Just until he starts using baseball analogies

Anyone else remember that Chief Justice John G. Roberts famously sprinkled his answers with baseball analogies? I say that the dems extend the hearings and/or the debate on Judge Alito until he resorts to baseball analogies of his own. From an E.J. Dionne column:

Alito, an ardent baseball fan, established himself as the Babe Ruth of evasion.

The headlines went to the abortion issue. Alito was pressed about his statement in a 1985 job application letter to the Reagan administration that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." It is a reasonable view shared by millions of Americans. Republican Sens. Sam Brownback (Kan.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) were refreshingly open in their denunciations of Roe v. Wade .

But Alito would neither embrace nor back away from what he had said. He did allow that "there is a general presumption that decisions of the court will not be overruled." Well, yeah.

When Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked Alito if the issue was "well-settled in court," he offered the celebrated formulation: "I think that depends on what one means by the term 'well-settled.' " The standard dodge is that nominees can't answer questions bearing on cases they might later have to decide. But Democrats Feinstein, Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) and Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) all noted that Alito was perfectly happy to speak expansively on some questions he would face, notably reapportionment.

But what I love most about E.J. Dionne's column is:

My biggest worries about Alito are how he would rule on presidential power, workers' rights, civil rights and regulatory issues. Cass Sunstein, a University of Chicago law professor, has noted that Alito follows the law when it's clear, but he almost always tilts toward his conservative predilections when the law is less settled.

Democrats seem to be wary of mounting a filibuster. What they should insist upon, to use a euphemism Alito might appreciate, is an extended debate in which his evasions will be made perfectly clear to the public. If moderate senators want to vote for a justice highly likely to move the Supreme Court to the right, they can. But their electorates should know that's exactly what they're doing.

Very clever- "an extended debate"

BBC: Hwang apologises to South Koreans

South Korea's disgraced cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk has apologised to the nation, in his first public appearance since his work was denounced as fake.

"I ask for your forgiveness," Dr Hwang told a televised news conference in the capital Seoul.

He said he would take responsibility for the errors, but claimed he had been deceived by junior researchers.

Dr Hwang was stripped of his national honours earlier this week, and his case is being investigated by prosecutors.

There is public concern about the $29m of government funding he received for his research.

Possible deception

Dr Hwang faced the media for the first time on Thursday, two days after his claimed breakthroughs in stem cell research were exposed as a fake.

He said he could not lift his head for shame and would take responsibility for failing to check the data that was produced by his researchers.

"The use of fake data... is what I have to take full responsibility for as first author. I acknowledge all of that and apologise once again," he said.

But he insisted that most of the fabrications were carried out without his knowledge, by collaborators on the project.

He said his lab had produced about 100 cloned human embryos, but the hospital responsible for developing them into stem cells had deceived him about the results.

He speculated that the head of the hospital responsible may have wanted personal revenge against him.

Dr Hwang also continued to insist that he had the technology to use cloning to create human embryonic stem cells genetically matched to patients.

"I think we can create patient-specific stem cells in six months if eggs are sufficiently provided," he said.

Scientists hope to use such technology to treat genetic conditions such as diabetes and Parkinson's, by allowing patients to grow replacement tissue using their own stem cells.

Funding withdrawn

A final report from experts at Seoul National University, published on Tuesday, said that Dr Hwang had faked his most famous work, the production of a stem cell line taken from cloned embryos.

The panel had previously rejected another of his landmark claims - to have produced individually tailored stem cells.

But it did conclude that Dr Hwang produced the world's first cloned dog, an Afghan hound called Snuppy.

Seoul National University, where Dr Hwang was a professor, has already apologised for the fraud.

The South Korean government stripped Dr Hwang on Wednesday of the title "top scientist", which entitled him to at least 3bn won ($3m) in state funding a year for five years.

Prosecutors were also sent to the office of the Seoul university panel that investigated his case, to collect scientific materials which may serve the basis of any criminal prosecution, according to Yonhap news agency.

Charges against Dr Hwang and his team could include fraud and embezzlement.