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Bowing To Pressure

Via AP: Speaker Hastert says he hopes for a vote Wednesday to revert to old rules governing ethics investigations and thus end a partisan stalemate.

“I’m willing to step back,” Hastert told reporters after a closed-door meeting with members of the GOP rank and file.

Later, in a brief Capitol interview, he said he expected the full House to vote on reversing the rules. Asked whether that would take place later in the day, he replied, “I hope so.”

Democrats charge that rules changes pushed through the House by Republicans earlier this year were designed to shelter Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and have stopped the ethics committee from conducting business in retaliation. The powerful Texan was admonished by the panel three times last year and faces scrutiny this year over overseas travel.

Hastert drew little dissent from members of his rank and file at the closed-door meeting.

And the Democrats immediately capitalized on the news.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that Republicans had decided to retreat under pressure. “I think they just took the heat,” she said. “I think there has been an editorial in every paper in the country saying this is wrong.”

Thanks Tom.

Major Cheese Factor

In the “be careful what you wish for” department, a new glow-in-the-dark Bible has just been announced.

No joke. It’s real.

Coming this fall from Crossway: two ESV TruGlo™ editions, whose covers glow in the dark. Only $19.99.

You’ll have two styles to choose from.

1581347499  1581347480

What’s the point of putting out a Bible with a cover that glows in the dark, you ask? I have absolutely no idea. Apparently, the marketing of Bible translations has become so fierce that the folks at Crossway have been forced into committing this atrocity.

On the other hand, it will be much safer to ‘use’ than this Bible.

MORE: Battle of the Bible Action Figures.

Psychological Warfare

“We mustn’t go too far with our US success.”

So says the chairman of Toyota, fearing political backlash if the car maker does not give their US rivals some breathing space.

That’s got to wig out the guys at General Motors. And Ford too.

What Toyota really means to say is this…It’s OK, we’ll let you catch-up just a bit, but not too much. Just enough to get your hopes up, then we’ll walk all over you again.

Ouch.

Drew Barrymore Quote of the Day

“I took a poo in the woods hunched over like an animal.
It was awesome.”

This little (ahem) nugget of wisdom appears in a story about celebrities who praise the developing world’s primitive lifestyles as earth-friendly — despite the poor nations’ high infant mortality rates and short life expectancies.

Actress Drew Barrymore, who reportedly earns $15 million a film, told MTV viewers in one episode that after spending time in a primitive, electricity-free Chilean village, “I aspire to be like them more.”

Barrymore, apparently enthralled by the lack of a modern sanitary facilities, gleefully bragged, “I took a poo in the woods hunched over like an animal. It was awesome.”

And her buddy Cameron Diaz wasn’t far (uh) behind.

The 32-year-old Diaz, who earns a reported $20-million a movie, boasted that the cow-dung slathered walls of a Nepalese village hut were “beautiful” and “inspiring,” and she called the primitive practice of “pounding mud” with sticks to construct a building foundation “the coolest thing.”

Blood pressure…rising…must control…fist of death!

The first four episodes of the MTV series made scant mention of the difficult economic and social conditions of the countries visited. Bhutan, a country that received particular praise from Diaz for its environmental policies, has one of the highest infant mortality rates (103 infant deaths per 1,000 live births) and lowest life expectancies (54 years) in the world.

By comparison, the United States, which Diaz described as having too much “convenience,” has an infant mortality rate of only 6.6 per 1000 and an average life expectancy of more than 77 years.

And then, finally, a voice of reason…

A critic of the environmental movement condemned the new MTV series.

“There’s something perverse and immoral when multi-millionaire Hollywood celebrities head off on junkets in the jungle – and then preach to us lesser mortals about the joys of the simple life, and how we should protect the Earth, conserve energy, prevent global warming, and help the poorest people on our planet continue ‘enjoying’ their poverty, malnutrition and premature death,” Paul Dreissen, author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death told Cybercast News Service.

“Life in these developing countries is still nasty, brutish and short. And that there is a reason our parents and grandparents worked so hard to create modern homes and hospitals and technologies, so they could leave behind the unsafe water, dung fires, pollution, rotted teeth, infant mortality and life expectancies half or ours,” said Driessen.

“This entire MTV series totally glosses over the hardships and premature death that is right before their eyes. Even mentioning these facts would obviously get in the way of their ideological message, and their determination to turn [MTV viewers] into little ventriloquist’s dummies for the sustainable development movement,” Driessen explained.

And back to Drew for a final word…

After her visit to Chile, Barrymore expressed guilt about not always adhering to earth-friendly practices.

“Like I leave the light on all the time in my house because I want to feel safe. I am so spoiled, I am — I am going to start conserving,” Barrymore insisted.

“It is just overwhelming how important it is to like, love our planet all the time and not take advantage of it,” Barrymore concluded.

Like, gag me with a spoon.

(This apparently shows my age, due to the fact that I’m sure ‘kids’ don’t say the spoon phrase anymore, but it was all I could come up with, and frankly, I don’t think I need to say anything else on this anyway. It’s all crap.)

See also, “Moby Quote of the Day”

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm

Via Coop’s Corner:

Conspiracy theorists, gather round

Maybe it’s all a series of random occurrences. Then again, maybe not.

On Sunday, the Washington Post ran a story reporting that a credit card belonging to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff was used to pay for airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for the then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

This gets a bit complicated so bear with me.

If the story holds up, then it’s a big problem for DeLay, these days the current House majority leader. That’s because the House’s ethics rules prohibit that sort of thing.

But what piqued my interest was the tidbit that the flight invoice listed Preston Gates & Ellis, the firm that then employed Abramoff as a lobbyist. Computer history buffs will recall that Preston Gates & Ellis was co-founded by William H. Gates, Sr., the father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

I point that out because only last week the New York Times reported that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had contributed a substantial sums to the DeLay Foundation for Kids since 2001.

So maybe it is pure coincidence. Then again….