Batch O Stuff

Legal Strategery of NSA and Telecom Spies Bloomberg News reports that the Justice Department has sought consolidation of the the NSA/Telecom privacy lawsuits. The Justice Department asked a judicial panel to transfer to one judge in Washington all suits that accuse telephone companies of illegally turning over customer calling records to the National Security Agency. The request, to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, supports a similar request by Verizon Communications. The utility faces at least 20 class-action suits filed in various cities. AT&T and BellSouth have also been named in complaints, about violations of federal privacy law. --- Of Science, China, Bush and Mao Dennis Overbye for the NY Times reports on Steven Hawking's visit to China, and the quite significant evolution that has occurred in China with respect to scientific progress. "China wants to stand up scientifically, as it is beginning to economically, and it is pouring money and talent into the sciences, particularly physics." … "Hardly a week goes by without an announcement of another research initiative or new investment in a building or an institute. It is hard to find an American physicist who is not on his way to China to consult or collaborate, or has just come from China, glowing about the experience." --- Overbye also observed: "In the Cultural Revolution, Mao denounced Einstein and his work as reactionary and bourgeois. Groups of scientists and scholars were set up to criticize relativity because it appeared to collide with Marxist dogma that the universe was infinite and endless, eternally embroiled in a sort of cosmic class struggle." Overbye did not mention the obvious parallel to the Bush administration's hostility towards, and bureaucratic criticism of, science, because it "appears to collide" with GOP dogma. --- A Shocking Development (Well, Not Hardly) Ava Lowery on CNN Amy Goldstein for WaPo reports that the Supreme Court will be reviewing two more abortion cases. Both the 8th and 9th circuits have struck down the so-called "Partial-Birth" Abortion Ban Act of 2003 as unconstitutional. Looks like Kennedy will be the focus of a lotta folks' attention, since he's become the designated swing vote on the Court these days. --- Headline v Headline WaPo: Justices Rein In Clean Water Act Yahoo News: Supreme Court affirms wetlands protections NY Times: Justices Divided on Protections Over Wetlands LA Times: Divided Supreme Court Upholds Federal Protections for Wetlands --- A 15 year Old Shows Democrats How to Challenge Republicans on "Issues of Faith" Ava Lowery was interviewed on CNN. Crooks and Liars has the video.