Quick

A quick note. The picture on the left comes from my friend Mike's plog. He is awesome.

I'm too busy trying not to look like a slacker at the new gig to read the news there, so am trying to use the mornings to catch up. Today's stories that caught my eye in the Washington Post or my RSS feeds:

Eco-Friendly Era Has Arrived in Md.
Looks like MD is coming around and realizing that a water full of dish soap makes the crabs less tasty. And when crabs don't taste good, football isn't as enjoyable. And that's what Maryland does. It's unfortunate that environmental regulations have to wait for the market to think it's a good idea, but who knows: they'd probably fail in a few months if the market wasn't behind them, right?

The Maryland General Assembly has passed eco-friendly legislation on everything from climate change to dish soap to oysters. The governor has resolved to treat pollution like street crime, calling his subordinates on the carpet to quiz them about why dirty streams haven't been cleaned up. The attorney general is searching the state for ecological crimes.

Things suddenly feel different around the State House, where environmental advocates and their frequent opponents -- watermen, farmers, developers -- have battled in the past to so many stalemates. That old balance seems to be tipping, thanks to new concerns about climate change, an impending deadline for the Chesapeake Bay, and a political marriage between farmers and environmentalists.

Britain releases evidence in Iran dispute
This isn't good. Evidence that Iran went into Iraq to capture British soldiers is not going to help stop the upcoming US vs. Iran war that Bush and the hawks seem so set upon. Just when I thought the administration would go down in a ball of ethics violations and lies, Britain goes and takes over the hawking. In addition, the US is also performing massive exercise maneuvers off the coast of Iran to show off its (our?) force. This is also not a good sign. Since when does Iran seem to care how powerful the US is? They've always gone ahead and done whatever they want anyway. I hardly think that launching a few dozen planes off an aircraft carrier is going to get them to start behaving.

Britain today released maps and evidence that officials said showed the 15 UK service personnel captured by Iran last week had been 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi territorial waters.
Vice Admiral Charles Style, presenting the information at the Ministry of Defence in London, said the Royal Navy personnel were "ambushed" by the Iranian navy while "well inside" Iraqi waters.
Speaking soon afterwards, Tony Blair said it was time to "ratchet up the international and diplomatic pressure" on Iran and demonstrate Tehran's "total isolation" on the issue.

Other quick items:
Germany introduces Merck's HPV vaccine, which was rushed through the FDA process and attempted to be required in Texas, but then rejected by their state legislature.

And Iraq is still a mess.

Off to work!