White House, Dems Clash Over Auto Bailout
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2008(CBS/AP)

Senate Democrats are proposing to deny bonuses to U.S. auto executives making more than $250,000 a year in exchange for giving the firms and their suppliers $25 billion in loans from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout and, the companies would first have to give the government a plan for "long-term financial viability," according to a copy of the legislation obtained by The Associated Press.
(more...)

Top 10 at bottom of 2008 sales -- many down 50% to 90% from last year!

10. The Pontiac Grand Prix is the best of the worst in this list, compiled from Cars.com figures provided to FOXNews.com. Our list only counts those American vehicles that have been on the market for the entirety of 2008. Some 8,252 Grand Prixs have been sold this year, down 89.5 percent from 2007.

9. The Dodge Magnum clocks in at the ninth spot with only 6,833 units sold, down 73.3 percent from last year, according to Cars.com.
(more...)

originally published on Salon.com, June 16, 2005

In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Ga. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The agency had issued no public announcement of the session -- only private invitations to 52 attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization in Geneva, and representatives of every major vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur. All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly "embargoed." There would be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they left.
(more...)

Rolling Stone, June 18, 2007
by ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

Wal-Mart has ordered its truck suppliers to double the gas mileage of the company's entire fleet by 2015.

In early May, 100 of the nation's top business leaders gathered for a summit at a private resort nestled on 250 acres in California's Napa Valley. The attendees, gathered at the invitation of Silicon Valley venture capitalists, included CEOs and other top executives from such Fortune 500 corporations as Wal-Mart, Proctor & Gamble and BP. They had been invited to discuss ways to end America's fossil-fuel addiction and save the world from global warming. But in reality they had come to make money for their companies -- and that may turn out to be the thing that saves us.
(more...)

UN report finds pollution "brown clouds" over much of world are newest environmental threat
By TINI TRAN and JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press, November 14, 2008

BEIJING (AP) - A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns around the world and threatening health and food supplies, the U.N. reported Thursday.

The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds."
(more...)

By David S. Broder
Thursday, November 13, 2008; A23

So far, so good.

The first week of Barack Obama's transition to the presidency has gone about as well as anyone could imagine. His few public appearances have been gaffe-free, and his initial decisions in setting up his administration have been strongly reassuring.
(more...)

Obama team reviewing 'virtually every agency,' aide says

(CNN) -- The head of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team said Sunday that the incoming administration is conducting an extensive review of President Bush's executive orders.
(more...)

By Associated Press, November 5, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) _ This year's ozone hole over Antarctica was the fifth biggest on record, reaching a maximum area of 10.5 million square miles in September, NASA says.

That's considered "moderately large," NASA atmospheric scientist Paul Newman said in a statement.

NASA has tracked the size of the hole for 30 years. Last year, it was 9.7 million square miles, about the size of North America.

The hole is an area of depletion in the stratospheric ozone layer, which blocks harmful ultraviolet rays from space. Created by human-produced gases, the ozone hole generally forms in August and grows to its maximum size in September or October before breaking up.
(more...)

Barack Obama

2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address

Historic speech which put Senator Barack Obama "on the map".

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Dick Durbin. You make us all proud.

On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, Land of Lincoln, let me express my deepest gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention.

Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. His father -- my grandfather -- was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

But my grandfather had larger dreams for his son. Through hard work and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America, that shone as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before.
(more...)

How McCain Is Cheating to Win
Monday 03 November 2008

The GOP's secret weapon: Bush's Help America Vote Act

Swing state Colorado. Before this election, two Republican secretaries of state purged 19.4 percent of the entire voter roll. One in five voters!

Swing state New Mexico. One in nine voters in this year's Democratic caucus found their names missing from the state-provided voter registries. And not just any voters. County by county, the number of voters disappeared was in direct proportion to the nonwhite population. Gore won the state by 366 votes; Kerry lost it by only 5,900. Despite reassurances that all has been fixed for Tuesday, Democrats lost from the list in February told me they're still "disappeared" from the lists this week.
(more...)

"Block the Vote"
Will the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. & GREG PALAST, Posted Oct 30, 2008

"I don`t think the Democrats get it. All these new rules and games - could flip the vote to the GOP in half a dozen states."
(more...)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast Posted October 28, 2008

Virtually the entire mainstream electronic media drank ACORN Kool-Aid this month brewed up by the Republican National Committee. Almost no one seriously challenged John McCain's comical assertions that ACORN, a grassroots voter registration group, "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

While the Republicans had the distracted media searching for links between Obama and ACORN, RNC operatives were busily completing one of the most massive voter suppression and purging efforts in American history, stealing hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes across the embattled swing states and striving to arrange chaos and endless lines at the voting booths next week.
(more...)

October 8, 2008
Fact check: Candidates stretch the truth (again)
Both candidates stretched facts, sometimes past the breaking point during their second debate.
Polls show viewers favoring Obama as winner see below.

Fact Check: McCain sharply criticizes Obama for Pakistan stance hardly different from his own

McCain went on: "I'm not going to telegraph my punches, which is what Sen. Obama did. And I'm going to act responsibly, as I have acted responsibly throughout my military career and throughout my career in the United States Senate."

Lost in McCain's withering[two faced] criticism: McCain took the same position as Obama, a year ago, when he said, "Sure. We have to," when asked if he'd go after Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
(more...)

Florida reaches landmark deal with Countrywide, helping homeowners in subprime deals

By Paul Owers, Staff Writer | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
5:42 PM EDT, October 6, 2008

More than 57,000 Florida homeowners stand to benefit from a landmark settlement reached Monday between Florida and Countrywide Financial Corp., the giant subprime mortgage lender.

It sets up the nation's most comprehensive mortgage-modification program and resolves allegations of predatory lending that Florida and 10 other states have made against Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America. Countrywide has agreed to pay more than $8 billion to settle the issues in each state.

Florida residents could be in line for nearly $1 billion in total financial relief. Most of that will be money saved on modified loans, officials say.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum sued Countrywide this summer, accusing the lender of putting borrowers into mortgages they couldn`t afford or approving loans with interest rates and penalties that were misleading.
(more...)

Make-Believe Maverick
A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty
By TIM DICKINSON, Posted Oct. 6, 2008;

We have now watched McCain run twice for president. The first time he positioned himself as a principled centrist and decried the politics of Karl Rove and the influence of the religious right, imploring voters to judge candidates "by the example we set, by the way we conduct our campaigns, by the way we personally practice politics." After he lost in 2000, he jagged hard to the left - breaking with the president over taxes, drilling, judicial appointments, even flirting with joining the Democratic Party.In his current campaign, however, McCain has become the kind of politician he ran against in 2000. He has embraced those he once denounced as "agents of intolerance," promised more drilling and deeper tax cuts, even compromised his vaunted opposition to torture. Intent on winning the presidency at all costs, he has reassembled the very team that so viciously smeared him and his family eight years ago, selecting as his running mate a born-again moose hunter whose only qualification for office is her ability to electrify Rove's base. And he has engaged in a "practice of politics" so deceptive that even Rove himself has denounced it, saying that the outright lies in McCain's campaign ads go "too far" and fail the "truth test." (more...)

Oct 2nd 2008 | WASHINGTON, DC

In our special report on the election we analyse the two candidates` economic plans. Here, we ask professional economists to give us their views

AS THE financial crisis pushes the economy back to the top of voters` concerns, Barack Obama is starting to open up a clear lead over John McCain in the opinion polls. But among those who study economics for a living, Mr Obama`s lead is much more commanding. A survey of academic economists by The Economist finds the majority-at times by overwhelming margins-believe Mr Obama has the superior economic plan, a firmer grasp of economics and will appoint better economic advisers.

We e-mailed a questionnaire to 683 research associates, all we could track down, of the National Bureau of Economic Research, America`s premier association of applied academic economists. A total of 142 responded, of whom 46% identified themselves as Democrats, 10% as Republicans and 44% as neither.
Even if we exclude respondents with a party identification, Mr Obama retains a strong edge
(more...)

Lexington: Reaping the whirlwind, Oct 2nd 2008
From The Economist: George Bush's presidency is ending in disaster

PLENTY of people can be blamed for the calamity on Capitol Hill on September 29th. Two-hundred and twenty-eight congressmen decided they were ready to risk another Great Depression. Sheriff McCain claimed that he was going to ride into town to sort out the mess-and promptly fell off his horse. But there is no doubt where the lion`s share of the blame belongs: with George Bush. The dismal handling of the financial crisis over the past fortnight is not only a comment on Mr Bush`s personal shortcomings as a leader. It is a comment on the failure of his leadership style over the past eight years.

The convenient excuse for Mr Bush`s performance is that he is at the fag-end of his presidency. Public attention has shifted to the presidential candidates, and the members of the House face the electorate in a month. But this rings hollow: there is nothing about the political cycle that dictates that an outgoing president should have an approval rating of 27% and an army of enemies on Capitol Hill. Bill Clinton ended his two terms with ratings of close to 70%. (more...)

Foreign assistance to African nations hard-hit by AIDS could have been the administration's greatest success. Then ideology, arrogance, and extreme mismanagement interfered - again.

By Joshua Kurlantzick, September/October 2008 Issue

The White House has made much of its assistance to poor nations, especially in Africa, and in some regards aid has indeed been a highlight of the Bush administration. The President's Emergency Plan for aids Relief (pepfar), an unprecedented commitment to battle the disease, has given 1.7 million poor people access to lifesaving antiretroviral drugs. And although America still gives less than other developed countries relative to the size of its economy, Bush has sought more foreign aid than his predecessor-$20.3 billion in 2008 compared to an inflation-adjusted $18.2 billion under President Clinton in 2000.

On the downside, as with so many of this administration's initiatives, experts say arrogant leadership, ideological pandering, and mismanagement have marred the aid efforts. As of June 2008, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (mcc), a signature Bush anti-poverty effort, had dispensed just $235 million of the more than $6 billion Congress has made available over five years. And while pepfar has done wonders for aids treatment, it has missed the boat on prevention by insisting on moralistic rather than epidemiological strategies: until recently, one-third of its prevention funding, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, was squandered on premarital abstinence programs that research shows don`t work. The third key Bush initiative, a large-scale effort to streamline the delivery of US foreign aid, is collapsing entirely.
(more...)

The Junk Science of George W. Bush
By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This article appeared in the March 8, 2004 edition of The Nation.

Today, flat-earthers within the Bush Administration--aided by right-wing allies who have produced assorted hired guns and conservative think tanks to further their goals--are engaged in a campaign to suppress science that is arguably unmatched in the Western world since the Inquisition. Sometimes, rather than suppress good science, they simply order up their own. Meanwhile, the Bush White House is purging, censoring and blacklisting scientists and engineers whose work threatens the profits of the Administration's corporate paymasters or challenges the ideological underpinnings of their radical anti-environmental agenda. Indeed, so extreme is this campaign that more than sixty scientists, including Nobel laureates and medical experts, released a statement on February 18 that accuses the Bush Administration of deliberately distorting scientific fact "for partisan political ends."
(more...)

"There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know." -Harry Truman

the peril of not learning from the history of our efforts to overthrow governments overseas.

Scholars trace the nation's antagonism to its history of domination by foreign powers
By Stephen Kinzer
Smithsonian magazine, October 2008

No American who was alive and alert in the early 1980s will ever forget the Iran hostage crisis. Militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, captured American diplomats and staff and held 52 of them captive for 444 days. In the United States, the television news program "Nightline" emerged to give nightly updates on the crisis, with anchorman Ted Koppel beginning each report by announcing that it was now "Day 53" or "Day 318" of the crisis. For Americans, still recovering from defeat in Vietnam, the hostage crisis was a searing ordeal. It stunned the nation and undermined Jimmy Carter's presidency. Many Americans see it as the pivotal episode in the history of U.S.-Iranian relations.

Iranians, however, have a very different view.

Bruce Laingen, a career diplomat who was chief of the U.S. embassy staff, was the highest-ranking hostage. One day, after Laingen had spent more than a year as a hostage, one of his captors visited him in his solitary cell. Laingen exploded in rage, shouting at his jailer that this hostage-taking was immoral, illegal and "totally wrong." The jailer waited for him to finish, then replied without sympathy.

"You have nothing to complain about," he told Laingen. "The United States took our whole country hostage in 1953."

Few Americans remembered that Iran had descended into dictatorship after the United States overthrew the most democratic government it had ever known. "Mr. President, do you think it was proper for the United States to restore the shah to the throne in 1953 against the popular will within Iran?" a reporter asked President Carter at a news conference during the hostage crisis. "That's ancient history," Carter replied.
(more...)

September 23, 2008
Live First Look (With Dodge EV Test Drive!)

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - In a surprise move here this morning amid struggling sales numbers from its dealers and fuel-efficient buzz from competitors, Chrysler announced that it's charging into the electric vehicle market a lot sooner than expected. The automaker just unveiled a trio of battery-powered vehicles-including an all-electric, 200-mile-range Dodge sports car that we revved up near its 120-mph top speed on the test track and think could give the Tesla Roadster a run for its money-and plans to bring one of them to market by 2010, aligning Chrysler with the timetable for General Motors' Chevy Volt.

Chrysler officials, who reinforced their case for an entirely hybrid fleet at least partially powered by batteries, said at a news conference on Tuesday that they're aiming to sell all three cars-extended-range plug-in versions of a Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler Town & Country were unveiled in addition to the Dodge EV-within a decade. But how fast they reach dealerships, CEO Bob Nardelli cautioned, may well depend on whether the federal government comes through with a package of loan guarantees for Detroit's Big Three. (more...)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN)

Drivers of gas-sipping hybrid vehicles are increasingly interested in converting their vehicles from gasoline powered to electric, according to garage owner and lead technician Carolyn Coquillette.

While drivers of conventional gasoline-powered vehicles complain about higher fuel prices, clients of the San Francisco garage are investing big bucks to make their green cars even greener.

That's being done through plug-in conversions and adding more powerful batteries to currently available gasoline/electric hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius.
(more...)

September 30, 2008
Rep. Peter DeFazio introduces the "No Bailout Act" with other House members on September 30, 2008 on Capitol Hill.
The Bush administration asked for the bailout, but most Republicans in the House rejected it, including Miami members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

by Frank James

You know the failed but still alive $700 billion bailout proposal has scrambled politics in the nation's capital when a fairly liberal member of Congress offers a solution to the financial-markets crisis that looks like something a Reagan Administration official created.

Actually that's exactly who created it. Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, took the ideas of William Isaac, who served as Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairman during the Reagan Administration and created legislation meant to help the capsizing financial markets right themselves.

DeFazio, a vociferous opponent of the Bush Administration's $700 billion Wall Street bailout, calls his legislation the "No BAILOUTS Act" and he talked about it today at a Capitol Hill press conference.

And the underlying concern we all share is, we question the Paulson premise.

By Rajesh Mirchandani, BBC News, Santa Barbara, Saturday, 27 September 2008

Santa Barbara boasts a classic laidback California lifestyle but, in a car park across the street from luxury mansions, the evening brings a strange sight. A few cars arrive and take up spaces in different corners. In each car, a woman, perhaps a few pets, bags of possessions and bedding. Across the street from homes with bedrooms to spare, these are Santa Barbara's car sleepers.

Homeless within the last year, they are a direct consequence of America's housing market collapse. In this woman-only parking lot, Bonnee, who gives only her first name, wears a smart blue dress and has a business-like demeanour.

'4x4 homes' (more...)

September 26, 2008

With the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuel impacting costs for automobiles, trucks, buses and the overall economy, a Temple University physics professor has developed a simple device which could dramatically improve fuel efficiency as much as 20 percent.

According to Rongjia Tao, Chair of Temple's Physics Department, the small device consists of an electrically charged tube that can be attached to the fuel line of a car's engine near the fuel injector. With the use of a power supply from the vehicle's battery, the device creates an electric field that thins fuel, or reduces its viscosity, so that smaller droplets are injected into the engine. That leads to more efficient and cleaner combustion than a standard fuel injector, he says. (more...)

How should US foreign policy change? -- Legacy of distrust
Friday, 26 September 2008

The image of the US around the world has sharply deteriorated since the start of the war in Iraq, but the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey found that people in a number of countries believe US foreign policy will change for the better after the presidential election.

eight experts from around the world give their view of what the next US leader must do to restore the country's standing in the world.

"Europe needs to see the reconciliation of America with the world."
Dominique Moisi, France
"In the past China favoured one candidate over another - now it cares less."
Zhu Feng, China
"The US needs to stop acting like a teacher to the rest of the world."
Natalia Narochnitskaya, Russia
"The international community is anxious for a fresh start."
Sir Lawrence Freedman, UK
"The US needs to send a powerful message of friendship to the Islamic world."
Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan
"The US should think how to help Latin America and Mexico develop."
Samuel Schmidt, Mexico
"What the peoples of the Middle East want is some fulfilled promises."
Maha Azzam, Middle East
"I would like to see a foreign policy that advances trade and aid."
Adam Habib, South Africa
(more...)

QuantumSphere a developer of advanced catalyst materials, electrode devices, and related technologies for portable power and clean-energy applications, has filed a patent for technology that extends the capacity of rechargeable lithium ion batteries up to five times. The patent filing covers a novel electrode structure enriched with nano lithium particles that increases the fuel source in a rechargeable lithium ion battery, thus increasing battery life.

QuantumSphere intends to commercialize the technology to improve next-generation batteries for energy storage, consumer, and transportation applications.

This news follows a previous QuantumSphere battery announcement highlighting the development of a high-rate, paper-thin, nano-enabled electrode for disposable batteries. This earlier breakthrough patent pending air-electrode design increased power output by 320% in zinc-air cells, providing roughly 4x more power than equivalent sized alkaline batteries, and is expected to be commercialized in 2009.

"The electrodes our company is developing will expand battery capacity in a profound way, without a sacrifice in safety. Instead of four hours of operating time on a laptop computer, a single charge could last up to 12 hours and provide users with enough computing time for a complete round-trip flight between Los Angeles and New York," said Kevin Maloney, president and CEO of QuantumSphere. "We believe this is a commercially viable technology that will have a major impact in a variety of consumer, industrial, and transportation applications."

Shelby SuperCars Wants Ultimate Aero EV To Be World's Fastest Electric Supercar
Shelby SuperCars Makes Ultimate Aero EV Official, Plans 1000 HP Version
Jul 18 2008
News of Shelby SuperCars' intention to build an electric version of its record breaking SSC Ultimate Aero TT leaked out yesterday prompting the company to make the news official. The company expects the SSC Ultimate Aero EV to be ready by late next year, saying that it will initially feature a 500 HP electric motor and revolutionary batteries capable of holding their charge for "years." Additionally, the vehicle will use a 6-speed transmission and once the first model is out, they'll be exploring ways to fit two of the motors into the engine bay, resulting in a 1000 HP model. It's tempting to call shenanigans on this, but when you've made the world's fastest car, beating huge German companies in the process, you suddenly gain a lot of credibility. SSC are keeping additional details hush hush, but click through to read their full performance claims. (more...)

Los Angeles Times, September 24, 2008By ROBERT F. KENNEDY Jr.
Lightning storms and strikes have tripled just since the beginning of the decade on Cape Cod. In the 1960s, we rarely saw lightning or heard thunder on the Massachusetts coast. I associate electrical storms with McLean, Va., where I spent the school year when I was growing up.

In Virginia, the weather also has changed dramatically. Recently arrived residents in the northern suburbs, accustomed to today's anemic winters, might find it astonishing to learn that there were once ski runs on Ballantrae Hill in McLean, with a rope tow and local ski club. Snow is so scarce today that most Virginia children probably don`t own a sled. But neighbors came to our home at Hickory Hill nearly every winter weekend to ride saucers and Flexible Flyers.

In those days, I recall my uncle, President Kennedy, standing erect as he rode a toboggan in his top coat, never faltering until he slid into the boxwood at the bottom of the hill. Once, my father, Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, brought a delegation of visiting Eskimos home from the Justice Department for lunch at our house. They spent the afternoon building a great igloo in the deep snow in our backyard. My brothers and sisters played in the structure for several weeks before it began to melt. On weekend afternoons, we commonly joined hundreds of Georgetown residents for ice skating on Washington's C&O Canal, which these days rarely freezes enough to safely skate.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil and its carbon cronies continue to pour money into think tanks whose purpose is to deceive the American public into believing that global warming is a fantasy. In 1998, these companies plotted to deceive American citizens about climate science. Their goal, according to a meeting memo, was to orchestrate information so that "recognition of uncertainties become part of the conventional wisdom" and that "those promoting the Kyoto treaty ... appear to be out of touch with reality."

Since that meeting, Exxon has funneled $23 million into the climate-denial industry, according to Greenpeace, which combs the company's annual report each year. Since 2006, Exxon has cut off some of the worst offenders, but 28 climate-denial groups will still get funding this year. (more...)

Nashville and Atlanta gas crunch:
By Wayne Drash, CNN, 9-22-2008

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Across metro Atlanta, drivers in one of the nation's largest commuter cities are running into the same thing: a lack of gas and no clear idea when the situation will get better. State and industry officials say they're working as fast as they can and are urging people not to panic.

"There was no gas to be found, then panic set in as I approached a gas station with a 40-car line," Michael Lanfreschi, an iReporter from the suburb of Alpharetta, said. "This is causing complete chaos. Why is this happening, and what actions are being taken to prevent this from happening again, and why did it happen in the first place?"

Christina Wedge, a resident of the Atlanta suburb Decatur, said her tank was on empty Sunday. When she went to fill up, she passed six stations closed down before finally finding one with gas for nearly $5 a gallon. She got just enough to continue looking for a cheaper price. About a mile away, she found a station with long lines for gas around $4.29. "I waited 30 minutes to get gas," she said. "It does concern me. I'm actually frustrated that the prices are so high."
(more...)

EPA against limiting rocket fuel ingredient in water -- CNN
September 22, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency has decided there's no need to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has fouled public water supplies around the country.

EPA reached the conclusion in a draft regulatory document not yet made public but reviewed Monday by The Associated Press.

Jeremy Symons, who represented the Environmental Protection Agency on Vice President Cheney's energy task force, described the Bush administration's "carefully orchestrated policy of delay":

"It's a charade... They have a single-minded determination to do nothing -- while making it look like they are doing something." [or, in this case, pretend-lie that it won`t help! "let them die" or "eat cake"-Queen of England ages past]

The ingredient, perchlorate, has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental health risks, particularly for babies and fetuses, according to some scientists. (more...)

September 22, 2008
SuperCapacitor-UTDallas-NanoTech-Inst.jpg

But research by post-doctoral Researcher Jiyoung Oh and Research Scientist Mikhail "Mike" Kozlov at UT Dallas` NanoTech Institute offers tantalizing insights into a new, lightweight, reliable means of delivering power via the mighty supercapacitor.

Supercapacitors are beefed-up electronic components that can be charged and counted on to store energy reliably for long periods. They deliver power in a smooth, steady stream safe for operating sensitive electronics. Unlike car lead batteries, which are typically heavier and bulker, capacitors and super-capacitors accumulate electric charge instead of delivering it via a chemical reaction.

The team, along with legendary nanotechnology pioneer Dr. Ray Baughman, developed a means to create supercapacitors using "paper" sheets of single-walled carbon nanotubes embedded with a special polymer called polypyrrole.

"Our electrode preparation procedure is an extension of conventional bucky-paper [a film made of 100 percent carbon nanotubes] fabrication technique for the multi-component system," Oh said. "This procedure is easily scalable for device fabrication on an industrial scale."

This team`s research was supported in part by the International Research Internship Program of the Korea Research Foundation, a Korea Research Foundation Grant, a Robert A. Welch Foundation grant and funds from the LINTEC Corporation-a firm that collaborates with UT Dallas` NanoTech Institute on supercapacitor research.

Federal judge orders Cheney to preserve range of records
Denver Post Wire Report, 09/20/2008

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Saturday ordered Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time as vice president.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a setback for the Bush administration in its effort to promote a narrow definition of materials that must be safeguarded under by the Presidential Records Act.

A private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is suing Cheney and the Executive Office of the President in an effort to ensure that no presidential records are destroyed or handled in a way that makes them unavailable to the public.

September 16, 2008
by Popular Mechanics contributor Ray Wert

DETROIT - The production version of the Chevy Volt-the plug-in (ahem, range-extended) hybrid car that General Motors has ballyhooed to the reaches of Babylon-finally got revealed here today at the company's centennial bash. And that's appropriate, considering this is quite possibly the most important car that GM has ever built. Despite rumors of a Pontiac Volt on the horizon, officials continue to claim that their ace in the hole bears the Chevrolet badge for a reason: From the Aveo to the Corvette ZR1, every product branded as a Chevy should be "as American as apple pie and baseball." That means widespread consumer appeal is critical. But with its initial production limited, can the Volt really become a mass-audience game changer? Maybe, but only if GM can ramp up production faster than Toyota did with the first-generation Prius, and avoid the stigma of over-marketing along the way.

(more...)

Sept. 19 2008
McCain Attacks Wall Street Greed-While 83 Wall Street Lobbyists Work for His Campaign
and publicly available records, have identified 177 lobbyists working for the McCain campaign as either aides, policy advisers, or fundraisers

The GOP candidate has denounced Wall Street lobbyists. But McCain's campaign is loaded with them. -By David Corn, Jonathan Stein, and Nick Baumann

In the past few days, as the economic crisis has deepened, Senator John McCain has been decrying the excesses of Wall Street. At a campaign rally in Tampa on Tuesday, he vowed that he and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, if elected, "are going to put an end to the reckless conduct, corruption, and unbridled greed that have caused a crisis on Wall Street." He noted that the "foundation of our economy...has been put at risk by the greed and mismanagement of Wall Street and Washington."
(more...)

Britain's Financial Services Authority said Thursday it is temporarily banning short-selling of shares in publicly traded financial companies.

New York AG launches probe of short-selling

By STEVENSON JACOBS, Associated Press | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 18, 2008

New York - New York state is launching an investigation into whether some traders used illegal tactics to drive down the stock price of several Wall Street firms.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo told reporters Thursday his office has received a ``significant number" of complaints about short sellers, or investors who hope to profit by placing bets that a financial company's stock will fall.
(more...)

By JOHN M. BRODER; September 17, 2008

WILMINGTON, Del. - Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. says he entered public life in the late 1960s dismayed by the riots of that era and inspired by the quest for racial justice.

"I wasn`t at the bridge at Selma," he said in an interview, "but the struggle for civil rights was the animating political element of my life."

Mr. Biden, Democrat of Delaware, has devoted much of his 35 years in the Senate, including eight years as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to matters of race and civil rights. He has been instrumental in expanding voting rights, supporting affirmative action, passing the Violence Against Women Act, expanding the definition of hate crimes and working toward ending employment discrimination.
(more...)

By ROBIN TONER and ADAM NAGOURNEY, September 17, 2008

WASHINGTON - Despite an intense effort to distance himself from the way his party has done business in Washington, Senator John McCain is seen by voters as far less likely to bring change to Washington than Senator Barack Obama. He is widely viewed as a "typical Republican" who would continue or expand President Bush`s policies, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Polls taken after the Republican convention suggested that Mr. McCain had enjoyed a surge of support - particularly among white women after his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate - but the latest poll indicates "the Palin effect" was a limited burst of interest. The contest appeared to be roughly where it was before the two conventions and before the vice-presidential selections: Mr. Obama had the support of 48 percent of registered voters, compared with 43 percent for Mr. McCain, a difference within the poll`s margin of sampling error, and statistically unchanged from the tally in the last New York Times/CBS News poll, in mid-August.
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Posted by Karen Tumulty, September 13, 2008

On the front page of the New York Times this morning is a devastating, above-the-fold look at how the McCain campaign is distorting and lying its way to a lead in the polls. But the fact that the candidate is being called on the carpet for it doesn`t seem to stop him from doing it. Take, for instance, what he says about Obama's health care plan:

At a campaign stop this week in Missouri, Mr. McCain said that Mr. Obama`s plan would "force small businesses to cut jobs and reduce wages and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor." In fact, what Obama got criticized for during the Democratic primary was the fact that his plan doesn`t force people into any health care plan - government-run or otherwise, though it does include a requirement that children get coverage.

Jonathan B. Oberlander, who teaches health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that Mr. Obama`s plan would not force families into a government-run system. "I would say this is an inaccurate and false characterization of the Obama plan," he said. "I don`t use those words lightly." (more...)

By James Ridgeway, September/October 2008 MJ

In an era of waning fossil fuel reserves and escalating oil and gas prices, it has become fashionable to rail against the power of foreign oil, drawing attention away from the scandal involving the nation's own energy reserves. American oil and gas come increasingly from land belonging to the taxpayers, but instead of administering these resources in the public interest, the federal government leases them out at bargain-basement rates, under programs that are as inefficient as they are corrupt.

The government has let billions in royalty payments slip through its hands. With oil prices topping $140 a barrel this summer, the Interior Department's leasing program, run by its Minerals Management Service (mms), stood to lose as much as $53 billion over 25 years from deep-water leases in the Gulf of Mexico alone, according to the Government Accountability Office. One of the officials responsible for signing some of the most ill-conceived leases with the oil companies left the department last year and promptly registered as a lobbyist for Shell. (He joined former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who in late 2006 was hired by the oil company.)
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