Criminal Charges for Poison Toothpaste Dealers

How many other companies are knowingly selling dangerous products imported from China to Americans:

Criminal charges have been filed against a company that prosecutors say imported and distributed nearly 90,000 tubes of Chinese toothpaste containing a poisonous substance and a wholesaler supplier of the tubes, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo announced.

Selective Imports Corp. sold the toothpaste containing diethylene glycol to distributors nationwide between December 2005 and May 2007, prosecutors said Thursday. Vernon Sales Inc. is accused of buying some of the tubes and reselling them to Los Angeles stores.

Diethylene glycol is a chemical used in antifreeze and as a solvent. Chinese manufacturers have used the chemical, known as DEG, as a cheaper alternative to glycerin, which thickens toothpaste. Exposure to DEG, however, can cause kidney and liver damage over time.

[...] China's reputation as an exporter has taken a beating in the past year following recalls of products including the toothpaste, toys tainted with lead, and pet food fortified with the toxic chemical melamine.

Last month, a federal grand jury indicted Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc. and two Chinese businesses in the tainted pet food incidents that killed potentially thousands of animals.

Study: U.S. troop Morale up in Iraq, those in Afghanistan Depressed

It won't be long before U.S. troop morale declines in Iraq as well as the quagmire continues with no end in sight:

U.S. troop morale improved in Iraq last year, but soldiers fighting in Afghanistan suffered more depression as violence there worsened, an Army mental health report says.

And in a recurring theme for a force strained by its seventh year at war, the annual battlefield study found once again that soldiers on their third and fourth tours of duty had sharply greater rates of mental health problems than those on their first or second deployments, according to several officials familiar with the report.

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Who Leaked Details of a CIA-Mossad Plot Against Iran?

There are those in the Bush administration whom refuse to go along with the neocon conspiracy:

The Bush administration is prolonging the hunting season against journalists. The latest victim is James Risen, The New York Times reporter for national security and intelligence affairs. About three months ago, a federal grand jury issued a subpoena against him, ordering Risen to give evidence in court. A heavy blackout has been imposed on the affair, with the only hint being that it has to do with sensitive matters of "national security."

But conversations with several sources who are familiar with the affair indicate that Risen has been asked to testify as part of an investigation aimed at revealing who leaked apparently confidential information about the planning of secret Central Intelligence Agency and Mossad missions concerning Iran's nuclear program.

Risen included this information in his book, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," which was published in 2006. In the book, he discusses a number of ideas which he says were thought up jointly by CIA and Mossad operatives to sabotage Iran's nuclear capabilities.

One of these ideas was to build electromagnetic devices, smuggling them inside Iran to sabotage electricity lines leading to the country's central nuclear sites. According to the plan, the operation was supposed to cause a series of chain reactions which would damage extremely powerful short circuits in the electrical supply that would have led to failures of the super computers of Iran's nuclear sites

Bush Endorsement May Be Risky for McCain

Run away, John:

Beware, John McCain. The money comes with a price. Sure, President Bush will raise millions of dollars for your Republican presidential campaign and GOP candidates. But he'll also give you the aura of a presidency tarnished by painful gasoline prices, a sagging economy, the threat of recession, a blemished U.S. reputation around the world, turbulence in the Middle East and many more problems.

[..]Al Gore's decision during his 2000 campaign against Bush not to embrace President Clinton was probably a gift to the GOP. Many people think that despite Clinton's personal troubles, Gore should have been standing shoulder to shoulder with Clinton, who had high approval ratings as he left office.

"McCain's got to make it very clear that this is not a third Bush term, but a John McCain presidency," said Republican pollster David Winston.

"As long as he can make that clear separation, then having a president of the United States on the road, helping with fundraising, going around and talking to people is a very different thing," Winston said.

[...]Raising money will clearly be priority No. 1. Even though Bush's approval ratings are low, he remains popular with the party faithful who still pay to get in a room with him. In 2007, Bush raised $66.3 million for the Republican Party and its candidates.