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Tests conducted at a US Food & Drug Administration laboratory on behalf of the Arkansas Department of Health & Human Services have detected melamine in at least one sample of imported Chinese catfish. And while officials are downplaying the health hazard, this latest finding suggests that the human food supply is much more widely contaminated than previously acknowledged.

Not that this should come as a surprise. Back on April 1, when I first started covering this story at length, I wrote:

Unless and until the FDA determines otherwise, one cannot help but wonder if our sick and dying cats are merely the canary in the coal mine alerting us to a broader contamination of the human food supply.

Three weeks later, when we learned that melamine had tainted chickens, I congratulated myself on my prescience and specifically warned that “a huge swath of our food supply has been compromised … including farmed fish.” Then on May 8, after more details of our expanding food safety crisis had emerged, I elaborated:

According to recent studies, 81-percent of America’s seafood is imported, and about 40-percent of that is farmed. China is the world’s aquaculture leader, accounting for about 70-percent of global production. It is also a major U.S. supplier of farm-raised shrimp, catfish, tilapia, carp, clams, eel and other aquaculture products.

We now know that it is common practice in China to spike the nitrogen level of livestock feed by adulterating the product with both scrap melamine and scrap cyanuric acid. And it has also been widely reported that this contaminated feed is routinely used in China’s burgeoning aquaculture industry.

[…] Fish physiology can leave them particularly prone to bio-accumulating certain contaminants, and the nature of common aquaculture practices tends to exacerbate the problem. Farmed seafood raised on a steady diet of contaminated feed would surely retain some of the toxins in its flesh. But as far as we know, no imported Chinese aquaculture products have yet been tested.

Well, now imported Chinese seafood has been tested, and the results are disturbing. FDA tested Chinese catfish from four Arkansas wholesale distributors, and found detectable levels in at least one sample. Having recently passed Vietnam to become the largest exporter of farmed catfish to the US, China is on target to deliver over 20,000 tons in 2007. If contamination was rare, a positive test would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but considering what we now know about the widespread use of melamine-adulterated fish feed in China, a one-in-four chance strikes me as just about right.

USDA and FDA officials continue to insist that melamine-tainted poultry, pork and seafood is safe to eat and that contamination levels pose no risk to human health. But they simply do not know (or will not tell us) how widespread the contamination is, whether melamine accumulates over time in human kidneys or other organs, what other toxins may have been contained in the melamine scrap, and exactly how melamine interacts with cyanuric acid and other contaminants within the human body.

What we do know is that thousands of dogs and cats dropped dead after eating melamine-tainted pet food — some within only a meal or two of consuming the poisoned product. And the FDA’s own Protein Surveillance Assignment warns that chronic exposure to melamine “may cause cancer or reproductive damage,” and specifically instructs that “pregnant women should not perform this assignment.”

The media may have lost interest in the food safety crisis, but the story continues to unfold, much of it predictably. If farm-raised Chinese seafood is contaminated, it seems likely that so is Chinese poultry, pork and beef. And if multiple Chinese manufacturers were selling melamine-spiked gluten and protein concentrate to US importers as “human food grade,” then surely Chinese food manufacturers have been similarly duped as well. Given the facts (and human nature) there is every reason to believe that Chinese manufactured processed foods are sitting on the shelf today with detectable levels of melamine — and no doubt, have been for years.

And that’s just the melamine. From toxic levels of diethylene glycol in children’s toothpaste, to antibiotics in fish, to “filthy,” “unsafe” and “falsely” labeled products, China’s burgeoning yet largely unregulated food industry is reaching out to threaten consumers worldwide.

It was not a lucky guess that led me to suspect Chinese aquaculture products, but an informed one. Don’t be surprised when this story gets much worse.

The Seattle P-I reports that Sonics owner Clay Bennett is checking out the digs in Kansas City.

Bennett has threatened to transplant the team from the Northwest after failing earlier this year in attempts to get state lawmakers to consider using tax money to help pay for a new $500 million arena in Renton.

In Kansas City, he would have the $276 million Sprint Center, which does not yet have an anchor tenant, according to the Star.

“My take on Kansas City is positive,” Bennett told the newspaper after an economic development luncheon at a Kansas City hotel. “You’ve got a brand-new, beautiful building in an important market. It’s viable. We’re going to do a complete and thorough evaluation of the market.”

Hmm. So let’s see. Bennett demands a half-billion dollar hoops palace in Renton, but apparently a $276 million arena in a much smaller market is perfectly “viable.”

“Right now, we have no option other than to explore relocation,” Bennett told the Star.

Um… yeah… or, he could admit that there is something in between the current Key Arena and a $500 million taxpayer funded freebie. Personally, I’d have trouble accepting any public subsidy, but I’m guessing I’m in the minority, and that if Bennett actually tried negotiating, rather than just handing voters a ransom note, he might be able to strike a deal.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Join us for some hoppy beer and hopped up debate.

I’ll be a little late, but don’t despair, I’ll get there by 9PM. Or do despair, depending on your perspective.

Not in Seattle? Liberals will also be drinking tonight in the Tri-Cities. A full listing of Washington’s eleven Drinking Liberally chapters is available here.

The other day I suggested that Washington state dramatically increase the motor fuel excise tax to pay for a massive investment in rail and other mass transit infrastructure. It was admittedly a bit of a thought experiment, as our state Constitution mandates that all motor vehicle fuel excise tax revenues be dedicated towards “highways,” and of course, amending the Constitution remains exceedingly difficult.

But then I got to thinking. Article II, Section 40 specifically refers to “excise taxes.” There’s nothing in the Constitution that says we can’t also levy a sales tax on motor vehicle fuel, and there’s nothing to mandate how such revenues might be spent. Thus all the hooey we’ve been fed about how we can’t spend gas tax dollars on anything but roads and ferries is exactly that… a bunch of hooey. A simple majority in both houses, and the stroke of the governor’s pen is all we need to create a dedicated fund for building mass transit. And of course, the people are free to vote yea or nay via referendum or initiative.

This isn’t just amateur legal analysis on my part. I checked with a constitutional scholar who assured me that my reading was correct, and that similar proposals have indeed been debated from time to time. And it’s not such an original or off the wall idea; nine other states already levy both sales and excise taxes on gasoline.

The point is we can tax gasoline to help pay for transit, and we need to start having this conversation while consumers are still able to absorb rising prices. With few transit alternatives, demand has thus far proven rather inelastic, even as fuel prices have nearly tripled in real dollars over the past decade. If this sort of energy inflation continues — and with increasing global demand and approaching peak oil, there’s no reason to suspect it won’t — there might come a point over the next decade or so when today’s common driving habits become an unaffordable luxury for the vast majority of working and middle class families.

Such a mobility crisis would have a devastating impact on the economy of a region as automobile dependent as ours, and it is past time we started building towards the transportation needs of the Twenty-First Century rather than waxing nostalgic on the car culture of the Twentieth. With all the Olympia talk of taking a comprehensive approach to transportation planning that considers transit and roads as part of an integrated system, it seems downright silly to perpetuate our segregated funding system. If roads, buses and rail are really part of an integrated system, why must transit compete for property, MVET and sales tax dollars, while roads enjoy the additional succor of a dedicated gas tax? It just doesn’t make sense.

The Seattle Monorail Project didn’t fail because a West Seattle to Ballard route wasn’t needed, or because the dollar-per-mile cost was too high. It failed because it didn’t have an adequate revenue source to pay off the bonds over a reasonable period of time. But had the Legislature granted Seattle the taxing authority to allow voters to additionally levy a sales tax on gasoline, we could have easily afforded the Monorail or some other transit project.

Perhaps I’m wrong, and mass transit isn’t the solution to our transportation needs. Perhaps Seattle and the surrounding Puget Sound region really is unique. But that policy debate and the transportation planning that comes out of it should not be shaped by a constitutional canard that says that gas tax revenues can only be spent on roads.

We can tax motor vehicle fuel to pay for transit. And we should.

With the Port of Seattle gaining a reputation for inappropriate politicking, secret deliberations and ethical scandals, it is good to see Seattle Port Commission President John Creighton finally buckling down and getting to work restoring confidence and accountability in… um… King County Elections…?

Yeah, that’s right. Rather than focusing on setting his own house in order (a house he was elected to keep clean) Creighton is lending his name, signature, and the prestige of his office to a letter raising funds for I-25, a county initiative that would make the King County Elections Director an elected position.

Huh. Is it just me, or does it strike you as a little ironic to see accountability championed by the president of an agency that holds a closed-door executive session before every so-called “public” meeting? And, um, speaking of “reforms that will return confidence” to a process, maybe I’m crazy, but I’m thinking one place to start might be to not allow commissioners to illegally sign secret memos authorizing $340,000 payoffs to patrons who raised their reelection campaigns hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oh… and when you believe a fellow commissioner has “committed an illegal act”, and should “submit her resignation,” I dunno, but the accountable thing to do might be to actually say so publicly.

Just an idea.

In fact, reading the fundraising letter, a few wise, old proverbs come to mind:

“Physician heal thyself.”

“Charity begins at home.”

“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

“Don’t shit where you eat.”

You know, stuff like that.

Why the urgent need to suddenly amend the County Charter? Well, according to Creighton, “citizens were concerned that absentee ballots were mailed late” in an election… five years ago. And…

In 2004, the problems made headlines and affected the outcome of the gubernatorial election.

Really? Problems actually “affected the outcome” of the election? And he knows this, how? Quick… Creighton should hand over his conclusive evidence to Stefan so that he can conduct a thorough and even-handed investigation.

There have been improvements, but there is a need to be more accountable to the people so that all the people can have confidence in the process.

And nothing restores confidence in the election process quite like falsely claiming that problems “affected the outcome of the gubernatorial election,” when you have absolutely no evidence to back this up at all.

What a putz.

The fact is, one of the reasons Creighton and his fellow Republicans are so keen on electing the Elections Director is because they know that a “nonpartisan” office like that — where they don’t have to put an “R” next to their name on the ballot — is just about the only office a Republican can win in King County these days.

You know, like the Seattle Port Commission.

It’s no secret: the working poor don’t have things easy. The Food Stamp Program, which has existed since the 1930’s, was enacted nationwide in the 1974 to supplement the diets of America’s poor. So, who gets food stamps:

The Food Stamp Program is targeted toward those most in need. Of all food stamp households in FY 2003 (the year for which the most recent detailed USDA data are available), 55 percent contain children; households with children receive 79.3 percent of all food stamp benefits. Roughly 18 percent of food stamp households contain an elderly person and 23 percent containa disabled person. Approximately 88 percent of food stamp households have gross incomes below the poverty line ($18,100 for a family of four in 2002). Approximately 38.4 percent of food stamp households have gross incomes at or below half of the poverty line.

The food stamp benefit translates to about 3 bucks a day, or 21 bucks a week. Though the program was meant only to supplement their nutrition needs, these days food stamps recipients are more likely to rely entirely on the program. As inflation eats away at the buying power of the minimum wage, the working poor are earning less. Things have to change.

Some in Congress are trying to bring light to this problem:

Today, four members of Congress conclude the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge, in which lawmakers chose to live “on three dollars of food per day, the same amount an average participant in the Food Stamp Program receives.”

One of the participants, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), “stuck to the challenge” even as he traveled to speak at his alma mater’s commencement exercises, bringing along his “pasta and sauce, as well as the last of my jelly, peanut butter, and bread.”

But when Ryan had to go through airport security, things got dicey:

When I arrived I decided just to carry my bag on so I ran over to the security gate with my carry on. I step up to the metal detector, take my shoes off, place my bag through the scanner and come out the other side to the most dreaded words in travel, “Bag Check!”

As the agent sifted though my bag, I tried to recount what could possibly be in there that was threatening…my mouthwash? Toothpaste? Yeah, it was those two, but it was also my peanut butter and jelly.

He politely put the peanut butter and jelly to the side, closed my bag and gave it back to me. I was too astonished to talk. I took my bag and walked towards the gate thinking about the 4 or maybe 5 meals that she had taken from me. What am I going to do now? It’s not like I can just go to Safeway and grab another jar. I have .33 cents and a bag of cornmeal to last today and tomorrow.

A few congressfolks and the Governor of Oregon took the Food Stamp Challenge. Then again, millions of Americans take that challenge every day. Unlike these pols, it doesn’t end with a flank steak, red skin potatos, and a bottle of pinot noir.

UPDATE:

Many families do things like buy in bulk to keep costs down. This is impossible for most poor folks on a tight budget. Bulk is cheaper per person, but the upfront costs at the cash register make bulk buying impossible. Also, poor folks can get more food if they buy lower quality, hence the fatty ground beef versus the more expensive leaner beef. No wonder obesity is an epidemic for poor kids.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is in trouble. His problems have moved well beyond the scandal surrounding the firing of U.S. attorneys.

Last week former acting Attorney General James Comey gave testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that can only be described as devastating to Gonzales:

Among other things, Comey’s testimony strongly suggests that Gonzales lied to the Senate during his February 2006 testimony. And some senators have noticed the discrepancy:

Gonzales said in 2006 that there was no “serious disagreement about the program,” a claim that flies in the face of the extraordinary testimony delivered by former Justice official James Comey yesterday. In the letter, the senators ask Gonzales if he stands by his claim

Comey’s testimony portrayed a Gonzales with genuine contempt for the Justice department while he was still White House Counsel. The testimony comes on the heels of a series of other scandals within the Justice department that have taken place under Gonzales’ leadership. As a result, the Senate is preparing for a vote of no-confidence in Gonzales that may be acted upon this week.

Today, President Bush still stands by his man:

“He has done nothing wrong,” Bush said during a news conference at his ranch.
[…]

“I frankly view what’s taking place in Washington today as pure political theater,” Bush said, sounding exasperated with the furor swirling around his longtime friend. “I stand by Al Gonzales and I would hope that people would be more sober in how they address these important issues.”

Reading Bush’s words, I have to wonder…is Bush even capable of recognizing when someone has “done something wrong?” It’s hard to imagine he can when I watch a video of him openly lying to the American people on the very same topic—getting court orders for wiretaps (White House transcript, 20 Apr 2004 ):

Bush didn’t have to lie here…he made a deliberate choice to lie.

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) predicted yesterday that Gonzales would resign before the no confidence vote. Even so, Gonzales and Bush can hold out indefinitely.

I’ve seen two lines of speculation swirling about the internets as to why Bush will stubbornly resist to the bitter end. The first is that there are secrets within the Justice Department that are so devastating to the Bush administration that he cannot risk losing a friendly Attorney General. If so, the potential damage must be large because Bush prefers a dysfunctional Justice Department to possible disclosure of “issues.”

The second (and less conspiratorial) reason is that Bush is waiting until the Senate is in recess to make a recess appointment of a administration-friendly AG. Or…maybe not.

Ultimately, there is only one way to force Gonzales out of office, and Robert Greenwald has launched a video and petition to help make that happen:

The impeachment petition can be found here.

The vengeful side of me is enjoying the impotence, and, yes…even the damage, caused to a rogue Bush administration as they cling to Gonzales while he drags them all over the cliff. In that sense, the longer he stays, the better. But as a patriotic American, I feel strongly that a well-functioning, effective, and lawful Justice Department is critical for our democracy. I sure hope Fredo falls on his sword soon.

I got a call this weekend from a volunteer from the Barack Obama for President campaign. It’s was a fund raising call, and I politely said that I was backing another horse. But, in the guy’s prepared text, he mentioned how Obama wants to “bring people together,” and “he’s been bringing people together his whole life.” He talked about how partisanship is ruining Washington DC, that to get things done we have to get past party labels to find solutions.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m not on board with it.

You can’t be talking ‘ceasefire’ while your enemies are training their guns on you. You can’t negotiate with them until you get their elbows pinned behind their backs and you hear them squeal. Senator Obama means well, I’m sure, but I think he misjudges what’s called for in ’08.

I like politicians who can work together. Seattle’s Rep. Jim McDermott has joined with Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA) to work on healthcare. While they have their differences on policy, the goal is the same. They both want America to do something every other industrialized country does already: provide healthcare to all it’s people. McDermott favor a single-payer system in which the government plays a central role, while McCrery wants to fix the current system so it insures everyone. McCrery isn’t like a lot of Republicans. Most don’t care to solve these problems in a way that won’t give them total political victory.

I expect the sort of “play nice with the GOP” meme from folks like Joel Connelly, not a potential standard bearer like Obama.

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO:

7PM: Save the whales? Hell, first lets save journalism.
If like millions of Americans you’ve been mesmerized by the live coverage of a female humpback whale and her calf caught 90 miles up the Sacramento River, then Dr. Denny Wilkens says you are an “overly sentimental sap” whose been suckered by the media — again. Wilkens is a professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in New York, and he joins us by phone to talk about how newsroom cutbacks lead to parachute journalism.

8PM: Can the Netroots save the Constitution?
Just before the November election the Republican Congress pushed through the Military Commissions Act, which amongst other things eliminated the sacrosanct right of habeas corpus for US residents. Ari Melber of The Nation argues that restoring habeas corpus and other civil liberties should be at the top of the agenda for the netroots and other progressive activists. Melber, an expat Seattleite, joins me for the hour.

9PM: Are Washington’s taxes too low?
Sandeep Kaushik of the Washington State Budget & Policy Center says yes, and he’s coming into the studio with the statistics to back it up.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Poor David Postman… reduced to the level of sharing the screen with lowly bloggers like me and Stefan. All three of us appear today on KING-5 TV’s Up Front with Robert Mak: KING-5 @ 9:30 a.m. and NWCN @ 8:00 p.m.

If you miss it, streaming video will be posted to KING-5’s website, um, eventually.

UPDATE:
Oops. Up Front is usually on KING-5 at 9:30 a.m., but today it is preempted by (gag) poker. It’s on at 4:30 p.m. today instead.

UPDATE, UPDATE:
The streaming video is now online. (Our segment starts about 40% through.)

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO:

7PM: Are gas prices to low?
With gasoline prices once again hitting record highs it may seem like an odd time to argue for a hike in gasoline taxes, but argue the P-I editorial board did. And you know what? I agree. Sorta.

8PM: Have the lovely ladies of hate talk gone too far?
Hate talker Melanie Morgan got herself banned from the News Hour on PBS, after repeatedly dissing an Iraq War vet. Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter are outdoing each other in their efforts to reach new highs in punditry lows. David Ferguson, blogging as TRex at Firedloglake, joins me for the hour.

9PM: Jerry Falwell is dead. Al Gore and Fred Thompson live. Why?
A touching tribute to the dearly departed Rev. Falwell, followed by discussion of why the two presidential candidates generating the most buzz and excitement are the two not running.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

I want to strongly emphasize that not all right-wing Evangelical Republicans are serial child rapists. But you know… some are.

A former South Dakota lawmaker is accused of molesting his own foster children and legislative pages. […] Former State Representative Ted Klaudt is accused of manipulating, molesting, intimidating and threatening teenage girls who the state of South Dakota paid him to raise.

[…] The first victim to come forward told investigators Klaudt offered to earn her enough money to pay for college by helping her donate her eggs to a fertility clinic. She says Klaudt used a fake email address from the supposed clinic agent to trick her into letting him perform what’s supposed to be a surgical procedure.

The victims say Klaudt touched them while they were foster children at his home here in Walker. But the girls say the molestation also happened in Pierre during legislative sessions while some of them also served as pages.

Five different girls now say Klaudt did things ranging from manual “breast exams” to the painful procedure of actually going inside of them with a speculum and collecting body fluids. The girls say when they cried, Klaudt gave them a beer and told them to toughen up.

Just drink the beer and quit your crying. Uh-huh. I guess this is what George Lakoff means when he talks about the “Strict Father Model” that defines conservative metaphors for morality.

It should come as no surprise that Klaudt repeatedly voted for bills that limited or prohibited abortions. And according to the inimitable Howie Klein:

Klaudt fancied himself a radical right Republican (and an evangelical) and in 2005 was a leader against the formation of the South Dakota Mainstream Coalition, meant to turn Republicans back towards mainstream conservatism.

By “mainstream conservatism,” I suppose Howie means not serially raping one’s foster children.

Some citizens are upset with Port of Seattle Commissioner Pat Davis:

Davis, who has been a commissioner for 22 years, is accused of malfeasance and misfeasance for her role in signing a memo extending payments of retired port Chief Executive Mic Dinsmore’s $339,841 salary by up to one year past his retirement date.

[King County Superior Court Judge Charles] Mertel ruled that the allegations of wrongful conduct in office are legally and factually sufficient to merit allowing the petition to continue.

“These are sad things when public officials are called to answer to charges like these,” Mertel said after issuing his decision, which allows the petition’s charges to be condensed into a 200-word ballot synopsis to be reviewed by his court Thursday.

“Maybe it is well justified, maybe it isn’t, but obviously the voters will have to answer that.”

The next step for Davis will be to appeal to the state Supreme Court. If not, or if she loses there, the “pro-recall” folks will need to get 149,124 signatures to place the recall on the ballot.

(Postman has more.)

Man…if only the process could be that simple for the PUSA!

Former Governor Booth Gardner seeks “death with dignity.” You know, as opposed to this.

See, this is why I’m really, really rooting for Rudy Giuliani to win the GOP nomination. In the words of Rev. James Dobson:

Speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of any organization or party, I cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008. It is an irrevocable decision. If given a Hobson’s – Dobson’s? – choice between him and Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I will either cast my ballot for an also-ran – or if worse comes to worst – not vote in a presidential election for the first time in my adult life. My conscience and my moral convictions will allow me to do nothing else.

Abortion, domestic partnerships, philandering, multiple marriages, dressing in drag… these are all reasons Dobson cites in asserting Giuliani is not “presidential timber.” And if Christian conservatives like Dobson can’t bring themselves to vote for the GOP nominee, many will stay home from the polls altogether, disadvantaging Republican candidates up and down the ticket. Democratic voters already tend to turn out in relatively greater numbers during presidential elections — imagine a close race in a rematch between Darcy Burner and Dave Reichert, in which the right-wing Republican base is turned off by a Giuliani candidacy.

I sure as hell am.