Coolio, Al Qaeda, and Al-Jazeera cross paths in this post by fellow West Virginian Don Surber.
Brave New World
Some tricky questions ahead of us down the road:
If stem cells ever show promise in treating diseases of the human brain, any potential therapy would need to be tested in animals. But putting human brain stem cells into monkeys or apes could raise awkward ethical dilemmas, like the possibility of generating a humanlike mind in a chimpanzee’s body.
No such experiments are planned right now. But in a paper today in the journal Science, a group of scientists and ethicists is advising researchers to exercise care with such experiments, particularly if they should lead to a large fraction of a chimpanzee’s brain’s being composed of human neurons.
The group, led by Ruth R. Faden, a biomedical ethicist at Johns Hopkins University, acknowledged the view that monkeys and apes should not be experimented on at all, but nevertheless considered what kinds of research should be permitted if the experiments were required by regulatory authorities.
This will be a snarled and contentious debate.
Muslim Outrage
It is nice to read the newspaper and find out that the international Muslim community is mad at something other than the United States and Israel:
Britain’s top Muslims have branded the London suicide bombings “utterly criminal, totally reprehensible, and absolutely un-Islamic”.
A joint statement of condemnation came as 22 leaders and scholars met at the Islamic Cultural Centre, in London.But Britain’s highest ranking Asian police officer, Tarique Ghaffur, says Muslims and their leaders must do more than just condemn the bombings.
Bomber Hasib Mir Hussain’s family said on Friday they were “devastated”.
Police in Egypt arrested chemistry student Magdi Mahmoud al-Nashar, 33, wanted in connection with the bombings.
At the meeting in London, Muslim leaders said there could never be any excuse for taking an innocent life, it said.
Good. While I, too, think that the long-term situation is not going to change until internal pressures from within the Muslim community alter the culture, I am getting a little tired of calls for Muslims to ‘condemn the bombings.’ Why? Two reasons.
First, it assumes that most Muslims don’t already find suicide bombing and the murder of innocents to be horrid. We don’t require every Catholic to condemn pedophile priests. We don’t require every Christian to condemn Falwell when he spouts off at the mouth about America deserving 9/11. We just sort of assume that is the default position for sane people.
Second, what is needed is not just loud and ritualistic condemnations. What is needed are affirmative steps to change the culture so that the minority view that violence is acceptable is simply eradicated.
Criminal Contempt
In other Plame news, it appears things might get tougher for Judith Miller:
Lawyers in the CIA leaks investigation are concerned that special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald may seek criminal contempt charges against New York Times reporter Judith Miller, a rare move that could significantly lengthen her time in jail.
Miller, now in her 10th day in the Alexandria jail, already faces as much as four months of incarceration for civil contempt after refusing to answer questions before a grand jury about confidential conversations she had in reporting a story in the summer of 2003. Fitzgerald and Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan have both raised the possibility in open court that Miller could be charged with criminal contempt if she continues to defy Hogan’s order to cooperate in the investigation of who may have unlawfully leaked the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media.
The unusual threat in the case underscores the sensitivity of an investigation that has reached the highest levels of the White House and the prosecutor’s determination to extract information from reluctant journalists even though he has yet to charge anyone with a crime. What secrets Miller can unlock for Fitzgerald — and the reasons he has so doggedly pursued her — have been a subject of considerable mystery.
My position is slowly morphing from one in which I felt it was wrong regardless the situation that Miller be jailed to one in which I believe Miller should be forced to tell whatshe knows.
Congrats, Rafael
Congrats to Rafael Palmeiro, someone I generally consider to be one of the genuine good guys in baseball (this is where all fo you tell me how he isn’t shattering yet another illusion), for joining one of the most elite clubs in baseball:
It was a fitting celebration for one of baseball’s perfect gentlemen: A champagne toast in the clubhouse for Rafael Palmeiro, not some crazy beer-over-the-head soiree.
Palmeiro became the 26th player to reach 3,000 career hits on Friday night, doubling in a run in the fifth inning before adding a sixth-inning single in the Baltimore Orioles’ 6-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.
“I was just trying to drive the runner in,” Palmeiro said. “I was trying to do my thing, keep it simple. I did what I had to do, and it was my 3,000th hit. I was numb going around the bases. I don’t remember much…”
Palmeiro has 566 home runs over his 20-year career, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray as the only players with 3,000 hits and 500 homers. Those magnificent numbers are likely to make Palmeiro a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Pretty good company.
Enron and the California Blackouts
If you see Gray Davis this week-end, stay out of his way:
More than four years after rolling blackouts and skyrocketing electricity bills shook California and the rest of the West Coast, the Enron Corporation finally settled claims that it played a major role in the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001.
Enron, the former highflying energy trader now operating under bankruptcy protection, announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement to pay as much as $1.52 billion to the State of California and other parties.
But actual payouts are likely to be only a fraction of that amount. Under the bankruptcy plan, Enron will pay unsecured claimants – and California is one of them – about 20 cents on the dollar on average, said Jennifer Lowney, a spokeswoman for Enron.
Enron and other power companies are accused of gouging consumers by artificially inflating electricity prices during the California energy crisis. The crisis led to billions of dollars of surcharges for consumers and businesses on the West Coast.
One of the fastest-growing companies in America in the 1990’s and a star on Wall Street, Enron collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001 amid accusations of widespread financial irregularities and fraud. It is now facing an estimated $65 billion in claims from investors, consumers, employees and government agencies it defrauded. Against that, the company’s estate is valued at about $13 billion, and Enron has so far paid out $580 million to claimants in other cases, Ms. Lowney said.
They gamed the system and screwed over millions…
Tenet
Tom Maguire builds the case for George Tenet as the source. I stick to my crackpot Colin Powell case.
This, however, is very intriguing:
After his conversation with Mr. Cooper, The Associated Press reported Friday, Mr. Rove sent an e-mail message to Stephen J. Hadley, then the deputy national security adviser, saying he “didn’t take the bait” when Mr. Cooper suggested that Mr. Wilson’s criticisms had been damaging to the administration.
Was he speaking colloquially, and just meant that he “didn’t take the bait” in the sense that Cooper was fishing for information and he wouldn’t provide any? Or did he mean specfially that “he didn’t take the bait” in that he felt he was being set up?
And for those with a ‘dark heart,’ I offer you this post.
*** Update ***
Via Billmon, the full message in the ‘intriguing’ email:
“Matt Cooper called to give me a heads-up that he’s got a welfare reform story coming,” Rove wrote in the e-mail to Hadley.
“When he finished his brief heads-up he immediately launched into Niger. Isn’t this damaging? Hasn’t the president been hurt? I didn’t take the bait, but I said if I were him I wouldn’t get Time far out in front on this.”