In no particular order, the little stories of 2008 that said a lot.

I posted elsewhere about this about a year ago: Indiana National Guardsmen got chronically exposed to carcinogenic hexavalent chromium dust while providing security for KBR contractors in Iraq.

KBR works in other facilities like the one in Iraq, and I find it hard to believe they never at least wondered about the bright orange dust that was blowing everywhere. This is the same chromium metal that was responsible for all the misery in ‘Erin Brockovich.’

Yep, turns out they were having internal dialogues about the carcinogen and dragged their feet to say the very least. As hideous as the stuff is, they should have pulled everybody off the site the very second they ‘knew.’

If I’m to believe any of the many, many interviews and bios I’ve seen and read about the guys who enlisted in the armed forces and who served in war zones over the last five years, it was that many of them grew up in small towns and decided to serve to achieve something bigger for their lives. They wanted more than they could do by staying at home–they wanted to give their lives a deep meaning by serving their country. What they got was toiling through blistering temperatures for pittances in an OSHA-free industrial zone. Pretty much the thing they’d chosen to avoid. 

They wanted to serve the nation of their forefathers, they got re-routed into serving the nation of the President’s business cronies. There just isn’t enough shame in the world.

Fun with Ad Generator.

Yes…imho. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones ‘Jingle All the Way.’

Charlie Brown Christmas intro, followed by ‘Sleigh Ride.’

Wish I had enough money to buy it for all my friends.

In no particular order, the little stories of 2008 that said a lot.

Well, it’s no longer a ‘little’ story, but it sure seemed to start out as ‘yawn’ news:

Toxic Ash Pond Collapses in Tennessee
By David Biello

COAL WASTE: The coal ash left over after burning in the nine boilers of the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee pictured here is stored in three ponds, one of which collapsed.

The residue of millions of tons of coal burning at Kingston Fossil power plant in the Watts Bar Reservoir in Tennessee burst the bounds of the pond in which it was contained, burying as many as 400 acres of land in up to six feet of sludge. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which owns the coal-fired power plant—first operated in 1955—announced that 15 homes were buried and no injuries were reported.
A combination of rains and accumulating sludge likely contributed to the disaster—one of two major ash pond collapses in the past decade. All told, about 2.6 million cubic yards of so-called coal ash slurry escaped, the TVA says. The collapsed pond is one of three on the site.

“We deeply regret that a retention wall for ash containment at our Kingston Fossil Plant failed, resulting in an ash slide,” said Tom Kilgore, TVA president and CEO in an official statement today.

Such slurry worries environmentalists and public health activists because it is the residue of coal burning. The burning concentrates the impurities in the coal, including arsenic, lead and mercury, among many other potentially toxic contaminants. Coal ash is also radioactive.

There is no ‘clean’ coal. This is an ancient energy-producing process with current problems that are only barely different than they were 20 or 50 years ago. I had no idea that these pits were still around, and still this big. ‘Clean coal’ people have just been lying all year, this ain’t the future.

Also: there are all sorts of heavy metals in the stuff, which almost surely means that the company will eventually admit that it’s also carcinogenic, which means that those families who lived in houses now in the muck can also probably say ‘goodbye’ to their former homes.

But the company flacks are not telling you that yet, are they? They’re just saying they’ll clean it up as fast as they can. If you had kids, would you return? Exactly.

UPDATE: Heavy metals.

How about all those giant news stories that went, err…

Remember how pundits went on and on about how foolish it was to pretend that Hillary wasn’t the safer, better candidate? The one that took all the big states? The one that connected with white, blue collar voters–the essential swing voters? The one with the mean political machine behind her?

But Hillary may well be the better candidate. After all, for all the talk of Obama’s extraordinary ability to draw voters to the polls, Clinton has defeated him in the big states, including California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Obama won his home state of Illinois, but she won Florida, where both were on the ballot but didn’t campaign.

Furthermore, if you add up the votes in all the primaries and caucuses — excluding Michigan (where only Hillary was on the ballot), and imputing the likely actual totals in the four caucus states, where only percentages were reported — Clinton now trails in overall votes by only about 300,000, or about 1 percent of the total. By the end of the nominating contest, she may well be ahead on this benchmark — one not entirely to be scorned in a democracy.

Hillary has achieved this despite much disparagement of her candidacy by liberal commentators, and in the face of the media’s crush on Obama.

Weren’t those all Democrats voting in the primaries? And they ended up voting for the Democratic candidate? Freaky. Score another for Bill Kristol.

Mike Gravel.

I dare you not to laugh.

Oprah Winfrey once dubbed it the “greatest love story” she had ever heard: a boy held at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II and a girl on the outside who tossed him apples to keep him alive. They eventually married and grew old together.

Liars never mean any harm. I’m lying of course, but don’t take it personally.

…broken with Shannon Boone, whoever that is. Not much for technique…

… but he sure can puke. Yakk on.

What were they thinking?

In no particular order, the little stories of 2008 that said a lot.

Hillary and sniper fire:

Of course, we can forgive her for a faulty memory. But she never did stop sticking her foot in her mouth–the gaffes kept coming without any stop.

Hillary fans were furious that people, especially Democrats, were so hard on her. But they missed an important point: once the Democratic candidate was chosen, the spotlight and the pressure were going to get much, much worse.  Hillary would have continued to make mistakes which would have worked against Democratic hopes.

It was no mistake that Obama turned out to be a great candidate. He looked good, remained unflappable, managed a better campaign, and he beat the Republican by seven points. The story: pressure is a good test.

In no particular order, the little stories of 2008 that said a lot.

The guy’s not accomplished, not politically savvy, not educated–hell, this ‘plumber’ isn’t even a licensed plumber. He argued with Obama over paying taxes which he doesn’t even do. Yet McCain plucked him from obscurity and gave him fame and a pop culture career. What did he do in return?

That’s right, stabbed McCain in the back. The story? Even Republicans who owed McCain everything showed him no love.

On the opposite side, people who knew almost nothing about Obama really liked him…

In no particular order, the little stories of 2008 that said a lot.

Sarah Palin did not learn much, or get better with time. Or was it Republicans?

Stunned? Headless? Elected? Two out of three ain’t bad…