One More Bush Disaster For The Road

Some people just don't know when they've overstayed their welcome. Especially when you consider that according to the majority of voting voices November 4th, Mercifully-Soon-To-Be-Former-President Bush wasn't welcome in the first place.

In yet another one of his last-ditch efforts to hurriedly push through even more invasive and damaging legislation towards our natural resources MSTBFP-Bush and The U.S. Fish & Wildlife are seeking to once again overturn a ruling to delist delist the gray wolves of The Rocky Mountains from the endangered species' list.

The fact that mining companies in the area have their own agenda of expansion into those sensitive areas might have something to do with MSTBFP-Bush's urgency. (By the way, anyone who's naive enough to think the U.S. Fish & Wildlife's mission is to protect our natural resources and is uninfluenced by special interest groups and politics, probably also pushed the lever for McCain this November and laments Palin's retreat to the Alaskan tundras. You betcha.)

As if his legacy as this country's worst environmental president wasn't bad enough. His almost pathologically-intentional disdain for our country's natural resources, environment and threatened wildlife populations will forever be written in history books as well as the hearts & minds of concerned Americans. At this point, we can only hope and work with the new Obama administration to not only enact more protective legislation, but to overturn and undo the damage caused by MSTBFP-Bush.

Even the most lame sociologist, therapist or penny-ante,talk-show pseudo-shrink would be fair and accurate interpreting this man's last-minute actions as nothing short of vengeful. Or revengeful. Or borderline sociopathic in my humble, lay opinion. The urgency of these and many other down-to-the-wire measures seem to indicate his intentions to weigh down the new administration with so much legislation that most definitely will need to be overturned, it will bog down in Congress or languish on the new president's desk at the dictates of other pressing priorities, like the economy and Iraq.

Bush will be gone - soon. But the stench left in his wake will fill the air across our land and pervade foreign countries long after his physical presence is finally beyond the confines of the Oval Office. It would almost be worth any ozone layer holes, which may very well have been exacerbated during his eight-year debacle in the White House, if his malodorous legacy could escape through one and into outer space. If nothing keeps the "alien invaders" away, that surely will.

I will never be so glad to see The White House door hit someone in the ass come January 20, 2009. With the possible exception of Nixon.

Organic Battle Lines Being Drawn

"NIMBY" may very well be the new slogan for organic lawn care advocates. Those homeowners who chemically treat their lawns may hear "Not In My Back Yard" mantras echoing over neighbors' fences... of those who've chosen a more earth-friendly, environmentally safer organic alternative to lawn care. This story in the Wall Street Journal includes a video clip of one woman who went over to the Dark Side (her neighbor's compost pile) and found there's life after pesticides and herbicides.

Lots of life.

Lead-Loaded Childrens' Vinyl Lunchboxes

It's not what's in your child's lunch that's could be a health hazard this time. It's what your child's lunch is in.

California-based Center for Environmental Health (CEH) recently released to The Associated Press over 1,500 documented reports, interoffice memos and emails and other data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) which reveals the skewed criteria and fudged numbers charting the lead levels in children's vinyl lunchboxes.

After filing over a year ago through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the CEH disclosed the manipulated results of these studies which showed that more than 20% of the lunchboxes tested had over 600PPM of lead. California's federal safe lead level. Other levels detected were as high as 9,600PPM, more than 16 times the federal standard.

The AP story quotes a CPSC spokeswoman:
"When it comes to a lunchbox, it's carried. The food that you put in the lunch box may have an outer wrapping, a baggie, so there isn't direct exposure. The direct exposure would be if kids were putting their lunchboxes in their mouth, which isn't a common way for children to interact with their lunchbox." Indicating the test swipes of the boxes were only performed on the outside of the boxes. Dismissing any parent's or teacher's observations of children rummaging around with their little hands inside lunchboxes for that juicy red apple, pear or any other raw, uncovered food item that junior promptly puts in his mouth. Apple or pear... hands and all.

A typical test is done with a "swipe". Initial swipes revealed the highest lead levels. But numerous swipes - in the same spot - lessened the lead numbers. Because the CPSC did not do a cumulative account and rather an average, their average lower lead level conclusions (which allowed for those numerous same-spot swipes) recorded lead levels as within standards.

The fuzzy logic of the director of chemistry for CPSC: "The more you wipe, the less lead you actually find. With fewer wipes we got a higher detection of lead presence. We thought more wipes was closer to reflecting how you would interact with your lunchbox. It was more realistic."

Yet another example of bureaucratic agencies working under the guise of protecting the public and really protecting the vinyl industry and manufacturers of these products. All of which were outsourced to Chinese manufacturers for American distribution. The CEH has a complete data sheet detailing the most circumspect lunchboxes as well as reprints of interoffice memoranda.