Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway noticed Dana Millbank’s follow-up of the Walter Reed story in the Washington Post: Painting Over the Problems at Walter Reed’s Building 18.

Living in Florida I have a lot experience with roaches and the other problems, and I do house rehabilitations. I know what it takes to do the job, and what is described in the article won’t cut it.

First you need to get all of the people out of the building because you have to fumigate, but you don’t waste any time or money on that until you remove the carpets, curtains, furniture and, especially, mattresses. You can sort the furniture and mattresses and treat them separately, but they can’t be reused for an extended period.

Next you check and make sure you don’t have any roof leaks or plumbing leaks. Both roaches and mice need water, so if there is no available source inside, they will go outside. Water is also the culprit in most deterioration of buildings. There is no point in going further until you stop the leaks.

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The Republan leadership in the Florida legislature thinks that it would be a wonderful idea to eliminate all property taxes in the state and replace them with an increase in the state sales tax from 6% to 8%. [Florida Public Radio Capitol Report]

For some reason local governments have not jumped on this bandwagon.

Via Maya at Suburban Guerrilla, The Guardian reports the shocking news that US Iran intelligence ‘is incorrect’.

For some reason the IAEA is unable to find any of the installations or activities in Iran that the US claims are there. It’s eerily like the chicken farms that the weapons inspectors in Iraq kept finding that the US “intelligence” said were WMD sites.

Next someone will report that a law professor at a border state university has been advocating the murder of civilians based on these faulty reports.

In response to the seemingly annual rumors that the Vatican is about to modify its stand on the use of condoms to combat the spread of AIDS, the BBC decided to ask a couple of Catholics to comment. [BBC World Service radio]

Supporting the wider use of condoms was Brian Haill, President of Australian AIDS Fund, a former Church-sponsored outreach initiative, and on the other side was the noted victim of anti-Catholic bigotry, William “DonoWho”.

In response to DonoWho’s claims about the success of the abstinence only program in Uganda and the permeability of condoms to the AIDS virus, a “Haill” storm erupted. It was a terrible thing to hear, even though no “naughty” words were used.

You did get the feeling that Mr. Haill would not have objected to someone pulling a condom over DonoWho’s head to prove that not even air could get through, not that I’m advocating doing that. I’m not a law professor.

I guess the BBC and Australian Catholics are now anti-Catholic bigots.

First is was some small-minded librarians having fits because an author of the latest Newbery Medal winner used the word scrotum and now, Dog Store Sign Angers Seattle Residents, because the store uses the proper term for a female dog.

A little advice, it isn’t the word, it’s the mind of those who object to the word. I know they didn’t watch the recent Westminster Dog Show, because they use the word frequently.

Next they’ll faint when someone says “male puppy”.

Laptop Cases

Ahh, just right.

[Editor: The key to getting the proper laptop bag is having enough stiffness in the sides to form a bowl and large enough to hold the entire cat. Of course you need to find someplace else to put the computer.]

Friday Ark