with the Shah of Iran is a good example, followed by its relation with Hussein once Khomeini was in power. US relations with the Romanian autocrat Ceausescu, a truly brutal dictator in a European country, were a counterweight in the region to the Soviet Union. And let's not forget who made Bin Laden what he is today. (I won't dilute this otherwise universally acceptable argument by mentioning Israel.)

The real news is that the NYTimes is making it news.

Yahoo! News - Scientists Blame Soot for Global Warming

"NASA scientists say soot, mostly from diesel engines, is causing as much as a quarter of all observed global warming by reducing the ability of snow and ice to reflect sunlight.

Their findings on how soot affects reflective ability, known as albedo, raise new questions about human-caused climate change from the Arctic to the Alps.

'We suggest that soot contributes to near worldwide melting of ice that is usually attributed solely to global warming,' National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists James Hansen and Larissa Nazarenko wrote in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ."

Lots of Bubbas, especially Bubbas in Europe, claim that diesel combustion is "cleaner" than gasoline because there is less carbon dioxide emitted. Everyone takes for granted that carbon dioxide is the major contributor to the greenhouse effect.

Still, I've never been comfortable with the idea that diesel is somehow "cleaner". When you drive behind a diesel car, you know it because it stinks. There's an organic chemical smell to it. My wife says that diesel combustion produces important amounts of benzene, which is cancer-causing.

But most of all, a diesel engine puts out important quantities of ugly black soot. This stuff is nasty enough, blackening the buildings close to any major throughway. But now add to it the change in reflective capacity of snow and you've got one real loser of a combination. I'm hoping that this will prompt the European governments to end their long-standing relative subsidies of diesel over gasoline. Of course, here in France, we can expect the highways to be blocked by trucking interests but c'est la vie!

Bush, Chirac Will Skip Louisiana Purchase Celebration

"'I am disappointed for many reasons,' Damien Regnard, president of the French-American Chamber of Commerce in New Orleans, said of the presidents' decisions not to attend the ceremony. 'It would have been a great opportunity to see the two presidents side by side. It would have been a great opportunity to talk about 200 years of friendship.'"

Yeah, Bubba, the Louisiana Purchase. Remember that from school?

Imagine what would have happened if France had never sold all that land to the US? Maybe today, the US would be a democracy?

A Deficit of $100 Million Is Confronting the N.R.A.

"Costly legal, legislative and political battles in the last decade have left the National Rifle Association with a $100 million deficit, reopening a bitter debate within the group about how it manages its money. "

Good news for non-Bubbas! If responsability and accoutability are related, how much can you trust the NRA? Then again, one can only say worse for the Bush administration's fiscal policies.

HoustonChronicle.com - Tower design evokes America, Statue of Liberty

"Although the design is not a literal re-creation of the Statue of Liberty, it's impossible to miss the many architectural references to freedom.

The clearest reference is the tower's height of 1,776 feet -- a reference, as Pataki put it, to 'the year that our country was given its independence and became free.'

Its asymmetrical shape was meant to recall the stance of the Statue of Liberty."

Hey Bubba! Where'd that Statue of Liberty come from, anyways? Oh, sorry I asked!

FT.com

"US courts inflicted twin blows to the Bush administration's aggressive pursuit of its war on terrorism on Thursday, ruling in two separate cases that it could not detain terrorist suspects indefinitely without judicial review."

The FT tries not to upset the Bubba mentalities with its carefully worded article.

The astute reader will note the catch phrase "its war on terrorism" which all too important. Rather than adopting the usual Bubba-isms which suggest that Bubba W's actions are THE WAR ON TERROR, the FT says quite clearly that this is "Bush's War".

For my part, I'd say that it is a blow to Bush's war on democracy and freedom. We need more blows like this.

CNN.com - Professor: Combatant decision 'painful' for Bush - Dec. 18, 2003
"It is a painful decision for the Bush administration. It says that the president has to go to Congress to get a specific statute authorizing the detention of someone like Padilla, who the president had called an enemy combatant. And the court says, basically, Padilla was not carrying explosives or carrying a gun, carrying a physical weapon. The fact that he was a sort of forward target-spotter was not sufficient for the court, because it says the U.S. is not a zone of combat. "


This is the kind of pain that Bubba Bush needs -- the pain of democracy, of constitutionality, of freedom.

French President Urges Ban On Head Scarves in Schools (washingtonpost.com): "French President Urges Ban On Head Scarves in Schools"

"Chirac Confronts Spread of Islam"

The Bubba Post fumbled on this one, buddy. Their error is understandable, given how many bubbas there are in Washington these days, but the fact remains that they dropped the ball.

What Chirac is confronting is not "Islam" but "Separatism", translated by the Bubbas as "Communalism". A particularly damaging aspect of fanatical Islam is the separation of women from society through antics like headscarves. So Chirac has taken up the important decision to ban those separatist symbols from public schools and hospitals.

Now most Bubbas in America, raised on Religious Freedom, don't understand this. Why can't you wear a scarf to school if it's in your religion? But the simple fact is that in the US these symbols are separatism are not at all tolerated by the public, even if it isn't against the law. In France, that tolerance has gone too far and now the law much take over.

The Victoria Advocate: Palacios lawman quits after DWI arrest revealed

"Suspended Palacios police officer Baldemar Isquierdo resigned from the department Monday as an investigation into misconduct was coming to a close.

The investigation uncovered that Isquierdo was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated in May while in San Antonio and has been driving with a suspended license since August."

This fellow has something in common with Bubba Bush. The difference is that Bush didn't resign.

New York City - Saddam on Lips At Ground Zero

"Her husband said, 'Oh. yeah. He was in on it.'

A couple from Knoxville, Tenn., Elaine and Will, agreed. 'I believe he was in on it on some level,' she said. 'He was around there someplace,' the husband said. Betty Hipp, San Antonio. 'Of course Saddam was responsible.'

I was out there for some time, taking notes and hometowns, and it was all the same. Saddam is bin Laden."

Bubbas at Ground Zero. The triumph of disinformation. Americans are willing participants in mass hallucination. Is this "Only in America"?

Thanks to cursor.

Six children killed in U.S. assault on compound in eastern Afghanistan

"Six children were crushed to death by a collapsing wall during an assault by U.S. forces on a compound filled with weapons in eastern Afghanistan, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday, the second time in a week that civilians have died in action against Taliban and al-Qaida suspects."

Bubba Bush PR winning even more hearts and minds!

From the Canadian press last week:

Four Canadian soldiers killed by an errant American bomb in Afghanistan last year are to be given posthumous Bronze Star medals by the United States government. Another 26 soldiers from the same outfit will also receive the American honour at a special parade in Edmonton on Dec. 8.

OK, that's Afghanistan! The US pilots involved were not court-martialed and the Canadians were given medals from the US. This is supposed to appease Canadian sentiments?

But this just in. It's less reported than the lock-out of the UN triumverate, but this makes it even more shocking.

"The Pentagon yesterday banned Canadian companies from bidding for contracts worth $18.6 billion (U.S.) to help reconstruct Iraq because of Canada's opposition to the U.S.-led war in the Persian Gulf nation.

Also prevented from bidding for the prime contracts are companies from France, Germany and Russia."

FT.com Home US

"The Pentagon has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6 billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying it was acting to protect 'the essential security interests of the United States.'"

More PR from the Bubba administration. Try to isolate your "enemies", hope to win more friends. But in the end, the international community is no dupe to these schoolyard tactics. Rather than protecting US interests, this sort of move further tarnishes the image of the US.

HoustonChronicle.com - Taiwan warned by Bush not to hold freedom vote

"The Bush administration issued an unusually strong warning to Taiwan on Monday not to hold a referendum that could fuel the island's independence movement. But Taiwan rejected the move hours later. "

Just Bubba Bush showing how much he stands up for democracy!

The reaction by Taiwan, much like the pre-Iraq reaction of Turkey, is a telling reminder of the international good will that was squandered by the Bush administration.

HoustonChronicle.com - Plan to cut mercury puts focus on Texas

"'It's really a shame for us here because we have the highest concentrations of mercury emitted in the state,' said Longview native Tammy Campbell, director of WE CAN, or Working Effectively for Clean Air Now. Campbell has lived 43 years in the vicinity of some of Texas' biggest power plants, including TXU's Monticello plant, which emits the most mercury in the state.

'You don't think your air would be polluted out here in rural America,' she said.

The proposed rules closely resemble legislation drafted by the Bush administration and lobbied for heavily by industry that would have slashed three power plant pollutants using free markets.

The so-called Clear Skies Initiative also would have established a cap-and-trade program for mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxides, but it remains stalled in Congress. "

Mercury is a big problem along the Texas Gulf Coast and the bulk of the problem seems to date to very lax regulation during the Bush governorship.

Quit interesting to see that even the Chronicle points out the irony of the Clean Air Initiative<

HoustonChronicle.com - Woman gets 10-year term for fast-food assault

"Jenkins said she called police, who told her to get Nolan's license plate number. When she stepped into the drive-through lane, she said, Nolan accelerated her sedan, knocking Jenkins onto the hood before she fell beneath the car and was dragged.

'I gave her everything she asked for,' a tearful Jenkins told jurors Thursday. 'I put mayo on her burger. I took off the onions and mustard. What did I do to deserve this?'

The 43-year-old manager, who suffered a broken pelvis and serious internal injuries, said she now has chronic digestive problems and has been 'unable to fulfill my wifely duties.' "

You gotta watch out for road-rage everywhere, even in the drive-through lane!

Talking To Americans

"Bush, for example, didn't even blink last fall on the presidential campaign trail when Mercer brought him greetings from 'Prime Minister Poutine.'

'Every time, usually at the start of every shoot, I'm saying, 'I can't say this. Somebody's going to get me,' ' Mercer says. Yet, time and time again, the Yanks fall for the gag, even when Mercer asks them to salute prime minister Tim Horton, sign a petition to legalize insulin or travel across the Peter Mans Bridge. "

Now what state is Canada next to?

FT.com / Global warming will hit ski resorts, UN warns

"The future of some famous low-level ski resorts, including Kitzbühel in Austria, could be wrecked by global warming, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

The snowfall in relatively low-lying mountain areas will become increasingly unpredictable and unreliable as temperatures rise over the coming decades, according to research by the University of Zurich."

This is a particularly enigmatic piece of news. On the one hand, one could easily brush off the plight of ski resorts and skiers with a remark that "they are for the well-to-do" which isn't necessarily true but at least fits the image.

On the other hand, if you are trying to get a message to the "financial elite" about the perils of global warming, what better way than to hit them where it hurts: in their winter sports in Switzerland. That's sure to turn some elite heads.

Interesting that this comes from the UN. Do they really have a special section on ski resorts or is this a case of "knowing your audience"? I'm sure that the Bubbas, quick to be critical of the UN, will not miss this opportunity.