conflict of interests...

You know, it would be nice if this sort of thing was shocking rather than routine:

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.

My oh my. Whoever could've done such a thing?

Mr. Cooney is chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the office that helps devise and promote administration policies on environmental issues.

Before going to the White House in 2001, he was the "climate team leader" and a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group representing the interests of the oil industry. A lawyer with a bachelor's degree in economics, he has no scientific training.

Via Mother Jones

Texas is all sorts of screwed up.

Pregnant 17 year-old Texas teenager finds it hard to get an abortion.
Tries to induce miscarriage.
Doesn't work.
Asks her boyfriend to step on her stomach.
A week later she miscarries.
Her boyfriend is sentenced to 40 years in prison for "fetal murder."
He could have gotten the death penalty.
Whoah.

via throwingstardna

Which raises a point for abortion: Make it illegal, and people will find other ways to abort, in some cases injuring the mother-to-be. You'd think the past would prove this, but some people just don't get it. They're too hung up on "morals" to think about "people" and "rights".

Come on, Howard...

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, unapologetic in the face of recent criticism that he has been too tough on his political opposition, said in San Francisco this week that Republicans are "a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party."

"The Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people," Dean said Monday, responding to a question about diversity during a forum with minority leaders and journalists. "We're more welcoming to different folks, because that's the type of people we are. But that's not enough. We do have to deliver on things: jobs and housing and business opportunities."

The comments are another example of why the former Vermont governor, who remains popular with the party's grassroots, has been a lightning rod for criticism since being elected to head the Democratic National Committee last February. His comments last week that Republicans "never made an honest living in their lives," which he later clarified to say Republican "leaders," were disavowed by leading Democrats including Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

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I very much see what he was trying to say, but he does need to be more careful with his words.

In general, the Republican party represents one view. However, that's also why they're so strong. If everyone believes the same thing, it makes things pretty easy for them. If everything is in black and white, it's much easier to be with them or against them.

Democrats attempt to represent everyone else, which is why many issues (abortion, gay marriage, gun control) aren't very strong for Democrats. It's hard to represent all views on something such as moral issues because they're catering to the beliefs of many, not just one.

I can't support any politician that caters to one specific view. Life isn't that easy. We aren't all the same and I don't want us to all be the same. Republicans (in general) want to force that one specific view onto everyone.

ATTN: live in fear - everyone's a terrorist!!!1

DES MOINES - Cecilia Beaman is a 57-year-old grandmother, a principal at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, and as of Sunday is also a suspected terrorist.

"This is not right," she told us. It's not right!"

This past weekend she and several other chaperones took 37 middle school students to a Heritage Festival band competition in California. The trip included two days at Disneyland.

During the stay she made sandwiches for the kids and was careful to pack the knives she used to prepare those sandwiches in her checked luggage. She says she even alerted security screeners that the knives were in her checked bags and they told her that was OK.

But Beaman says she couldn't find a third knife. It was a 5 1/2 inch bread knife with a rounded tip and a serrated edge. She thought she might have lost or misplaced it during the trip.

On the trip home, screeners with the Transportation Security Administration at Los Angeles International Airport found it deep in the outside pocket of a carry-on cooler. Beaman apologized and told them it was a mistake.

"You've committed a felony," Beaman says a security screener announced. "And you're considered a terrorist."

...
She says screeners refused to give her paperwork or documentation of her violation, documentation of the pending fine, or a copy of the photograph of the knife.

"They said 'no' and they said it's a national security issue. And I said what about my constitutional rights? And they said 'not at this point ... you don't have any'."

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