Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
The uncertainty of science: A new theory posits that the accelerating universe and dark energy might be illusions caused by motion of our galaxy through space.
Islamic tolerance: A Christian pastor in Iran has been ordered to recant his faith in court or face execution.
Facing outraged criticism, General Motors’ OnStar division has dropped its plans to track and record the personal driving information of both former and current subscribers.
Sounds good, but I wouldn’t assume this story is over. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they try again later to sneak this data grab by everyone.
Repeal it! Obamacare sent health premiums up 9% in the past year.
North Carolina Democratic governor Beverly Perdue suggested that the next Congressional election should be suspended.
I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover.
I wonder why she really suggests this? Could it be because the Democrats are unpopular and risk losing more seats in 2012 than they lost in 2010?
Giant sunspot 1302 turns its aim towards Earth.
A computer programmer has created a legion of virtual monkeys programmed to randomly type until the works of Shakespeare are reproduced.
If the nine-letter sequence appears anywhere in one of Shakespeare’s writings, it is matched against the relevant passage in a copy of the Bard’s complete works, and is checked off the list. The monkeys, which started typing on August 21, have already completed more than five trillion of the 5.5 trillion possible nine-letter combinations, but have so far only finished one whole work.
They appear to be doing better than Congress’s attempt to balance the federal budget.
The Russians still oppose allowing Dragon to berth with ISS on its next test flight in January.
Boy, does this tell us how politically weak Obama has become: No House Democrat will sponsor Obama’s job bill, preventing it from being introduced for consideration.
Correction: it turns out that a Democrat did finally introduce Obama’s jobs bill to the House, though it took until September 22, three weeks after the President’s speech first demanding that Congress “pass this bill immediately.”
Anthropologists have uncovered what appears to be the first and only evidence of preserved flesh from an early pre-human ancestor nearly 2 million years old.
A victory for freedom: The Veterans Administration has settled the lawsuit filed against it by veteran’s groups at Houston National Cemetery over the VA’s attempt to stifle prayer at funerals. The key terms of the settlement:
That it took a court suit to make the First Amendment clear to the VA is beyond sad.
Repeal it! Doctors in large numbers are rejecting the AMA over its support of Obamacare. More significantly,
In February, the National Physicians Survey discovered that more than three times as many doctors believed that the quality of American health care would “deteriorate” rather than “improve” under ObamaCare. Nine of ten physicians think ObamaCare will have a negative impact on their profession.
Fiddling while the world burns: Two different reports now say that that Iran is just months away from completing its first nuclear bomb.
The National Park Service has now released security camera videos from inside the Washington Monument during the August 23, 2011 5.8 magnitude earthquake.
The Senate has agreed to short term budget deal to fund the government through the end of the week.
Based on the above story, as well as this one, I am honestly not sure what these idiots have agreed to, or whether this Senate deal will pass the House as well. It does appear, however, that they are proposing spending more money that they don’t have.
Want to repeal Obamacare? Well, someone has posted a petition to repeal the law on the White House’s own website.
Essentially, the new White House petition website allows anyone to create a petition. Once it reaches 150 signers it becomes public. Once it reaches 5,000 the administration promises an official response.
What will the White House say if their own website is overwhelmed with signatories to a petition calling for the repeal of Obamacare? To find out I’ve added my name. You should to!
Obama on Sunday at a fundraiser, attacking Rick Perry: “You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change.”
Here is another example of a politician making a fool of himself. The wildfires in Texas have nothing to do with climate change. And if Obama thinks they do, he immediately shows himself to be completely ignorant of the science behind the Earth’s climate.
The EPA — after admitted in court papers submitted September 16 that regulating CO2 is “impossible to administer” and “absurd” — will go ahead anyway.
Note also that the Clean Air Act did not give the EPA the power to regulate carbon dioxide.
Another private launch company succeeds: The Russian-owned Sea Launch returned to flight yesterday four years after a launch failure caused the company to restructure it finances.
We’re here to help you! Obama’s EPA plans to shut down 20% of all coal power plants in 2012.
UARS has come to Earth, re-entering the atmosphere at 11:23 pm (Eastern) last night over the Pacific Ocean.
On a 3-2 partisan vote, the FCC voted to regulate the internet on Thursday, despite a court ruling that says it has no right to do so.
Aerospace Corporation has further refined its prediction for the deorbit of UARS. The window now goes from 11 pm to 3 am tonight, with the only land areas at risk being Canada, Africa, and Australia.
NASA now says re-entry will be between 11:45 and 12:45 am (Eastern), putting only Canada and Africa in the satellite’s path.
Eleven Muslim students have been found of guilty of conspiring to disrupt a speech of the Israeli ambassador.
The defendants, who are all in their early twenties, were convicted of one count each of conspiracy and disturbing an assembly and could face jail terms of up to a year, probation or community service at sentencing.
As I’ve said previously, I think it a mistake to prosecute these students for their impolite and disgusting behavior. It only makes them martyrs, something they surely don’t deserve.
Finding out what’s in it: Obamacare requires that everyone’s private medical records be made available to the federal government.
We’re here to help you! The Obama Administration is banning the only over-the-counter asthma inhaler because of environmental concerns.
The most recent prediction now says that the UARS satellite will come down tonight between 9 pm and 3 am Eastern time, during one of four orbits, all of which pass over North America, Europe, and Africa. One orbit also passes over Australia.
Senate rejects House funding bill; shutdown looms.
While we chatter about superficial election debates and a falling satellite, the federal budget continues to crash and burn. What I find disturbing about the events in the Senate is this quote:
Democrats in the Senate, who are in the majority, oppose Republican efforts to roll back “green” energy programs to pay for aid for victims of Hurricane Irene and other disasters. They say disaster aid, usually a bipartisan issue, should not require cuts elsewhere — especially to programs creating green jobs — as the GOP majority in the House now demands. [emphasis mine]
So how do the Democrats expect to pay for this disaster aid? Will the money grow on trees?
The crash time of the UARS climate satellite has now been updated to a window lasting from 6 pm (Eastern) to 4 am (Eastern) tonight.
According to the map at the link, the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Middle East are all potential crash sites.
