CBS carries this Associated Press report: Importer: No Tainted Wheat In Human Food

The Chinese wheat gluten imported by ChemNutra Inc. all went to companies that make pet foods, Stephen Miller, chief executive officer of the Las Vegas company, told The Associated Press.

[snip]

ChemNutra said it has recalled 873 tons of wheat gluten that it shipped to three pet food makers and a single distributor who in turn supplies the pet food industry. The company said the recall applied only to wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying, one of its three Chinese suppliers of the ingredient.

[snip]

Each bag of wheat gluten included content analysis and test results provided by Xuzhou Anying, ChemNutra said.

“The company is particularly troubled that the certificates of analysis provided by the above-named supplier did not report the presence of melamine,” ChemNutra said in a statement.

My, my, who could have imagined that a corporation might lie? I guess it would have been insulting to run your own analysis to find out what was in the bags you were selling. If you did that you might be liable when people’s pets died as a result of the poison you sold.

NBC is reporting that FDA urges laxer labeling on irradiated foods.

[Read more →]

“Very Active” Hurricane Season Predicted:

“The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season should be ‘very active,’ with nine hurricanes and a good chance that at least one major hurricane will hit the U.S. coast, a top researcher said Tuesday.

Forecaster William Gray of Colorado State University said he expects 17 named storms in all this year, five of them major hurricanes with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater. The probability of a major hurricane making landfall on the U.S. coast this year: 74 percent, he said.”

Not 2005, but not the break that 2006 provided. Two months to go for the official start.

The BBC highlights a problem which affects the entertainment industry in the current stand-off: C[hannel] 4 may pull drama over Iran fears.

Channel 4 says it is considering delaying a drama about British soldiers in Iraq as the UK negotiates to free 15 Royal Navy personnel captured by Iran.

The Mark of Cain, which was due to be broadcast on Thursday, shows British troops abusing Iraqi detainees.

I’m not in favor of censorship, but this is probably not a good time to remind people of the coalition treatment of detainees in Iraq. This is why adherence to the Geneva Conventions is not “quaint” – you do it to protect your own people.

Update: Michael Hirsh of Newsweek looks at The Rose Garden Offensive, and doesn’t buy it:

Bush came out swinging against a Democratic Congress determined, he argues, to undo the benefits of the “surge.” Time for a reality check. Finding the thorns in Bush’s Rose Garden address.

Update: Magpie at Pacific Views looked it up: so far the Dems have taken 57 days this year for this bill. The Reps took 86 days in 2005 and 119 days in 2006.

Update: Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway notes that Mr. Absent is complaining about Congress taking a break the day before he heads back to Crawford for Easter. [Back in January she noted he had racked up 365 days at Camp David and 405 days in Crawford in 6 years.]

From BBC coverage of the Shrubbery’s press conference: Bush warns over Iraq funds delay

US President George W Bush has warned that US troops will suffer if a dispute with Congress over a war funding bill is not resolved soon.

Speaking at the White House, Mr Bush said Congress was failing in its “basic responsibility” to give troops the equipment and training they need.

Actually, Congress has been funding equipment and training for years, and the Pentagon hasn’t been using the money. Rumsfeld was not replacing equipment, and people were being sent to Iraq without training. The problem for the last six years has been the Department of Defense, not Congress.

Not that Congress has been doing a great job. The 109^th Congress under Republican leadership still hadn’t passed the budget bills that were due in October of last year when they left, but the Shrubbery didn’t complain about that.

Congress is the branch that declares war, authorizes money, writes the rules [UCMJ] for the military, has to agree on the commissions of officers. Congress has more power regarding the military than the “Commander in Chief.” If Congress wants the war to end, it is over. If the President doesn’t agree, Congress can impeach the President.

It’s time that Congress takes its responsibilities seriously, and starts to use its power.