I have used this “Aroma de Trauma” tag before because it is befitting of the GOP as a whole, particularly since Mc weather Vane became their poster boy, surprising not only himself but the entire Republican establishment into the bargain. Watching this election cycle from across the pond with great interest I have no qualms about venturing into the various right wing sites to measure the temperature (boiling to really pissed off), read the latest jeremiads and smell their fear. They are scared stoopid!

Here is my selection, hold your nose.

Red State is a must read these days as Erick the Viking’s site is obviously in deep pain, reeling from bad news to worse news. From Mark Kilmer, who is dumbfounded about the pesky media:

This year, John McCain never had a chance with the media. Obama’s ideology – uncertain, possibly progressive, and insubstantial, with alternating promises – is the perfect fit, unfortunately, with today’s media, with its predilection for political flightiness.

Oh dear! Feeling unloved?

A “plastic soup” of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States. But you knew that. It has been reported for some time. The question is: is there anyone out there doing anything about it? The answer is no. Eighty percent of the plastic comes not from ships but from land, where tossed consumer goods eventually travel from beaches and rivers into the ocean, according to Algalita.

It is already been reported by Chilean scientists that a similar mass exists in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.

Cross-posted on the Big Orange and La Vida Locavore.

A number of economists predicted that the Iraq War would cause a financial crisis for the United States, even before it began.

In November of 2002, Yale University professor William Nordhaus was quoted in the Independent as warning that:

“A war in Iraq could cost the United States hundreds of billions of dollars, play havoc with an already depressed economy and tip the world into recession because of the adverse effect on oil prices, inflation and interest rates.”

On the day that Bush began his bombing of Baghdad, a.k.a “Shock and Awe,” March 20, 2003, CBS Market Watch predicted that,

“If war with Iraq drags on longer than a few weeks or months most are predicting, corporate revenues will be flat for the coming year and will put the U.S. economy at risk of recession, according to a poll of chief financial officers.”

GWB & deregulation: a lethal cocktail. It has brought us to this point as only he can spend over $12,000,000,000 every month on democratizing Iraq. The rest of us will have to pay for the rest of our lives before our kids take over the debts, as will the next generation.

Cross-posted on the Big Orange & La Vida Locavore.

This is my fourth diary on the melamine scandal (but first here on Docudharma), and like the financial scandals it shows no sign of going away any time soon. To this day 10,666 infants are still in Chinese hospitals fighting for their lives.

Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), chairwoman of the Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, issued the following statement about the FDA’s announcement that, despite potential harm to the kidneys, some melamine would not raise health concerns:

“While other countries throughout the world, including the European Union, are acting to ban melamine-contaminated products from China, the FDA has chosen to establish an acceptable level for melamine in food in an attempt to convince consumers that it is not harmful. Not only is this is an insult to consumers, but it would appear that the FDA is condoning the intentional contamination of foods.”