Quick cuts

More thoughts on the Bush Administration's apparent support for torture, from The Nation's David Cole.
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British biologist Olivia Judson opines on evolution and the avian flu, and how we could face the cold efficiency of natural selection.
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Feel like your being watched? The Washington Post reports on the Patriot Act, and the FBI's "authority to collect intimate facts about people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing."
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The New York Observer's Joe Canason takes Republicans to task for their new approach to "fiscal responsibility", which focuses on slashing programs that help poor and working families while continuing to reward the rich.
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And arguments in the Dover, PA "Intelligent Design" trial have come to an end, after (in an interesting coincidence) exactly 40 days and 40 nights. Let's hope Judge John E. Jones decides to keep science in our children's science classrooms.