05.01.08
Toyota: not so green after all
As a manufacturer of gas/electric hybrid cars, Toyota has enjoyed a public image as an environmentally responsible company. Toyota runs television ads playing up the “green” appeal of its Prius hybrid. So it was particularly disappointing to find that Toyota has been nominated to Corporate Accountability International’s 2008 Corporate Hall of Shame for being substantially less green than the automaker has led the public to believe. Toyota has been quietly lobbying against a proposal to increase vehicle fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The company also belongs to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, two trade groups suing to stop a new California law to reduce greenhouse gases. Toyota has also opposed bills in several states that would require cars emit less pollution, and that would require a percentage of cars sold to be low or zero-emission vehicles. And thanks to models like the Tundra, a gas-guzzling pickup truck that gets an average of 14 miles per gallon, Toyota’s fleet-wide fuel efficiency standards are actually lower now than they have been in two decades.
Source: Corporate Accountability International, April 25, 2008
On-line scheduling applications
There are some very nice free Web-based scheduling apps out there. From Download Squad:
Has there been an explosion of online scheduling services over the past few weeks? First there were Jiffle, Tungle, and When is Good. And now there’s Presdo. Like the other services, Presdo makes it easy to schedule meeting with one or more people. You send out a request, and other users can reply with the times that work best for them. But there are a few things that set Presdo apart.
First, it uses natural language recognition to help schedule your meetings. The home page isn’t filled with a bunch of boxes to fill out. Instead, you have one search box, into which you can type “lunch with Bob,” or “dinner with Joan.” On the next page, Presdo will make an educated guess as to the best time for your event. If you enter something vague like “take over the world with Pinky,” it’ll probably just use the default “tomorrow at 10am.” But it does a pretty good time of picking the proper times for meals.
You can also use Presdo to help find a place for your meeting. If you entered “Coffee with Mike,” Presdo will let you pull up a window to search for coffee shops with Google Maps. When you send out your invitation, recipients can either accept or offer their own suggested times.
Changes in my diet
Just back from the grocery store. I notice that after taking this little test my consumption of greens, fruit, vegetables, and nuts has increased. Still using the kid’s plate though.
When regulators do regulate, Bush fires them
Sad (and damaging to the public health). Do you get the feeling that the Bush Administration runs the Federal government for the benefit of business and industry, and it business and industry that really call the shots?
The Chicago Tribune reports that the Bush administration has forced Mary Gade — the EPA’s regulator for the Midwest — to resign today, “after months of internal bickering about dioxin contamination downstream from Dow Chemical’s world headquarters in Michigan.” In January, the Tribune says, “Dow officials urged officials at the EPA’s headquarters to intervene” and oust Gade; she said that EPA officials, including EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, “repeatedly questioned her aggressive action against Dow.” The EPA forced Wade out despite giving her glowing reviews in the past:
Gade, who led the Illinois EPA under Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, previously had earned high marks from Bush administration officials and won praise from environmental groups that often are at odds with the federal agency. … When Johnson announced that the president had appointed Gade to the regional job in Chicago, he touted her “impressive environmental career” that began at the agency two decades earlier.
The Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson notes that Gade’s ouster resembles the U.S. attorney scandal: “It seems the EPA is following the Department of Justice’s efforts to rid itself of staffers who are not ‘loyal Bushies.’”
Excellent letter on the causes of bankruptcy
The New Yorker this week has an excellent letter to the editor:
James Surowiecki is wise to argue for reforming the bankruptcy laws, which in recent years have made it much more difficult to declare personal bankruptcy, and he gives many sturdy economic reasons to do so (The Financial Page, April 7th). But he is wiser than he knows, because his argument omits one overriding ethical reason in favor of making these laws fairer to the “losers”: that roughly seven hundred and fifty thousand families are driven to bankruptcy each year by illness and medical bills. And, of these, three-quarters had insurance coverage when they fell ill, though with unaffordable co-payments, deductibles, and uncovered services, according to David Himmelstein, Elizabeth Warren, Deborah Thorne, and Steffie Woolhandler, who published their research on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs in 2005. The remainder had no coverage. If all goes well, the United States will finally have a universal health-care system that should obviate the economic losses (and the human misery) that such a statistic reveals. If those families who have already been penalized are refused bankruptcy relief, they would be not unlike soldiers who are shot just before an armistice is declared.
Margaret Morganroth Gullette
Newton, Mass.
Garlic note
I have noted over the past few weeks that stores are carrying a new (and better) variety of garlic: the central stem, instead of being papery leaves, is a definite woody stalk. In addition, the garlic cloves are well separated in the bulb and much easier to peel. I’m very pleased by this.
For an entertaining look at the varieties of garlic, and the raising of them (cats help a lot by killing garlic marauders), I refer you to the book Garlic is Life: A Memoir with Recipes, by Chester Aaron.
Another “Mission Accomplished” comment
Much has happened in the five years since President Bush flew aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in “Top Gun” style, stood under a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished” and proudly declared: “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”
Five years ago, 139 American troops had died in Iraq. Now that number is 4,064. Five years ago, 542 American troops had been wounded in Iraq. Now that number is 29,395.
Five years ago, the national debt was $6.5 trillion. Now it’s $9.3 trillion. Five years ago, your average gallon of gas cost $1.44. Now it costs $3.57. Five years ago, Bush’s job-approval rating was at 70 percent. Now it’s at 28.
Five years ago, Bush’s appearance on the carrier was widely hailed as a brilliant PR move, imbuing the president with the aura of a conquering hero. Now, it’s possibly the single most potent image of Bush’s hubris.
And then he quotes more stories. Go read. For example, his quotes include this gem:
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino chose an unfortunate turn of phrase when asked yesterday about the anniversary — saying the White House has “paid a price for not being more specific on that banner.” But the banner’s wording reflected Bush’s central message that day. And when it comes to who’s “paid the price” for his tragic miscalculation, well, the White House isn’t at the top of my list.
Daily aspirin may help prevent breast cancer
Interesting. They don’t specify the dosage, but I would guess that the best approach is the 81 mg “adult regimen” aspirin that I take each evening (for heart health). That, taken with a meal, should cause no gastrointestinal problems.
Can women lower their odds of developing breast cancer by taking aspirin daily? Perhaps, a new study suggests, but the researchers aren’t making any recommendations just yet.
“I think that there’s still additional work that needs to be done before recommending daily aspirin use for breast cancer prevention,” researcher Gretchen Gierach, PhD, tells WebMD.
“If aspirin is truly a risk-reducing approach, it would be very exciting since we have few ways to prevent breast cancer, but we need additional studies,” says Gierach, a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute.
Women who are wondering what to do in the meantime should keep in mind the potential risks of daily aspirin use, which include gastrointestinal bleeding. “I’m not a physician, so I would recommend that any woman would speak to her physician before beginning any new regimen,” says Gierach.
Gierach’s new study, published online in Breast Cancer Research, is based on data from more than 127,000 U.S. women.
Obesity and insomnia
A new study in the journal Sleep upholds the widely accepted notion that body weight plays a large role in how well a person sleeps. Francesco P. Cappuccio, MD, of Warwick Medical School in England, and colleagues reviewed worldwide literature regarding obesity and short sleep duration in children and adults to determine if existing evidence supported a link between short sleepers and obesity.
The researchers’ analysis showed a “striking, consistent” pattern of increased odds of being a short sleeper if you are obese regardless of age. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, you are a short sleeper if you regularly sleep fewer hours than the average member of your age group. For this analysis, short sleep was defined as five hours or less for adults and less than 10 hours for children.
“The 60% to 80% increase in the odds of being a short sleeper amongst obese was seen in both children and adults,” the researchers write in the journal article.
How Bush and the Telecoms kept things secret
A very good article in Newsweek on how the Bush Administration and the Telecoms kept secret their efforts to spy on you. It begins:
The Bush administration is refusing to disclose internal e-mails, letters and notes showing contacts with major telecommunications companies over how to persuade Congress to back a controversial surveillance bill, according to recently disclosed court documents.
The existence of these documents surfaced only in recent days as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by a privacy group called the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The foundation (alerted to the issue in part by a NEWSWEEK story last fall) is seeking information about communications among administration officials, Congress and a battery of politically well-connected lawyers and lobbyists hired by such big telecom carriers as AT&T and Verizon. Court papers recently filed by government lawyers in the case confirm for the first time that since last fall unnamed representatives of the telecoms phoned and e-mailed administration officials to talk about ways to block more than 40 civil suits accusing the companies of privacy violations because of their participation in a secret post-9/11 surveillance program ordered by the White House.
Not supporting the troops
Two items from ThinkProgress:
A lawyer representing veterans’ groups asked a federal judge yesterday “to order the government to provide better mental health care” for veterans. Noting that “18 U.S. veterans commit suicide every day,” Arturo Gonzalez told the judge, “The system, your honor, has crashed, it has been overwhelmed,” adding, “more of these veterans are dying in the United States than out in combat. That is wrong.”
And:
Speaking after touring Fort Bragg’s 82nd Airborne Division barracks yesterday, Army Secretary Pete Geren called the poor condition of the barracks “unacceptable.” Geren added that “improvements are coming, but some of the problems can’t be fixed quickly.”
More Don Young
Don Young defends the post-adoption change to the bill that benefited the Coconut Grove developer who paid Young $40,000 contributed $40,000 to Young’s campaign. At the link is a video of Young speaking on the issue, and this interesting information:
Young’s spokeswoman had earlier called the change a “correction” by staff, but Young was more specific on that point today. Young said that the “enrollment” process, where technical changes are made by the House clerk to tidy up the bill that Congress passed, “is not a process I own or control.” He added: “I have never been in an enrollment office.” The ambiguity remains, however, of whether anyone on Young’s staff urged the change.
And he went on to say that it was nothing remarkable that there had been a change. For instance, he said, there had been an earmark for a Jacksonville in the bill, but that the enrollment clerks had changed the language to specify for which of the six U.S. Jacksonvilles it was intended.
As we explained at length in this post, minor changes are regularly made to bills in the enrollment process. But Young’s earmark was unique of the 6,371 earmarks in that underwent such a substantive change. It was originally for the widening of I-75 in Collier and Lee counties in Florida, and it was changed to concern only the Coconut Road interchange in Lee County. So he’s being more than a little slippery here.
Happy 5th anniversary of “Mission Accomplished”
Greg Mitchell looks back to that famous day:
On May 1, 2003, Richard Perle advised, in a USA Today Op-Ed, “Relax, Celebrate Victory.” The same day, exactly five years ago, President Bush, dressed in a flight suit, landed on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq — with the now-infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner arrayed behind him in the war’s greatest photo op.
Chris Matthews on MSNBC called Bush a “hero” and boomed, “He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics.” PBS’ Gwen Ifill said Bush was “part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan.” On NBC, Brian Williams gushed, “The pictures were beautiful. It was quite something to see the first-ever American president on a — on a carrier landing. This must be very meaningful to the United States military.”
When Bush’s jet landed on an aircraft carrier, American casualties stood at 139 killed and 542 wounded.
The following looks at how one newspaper — it happens to be The New York Times — covered the Bush declaration and its immediate aftermath. One snippet: “The Bush administration is planning to withdraw most United States combat forces from Iraq over the next several months and wants to shrink the American military presence to less than two divisions by the fall, senior allied officials said today.”
Continue reading the amazing stories from the Times at the time.
Goodbye, Lurita. Also, good riddance.
Lurita was fired this week, and TPM has a special send-off for her:
Braised pork with turnips
Mark Bitten has a nice-sounding recipe today:
Braised Pork With Turnips
Yield 4 servings Time 50 minutes
Do not crowd the meat, and allow it to sear, undisturbed, for a few minutes before turning. These are cubes of meat, so you could brown six sides, but I just make sure the first side browns well and a second is on its way before adding the turnips (which will brown almost instantly).
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil, like canola
- 1 tablespoon butter (or another tablespoon of oil)
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless pork (shoulder or loin), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch chunks
- 1 1/2 pounds purple-top turnips or rutabagas, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 3/4 cup white wine, chicken stock or water
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh lovage, celery leaves or parsley
Place a 12-inch skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium-high heat, and heat at least a minute. Add the oil and butter. When the butter foam subsides or the oil is hot, add the pork a few chunks at a time. When it is all in the skillet, turn the heat to high. Cook about 5 minutes, undisturbed, until the pork is nicely browned on one side. Turn each piece, return the heat to medium-high and cook about 3 minutes more.
Add the turnip chunks, and shake the skillet so that the pork and turnips are all sitting in one layer, or nearly so. Cook another 3 or 4 minutes, or until turnips begin to brown. Add the liquid, and stir once or twice. Add salt, pepper and half the herb, turn heat to medium-low and cover skillet.
Cook, stirring every 10 minutes, until both pork and turnips are quite tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the cover, and raise the heat to medium-high; boil the liquid until it is reduced to a syrupy glaze. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary; then, garnish with the remaining herb and serve.
A must-read
Paul Kiel reports in TPMmuckraker:
You know those secret legal opinions by the Justice Department that tell the administration how far it can go without breaking the law? After all the hullabaloo over John Yoo’s five year-old torture authorization memo, Attorney General Michael Mukasey assured Congress that the Justice Department really was working on releasing other memos. But he made no promises.
And yesterday, during a hearing on secret law held by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) before the Senate Judiciary Committee, an official from the Office of Legal Counsel promised that the Department would allow members of the intelligence committees to see them — but lawmakers won’t be able to keep paper or electronic copies. The Department says that it’s thinking really hard about whether the Senate Judiciary Committee can see them as well. For some reason, Feingold and his peers didn’t seem satisfied.
The man who was the top classification official until January of this year appeared at the hearing and testified that the Department’s decision to mark Yoo’s torture memo “secret” and keep it classified for years after it was withdrawn showed “either profound ignorance of or deep contempt for” classification rules.
But as Donald Rumsfeld put it, there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns. And with this group, it’s always a toss-up which is more worrying:
At the hearing, a department official, John P. Elwood, disclosed a previously unpublicized method to cloak government activities. Mr. Elwood acknowledged that the administration believed that the president could ignore or modify existing executive orders that he or other presidents have issued without disclosing the new interpretation.
Roasted-carrot spread
This recipe sounds quite interesting and easily modified. I certainly wouldn’t use sugar—carrots are already plenty sweet. In fact, when making spaghetti sauce that needs a little sweetening, I finely grate raw carrots and use that.
