Well, my goodness. It looks as though the people in the path of that massive ash spill are going to be, um, immunologically challenged!

Yes, despite offical assurances, it turns out there's all kinds of nasty stuff in the sludge. And surprise, surprise - the EPA knew, because they'd already released a study:

The risk assessment examined 181 coal combustion waste disposal sites throughout the country and found that unlined coal ash waste ponds pose a cancer risk 900 times above what the government considers "acceptable." The report also found that coal ash disposal sites release toxic chemicals and metals such as arsenic, lead, boron, selenium, cadmium, thallium, and other pollutants at levels that endanger human health and the environment.

"Clean" coal, huh?

Former Bush aides go on record saying that Hurricane Katrina was the "tipping point" of George Bush's presidency and that, after the federal government's pathetic response, he couldn't recover. Unfortunately for the residents of the gulf coast, President Bush wasn't the only one.

AP:

Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.

"Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. "The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn't matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn't matter. P.R.? It didn't matter. Travel? It didn't matter."

This is a subject close to my heart, since I've spent at least half of the past decade as a member of the uninsured class. Right now, I'm unemployed again and paying COBRA out of reader donations - donations which run out next month, with no job in sight. Oh well!

When Obama announced Tom Daschle as his health czar, my heart sank. After all, Daschle worked for a law firm whose lobbying arm represented the insurance industry, and that didn't bode well for actual reform. Instead, it seems to point toward corporate-friendly incrementalism.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress are focused enough to produce legislation which actually solves this massive problem. But voters will certainly have to stay vocal if they want to make their own interests the priority in this national healthcare debate:

Karen Goroncy, a home health aide in Washington, Pa., has taken care of people for 25 years but can't afford health insurance to take care of herself.

A reader has promised to buy Goroncy insurance after she was profiled this fall in The Inquirer, and she hopes to have hernia surgery in the New Year.

But short of the generosity of readers - not a good national solution - Goroncy and millions like her are awaiting the sweeping health reform now being considered by President-elect Barack Obama.

Obama's plan, which has not been formally announced, could mark the biggest change in health care in 40 years. A central goal will be to cover 50 million Americans who don't have insurance. It is conceivable that all Americans will be required by law to have health insurance.

A principal architect of Obama's reform - Tom Daschle, nominated to become secretary of the Health and Human Services Department - has written at length about creating a powerful new board that would control health-care spending much like the Federal Reserve Board influences the nation's monetary policy.

Now that's what I call chutzpah:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected today to name former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

The action comes despite warnings by Democratic Senate leaders that they would not seat anyone appointed by the disgraced governor who faces criminal charges of trying to sell the post, sources familiar with the decision said.

Shortly after Obama's Nov. 4 victory, Burris made known his interest in an appointment to the Senate but was never seriously considered, according to Blagojevich insiders. But in the days following Blagojevich's arrest, and despite questions over the taint of a Senate appointment, Burris stepped up his efforts to win the governor's support.

Though he is 71, Burris has said that Obama's replacement should be able to win re-election and he has noted that despite a string of primary losses in races ranging from Chicago mayor to governor and U.S. senator, he's never lost to a Republican.

All this shows what a complete screwhead Blagojevich is. Burris is an old-school Chicago politician who, within the Democratic Party in Illinois, is considered well on the other side of the aisle from Obama. Early word from the Senate indicates that Burris will not be considered acceptable -- especially if he has Blago's blessing.

What a mess.

http://cspanjunkie.org/

December 29, 2008 CBC The National

Who was the biggest wingnut of 2008?

Everybody's been compiling their Top 10 lists of 2008. We've decided to compile a list of the biggest right-wing nutcases of the year -- which, admittedly, could be a very long list indeed.

I consulted the C&L staff, and indeed there was not shortage of suggestions. The competition was fierce, but we finally pared it down to the list on the poll below.

Some absent names were especially notable -- George W. Bush and John Sydney McCain in particular. But the former just became increasingly irrelevant, and the latter was actually outdone by his surrounding cast of right-wing nutcases.

Vote today! We'll gather the data and announce the winner on New Year's Day.

More information on each of the contestants at the links below:

Continue reading »

Collateral News: It's years end and despite the second worst (so far) economic crisis in the history of the world, it's bonus time!

The Daily Banter: Operation Cast Lead - A familiar story in Gaza

daniel drezner: Read it and weep

D-Day: Here come the obstructionists

The Reality-Based Community: File under: Coleman, own petard, hoisted with

Jon Swift: Best Blog Posts of 2008 (chosen by the bloggers themselves)

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Don Lemon talks to Reid Wilson and Lynn Sweet about the CD distributed by Chip Saltsman which included the Barack the Magic Negro song. The absolute tone deafness out of Saltsman is pretty astounding given that the GOP pretends that they would like to figure out how to improve race relations within their ranks and with voters and become more inclusive. This just set them back a step as noted by Wilson and Sweet. If they want be the party that embraces Rush Limbaugh and his racist "jokes" I look forward to them continuing to shrink those red spots on the electoral map until there's little or nothing left of them.

Over at MSNBC another African American news anchor, Tamron Hall, was not quite as reserved as Don Lemon on CNN with her criticism of the CD and portraying it as a "parody". She let conservative pundit Kate Obershain know just how listening to this garbage made her feel as reported by Think Progress.

Full transcript and video of Hall from Think Progress below the fold.

Continue reading »

December 29, 2008 C-SPAN

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a statement about the humanitarian situation in Gaza following Israeli military attacks against Hamas targets. Then other officials provided statistics and details of the scope of the crisis and responded to questions from members of the press. Senior United Nations officials reported from the field by video link. See more CSPANJunkie Videos here.

I'm taking a few days off, but I have to say that Alex Ovechkin is one of the greatest hockey player's I've ever seen. He single handedly destroyed the Rangers in NY last week.

And the Eagles spanked TO and the Cowboys to get into the playoffs. I'm a huge Giants fan, but Philly is very tough to play.

Deion Sanders should not be an analyst for the NFL Network if he stays as connected to the Cowboys as he has. He's the biggest Dallas apologist on TV and really embarrasses himself defending Pacman and TO every chance he gets.

UPDATE: Good for TD:

NFLN's Terrell Davis had this to say Monday on "Total Access" when the discussion turned to fixing the Cowboys: "The first guy that's got to go is T.O..." T.D. said. "T.O. I'm sorry you are a cancer. You got to go."

I forgot to mention Plaxico's idiocy. He might have cost the Giants a chance to go to Tampa.