The season is well upon us for the Presidential primaries, with all sorts of "Edwards is the Man!", "Hillary is the One!", and (of course) the "I got a crush on Obama" crew.  All are well-meaning, and all have well-meaning diaries of their supporters cramming this site's "Recent Diaries" list.  Frankly, I applaud each one of them, for they demonstrate by contrast the lack of motivation on the Repub side of the fence.

Still, I'm an Al Gore guy.  Have been since the 2000 election, and just like Barry Bond's baseball will have an asterisk on it in Cooperstown forever, I think the encyclopedias the world over should have an asterisk next to G.W. Bush's name as President.

One question for all the Gore supporters and others out there, though: If Al jumps in, what will Bill Clinton do?

Couldn't believe my eyes this morning with his column.  With all due apologies to Atrios for the "Wanker of the Day" designation, this is just unbelieveable.  He -- and so many others -- just don't seem to get the fact that what happened in Connecticut wasn't anti-war, it was anti-Iraq War/anti-Shrub/anti-Corrupt Congress all rolled into one big, angry fist.  I hope that we're indeed seeing the awakening of the slumbering giant, and if so, I'd stay out of its way.

More thoughts on the column below...

While the rest of the blogging world spent its time watching the Lamont-Lieberman race (I count myself amongst them -- Go Ned!), an op-ed in the Washington Post on Monday may have caught your eye.  It was Dr. Sylvia Earle's piece "Deep Threats on the High Seas", which attempts to document the losses of biodiversity in the truly inhospitable environs of the meso- and bathypelagic world, or between 200-1000m and 1000-4000m, respectively.  As a marine fisheries biologist, I have a couple of thoughts and links for those interested.

More below the fold...

Today, PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) issued a press release on the loss of the library resources at the EPA.  As a scientist who conducts the majority of my work with NOAA, another public science-based agency, I know first-hand how valuable old reports are to even current research by documenting the first signs of trends and other data that is usually deemed unworthy at the time of actual peer-reviewed publication.  The loss to the public of the huge collection of old reports within the EPA library system would be immense; as Jeff Ruch, the head of PEER commented, " 'The Bush administration apparently decided that it was politically easier to close the libraries than to burn the books, although the end result will be the same.' "

The PEER press release and other links below the fold.

My guess is that almost anyone who really thought about it would have realized that the avian flu would get to the Americas sooner or later, with migratory waterfowl the most likely vehicle.  Accordingly, the possibility that the H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus might be on our doorstep right now isn't all that surprising.  Actually, it might even be here in the Bahamas.

More good news below the fold...

From the science world's perspective, well, there's not a whole lot that can be said in a positive way about the Bush II Adminstration.  We fight on a daily basis such absurdities as "intelligent design" and the ignoring of global climate change, arguing for -- warning: there's a radical concept here! -- scientific facts* to be used in political debate.   We're frankly used to being the underclass, the usually ignored geek-in-the-corner who beat the popular kids by 300+ points on the SATs.  Let us work in peace, though, and we'll continue to discover natural phenomena, solve vexing problems, and generally make life better for everyone.

That's why, for the briefest second, many of us heard the SOTU pronouncements with a bit of hope.  More funding for science and math teachers?  Additional R&D monies for alternative energies?  Yeah... right.  The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) just released a report listing the federal R&D budgets in FY06.  Short read: we've been shafted again.

More below the fold.