Yesterday, the Times had yet another story on how drilling projects have proceeded with environmental waivers, despite President Obama's so-called moratorium on permits. Deepwater Horizon received an environmental waiver last year and received another one just before the April explosion.

So, apparently it wasn't "just a few months" into the administration that the waiver was given.

I hadn't until this morning. The online version of Ad Age had a story about Omnicom investors rejecting a proposal to "rein in" the "golden coffin" perk John Wren, the media conglomerate's CEO, and other top executives have negotiated are offered. This is a benefit granted to heirs after the officer's ultimate demise. According to the story, "Omnicom investors on Tuesday rejected a proposal calling on the company to rein in this form of generosity, which could mean an additional $41 million in payouts to the 57-year-old Mr. Wren's survivors."

I am always amazed when I discover that I still have untouched pockets of real naivete. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that this story shocked me.

While the rest of us are worrying about how to create decent society with an economy that provides most people with jobs and a decent living, these folks are busy creating a hereditary aristocracy in which they and their progeny can escape from the horrible messes they've made or encouraged.

Countries Offer Aid

While the governor asks for more supplies, a number of countries said today that the U.S. government and BP had yet to take them up on offers of assistance, including booms and skimmers.

The State Department said in a briefing today that 17 countries had offered assistance, including Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

BP added another two countries to that list, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

While BP has accepted some supplies, including booms and skimmers from Norway, most other countries said they were waiting for a response from the U.S. government.

"We have the equipment," said Ferran Tarradellas, a spokesman for the European Union agency coordinating Europe's response, "but at this point in time, we have not received any requests."

This is why Arizona SB 1070 will backfire: Immigration authorities in Berwyn, Illinois arrested Puerto Rican Eduardo Caraballo in a stolen car case, but when his mother posted his bail, he was detained because authorities didn't believe he was a legal citizen. His mother brought his birth certificate, but Eduardo was unable to answer some questions about the island because he's lived all his life on the mainland. Eduardo was detained for more three days and threatened with deportation-to Mexico. link

Scalia

"When I first came to the Supreme Court, three of my colleagues had never been a federal judge," said Scalia who joined the Court in 1986 after being nominated by President Reagan. "William Rehnquist came to the Bench from the Office of Legal Counsel. Byron White was Deputy Attorney General. And Lewis Powell who was a private lawyer in Richmond and had been president of the American Bar Association."

"Currently, there is nobody on the Court who has not served as a judge --indeed, as a federal judge -- all nine of us," he continued. ". . . I am happy to see that this latest nominee is not a federal judge - and not a judge at all."

Rodney Newsome's life as a dead man lasted about seven months, until he got arrested again.

He might have been better off "dead." On Wednesday, he got tossed back in the Fairfax County jail.

After a guilty plea for attempted fraud in 2007, Newsome's attorney submitted documents to the Fairfax court saying his client was in a coma after unsuccessful brain surgery. He was "in a vegetative state," a Manassas doctor allegedly wrote, "while being assisted by ventilation means." On May 23, 2009, at 19:23 hours, Rodney T. Newsome Sr. died at age 37, leaving behind a wife and two children, according to a report allegedly prepared by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

That prompted Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Bruce D. White to dismiss the charges.

Newsome, of Manassas, had been looking at jail time because of nine prior convictions in state and federal court for various fraud and drug charges dating back to 1995.

After his apparent death, Fairfax police allege, Newsome somehow returned to illegal activity, including taking a stolen check from a Culpeper County check-cashing store, opening a bank account in Oakton and trying to withdraw funds from the account. That was Dec. 17, almost seven months after his alleged death. Newsome was arrested in February, and again charged with attempted fraud.

Newsome was released on bond, made several court appearances on the new charge and was scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday. His tragic demise and resurrection had escaped the notice of police and prosecutors.

But a sharp-eyed Circuit Court clerk named Mary McGaffic spotted Newsome's case last week in the stack of monthly indictments. As White's clerk, she remembered Newsome's death and the repeated sentencing postponements that preceded it.

She informed Fairfax prosecutors that Newsome had sprung back to life.

Fairfax Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Ian M. Rodway wrote a letter to White last week that Newsome "has arisen from the dead" and asked for a bench warrant for his failure to appear for court last year.

There was no need. Newsome showed up Wednesday morning, prepared to plead guilty to his latest fraud charge. His new attorney, Lavonda Graham Williams, was shocked when Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mark Oberndorf told her of Newsome's alleged death. Newsome also expressed surprise and confusion, but Williams did not allow him to be interviewed.

Rodway told Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Michael F. Devine that in 2008 and 2009, Newsome's attorney at the time, George Freeman, had filed doctor's notes, and then a report from the Maryland health department, that "indicated Mr. Newsome had gone to the big courthouse in the sky."

Rodway acknowledged he did not catch any possible forgeries in the doctor's notes informing the court of Newsome's comatose condition at George Washington University Hospital or the Maryland death notice. Freeman did not return a call for comment.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are amping up pressure on the White House to divulge details of Rep. Joe Sestak's allegation that the Obama administration offered him a federal job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge to Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania's race for Senate.

Seven Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding the Department of Justice launch a probe into whether any illegal activity took place.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Highway construction could come to a screeching halt this summer due to a shortage of paint.

Road crews have been complaining to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) that they can't start projects or finish current ones because there isn't enough paint for road stripes, said a rep for the trade association.

"It's not like this is Home Depot, with stacks of stockpiled paint," said AGC spokesman Brian Turmail. "A lot of paint producers are distributing only 50% of what they did last year."

And typically, if the paint isn't down, the job isn't done, and the contractor can't get paid.

"Depending who you speak with, this could be an eight-week problem, or a six-month one," he added. "We're hoping for the former but preparing for the latter."

The problem is two-fold, Turmail said, because two major components of the acrylic paint -- methyl methacrylate and titanium dioxide -- are in short supply.

SNIP

Impact on safety: Roads with faded stripes pose significant safety concerns. Without adequate markers, drivers can drift out of their lanes and cause accidents. In fact, more than 60% of all traffic fatalities are caused by straying drivers, according to a 2008 study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

In response to shortage reports, the agency requested information from states, which spend about $2 billion per year on road markings. So far only ten have responded, saying they "are aware of the situation" but have continued to receive paint, a AASHTO rep said.

"The states will continue to take a wait-and-see approach, but they're cautiously optimistic that this issue will be resolved before the end of the summer," the rep said.

To save paint in the meantime, state officials may consider painting thinner lines, Turmail said, or using temporary tape and buttons.

Orange cones will also be around construction areas for longer periods of time. And drivers may also be forced to deal with faded lines as transportation officials funnel the limited paint supplies into new projects, Turmail said.

Possible Pros:

Supporters, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, both Republicans, have been promoting the measure -- Proposition 14 -- as a kind of electoral panacea, saying it could encourage political moderates and increase turnout in primaries where hard-line candidates often win. And in a state saddled with a $19 billion deficit, high unemployment and low morale, the promise of new blood in Sacramento seems to be a potent one; the latest polls show the measure favored by a majority of voters, and support growing

SNIP

Proposition 14 has already performed a miracle, unifying the Democratic and Republican Parties in this polarized state capital. Both have joined a catch-all opposition that includes the state's Green Party, its Libertarians, the American Independent Party, the socialist Peace and Freedom Party, members of the "birther" movement, and Cindy Sheehan, the liberal antiwar activist.

Small parties, in particular, are unhappy with the proposition, saying it would box them out of general elections, which they say would most likely be populated by better-known and better-financed candidates.

"It's the biggest threat to independent and third parties in the last 50 years," said Christina Tobin, who is running for secretary of state as a Libertarian while also campaigning against Proposition 14. "It would make it far more difficult for minor parties to qualify. "

The possible Cons:

Regardless of the proposition's intent, electoral experts say its impact is unclear. Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College, worked to defeat a similar ballot measure in Oregon in 2008.

"I felt like it was snake oil," Mr. Gronke said. "It was like a little carny barker going around saying, `It's going to cure everything.' "

And while supporters say it will increase the number of centrists, Mr. Gronke says it could actually encourage the election of more fringe candidates who manage to make it to the general election. He cited David Duke, the white supremacist, who forced a runoff for the governor's seat in Louisiana in 1991 under that state's electoral system. Louisiana law requires state and local candidates to gain a majority in primaries to win election.

lucy and zoe

Friends tell The Daily Beast that the departing senator, injured by Obama's failure to show last-minute support, may well shift right on key votes from Kagan to financial reform.