Dubya came in promising to clean up Washington. Since then, we've seen massive giveaways to his corporate sponsors, most recently in the award of sweetheart deals, without bids, for the reconstruction of Iraq, before Congress (let alone any Iraqi authority) could have anything to say about it. But they are still cleaning up Washington -- in their fashion:

[S]cientists at the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere are devising their own secret code. I won't give it away, but one term stands for "gay" or "homosexual," another for "anal sex" and so on.

"I would recommend avoiding all electronic communication to any N.I.H. office," one scientist warned in one of many e-mail notes buzzing among AIDS researchers. "Phone communication does not appear tapped at this time. Even so, I am advising staff to speak `in code' unless an N.I.H. staff member indicates you can speak freely. In short, assume you are living in Stalinist Russia when communicating with the United States government."

Isn't it nice to see such a firm commitment to American values?