Support our soldiers

Right now, in a disgraceful move, Sen. Tom Coburn is single-handedly holding up some very important veteran legislation. Sen. Coburn is trying to block S. 1963, “The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009.” While this is a legal move, we think it is morally wrong for Sen. Coburn to hold up any veterans benefits during a time when our men and women in uniform are giving so much to our country.

Sign the petition and send Coburn a message.

The word 'Probably' is the new 'Oops'

Or even 'I fucked up but I'm a Republican so I never have to admit to a mistake'.

Via Thers at Whiskey Fire, Think Progress:

During a town hall meeting in Muskogee, Oklahoma this past weekend, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) admitted that it was “a mistake” for the United States to invade Iraq in 2003. “I will tell you personally that I think it was probably a mistake going to Iraq,” Coburn told the crowd.

WTF?

Are you guys going to be soon saying things like, "You know, that whole Bush, Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld thing was probably a mistake"? Or, "You know, fucking up a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with 9/11, bombing the hell out of innocent people, getting the whole world to think we've gone mad, galvanizing millions more would be terrorists to start taking sides... now THAT was probably a mistake."

Ya think, Senator Coburn? Probably?

Why are they trying to bring back DDT?

Besides pissing on Rachel Carson's grave for being one of the first environmentalists, there has been a move to blame her for the return of malaria because of her stand against DDT. Who is behind this? What chemical company owns the rights to the poison? Why on earth (in every sense of the word) would we want to return to silent springs?

Tim Lambert of Deltoid:

Members of the "we hate Rachel Carson" club have been touting a new study on indoor residual spraying as showing that DDT remains effective against malaria even when the mosquitoes are resistant. For examples, see Angela Logomasini and Ron Bailey. The study found that DDT-resistant mosquitoes were still repelled from huts sprayed with DDT so that occupants would be protected from 73% of mosquitoes. But it also found that there was 92% protection with dieldrin, which mosquitoes were not resistant to. In other words, an insecticide that killed the mosquitoes worked better, as you might expect.

So while the study suggests that DDT might be more effective than tests on how effectively it kills mosquitoes suggests, it does not seem a good idea to continue to use it where the mosquitoes are resistant -- a switch to a more effective insecticide would seem wise. The experience in Sri Lanka where DDT resistance led to a malaria epidemic despite DDT spraying also points to the wisdom of switching.

Raw Story tracks the money and the Senator who blocked the Congress from honoring Carson's birthday:

A Republican Senator who successfully prevented the US Senate from honoring the centennial of the birth of environmentalist and Silent Spring author Rachel Carson received campaign donations from a member of the board of directors of a group that sponsors pro-DDT advocacy, RAW STORY has found.

William Dunn, President of Dunn Capital Management in Stuart, Florida, gave $4,000 to the campaign of Senator Tom Coburn in 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records. Dunn sits on the board of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a group that promotes the use of DDT to fight malaria, and has sponsored a website called "Rachel Was Wrong," which condemns the environmental scientist and activist for her famous book.

[snip]

The CEI-sponsored campaign criticizes Carson in the strongest of terms.

"Today millions of people around the world suffer the painful and often deadly effects of malaria because one person sounded a false alarm. That person is Rachel Carson, author of the 1962 best selling book Silent Spring," reads a message on the front page of the website.

CEI has been accused of serving as a pro-industry advocacy group against various environmental causes. A 20th Anniversary Report on the CEI website showed that 31% of its 2003 income came from corporations.

Additionally, a CEI staff member told the Inter Press Service in 2004 that the group received funding from Monsanto, the agribusiness corporation that originally manufactured DDT, although it no longer produces the pesticide.

Monsanto also supports the work of the Congress of Racial Equality, another pro-DDT group that contributes content to the 'Rachel Was Wrong' website, according to the Pesticide Action Network of North America.

A spokeswoman from PANNA, Stephenie Hendricks, argued to RAW STORY that although Monsanto was no longer manufacturing DDT itself, it was sponsoring efforts to promote the pesticide's use in anti-malaria campaigns to "create a more broadly permissive environment for agricultural chemicals."

Monsanto did not respond to RAW STORY's inquiries on whether it had a hand in the anti-Carson activities of Senator Coburn or CEI.

Monsanto. Again.

Update: Bug Girl at Bug Girl's Blog asks why there is such a push to bring back DDT:

Why, if insects are already resistant to DDT, and you have other compounds that perform as well or better with less risk of resistance and toxic effects for both people and environment, is anyone so determined to justify keeping DDT in use??

It just doesn’t make sense. The cost/benefit analysis comes into play, but I really am not convinced that the difference is that prohibitive.

I’m going to repeat myself:

DDT is NOT a cure-all solution for malaria. It has to be used–if it is used–carefully, with planning, evaluation, and forethought. It’s easy to understand why some folks want DDT to be a panacea–Malaria is a horrible disease, and children suffer the most. But jumping in and spraying DDT can have the potential to make things worse, not better, in the long run.

Each situation has to be evaluated individually before insecticide choices are made. And insecticides are not the only piece of the malaria puzzle. A 2005 review found that simple environmental interventions–under the control of local people–could reduce malarial transmission up to 80%. I’ve already mentioned Bed nets as another strategy.

An integrated strategy will work much better than ideology.

Indeed.

More updatiness: Phila of Bouphonia also addressed this. And here.

Update 8/27: Continuing the conversation from the comments below, I posted on the Neem tree and its oil.