Good Riddance to Jule MacDonald

Good Riddance to Jule MacDonald

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Twice before in this blog I’ve reported on President Bush’s appointment of the totally unqualified and unsuitable appointment of Julie MacDonald as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. (See posts of 1//30/07 & 12/29/06)Her outrageous conduct in suppressing scientific data which contradicted White House position and her determined efforts to totally undermine any environmental restrictions were a scandal. However, there was no accountability because with a Republican controlled Congress she was allowed a free hand. She was accurately…

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Travel Report From Sea

Travel Report From Sea

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We are crossing the Mediterranean from Alexandria to Turkey. The seas are calm and the weather warm. We’ve spent the night in Paris and then on to Cairo. In Paris there was a parade of WWII veterans celebrating the liberation of Paris from the Germans. There was a large building under construction and the front had been draped with canvas which had been painted to look like a building, but with wavy lines giving it a unique appearance. In Cairo,…

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Travel Report

Travel Report

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On Friday, May 4th we fly to Paris for the night on our way to Cairo, Egypt to start a cruise on the Seabourn Spirit leaving from Alexandria on May 7th. The Spirit was launched in 1989, but refurbished in 2005. She is a German made 440 foot vessel with a crew of 150 and only 208 total guest capacity. She is considered a five star luxury mega-yacht because of her small size and accommodations as compared to most cruise…

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The Bush Veto History & Hiding Behind Signing Statements

The Bush Veto History & Hiding Behind Signing Statements

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George Bush has exercised only two veto’s at this point in his two term administration. The first was his July 2006 veto of a bill which would lift funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. The second veto occurred this week of the $124 Billion wear funding bill which also would order troop withdrawal from Iraq by October. Only two vetoes is a unique feat given the history of presidential vetoes. Mr. Bush’s father, for example, vetoed 44 bills in…

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WD-40 and Persistence

WD-40 and Persistence

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WD-40 ®) was invented the year I graduated from high school, 1953. It was created by the Rocket Chemical Company, a small lab in San Diego, its staff of only three people. WD stands for "water displacement." The chemist who help develop the product was attempting to create a formula to prevent corrosion by displacing water and moisture. However, it’s the "40" in the name that has significance, at least for me. It took forty attempts before it was successful….

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George Tenet & The Bush Administration

George Tenet & The Bush Administration

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My friend Brad Hobbs and I exchange e-mail observations. He recently sent me comments about George Tenet. Here’s an excerpt of what Brad said and my response: From the interview on CBS’s "60 minutes", I felt Tenet was trying to shift and deflect the responsibility of blame towards everyone, but himself, regarding the mishandling or complete indifference to threats of terrorism from Al Qaida just prior to 9/11/07. Perhaps rightly so, perhaps not… but I don’t know if we will…

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Selected Poetry

Selected Poetry

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God Give Us Men God give us men! A time like this demands strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands! Men whom the lust of office does not kill. Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy. Men who love honour, men who cannot lie.                                       J. G. Holland (1794-1872) Four Things Four things a man must learn to do if he would make his record true: To…

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More Bush Administration Corruption of Scientific Data – This Time Involving the Spotted Owl

More Bush Administration Corruption of Scientific Data – This Time Involving the Spotted Owl

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The Bush Administration has a long record of bold face lies, falsification & interference when its official policy positions are in conflict with scientific proof. I’ve cited numerous examples from media reports. (See 4/18/07) The Seattle P.I. today exposes another instance involving the timber industry and the endangered spotted owl. The newspaper reports that a high level team of Bush administration appointees in Washington, DC – including a former timber industry lobbyist – ordered changes in a plan produced by…

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Public Citizen Has it Right About Health & Safety Regulatory Agencies & the Bush White House

Public Citizen Has it Right About Health & Safety Regulatory Agencies & the Bush White House

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Joan Claybrook has an excellent editorial in Public Citizen News entitled "Bush steps up his attack on the regulatory system, endangering important health and safety protections." She gives the chronology of the attacks and notes that there is a stepped up effort to undermine the federal regulatory system. In January, Mr. Bush issued a new executive order requiring agencies to submit to the White House "significant guidance documents." It had already required them to submit to the White House proposed…

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Ameriocan Bishops and Priest Sexual Abuse

Ameriocan Bishops and Priest Sexual Abuse

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The April 20th Edition of the National Catholic Reporter has an editorial entitled "Little Genuine Progress on Sex Abuse." It relates that the executive director of the Bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection" provided a 2006 audit with an accompanying letter. The letter, the editorial points out, which is signed by the executive director, says there is a: "Surrounding atmosphere that one might describe as Refusal to See the Evidence. It takes two forms. Those who see the bishops…

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