I don't worry about the Gates Foundation trying to influence the press. Most of the press is for sale and bought. I do worry about the Gates Foundation cozying up to Monsanto. That is scary.

Beavers are as cute as they are tenacious.

It's ridiculous to call Obama a Muslim socialist from Kenya. Obviously, he's neither a Muslim nor a socialist. (I am looking forward to the upcoming Supreme Court hearing about the whole Kenya thing, though.)

The cote d'Ivoire events aren't related to what's going on the Middle East. That's been going on since their elections November. Really, it's been going on since 2002 when the civil war broke out, but that's a long story. However, I do think it's worth looking at the Ivoirian situation on it's own, and not try and tie it to what's going on in the Middle East.

When I hear complaints about the Gates Foundation influencing journalism, I can't help but wondering where those voices have been regarding Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch and Sun Yung Moon.

@5: I have no problem with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation influencing journalism either; nevertheless, it is reasonable that conflict of interest questions should be addressed with philanthropies as opposed to private corporations.

@raff Thanks for the insight. I re-worded the headline.

Re: The couch potato rats: During the shitstorm/kerfuffle/fattergate last weekend, someone mentioned the book "Why We Get Fat," holy shit, I've been reading it the last few days, it is SO interesting. A lot of it we've heard before, but it actually explains the science behind how cells process different nutrients, and looks at how our bodies have responded to various diets throughout our history. I am really enjoying it.