Top 10 Worst Federal Rules of 2011

10:19 am

The top ten worst federal rules of 2011.

All are crippling, but this one is plain stupid:

4. The Equine Equality Rule. As of March 15 (the Ides of March, no less), hotels, restaurants, airlines, and the like became obliged to modify “policies, practices, or procedures” to accommodate miniature horses as service animals. According to the Department of Justice, which administers the rule, miniature horses are a “viable alternative” to dogs for individuals with allergies or for observant Muslims and others whose religious beliefs preclude canine accompaniment.

2 comments

China issues a white paper on space, outlining its future goals

9:46 am

China today issued a white paper on space, outlining its future goals. In addition to additional launches of its manned Shenzhou manned capsule,

China also plans to launch space laboratories, manned spaceship and space freighters, and will start a research on the preliminary plan for a human landing on the moon, the document said.

As an important part of deep-space exploration, the country’s lunar probe projects follow the idea of “three steps” — orbiting, landing and returning. In next five years, the country plans to launch orbiters for lunar soft landing, roving and surveying to implement the second stage of lunar exploration, then it will start the third-stage project of sampling the moon’s surface matters and get those samples back to Earth, the white paper said.

You can download the full white paper here [pdf]. Hat tip to Spaceref.com.

Leave a comment

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, 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

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.

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

The Obama Nation: Even More Debt And Even More Store Closings

10:50 am

A nation in economic collapse.

During “the Obama Nation”, the federal government has already accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office. Of course the Bush administration was nearly as bad at piling up government debt. Between Bush and Obama (with a big helping hand from the Federal Reserve), they have done a pretty good job of wiping out the financial future of the United States. If there are future generations of Americans, they will look back and curse those that did this to them. It is absolutely immoral to steal trillions of dollars from future generations. Unfortunately, there are very, very few members of Congress that are even objecting to this madness.

The article’s listing of store closings is also quite frightening, suggesting that the economic situation of the nation is far worse than has been reported.

Leave a comment

Arizona’s ethnic studies program have been ruled illegal

10:42 am

An Arizona court has ruled that Arizona’s ethnic studies program are illegal.

Kowal’s ruling, first reported by The Arizona Daily Star, said the district’s Mexican-American Studies program violated state law by having one or more classes designed primarily for one ethnic group, promoting racial resentment and advocating ethnic solidarity instead of treating students as individuals. The judge, who found grounds to withhold 10 percent of the district’s monthly state aid until it comes into compliance, said the law permits the objective instruction about the oppression of people that may result in racial resentment or ethnic solidarity.

“However, teaching oppression objectively is quite different than actively presenting material in a biased, political and emotionally charged manner, which is what occurred in (Mexican-American Studies) classes,” Kowal wrote. The judge said such teaching promotes activism against white people, promotes racial resentment and advocates ethnic solidarity.

This is not a First Amendment issue. The Arizona state legislature, elected by the citizens, passed a rule stating that ethnic studies programs cannot focus on only one ethnic group. The Tucson school system cannot therefore expect funding from the state if it chooses not to obey that legislation.

Leave a comment

The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled that refusing to open your door does not allow the police to enter without a warrant

10:05 am

Stating the obvious: The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled that just because you refuse to open your door to the police does not give them the right to break it down, without a warrant.

The Constitution is very plain about this, and that the police and prosecutors don’t understand it is very disturbing. Just because they want to enter does not give them the right to do it. Only if the police have reasonable cause they can get a warrant from a judge, but they need that warrant before entering.

Leave a comment

Slow news

3:03 pm

Tis a slow news day, at least to me. Nothing that is coming over the wire has inspired me. However, if any of you has seen something that has made you excited, please feel free to post it here, as a comment.

6 comments

Newfound treasures at an archeological dig in Panama have provided scientists with the best clues yet about an unnamed tribal culture that had trived in the centuries just prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.

8:23 pm

Newfound treasures at an archeological dig in Panama have provided scientists with the best clues yet about an unnamed tribal culture that had thrived in the centuries just prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.

The most recent dig, in early 2011, uncovered a similarly adorned chief in a multilevel burial pit once sheltered by a wooden roof. Surrounding this golden chief are at least 25 carefully arranged bodies, making the assemblage the largest of the six El Caño burials revealed to date. … Among the corpses golden attire for a child, possibly the chief’s son: tiny gold plates, bracelets, earrings, and a necklace of semiprecious stones. At the bottom of the pit, the chief himself was supported by a sort of platform created from the tight arrangement of 15 bodies. Mayo believes those individuals could be war captives or slaves who were sacrificed or committed suicide.

Leave a comment

A family struggles to complete a Knoxville to Nashville trip using an electric car

7:58 pm

An exercise in absurdity: A family struggles to complete the 180 mile trip from Knoxville to Nashville using an electric car.

The Blink fast-charge station was on the blink. Efforts to use the two available plugs yielded nothing for Stephen Smith when he and his family arrived in Lebanon in their electric vehicle.

But all was not lost as the Smiths closed in on their destination – a brother’s house only 22 miles away in Antioch. With ten miles of available power left on their car, they could take advantage of a slower charger next to the other at the Blink station at Cracker Barrel. It took about an hour, but the boost gave enough energy for a total of 30 miles.

They also had to pay attention to whether the route was flat or hilly, as any hills significantly reduced their range of about 75 miles. In addition, they found that even that number was unreliable, and that often the maximum range the car could travel was far less.

Even the fast-charge station still needed about 30 minutes to charge up the car. Imagine having to wait 30 minutes every time you needed to fill up, and imagine having to do it every 70 miles.

There is a reason electric cars can’t compete with gasoline, and this journey illustrates it.

2 comments

A day made of glass

6:01 pm

An evening pause: Though it really doesn’t make sense to spend the money for electronic road signs, this public relations video from Corning still gives one a hint of some of the cool technology coming down the pike.

As Arthur Clarke once said, “Any science sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.”

Leave a comment

Ron Paul as seen by a former staffer

3:50 pm

Ron Paul as seen by a former staffer.

The statement is fair, detailed, and to me, devastating to Paul. Consider this, for example:

He is however, most certainly Anti-Israel, and Anti-Israeli in general. He wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all. He expressed this to me numerous times in our private conversations. His view is that Israel is more trouble than it is worth, specifically to the America taxpayer. He sides with the Palestinians, and supports their calls for the abolishment of the Jewish state, and the return of Israel, all of it, to the Arabs.

In other words, Paul is blind to the hate and violence coming out of the Arab world, and is willing to sacrifice a democracy to it. Worse, it appears he is blind to other kinds of hate as well.

Ron Paul is most assuredly an isolationist. . . . For example, he strenuously does not believe the United States had any business getting involved in fighting Hitler in WWII. He expressed to me countless times, that “saving the Jews,” was absolutely none of our business. When pressed, he often times brings up conspiracy theories like FDR knew about the attacks of Pearl Harbor weeks before hand, or that WWII was just “blowback,” for Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy errors, and such.

One comment

Why the establishment fears Newt Gingrich

9:26 am

Why the establishment fears Newt Gingrich.

When Newt became speaker, he was focused, disciplined and tough. He insisted on moving the Contract With America intact. He abolished committees and denied “old bulls” chairmanships. He insisted on using the majority to win conservative victories such as balancing budgets, achieving welfare reform and producing 11 million new jobs with tax cuts that spurred economic growth. He made some people unhappy when he pursued legislation that could win instead of pet bills that would have divided Republicans rather than uniting them. And he negotiated with a Democratic president to get the conservative legislation being passed signed into law. Some Republicans were left unhappy in the wake of all of that activity — some of them are still complaining today.

One comment

Santa Claus Arrested Following Joint Investigation by IRS, INS, and FWS

9:05 am

Satire? Santa Claus arrested following a joint investigation by the IRS, INS, and FWS.

The United States Department of Immigration and the Internal Revenue Service have also had their eyes on Mr. Claus. An immigration official who also attended the raid said that they were able to obtain several dozen passports. He said, “It seems that this Santa Claus character has a different name in every country–his EU passport says, ‘Father Christmas’ and his Canadian passport says, ‘Père Noël’. We have, however, determined with certainty that Santa Claus is a United States citizen.”

Apparently Claus worked in Hollywood during the 1940s and 50s making autobiographical films, such as Miracle on 34th Street. During that time he applied for and received U.S. citizenship.

Read the whole thing. The scandal is shocking!

Update: In related news, the Occupied Wall Street movement is now targeting Santa as well.

Leave a comment

Montanans have launched a recall campaign against their senators for voting for unlimited military detention

8:59 am

Montanans have launched a recall campaign against their senators for voting for unlimited military detention.

Moving quickly on Christmas Day after the US Senate voted 86 – 14 to pass the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA) which allows for the indefinite military detention of American citizens without charge or trial, Montanans have announced the launch of recall campaigns against Senators Max Baucus and Jonathan Tester, who voted for the bill.

Leave a comment
1 … 951 952 953 954 955 … 1,111