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HEALTH CARE AFTER-EFFECTS OF FALLUJAH BOMING IN 2004: LIKE HIROSHIMA 1945 EXCEPT MUCH, MUCH WORSE. John Simpson for BBC reports on a public health survey in the Iraqi city that shows increase in cancer and birth defects since the assault that are many times the rates of such effects of the Japanese atomic bombings.

"IS THIS DEFENSE SPENDING REALLY NECESSARY?" As U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is scheduled to wind down the Pentagon, for the first time since 9/11 is beginning to face this question as legislators face the daunting task of bringing the budget deficit under some kind of control. Defense Secretary Gates tries to hold onto the budget at its present level, saying he can "squeeze more" out of allocated funds without any indication of intention for diminished military operations.

BLACK AMERICANS ARE CIRCLING THE WAGONS AROUND PRESIDENT OBAMA WHEN THEY SHOULD BE PRESSURING HIM TO DEAL WITH BLACK PROBLEMS. Bruce A. Dickson notes the obsession of the "black misleadership class" with defending the President against the "negativity" emanating from the likes of the Tea Partyiers and Fox News. Instead, says Dixon, blacks and the President should focus less on their "support" of him and more on what they can do together to deal with issues like black unemployment and mass incarceration.

SPITTING MAD ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN ANTICS OF PALIN AND CHENEY? JUST SPIT SOME DOLLARS INTO THE COFFERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. This is the "message" of numerous fund-raising appeals from Party functionaries and committees. These messages actually make Brian Foley himself spitting mad, as he'd like to spit back to the Democrats that he will give them money when they begin actually to do something in which he believes (like withdrawing from foreign wars or taking over Gulf oil spill clean-up operations.).

FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TURNS DOWN CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO FORBID OFF-SHORE OIL DRILLING; BUT NOT TO WORRY, THE SPEAKER IS ON THE JOB. House Speaker Larry Cretul is appointing a "working group" to study the future of such drilling and the possibility of state regulations. The members of the "group" are not Panhandle legislators, they are those who have previously worked tor the repeal of a drilling ban, and they are those facing little or no opposition for their November re-elections. Is there a shade of fear of the voters' reactions to the issue that governed Cretul's selections?

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