THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† The Missing Link? (second item): A paper published in the journal Earth Planetary Science Letters reports finding the nucleobases uracil and xanthine, which are components of DNA and RNA, in a meteorite fragment, suggesting that these genetic molecules could be extraterrestrial in origin, reports Agence France Presse:
“We know that meteorites very similar to the Murchison meteorite, which is the one we analysed, were delivering the building blocks of life to Earth 3.8 to 4.5 billion years ago,” [lead author Zita Martins, a researcher at Imperial College London] told AFP in an interview.
Competing theories suggest that nucleobases were synthesised closer to home, but Martins counters that the atmospheric conditions of early Earth would have rendered that process difficult or impossible.
A team of European and US scientists showed that the two types of molecules in the Australian meteorite contained a heavy form of carbon - carbon 13 - which could only have been formed in space.
"We believe early life may have adopted nucleobases from meteoric fragments for use in genetic coding, enabling them to pass on their successful features to subsequent generations," Martins said.
If so, this would have been the start of an evolutionary process leading over billions of years to all the flora and fauna - including human beings - in existence today.
The scientists identified the nucleobases and carbon 13 in the meteorite using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, something previous researchers had not done since the tests are very time- and labor-intensive.
† Updates To Previous Posts (fifth item, “Sub-Par Solution For Sub-Prime Loans: Part II”): Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA), whose Sacramento home is in foreclosure, not only has a long history of defaulting on home mortgages, but has a habit of stiffing car mechanics as well, reports the Long Beach Press-Telegram:
In 2005, when she was still on the Long Beach City Council, she left one mechanic in a lurch with an unpaid bill, then later had her badly damaged BMW towed to an auto body shop but didn't pay for any work and abandoned the car there, owners of the businesses said this week.
The next day, Richardson began using a city-owned vehicle - putting almost 31,000 miles on it in about a year - and continued driving the car five days after she had left the council to serve in the state Assembly, city records show.
After the paper requested an interview with Richardson, 46, about the 2½-year-old unpaid bill, she hustled over to Signal Hill Foreign Auto Service and paid owner Leo Labreche the $735 she owed. The Press-Telegram adds, “Similarly, Richardson last week paid off a $150 printing bill owed to a local company following published reports about the debt.”
† What’s Next For Spitzer: Mark Brener, 62, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the Emperors Club VIP scandal that drove former Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) from office in March. Brener, who owned the high-priced escort service that Spitzer (AKA “Client 9”) frequented, “agreed … to serve up to nearly three years in prison,” reports The Associated Press. Like former girlfriend Cecil Suwal, 23, who pleaded guilty to similar charges a week earlier, Brener’s plea deal does not require him to cooperate in the ongoing investigation into Spitzer’s involvement with the escort service. For his part, Spitzer - who has yet to be charged in the case - has plans to start a “vulture fund that would scoop up distressed real estate assets around the country, revamp them, and flip the properties for a profit,” reports the New York Sun.
† The Keystone Kops Are Enforcing U.S. Immigration Laws: In 2003 the Department of Homeland Security submitted 2.7 million requests to the FBI requesting additional information on applicants for citizenship or visas to enter the U.S. to work or study. The bureau’s National Name Check Program broke down under the strain. An audit by the Justice Department inspector general found that as of March, there was a backlog of at least 327,000 pending requests and the reliability of the information gathered by the bureau may have been compromised, reports The Washington Post:
About 86 percent of the requests are dispatched within two months, the inspector general found. But of those remaining, the process can take months if not years to complete.
The FBI receives more than 4 million name-check bids per year, about half of which come from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In some cases, the IG report said, trouble with processing name checks may hamper efforts to deport people who pose national security threats.
The WaPo details the case of Ali Rahimian, an Iranian-born physician who has lived in the Washington, D.C. area for 17 years and runs a free clinic for the indigent and uninsured. Two years after his citizenship application was sent to the bureau for a routine background check he is still waiting to get the thumbs up or down. The WaPo notes that “[s]ome immigrants awaiting resolution are denied the right to work or to study [a]nd … are denied the chance to vote,” adding that the FBI’s incompetence “has been punishing the immigrants who are most deserving of citizenship: those who play by the rules.”
† Do Local, State And Federal Agencies Hire Illegal Aliens?: President Bush signed an executive order requiring contractors doing business with the federal government to use the E-verify program to ensure that their employees are legally living and working in the U.S.
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