McCain's McBit**

Have you ever heard of aerial hunting? It's a brutal practice. Wolves are shot from low-flying aircraft or chased to exhaustion, then killed at point-blank range.

Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for Vice President, promotes this barbaric practice, exploiting a loophole in the Federal Airborne Hunting Act to allow private wolf killers to shoot down wolves using aircraft. To encourage the killing, she even proposed a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf!

We have to get the word out about this! Please watch this powerful new television ad by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, and then share it with every wildlife lover you know:

	Tell Everyone You Know About Governor Palin's Brutal Record Our hard-hitting TV ad is running in key swing states right now. Tell others about Governor Palin’s wolf killing record and help us reach even more voters today. Nearly 300,000 people have watched our ad on YouTube. Here's what some viewers are saying: "Shooting animals from an airplane is as low as it can get. I take that back, offering $150 for each paw is even worse. " -- utubewtchr "I'm an independent voter - when I heard about Palin's support of aerial wolf killing, I knew right off that 'she's definitely NOT like me'." -- 33tracker Dear Kathy, Thanks to the unprecedented support of more than 14,000 wildlife supporters, millions of voters in key swing states are learning more about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s values -- and her brutal record on aerial hunting of wolves and other wildlife. Encourage your friends to watch the ad online and help us reach even more people with the awful truth about Governor Sarah Palin’s brutal record aerial wolf hunting. With your help, we’re breaking this story wide open. This hard-hitting TV ad has already been seen by nearly 300,000 people online. It’s been covered by many news outlets, including CNN, ABC, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The LA Times, several Ohio newspapers and more. And thanks to the generous donations of people like you, millions of people in Ohio and Florida know the truth about Governor Palin’s brutal record. Now, thanks to the phenomenal support of wildlife supporters like you, we’ll be able to extend our ad buy in Ohio and Florida, air it in Michigan -- and beyond. If you haven't already, please consider donating now to help put this ad in front of even more potential voters. The more voters learn about Governor Sarah Palin, the less there is to like. But as you can imagine, running a TV ad during election season is expensive. There are still millions of potential voters across the U.S. who haven’t learned the truth about Governor Palin’s brutal aerial hunting program -- millions who don’t yet know about her proposal to dole out $150 for the severed forelegs of dead wolves. Help us expose the awful truth about Sarah Palin before it’s too late. Tell others about Governor Sarah Palin’s record on the brutal and unethical hunting of wolves from airplanes. With your help, we can ensure that voters know the truth about Sarah Palin. With Gratitude, Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund P.S. Right now, my team is preparing another powerful TV ad to air in key swing states. To help us reach more voters with the ad above and place our new ad, please make a secure online contribution today . Or call 1-800-425-4632 to contribute by phone.

Disaboom: Social Network for the Disability Boom

Social network Disaboom leads a growing demographic - Sep. 15, 2008

Opening new worlds: The Disability Boom

Led by a hot social network, disabled entrepreneurs are doing well by selling products that help the handicapped - and the rest of us.

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• DEL.ICIO.US
• REDDIT
• STUMBLE UPON
• MYSPACE
• MIXX IT

By Chris Taylor

September 15, 2008: 9:00 AM EDT

Dr. Glen House built a website where disabled users connect, find jobs, and date.

Photos

Opening new worlds

Many gadgets developed for a disabled audience have found favor with the mainstream - and made use of technology that couldn't find a toehold anywhere else. Here's a selection.

View photos

Bridging social applications

More Videos

• Opening new worlds
• Gallery: Gadgets gone mainstream
• Why disabled techies rock
• Helping deaf callers connect
• Retraining disabled vets
• Deaf school dynamos

(Fortune Small Business) -- Despite his wheelchair, and often because of it, Dr. Glen House has always enjoyed doing what he isn't supposed to.

Take the time he persuaded his neighbor in Colorado Springs, J.W. Roth, to join him on vacation in the ice fields of Taku, Alaska. The trip entailed flying to a remote lodge in a tiny ski plane that was ill-equipped for disabled passengers: Boarding was via a rope ladder. "They said no wheelchairs," Roth recalls. "So we signed up."

That 2006 trip was a turning point for House and Roth. The boarding process was dicey: Roth gave House a fireman's lift up the plane's ladder, which dangled over the ice. "If I go down, you're going with me," House snarled on the way up. But later the pair sat in the Taku lodge, wondering how they might bring such exhilarating experiences to other disabled people. "They're sick of doctors," House told Roth. "They want to know how to live forward with their conditions."

That chat led to this year's launch of Disaboom.com, a fast-growing social network aimed at the 50 million Americans with disabilities and their caregivers. In a time of social-network fatigue, as Facebook and MySpace have spawned hundreds of bland imitators, Denver-based Disaboom is unique. It focuses on a large, untapped audience eager to get answers and make connections, and one that advertisers had previously been unable to reach.

Like the entrepreneurs in the stories that follow, House demonstrates that disabilities are no obstacle in the brave new world of technology. If anything, the determination they engender provides a clear business advantage. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of self-employed Americans with disabilities has grown from 12% to 15% since the dawn of the Web. For the rest of us, the figure has stayed static at 8%. Your next competitor may just zoom past you in a wheelchair.

When House wants to get somewhere, he goes fast. "That is how I ended up in the wheelchair," he says. During a ski vacation in Snowbird, Utah, House ignored the sign that read DANGER! ROCK! and at 20 became a quadriplegic from the pectorals down.

But House lost no time pursuing his next goal: He began studying for medical school. His Disaboom colleagues all have stories of his dangerously fast driving; one had to pull him from his car when it skidded off the road into the Colorado snow.

House is the public face of Disaboom, writing most of the medical guides to the 40 disabilities the site covers and participating in its forums. It doesn't hurt that he and Roth founded the company last year just as the Fox drama House, which features a partially disabled doctor named Greg House, started winning over critics and viewers. Glen House was not the inspiration for the show, although at least one patient insisted on his autograph anyway.

It helped that Roth, one of the founders of biotech firm AspenBio, came aboard as CEO. Roth swiftly garnered $15 million in funding and began targeting advertisers. By April, Disaboom had racked up $1 million in ad sales to corporate Godzillas such as Ford (F, Fortune 500), Avis (CAR, Fortune 500), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500), and T-Mobile, and had served up 23 million online ads.

Roth launched a sister site, Disaboomjobs.com, in an effort to address the 60% unemployment rate among disabled Americans. He even bought a disabled-dating site called lovebyrd.com.

"We don't want Disaboom to smell like a doctor's office," Roth says. "We want to deal with dating issues, sex issues, how to drive a fast car."

Disaboom officially launched in January. The main site now boasts 72,000 registered users, and the rate at which new users sign up is growing by 500% a month. In March presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain both launched profiles on the site. Roth and House maintain folders full of thank-you e-mails, many from parents of disabled kids who didn't know where to turn until they found sympathy and suggestions from the Disaboom community.

The site is not without problems. Roth decided to take Disaboom (DSBO.OB) public before its launch; as of late August, the stock was trading at an anemic 50 cents a share, $1.30 off its 2007 high. One disabled blogger at GearAbility.com complained that Disaboom jobs listed too few positions specifically for the handicapped, and that much of the content read like PR blurbs.

"There's a lot of buzz about them," says Jennifer Simpson, senior director of technology policy at the American Association of People With Disabilities, a lobbying group in Washington, D.C. "We talk about them all the time, but I don't think they're where they want to be."

House and Roth are working on that. They recently struck deals with the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School to license a reliable range of medical content. With $4 million cash in hand, Disaboom's stock slump isn't going to bite anytime soon. The 39 employees on staff include three full-time "social marketers," who write blogs and help promote the site on a range of popular websites such as Digg and Twitter.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," says Roth at his conference table in a suburban Denver office park. He already has plans to launch other social networks for underserved markets. Neither he nor House will say more than that, but it seems likely that they'll soon be doing something they weren't supposed to do, one more time.

Share your thoughts on the disabilities boom in our discussion forum.

Opening New Worlds gallery: Check out these gadgets developed for the disabled that have gone mainstream.

A buzz about honey: A disabled son's obsession spawns a thriving family business.

Vision quest: How an entrepreneur turned a potentially crippling disability to his advantage.

WELCOME TO THE NEW AMERICA

Stunned Lehman Employees Pack Bags Across Asia; Investors Fume

September 16, 2008: 06:57 AM EST

TOKYO (AFP)--As Lehman Brothers workers packed their bags across Asia, an employee of the once venerable Wall Street firm in Tokyo said he felt like he had been handed the death penalty.

There was a somber mood at Lehman's Japanese unit, housed in a 54-storey skyscraper in Tokyo's glitzy Roppongi Hills complex where the bird's-eye view of the capital was once a metaphor for the bank's financial pride.

Employees of the 158-year-old bank, which crumpled under mortgage-related losses, were already trying to get on with their lives even though Lehman has made no official announcement on layoffs.

"Now I know what it feels like to be handed down the death sentence," said one American employee in his 20s.

He said he had been closely following developments in the past weeks in the news media, receiving no information from his superiors.

While he was considering enrolling in a US business school next year, "it looks like I could be leaving (Japan) like, next week," said the employee, who did not want his name used out of concern for his professional future.

A trickle of casually dressed workers braved flashing cameras and drizzling rain to enter the building but it seemed many others stayed away -- possibly brushing up their resumes.

Another young Lehman employee decided to take the day off, going for a bike ride to shop and meet friends who worked for teetering Merrill Lynch and the now defunct Bear Stearns.

Smiling with them in a photo entitled "One crazy day" that she uploaded on her Web site, she added a hint of sarcasm with the caption: "reps from former banks." Lehman filed for bankruptcy and court protection from its creditors Monday after potential buyers, including Bank of America and Britain's Barclays PLC, walked away from a deal and the U.S. government refused to intervene.

Currently the bank is in talks with Barclays which is considering acquiring certain of its assets, including its key investment management unit.

Employees were not the only shell-shocked victims - thousands of investors and ordinary shareholders are seeing their holdings blow up, as Lehman shares have plunged 94% to 21 cents.

"I keep getting calls from angry customers yelling at me because they lost all their money. The market is fluctuating so much," said Tse Yu-tui, a dealer at Prudential Brokerage in Hong Kong.

"I have told them not to buy any more, but they did not listen to me, and then what can I do?" he asked.

Camera crews waited all day in a shopping mall outside of Lehman Brothers' Hong Kong office, which occupies four floors in the city's tallest building.

Local broadcaster Cable News quoted sources as saying that Lehman had told staff in Hong Kong to work half-day shifts from now on until managers figured out a proper arrangement.

Employees at Merrill Lynch were also biting their nails, left guessing over their professional fates after its rescue buyout by Bank of America.

Managers are "trying to put a positive spin on the whole thing, saying that there will not be much overlap in their business and our business," a Merrill Lynch employee told AFP in Hong Kong.

"The impression is that even if there are going to be any layoffs, it is going to be much less serious than the situation in the U.S. Right now even top management have no idea what will happen to them," she said.

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Hi, I'm Gabriel Ross. I designed and have been maintaining GRSites.com since 1997. Now you know where the "GR" in the address comes from! :-)

I live in Montreal, Canada, with my lovely wife Kaamini and my sons Nathan and Alexandre.

I am actually a scientist by training, I am completing a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at McGill University. Our laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of memory in the brain.

This web site began a decade ago when I found myself having trouble finding a good background texture for my first web site (long gone!) and realizing that the internet needed a good comprehensive archive of textures for use in web pages. So I made one myself, and since then it seems to have become the most popular one. I also created a web graphics archive, as well as one of fonts and sound effects.

Eventually, features were added that allows you to customize the background textures in interesting ways. And more recently, I created the Button Maker, Logo Maker, and Menu Maker features which have proven very popular indeed.

There's a whole lot more in progress at GRSites.com that you won't find anywhere else on the web, at least not for free: realistic 3D logos, complex animated Flash logos and menu systems, beautiful new button types, all fully customizable.

I hope you enjoy the site as much as I enjoy making it for you...

Big day set for big-bang machine

LHC First Beam - 10th September 2008 - 9am CEST (GMT+2)

Michael Hoch / CERN The silicon tracker for one of the Large Hadron Collider's main detectors, the Compact Muon Solenoid, is installed in December 2007. The LHC's startup is now set for Sept. 10. Click on the image for a larger version.

The countdown to the startup of the world's most powerful particle collider has begun with today's announcement that the first beam of protons will be sent all the way through the 17-mile-round Large Hadron Collider on Sept. 10.

A key phase of the final preparations for the $10 billion project begins this weekend, when Europe's CERN particle-physics center begins testing the last links in the high-powered chain of magnets that will eventually send beams shooting through the collider's ring with the energy of a bullet train. During this weekend's tests, low-intensity protons will be injected into a small section of the collider and zip around one-eighth of the ring.

The tests will grow in strength and complexity all the way up to "Red Button Day." neat!

If the schedule holds, the collider on the French-Swiss border will make a splash at 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) Sept. 10, a week after a federal judge in Hawaii begins hearing a motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit claiming that the device could destroy the world. Over the past few months, scientists at CERN (and the federal government) have laid out their case that a globe-gobbling catastrophe could never happen. Nevertheless, the court proceedings could provide a sideshow for the main event. Or they could be finished up by that time.

Here's the relevant section from CERN's news release about the startup:

"CERN has today announced that the first attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be made on 10 September. This news comes as the cooldown phase of commissioning CERN's new particle accelerator reaches a successful conclusion. Television coverage of the start-up will be made available through Eurovision.

"The LHC is the world's most powerful particle accelerator, producing beams seven times more energetic than any previous machine, and around 30 times more intense when it reaches design performance, probably by 2010. Housed in a 27-kilometer tunnel, it relies on technologies that would not have been possible 30 years ago. The LHC is, in a sense, its own prototype.

"Starting up such a machine is not as simple as flipping a switch.

"Commissioning is a long process that starts with the cooling down of each of the machine's eight sectors. This is followed by the electrical testing of the 1,600 superconducting magnets and their individual powering to nominal operating current. These steps are followed by the powering together of all the circuits of each sector, and then of the eight independent sectors in unison in order to operate as a single machine.

"By the end of July, this work was approaching completion, with all eight sectors at their operating temperature of 1.9 degrees above absolute zero (-271 degrees C). The next phase in the process is synchronization of the LHC with the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator, which forms the last link in the LHC's injector chain. Timing between the two machines has to be accurate to within a fraction of a nanosecond. A first synchronization test is scheduled for the weekend of 9 August, for the clockwise-circulating LHC beam, with the second to follow over the coming weeks. Tests will continue into September to ensure that the entire machine is ready to accelerate and collide beams at an energy of 5 TeV [trillion electron volts] per beam, the target energy for 2008. Force majeure notwithstanding, the LHC will see its first circulating beam on 10 September at the injection energy of 450 GeV (0.45 TeV).

"Once stable circulating beams have been established, they will be brought into collision, and the final step will be to commission the LHC's acceleration system to boost the energy to 5 TeV, taking particle physics research to a new frontier.

"'We're finishing a marathon with a sprint,' said LHC project leader Lyn Evans. 'It's been a long haul, and we're all eager to get the LHC research program under way.' ..."

CERN then lays out the accreditation procedures for journalists wanting to cover the startup, and notes that the event will be Webcast as well.

Red Button Day will be the big media day for the collider: The BBC, for example, plans to broadcast all day from CERN. However, it will take weeks more to get the proton beams in working order and bring collisions up to the 5 TeV level. That's why CERN has scheduled the big party for dignitaries (like French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for example) well after Red Button Day, on Oct. 21.

The collider isn't expected to reach its full power of 14 TeV until 2009 or 2010. As I noted earlier this week, that could leave a window for Fermilab's Tevatron in Illinois to steal some of the LHC's thunder - perhaps by making the first detection of the Higgs boson, the last fundamental particle predicted by current theory that has not yet been found. The Higgs boson (a.k.a. "the God Particle") is thought to play a key role in determining the properties of particle mass.

Even if the Tevatron finds the Higgs, it will be up to the LHC to study the particle in depth - and plumb other mysteries of the universe, ranging from the nature of dark matter and black holes to the possibility of extra dimensions in space.

For further background on the LHC and other frontiers of physics, check out the following dispatches - and stay tuned for our upcoming big-picture look at the big-bang machine:

• From Europe's CERN physics lab: Toiling in the fields of physics ... Inside the big-bang machine ... Living in the Web's cradle ... First the Web, now the Grid ... Inside the antimatter factory.
  
  
• From Fermilab in Illinois: Suspense on a subatomic scale ... Inside the subatomic raceBuilding the future of physics.
  
  ...
• From Oak Ridge National Laboratory: America's fusion future ... Under the neutron microscope.
  
  
• From the ITER project: Fusion when? ... Fusion's fortress.
  
  
• From Canada's TRIUMF lab: Inside the supernova machine.

Update for 3:30 p.m. ET: U.S. researchers involved in the LHC project are planning several media events to mark the LHC's first beam, including a "pajama party" at Fermilab. Check out this listing at the US/LHC Web site.

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CERN | LHC First Beam - Final LHC Synchronisation Test a Success

CERN | LHC First Beam - Final LHC Synchronisation Test a Success

Contact | CERN Home

 LHC First Beam

 

 

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Accreditations closed.

No accreditations will be granted on 10 September

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Home25.08.2008

Final LHC Synchronization Test a Success

Particle tracks seen in the LHCb vertex detector (VELO) and triggered by the experiment's calorimeter during synchronization tests last weekend

Geneva, 25 August 2008. CERN has today announced the success of the second and final test of the Large Hadron Collider’s beam synchronization systems which will allow the LHC operations team to inject the first beam into the LHC.

Friday evening 22 August, a single bunch of a few particles travelled down the transfer line from the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator to the LHC. After a period of optimization, one bunch was kicked up from the transfer line into the LHC beam pipe and steered counter-clockwise about 3 kilometres around the LHC. 

“Thanks to a fantastic team, both the clock-wise and counter-clockwise tests went without a hitch. We look forward to a resounding success when we make our first attempt to send a beam all the way around the LHC,” said Lyn Evans, LHC Project Leader.

Both the counter-clockwise and clockwise tests are part of the preparations to ready the LHC, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, for the eventual acceleration and collision of two beams at an energy of 5 TeV per beam. This unprecedented event is foreseen to take place by end 2008. 

Upcoming events marking LHC start-up

10 September: The first attempt to circulate a beam in the LHC will be made on 10 September at the injection energy of 450 GeV (0.45 TeV). This historical event will be webcast through http://webcast.cern.ch, and distributed through the Eurovision network. See http://www.cern.ch/lhc-first-beam for further details.

3 October: CERN will host the LHC Grid Fest, a celebration of the LHC Computing Grid, a global computing grid designed to handle 15 million gigabytes of LHC-related data every year. The day will feature presentations, demonstrations, tours of the CERN Computer Centre and more. See http://www.cern.ch/lcg/lhcgridfest for more details.

21 October: CERN will host the Official Inauguration of the LHC with representatives of CERN member and observer States. 

Contact information

James Gillies

Tel. +41 22 76 74101

James.Gillies@cern.ch

Copyright CERN 2008 – Web Communications, DSU-CO

Soldier suicide rate may set record again - Mental health- msnbc.com

Soldier suicide rate may set record again - Mental health- msnbc.com

So, republicans- this is what you want for America?
I will never share your values.
Thank GOD!

updated 4:41 p.m. ET, Thurs., Sept. 4, 2008

WASHINGTON - Soldier suicides this year could surpass the record rate of last year, Army officials said Thursday, urging military leaders at all levels to redouble prevention efforts for a force strained by two wars.

So far this year, there are 62 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers and Guard and Reserve troops called to active duty, officials said. Another 31 deaths appear to be suicides but are still being investigated.

If all are confirmed, that means that the number for 2008 could eclipse the 115 of last year — and the rate per 100,000 could surpass that of the civilian population, Col. Eddie Stephens, deputy director of human resources policy, said at a Pentagon press conference.

Story continues below ↓

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"Army leaders are fully aware that repeated deployments have led to increased distress and anxiety for both soldiers and their families," Army Secretary Pete Geren said.

"The Army is committed to ensuring that all soldiers and their families receive the behavioral health care they need," he said in a statement distributed at the press conference.

To try to stem the continuing high number of suicides, the Army continues to increase the number of staff psychiatrists and other mental health staff as well as chaplains, is issuing a new interactive video for troops and will be adding a new program to basic training starting in January, said Brig. Gen. Rhonda L. Cornum, an assistant Army surgeon general.

"There are no simple problems and there are no simple solutions," Cornum said. "There is no program that has been shown to be truly effective at preventing suicides ... Success will be the sum of a number of smaller steps."

There is NO EXCUSE for this.

Worth repeating!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

McCain's McBitch

I waged a nice bet it would be a woman- BUT pickings were SLIM to NONE

Rodger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife Action Dear Kathy, A few hours ago, the news broke that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been selected by Sen. John McCain as the vice presidential candidate for the Republican ticket. As a Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund supporter, you are no doubt aware of Governor Palin’s dismal record, from her staunch support for special interests and Big Oil to her terrible assault on wolves and other wildlife. As much of the nation wonders just who Sarah Palin is, I wanted to pass along my statement that I've just released. Please read it and pass it along to everyone you know. Thanks for your continued support, Rodger FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 29, 2008 Shocking Choice by John McCain WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. “Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies. “Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration. “This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.” ### The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (www.defendersactionfund.org ) provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm. Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Donate Now | Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund Home Rodger Schlickeisen, Defenders of Wildlife Action FundLoading... 1:48 PM (5 hours ago)

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Documents Reveals Labor Effort to Add More Hoops to Regulating Workplace Toxins - washingtonpost.com

Documents Reveals Labor Effort to Add More Hoops to Regulating Workplace Toxins - washingtonpost.com


As if I am surprised.

Documents Reveals Labor Effort to Add More Hoops to Regulating Workplace Toxins

By Carol D. Leonnig

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 24, 2008; 5:43 PM

A copy of a eleventh-hour proposed rule that would make it harder to set new safety rules limiting workers' exposure to chemicals on the job has been obtained by the Washington Post.

The Labor Department has refused to discuss or disclose the proposal, which has spurred anger and condemnation from unions, Democrats in Congress and public health scientists. They claim the rule is a "midnight regulation" that will block the next administration's efforts to reduce workers illnesses and deaths.

As The Post first reported on Wednesday, the department began actively working on drafting new rules for measuring risk and setting health standards for chemicals in September 2007, but did not disclose it was looking at the idea, as required, in either its December 2007 or May 2008 reports on regulations it was considering. The proposal calls for adding another procedural step and round of challenges before the department can consider regulations for a workplace toxin. It also challenges the agency's longstanding assumption that it should set limits low enough to protect workers who could be exposed to a toxin every day on the job and work for 45 years.

The Bush administration has adopted only one regulation to limit exposure to a chemical, hexavalent chromium, and that was under court order. This new rule propsal has become the department's top priority in the final months of the administration, although proposed worker safety rules for limiting exposure to beryllium, silica and combustible dust remain works in progress after years of being under consideration.

The chairmen of the Senate and House labor committees demanded Wednesday that Labor Secretary Elaine Chao withdraw the proposal.

They said Chao's agency violated the rules requiring federal agencies to alert the public twice a year to any directives it was considering, and they also asked her to turn over internal documents of any meetings or communications Labor officials had with business or outside groups relating to the proposal.

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