Stop Me Before I Vote Again

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Running Club Members Face Felony Charges for Scare at IKEA Store in New Haven

NEW HAVEN, CT -- Two people who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge.

The sprinkled powder forced hundreds to evacuate an IKEA furniture store Thursday.

New Haven ophthalmologist Daniel Salchow, 36, and his sister, Dorothee, 31, who is visiting from Hamburg, Germany, were both charged with first-degree breach of peace, a felony.

The siblings set off the scare while organizing a run for a local chapter of the Hash House Harriers, a worldwide group that bills itself as a "drinking club with a running problem.''

"Hares'' are given the task of marking a trail to direct runners, throwing in some dead ends and forks as challenges. On Thursday, the Salchows decided to route runners through the massive IKEA parking lot.

Police fielded a call just before 5 p.m. that someone was sprinkling powder on the ground. The store was evacuated and remained closed the rest of the night. The incident prompted a massive response from police in New Haven and surrounding towns.

Mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said the city plans to seek restitution from the Salchows, who are due in court Sept. 14.

"You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know,'' she said. ``It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious. We're thankful it wasn't, but there were a lot of resources that went into figuring that out.''

Here's the way to go! Viva the Baucus Eight!

As narrated in an email from the Ralph N machine, somewhat redacted here from Ralph's staccato style:

Yesterday morning, eight doctors, lawyers and other activists stood up to Senator Max Baucus, the private health insurance industry, and the corporate liberals in Congress.

The eight activists demanded that single payer-everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital-be put on the table. As a result they were arrested, and charged with a so-called "disruption of Congress."

.... Baucus crafted a hearing to kick off the health care debate in the Senate yesterday where 15 witnesses would be at the table to discuss health care reform [inlcuding representatives of] the insurance industry, the Business Roundtable, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Heritage Foundation and corporate liberals like Andy Stern, Ron Pollack, and AARP.....

But not one person who stood for what the majority of Americans, doctors, nurses, and health economists want-single payer-was at the table.

When I heard about this corporate line-up last week, I called the office of Senator Baucus, and politely asked that, as a matter of fairness, a single payer doctor be allowed to testify. I was told-no way, Ralph. The deal is done....

Remember what Senator Richard Durbin said last week? Durbin said that the banks "own" the Congress. To which we might add-the health insurance industry and the drug industry own the Senate.

Faxing, writing, and e-mailing is not getting it done. Enough is enough. Time for action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I26EkvnjZuQ

Hats off (though bags stay on) to the droll chap who sauntered yesterday through a "security" gate -- the wrong way -- at Newark Airport, then apparently sauntered back out twenty minutes later. The subsequent Keystone Kops kwest for this Scarlet Pimpernel (or some item he might possibly have left behind) emptied Terminal C for several hours and knocked a large part of US civil aviation into a cocked hat for most of the day.

This is the sort of thing we need more of.

Really, is there anybody who doesn't love the Brazilians? I know, I know, there are people so hip they *say* they've gotten bored with Brazilians. But I think they're lying.

That's Angela Merkel above, looking like Winnie-the-Pooh receiving the Stigmata. After a very bad night.

This just in:

Leaders Reach Deal for Banks to Take Loss on Greek Debt

BRUSSELS — European leaders made significant progress in resolving the euro zone financial crisis in meetings here that stretched into Thursday morning, obtaining an agreement from banks to take a 50 percent loss on the face value of their Greek debt.