Top Story

• It's electric: 0-100 kmh in 3.9 seconds.

  HOLLYWOOD stars anxious to prove their green credentials are paying more than $100,000 for a sexy electric sports car now rolling out in the US. The sleek Tesla Roadster is modelled on the Lotus Elise, and goes from 0-100kmh in 3.9 seconds. With a top speed of 200kmh, the two-seater has a range of 370 kilometres between recharges of its lithium ion batteries.

One reason Possum will be a better progressive Democrat in Congress is because he believes and lives a life of "enough good."

Top Stories

• Have Doctors Found a Way to Kill HIV? "Researchers in Texas say they may have found a way to kill the HIV virus. The idea would be used, not only to control the disease for people already infected, but actually prevent infection for anybody who might be at risk."
• In order to avoid political gridlock, Obama Now Open to Off-Shore Drilling:  Obama willing to compromise if "necessary for a broader overhaul in the nation's energy policy."
• McCain suggests military-style invasion modeled on the surge to control inner city crime:   "And some of those tactics — you mention the war in Iraq — are like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement, etc, etc."

Sen. Barbara Boxer has been investigating a cover up directed by the WH and Cheney's office to hide from the public an EPA finding that global warming endangers our lives and public health --- both now and in the future.  Even the WH admitted that GHG endangers us. Yet, Bush has obstructed the EPA from fully disclosing how we are endangered and prevented the EPA from complying with the law by regulating GRG.

This cover up has teeth because it affects if we live, where we live and the quality of our lives.  It involves WH secrecy, violation of laws, altering sworn Congressional testimony and imposing GAG orders. Yesterday, the fruits of the investigation thus far caused Democrats to demand that EPA Administrator Johnson resign and that a DOJ perjury investigation be conducted.

This is a picture of mud cakes, a new "food staple" which also measures the "unofficial misery index" in Haiti.

Global policies are hitting them hard, ... and how does Bush respond when people try to flee? Read this entire informative but short diary: Hunger burns are called "swallowing Clorox".

Ok, diary preview says I need to add some words.

Global policies are hitting them hard, ... and how does Bush respond when people try to flee? Read this entire informative but short diary: Hunger burns are called "swallowing Clorox".

Top Story

• The torture tool of wood prisoner boxes used in Iraq.

  Considering that the average summer temperature in Baghdad is 111 F, and that temps can easily go above 120 F, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be inside these boxes.

   

Cross-posted on THE ENVIRONMENTALIST and published by Reuters

Today it was revealed that EPA administrator Stephen Johnson told Bush last December that there is "compelling and robust" evidence that our recent temperature increases are caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions which endanger the American people.  Bush did not open the email with this dire warning contained in a 38-page document because the US Supreme Court ruled that if the EPA finds that greenhouse gases endanger the public, then the government must regulate them.

Undaunted by Bush's cover-up, last week, the EPA issued a refreshingly honest, detailed 283-page report which details how global warming endangers Americans.

Two days ago, the EPA Inspector General issued another report that Bush's voluntary programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industries is a flop.

Top Story

Happy 90th Birthday to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

Cross-posted on THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

 A recent study has concluded that NF3 (nitrogen trifluoride), which is used in the manufacture of computers, cell phones, TVs and solar panels, can be identified as the "missing greenhouse gas."  The study warns that NF3 may "cause more global warming than coal-fired power plants" because NF3 is 17,000 times "more potent than carbon dioxide."  NF3 remains in our atmosphere for 550 years but it is not regulated by Kyoto or other agreements yet production of NF3 is significantly increasing.  

Top Story

• EPA devalues life to weaken pollution rules so that it is cheaper to kill more people with pollution:  The EPA decided that the "value of a statistical life" is $6.9 million, which is nearly $1 million cheaper than the value of a life 5 years ago.  The practical import is the cost benefit analysis the government does when writing regulations: The less the value of a life, the less the need for government regulations, such as restrictions on pollution.

  When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life and then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution. Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation that costs $18 billion to enforce but will prevent 2,500 deaths. At $7.8 million per person (the old figure), the lifesaving benefits outweigh the costs. But at $6.9 million per person, the rule costs more than the lives it saves, so it may not be adopted.

If this FISA bill is passed in the Senate, then Bush & the telecoms may reap a trifecta of retroactive or prospective immunities: civil, criminal and administrative.  In addition to a telecom's retroactive civil immunity, this bill may also provide Bush with a colorable argument of civil and criminal immunity.  

A colorable argument means that if a criminal prosecution or Congressional investigation is commenced, then Bush may present the appearance of a valid legal argument sufficient to prevent dismissal as wholly insubstantial or frivolous claims lacking merit on the facts or legal foundation. The colorable argument does not mean ultimate success, but would afford Bush the delay he needs to string out litigation for years to prevent accountability.

An amendment which strikes out 6 words may eliminate this colorable argument.

NCrissieB tries to make the case that the telecom immunity is no biggy because:

this bill provides an affirmative, threshhold defense of "acting in good faith under color of law."  An affirmative defense must be raised and proved by the defendant telecom, and it's up to the trial judge to determine whether the telecom did in fact "act in good faith under color of law."  If the trial judge determines that it did, the suit is dismissed.  If the trial judge determines that it didn't, the suit goes forward.

If this were true, I would feel a lot better because someone would have to prove to the court that Bush was authorized to conduct domestic spying contrary to FISA requirements and that a court made the determination that the spying program was lawful.  But, this is not required by the telecom bill.

In April 2008, Attywood asked Senator Obama if he as President would hold former Bush administration officials accountable by seeking prosecution for crimes committed.  Obama promised that he would review the information to determine whether an investigation was required; and, if officials knowingly violated existing laws, Obama indicated that he would pursue prosecution.  

Based upon Obama's standard, there should be an investigation and potential criminal prosecution of Bush and other officials for knowingly violating FISA. Bush has admitted publicly that he did not comply with FISA, which is a criminal offense.  

However, the FISA bill pending before the Senate may take this putative prosecution off the table by providing immunity to Bush while codifying his unitary executive theory.  In order for President Obama to keep his word that he would hold Bush officials accountable for clear, knowing criminal violations, Senator Obama needs to stop this FISA bill, or at least provide amendments which clearly eliminate any colorable argument of immunity for Bush.

Top Story: Blogging & Megamedia News

AP Files 7 DMCA Takedowns Against Drudge Retort, claiming the news aggregator site is violating copyright law and committing "hot news" misappropriation under NY state law. An AP lawyer "filed six Digital Millenium Copyright Act takedown requests this week demanding the removal of blog entries and another for a user comment."

This issue could ripen into one affecting all bloggers, not just news aggregators, because each diary that links to megamedia articles is using similar hyperlinking. It may be that the AP strategy is to grab the smaller sites first to establish precedent before filing against larger sites.

The AP is reporting that the US has photographic evidence of torture of a Guantanamo prisoner in which a doctor's scalpel was used to slash the prisoner's genitals when the prisoner was rendered to Morocco.  Apparently, Mr. Bush believes that torture under even his convoluted definition does not occur if it happens off US soil.

Lucky was an orange bobtail cat which was abandoned by his human "family" around 15 years ago when he was just a few years old. He died today at vets' guesstimate of 17-19 years old. We knew and loved him for 3 ½ years.

Lucky's original "family" lived a block or so from us. When they moved from the neighborhood, they just abandoned Lucky. It was not accidental. They just intentionally left this sweet cat to fend for himself.

McCain is working hard to separate himself from Bush, who the public views as a political liability. There are honorable ways for McCain to disengage from Bush, but McCain has chosen to use the ongoing pain and suffering endured in NOLA as a Hollywood backdrop for his politically contrived horse-and-pony show to prove that he is indeed a "kinder, gentler Republican."

Last April, McShame declared in his "forgotten places of America tour" that Bush's handling of the Katrina disaster was "terrible and disgraceful," pledging that it would never happen with President McShame. Given that natural disasters or terrorism could create another crisis, how would a President McShame prepare for this crisis in order to protect us and how would he manage the crisis?  We don't have to speculate. We have a public record of how McShame prepped for Katrina, responded to a flooded city with dead bodies, and addressed the recovery in the aftermath. Let's take a peek.