Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
This is freedom of speech and religion according to ACLU: You can be Christian as long as you don’t follow your beliefs.
The uncertainty of science: The discoverers of the possibly habitable exoplanet Gliese 581g defend their work against recent science attacks.
The robot arm on ISS shifted the Japanese freighter docked there to a different port today to clear a path for the shuttle.
How to follow the events in Wisconsin.
The law is for everyone: A federal judge has lowered the boom on the Obama administration over its refusal to issue permits for drilling oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Key quote:
In issuing the directive to the government, Feldman, who sits on the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisian, noted that “it is undisputed that before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, permits were processed, on average, in two weeks’ time. In stark contrast, the five permits at issue have been pending from four to some nine months.”
According to its manager, the budget troubles of the James Webb Space Telescope will likely keep it on the ground until 2016.
This is terrible news for space-based astrophysics. Until Webb gets launched, NASA will have no money for any other space telescope project. And since all the space telescopes presently in orbit are not expected to be operating at the end of the decade, by 2020 the U.S. space astronomy program will essentially be dead.
Then again, there is the private sector, as Google Lunar X Prize is demonstrating.
Now, was that so hard? The U.S. military is turning to the private sector to fill its satellite communications needs.
The Republicans in the House are insisting that there must be some spending cuts before they will agree to a continuing resolution. Senate Democrats are refusing any compromise.
The result will be a government shutdown. And the fault, as far as I am concerned, will lie with the Democrats, who are the ones screaming shutdown almost like they can’t wait for it to happen.
To be a Republican lawmaker in Wisconsin means facing threats of violence. Key quote:
[Republican state senator Randy] Hopper has received threatening phone calls and e-mails. These are threats of a physical nature. “We are working with law enforcement in my district. They are watching my home and my business.” Other Republicans have had their homes and businesses threatened, too. The unionists have demonstrated outside those homes and businesses.
A menacing old phrase comes to mind (and has been used by others, in talking about events in Wisconsin): We know where you live. [emphasis in original]
How hibernating bears could help man get to Mars.
Squeals from the media. Key quote:
Now that budget battles have begun in earnest all around the country, those advocating spending cuts, Democrat and Republican, had better not expect any help in furthering their cause from the mainstream news media. In fact, the news media might be their most formidable foe. How so? Well, now that we know the targets of the cuts, the news media, suckers for a sob story, are already throbbing with carefully orchestrated, heart-rending tales about what devastation those cuts will cause.
Now for some union squealing in Ohio: Union protesters fill Ohio statehouse.
The historical illiteracy of the Wisconsin union protesters. The best is the photo of the protester with the sign “Impeach Bush.”
The battle in Wisconsin: Democrat Senators in hiding to avoid participating in Wisconsin budget vote.
Now for some squeals from the right! A Democrat congresswoman is seeking to defund the Army sponsorship of NASCAR.
Pollster tells Senate Democrats that they better cut the budget or face defeat from voters.
Showdown in Wisconsin. Key quote:
Government school teachers, among others, are not happy and have shut down entire school districts across the state for two days so they can protest.
I have two thoughts on this…
1. Hell yes.
2. About time.
Public employees should not be allowed to unionize or if they are, they should be forbidden to contribute to political campaigns. The current system essentially allows the employees to buy off the managers (politicians) in order to rip off the owners (the public). It’s a system that is corrupt by it’s very existence. The proof of this is the public pension and benefits schemes that threatens to crush the fiscal solvency of many states.
Update and bumped. This New York Times article summarizes the situation nicely. To me, however, the key quote is this:
Scott Fitzgerald, the Republican leader in the State Senate, slipped out of the Capitol Wednesday morning with his sunglasses on, head down. Protesters had gone to his home earlier in the week, forcing his family (including his wife, a school guidance counselor) to go elsewhere for a bit.
You can see some video of the protests here: Union hate rally in Wisconsin: Protests rife with Hitler, gun targets, death threats.
So, another demonstration of how the left tones down the rhetoric: threatening the family of a lawmaker.
Arsenic, silicon, and alien life.
Steven Chu, Obama’s energy secretary, gave us his own version of a pig’s squeal yesterday.
The Google Lunar X Prize has announced the final roster of teams competing for its $30 Million prize.
‘Watson’ the computer creams human ‘Jeopardy!’ champs. Key quote:
“I for one welcome our new computer overlords,” contestant Ken Jennings — who holds the “Jeopardy!” record of 74 straight wins — cheekily wrote on his answer screen at the conclusion of the much-hyped three-day showdown.
Homeland security strikes again! Two TSA agents were busted today at JFK for stealing $160,000 from checked bags.
The squealing of puppets! The Muppets (and Democrats) lobbied today in DC to save funding for public television.
Thousands of previously unknown ruins in Saudi Desert spotted from space.
