KellanStec

Horrible plays on words aside, this is obscene. You know “scooter” Libby? That guy that was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice? Yeah, he doesn’t have to serve the thirty month sentence that was ordered by a federal judge. Bush rescued him.

Who in the world do the administrators think they are? He was convicted. Literally found guilty of his crimes, and he does not have to serve the punishment for the crimes he committed because Bush takes care of his own, and is apparently above the law. Does he think that just because he is president, that makes it okay to disregard the law? I guess so. Libby still has to pay the $250,000 fine and the conviction still stands–he just doesn’t have to serve time. The fine should be no problem. Hell, Bush and Cheney will probably cut him a check.

Absolutely ludicrous. When anyone else commits a crime, they do their time if they are convicted. Not Bush or his friends. I’m really hoping this motivates the senate to impeach after Bush also ignored the subpoenas that were issued to him over certain White House documents. Deliberations have begun. I saw we throw Bush’s ass in prison for lying to an entire nation, needlessly killing innocent Iraqi civilians and American soldiers, and being a giant douche.

Bush claims to be a good Christian–doing God’s work. He surrounds himself with people who are Christians like himself. What does the Bible say about the administration’s actions? Prepare yourself for hypocrisy:

Proverbs 6:16-19
16 There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19 A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Holy shit! What happened to following God’s word? The Lord hates George Bush (or at least his actions) and everyone involved in their criminal activities. I wonder if Bush has even bothered to read anything that’s written in the Bible.

So, where was I? Oh, yeah. Impeach Bush and throw Libby’s ass in prison where it belongs. That is all.

UPDATE 07/03/07: The White House has issued a press release for Bush’s executive clemency action. It appears to be written by Bush, but I don’t see any made-up words, spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. It’s probably written by one of his goons. Needless to say, the explanation is empty and unsatisfying. I’m moving to Canada.

Thanks to Hemant for the story.

To the regular readers that I probably don’t even have, I am sorry for my lack of activity in the past two months. My summer job has been keeping me very busy. I might write about that later.

A few days ago, I saw this article, and found it to be very interesting. Apparently, some scientists have managed to inject foreign DNA into a bacterium of another species with few adverse side effects. The bacterium acted as though it were the organism from which the DNA originated. The success rate was not very high (1 out of every 150,000 attempts), but with more research the rate should improve.

The team includes Craig Venter (the first man to have his entire genome read) and Ham Smith (a Nobel Prizewinner). Venter was featured on The Colbert Report on February 27, 2007 and is also the co-founder of Synthetic Genomics. I suggest visiting their website and looking around. It’s cool stuff. They describe the process in greater detail there–and with pictures!

Anyone familiar with genetics knows that this “species transplant” is a huge step for scientists. What exactly does this mean for us? Well, with more research and fine-tuning of the technique, we will be able to inject synthetic genes into bacterium (or even multicellular organisms!) to basically get them to do whatever we want. We could program them to digest toxic chemicals into something harmless, produce fuel, absorb CO₂ from the air, among many other uses.

Here’s what I envision scientists doing with this amazing technology. They could start from scratch, and create a genome minimal to supporting life in the bacterium. This would only require genes for metabolizing energy, reproduction, and other (minor?) cell functions. From this “parent genome”, they could add all kinds of genetic material. This is entirely possible with the help of computers, although there would be a significant amount of time involved until we can perfect the technique.

I like this quote from another article:

Journalists have often asked if the creation of artificial life is a step too far, whether Dr Venter and his team are ‘playing God’. (‘We don’t play,’ Ham Smith likes to joke.)

It will be interesting to see how long it takes the team to develop an entirely new organism from scratch. Will “within months” be accurate?

Further information:
Download the mp3 interview with Roger Highfield. (2.1 MB)
Visit the Synthetic Genomics homepage.