“It’s sad the state we’ve gotten to where, apparently, even firing incompetent executive branch appointees amounts to a win for the terrorists. Back in ’04 we were still enough of a superpower that only turning out a president amounted to a win for the terrorists. That suggests that the terrorists truly have us over a barrel. We are so intimidated by them that we have to hold on to a failed defense secretary presumeably forever. Or until there are no more Muslims with a beef with us. Whichever comes first. It’s cool that we’re standing so tall.” — Josh Marshall (Talking Points Memo)

“Everybody has experienced a sense of “losing oneself” in an activity – being totally absorbed in a task, a movie or sex. Now researchers have caught the brain in the act. Self-awareness, regarded as a key element of being human, is switched off when the brain needs to concentrate hard on a tricky task, found the neurobiologists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

…The brain’s ability to “switch off” the self may have evolved as a protective mechanism, [the chief researcher] suggests. “If there is a sudden danger, such as the appearance of a snake, it is not helpful to stand around wondering how one feels about the situation,” Goldberg points out.

It is possible that research into how the brain switches self-awareness on and off will help neurologists gain a deeper understanding of autism, schizophrenia and other mental disorders where this functionality may be impaired.” (New Scientist) Another fMRI study.

“Now cocaine smugglers have another trick up their sleeves. Evidence from a clandestine lab in eastern Europe suggests that gangs are trying to hide cocaine by incorporating it into a host of innocent-looking transparent plastic consumer products, such as fish tanks, DVD cases or light fittings for cars. These could be imported en masse with no customs officer giving them a second look.” (New Scientist premium [subscription required for access to full article])

New pathogenic bacterium pinpointed: “Scientists have discovered a previously unknown bacterium lurking in human lymph nodes, a finding that suggests there are many more disease-causing bacteria still to be discovered. The bacterium is thought to cause chronic infections in patients with a rare immune disorder called chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), and the research team is now investigating whether it might be involved in conditions that are more common, such as irritable bowel syndrome.” (Nature)

“Home network hardware supplier D-Link has been accused of harming the net’s ability to tell the time accurately. Detective work has found that many D-Link routers, switches and wireless access points are bombarding some net time servers with huge amounts of data.” (BBC)

Richard Clarke and Steven Simon: “White House spokesmen have played down press reports that the Pentagon has accelerated planning to bomb Iran. We would like to believe that the administration is not intent on starting another war, because a conflict with Iran could be even more damaging to our interests than the current struggle in Iraq has been. A brief look at history shows why.” Richard Clarke and Steven Simon were, respectively, national coordinator for security and counterterrorism and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council. (New York Times op-ed)

Outrage at Funeral Protests Pushes Lawmakers to Act: “As dozens of mourners streamed solemnly into church to bury Cpl. David A. Bass, a fresh-faced 20-year-old marine who was killed in Iraq on April 2, a small clutch of protesters stood across the street on Tuesday, celebrating his violent death.

‘Thank God for Dead Soldiers,’ read one of their placards. ‘Thank God for I.E.D.’s,’ read another, a reference to the bombs used to kill service members in the war. To drive home their point — that God is killing soldiers to punish America for condoning homosexuality — members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., a tiny fundamentalist splinter group, kicked around an American flag and shouted, if someone approached, that the dead soldiers were rotting in hell.” (New York Times )

“Bloggers are fascinated by what they see as eerie parallels between Watergate and a phone-jamming scandal in New Hampshire. It has low-level Republican operatives involved in dirty campaign tricks. It has checks from donors with murky backgrounds. It has telephone calls to the White House. What is unclear is whether it is the work of a few rogue actors, or something larger.” (New York Times )

“…[L]ike fat-free desserts, which sound healthy but can still make you fat, the hybrid car can make people feel as if they’re doing something good, even when they’re doing nothing special at all. As consumers and governments at every level climb onto the hybrid bandwagon, there is the very real danger of elevating the technology at the expense of the intended outcome — saving gas.” (New York Times )

Rove Loses a Post in White House Overhaul: “The overhaul of the White House staff continued today as Karl Rove gave up his portfolio as senior policy coordinator to concentrate more on politics and November’s midterm Congressional elections and Scott McClellan stepped down as the president’s chief spokesman.” (New York Times )

Colombia’s leader denies using death squads to wipe out opponents: “Alvaro Uribe’s procession to a second term as Colombia’s President hit a stumbling block yesterday as he responded wildly to allegations that his government colluded with paramilitaries to kill civilians.

Mr Uribe, the last man standing among Washington’s right-wing allies in South America, is riding high in the polls ahead of the presidential election on 28 May. His success is crucial to the White House, which has seen a succession of sympathetic governments defeated in the so-called ‘pink wave’ of left-wing leaders who have swept to power in Latin America.

But allegations that have haunted the short-tempered politician since he won the presidency in 2002 have resurfaced. They involve an alleged conspiracy to assassinate leftists and union leaders, and leaking sensitive information to drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitary groups.” (Independent.UK)

Quarter of species gone by 2050, study predicts: “Using several models that project habitat changes, migration capabilities of various species, and related extinctions in 25 ‘hotspots,’ scientists predict that a quarter of the world’s plant and vertebrate animal species would face extinction by 2050.” (MSNBC)

“Without any fanfare or philosophical debate, millionaires and middle-class Americans now pay taxes at almost the same rates.

…Has leveling out federal income tax rates produced a cornucopia of financial benefits?

The answer is probably yes — if you’re a millionaire. And probably no — if you’re almost anyone else. Flattened, and thus lower, tax rates have contributed to huge increases in the wealth of the wealthy, but so far most people haven’t seen significant economic improvement.” (LA Times)