... [Billy Graham's] lasting damage, I offer as an aside, was to persuade the young George W. Bush to abandon his wastrel ways, at which he excelled, and instead seek the path that has led him to where he is now, a calamity for the nation and the world. Graham's burden is heavy indeed. ...

Putting Them Out to Pastor, Richard Cohen, July 1, 2008

- A vaccine expert talks about his daughter's autism. An interesting sidenote in the article:

... Some 6,000 African American babies are born each year with congenital cytomegalovirus infection, a viral disease transmitted to babies in the womb that causes mental retardation and hearing loss. About 880,000 African American women each year come down with trichomoniasis, a parasitic infection. Another parasitic worm infection called toxocariasis causes asthmatic symptoms in about 2.8 million poor African American children. Hispanics are especially affected by Chagas disease, which causes severe heart disease, and cysticercosis, a parasitic worm infection that causes epilepsy. ...

- The climate deniers were almost right, because the scientific models were wrong ... they were way too optimistic.

- Kate and Pam got married four years and a day ago, and I'd suspect that the morons at Conservapedia aren't above claiming that it adversely affected their faculties. Without some sort of self-justifying dodge, it would likely otherwise be too embarrassing to have it publicly known that bacteria are smarter than you.

- Chinese Olympic sailing waterways taken over by blue-green algae.

- Top ten Black blogs for June, 2008.

- If you're reading this with an outdated web browser, you might be at greater risk of computer security breaches. Experts advise updating that software. (Yeah, I know, total pain the you-know-what.)

- Can we get a new Boston Tea Party around here? And a serving of whatever Denmark is having, those happy bastiches.

- Darcy Burner could use a little extra campaign love at the moment, due to her house having burned down. Criminy. You're on our minds, ma'am.