It really is a shame that spammers weren’t having their national conference in New Orleans on August 29. I don’t think anyone would have shed a tear if Katrina’s powerful winds had whipped them all up into a frenzy, and then spit them into outer space.

I can’t believe this. I turned off my comments, and even deleted the program, and somehow, the spam is trickling back in. It isn’t as obnoxious or annoying as it was before, when I was deleting 50-100 a day that tried to post onto my blog. Now it’s about 5, but the number is increasing.

I hate spammers. I can’t think of any punishment that’s bad enough for them. Maybe gather them all on some remote island and then have a category 10 hurricane wipe them out? Or dunk them into the toxic waste waters that are still drenching New Orleans? Or lock them in a room with Dubya, and have him recite poetry to them?

Just days after FDA commissioner Lester Crawford went back on his word about making a decision on the morning after pill, Susan F. Wood, director of the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health, resigned in protest. Here’s an interesting Q &A on her reasoning, and why she believes that it will be years (at least as long as Bush and his ilk are in charge) before the morning after pill will be available over the counter. Once again, the FDA shows what a lame excuse they are for a regulatory agency.

The interview is at Newsweek Health.

I really really wanted to not say anything more about Bush and the hurricane fiasco, but this needs to be said. George Bush may have balls afterall. He has, gasp gasp gasp, taken responsiblity for the mishandling of hurricane Katrina relief.

PRESIDENT BUSH took personal responsibility for the failures in the US Government’s response to Hurricane Katrina yesterday and said that the disaster raised serious questions about America’s ability to deal with a terrorist attack.

Mr Bush’s acceptance of responsibility for the Government’s slow and inadequate response is a sign of how serious the political fallout from the hurricane has become for Mr Bush. It is a rare step from a president who abhors admitting mistakes.

“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capabilities at all levels of government,” Mr Bush said during a White House news conference with President Talabani of Iraq. “To the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.”

That’s an understatement, that he “abhors” admitting mistakes. In fact, I don’t know of any other of his half a million blunders that he has taken responsibility for, or admitted that they were mistakes. This is a first in history. Sept 13, 2005 will go down in history as the date that George W. Bush admitted that he made a mistake and accepted responsiblity for something gone wrong.

Of course, this is a political move. His ratings are so low that they are in the minus digits, and he is even getting the heat from members of his own party. Why else did Brown suddenly disappear, just a week after Bush congratulated him on doing such a fine job? It would be nice if Bush would admit that blunder, of hiring a totally inept fool to handle disasters.

But this is a start. Maybe he hopes that by appearing humble and downtrodden, people will feel sorry for him and his ratings will go up. Who knows. At least Brown is gone and the acting director is a former fire chief with decades of experience.

Read the article at the Timesonline.com