Update: I'm not trying to trivialize terrorism by pointing to the apparently amateur nature of these incidents. In fact, the  amateurishness is a particularly disturbing sign. It was bad enough when a small but dedicated group of people wanted to attack us -- now we have ordinary people who watch the abomination of our actions in Iraq and feel like they can't sit on the sidelines anymore. These men were clearly very determined. But we do need to guard against whipped up fear: it was precisely the manipulation of public fear that allowed the administration to take actions that have made the situation infinitely worse. The doubts expressed at this site about the lethality of these devices and the professionalism of the people involved were valid and important for understanding what is actually going on.

As if to confirm the point made by several Kossaks over the last 24 hours, two men apparently drove a burning car into the main terminal of Glasgow airport today. As reported by the BBC:

Please get Jerome a Paris' diary about the National Day of Climate Action TOMORROW onto the Recommended List. (That is, don't recommend this diary, just follow the link and recommend Jerome's.)

We have seen the future, and it looks a lot like Darfur. Starting a climate action movement is as important as any anti-war march that everyone here (including me) got so excited about. Global warming has the potential to make the wars of the 20th Century look like a picnic.

Like many people with ADHD liberated women, I hate housework. Much of my childhood was spent hiding behind the couch reading the encyclopedia, hoping my mom wouln't notice that I hadn't cleaned my room yet. Moreover, like many liberated women entering their 50s, I am more of a woman than I used to be (by about 25 lbs.) Now, it turns out that I just haven't been using the "think method"! According to a paper (warning: PDF) coming out in the February issue of Psychological Science, in the course of four weeks hotel cleaning women who had heard a brief presentation exlaining how their work qualifies as good exercise "lost an average of 2 pounds, lowered their BP [blood pressure] by almost 10%, and were significantly healthier as measured by body-fat percentage, BMI [body mass index], and WHR [waist-hip ratio].." Okay, it wasn't really quite as simple as that. They were also exposed to handouts and posters in their lounges offering daily reminders of how much exercise they were getting. Participants who didn't see the presentation did not show the same health benefits.

This issue was diaried Friday evening, which is not the best time to contact officials. The Union of Concerned Scientists has a great summary of what is at stake, where things stand, and what we must do. Cutting to the chase, call EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson at (202) 564-4700, but go here first for some important tips. From the main UCS article:

The EPA has begun closing its nationwide network of scientific libraries, effectively preventing EPA scientists and the public from accessing vast amounts of data and information on issues from toxicology to pollution. Several libraries have already been dismantled, with their contents either destroyed or shipped to repositories where they are uncataloged and inaccessible.

Members of Congress have asked the EPA to cease and desist. UCS is asking concerned scientists and activists to call EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and urge him to immediately halt the dismantling of the library system until Congress approves the EPA budget and all materials are readily available online.

As Kos pointed out long ago, one of the key things we need to do is rebuild the Democratic party on the state level. It looks like Michigan has made some progress on that score. We took back the state House, though the Senate looks improbable at this point. Here are excerpts from Matt at michiganliberal.com:

Good things:
...
Democrats will control the State House, 58-52 [Currently 58-49 Republican].
Democrats increased their numbers in the State Senate by at least 1.
Democrats swept ALL State Board of Education & University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University governing board seats that were up this year
Bad things:
Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (R) re-elected
Attorney General Mike Cox (R) re-elected
Proposal 2 (anti-affirmative action) passes
Unless recounts prove otherwise, Republicans will still control the State Senate
George Bush is still president

It also looks like we could have had the Senate if we had had better voter turnout in certain African-American communities and if Greens had not run candidates in Democratic districts.

I just got an email from the person coordinating poll challengers for our area with the following warning:

On November 1, 2006, the Secretary of State sent an Issue No. 40 of Election News to all clerks. I encourage you to download it. www.Michigan.gov/sos. Go to Elections in Michigan, Information for Election Administrators, and scroll down the middle column to get this Election News Issue No. 40. ...

At page 3 the publication states that challengers and poll watchers "do not have the authority to approach voters or talk to voters for any reason." This is not an accurate statement of the law. Challengers are only prohibited from making a direct challenge to a voter's right to vote. This statement may limit the ability of Republican challengers to intimidate or interfere with voters. It may also limit our ability to help voters.

Both Michigan's legislature and Supreme Court are in the hands of conservative Republicans. WE NEED PROGRESSIVES ON THE COURT. These races get very little coverage in the press, and the party affiliations of the candidates are NOT indicated on the ballots, even though they are nominated by the political parties. Basically, no normal person has any idea who these people are. It is crucial over the next three days to get the word out to vote for Beckering and Cavanagh.

Here is a rundown on the most progressive candidates by Michael Steinberg, the litigation director of the Michigan ACLU. (He is not speaking in an official capacity here.)

Raw Story is pointing to an amazing article by David Swanson at afterdowningstreet.org covering testimony by Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, US Army (Ret.) before the Sept. 26 Iraq Forum called by Rep. Lynn Woolsey. (Rep. Woolsey diaried his testimony here, but she only touched the surface of this bombshell). A full transcript of the testimony can be found here (pdf). Odom was Reagan's NSA head, among many other important posts. Hightlights are:

The invasion of Iraq probably saved al Qaeda from ceasing to exist. There is nothing we can do to stop Iran from getting nukes, but we should be talking to them, because our countries actually have many interests in common. The consequences of leaving Iraq will be severe, but the longer we wait, the worse they will get. In response to the question, "How do we get out?", he answered: "Well, the Constitution gives the House the right to impeach."

The Guardian today published excerpts from George Monbiot's important book Heat, which explores the global warming denial industry funded by ExxonMobil and others. Monbiot's film on this issue will be broadcast tonight on BBC2's Newsnight, starting at 10.30pm.

Many people here know parts of the story, but this is an in-depth treatment of the unholy alliance between big tobacco and big oil for the purpose of undermining public faith in the results of science. They accomplished this by funding over 100 supposedy grassroots or scientific organizations that spread distorted information to create the impression of immense controversy and scientific debate where there was, in fact, consensus.

People are paying attention, so now is the time to write in to the [expletive] media and explain who we really are. We don't read MSOC for the curse words, we read her because she is insightful as well as passionate. What does "left" mean? Support for people like Wesley Clark, Mark Warner, and Gen. Anthony Zinni? Is it "leftist" to understand a country that you are about to invade and have a plan for how to handle the consequences? To be willing to be fiscally responsible? To believe that America should stand for something besides Abu Ghraib? To understand why the founding fathers thought the separation of church and state was crucial? To believe in the separation of powers? To have noticed that the press is failing in its crucial role in creating an informed electorate? Let them know that we are America!

Are we just in another phase of the usual hurricane cycle that was calm in the period 1900-1925, busy 1926-1960, then calm again until things started picking up in 1995? Jeff Masters at Weather Underground has published an extraordinary list of the records broken by the 2005 hurricane season, including several events that have never occured in the 500 years for which we have relatively good knowledge of hurricane activity in the Atlantic and Carribean. (Hurricanes are big, so they were hard to miss by all those Europeans sailing to and from the New World).

There is no issue as important as global warming. We are all Jews in Germany, and it is 1938.