On June 14^th of this year, President Obama appointed a commission of seven men and women to evaluate the events that contributed to the Deepwater Horizon spill. The commission, organized less than two months after the spill began but a full month before the oil stopped flowing, released its initial reports this week. In one report, a working paper titled “The Amount and Fate of the Oil,” the staff of the commission issues a withering criticism of the federal government’s own estimates of the amount of oil in the Gulf after the spill and throughout the clean-up process:

“…the federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem.”

The aforementioned report challenges administration estimates of the amount of oil that was initially flowing into the Gulf and the amount of oil that remained in the Gulf at the end of August, after extensive clean-up efforts. Crucially, a NOAA scientist reported a flow rate of 5,000 barrels-per-day on April 26^th. This number was used by Admiral Mary Landry, who was the ranking on-scene official at the time. While this number was still being used, a number of credible, non-government scientists estimated flows between 10,000 and 50,000 barrels-per-day, with some internal BP estimates placing the flow above 100,000 barrels-per-day. The danger in the government’s initial reliance on the 5,000 barrels-per-day statistic? The response to the spill was organized based on estimated oil flow.

The commission has also challenged the conclusion of Carol Browner, the White House climate advisor, that “three-quarters of the oil is gone,” a statement she made in early August.

The commission is chaired by two former government officials: Bob Graham, formerly a senator for and governor of Florida, and William Reilly, who served as the director of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H.W. Bush. The remaining five members are all academics, including Cherry Murray, who is Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard.

It is important to note that these reports do not represent the official opinion of the commission, which will be released in a final report next year. It is highly unlikely, however, that these working papers would have been posted to the commission’s website if the members of the commission did not agree with their analysis.

The report is a direct challenge to an administration that has prided itself on its relationship to science. President Obama pledged to maintain a new attitude of transparency in the sciences, in light of President George W. Bush’s perceived neglect of scientific knowledge and method. While President Obama made a series of very public appointments of top scientists to advisory positions, this report reveals the dilemma faced by any politician when the diligence of scientific reporting challenges political expediency.

In a heartbreaking account on NPR’s Science Friday in early June, the renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle (“the sturgeon general”) described the lack of scientific knowledge about oceans. And yet, the administration condoned the release of dispersants into the Gulf post-spill. Earle and her on-air counterpart, the physicist Lawrence Krauss, lamented the public’s expectation that science provide immediate answers to massive crises. This desire, in the eyes of these two scientists and this blogger, is juxtaposed with a general unwillingness to fund scientific endeavor at a federal level.

President Obama has rightfully tried to involve scientists in decision-making, and his administration has demonstrated its belief that science can play a great role in the resolution of national problems, particularly at an environmental level. This willingness, however, needs to be met in practice. President Obama has made a noble effort, but the reports of the Commission show reluctance on behalf of the administration to listen to independent scientists even when an issue of grave national crisis is unfolding. President Bush often did exhibit an outright disregard for science, but proclaiming a love for science but failing to heed its warnings may be downright dishonest.

The United States government is in the midst of a budget crisis.  The federal government has run a deficit—it has spent more than it collected in tax revenues—in all but four fiscal years since 1969, but recent deficits have reached unsustainable levels.  In 2009, the government spent $1.4 trillion more than it raised, the largest nominal deficit in history and the largest as a percentage of GDP since the end of World War II in 1945.  The Congressional Budget Office projects that the fiscal year 2010 deficit of $1.56 trillion, which represents 10.6 percent of GDP, will be greater still.  Total federal debt stood at a whopping 83.4 percent of GDP as of 2009.

And things are getting worse.  Mandatory spending on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare is projected to grow to 44 percent of GDP by 2080, which is to say nothing of discretionary spending, which Congress appropriates each year in the annual federal budget.

Why does this matter?  For one thing, deficits imply that the government must borrow money, which raises interest rates and reduces private sector investment and long-term growth.  Foreign governments that finance much of the public debt gain diplomatic leverage over the United States.  In the long run, these and other creditors may stop loaning to the U.S. government, either for political reasons or because they come to consider it a bad credit risk, which could render the government unable to fulfill basic functions. Debt incurred to finance social welfare programs for today’s citizens will have to be paid off by future taxpayers.

Overcoming these problems will require decisive, painful choices by the federal government.  As Erskine Bowles, co-chair of President Obama’s deficit and debt commission, explained in July, it is inconceivable that economic growth will raise the revenues needed to overcome this problem.  To achieve a sustainable budget, he explains, the government must “cut spending or increase revenues” or some combination of the two.  And unless Americans will consent to paying one half of their collective income in taxes, some spending cuts are going to have to occur.

For citizens to hold their leaders accountable for the tough decisions that have to be made in the near future, they must understand the major items in the federal budget itself, how we got into this mess, and what our options are going forward.

Despite public criticism of “pork barrel” spending and foreign aid, these categories constitute a miniscule portion of the budget, as shown in the graphic below.  Of greatest concern are the major entitlements: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  Spending on these programs is expected to skyrocket in the coming decades due to an aging population and the increasing cost of medical care.  The impending Social Security crisis can be avoided if Congress can muster the political will, but there is no obvious solution as to how to limit the growth of public health care spending.  One of the major goals of the recent health care reform legislation was to reduce health spending over the long term, but achieving this will require a discerning and disciplined Congress in the years to come.

While the military budget is not growing nearly as rapidly as spending on entitlements, it represents nearly a fifth of total federal spending and is a perennial target of deficit hawks.  While there is some waste in defense spending that could be eliminated without much consequence, more fundamental cuts will entail a sacrifice of military capabilities.

Smaller but not insignificant budget items include spending on transportation, primarily the interstate highway system, education, the primary goal of which is to induce improvements in public schools at the state level, and scientific research, which subsidizes research ill-suited for the private sector.

A major contributor to the current deficit is the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has sought largely unsuccessfully to mitigate the effects of the current economic crisis through tax breaks and spending initiatives.  While the federal government maintains a series of safety net entitlements and tax incentives for the benefit of the poor and others hit hard by this and other economic downturns, evidence indicates that the system may be inadequate for the poorest of the poor.

Few would deny that major budgetary overhaul is needed, but there is bound to be debate about exactly how to achieve fiscal sustainability.  We hope this discussion of the major areas of federal spending will convince readers to demand that their elected representatives take decisive action, and that it will provide them with the facts necessary to evaluate proposed solutions.

The smile on Jimbo Fisher’s face said it all.

Standing on the sidelines soaking-wet after being doused with water by his players, the first-year head coach watched the closing seconds of Florida State’s annual rivalry game with Miami tick down in jubilation, probably thinking about how his Seminoles couldn’t have delivered him a better present on his 45th birthday.

Chris Thompson ran for 158 yards and a touchdown, and Jermaine Thomas scored three times in the first half, as Florida State (5-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) cruised past Miami 45-17 Saturday night at Sun Life Stadium.

The win by the ’Noles continued a trend of recent success by the road team in the rivalry, as the visitors have now won each of the last five games.

“This is great,” an ecstatic Fisher told ABC reporter Heather Cox after the game. “We wanted to stay aggressive on offense and defense and that’s the mentality that we maintained all game long.”

Aggressive they sure were, as the Seminoles continued their relentless play at the line of scrimmage, accounting for a season-high 298 rushing yards and frustrating Hurricane quarterback Jacory Harris throughout the night.

Harris completed just 19-of-47 passes for 225 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The erratic play of Harris was sweet redemption for a Florida State defense that watched Harris throw for 386 yards in last season’s game—the most yards ever by a Miami quarterback against Florida State.

While Harris struggled, FSU’s ground game rolled, eclipsing 200 yards for the fourth straight game.

It was all Thomas for Florida State on the ground in the first half, as the Jacksonville native had 60 yards on nine carries and two rushing touchdowns—the first one coming a play after safety Nick Moody picked up Miami running back Damien Berry’s fumble and returned it to the 1-yardline.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Miami head coach Randy Shannon said. “We just got our butts kicked tonight. It’s my fault as a coach at the University of Miami. I don’t blame the kids.

I didn’t get them ready for the situation of playing in a game like this.”

Thompson picked up the slack in the second half, as the speedy sophomore gained the majority of his career-best rushing total on one play when he scampered 90 yards down the Florida State sideline into the end zone for a touch down for the Seminoles’ final score of the game.

Thompson’s run also put him in the record books, marking the longest run from scrimmage Miami has allowed in its rich football history.

“It’s a real great feeling,” Thompson said. “It’s great to be in Florida State’s history book. You know, that’s not a real easy thing to do.”

In a rivalry that has provided some of the most exciting finishes in college football history, Florida State made sure there would be no such fantastic finish, as the only excited fans in the fourth quarter on Saturday night were those clad in Garnet and Gold.

The Seminoles raced out to a 24-7 halftime lead and went up 31-7 after Lonnie Pryor’s 16-yard touchdown run less than three minutes into the third quarter.

The Hurricanes (3-2, 1-1) would make things a little interesting when Berry scored on a 26-yard run and Nate Bosher converted a field goal to make it 31-17 heading into the fourth.

Senior quarterback Christian Ponder stepped up in the final stanza, however, and effectively put the game away when he found sophomore wide receiver Rodney Smith in the corner of the end zone on a third down play to make it 38-17 with 7:39 to play.

Hurricane linebacker Sean Spence put the game in very lament terms and gave the Seminoles their due props.

“They just flat outplayed us from the first quarter to the fourth,” Spence said.

The win was expected, all but guaranteed according to the pundits. What no one could have imagined was that third-ranked Oregon (6-0, 3-0 Pacific-10 Conference) would suffer numerous injuries at the hands of a feisty Washington State (1-5, 0-3 Pac-10) team – and still come away with a 43-23 win.

It was sloppy, even difficult to watch at times. Yet, for Oregon head coach Chip Kelly, a win proved to be the ultimate saving grace.

“We overcame a lot,” Kelly told The Oregonian. “Fortunately, we were victorious.”

At the day’s start, it looked to be business as usual for the Ducks. Having chosen to receive the ball to open the game, Oregon’s first play on offense was a reverse running play to wide receiver Josh Huff, resulting in a 16-yard gain. From there, quarterback Darron Thomas led the Ducks on a drive lasting nearly four minutes, capped off with a LaMichael James touchdown run.

Oregon completed a two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead. The Cougars responded three minutes later with a 26-yard touchdown run by James Montgomery, cutting the lead to one.

It was on the ensuing kickoff that the game took a harrowing turn for the worse.

Kenjon Barner returned the kickoff for the Ducks, taking the ball 15 yards before being leveled on a helmet-to-helmet collision. Barner fumbled, and the Cougars recovered the ball at the six-yard line.

But no one was paying attention to that result. Barner remained motionless on the ground after the hit, and left the game in an ambulance headed to Pullman Regional Hospital.

The Ducks were visibly shaken after the incident, particularly James.

“It was really tough – I think it really affected me,” James said to The Oregonian. “Me and Kenjon are best friends, you know. He’s always been there for me.”

Thankfully, Barner was released on Sunday after an overnight stay at the hospital. The only injury he suffered was a concussion, and his status going forward is unknown.

For the rest of the team, there was still a game to be played following the injury. The Cougars scored quickly after the Barner turnover, taking a 14-8 lead.

On the next drive, James swallowed his emotions and took a Thomas pass 84 yards for a touchdown. Even then, James said he thought of Barner.

“Every play, Kenjon was on my mind,” James said to The Oregonian. “I thought about him every play.”

Just when things finally seemed to be looking up for the Ducks, Thomas went down with a shoulder injury. Luckily for Kelly, he had a more than capable backup to turn to in Nate Costa.

“Coach Kelly said, ‘Hey, you’re going in,'” Costa said to The Oregonian. “I said, ‘Sounds good.'”

If Costa’s reaction to a sudden call to arms seemed unnaturally calm, he played that way too. The senior led Oregon to a touchdown on his first drive, and proved to be far more than a serviceable backup for the rest of the game.

From that point on, the Ducks never surrendered the lead. The Cougars scored just six points in the second half, and were shut out in the fourth quarter. It was an impressive showing for the Oregon defense late in the game, but linebacker Casey Matthews knows there is still work to be done.

“Obviously we haven’t played a perfect game yet,” Matthews told The Register-Guard. “We’ve shown spurts. We just need to turn it into a complete game now.”

Aside from two lost fumbles, James was his explosive self, finishing with 136 yards on the ground to go along with 87 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Costa, meanwhile, completed 13 of 15 passes for 151 yards, while also rushing for 84 yards and another score.

“I was just out there with my boys, throwing the ball around,” Costa said to The Register-Guard. “It felt good.”

The Ducks have a bye week to enjoy before facing off with UCLA on Oct. 21. There is work yet to be done, but on Saturday they could count their blessings.

“It was kind of a tough day,” James told The Register-Guard. “But we made it through.”

The end of Saturday’s game at Stanford brought a familiar feeling to the USC locker room, and the Trojans do not like it.

“It feels sick. It feels sick to lose,” sophomore quarterback Matt Barkley said. “I think we all hate this feeling. It’s very disappointing.”

For the second week in a row, USC (4-2, 1-2 Pac-10) lost on a last-second field goal and had to watch as the opposing team danced around the field. This weekend, Stanford (5-1, 2-1) was the antagonist.

Senior Nate Whitaker kicked the 30-yard game-winning field goal to give the Cardinal a 37-35 victory and send the Trojans home with back-to-back losses for the first time since 2001.

“This was the second week in a row we had a chance to finish someone off, a very good team, and we didn’t do it,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said. “If you have an opportunity to close it out, you gotta close it out.”

Just one minute before Whitaker’s kick, it looked the Trojans had the win in their pocket.

After freshman cornerback Torin Horris recovered a fumble forced by redshirt junior linebacker Chris Galippo on the 50-yard line with 4:17 left, Barkley took over. He converted a fourth down en route to driving the team down for a three-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Allen Bradford with 1:08 left in the game to put USC up 35-34, after Whitaker missed the extra point on Stanford’s previous touchdown.
However, the Cardinal was able to march down the field almost at will — five plays in a row went for a first down — before kicking the field goal. In a game where it seemed like the team that had the ball last would win, that’s how it played out.
“For us and our team, it’s the highest of high we’ve been all year and then it shoots down to the lowest of lows,” Barkley said.

The Cardinal were helped by a late hit penalty on Galippo on the second play of the series.

“There was no whistle,” Galippo said. “All I was trying to do was get him to the ground. I saw that Shane wrapped him up, and I saw that he was still standing, and I knew the game was on the line, and that every yard counted, so I just tried to drive him back like anyone else would.”

That play marred a solid performance by the starter-turned-backup, who saw his most playing time of the season relieving sophomore linebacker Devon Kennard. The best performance of the day, however, went to freshman receiver Robert Woods.

Woods caught 12 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns — all of which are carrier highs. The freshman tied the game at 14, 21 and 28, as the Trojans kept coming from behind to match the Stanford offense.

“He was doing really well,” Barkley said. “He was getting open, making guys miss. I can only do so much when I give him a 5-yard pass, he takes it 40 yards or whatever, so he played really well. I said this all along: I’m really proud of him and how he’s going.”

Those yards after the catch helped Barkley out; he went 28-for-45 with 390 yards and three touchdowns — all to Woods. Barkley kept the Trojans in the game with his arm and his feet when USC couldn’t establish a running attack. In fact, Barkley was the team’s leading rusher with 39 yards on five carries.

That reminded Kiffin of a certain player that beat the Trojans one week ago.

“I thought Matt really played like [Washington quarterback] Jake [Locker] did last week,” Kiffin said. “He made so many big critical plays and threw a lot of really, really good balls today. That’s good for a true sophomore to be where he’s at.”

Unfortunately for the Trojans, the last two games they have left too much time on the clock late in the game; their defense — which did play better this week, forcing three fumbles — couldn’t come up with a stop when it needed it the most.

“We’re giving them big chunks of plays and you can’t do that,” linebackers coach Joe Barry said. “Whether it be the penalty, through the air, missing a tackle or giving up a big run. The same thing happened last week, on fourth and 12. If you want to win consistently, in two minute defense you have to make teams earn every blade of grass, and right now we’re not doing that.”

For many teams, a 35-13 victory would be cause for celebration. For the Nevada Wolf Pack, the team’s victory against San Jose State was a disappointment.

“We were our worst enemy was us tonight,” head coach Chris Ault said. “We’ve got to get a lot better, there’s no question about it.”

The Spartans came into the game at 1-4, with the team’s lone victory coming against the University of California, Davis. Nevada took the opening drive for a touchdown and it looked as though the Wolf Pack was going to be able to dominate the game. But, on San Jose State’s first drive, the Spartans answered with a touchdown of its own. Nevada took a 14-7 lead, but was unable to pull away, largely due to turnovers and penalties. Both quarterback Colin Kaepernick and wide reveiver Brandon Wimberly threw interceptions and Nevada was penalized eight times for 89 yards, including three during a second quarter drive that called back three touchdowns. The Wolf Pack settled for a 25-yard field goal attempt, which place kicker Anthony Martinez missed.

“To have three touchdowns called back in the same series, that’s a hard pill to swallow,” Ault said.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick scored on a pair of rushing touchdowns to lead the Wolf Pack in the first half but the Spartans were able to move the ball against Nevada’s defense, gaining 250 yards of offense in the first half and finished with 194 passing yards-a total Ault said was unacceptable.

To start the second half, the Spartans were driving deep into Nevada territory and  were threatening to score a possible game-tying touchdown. But San Jose State quarterback Jordan La Secla was pressured and threw an interception to safety Duke Williams.

Nevada’s defense stepped up after the interception, shutting the Spartans out in the second half and holding the team to 122 yards of total offense.

“Someone needed to step up,” Williams said. “Coach called out a couple of people at the half and we needed someone to make a play. I was just that guy.”

Defensive end Dontay Moch had five tackles-for-loss during the game, giving him 52 for his career. That officially made him the leader in both Nevada and Western Athletic Conference history.

“It means a lot to me,” Moch said. “It’s something I’ve been striving for. I’ve been working for it my whole career. Now I want to put it up higher and higher so no one can reach it.”

A couple plays later, running back Vai Taua went 73-yards for a touchdown to put Nevada up 28-13. Taua finished the game with 196 rushing yards, a season high.

The teams engaged in a defensive battle with no team scoring until the fourth quarter when Taua scored on a four-yard run to give Nevada a 35-13 lead.

Despite the 22-point margin, Kaepernick said the team is far from satisfied with its performance.

“We made little mistakes on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball,” Kaepernick said. “We didn’t play very well tonight. We made mistakes here and there and those are the things we need to improve on.”

The Wolf Pack travels to play at Hawaii Oct. 16. The Warriors defeated Fresno State 49-27 and is currently in first place in the WAC.

In a game that featured over 440 passing yards from quarterback Nick Foles along with 101 yards on the ground from Arizona, it’s tough not to expect a Wildcats victory.

But Oregon State and sophomore quarterback Ryan Katz shredded Arizona’s secondary and held off Foles and company on its way to a 29-27 victory at Arizona Stadium.

“They wanted to throw it and they threw it pretty much it will,” said head coach Mike Stoops after the game. “That’s disappointing to me that we didn’t cover better than we did tonight.”

The Beavers, who were fresh off of a 31-28 victory over ASU, struck first when senior receiver James Rodgers beat cornerback Trevin Wade on a double move and hauled in a 33-yard touchdown from Katz less than four minutes into the game.

From that point on Wade and the Arizona secondary couldn’t stop anybody, especially Rodgers who caught seven balls for 102 yards before leaving the game with a knee injury with 5:07 left in the second quarter.

Stoops said the secondary looked senseless and wasn’t playing smart and Katz took advantage.

In only his fifth career start the sophomore put on a show as tore apart the Wildcats defense to the tune of 393 yards, two touchdowns to go along with a rushing touchdown.

“I thought he played an exceptional game in managing and not forcing the ball,” Stoops said of Katz. “I think he had one bad throw where he threw an interception, but besides that I thought the quarterback just beat us in a lot of different ways.”

Despite Arizona’s porous defensive showing, Foles and the offense still had a chance to remain undefeated and pull out a victory. But it was missed opportunities that killed Arizona.

Quarterback Nick Foles threw an interception in the endzone as Arizona was driving on Oregon State’s 21-yard line. Kicker Alex Zendejas also missed a 37-yard field goal at the end of the half that would have made it 17-10, but instead the Wildcats trailed by 10 at half. Zendejas also missed an extra point early in the third quarter.

“We missed some opportunities to score and that ultimately cost us,” Stoops said.

After a 33-yard touchdown run from Keola Antolin and a 41-yard catch and run by Nic Grigsby in the third quarter, Arizona only trailed by three. Receiver Juron Criner, who caught a 45-yard touchdown in the first quarter and finished with 12 catches for 19 yards, was tearing apart the Beavers’ defense.

But as they had all game, OSU’s offense controlled the clock – it won the time of possession battle by nearly 13 minutes – and rode a 1-yard touchdown run by Jacquizz Rodgers with 5:46 left that made it 29-20 to victory lane.

Antolin hauled in a 12-yard pass from Foles with 1:52 left to cut it to two, but Arizona couldn’t recover its onside kick and couldn’t mount a comeback.

“It’s just kind of frustrating coming off of a bye week we should have been a lot more on top of things,” said defensive end Ricky Elmore. “I don’t know if we were just sluggish from the week off, but I don’t know but something needs to change.