Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Want to know why that judge in Wisconsin ruled against the anti-union legislation? Well, it wasn’t because she was interpreting the law: Her son is a union activist and her husband is a leftwing environmentalist.
The program-formerly-called-Constellation moves forward: Lockheed Martin yesterday unveiled the Orion spacecraft and the test center to be used to prepare it for space.
Though this press announcement was actually intended to encourage Congress to continue funding, it also illustrated how this portion at least of Constellation had made significant progress before it was undercut by both Obama and Congress.
Boeing’s biggest-ever plane makes its maiden flight.
Lockstep liberalism. Key quote:
First was the hostility. People were really tearing into me and one common accusation was that I was a conservative troll. In fact, many suggested that I’d pretended to be liberal – like I was in a sleeper cell. These sort of accusations are a common argument.
The other shock was a really antipathy to facts. I mean, actual facts – like John Edwards was caught by reporters who saw him firsthand. My critics did all sorts of backflips to get around this; the reporters were lying, the Enquirer can’t be trusted, they are going after Edwards because of his stance on poverty and so on. I pointed out that while the Enquirer will stretch the truth, it seemed highly unlikely they would outright lie about seeing Edwards firsthand – especially since he was a successful attorney – and that tellingly, Edwards hadn’t denied the facts. I made phone calls to the Beverly Hills police to confirm facts…and still the mob on DailyKos went ballistic.
Now this change I can support! Several Democrats have broken ranks with their party and appear willing to consider some sort of Social Security budget reform.
The Russians have set the new date, April 5, for next manned Soyuz launch to ISS.
Power has been restored at all six Fukushima reactors in Japan.
Overall, the situation appears completely under control, so much so that in a rational world it probably would be possible to put several of these reactors back in operation. The Reuters story above, however, is amusing to read in one sense, as it struggles mightily to make things sound worse than they are.
All systems go! Dawn did a camera and instrument checkout last week, in preparation for its summertime arrival at the asteroid Vesta.
Certain IRS officials should go to prison for this: The IRS now admits it specifically targeted the political enemies of Bill Clinton for audits and harassment.
Power reconnected to Japanese reactor site.
Increasingly, the panic over the Japanese reactor problems appears to have been overblown and childish. Meanwhile, the real disaster continues, with thousands dead and large areas of the Japanese northeast coast devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.
Fifty mortars fired into Israel from Gaza, injuring two; Israeli military responses.
This is from Gaza, remember, a place that Israel unilaterally retreated from several years ago, leaving it entirely to the Palestinians. By what justification then do they have to continue to fire missiles into Israel, unless their real goal is simply to kill Jews?
More leftwing civility in Wisconsin: “Are you wearing a bulletproof vest?” Also this:
So you Tea Bags want to take away my hard earned blue ribbon bennies. Well guess what you scum sucking Tea Bags, I got your kids all day long in my classroom and with just a few slick questions I know who the little tea bags are! And you think you’ll have the last laugh HA-Ha-ha
Subsidies to the Ariane 5 rocket to keep it afloat.
Something is seriously wrong with any operation (like Ariane) that dominates the market and still loses money the past two years.
New Horizons has passed the orbit of Uranus on its way to Pluto.
The first death in space.
Two stars fusing into one.
A fire in a Minnesota mine is threatening an underground physics laboratory.
The mess from the NASA space war spreads: Three European space science missions are now on their own after the U.S. the space agency pulls funding.
Twenty days of leftwing thuggery in Wisconsin.
Then there’s this: What’s with all the death threats, libs?
Here’s some good news: The situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant continues to stabilize.
The article has a lot to say about the panicky overreaction of much of the press and political class over this incident. For example:
In summary it appears more and more that health consequences from reactor damage will be extremely minimal even for workers at the site. It will now be a surprise if anyone who has not been inside the plant gates this week is affected by the situation at at all – apart from all the people worldwide who have been taking iodide pills or eating salt unnecessarily. There may also be measurable psychological health effects from the global media-driven hysteria surrounding the situation, of course.
A man has won $15K in a lawsuit after police seized his gun illegally in a Denver park.
A judge has blocked Wisconsin union law.
Isn’t it interesting how often laws that the left dislikes get thrown out by unelected judges?
A look at the “progressive” who threatened the Altmans for doing such a thorough job of covering the events in Wisconsin. Key quote:
Apart from his nasty rant, if Shankman, a self-defined “radical progressive” reminded me of anyone, it was Peggy Joseph, who, after hearing Obama speak in October of 2008 said, “I won’t have to work, I’ll put gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage.”
This ain’t good: Japan has raised the nuclear alert level at its stricken nuclear power plants.
Then again, it appears that the dangers remain limited to a relatively small area, within 20 kilometers of the power plant.
The background behind last week’s recall vote in Miami. Key quote:
”County voters have demonstrated by their ballots that they are tired of unaccountable officials, of being ignored and of being overtaxed in this very difficult recessionary time.”
Real civility from the left: “Burying the death threat story is a clear example of intellectual dishonesty and journalistic bias.” Read the whole thing.
Treasures from the Soviet Union’s space history.
Now for some squealing from planetary scientists: Funding for new unmanned planetary missions under threat.
Note that I agree with Squyres: money spent for planetary research is worth it. However, considering the state of the federal budget, we all have to recognize that nothing is sacrosanct, until that budget gets under control.
You can’t make this stuff up! Iran is claiming it has built a working flying saucer.
The new civility: A Wisconsin Republican lawmaker has canceled public meetings due to vandalism and death threats.
