Sunset on Mt. Baker

More Folliage

Our backyard, taken from our deck. Mt. Baker in the background.



Our backyard, taken from 2nd floor window.

Fall Folliage

St. Regis Lake with St. Regis Mt. in the background. Picture taken from the student center at Paul Smiths College.



Looking up the Ironwood Way hill to my house.

As Predicted Below

Speaker Denny Hastert is having a press conference tomorrow. Will he announce his resignation as Speaker of the House. I'm guessing yes, but it will take place after the November elections.

Malaria, DDT and the Rich

An excellent editorial in todays New York Times concerning the use of DDT to control malaria in poor countries where the disease is endemic.

The eradication of malaria in rich countries turned out to be the worst thing that happened for people with malaria in poor countries. Malaria lost its constituency, and the money dried up.

The USA and Southern Europe used DDT to eradicate malaria. They were then convinced that DDT was an environmental hazzard and banned its use. Developing, malaria-ridden, countries were then forced to bear the consequences.

Olbermann's special commentary on Clinton vs Fox

If he was talking about me I'd have to wear a paper bag over my head for the rest of my life.

Reynolds Blames Hastert

Asswipe

Reynolds on the kids

Tom Reynolds - Major asswipe.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Also known as Peter, Paula and Larry

CACI made $$ torturing at Abu Ghraib then covered it up

Hope you don't own stock in this company.

If Olbermann was talking about me, I'd have to wear a paper bag over my head for the rest of my life.

Resignations Start at the Bottom

Kirk Fordham, Rep. Tom Reynolds' (NY-R) Chief of Staff is out. Typical that a staffer is the first to go, even though it's right that he is gone. Hastert, Boehner, and Reynolds need to go too.

Of course, firing Fordham is supposed to make us think that all is well now.

Question

Will Denny Hastert still be Speaker of the House this Friday at 5 PM?

Still Trust the 9/11 Commission Report?

Not me.

At issue is a key meeting on July 10, 2001, between then-national security adviser Condolleezza Rice, then-director of central intelligence George Tenet, and Tenet deputy Cofer Black. (Rice is now secretary of state; Tenet is retired; and Black is an executive with private security contractor Blackwater.) The meeting, in which Tenet warned Rice of the al Qaeda threat, does not appear in the commission's final report, although it had already been publicly reported two years earlier -- and the panel had been briefed on its details by Tenet himself.

[Snip]

It's clear that the commission knew. Even if they didn't read Time magazine, even if they didn't search for news clips before digging in, they received a detailed briefing -- staffers as well as Ben-Veniste. To date, no one has explained why the meeting wasn't mentioned in the final report. Why not?

Here.

Rep. John Sweeney Needs More Time to Formulate Position on House Leadership

Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY20) has condemned the actions of Rep. Mark Foley.

But he needs more time to decide what he thinks about his congressional leadership concerning the Foley issue. That is what is reported on Talking Points Memo.

It appears the House leadership knew about the problems concerning Rep. Foley but at a minimum did nothing about them and at a maximum tried to maintain a cover-up.

Course, Mr. Sweeney has to be careful about what he says about Boehner because he got $15,000 from Boehners "Freedom Project" PAC.

However, this would be an excellent second opportunity to try and stick a knife in Denny Hasterts back.

Creationism and Science

Listen to this discussion on evolution between biologist Dr. Curt Stager and Elder Hans Hollis of the Jehovah's Witnesses church in Saranac Lake at NCPR. It takes place in a classroom at Paul Smiths College.

A number of points:

1. Elder Hollis believes the earth is 7000 years old. That should end the discussion right there.

2. Elder Hollis displays his lack of knowledge by dragging out the old creationist interpretation of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics argument that supposedly disproves evolution. Even pro-creationist websites believe this argument should not be used in an attempt to disprove evolution. Primarily because it doesn't disprove evolution if you really understand the Law.

3. Elder Hollis then drags out the ol complexity of the eyeball story. Way too complex to have evolved on its own. Russell Fernald disagrees in a recent Science article.

4. Elder Hollis admits small changes in species can occur over time but apparently doesn't believe larger changes can occur over even longer time periods. So he believes in microevolution but not macroevolution.

Only 40% of the USA population believes in evolution. We don't need to cast more doubt on evolution in the science classroom. Leave the discussion to a religion or philosophy class.

Have questions about evolution? Get answers here.

Evidence for macroevolution here.

The earth is old, not young.

Recent Republican Problems

Leaked NIE report says things are not going well in Iraq. Republican response is that wrong conclusions are being drawn from the report.

Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial" says the Bush Admin. is lying about the state of affairs in Iraq among many other things. Republican response is that these are all myths.

Rep. Foley caught sending sexually explicit emails and IM's to congressional pages. Republicans and staffers have known about this for almost 5 years and have done nothing. Republican response - Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton.

This is the party of so called "Family Values". Laughable.

What a Surprise!

In Bob Woodward's new book "State of Denial":

"President Bush emerges as a passive, impatient, sophomoric and intellectually incurious leader"

(more HERE)

Who ever would have guessed that Pres. Bush was intellectually incurious. I mean all those books he's always reading must prove he is intellectually curious.