A 100 year old elm tree dating from the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt crashed to the ground late last night, narrowly missing the North Portico of the Whitehouse – showing once and for all what Morther Earth thinks of Messrs Bush and Chaney. Ann Compton of ABC News reports:

“The whole root ball came up out of the saturated ground,” she describes, noting that the tree is “at least 100 years old, planted around the time Teddy Roosevelt remodelled the White House in 1902. Its twin a few yards away was actually taken down within the last couple of weeks, dying of Dutch elm disease. The grounds crew here was worried about the big elm, and had recently trimmed it so that if it fell it would not hit the elegant columns of the North Portico or the wall along the driveway. It even missed what they call the Truman Hedge — boxwoods which line the driveway.”

Representatives of the Earth Liberation Front have not responded to requests for comment as of this time.
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As a follow-up to my note yesterday, the Washington Post has coverage of how Jack Abramoff secretly funneled money from his clients through tax-exempt organizations:
Nonprofit Groups Funneled Money For Abramoff: Funds Flowed to Lobbying Campaigns

In addition to Grover Norquist’s “Americans for Tax Reform,”…

A second group Norquist was involved with, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, received about $500,000 in Abramoff client funds; the council’s president has told Senate investigators that Abramoff often asked her to lobby a senior Interior Department official on his behalf. The committee report said the Justice Department should further investigate the organization’s dealings with the department and its former deputy secretary, J. Steven Griles.

Steven Griles was the anti-environment slimeball in the Nth degree who Gale Norton brought with her to be her deputy at the Dept. of Interior. As a former lobbyist for extractive industries, such as oil, timber, gas and mining, Griles certainly had different priorities than protecting the interior. Exploit, exploit, exploit was the watchword.

The dirty side of Griles is also covered in this Rocky Mountain News article:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4801558,00.html
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Bloomberg Media has an interesting article about several major economists dismissing the administration’s claims that immigrants are only taking jobs that Americans don’t want. The gist being that with the wages so severely depressed in certain market segments by the influx of immigrant labor, Americans cannot afford to take the jobs, or are not hired for them.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_us&refer=us&sid=abGKJMCzw2zg
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While awaiting word from the Supreme Court on the legitimacy of mid-decade redistricting and partisan gerrymanders, Democrats in Texas have their day in Federal Court today. The lawsuit filed by the Texas Democratic Party which argues that Tom DeLay’s name cannot be replaced on the ballot despite his resignation from the House. A restraining order issued earlier this month has the effect of possibly postponing the naming of DeLay’s successor by the GOP.