RIP Cathy Seipp, 1957-2007

One of the very first bloggers who's work I ever had the pleasure of reading has passed away. Cathy Seipp was 49 years old. Rest in peace, Cathy. She was sharp and funny and she will be missed. I am so very sorry for your loss, Maia. The LA Times has an obituary.

Gorezilla Testificates To Congress

But he just won't pledge to reduce his gargantuan appetite for electricity. He's coming for your power!

Number One In The News

Number one - as in the euphemism for urine - is in the news today. Item: An eighth-grader from Muncie, Indiana is in some hot water for putting urine in a teacher's coffeepot.

MUNCIE, Ind. - An eighth-grader faces expulsion after admitting he put urine in a teacher's coffee pot, officials said. The Wilson Middle School teacher noticed that the coffee had an unusual odor Friday and reported it to the principal, Muncie Community Schools officials said. A student who overheard classmates discussing it also reported the incident to officials.

Urine was found in the locker of the eighth-grade boy, who admitted to putting some in the coffee, authorities said.

The eighth-grader has been suspended pending a recommendation for expulsion, said Assistant Superintendent Steve Edwards.

We have a recommendation, but we'd probably better not say it out loud, so to speak. Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, we have the completely opposite situation. Chinese reporters put tea in their urine samples. And got back lab results, too.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of Chinese reporters came up with a novel idea to test how greedy local hospitals were — pass off tea as urine samples and submit the drink for tests.

The results: six out of 10 hospitals in Hangzhou, the capital of the rich coastal province of Zhejiang, visited by the reporters over a two-day period this month concluded that the patients' urinal tracts were infected.

Five of the hospitals prescribed medication costing up to 400 yuan ($50), the online edition of the semi-official China News Service.

See, if the budding genius in Muncie had put tea in the coffeepot, people would be laughing.

Guerrilla Political Campaigning In The Internet Age

This YouTube video that the Washington Post has a lengthy article on is actually very, very good. I have no idea how many (or even if any) copyrights were violated in making it. But it is devastatingly effective.

It's the first viral attack ad of the 2008 presidential campaign: a clever idea, visually arresting images, the sound of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's voice and, all too fittingly in this YouTube age, an anonymous filmmaker.

The 74-second spot has been viewed more than a million times online, making it far more popular than any of the official videos posted by the presidential contenders. It's a "mash-up" of Ridley Scott's 1984 Super Bowl commercial that portrayed IBM as an Orwellian Big Brother and introduced Apple's Macintosh as the bright new vanguard of computing. But now it's Big Sister, Clinton, vs. the upstart, Sen. Barack Obama.

Interspersed with speeches from videos on Clinton's official site, the clip shows a horde of ghostlike followers droning on. It closes with an altered Apple symbol — the Apple's now an O — and the Web address BarackObama.com.

And just as the young blond athletic woman in the video causes a massive explosion by hurling a sledgehammer at a giant screen with Clinton's image, this ad's reach blows up any notion that candidates and mainstream media outlets can control the campaign dialogue. Especially online.

Obama campaign officials say they have nothing to do with it. The senator called it "pretty extraordinary" on CNN Monday night. Apple Computer declined to comment. Clinton said she liked having attention diverted from the oft-viewed clip of her off-key rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Obama is denying it has any connection, Hillary! is trying to ignore it. Whoever did it it works. The only real problem is that this essentially shows that traditional political operatives have a lot - a real lot - to worry about. And it will get much, much worse the closer we get to the election. Expect some political fallout from this. My guess is that another, worse, attempt on muzzling political speech than McCain-Feingold will result from this type of thing in the near future.

UPDATE: And now the lines blur. Huffnpuffpo reveals that the creator of the ad is one Philip de Vellis, who formerly was the Internet communications director for Sherrod Brown. He is also (or was until today) working for Blue State Digital. The company was apparently founded by Howard Dean's people. And it worked for Barack Obama among others. Philip de Vellis resigned today and swears up and down that he did this completely on his own and it wasn't a company project.

And I don't think an awful lot of people (except among the ClueProof™) are going to buy that. Including Hillary! This is what will taint the "citizen ads" as he calls them. There will be pro or semi-pro political operatives involved and they will get a bad rep. I stand by my earlier prediction. There will be an attempt to regulate this. Especially if Hillary happens to win the presidency. There are axes in need of grinding.

UPDATE: Funny as all heck here. Someone is trying a down the Memory Hole routine. Blue State Digital swears they terminated Philip de Vellis. Something is double plus ungood here…..

The Fear Industrial Complex

John Stossel, who I have come to regard as one of the voices of sanity working in the major media today, has a real must read today over at Real Clear Politics. It examines the relationship between fear-mongering "consumer" groups that folks like Ralph Nader run, the trial lawyers and the media. It is not a very pretty picture. Nor is the reporting that results good for much other than scaring people.

Remember the breast-implant scare? Some lawyers and activists said silicone from breast implants caused lupus, breast cancer, and more. Connie Chung did a scare story on CBS, the FDA banned silicone implants, and soon many women were certain that their medical problems were caused by their implants.

How could they not think that? The Fear Industrial Complex told them they were being slowly poisoned. Lawyer John O'Quinn helped spread the fear and reaped the reward. He sued implant makers again and again until they paid his clients over $1 billion. Fortune called O'Quinn and his partner "lawyers from hell." O'Quinn won't say how much money he made off those lawsuits, but he's now rich enough to have a warehouse that holds 900 valuable cars.

After the suits from O'Quinn and others bankrupted implant maker Dow Corning, and after many women were terrorized — some so much they cut their own breasts open to get the implants out — scientists started saying there's no evidence that silicone causes autoimmune disease and cancer. Study after study failed to find a link. Sherine Gabriel, chair of the department of health sciences research at the Mayo Clinic, announced that there was "no significant difference in the occurrence of connective tissue diseases between the women who had the implants and the women who did not."

The FDA has now re-approved silicone implants, and thousands of women are having implants inserted, implants that contain the very same silicone that was used before.

By O'Quinn is handing back one thin dime of the money, of course. Got to keep those cars polished, right? Seriously, the Fear Industrial Complex, as Stossel calls it, is a really big business. But it is not particularly good at telling the truth. It is very, very good at distorting the truth and scaring hell out of the public, however, The media needs to take a serious look at how they regard a lot of these sources. They simply are not reliable. We are being bombarded daily with dire warnings. After a while, people stop listening to the boy who cries wolf too often. Many already have. I rather suspect this is part of the reason the MSM is sliding in popularity and revenues.

(Coal) Smoke And Mirrors

Robert Samuelson take s a clue bat to the Hollywood version of global warming and exposes the biggest flaw in all the Gorezilla led logic. All the posturing aside, even if the most stringent controls are put in place - at great cost to Western economies - it will not curb the reality of increased carbon emissions. Because the world's developing countries are increasing their use of coal.

Global warming has gone Hollywood, literally and figuratively. The script is plain. As Gore says, solutions are at hand. We can switch to renewable fuels and embrace energy-saving technologies, once the dark forces of doubt are defeated. It's smart and caring people against the stupid and selfish. Sooner or later, Americans will discover that this Hollywood version of global warming (largely mirrored in the media) is mostly make-believe.

Most of the many reports on global warming have a different plot. Despite variations, these studies reach similar conclusions. Regardless of how serious the threat, the available technologies promise at best a holding action against greenhouse gas emissions. Even massive gains in renewables (solar, wind, biomass) and more efficient vehicles and appliances would merely stabilize annual emissions near present levels by 2050. The reason: Economic growth, especially in poor countries, will sharply increase energy use and emissions…..

…..Unless we can replace coal or neutralize its CO2emissions, curbing greenhouse gases is probably impossible. Substitution seems unlikely, simply because coal use is so massive. Consider a separate study by Wood Mackenzie, a consulting firm. It simulated a fivefold increase in U.S. electricity from renewables by 2026. Despite that, more coal generating capacity would be needed to satisfy growth in demand.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a bright spot: Catch the CO2and put it underground. On this, the MIT study is mildly optimistic. The technologies exist, it says. Similarly, geologic formations — depleted oil fields, unusable coal seams — provide adequate storage space, at least in the United States. But two problems loom: First, capture and storage adds to power costs; and second, its practicality remains suspect until it's demonstrated on a large scale.

Samuelson points out that "carbon capture" equipment on coal plant - in the very best case scenario - will make the plants cost 40% more while delivering 20% less electricity. The economics are no good here. The real solutions to curbing CO2 emissions will have to include a lot of nuclear. That is the harsh reality. The feel good Hollywood choices are simply not going to do any good. Especially with people like Gorezilla increasing their energy use at a stunning pace.

Whipping Things Up

There is a report in the Washington Post this morning that indicates that despite all the boatloads of pork larding up the Iraq spending bill that the Pelosi-Murtha team are trying to pass in the House, the Democrats can't even keep their own party whips on board to get it passed. Several of the vote-counters, members of the caucus who browbeat other members into following the party leadership, are actively working against passage of the bill. There are indications that Nancy Pelosi herself is going to visit retribution on recalcitrant members - given in the very best oblique reference by and aide, of course.

One of the Democrats' chief designated vote counters, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), is actively working against the Iraq war spending bill. The leadership's senior chief deputy whip, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), spoke passionately against it on the House floor. And one of the whip organization's regional representatives, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), is implacably opposed.

The disarray in the House whipping operation ahead of tomorrow's expected vote on the bill is putting a harsh spotlight on House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who has the task of rounding up the 218 votes needed to pass the $124 billion measure, but who has not even kept his organization in line….

…..Kristie Greco, a spokeswoman for Clyburn, said the Democrats' whip organization is broad and diverse, precisely so that a few defections over policy would not affect the vote-counting operation. The days of lock-step discipline under the threat of retribution went out with the Republican majority, she said.

But defections have consequences. With Woolsey adamantly opposed to the bill, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.), a fellow Western regional whip, has to do the work of two. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) said leaders are pulling in members from outside the whip organization, handing out the names of undecided Democrats to anyone willing to step in.

Some of the opposition is from members who will not vote to fund any war, period. Which is at least more principled than attempting to buy loyalty with taxpayer money thrown around in the Pelosi pork-fest. This shows the internal disarray not just in Washington in general but in the Democratic party. The problem with this slow-bleed bill is quite simple. Any Democrat who votes for it and receives ladles full of pork in exchange has given their political opponent in the next election a massive bat with which they will be beaten. Count on it. They will look exactly like they were more than willing to endanger fellow Americans in exchange for gobs of cash from Pelosi and Murtha.