Interestingly, one of the 121 cuts the White House is touting today is the "Los Alamos Neutron Science Center Refurbishment."

Says the White House: "The programs in Terminations, Reductions, and Savings are ones that do not accomplish the goals set for them, do not do so efficiently, or do a job already done by another initiative. They include: ... Los Alamos Neutron Science Center refurbishment ($19 million). The linear accelerator housed here was built 30 years ago and no longer plays a critical role in weapons research."

The president actually signed a bill giving $19 million to that very same program when he, behind closed doors, signed the omnibus spending bill in March that contained roughly $8 billion in earmarks, as Sen. Jeff Bingamin, D-NM, heralded in a press release.

"U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today reported that President Obama has signed a spending bill that contains funding for important northern New Mexico initiatives," read a Bingamin press release from March 2009. "Bingaman worked to set aside funding for northern New Mexico projects.  They include: ... $19.3 million for rebuilding the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center accelerator so the lab can use it to diversify into new science missions."

What they're looking for in the quest for "Miss Beautiful Morals" is the contestant who shows the most devotion and respect for her parents.

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that is, until you follow it to its logical conclusion

Taliban Execute Eloping Afghan Couple

Jan Crawford Greenburg is reporting on the fact that John Yoo cannot be disciplined on her blog.

It appears John Yoo cannot be disciplined or disbarred for writing those memos, even if the Office of Professional Responsibility says it has evidence he should be.

    That's because OPR's five-year investigation--carefully timed for release only as Bush was leaving the White House and Obama was coming in--dragged on too long. As a result of that timing, OPR blew the deadline for referring possible misconduct allegations against Yoo.

    John Yoo is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania. But the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board, which would investigate any complaints against him, imposes a four-year limitation for complaints.

    Yoo wrote the memos in 2002 and 2003. This is 2009. You do the math.

    Here's the pertinent section, from the state's Disciplinary Board Rules:

    "The Office of Disciplinary Counsel or the Board shall not entertain any complaint arising out of acts or omissions occurring more than four years prior to the date of the complaint."

    There are a few exceptions--that the lawyer concealed a crime, for example--which don't apply.

SNIP

And what about Bybee? Now a federal appeals court judge, Bybee is admitted in DC and Nevada--those jurisdictions don't have comparable limitations periods. But how strange would it be to only refer Bybee, when his involvement largely amounted making a few edits and signing Yoo's legal work?

    Then there's the report itself. The bar for disciplinary action is incredibly high. Legal ethics experts, like Geoffrey Hazard at the University of Pennyslvania, say they expect nothing to happen, even if the state disciplinary boards were to investigate.

    Hazard says Yoo and Bybee have a number of strong available defenses, and that it's awfully hard to say the memo was so "outside the range of plausible lawyered judgment that no reasonable lawyer could render it." Without that, he says, there's no ethical violation.

New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that towns cannot ban sex offenders from living near schools, parks, or other places where children gather.

The court struck down two municipal ordinances that restricted where convicted sex offenders could live, a ruling that invalidates similar laws in more than 100 other towns across the state.

And I missed yesterday's cell phone while driving discussion, but may I add that there's nothing, nothing more distracting than having kids in the car--especially during a tantrum or when the kids are fighting (over nothing, of course).  

And then I thought about how I had meant to reply to a comment the other day linking to the SOS apologizing for the deaths of 100 civilians. I wanted to question why it came from State and not Defense or the Pres or even VP.  

I don't know...It is in HRC's nature to be the workhorse, do the dirty work--so to speak--and let others get the spotlight.  

Personally, I'm hoping for  a black or Hispanic lesbian.