Why the election is important: one example
The Bush administration again finds itself accused of distorting science for political ends. Documents released this week show that a high-ranking political appointee within the US Department of the Interior watered down biologists’ reports that called for certain rare species to be given federal protection.
Biologists at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) prepared a report arguing that Gunnison sage grouse be listed under the Endangered Species Act, but Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald — an engineer by training —- edited out much of the scientific evidence supporting the recommendation. The FWS then decided not to list the grouse, in part because of a lack of evidence.
Email records also show that MacDonald instructed FWS biologists to recommend against listing the Gunnison prairie dog. A draft report stating that it faced serious threat from sylvatic plague was then altered to read that there was not sufficient evidence of that threat — though no information was offered to justify this change. The documents were obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by conservation groups.
The Interior Department says MacDonald was simply pointing out where biologists’ evidence was weak. However, Francesca Grifo, director of the scientific integrity programme at the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists says her actions are part of a culture of suppressing inconvenient scientific results.
Blogging the election
I just don’t have the heart. There are so many dirty tricks being played by the GOP. And these are serious attempts to prvent a fair election—the sort of thing you might expect in, say, an Eastern European country new to democracy, but absolutely shameful in the US. And the dirty tricks are definitely coming from the GOP, with full knowledge of their illegality. A few examples:
TPMmuckraker: Misleading flyers were handed out at several Maryland polling places by men and women recruited by the GOP governor’s campaign from out-of-state homeless shelters, the Washington Post reports. The flyers, given to voters in a heavily Democratic area, showed GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Ehrlich as a Democrat:
Erik Markle, one of the people handing out literature for Ehrlich, who is seeking reelection, and Steele, the current lieutenant governor who is campaigning to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D), said he was recruited at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia.After a two-hour bus ride to Maryland, Markle said the workers were greeted early this morning by first lady Kendel Ehrlich, who thanked them as they were outfitted in T-shirts and hats with the logo for Ehrlich’s reelection campaign. Nearly all of those recruited, Markle said, are poor and black. Workers traveled to Maryland in at least seven large buses.
Ehrlich’s GOP ticketmate, Senate candidate Michael Steele, is also listed as a Democrat on the flyer.
Update: Maryland’s Gazette newspapers have more. “We’re just down here trying to make some money,” one Philadelphia homeless man tells a reporter. Then, pointing to a picture of Ehrlich: “I don’t even know if this cat’s a Democrat or Republican.”
As FireDogLake has been reporting, right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham today urged her listeners to obstruct efforts to protect voting rights by jamming a free voter protection hotline.
After playing a recording of DNC Chairman Howard Dean promoting the line to voters, Ingraham suggested her listeners call en masse:
Tell me if you think I’m crazy. This is what I’m thinking. I think we all need to call 1 888 DEM VOTE all at the same time.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO INGRAHAM
The DNC has released audio recordings of some of the prank calls to the hotline. Listen to one call HERE.
Omega-3: farmed salmon better than grassfed beef
This is an interesting article. I have avoided farmed salmon both because salmon farming is hard on the environment (and, when salmon in farms escape, hard on the wild populations: the hybrid (farmed and wild) do not survive) and because I thought farmed salmon was low in Omega-3 oils. Turns out not to be true. From the linked post:
In fact, farmed salmon are primarily raised not on grain but on fish meal, a feed which is problematic in its own way, but which is plenty rich in omega-3s. A thorough survey published in 2005 found that salmon farmed in various regions throughout the world have consistently higher omega-3 levels than wild salmon, mainly because they are consistently fattier. And beef? The long-chain omega-3s in grassfed beef are present at around 20 milligrams per 100 grams (about a quarter-pound) of beef. The levels in farmed salmon are around 3 grams per 100 grams of fish: more than a hundredfold higher. Even salmon raised experimentally on vegetable oil for three-quarters of their life (to begin to address the issue of sustainability) have 1 gram of omega-3s per 100 grams fish: 50 times more than grass-fed beef. These are huge differences!
So species matters a lot. Ocean-going creatures live in a cold environment and need highly unsaturated fats that won’t congeal at temperatures that can approach the freezing point; mammals are warm-blooded and need saturated fats that won’t be too fluid at body temperature. Even grass-fed beef still comes from a warm-blooded steer, and farmed salmon is still a cold-blooded fish. And when it comes to the highly unsaturated omega-3s, we’re far better off eating salmon.
Of course this is just one small piece of a large and complicated picture. There is plenty to be said in favor of grass-fed beef, plenty of problems with salmon aquaculture, and there’s more to a healthy diet than omega-3s, which we can also get from other fish and shellfish. But it’s good to have each piece of the picture in the right place, right-side up, however small it is.
Our terrorists are okay
I blogged at length about Luis Posada Carriles in the Blogger.com Later On, but haven’t discussed him here. Here’s who he is, from the LA Times:
He has admitted to bombing Havana hotels, served time for plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro and for more than 20 years was a fugitive from charges of blowing up a Cuban airliner.
But 17 months after Luis Posada Carriles was arrested and sent to a Texas immigration lockup, U.S. officials have declined to label him a terrorist or charge him with a crime. On Friday, a federal judge in El Paso gave the U.S. government until Feb. 1 to bring a case against Posada or the reputed bomber will be freed.
He has become a political liability for the Bush administration in its declared global war on terrorism.
As a veteran of nearly five decades of covert operations in Latin America, including the Bay of Pigs invasion, clandestine Cold War actions and the Iran-Contra affair, Posada knows where Washington’s bodies are buried.
If Posada, 79, were to be prosecuted, he probably would seek to defend himself against any criminal charges by arguing that his violent actions were on behalf of his CIA masters.
His Miami lawyer, Eduardo Soto, alluded to his client’s past collaboration with U.S. intelligence services as he pressed the Cuban militant’s unsuccessful quest for political asylum.
“A public trial of Luis Posada would certainly reveal embarrassing details on the degree to which U.S. covert operatives used terrorism as a tool in the 1960s,” said Peter Kornbluh of the independent National Security Archive at George Washington University. Read the rest of this entry »
And also: toasted Megs!
Megs, lazing in the sun this morning. She’s on her Cozy Cushion, so she’s warmed from above and below. Life is good.
While you watch the returns: toasted pecans!
It’s a great thing for fall in any event, and pecans are chockfull of good nutrition. I did a Google search and collected quite a few recipes in this PDF file. Download, and use it wisely.
Prediction: Democrats will regain Senate and House
The prediction was made by your humble servant:
Greetings from your past. In the fall of 2005, you agreed to receive this message, which has been preserved for a year in the Forbes.com E-Mail Time Capsule. For more details, visit http://www.forbes.com/capsule
Here is the text of your message:
Democrats will regain the Senate and the House.
And tomorrow we shall know…
