Be careful what you wish for...

What's happening in Lebanon is a reflection of one of the most troubling aspects of the democracy project: the tendency to celebrate democracy without regard for stability.

http://www.slate.com/id/2145892/

WP: In Land of Giants, Smallest Houses Larger Than Ever

In Land of Giants, Smallest Houses Larger Than Ever
Home Buyers Redefine Concept of Starter Home
By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 9, 2006; A01

A young family came recently to Vienna real estate agent Reza Rofougaran with what should have been a simple request: They wanted a small house.

But in the Washington suburbs, that's easier said than done. The family -- an Iranian doctor waiting for his U.S. credentials, his wife and their child -- couldn't find what they were looking for, a townhouse of about 1,400 square feet, a size that in earlier eras easily accommodated a three-bedroom layout. They settled for buying a two-bedroom apartment.

"There is a lot of demand for smaller houses, but you cannot find any of them on the new market," Rofougaran said.

[Full story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070801072_pf.html]

MONEY...

...not wars or environmental devastation... it's money that motivates most Americans.

No, I'm not surprised, just expressing my exasperation...

Drivers May Have to Shift Gears
By Tomoeh Murakami Tse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 15, 2006; D01

Will the upheaval in the Middle East and the latest spurt in oil prices finally tip gas-price-wary motorists into making wholesale changes in their driving habits?

Many drivers already have made small gestures toward saving money, such as checking online message boards for cheap gasoline stations and pumping regular gasoline instead of premium. Now some are doing more out of fear that high gas prices are here to stay. Some analysts say uncertainty over prices is pushing drivers toward a new attitude.

Predicting turning points in human behavior is notoriously unreliable, and analysts said that any strong movement would dissipate if oil prices fall.

Driving habits and interest in alternative-fuel vehicles have fluctuated with the cost of gasoline in recent decades. But signs of change, by some measures, are evident.

For the first five months this year, U.S. gasoline consumption fell 0.8 percent from the comparable period in 2005, according to the American Petroleum Institute. The decline followed years of increases of 1.5 to 2 percent.

"Prices are significantly higher than they were last year, and they were already higher then," said Ronald J. Planting, an economist with the institute. "The effects are sinking in."

Analysts say that if high gas prices prompt a widespread movement toward fewer road trips and a migration away from large vehicles, the automotive landscape could undergo a radical makeover.

David Portalatin, an automotive analyst with NPD Group, sees big changes on the horizon -- if prices hold steady or rise further.

[Contnued at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/14/AR2006071401739_pf.html]

WP: U.S. Struggles to Rank Potential Terror Targets

Securing All Sites Is Not Financially Feasible,
but Choices Are Fraught With Uncertainty
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 16, 2006; A09

The U.S. government has made limited headway in identifying and securing the domestic targets whose destruction would pose the greatest threat to American lives and national defense, experts and former government officials said.

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general reported last week that a department target list has grown exponentially -- from 160 in 2003 to 28,000 in 2004 to 77,069 today -- but it is filled with bean festivals, car dealerships, small-town parades and check-cashing stores.

Indiana has the most potential terrorism targets in the National Asset Database: 8,591, nearly three times as many as California. Washington state lists 65 national monuments and icons, nearly twice as many as the District of Columbia.

[Full story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/15/AR2006071500726_pf.html ]

Grist: Varmint Cong

Organic farmers in Colorado ask state to blast rodents out of their holes

They say life imitates art, but until now, life had stubbornly refused to imitate Caddyshack. Behold! Organic farmers in Colorado have asked the state Division of Wildlife to look into controlling prairie dogs and other burrowing critters by ... blowing them up. Why? Because, in the immortal words of Carl Spackler, "a varmint will never quit -- ever." The idea is to flood burrows with explosive gases and then, um, explode them, knocking the critters dead and collapsing the tunnels. "This is a way for [the farmers] to avoid using toxic substances to help them remain certified as organic," says a DOW spokesdetonator. We bet if more people knew that going organic meant you could blow stuff up, there'd be a lot more organic farms.

straight to the source: Denver Post, Kim McGuire, 12 Jul 2006
Grist: http://www.grist.org

NYTimes.com: Too Good for Marriage

OPINION July 14, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor: Too Good for Marriage
By KENJI YOSHINO
New York's highest court ruled that marriage is built to protect unstable heterosexuals.

NYTimes.com: Redefining American Beauty, by the Yard

HOME & GARDEN July 13, 2006
Cuttings: Redefining American Beauty, by the Yard
By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
Edible landscaping, which dates to Washington, has a revival, but put tomatoes where the grass used to be and some neighbors get upset.

TNR: APOCALYPSE BAGHDAD

APOCALYPSE BAGHDAD: "I know people are fixated right now on alarming violence elsewhere, but the litany of violence in this New York Times dispatch--all from one day in Baghdad--is as astonishing as it is soul-crushing:"

New study: pesticides related to Parkinson's Disease

HealthDay reports that a new study indicates that "exposure to pesticides... may boost the long-term risk for developing Parkinson's disease by 70 percent."

For me, the only surprise is how willingly people expose themselves to pesticides. Consider buying organic when you can (minimizes pesticides in the environment, and on your food), and try alternatives to pesticides and herbicides.

Louisville, KY: Facing the city's health inequities

The Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal reports that "Mayor Jerry Abramson and the Louisville Metro Health Department are establishing the Center for Health Equity. Located in historic Hampton House, the center will set up best practices models that can be replicated in other cities throughout America. The Center for Health Equity will focus on the social determinants of health such as a person's job, neighborhood, income and education, as well as personal responsibility. It will also examine the potential for discrimination in the delivery of health care and seek solutions."

More at http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006606290354

Rush Limbaugh's hypocrisy

Um hmmm, the unmarried spokesman for conservatism admits to using Viagra. Whatever is the world coming to? Great summary of the Rush Limbaugh's hypocrisy by Debra Haffner.

Carville and Penn on why Hillary can Win

I'm not buying what they're selling -- for one thing, I find Hillary to be swayed by the political breeze rather than standing by her convictions as portrayed in the article -- but it's an interesting read.

The Power of Hillary
By James Carville and Mark J. Penn

We've heard all this "Hillary can't win" stuff before. We don't know if she'll run -- but if she runs, she can win.

[Entire article]

washingtonpost.com: Big Pharma abuses FDA petition procedure for gain

Petitions to FDA Sometimes Delay Generic Drugs
By Marc Kaufman

A procedure designed to alert the Food and Drug Administration to scientific and safety issues is getting a hard look from members of Congress, who say they are concerned that it may be getting subverted by the brand-name drug industry.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/02/AR2006070200840.html?referrer=emailarticle

washingtonpost.com: Carter on Gov't Secrecy

We Need Fewer Secrets
By Jimmy Carter

While the United States retreats, the international trend toward transparency grows, with laws often more comprehensive and effective than our own.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/02/AR2006070200674.html?referrer=emailarticle

Palestinian prisoner's daughter to Shalit's mother: End suffering

16:53 , 07.02.06
Both Suffering
Palestinian prisoner's daughter to Shalit's mother: End suffering
Ali Waked

In personal letter to Gilad Shalit's mother, girl implores: 'You can take one step and we will take a matching step, in order to return our loved ones. Stop our suffering and yours'

When Iman was born, 14 years ago, her father Mohammad, along with 400 other Hamas leaders and operatives, was in the Maraj a-Zohar camp in Lebanon, where they were exiled by Israel after being accused of terrorism. She was made famous as the first baby born to an exile and today, with her father now imprisoned in Israel, she once again takes the stage as the daughter of a Palestinian convict: Her uncle, Abdallah, is also imprisoned in Israel for membership in Hamas.

Even before the press conference was expected to hold Sunday afternoon in Ramallah, Iman passed along to Ynet a letter she wrote to the mother of Gilad Shalit, the soldier kidnapped in the attack on the Kerem Shalom outpost. Gaza kidnapping - special coverage

The letter, published in full:

Madam, mother of the hostage soldier, Gilad Shalit: I am one among thousands of children doomed never to enjoy a smile, a kiss on the cheek in the morning, a comforting hand to soothe our pain and encourage us to advance in life. I am a girl whose foundation stone was taken from her home, her father.

Madam, I am writing to you and waiting tensely to hear of the fate of your son who was in a tank, not to protect a cause or a principle, but rather to obey the instructions of his commanders without thinking if those instructions were right or not.

Madam, it's your right to hurt, to be sad, to yell out loud, 'Return my son to me! What sin has my son committed?' But do you have it in you to think of the important issue? This is the issue of our prisoners in your prisons, whose only sin was picking up a stone or a pen to protect their faith and their homeland, to protect a cause and principles in which they believe and will continue to believe. Not out of a motivation to kill or terrorize, as your leaders claim, but in order to protect our land and our faith.

Madam, tens of thousands of prisoners are locked in cells of suffering (your prisons), under fire of murder and cruelty, in rotten cells that burned their youth, their hope and their ambitions. Our prisoners, Madam, do not receive humane treatment, but rather treatment that cannot be described in words; the sole purpose of the treatment is to bring them slow death, and this is after most of them did not even receive permission for us to visit them. Compare your suffering, which has only gone on for a few short days, to our suffering, which has lasted more than 20 or 30 years. I'm sure that your son is receiving treatment due to a prisoner of war, decent treatment as is demanded by our faith and our principles.

Madam, that's all I have to say and the choice, in the end, is in your hands and the hands of your nation and their leaders to put an end to this suffering. These things can only be understood by someone who suffers and hurts. Military and political leaders such as your leaders will not understand them; they have not experienced in their hearts what we are both experiencing, for everyone whose son is under their wing lives in ease and tranquility.

I call on Allah to protect our fathers and children. We are at a point where you can take one step and we can take a matching step in order to return our loved ones and hold them close to us. Stop our suffering and yours.

Iman, daughter of a Palestinian prisoner

seattlepi.com: Organic dairies, consumers wary of 'feedlot milk'

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Organic dairies, consumers wary of 'feedlot milk'
A different kind of organic dairy farm is emerging out West --
corporate-owned feedlot operations with thousands of cows that
are fed organic grain but, critics say, get little chance to
graze.

* Read the full article at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/276175_organic03.html

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