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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Joe Scarborough’s blog is posted in the Huffington Post and has some clever observations this week about the confrontation between Cheryl Crow, Laurie David and Karl Rove. I commented yesterday about this subject. Here’s part of what he had to say: "But apparently Team Bush is tired of talking and has adapted a bunker mentality. Seven years of bad press, foreign wars and personal attacks (every bit as nasty as those Bill Clinton endured) have left people like Karl Rove…
I greatly admire Arianna Huffington’s ability to write very witty comments with metaphors and analogies that ring true. I’ve even made a list from her books of phrases I thought were brilliant. In her blog The Huffington Post she discusses her attendance at the recent White House Correspondent’s Association dinner where Cheryl Crow, Laurie David and Karl Rove had a heated exchange over global warming. Huffington said "The entire evening had the surrealistic feel of a Salvador Dali movie." Here’s…
The Federal Drug Administration is only a shadow of it’s original power as a regulatory watchdog over the pharmaceutical industry. Weakened by the hand picked Bush administration appointees and corrupted by the lobbying of the industry the FDA has become the lap dog of the pharmaceutical companies rather then the watchdog it is supposed to be for Americans. I’ve pointed out their failure to do their job before. (See 11/23/06 and 12/5/06 postings) Now the New England Journal of Medicine…
I previously reported about Seattle Archbishop Alex Brunett’s opposition to a bill which would grant same sex couples limited legal rights, including the right to make medical decisions about the other person in the relationship. (See 3/21/07) There is ample legal justification for passage of the bill which is now awaiting signature by the Governor. However, The Catholic Northwest Progress reports Brunett is urging Catholics to contact the Governor to request that she veto the bill. He has written the…
