White House Watch

OUCH.

Maureen Dowd's column.

GONE!!!
This arch in the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada has fallen, as will they all eventually.

Tomatoes (again!)

     Regular blog commentator Kevin B. was kind enough to pass along a story on NPR about a frequent complaint of mine: the terrible quality (and high price!) of tomatoes for sale in most grocery stores.
    Seems they've found a scientist who says there IS a way to grown tomatoes that both consumers (me) and farmers will like.
     For a year or so, virtually every tomato I've bought has had minimal taste and hasn't lasted longer than a two days refrigerated and wrapped. I just threw away a half a tomato a while ago.
     It isn't going to get any better this year, since about 70% of the crop in Florida was killed by the January freeze.
    So I say cheers to the scientist!

Just ONE more candidate...

     The final candidate for Governor interview in our On The Record series will air tomorrow at 5:30, just before 60 Minutes on CBS-8 in Montgomery.
     Republican Roy Moore goes On The Record about the time(s) he bought (or did he?) a lottery ticket(s), about public education (he's more of a supporter than you may have thought) and about the one thing he would not allow his kids to do when they were growing up (OK, one of the things..)
    A week from tomorrow, the election behind us and possible run-offs in the wind, we'll talk with the party chairs for the Democratic and Republican parties...together.

Collins Discovers Alabama!

     New York Times writer Gail Collins' column this morning is All Alabama All The Time!
     But it's not the oil spill that's got her attention, it's those campaign commercials!
     She writes about them going viral, while helping to spreading the microbes herself.
     A lot of Americans who knew absolutely zero about Alabama will now have a little factoid to file away: We have crazy people running for office.
     Hard to argue with that! It's a kinda speciality of ours no? Remeber Shorty Price?

     And if those same Americans read more than the headlines about the oil spill in the Gulf, they'll have another Alabama factoid. There is a beach in Alabama. Of course they'll think it's covered in BP crude, but at least they'll know it exists! That's something all the tourism ads in the world may not have accomplished.

(NOTE: As of Saturday mid-afternoon evening. her column was the 4th  2nd most emailed item from the paper.)

Random notes during a busy week!

Preparing for next Tuesday's election has kept my distracted from blogging, so a few items lumped into one with  your indulgence please?

     The story of the passenger who was allowed to sleep on a United jetliner was brought to my attention by TLC Executive Editor and researcher J.C.
     Don't they kind of go through the cabin at the end of a flight just to see if anything---like a passenger!---has been left behind??? They should be glad this woman wasn't a pilot. She could have simply flown her new plane home.
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Spotted this sign at a local Montgomery fast food emporium.......and I say cheers for them!

Burger King, at least this one in Montgomery, is calling their fries and drink sizes small, medium, and large. The same language customers use!
Amazing!
Not "grande" and "super-big" or whatever. My hat's off to them for simplicity in naming.
Make mine a double!







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     ...and speaking of elections (wasn't I?), these last days before the June 1st primaries are proving to be a doozy! The holiday weekend is making it difficult  for voters to concentrate, and the campaigns are in overdrive trying to ring out the last votes.
     Especially heated is the Gubernatorial primary on the Democratic side...with Ron Sparks up against Artur Davis. They're throwing everything but the kitchen sink at each other. Pretty mean stuff! I always wonder how they'll act after they lose and are asked about endorsements. How do you endorse someone you spent a year dog-cussing?
     A quick pitch for election night coverage....I'll be part of it in the early hours (7-9ish) on CBS-8..talking with some of the candidates trying to make it through the primary and become their party's nominee.
     Join us on CBS-8 in The Montgomery market starting at 7:00pm for the best damn coverage on air!.

The Attacks Intensify!

     Wow...in just one newscast tonight I saw attack ads against Ron Sparks by the Artur Davis Campaign, against Bradley Byrne by the Tim James Campaign, and against Luther Strange by Troy King.
Of course Sparks has also attacked Davis, Byrne has attacked James, and Strange has attacked King too.

     And this is just the bloody primary election. Wonder how civil the ads won't be between June 2nd and the November election!

RSA's New/Old Building -ONLINE video now available

     David Bronner, CEO of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, atop the new RSA building headquarters in Downtown Montgomery, with a view of the latest RSA project in the distance, a building that is constructed

around the old Alabama Supreme Court building.

     There are complaints that the new building obstructs the view of the Alabama Capitol Building down Dexter Avenue...

...as well as complaints that, as much good as RSA's projects have done for Montgomery, they compete, perhaps unfairly, with the private sector's office space investment.

Coming up at 6:00pm tonight on CBS-8, an "extra" report on the building and the controversy.

Watch the report online here at WAKA.com

Gifts from Hawaii!

     Have these folks in paradise not heard that we love to accept trash from other states here in Alabama? We're becoming the nation's trash pile, and have lots of room for more! Bring it on!

     We can even offer the ships from Hawaii pretty good access via the already oil-polluted Gulf Of Mexico, up the Tombigbee to docks, where the Hawaii trash can be shipped by truck or train to the Arrowhead Landfill near Uniontown. The coal ash currently being shipped there from Tennessee is about to end, so they're hungry for some more garbage. Hawaii! Hello? Perry County!

The Story Every Teacher Should Read

     The NY Times has a magazine story about the possible end of the "teacher's union"...what we in Alabama call AEA.
     I'm surprised it hasn't already been sent out by the press secretaries of some of the candidates for Governor here!
    By the way, The most recent candidate to be a guest On The Record on CBS 8 is Republican Bill Johnson...and he says he has received money from AEA. You can watch the interview on CBS-8 This afternoon at 5:30, just before 60 Minutes.
   You might want to send the link to this posting to any teachers you know!

[PLUS: AP has a story out this afternoon about AEA becoming a factor in the GOP Primary election.]

Map Mystery

The Washington Post covered a fascinating seminar about maps...the kind with extraordinary detail that seemed to appear out of nowhere in the Middle Ages. The Portolan maps...

...one of the world's greatest and most enduring mysteries: Where and how did medieval mapmakers, apparently armed with no more than a compass, an hourglass and sets of sailing directions, develop stunningly accurate maps of southern Europe, the Black Sea and North African coastlines, as if they were looking down from a satellite, when no one had been higher than a treetop?

     The story is a great read.

BINGO's DEMISE NEW CHAPTER

     The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court does not "put the nail in the coffin" of electronic bingo, as Governor Riley claimed, after it was issued on Friday.
     All the court did was rule that Riley, as Governor, has the power of the throne to shut down bingo establishments...that doing so is not exclusively the job of the Attorney General.
     But what the decision has really done is this: it has given voters a chance to shout loudly that it is the people...not some elected official...who have the real say over the fate of games of chance.

     A week from Tuesday voters will cast ballots in either the Democratic or the Republican Primary elections, and there are candidates of both parties who are pledging to "give the people" (how gracious!) the right to vote on gambling. 
     So on June 1st, voters can decide to elect a candidate who wants to put the question on the ballot, or a candidate who wants to "just say no" to gambling.
     I'm not usually a fan of "referendum" and "initiative", which specifically allow residents to collect signatures and put a question on a ballot themselves for a direct vote, with or without the blessing of a legislature. But the Alabama Supreme Court has handed voters a kind of referendum opportunity, by clearing the way for a decisive decision about what Alabamians should be allowed to do, or not do.

Oil? What oil?

Sessions, Shelby: Drill, baby, drill!

About North Korea

     Suppose for a moment that the ship the North Koreans apparently sank with a torpedo, killing 46 sailors, The Cheonan, was American instead of South Korean?
     Would Secretary of State Clinton be threatening a joint military exercise as a show of strength?
     Or would the U.S.Marines be offshore waiting for the U.S. Air Force heavy bombers to take out the North Korean defenses?
     This is more than a casual disagreement at sea. It was an act of war.
     Here in Montgomery there are a good number of South Korean residents because of the huge Hyundai plant. They must be asking what kind of a friend the U.S. is, if all we can do is wag our fingers at the North's aggression.
    Here's part of a CNN report:

Additionally, the officials suggested that putting North Korea back on the terrorism list could be counterproductive because the United States was not the target of the attack.

   Oh.
     Then again, the USS Cole was attacked in Yemen a decade ago, and the U.S. did virtually nothing then either.
    I suppose the U.S. military is stretched too thin now, with a never ending mission in Iraq and men and women dying to protect the corrupt "government" in Afghanistan.
   Oh well.

Ads Cancelled

The "New Sons of Liberty" just punk'd all of us.
By threatening to spend $1-Million, they got about $3-Million worth of free ads in the form of news stories.
Of course they cancelled the campaign.
They don't need it now.
Too bad they didn't have a better message than being against gambling, drugs and alcohol.
Maybe TV stations need to start demanding at least some money up front during peak season? Like right before an election, or Christmas?

BIG fine for Vulcan Materials

Up in Illinois, Alabama's Vulcan Materials has been fined bigtime.

E.O.W.

As in embarrassment of wealth. That's what kind of a blogger day it is, though this late in my day I'm not sure I'll do much justice to it all. But that hasn't stopped me before.....

 

• There's the Jefferson County teacher put on leave for teaching his students about angles by calculating the angle needed to assassinate President Obama. No name so far but surely it will leak and his background examined. No matter. The Secret Service visited and talked with him saying he is not a danger to the President/ To Jefco students, sure, but not the President.

 

 

 

• The owner of an Alabama KFC will need to sell a million dollars worth 3 pieces and a pepper to pay his EEOC fine. Is there really anyone alive who thinks this boorish locker room behavior was a) OK and b) wise?  In a KFC kitchen or anywhere?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Space Station gets a new closet? Don't they know that added storage space just collects junk you would otherwise get rid of???

Hey Boris, are these ratty old size 5 sneakers yours? How about this leftover KFC chicken? 

Houston, we have a problem....

• And finally, a senior administrator in charge of "overseeing" oil drilling in the Gulf is "retiring". Glad he can retire with a nice salary while the residents of the Gulf Coast will have to deal with his huge black gooey legacy polluting the environment..  

Oil Spill Update

     Government sat photos show the oil spill (outlined in red), visual proof that it is headed toward the currents that could carry it to the Florida Keys and up the East Coast,

     It appears Alabama is being spared the worst of it.

Supreme Court Decision

      The U.S. Supreme Court rules out another protection for youths...they may not be sentensed to life in prison without parole for crimes other than murder.
     I might point out it was Bryan Stevenson of Montgomery who argued the case for the defendant before the High Court. Stevenson was an occasional guest on FTR, and I'll make sure to get him on OTR after the election.
    An interesting case, and a very close decision, as they all seem to be at this point.

TKAM @50

To Kill A Mockingbird at The Capri Theatre in Montgomery

Thursday, May 20 · 7:30pm
One Show Only


     As part of the 50th Anniversary celebration of the publication of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird the Capri Theatre and the Alabama Humanities present a screening of the feature motion picture based on the novel.
    To Kill A Mockingbird will be shown Thursday, May 20 at 7:30pm at the Capri Theatre. Tickets are $6.00 for Capri members and $8.00 for the general public. Tickets go on sale one half hour before the show.

     This is a rare opportunity to view To Kill A Mockingbird in a theatre setting shown on 35mm film. The Capri Theatre has acquired a special archival print for this presentation.

     The movie To Kill A Mockingbird was released on Christmas Day, 1962 (coincidentally, two days after the Clover Theatre re-opened as the Capri). Starring Gregory Peck, the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning Best Actor for Gregory Peck and Best Adapted Screenplay for Horton Foote. It lost out on Best Picture to Lawrence of Arabia.
     Since then, To Kill A Mockingbird has become a beloved classic, not only as a faithful adaptation of the novel, but as a remarkable film in its own right.

========================================================
All of the above information is reposted from a Capri email.
On a personal note: lots of folks talk about how relevant the message of the movie is today. Uh, shouldn't that be a point of embarrassment to us all here in The South? Shouldn't it be someting we look at and just can't believe there was ever a time like that?

The Missing Tim James OTR

The program with Tim James was preempted by golf this past Sunday, and has now been rescheduled:

SATURDAY, MAY 22 AT 5:00PM

The remaining two Republican Candidates will air as follows:  

• Bill Johnson will be the guest on Sunday, May 23rd at 5:30pm*,
• Roy Moore will be on Sunday the 30th, also at 5:30pm*.

*While we certainly hope the golfers will behave and finish on time, there's always the possibility of a delay, so watch this space and www.waka.com for updates.

A 9-11 Mosque? At Ground Zero???

So says this morning's New York Post.

     Doesn't sound like the most well thought-out idea, but then again the whole redevelooment of the area formerly occupied by The World Trade Ceter has been one problem after another.
     If if goes through, the mosque will open in 2011. On 9/11.

MMMM # 97 - Media Sidewalk Sale

     It struck me as out of the ordinary last week when I spotted two folks sitting at a folding table on the pavement outside the T.J. Max in Montgomery, selling subscriptions to the Montgomery Advertiser. I know things have been tough in the past few years for all of the media, perhaps newspapers more than any other. But pitching papers on the sidewalk?

   Apparently it has been going on for a while in Montgomery...like eleven years! So says the owner of the independent business that operates the sales tables. And to be honest, there were plenty of customers not only coming up but signing up too.
   There were incentives...coupons for discounts or freebies from various companies that came with each subscription. And Billy Grier, the sales guy in the photo, has an outgoing personality that seemed to pull the customers in.
   They'll be at Jubilee CityFest on May 22nd and the 28th and 29th, so stop and say hello. If nothing else, you'll get a free paper!
   And subscribe too! Newspapers are an important part of the community.

[PLUS: There's an old saying "Don't screw up on a slow news day"...but the opposite is also true. Never have a natural disaster on a busy news day. Such was the case in Nashville, with its once-in-a-lifetime flood. Howard Kurtz has a column on media indifference to that disaster in the Washington Post.]
[AND ALSO: A column on Politico.com this morning expresses amazement at some of the political commercials running here in Alabama. Y'all come visit more often. We love strange TV spots here.]

60 Minutes Oil Well Report

   As usual, an excellent job by 60-Minutes in their report tonight about the PB Oil spill. You can, and should, watch it online if you missed it on air.

Preserving The Sanctity of Marriage.

Robot conducts marriage in Japan.

Scariest Headline Award

In the New York Times this evening:

Geithner Tries to Calm Nerves Over Europe's Fate.

Here's the story.

On The Record Preemption

     Golf scored a sudden death on On The Record tonight, running so long that it preempted the airing of our interview with GOP Candidate for Governor Tim James on CBS-8.
    I'll post rescheduling information tomorrow, as soon as that's determined.
    Sorry for the delay, There are only two OTR's with candidates left, Bill Johnson on the 23rd, and Roy Moore on the 30th.

In the meanwhile, outside of politics, the quote of the night:

"I'm passionate about happiness and love."

     ...that was Miss California, Nicole Johnson, answering a question about her "platform" during tonight's Miss USA Pageant.

     Well, it IS a safe answer, especially compared to Carrie Prejean last year.

One political truism gone?

     Conventional wisdom says people hate the Congress and the Legislature, but love their own individual Congressmen and women and Legislators. Yet a new poll says only a third of voters want their representatives in D.C. reelected!
     The story also indicated Democrats maintain a majority, but only a slight one.
     It's an ornery electorate out there, apparently, even for those elected officials who have truly done their best.

One political truism gone?

Sale on votes! Just $25!

     Johnny Ford's allegation that some unidentified voter in Bullock County said Ford would have to pay him for his vote "just like the white folks" raises more questions than it answers.
     Why wouldn't Ford call a news conference to bring attention to the wrongdoing, and then refuse to identify the voter?
     Why was it necessary for him to identify the race, according to the Montgomery Advertiser story? Why does he not identify the race in the CBS-8 video (linked above)?
    Why would Ford not say if the voter named a particular politician?
    Ford, of course, is running for the District 28 Senate seat. Against six candidates, two of them white.
    He's also former Mayor of Tuskegee. And a former Republican. And a former Democrat before that.

Kiddy Action Porn

     What else can you call this performance  at the World of Dance competition by seven year old girls? The video in the link is to part of the morning show on  CBS yesterday. The girl's parents apparently approved of it...but really...what's the difference between this and kiddy porn? A few strands of cloth?
     The video has been all over the net this week, with some folks asking if it's any different from any young girl beauty pageant, and they have a point.
     And when will someone ask Paul Mitchell, the hair car product manufacturer, about having their logo as a backdrop?
     The CBS link includes the comments of some of the girls' parents, defending the dance (of course).

Byrned Up

     The anti-Bradley Byrne TV commercials were a topic of conversation on the On The Record show with Tim James as the guest this week. We taped it this morning, and it will air Sunday on CBS 8/WAKA in Montgomery at 5:30, just before 60 Minutes.

     The ads were also the mocking subject of satire by liberal HBO Host Bill Maher on his Real Time program this evening, though Maher said they were ads by Roy Moore against Byrne. In reality they are from a third party, which may or may not have received money from AEA. Tim James denies any involvement. And where they got the Roy Moore information, I have no idea.

     Anyway, he showed made-up Bryne ads defending himself. Video of the show will be posted later tonight here. The Alabama segment isn't till the second half hour.

     The "concept" Maher used to get to the commercials was a competition for the "Dumbest State" title, with Alabama competing against Utah and Mississippi and others. Alabama was up first, perhaps condemned purely for being alphabetically #1.

     The conversation with Tim James on OTR was, well, less satirical anyway. James denied any involvement, though he did say lobbyist Claire Austin may have helped fund the ads, and that she was a fundraiser for him as an independent contractor.

Just to be part of the crowd....

     I wouldn't want to tbe the only blogger not mentioning the "incident" between the President and a Republican woman with a spicy pickup line. Read it here.
    All I can say is I am SO glad it's Friday.

How big????

How big is the oil leak in the Gulf? Maybe a lot biger than we thought, reports The Times this morning.

Speaking more broadly about the company’s policy on measuring the leak, a spokesman, David H. Nicholas, said in an e-mail message that “the estimated rate of flow would not affect either the direction or scale of our response, which is the largest in history.”

     Interesting that BP CAN calculate the size of their response, but not the spill...

Real Estate

     I live in a  home that will be a century old next year.
     Much of it is original, including the wood floors.
     I thought about that when I read about a eight year old, 25-story apartment building that is about to be torn down because of poor quality construction.
     In Seattle, Washington, not Iraq.
     Did they make things better back in the day?

(NOTE: Thanks to Executive Editor J.C. for the tip. The staff here at TimLennox.com can't seem to settle on a title for J.C., as I think I  have called him "Associate" editor too.)

The late Lena Horne, 1917 - 2010

A youthful Lena Horne...with Tuskegee Airmen.

(From: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart8.html)

Something I missed in studying about the Middle Ages.

     Somehow the cruelty of the Catholic Church against one particular group of people who dared to believe something other than church doctrine escaped me.
     Oh, I knew about the Crusades in general terms, but a travel story in today's Times give grisly detail that makes you wonder how the Pope at the time ("Innocent,III", believe it or not) could be classified as a church leader. Read:

In Béziers, at the northern edge of resistance, over 15,000 men, women and children — the entire population of the town as well as hordes of hapless refugees — were butchered. (The crusader monk Armond Amaury famously told his troops, when asked whom to spare, “Kill them all, God will know his own."

A monk? Makes the whole sexual abuse story pale by comparison.
Read the entire story here.

On The Record

     Today was the day we had scheduled Republican Candidate for Governor Kay Ivey to be the On the Record guest on CBS-8 in Montgomery, but she dropped out of the race.
     Replacing her in the guest seat: Retiring Speaker of The House Seth Hammett, who discusses the Bingo investigation, efforts to get him to switch parties and become a Republican, why he said no to them, and lots more.
     OTR airs just before 60-Minutes...5:30 this afternoon, in Montgomery on WAKA/CBS-8.

Twitter

ONLY a parent could send this tweet:

We're proud of our 1-year-old. Happy birthday

Does a 1-year old do anything other than eat and poop and cry and sleep?

Alabama in 2011, with a New Governor.

Whoever is elected Governor of Alabama in November is going to have a mess to deal with...the Federal Government is running out of money to send to the states, and columnist Tom Friedman says in the Sunday New York Times that there is only one formula Baby Boomers and their children can follow to get out of the hole America is in. Become the "Regeneration", like the "Greatest Generation" the boomer's parents represented.

"To be the Regeneration, they’ll have to figure out how to raise some taxes to increase revenues, while cutting other taxes to stimulate growth; they’ll have to cut some services to save money, while investing in new infrastructure to grow economic capacity. We have got to use every dollar wisely now."

     You can read Friedman's entire column here.
     There are striking parallels to the Alabama economic situation, including the anti-tax pledge that almost everyone who wants to be elected seems to be required to take in this state.
     The real shame here is that the best investment Alabama has going for it is about to go away.
     For every $1.00 Alabamians send to Washington, D.C., we get $1.60 back.  If we could have just doubled our Federal Taxes for the past two decades, we would be in great shape!
     Instead, that rate of return is going to shrink, and the New Governor will have to find a way to replace the revenue. Any suggestions?

Tuition Hike

     Justification for Troy University's 19% hike in tuition costs:

"Universities across the country are coping with the negative effects of a stag­nant economy by approving increases in tuition and fees," Jim Bookout, senior vice chancellor for finance and business affairs, said in a prepared statement.

     From a story by Stan Diel in The Birmingham News today.
    Uh, aren't the students also coping with the negative effects of a stagnant economy?

Mississippi Crossing

Birmingham News reports this morning that Country Crossing is looking at a site on the Mississippi Coast, now that they've been given the bum's rush in Alabama. Let's see, who wins and who loses in that deal?

             WINNERS                                           LOSERS
             Mississippi                                           Alabama
             Native American Tribes in Ala.      Country Crossing workers
             Mississippi taxpayers                       Alabama Taxpayers
             Biloxi (or wherever)                         Dothan
             Gov. Bob Riley (I guess!)                John Tyson (one less target!)

    

What's 30 Minutes Among Friends?

     Starting Monday, CBS-8 This Morning, with Meteorologist Kait Parker and yours truly, will begin a half-hour earlier. As in 5:30am instead of 6:00am.
     Now, you might be thinking, so what?! Once you are waking up everyday at O'Dark O'Clock, what's another half hour, right? On the other hand, you might argue that time in the middle of the night---when you are sound asleep---is more valuable per minute than other times of day.
     One way or the other, I'll be sulking toward the station a touch earlier and, if you're up at 5:30 in Montgomery, greeting you on-air earlier too.
     I think I need a nap. (-:

Coal Ash IS IS NOT Dangerous.
     Article in the NY Times suggests the EPA was ready to declare coal ash a dangerous waste, but backed off at the last minute.
     Obviously Alabamians have a dog in this fight, considering the trainloads of the stuff that is shipped every day from the site of the TVS coal ash spill to the private landfill in Perry County.
     I don't believe coal ash is as dangerous as, say, pure mercury, or fuel rods from a nuke plant. But neither is it safe for sprinkling on the kid's cereal in the morning.

    


Lots of money being spent to influence public opinion about this stuff, which no matter what happens to our way of producing power, isn't going away anytime soon. Best we get a grip and neither make light of it nor scare people from coming within a thousand yards of it.

OK, Fiscal Conservatives...what do ya say?

1) It is a request to reduce government spending.

2) It is the military making
      the request.

Yea or Nay?
If you say no, then abandon your fiscal conservative title.

Evidence

     We're all trying to read the Juror Tea Leaves emanating from the Federal Courthouse these days, trying to decipher the words and body language of legislators and lobbyists who've been hauled before the Grand Jury to testify. Some, like Senator Scott Beason (R, Gardendale) say they've secretly been working with the FBI, perhaps wearing wires (though they won't confirm that), since last year.
     Today there was talk of wiretaps on cell phone conversations between Victoryland owner Milton McGreggor and lobbyist Bob Geddie (seen on the right) of Fine Geddie & Associates, whom I interviewed before word of the Federal investigation broke, for a piece on lobbyists on CBS-8.
     I'm still not clear how it can be bribery to ask a candiate for office where he stands on an issue before you donate money to him or her. Thats' what seems to be the case with Senator Paul Sanford's public comments. Would you donate to a candidate without knowing what their beliefs are?
     Another person who went before the Grand Jury is retiring Speaker of The House Seth Hammett, and fresh from that experience he'll be the guest on this Sunday's On The Record (5:30pm on CBS-8 in Montgomery).
    By the way, the wires and nuts and bolts have been arranged in the correct order for OTR to be put online the Monday after it airs on TV. So you should be able to watch The Speaker's interview on Monday the 10th of May. The previous programs will also be posted over the days to come, so you'll be able to watch and compare the primary candidates for Governor.

Yes, we ARE bombarded.

     But necessarily by cancer causing chemicals, as this story today suggests.
     We're bombarded by conflicting reports about what's dangerous and what isn't.

• Coffee is bad for you, no, wait coffee is good!
• Drink Green Tea...but wait, not that much! 
• Take vitamins, but not this kind. On second thought, don't take 'em at all.

The problem for most of us is that there a billion research reports issued every year, most of them meaningless as far as making decisions about your health. We do a disservice in reporting every new research nuance without putting it all into some kind of perspective.

[UPDATE: The NY Times reports The American Cancer Society is unhappy with yesterday's report on chemicals (which is linked a the top of this post).

This Explains a Lot

Story on CNN and elsewhere says: Scientists find 1 to 4 percent of genes carried by non-African people are traceable to neanderthals.

As Goes Newsweek...???

     Is is possible that the likely demise of Newsweek, and the reason for it reported in the NY Times, means the end of an unbiased media?
     Here the quote from that article:

“Had they really planted a flag in one direction or another they actually may have had success,” he said. Their reinvention as Economist-esque “thought leader” publications didn’t work because “they still tried to be a little distant from opinion, they couldn’t quite step out on the point-of-view ledge that the blogosphere does.”

He added: “I don’t think Time and Newsweek, in this transformation, had enough of a distinct voice to capture the fancy of anyone in this incredibly polarized political environment we have today.”

                                         Charles Whitaker, head of magazine journalism
                                                             The Medill School of Journalism

     Yes, I know, perhaps better than many, that Talk Radio and Cable News is a 100% divided camp. but does that mean the rest of us are headed there too? Pick a side, or die?
      If that's true, then someone tell me please where one will hear or read or see anything that does not confirm their predetermined beliefs? 
     Opinions, please.

All Oil, All the Time

     Since we (OK, I) seem to be stuck on  the Oil In The Gulf story, here are some photos I came across, taken by The Coast Guard when the oil rig was burning. Wow.
     And let us not forget that eleven workers died in this event, though all the attention seems to be on the oil spill.

Ready For A Spill (NOT!)

Says Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Ed Markey after meeting with Oil Industry representatives:

“It’s pretty clear that there was not proper preparation for the worst-case scenario.”

Read The entire story in Business Week here.

Oil On The Water Update

This EPA photo shows oil from the leaking undersea well reaching the Chandeleur Islands, which are located east of Louisiana.
The prediction for arrival on the Alabama Coast: still three days.

Uh, The NY Times , again?

I'm beginning to lose faith in the Times....(see my earlier today post). Now they're quoting an "oil expert" as saying the Gulf is fine...not so fast says ProPublica,com. Seems he has ties to a bunch of oil company folks.

Coal Ash Regulation

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Below is a news release from the EPA, which, after hemming and hawing for months, has finally issued regulations about coal ash, the substance that polluted a river and the land next to a TVA power generating plant in Tennessee almost 18 months ago. The coal ash from that spill is still being transported by rail to a private landfill in Perry County Alabama.

Agency proposals would address risks of unsafe coal ash disposal, while supporting safe forms of beneficial use

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today is proposing the first-ever national rules to ensure the safe disposal and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants.

Coal combustion residuals, commonly known as coal ash, are byproducts of the combustion of coal at power plants and are disposed of in liquid form at large surface impoundments and in solid form at landfills. The residuals contain contaminants like mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which are associated with cancer and various other serious health effects. EPA’s risk assessment and damage cases demonstrate that, without proper protections, these contaminants can leach into groundwater and can migrate to drinking water sources, posing significant health public concerns.

Today’s action will ensure for the first time that protective controls, such as liners and groundwater monitoring, are in place at new landfills to protect groundwater and human health. Existing surface impoundments will also require liners, with strong incentives to close the impoundments and transition to safer landfills, which store coal ash in dry form. The proposed regulations will ensure stronger oversight of the structural integrity of impoundments in order to prevent accidents like the one at Kingston, Tennessee. Today’s action also will promote environmentally safe and desirable forms of recycling coal ash, known as beneficial uses.

The dangers associated with structurally unsafe coal ash impoundments came to national attention in 2008 when an impoundment holding disposed waste ash generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority broke open, creating a massive spill in Kingston that covered millions of cubic yards of land and river. The spill displaced residents, required hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs and caused widespread environmental damage. Shortly afterwards, EPA began overseeing the cleanup, as well as investigating the structural integrity of impoundments where ash waste is stored.

“The time has come for common-sense national protections to ensure the safe disposal of coal ash,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “We’re proposing strong steps to address the serious risk of groundwater contamination and threats to drinking water and we’re also putting in place stronger safeguards against structural failures of coal ash impoundments. The health and the environment of all communities must be protected.”

The proposal opens a national dialogue by calling for public comment on two approaches for addressing the risks of coal ash management under the nation’s primary law for regulating solid waste, the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RCRA). One option is drawn from authorities available under Subtitle C, which creates a comprehensive program of federally enforceable requirements for waste management and disposal. The other option includes remedies under Subtitle D, which gives EPA authority to set performance standards for waste management facilities and would be enforced primarily through citizen suits. A chart comparing and contrasting the two approaches is available on EPA’s Web site.

Under both approaches proposed by EPA, the agency would leave in place the Bevill exemption for beneficial uses of coal ash in which coal combustion residuals are recycled as components of products instead of placed in impoundments or landfills. Large quantities of coal ash are used today in concrete, cement, wallboard and other contained applications that should not involve any exposure by the public to unsafe contaminants. These uses would not be impacted by today’s proposal.

“EPA supports the legitimate beneficial use of coal combustion residuals,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, the agency office that will be responsible for implementing the proposals. “Environmentally sound beneficial uses of ash conserve resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lessen the need for waste disposal units, and provide significant domestic economic benefits. This proposal will clearly differentiate these uses from coal ash disposal and assure that safe beneficial uses are not restricted and in fact are encouraged.”

EPA is seeking public comment on how to frame the continued exemption of beneficial uses from regulation and is focusing in particular on whether that exemption should exclude certain non-contained applications where contaminants in coal ash could pose risks to human health. The public comment period is 90 days from the date the rule is published in the Federal Register.

Coal combustion residual impoundments can be found in almost all states across America, most often on the properties of power plants. There are almost 900 landfills and surface impoundments nationwide. Since the spill at Kingston, EPA has been evaluating hundreds of coal ash impoundments throughout the country to ensure their structural integrity and to require improvements where necessary. The results of the assessments are on EPA’s Web site.

More information about the proposed regulation: http://www.epa.gov/coalashrule
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...And, some reaction collected by EarthJustice, an environmental group:

“This is certainly a win of sorts, in that the EPA is finally making strides to regulate coal ash as hazardous waste,” said Trip Van Noppen, executive director for Earthjustice. “Their inclusion of an option to regulate coal ash as hazardous waste is an important first step. The next important step will be to maintain this position in the face of inevitably misguided claims by polluters that the sky will fall under this new regulatory environment. The science is clear that coal ash is hazardous waste, and we are confident this administration will stand by its commitment to follow the science in its policy decisions.”

“The unregulated dumping of coal ash has already contaminated groundwater, creeks and wetlands at more than 100 sites across the U.S. with arsenic and other heavy metals,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director for Environmental Integrity Project. “These pollutants are dangerous to human health, toxic to fish and other aquatic life, and notoriously difficult to clean up. EPA’s proposal finally acknowledges these risks, and we look forward to a final rule with federally enforceable standards to protect the public from the hazards of coal ash.”

 

“The catastrophic failure of the dam in Kingston, Tennessee, finally got the nation's attention to regulate toxic coal ash,” said Scott Slesinger, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We learned in Kingston, as we recently learned in the Gulf, that catastrophic failures associated with dirty carbon happen with tragic results. We are disappointed that the rule brings forward two dramatically different regulatory options. One option, which we believe is critical to protect public health and the environment, has federally enforceable standards for hazardous waste like those the rest of American industry follows in disposing of its hazardous waste. The other option treats this hazardous waste as if it were not loaded with high levels of arsenic and other toxic metals. We expect EPA to choose the option that adequately protects the public, particularly our precious groundwater, and treats this hazardous waste as a hazardous waste.”
“As the Tennessee Kingston coal ash spill made abundantly clear, the current handling of toxic coal ash is unsafe and unacceptable,” said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. “We applaud EPA for acting on this problem and strongly urge them to adopt federally enforceable safeguards, not continue with the failed patchwork of state regulations.”
“Lack of regulation in the Southeast has already caused known harm. From the enormous spill in Tennessee to contamination from coal waste ponds in North Carolina, the need for more comprehensive regulation is clear,” said Jeff Gleason, deputy director of Southern Environmental Law Center. “EPA's Subtitle C proposal is an important step toward rectifying past harm and preventing future disaster.”
The TVA Kingston Coal Ash Disaster raised awareness of the dangers of toxic ash. But there are many other communities at risk. See for yourself how communities are being affected by fugitive dust, contaminated water and massive mountains of coal ash and why federal regulations are needed to protect them: Surrounded by Coal Ash - Communities at Risk.

(IL)Legal Access

At the same time the old Alabama Supreme Court building on Dexter Avenue in Montgomery is being encapsulated in a new office tower (picture below), visitors access to the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington is being restricted. 
   We'll have to use the servants entrance.

     The RSA project in Montgomery calls for the front to be made of glass, to show off the much older building inside. It does make we wonder what will happen a century from now, when the office tower needs to be torn down...will they somehow save the then 180 year old Supreme Court Building tucked away inside?


(Thanks to Associate Editor J.C. for the tip on the D.C. story!)