From "New Scientist" - Bad dreams haunt right-wingers
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn996

"The further your politics lean to the right the more likely you are to have nightmares, according to a dream researcher from Santa Clara University in California."

Now what does that mean?

Sen. Clinton Bashes Bush on Environment

Updated 12:43 PM ET June 7, 2005
By KAREN MATTHEWS

http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8aistg00&src=ap

NEW YORK (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the Bush administration's record on unemployment, women's rights and the environment, saying it is "intent upon consolidating and abusing power."

"We are living in a time when the other side doesn't want us to see the facts. Facts are inconvenient _ facts about global warming, facts about mercury in the air, facts about people staying unemployed longer," said Clinton, considered a Democratic contender for the presidency in 2008.

The former first lady spoke Monday at a New York Women for Hillary breakfast, which raised $250,000 for her 2006 Senate re-election campaign. She leads potential GOP Senate opponents 2-to-1 in recent polls.

"There has never been an administration, I don't believe, in our history more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda," she said of President Bush.

"Whether it's the right to organize and be part of the American labor movement ... whether it's the right to be able to be have a choice when it comes to the most private and intimate decisions that a woman has to make, whether it is to protect the environment _ whatever it is that we slowly but surely built up during the 20th century, this current administration and their allies in Congress want to turn the clock back on all of that," Clinton said.

A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee compared Clinton's comments to recent criticism by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

"It's too bad that New York's senator is now taking her cues from someone who thinks personal attacks are a substitute for an agenda," RNC press secretary Tracey Schmitt said.

Clinton and her aides maintain that her focus is on winning a second Senate term in 2006, not chasing the White House in 2008. But Republicans say her sights clearly are on the presidency.

EPA Sued Over Pesticides' Effects on Kids

Updated 7:35 AM ET June 8, 2005

http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...8ajdga81&src=ap

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The government has failed to protect the children of farmworkers from the harmful effects of pesticides, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by farmworkers, environmentalists and public health advocates.

The suit alleges that the Environmental Protection Agency has ignored scientific evidence that children who grow up near farms face increased health risks from exposure to hazardous pesticides from air, soil, water, food and clothing.

In the United States, more than 1 million children of farmworkers live near farms, including more than 300,000 children younger than 6 years old who are especially vulnerable to pesticide exposure, the suit says. Plaintiffs included the Pesticide Action Network, United Farm Workers of America and Natural Resources Defense Council.

The plaintiffs filed suit because the EPA allegedly failed to respond to their 1998 petition to recognize the special needs of farmworkers' children when setting pesticide tolerance levels, as required by the 1996 federal Food Quality Protection Act.

"The EPA has turned a blind eye to this problem, which has left another generation of our children at risk," said Michael Wall, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In a statement, the EPA said it believed its "decisions are protective of children's health and fully meet the toughest scientific and legal standards under the Food Quality Protection Act."

Toxin Misidentified As Ricin in Arrest

Updated 8:32 AM ET June 8, 2005

http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pr...07_2142&src=abc

A substance thought to be ricin after it was confiscated from a man's apartment has been retested and found not to be the deadly toxin, officials said.

All 15 samples retested came back negative for ricin, said state epidemiologist David Engelthaler. Previous tests indicated three samples contained ricin.

Widely available and easy to produce, a small amount of ricin can kill a person within 36 hours.

The new tests were performed after state health lab workers discovered outdated chemicals had been used in initial testing.

The samples were taken from the Mesa apartment of Casey Cutler on Saturday after Cutler's former roommate told police he may have been poisoned by ricin.

Cutler, 25, was charged Sunday with producing and possessing a deadly toxin for use as a weapon. If convicted, Cutler faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The U.S. Attorney's Office plans to amend the complaint to charge Cutler with attempting to produce ricin for use as a weapon, said spokeswoman Sandy Raynor. That charge carries the same maximum penalty.

According to the criminal complaint, Cutler told investigators he manufactured and carried the ricin in vials around his neck for self-defense after being assaulted last year.

The complaint also said Cutler manufactured the ricin by boiling castor oil and extracting the toxin with acetone. Ricin is made from the waste produced by processing castor beans. Engelthaler said he did not know of any way to produce ricin from castor oil.

Officials said Cutler isn't believed to have any connection to terrorism.