Thank you Alphamonkey for basis of the editorial synopsis in which I so heartily agree.

Soooo, it’s not quite a full pardon, but President Bush commuted Scooter Libbey’s 30 month jail term to probation and fines because he felt the jail term was ‘excessive’. Notwithstanding the fact that the sentence was handed down by a judge Bush appointed who, after looking at all the evidence, stated in no uncertain terms that he thought 30 months was more than appropriate and certainly in line with sentencing guidelines. Not to mention that the Supreme Court earlier this year supported a sentence harsher than this for a similar crime. Let’s hear it for corrupting the rule of law! Woo-hoo!

In that spirit, I heartily recommend reading The Washington Post’s excellent multi-part piece on the Cheney Vice Presidency. This is a wonderful primer for those who don’t know much about the man (or the basis for his particular world-view), and an excellent synopsis of his effect on the US over the last seven years. The nearly unchecked expansion of executive power starts at this man’s door, and the contempt for the constitutional process and transparency of government that emanates from Cheney’s office is just staggering.

Moving away from politics, and a little less infuriating a read would be The New Age of Ignorance: Both a review of Natalie Angier’s ”The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science“ and an overall look at science’s declining stature in Western Culture, and some interesting ideas on why it’s come to pass. It made me more sad and resigned than angry, all the more so for the idea that the Western world simply doesn’t seem to care about how badly our understanding of basic science has floundered.