The story here is not so much what Canady says, which hasn't been corroborated and may never have made it on air, but that VA officials apparently committed several felonies against the reporter, including theft and assault.

The VA official reportedly said that *Canady* hadn't signed a release from the VA.

Under no legal system I've heard of would the fact that person A had not signed a form mean that property of person B could be taken from person B under threat of force. One *might* be able to get an injunction against person B using the information, but that's an issue for a court.

The fact that person A is a vet and a VA hospital patient just makes it worse.

Larry

I'd like to believe this, but I seem to recall that Salon was also painting quite a rosy picture going into the 2004 election.

I don't see anything quite this hopeful elsewhere in the press, so I remain skeptical.

But, definitely get out and vote. Encourage others. Talk about the positive things with borderline/undecided/uninformed voters.

On the first viewing by young children, I'd suggest lowering the volume a bit when Totoro growls. It scared our 2.5 year the first time, though she got over that by the 5th or 6th viewing.

Great movie.

Came across this on TCM one night, and it's a strong, sweet story (with some mild conflict but no real violence except in the race at the end). Liz Taylor (as Velvet) and Mickey Rooney are great in their roles, but I think I liked the mom best.

There is a fairly strong proto-feminist theme here, if I'm not mistaken.

Anyway, I saved it for our 3.5-year-old and she loves the first half (after which she normally goes to bed). But I think older kids would like it, too.

It's a well-told story.

1. No link to the study. And a quick check at climateconservancy.org shows that all of its studies are currently underway.

So where did the author find the info... any why would an editor let an author mention a study without that reference (preferably as a link, obviously).

2. The article says "using one paper towel drains the equivalent of one ounce of greenhouse gases" ... and perhaps this is possible if the paper towel is effectively sequestering some carbon. And then the comparison says the dryer "accounts for less than half an ounce.". And the dryer thus "wins the race"... what a poor choice of metaphors. Apparently "draining" is meant to stand for "generating".

Don't Salon editors check for confusing terminology?

Did the author perhaps misinterpret the study? We can't tell without that link.

3. An another needlessly unanswerable question: does the study take into account the increased air conditioning burden for air dryers used in air conditioned settings?

And, off topic, I'd like to point out that air dryers are unsuitable for drying one's face or as ersatz washclothes.

With loads of extra sugar and starch. Jeez, have the editors gone on vacation? 2-3 paragraphs of information, not entirely novel, and the rest is just time-wasting filler that only amuses the author.

In addition to the points made by other writers (Edwards' approach is to do work and attract attention to a place that seems to fallen out of the spotlight, etc), don't forget that Guliani failed to follow through on recommendations for emergency service following the 1993 WTC bombing, such as interoperable radios for police and firefighters.

(See, e.g., http://mediamatters.org/items/200708210005)

Edwards has no similar culpability in the magnitude of the Katrina mess.

Nothing was factually wrong in the article, but I would like to point out that most of the people crossing at San Ysidro on weekdays are either U.S. citizens who choose to live in Tijuana for the lower cost of living or (like me) for family reasons, or folks with Green Cards in the same situation. Or others taking their kids to a private or Catholic school in the U.S. Or going shopping where the variety and quality is generally higher.

In other words, not much of the traffic at San Ysidro itself *seems* tied to national issues or the national economy ... there's just this inconvenient border in the middle of a metropolis.

Occasionally there's a protest of something or other to remind us of the larger issues, but most days the experience on the ground is just as mundane as getting into Manhattan.

Of course the truck crossing at Otay Mesa, under 10km to the east, is a different story. As are the illegal crossings in the desert and mountains east of there.

Unnamed sources claiming to be allied with Hillary Clinton discrediting another candidate in underhanded ways?

Call me cynical, but the simplest and most probable explanation is that this is just a smear campaign from the Republicans. This is exactly the kind of thing they do: recall the "madrassa" story from a while back for a recent example. It's one of Karl Rove's main strengths.

So let's not get too excited until we get the facts.