Bush White House Delusional - FDA-Approved Drug Use Suspected

FDA doing 'spectacular job,' White House chief says

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration and some of its critics squared off yesterday over whether the Food and Drug Administration is doing an adequate job overseeing drug safety and whether the agency needs major reforms.

In a preview of the debate to come, White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. said the agency is doing a "spectacular" job and should "continue to do the job they do."

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Card made his comments about the FDA during ABC's "This Week," when he was asked whether he supported last week's call by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, for an investigation of the federal drug agency similar in scale to the 9/11 commission.

Card responded that "I don't know that we need a commission" and that "I've got great confidence in the FDA." He said news coming out about previously unaddressed safety risks associated with popular drugs on the market is "a testament to the FDA in how they do their job."

Yes, Andy Card actually said this. Do you think the estimated 100,000 people who've had heart attacks while taking Vioxx for their arthritis agree?

Hiatus

I'm heading out to the midwest tomorrow for Christmas in a red state. Yuck! Oh well, my family will be there. Blogging will be light if not non-existent until the new year.

Peace.

Ornaments

I've been making all kinds of Christmas ornaments this year: some in my ceramics class, and some at home. Right now my house is perfumed with cinnamon from the smell of the stars & trees in the oven.

Cinnamon ornaments

1 cup cinnamon
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup white glue

Mix ingredients well. I found the dough hook on my stand mixer to be the best way; you may find a food processor works as well. Let dough stand for an hour. Roll out on a cinnamon-dusted surface & cut into shapes. Cut a hole near the top of each ornament with a straw for hanging. Bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours; alternatively, air dry for two days. (You will have to turn the cookies every 5 hours or so as they air dry as the edges curl up.) You can leave them plain or decorate with glue, beads, sequins, feathers, nail polish, etc. They also make great car air fresheners!

Bernie, We Hardly Knew Ye

Bernard Kerik is going to get an indictment in his stocking for Christmas; next Christmas, if not this one.

For all there is to know about Bernie Kerik's shenanigans, you must check out Steve Gilliard's news blog. No More Mister Nice Blog has also been following the story.

Kerik Was Married to the Mob

I knew there was more.

Inquiry of Kerik in '00 Puts Focus on Vetting Issue

In June 2000, two months before Bernard B. Kerik was appointed police commissioner, New York City's top investigative agency learned that he had a social relationship with the owner of a New Jersey construction company suspected of having business ties to organized crime figures, city documents show.

The city's Department of Investigation took two days of testimony from Frank DiTommaso, the owner of the company, Interstate Industrial Corporation. It also formally interviewed Mr. Kerik himself. Though it is not clear what he told the investigators, there is no indication that Mr. Kerik did anything illegal or improper.

A spokesman for the Department of Investigation declined to comment yesterday when asked whether any of the information concerning Mr. Kerik and Interstate Industrial had been shared at the time with any other city officials.

But Rudolph W. Giuliani said in an interview yesterday that none of those facts were brought to his attention in August 2000 when, as mayor, he appointed Mr. Kerik as New York's top police official. And there was no indication that the White House was aware of the findings before it nominated Mr. Kerik to take over the Department of Homeland Security on Dec. 3, a nomination that has now been withdrawn.

Yeah, right, Giuliani knew nothing.

Nanny Problem? Come On.

Last night I heard on the news that Bernard Kerik had abruptly withdrawn as nominee to head the Homeland Security Department and I thought, what's the real deal here? By the late news the media was reporting he had a "nanny problem". I seriously doubt that. Isn't it amazing that having a nanny problem is now a legitimate way to bow out of a government job?

Anyway, there must be more to the story. From his appointment to the board of the company that manufactures Taser stun guns, which lead to his making a $6.8 million dollar profit on stock options he was given for free, just for being a board member, to his personal finances (bankruptcy, etc.), to his thug years in Saudi Arabia, you had to know there was more dirt out there on this guy.

Here's the latest scoop, from Newsweek.

My guess? We've only seen the tip of the Bernard Kerik dirty ice iceberg.

Conservation, anyone?

Yesterday while walking around the Wachusett Reservoir I saw three mink swimming. A first for me -- I've never seen a mink that wasn't being worn as a piece of clothing. They were bobbing in the water, tiny eyes, ears & mouths, diving & having fun. I've had several great wildlife spots in the past year -- the huge red-tailed hawk that almost caused me to drive off the road in Oneonta, New York; the magestic bald eagle perched in the tree along the East Branch of the Delaware River in Margaretville, New York (again, I almost came acropper swerving into the breakdown lane for a good view); a deer standing 10 yards above me on a ridge above a trail along the Wachusett Reservoir.

Given my love of wildlife, I've joined a new organization: GoMainstream.org, a self-described "New Coalition of Conservationists". We are the true conservatives. Click on the link to join.

Hawk's Nest Destroyed in NYC

Hawks' Nest, a Fixture in New York, Is Destroyed

A nest constructed a decade ago by red-tailed hawks 12 stories above Central Park, creating an unlikely wildlife habitat that has delighted bird lovers from around the world, was removed yesterday, apparently by workers for its host co-op apartment building.

City officials and naturalists reacted with anger, even though there appeared to be little legal recourse for the nest's destruction.

Experts said that the fate of a family of uncommonly large and resilient birds, which have reproduced prolifically from the nest, had been thrown into doubt. So was that of the nest's most famous red-tailed resident, Pale Male, who arrived at the building in 1993 and, according to detailed records kept by several bird-watchers, has sired 23 youngsters.

"I am so outraged that they would do this without so much as a by your leave," said Mary Tyler Moore, who has lived for 15 years in the co-op at 927 Fifth Avenue, at 74th Street, where the nest was built in 1993 above a cornice in clear view of Central Park.

"These birds just kept coming back to the edge of the building, and people kept coming back to see them," said Ms. Moore, who recalled at first craning her neck outside one of her windows to look up at the bottom of the nest. In more recent years, she said, she has strolled frequently across Fifth Avenue to Central Park for a better view.

"This was something we like to talk about: a kinder, gentler world, and now it's gone," Ms. Moore said last night.

Exactly why the nest was destroyed was unclear. A man who answered a call to 927 Fifth Avenue's management office last night said no one was available for comment.

But Ms. Moore said other residents of the building had objected to large bird droppings and, occasionally, the carcasses of pigeons - which hawks prey upon - that landed on the sidewalk in front of their lobby. She said her husband had attended a recent co-op board meeting, and had been informed of its all-but-unanimous decision to remove the nest, even though he had objected to the move.

Boycott Fox News Sponsors

Liberals of the world, don't give up!

Here's a list of Fox News sponsors. Don't give any of these right-wing supporting rats any money!

Replace the asterisk with a tiny hypodermic needle

Barry Bonds is a fraud. Jason Giambi (who by the way hit two home runs in Game 7 of the Yankees-Red Sox series in 2003 -- should the Sox be celebrating their SECOND STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP?) is a fraud. Gary Sheffield is a fraud. Jeff Bagwell is a fraud. Sammy Sosa is a fraud. They and all their steroid friends should be kicked out of the game.

The Baseball Encyclopedia should adopt a new asterisk for the current generation of law-breaking cheaters: a tiny hypodermic needle next to all of their statistics in the record book.

And if Shoeless Joe Jackson & Pete Rose can be banned from baseball & the Hall of Fame for betting on baseball games (the sin is cheating, right?), all these fakers should be barred from the game & the Hall for cheating to obtain their fraudulent individual stats.

It pains me to say it, but Marian Jones is a fraud. I watched the interview with Kelli White last night. The feds confiscated the same type of calendar for her illegal steroid use as for Marian. So we know that Marian was shooting up for her 2000 Olympics triumph. So sad. I watched her win the Women's Basketball Championship game with North Carolina in 1994 & always loved her. But she's a cheater, & I've lost all respect for her.

I used to be up on all the major professional sports in this country, but now I stick to women's college sports and international soccer.

Here's the best article on the steroid scandal, by the incomparable Tom Boswell in the Washington Post: The Truth Lies in the Numbers

Another Hacktacular Homeland Security Chief

Kerik Nomination is a Ticking Time Bomb

Click the link to read the whole article. Here's its sad beginning:

Campaign bodyguard to Rudy Giuliani.

Errand boy for the Saudi royal family.

Energetic exploiter of Sept. 11th tragedy.

Tough-talking publicity-hound vowing to bring law and order to Iraq - then hightailing it out of there after a disastrous 14 weeks, leaving the place far less safe than he found it.

Oh, the bullet points on Bernie Kerik's real-life resume just go on and on. But is this really the guy we want standing between us and the terrorists?

George W. Bush apparently thinks so.

Here's the story on Kerik covering up for his top aide Picciano after "Pitch" threatened his girlfriend with a gun: Kerik bailed out pal, sources say: Covered up '98 assault, they claim

I'll Have a Blue Christmas

The holidays are upon us. I've been getting blasted with Christmas music in stores for weeks now. Aisles are dangerously crowded with....stuff. All kinds of stuff.

I must say, I have a Grinch-like reaction to all of it. After 9/11 I didn't buy any gifts for adults, just contributed money to charity. But eventually I've been drawn back into the whole commercial thing.

This year I'm trying to do my Christmas shopping by buying locally. If I must shop at national chains, at least I try not to spend money at businesses that contribute heavily to the Republican party. This year I'm trying to Buy Blue!

I'm not the only person thinking about this issue. Here are some websites with information on national chains and their records of donating vast sums of money to the Republican party:

Choose the Blue

Project Blue Christmas

Boycott Bush

More thinking on this topic from Democratic Underground's Economic Activism and Progressive Living Group

Cranberry Relish

This year my Mom & I made the best Thanksgiving meal ever. We really loved our cranberry relish:

Cranberry relish

1 bag fresh cranberries, washed & picked over
1/2 cup apple cider
3 T. Splenda
4 T. elderberry jam
Zest of one orange; reserve 1 T. for garnish

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until about 2/3 of the cranberries have burst. Refrigerate & serve cold with reserved zest.

You may want more sweetening -- or even to substitute sugar for the Splenda. You could use any seedless jelly or jam, but the elderberry made for a mysterious flavor.

Tom Ridge Resigns

Today Tom Ridge resigned as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Am I the only one who hears "Deutschland Uber Alles" in my head when I hear the word homeland?

Who will replace the man who advised Americans to duct tape themselves into a plastic-sheeting-covered room?

I think they should give the job to that old TV guy MacGuyver. He was great with a roll of duct tape.

Why Did Kerry Lose?

Who Lost Ohio?

Here's the take of Matt Bai of the New York Times.

It Still Hurts

Mrs. Henry's Questionnaire

A soliloquy on the election in response to a silly livejournal questionnaire, starting with this:

I still am just stunned that by popular choice, my government is full of thieves and murderers.



via needlenose, via Electrolite....

Revel in Great Red Sox Writing

LONG VOYAGE HOME
by Roger Angell


His ode to Nomar:

Iconic players—the Kid and Johnny Pesky, Yaz, Jim Rice, and Nomar—have allowed the Red Sox to overlook some chronic problems, like speed and defense, down the years, but on July 31st, minutes before the trading deadline, and with the Sox in second in their division, eight and a half games behind the Yankees, the young general manager, Theo Epstein, completed a multi-club trade that sent away the once untouchable shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs, in return for the younger and quicker Orlando Cabrera, from the Expos; a Gold Glove first baseman, Doug Mientkiewicz, from the Twins; and a late-inning base-stealer, Dave Roberts, from the Dodgers. The shocker here was Garciaparra, who had been too easily injured of late, and had become a distant celebrity in the clubhouse (there was a red line on the floor, a figurative little looped maître-d’ rope, in front of his locker, to discourage writers). Talk was that he’d been affronted by the news that the Sox planned to trade him away over the winter, as part of the aborted A-Rod deal, but I prefer to think that it was a damaged wrist, first injured in 1999, that took away his exuberant line-drive-spraying swings at the plate, and dimmed the gleam in his eyes. “Nomah!” no more.

Questions & Answers

Part of our Ithaca weekend was a writing circle with a wonderful writing teacher. Zee gave each of us a copy of Number 2 of her journal "Blue Moon". The topic of Number 2 was Questions and it is 14 pages of questions. Just questions.

Here's a brief sample: "What are the names of Snow White's little friends? Can I be trusted? Can you be trusted? How much longer can it rain? Do you ever wake up laughing? Can you love too much? Who discovered whistling? Is it ever going to be over? Are we there yet? Is there ever enough? Is there always enough? Are you listening? Could it get any hotter? Why does this look so familiar? Would you care to join me?"

I wrote this essay during our writing time:

Why do I have to have quiet when I write? Who's your daddy? (Gratuitous Red Sox reference.) What would my life be like if I turned off my television? How can I break old habits? Can a person really change? Why am I such a saver? Why can't I throw food away the day I know I've finished eating it? Why do I save every letter I've ever gotten? (Actually I know why I do that -- I like to read them years later and be reminded of (or realize I've completely forgotten) past events.) Why do I have 5 boxes of bubble wrap in my basement? Why do I have 3 boxes of used padded envelopes in my office? (Could be that ebay ceramics book tear I went on this year.) Why is the surface of every table in my house covered with paper? Why do I own 6 sets of nesting bowls? Why do I own 17 glass reamers? Why do I own 39 tabletalk pie tins? Why do I own an untold number of teapots?

Some of these things are preparation for the future I don't even know yet is in front of me. The bubblewrap has come in handy for transporting pots. Ditto with the envelopes. All the china and pottery I've collected gives me inspiration as I go into the studio to make my own pieces.

Why didn't I ever take pottery classes until I was 46? Why didn't I realize that a kid who loved to play in the mud would love wet dirty messy sensuous clay?

Questions from the popular culture of my past:

Why is there air?
Who are you?
Why don't you love me like you used to do?
Why do you treat me like a worn out shoe?
What is success?
Where are you going to?
Do you really care?
Why not call Roto-Rooter -- that's the name -- and away go troubles down the drain?
Cream and sugar?
Care to dance?
Dance with me?
Walk much?
Talk much?
Tell me -- tell me -- tell me -- do you love me?
Why not us? (Second gratuitous Red Sox reference.)
Would you?
Could you?
Where's the rest of me?
How many roads must a man walk down before he can see the sky?
Do you know the way to San Jose?
Have you been a good little girl this year?
Did you send Santa a letter?
Do you have to wear that?

Veering back to my own life I think, How did I ever get this old? When did I have to start learning slang from kids instead of my friends? When did the word "versus" replace "against"? When did random become a popular adjective (or adverb, and why don't I know the difference between the two? Why wasn't I taught grammar in grade school?) Why do kids have so much homework these days? How did I survive in school without an hour or two of homework every night? If kids' parents control their play when they're 13, how will kids decide what to do in their own lives when they're 26? Is SpongeBob SquarePants a better or worse cartoon than Heckle & Jeckle? Who was the first person to think, there should be a TV network just for kids? Did that person make a lot of money? Will that person burn in hell? Is there really a hell and do people really burn there? Purgatory: fact or legend? How many years do I have left in my life? Will I be judged in the afterlife? Will I be judged on my beliefs or my actions? Who's the official scorekeeper? Is God dead? Do you get to meet everyone you've ever known in the afterlife? Are departed family and friends looking down on us now? Do they know what happens next to us or is it like live theatre to them? Do they have odds on what we'll do next? What are the odds on me?

Do you have any questions? Post them in comments, below.

Frittata

I was responsible for a meal at our gathering of 12 in Ithaca. A frittata is a flat omelet. It is drier than an omelet. They're great hot or warm or cold the next day.

Carmelized Onion & Roasted Garlic Frittata

4 medium onions
3 heads garlic
3 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T butter
18 eggs
pinch nutmeg
salt & pepper
8 oz. monterey jack cheese, shredded
3 T romano cheese

Day before: Cut 1/2 inch from top of whole garlic heads. Arrange heads on foil sheet. Drizzle each head with 1 t. olive oil, add salt & pepper. Fold foil into sealed package. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes at high (450 degrees) heat. Meanwhile, halve onions & slice thinly. Melt 2 T butter in 2 T olive oil. Add onions, salt & pepper & cook over slow heat while the garlic is cooking. Cook until onions are soft & carmelized to a soft brown.

Put garlic heads -- foil package & all -- and onions in plastic storage containers.

45 minutes before serving: Squeeze garlic cloves out of papery head into a large bowl. Break 18 eggs into the same bowl & mix, using a whip, hand blender or beater. Add pinch nutmeg (fresh is great!) and salt & pepper.

In a large non-stick fry pan (preferably one with a metal handle as you will be putting frittata under the broiler) over low to medium heat, spread the cold carmelized onions evenly. (The butter & oil you used to carmelize the onions will be the fat that keeps the frittata from sticking.) Spread the shredded cheese evenly over the onions. Pour the egg/garlic mixture over the onions & cheese. Sprinkle the romano over the top.

Cook (moving the pan if need be to cook the bottom evenly) until the bottom is browned (use a spatula to check). Put pan under broiler & watch carefully until top is browned. Put a knife into the center. If interior eggs are still runny, place pan into a 350 degree oven for 10 or 15 minutes until frittata is cooked through.

Serve immediately, with good bread & fruit or green salad.

I'm BAAAAACK

From a weekend in lovely Ithaca, New York. Where the most popular lawn ornament was a sign saying "Bush Must Go". Did my heart good.

Back to regular posting on Wednesday.