Attorney General Cuomo announces a settlement with NelNet.

OK, it happened in 1890. The magazine Nature has an interview on the Simpsons and science. You can read that tidbit and more here. As the lead-in to the report says:

Part of The Simpsons' greatness is a willingness to find the humour in absolutely everything — including science. Executive producer Al Jean, the show's head writer and a Harvard mathematics graduate, talks to Nature about how to get a laugh out of Euler's formula.

On July 30, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen convened a "Top to Bottom Review of CA Voting System".

Unbossed is conducting its annual talent search for new bloggers.

We offer a unique blend of politics and policy discussions, a haven for progressive muckrakers, and, of course, what's a blog without free-flowing snark.

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Submit a maximum 500-word essay, manifesto, or link-filled treatise (subject of your choice) to to be reviewed by the secret Unbossed junta. Bonus points awarded to those who share our passion for great writing, excellent analysis, and wonky research.

Many state legislatures and city councils are still struggling with whether to ban smoking in public places, including in bars and restaurants.

In September 2002, IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti issued a clarion call for enforcing the tax laws, clamping down on tax cheats who were depriving the US government of huge amounts of revenue, and creating confidence in the fairness of our tax system. That call went unheeded.

According to Lynn Truss, author of "Eats Shoots and Leaves," and oft-described fusspot of English grammar:

[The em dash is] nowadays seen as the enemy of grammar, partly because overtly disorganized thought is the mode of email and (mobile phone) text, communication.

Read Chip Scanlan's interesting and amusing defense of yours truly at Poynter Online.

"Nothing was done wrong," Lackawanna County (PA) Commissioner A. J. Munchak said.

Nothing?

The company he hired to provide health care to jail inmates forced an inmate to spend four hours giving birth alone, in a cell, instead of taking her to the hospital.

GAO's been very busy. Here are quick summaries of a couple reports released Monday that caught my eye.

A month ago, unbossed reported on issues involved in mail union protests against privatization of routes. This month hearings were held.

No that spelling of wither is not a typo. Not that I don't make them. That wither is what seems to be happening with EEOC's privatized call center.

Sometimes I wonder whether GAO isn't two organizations.

So said GAO's William T. Woods, Director Acquisition and Sourcing Management, last week in testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives

Last week, among a spate of reports issued, was a hissing match over data.

In the news lately is the question: How it is possible that when construction is down, way down, the Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that construction jobs have remained relatively untouched?

Nearly 38 million pounds of toxic chemicals, known or suspected to cause reproductive disorders, were released by U.S. companies into the air and water according to a report released yesterday by Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG).

"These toxic pollutants are the worst of the worst and pose tangible threats to public health that must be addressed," said Kirpal Singh, the group's staff attorney.

However, the Toxic Pollution and Health report may be the last complete analysis of its kind since the Bush Administration drastically reduced the standards by which companies will now self-report emissions data on more than 600 toxic chemicals. Alarmingly, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified the basic toxicity of only seven percent of the most frequently manufactured chemicals in the U.S.

If you’ve read my previous posts about DC’s lack of Congressional representation, you’ll know that DC residents don’t have Senators. That’s not going to change any time soon, but we do have a pretty good shot at getting a vote in the House of Representatives. For that to happen, though, we need all of you represented citizens to contact your Senators and urge them to support the DC House Voting Rights Act (S. 1257).

When CNN attacked Michael Moore's movie "Sicko", they made errors, used outdated statistics, and are now defending their numbers. See here. Moore has responded by documenting where all his numbers come from. See here.

One of their disputes is about Cuba. Moore, using numbers from the UN, says Cubans live 0.1 years longer than Americans. CNN, using World Health Organization (WHO) numbers, says Americans live 0.2 years longer than Cubans.

Perhaps CNN and Moore could agree that this difference is virtually insignificant.

But that raises this question: Cuba is a poor country. We spend more per person on health care than any other country, not to mention Cuba. So, why isn't our life expectancy much higher than Cuba's?

While military installations can be welcomed by a community as an important source of revenue and communities may fight to retain them, bases also have negative side effects. One of those is environmental contamination as a result of chemicals commonly used on those bases, for example, trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchlorate.

In recent months, casino workers across the country have been voting Union Yes in NLRB elections. Prior stories may be found here, here, here, and here.

It should come as no surprise that employers, such as Trump Casinos, would fight back and not merely invite the union in for tea as they negotiate a fair contract.

Many employers are trying to cut costs by methods such as raising co-pays. But do employers really benefit financially from these cuts?

A very clever "Free the iPhone" campaign was launched yesterday to actually protest the lack of wireless freedom.

According to the organizers FreePress.net:

"Apple touts the iPhone as the 'Internet in your pocket' — but it’s not. You can’t use it without signing on with AT&T, and once you do they cripple services, limit what you can do and restrict where you can go on the wireless Web.

We need Wireless Freedom — and our elected officials are the only ones who can give it to us: the freedom to use all Internet devices on any wireless network in a market that offers true high-speed Internet and real consumer choice.

Take action today. Demand that the FCC and Congress free the iPhone — and future gadgets like it — and put the Internet in the hands of everyone."

Flip the page to see the video:

Well, then all youse gotta do is go to the NRC website, clumsily alter a few documents, and your meter will be tickin'. If youse don' believe me, well, GAO has the skinny.

A new junk poll by Zogby says . . .

For years Rep. Roger Wicker has been successful in ensuring that health care workers who must wear respirators because they are exposed to highly dangerous and contagious diseases are not allowed to have the proper fit of those respirators tested. You read that right.

My primary problem with the “guest worker” component of the proposed immigration bill was the expectation that people simply return to their birth countries after building lives in this one. It’s also worth noting, though, that the current guest worker program is far from a smashing success. A recent report from the Seattle Weekly is only the latest in a number of stories of guest workers who follow the promise of decent work only to find abusive conditions.

The President's Identity Theft Task Force, created May 10, 2006, was supposed to help those whose private information was stolen or compromised.

I haven’t felt like writing. I havent felt that I have had anything to say. In fact, I’ve really pulled back from the blogs the past 7-8 months. I’ve tried to avoid them. For a news junky and activist like me, that’s tough, so, in reality I drop in every other day or so. I rarely comment. A lot of times I cant even get thru the post.

Last week I was fortunate enough to be away from a computer for six days. It felt good. I feel like chucking my computer out the window most days.

To be honest, I think that, when it comes to activism and politics, I’m depressed.

I want to state up front that I am not against the private sector. However, I am against fraud, corruption, misfeasance, and malfeasance. These we have had in abundance in recent years, and a prime source for these problems has been the use of private contractors. So here we go again.

It's easy to blow by this country's small towns if you stick to freeways. But that would be a big mistake. As big as assuming that all small towns are full of conservative hicks.

What better way to re-invigorate our old series with a doozy by the Decider-in-Chief himself.

The most thought-provoking part of Michael Moore's Sicko is not the trip to Cuba - though that certainly is interesting. It's the discussion among the American ex patriates about life in France, a life that demonstrates that it values families and human beings.

To follow on the theme of the military and money, what about those BRAC plans to save loads of money? Who knows? The GAO knows!

That seems to be the motto for military time-and-materials contracts, but, according to GAO, this is not a prudent way to do business. Now, who could have predicted that?

By Liz Borkowski, cross-posted from The Pump Handle

Finally, here’s some good news in the power struggle between the Bush administration and Congress: The House has voted to prohibit the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) from spending any money on an executive order that gives political appointees greater authority over federal regulatory agencies.

Bush’s executive order (which amended an order that was issued by Reagan and amended by Clinton) gives OIRA additional authority over activities of regulatory agencies; creates new requirements for the agencies, including an analysis of “market failures” that make rules necessary; and subjects more of their work to these requirements. Public health advocates have warned that this will delay the implementation of health, safety, and environmental protections – and some members of Congress agree.

Jim Abrams reports for the Associated Press on the House’s action:

It only took two years, a FOIA request, one fired whistleblower, and a court battle for the agency charged with ensuring that "every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources" to provide documents on toxic exposures of its own workplace inspectors.

Colorado Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) worked the Cenex gas station this afternoon in Fort Collins pumping gas and answering constituent questions on education, Mexican immigration, Piñon Canyon, but surprisingly not about gas prices.

Few drivers were filling up in the blistering mid-day heat while Musgrave was at the station and some politely declined her invitation to help them at the pump. Expected CD-4 congressional challenger Eric Eidsness, who ran as a Reform Party candidate in 2006 and recently registered as a Democrat, was one of the first in line to have her fill the tank of his Harley Davidson motorcycle.

When asked about her repeated opposition to price gouging legislation when gas prices and profits are at near record levels, Musgrave explained that imprecise language caused her to vote against H.R. 07-1252 introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) last month that would penalize price gouging by oil companies. "There were no definitions to the bill. You don't even know what that means," she said. "The legislation on it should be very clear and when it's ambiguous, I'm not going to vote for it."

_{Photo: Sue Sharkey resident drove 15 miles from her home in Windsor, Colorado to have "her favorite Congressperson" pump her gas.}

Is the student loan scandal merely whining by students who want to find a way to get out paying their loans, or is it a scandal? Or is it Cuomo grandstanding? Is there any wrongdoing?

High up on the Right Wing Think Tank agenda are toll roads, privatized toll roads if possible. But the truly interesting action in support of privatized roads is with publicly owned toll roads. (See Part II) There, state and local governments, under the lash of tax cuts, are testing methods for making toll roads profitable.

First, on the privatization scene

You knew that, of course. The people who take the tollroad pay for it. The rest of us who don't want to pay take free roads. It's win-win for everyone. It's the free market at work. It's almost a free lunch. It's magic.