Slot Machine, Voting Restrictions, and Video Bootlegging. Those the are most recent posts on Rep. Peter Sullivan's Blog. And some of our own bloggers are getting in on the comment action.

Here is a post from there relating to slow machines. Here is Will's post on that.

There was also some hot and heavy discuss about a law to requiring photo id to vote.

Here is an article about how the right wing is preparing to torpedo Hilary's Presidential aspirations with a swift boat type smear book before her campaign even gets off the ground.

From the MediaMatters.org

This was brought to my attention by Reuben Rajala. To those of use who are into health foods this is old news... but chilling none the less. Folks, plastics are REALLY bad for you, not just do they leech poisons into your food and drink but they also can do screwy things like mimic sex hormones. And EVERYTHING is made of them… including baby bottles, children’s toys, and the plastic lining of canned foods!

A chemical widely used in the making of clear plastic products, including baby bottles, food storage containers, and even dental fillings, is the subject of debate between those who say it is safe, namely plastic-industry flacks, and those who say it's not, namely most everyone else. Many scientists have found evidence that bisphenol A, or BPA, is harmful, even in the small doses leached from plastic during heating or exposure to acidic foods or strong detergents, because it can mimic sex hormones.

In a wacky coincidence, researchers Frederick vom Saal and Claude Hughes found that all 11 industry-funded studies conclude BPA is nothing to worry about, while 90 percent of the 104 government- or university-funded studies conclude otherwise.

I wonder why that could be, perhaps because:

Bisphenol is one of the top 50 chemicals produced in the U.S. Over 1.6 billion pounds were produced in 1995.

On average, humans ingest approximately 6.3 micrograms per day of bisphenol-A rom the linings of food cans.

From childrens health education coalition

Here our a story in Los Angeles Times, Marla Cone, 13 Apr 2005
Here is another one in : USA Today, Elizabeth Weise, 14 Apr 2005

If you didn't already know there is a problem with children going through puberty early. REAL EARLY!

An epidemic of early puberty is hitting young girls in the U.S. Among Caucasian girls in the U.S. today, 1 in every 7 starts to develop breasts or pubic hair by age 8, and among African American girls in the U.S., the figure is nearly 1 out of every 2.

Many scientists that study premature puberty attribute it to endogenous estrogens in plastics and secondhand exposure through the meat and milk of animals treated with steroid hormones. Premature puberty was traced to consumption of beef, pork, and dairy products containing high concentrations of estrogen. Another study from Puerto Rico revealed a higher concentration of phthalate – a xenoestrogen present in certain plastics – in girls who showed signs of early puberty, compared with controls. [more info]

"Young girls [in the 5-to-10-year-old range] with breasts or pubic hair - we encounter this every day we're in clinic," says Dr. Michael Freemark, chief of pediatric endocrinology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. [more info]

Here is a long article about that problem.

Here is an article about Bisphenol from ... oh... 2003… it not like I found a story on this from 7 years ago or anything…. The warnings about this chemical go back even further then that…

Here is another plastic related article "PVC: The Most Toxic Plastic" and another "Ten Reasons to Avoid PVC Plastic" and more and more and more..... it's like when you were a kid and you would life up a really big rock and find dozens of disgusting crawling bugs on the underside.... no wonder most american's just don't want to know... anything.

As I have said before on this blog if there are 2 things I hate, it is the DLC and Joe Lieberman. This is another great article on how the DLC is costing the democratic party... everything.

Amazingly, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) still holds sway. Despite the fact that their strategy has kept the House of Representatives in Republican hands for the last ten years, despite the loss of the Senate and two presidential elections, they are still a force to be reckoned with.

They keep on talking, under the bizarre premise that if they just keep doing what they have been doing they will get a different result. Yes, that is a definition of insanity.

In a memo (from the DLC) entitled “What We Stand For” we get wisdom like this:
”Let's not kid ourselves: Americans didn't have any trouble telling the difference between John Kerry and George W. Bush. The trouble they had was figuring out what our side stood for.”

It isn’t clear if they need lessons in logic or in grammar. Americans had a lot of trouble telling the difference between Kerry and Bush. That is why many of them chose not to change a horse in midstream. They know quite well that the Democrats don’t stand for much of anything.

Check out the Full article here at ProgressiveTrail.org

Moveon.org is launching radio ads against select Members of Congress who voted for the credit card industry-written bankruptcy bill yesterday. While most of those targeted are Republicans, one of them is Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the second-ranking Democrat in the House.

Hoyer is pretty solid on most issues. But the bankruptcy bill was an issue of economic fairness that should be core to the Democratic Party's mission. Moveon's decision to smack Hoyer shows that they understand that lawmakers change when offered both carrots AND sticks. If all Moveon did was offer praise to Democrats, it wouldn't be helping the Democrats or, more importantly, the progressive cause. By once in a while taking a Democrat out to the woodshed, they will be helping to enforce more Democratic unity down the road.

From the SirotaBlog

Pay attention democratic party faithfuls we do not serve our party by looking the other way when democratic politicians whore themselves out to corporations and betray CORE democratic principles. We grassroots trouble makers are saving the party from itself!!! DON'T SHUT US OUT!!!

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-NE) has told The Hill that he is negotiating with Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), chairman of the Rules Committee, to reach a “compromise” that would forfeit the right of senators to filibuster President Bush’s most radical judicial nominees.

Why would Nelson bend on such a fundamental issue? According to The Hill, Nelson thinks standing on principle has put him and others in “politically difficult positions":

Check the full story on the Think Progress Blog

Democrats Block Vote on Bolton

Lott: "Power of Prayer" Will Sustain Tom Delay

Iraq Violence Flares, Overshadows US Visit

US Firm May Have Unleashed Deadly Flu Strain

Bush Nominee Bolton Accused of being "Serial Abuser"

Halliburton's No-Bid Bilking Twice Previous Estimate

Negroponte Used CIA Back Channels to Defy Congress

Bush's Poll Numbers Worst on Record

IRS Rigs the System in Favor of Super-Rich

US Workers Hit by 'Perfect Storm' of Economic Forces

Last year the National Housing Conference published "Paycheck to Paycheck: Working Families and the Cost of Housing in America," which studied the availability of decent, affordable housing for workers in five "vital occupations" in 60 of the nation's largest housing markets. Noting that administrative support and clerical occupations and service jobs account for about one-third of the nation's workforce, the analysis looked at workers in these occupations: janitors, elementary school teachers, police officers, licensed practical nurses, and retail salespersons.

The report found that janitors could rent a one-bedroom apartment for no more than 30 percent of their income in only 6 of the 60 metropolitan areas, and salespersons could afford a one-bedroom on the same income standard in just 3 of the areas.

The report also looked at homeownership and determined that households dependent on one elementary school teacher's or one police officer's salary alone cannot afford to buy a median priced home in two-thirds of the metropolitan areas.

"Licensed Practical Nurses are priced out of all but the lowest cost-to-income markets," the report continued, "while Janitors and Retail Salespersons cannot afford to purchase a home across the board."

Now add to that $20,000 to $40,000 of school loans and you have the end of the american dream. Which is my family's situation. Of coarse as a society we can keep dumping our kids off on other people so that both parents can work full time.

Here is a link to the entire story. This is another story sent to me by Reuben Rajala.

Today, the House is expected to vote to permanently repeal the estate tax. The full repeal of the estate tax would cost $290 billion through 2015, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

A little-known Southern California estate planner named Patricia Soldano
launched her repeal effort with the backing of about 50 wealthy clients, with
the Gallo and Mars families leading the way. Other contributors included the
heirs of the Campbell soup and Krystal hamburger fortunes. Frank Blethen, whose
family controls the Seattle Times Co., was also pivotal.

The effort caught fire when small-business groups such as the National
Federation of Independent Business and agriculture groups led by the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association joined in.

By then, Soldano's Policy and Taxation Group was spending more than
$250,000 a year on lobbying. A parade of small-business owners and family
farmers appealed to their congressmen, worried that they could not pass on their
enterprises to their children, even though most of them would not be affected by
the tax.

from Washington Post via Atrios Blog

http://dailysandwich.blogspot.com/ - I actually heard about this guy and his blog on Air America Radio. He called in to the show and made some really intelligent points. I tend to mainly post brief blurbs from other blogs with some of my own comments and lots of links to other places to get more info on the subject. This guys approach is more thought out and personal. Good reading. Expect to see his blog referenced here alot more in the future.

It's time to hate my favorite democrap. Joe Lieberman. The CT state democratic party is having some serious problems with Lieberman. Especially the town chairs.

If the state Democratic convention were held right now, Lieberman wouldn't have the votes to get the nomination without doing some very, very, very serious arm twisting--and even then he might not have the votes. Maybe the population still likes Joe Lieberman, but his friends in the Democratic Party are having second or third thoughts about him. To some it's the votes, to others it's the war, to still others it's the Dem-bashing rhetoric, while others are concerned about the spectacle of Lieberman at Bush's elbow when Bush signs some particularly un-Democratic piece of legislation. But even more telling is that his good friends, people who've known him for 20 or 30 years and who came into politics with him or came up in the party with him, don't want to be associated with him. .

from Myrna Watanabe -- a Connecticut Democratic State Central Committee member

Read more at the DailyKos Blog


Here is one of my favorite quotes from Myrna Watanabe

One town chair sent me the following email: "Tell him he doesn't have to come to
XXX either, unless it's to announce he isn't going to run again." Another town
chair told me, "We hate him here!" He probably doesn't have many friends on
State Committee either. When he responded to my question by saying that he had a 70 percent favorable rating, someone in the back yelled out, "From Republicans!"

Read more at Swing State Project Blog

Lieberman seems to only care about poll numbers NOT about his own political party. But is he really that safe? Check out these poll number conparisons at DailyKos.
Joe MUST GO!!!

It seems that the threat of military invasion was enough to get Saddam to agree to nearly any of our requests to avoid war. Exactly as Kerry and others who voted for giving the president the authority to go to war had hoped.

Read this article about Saddam's many peace overtures including "promising to hold elections and even to allow US troops to search for banned weapons."

As Matt Sandwich at the Daily Sandwich points out this will change the way you think about Bush's talking doll one liner "I'm a war president".

EPA has now canceled the pesticide testing program in a clear victory for Senators Boxer and Nelson.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush's choice to head the Environmental
Protection Agency on Friday canceled a controversial program to test the effects
of bug spray and other pesticides on infants after two Senate Democrats
threatened to block his confirmation.

See the MyDD Blog for full story

You can also see my earlier post about Boxer threatening to block the nomination

An internal probe launched by a whistleblower suggests that Thomas Coughlin, a man who helped start Wal-Mart and who many thought might become CEO, had subordinates create fake invoices to have Wal-Mart reimburse him for personal expenses.

It turns out that he may have not been stealing from the company but reimbursing himself for moneys that he was spending on behalf of the company. What was he spending this money on? ANTI-UNION activities, which in addition to being against Walmart’s proclaimed policies are AGAINST THE LAW!

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott asked all walmart employees to report any illegal wrong doings. The following day the company fired the whistle blower.

Read the full story at the Think Progress Blog

UPDATES: Walmart Allows Pharmacists to Discriminate Against Women

""Walmart.com Help" wrote:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women's prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs.

Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives. Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions. However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription. Again, we thank
you for your comments regarding this issue. Sincerely,Customer Service at Walmart.com "

Not only do they refuse to stock certain products, but they give their employees carte blanche to decide who gets what medicines they need based their "personal convictions."

read the full article at MyDD Blog

UPDATE: Check out more Walmart hypocrisy as some states have the courage to pass legislation [not ours] to take on the corporate giant.
Wal-Mart's Hypocrisy on Health Care and Humiliating Politicians Into Addressing Wal-Mart are 2 stories on this at the Sirotablog

GM is withdrawing all it’s advertising from the LA Times. This news comes a day after the L.A. Times published a column by its Pulitzer Prize-winning auto critic, Dan Neil.

Check out the Full story on the American Street Blog

“Neither GM nor Tribune would comment on the amount of GM's advertising spending at the paper, but Morgan Stanley's Arthur estimated that the lost advertising would amount to roughly $10 million to $15 million on a full-year basis.”
From the ABC News Story

Is there anyone out there who actually thinks this sort of pressure isn’t being applied to the mainstream media on a regular basis? The only thing unique about this story is that :
1] This sort of thing usually happens behind closed doors before the article runs
OR
2] The editors kill the story right away so as not to piss off the advertisers in the first place.

The Mainstream Media’s ownership by and dependence on funding from Large Corporations plain and simply compromises their integrity. I believe that there are a lot of good and decent journalists who attempt to bring dignity and integrity to their profession in what is admittedly an increasing hostile environment.

I hope they can see that those of us who are criticizing them [at least on the left] are hoping to liberate them from these corrupting influences not to add additional pressure to get them to promote our agenda.