Why I don't give a damn about the AP:

The purpose of the search of phone records is to locate the leaker, not prosecute the reporters.

There is no law stating the AP must be informed when the phone records are searched, only a Justice Department courtesy policy.

Leakers sometimes are honest whistle blowers; more often they are people with an agenda.

There has been a long pattern of Woodward/Berstein wannabees allowing themselves to be used by leakers to get one side of a story out.

But the main reason I don't give a damn about the AP is that the AP and most media today are utterly incompetent journalists. Consider the other scandal de jour: the IRS investigation of Tea Party organizations. Political groups were applying for tax exemptions declaring themselves to be social welfare organizations. The IRS properly noted that certain names seemed to indicate that these were political groups, and investigated a bit more closely to determine if they actually qualified for 501(c)(4) status. The real scandal was that these groups were trying to bend the law. Any competent journalist should be able to convey this simple story:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2013/05/irs_tea_party_scrutiny_do_conservative_501_c_4_groups_do_social_welfare.html

Indeed, some get at a deeper scandal:

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/13/odonnell-the-real-irs-scandal-happened-in-1959/

My Dad is a real news junkie, always has been. He watches a lot of MSNBC and reads the Nation. Still, I can't tell you how many times I read a story here on DU that he had no notion of.

What we have are a bunch of people running around pretending to be journalists when in reality they are mere mouthpieces for anonymous people with agendas. They are failing in their duty to give the American people an accurate picture of what is happening today to our country.

And that's why I don't give a damn about the AP!


Here are some more stunning examples of stories the media is missing/ignoring:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022857272

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022857291

Howard Dean on Talk of the Nation 2:15 Wednesday -

worth picking up on-line if you miss the broadcast. Go, Howard!

http://www.npr.org/programs/talk-of-the-nation/

You'll catch your death of cold - a speculation about the SARS outbreaks -

We have all kind of folk injunctions about the danger of getting a cold - like don't go outside with wet hair. That makes sense when you consider that most homes were poorly heated in the days before central heating. It was very easy to develop hypothermia. Toss in poor nutrition and a cold could be a serious business.

Here's where the speculation comes in -
1. The natural history of most diseases is that the organism starts out by killing all the hosts. The organisms that survive to spread their genes are the ones who make the host sick enough to spread the organism (cough, cough) but not too sick to be among a lot of people. Thus, most illnesses move to becoming less lethal.( at least not immediately). For example - when Syphilis first hit Europe, it was a devastating disease that killed in days and rotted peoples' faces. The spirochete that survived was one that stayed hidden long enough for the victim to spread it to sexual partners.

2. SARS is caused by a coronavirus, as is the common cold.

3. So, maybe this isn't the first time a SARS like illness has emerged. Maybe there have been waves of this illness as different coronaviruses encountered humans and evolved to a detente.

We might have come to regret a Colbert Busch victory.....

Elizabeth Colbert Busch seeks to distance herself from national Democrats “It’s cutting into Medicare benefits and it’s having companies lay off their employees because they are worried about the cost of it,” she said at a debate.

Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch sought to distance herself from the national party, calling Obamacare “extremely problematic.”

Colbert Busch, who is running in a special election against former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford for South Carolina’s 1st congressional district, noted while there are some good parts of the health care law, she was troubled by it's cost and the burden it could put on employers.

“Obamacare is extremely problematic, it is expensive, it is a $ 500 billion cost than we originally anticipated, it's cutting into Medicare benefits and it's having companies lay off their employees because they are worried about the cost of it. That is extremely problematic, it needs an enormous fix,” she said during a debate Monday night.

http://www.latestdailynews.com/colbert-busch-calls-obamacare-extremely-problematic/


i know LBJ said it's better to have them in the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in, but I'm starting to think he was wrong about that.

Here's a problem to chew over:

Back on Halloween, 1968 , a 17 year old and 19 year old were out drinking and driving around. Three girls, 10, 8 and 4 years old went out in the dark across a busy main road (not at a crosswalk) to buy something at a grocery store. The 17 year old driver hit and killed the 4 year old, and kept on driving. He later claimed he thought he hit an animal, but the hit and run was big news for weeks. He knew he'd hit and killed a child.

It wasn't until now, 45 years later, that the now 62 year old man has been identified as the driver.

Now, he stayed on the right side of the law for 45 years. Drinking and driving back then wasn't the socially condemned crime it is today. Under the circumstances, even a sober driver might have hit the child. He never came forward, but a 17 year old would have been very scared. Those around him had to know something happened, but they didn't step forward either, so it's a fair assumption is family told him to stay quiet. (BTW - the then 19 year old man has not been identified.)


What should happen to this man today? Now what the law says, but what you think should happen if you could decide.

Anyone here ever go on a maintenance dose of prednisone?

I'm really considering asking my rheumatologist about this because my energy level is in the pits. I've only been on prednisone once, and I ended up losing weight, so I'm not worried about that side effect at least!!

Challenge : An item to crochet for my semi-goth daughter - she has a

pierced eye brow and wears a lip ring.

Sad/funny pet story #1: Being across the yard and spotting the cat entering the house

bearing a limp rodent.

Even sadder story: Going inside, seeing the cat, but seeing no sign of the rodent.

If you'd like some heritage breed chickens, but only want a few:

Squirrel question - Have you ever seen a squirrel that's figured out

how to get a drink out of the hummingbird feeder?