Twitter has repeatedly suspended @mycancellation, an account critical of Obamacare that is gathering images of insurance cancellation letters.

Leftwing tolerance: Twitter has repeatedly suspended @mycancellation, an account critical of Obamacare that is gathering images of insurance cancellation letters.

Higgins speculated about why the account was canceled on the website Ricochet.com. “Since we haven’t abused any of Twitter’s (seemingly quite subjective) standards, either someone at Twitter objects to the real cost of these ‘liked insurance I wanted to keep’ cancellations being given a human face,” Higgins wrote, “or there is an organized campaign by Obamacare-reality-deniers to spam Twitter with false claims of abuse. Either way, keep those photos coming!”

India has begun the countdown for the November 5 launch of its first Mars orbiter.

India has begun the countdown for the November 5 launch of its first Mars orbiter.

Just today, spacetoday.com lists fourteen different stories in the Indian press about this mission, all enthusiastic, thus indicating the excitement in that country over space exploration and this mission in particular. Nor is this event unusual. I’ve noted before how space happy India is. They not only want to catch up and pass their neighbor China, they want to catch up with the United States and Russia. Should be fun to watch.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon, any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

You also can’t keep your doctor.

You also can’t keep your doctor.

Everyone now is clamoring about Affordable Care Act winners and losers. I am one of the losers.

My grievance is not political; all my energies are directed to enjoying life and staying alive, and I have no time for politics. For almost seven years I have fought and survived stage-4 gallbladder cancer, with a five-year survival rate of less than 2% after diagnosis. I am a determined fighter and extremely lucky. But this luck may have just run out: My affordable, lifesaving medical insurance policy has been canceled effective Dec. 31.

This fact must be repeated endlessly: None of this should be a surprise to anyone. Conservatives and tea party activists were saying that Obamacare would destroy the health insurance system for years, right from the beginning of the debate. They said that, as written, it would mean most people would lose their health insurance plans. They said that, as written, it would mean that many people would lose their doctors. And they said that, as written, it was going to force many doctors to retire or pull out of the insurance pool. All these things are happening. No one should be surprised by it.

What people have to do now is assign responsibility for this disaster on the people who caused it. And those people are the politicians in the Democratic Party, from President Obama down to every elected Democrat in Congress. They wouldn’t negotiate, they wouldn’t compromise. All they were willing to do was to force this piece of crap down our throats, whether we wanted it or not.

Conscious Choice cover

Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!

 

From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.

 
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.  
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.

 

“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.

 

All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.

The Obamacare website routinely uploads your confidential personal information for all to read.

The Obamacare website routinely uploads your confidential personal information for all to read.

Tea party and conservatives repeatedly warned that this law would be a security risk. Even if they get the website fixed, the system still exposes your personal data to too many people who shouldn’t see it.

And then there’s this: A reporter calls the Obamacare hotline, is put on hold, and then told by the operator they know he’s a reporter, refuses to answer questions, and that a supervisor will call back.

How did the operator know he was a reporter? And even so, why should a reporter be treated differently? Doesn’t this also suggest that Obamacare could be used by present and future administrations against their critics?

28 solar flares in the past week.

28 solar flares in the past week.

The sun has erupted more than two dozen times over the last week, sending radiation and solar material hurtling through space – and scientists say more eruptions may be coming.

This shouldn’t be unusual. After all, we are technically at solar maximum, the peak of the 11-year cycle of the sun’s activity. But this has been a noticeably mellow solar maximum, with the sun staying fairly quiet throughout the summer. So when our life-giving star suddenly let loose with 24 medium strength M-class solar flares and four significantly stronger X-class flares between Oct. 23 and Oct. 30, it felt like a surprise.

October was one of the most active months for the sun this solar maximum, and I expect the sunspot count for the month to be quite high as well, more than we’ve seen in two years. I shall have that update in just a few days.

All of these active sunspots have been in the sun’s southern hemisphere, which indicates that hemisphere is finally gearing up to flip its magnetic field, something the sun’s northern hemisphere did last year. Once that happens the solar maximum will be officially over and we will head for the next solar minimum.

Leaving Earth cover

Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.

 

If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.

 
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke

In his weekly radio address today, President Obama called for new taxes and increased spending.

Broken record: In his weekly radio address today, President Obama called for new taxes and increased spending.

It is always the same. No matter what happens, Obama calls for more spending and higher taxes. It seems quite unimaginative on his part to never propose some other ideas for solving the federal deficit and the government’s other problems.

Sunrise tomorrow on the East Coast will be interesting, as the sun will rise in the middle of a partial solar eclipse.

Sunrise tomorrow on the East Coast will be interesting, as the sun will rise in the middle of a partial solar eclipse.

Technically speaking, the partial eclipse could be visible as far inland as, say, Tennessee. Sky & Telescope projects that 57 percent of the sun’s diameter could be covered over at sunrise in Boston, 48 percent in New York, 44 percent in Philadelphia, 35 percent in Washington, and 36 percent in Miami. But you’d have to have a clear view of a flat horizon — and no matter where you are on the East Coast, the partial eclipse will be over within an hour after sunrise.

The only juror in the George Zimmerman trial to go public has lost her job, been shunned by friends, and received death threats to herself and her family.

Leftwing civility: The only juror in the George Zimmerman trial to go public has lost her job, been shunned by friends, and received death threats to herself and her family.

And then there’s this: Actress who tweeted that she was going to vote for Romney was inundated with hateful mail and even death threats.

“This is a program that’s doing the opposite of what it was intended.”

“This is a program that’s doing the opposite of what it was intended.”

Krauthammer hits the nail on the head. Obamacare was pushed hard by Obama and the Democrats as a way to provide everyone healthcare insurance. (How many times did they scream about the 40 some odd million uninsured?) Instead, the law is now forcing the cancellation of literally millions of insurance policies while at the same time it is impossible to sign up for insurance on the Obamacare website. And even if the website gets fixed, the available policies under the law are too expensive and provide the wrong benefits. Large numbers of people are going to refuse to buy (which might explain why the numbers enrolling have been so pitifully low).

The result: Fewer people will have heath insurance under Obamacare than before the law. And you can bet every one of those people who lost their health insurance — against their will — will be very pissed off come election day.

The Obama administration has issued an order forbidding Navy Seals from wearing the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag on their uniforms, something they have been doing for two centuries.

The Obama administration has issued an order forbidding Navy Seals from wearing on their uniforms the Navy Jack, which includes the words “Don’t Tread On Me”.

They’ve been wearing the Navy Jack for the last two centuries.

After reading the email, I first wondered, ‘why?’ (Actually, first I headed to the gym to take out my frustration and anger on some unsuspecting weights with the fury and intensity only a former Navy SEAL can exert.) Why would our leaders sell out our heritage? Why would they rob present and future sailors of our battle cry?

When a friend of mine asked his leadership the same question, he was told, “The Jack is too closely associated with radical groups.” We must assume that this thought policeman embedded in the SEAL community is speaking of the Tea Party, whose flag (which also dates from the American Revolution) depicts a snake with the same defiant slogan as The Navy Jack.

The Obama administration’s objection isn’t because the slogan is associated with “radical groups.” It’s because that slogan is now associated with their political opponents, who just happen to have more in common with this nation’s heritage that Obama and his ilk.

The FAA has lifted its ban on the use of cell phones during take-off and landings in airplanes.

The FAA has lifted its ban on the use of cell phones during take-off and landings in airplanes.

The ban on mobile devices has been in effect since the early 1990s, when cellphones began to crop up, and the FAA and airlines summarily freaked the hell out for no good reason. Despite no direct evidence that the use of mobile phones or other electronic devices would interfere with the plane’s systems, the ban continued — even after the FAA hired an outside safety agency to find if anything could go wrong. They didn’t. But the FAA and airlines decided to continue the policy. Until today.

The requirement to stow laptops during takeoffs and landings remains, however, as the FAA fears these larger objects could too easily become dangerous projectiles should something go wrong.

A new poll, taken by a liberal poll company, finds that Democratic incumbents took a much bigger hit than Republican incumbents after the government shutdown.

A new poll, taken by a liberal poll company, finds that Democratic incumbents took a much bigger hit than Republican incumbents after the government shutdown.

As I’ve said repeatedly, the shutdown was a team effort of both parties, that occurred because of their disagreement over Obamacare. The spin has said the Republicans lost big. The evidences says otherwise.

Also, this poll was taken before the most recent disasters relating to Obamacare became public knowledge. I suspect the numbers will worsen for Democrats in subsequent polls.

In 2010 the Democrats unanimously voted in support of the regulations that are now forcing the cancellation of millions of health insurance plans.

Owning it: In 2010 the Democrats unanimously voted in support of the regulations that are now forcing the cancellation of millions of health insurance plans.

The Democrats voted for Obamacare. They then voted for the regulations that are wiping out health plans nationwide. And they voted to shut the government down to support Obamacare only one month ago.

I would say this indicates pretty strongly that they are responsible for this law.

In preparation for November 5 launch of India’s first mission to Mars, ISRO successfully performed a full dress rehearsal countdown yesterday

In preparation for November 5 launch of India’s first mission to Mars, ISRO successfully performed a full dress rehearsal countdown yesterday.

We all cross our fingers and wish India well on this mission.

The article also had this additional tidbit that reveals a great deal about world culture:
» Read more

They own it.

They own it.

It’s a little late to get or expect any Republican buy-in [to Obamacare], though. That would have required serious compromise back in 2009, when Democrats, at the high tide of their power in the Obama era, saw no reason to make any. They ignored the polls, they ignored Scott Brown’s shocking win in Massachusetts, and they ignored normal parliamentary practices to pass the single most partisan piece of major social legislation in a century.

They insisted on this particular law, at this particular time. They own it. They own every canceled policy, every rate increase, every unintended consequence and every unpopular intended consequence. It is theirs, lock, stock and two smoking barrels.

And they and Obama own every lie they told to get this law passed.

Let me also add that the Democrats and Obama reaffirmed that ownership in the budget battle in October. They forced a government shutdown rather than accept even the slightest revisions to Obamacare.

The best (and worst) concealed carry states for 2013.

The best (and worst) concealed carry states for 2013.

I am happy to report that my state, Arizona, is number one. And not surprisingly, the states from which I fled, New York and Maryland, are 46 and 43 respectively.

I strongly believe that where a government respects the right of its citizens to possess and bear arms, freedom will be strongly defended. Take a long look at these rankings. That the most heavily regulated blue states tend to be near the bottom and the less regulated red states tend to be near the top lends weight to my belief.

Here’s some evidence that in trying to spin his earlier lies, Obama has only lied again.

Here’s some evidence that, in trying to spin his earlier lies, Obama has only lied again.

Yesterday, the President said in Boston that the millions of people who are getting cancellation letters ending their coverage in the individual health insurance market are being saved from “substandard plans” that were sold to them by “bad apple insurers.” …

Are health insurance plans in the individual market substandard? Not the overwhelming bulk of them. How do I know that? Because individual health insurance policies have been regulated for decades by the states. Every policy sold in a state has to be approved by that state’s insurance commissioner. Have you heard about the longstanding debate over whether or not states over regulate this market with too many state health insurance coverage mandates and policy requirements?

In other words, Obama lied about Obamacare allowing you to keep your plan. Now that millions are having those plans cancelled because of Obamacare, he has made up a new lie: Your plan stinks, and only he knows the right plan for you.

Not you. Not your state government. Not the insurance company. Only he knows what’s best.

How nice of him.

Another young Obamacare supporter finds out what’s in it.

Another young Obamacare supporter finds out what’s in it.

My old plan was as bare-bones as they came, so I assumed that even though the new plan would cost more, my coverage would improve under Obamacare, at least marginally. It did not.

Under my old plan, my maximum out-of-pocket expense was $4,900. Under the new plan, I’m on the hook for up to $6,350. Copays for my doctor visits will double. For urgent-care visits, they will quadruple. Though slightly cheaper plans exist if I decide to shop around on the exchange, I will lose my dental coverage should I switch.

Needless to say, I am not pleased.

He is also shocked that the burden for paying for this hellish law will fall on him and other young citizens. What I am amazed at is how surprised he is. And I think this statement by one commenters sums things up very well:
» Read more

Bras in space: How a bra company made the spacesuits the astronauts wore on the Moon.

Bras in space: How a bra company made the spacesuits the astronauts wore on the Moon.

Fascinating interview, though I find it humorous how it is considered absurd and unlikely for a private company that makes bras to make these spacesuits. In truth, when the Apollo missions happened, Americans had no doubt that ordinary private businesses were the best places to go to get something novel and creative done.

One expert estimates that 129 million people, 68% of those who buy health insurance, will lose their plan by the end of 2014 because of Obamacare.

Finding out what’s in it: One expert estimates that 129 million people, 68% of those who buy health insurance, will lose their plan by the end of 2014 because of Obamacare.

I am sure all those people will be grateful to Obama and the Democrats for standing strong and shutting down the government rather than allow any changes to this law.

Note: I keep repeating this point about the government shutdown because it is important to remember the real cause of that shutdown: The Republicans objected to Obamacare and the Democrats endorsed it. We mustn’t forget this very fundamental fact as we watch Obamacare roll over the country like a bulldozer.

Obama and the Democrats solve the terrible terrible problem of the terrible name of the Washington Redskins.

Obama and the Democrats solve the terrible terrible problem of the terrible name of the Washington Redskins.

In a move certain to delight most of official Washington, D.C., it has been decided to change the name of the Washington Redskins football franchise to the Washington Reds. President Obama, himself, voiced his approval of the decision, as did Harry Reid, who was practically giddy upon hearing the news. The stadium will be painted red, in keeping with the new name, and its own name will be changed to Red Stadium. All players who play for the Reds, as well as all Red staff, Red cheerleaders, and Red coaches, will be asked to pay a 60% surtax on their exorbitant salaries and to divest of their pension plans entirely in order to share their wealth more equitably with all of the people of the District of Columbia. Any profit-sharing from games played by the Reds will be placed into the general coffers at Treasury Department and administered by Jack Lew.

Click on the link. It is worth it.

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