This February I interviewed a federal employee about improper politicization at his agency. I asked if the recent charges of politicization surprised him. "At this point in the Bush administration," he said, "nothing surprises me."

It has been for a while now, perhaps since Hurricane Katrina or maybe the fired U.S. Attorneys or maybe the unveiling of Justice Dept. memos that condone torture, that the Bush administration has lost its capacity to shock. Yet the administration continues to take actions that, under normal circumstances, would be stunning.

A number of environmental groups have sued Interior Dept. Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for his delay in deciding if the polar bear is an endangered species. As Mother Jones’s Daniel Schulman reports, many more groups could sue when that decision is made.

The Dept.’s Fish and Wildlife Service could ...

Department of the Interior Inspector General Earl Delvaney has won praise for agency inspections and audits that have uncovered reports of unsafe national monuments and park police sleeping on the job. His next inquiry could be on protecting the polar bear.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has promoted the official responsible for a scientific fraud scandal in Florida last year, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).   This personnel action comes despite a rare admission of scientific error by the then-Director of the Fish & Wildlife Service ...