And now, the science scandals just keep on coming. First there was the vast cache of e-mails leaked from the University of East Anglia, home of a crucial research unit responsible for collecting temperature data. Although not fatal to the science, they revealed a snakepit of scheming to keep contradictory research from being published, make imperfect data look better, and withhold information from unfriendly third parties. If science is supposed to be open and transparent, these guys acted as if they had a lot to hide.

Despite widespread efforts to play down the Climategate e-mails, they were very damaging. An investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian – among the most aggressive advocates for action on climate change – has found that a series of measurements from Chinese weather stations were seriously flawed, and that documents relating to them could not be produced.

Meantime, the IPCC – the body widely regarded, until now, as the ultimate authority on climate science – is looking worse and worse. After it was forced to retract its claim about melting glaciers, Mr. Pachauri dismissed the error as a one-off. But other IPCC claims have turned out to be just as groundless.

One mom prepares hundreds of pounds of frozen fruit. The Chicago Department of Public Health says she doesn't have the correct license to make it into candy and sell it. Can she still give it to her son?

Not in Chicago.

In a sad struggle that unfolded in a West Town kitchen Thursday night, Department of Health inspectors seized, slashed open and poured bleach over thousands of dollars of local peaches, pears, raspberry and plum purees owned by pastry chef Flora Lazar. She'd purchased the fruit from Green City Market farmers last summer and had planned to use it to make local fruit gelees for her business, Flora Confections.

"This puts me out of business for six months," a despondent Lazar said. "I have done everything by the rules. Instead of making the food at home, which I could easily do, I sought out and rented space in a licensed kitchen. When [the city] finally said we could apply for a separate license, I did that. I paid my $600 and invited the inspectors here today."

Later, though, the department said her clients would all need to apply for their own licenses, and with each application they'd need to get a new health inspection, giving the little niche kitchen exponentially more inspections than the busiest restaurants in Chicago.

But when Kitchen Chicago users went to the department, they were told again that they couldn't apply for the license because it was at the same address as Leverenz license. The confusion continued for months until recently, Leverenz said, a department representative told her that now he would make sure that renters could apply for the licenses. He further told her, however, that any violations committed by one chef would mean a ticket for every cook who rents space in the facility, meaning possibly thousands of dollars reaped by the city for a minor infraction by one cook the others might have never met.

More than 40 former lobbyists work in senior positions in the Obama administration, including three Cabinet secretaries and the CIA director. Yet in his State of the Union address, Obama claimed, "We've excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs."

The Bush administration has drafted a new policy that would allow states to define ''an unborn child'' as a person eligible for medical coverage under the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Federal officials said the change would increase insurance coverage for prenatal care and deliveries, by allowing states to cover pregnant women who are not eligible for Medicaid or the children's health program.

But critics said the change was a backdoor effort to advance the administration's anti-abortion agenda and to establish a legal precedent for recognizing the fetus as a person.

A disagreement is brewing between Nebraska lawmakers and Gov. Dave Heineman's administration about whether pregnant illegal immigrants can keep receiving prenatal care without a significant change in state law.

Nebraska's Medicaid director said Tuesday that a law passed last year that bars illegal immigrants from getting public benefits would have to be changed to allow prenatal care to continue for about 1,000 illegal immigrants. Some lawmakers, however, argue that since any children born to illegal immigrants would be legal U.S. citizens, illegal immigrants won't actually be receiving state benefits under a program they are considering.

Even the hyper-conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page grudgingly termed Frank a "crafty liberal" in a June 14, 2005 diatribe against the proposal to include an affordable housing fund in the pending Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) bill that would make changes in the operation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Frank is a leading proponent of the fund.

"[A] crafty liberal... Frank couldn't have written a better bill for the Democrats if he were Financial Services Chairman..."

-- Wall Street Journal Editorial, June 14, 2005 on Fannie Mae legislation

The economic risk in real estate today is that many people are buying homes they won't be able to finance if mortgage rates rise. This is also one of the dangers of putting so much housing risk in two giant companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac....

The White House is working chiefly with Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, on a bill pushing back on the court decision. The goal is to put forward legislation within two weeks, Van Hollen said Saturday, but the choices are limited by the nature of the court's First Amendment ruling.

Among the options under consideration are requiring the approval of a majority of shareholders before a corporation can run a political ad; requiring the CEO of the company to appear at the end of the ad so the public knows who is behind it; limiting the ad-spending of corporations that have received federal bailout money or that get federal contracts; and trimming down the privileges that come with legal corporate status if companies pump money into political campaigns.