From the “not really news to those who’ve been paying attention” files comes this little ditty from UPI:
 
An investigation of the U.S. Interior Department found serious flaws related to 15 decisions on policies for species at risk of becoming extinct, said the report delivered to Congress by Inspector General Earl E. Devaney.
One of those decisions involved reducing the number of waterways considered critical habitat for the endangered bull trout, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported Tuesday.
The report describes “something akin to a secret society residing within the Interior Department that …

National Geographic has up photos of six of the “1,068 new species that have been discovered in Southeast Asia’s Greater Mekong River region in the last ten years–an average of two a week, the international conservation group WWF announced today.” 
Which is all just a scientific excuse for my posting a cool looking green pit viper:

And, for Ben, the spider (put under a cut because some people aren’t fond of looking at spiders): 

Muntadar al-Zaidi, the journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush during the president’s appearance in Baghdad, is being beaten in custody according to his brother. Dargham Zaidi told the BBC that his younger brother has “suffered a broken hand, broken ribs and internal bleeding.” The journalist is to be prosecuted with the speculated charges being “insulting a foreign leader and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, who was standing next to President Bush during the incident.” The charges could carry up to a two year sentence. 
Though lawyers are clamouring …