Odds and Ends

Thanks to rain, I won't be seeing the New Kids on the Block tomorrow. Fuck. Here's news...

Ralph Nader, you can't hog all the fun... Bob Barr (former GOP congressman who reveled in the Clinton impeachment, but who's redeemed himself as a critic of Bush-era Republicanism) is running for President as a Libertarian.

Meanwhile, John McCain is getting criticized just because a number of his top campaign staffers are lobbyists who have represented the leaders of dictatorial nations such as Myanmar, and Somalia, and Saudi Arabia. I'm sure the liberal media will make him reject and denounce these men immediately! {*holds breath, passes out*}

And McCain also defends his not voting for the the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act by singling out a 14-year-old girl in the audience for her concern on the issue. Oh, and also by some cut-and-paste GOP anti-lawyer rhetoric.

And Republicans lie about Sen. Obama's comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to score political points.

Moving on from the presidential race (crazy, I know!), the AP reports that the U.S. government finally put the polar bear "under the protective umbrella of the Endangered Species Act on Wednesday, concluding what biologists have been saying for years: the bear is on the way to extinction because of the rapid disappearance of the Arctic sea ice upon which it depends."

In the House, the newest farm bill makes its way along to veto-proof passage.

And this seems to be good news from the House: "The Democratic-led House on Thursday rejected more funds to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as many Republicans angry over the majority party's tactics sat out the vote. It did approve more money for the jobless and an expansion of GI education benefits."

Hold onto your hat, Lou Dobbs! A new study finds that "Immigrants of the past quarter-century have been assimilating in the United States at a notably faster rate than did previous generations". But but, they can't be true, can it?!

Finally, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) threatens to kick Karl Rove's ass (metaphorically).