Don’t forget about to read Part II.

9:01 pm - People boo when Giuliani said that criminals and crazy people shouldnt have guns.
8:52 pm - Mitt Romney loooooves killing babies.
8:51 pm - Tancredo is against the immigration of “items” as well as people. No more bad toys from China!
8:48 pm - Anderson Cooper asks Romney the Politico thing: did you expense shit you shouldn’t have? Giuliani says no! I had nothing to do with the handling of these records!
8:46 pm - Governor Romney, care to pander to the people of Iowa? Why yes. Subsidize the shit out of corn, please.
8:43 pm - Grover Norquist sent one in! Will you veto any attempt to raise taxes? Tancredo, yes. Romney, yes. Giuliani, yes. Thompson, yes. McCain, yes. Paul, yes. Hunter, no.

8:42 pm - Ron Paul says that McCain doesn’t know anything about anything and reminds McCain that he’s raising way more money.
8:41 pm - McCain just blamed World War II on Ron Paul.

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I was waiting for the train on the platform and overheard a guy about my age standing a few feet away scaring his son, maybe 3, into staying away fromthe edge of the platform. He said something along the lines of “Just the other day a little boy fell down in there and he died. The train came and he died. And then the mommy, she didn’t have a son anymore. And the daddy, she didn’t have a son anymore. That means no more ice cream. That means no more hide-and-seek.” These are the sorts of moments that touch me.

This is an actual ad running right now on the LA Times website, in the politics section:

This Southwick guy has been nominated for some position that he has no business filing and since the Democrats are, you know, the Democrats, he’s probably going to get confirmed, despite the fact that he used to head up a posse that would hunt down run-away slaves and return them to their owners in the South. The campaign to kill his nomination is being run by Mark Twain.

It seems as if Bill O’Reilly isn’t the only one suffering from foot-in-mouth syndrome. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff tried to pawn of the construction of 670-mile-long fence along the U.S.-Mexico border as an environmental issue.

Turns out, though, that the fence can actually hurt the environment worse, cutting animals off from water and spoiling the view. But Chertoff is trying to convince critics that most of these environmental concerns have been and can be further addressed. Not only that, but the fence actually helps the enviroment:

Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I’ve seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas. And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment.

Featured Song: “Sittin’ On A Fence” by The Rolling Stones


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Chertoff Defends Border Fence AP

Hillary Clinton has a genius idea about how to fix the cost of college and the problems plaguing the economy as a result of predatory lending - giving everyone a $5000 bond when they’re born. You know, just a little something for a rainy day.

I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home

This is the kind of innovative thinking that will make he best president of the 21st century thus far - that, and also the ability to locate foreign nations on a map or effortlessly string grammatically correct sentences together. She also knows how to read. Giving everybody five grand is way, way cheaper than subsidizing or capping tution costs, or expanding federal mortgage assistance programs. And the beauty of it is, $5000 dollars will be worth much, much less than it is today.

Good thinking, Hill. Can’t wait to hear the details of your health care plan.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency met in Houston, one of the five cities nationwide to hold public hearings, to discuss the first revision to the ozone standard in more than 10 years.

The current level-84 parts ozone per billion parts air-could be changed to a range of between 70 and 75 ppb. EPA’s scientists suggested a 60 to 70 ppb threshold.

When an agency won’t listen to the recommendations from its’ own scientists, who will they listen to?

Cue 12-year-old asthma sufferer Taylor “ Tay” Candelario, whose presentation was supported by the American Lung Association. She addressed the panel with an emotional account of her life with asthma. Ripe with descriptions of the enormous medical costs to her family to the day-to-day inconvenience associated with taking several medications daily to the inability to do “normal kid things.” And, if that weren’t enough to at least form a little knot in the throat, then perhaps the guilt trip did the trick.

I come here today to ask you to be like our country who will send our proud soldiers to back up a country that needs help, a state that helps other states when a hurricane strikes, a city that provides resources to those that can’t help themselves. People with asthma that need help, for the air, in the future that our elders and the people born after us that they won’t have asthma or any other lung problems, for people to live longer, and I come to you today and ask that you can give us hope that our air, my air to be clean once again.

You can be rest assured that Texas is doing everything possible to address the current ozone problem, but still faces “insurmountable challenges.” Thank you Mr. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chief for that most obvious of updates. Although, the connection between asthma and ozone levels is greatly disputed, the fact still remains that the air is dirty and it needs to be clean. The truth is, the EPA, as well as Texas lawmakers are unwilling to take the necessary measures needed to reach the recommended lower standards.

Unfortunately, one asthma sufferer isn’t enough to open some ears or get some stuffy suits moving, but maybe they will hear this:

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

Featured Song: “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell


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Breathe Easier? Not So Much. Dallas Observer

I like this posting on Jezebel because it reminds me of my IR-geeked-out Alma Mater, where, in the School of International Service on Several Occasions my fellow baristas and I held animated discussions wondering whether it was Wrong that, yeah, maybe Ahmedinejad is Tall, Dark, ‘n’ Handsome. Yeah? Am I right?

“Science is a divine gift, and the heart is where it resides.” Image via Ahmedinejad at Columbia