Happy Bastille Day!

Lenora is making something chocolate and decadent this morning and coq au vin tonight in honor of the day.

Vive la France! Vive le Révolution!

Friday Malamute Blogging

Hiding in the ivy.

China is very serious about product safety

China executes ex-food and drug chief.

China executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog on Tuesday for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash, the strongest signal yet from Beijing that it is serious about tackling its product safety crisis.

During Zheng Xiaoyu's tenure as head of the State Food and Drug Administration from 1997 to 2006, the agency approved six medicines that turned out to be fake, and the drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to previous state media reports. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.
...

Chinese officials have already said the country faces social unrest and a further tarnished image abroad unless it improves the quality and safety of its food and medicine.

Last week, China's food safety watchdog said almost 20 percent of products made for domestic consumption were found to be substandard in the first half of 2007.

China has also stepped up its inspections of imported products and said some U.S. products are not safe.

In the latest case, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday that a shipment of sugar-free drink mix from the United States had been rejected for having too much red dye.

Maybe an international court could prosecute the FDA for crimes against humanity.

Not Mitt Romney's Dog, Either

Dogs of America unite!! Mitt Romney has strapped you to the roof of his campaign and you know what to do. Join Rusty's pack over at dogs against romney.

Let's make sure Mitt has to pull over at every gas station between here and the primaries.

Not Born on the Fourth of July

Happy birthday, Mr. pResident. I wish you only this: that you reap the whirlwind.

Friday Malamute Blogging

Under the deck communing with spiders ...

Not Just a Trannie

Ann Coulter finally confesses her true orientation to Bill O'Reilly on his Fox show:

I'm more of a man than any liberal.

Hon, you're more of a man than Bill O'Reilly.

Happy Birthday, USA!

It's Fourth of July and I bet I know what the nation has been wishing for:

World peace and some heavy duty cortisone cream for that rash on our ass we call the Bush administration.

Have a fabulous Fourth and don't burn your fingers; remember, when you light your sparklers, safety first; and, above all, visualize "IMPEACHMENT!"

I Beg Your Pardon...

...but this ain't no pardon. At least Libby's conviction will stand for the next few minutes.

Bush's statement made no mention of the term "pardon," and he made clear that he was not willing to wipe away all penalties for Libby.

The president noted Libby supporters' argument that the punishment did not fit the crime for a "first-time offender with years of exceptional public service."

Ironically, Bush then uttered the following words that will eventually bite him in the ass:

... if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable."

Not Mitt Romney's Dog

If this were Mitt Romney's dog, he'd be strapped to the top of a station wagon. And there'd be leakage.

Friday Malamute Blogging

GO SOX!

The city sure is pretty after a Sox game at the Cell. Even if they did lose.

Friday Malamute Blogging

Catchin' rays...

Hillary has chosen her "song"

Are you fucking kidding me?!?!?

Arrgghh!!

So close.

The Senate voted 53 to 38 to end debate and allow a vote on the no-confidence motion itself. Since 60 votes were required to shut off the debate, or invoke cloture, supporters of the motion were lacking seven votes. But Mr. Gonzales’s critics could console themselves with the knowledge that they mustered a majority, and that several Republicans sided with them.

7 votes eh?

From Roll Call:

Not Voting - 7
Biden (D-DE)
Brownback (R-KS)
Obama (D-IL)
Coburn (R-OK)
Dodd (D-CT)
Johnson (D-SD)
McCain (R-AZ)

I'm not saying that all 7 of those absent would necessarily have voted in favor of the vote of no-confidence, but when 6 of those 7 are absent due to campaigning...well...

Gore-mand Politics?

(For Red Rabbit, who wondered why I didn’t sign a petition this week to draft Al Gore into the presidential race)

Now that almost everyone, with the exception of the right-wing crazies and NASA chief Michael Griffin, has conceded that global climate change is a crisis, maybe it’s time to send a chill down all our spines by recognizing that many of those currently on the bandwagon of lowered carbon footprints are the same SUV owners who helped tip the climate situation towards disaster. If a recent New York Times article is to be believed, some of these people have even decided it’s possible to have it both ways: “Hundreds of thousands of consumers aren't giving up anything to downsize. Instead, they are simply adding pint-size transportation to their driveways, parked alongside their S.U.V. or pickup” (“And Gas Saver Makes Three in the Driveway” May 26, 2007) Add to this the difficulties that cities like Chicago are experiencing getting state governments to maintain, let alone expand, public transportation systems, and you begin to see what may be the political footprint of this recent movement. Chicago has just proposed dramatic fare increases and service cuts or suspensions to its public transportation system, changes that will disproportionately affect the poor while making public transportation a less attractive option for everyone. But this dismal prospect has hardly been noticed by our global warming set. Even though getting more people on buses, subways, trains would do more to diminish greenhouse gasses than tooling around town in the best of hybrids, we are witnessing a movement whose adherents appear to be more willing to plump down $22,000 for a well-equipped, environmentally friendly vehicle than to support tax increases that would build new transit lines and extend services so that riding public transportation becomes viable for greater numbers of people.
When you consider that SUV owners knew at the time they purchased their gas-guzzling behemoths that petroleum is a nonrenewable fuel source, that auto exhaust is a major pollutant, and that their mini-tanks were more likely than regular sedans to result in fatal injuries to other drivers in accidents, you get an idea of the political calculus being employed here. These safety-conscious consumers are more than willing to pay extra for what they think is best for the health and wellbeing of their families. Of course, if you aren’t wise enough or wealthy enough to do the same for yours, well then, heaven help you. Or to put the matter slightly differently, these are people who view health and safety as luxury goods rather than public goods. Now I could be wrong (and in this case I’d like to be) but if this is the view guiding the current movement, then this hybrid’s going to pull to the right no matter how many times you align the front-end.

None of this is necessarily a knock on Al Gore, who does have the distinction of having taken an idea that the Right had banished to the hinterland of American politics and making it so mainstream that even Rupert Murdoch has cozied up to things green. And Gore has done it in a way that should be a lesson to the other Democratic candidates: By sticking to his guns! But so far there’s little evidence (excepting John Edwards’s healthcare plane) that his counterparts are paying attention. As for Gore, he needs to demonstrate that he’s aware of both the possibilities and limitations of what he’s accomplished so far. If he can bring the same intensity to a broad, progressive agenda then pass me the pen and the petition.

Friday Malamute Blogging

Ahh, water is good after a 5-mile walk. If we didn't keep his water bowl raised up off the floor at home, he'd try to get all 4 paws in it.

What Shall We Do with a Drunken Failure?

...early in the morning?

a) Put him in the longboat ’til he’s sober
b) Spray him with whiskey and light him on fire
c) Put him in the back of the paddywagon

or—ding, ding, ding, ding! my personal favorite

d) Slap him around and call him Suzie

Food Poisoning, my ass. Oh, and that's non-alcoholic beer, I'm sure.

Steve Gilliard, 1966-2007

Damn, he's gone. I think I've read Steve every single day for the past four or five years. No one could rant like he could rant—blunt but eloquent, and always straight to the heart of the thing. We loved his style and we will miss him.

Friday Malamute Blogging

There's an 80 lb animal who lives in our house. He must be fed, watered, and exercised regularly or he'll destroy his surroundings. I wonder if this qualifies our house as a "ranch."

Hmmm...gotta go feed the livestock.