Quick reads

My mom just arrived today for a short visit. That, combined with the wall construction that is still ongoing (and waking us up every morning at 7am), is making the first week of the semester busier than usual. However, to keep my dedicated readers occupied (and continue on my recent political posting streak) here are a couple of quick links:

John Conyers reports:

In what has been described as "highly irregular," email correspondence from vice-president Cheney's office during the period of the Plame leak appears to have been deleted. Correspondence generated in the official duties of the President and Vice-President becomes the property of the National Archives and does not belong to the chief executives.

While Special Prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, has not accused the Vice-President's office of wrongdoing, Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists government secrecy project has called the destruction of this specific subset of communications "highly irregular and invites suspicion."

Pharyngula takes a close look at the scientific implications of just one small bit of Bush's State of the Union Address and finds that Bush is proposing policies that would drastically hinder progress in medical research.