On a Lighter Note with a Side of Serious

Lead found in Michelle Obama’s White House vegetable garden

It was meant to be a show case for healthy living, with the first lady, Michelle Obama, personally putting hand to pitch fork in a crowd of school children to dig up the first White House vegetable garden in more than 50 years.

Instead, an embarrassed White House admitted today that the plot – whose lettuce, herbs and other produce have been consumed by the first family, visiting dignitaries, local school children and a women’s homeless shelter – had tested positive for elevated levels of lead.

A spokeswoman for the White House said the soil in the garden had lead concentrations of 93 parts per million of lead. Health experts say it is safe to raise leafy vegetables in soil with concentrations of 10-50 parts per million, and urban gardens typically have raised lead levels. However, it is advised for young children to be tested for exposure to lead if they play in areas where lead concentrations exceed 100 parts per million. The Environmental Protection Agency puts the threshold for dangerous lead levels at 300 parts per million.

---

Cops: Man went naked to dental appointment

STRATFORD — A 41-year-old man was arrested after appearing for a dental appointment without a lick of clothing, police said.

Christopher Hoff, of Masarik Avenue, was naked — and five days late — when he showed up for a Monday appointment at Optimus Dental on Honeyspot Road. He was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and one count each of public indecency and failure to comply with fingerprinting. He is being held in lieu of $10,000 bond.

When Hoff entered the dental office completely naked Monday afternoon, the startled female receptionist began screaming, police said. He ran from the office, police said, onto Honeyspot Road.

---

‘Elixir of life discovered’

Scientists believe the antifungal agent rapamycin, found on the South Pacific island, produced by soil bacteria, has life-extending properties.

They predict further research on the compound could lead to a genuine “anti-ageing” pill that keeps people young.

---

The Place of Women on the Court

Q: Now that Judge Sotomayor has been nominated, how do you feel about that?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: I feel great that I don’t have to be the lone woman around this place.

Q: What has that been like?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: It’s almost like being back in law school in 1956, when there were 9 of us in a class of over 500, so that meant most sections had just 2 women, and you felt that every eye was on you. Every time you went to answer a question, you were answering for your entire sex. It may not have been true, but certainly you felt that way. You were different and the object of curiosity.

Q: Did you feel that this time around from your male colleagues?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: My basic concern about being all alone was the public got the wrong perception of the court. It just doesn’t look right in the year 2009.

Q: Why on a deeper level does it matter? It’s not just the symbolism, right?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: It matters for women to be there at the conference table to be doing everything that the court does. I hope that these hearings for Sonia will be as civil as mine were and Steve Breyer’s were. Ours were unusual in that respect.

---

U.S. Web Sites Continue to Suffer Attacks by Hackers

July 8 (Bloomberg) — Web sites of the U.S. departments of State, Treasury and Transportation were attacked by unidentified hackers during the July 4 holiday weekend and in some cases the attacks were continuing today, officials said.

In addition, NYSE Euronext, the world’s largest owner of stock exchanges, said it was notified by authorities that it had been the target of a cyber attack aimed at slowing or shutting down its Web site.

The Department of Homeland Security is aware of the attacks and its Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or CERT, has advised government agencies and private companies on “steps to take to mitigate against such attacks,” Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the department, said in an e-mail today.

The attacks are known as distributed denial of service, a common practice by hackers who commandeer remote computers to flood targeted Web sites with a large volume of data that renders the sites inaccessible to other users. Kudwa said she didn’t have information on reports by Seoul-based Yonhap News that North Korea may have orchestrated the effort.

In Search of Dignity for Palin, Jackson, Sanford, and the Punditry

In yesterday’s column titled In Search of Dignity, David Brooks listed three stories to hit the media in the past several days that in his opinion featured public figures who exemplified another branch of indignity: Mark Sandford’s press conference, the death of Michael Jackson, and Sarah Palin’s press conference.

Brooks commented:

In each of these events, one sees people who simply have no social norms to guide them as they try to navigate the currents of their own passions.

Americans still admire dignity. But the word has become unmoored from any larger set of rules or ethical system.

The conservative Brooks concluded his column by pointing to Barack Obama as the nation’s exemplar of “reticence, dispassion and the other traits associated with dignity.” He adds: “The cultural effects of his presidency are not yet clear, but they may surpass his policy impact. He may revitalize the concept of dignity for a new generation and embody a new set of rules for self-mastery.”

It’s true that stylistically President Obama conducts himself well despite the occasional gaffe when meeting with important leaders from other nations. For example, in his recent visit to Russia, Obama offended his Russian hosts by brushing them off on his second night in Moscow by taking his family out to dinner at an expensive club at the Ritz Carlton.

However, Brooks failed to mention a bothersome detail about Obama’s supporters during the 2008 campaign and since. Although their leader preached a “new politics” and has managed for the most part to stay above the fray, most people who scrutinize online message boards will agree that Obama’s followers are among the most verbally abusive, sexist, misogynist, and otherwise offensive people to post comments on the Internet.

At the Huffington Post, Obama’s shock troops have even vilified handicapped people. If Obama presumes to be our nation’s role model for dignified behavior, perhaps he should begin with those closest to him.

At least it can be said about Brooks that he usually maintains a degree of decorum in his column. In contrast, the liberal media long ago completely joined forces with the above “undignified” Obama supporters in their attacks on first Hillary Clinton and then Sarah Palin.

Prior to 2008, I faithfully followed several liberal columnists in the mainstream media. Today, I can read without holding my nose only a couple of them; that would be Paul Krugman and Dr. Stanley Fish, both of the NY Times.

Fish was pilloried by Obama supporters during the Democratic Primary for defending Hillary Clinton against the rampant sexism. This time around, Fish is defending Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford. In his lead paragraph the other day, the professor wrote:

I did not vote for Sarah Palin in the November election, and had I been a resident of South Carolina, I wouldn’t have supported Mark Sanford. But I find their failings and, in the case of Sanford, sins more palatable than the behavior of the pundits who are having so much fun at their expense.

Fish advises Palin’s critics to actually look at the video and pay attention to the reasons she gives for resigning:

It is true that her statement was not constructed in a straightforward, logical manner, but the main theme was sounded often and plainly: This is not what I signed up for. I’m spending all my time and the state’s money responding to attack after attack and they aren’t going to let up because, “It doesn’t cost the people who make these silly accusations a dime.”

The accusations had been coming from all sides, from investigators of her ethics, from Alaska Democrats and fellow Republicans, from officials in the McCain campaign, from scathing magazine articles, from what she termed the mockery and humiliation directed at her son Trig, from late-night comedians taking potshots at her daughters.

Fish has this to say about Sanford:

The ineptness of his remarks on every level was staggering; politically he was busy digging his own grave; personally, in terms of his family life, he was digging another. He declared in one breath that he was trying to fall back in love with his wife, and in the next he told the world that this was a love story, “a forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.”

The commentators thought they were covering the latest chapter in the male-politician-who-can’t-keep-his-pants-zipped saga. What they were really covering (although they just couldn’t see it) was the latest chapter in the “all for love” saga, with earlier chapters featuring Antony and Cleopatra, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky. (O.K., so his stage is not as large as theirs, but it displays the same drama.) Sanford’s actions were without doubt foolish, reprehensible and incredibly maladroit, but they were also real.

Fish concludes:

So what’s the bottom line story? Simple. Sanford is in love. Palin is in pain. Sometimes what it seems to be is what it is.

It would be great if all pundits would follow Fish’s example and maintain their dignity – not to mention ethical standards of journalism – while covering the behavior of public figures.

Joe Biden, National Treasure

Worth Every Penny!

For all those of you who doubt the title assertion, I must ask you to consider this: Where would we be without Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden? He seems to be the only politician these days who tells the truth about anything, and yet, no one appreciates him for it. Why the lack of warm fuzzies for this cuddly, bright-toothed gaffester, America? He’s just being honest, and I, personally, love him for it!

Take the Veep’s pre-election statements about how if Obama was elected, we’d face an international crisis within the first six months. Not only that, but we wouldn’t like what Obama would do about it, but should stand by him anyway. He was mocked and derided for that speech (even by yours truly!), but jeez! Wasn’t he right? In fact, it seems he underestimated the amount of crises by, oh, I dunno, a Googleplex.

Our very own DYB in comments just brought to our attention that North Korea, on top of its numerous missile launches and escalating “nukular” program, now appears to have staged a July 4th Weekend cyber-attack against vital U.S. and South Korean government websites.

A widespread computer attack that began July 4 knocked out the Web sites of the Treasury Department, the Secret Service and other U.S. agencies, and South Korean government sites also came under assault.

South Korean intelligence officials believe the attacks were carried out by North Korean or pro-Pyongyang forces. U.S. officials so far have refused to publicly discuss details of the attack or where it might have originated.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that its own Web site was among several commercial sites also hit.

The U.S. government sites, which included those of the Federal Trade Commission and the Transportation Department, were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week. South Korean Internet sites began experiencing problems Tuesday.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the nation’s main spy agency, told a group of South Korean lawmakers Wednesday it believes that North Korea or North Korean sympathizers in the South were behind the attacks, according to an aide to one of the lawmakers briefed on the information.

The Arrogance and Opulence and Stupidity of it All

Looks like Obama’s mission to Russia didn’t turn out to well. Thank goodness for small miracles in the death of MJ, Sarah Palins resignation, and Mark Sanfords lustfull tell all. Otherwise, I am sure this would be non stop breaking news for 24 hours.

According to the NYT, he was his usual arrogant, not to bright self!

The first family enjoyed a relaxed evening at the O2 Lounge, the super-chic, super-pricey rooftop club at the new Ritz-Carlton, although no doubt the Secret Service first cleared the place of most if not all of the swaggering tycoons and leggy models who flock to such Moscow venues.

The Russians were ticked:

The decision to brush off the Russians on one of his two nights here miffed some in the Moscow government who did not understand why he would not devote the scarce time to his hosts. Mr. Obama had dinner with President Dmitri A. Medvedev on Monday and lunch with him on Tuesday. But with the second dinner slot unavailable, he ended up having breakfast Tuesday with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, a known night owl not given to American-style early morning business meals.

The Obamas, though, wanted some downtime before getting back on Air Force One to head to Italy for three days of meetings at the Group of 8 summit meeting and, from there, to Ghana for a one-day visit.

Obama had a couple of gaffes too! Some doozies! Almost as bad as the “I have visited 57 states out of 50) faux pas. These ones lead you to believe something is really wrong:

Mr. Obama has seemed tired here, several times fumbling the pronunciation of Mr. Medvedev’s name and Mr. Putin’s title. Beginning a speech here, he mistakenly said he first met his wife in school instead of at the law firm where they actually met. And he misstated his younger daughter’s age.

But in his defense, he rallied and managed to recite some information you might be more inclined to interpret as mispeak:

He was quick on his feet, however, while addressing graduates of the New Economic School. In praising Russian culture, Mr. Obama cited painters, composers, dancers — and a hockey player

All in all, a pretty average day for Obama. He managed to insult, sound ridiculous without a teleprompter and bask in his self perceived greatness.

MORNING WIDDERSHINS:JUSTICE FOR ALL?

I got to thinking this week how good it was to see Bernie Madoff go down in flames when the judge handed down that 150 year sentence. For those investors and charities who placed their trust in this thief, there must have been some little glimmer of glee in watching this arrogant s.o.b. hauled out in handcuffs, never again to enjoy the perks of the high life he bought for himself at their expense. The sad delight in watching that constant smirk he wore banish from sight as they led him away in handcuffs to spend the rest of his life in jail. Sweet!

And Bernie got just what he deserved, make no mistake about it. But in the larger scheme of things, Bernie was nothing more than a small fish in a big pond when it came to his Ponzi schemes. The effects of his greed may have placed his investors in financial ruin, but they totaled no more than 2,000 from all reports and most of them begged and pleaded to get in on the action as Bernie had set the bar fairly high when it came to admittance to this club. In trusting his financial acumen, and having no reason to doubt his artful  wizardry, most of those investors came to Bernie and not so much the other way around. And there even times when he managed to turn some away. Not to suggest that Bernie was displaying any form of conscience or integrity, far from it. In fact some may take that as a blessing in disguise when Bernie suggested that their money was just not good enough. The total of his victims could have risen much higher had not for Bernie’s “standards”.

But for other members of that financial community life still is good! Those “masters of the universe” who brought our financial institutions to its knees while pilfering their investors and inflating their worth, while watching the dollar dip lower than Bush’s approval ratings, skate on by. The players and those in supporting roles of this drama number in the thousands. The money extracted and lost is phenomenal in its scope. The overriding effect of the pillaging continues unabated as whole industries are effected along with the average citizen who had nothing whatsoever to do with the mess. Homes lost, belts tightened, dreams smashed, and all because of the financial sleight of hand of those who saw a legal opening to make and increase their own wealth.

This is the difference between Bernie and them. The word “legal” which has many meanings when writing up a contract or securing an ensured loan.
The Wall Street bankers, the educated financiers, the real estate moguls, the high end traders, were essentially covered by tangled laws in arcane language handed over to them by our very own legislators who also in turn eased up the restrictions in oversight which opened the door of “legal plunder” never before seen in the history of the nation.

And just as this collapse made its way to revelation, the very same geniuses who bet so heavily against the odds pleaded for more. More they got! And in some instances, even more of the more! But take them to task, hold them accountable, at least demand they resign? No. We needed them, we were told. We not only needed them but we were advised that it would be “breaking a contract” to deny them their fat bonuses! How outrageous to even bring that to table! It became apparent that “job performance” from this quarter did not exist. No accountability here but the promise that within 6 months of the current bailout we may yet again be asked to authorize another! You have got to be kidding!

In the meantime Bernie sits in jail. And one can assume that even if his appeal falls through, or his time is lessened somewhat, Bernie will languish and eventually die there. Perhaps other than his own family, few tears will be shed. And it occurred to me as I thought of this over the holiday weekend, that while justice may have prevailed in the end for Bernie, those other crooks and con men from the vaunted towers of Wall Street and beyond, were enjoying their weekend, sailing around Long Island Sound or the Chesapeake Bay on their million dollar yachts, sipping their expensive brandy, yucking it up at our expense, free as birds without a cloud on the horizon in their world. It was all “legal”. At least on paper. Legal, maybe. Moral, no.

As the rest of us watch our nation take the blows, individual states on the brink of collapse, families enduring financial hardships, healthcare costs rising, mortgages foreclosed, companies in bankruptcy, taxes increasing, oil prices heading skyward, college educations deferred, retirements postponed, it is good to remember that the fat cats who make up the oligarchy and ruling class are truly sorry. And that Bernie, thief though he was, was just a “ping” in the “pong” of this greedy scheme to snatch and grab all that they could until the bottom was at once reached and we got stuck holding the bag.

Justice served? Maybe so in Bernie’s case but certainly not for the millions across this nation who must live with the remnants of “serial theft” with no accountability. I have a strong suspicion that they will soon return with the “beggars bowl” in hand wanting more. Considering how expensive those hobbies are, and the ability to maintain those lavish lifestyles doesn’t come cheap, it’s only fair to assume that they need more time at the trough.

Bailout time once again! Rest assured that the corporate friendly RINO currently in service at the White House will be only too happy to comply. A donor is a donor is a donor after all. Too big to fail.