The Associated Press reports: E. coli fears prompt recall of millions of frozen pizzas

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) — General Mills on Thursday recalled about 5 million frozen pizzas sold nationwide under the Totino’s and Jeno’s labels because of possible E. coli contamination.

The problem may have come from pepperoni on pizzas produced at a General Mills plant in Ohio, the suburban Minneapolis-based company said.
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The company asks consumers to throw away recalled pizzas. They can get replacements by clipping the bar code from the box and mailing it with their name and address to Totino’s/Jeno’s, P.O. Box 200 — Pizza, Minneapolis, MN 55440-0200.

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That is the collar insignia of the of the US Army’s Civil Affairs branch. Their motto is “Securing the victory” which is what their purpose is – rebuilding the civil society after a war. Unfortunately the decision was made to move about 83% of this branch to the Reserves from the regular Army.

These are the people who should have taken over the mission in Iraq hard on the heels of the combat forces, but they weren’t ready in large numbers and they weren’t included in the plan. The Hedgemony was depending on the “democracy gnome” to take over after Saddam was removed, but you just can’t depend on gnomes anymore.

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Position: 27.3 N 76.1 W. [10PM CDT]
Movement: North-Northeast [030°] near 20 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 80 mph.
Wind Gusts: 90 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 145 miles.
Hurricane Wind Radius: 45 Miles
Minimum central pressure: 981 mb.

TS Noel is about 180 miles North-Northeast of Nassau in the Bahamas.

Noel is already going to be retired as a name because of the effects of the nearly two feet of rain it dumped on the island of Hispaniola which have caused over 100 deaths in the Dominican Republic and Haiti making it almost as deadly as the category 5 hurricane Felix.

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So the Dow soared on the news of the Fed interest rate cut, but then they realized what the cut really meant and: Dow tumbles over 280 points

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Stocks suffered further losses Thursday afternoon on a Citigroup downgrade and disappointing results from oil giant Exxon Mobil.

The Dow Jones industrial average was trading 281 points, or 2.0 percent lower, with 2 hours remaining in the session.

The broader S&P 500 index lost 1.9 percent, while the tech-fueled Nasdaq slipped 1.6 percent.

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The BBC reports: Cat joins exclusive genome club

A pedigree cat called Cinnamon has made scientific history by becoming the first feline to have its DNA decoded.

The domestic cat now joins the select club of mammals whose genome has been deciphered – including dogs, chimps, rats, mice, cows and people.
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Cinnamon, a four-year-old Abyssinian cat, is descended from lab cats bred to develop retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, also found in humans, which can lead to blindness.

Earlier this year, with the help of the sequence, scientists found the gene change, or mutation, that causes the condition in cats.
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Who knows: Protest At Marine’s Funeral Costs Church

(AP) A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The federal jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.

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