"In a sense, a lot of these tough choices are kicked down the road."

"A lot of times the analysis did not support a lot of trendy ideas."

Pentagon Review Calls for No Big Changes

The Bush administration is rebuffing requests from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for its classified legal opinions on President Bush's domestic spying program, setting up a confrontation in advance of a hearing scheduled for next week, administration and Congressional officials said Wednesday.

Mr. Specter said that he wanted a fuller explanation as to how the Justice Department asserts that the eavesdropping operation does not conflict with the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which set strict and "exclusive" guidelines for intelligence wiretaps.

The operation was approved by President Bush, to allow the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps on Americans' international communications without a court warrant. Mr. Specter said his view was that the operation "violates FISA — there's no doubt about that."

He also questioned why the administration did not go to Congress or the intelligence court to seek changes in the process before moving ahead on its own with the classified program after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Senate Panel Rebuffed on Documents on US Spying

"Independence from oil imported from the Middle East," said Mr. Bustnes of the Rocky Mountain Institute, "will be achieved the day we are oil-free."

Much Talk, Mostly Low Key, About Energy Independence

The energy proposals set out on Tuesday by President Bush quickly ran into obstacles on Wednesday, showing how difficult it will be to take even the limited steps he supports to reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil.

Bush's Goals on Energy Quickly Find Obstacles

This is an update for those following the ongoing story [1,2,3] about Locatecell.

On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission, citing concern that call records can be obtained by unauthorized users, recommended fining AT&T and Alltel $100,000 each for failing to certify that they complied with rules to protect customer records. [Reuters story]

"I mean to make it very illegal," Rep. Joe L. Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement.

This guy's phone records must be really something ... (Texas, Energy ... Chenergy ...) No, really:

September 2004 -- The committee chair did not allow debate on the resolution, H.Res. 745, dismissing it as an effort to attack the White House heading into the election, and a distraction from congressional efforts to craft energy policy. The resolution is a "purely political ploy," said committee Chairman Joe Barton.

"This whole committee is a farce," said Henry Waxman as he walked out before the final 30-22 vote defeating the resolution.

Have you seen Syriana? Do you remember Tim Blake Nelson as Danny Dalton?

Corruption? Corruption is our protection! Corruption is what keeps us safe and warm! Corruption is how we win!

(And did you know Google does reviews and showtimes?)

House to investigate call-record theft

From the State of the Union:

"A hopeful society has institutions of science and medicine that do not cut ethical corners, and that recognize the matchless value of every life. Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research: human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our Creator -- and that gift should never be discarded, devalued or put up for sale." (Applause.)

The Whole Truth? Why bother if you're not under oath? It's always so boring and complicated. You aren't a wonk, are you?

So what scientists have been doing is inserting human genes into mice, to produce similar genetic overdoses in their development. As I reported before, there have been partial insertions, but now a team of researchers has inserted a complete human chromosome 21 into mouse embryonic stem cells, and from those generated a line of aneuploid mice that have many of the symptoms of Down syndrome, including the heart defects. They also have problems in spatial learning and memory that have been traced back to defects in long-term potentiation in the central nervous system.

These mice are a tool to help us understand a debilitating human problem.

George W. Bush would like to make them illegal.

This may be true, but don't call him "anti-hybrid":

"We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars, and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen."

A mouse is a mouse. Who are we to tweak it? Let's focus on nanobots instead. Those are safe -- and ethical, too!

Here's a thought. If sending iPods to Congressmen can change their thinking on intellectual property, maybe someone could send 535 of those green fluorescent mice to the Capitol. That would be sweet.

Human-Animal Hybrids

George Friedman refers to the perennial optimism of the free-elections crowd as "the universal self-delusion of the West." He claims to be unsurprised by the Hamas victory; he sees it as part of a trend toward Islamists taking power across the Arab world. With regard to the peace process, he predicts much near-term drama but ultimately little serious change.

Friedman points out that Fatah is far from "over"; they will continue to apply pressure, forcing Hamas to take prompt action. There is a theory, widely held among Israelis, that Hamas will collapse under its own inexperience with the processes of governance. But in the meantime, the West finds itself in a conundrum:

Should we give aid to terrorists? Or should we reject the outcome of free and fair democratic elections?

With two bedrock principles of the Bush Doctrine now in conflict, which one will win out?

p.s. Did you know that the Google Spider has a premium subscription to Stratfor, and that it caches the results? [1,2]

An Indian professor of Israeli politics explains why Hamas won and offers an analysis of the near future for the Palestinians.

At least in the short run, the Hamas-led PNA will be tied down to reinventing itself as a responsible political force that is both willing and capable of reaching a political settlement with Israel. The task is rather Herculean, and Hamas is a novice when it comes to negotiated politics. The Palestinians have spoken. It is now up for Hamas to transform itself from a militant organization into a political force that is capable of reaching peace. The transition from militancy to governance will be hard and painful.

Hamas and the PNA Face Difficult Times Ahead | PINR

An amazing statistic I hadn't heard before was that a survey by Big Champagne found that DRM-protected files exclusively released through iTunes typically appear in unprotected form on P2P networks 180 seconds later.

Update: This is actually very old news; here is a reference from 2004 which cites Kazaa and 120 seconds. here is a Cory Doctorow talk from 2005 which repeats the 3 minute figure without specifying a network.

DRM-a-go-go

In an op-ed in today's Washington Post, Mousa Abu Marzook, a political spokesman for Hamas, explains their victory in the recent elections.

Alleviating the debilitative conditions of occupation, and not an Islamic state, is at the heart of our mandate (with reform and change as its lifeblood).

A new breed of Islamic leadership is ready to put into practice faith-based principles in a setting of tolerance and unity.

We do desire dialogue.

The Post describes the author thusly:

The writer is deputy political bureau chief of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). He has a U.S. doctorate in engineering and was indicted in the United States in 2004 as a co-conspirator on racketeering and money-laundering charges in connection with activities on behalf of Hamas dating to the early 1990s, before the organization was placed on the list of terrorist groups. He was deported to Jordan in 1997.

Note, as well, that "Paradise Now" has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

What Hamas Is Seeking