Ten Post Round-Up: Wild Wednesday

Dusty informs us on her blog, It’s My Right To Be Left Of The Center, that one million Californians have been displaced by the raging fires there.

Please keep these people in your thoughts, today.

Bush is supposed to arrive in San Diego, today, so get ready for another outrageous photo-op by our “fearless leader”.

On to other news:

From Reason Online:

(More on Michael Mukasey)
The Gap in Mukasey’s Testimony:

During his recent confirmation hearings, Michael Mukasey, the former federal judge nominated to be the next attorney general, conceded that “the president doesn’t stand above the law.” Yet Mukasey, who is expected to be easily confirmed, also suggested that the president is entitled to ignore certain laws.Since the law “starts with the Constitution,” he said, the president need not obey a statute that interferes with his inherent constitutional authority “to defend the country.” Now that the War on Terror has replaced the Cold War as a reliable rationale for extending executive power, the breadth of this authority to defend the country will be a central issue in national politics long after Mukasey completes his service as attorney general.

Fat Pride World Wide:

According to fat pride activist Marilyn Waan, the American medical establishment has lost its head over the nationwide “obesity epidemic,” and its prejudice is claiming victims. In one case, Waan says, a doctor told a fat woman complaining of shooting lights in her vision that the problem must be her weight. Her next doctor discovered a brain tumor.Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with healthcare consortium Kaiser Permanente have found a great new way to fight childhood obesity: the Amazing Food Detective. The computer game, released last week, features ten “case files” of unhealthy children—click on each prisoner-style mug shot and you proceed to help a fat child make a healthy choice. The solution to chubby 12-year-old Emily’s dilemma is to install a security camera to catch and stop her eating at home (After all, “Those large portions were quite suspicious!”); little Cole has to learn that he can only eat raw carrots and bananas because, “Healthy snacks are the way to go!” And the game comes complete with a time-out after 20 minutes: “You should take a break and do something active, like 100 pushups!” Gee whiz-that sounds fun!

From Yahoo! News:

Alzheimer’s memory loss faster among well-educated:

Having more years of formal education delays the memory loss linked to Alzheimer’s disease, but once the condition begins to take hold, better-educated people decline more rapidly, researchers said on Monday.

From The Lab:

Chronic cough? You may need more iron:

Instead of cough drops, some women may need to reach for an iron supplement to treat that pesky cough, Italian researchers say.The study, presented at the scientific meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago, suggests iron deficiency may help explain why some otherwise healthy, nonsmoking women have persistent coughs.

From Telegraph:

Micro-robot that can clear arteries:

A microscopic robot small enough to travel through blood vessels has been built by scientists.Less than a millimetre in size, the robot walks like a crab on six legs and has been designed to clear blocked arteries.

It was produced by researchers at Chonnam National University in Korea, who found the robot was able to travel 55 yards in a week.

(Dizzy sez: Hmmm…I saw that movie and it didn’t end well for the humans when the nano-bots took over *wink*)

From AlterNet:

What If The Military Advertised With Disclaimers? [VIDEO]

From The Huffington Post:

D’oh! House GOP Website Pirates Simpsons Images?

Republican Representative Joe Barton, the ranking minority member of the committee whose name graces the top of this press release, who incidentally denounced Democratic Representative Pete Stark recently, for intemperate remarks on the House floor. While at the same time he’s issuing press releases making fun of toddlers being savaged by attack dogs — and blaming such behavior on Democrats (I assume he’s referring to Democratic Representative Rahm Emmanuel, the only “Rahm” in Washington of which I am aware). It’s downright surreal.But what caught my eye was not the text of the press release, which (after all) is covered by the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee of protection for political satire (weak though such satire may indeed be) — but the images themselves. Images are not protected as satire, unless the image itself is satire (the protection which covers all political cartoons). But these seem to be unadulterated images taken straight from The Simpsons television show itself. Which means it is a copyright issue.

You would think, after all, that a press release from a ranking House committee minority member with “Commerce” in its name would be aware of copyright issues. After all, this committee oversees the FCC — including television and internet issues — so how could they not be aware of current imagery copyright laws?

(Dizzy sez:
“Mommy, when I grow up, I wanna be a Congressman.”
“Why’s that, Honey?”
“Well, when I do something wrong, you send me to my room, but if I was a Congressman, I could do whatever I want and I wouldn’t get into any trouble at all!”
“OK, Dear. But, why don’t you aim higher? You could be President and get away with bigger crimes!”)

From News Hounds:

Krauthammer and Barnes: Bush and Cheney Serious About Threat to Bomb Iran. Playing Dangerous Game of Global Thermonuclear Chicken:

During Tuesday’s edition of Special Report the All-Star Panel discussion started off with a video clip of Vice President DIck Cheney addressing a weekend meeting at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he uttered yet another of his dire warnings to Iran. The Washington Institute was founded in 1985 by a former research director of AIPAC and has a long history of advocacy for pro-Israeli positions. Once again, pro-war neocons Fred Barnes and Charles Krauthammer suggested that President Bush will attack Iran before his term ends. His reason? Because he wouldn’t want to leave it for the next President to deal with!! Yeah, and coffee still costs a dime … With video.

(Dizzy sez: Hey, I got this great Rolex from that guy in the dirty trenchcoat and I just put a downpayment on a desert bridge. But, coffee for ten cents? Unfrigginbelievable!)

From The Mail:

Bush Touts European Missile Defense Plan

President Bush said Tuesday that plans for a U.S.-led missile defense system in Europe are urgently needed to counter an emerging threat of attack by Iran.“If (Iran) chooses to do so, and the international community does not take steps to prevent it, it is possible Iran could have this capability,” Bush said. “And we need to take it seriously — now.”

Bush’s latest warning about Iran’s nuclear ambitions came in a broad defense of his security policies at the National Defense University and it came not long after Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a news conference in the Czech Republic that the administration might delay activating the proposed missile defense sites until it has “definitive proof” of a missile threat from Iran.

In his speech here, Bush said intelligence estimates show that Iran could have the capability to strike the United States and many European allies by 2015.

“The need for missile defense in Europe is real, and I believe it’s urgent,” Bush said.

(Dizzy sez: I sure hope I got a good deal on that landlocked bridge…)

From Sign of the Times:

Navy’s Definition of Ignorance: US Signs Maritime Pact With Mongolia:

Somebody should have looked at a map.The State Department with great fanfare on Tuesday signed an agreement with landlocked Mongolia that will allow Mongolian ships to be boarded and searched if they are suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

This despite the fact that Mongolia – a vast land that’s home to the Gobi Desert, windswept steppes and largely populated by nomadic yak herders – has no navy at all and lies thousands of miles from open waters.

(Dizzy sez: Alrighty, then!)

Phew! Glad I got through all of that. There’s not enough painkillers in the world to get over the splitting headaches I get whenever I read about Bubbles and the Boyz.

I guess I’ll have to settle for another cuppa, instead.

You all take it easy and be safe, today.

(In case you get lost, you can find this post at Dizzy Dayz and The Katrinacrat blog and The Sirens Chronicles)