Because this deserves broad attention, here's Van Jones's speech from Friday morning. Given all commentary it has engendered, both positive and negative, it's worth hearing everything he said, including his strong support for the President and his view that "we have to commit ourselves, deeply commit ourselves, now,  to creating an economic program to put America back to work so that we can pull America back together."

There are a few minutes of introduction (via video) by Howard Dean, the speech, and Jones’s interview with Ari Melber.

Because this deserves broad attention, here's Van Jones's speech from Friday morning. Given all commentary it has engendered, both positive and negative, it's worth hearing everything he said, including his strong support for the President and his view that "we have to commit ourselves, deeply commit ourselves, now,  to creating an economic program to put America back to work so that we can pull America back together."

There are a few minutes of introduction (via video) by Howard Dean, the speech, and Jones’s interview with Ari Melber.

Six Kossacks dedicated part of their schedules today to bringing you tonight's rescued diaries. They are ItsJessMe, jlms qkw, Purple Priestess, pico, Unitary Moonbat and BentLiberal who also edited.

Welcome to Diary Rescue, your daily cure for the meta blues. Please join us in saluting the authors of the following diaries:

• With detail, clarity, and lots of video, Dumbo offers a music lesson in Thursday Classical Music OPUS 4: Major versus Minor. (ItsJessMe)
• citisven reports on one of the more senseless crimes of the week, along with dropping some serious information on why Bees 'R' Us. (Unitary Moonbat)
• Peeling back the wide-ranging layers of l'affaire Shirley Sherrod, Mokurai explores the history of Negrophobia for fun and profit. (pico)
• ChuckInReno shares a lovely tribute in Kenny Guinn, RIP. (jlms qkw)
• Dbug has all the info on the House races in the Evergreen State in WA Congressional Races. (Purple Priestess)
• A heartbreaking diary from geomoo relates the fate of one Gitmo prisoner who had his dreams stolen: One Guantanamo War Crime: Final Chapter. (Purple Priestess)
• Fortunately, The Gimp is Still Alive - Despite the State's Best Efforts. (ItsJessMe)
• With a dose of gentle humor, Lightning Rod asks us to consider the plight of Defenseless Weeds in Help STOP Marijuana Abuse! Vote!. (pico)
• xaxnar discusses a controversial theory that it's human evolutionary behavior that causes many to Die Young, Live Fast - Creating an Underclass. (ItsJessMe)
• gloriasb explains the secret hold and the ray of hope in the fight to get it gone in Secret holds in the Senate: a tactic only the WWE could love. (Purple Priestess)
• At Netroots Nation, Aji learned about a discouraging new issue, that Native Veterans Can't Get Tax Refunds Owed Them Under Law. (ItsJessMe)
• While our troops are there dying every day, Setrak keeps us updated on the whole situation in AfPak: Hamid Karzai Loses More Friends and Other News. (jlms qkw)

Top Comments: Spaghetti! Edition is brought to us by asimbagirl.

jotter has High Impact Diaries: July 22, 2010.

Use as an open thread and feel free to make your own recommendations in the comments!

While Sarah Palin has swooped into other states, babbled about grizzly bears and lipstick, and helped influence some primary races, it turns out that the people who know her best don't care what she has to say when it comes to primaries.

But the outlook doesn’t seem as promising for another Palin favorite, Joe Miller, who is waging an uphill bid for U.S. Senate back in Palin’s home state. Palin endorsed the Fairbanks attorney in a June Facebook posting, calling him “a true Commonsense Constitutional Conservative.”

A new survey, however, has Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski crushing Miller in Alaska’s Aug. 24 primary, 62% to 30%, and shows Murkowski to be considerably more popular than Palin.

Maybe Queen Sarah can play kingmaker in Republican races in Nevada, California, and South Carolina, but Alaskans don't seem to care who Sarah likes best. But then, given that in Alaska, her approval numbers are 47% negative and 41% positive, it seems Alaskans don't seem to care for Sarah at all. Also.

In yet another indication that the Democratic Obama administration cares for military personnel in a way that its Republican predecessor didn't, the Department of Veterans Affairs is establishing a registry to monitor and treat veterans who were exposed to highly toxic hexavalent chromium, at Iraq's Qarmat Ali water-treatment facility.

As reported by The Oregonian:

The monitoring is a victory for nearly 300 Oregon Army National Guard members and for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Wyden proposed such a registry March 22 after veterans with breathing and skin problems told him in an emotional meeting in Portland that VA staff did not understand the hazards of their assignment.

"This is a concrete step forward," Wyden said. "But it is only a step." He wants the VA to go further and presume a service connection that will increase access and benefits.

Officially, the VA does not yet presume a causal connection for illnesses suffered by those who served at Qarmat Ali, and it does not presume that those who did serve there are ill. But it is now taking such claims seriously enough to begin monitoring. As Wyden said, this is one step forward, and the VA needs to take to more.

But the Qarmat Ali Medical Surveillance program will standardize medical exams nationwide, focusing doctors' attention on lung cancer and other related problems and help direct treatment. Among the steps: ear, nose, throat, lung and skin exams as well as regular chest X-rays, said Dr. Victoria Cassano, director of radiation and physical exposure for the VA's Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards.

Nearly 300 members of the Oregon Army National Guard were among those who served at Qarmat Ali, and Oregon Democratic Congressmen Earl Blumenauer and Kurt Schrader voiced support for the new program, as did Oregon's other Democratic Senator, Jeff Merkley. Under Bush, suffering troops were told they had allergies. The Army's previous investigation had concluded that there were little long-term health risks. The problem only began to be taken seriously in 2008, when employees of contractor Kellog, Brown and Root took their own health concerns to Senate Democrats. KBR was cleaning and repairing the facility, and the troops were protecting them.

More than a hundred fifty members of the Guard from Oregon and Indiana are suing KBR, claiming they were deceived about the risk from the hexavalent chromium, which the Senate was told was "piled like snow" at the Qarmat Ali facility. The VA's new Qarmat Ali Medical Surveillance program will standardize monitoring of the troops, with a particular focus on diseases, such as lung cancer, that are associated with hexavalent chromium. But that's not all:

Meanwhile, VA Sec. Eric Shinseki  has focused more attention on environmental hazards of military service. On Wednesday the VA announced $2.8 million in new research into Gulf War illness. The Qarmat Ali program is a subset of the Gulf War Registry, established in late 1992.

Once again, the Bush-Cheney team used military personnel as but cannon fodder, and downplayed or ignored their suffering. Once again, it takes a Democratic administration to give more than lip service to supporting the troops.

In yet another indication that the Democratic Obama administration cares for military personnel in a way that its Republican predecessor didn't, the Department of Veterans Affairs is establishing a registry to monitor and treat veterans who were exposed to highly toxic hexavalent chromium, at Iraq's Qarmat Ali water-treatment facility.

As reported by The Oregonian:

The monitoring is a victory for nearly 300 Oregon Army National Guard members and for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Wyden proposed such a registry March 22 after veterans with breathing and skin problems told him in an emotional meeting in Portland that VA staff did not understand the hazards of their assignment.

"This is a concrete step forward," Wyden said. "But it is only a step." He wants the VA to go further and presume a service connection that will increase access and benefits.

Officially, the VA does not yet presume a causal connection for illnesses suffered by those who served at Qarmat Ali, and it does not presume that those who did serve there are ill. But it is now taking such claims seriously enough to begin monitoring. As Wyden said, this is one step forward, and the VA needs to take to more.

But the Qarmat Ali Medical Surveillance program will standardize medical exams nationwide, focusing doctors' attention on lung cancer and other related problems and help direct treatment. Among the steps: ear, nose, throat, lung and skin exams as well as regular chest X-rays, said Dr. Victoria Cassano, director of radiation and physical exposure for the VA's Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards.

Nearly 300 members of the Oregon Army National Guard were among those who served at Qarmat Ali, and Oregon Democratic Congressmen Earl Blumenauer and Kurt Schrader voiced support for the new program, as did Oregon's other Democratic Senator, Jeff Merkley. Under Bush, suffering troops were told they had allergies. The Army's previous investigation had concluded that there were little long-term health risks. The problem only began to be taken seriously in 2008, when employees of contractor Kellog, Brown and Root took their own health concerns to Senate Democrats. KBR was cleaning and repairing the facility, and the troops were protecting them.

More than a hundred fifty members of the Guard from Oregon and Indiana are suing KBR, claiming they were deceived about the risk from the hexavalent chromium, which the Senate was told was "piled like snow" at the Qarmat Ali facility. The VA's new Qarmat Ali Medical Surveillance program will standardize monitoring of the troops, with a particular focus on diseases, such as lung cancer, that are associated with hexavalent chromium. But that's not all:

Meanwhile, VA Sec. Eric Shinseki  has focused more attention on environmental hazards of military service. On Wednesday the VA announced $2.8 million in new research into Gulf War illness. The Qarmat Ali program is a subset of the Gulf War Registry, established in late 1992.

Once again, the Bush-Cheney team used military personnel as but cannon fodder, and downplayed or ignored their suffering. Once again, it takes a Democratic administration to give more than lip service to supporting the troops.

Michelle Bachmann unplugged:

“Oh, I think that’s all we should do,” Bachmann said. “I think that all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another. And expose all the nonsense that is going on."

More? Sure:

“This is the year – this is it,” Bachmann continued. “All of our chips are on November. If we don’t get it back and then starve the beast – the House, we have the power of the purse – so we can starve ObamaCare. We don’t have to fund any of these programs and that’s exactly what we need to do – defund all of this nonsense and then unwind it.”

In a rare moment of honesty, Michelle Bachmann illustrates the real agenda of the GOP. They are going to do all of the things their nutcase base is calling for. They are going to focus on one thing and one thing only: turning the federal government into the soundbyte factory for Fox News.

Breitbart will be brought in for testimony on civil rights. Tancredo will be given a large platform for discussion about changing demographics. Orly Taitz will be brought in to provide perspective on the Constitution. Name your conspiracy. Every single nutcase teabagger fantasy will be placed front and center on the legislative calendar.

The Villagers will say, "no..they'll have the responsibility to govern." No, they won't. They'll make that OUR responsibility since the Democratic party is the only one that accept that government has responsibilities in the first place. They don't believe we need a government for anything except war.

This is the choice America faces: A House of Representatives that does it's damnedest to address the serious problems this nation faces, or one that veers into the realm of paranoid fantasies, racism, and bigotry.

She's right. All our chips are on November.

Engineers look at the Gulf and see an engineering problem:

Devices fall out of favor, but seldom if ever get abolished by design. The explosion of the Hindenburg showed the dangers of hydrogen as a lifting gas and resulted in new emphasis on helium, which is not flammable, rather than ending the reign of rigid airships. And engineering, by definition, is a problem-solving profession. Technology analysts say that constructive impulse, and its probable result for deep ocean drilling, is that innovation through failure analysis will make the wells safer, whatever the merits of reducing human reliance on oil. They hold that the BP disaster, like countless others, will ultimately inspire technological advance.

The sinking of the Titanic, the meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor in 1986, the collapse of the World Trade Center — all forced engineers to address what came to be seen as deadly flaws.

“Any engineering failure has a lot of lessons,” said Gary Halada, a professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook who teaches a course called “Learning from Disaster.”

Don't expect engineers to think like social service folks, or environmentalists. Doesn't make their POV invalid, just makes it different. And whether it's the Johnstown Flood of 1889 (a dam failure leading to legal innovation - "state courts' move from a fault-based regime to strict liability, and American Red Cross' first major relief effort, lead by Clara Barton) or the Titanic (lesson learned: have enough life boats), or the Triangle fire (better building code for fire exits and escapes) there's much to be learned from many disciplines when a disaster occurs. Reviewing the engineering lessons doesn't mean igoring the rest.

Want another example? Doing proper disaster planning instead of hiring a consultant to xerox everyone else's. Ed Markey:

What we found was that Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell and BP have response plans that are virtually identical. The plans cite identical response capabilities and tout identical ineffective equipment. In some cases, they use the exact same words and made the exact same assurances.

I welcome learning lessons from the industrial disaster. In fact, everyone should be as eager as the engineers to do so.

Engineers look at the Gulf and see an engineering problem:

Devices fall out of favor, but seldom if ever get abolished by design. The explosion of the Hindenburg showed the dangers of hydrogen as a lifting gas and resulted in new emphasis on helium, which is not flammable, rather than ending the reign of rigid airships. And engineering, by definition, is a problem-solving profession. Technology analysts say that constructive impulse, and its probable result for deep ocean drilling, is that innovation through failure analysis will make the wells safer, whatever the merits of reducing human reliance on oil. They hold that the BP disaster, like countless others, will ultimately inspire technological advance.

The sinking of the Titanic, the meltdown of the Chernobyl reactor in 1986, the collapse of the World Trade Center — all forced engineers to address what came to be seen as deadly flaws.

“Any engineering failure has a lot of lessons,” said Gary Halada, a professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook who teaches a course called “Learning from Disaster.”

Don't expect engineers to think like social service folks, or environmentalists. Doesn't make their POV invalid, just makes it different. And whether it's the Johnstown Flood of 1889 (a dam failure leading to legal innovation - "state courts' move from a fault-based regime to strict liability, and American Red Cross' first major relief effort, lead by Clara Barton) or the Titanic (lesson learned: have enough life boats), or the Triangle fire (better building code for fire exits and escapes) there's much to be learned from many disciplines when a disaster occurs. Reviewing the engineering lessons doesn't mean igoring the rest.

Want another example? Doing proper disaster planning instead of hiring a consultant to xerox everyone else's. Ed Markey:

What we found was that Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell and BP have response plans that are virtually identical. The plans cite identical response capabilities and tout identical ineffective equipment. In some cases, they use the exact same words and made the exact same assurances.

I welcome learning lessons from the industrial disaster. In fact, everyone should be as eager as the engineers to do so.

Seriously:

Fifty-seven percent of hiring managers told NEWSWEEK that qualified but unattractive candidates are likely to have a harder time landing a job, while more than half advised spending as much time and money on “making sure they look attractive” as on perfecting a résumé. When it comes to women, apparently, flaunting our assets works: 61 percent of managers (the majority of them men) said it would be an advantage for a woman to wear clothing showing off her figure at work.

Your education, skills and experience are great and all, but what really matters is how you look in a dress.

But wait! There's more.

Asked to rank employee attributes in order of importance, meanwhile, managers placed looks above education: of nine character traits, it came in third, below experience (No. 1) and confidence (No. 2) but above “where a candidate went to school” (No. 4).

Right. So education, skills and experience are, you know, sort of relevant, but not as relevant as how you look in a dress.

But at least it's not just straight up sexism because unattractive men get screwed too.

[O]ver his career, a good-looking man will make some $250,000 more than his least-attractive counterpart, according to economist Daniel Hamermesh...

So if you're one of the millions of Americans having a hard time finding a job in today's economy, don't waste your time padding your résumé. Instead, get yourself to the salon, the gym, the shoe store -- whatever it takes to make sure you're the best looking job applicant. Because apparently, that's what really matters.