From a National Geographic story, linked off of Drudge:

Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras—a hybrid creature that's part human, part animal. . .

But creating human-animal chimeras—named after a monster in Greek mythology that had a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail—has raised troubling questions: What new subhuman combination should be produced and for what purpose? At what point would it be considered human? And what rights, if any, should it have?

I'm no ethicist, so I can't answer the questions raised by this research.

However, I will say that anything science can do to bring us closer to realizing the Manimal ideal, I'm all for it.

He's a man. He's a beast. He's a sexual dynamo.

-- Dave at Garfield Ridge

Posted by: Ace at 10:06 AM | Comments (6)
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Via Media Research Center:

Democratic Senators Tom Harkin, Carl Levin and Mark Dayton are "centrists"? Writing a mid-day story Wednesday for the Washington Post Web site, about the Senate's confirmation of Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State, reporter Charles Babington asserted: "Some of the Democrats who opposed Rice were centrists from states in which President Bush won or ran strongly in November, including Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)."

[Emphasis mine - as if emphasis was really needed there]

Looks like the media is just going to start just flat-out lying about the political leanings of Democrats who oppose Bush now. They must have grown weary of the The Three Stooges.

Posted by John from WuzzaDem

Posted by: Ace at 09:38 AM | Comments (3)
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Today's Washington Post ("free" registration required; jacknapes) has a story on the civil service reform underway at the Department of Homeland Security, and the prospects for government-wide reform.

The Post relays a lot of crying from federal employee unions over how the reforms change the "Pass Go, Collect Your Pay Raise" aspects of the General Schedule pay system.

My personal opinion, as a civil servant, involves two words for the unions: eat it.

The reforms are a *great* idea. Finally, we can reward performance, and punish incompetence.

Like, say, the private sector does every day.

Read more about my perspective over at Garfield Ridge, if you dare.

-- Dave at Garfield Ridge

Posted by: Ace at 09:01 AM | Comments (10)
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Over at the UnPo: Dick Morris vs. the Race Bater.

Posted by: Ace at 08:58 AM | Add Comment
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A must-read takedown of Daily Kos and MYDD in Roll Call magazine over at Red State.

Cross-posted on Alarming News.

Posted by: Ace at 08:42 AM | Add Comment
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A lot of people I respect a great deal are against a national ID card. Which makes sense from a certain perspective, but my question is: What's the big deal?

You think we don't have a national identification system already? Think again. Its very easy for someone with the right resources and clearances to take your social security number and find out your credit rating, your address history, what vehicles you have registered to you, who lives with you, what sort of professional licenses you hold, etc. Obviously this information isn't available to everyone. Some of it requires a signed release from the subject of the search, but the point is that we already have a de-facto national identifier in the social security number. What's wrong with taking that concept and making it official?

And it does have some very specific uses. For one, it makes people easier to find. Maybe that doesn't seem like such an important thing to you, but for a landlord looking for a tenant who skipped town on three months worth of rent or a private individual trying to run down the guy who vandalized his car for the purposes of a small claims lawsuit its a very important thing. These sort of people can't afford lengthy investigations into locating people, so a national identifier makes it easier. There are other benefits too, like eliminating a lot of identity fraud and removing an employer's excuse for not verifying the citizenship of a new employee.

The opponents of the national ID tell chilling stories about creeping government control and "Big Brother," but would a national ID really allow the government to do something they couldn't already be doing?

Personally I'm of the opinion that a national ID's benefits far outweigh the negatives, but maybe there's something to this issue I'm not understanding.

[Cross-posted at Say Anything]

Posted by: Ace at 08:03 AM | Comments (18)
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Like many colleagues at Colgate, Victoria Fontan is spending her time between semesters hard at work. For the visiting assistant professor of peace studies, that means trekking halfway around the world and potentially putting herself in harmÂ’s way.

Fontan set out for Iraq at the end of December to study and to interview members of the country’s insurgent organizations. On the way to Baghdad, she conducted research in Beirut and Jordan before negotiating to be “embedded” in one of Iraq’s resistance groups.

FontanÂ’s academic focus is on political violence in post-conflict situations, and she has conducted field research on the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Basque nationalist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), and various warring factions in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

During the past 15 months, she has taken several trips to Baghdad and is preparing a book on the polarization between the occupying forces and the people of Iraq. She also is gathering information for her Introduction to Peace Studies course.

Hey, maybe she'll come back with damning stories about how the terrorists use children to shield themselves. Maybe she'll fill us all in on the "insurgents" desire to indoctrinate the world in radical Islam and their willingness to cut the head of anyone who gets in the way. Maybe she'll give is in-depth coverage of Zarqawi and Osama and their struggle against the spread of democracy.

But somehow I doubt it. Something tells me this professor of "peace studies," whatever that is, will probably regale us with stories of our oppressive soldiers and the terrible things they've done to the Iraqi people while managing to leave out the fact that Iraq is moving toward its first free election and now has more running water, operating hospitals and running electricity than it ever did under Saddam Hussein.

Which, to me, would classify this woman a traitor to her country during a time of war. Not that we could ever prosecute her for such a thing. These days "rooting for the enemy" is defined as "political dissent."

(via Wizbang)

[Cross-posted at Say Anything]

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 AM | Comments (13)
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In the few days that we've been posting here, people have asked us guest-bloggers quite a few questions. I drew the short straw, so it's fallen to me to provide the answers: more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:37 PM | Comments (8)
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Wake up smelling like Rather:

A document examiner involved in the flawed "60
Minutes Wednesday" report on George W. Bush's National Guard service
claims that he was defamed and his reputation damaged by the recent
report from an independent review panel that investigated the show's
reporting practices, E&P has learned.
 
Marcel Matley, one of four document experts consulted
by CBS News while reporting its Sept. 8, 2004, report on Bush, is
demanding a slew of corrections in the report, which was issued earlier
this month. In an interview with E&P, he referred to the report's
treatment of him as "defamation."

More at the link.

the UNPOPULIST

Posted by: Ace at 09:53 PM | Comments (2)
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Palestinians hit the the local polls.

What about those "militants...spearheading a 4-year revolt"?

Well.

More here to scroll.

the UNPOPULIST

Posted by: Ace at 09:28 PM | Comments (1)
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