Lets start with an apology. Last week, A listener sent in the article describing new increased fines for various traffic offences. Public service to warn my listeners right? Except for one small detail. It was a hoax. I have been advised that an easy way to check on the veracity of any story is to go to www.snopes.com. I’ll endevour to do so, but when a story hits my desk as im putting together my show, sometimes I don’t have time to check. So, bottom line: don’t take anything you hear on this show, or anywhere else, as gospel. If its important to you, at least check it out on smopes.com

Ok folks. Today is 4^th of july. The birthday of Americas independance. So it seems appropriate for us to ask ourselves, individually and collectively: on this day of celebration of Americas independence, are we more independent today than at this time last year? Are we more free from fear, not only from foreign terrorists but from our own govt? under the governance of the bush administration, have we as a nation moved forward or backwards in our rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness? Ask yourselves, and then ask your friends and relatives who voted for this republican administration. Ask them if they are happy with their choices.

Next item: Well, the weeks top news story has to be king geo generous treatment of that arch scoundrel scooter libby. With impeccable timing, in an obvious attempt to lessen the political fallout, the slimy deed was announced fri eve, at beginning of a long holiday weekend. One might quibble with my reasoning, by pointing out that king geo’s popularity rating is so low that he doesn’t care one fig what the people or even other politicians think of his actions, and I could not summon an argument. The spin masters of Corporate media however are quick to bleat that scooter didn’t get off scott free. For starters, he has to pay a sizable fine. Show of hands now. How many think one penny of his fine will come from his own bank account? The collection plates are probably being passed as we speak, to pay this noble American heroes fine for him. In fact, I have a collection plate in front of me right now. Any listeners who wish to contribute to my own personal scooter libby relief fund, phone in your pledges. i have a room full of vultures eagerly awaiting your calls. but the right wing reminds us, that that’s not all the suffering poor scooter must endure,. The scooter will be on probation for 2 years. Wowee zowee boys and girls. 2 years probation. What exactly does that mean? Probation from what? That he is prohibited from lying to investigators for 2 years? Maybe its only prohibited from outing cia covert agents for 2 years? These matters are so obtuse. To complex for simple minds such as ours. I suppose we should just trust those wiser than us that they are looking out for our best interests. Oh yeah, there might be a final irony. The scooter might lose his license to practice law. Earth to corporate journalists. Scooter libby never did practice law. He practiced avoiding and ignoring the law. This whole episode has been hilarious from the beginning, from the get go, when super duper chief prosecutor patrick Fitzgerald decided to ignore scooters serious offence of revealing a covert cia agent and instead only charged him with lying to an investigation sanctioned by congress. That offence is laughable. Every member of the bush administration lies to congress twice before breakfast, if they bother to talk to congress at all. And To those cynics who point out that paris Hilton will serve more jail time than the scooter, I hasten to remind you that paris’s sin was far more serious than scooters. Paris is guilty of being a rather loose moraled young woman. Which in contemporary America is a far more serious crime than one good ole boy lying to a collection of other good ole boys, those lies serving to cover up the lies and other transgressions of the vice president of the good ole boys. The most hilarious aspect of this whole sad tale is the sanctimonious bleating of the right wing apologists as they spin and spin trying to justify the contemptible actions of their can do no evil king geo. We are for law and order until it interferes with our political agenda.

Next item: couple of neat quotes: -- If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry

about answers. Thomas Pynchon. and this from Joseph Heller: They will do whatever we let them get away with.

Next item: the marijuana policy project wishes to report that Congress will soon be voting on an amendment that would prohibit the DEA from spending taxpayer money to target seriously ill medical marijuana patients and their caregivers in states where medical marijuana is legal. If you agree that sick and suffering patients should not have to live in fear of armed federal agents breaking down their doors, this is your chance to do something about it. Please visit http://action.mpp.org/c.hhLWK2PALoF/b.1408901/k.8E12/Take_Action/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=hhLWK2PALoF&b=1408901&aid=8840 to send your message to Congress now.

Next item: this one is from Stephen pizzo, writing in smirking chimp. Fully 60% of product and food recalls this year were products from China. The first clue something might be amiss came when tabby cats started dropping like flies. Then dogs followed. The problem turned out to be industrial plastic-making chemicals put in Chinese produced pet food as filler. The result was kidney failure, and death. Next it was wood children's choo choo trains painted with bright, delicoius-looking red paint containing high levels of lead. If someone had not caught it ten years from now we might see headlines blaring;"Why Doesn't Johnnie Know His Own Name? Why Does Jane Just Rock in a Corner All Day?" Then came toothpaste with a special ingredient only Eskimos could love... anti-freeze. Then it was tires that tend to fly apart at speeds just above those posted around school zones. Now it's Chinese farm-raised fish, bulked up with a witch's brew of drugs. (Just how this one was caught by US inspectors isn't yet clear, but apparently a junior inspector asked if it was normal for dead fish to have poop eating grins on their faces.) So, if you insist on continuing to shop at Wal-Mart you might want to call your insurer and bump your life insurance up a a few notches. Your kids will thank you -- if they remember who you were.

Next item: this from Vallejo Times-Herald: repub by smirking chimp.com

: The 46 pounds of Sprint phone records, stored meticulously over the D.C. Madam's 13-year escort service, is a scandal in waiting that looms large over the nation's capital. And if the current court-ordered injunction is lifted, allowing Deborah Jeane Palfrey access to her files, she vows to send every last name and phone number to any journalist, blogger or private detective wanting them. My comment: anyone want to join me in taking out a large life insurance policy on this lady? On the other hand, if there was ever a case for locking up papers in the interest of national security, this is probably one of the best. After all, how would this nation survive the knowledge that many of our elected representatives paid for some extra marital nooky? But at least we would know where all those corporate bribes were being spent. I mean, having accepted a bribe for your vote, you got to spend it don’t you?