Crossposted at Politicook.net.

Last time we beat the visible to death (thanks to the Rescue Rangers for listing), and are now ready to move on to the next higher energy region, the  ultraviolet.  It is called that because it is above (ultra) the violet in frequency, and thus has a shorter wavelength.  UV is an extremely important region of the EM spectrum, for reasons good and ill.

Many authorities assign the UV to wavelengths from 400 nanometers to around 10 nm, thus bumping up against X-rays at the short end.  Once again, there is no clear delineation where one starts and the other ends, but this is a pretty good rule of thumb.

By Noam Biale, Advocacy Coordinator, ACLU Technology and Liberty Program

I blogged here last month about new rules from the Department of Justice that would allow the government to collect and permanently retain DNA samples from anyone arrested for a federal crime. That’s right, we’re not talking convicted felons here, but anyone merely arrested for a minor crime like trespassing on federal property during a peaceful protest.  This issue has reared its ugly head in the states as well, most spectacularly in Maryland where the Legislative Black Caucus walked out of a floor debate on an expansion bill that would have subjected Maryland’s minority community to genetic racial profiling.

Here are the top stories in criminal justice reform, taken from the Justice Newsladder.

Dean Cage become the 29th Illinoisan inmate to be exonerated by DNA testing. Cage could be entitled to about $150,000 in compensation from the state for his wrongful conviction, but the governor must sign a pardon for innocence before he can get it. Gov. Blagojevich has yet to grant a pardon to the dozen or so exonerees who have petitions before him. (suntimes.com)

Here are the top stories in criminal justice reform, taken from the Justice Newsladder.

Despite opposition from Gov. Rick Perry, support is growing in Texas for the creation of an Innocence Commission to investigate wrongful convictions and recommend criminal justice reforms. (star-telegram.com)

Anybody who ever considers civil disobedience or appreciates those willing to do that should weigh in with their comments; this is the last day to stop this.

We used to be presumed innocent!

Public Comment at:

Here are the top stories in criminal justice reform, taken from the Justice Newsladder.

Dallas prosecutor Mike Ware is backing the shift to mandatory double-blind photo lineups. Dallas County has overturned more wrongful convictions based on DNA evidence than any other county in America. (gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com)

Here are the top stories in criminal justice reform, taken from the Justice Newsladder.

By Noam Biale, Advocacy Coordinator for the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program

The struggle to fortify privacy rights in America is often like the proverbial frog trying to escape from a well: two steps forward then one step back – or maybe it’s V.I. Lenin’s slightly more Sisyphean formulation: one step forward, two steps back. Case in point for the last few weeks: genetic privacy.

Here are the top stories in criminal justice reform, taken from the Justice Newsladder.

Welcome to the United States of Gattaca. The Washington Post is reporting that the Bush administration is expanding DNA collection of people arrested for crimes.

The U.S. government will soon begin collecting DNA samples from all citizens arrested in connection with any federal crime and from many immigrants detained by federal authorities, adding genetic identifiers from more than 1 million individuals a year to the swiftly growing federal law enforcement DNA database.

The policy will substantially expand the current practice of routinely collecting DNA samples from only those convicted of federal crimes...

Anyone now arrested of a federal crime will have their DNA collected. With the past examples of abuse of the justice system by the Bush administration, it isn't difficult to imagine how this change in policy could be abused. When the policy is implemented, roughly 1.2 million people a year will have their DNA collected.

"It's not surprising that John McCain thinks there is no point to studying the DNA of bears, but even as he denounces its funding as frivolous, Obama and Clinton should then be as fervent in their support of such initiatives."

So there I was, a couple of weeks back, sitting under a mango tree in western Kenya, when Senator Barack Obama’s half-sister Auma says to me:

“My daughter’s father is British. My mom’s brother is married to a Russian. I have a brother in China engaged to a Chinese woman.”

So begins Roger Cohen's Obama's Brother In China in Monday's NY Times.

It is worth reading, to see how diverse and extended his family is, and you will encounter at the end:

If elected, Obama would be the first genuinely 21st-century leader. The China-Indonesia-Kenya-Britain-Hawaii web mirrors a world in flux. In Kenya, his uncle Sayid, a Muslim, told me: “My Islam is a hybrid, a mix of elements, including my Christian schooling and even some African ways. Many values have dissolved in me.”

Obama’s bridge-building instincts come from somewhere. They are rooted and proven. For an expectant and often alienated world, they are of central significance.

But my wife makes this more personal.

Rarely does the enemy make his ignorance a campaign issue in his own ads.  This should be brought up in the science debate.  

McCain has been denouncing and ridiculing a particular scientific study on bears as "a waste of money," in an effort to appear tough on pork.  In fact this is a perfectly valid and valuable scientific study about counting bears, according to WAPO.  So why does this project draw his ire?  Apparently because it has something to do with DNA.  Also plainly obvious is McCain's total ignorance of the scientific value of DNA sampling.  Quote McCain:

"Approach a bear: 'That bear cub over there claims you are his father, and we need to take your DNA.' Approach another bear: 'Two hikers had their food stolen by a bear, and we think it is you. We have to get the DNA.' The DNA doesn't fit, you got to acquit, if I might."

The only things Senator John McCain seems to know about DNA is from watching CSI and Judge Judy and the OJ trial.  Has any candidate since Reagan so loudly declared his scientific ignorance?

One would expect that a scientist that pioneered the development of DNA should have known that humanity is equal and that we are all Africans of different colors.  A White researcher in South Africa once proved about 5 years ago that all humans have genes that can be traced back to African gene pool.  You would have thought that a Nobel winner in science should be intelligent enough to have known that his DNA study and the gene pool study of his colleague shows that African is not just a sacred place in the eyes of God and life,  but also a place by which anything human begins and will end.

and to Obama too.  I am an Obama supporter, and cannot fail to note that Clinton won 51% of the popular vote, while Obama won 45%.  That is pretty close, without even arguing about how delegates are eventually counted, a process that seems can be best left to mathematicians.  Nonetheless, Clinton won 51% of the popular vote and that is a win in my book.

This was election #4 in the scheme of the national elections that will eventually occur in 46 other states with the votes of my State (Florida) and one other(Michigan) in question.

I will not ask that Edwards drop out of the race, there are still 46 states to go.  I definitely will not call the entire race for Clinton, there are still 46 states to go.  

Let the voting continue, and I suggest that Hillary won Nevada.

James Watson, along with Francis Crick, is the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. Never mind that they failed to adequately acknowledge the essential contributions to their “discovery” of Rosalind Franklin, who worked largely unnoticed and did not share in their Nobel Prize. Big Science, especially when fame and fortune are at stake, can be quite a blood sport.

Well...after listening to talk of H.R. 1955, I'm scared shitless, really. Environmentalists and forward "green thinkers" have been targeted as being "terrorists" before, but when a so called "Democrat" puts forward a bill that could move Environmental Groups further up on the Terrorist list. That's real toxic thinking on Jane Harman's part.

Now...news a tad less scary.

Exposing a toxic US policy. Unlike the European Union, the U.S. doesn't require businesses to minimize toxic risks — or even to list them, so consumers can evaluate the risks. Fresh Air, NPR

An environmental contaminant invades the womb. Arsenic is poised to become even more notorious. Scientists have found that if a pregnant woman is exposed, the deadly contaminant can alter the activity of several genes in her fetus, potentially increasing the child's risk of cancer later in life. Science.

I was reading an interesting article on AlterNet discussing the ramifications of DNA and race. You would think that in 2007, we would have gotten past the point where "scientists" would still be trying to use science to devalue people by race. But I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same. Prejudice and racial intolerance seems to be ingrained in many people’s psyche and no amount of scientific study or facts will change their beliefs. It is a shame that millenniums together have done nothing to increase the amount of knowledge concerning race and humanity. Ignorance is still the order of the day even among so-called "men of science".