New report: if you have Chinese-made drywall, rip it out now

Wow, that's going to be expensive for quite a few people. Leaving it will probably be even more expensive. Let the lawsuits, begin. Rightly so as well. How can the world consider China to be a proper trading partner when stories like this or lead poisoning for kids toys come out? Chinese manufacturers need to foot the bill.

About 3,000 homeowners, mostly in Florida, Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, have reported problems with the Chinese-made drywall, which was imported in large quantities during the housing boom and after a string of Gulf Coast hurricanes.

The drywall has been linked to corrosion of wiring, air conditioning units, computers, doorknobs and jewelry, along with possible health effects. Tenenbaum said some samples of the Chinese-made product emit 100 times as much hydrogen sulfide as drywall made elsewhere.

The agency continues to investigate possible health effects, but preliminary studies have found a possible link between throat, nose and lung irritation and high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas emitted from the wallboard, coupled with formaldehyde, which is commonly found in new houses.

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The Mormons are now 'combatting pornography'

Why do I have a sneaking feeling that ENDA is pornography to these people? Read the rest of this post...

Job alert: looking for vacationing honeymooners

The pay may be low but if you have six months of free time, this would be fun. The deadline is only days away so start working on it asap. CNBC:

The contest is being offered by Runaway Bride and Groom, an Irish tourism company, and pays 20,000 euros (US$27,000).

You’ll get to spend six months in five-star bliss and all you have to do is get off the hammock a few times a week to blog — and once a month to write a story for the Irish Times newspaper.

This dream-job contest craze started a little over a year ago with the island-caretaker job in Queensland, Australia. Then there was the contest to be an island caretaker on Waiheke Island off the cost of New Zealand, the wine-blogger job in Sonoma and the theme-park reviewer job in Orlando, Fla.

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Current Pope, then Bishop Ratzinger, had to be begged to defrock child rapist priest

And they have the nerve to blame this all on the media? We're not living in the Middle Ages any more so the Vatican is going to have to do better than blaming everyone else for their problems. Waiting for a decade to take action against a rapist is inexcusable and it's not the fault of the media or the victims. This rests 100% on the Pope himself. Read the rest of this post...

Bachmann says Teabaggers, who have repeatedly used the n-word about blacks, are not racist

There's video of a Teabagger spitting on a black congressman, and of a Teabagger leader holding a sign with the word n-word on it. Clearly, the Teabagger's racism and violent emotions are becoming a liability to the GOP if even crazy Bachmann is now out there defending them. Remind the number one rule for Republicans, if they deny it, it's true. Read the rest of this post...

New Vatican talking point: Criticisms of Pope over child rape scandal 'are comparable to the most shameful anti-Semitism'

Wow. They are really, really reaching over at the Vatican. This is shameful. Just shameful:

Attacks on Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church over a sexual abuse scandal are comparable to the most shameful anti-Semitism, a preacher told a Vatican Good Friday service attended by the pontiff.

Father Raniero Cantalamessa drew the parallel during a "Passion of the Lord" service in St Peter's Basilica on the day Christians commemorate Jesus' death by crucifixion.

This week's celebrations leading up to Easter Sunday have been clouded by accusations that the Church in several countries mishandled and covered up episodes of sexual abuse of children by priests, some dating back decades.

It's amazing how the leaders of the Catholic Church keep trying to make themselves the victims here -- after they enabled and protected child rapists for decades. It's not who they are, it's what they did and continue to do. Read the rest of this post...

So I got a puppy

(Dog to still be named, pre-bath)

My mom was laughing when the new puppy got me out of bed at 6am this morning. For those of you who hadn't noticed, I do'nt normally post on the blog before 10am. Joe covers the morning shift, and I cover the late night shift, for a reason. I am not a morning person. Guess I am now!

So, I've been searching for a few months now for a puppy. I grew up with dogs, have always wanted a dog (since leaving my parents' house), but always rented so wasn't able to. A year ago I finally saved up enough to buy my first condo, and I promised myself that at some point I was going to finally get a dog again. After 25 years dogless, it happened last night. The search has not been easy - I need a dog that's decently hypoallergenic because of my allergies, which are pretty bad (but not to dogs). I'm getting allergy shots etc., but though it wise to err on the side of a dog from breeds that are better for allergy sufferers, which limited my searching radius substantially.

She's a 10 week old half Yorkie half Bichon. She has no name yet, I'm still so preoccupied with constant pee and poo vigilance I haven't even had time to think about the luxury of a name. (Suggestions are most welcome - Joe warned me, however, don't name her anything too gay - I guess that means Fifi and Lady Gaga are out.) She truly loves to be held, which is good, since I wanted a dog who would be a good lap dog, and one that wouldn't mind flying back and forth with me to Chicago for the various holidays (I'm actually in Chicago this week for Easter). So long as she's with me, she's incredibly content being held, so I'm hoping the airport trip on Wednesday is uneventful (I'm expecting the worst).

Here's a quick video of her that I took to show my sister, when I was deciding whether to get her. That's my nephew Illias holding her. He begged me to get her.



So, the puppy who must-still-be-named did quite well last night. I took her out at around 11 or 12 or so, she did her business, threw up a little, then I put her in her mini-crate for the night. We made sure it was small enough so she wouldn't go in her crate, and to her credit she didn't. Less to her credit were the whines, and outright screams, that began at 6am. I took her out, just in case, and she played happily in the dark Chicago morning - it was literally one of those rosy-fingered dawns that Homer wrote about, and would have been quite beautiful if it weren't, well, dawn. Anyway, puppy Lord didn't go, so I took her back inside and mom and I fed her. This was around 630am or so. She ate about 1/8th of a cup of food and drank heartily, then I sat with her for a minute and then took her outside, where she played like a bat out of hell for half an hour. Who knew pine cones and leaves could be so joy-inducing.

Unfortunately, our half hour adventure in the rising sun did not include little puppy doing any of her business. At around 7am I finally gave up. People were jogging by. It was an obscene hour to be awake and doing anything pre-coffee. So I made the command decision to take Coco (sis likes that names, it's Illias' dog's name, I'm unsure about it) inside and back to her crate. Well. You'd have thought Dick Cheney was waterboarding her. The whimpers turned to whines turned to screams. I called my sis, and she said to just let the puppy whine - didn't want to reward separation anxiety. So I moved her to another room, and tried to sleep for a few hours with two pillows pushed against my head.

Funny thing about puppy screams. They pierce pillows like butter, even half a house away. Mom agreed to take her out at 9am, so I could try to sleep (unsuccessfully), and I got up at 10 (after laying down again at around 730am to try to sleep a bit more), and now my sister has her at work, so I'm getting a one hour break.

She really is adorable. And quite rambunctious this morning - her tail is now up in the air happily, whereas last night she was still a tad shy. Today is the first vet visit, and a trip to Target to find some more pet supplies, including the airplane pet carrier.

Here's a pic of her last night, when she was still sussing out my parents' place. She likes to find little nooks to sleep in, when she's not totally dominating my parent's Maltese-Bichon. Stay tuned for the next installment.

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Global oil consumption down, yet prices are rising

Hmmm, now how does that happen? Wall Street is obviously gambling again. They're addicts and someone needs to stop their habit. How many lifelines is Washington going to throw to them before they cut everyone else a break?

Oil consumption has fallen, demand from U.S. motorists for gasoline is flat at best and refiners that turn crude into fuel are operating well below capacity. Yet oil prices keep marching toward $90 a barrel, pushing gasoline toward $3 a gallon in many markets, and prompting American drivers to ask, "What gives?"

Blame it on the same folks who brought you $140 oil and $4 gasoline in 2008: Wall Street speculators.

Experts attribute much of the recent rise in prices to flows of speculative money into oil markets. These bets are fueled by investor expectations that the U.S. and global economies are poised to return to growth and thus spark increased use of oil. Strong growth in China supports the narrative of rising oil consumption and tightening supplies.

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'Noted' Exorcist: The Devil is behind the media coverage of Benedict and the child rape scandal

This guy isn't just an exorcist. No, he's a "noted" exorcist according to the Catholic News Agency. And, he's figured out that the devil is controlling the media coverage of the Pope and the child rape scandal. The devil also caused priests to rape kids, too. Apparently, none of this is the fault of Benedict, the church's leaders or the abusive priests:

Noted Italian exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, commented this week that the recent defamatory reporting on Pope Benedict XVI, especially by the New York Times, was “prompted by the devil.”

Speaking to News Mediaset in Italy, the 85-year-old exorcist noted that the devil is behind “the recent attacks on Pope Benedict XVI regarding some pedophilia cases.”

“There is no doubt about it. Because he is a marvelous Pope and worthy successor to John Paul II, it is clear that the devil wants to ‘grab hold’ of him.”

Father Amorth added that in instances of sexual abuse committed by some members of the clergy, the devil “uses” priests in order to cast blame upon the entire Church: “The devil wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of all the saints.”

Yep, the devil. All Satan's fault. The Church is absolved. Read the rest of this post...

162,000 jobs added in March. Unemployment rate still at 9.7%

This is finally movement in the right direction on jobs:

Employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, leaving the unemployment rate steady at 9.7 percent for the third straight month. The payrolls increase was the largest since March 2007, and also reflected temporary hiring for the census.

Payroll figures for January were revised to show a 14,000 gain, while February was adjusted to show only a loss of 14,000.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected non-farm payrolls to rise 190,000 last month and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 9.7 percent. The median projection from the 20 economists who have forecast payrolls most accurately over the past year predicted 200,000 jobs were created in March.

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Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

New jobs numbers are expected within the next hour or so. From what I read and hear, all the experts think the U.S. created jobs in the last month. That will be welcome news, although much of the hiring is census related. Who knew an idea initially hatched in the Constitution would be a key to economic recovery in 2010?

For Christians around the world, today is Good Friday. I just heard the Cardinal from Boston, Sean O'Malley, on NPR saying that these are tough times to be a priest. Really? I think it's a hell of a lot harder to be a victim or the family or friend of a victim. These guys still don't get it. They enabled and protected child rapists for decades. That's should be hard on them. But, instead, they're whining because people are being mean. It's just revolting. But, I'm sure we'll hear more of that victim talk from the Catholic hierarchy over the Easter weekend.

This was quite a week on the DADT front -- not a good week. There's been controversy since the Department of Justice filed its latest brief, which strongly defended the law. We broke that story on Tuesday. Yesterday, two leading experts on the DADT policy, Drs. Aaron Belkin and Nathaniel Frank, blasted DOJ for distorting their testimony in the brief. The White House brain trust should really follow through on the President's commitment to repeal DADT this year. It will save them a lot of political grief. I really don't think Obama wants to head into the reelection with this promise, among many others to the LGBT community, unfulfilled. But, that's the direction we're heading.

I think John is going to have some fun and exciting news later today...I won't spoil the surprise.

Let's get threading.. Read the rest of this post...

UK could lose AAA credit rating

Putting aside the many failures of the credit rating industry (who deserve a lot of blame for the crisis) this is very bad news for the UK. Losing the AAA rating will mean higher costs for borrowing, which means higher taxes and/or fewer services. Once again, the selfishness of the bankers who have bounced back will probably end up costing people yet again. Not to be alone, other European countries as well as the US are also eying potential problems in the near future with financing debt. Tell me again why both Obama and Bush made it so easy for the bankers to recover so easily?

Scott Mather, the head of global portfolio management at the world's largest bond investor Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco), also said the eurozone's potential joint bailout of Greece with the International Monetary Fund would be ineffective.

On Monday, there was a marked sell-off of Greek government debt and an auction of bonds on Tuesday went badly. The spread between the yield on Greek bonds and German Bunds soared again to 340 basis points. Pimco has previously said that Greece's "initial conditions and demographics are abominable".

Pimco is reducing the weight of UK, US and European sovereign debt in its portfolios. "Miracles are needed in the next six months in order to keep economic growth in the developed world," Mr Mather said. Pimco stated last month that it was keeping its negative outlook on British gilts because of fears of inflation and a further deprecation of sterling.

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South Africa going on high-carbon diet

It's unfortunate that South Africa is doing down this path. The good news is that they want financial assistance from the World Bank to build a new dirty coal plant, so this would be a good opportunity to reject that plan and encourage South Africa to build a cleaner alternative. The Guardian:

With its sky-high poverty levels and average life expectancy of just 51 years, South Africa is not a country we generally associate with extravagant binge-flying lifestyles, turbo-consumerism, and shopping trips to New York. How bizarre then that per capita carbon emissions in South Africa are now higher than in many European countries. While most South Africans are unlikely to ever own a plasma screen TV or Hummer, their carbon footprints still appear to be only slightly less than your average Japanese, and their national carbon emissions are now greater than those of France.

The situation becomes more comprehensible when you look at South Africa's industrial base, with 60% of South Africa's electricity being guzzled by heavy industry, and most of that comes from dirty coal. Now this key global climate player wants another coal station that would pollute as much as the two dirtiest plants in Britain put together, and cause a further surge in its national emissions – and they want you to pay for it. Far from benefiting ordinary South Africans, they will also be forced into subsidising this artificially low-cost electricity, for the benefit of multinational mining companies. It's no wonder that African civil society movements are leading the opposition to this development.

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