Monday News Bucket

14 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on April 23, 2007 at 7:15 am

   but did next to nothing: WashPo

   The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show.

   Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents…               

   …Last week, the FDA notified California state health officials that hogs on a farm in the state had likely eaten feed laced with melamine, an industrial chemical blamed for the deaths of dozens of pets in recent weeks. Officials are trying to determine whether the chemical’s presence in the hogs represents a threat to humans.

   Because, you know, people’s safety is nothing compared with corporate profits.

   On a related note, The Agonist on mad cow testing, or lack thereof.

2. 

   CabinGirl on April 23, 2007 at 7:23 am

   From behind the wall at NYT:

   “There are two ways to describe the confrontation between Congress and the Bush administration over funding for the Iraq surge. You can pretend that it’s a normal political dispute. Or you can see it for what it really is: a hostage situation, in which a beleaguered President Bush, barricaded in the White House, is threatening dire consequences for innocent bystanders — the troops — if his demands aren’t met.”

   There’s more:

   Everyone talks about the political risks of confrontation, recalling the backlash when Newt Gingrich shut down the federal government in 1995. But there’s a big difference between trying to force a fairly popular president to accept deep cuts in Medicare — which is what the 1995 confrontation was about — and trying to get a deeply unpopular, distrusted president to set some limits on an immensely unpopular war.

   Meanwhile, there are big political risks on the other side. If Congress responds to a presidential veto by offering an even weaker bill, voters may well react with disgust, concluding that the whole debate over the war was nothing but political theater.

   Anyway, never mind the political calculations. Confronting Mr. Bush on Iraq has become a patriotic duty….If nothing is done to wind down this war during the 21 months — 21 months! — Mr. Bush has left, the damage may be irreparable.

   One quibble:  I think what BushCo has done to Iraq is already irreparable.  And now they’re walling it off?

3. 

   ask on April 23, 2007 at 7:31 am

   What is it with these neocons, hanging on long after they are fully exposed:
   Fresh calls for Wolfowitz to quit

   A group of senior former World Bank employees has urged beleaguered head Paul Wolfowitz to resign, saying he can no longer be an effective leader.

   Mr Wolfowitz is battling to remain in his job after admitting helping his partner win a promotion and pay rise.

   More than 40 World Bank officials, including 18 former vice-presidents, published their call in an open letter to the Financial Times newspaper.

   They said Mr Wolfowitz had “lost the trust and respect of bank staff”.

   • 

     CabinGirl on April 23, 2007 at 7:34 am

     And to think that at one time Wolfowitz had their trust and respect to lose…boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

4. 

   ask on April 23, 2007 at 8:08 am

   No ghetto in Baghdad.

   Iraqi premier calls on US to halt construction of Baghdad wall

   Iraq’s premier, Nouri al-Maliki, yesterday called for a halt to the US military’s construction of a three-mile wall in Baghdad separating Sunni and Shia Muslims.

   Speaking in Egypt, he said: “I asked yesterday that it be stopped and that alternatives be found to protect the area … I fear this wall might have repercussions which remind us of other walls, which we reject,” he added, referring to misgivings that the wall would take on the symbolic status of similar barriers in Northern Ireland and the West Bank.

5. 

   CabinGirl on April 23, 2007 at 1:09 pm

   ‘cuz you know I just love Katie Couric: Philly Inquirer

   CBS executives deny it, but there’s a growing feeling within the network that Katie Couric is an expensive, unfixable mistake.

   So unfixable that Couric – the first woman to anchor a network nightly newscast solo – may leave CBS Evening News, probably after the 2008 presidential elections, to assume another role at the network, CBS sources say.

   And no one will miss her.

   • 

     on April 23, 2007 at 5:18 pm

     Katie who?
     American Idol what?
     Stopped TV long ago.

6. 

   Man Eegee on April 23, 2007 at 6:23 pm

   Sooooo glad I don’t live in the Valley

   Former U.S. Congressman J.D. Hayworth will return to the world of broadcasting, with a gig as a talk-show host on KFYI-AM (550).

   “The drive home after work can prove taxing,” Hayworth said in a statement. “Just as I helped cut taxes in Washington, we’ll cut through the clutter of political pol lution and offer Phoenicians com mon sense during these uncom mon times.” – linkage

7. 

   Man Eegee on April 23, 2007 at 7:11 pm

   Ancient rain forest uncovered in cave

   Scientists exploring a mine have uncovered a natural Sistine chapel showing not religious paintings, but incredibly well preserved images of sprawling tree trunks and fallen leaves that once breathed life into an ancient rainforest.

   Replete with a diverse mix of extinct plants, the 300-million-year-old fossilized forest is revealing clues about the ecology of Earth’s first rainforests . The discovery and details of the forest are published in the May issue of the journal Geology.

   “We’re looking at one instance in time over a large area. It’s literally a snapshot in time of a multiple square mile area,” said study team member Scott Elrick of the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS). – linkage

8. 

   Man Eegee on April 23, 2007 at 7:16 pm

   I know this will be shocking….but FEMA effed up the entire recovery process from Katrina

   FEMA exposed taxpayers to significant waste — and possibly violated federal law — by awarding $3.6 billion worth of Hurricane Katrina contracts to companies with poor credit histories and bad paperwork, investigators say.

   The new report by the Homeland Security Department’s office of inspector general, released Monday, examines the propriety of 36 trailer contracts designated for small and local businesses in the stricken Gulf Coast region following the 2005 storm.

   It found a haphazard competitive bidding process in which the winning contract prices were both unreasonably low and high. Moreover, FEMA did not take adequate legal steps to ensure that companies were small and locally operated, resulting in a questionable contract award to a large firm with ties to the Republican Party.”

9. 

   Man Eegee on April 23, 2007 at 7:22 pm

   Glad to hear this, especially as it will allow several families to get their wish for their family member’s headstone.

   The Wiccan pentacle has been added to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on goverment-issued headstones of fallen soldiers, according to a settlement announced Monday.
   ADVERTISEMENT

   A settlement between the U.S.
   Department of Veterans Affairs and Wiccans adds the five-pointed star to the list of “emblems of belief” allowed on VA grave markers.

   Eleven families nationwide are waiting for grave markers with the pentacle, said Selena Fox, a Wiccan high priestess with Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis., a plaintiff in the lawsuit. – linkage

   • 

     Kamakhya on April 24, 2007 at 12:54 am

     I was so happy to see this.

     Many thanks to all of you who contribute to News Bucket.  I try to never miss it.  I often learn something I was not aware of.  Thank you all.

     • 

       Man Eegee on April 24, 2007 at 1:05 am

       hi K!  i’m glad you caught this, I thought of you when I came across the linkage.  paz

10. 

    Man Eegee on April 23, 2007 at 7:27 pm

    Border Patrol expansion questioned

    The U.S. Border Patrol’s push to expand the number of agents on the lookout for illegal crossings has some current and former agents worried that the pressure will lead to corner cutting and will jeopardize public safety.

    Raising the Border Patrol’s numbers from about 12,000 to 18,000 by the end of 2008 is a key element of
    President Bush’s plan to improve security along the border, crossed by tens of thousands of illegal immigrants each year. – linkage

    Oh goody!  More police!  [/sarcasm]