Thursday, December 29, 2005

Who's in charge here?

Yet another administration failure: the SBA and the special 9/11 loans. Is there anyone competent in the WH at all?

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Not Hunter-Gatherers After All

Humans are, in fact, a domesticated breed.
"This analysis suggested that around 1800 genes, or roughly 7% of the total in the human genome, have changed under the influence of natural selection within the past 50,000 years. A second analysis using a second SNP database gave similar results. That is roughly the same proportion of genes that were altered in maize when humans domesticated it from its wild ancestors."

Kelly's Rules

What makes the Skunk Works work.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

How Many?

If Abramoff lestifies, how many congressmen is he going to take down? And who are they?
"Abramoff would provide testimony about numerous members of Congress and their staffs if he and the Justice Department reach an agreement, the sources said. Negotiations have been ongoing for several months, people knowledgeable about the discussions said, but pressure is mounting because of the pending trial."

Max doesn't get it

Max Boot in the LAT:
"I suspect it'll be a long wait because the rule of thumb seems to be that although it's treasonous for pro-Bush partisans to spill secrets that might embarrass an administration critic, it's a public service for anti-Bush partisans to spill secrets that might embarrass the administration. The determination of which secrets are OK to reveal is, of course, to be made not by officials charged with protecting our nation but by journalists charged with selling newspapers."
Max, you dolt, if you have a security clearance you aren't allowed to leak secrets. If, on the other hand, you are a reporter and you piece together the secrets from the mistakes made by the agents it's fair game. Of course if we had a president and an administration that was worthy of respect they might be able command some respect with the media. Unfortunately this has none and deserves none.

Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest

While Bush's (hswib) defenders put forth all sorts of rationalizations of domestic spying, this judget considers it serious enough to tender his resignation as a spy court judge.
"A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work."