PunditGuy

Ex-FBI official says he is ‘Deep Throat’.

UPDATE: WaPo confirms…the mystery is solved. CNN has the story.

Bishop Denies Request for Non-Wheat Communion Wafer

A New Jersey woman whose 9-year-old daughter is allergic to wheat, which is used in Communion wafers, has failed to persuade her Roman Catholic bishop to let the girl use a non-wheat substitute for the church sacrament. In an hourlong meeting with the bishop at the diocese headquarters on May 17, the bishop told Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman that because of Vatican rules his decision from last summer to not allow the rice substitute would stand. Pelly-Waldman’s daughter Haley suffers from celiac-sprue disease, which prevents her from digesting any gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, but not in rice. Gluten consumed by celiac sufferers can damage the lining of the small intestine.

My wife and I have a child who is allergic to wheat, so we know exactly how dangerous it can be. It’s absurd for the Vatican to stand fast on rules like this. What harm would there be in offering a substitute wafer to parishioners who simply cannot digest the substance?

How pathetic.

Via AP: The Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm for destroying Enron Corp.-related documents before the energy giant’s collapse.

More: Full story here.

Does this guy love himself or what?

Hardly.

States say $5.15 an hour is not enough.

More states are raising their minimum wages, pushing hourly rates above $7 in some and shrinking the role of the federal minimum wage, which hasn’t gone up in eight years.

Eleven states have raised their rates since January 2004, and Wisconsin will become the 12th on Wednesday. Employers there must pay at least $5.70 an hour through June 2006, when the minimum wage rises again to $6.50 an hour.

In all, 17 states and the District of Columbia — covering 45% of the U.S. population — have set minimums above the federal rate of $5.15. That has helped cut the number of workers earning the minimum or less (for those earning tips) from 4.8 million in 1997 to 2 million last year, or 2.7% of hourly earners, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

About half of minimum-wage earners work at restaurants. Millions more have wages that are influenced by the minimum. Its buying power is at its lowest point since 1949.

We’re in a state of panic over 2.7% of the workforce, half of which receive minimum wage plus tips?

Protect your ice cream from thievery.

Via BBC: Canada Red Cross used HIV blood.

The Red Cross in Canada has pleaded guilty to distributing contaminated blood supplies which infected thousands of Canadians with HIV and hepatitis C.

More than 3,000 people have died since getting the tainted blood in the 1980s.

The blood scandal is widely regarded as one of the worst public health disasters in Canadian history.

The organisation now faces a fine of up to C$5,000 ($4,000), but charges of criminal negligence could be dropped as part of a deal with prosecutors.

For the first time, the head of the Canadian Red Cross, Dr Pierre Duplessis, has apologised to the victims and their families.

Wait a minute. The Red Cross knowingly distributes HIV blood and they pay a fine of US $4,000? Shouldn’t that be somewhere in the ballpark of $4,000,000, or better yet, $40,000,000? What kind of lesson is learned by slapping a nominal fine on an organization who has been putting out tainted blood for nearly 25 years?

This is the closest thing to a forward looking plan that I’ve seen come from a democrat in years. The liberal college student lists 10 reasons NOT to kill Bush.

Oh the irony.