A Texas school district has banned the use of religious signs at football games, even if created entirely and freely by the students.

10:26 am

A Texas school district has banned the use of religious signs at football games, even if the signs were created entirely and freely by the students.

[According to Kevin Weldon, the district’s superintendent], legal counsel recommended that religious activities not be carried out, even if the are being organized and implemented by students. “Per the advice of TASB Legal, please do not allow any student groups to display any religious signs or messages at school-sponsored events,” the superintendent wrote in a letter to parents who are involved in organizing extracurricular activities.

So, according to the legal counsel for this school district, freedom of religion and speech is outlawed at any government event. What a crock.

The good news is that the students are refusing to back down, and intend to display even more signs at future events.

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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 or any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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

The cost of regulations is 80 times higher than OMB’s estimate, according to the estimates of each individual government agency.

10:09 am

We’re more doomed than we know: The cost of government regulation is actually 80 times higher than OMB’s estimate, according to the estimates made by each individual government agency.

“While OMB officially reports amounts of only up to $88.6 billion in 2010 dollars,” said Crews, “the non-tax cost of government intervention in the economy, without performing a sweeping survey, appears to total up to $1.806 trillion annually.”

The $1.8 trillion number comes from looking at the estimates made by each agency and then adding them up.

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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.

Obamacare: a program in disarray.

3:51 pm

Obamacare: a program in disarray.

The critical regulations outlining what the Obamacare insurance benefit will look like was supposed to be out more than six months ago. Now it looks like this regulation won’t be dropped until after the election.

The author then describes each component of the law that is failing in one way or the other. I especially like this paragaph:

The crown jewel of Obamacare’s effort to contain healthcare costs, the creation of Accountable Care Organizations, is so unwieldy that major provider groups have said they won’t participate. The idea is to consolidate doctors, turning them into employees of large systems, and then pay these systems lump sums of money to take care of groups of patients. A letter from 10 major medical groups that previously ran similar programs said, “it would be difficult, if not impossible” to accept the financial design created by Obamacare. In another rebuke, an umbrella group representing premier medical organizations said 90 percent of its members wouldn’t partake.

None of this is a surprise to those who opposed this turkey of a law. We were right to oppose it, and we are right to want it repealed.

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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

Hundreds of peer-reviewed papers in the field of anaesthesiology are about to be retracted because their data was fabricated.

11:57 am

Hundreds of peer-reviewed papers in the field of anesthesiology are about to be retracted because their data was fabricated.

After more than a decade of suspicion about the work of anesthesiologist Yoshitaka Fujii, formerly of Toho University in Tokyo, investigations by journals and universities have concluded that he fabricated data on an epic scale. At least half of the roughly 200 papers he authored on responses to drugs after surgery are in line for retraction in the coming months.

Like many cases of fraud, this one has raised questions about how the misconduct went undetected for so long. But the scope and duration of Fujii’s deception have shaken multiple journals and the entire field of anesthesiology, which has seen other high-profile frauds in the past few years.

Fujii’s work was published in many different journals, where it appears none of his referees ever checked his data. Worse, this is not the first such case in this field.
» Read more

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The French prepare for a vibrant debate on free speech from the members of its Islamic community.

9:53 am

The French prepare for a vibrant debate on free speech from the members of its Islamic community.

The worst part of this story isn’t that we expect Muslims to riot because someone said something they don’t like. The worst part is how eager many liberals are to lend these violent thugs quisling support.

Update: If you want to see some of those new Mohammad cartoons from the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, go here.

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After postponing Juno’s second midcourse correction burn, engineers have now successfully completed that burn.

6:03 pm

After postponing Juno’s second midcourse correction burn last month, engineers have now successfully completed that burn.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully executed a second Deep Space Maneuver, called DSM-2 last Friday, Sept. 14. The 30 minute firing of its main engine refined the Jupiter-bound spacecraft’s trajectory, setting the stage for a gravity assist from a flyby of Earth on Oct 9, 2013. Juno will arrive at Jupiter on July 4, 2016.

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The automatic budget cuts triggered by sequestration appear increasingly likely according to two defense analysts.

4:47 pm

Good news: The automatic budget cuts triggered by sequestration appear increasingly likely according to two defense analysts.

Now that the Obama administration has released some details on how these 8.2 and 9.4 percent cuts will be imposed, I find them a refreshing change from business-as-usual in Washington. As far as I can tell, the only thing really wrong with them is that they only scratch the surface of the federal budget debt.

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The French magazine whose offices were firebombed last year after publishing an issue ridiculing Mohammad is about to do it again.

2:55 pm

Go for it! The French magazine whose offices were firebombed last year after publishing an issue ridiculing Mohammad is about to publish another issue doing the exact same thing.

Charlie Hebdo’s latest move was greeted with immediate calls from political and religious leaders for the media to act responsibly and avoid inflaming the current situation. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault issued a statement expressing his “disapproval of all excesses.”

The magazine’s editor, originally a cartoonist who uses the name Charb, denied he was being deliberately provocative at a delicate time. “The freedom of the press, is that a provocation?” he said. “I’m not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn’t go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe.”

I say, good for the magazine Charlie Hebdo. And more publications should join in! If a lot of people make fun of Islam and Mohammad, it will make it very difficult for the religion-of-peace’s firebombing and rioting mobs to keep up.

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A Florida family now faces fines for hosting weekly Bible study sessions in their home.

11:05 am

A Florida family now faces fines for hosting weekly Bible study sessions in their home.

Shane and Marlen Roessiger, of Venice, Fla. are facing a $250 per day fine for hosting Friday night prayer and Bible study gatherings that are attended by as many as 10 people. “It is difficult to understand how it is illegal to have a prayer meeting on Friday night with a half dozen people but it is alright if I invited the same group on Monday evening to watch Monday night Football,” Roessiger said. The Roessigers are also facing a fine for putting a small sign in their front yard.

Gee, maybe they should riot and kill people instead. That way the government would call them members of the religion of peace and let them practice their religion freely.

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Astronaut Sunita Williams completed first simulated triathlon in space this past weekend on ISS.

9:10 am

Astronaut Sunita Williams completed the first simulated triathlon in space this past weekend on ISS.

After “swimming” half a mile (0.8 km), biking 18 miles (29 km), and running 4 miles (6.4 km), Williams finished with a time of one hour, 48 minutes and 33 seconds, she reported. The space station has its own treadmill and stationary bike, which use harnesses and straps in place of gravity to keep astronauts from floating away. To simulate the swimming portion of the race, Williams used what’s called the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) to do weightlifting and resistance exercises that approximate swimming in microgravity.

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A Justice department official today refused to rule out the possibility of passing a law that would criminalize speech against any religion.

11:59 am

A Justice department official today refused to rule out the idea of passing a law that would criminalize speech against any religion. With video.

The exact wording of the question: “Will you tell us here today that this administration’s Department of Justice will never entertain or advance a proposal that criminalizes speech against any religion?”

Despite being asked the question four times, the official consistently refused to answer the question directly. In other words, the Obama administration would consider criminalizing speech against religion. Or to put it more bluntly, they don’t believe in freedom of speech.

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Congress is on a pace this year to pass the fewest laws in a single year since World War II.

10:15 am

Gridlock is good! Congress is on a pace this year to pass the fewest laws in a single year since World War II.

Just 61 bills have become law to date in 2012 out of 3,914 bills that have been introduced by lawmakers, or less than 2 percent of all proposed laws, according to a USA Today analysis of records since 1947 kept by the U.S. House Clerk’s office.

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