Bush ignores Endangered Species List

One of the jobs that every president has had among his many duties is to protect animals who's numbers have fallen to dangerous levels by placing them on the Endangered species list in order that they can be protected and perhaps be given some time to recover their numbers. The current president's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, placed a total of 231 species on the endangered list during his 4 year term between 1989-1993. President Bill Clinton in his 8 years as president between 1993-2001 placed a total number of 521 on the list. The current president, George Walker Bush in his 7 years so far has only placed a grand total of 59. This is yet another area in which the president has fallen short. Is there any area in which he has not fallen short? It was interesting to see how the president was greeted on sunday march 30th at the opening day baseball game for the Washington Nationals in D.C. It was a mixture of cheers and boos but the dislike of him was palpable in that stadium as he walked off the field after throwing out the first pitch with an embarrassed look on his face.

How Stupid Was Donald Rumsfeld?

I was watching The Newshour the other night and they were doing a piece about the total cost of the war in Iraq. They had economic experts on who were crunching numbers and making estimates and they came up with the figure of about 3 trillion dollars before it is all over. This figure does not even include the interest on the money that we are borrowing in order to finance the war which is the first time in history that we as a country have ever done that. One of the most interesting moments in the piece came when they briefly ran an interview with Rumsfeld form January 2003 which was two months before the war started. I think it was from "This Week with George Stepanopolous." He asked Rumsfeld how much did he think the total cost of the war was going to be. He throws out the figure "somewhere in the neighborhood of about 50 billion dollars." The host then comes in and says "well some economists are putting the figure at closer to 300 billion." Rumsfeld blows it off and says "bologna."
I swear to God and i am actually asking this seriously. Was that idiot ever right about anything he ever said or did? Before the war started the general in charge of the invasion Tommy Franks was fighting with Rumsfeld about how many troops we were going to need for the invasion. Franks wanted 400,000 which was the number that most of the Generals at the Pentagon were comfortable with in order to get the job done. Rumsfeld was insisting on using only 75,000. Franks kept fighting with him about it until he finally gave in and he ended up coming up with a compromise figure of 160,000 for the initial invasion. We are having so much trouble keeping the lid on Iraq with this compromise figure even now can you imagine how much worse the security issue would be if we only had the 75,000 Rumsfeld wanted to put in with his "Light Footprint" idea for the invasion? Rumsfeld is this generations Robert McNamara. He should have been smarter than this and he should have known better. I cant figure out why after some 50 years in government he ended up being so stupid about it all. I mean he was absolutely wrong all the time practically. He is an American tragedy.

Can 60 Minutes Just Calm Down With The Meds Ads?

I was watching 60 minutes last sunday and i noticed something about the show that was bothering me again. It's the same thing that bothers me about 60 minutes every time i watch the show. When they go into their commercial breaks it amazes me how many of the ads that appear on the show are ads for medications from the pharmaceutical industry. I mean its incredible. Ad after ad. Talk to your doctor abour Enbrel, Viva Viagra, Ask your doctor about Clarion, Talk to your doctor about Symbicort, and on and on and on. I mean its like your being attacked. 60 minutes has got to stop being such a whore for the pharmaceutical industry. I mean for the sake of their own integrity they have to stop it really. They have to stop being part of the problem. They cant keep being this crusading news magazine that exposes other people and organizations when they are doing things wrong and then go into commercials that pitch med after med after med to people all the time in a neverending way. Its two faced.

American Idol Chops Up The Beatles

I have been looking in on American Idol this week and last week with its paying special attention to the Beatles songbook and having all its contestants singing and in some cases Butchering Beatles songs like you cant believe. Some of them were actually decent. I liked the version of Elenor Rigby that was performed but even there came a little controversy because the dude that did it, David Cook, might have actually ripped it off from another band. It's just hard for me to watch these kids basically cut these great songs up, do sappy versions of them, forget the lyrics, or try and do these over the top performances of them and go totally overboard. The Beatles catolog has a ton of great music in it its true but they are not all great songs. Some of them are pretty sappy. Songs like "Octopus's Garden" "Honey Pie" "Lovely Rita Meter Maid" are all on the stupid side. A song on the White Album called "Goodnight" is some of the sappiest music you will ever listen to in your life. But there are like i said great songs in their songbook. "Get Back" "Hey Jude", "Lucy in the sky", "All you need is love", "Come together", "Here comes the sun" "Help" and a ton of others. So this whole thing in the end was worth doing but it was not that easy to watch these kids going over these songs and screwing them up the way they did most of the time. When the Beatles did it right it was great. Its just hard to improve on what they originally did and its kind of a set up for failure to see people try.

Worker Fired In Cali For Using Medical Marijuana

It is legal to smoke pot for medicinal purposes in California but that did not stop a telecom company based in that state from terminating an employee of their company who did so while on the job. Gary Ross had a marijuana card which authorized him to use the drug legally to treat a back injury that he suffered while he was serving in the Air Force. He sued the company over his termination and the Supreme Court of California sided with his employer saying that all pot use is illegal under federal law. The Federal Government does not recognize this particular law that exists in California as well as similiar laws that exist in 10 other states.

Wealthier is Healthier But Not Happier Study says

A Princeton University study found that when it comes to being wealthy it does not make most Americans who are any happier on the whole from those who are less well off but their health in general is much better. The study found that seniors between the ages of 55-64 who were living below the poverty line are 600% more likely to be suffering from a long term health condition that limited their activity than wealthy individuals in the same age group. The study also indicated that the poor were at increased risk of heart attack and did not live as long generally.

South Koreans Use Cats And Dogs For Food

While in the United States cats and dogs are exclusively pets and in most cases they are cherished members of our families in some parts of the world that is not the case. In South Korea these pets are used for food. It is estimated that they consume somewhere between 4-8 million of them annually. The way the annimals are procured is a little bit criminal to say the least. A butcher will pay as much as $20 American dollars to anyone who can provide them with a cat or dog for them to slaughter and sell at the local market as meat. There are even roving bands of Koreans who run around cities such as Seoul, South Korea on little moped type motor bikes with little boxes attached to the back that are about the same size as a typical cardboard box. What they do is run around their neighborhoods looking to steal pets that they happen to come across. Once they secure them they bring them to the local butcher that they are doing business with and the transaction is conducted. Once the animals are in the hands of the butcher at the market they are treated in the most barbaric ways. In some cases the animals are thrown live into a vat where they are boiled to death and then once removed they are cut up and sent to market. For some butchers who do not have such facilities they often simply choke the animal with their bare hands and then cut it up and sell it for food. Often times they hang the animal from a makeshift noose which can take from 5 to 10 minutes in some cases before the animal passes away. It is some of the most unimaginable cruelty you could think of.

Lobbyist Explosion Under Bush

While the economy lately has been shrinking nationwide there is one little industry that has done nothing but grow and prosper under the current occupant of the White House and that is the national infection known as the lobbyist. In the last 8 years the number of them that have decended on Washington has grown to proportions never before seen in this nations history. The amount of them vastly out number the Senators and Congressmen who reside on the hill. There are a total of 535 members of both the House and the Senate in Washington right now. You have 100 total Senators and 435 members of the House. There are currently 35,000 registered lobbyists in our nations capitol right now doing all they can to influence policy and have legislation taylored to favor their powerful clients and have it turned into law. This number represents a 100% increase from the year 2000. The total number of lobbyists under George Bush has doubled in only 7 years.