I take it the Earth episodes are rather awful? SGA had trouble with that too; the eco-themed episode was particularly awful.
They're just so highly flawed it's not even funny.
Using the stones to communicate with SGC (they have a different name for it in SGU, but I forget) would make sense, since they can be used to communicate between galaxies. But in SGU they let people do whatever when using them. Leave the base? Sure. Mess around with another persons body? Ok! Rail your wife as someone else? Of course!
It's supposed to be part of one of the most top secret programs out there, but when it comes to keeping it secret, they just say screw it?