Back to the Moon

After more than 30 years, America is now back into its manned space exploration program. New space ships, named Orion, are being designed to replace the aging and low-earth-orbit-bound shuttle fleet, and will be the next step in America's return to the moon and beyond. NASA announced that Lockheed Martin Corporation and a partnership of Northrop Grumman Corporation and Boeing Company are bidding for the work, projected to pump some $18 billion into the economy over the next 10 years. The Apollo 17 Lunar Mission was the last manned expedition to the moon, leaving the lunar surface on 14 December 1972. It's long past time for the US to return to manned space exploration, and continue the discoveries that await on our nearest neighbors, the Moon and Mars.

The US has had a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe in orbit around Mars since March of this year. Its mission is to obtain a low orbit and survey, photograph and analyze the Martian surface. Maybe this MRO mission will produce concrete evidence of long-lost ruins of a civilization that many believe existed and flourished on Mars. Ever since the 1976 Viking mission images of Cydonia – with its pyramids and haunting, mile-wide 1,500-foot-high human-looking "Face" looking skyward from the barren sands a thousand miles below, there's been a heated debate about intelligent life on Mars.

Why America Won't Fight Wars to Win

There's an enlightened piece that came out a few months ago, which explains why America can't seem to find the moral center to fight a truly engaged, decisive war. We wussed out in Vietnam, and left our allies to the communists. We tried to fight a sterile air war in Bosnia, with dubious results. We embarrassed ourselves when we tucked tail and ran in that backwater of all backwaters, Somalia. Some would say that retreat alone led to the escalation of the global terror war.

As I reread this article, by Shelby Steele in the Wall Street Opinion Journal from May 2006, I realized that he was spot-on in his analysis. Maybe our leadership, from Congress to the Joint Chiefs should read this, and purge the politically correct policies that have stifled our ability to defend our culture. The White House already has the proper attitude. Now we can start winning wars again.

Anti-War Pacifism in Seattle

The new generation of anti-American, anti-war left has become far more militant than those misguided pacifists of the Vietnam era. If you think our only enemies are Islamic fascists, read this item from Seattle, Washington. Five armed whackos jumped and beat a uniformed National Guardsman. How's that for a display of pacifism? Five armed home-grown terrorists against one unarmed American - in uniform. Seattle police have offered a reward for information.

Zoology Today, Part II

Here's an interesting little item from the conspiracy theorists and Ufologists over at Rense.com. The chupacabras strike again, this time in Guatemala. Maybe chupacabras have migrated all the way up to the far northeastern United States, and that's what the "Maine Mutant" is.

Well, an astounding number of new zoological discoveries have been found in Viet Nam since 1992, including a large forest ox, three new species of deer, a striped rabbit, 63 new vertebrates and 45 fish. And there's more: a one-horned rhinoceros once thought extinct has been rediscovered.

In Dunedin, Florida, a small town in Pinellas County on the Gulf of Mexico, coyotes have become a menace as they help keep the town's population of small dogs and cats under control.

US Hostages - again

Last Monday Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf Wiig were kidnapped in Gaza by parties unknown. Today a previously unknown terrorist group, Holy Jihad Brigades, has released a video of Centanni and Wiig, demanding the release of Muslim prisoners detained by the US in exchange for the Fox newsmen. The US was given 72 hours to release the prisoners, but no threat was made as to the fate of Centanni and Wiig. The video shows Centanni and Wiig in a darkened room, and in seemingly good condition.

Perhaps emboldened by the antics of Hezbollah, who kidnapped several Israeli soldiers and who, after enduring a week-long war with Israel, claimed victory when the global community demanded a cease-fire, Holy Jihad Brigades must believe they too can withstand the military might of the west, and emerge with a propaganda victory along with their prisoners intact. Can't blame them for thinking like that. Hostage-taking is a tactic that has worked well for the terrorists since the Carter administration, when the US embassy in Iran was seized and US hostages taken.

An interesting sidebar to this story is the relative silence the other news networks have given it, at least up till now. Even Fox has played it low-key.

The terrorists' name reminds me of the bad guys in the tongue-in-cheek spy thriller "True Lies" a few years back: Crimson Jihad.

Zoology today.

Just when we thought we had terrestrial animal life pretty much identified and categorized, we find things may not be as they seem.

An entirely new animal - an apparent new species of canine - was found in Maine. A mutant hybrid wolf-cross-dog possibly. Dead. Documented with really lame close-cropped photos. Typical. However, it could be a possible hoax. Seems the photographer, one Michelle O’Donnell , wants the princely sum of $100 per photo for the rights to publish the "Maine Mutant" on the Internet. Works for me. Time to let sleeping dogs lie.

More morphology. Scientists have debunked the finding in 2004 of a hobbit humanoid found in Indonesia was a new species. Now studies indicate the skeleton found was merely an ancestor of the indigenous people, who probably suffered from severe "development disorder".

A new study reveals that there may be as many as 1,200 species of fish that are venomous or poisonous. This includes salt and fresh water varieties, both wild and acquarium fare, whose venom may be inflicted from splines, fangs or secretions. Some species have poisonous meat. Great. More challenges when ordering sushi.