Another Delco Guy In South Jersey

Thanks Alberto!

  Liar Liar 
  Originally uploaded by drwhimsy

I jkust want to take this moment to thank Alberto Conzales for the WONDERFUL birthday present he has given me and the nation by his resignation today.  The Liar General had trouble remembering his name when called before Congress, let alone details of a super-secret program to spy on ordinary Americans or the political machinations that went into firing the US Attorneys.

CNN reports that Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff will be nominated by The Shrub to replace Gonzales. ANYONE will be better than AG as AG, but what about Chertoff should give us hope he acn do better?  His super-organized response to Hurricane Katrina? 

Still the cupboard in the Bush Administration is pretty bare of talent in the second half of a failed, lame-duck administration.  I guess a former jederal appelate judge and prosecutor is about the best we could hope for.  Let's hope he is too bust cleaning up AG's messes to make any of his own!

As If We Needed Further Proof

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified yesterday on Capitol Hill that Alberto Gonzalez, then the White House Counsel, pressured a bed-ridden John Ashcroft to approve the now-infamous warrantless wiretapping program.

Ashcroft was Attorney General at the time, but had ceded responsibilities to Comey.  Comey and the FBI director went to the hospital to protect Ashcroft from Gonzalez. 

It's hard for me to feel sorry for the priggish trampler of civil rights Ashcroft.  I certainly never thought anyone would make him look good, but Gonzalez makes him look like frigging Alexander Hamilton.

In related news, Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel became the fifth Republican Senator to call on Gonzalez to resign.

Since we have not seen any evidence of it, it's unlikely G Dub 43 will do the right thing and can Gonzalez.

Thanks to Flickr member Daquella manera for today's image.

Legal Silliness

I don't generally bash lawyers unless I have a really good reason to, but then nearly every day I see a news story that give me a reason.

From today's stupid lawyer tricks file comes this story.  Apparently Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., a $7 billion goliath in the gardening industry is so threatened by Trenton, NJ-based TerraCycle Inc., that it has sued the tiny worm poop purveyor from NJ.

Apparently Scotts Miracle-Gro feels it owns the right to use the colors yellw and green on gardening advertising.  At least that's what they say in their lawsuit.

I've attached images of the products below, courtesy of the website suedbyscotts.com.  It appears that website is related to the TerraCycle folks in some way.  But you have eyes.  You can see that there's a pretty substantial difference between the products.  Am I wrong here?

I think the real issue here is that the Miracle-Gro people aren't satified with 59% market share and are willing ot use their lawyers and the legal system to bully a small environmental fertilizer startup. 

I use Miracle-Gro and Scotts products a good bit.  I'd never heard of the worm poop guys before today, but I can tell you my next lawn fertilizer application will be with the little company that could's product.  The big guys should be ashamed of themselves.