all the good stuff I came across today

November 20, 2008 - Thursday

T he potential benefits of grow-your-own replacement organs

A Rocky Mountain pine tree fading from landscape

Gene Associated With Epilepsy Discovered

Bush Co - EPA Moves to Ease Air Rules for Parks

Obama makes clear America will Renew the Kyoto Protocol

UPDATE - Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales Charged in organized crime activites!

Cheney is accused of investing some $85 million in the Vanguard group that houses federal inmates.

The grand jury accuses Cheney and Alberto Gonzalez of engaging in organized criminal activity.

Obama looks to Janet Napolitano to head Dept Homeland Security

Artist-Elect Barack Obama

This doodle by then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama sold for $2,075 last year in a charity auction.

Pictured are fellow Sens. Charles Schumer (from left), Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein and Edward Kennedy.

Bill O Falsely Claimed Coleman --Was Certified The Winner-- in MN Senate race

the Minnesota State Canvassing Board did not certify a winner in the Senate race, having authorized an automatic recount of ballots for that race.

U.S. lawmaker accuses Bush of secrecy over Iraq deal

Obama will appoint senior Democrat Tom Daschle as Health and Human Services Secretary

FLASH BACK ----- Tom Daschle one of 2 Senators aginst --The Patriot Act-- shortly after 911 received anthrax letters, bearing the same Trenton postmark, were dated October 9, three weeks after the first letters were found. The letters were addressed to the two Democratic Senators, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. At the time, Daschle was the Senate Majority leader and Leahy was head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Daschle letter was opened by an aide on October 15, and the government mail service was shut down.

The DNA sequence of the anthrax sent through the US mail in 2001 has been revealed and confirms suspicions that the bacteria originally came from a US military laboratory. The data released uses codenames for the reference strains against which the attack strain was compared. The two reference strains that appear identical to the attack strain most likely originated at the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick (USAMRIID), Maryland. SOURCE - MAY 9, 2002 - NEW SCIENTIST

Express Scripts Medical Records - Individual Clients Received Extortion Letters Directly

AIG paying $3 million to executives who were fired

Hong Kong cargo ship hijacked off Yemen coast

Colombia declares emergency over investments

Israel Rejects U.N. Aid Plea - No Humanitarian Aid into the Gaza Strip

Indian navy sinks pirate craft off Aden

Automakers Face A Sea of Unwanted Auto Imports

Florida public employee pension fund loses a quarter its value

Consumer Price Index drops 1% in October biggest decline since 1947

China Passes Japan as Biggest U.S. Treasuries Holder

Pound Strugles - European Central Bank - Britain Welcome To Join Euro

Japan economists call for -Obama bonds-

Bank of England hints at further rate cuts

Maryland State Police Illegaly Spy on 3 CODE PINK Iraq Casualty Mothers

Australia Guantanamo inmate Breaks Silence

South Park creators to write Broadway musical lampooning Mormons

Aastronaut Has Lost Her bag in Space

Woman recounts her story of alien abduction

Did an asteroid kill Mars' magnetic field?

Ted Stevens goes down the Tubes -- The Internet is a Series of Tubes -- Music Video

Mickey Mouse Turns 80 Years Old!

Fantasia - The Sorcerer's Apprentice with Mickey

Talking Heads - And She Was

yeah yeah...

USDA Rushing Through Dangerous New Rules on GE and Pharmaceutical Crops

In the waning months of the Bush administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has joined the ranks of federal agencies rushing through new regulations that weaken protections for human health and the environment. USDA has released a proposed rule that would significantly weaken oversight of all genetically engineered crops, and which continue to allow companies to grow food crops engineered to produce drugs and industrial chemicals.

Tell the FDA this is NOT Acceptable - SIGN THE PETITION NOW

* USDA has created a huge loophole allowing biotech companies to assess their own crops to determine whether USDA should regulate them. And the criteria are open-ended, very subjective, and will certainly reduce USDA’s oversight of GE crops.

* The proposed rules could also allow companies to grow untested GE crops with no oversight whatsoever: “Over time, the range of GE organisms subject to oversight is expected to decrease...,” a move which USDA itself admits will make contamination of conventional/organic crops with untested GE material more likely.

* To add insult to injury, USDA has proposed to write into law its “Low Level Presence” policy, which excuses it from taking any action to remove untested GE crops from conventional or organic food, feed and seed. This contamination often occurs through cross-pollination or seed dispersal, and has cost farmers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales and lowered profits.

* USDA rejected options that would have banned outdoor cultivation of pharmaceutical-producing GE (food) crops, the only way to ensure that untested drugs don’t end up in our food, despite strong support from citizens and the food industry.

* USDA has refused to propose any controls on pesticide-promoting GE crops, despite increasing pesticide use and an epidemic of resistant weeds that have been fostered by these crops.

* Finally, USDA snuck in a last-minute “correction” that bars state or local regulation of GE crops more protective than its own weak rule. CFS strongly opposes such preemptive language that would bar local or state authorities from putting meaningful regulations or restrictions on GE crops in place that best suit their communities. This last-minute change should be cause to extend the public comment period.

Tell the FDA this is NOT Acceptable - SIGN THE PETITION NOW