Wonkette

Today’s fun fact: in China, The People’s Court has the power to execute public officials. And today it exercised that power, killing former Chinese FDA head Zheng Xiaoyu to death for acting slightly less responsibly than our own FDA. MORE »

Now that the story’s about government oversight instead of terrible things happening to adorable puppies, the media will say anything to keep you interested. MORE »

FDA vet chief Stephen F. Sundlof announced this morning that imported “wheat gluten” poisoned with melamine is what’s killing American dogs and cats and generally driving people crazy. The goop is imported from a Chinese factory and then shipped to Canada, and mushed up with god knows what at some factory in Ontario (and then in Kansas!) before being packaged in a thousand different labels — from expensive boutique brands to Wal-Mart generic — and sold all over North America. MORE »

* John Edwards will make a “serious” announcement today at noon, but will continue to resent Elizabeth Edwards for life. [WP, NYT]
* “Partisan witch hunt” is on! House subpoenas K. Rova, Albeady Gonzales, JoBo, Blanche Miers and more! [WP, NYT]
* Al Gore comes back to Capitol Hill just as “shrill” and “accurate” as when he left. [WP, NYT]
* Anti-war protesters at the Capitol feel safe under the “impressive bulk” of John Murtha. [WP]
* Several of the fired attorneys were the top seed in their divisions. [USAT]
* Justice Department really has the black lung. [WP]
* Congressional budget processzzzzzzzzz. [WP]
* FDA moves to trim payola. [NYT, LAT]
* Iraq funding bill has more farm aid than Willie Nelson. [USAT]

Government scientists have come to the rock-solid conclusion that it’s totally safe to eat cloned meat and dairy products from cloned animals. This basically means that you can stumble upon the Perfect Steak and then get the ID number of the animal, probably through some DNA detector built into next year’s Blackberry models, and continue to eat that steak forever. MORE »

Ex-FDA chief Lester Crawford pled guilty today to being the latest administration scumbag caught owning shares of companies he regulated. MORE »

• Pennsylvania Congressmen Curt Weldon has homes of friends and family raided by the FBI for shady lobbying contacts between himself, his daughter, and a massively corrupt Russian oil company. [WP, NYT]

• Former FDA chief charged with conflict of interest over stocks he held while in office, surprisingly does not blame Democrats. [WP, NYT]
• When Dick Cheney appears in second-tier backwater cities his visit is heralded “like a rock star coming to town.” He is adored by 6 year-olds, others who read at that level. [NYT]
• Barack Obama is more like an actual rock star; at least he uses drugs. [NYT]
• Mark Foley’s hill staffers are still holding their ankles. [WP]
• In Connecticut senate race, the Republican candidate polling in the single digits may be key to Lamont victory. [WP]

Brushing off the threat of those faceless terrorists who make salads by day and kill at night, federal health officials announced today that nobody is suspected of messing with the deadly spinach leaves. MORE »

CNN, predictably, taking an important FDA warning as yet another opportunity to subvert the traditional morals of the heartland. MORE »

• Maverick McCain and his merry band of outlaws reject Bush’s, “alternative interrogation strategies” legislation, approve their own. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]

• Both houses of Congress shelve large ethics bills; do agree to write their name next to kickback payments, er, earmarks. [WP, NYT]
• Congressman Bob Ney will plead guilty to “Abramoff stuff,” but it’s not his fault — the booze made him do it. [WP, NYT]
• Judge in Saddam Hussein trial tells him, “You were not a dictator.” [CNN, LAT]
• World Bank releases list of countries not to visit on vacation this year. [WP]
• FDA goes against Popeye and your parents, issues warning about eating spinach. [WP]

Being generally liberal when it comes to matters of reproductive freedom, we are not quite willing to believe that this isn’t a strong argument by the FDA for legalization of and easy access to birth control: MORE »

* Bush will reaffirm strategy of preemption: “When the consequences of an attack with WMD are potentially so devastating, we cannot afford to stand idly by as grave dangers materialize.” [WP, NYT]
* Concern about Iraq pushes Bush’s approval rating to 37% in NBC/WSJ poll; only 32% have positive view of Democrats. [WSJ]
* Ethics package proposed by House Republicans includes limits on 527 groups. [WP, NYT]
* Dubai Ports World to sell American port operations to “an unrelated U.S. buyer.” [WP, NYT]
* Talk of censure and impeachment used to rally Republican voters. [NYT]
* Michael Brown ignored plans and circumvented Michael Chertoff during Katrina response, House report concludes. [WP]
* Bush nominates family friend to head FDA as Plan B threatens to stall vote. [NYT]
* Rep. Katherine Harris will drop $10m on her senate bid. [NYT]
* Rep. James Moran Jr. (D-Va.) says Gore should run in 2008. [WP]

* Administration and Sen. Frist (R-Tenn.) agree on 45-day review of Dubai port deal. Scott McClellan: “We believe, however, the additional time and investigation at the request of the company will provide Congress with a better understanding of the facts, and that Congress will be comfortable with the transaction moving forward once it does.” [WP, NYT, NYT, W$J, USAT]
* States make decisions on the “morning-after” pill as the FDA wavers. [WP]
* Army will reimburse Halliburton subsidiary for nearly $2.4b despite findings of overcharges. [NYT]
* Bush sets off on whirlwind two-day tour of India. [NYT]
* Mike McCurry on the White House press briefings: “It has turned into a theater of the absurd.” Ari Fleischer: “The public perceives the press not as watchdogs but as attack dogs.” [NYT]

MORE »

We read today that the GAO has found the FDA’s review of the proposal to distribute the Plan B “morning-after pill” without a prescription “unusual.” What struck us: FDA staff was told by senior officials that the application “was to be rejected before the staff completed its scientific review and months before the decision was made public.” Burying the lead here — forget about Plan B, what are the FDA officials taking that makes them psychic?! We want a prescription for that. It would eliminate the need for Plan B, if nothing else… “Man, if I had known he was going to get me knocked up, I totally wouldn’t have had those last two Zimas”! MORE »