Scientists have discovered that exposure to a common pollutant may make people more likely to experience severe symptoms from swine flu -- and it's a pollutant emitted in large quantities by coal-burning power plants and other industrial facilities. The culprit is arsenic, a highly poisonous semi-metal which, according to a new study by researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory and Dartmouth Medical School, compromises a person's ability to mount an immune response to the H1N1 swine flu virus.

How does the old saying go? "When other people lose their jobs, it's a recession; when you lose yours, it's a depression." Things just got depressing in our household. Our sole breadwinner just joined the newly unemployed.

Attorney General Eric Holder is taking firm steps to deal with prosecutorial misconduct during the George W. Bush era. And that's a good thing. But the beneficiaries of Holder's reviews, so far, have all been Republicans. And that is not a good thing -- especially when you consider that perhaps the most egregious example of prosecutorial misconduct in the Bush years came in the case against Don Siegelman, the former Democratic governor of Alabama.

The Louisiana Legislature has passed through the lower house a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would dramatically alter the freedom of speech AND the establishment clause of the state constitution and challenge the US Constitution.

Our county Board of Supervisors voted to ignore the recommendation of their own planning commission against putting a truck stop next to our largest elementary school. I live in Washington County, VA. It's one of the more populous counties in this rural area of Virginia (50,000 or so residents). Concerned parents and local businesses began taking names on a petition against a truck stop at that location over a year ago. It's now over 800 signatures. Local residents organized to oppose the rezoning that would be required for a commercial development of this magnitude. The school board voted unanimously to recommend against placement of the truck stop by the school.

A bit over a year ago I posted a video on YouTube where I recounted my experience with the American Healthcare System when I cut my finger at work and was made by my employer to get the wound attended to at a nearby hospital in downtown Chicago. The visit to the ER resulted in my finger receiving one stitch and my employer's insurance company getting a bill for a bit more than $900. Soon afterward I caught John McCain trashing the Canadian Healthcare system.

There's a thought provoking article in the new Vanity Fair by Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winning economist, which evaluates what the current financial situation throughout the world means to America's position in it. It is worth reading and thinking about, since it lays most of the responsibility on a "free-market economy" as foisted on the world by a greedy and thoughtless Wall Street, which set very different standards for other countries than it adopted for the U.S.

cross posted at: www.campaignfreedom.org The main headline was innocuous enough: "Clarksburg Councilman Arrested." Okay, we thought, it's unfortunate, but elected officials all too often find themselves subject to the criminal justice system just like their constituents from every other walk of life. Maybe they had a few too many before hitting the road, had a domestic dispute or whatever. But what really caught our eye -- what we couldn't believe -- was the sub-headline: "Councilman Martin Shaffer was arrested for his role in producing a newsletter."

Adjusting for the time difference, the first round of the Iranian Presidential Election will be underway in about 40 hours. To recap the basics: There are four candidates, and if no one reaches 50% in the first round then there will be a runoff election between the first two on June 19th. There are a number of polls that mostly show a close race, but no one knows with any certainty who will win or if anyone really has a chance of reaching 50% in the first round.

We may again be looking at wonderful days when buying a new car instead of a used one is an extravagance, rather than the inverse being evidence you're poor or a tightwad. What will this mean for the American economy? More spending on better products and services, and more money for small business investments.

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