"Values party", was it?

I do hope that illusion is fully burst, oh fellow voters?

[GOP] Political consultant and ad producer Carey Lee Cramer is expected to testify today defending himself against charges he sexually molested two young girls.

Defendant expected to take stand in sexual harassment case

And don't forget, there's Hookergate, and more Hookergate. And don't forget the just general perviness of the Republican administration.

And bribery, always the act of high-moral-road Christian Coalition types.

And spying! Let's not forget spying! Got to have that. And, of course, it's OK, because the President approves it. Presidental approval of an act automatically confers high moral and legal standing, dontchaknow.

And then there's that never-vindictive nature so many advocates of true tolerance show, such as in the case of Joe Wilson's wife, also known as Valerie Plame, whose husband had the astounding hubris to try to do a good job, and wound up going to Africa and then -- gasp! -- agreeing with the Nigerian embassy "that it was highly unlikely that anything between Iraq and Niger was going on."

And all along, through and around, there's the lying. Let's never forget that.

Carabell/Rapanos Decision

I haven't read the decision announced yesterday yet, but these are critical questions in environmental law: for the purposes of the Clean Water Act, when is a water a "navigable water", and thus subject to the act?

Justice Kennedy writes:

[W]etlands possess the requisite nexus, and thus come within the statutory phrase 'navigable waters,' if the wetlands either alone or in combination with similarly situated lands in the region, significantly affect the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of other covered waters more readily understood as 'navigable.' When, in contrast, wetlands’ effects on water quality are speculative or insubstantial, they fall outside the zone fairly encompassed by the statutory term 'navigable waters.'

[NB: I pulled this quote from SCOTUSBlog The blog's first note on the decision is here, and others follow the one from which I quoted.]

This is a very interesting, result-oriented approach to the definition. Rather than tackling a more positive definition of width or length or seasonality (does it dry up for part of the year), the Justice seems to be trying to avoid all that and instead ask, "what is the effect of this water?"

Well-put

It is not an act of patriotism to postpone making a decision about how to handle the growing crisis over there [in Iraq].

Republicans Don't Support the Troops, Only Themselves

Trans-Boundary Pollution

Air Pollution Goes Global

BROOKLIN, Canada, Jun 2 (IPS) - U.S.-based coal-burning power companies have become the target of international lawsuits so Canadians can one day hope to breathe cleaner air.


Pollution doesn't care where it goes. Into your food supply, your water, or your neighbor's. It pays no attention to geopolitical boundaries.

It's Official

When the oldest insurance company on the world says climate change is going to affect business, it's time to believe.

Premiums will have to rise and some risks might even be classed as uninsurable due to greenhouse gases and rising sea levels, warned Lloyd's in a report entitled Climate Change, Adapt or Bust.

MisFortune 500

Challenging corporate malfeasance against women around the world

More of a "No Brains Allowed" Policy Being Implemented

Rather than a "brain drain".

Is There A Brain Drain? over at Good Math, Bad Math.

Short answer? Yeah, there is.

Bush's America

The horrors really are your America, Mr Bush

I think Sullivan hits it on the nose, here:

It is, I think, an integral part of [Bush's] own world view, which is that of a former addict whose life was transformed by a rigid form of fundamentalist Christianity. “[My faith] frees me to enjoy life and not worry what comes next,” he told the reporter Fred Barnes. When you know you have been saved, when you know your motives are pure, when, as Bush so often puts it, your “heart” is a good one, then it follows that you cannot commit evil. Or if you do, it doesn’t attach to you. Somehow, it isn’t yours, even when it is.

RCMP (Polite) Smackdown

I just listened a few minutes ago to a conversation with the Asst Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, on NPR, regarding the arrest of 17 Canadians who had acquired substantial quantities of explosives, partly as part of an RCMP "sting" operation. The arrested parties will be charged under relevant terrorism laws.

The interviewer asked some sort of fear-pandering question like, after finding that the arrested persons were mostly if not all natives rather than immigrants, how it felt or "what was it like" now that he (the Commish) had to monitor citizens and not just immigrants.

"We don't monitor immigrants"

"We don't monitor citizens"

Was the response.

"We look for criminality"

The Assistant Commissioner said.

Implicit in that was the simple concept: we're cops. we go after criminals. that's all.

Oh, Canada! I'm proud of you this morning, for not catering to hatred and fear.

Because This is a Moral Issue

Not a political one.

Al Gore Plays Leading Man: "You have to remember that the environment used to be a bipartisan issue in the United States. Religious leaders saw it as a matter of respecting God's creation."

Most Important Movie Review Ever

Review: An Inconvenient Truth, by Roger Ebert.

In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.

Crater Found In Antarctica

Gigantic Meteor Crater Found in Antarctica

Frist Broke the Law

FEC fines Frist's 2000 Senate campaign

Imagine my complete lack of surprise.

Iran and Nukes

Iran nuclear bomb 'in 10 years'


So I don't want to hear any smoking-gun-mushroom-cloud bullshit, 'k?

New species!

Unknown Creatures Found in Cave

The cave was uncovered during drilling at a quarry close to Tel Aviv.

Scientists say it is a unique ecosystem that has been sealed off from the world for five million years and could contain other ancient lifeforms.