FDA investigating BPA in food packaging

Now would be a good time to get rid of it. Obama's FDA has come a long way since the dark years of the Bush administration, when industry could call all of the shots.

In a shift of position, the Food and Drug Administration is expressing concerns about possible health risks from bisphenol-A, or BPA, a widely used component of plastic bottles and food packaging that it declared safe in 2008.

The agency said Friday that it had “some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children,” and would join other federal health agencies in studying the chemical in both animals and humans.

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まるです (I am Maru)

I just came across this video, it's excerpted briefly in the "Internet is made of cats" video that Chris posted this morning. This guy's cat is absolutely hysterical. Watch the entire thing, some of the best clips are at the end.

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Scott Brown suggested, on camera, that President Obama was born out of wedlock

Blue Mass Group has more - apparently it's another conspiracy theory surrounding Obama's birth. It's troubling that Brown, who is the GOP candidate for Kennedy's Senate seat, is perpetuating these theories, and even laughing while putting them out there.

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Calling Hank Paulson. Mr Paulson, you have a call on line one

Not that this is going to go anywhere, but one can dream. If anything, it increasingly looks like Geithner will be the fall guy for just about everything related to AIG and the Wall Street collapse. He was definitely in the thick of things though Geithner as the central character in this story is a bit much. Paulson was a much more central character though he also has much stronger political ties both in Washington and on Wall Street to take much more of a hit.

A House committee is broadening its probe of secretive bank bailouts to include former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and former Federal Reserve Bank of New York Chairman Stephen Friedman.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has invited Paulson and Friedman to testify about their roles in the bailout of American International Group Inc., according to Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y.

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Another article to make your head explode

First off, Evan Bayh is an idiot:

Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, said the atmosphere was a serious threat to Democrats. “I do think there’s a chance that Congressional elites mistook their mandate,” Mr. Bayh said. “I don’t think the American people last year voted for higher taxes, higher deficits and a more intrusive government. But there’s a perception that that is what they are getting.”

Yes, those congressional elites did mistake their mandate. You were not elected to be a wimp, sir. Yet far too often over the last year we've seen Democrats refuse to even fight for their promises, and then cave all too quickly to the first Republican, or conservative Democrat, who says boo. It's not surprising that the American people, across the board, are not impressed.

Then there's this:

Still, some Democrats are wondering if Mr. Obama would be in a better position now if he had embraced a less ambitious health care proposal, as some aides urged, permitting him to pivot more quickly on the economy. Depending on what happens Tuesday, that is a debate that might be reverberating in the White House for a long time to come.

Yeah, that's it. You were all just too freaking bold with that health care reform juggernaut. Jesus, is our party ever going to learn? They honestly think that they're in the pickle they're in because they've been "too" bold.

Yeah, right. Your courage is just blinding. Read the rest of this post...

Leading anti-gay group making calls for Scott Brown in Mass

The National Organization for Marriage, one of the most aggressively anti-gay groups in the country, is apparently making calls to Massachusetts on behalf of GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown. More at AMERICAblog Gay. Read the rest of this post...

Dodd to ditch consumer protection for investors?

Please. Leave. Now.

The head of the Senate Banking Committee may scrap the idea of creating a consumer financial protection agency, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday citing people familiar with the matter.

Such a decision would set back White House efforts to overhaul financial sector regulations.

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Glenn Beck: Obama handling Haiti too well, it's dividing the country

He really is a hack.
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Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Some of the big news of the week as seen through the haikus of KarenMrsLloydRichards. #397 in the series "Haiku for the Obama administration is on Palin at her new gig:

Sarah gets made up -
Her permanent lip liner
Shortens the chair time!

#399 hits Rush:

If Haitians were white,
He'd ignore their agony,
Rush theorizes . . .

aAnd, #401 is for Anderson Cooper:

A.C. in Haiti -
Alabaster upper arms
Blindingly white, huge

The haikus regularly appear in the comments (where KarenMrsLloydRichards also provides some biting non-haiku take on the news.)

Let's get this weekend started... Read the rest of this post...

Let's go for a bike ride in Paris

Paris introduced the Vélib' bike system in 2007 and by most accounts, it's been a success. Drivers took a bit of time to get used to cyclists on the road but the system immediately added thousands of bikes to the roads. I never cycled before the introduction of the system but last year I began riding and now tend to get out every day or close to it. Because of time constraints (related to daylight) I do most of my riding in the city during the week.

This is a pretty accurate video of what I see almost every day. Drivers often turn right without looking for bikes coming through bike lanes and for me, that led to one collision that sent me onto the door of the car. I've had other drivers cut me off and pin me into parked cars and then chase me when I yelled. The bikes are not completely without fault as riders often ignore the rules of the road and pretend as though there's a magic bubble surrounding them. Good luck with that strategy.

The video is in French but it's easy enough to follow. Yes, Paris has come a long way for cyclists but there's a reason why it didn't make this "top ten" list. Until the police start fining illegally parked cars and bad drivers, cyclists will continue to suffer. The good news is that there are plans to make more bike lanes but the police really need to crack down on drivers.

It's the weekend, so I'm riding out of town where no cars are allowed. Read the rest of this post...

CNBC: Wall Street deserves fat bonuses from taxpayer dollars

How else can you possibly explain away this ridiculous commentary? It's nothing more than the normal, tired excuses that Wall Street makes. As everyone fully understands, the Wall Street numbers were bloated during the bubble years and they were supposed to start coming down. Pay on Wall Street is often twice what the same person would make in any other industry and sometimes even more.

The results have been abysmal and the only area that has shown positive results on Wall Street has been the areas that traded the US taxpayer money. They stockpiled cheap deals and then made a killing as the market stabilized. At CNBC, that means "Mission Accomplished" on Wall Street so pay them early and often.

Yet the actual metrics in the Journal story raise a key question: What’s all the screaming about? Wall Street’s total compensation simply isn’t out of control. And the pay critics, in their pious, get-tough crackdown, are only ensuring a new round of outrage when some of these banks recover.

First, some key numbers (rounded up) from The Journal’s study:

* Wall Street revenue grew 47 percent, to $450 billion, in 2009 vs 2008.

* Total compensation will rise only 18 percent in ’09 vs ’08.

* In 2008, 40 percent of revenue went to comp. In 2009: only 32 percent.

* Average total comp in 2009: $150,000, up less than $3,000 in two years.

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Just what is the internet?

This clarifies everything. It also explains those hours each day when the cats appear to be sleeping, but are really busy. Very busy. I think Nasdaq's snoring noises are simply reactions from higher internet usage, such as when everyone logs on first thing in the morning. Read the rest of this post...