Here’s yet another to quit the fast food habit…

A new study of how much greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere by the production of food shows that the difference between a meat-based and plant-based diet amounts to the same as driving an SUV versus a small sedan.

The calculations are based on data and a basic ecological concept that have been around for decades, but no one had actually done the math.

“It’s just never been done,” said climate researcher Gidon Eshel of the University of Chicago. “The data is simply there to mine.”

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060424/veggies_pla.html?source=rss

Abnormally warm water conditions are already forming in the Gulf of Mexico. It could be another bad year for hurricanes.

It will be held this Sunday, at 7:30PM. For the telephone number and access code, please go the the mgp-mmtg listserv.

Agenda items:
1. Banner. What material should it be made of? Which business should we go to in order to get it made?
2. The Montgomery County Agricultual Fair. The money and forms must be turned in by June 12th. Do we have the certificate showing that the tent is fire-resistant?
3. A proposal for the Maryland Green Party to formally oppose the expansion of Fort Detrick in Frederick County. Does Montgomery sign off on it?

The 1986 nuclear accident and its continuing impact on thyroid disease

One of the continuing health effects of the Chernobyl accident has been the dramatic increase in thyroid cancer among children in the affected area.

According to the World Health Organization, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster will cause 50,000 new cases of thyroid cancer among young people living in the areas most affected by the nuclear disaster. Specifically, the rate of thyroid cancer in adolescents aged 15 to 18 is also now three times higher than it was before the 1986 disaster took place. The incidence of thyroid cancer in children rose 10-fold in children who lived in the Ukraine region.

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/nuclearexposure/a/chernob.htm

Got this from Dan Froomkin’s White House Briefing…

ABCNEWS.com has gripping footage of the mother duck and ducklings that — at least visually — upstaged Karl Rove at the federal courthouse yesterday.

And for those of you who think the press is heartless, watch as members of the corps help the little family cross a busy street.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1894475

Democratic senators Richard Durbin, Barbara Boxer, Debbie Stabenow, Charles Schumer and Maria Cantwell held a media event criticizing Republicans and oil companies over high gasoline prices. They held it at an Exxon station one block away from their Senate offices.

The Democrats were brimming with outrage at Republicans and oil companies.

“Since George Bush and Dick Cheney took over as president and vice president, gas prices have doubled!” Senator Boxer fumed. Senator Schumer demanded that the administration “Get tough on big oil!”

Then, when it came time to make the one block trek back to their offices, Senator Boxer hopped into her Chrysler LHS (18 mpg). Senator Schumer had a waiting Hyundai Elantra (27 mpg). Senator Cantwell, who had a staffer idling in a Volswagen Jetta (24 mpg), told the staffer to return without her as she went to a nearby sushi restaurant for lunch.

No word on how she made the one block odyssey after she ate. Maybe she took a cab.

OK, show of hands. How many people think that Democrats would really be an improvement if they were in charge?

Didn’t think so…….

Catholic Priest Who Was Victim of Sex Abuse Draws Fire After Speaking Out
This just reinforces my prejudice against hierarchical religions…

The Catholic Church hierarchy’s treatment of clergy sex abuse victims was disgusting, the patient told him.

“Believe me, I’m not trying to force Jesus down your throat,” answered Moran, a beefy 60-year-old with an agonizing secret he had only recently started to let out: “I’m a victim of a priest myself.”

The patient stared at him from the bed. A question came, point-blank: “Then how can you be a priest?”
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It was time to leave, he decided soon after that conversation, and he arranged to retire May 31 on a medical disability. But first, he wanted to let loose the whole secret — not just the abridged version. He wanted people to know that the fallout of clergy sex abuse is not over, even if it has waned from headlines. And he wanted to do it during Holy Week, the week before Easter, the time when priests renew their vows. The decision would bring more pain than liberation.
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He railed against church leaders who protect abusers and care more about money than victims. He talked about therapy and the “rationalizations” that kept him in the ministry. Copies of his comments were in the back of the chapel, he said. And when it was over, a burly man came over to hug him. No one else seemed to know what to do.

The next day, a Washington archdiocese official called, telling him that the hospital thought his actions were inappropriate and that the church felt they were accusatory. His priestly credentials were being pulled immediately, he was told, something that usually wouldn’t have happened until he retired six weeks later.
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Moran feels he is being punished for speaking out: “My gut feeling is that I have been raped again.”

Advocates of clergy abuse victims who know Moran are livid and say that because he was leaving his position anyway, removing his credentials was unnecessary.

Click here for link.

Regarding Steve Pearlstein: Sometimes I adore him, and then again, sometimes I despise him. This is one of the times when I love him.

(A copy of the following top-secret memorandum was recently obtained from a senior White House official. Its authenticity could not be confirmed.)
TO: Director/National Clandestine Service/CIA
FROM: Chief of Station/Lagos, Nigeria

RE: Results of Interrogation of Exxon Mobil CEO

Above-named subject, Rex W. Tillerson, was apprehended while disembarking at Lagos airport and brought to Covert Interrogation Center #7. After a cocktail of Sodium Pentothal and Desoxyn was administered, subject suffered some disorientation but was able to answer questions on oil and gasoline pricing and company finances submitted by FTC/DOE/DOJ joint task force, pursuant to presidential directive of 26 April. Water-boarding proved unnecessary.

Click here for link.

While it is well and good that the City of Waco is publicly recognizing this wrong, there are two quotes from caucasian women in the article that I find offensive in the extreme:

“And what is that saying to [the Fryer] family? That it was okay to rape and murder that lady?”

and

“That incident, the lynching, was horrendous, but so was the rape and murder of Lucy Fryer. There was another victim here,” said Patsy Kilgore, who is white and a niece by marriage of Fryer’s grandson. “We all need to be one, but I don’t think this is the way to do it.”

Click here for link.
How DARE do these two female dogs accuse the lynching victim of raping and murdering Fryer without any credible evidence?

Provisions Passed by Senate Would Raise About $5 Billion

House and Senate tax writers have been struggling to reach an accord on separate tax bills approved last year to extend some expiring tax cuts enacted during President Bush’s first term. But House Republicans have raised strong objections to Senate-passed provisions that would raise nearly $5 billion in taxes over five years — primarily by changing arcane accounting rules that have allowed oil companies to substantially lower their tax bills, according to House and Senate tax aides familiar with the talks.
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The biggest of the provisions would change accounting rules that apply to oil in storage. Currently, oil companies are allowed to calculate the taxable value of their inventories based on the value of the oldest stocks, when oil may have been worth $30 a barrel. But much of the inventory may have been pumped from the ground when oil was selling for more than double that. Critics say that understates the value of the companies’ oil supplies purely to lower their tax payments.

Click here for link.