Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Awhile back I wrote about Nine Mile Canyon which is back in the news. Only this time the picture is far bleaker:
Normally, these "RMPs" take years to complete as myriad competing interests weigh in, but Interior has stamped as "time sensitive" nearly a dozen such plans in six resource-rich Western states--Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, and Alaska--and is rushing to finalize them before Bush leaves office.
*snip*
Federal law stipulates that the BLM thoughtfully balance land uses including recreation, grazing, environmental protection, and historic preservation. But the new, hastily completed plans stray far from this mandate. In Vernal, Utah, for example, the bureau knew it could save large swaths of prime habitat in the ecologically rich Uintah Basin by scaling back a proposed gas-drilling project from 6,342 wells to 6,117. "They had the science, all the info, to show that a 3 to 4 percent reduction would provide the most benefit to wildlife," says Wilderness Society lawyer Nada Culver. But the bureau went with the marginally bigger development.
There is an interesting twist to all this:
BLM staffers attribute the problems, in part, to outsourcing. All of Utah's resource plans were researched by consultants--Tavaputs' and another plan for Colorado's Little Snake River region went to Booz Allen Hamilton, a GOP-connected firm that also does intelligence work. Traditionally, RMPs had been researched in-house, since field staffers are experts on local land issues, but the Bush Interior Department has farmed out dozens in energy-rich Western states. This worries Steve Madsen, a BLM wildlife biologist based in Salt Lake City--especially, he points out, since the bureau determined several years ago that "some of the contractors weren't up to the task of doing a real analysis."
Think George Deutsch, unqualified appointees to the CPA, the incompetence displayed by companies supplying US troops in Iraq, and attempts to classify birth control as abortion. It is all part and parcel of Republican attempts to remake the country in a fashion the next President couldn't easily undo...
Humanities & Social Science
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Obama, with a Democratic Congress, will be able to make significant changes within the first two years of his administration, IF he wishes to do so. His recent vote on FISA and his willingness to support offshore oil drilling suggests that he may not so wish.
In any case, a cloture-proof Democratic congress which has the balls to reassert the authority of Congress may go a long way to reversing many of the anti-American policies and laws of the Bush administration. There is hope though slight hope.
Posted by: Oldfart | September 8, 2008 7:57 AM
I'm hoping that my dad's prediction is right, and that, if the Republicans lose the presidential race and the large number of congressional races they're projected to lose this year, the party will shatter and never be important on the federal level again. He usually has an incredibly well-informed and in-depth understanding of politics (especially for someone who didn't study it much in school and has never held elected office), so I believe he'll turn out to be right. It'll be nice to see the Libertarians or Greens or both become major parties...
Posted by: Paul | September 10, 2008 10:35 AM
,i> It'll be nice to see the Libertarians or Greens or both become major parties...
Wouldn't you guys be better off having a slightly left of centre party instead?
Posted by: Graculus | September 12, 2008 11:18 AM