Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

If it’s tomato season, it’s cucumber season, too – a time to think about light summer salads, garlicky chilled soups, even cooked cucumber dishes.

Their high water content makes cucumbers especially refreshing during the months when they’re at their best. Cucumbers also are a very good source of vitamin C  and caffeic acid, compounds that seem to help prevent water retention (which may be why cucumber rounds have long been favored as remedies for swollen eyes and sunburned skin). Cucumber juice also is used in natural skin care products because it contains silica, an important component of connective tissue and healthy skin.

Seek out unwaxed cucumbers, so you won’t need to peel them; the skin is a rich in fiber and a good source of potassium and magnesium. You won’t have to remove seeds if you’re able to use Persian or European cucumbers.

Some heart patients not getting treatment: study

(Reuters) – Some patients with congestive heart failure are not receiving recommended medicines that could keep them alive longer and out of the hospital, a trend that may be adding to the nation’s health costs, U.S. researchers say.

A team at Stanford University School of Medicine in a study conducted over 15 years found that patients got prescriptions for drugs that would help their condition in fewer than half of doctor visits, and that number was falling.

“There are some recommended medications for heart failure that have been proven to be effective against mortality and morbidity, to lower hospitalizations and improve death rates,” said Dr. Dipanjan Banerjee, a cardiologist at Stanford who worked on the study released on Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Scientists use salmonella bug to kill cancer cells

(Reuters) – Treating tumors with salmonella bacteria can induce an immune response that kills cancer cells, scientists have found — a discovery that may help them create tumor-killing immune cells to inject into patients.

Researchers from Italy and the United States who worked with mouse and human cancer cells in laboratories said their work might help in developing a new drug in a class of cancer treatments called immunotherapies or therapeutic vaccines, which harness the body’s immune system to fight disease.

“We did experiments first in mice and then in cancer cells and immune cells from human patients, and found that the salmonella was doing exactly the same job,” Maria Rescigno of European Institute of Oncology in Milan, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview. “Now we are ready to go into (testing on) humans, but we are waiting for authorization.”

Stem cells may hold key for fatal skin disease

(Reuters) – High-risk bone marrow transplants partially cured five children with a potentially deadly genetic defect in which proteins that hold layers of skin together are absent, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

But one other child died from side effects of a drug used to prepare for a transplant and a second died from a post-transplant infection.

People with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, or RDEB, are plagued by painful blisters on the skin, mouth and throat, caused by the slightest trauma that can expose the body to infection and, in some cases, an aggressive form of cancer.

With the new treatment, “there was improved healing, fewer blisters, and their quality of life was positively affected. They could do things they couldn’t do before, like ride a bicycle or go on a trampoline,” said Dr. John Wagner of the University of Minnesota, who worked on the study.

It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

New Way to Classify Rheumatoid Arthritis

Experts Say New System Could Lead to Earlier Treatment of Some RA Patients

Aug. 11, 2010 — A new way of classifying rheumatoid arthritis should lead to earlier identification of the disease, which, in turn, should help investigators explore new therapies to prevent its ravages, researchers say.

The revised classification, announced this week by the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism, will allow researchers to recruit patients for clinical trials earlier in the disease process, says Boston University associate professor of medicine and epidemiology Tuhina Neogi, MD, PhD.

It may also lead to earlier treatment of some patients with suspected rheumatoid arthritis (RA), she says, although that was not the purpose of the revision.

The new criteria appear in the September issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Brain Waves Show Why Some Sleep Through Noise

Research May Lead to New Approaches in Treating Sleep Disorders

Aug. 9, 2010 — The brains of people who can sleep through the night undisturbed may be better wired to block out noise, according to a small study.

Understanding who has an easier time sleeping than others may help researchers develop more targeted approaches to treating sleep disorders. Environmental noises can affect sleep quality, which can ultimately impact overall health. According to a 2009 survey by the CDC, about one in 10 Americans report difficulty sleeping. Only 30% say they get enough sleep; more than 50 million Americans have chronic sleep disorders, such as insomnia.

CDC: Flu Vaccine Arriving, Get Yours ASAP

Aug. 12, 2010 — It may still be late summer, but this year’s flu vaccine already is arriving — and the CDC wants you to get yours right away.

That “you” means “everybody.” For the first time, the seasonal flu vaccine is recommended for all men, women — including pregnant women — and children over age 6 months. Exceptions include only those allergic to eggs or those with other health issues that make vaccination unwise.

And there will be plenty of vaccine out there. Manufacturers tell the CDC they’ll have 170 million doses on hand. They’ve already begun shipping the vaccine across the nation.

FDA Warns Lamictal Can Cause Meningitis

FDA Revising Drug Label to Include Information About Meningitis Risk

Aug. 12, 2010 — The FDA warned today that the prescription drug Lamictal, which is used to treat seizures and bipolar disorder, can cause aseptic meningitis.

Aseptic meningitis is an inflammation of the protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord and is not caused by bacterial infection.

The FDA says it is warning consumers about the potential problem and working with the drug’s manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, to update prescribing information to include a discussion of risks of Lamictal.

Diseases intensify risks in Pakistan flood crisis

Pakistan (Reuters) – Disease outbreaks pose grave risks to victims of Pakistan’s worst floods in decades, aid agencies said on Friday, causing fresh concern about already complicated relief efforts.

The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours, have engulfed Pakistan’s Indus river basin, killing more than 1,600 people, forcing two million from their homes and disrupting the lives of 14 million people, or 8 percent of the population.

At a hospital in Mingora, the main town in Swat valley, an official who asked not to be named told Reuters one case of cholera was confirmed. A German humanitarian organization said there were also six suspected cases there.

The most important world issue is clean water.

Swine Flu Pandemic Over, WHO Declares

But H1N1 Flu Bug Still Here, Becoming Seasonal Virus

July 10, 2010 — The H1N1 swine flu pandemic is over, the World Health Organization declared today.

The world has now entered the “post-pandemic period” in which the H1N1 virus has begun acting like — and circulating with — other flu bugs.

“The new H1N1 virus has largely run its course,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, MD, said at a news teleconference. Her decision follows the advice of the WHO’s Emergency Committee, which met this morning.

In the U.S., the pandemic emergency declaration expired June 23. But before officially ending the pandemic, the WHO waited to see what the winter flu season would look like in the Southern Hemisphere and whether there would be unusual summer swine flu outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere.

I will be removing “H1N1” from this header next week.

Scientists find new superbug spreading from India

(Reuters) – A new superbug from India could spread around the world — in part because of medical tourism — and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.

Researchers said on Wednesday they had found a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in South Asia and in Britain.

U.S. health officials said on Wednesday there had been three cases so far in the United States — all from patients who received recent medical care in India, a country where people often travel in search of affordable healthcare.

NDM-1 makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems. Experts say there are no new drugs on the horizon to tackle it.

“It’s a specific mechanism. A gene that confers a type of resistance (to antibiotics),” Dr. Alexander Kallen of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said in a telephone interview.

MRSA Infections Decline in Hospitals

Latest CDC Data Indicate Infection-Control Procedures Are Having an Impact

Aug. 10, 2010 — There has been a dramatic decline in hospital-acquired and other health care-related MRSA infections, the CDC reports.

From 2005 to 2008, the rate of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infections dropped by almost 28% among hospitalized patients and 17% among people who were not hospitalized but acquired the infection following medical procedures like dialysis.

Extremely Drug-Resistant Infections Spreading Fast

Common Bacteria Are Picking Up New Antibiotic-Resistant Gene

July 10, 2010 — Is this the beginning of the end of the antibiotic era?

NDM, a gene that makes germs impervious to many antibiotics, is spreading worldwide among bacteria in the gut that most commonly cause infections. The gene lives on a DNA strand called a plasmid that is easily swapped among different species of harmful gut bacteria.

The gene evolved in India — NDM stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase — but is widespread in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well. It’s been isolated all across the U.K., prompting a national alert. It’s also popped up in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Australia, and the Netherlands.

The bad news comes from a sobering report by Timothy R. Walsh, PhD, professor of infection, immunity, and biochemistry at Wales’ Cardiff University, and colleagues.

FDA OKs new “morning-after” pill

Reuters) – Health officials on Friday approved a new, longer-lasting “morning-after” pill to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex.

The prescription drug, called ella, is made by French company HRA Pharma and will be sold in the United States by Watson Pharmaceuticals.

It is the first emergency contraceptive approved since a five-year battle under the Bush administration ended with limited over-the-counter sales and age checks by pharmacists for a rival pill.

Ella has been shown to prevent pregnancy for up to five days after unprotected sex.

Estrogen-only therapy may not up lung cancer deaths

(Reuters Health) – Women who use estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy don’t appear to be at increased risk of dying from lung cancer.

That’s according to a new analysis of earlier data from postmenopausal women who had had their uterus removed (hysterectomy).

Previous studies of women with intact uteruses had shown that taking combined estrogen and progestin — a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone — raised the chances of dying from lung cancer (see Reuters Health story of September 21, 2009).

Obesity linked to lower risk of glaucoma in women

(Reuters Health) – A recent study found that heavier women were less likely to get one type of glaucoma than their thinner peers – the first time this association has been shown, the authors report.

The finding doesn’t mean that anyone at risk for the disease should try to pack on the pounds, they say, but it could be a first step toward learning more about why people develop glaucoma and how it progresses.

Stress May Affect Chances of Getting Pregnant

Study Shows Women With High Levels of Stress-Related Hormone Less Likely to Conceive

Aug. 12, 2010 — There is now scientific evidence to back up the widely held belief that stress can interfere with fertility.

Women in a newly published study were less likely to conceive when they exhibited higher levels of a stress-related enzyme known as alpha-amylase.

The research is the first of its kind to suggest a biological basis for the long-held notion that stress can reduce a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant.

Menstrual Cycle Affects Cholesterol Levels

Researchers Say Timing of Women’s Cholesterol Screening Should Take Menstrual Cycle Into Account

Aug. 12, 2010 — Blood cholesterol levels ebb and flow according a woman’s menstrual cycle, and screening tests should be timed accordingly for the most accurate results, National Institutes of Health researchers report online in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Menstrual Cramps May Affect the Brain

n Study, Women With Painful Periods Had Abnormal Brain Changes

Aug. 11, 2010 — Menstrual cramps may actually change the structure of women’s brains, according to new research in the journal Pain.

Primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) — menstrual pain in otherwise healthy women — affects between 20% to 90% of adolescent girls, researchers say. It is marked by cramps in the lower abdomen that start with menstruation and can last up to 72 hours.

ED supplement causes ‘worrisome’ heartbeat changes

(Reuters Health) – Enzyte, a popular dietary supplement marketed for “male enhancement,” causes electrical abnormalities in the heart that could be potentially fatal in some people, new research suggests.

Doctors should tell their patients not to use the product until more safety information is available, Dr. Brian F. McBride of Loyola University Chicago in Maywood, Illinois, and his colleagues conclude. Vianda, the Cincinnati-based company that makes Enzyte, did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment.

According to Vianda’s Web site, Enzyte promotes “firmer, stronger, fuller-feeling erections.” The company also states that “over 5 million men worldwide” use the supplement.

Because Enzyte is regulated as a dietary supplement, the company is not required to provide data to back up claims of its effectiveness.

Heh Tantra Yoga

Obesity linked to lower sperm count in young men

(Reuters Health) – Young men who are obese may have a lower sperm count than their normal-weight counterparts, a new study suggests.

The findings, reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility, add to evidence tying obesity to relatively poorer quality sperm.

A number of recent studies have found that compared with leaner men, obese men tend to have lower sperm counts, fewer rapidly mobile sperm and fewer progressively motile sperm, which refers to sperm that swim forward in a straight line rather than moving about aimlessly.

Acetaminophen tied to childhood wheezing and allergies

(Reuters Health) – A pair of studies suggests that the common painkiller acetaminophen — better known as Tylenol in the U.S. — may be fueling a worldwide increase in asthma.

According to one study out Thursday, acetaminophen could be responsible for as many as four in 10 cases of wheezing and severe asthma in teens.

While no one knows if the drug causes asthma by itself, another report — published along with the first study — shows for the first time that many toddlers took acetaminophen before they developed asthma symptoms such as wheezing.

Study: Girls Entering Puberty Earlier

By Age 7, Breast Development More Common Than Reported 10 to 30 Years Ago

Aug. 9, 2010 — The age of puberty is declining for girls, with more girls developing breasts by age 7 than in years past, according to a new study.

Ethnicity plays a role in earlier puberty, says researcher Frank M. Biro, MD, director of the division of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati. So does body composition.

“We found that girls who are African-American matured before whites, and that’s been shown in several studies,” Biro tells WebMD. “White girls are maturing earlier than they had before, compared to 20 years earlier.”

TV, Texting Interfering With Parent-Child Talks?

Parents Say It’s Difficult to Broach Serious Subjects When Their Teens Are Distracted by TV, Cell Phones, Social Networking Sites

Aug. 10, 2010 — Parents whose teenagers spend a lot of time watching TV or using computers are worried that their youngsters’ tube and digital time may interfere with important parent-child conversations, new research indicates.

Partnership for a Drug-Free America cites a survey that finds that 38% of parents are concerned that too much TV viewing by their children may make it harder to talk to them, 37% fret that their teens’ time on computers may interfere with communication, and 33% say video games get in the way of serious conversations.

The parents say such activities make it harder for them to talk to their teens about alcohol and drug use and other risky behaviors.

Colder Weather May Trigger Heart Attacks

Study Links Drop in Temperature With Higher Risk of Heart Attacks

Aug. 10, 2010 — A significant drop in temperatures may trigger heart attacks in elderly people, new research indicates.

Scientists in the U.K. say they found that each drop in ambient temperature of 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) was associated with a 2% increase in the risk of a heart attack. The risk persisted for 28 days after exposure but was highest within the first two weeks after a temperature decline.

Although the absolute increase in risk may be relatively small, an estimated 146,000 heart attacks occur every year in the U.K., so even a small increase in risk translates to a substantial number of additional heart attacks — about 200 extra for every reduction of 1 degree Celsius per day.

Spinal Fluid Test May Diagnose Alzheimer’s

Study Shows Proteins Could Help Identify Cases of Alzheimer’s Disease

Aug. 9, 2010 — Researchers have identified a protein “signature” in the spinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, which could represent an important advance in its diagnosis.

The signature was found in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 90% of people with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and 72% of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) — a disorder that often progresses to Alzheimer’s.

Eye Damage Common in Older Diabetes Patients

CDC Estimates That More Than a Fourth of Older Diabetes Patients Have Diabetic Retinopathy

Aug. 10, 2010 — Diabetes has increased in the United States and so, too, has the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy, according to a new CDC study.

CDC researchers estimate that 28.5% of U.S. diabetes patients over age 40 have diabetic retinopathy, an eye disorder in which the blood vessels of the retina are damaged by diabetes. CDC researchers also reported that 4.4% of the U.S. population is estimated to have vision-threatening retinopathy, which, if left untreated, can lead to blindness.

The findings suggest a need for more comprehensive eye care, particularly among patients with diabetes who are at risk for retinopathy, the researchers report. Their study results are published in the Aug.  11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Supplement may help people with depression

(Reuters Health) – A small study suggests that a nutritional supplement sold over-the-counter may help some people with depression who haven’t gotten better with any other drugs.

Researchers found that adding the supplement, called S-Adenosyl Methionine, or SAMe, to a patients’ antidepressant treatment helped more people with major depression improve their symptoms than those that took an inactive placebo on top of their normal medication.

The supplement also had fewer side effects than medications that are approved by the FDA for people with depression who don’t respond to antidepressants.

Depression on the Rise in Colleges?

Among College Students, Depression and Use of Psychiatric Medicines Have Increased in the Past 12 Years, Study Finds

Aug. 12, 2010 — Some mental health problems, including moderate and severe depression, are more common among college students today than in the past, according to a study that looked back 12 years.

But other problems, such as having thoughts of suicide, are less common among today’s students, says researcher John Guthman, PhD, director of counseling services at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

With his colleagues, he looked at the records of 3,256 college students who sought college counseling support between September 1997 and August 2009 at a mid-sized private university. He presented the findings today at the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting in San Diego.

Burger and a statin to go? Or hold that, please?

(Reuters Health) – Fast food outlets should hand out free cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to their customers to “neutralize” the heart risks of eating fatty foods like burgers and fries, British scientists suggested on Thursday.

But a few experts say you might want to ask your server to hold the statin at this point.

In a study published in the American Journal of Cardiology, scientists from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London calculated that the reduction in heart disease risk offered by a statin could offset the increase in risk from eating a cheeseburger and a milkshake.

Baking the White House Snack Bars

Ever since I stumbled across a cookbook at the Nixon presidential library, I’ve been enthralled by the culinary secrets of the White House.

I’ve whipped up the same roast turkey and marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes that Mamie Eisenhower served the Khrushchevs. Working late into the night is always easier, I find, with a few of President Lyndon Johnson’s favorite macaroons by the bed.

So it was with much excitement that I recently read about the fruit and oat bars now being served at the White House. At the behest of the first lady, Michelle Obama, the White House pastry chef, Bill Yosses, created the bars as a healthier alternative to cookies and other snacks. Loaded with hearty ingredients, the homely-looking treat that Mr. Yosses created was featured at the latest White House Easter egg roll and got almost as much attention as the event’s A-list entertainment: Justin Bieber and J.K. Rowling.

The Recipe: White House Fruit and Oat Bars

(2 PM – promoted by TheMomCat)

they will have a trojan horse hard nosed ‘democratic’ president in the oval office who has let George Bush and Dick Cheney and most of the previous republican administration off the hook effectively pardoning them for torture and all their other war crimes, continued if not expanded the overseas occupations the republicans started, given tens of trillions of dollars to wall street and other republican corporate cronies like the health insurance industry while ensuring the Military Industrial Complex remains the most corrupt and profitable racket in the history of humanity [1], and then falls all over himself bending over backwards to give the republicans anything and everything else they demand and more while conning the democratic base into supporting an ‘incremental’ bipartisanship with batsh*t crazy republicans fantasy to coopt that base into supporting republican policies across the board while insulting that base [2] at every opportunity and generally just screwing the working classes every way possible, while sending out scare letters [3] to that democratic base demanding money and votes because republicans are scary.

Who I’m sure hopes to guarantee himself a lucrative post presidential career continuing this good work for his constituents.

……….

¹ U.S. War Spending Now Exceeds That Of All States

² Gibbs: Obama Still Wants To Feel Pressure From The Left

³ President Obama: “Commit to vote in 2010”

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week with Christiane Amanpour:

This week Ms Amanpour’s guest are Banking Committee member Republican Senator Bob Corker, former New Jersey Governor and former Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Jon Corzine, member of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, Laura D’Andrea Tyson, and Martin Regalia of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They will discuss the failing economy and how to get it back in track.

She will host a roundtable with ABC’s Cokie Roberts, political strategist Matthew Dowd, Chrystia Freeland of Reuters and David Ignatius  of the Washington Post will discuss the crisis in Pakistan, how Russia’s severe drought and wildfires are triggering a global food crisis, Iran’s nuclear program, the winners and the losers in this week’s primaries, and all the week’s politics.

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer:

Mr. Scheiffer’s guest will be Tim Kaine, DNC Chairman, Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., Ed Gillespie, Former RNC Chairman, Ed Rollins, Republican Strategist, Karen Tumulty, Washington Post and John Harris, Politico.

Chris Matthews:

Mr. Matthews will host discussions with Howard Fineman, Newsweek

Senior Washington Correspondent, Norah O’Donnell, MSNBC, Chief Washington Correspondent, Kelly O’Donnell, NBC News, Capitol Hill Correspondent and John Heilemann, New York Magazine, National Political Correspondent. The questions that they will discuss:

Will Barack Obama’s Luck in His Weak GOP Opposition Hold for 2012?

What Investigations Would Top the GOP’s List if it Won Control of the House This Fall?

State of the Union with Candy Crowley:

This Sunday on State of the Union, Ms. Crowley is joined by DCCC Chair, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to talk 2010 politics.

Her roundtable will discuss the state of the economy with Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post and Jeanne Cummings of Politico.

Finally, she will talk about the “wacky weather” Climatologist Heidi Cullen and NASA scientist Tom Wagner.

Fareed Zakaris: GPS:

Mr. Zakariah will discus the troubled economy with Jeffrey Sachs, the man the NY Times has called “the most important Economist in the World”.

A panel of experts, including Mr. Sachs, will talk about climate and the flooding in Pakistan and Europe and the fires in Russia.

Also

What IS the state of Islam – in America and also around the world? What are its problems? What are the solutions to those problems? Fareed talks to a former Muslim and Muslim reformer.

And finally French criminals find themselves facing the short arm of the law.

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly: Testing The Limits Of Grabbing The Third Rail

In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower (R) wrote a letter to his brother. “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history,” Ike said. The president acknowledged in the letter that there are some who advocate such nonsense, but added, “Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

Eisenhower’s Republican Party has come a long way in the last half-century, and what was once considered fringe stupidity has become far more common. And with Social Security celebrating its 75th anniversary, there’s a renewed effort to shine a light on the GOP’s willingness to gut this bedrock American institution, if not eliminate it altogether.

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: The Memory Hole

The real tragedy of the Omar Khadr trial.

When Attorney General Eric Holder announced last fall that he planned to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court in New York, he was met with a firestorm of abuse. Despite the fact that hundreds of terror suspects have been tried and convicted in U.S. courts, the administration’s Republican opponents spun out a thousand reasons for treating Mohammed differently: His trial would create a target in New York City that would cost millions of dollars for security measures; he would use the proceedings to spread jihadist propaganda; he shouldn’t be entitled to the constitutional rights and protections afforded U.S. citizens. In short, KSM became the poster boy for the man too dangerous for the law. In March, the White House indicated that a decision on Mohammed’s trial was just weeks away. Months later, the administration is still mulling.

But instead of subjecting the so-called “worst of the worst” to a military tribunal, this past week the Obama administration fired up the tribunal system to try Omar Khadr, a child soldier. Khadr’s defense counsel, Jon Jackson, collapsed Thursday  while questioning a witness and was airlifted back to the United States for treatment. There will be at least a 30-day delay in the proceedings. Maybe we can use this small break to look again at what Guantanamo has become and to acknowledge that Omar Khadr represents everything we shouldn’t be trying before a secretive military commission.

Bob Herbert: Fire and Imagination

The Obama administration seems to be feeling sorry for itself. Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary, is perturbed that Mr. Obama is not getting more hosannas from liberals.

Spare me. The country is a mess. The economy is horrendous, and millions of American families are running out of ammunition in their fight against destitution. Steadily increasing numbers of middle-class families, who never thought they’d be seeking charity, have been showing up at food pantries.

Gail Collins: My Favorite August

The story in American history I most like to tell is the one about how women got the right to vote 90 years ago this month. It has everything. Adventure! Suspense! Treachery! Drunken legislators!

But, first, there was a 70-year slog.

Which is really the important part. We always need to remember that behind almost every great moment in history, there are heroic people doing really boring and frustrating things for a prolonged period of time.

That great suffragist and excellent counter, Carrie Chapman Catt, estimated that the struggle had involved 56 referendum campaigns directed at male voters, plus “480 campaigns to get Legislatures to submit suffrage amendments to voters, 47 campaigns to get constitutional conventions to write woman suffrage into state constitutions; 277 campaigns to get State party conventions to include woman suffrage planks, 30 campaigns to get presidential party campaigns to include woman suffrage planks in party platforms and 19 campaigns with 19 successive Congresses.”

And you thought health care reform was a drawn-out battle.

Bill Richardson: Time for Western Hemisphere countries to collaborate

Arizona’s attempt to create and enforce its own immigration policy  has once again amplified — and politicized — the immigration debate in this country. But the fallout of that debate extends beyond our borders. The anti-

immigrant push in Arizona has further alienated our neighbors throughout Latin America, who had been hoping for better relations with the United States after President Obama’s election. We need to turn this opportunity to our advantage and engage with our neighbors throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Latin America has perhaps the greatest impact, in terms of trade and culture, on the daily lives of most Americans. U.S. exports to Latin America have grown faster in the past 11 years than to any other region, including Asia. Hispanics represent the biggest ethnic and most sought-after voting bloc in the United States. And nearly every country in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean now has a democratically elected government.

The time is right to leverage our trade and partnerships and advance a more collaborative relationship with our neighbors to the south.

Emily Bazelon of Slate: The best way for Prop 8 to Lose

In allowing gay marriages to go forward on Aug. 18, Judge Vaughn Walker noted that Proposition 8 proponents may not have standing to bring an appeal. How can that be, since they were allowed to defend Prop 8, the voter referendum banning gay marriage, at trial? And if they really don’t have standing in court to continue the fight for Prop 8, would that be a good way to resolve the case?

Andrew Sullivan has been tackling those questions in a series of posts. As I read it, he’s OK with kicking the case out of court for lack of standing because it would hoist conservatives on their own petard. After all, they’re the ones who usually cheer for narrow standing requirements. I take his point. And I surely see the benefits of halting this case before an appeal. No matter how many times Prop 8 big-shot lawyer challengers Ted Olson and David Boies say they know the heart of Justice Kennedy, and promise us that it is a heart that beats for gay couples at the altar, the smart money for same-sex marriage advocates is still on keeping this case-at this moment in time-away from the Supreme Court.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour a cup of your favorite morning beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

August 14 is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 139 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.

On this day in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Social Security Act. Press photographers snapped pictures as FDR, flanked by ranking members of Congress, signed into law the historic act, which guaranteed an income for the unemployed and retirees. FDR commended Congress for what he considered to be a “patriotic” act.

U.S. Social Security is a social insurance program that is funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). Tax deposits are formally entrusted to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, or the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund.

The main part of the program is sometimes abbreviated OASDI (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) or RSDI (Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance). When initially signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 as part of his New Deal, the term Social Security covered unemployment insurance as well. The term, in everyday speech, is used to refer only to the benefits for retirement, disability, survivorship, and death, which are the four main benefits provided by traditional private-sector pension plans. In 2004 the U.S. Social Security system paid out almost $500 billion in benefits.

By dollars paid, the U.S. Social Security program is the largest government program in the world and the single greatest expenditure in the federal budget, with 20.8% for social security, compared to 20.5% for discretionary defense and 20.1% for Medicare/Medicaid. Social Security is currently the largest social insurance program in the U.S., constituting 37% of government expenditure and 7% of the gross domestic product and is currently estimated to keep roughly 40% of all Americans age 65 or older out of poverty. The Social Security Administration is headquartered in Woodlawn, Maryland, just to the west of Baltimore.

Social Security privatization became a major political issue for more than three decades during the presidencies of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

Social Security is under attack once again by The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The commission was created by the executive order of President Barack Obama in January 2010 after Congress voted against the bill that would create it

 1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan. (Traditional Japanese date: Twenty-fifth Day of the Seventh Month of the Second Year of Juei).

1385 – Portuguese Crisis of 1383-1385: Battle of Aljubarrota – Portuguese forces commanded by King Joao I and his general Nuno Alvares Pereira defeat the Castilian army of King Juan I.

1598 – Nine Years War: Battle of the Yellow Ford – Irish forces under Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal.

1842 – Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma.

1846 – The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3 kg chondrite-type meteorite strikes near the town of Cape Girardeau in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.

1848 – Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.

1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, is completed.

1885 – Japan’s first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.

1888 – A recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan’s The Lost Chord, one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison’s phonograph in London.

1893 – France introduces motor vehicle registration.

1900 – A joint European-Japanese-United States force (Eight-Nation Alliance) occupies Beijing, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.

1901 – The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.

1908 – The first beauty contest is held in Folkestone, England.

1911 – United States Senate leaders agree to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the Senate among leading candidates to fill the vacancy left by William P. Frye’s death.

1912 – United States Marines invade Nicaragua to support the U.S.-backed government installed there after Jose Santos Zelaya had resigned three years earlier.

1933 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying 240,000 acres.

1935 – United States Social Security Act passes, creating a government pension system for the retired.

1936 – Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.

1937 – Chinese Air Force Day: The beginning of air-to-air combat of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II in general, when 6 Imperial Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers are shot down by the Nationalist Chinese Air Force while raiding Chinese air bases.

1941 – World War II – Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.

1945 – Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender (August 15 in Japan standard time).

1947 – Pakistan and India gain Independence from the British Indian Empire under the administration of United Kingdom and joins the British Commonwealth.

1948 – Don Bradman, widely regarded as the best cricket batsman in history, makes a duck in his final Test innings.

1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.

1967 – UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.

1969 – British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland.

1972 – An East German Ilyushin Il-62 crashes during takeoff from East Berlin, killing 156.

1973 – The constitution of 1973 comes into effect in Pakistan

1980 – Lech Walesa leads strikes at the Gdansk, Poland shipyards.

1987 – All the children held at Kia Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, Australia, run by the Santiniketan Park Association, are released after a police raid.

1994 – Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as “Carlos the Jackal”, is captured.

2003 – Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.

No Boys.  Only the one crack at Keith and Rachel because it’s all Maricopa County and Joe Arpaio all the time on MSNBC during the weekend.

AMC has M*A*S*H x 2, the movie with all the minor characters who got cut from the TV Series like the Painless Pole (without whom the ‘Suicide is Painless‘ theme song doesn’t make much sense) and Spearchucker Jones and Duke (who’s absence, since he’s the second lead while Trapper John McIntyre only makes his appearance halfway through, is pretty puzzling).  Only Gary Burghoff is the same.

Yes, I did read all 3 novels by Rchard Hooker.  Why do you ask?

• ESPN– Little League Baseball, Southeast Region Final
• Oxygen– Monster-in-Law which, although it has J-Lo, also has Jane Fonda
• SciFi– Eureka’s Warehouse 13 crossover episode (imaginatively titled Crossing Over).
  
  Oh, and premiers of that and Haven.
• TBS– Diary of a Mad Black Woman (why Tyler Perry is famous)
• Turner Classic– The Boy with Green Hair, The Set-Up (Robert Ryan night)
• Discovery– Odd Couple survival night
• TLC– Say Yes to the Dress marathon
• TNT– A Few Good Men
• Toon– Ben 10 and Generator Rex premiers, Clone Wars bounty hunter episodes

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Later-

Alton has all you’d ever want to know about pressure-cooking broth.  Toon has new Children’s Hospital (new link), Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman (memorable), and Look Around You does Sports (Darts and Fencing become ‘Dencing’, though I can perhaps think of another fusion).

• FX– Bedazzled
• Oxygen– Shall We Dance? (more J-Lo, but also Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon)
• TBS– The Truman Show (prescient and disturbing)
• TNT– The Fugitive
• USA– Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
• Disney– Summer Belongs To You

There will come a time when you have a chance to do the right thing.

I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by.

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

40 Top Story Final.

1 BP to pay 50 mln dlr fine for deadly 2005 Texas blast

by Mira Oberman, AFP

Fri Aug 13, 5:21 am ET

2 South Asian superbug claims first fatality

AFP

1 hr 13 mins ago

3 Fires threaten secret Russian nuclear site

by Stuart Williams, AFP

2 hrs 5 mins ago

4 Germany drives record Europe recovery, but experts fear peak

by Roddy Thomson, AFP

1 hr 59 mins ago

5 Extinct mammoth tusks fill elephant ivory ban gap

by John Saeki, AFP

Fri Aug 13, 11:59 am ET

6 Spain confirms timid economic recovery

AFP

Fri Aug 13, 11:58 am ET

7 UN chief to visit Pakistan flood devastation

by Sami Zubeiri, AFP

Fri Aug 13, 11:30 am ET

8 Looters exploit Pakistan flood misery

by Hasan Mansoor, AFP

Fri Aug 13, 5:44 am ET

9 Myanmar junta announces November 7 election

AFP

Fri Aug 13, 7:47 am ET

10 Canadians board Sri Lankan asylum boat

by Deborah Jones, AFP

Fri Aug 13, 5:28 am ET

11 BP to proceed with relief well after tests

By Chris Baltimore, Reuters

55 mins ago

12 Alabama sues BP for "catastrophic" Gulf oil spill

By Verna Gates, Reuters

47 mins ago

13 Diseases intensify risks in Pakistan flood crisis

By Akhtar Soomro, Reuters

Fri Aug 13, 12:16 pm ET

14 BlackBerry assures India on access to services

By Bappa Majumdar, Reuters

1 hr 16 mins ago

15 GM CEO steps down on cusp of IPO filing

By David Bailey and Kevin Krolicki, Reuters

Fri Aug 13, 1:28 am ET

16 Congressional election fails to stir voters

By Nick Carey and James B. Kelleher, Reuters

Thu Aug 12, 8:51 am ET

17 HP’s top lawyer in the eye of the storm again

By Gabriel Madway and Dan Levine, Reuters

Thu Aug 12, 9:16 pm ET

18 Reclusive Myanmar sets date for elections

By Aung Hla Tun, Reuters

Fri Aug 13, 4:32 am ET

19 Feds say well’s not dead yet, more drilling needed

By TOM BREEN, Associated Press Writer

46 mins ago

20 In a sluggish economic summer, no easy fix ahead

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

1 hr 1 min ago

21 Obama signs $600M border security bill into law

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 1 min ago

22 Like father, like son? Quayle stumbles in Arizona

By MICHELLE PRICE, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 23 mins ago

23 Judge doubts gay marriage ban’s backers can appeal

By PAUL ELIAS and LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

Fri Aug 13, 12:26 pm ET

24 Matt Kuchar in control for now at PGA Championship

By NANCY ARMOUR, AP National Writer

50 mins ago

25 Auto sales boost otherwise weak retail sector

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writers

Fri Aug 13, 2:05 pm ET

26 Tamil migrant ship docks in Canada

By JEREMY HAINSWORTH, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 52 mins ago

27 Waters releases documents in ethics case defense

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 15 mins ago

28 India eyes Google and Skype in security crackdown

By ERIKA KINETZ, AP Business Writer

Fri Aug 13, 11:18 am ET

29 Pelosi stumps for Democrats as GOP fires away

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

Fri Aug 13, 10:56 am ET

30 RAND report: Haiti must clear rubble, aid business

By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press Writer

Fri Aug 13, 5:57 am ET

31 Myanmar junta sets election date for Nov 7

Associated Press

Fri Aug 13, 2:46 pm ET

32 Liberal groups push to exploit Target backlash

By MARTIGA LOHN, Associated Press Writer

Fri Aug 13, 9:32 am ET

33 WikiLeaks preparing to release more Afghan files

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER and ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writers

Fri Aug 13, 1:17 am ET

34 AP Enterprise: More immigrants getting licenses

By TIM KORTE and MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press Writers

24 mins ago

35 Ames must conserve to restore water after flooding

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press Writer

36 mins ago

36 Bishop in NH retires as sex abuse scandal lingers

By HOLLY RAMER, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 11 mins ago

37 Former Calif. priest faces sex charges in Ireland

By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer

Thu Aug 12, 9:27 pm ET

38 Aid helps states escape layoffs, but for how long?

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 59 mins ago

39 For-profit colleges rein in recruiting tactics

By ERIC GORSKI, AP Education Writer

Fri Aug 13, 2:39 pm ET

40 NY governor’s aide charged with assault

By COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press Writer

Thu Aug 12, 6:19 pm ET

(8 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Crossposted at Daily Kos and Docudharma

NOTE: Please Read This

There are another dozen or so editorial cartoons posted here in the comments section.  Check them out.

As the latest eKos Earthship diary described it

The Gulf Recovery Blogathon is a three-day series about what we can do to assist the citizens, wildlife and eco-systems of the Gulf Coast. Through diaries on a wide range of subjects — by an incredible team of writers — we hope to promote awareness of the continuing crisis caused by the devastating deluge of oil that has overwhelmed the Gulf since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on Tuesday, April 20, nearly four months ago.  

Hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents have seen their livelihoods, if not their generations-old ways of life, threatened or extinguished.  Thousands — perhaps tens of thousands — of shorebirds, reptiles, amphibians and marine mammals are dead or suffering. An entire eco-system is in danger.

It would all sound at least marginally hyperbolic, were it not all true.

There is so much to do.  And, as a community, we can accomplish so much. Please join us by reading, recommending, commenting — and by taking action through the links provided.

:: ::

Vic Harville, Stephens Media Group (Little Rock, AR), Buy this cartoon

BP Sweeps Gulf Problems Under the Rug by Chris Britt, Comics.com, see reader comments in the State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)

Steve Breen, Comics.com (San Diego Union Tribune)

Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader

Rob Rogers, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

CEO Hell

Tony Hayward has his life back.  That’s more than I can say for the poor ocean creatures covered in oil.  I always like to imagine a cartoon world where what goes around comes around.  In that world, oil executives would be punished for destroying our precious environment and corporate polluters would pay a price for caring more about profits than the health of the planet.  If only such a world existed.

— Rogers expressing sentiments that many people on this blog have written about in recent months

:: ::

INTRODUCTION

Editorial cartoonists evoke a wide range of emotions — laughter, anger, outrage, remorse, disgust, surprise, irony, fear, and sadness, to name a few.  They capture the absurdity of domestic politics better than thousands of written words by op-ed columnists and editors of the most influential newspapers or talking heads on cable television.

Over the past four months since oil first started spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, I have posted hundreds of editorial cartoons covering various aspects of this environmental tragedy.  You can click on my weekly diaries and you’ll find many heart-breaking cartoons which detail the magnitude of the destruction caused by Big Oil.

This diary seeks to look at the developments in the Gulf over the past four months through recent cartoons.  From the devastation to wildlife; evasive, dishonest, and callous actions by British Petroleum; the disgraceful attitude displayed by BP’s recently-departed CEO Tony Hayward; and the efforts by the Obama Administration to reimburse Gulf residents (to the extent possible) for their losses.

The “recovery” has just started and may take years, if not decades, to be completed.  If at all.

:: ::

1. Birds/Wildlife/Ecosystems Lost

Vic Harville, Stephens Media Group (Little Rock, AR), Buy this cartoon

Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader

Beaches and Contamination by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

2. Oil Industry: Attitudes and Lobbying

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Jack Ohman, Comics.com (Portland Oregonian)

Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

3. The Story’s Villain: BP’s Tony Hayward

Lowe thinks that British Petroleum bid farewell to its CEO Tony Hayward for obvious reasons.  BP wanted to maintain its financial viability and keep its stock price as high as possible.  Not because he screwed up or that under his stewardship, the company caused lasting environmental damage to the Gulf Coast

As it turns out, all BP really wanted was to resuscitate that anemic stock price by moving its pet clown out of the limelight.  As long as he was visibly in charge, that figure was going to remain unrealistically low.

The company apparently still likes the guy, and they’re going to let him run some Russian oil company that they half-own.  Chances are the Russians don’t even have the laughable regulation enforcement that we do, so our seafaring toff will be free to cut safety corners all he wants…

In the unlikely event the BP brass might want to punish Tony at all for his transgressions (a notion which implies, of course, that oil companies are headed by people with a sense of right and wrong) they might require him to spend at least ninety-five percent of his time circling his Russian wells in his new icebreaking yacht.

At minimum, that would offer cold comfort to a few out-of-work Gulf fishermen.

Hayward’s Life by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon

Steve Kelley, Comics.com (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

Tony Hayward and BP Pension by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon

Tony Hayward’s Exit by Martin Sutovec, Freelance Cartoonist (Slovakia), Buy this cartoon

J.D. Crowe, Mobile Register, Buy this cartoon

Crowe says farewell to Hayward and has some choice words for the departing oil executive

Tony “The Jerk” Hayward

Without you, T-Hay, none of this would have been possible, possibly.  Without your repeated verbal commitments to safety while skimping on the gravy and cutting corners, without your numerous out-of-touch gaffes that had us Gulf Coast folks fuming while your oil spill was pluming, none of this drama would have been quite the same…

Eleven men lost their lives in the initial oil rig explosion.  Countless birds and wildlife have been oiled, distressed, and killed.  Fishing, tourism and the small business economy all along the Gulf Coast has been devastated.  Some businesses were handed a death sentence.

We will miss you, Mr. Hayward, in that weird, hateful way…

You’ve made a name for yourself, Tony Hayward.  And now you have your life back. Wish we could say the same.  Jerk.

:: ::

4. What Happened to Those Millions of Gallons of Spilt Oil?

Stein is skeptical of reports that most of the oil spilt into the Gulf of Mexico has vanished into thin air

Going, Going, Gone

The government announced last week that three-quarters of the oil spewed from BP’s Deepwater Horizon leak had already vanished.  Great news, right?  Maybe the damage wouldn’t be so bad, after all.  Except that numerous experts from outside the administration, which underplayed the severity of the leak from the beginning, believe that these optimistic numbers woefully underestimate the amount of oil still lurking beneath the surface.  

Massive amounts of chemical dispersants created huge columns of undersea oil, suspended in tiny droplets, which still may be wreaking havoc on the undersea ecology, the full extent of which may not be known for decades.  Fish oil could take on a whole new meaning in the coming years.

Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer, Buy this cartoon

J..D. Crowe, see reader comments in the Mobile Register, Buy this cartoon

Since BP capped the wild well a couple weeks ago, a miracle has happened. The oil has disappeared!

After 100 days, BP says boats and cleanup crews are finding less and less surface sheen to skim up and collect. It’s gone.

One of two things has transpired:

1. With the resignation of Tony Hayward, BP’s curse on the Gulf has been lifted and the mess has magically disappeared.

2. All the crude that has been gushing and mixing with dispersants and ocean water for 3 months is still lurking under the surface. Like a monster. Like thousands of oily gobs of monsters. Dangerous sharks of toxic crude are lurking beneath the surface of the Gulf, ready to attack.

— Crowe has some ideas as to what happened to all the oil

Chan Lowe, Comics.com (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Lowe knows the American character well.  If they can’t see something on their television sets, they don’t think a problem exists.  It is as simple as that.  In other words, out of sight, out of mind!

The Oil Slick’s Lasting Damage

Ours is a nation that runs on visuals. To put it more bluntly, if we don’t see it on TV, it doesn’t exist.

Those of us old enough and not too high at the time to remember the 1960s recall that what made the Vietnam war so immediate was that Uncle Walter was delivering footage of dying American boys right to our living rooms…

It’s the same with the oil slick.  BP and the Obama Administration are counting on the fact that TV cameras won’t show the underwater plumes that will plague us for years, or the consequent destruction of the aquatic food chain, because those things aren’t readily visible the way oil-covered waterfowl are.

Out of sight, out of mind.

:: ::

5. Gulf Coast Businesses: What Hath BP Wrought?

Dana Summers, Comics.com (Orlando Sentinel)

Steve Kelley, Comics.com (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

Drew Sheneman, Comics.com (Newark Star-Ledger)

Oil Dispersant by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon

Gulf Scream ll by J.D. Crowe, see reader comments in the Mobile Register, Buy this cartoon

:: ::

6. Will the Lives of Gulf Coast Residents Ever Be the Same?

Crowe’s a bit indignant at the slow pace with which BP’s processing legitimate claims for the tens of thousands of people and businesses affected by this catastrophe

The Urgency of Now is here.  Gulf Coast businesses need their claims paid NOW, BP. Quit your head-noddin’, foot-draggin’ PR nonsense and pay the folks who are hurting the most.  Pay them NOW.

Our Gulf Coast community businesses are in danger of dying on the vine.

We are a family down here.  Generations of families harvest their livings from the Gulf.  We are not a bunch of chain stores and restaurants, we are a collection of family-owned businesses.  If they fail here, now, they fail.  We fail.  Period.

Chip Bok, Comics.com (Bokbluster.com)

Walt Handelsman, Comics.com (Newsday)

:: ::

7. What’s Our Responsibility?

Rogers sends a message to Washington, D.C: get with the program and enact meaningful energy legislation

Beached

Well, the leak has been plugged and BP says the cleanup is pretty much over.  When the oil slicks clear and the media goes home, there will still be an unsightly rotten mess on the beach.  I’m talking about our energy policy.  Washington needs to wake up and smell the tar balls.  Pass an energy bill!

Steve Breen, Comics.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)

:: ::

8. Will the Gulf Rise Again?

Crowe insists that people of the Gulf Coast are resilient and will, with your help, recover from this disaster

If you’re looking for positives in this unprecedented oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, look into the water itself.

Mother Nature will lick her wounds, and the Gulf in particular has shown it can be a mighty resilient force.

I count on the Gulf to suffer through this abuse and rise to its awesome glory once again.

:: ::

:: ::

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

If you thought that Rep. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin were off the wall and out of the ball park with inane ideas, catch this interview with GOP Congressman Louis Gohmert (R-TX) by Anderson Cooper (full transcript below):

Congressman, thanks for being with us.

   You heard Tom Fuentes, we had him on the program last nigh. He’s a former high-ranking FBI official who oversaw FBI offices in some of the biggest terror hot spots in the Middle East. He was on the program last night, and he said this whole is, in his words, ludicrous. And there’s absolutely no evidence or even concern about it ever in the FBI.

   Here’s just some of what he said.

   (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM V. FUENTES, FMR. FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: There was never a credible report or any report for that matter coming across through all of the various mechanisms of communication to indicate that there was such a plan for the terror babies to be born.

   (END VIDEO CLIP)

   COOPER: So, before going on to the House floor and spreading this story, did you — did you call the FBI?

   GOHMERT: You are going to keep me honest? You tell the world that you got an FBI statement, and you bring on a retired FBI, former supervisor, and he says, “We were not aware of any credible report that this was going on”? I brought it to the attention of America for this reason. It was — I’m a former judge, and I know —

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: Did you bring it to the attention of the FBI? Did you call the FBI? That’s my question.

   GOHMERT: She first brought in my attention on an — she brought it to my attention on an airplane having flown together, and she brought that to my attention. That’s why I was talking to a retired FBI agent about it. And so, having talked to him, no, I didn’t talk to them, because the point is: when we did the research, we found the hole existed.

   Now, if —

   COOPER: What research? Can you tell us about the research?

   (CROSSTALK)

   GOHMERT: You are attacking the messenger, Anderson, you are better than this. You used to be good. You used to find that there was a problem and you would go after it.

   (COOPER)

   COOPER: Sir, I am asking you for evidence of something that you said on the floor of the House.

   GOHMERT: I did, and you listen, this is a problem. If you would spend as much time looking into the problem as you would have been trying to come after me and belittle me this week —

   COOPER: Sir, do you want to offer any evidence? I’m giving you an opportunity to say what research and evidence you have. You’ve offered none, other than yelling.

   GOHMERT: Do you ever look at your Web site? Do you ever look at your Web site? Do you?

   COOPER: Sir — GOHMERT: Because if you had, you would have seen that Tony said that there are people that go from his neighborhood, come back and they have a baby and American passport. Just in “The Washington Post,” July 18th, 2010, here’s a — here’s a story, what can $14, 700 buy you in modern China? For that price —

   COOPER: Sir, what you are talking about is tourists coming here —

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: Sir, please let me say — what you are talking about is tourists who are coming here —

   (CROSSTALK)

   GOHMERT: — messenger and you are refusing to look at the gaping hole in the security of our country.

   COOPER: Sir, you’re just being a — you’re just yelling. You’re not actually having a conversation.

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: May I respond to you?

   GOHMERT: If you want, let me finish this article. This says —

   COOPER: I know, we have the article on the paper.

   GOHMERT: — that U.S. citizenship.

   COOPER: Yes.

   GOHMERT: — and their children can have a more fair competitive advantage if they spend the money and come over here and get an American passport. You get —

   COOPER: Sir, I agree with you. That was in “The Washington Post” and hotels here which sponsored these people and allow these people to come. But there’s no evidence of terror babies.

   (CROSSTALK)

   GOHMERT: You have to believe that the terrorists are more stupid that these enterprising people. They say that this business, so called birth business — birth tourism packages are online. Have you looked online? Go online and —

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: OK. Sir, again, I am agreeing with you that there are tourists — sir, you can continue to yell all you want. Again, you’re just showing yourself not to have actually any evidence. What I am saying is, yes, those newspaper articles clearly — there are many tourists who come here to have babies so they can have U.S. citizenship. But any evidence of terror babies?

   (CROSSTALK)

   GOHMERT: — who have sent — sent pregnant women over here to have babies and I know that if I give you the name before I get it to people who will be objective, you’ll send somebody like the retired FBI agent and say, sir, we have information here that you sent your pregnant wife into the United States —

   COOPER: The FBI says this is just not happening. You are spreading scare stories, and this is completely about politics.

   GOHMERT: It is happening. It is happening.

   COOPER: Where? Give me some evidence. Tell me one person, one terror baby that’s been born? Can you tell me?

   GOHMERT: The explosions will not happen for 10 or 15 or 20 years and then you will be one of those blips. I’m not comparable to Winston Churchill, but the detractors like you are comparable to his detractors.

   COOPER: OK.

   GOHMERT: He tried to tell people these things were going on.

   COOPER: All right.

   GOHMERT: Anderson, do you really believe that the ones that want to destroy the United States are more stupid than these entrepreneurs in China, than these people in Mexico?

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: OK. Well, sir, one of the things that the former FBI —

   GOHMERT: Do you think they are that stupid?

   COOPER: Are you willing to have a conversation or do you want to just yell?

   One of the things that the former FBI agent pointed out —

   GOHMERT: You will not let me present what we have —

   COOPER: OK, one of the former —

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: One of the former FBI agents pointed out on this program last night that terrorist groups have no problem recruiting U.S. citizens, have no problems sending people over here, that they don’t need to prepare 20 years from now.

   (CROSSTALK)

   GOHMERT: — there is no credible report of such a plan.

   COOPER: Where it is?

   GOHMERT: And I bet you, on 9/10, he were to come on your show and say there is no credible report of a plan to take down the World Trade Centers, because he didn’t have one.

   COOPER: OK. So, you don’t believe the FBI when they currently say there is no credible report?

   (CROSSTALK)

   GOHMERT: — taking shots at me and look at the gaping hole in the security of this country. I’m an easy target, and you and Jon Stewart can have your fun. But please, at some point, look at the gaping hole in our security.

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: Sir, I don’t think there’s anything fun about a congressman going on to the House floor and spreading scare stories. I don’t think there’s anything fun about that. And going on some TV show where you don’t get challenged about it. If you want to just yell about it all day long, you are certainly welcomed to do that and we don’t normally do that on this program. I have offered to present some form of evidence and you presented nothing.

   GOHMERT: — series of hole in our security, and people are coming in here. The evidence abounds, this is called birth tourism.

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: Right. Yes, there is birth tourism. I totally agree with you.

   GOHMERT: — if you can convince America that the people who send in engineers to look at the plans and specs for the World Trade Center are more stupid than those entrepreneurs in China and Mexico who are sending people in here to have babies —

   COOPER: OK. Again, this is a theory that you are propagating that you have no evidence for. There is a thing, “birth tourism,” but there’s no evidence in any of the articles that you cited that terrorists are actually partaking in that.

   GOHMERT: The only thing that will satisfy you, obviously, the building blocks to this case, you won’t be satisfied until I bring in somebody who says, “I’m a terrorist and you are right.” I’ll send —

   COOPER: No, I will take a legitimate former FBI agent who actually offers evidence. If you can present that person, let us know off-camera, we’d be happy to talk to them off-camera. But so far, you have presented nothing.

   GOHMERT: I talked to that FBI agent, I promised him I would not reveal his name. COOPER: Well, that’s convenient. We have had a former FBI, a high-ranking one this office who says it’s ridiculous.

   (CROSSTALK)

   GOHMERT: If you go look at the story on “The Washington Post” —

   COOPER: I’ve read, we have it on this program, they say nothing about terrorism.

   GOHMERT: They say that they won’t give their names under the rules of embassy. So, it’s OK for other people —

   COOPER: No, I’m just saying, in “The Washington Post” article that you’re quoting, I’ve read that we’ve had it on this program. I agree, there’s birth tourism. It’s a well-documented fact. There’s no evidence, though, of terror babies being born.

   GOHMERT: Have you read — have you read and had on your program the pleading that was filed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? It was declassified March of 2009. I bet you hadn’t had that on. He says, “We fight you and destroy you and terrorize you, jihad is God’s call and a great duty in our religion, your end is very near and your fall will be just as the fall of the towers on blessed 9/11 day.”

   These guys are not stupid. They’re crazy jihadists but they’re not stupid.

   COOPER: I agree, they’re not stupid and they’re crazy jihadists. I absolutely agree with you. Again, I’m just asking for evidence and you presented none and yet, you continue to spread this story.

   GOHMERT: You are taking shots at me —

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: I’m not taking shots at you, sir. I’m just asking for evidence. And for some reason, you seem unwilling.

   GOHMERT: — taking shots for two days. You’ve twisted things, you’ve been out — who is the FBI — on active duty at the FBI told you that there are no such credible reports? Who told you that?

   COOPER: We have the statement from the FBI. We have the statement from the spokesperson of the FBI. I’d be happy to give to you. If you had actually called them before going on the House and before going on in television and spreading scare stories, you would know that and I’m sure they would tell you even more information.

   (CROSSTALK)

   COOPER: But apparently, you chose not to do that.

   GOHMERT: There was no credible report of a plan to bring down the towers —

   COOPER: OK.

   GOHMERT: — because all you have to do is the look at the gaping hole in our security, and —

   COOPER: Sir, you are a former judge, and had somebody done this in your courtroom, you would have asked for evidence, and you have none. I appreciate your time and appreciate your coming on. I’m disappointed that you did not present evidence.

   GOHMERT: This isn’t a courtroom. We’re trying to protect America, Anderson.

   COOPER: Everyone wants to protect America, Congressman.

   GOHMERT: We’re trying to protect America. It’s not a courtroom.

   COOPER: OK. Everyone wants to protect America, Congressman, both Democrats and Republicans.

   Congressman, appreciate your time.

   (CROSSTALK)

   GOHMERT: Help us to fill the hole — help us fill the hole, Anderson.

   COOPER: Louie Gohmert, appreciate your time.

(4 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

In March of 2009, a working mother with two toddlers, Samantha Burton, was 25 weeks pregnant and showing signs of miscarrying. When she told her doctor that it would be impossible for her to comply with his order of complete best rest for as long as 15 weeks and that she would seek a second opinion. When she tried to leave the Tallahassee where she had gone voluntarily, the hospital went to court, obtaining a court oder forcing her to remain in the hospital and submit to anything to preserve the life and health of unborn child.

The Florida ACLU intervened on her behalf to strike down the court order that rendered her powerless to make her own medical decisions. The a three judge panel rules that the order set a dangerous precedent and over turned the order but not before MS. Burton was forced to undergo a C-Section and gave birth to a still born. Ms. Burton and the ACLU decided to pursue the case to protect other women from the abuse of a woman’s right to make medical decisions about her health care.

Yesterday, Florida District Court of Appeal ruled that the rights of a pregnant woman were violated when she was forced to remain hospitalized against her will after disagreeing with a hospital’s recommended treatment.

As Marcy Wheeler said at FDL

So if you’re a pregnant woman, you now have the radical right to choose your own doctor and have a say in your treatmetn, even if a judge thinks he knows better. Radical!!

Kind of crazy, all this rights-upholding going on. It might just lead you to believe we were in the United States or something.

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Dean Baker: Fun With Paul Ryan and the Washington Post

The Washington Post really really hates Social Security. They hate Medicare almost as much. Therefore they are willing to give its critics space to say almost anything against the program (the real cause of September 11th) no matter how much they have to twist reality to make their case.

Today, Republican Representative Paul Ryan stepped up to the plate. The Post felt the need to give him an oped column after Paul Krugman cruelly subjected Mr. Ryan’s “Roadmap for America’s Future” to a serious analysis last week. This violated the long accepted practice in elite Washington circles of not holding proponents of Social Security and Medicare cuts/privatization accountable for the things they say. It is therefore understandable the Post would quickly give a coveted oped slot to Mr. Ryan to make amends for such a grevious breach of protocol.

The rest of us may not have the power to invent the facts that would be needed to push our policies, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.

snip

Ryan concludes by telling readers that his proposal is “my sincere attempt to break the political paralysis on entitlement reform, to show that this challenge can be met – mathematically and politically – and to challenge those who disagree with my proposal to offer their own.”

In the forgiving spirit of Friday the 13th, I will not count the reference to sincerity as an inaccuracy. The 20 inaccuracies and 4 references to raiding Medicare can speak for themselves. Of course to the seniors who would be unable to afford decent health care if Mr. Ryan’s plan became law, his sincerity won’t make any difference.

But, I am happy to offer my own test of Mr. Ryan’s sincerity. How about giving Medicare beneficiaries the option to buy into the more efficient health care systems in Europe, Japan, and Canada. The beneficiaries and the taxpayers will split the savings. This leaves the current system intact for those who like it, while offering seniors who opt to go elsewhere for their health care the opportunity to pocket tens of thousands of dollars while saving taxpayers money as well. What’s wrong with giving people a choice, Mr. Ryan?

Robert Kuttner: Liberal criticism of Obama is out of tough-love

Liberals have criticized Obama mainly because he is bungling this opportunity, not because he isn’t as leftwing as some might like.

If his governing style and legislative achievements were producing either an economic recovery, or a sense on the part of distressed voters that he is their champion even if Republicans block his efforts, we would be cheering, never mind the details of his health reform.

snip

With his temporizing, Obama has left independent voters perplexed and the Democratic base dispirited. Democrats are now at risk of an epic legislative defeat this November, leaving Obama with even less running room to provide the recovery program that the country needs.

snip

So for the most part, liberals are criticizing our president out of tough love. We dearly want him to succeed. For if he fails, we fail.

And if Robert Gibbs, and the rest of Obama’s too-small insider circle mistake this benign exasperation for ideological purity, they are passing up a chance to rekindle the groundswell of enthusiasm that elected this president. It wouldn’t take all that much.

Eugene Robinson: GOP candidates unpredictable and wacky

The Republican Party’s candidate for governor of Colorado believes that bicycle paths  are “part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty.” The party’s Senate candidate in Nevada wants to privatize Medicare and Social Security — and has called for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations, though not because of the bicycle conspiracy. And the GOP’s Senate candidate in Connecticut once climbed into a professional wrestling ring and kicked a man in the crotch.

I could go on, but you get the point. Democrats may be facing a tough fight this fall, but Republicans are giving them plenty of material to work with.

David Wiegel: Crazy Enough To Win

Why Democrats shouldn’t feel overconfident about beating some of those wacky Republican nominees.

If Democrats think that the Republican Party’s base is committing ritual seppuku  by nominating Senate candidates like Rand Paul in Kentucky, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and Ken Buck in Colorado, they have short memories. Four years ago, the smart set was in near-universal agreement: The Democratic base was nominating candidates who couldn’t win.

Nowhere was this more obvious than in New Hampshire. In 2006, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put its weight behind state legislator Jim Craig, seen as the best candidate to take on then-Rep. Jeb Bradley. Craig was challenged in the primary by Carol Shea-Porter, a liberal activist who won some glancing fame for being escorted from a George W. Bush rally wearing a T-shirt that read “Turn Your Back On Bush.”

snip

….Democrats haven’t yet fully engaged. This campaign season has yet to see any truly despicable negative ads, and Republicans in 2010 may be more vulnerable to them than Democrats were in 2006. The “crazy” thing about Carol Shea-Porter was that she passionately opposed the Iraq war. Lucky for her, so did New Hampshire. The “crazy” thing about Angle, by contrast, is that she wants to privatize Social Security, and she’s trying to fight back by disingenuously pretending that she doesn’t.

Still, the success of Shea-Porter-or is it the failure of Jeb Bradley?-should give Democrats pause. “I don’t think anybody in Washington thought I could possibly lose, and I lost,” said Bradley. “For everybody who says Sharron Angle or Rand Paul can’t win, there’s a Jeb Bradley who can prove them wrong.”

Michael Gerson: Republicans are ramping up the birthright battle

The final state to ratify the 14th Amendment was Ohio — in September 2003. The Ohio Legislature had passed the amendment in 1867 but rescinded its approval a year later, claiming it was “contrary to the best interests of the white race.” When Ohio finally rectified this embarrassing bit of history, just one legislator — Republican state Rep. Tom Brinkman from Cincinnati — voted against it. His opposition was viewed as an isolated curiosity.

Now another Ohio politician, Rep. John Boehner, the House minority leader, questions the centerpiece commitment of the 14th Amendment: birthright citizenship. He is joined by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), along with Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Edward Schumacher-Matos: ‘Enforcement first’ has already happened on border with Mexico

We were eight Mexican peasants, one smuggler and me — desperately stretched out in dirt furrows in the night. The Border Patrol helicopter with its huge searchlight kept coming closer. It stopped, hovered and turned the other way.

“Madre,” whispered Pablo, who at 17 was the youngest among us.

We took off running, then crawling past a parked Border Patrol jeep that was so close you could hear the patrol officers as they booked a group they had caught. Finally, two hours after squirming under a fence in Tijuana, we were running down empty streets in San Ysidro, Calif., to a safe house and America.

This was in 1977, and I retell the story from my days as a reporter to make three points as Congress, moving with surprising speed, is sending the president $600 million in emergency border enforcement funding.

One is that the border will never be “sealed,” as some want. Two is that “enforcement first,” which Republican legislators are demanding, has already happened. Three is that illegal immigration won’t stop until there is a temporary worker program and those already here have been legalized.