The House of Representatives has once again voted in favor of drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for the umpteenth time. The Senate will inevitably vote against. No one really believes it's going anywhere. "Insiders" think the only reason the Republicans keep brining it up is not that they think they'll prevail, but only to try to split the labor movement. Fortunately, on our side is Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who has done more to build political solidarity within the labor movement anyone else I can think of.
Who's Minding the Store?
I don't know why the NY Times story about sacking the National Museum of Iraq strikes me so hard. They're just "things," contrasted with with pictures and stories of dead and mutilated children and parents, no medical care, non-stop looting and mayhem -- but the fact that "Nothing remained, museum [in the museum] at least nothing of real value, from a museum that had been regarded by archaeologists and other specialists as perhaps the richest of all such institutions in the Middle East," while the U.S. Army did almost nothing to stop it makes me kind of sick.
There's another reason all this is bothering me. While no one's watching to museums or hospitals in Baghdad, who is not watching the alleged chemical weapons and nuclear depots in other parts of the country (assuming they exist?) I'm afraid we're all going to have some whirlwinds to reap.
