'Cash for Clunkers' Continuation Looks Good

If you are wanting to participate in the federal government's "Cash for Clunkers" program that quickly ran out of money, you will have a second chance. Passage by the Senate looks likely before Friday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned senators that their coveted August vacation may be jeopardy if the measure was not passed.

"If we don't work something out on the cash for clunkers," Reid said from the Senate floor Wednesday morning, he would file motions to close debate. Under Senate procedure, that could mean votes on both Friday and Saturday, when lawmakers would otherwise be scattering for their coveted summer break.

"We all acknowledge there's a significant majority that want to move forward with this legislation," said Reid, D-Nev.

On a personal note, my 21-year-old car missed the mileage threshold by one mile per gallon, so I will be keeping it a while longer.

Money Rushed to Cash for Clunkers Program

The House reacted swiftly to reports that the Cash for Clunkers program was running out of money, voting to add $2 billion from previously approved economic stimulus funds.

Called the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, the program is designed to help the economy and the environment by spurring new car sales. Car owners can receive federal subsidies of up to $4,500 for trading in their old cars for new ones that achieve significantly higher gas mileage.

The Senate is expected to vote on the issue next week.

Israel to do "anything it takes"

Reported by the Associated Press:

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak used a brief news conference with Gates to insist three times that Israel would not rule out any response — an implied warning that it would consider a pre-emptive strike to thwart Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

"We clearly believe that no option should be removed from the table," Barak said. "This is our policy. We mean it. We recommend to others to take the same position, but we cannot dictate it to anyone."

Hope they wait until our troops are totally removed from Iraq.

Actress Lori Petty Charged with DUI

Lori Petty, an actress who obviously reached her peak in the '90 with roles in Tank Girl and Point Break, was arrested for DUI last weekend in Venice, CA.

What caught my eye about this story was the $100,000 bond she had to post before getting out of jail. The initial news account did not have any details, but did mention the bond. A subsequent story included the information that she was arrested for felony DUI after allegedly hitting a 14-year-old skate boarder.

Now the high bond makes sense.

Most recently she has had guest roles on television shows House and Prison Break.

Alaska Volcano Erupts

This from Yahoo! News:

WILLOW, Alaska – Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano erupted five times overnight, sending an ash plume more than 9 miles into the air in the volcano's first emissions in nearly 20 years. Residents in the state's largest city were spared from falling ash, though fine gray dust was falling Monday morning on small communities north of Anchorage. The ash began falling around daybreak and continued into midmorning. They were supposed to end by noon.

"It's coming down," Rita Jackson, 56, said early Monday morning at a 24-hour grocery store in Willow, about 50 miles north of Anchorage. She slid her fingers across the hood of her car, through a dusting of ash.

Ash from Alaska's volcanos is like a rock fragment with jagged edges and has been used as an industrial abrasive. It can injure skin, eyes and breathing passages. The young, the elderly and people with respiratory problems are especially susceptible to ash-related health problems. Ash can also cause damage engines in planes, cars and other vehicles.

Alaska Airlines on Monday canceled 19 flights in and out of the Anchorage international airport because of the ash.

North Korea Threatens South Over Leaflets

North Korea has said unless South Korea takes steps to stop the distribution of leaflets criticizing their government, they will launch a pre-emptive strike.

"We clarify our stand that should the South Korean puppet authorities continue scattering leaflets and conducting a smear campaign with sheer fabrications, our army will take a resolute practical action as we have already warned," the official KCNA news agency quoted the military spokesman as saying.

At a rare round of military talks on Monday, North Korea complained about the leaflets while South Korean activists sent a new batch of 100,000, despite warnings from Seoul not to do so.

"The puppet authorities had better bear in mind that the advanced pre-emptive strike of our own style will reduce everything opposed to the nation and reunification to debris, not just setting them on fire," the spokesman said.

South Korean groups have been sending the leaflets into the North for years. Analysts said the recent wave appeared to have touched a nerve because they mentioned a taboo subject in the North -- the health of leader Kim Jong-il.

Georgia Must Allow Voting

Any citizen "flagged" by Georgia's new voter ID law must be allowed to vote, federal judges have ruled:

The state of Georgia must allow persons whose citizenship has been questioned in a new voter verification system the opportunity to cast a ballot in the Nov. 4 elections, a three-judge court ruled Monday.

The court also ordered Secretary of State Karen Handel to “make diligent and immediate efforts to notify, in a uniform manner, every person whose voter registration presently remains flagged.” Those voters must be told that they can vote by a “challenged ballot,” if necessary, and that there is a discrepancy in the voters’ registration information, the court said.