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State Decision Blocks Drilling for Gas in Catskills The danger to the NYC water supply from " fracking " is greatly reduced. Common sense wins! Story in the NYTimes. "No Crude" Leaking from Sunken Oil Rig Coast Guard Commander Tells CBS No Signs of New Leakage Oh, that could have been the most terrifying and destructive spill yet. (And, hey, maybe it will raise the alarm level for all offshore drill-baby-drilling. Maybe.)

Heard About Nick Clegg? In a surprise bigger that Obama winning Iowa in the Democratic primary, this guy Clegg has shot onto the scene in Great Britain, suddenly taking his Liberal Democratic party from 16% to 34% in a week. Talk about a successful appearance on a debate! By the way, it was the first televised PM debate in British history. So I checked out some of his speeches on YouTube. Here's one that I find astonishingly appropriate to United States politics. It's about reforming the financial system. He is as on-the-money as I can imagine. See if you agree and at the same time, take a look at the "British Obama." Picture Credit

Fox News Made Me Think It People who are "madder'n hell" over the health reform law are quick and copious with their inaccuracies. When honest Tea Partiers state an inaccuracy, you can bet they picked it up from a LIE. For instance, "Refuse the insurance mandate and GO TO JAIL." No surprise, perhaps, that the main perpetrator of health reform lies is Fox News. (And right wing magazines like The Freeman .) It gets really slimey when Fox News lies about lying. Bill O'Reilly did it a few nights ago, denying that F ox News ever said anything about going to jail for bucking the mandate - or even for not paying the fine. ( The reform law expressly prohibits the government from jailing anyone who fails to either obtain health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Check it out .) But Bill said: “We researched on Fox News if anybody had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance. Nobody's ever said it.” He researched it! If you

The mind's eye runs rampant (again). Three -Eyed Giant Blue Insectile Found this beastie in a piece of broken PVC, stained by the glue and cleaner. Looks like an alien bug to me. Hey. See " Faces in the Rocks "

The Guardian Gives Good Graphics "CA" is China; "JA" Japan, etc. I was palavering with a pal on the huge U.S. Defense budget recently and came up with a pie chart. This is better. If we just took the red part, not covered by other nations' expenditures, and spent it on, say, education, we'd be the best educated country in the world (again). Graphic 1 credit

He Who Screams Loudest A competitor walks into your store and pees on the floor. Then he immediately screams, "There's pee on your floor! You people are filthy! This store is a scumbag place! I'm calling the Board of Health!" That is precisely the tactic being used by Republicans like Eric Cantor who are trying to blame the crazed verbal and physical violence from right wingnuts on the Democrats. Or the national debt on everyone but George W. Fee Fi Fo Fum; I smell the stink of hypocrisy-dumb. Or is that a wafting draft of Big Lie propaganda technique? pix credit

... And Who's Paying for It Koch Industries , that's who. Guess who blew the whistle? Good old Greenpeace! Whatever you think of their war on whalers (I love it), you've got to admire their courage. Greenpeace's latest attack is on one of the most powerful, secretive, and rich companies in the world. In an admirable piece of investigative work , they have documented who pays the (huge) tab on denying climate change. And guess what, they are oil men! Surprise! Here are the boys running Koch Industries: Koch is a huge, privately-owned company that has nearly a hundred billion a year in revenue. Since it's a private company, they can keep a very low profile. And under that low profile, they outspend Exxon Mobile by three-to-one trying to debunk the truth of climate change. (And you thought Exxon was the bad guy.) So if you ever wonder how such loony-tunes stuff keeps popping up from climate change denialists , it's because these guys are pump

THE SECOND SCARIEST STUFF ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE The FIRST scariest is the incessant bleating of the "deniers," egged on by the hydrocarbon industry. I read in the Washington Post a Heritage Foundation denialist called climate change "the greatest non-crisis facing mankind." That's high level denying. That's scary . That SECOND scariest part is the truth itself. Here's an excerpt from a report in Science Daily: "A new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wyoming predicts that by the year 2100, many of today's familiar climates will be replaced by climates unknown in today's world, if current rates of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and other greenhouse gas emissions continue. The new global climate models for the next century forecast the complete disappearance of several existing climates currently found in tropical highlands and regions near the poles, while large swaths of the tropics and sub

Are We More Gullible? As an addicted poll reader, I note that (some) polls say that white people are much less likely to say that the health care reform law will help them personally than say people of differing shades. One question: Have you never run afoul of your insurance company? Would you like those parasites to still have the power to cancel your insurance when you need it most? Would you like to be unable to buy health insurance if you change - or worse, lose your job - because of a "pre-existing condition?" That happened to me, because I had (treatable, controlled) hypertension. Do you like your premiums going up at two or three times the rate of inflation? Blue Cross just popped my wife's premiums 29% - no recourse, no appeals, no changing insurance companies because she has a - guess what? - pre-existing condition! Do you like having to haggle with some insurance company clerk for legitimate claims? Do you oldies just love the "donut hole?" I

Ten Times Retail Markup?!? Healthcare costs are skyrocketing. Why, Lord, why? - Is it all those scans prescribed by the docs who own the scanners? - Is it all those CYA tests to protect the docs from lawsuits? - Is it the meds that cost 300% more in the U.S.A. than anywhere else in the world? - Is it the weak regulations on keeping our food safe? - Is it the $500 a minute specialist fees? YES! All that and insane overcharges for everything from the famous dollar-per-aspirin some hospitals charge to things like THIS... THE STORY A close pal breaks her ankle. She goes to a podiatrist. The Physician gives her a simple, off-the-shelf ankle brace for temporary support. The bills trickle in. Cost for that brace? $490! Whoa, we say. So we look up the cost of this device. Check it out: = $490 charged by the Podiatrist = $49.95 charged by Smart+Medical Identical product. Identical manufacturer. Identical reimbursement code. Keep in mind #49.95 is a retail price, available to you and

Way to Go, House Not finished, but partially irreversible, health care reform cleared a giant hurdle. To the brave men and women in Congress who voted for US , even in the face of intimidation, I thank you. To those who fought this bill as though what its detractors in the insurance business and their surrogates said was actually true, take a deep breath and see what this really means to you, your fellow citizens and American small business in general, then see if you're still mad. I am grateful, in the prayerful sense.

Another Leadership Stumble Just another slap in the face from Reality. This morning's NY Times whacked me with this: China Drawing High-Tech Research From U.S. Oh, darn. Not just (almost all) our manufacturing base, but now our innovation base. The story is about how Applied Materials, a VITAL part of our technological manufacturing base, is moving much of its R&D to China. So what's wrong with us? Is it our laws? (Yep. "Free trade" = "OK, move out.") Are our taxes too high (Yep, for the corporations which don't give a flip for anything but their bottom lines.) Are we running short of good engineers? (Yep, our decaying education system) Does a good part of our population sound like idiots? (I shouldn't say.) I'm feeling grouchy.