Shocking!

Yet another shocker (note the sarcasm) from the Bush administration. Philip Cooney, the chief of staff of the administration's Council on Environmental Quality, has resigned to pursue a job at Exxon Mobil. This in and of itself isn't a surprising thing, as there's a frequent rotation of lobbyists into and out of the administration, and Big Business and government usually have close connections (e.g. Cheney and Halliburton).

Anyhow, what makes this move scandalous is that Mr. Cooney was the guy who recently raised eyebrows concerning the editing of administration climate reports. Essentially, the documents a whistleblower provided showed that Cooney edited the reports so as to play down the certainty of the scientific conclusions. Exxon Mobil is an outspoken critic of environmental policy in regards to climate change, and has drawn the ire of many environmental groups in the past.

Anyhow, as an American it's really hard for me to sit here and feel that the folks in government are honest and uncorrupt, when you see such a set of disturbing events. Guy lobbies for oil interests, guy gets job in charge of an environmental council in administration, guy alters reports to paint a more rosy picture, guy gets well-paying job in the oil industry with one of the main companies his edits helped. It just doesn't sit right. Business as usual, eh?

Here's a link:
Former White House official takes Exxon job

Diversity

One of the more bizarre things I've ever heard of. Kirk Reynolds, the San Francisco 49ers' PR director, made a video for training camp that would help players field media questions. Well, apparently Kirk wanted to make his video "cheeky", and in a baffling move decided to make fun of asians and lesbians as part of his video. In San Francisco. A city with a very large and vocal asian and gay community.

This is baffling, especially given that he is the teams Public Relations Director. Anyway, he's fired (that's a given), but it's still boggles the mind trying to figure out what he was thinking. Here's a link to the SI article. A short trip down Google lane will find you the videos.

49ers go to Chinatown to apologize for video

Mr. Magoo

Funny article in the Lawrence Journal-World today. Seems Rob Phillips, the former owner of the Eldridge Hotel, has been having some hard times, and recently had an altercation with the police. The funny part was his lawyer's explanation for his behaviour:

...Phillips had months earlier told reporters his version of what happened that night.

Just days after his arrest, he told the Lawrence Journal-World and 6News that he suffered from macular degeneration, an eye disorder, and couldn’t see the officer. He thought he was being robbed.

He couldn't recognize a sheriff because he was blind? I would think the cop car and the uniform would be at least mildly recognizable, even with his "condition". Funny how the lawyer didn't say that he was legally blind, which would have backed up his claim. He also was apparently not too blind to find his gun and shoot the sheriff with it, as he was caught on tape saying the following:

“I’m going to shoot your ass,” Rob Phillips could be heard saying repeatedly on a videotape played Tuesday afternoon in Douglas County District Court. “Let me get my gun.”

I can't be too hard on the guy, as he's apparently depressed and distraught, and his outburst can be excused given the context. However I thought his lawyer's "defense" was laughable. Here's the link to the full story:

Former Eldridge owner to face trial