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Congress passed an energy bill before going on its August recess. (Taking off all of August? How. . . French!) Included in this bill are big giveaways to the oil and gas industries, subsidies to increase use of ethanol (Iowa, as Bill Frist and Hillary Rodham Clinton both clearly know, starts the quadrennial presidential nomination process!) and - wait for it - the extension of Daylight Savings Time by a month, beginning in 2007! Theoretically, increased daylight hours mean less fuel consumed to keep lights on. Funny, I don't remember any office building I've worked in using sunlight to light the rooms and offices. Did they raise fuel economy standards to encourage to use mass transit and to drive tiny cars that make Honda Civics look like Lincoln Town Cars by comparison? Of course not.

The Irish Republican Army has declared an end to armed force against Britain in its effort to unite the six counties of Northern Ireland with the rest of Ireland. Hopefully, this means that Northern Ireland (also known as Ulster), if it is to be reunited with Ireland one day, will be so through peaceful means. Ironically, the IRA's announcement comes just in time for al-Qaeda to ratchet up a bombing campaign of its own. :-( But at least the British government was able to round up the suspects who attempted the July 21 attacks on the London subway. We still haven't caught Osama bin Laden or any of his immediate deputies.

Meanwhile, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) changed his mind today and annuoced that, yes, he will support efforts to extend federally funded stem cell research against Bush's wishes. Why the sudden change of heart from the doctor who misdiagnosed Terry Schaivo's condition based on a videotape examination? Well, remember what I said about Iowa just now . . ..