The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is now investigating the Office of National Drug Control Policy, creating a "quadfeca" of corruption investigations along with the existing Department of Justice, General Services Administration, and Surgeon General investigations.

Henry Waxman's office sent a letter today to Ms. Sara Taylor (former WH Director of Political Affairs, and miss "I took an oath to the president, and I take that oath very seriously."), requesting a deposition regarding ONDCP activities while she was in office, and a possible re-appearance on Capitol Hill at a hearing on July 30.

Specifically, Waxman is curious as to why the nation's "Drug Czar", John Walters, and his deputies were flying around the country before the 2006 elections (on the taxpayer dime, naturally), providing appearances with "vulnerable Republican candidates".  He also noted that the appearances generally coincided with "announcements of federal grants or federal actions that benefited the states or districts of the Republican members".

Want to actually help advance humanity's understanding about how our climate is changing?  Have a computer?  Donate your unused CPU cycles!

The BBC launched the Climate Change Experiment on February 20th along with the documentary "Meltdown".  They are essentially generating as many climate models as they possibly can, which consist of the whole planet's climate between the years 1920 and 2080.  The models are then tested for fitness by seeing how well they match the recorded climate from 1920 'til now, and the best matches are picked to see what the climate could realistically look like  between now and 2080.

If you've heard of the SETI@Home program, then you know the concept. Read on to see how you and your computer can help...

I only turned on Air America in the car for about five minutes last night, but what I heard was very thought provoking.  I missed the names of the speakers, but the people talking were the show's guest, an ex-marine now running for a public office, and a caller who is a former army artillery gunner.

The caller mentioned that he had joined the service as a Republican, and left it as a Democrat.  He said something like (not an exact quote) "Most people assume that if you're in the service, you're a conservative Republican, but that's just not true.  The service is made up mainly of lower-to-middle-income enlistees, and is the most successful example of racial integration anywhere, so we're exposed to a wide variety of people, cultures, and viewpoints.  The government provides all of our needs:  equipment, food, healthcare, which is a very socialist concept.  And we take care of our own."

(more on the flip)