Scaaaaaandalous Republican Senator

A government watchdog group filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Larry Craig Tuesday, after revelations that the Idaho Republican pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from a lewd conduct complaint in Minneapolis.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Senate ethics committee seeking an investigation into whether Craig violated Senate rules by engaging in disorderly conduct.

Read all the juicy details of what went down in that airport men's bathroom here.

Idaho’s Larry Craig on the issues:

* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
* Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
* Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
* Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
* Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

**Thanks PerezHilton.com for the scoop and the photo!

Rumsfeld Resigned Before the Election

Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the unpopular Iraq war, resigned as defense secretary before last year's November election but his decision was not announced until after the voting, according to his resignation letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

If its not already obvious, this is just another instance of George W. Bush's unbound hubris. He doesn't think of the greatest good (even for his own party) but rather how he can save himself and his pride. Some Republicans are none too happy with this news, believing that their party might have kept more seats in congress and kept control of the Senate if Rumsfeld left before the election.

Rumsfeld did not mention the Iraq war in his four-paragraph resignation letter.

Instead, the man who had become the focal point for critics of the Bush administration's management of the war praised the president for his leadership.

"I leave with great respect for you and for the leadership you have provided during a most challenging time for our country. The focus, determination and perseverance you have so consistently provided have been needed and are impressive," Rumsfeld told Bush.

"It is time to conclude my service. As I do, I want you to know that you have my continuing and heartfelt support as you enter the final two years of your presidency," Rumsfeld wrote.

Rumsfeld also praised U.S. troops for their dedication, professionalism, courage and sacrifice.

It's hard to keep track of how many rats have already jumped the sinking Titanic, but I'll give it a shot:

• Colin Powell, Secretary of State (till 2005)
• John W. Snow, Secretary of Treasury (till 2006)
• Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense (till 2006)
• Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary (till 2006)
• John Ashcroft, Attorney General (till 2005)
• Mike Brown, FEMA Director (till 2005)
• John Bolton, US Representative to the UN (till 2006)
• Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff (till 2007)

I Hate You MTA

I know this is a somewhat of a local story, but it's my blog so I get to rant. Early this morning New York experienced a bit of rain, ok it was a down pour. As a result the entire New York City subway system crumbled before our eyes. For those of you not familiar with our lovely system, when the subways stop running, NY stops running, literally. There is mass hysteria and panic when this occurs. And today, every line on the system experienced some form of failure. Why? Because some rain got on the tracks and evidently flooded the joint. In my part of Brooklyn, a tree fell over and blocked four lanes of subway tracks. My normal one hour commute took 3 ½ hours today. I came to work sweaty, upset, and with a headache. And there are thousands of horror commuter stories like mine; just check out the New York Times report.

How is it that the subway system stops completely when there is a storm or trains are put out of service when there is a sick passenger? There will always be rain and people will always get sick. You'd think after 100 plus years they would have some sort of contingency plan for these events. How can it be that the trains in Tokyo are considered extremely late if they are not on the platform within 30 seconds of their scheduled time? Don't they have rain? Don't they have sick passengers?

We need a major overhaul and increasing the fare from the already high $2 a ride is not the answer. The government needs to put an enormous amount of money into the transportation system, and why not, we deserve it! New York City is the main money maker for the tristate area and everyone sucks us dry. We get very little financial support from the state in relation to what we put in. We no longer collect a commuter tax from those suburbanites who find the city good enough to work in in during the day but run home at night to Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut to their big homes and lower taxes without paying for the privilege of earning a living here.

Discipline, Hello Kitty style

I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to legitimately post a story about a Sanrio character, and here it is!

Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot-pink armbands featuring “Hello Kitty,” the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday.

Police officers caught littering, parking in a prohibited area, or arriving late — among other misdemeanors — will be forced to stay in the division office and wear the armband all day, said Police Col. Pongpat Chayaphan. The officers won’t wear the armband in public.

The striking armband features Hello Kitty sitting atop two hearts.

Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor,” said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

“(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something macho police officers want covering their biceps,” Pongpat said…

*Sigh, a bunch of burly cops wearing pink Hello Kitty bands. What could be better?

Make mine a Venti

All of my life I’ve heard that coffee is bad for you, but no one can explain to me exactly what’s so bad about it (seriously, if you know feel free to leave a comment). I know that it stunts your growth, but I’m not nine so I don't care. I know it's supposed to make you jittery but I just call that a healthy burst of energy. I know it's addictive, but who cares if its not bad for you.

Since no one can explain the bad I'll give you the good. It tastes delicious, it cuts down your hunger pangs in the morning, it's a natural laxative, it tastes delicious, it gives you pep and oh yea, and it tastes delicious! Even more exciting is that coffee may actually have some real health benefits.

Drinking three or more cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of colon cancer in women by half, according to a study by Japanese scientists.

Researchers from Tokyo's National Cancer Center studied data from more than 96,000 men and women aged between 40-69 over a period of up to 12 years from 1990, a member of the team said on Wednesday. They found no significant benefit in men. [Sorry guys]…

Coffee is also good for your skin.

The combination of exercise and caffeine increased destruction of precancerous cells that had been damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet-B radiation, according to a team of researchers at Rutgers University.

Americans suffer a million new cases of skin cancer every year, according to the National Cancer Institute…

The researchers report in Tuesday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science that they studied hairless mice in four groups. Some were fed water containing caffeine, some had wheels on which they could run, some had both and a control group had neither.

“The most dramatic and obvious difference between the groups came from the caffeine-drinking runners, a difference that can likely be attributed to some kind of synergy,” Conney said.

Compared with the control animals, those drinking caffeine had a 95 percent increase in apoptosis in damaged cells. The exercisers showed a 120 percent increase, and the mice that were both drinking and running showed a nearly 400 percent increase…

I suppose if you drink a vat of coffee a day it might have adverse affects but so does eating a vat of anything, so as the wise ancient Greeks used to say, moderation in all things.