Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

Okay, I'll ask. Did this one originate from Cheney's office?

Citing Need for Assessments, U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects - NYTimes.com

The school board of a small central Ohio community voted unanimously Friday to fire a teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs despite staff complaints and using a device to burn the image of a cross on students' arms.

That's ALL???

Ohio board votes to ax teacher accused of branding - Yahoo! News

"I really don't have much of an opinion of his coming," said Lashawn Baker, 33, whose family was just starting to clean her flooded home in a southwest Cedar Rapids neighborhood. "It took him a long time to get to New Orleans and he didn't help any of those people, so I don't think he's going to do anything to help Cedar Rapids now that he's here."

I think this is more telling than the spin the White House is trying to put out. Three years after Katrina and New Orleans is still trashed. I don't think Iowa will be like New Orleans, I think there is a cultural difference between Iowa and N'awlens (which is one of the reasons people go south for Mardi Gras, not to Iowa) and they'll simply rebuild because they will. They got displaced down the road, not 300 miles away.

What they won't get is meaningful help from Washington. They'll send emergency money, which will get eaten up by fly-by-night crap companies, and none of it will actually go where it's needed. Bush has made promises for years. They keep turning out to be worth less than the air used to make them.

Bush promises help for flood-weary Iowans

The hospital has begun a bus service from Cedar Rapids and a plane service from the Quad Cities to bring in essential employees. Vice President for Medical Affairs Jean Robillard said six employees used the plane service Saturday.

I lived in Iowa City during the '93 flood and it was a wreck. The numbers coming down are 93+5 feet. They're talking 3/4 of a billion in damage in Cedar Rapids with numbers yet to come in Iowa City. This is still getting worse.

Three more UI buildings start to flood | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen

In a speech to the European Business Congress in Deauville, France, Mr Miller offered little prospect of relief. He warned that the world was experiencing a fundamental shift in energy prices that will end at a "radically new level. We expect that the oil price will approach $250 per barrel in the foreseeable future".

Welcome to the new world. It is time to fundamentally change what we're doing and how we do it.

An ominous warning that the rapid rise in oil prices has only just begun - Home News, UK - The Independent

Crude oil has seen a huge rebound this week after falling amid a drop in demand for gasoline. The jump continued Friday; light, sweet crude set a high of $139.12 in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after settling at $138.54, a gain of $10.75 in the regular session. The surge followed a Morgan Stanley analyst's prediction that crude would reach $150 a barrel by July 4; a decline in the dollar and fresh tensions in the Middle East added to crude's advance.

Think it'll really take that long? Pool time! My prediction for breaking $150 is... June 23rd. Enter now!

Stocks fall sharply on surge in oil, jobs data - Yahoo! News

The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God.

It does if you're a fundamentalist that thinks the earth was created 6000 years ago.

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

"All I hear about is gas prices. Gas and diesel, everywhere," she said. "Some people say we don't need to get a gas tax holiday at all, it's a gimmick ... I want the Congress to stand up and vote. Are they for the oil companies, or are they for you?"

That's Hillary's quote. Now, here's a simple question, what the hell does being for or against the oil companies have to do with the gas tax? It seems to me, adding the hiatus in there is FOR the oil companies because the price goes down 10 cents, but it's going in the oil company pockets because the tax is higher.

And oh yeah, the money that is spent on the gas tax? That goes to things like bridges that aren't supposed to fall down, and roads that are supposed to be open, and potholes that are supposed to be filled. You'd be better off sending everyone a $20 bill. Oh wait, you did that with the "stimulus package."

I'm not sure which is worse, the chattering class or the pandering class.

Obama says Clinton, McCain wrong on gas taxes - Yahoo! News

In Al Gore's brand-new slideshow (premiering exclusively on TED.com), he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of "generational mission"

Pretty good, his take on the arctic ice cap is powerful.

TED | Talks | Al Gore: New thinking on the climate crisis (video)

With the threat of a civil war looming in the south, Nouri al-Maliki’s police chief in Basra narrowly escaped assassination in the crucial port city, while in Baghdad, the spokesman for the Iraqi side of the US military surge was kidnapped by gunmen and his house burnt to the ground.

See? The surge is working! Violence is down, so we have to keep our guys there. Wait, violence is up so we have to keep our... Enough already!

Here, this is your BEST CASE SCENARIO. We pull every out right now, let the Sunnis Shi'ites, and Kurds kick the crap out of each other for the next 6 months to a year, try to keep the Turks from invading what will soon be greater Kurdistan, try to keep the Iranians from invading to annex the eastern half of Iraq (that's the part with the oil in it) and get the hell out of the way.

Don't like that one? Here, this is your worst case.

Areas of Baghdad fall to militias as Iraqi Army falters in Basra - Times Online