Is there no sanctuary? First it was peanut butter now this?

I am not even sure how I want to KNOW how E.Coli got into their cookie dough. Barf. At least Nestle is voluntarily recalling all varieties of its prepackaged Toll House Cookie Dough.

You couldn't PAY me to live in Detroit. I'd only consider taking up the offer if:

1) I had builder knowledge like the artist couple did.

2) I was invested in the city.

3) The houses weren't already decrepid shanties. It's alot of work.

Still for these creative professionals, they are more likely to stabilize the neighborhood then vagrants and squatters. Repairing one neighborhood at a time. That's admirable.

Is Daschle trustworthy? Well, the man's spent his longterm career concentrated on HEALTHCARE. Prob? He didn't land the White House gig because he was too cozy with healthcare interests PLUS he failed to come clean with his financial issues.

What's interesting is that former Senate leaders, Tom Daschle, Howard Baker, and Bob Dole came forward with their own plan. However, I just see it as an effort to NOT have people overwhelmingly choose the public option.

Ever heard of rescission? It's when an insurance company cancels a person's coverage AFTER they get sick. According to the Consumerist: "Cancellation of a health insurance policy after coverage is in place, can happen when insured people give incorrect or incomplete information when applying for insurance."

Sometimes, this can be due to outright fraud or it can be as simple as forgetting to list your history of medications -- like minor stuff like acne medication -- if you've been diagnosed with cancer. Beforehand, insurance companies are happy to collect premiums until their customers get sick—then they investigate, and cancel the policy if they can.

Here's a moment of gobsmackery: Health insurance CEOs -- when questioned by Congressional committees -- refused to stop rescissions in cases outside of fraud. C'mon!

My main concern is accountability and not letting the current financial system go without further scrutiny. The lessening of the FDR banking regulations caused the mess we're in now.

It looks like Obama's got some breathing room. Based on that poll, about  3 in 4 respondents said that the president inherited the current economic conditions, versus just 14% who said he is responsible for them. So, they're giving him a chance in the meantime but I'd really like to see that GM does not fail and that we won't bail them out again.

That is a stunning statistic.

According to that CNN article, the dropout rate for minorities is even more extreme:

"About 57 percent of Hispanic and 53 percent of African-American students graduate with a regular diploma in four years, according to the study, which puts the national graduation rate at 70 percent."

How can we advance our educational standards when we're failing 30% of the HS population who aren't even getting the basics?

Talk about feeding the beast.

If you look at the demographics, Iran's growing numbers of youth under the age of 30 don't recall the overthrow of the Shah. According to news reports, 70 percent of the population who are under the age of 30 don't share the same mindset as the Ayatollahs. They are delegitmized the more they refuse to do a complete recount.

Think Progress, a liberal site, is having fun, highlighting GOPers who are comparing repressed Iranian bloggers with the GOP's usage of Twitter.

Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) declared that there was “more freedom” in Iran than in the U.S. Congress, after House ended debate last night:

“I wonder if there isn’t more freedom on the streets of Tehran right now than we are seeing here,” ripped Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), the ranking Republican on the Rules Committee, to Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) at the raucous hearing.

You can't make this stuff up.

I'm surprised. In my workplace, they offer health insurance to all partners, whether you are straight or gay. I suppose my office's lawyers took a look at the legal reasoning and thought it'd be more troublesome to exlude some workers vs. others.

Already there's a double-standard here with SOME federal workers getting same-sex partner benefits and others don't -- civilian federal employees vs. millitary.

I am sure the gay community is fuming over feeling like their votes were taken advantage of.

Is this a consequence of the Patriot Act? Why is the NSA overreaching? What merit is there to monitor Americans' emails without court warrants? Must we all file with the Freedom of Information Act to see if we are being monitored? Or will someone eventually, somehow, let us know?

Wasn't McDonald's the one that got in trouble for using beef flavoring in their French fries? No wonder why they tasted so good.

According to KFC, they say that beef flavors account for only 0.2% of the total seasoning.They also said, small amounts of beef flavors are commonly used in seasonings for many food products, for both restaurant and retail use. Maybe.

But when I cook at home, I don't use meats to season my chicken. I use spices and rubs that i make from myself. Bleh.

Have you seen MTV's latest show, 16 & Pregnant? Was it partly spurred on by Juno? The title says it all. The series is slated to debut June 11 and will be  six one-hour episodes.