Bye Bye 2013

Some random thoughts on the passing of the year, in no particular order.

Bye, Bye Love.
Bending guitar string blues to one of the most influential men of rock n' roll:  Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers passed away yesterday at age 74.  He and Don influenced me and many others with their fine, tight harmonies and musical hooks in hits such as Bye Bye Love, Cathy's Clown and Wake up Little Suzie.  They embodied the evolution of rockabilly into folk and folk rock.  Cathy's Clown was #1 on Billboard for months in 1958 in both Country and Pop categories. Rock on, Phil.

Winter Woods Walking.
Few people other than Florida natives have seen the real Florida - the beauty and diversification of the untamed Florida landscape.  I had the privilege of hiking a few miles in a remote tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest yesterday.  In a short, two-mile hike, we saw magnificent, century-old live oaks, branches covered with Resurrection Fern; cypress bogs with newly formed knees; flatwood pine forests; deer and racoon tracks everywhere; hog spore; mushroom blooms at my feet; and lakes teeming with gators and fish. The waterfowl performed a cacophonous symphony to which the gators barked the bass score.

The topographical diversity is amazing, especially in such a confined area. We hiked the northern part of the Richloam tract just east of I-75 and north of SR 50, and the trail we were on is a horse trail known as the Blue Diamond trail, branching off the Hammock trail.  It was an ethereal, soul cleansing  experience.  I stood at the edge of a lake, smoked a cigar, and took in the serenity.  The beauty and solitude in the deep Florida woods is worth the hike.  Have a good pair of hiking shoes, carry a good knife, a compass and water, and wander these miles and miles of trails for yourself.  You'll be renewed beyond your expectations.

Global Warming, er, I mean Climate Change.
The New Orleans Saints beat the Philadelphia Eagles last night in 21 degree weather.  Tonight the Green Bay Packers will play the San Francisco 49ers in what's forecast to be possibly negative-8 degree weather.  A Green Peace research ship had to be rescued from being trapped in ice in the Antarctic, its scientists airlifted off the immobile ship by helicopter.  Ironically, they were down there to prove the existence of global warming.  Beijing is so smogged in that people must wear masks to filter out particulate matter.  The sun shifted magnetic poles last year - it's now upside down - and the earth's own magnetic poles shifted by a significant measure.  But we are to believe that western civilization and our SUVs are killing the planet.  Nice try, but rubbish.  The planet isn't dying, and even if it were, we're not the cause.  Three-fourths of the Earth is ocean, and the oceans drive and cleanse the atmosphere.  It's self cleansing, and has done so for millennia, including filtering the devastation from catastrophes such as meteor impacts, volcanoes, wild fires, and everything else that occurs naturally.  Whatever is happening is a natural climate adjustment as we move from ice age to ice age, and just because people have only been here for a relatively short time, we narcissists assume we're the cause.  We are not.  The world has been here long before us, and will be long after we're gone.

Alien Nation.
In 2013, two nations picked up on the planetary exploration NASA seems to have abandoned.  India sent a probe to Mars, and China landed an unmanned robotic rover on the Moon.  Back in November, I posted about the exploration of our nearest celestial neighbors.  As the Chinese rover cruises the Lunar landscape, seeking answers to questions no one dares ask, I think back to July 1969.  A couple of Americans walked on an alien landscape, and answered many questions no one dared ask. One is, "why haven't we been back since the Apollo project?"  Many scientists have evidence of artifacts that were seen and/or found on the moon, and that begs yet other questions.  "Who's been here?' is certainly one.  Perhaps the Chinese will learn what we learned during the the Apollo missions, and hopefully they won't be as squeamish about announcing their findings to the world as our government has been. Bottom line?  We ain't alone, my friends.

Alien Nation, Part Deux.
Comes now one Mexican alien living in California who, after petitioning the state supreme court, has now been granted permission to practice law in the state of California.  He's not an American, although he lives in California, but presumes to be proficient in law.  In contrast, my wife is a lawyer, having spent 4 years in college and another 3 years in law school, earning a Juris Doctorate degree magna cum laude.   Fair?  Well, she's a real lawyer, and this joker is not.   And she's not a criminal and he is.  She graduated with highest honors, and this person did not.  Yet he's allowed to practice law in California.  This kind of nonsense is why people refer to California as the land of fruits and nuts.

Kenya.
Speaking of aliens, the Kenyan's half brother - same father, different mother - was surprisingly forthcoming in a candid interview recently.  Seems he and his brother have opposing views on American exceptionalism.  Both are Kenyans, yet one is a political conservative living in Kenya; the other is a Marxist/Communist living in Washington, DC.  You get to guess which is which.

Water, Water Everywhere

NASA's Hubble telescope has found water vapor plumes emanating from Jupiter's moon Europa.  Scientists have found evidence of vast liquid oceans trapped beneath Europa's frozen surfaces, and suspect that these plumes are further proof that huge amounts of liquid water exists on Europa.  The Cassini spacecraft has also found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on Saturn's icy moon, Enceladus.  

Scientists, in their search for extraterrestrial life, entertain the tantalizing possibility that these two celestial objects harbor life, at least life as we understand it.  

Traces of liquid water have been found both on Mars and the Moon, as well.  Several nations are planning to establish human colonies on both Mars and the Moon, and the presence of water will certainly help make that endeavor a reality.

Rape Not Rape

Comes now the esteemed defender of women's rights, the self promoting champion of defenseless women everywhere, the shrill Ms. Patricia Carroll, attorney at law, to demand that the State of Florida investigate alleged inconsistencies and failures by the Tallahassee Police Department regarding the investigation of Jameis Wilson in the matter of an alleged rape.  Seemingly unaware that the "accuser" declined to press charges for over a year after the "event," Ms. Carroll nonetheless held a press conference today to demand the State investigate the Tallahassee Police Department for failure to charge Mr. Wilson for raping his accuser.  The State Attorney declined to pursue the investigation because Tallahassee PD determined the accuser was not creditable (DNA tests revealed that she had had sex with others that day prior to the alleged "rape"), several witnesses testified the the sex was consensual, and the accuser herself didn't press charges for over a year.

None of this matters to Ms. Carroll, who must believe that all sex is rape.  We've heard this notion espoused by radical rabid feminists for years.  Had Mr. Wilson not achieved the notoriety of being Florida State University's Heisman Trophy-winning undefeated star quarterback, I wonder if there would be any controversy at all.  And I wonder is she realizes Mr. Wilson is black.  Northern liberals usually save their vitriol for white people, especially as concerns women and black "victimization."  When liberals disagree with an outcome, they are quick to air their grievances in the court of public opinion.  They know that spin trumps truth, and a lie told often enough will eventually be perceived as true.  Remember George Zimmerman's character assignation after his acquittal.  Think of the insidious Tawana Brawley hoax.  Lives destroyed.

Ms. Carroll's four-person law firm claims offices in Dade City and New Tampa, according to her firm's website.  This site, by the way is so infected with malware threats that my anti-virus program caught eight - Exploit Blackhat SEO - to be exact, before I could even navigate past the home page.  Further, it is so riddled with malware that the majority of the text consists of links to viagra, cialis and other pharmaceutical sites.  Visit at your own risk.  Speaking of credibility.

Incidentally, Ms. Carroll, after having earned a BA in Psychology from Providence College in Rhode Island, migrated her way to my fair state, where she earned a JD in law from University of Florida.  UF and FSU are bitter rivals.  She's a UF alumnae, and Jameis Wilson is an FSU student.  Simple college rivalry?  Or a ruse to take focus off the ObamaCare train wreck? 

Are You Smarter Than a Politician?

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has an online civic literacy test which is fun, challenging and easy to take.  If you think you know something about the political issues we face, and how those issues came to be, take this civics test!  I scored in the top 2%, and I should have known the few questions I did get wrong.  What's frightening is that most civilians got a higher score than did our elected officials.
Of the 2,508 people surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their lives. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, compared to 49% for those who have not held an elected office. Officeholders are less likely than other respondents to correctly answer 29 of the 33 test questions. This table shows the “knowledge gap” for each question: the difference between the percentage of common citizens who answered correctly and the percentage of officeholders who answered correctly.
Theme of Question		Citizens	Elected Politicians	Knowledge Gap
1.	U.S. – Soviet Tension in 1962	70.09%	56.51%	-13.58%
2.	Declaration of Independence	83.09	69.78	-13.31
3.	Sputnik	74.1	62.82	-11.28
4.	Definition of Free Enterprise	41.45	32.08	-9.37
5.	M. L. King’s “I Have a Dream”	80.5	71.5	-9
6.	Electoral College	65.88	57.31	-8.57
7.	Scopes “Monkey Trial”	67.76	59.21	-8.55
8.	Susan B. Anthony	80.84	72.98	-7.86
9.	Power to Declare War	53.6	45.82	-7.78
10.	Business Profit	49.11	41.38	-7.73
11.	International Trade	37.47	30.45	-7.02
12.	FDR’s Government Programs	66.63	59.73	-6.9
13.	Abortion	50.77	43.94	-6.83
14.	Federal Branches and Foreign Policy	54.71	48.39	-6.32
15.	First Amendment Freedoms	79.58	73.32	-6.26
16.	Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas	29.49	23.29	-6.2
17.	FDR and the Supreme Court	25.07	19.24	-5.83
18.	Taxes and Government Spending	27.7	22.12	-5.58
19.	Free Markets vs. Centralized Planning	16.25	10.71	-5.54
20.	Action Prohibited by the Bill of Rights	26.41	21.24	-5.17
21.	Commander in Chief	79.04	74.46	-4.58
22.	Anti-Federalists and the Constitution	38.22	33.82	-4.4
23.	Source of phrase “a wall of separation”	18.92	15.07	-3.85
24.	Policy Tool of the Federal Reserve	43.12	40.48	-2.64
25.	Powers of the Federal Government	75.01	72.69	-2.32
26.	World War II Enemies	68.76	66.58	-2.18
27.	The Puritans	19.1	17.32	-1.78
28.	Definition of a Progressive Tax	51.26	49.97	-1.29
29.	Three Branches of Government	49.65	49.32	-0.33
30.	Definition of a Public Good	27.6	28.03	0.43
31.	Gettysburg Address	21.06	22.95	1.89
32.	Fiscal Policy for Economic Stimulus	36.07	39.93	3.86
33.	Lincoln–Douglas Debates	19.06	23.62	4.56

Keep this in mind when you go to the polls next year.

MAVEN Underway

MAVEN, NASA's latest Mars probe, is scheduled to launch today at 1328 EST from Cape Canaveral.  Here on the west coast of Florida, weather permitting, we can see the launch from a hundred miles away - a vertical stem of fire and smoke.  It's really cool.

MAVEN sits atop an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral

But MAVEN - Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution - is NASA's latest foray into our on-going,  on-site study of Mars. It seeks to determine why Mars devolved from a warm moist planet with a dense atmosphere to a cold and barren, airless planet. The early Martian atmosphere was thick enough to hold water and possibly support life, but most of that atmosphere is gone, eroded by the sun, or lost from some other cause.  “Something clearly happened,” University of Colorado’s Bruce Jakosky, the principal Maven scientist, said. “What we want to do is to understand what are the reasons for that change  . . . .” Maven's journey will require a flight time of 10 months to reach Mars, entering into orbit around Mars in September 2014. Its eight scientific instruments will attempt to determine when and why Mars's atmosphere went missing.

The U.S. is not the only country exploring Mars.  MAVEN will join India's probe launched earlier this month.  Two years ago, China failed in a joint attempt with Russia to put its first Mars probe in orbit.  China now says it's likely to be five to seven years before they makes it to Mars. You can't discover the same things twice, China's National Space Science Center director, Wu Ji, points out, so China will pick up where the U.S. and India left off.

NASA has been sending probes to Mars since November 1964, when the agency launched the Mariner 3 spacecraft on an attempted Red Planet flyby. That mission failed, but Mariner 4, which blasted off just three weeks later, managed to beam home 21 up-close photos of Mars — the first pictures of another planet ever returned to Earth from deep space, and we've learned much about the Red Planet since then.  This will be NASA's 14th mission to Mars. 

The New Revolution

The media will tell you what they fear.  They fear the Tea Party.  They fear Libertarians.  They fear Christians. They fear those who believe in liberty, in self actualization and self reliance. They fear those who believe in something larger than themselves. They fear those who believe in smaller government, limited debt and low taxation. Those they fear they demonize.  They marginalize.  And they ridicule and mock. 

It should be no surprise that largely because of the media's propaganda, the two political parties are losing believers.  Something is obviously wrong, and folks sense that, even as the media pumps out the daily demagoguery and divisiveness.  Us, the left, tolerant and enlightened.  Them, the right, ignorant and repressive.  Yet nothing is more intolerant than the progressive left.  Think not?  Utter "redskins," or fly a confederate flag, or speak God's name in public and see what happens.

But a revolution is taking place.  It's grassroots, it's quiet, it's unorganized.  To the media and their handlers, it's fearsome.  It's an opposition  - both intellectual and literal - to the all encompassing Big Brother government and nanny state that this regime is dedicated to implementing.  And they've done an admirable job in doing so thus far, even considering the gross incompetence their arrogance and ideology has created.  In the last five years under the heavy hand of this regime, folks have started to wake up and they see the situation for what it is.  Democrats and Republicans both are less sure of the direction of their parties, and are taking a hard look.  They're seeing the Constitution being shredded as government lawlessness becomes even more blatant.  Want more Barack Obama-Nancy Pelosi-Harry Reid corruption?  Vote Democrat.  Want more Lindsey Graham-John McCain-Mitch McConnell RINO spinelessness?  Vote Republican.  

But wait - there's a new revolution.  Vote in those who will bring the county back from communism.  Vote in those who will respect and obey the United State Constitution and our government of laws rather than of men. Find Libertarians and Tea Party members in your state, vote them in. Many times, they are one and the same. Change your party affiliation.  Make your voice heard.  In Florida, vote Adrian Wyllie for governor.  In Texas, Libertarians have Kathie Glass, and Ohioans have Charlie Earl.  And there are others.  If the country doesn't stand up and take back its legitimate constitutional legacy at the ballot box one year from now, it may very well have to do so by other means.

They Will Tell You What They Fear

Yes, they certainly will.  "They" are the propaganda machine and its apparatus:  The federal government, the major political parties, the mainstream media, and the collective bargaining groups.  And who do they fear?  Who have they ganged up on?  Who do they want demonized, marginalized and destoyed?

The so called Tea Party.

My, my, my!  Such a fuss over nothing.  The Tea Party is an unorganized group of American citizens who actually understand the fundamental American principals of self government, and who advocate for smaller government, fewer taxes, and balanced budget.  We the people.  Wow, that is seriously subversive!

But wait.  The tea party has no formal organization; no official party status, no headquarters office, no president, and no charter.  How can they be so dangerous?  Why does the regime, acting through the IRS, want to lock them up and throw away the key?

Because smaller government and individual self actualization are things the progressive mind cannot abide.  The central planners always knows what's best for us, and these Tea Partiers are just fouling up the glorious march to social utopia, as their ideological potency demonstrated noticeably during the 2010 mid term election cycle.  I expect this demagoguery from the left, but even establishment Republicans, once conservatives themselves, want to silence this voice.  Shhh.  We're busy compromising with the Marxist/Statists/Progressives right now.  We don't want to hear your radical, hard right, intolerant and ignorant references to the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.  We need to exert governmental control over every aspect of your life, and you're being obstructionist.  You gotta go along to get along.  You're just too ignorant with your God, Guts and Guns rhetoric to understand that we have the common good on our side.  

Immigration?  What the hell, let 'em all vote!  Gay marriage?  Sure, they love just as we do.  Electronic surveillance?  Oh, who has any privacy nowadays, anyway?  Health care?  Let the old, sick and infirm die off, it's nature's way!  National debt?  Whaddaya mean, I'm broke - I got checks left!!  Founding fathers?  Slave owning old white men - what relevance do they have today? 

Yeah, well, there's that.  If the government gets any more tyrannical, it'll be 1860 all over again.  End of the day?  From my cold dead hands as I lie in a pile of hot spent brass.  Don't tread on me.  Smile; wait for flash.

Life and the Indefinite Cosmos

Today, United States NASA spacecraft Cassini is exploring Titan and the other moons of Saturn from orbit.  Forty-four years ago, in 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on a celestial body; the Moon. 

In 1971, the USSR's Mars 3 lander made soft landing on Mars, the first man-made contact on the Red Planet. Since then, a number of man made robotic probes have visited Mars. Today, the US still has a robotic rover still cruising around on the surface of Mars. In 2008, the Indian Space and Research Organization successfully launched a lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, which discovered evidence of water on the moon. Last week they launched  Mangalyaan, which means "Mars craft" in Hindi.  In this launch India will attempt to become only the fourth country or group of countries to reach the Red Planet, after the United States, Soviet Union, and Europe.

We're searching for proof of life in all the right places.

As a human endeavor, regardless of which country initiates the technology, humans have consistently and intrinsically sought that which is greater than themselves.  Prehistoric man migrated from continent to continent searching for contact.  Ancient modern man created gods to explain the existence of that which he could not fully comprehend; the cosmos, the finality of life, even the weather. Today, we are still searching our back yard to the extent that it is possible at our current level of technology, and we still seek contact.  We seek life; we seek ourselves. 

But with all the difficulty involved in reaching the even the nearest planet, Mars, or even in landing on the moon, which is only 221,000 miles away at perigee (I have logged that many miles on my truck), we have only barely scratched the surface, so to speak.  Some reports emphatically claim there are alien artifacts on the moon, found during the Apollo landings, and the same have been found on Mars by our Martian rovers. I don't know this for sure, but neither do I discount the possibility, and here's why:  It is inconceivable that life - even as defined as we know it - is confined exclusively to Earth.  Putting aside the theological considerations, it is simply a statistical impossibility that of forty billion possible Goldilocks zone planets in our Milky Way Galaxy alone, that life hasn't formed - or was created by intelligent will - elsewhere in our neighborhood.  I think life is out there, and we're trying hard to make contact.

Maybe Richard Hoagland is right and we did find it.  He presents some compelling arguments in support, after all.  On the other hand, though, perhaps intelligent extraterrestrial life has already made contact with us.  And maybe we didn't notice. That could be.  

The Little Coup that Could

I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and can still remember the "duck and cover" drills we used to have in  school.  It was during the height of the cold war, and we knew the USSR was just waiting to invade us.  My family had a improvised bomb shelter in the basement, stocked up with canned goods and bottled water, and we were prepared. I live on the west coast of Florida, and we're only a hundred or so miles from Cuba, where the Russians had deployed ballistic missiles.  We were an easy target for them at only 35 miles from MacDill AFB.  Of course, we know how that turned out; the USSR backed down and removed the missles from Cuba, and in a political gesture for the USSR to save face, President Kennedy denied support of the Cuban liberty fighters, and they were decimated at the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion.  Not our finest hour.

But we won the cold war.  Really, we did.  The USSR devolved into several sovereign nations, the Berlin Wall came down, and all was right with the world.  And yet today, we in the US find ourselves under the rule of totalitarianism.  How did that happen?  How did this communist coup occur?   Back in the bad old days of the cold war, Soviet Premier Khrushchev banged his shoe on the lectern at the United Nations and screamed, "We will bury you."  And now all these years later it would seem he was right.  Although it's unclear if the remnants of the old Soviet apparatchik is responsible for empowering this unknown alien and his minions who now control us, the fact remains that we are buried under a gargantuan government that we can no longer support or tolerate.

To make matters worse, in the face of this coup - literally a government takeover - there is no loyal opposition.  The old guard of the Republican Party like McCain, McConnell, Rove, and many others, seem hellbent on kissing ass of the Marxist regime now in Washington.  And they wrack themselves trying to figure out why support of the GOP is dwindling.  Immigration?  Government shutdown?  Gays?   No.  Allow me to clarify.  It's because the vast majority of the American people do not want a socialist totalitarian state, and they see no opposition to it from the GOP.  So then why support your enemy's friends?  We have a constitution that puts quantifiable limits on federal governmental power.  The left has been marginalizing and denigrating that document for decades, hoping that people will forget that we own the government and it works for us, not the other way around.  Yet they do forget and now the situation is dire.  The only salvation comes next year; we have an election to change the political mindset in Washington, if we are brave enough to do so.  On that point I wonder if we are.

 

What's in a Name? Political Correctness and Tyranny!

So now it's politically incorrect to refer to a professional football team's name as the Redskins.  After a century of existence, somehow now that is a racist and offensive name.  Let us just call them the Skins, says Charles Krauthammer, a usually thoughtfully commentator.  Yikes, that's pretty macabre.  I know some native Americans -Indians, as it were - who are not in any way offended by that team's name.  In fact they're proud of it.  Here in Florida a few years back, the same tightly wound, perpetually offended pantywaists decided that the University of Florida's mascot Seminoles was offensive to Native Americans.  Demeaning somehow.  BS, the FSU alumnae said!  BS, the Seminole tribe said.  We're not offended, far from it.  We take pride in our heritage.  

So why bother trying to recast longstanding brands?  In any application of the notion, it's simply tyranny by way of  thought control.  Native Americans - Indians - are victims of the vile aggressive white man, and in no way can a white man utter that redskin slur.   The "N" word is another example.  It's merely a contraction of the word Negro, which is the proper name of the race, just as Caucasian is the proper name for the white race. But they, too, are victims of the white man in the progressive mind. The white man's culture must be changed, rewritten, for the better, and for the common good.

 Don't buy that?  Well, George Orwell had it identified over a half century ago - define the language and you define the culture.  And it's the culture the liberals/progressives/Marxists seek to fundamentally change.  Remember that slogan Hope and Change?  This is a manifestation of that change; the erasure of the Western, Caucasian culture.  And that attempt to rewrite history is racist.    

The Demise of American Culture

America is a relatively young country compared to Europe and Asia, that's true, but we do indeed have a national culture. This culture can be found in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and reiterated again in the Bill of Rights.  This American culture is one of individual liberty, of being a citizen of a nation that respects individual rights and responsibilities, and a very, very limited government.  It's a culture of strength borne of prosperity, of personal responsibility, of faith in something greater than oneself.  But in the last six decades, something has happened, something that has turned our established culture on its head.  That something is liberalism as defined by the progressive movement.

Instead of elevating all to a sustainable socioeconomic level, as conservatives seek to do, liberals want all to "share" the misery of those who cannot, or will not, take responsibility for themselves.   It's based on emotion:  who doesn't feel sorry for the homeless in the streets, or for the dirt poor trying to eek out a living in an urban jungle?  Of course we do.  That's why Americans contribute more money to charities than any other nationality in the world.  But when progressives seek to level the playing field - which is pretty level already, given the structure of our constitutional republic - they do far more harm than good.  A conservative may see a man in a hole, and he offers his hand to pull the man out.  But a liberal sees that man in a hole, and wants all of us to climb down in there with him, to ensure that he's comforted in his misery.  Insane.  And completely ass backwards.  So now in the last sixty years we have lawmakers who have been elected to provide folks with stuff that they neither earned nor deserve.  Think LBJ's Great Society, a government program that sought to end poverty.  What's the end result of that program after sixty years?  Billions of dollars thrown away and yet even more poverty, as well as the creation of generations of people who know not self reliance, but only guaranteed government assistance.  What does that do to instill initiative and a sense of self worth?  Does it feed the economy?   Create jobs?  

Then we had the notion of political correctness, where the truth was muted so as to not offend anyone.  Perfected by Germany's Goebbels, it has developed now beyond ludicrous, it even eclipses Orwellian repression.  Forget about the truth - it's a casualty of that ill begotten need to share the misery.  We can't state the facts about crime and its source - we must blame guns.  We can't call a Muslim jihadist a terrorist, he's a freedom fighter or an enemy combatant.  We can't celebrate competence - we dictate that high school football teams can't win by more than a certain number of points.  And for some reason black people refuse to be called by their race - Negro - instead opting for African American.  I'm Caucasian of Scot and Irish heritage - am I a Scot American?  I'm proud of my heritage, to be sure, but I consider myself to be an American.  Period.  Why do Blacks want to continue to be segregated?  Why not just be an American? But we know the answer.  LBJ once said that through his policies he'd have "them niggers voting Democrat for a hundred years."   And they are.  You can look it up.

We wonder why there's such an attitude among certain segments of the population.  Track crime thorughout the US and you'll find that it's those who most rely on government who perpetrate most of the crime.  They kill and rob with impunity because they have no moral fiber, no self worth.  And consequently they see no worth in others, their victims, either.  You can look that up, too.

And so the demise continues as we slouch toward society's lowest common denominator as our new baseline of behavior. Schools seek to indoctrinate, not educate.  Gangs kill and rob and maim at an unprecedented rate.  The government becomes more oppressive than most dictatorships around the world, playing on our fears of terror or rampant crime.  The victim is charged; the perpetrators are forgiven.  Self defense is a crime.  TV promotes only negative societal messages.  And worse, Americans of faith are not only ridiculed in the media, they are reviled.

Huxley and Orwell couldn't even imagine it being this bad.

The Genius of Terrorism

I hate terrorists. I mean all terrorists - the ones that kill and the ones that manipulate, as well. In 2001, one insane jihadist and a couple dozen adherents brought the world's greatest nation to its knees. Al Qaida could never defeat the US militarily, but they have certainly fundamentally altered each of our lives. The fallout of that single day - which future historians may regard as World War III, and being only one day long - continues to impact us even a decade or more later. What an ingenious campaign. We blamed Iraq and defeated that nation. We chased our tails hunting bin Laden all over the world at a phenomenal cost of treasure, effort and blood. Oh, yes, we won - he's dead, but our culture of individual liberty is gone, perhaps forever. He won, too, because willing accomplices in media and the government rushed to take advantage of the nation's fear that we'd be attacked again.

Now comes Big Brother and the Police State. Nothing is held back, all liberties are lost. Make a call? You're on talk radio. Send an email? Published news. Whisper outdoors? Drones above. And it's getting worse. Four of the nine supreme court justices are hard core lefties. Individual liberties, they ask? That's for us in government to bestow upon you as we see fit. Guns? We have them, but you won't. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution - you know, our basic government framework that acknowldeges that each man is born free, with the right to pursue his own happiness absent any governmental interference - are to them merely "dead documents" with little if any relevance to today's modern and complicated world. Government says these suspensions of liberty are neceaasy to keep us safe. If we stand down, they tell us, nukes will go off in our cities, and chaos will reign. Really.

Is this current adminsitration not a terror organization, as well? After five years, are you more circumspect in your thoughts and actions? Do you begin to fear the NSA, the TSA and the IRS as adversaries that are controlled by others than "we the people?"

We have until late in 2014, I believe, to take the country back. If we fail, the concept of a free people will be subjugated by opressive governments, both here and globally, for a very, very long time.

The Responsibility of Staying Informed

Responsibility is hard work.  It really is.  Think about it.  It's a lot easier to sit there on the couch after work and watch the news shows on TV, nod sagely, and pretend you're being informed of the events of the day.   But for the most part, you're not being informed as much as you're being indoctrinated.

Most people will agree that the mainstream media is biased  to the left, but when a story airs, many viewers are accepting the content of the newscast as gospel.  MSNBC, CNN, ABC and CBS news shows have a definite political spin:  their stories must fit their liberal, progressive narrative.  FOX news presents a stark contrast to the far left, but still could be even more conservative. I know some folks who still swear by CNN as the end-all, be-all of news and information, and they'll admit that, while yes, there's some spinning going on, the content is pretty much on point.  Rubbish.  Contrast the TV version of a given national or international news story with an online version of the same, and you'll find an altogether different presentation.  Same with newspapers.  For example, I get two papers daily, one is far left progressive, the other slightly right of center - I wouldn't call it conservative by any means.  But it's enlightening to read the same story from the AP in the lefty paper, and then see the same story from McClatchy - which is hardly a conservative outlet - WSJ or some other news source in the center-leaning paper.

A classic example of media influence is the gun control debate.  Piers Morgan and other talking heads know for a fact that more guns in our culture will result in more crime and in more gun deaths.  To them that's a fact.  But the reality is that more guns in the hands of responsible law abiding citizens actually reduce crime.  In cities with the most draconian gun laws exists the highest incident of murder and gun related crime.  See John Lott's exhaustive study, Guns and Crime.  Coloradans just recalled two of their state legislators who pushed through unpopular gun control measures, and every state now has right to carry laws.  Conversely, Washington D.C., New York and Chicago, cities with the strictest gun laws, have the highest crime rates in the country.  Chicago just recently became Murder Capital, USA.  But facts can't get in the way of the progressive narrative:  Piers Morgan and others will be on TV again tonight with the same old tired emotional pablum, and the uniformed viewer will lap it up.

So how to do we stay informed rather than propagandized?  I suggest saturation.  I watch CNN and FOX, I read two newspapers daily, a monthly business journal or two, and I visit four news portals daily on the internet.  By staying neutral - that is, by paying attention and not screaming in utter astonishment at the nonsense and drivel you will surely see and hear, you can begin identify the real from the spin.  From that you may form your own educated and informed opinion.  That is the responsibility we have as Americans: to stay informed so that our voice can be one of reason, logic and lawfulness. When we vote at the civic, state or national levels, we must have a educated and informed grasp of the issues.  That is our responsibility for being and remaining free.

Try it and see what you learn.  Be free; be informed.

Betting the Wrong Horse - Again

The democrats have been betting the 2008 presidential election on the failure of the war in Iraq. So heavily invested in defeat are they, that the treasonous ewok-in-charge, the diminutive Harry Reid, has been inspired to go before the world and declare, "the war is lost."

Of course, the Democrats' biggest fear is that we'll win - militarily and politically - in Iraq. Even the upbeat Associated Press survey, which follows the unexpected good news from analysts Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollockin of the Brookings Institution, is feared by Dems to be a precursor to the upcoming report by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. That's due next month, and it may be full of good news about military and political progress there. But good news for the country is bad news for the Democrats.

But on Monday, a new Gallup Poll, taken for USA Today, finds that the number of Americans who think the war news is getting better has risen sharply, up from 22 percent last month to 31 percent now. Those pessimists who think the surge is "not making much difference" has gone down 10% - from 51 percent to 41 percent. Americans are natural-born optimists, eager for good news, especially about military campaigns.

The 2008 election is still 16 months away. The Democrat lead ponies are running themselves out by campaigning this early, and may very well have little cash or energy left by next November. Republicans are wisely waiting for the Iraq report, and if there's good news from General Petraeus's report, the Democrats will have nothing positive to run on.

Remember, Harry Reid and the congressional Democrats have already placed their bets - all in - that the war is lost. We'll see.

Amnesty Backlash

Senator Mel Martinez, still in a rage after the Amnesty Bill he co-sponsored with Ted Kennedy was shot down in flames, has issued a challenge to those of us in the grassroots who demanded this piece of irresponsible legislation end up where it belongs - on the dust bin of history. That challenge is to come up with something better. "The voices of negativity now have a responsibility to come up with an answer,” he said. Pretty arrogant.

OK, Mel, I'll get right on it, but first a rebuttal.

In the personal letter I received this week from him replying to an email I sent him last month, he alleges that he's all in favor of border and immigration control, enforcement of existing laws, and over all in favor of the rule of law. Likewise, in his editorial in the official RNC magazine, Rising Tide, he rallies us all around the flag, boys, and declares that we all must work together to "take back" our party and return it to the values of personal responsibility, smaller and less intrusive government, and lower taxes.

Unbelievable. Maybe that's why, along with Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, John McCain and others, he co-sponsored a dark-of-night, back-room bill that would essentially destroy the notion that US immigration policy is based on law. At the very least, it certainly flies in the face of each and every one of those bedrock Republican principals he just cited. And what's worse is that Mel Martinez is the current Chairman of The Republican National Committee.

Mel went so far as to suggest - well, he more or less accuses - we the people of being racist. Racist? You mean racist like La Raza, the radical anti-American group of Mexicans who want to reconquest most of the southwestern United States, referred to as Aztlan, and who was consulted on the drafting of the provisions in this bill? And whose attitude toward America is reflected in the photo above? Is that what is known as assimilation into the culture?

But Mel, as to your challenge, here's what I propose to replace that ridiculous bill you tried to foist on us, and it won't cost the taxpayers billions of dollars, like your bill. And, yes, I did read it - all 700 odd pages - and yes, I do understand it.

Here's my 10-point plan, and feel free to take notes:

1. Enforce the existing laws against employers who are hiring illegals
2. Deport those aliens caught breaking the law, including suspected or known gang members
3. Increase the number of Border Agents, and stop criminalizing those agents who do their job
4. Fire any officials who were implicit in the railroading and imprisonment of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean
5. Enforce identity checks and refuse re-entry to those aliens already deported
6. Eliminate all access of state and Federal aid to illegals - period
7. Penalize sanctuary cities by withholding all federal money
8. Refuse visas to pregnant women
9. Make English the official language, and use it exclusively
10. Exclude any radial group from making or influencing immigration policy

Now a petition has begun to circulate calling for Martinez' recall. The site http://www.recallmel.com/ was launched June 18th 2007 by central Florida IT Tech Mr. Dewey Wallace to protest what he views as a reversal of Senator Martinez’s campaign promises of no Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants. The website has a secure SSL page designed to gather signatures in an attempt to make a legal recall via special election of the Senator.

6 June 1944

Today is the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, the day in which the US-led Allies invaded the coast of France, beginning the Battle of Normandy during World War II. This invasion began the Allied liberation of Europe, and ultimately resulted in the taking of Berlin, and the end of the war in the European Theater.

D-Day was significant in many ways. It was the largest naval armada in history, consisting of thousands of ships. Nearly 3 million troops were assembled as the invasion force to land in France, and included elements of Navy, Army, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force. The invasion force was made up of several nations including primarily the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, with some participation from Free France and Poland. Allied casualities were high: 45,000 were killed in action, with some 173,000 wounded or missing. German forces lost over 23,000 KIA, 67,000 wounded and 198,000 missing or captured.

Sadly, no mention of this historic event was mentioned in many newspapers. I'm reminded of George Santayana's famous quote: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Newt Still Makes Sense in '08

Back in September of last year, I posted an interesting offering from Next Gingrich on how to win in November. By implementing just 11 ideas, and running on them, Republicans probably could have turned the election into a roust of the no-ideas Democrats. But that's past, of course, but I think the plan is worth repeating. Here's an updated re-post of Mr. Newt's salient points:

One of the most amazing things I've noticed this election cycle is the complete and utter lack of ideas coming from the left. The Democrats and the media have spent millions of dollars and countless hours to bash this administration and its foreign policy, yet have still not offered up a single idea as counterpoint to what they're whining about. Apart from a complete withdrawal from Iraq, no thought has seemingly been given to the consequences of monumentally bad idea.

Yet one of the brightest minds in Washington has done just that - formulated an 11-point plan that is necessary for "Winning The Future" and which has broad-base support from the American people. Contrast the void on the left with Newt Gingrich's commonsense 11-point plan for a solid Republican win in November.

Make English the Official Language of Government.
The House should pass a bill making English the official language of government, abolishing multilingual ballots and reaffirming that new citizens should be required to pass a test on American history in English.

Control the Borders.
The House should pass a narrowly focused bill to ensure that the United States can control the border.

Keep God in the Pledge.
Congress should take two steps to preserve the right to say "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, a right which is supported by 91% of all Americans. The American people feel deeply that our Declaration of Independence is correct in saying that each of us is endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. It is time to return to a balanced Constitutional system.

Require a Voter ID Card.
The American people overwhelmingly support (85% in one case, 70%-plus even after all the arguments against it are made) having a voter ID card so we can be sure only legal citizens are voting. Passing a bill to require this in all federal elections would be a big step toward more honest elections.

[And eliminate the need for bogus and unconstitutional bills like the shameful McCain-Feingold bill - Ed.]

Repeal the Death Tax, for Good.
The American people have consistently supported the total repeal of the death tax and the House should simply pass it once a week and attach it to various Senate bills to force the Senate to deal with it again and again. Let liberals explain why they oppose something that more than 70% of the country favors.

Restore Property Rights.
The American people are deeply opposed to local politicians' being able to seize a citizen's home or business. The Supreme Court's Kelo decision on eminent domain is one of the most unpopular in recent years and is also one of the most dangerous.

[Another absurd unconstitutional bill that blatantly defies the 4th Amendment. -Ed.]

Achieve Sustainable Energy Independence.
The country is eager for a straightforward new energy strategy for national security, environmental and economic reasons, starting with clean nuclear power using new technologies that are safe and produce little
waste.

Control Spending and Balance the Budget.
The House should pass new budget legislation to control spending, leading to a balanced budget in seven years (the length of time we gave ourselves in the Contract with America and which led to the first four balanced budgets since the 1920s), with special focus on programs liberals will fight to increase spending.

Tie Education Funding to Teacher Accountability.
A major result of the No Child Left Behind legislation has been the clear revelation that a number of schools systems are crippling and destroying children. When the Detroit school system only graduates 21% of entering freshman on time, it is clear the children are being cheated.

Defend America From the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam.

Terrorism is a real threat. Congress should hold hearings on the recent terror activities in Canada, the United Kingdom and Morocco. The House should move bills that strengthen our security from terrorists with increased powers for surveillance, an overruling of the disastrous Hamdan decision and a series of other steps.

[Foreign combatants who are not US citizens are not entitled to the rights enumerated in the US constitution. -Ed]

Focus on Iran and North Korea.
The American people are very prepared to believe we face extraordinary threats from a nuclear North Korea and an Iranian regime actively seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Any actions in Iraq need to be recast in terms of their impact on Iran. A weak America in Iraq will be unable to stop Iran. Stopping Iran is potentially literally a matter of life and death. Everything about Iraq should be debated within this larger and much more dangerous context.

Given the wide field of candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination, and in light of the backlash against the ill-conceived Kennedy-Martinez Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1348, aka Amnesty Bill), it seems to me that the best choice so far is the team that hasn't yet announced: Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich.

Hey, I'm just sayin'.

An Open Letter to Senator Mel Martinez

Dear Senator Martinez:

I wish to voice my opposition to SB 1348, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. This bill is flawed in so many ways it concerns me for several reasons.

The first is that far from enacting any meaningful reform, it actually grants amnesty to perhaps 20,000,000 existing illegal aliens, along with their extended families. This country was established as a nation of laws, but it seems that some, like yourself as co-sponsor of this bill, are willing to subvert that basic tenet, and allow lawbreakers to not only skate free, but to enjoy the benefits of citizenship. What do I tell my grandkids about the rule of law, when half their class contains illegal Mexicans? How did my great grandparents become citizens? How did you become a citizen, Senator Martinez? Is obeying the law no longer a requisite for citizenship? Is that your message?

Secondly, with threats of annihilation being made against the county and its citizens almost daily, the last thing the government should do is to throw open the borders and let these aliens roam free among us. Which one is a simple peasant looking for work, and which is a terrorist with a weapon? Is this a risk worth taking in exchange for the dubious benefit of cheap short term labor, or for 20 million future Democrats?

Lastly, this bill doesn't pass the light-of-day test. Where are the committee hearings? Where's the debate? Americans are generous by nature, and despite the spin by the media, they are not xenophobic. Americans welcome immigrants who come here legally, learn the language, work hard and pay taxes, and assimilate into the culture. They are, however, suspicious of back room deals that try to ram bad legislation like this bill down their throats, in the dark of night.

Shame, Senator Martinez, shame. I could expect socialist bills like this from Ted Kennedy or Harry Reid. I supported and voted for you, but I did not give you license to subvert the nation's rule of law, or its border security. Amnesty didn't work under President Reagan, and it won't work now. I urge you to withdraw your sponsorship of this bill, and to vigorously oppose it.

The Armed Citizen

In a story May 2, two illegal aliens, Ralphel Resindez, 23, and Enrico Garza, 26, probably believed they would easily overpower a home alone eleven year old Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two story home. It seems the two crooks never learned two things: first, they were in Montana, and second, Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine.

Patricia was in her upstairs bedroom when the two men broke through the front door of the house. She quickly ran to her father's room and grabbed his 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun. Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor only to be the first to catch a near point blank blast of buck shot from the girl's knee crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his abdomen and genitals. When Garza ran to the foot of the stairs, he took a blast to the left shoulder and staggered out into the street where he bled to death before medical help could arrive.

It was found out later that Resindez was armed with a stolen .45 caliber handgun he took from another home invasion robbery. The victim, 50 year old David Burien, was not so lucky as he died from stab wounds to the chest.

Patricia staved off a robbery and potential rape because her parents taught her how to use a gun. Her parents wisely educated her on the power that a firearm provides, and that training made her comfortable around firearms. Ignorance can be deadly, but fortunately for this Montana family, knowledge was power.

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My daughter was taught to be proficient with handguns when she was 13, and that experience helped her in her military career. She remains the only female in history in the 63rd Chemical Company, 801st Battalion, 101 Airborne Division to qualify expert with the 7.62 mm SAW, or Squad Automatic Weapon.

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Proficiency with firearms is not only a requisite in today's world, it's fun too. On occasion I participate in IPSC (International Practical Pistol Confederation) competition, which is fun mixed with training. That competition entails shooting at various targets at various distances, scored by number of hits in the shortest time. This, and most other shooting sports, provides training that is applicable to real-life situations, and can save your life. It did for little Patricia.

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A May 15 story in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) serves as a good reminder of how a person’s support for gun control often changes after a personal experience with crime.

State Representative Michael DeBose (D-12) of Cleveland was an opponent of Right-to-Carry, having voted against the measure twice. All that changed on the night of May 1, when he was confronted by two men, one of whom was wielding a gun. On that night, Rep. DeBose’s sense of security in his neighborhood changed, as did his view on lawful citizens being able to defend themselves.

Rep. DeBose was lucky—this time—that his running, screaming, and summons for help prevented him from being harmed. When asked how this recent experience may change the prism through which he views Right-to-Carry, Rep. DeBose was crystal clear: "I was wrong. I'm going to get a permit and so is my wife. I've changed my mind. You need a way to protect yourself and your family. I don't want to hurt anyone. But I never again want to be in the position where I'm approached by someone with a gun and I don't have one. There are too many people who are just evil and mean-spirited. They will hurt you for no reason. If more people were packing guns, it might serve as a deterrent.”

Welcome, Rep. DeBose, to the growing list of Right-to-Carry converts. While it is too bad it took a life-threatening situation to convert him, we hope he will share his experience, and his newfound respect for the right to self-defense, with his other colleagues who still don’t get it. It is our hope they won’t have to endure a similar experience to do so.

By What Name Torture?

For all the weak and wobbly who were so concerned about imagined US military abuses of terrorists held at Gitmo, news all but ignored today reveals the existence of a how-to manual for torture. Not for such heinous acts as water-boarding or sleep deprivation, but for the real, medieval variety of torture. Surprisingly, this how-to manual was not issued by the pentagon for field use by US troops. Nope, it's an Al Qaeda issued manual.

In a recent raid on an Al Qaeda safe house in Iraq, U.S. military officials recovered an assortment of crude drawings depicting torture methods like “blowtorch to the skin” and “eye removal.” Dragging victims behind a car, and how to electrocute victims were also portrayed. Along with the manual, soldiers seized various torture implements, like meat cleavers, whips, and wire cutters.

We will wait patiently while human rights groups and vocal news outlets across the globe decry this barbaric heinous activity. Any minute now. Just be a moment . . . No, there will be no such outcry. Amnesty International, the New York Times and their ilk criticize only US methods of information gathering, which they label "torture." Dismemberment and disfiguration, of course, are perfectly acceptable methods for genuine freedom fighters. And those things are certainly not "torture'.

Meanwhile the insane rabid Islamofascists, with the tacit approval of the global "human rights" community, continue with their barbaric medieval beheadings, the most recent of which forced a 12-year-old boy to do the heinous deed, while his elders give him instructions. Check the actual footage of this barbarism - banned in the western news outlets - if you dare. But be warned, it's real and it's graphic.

But don't wait for the "human rights" community to point out the blatant child abuse, or the savage beheading while still alive of this civilian, or the pure evil and hypocrisy of the "religion of peace."

As hypocrisy sits on its throne and laughs, evil flourishes.

Hat tip to The Jawa Report for the still photos of the beheading.

Bye, Bye, Rosie

Goodbye and good riddance to the loudmouth bully of the View. Rosie O'Donnell took an earlier retirement today from the View, weeks earlier than her canceled contract date.

Generally misinformed, Rosie always lead with her mouth, and relied on her domineering ways to back up her absurd far-left conspiratorial ramblings. One of the most hateful commentators on television, Rosie has uttered such bizarre statements as: the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11 was an inside job perpetrated by the Bush administration; that US troops are terrorists in Iraq, having killed 650,000 innocent Iraqi civilians; that none of the 9/11 hijackers were Arabs; that no airliner hit the pentagon on 9/11 (rather she alleges it was a planted bomb); and her hatred of the Bush administration and all things Republican is legion.

Thank goodness Rosie and her Jerry Springer brand of shock jock programming is now gone. Hopefully, for good. The culture is under enough stress without having to deal with a mentally unstable, insecure, loudmouthed bully of a self-absorbed, shrill lesbian screaming her twisted and cynical views in our face.

Ciao, Rosita. Darken our doors no more.

More Victories in Iraq

Despite the doomsday pronouncements from the Democrat seditionist Harry Ried, news from Iraq continues to indicate that al Qaeda continues to get, well, beat up. Admiral William Fallon told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that U.S. military forces are "working very hard" to stop al Qaeda fighters entering the country through Syria.

"There's little doubt that there was a pipeline coming through Syria that was enabling these people to get into the fight," Adm. Fallon said. "But in the last couple of months, the significant turn to the government and coalition side by people in Anbar I believe has got to be having a detrimental effect on this, because that's the conduit, if you would, where these people were coming."

Admiral Fallon was referring to a number of senior Sunni leaders in Anbar province who have literally switched sides from supporting the terrorist insurgency who now actively support U.S. and Iraqi government troops. What? How can that be? Isn't the war lost? The New York Times must have missed that story. Prominent religious leaders have rejected al Qaeda because the group's indiscriminate bombings are slaughtering innocent Iraqis, according to U.S. military officials. The increased pressure on the underground transit route, the so-called Syrian pipeline "is not particularly hospitable to al Qaeda or foreign fighters; we'd expect to see some positive results from that," Admiral Fallon said.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a speech yesterday that the United States needs to be steadfast in fighting the war against terrorism. That includes in Iraq, in Afghanistan and everywhere Islamofascists strike. He noted Winston Churchill's comment on the United States in 1943 that "the price of greatness is responsibility."

The current mission in Iraq, following the first mission which was the ouster of Saddam Hussein, has been either overlooked or misrepresented by the American mainstream media. This current task is to unite the three major factions - Sunni, Shi'a and Kurd - into a democratic self-government. When that is accomplished there will exist a substantial stability in the middle east. With democratic governments flourishing, al Qaeda and its murderous factions will have no place to train, arm or hide. When the Iraqis themselves fight al Qaeda and its insane dogma, the end of this war will surely be at hand. And they will then understand that responsibility is greatness.

The Alpha Site: Earth II

Twenty light years from Earth, above a calm, dark ocean, a huge, bloated red sun rises in the sky - a full ten times the size of our Sun as seen from Earth. Small waves lap at a sandy shore and on the beach as something stirs. This very well may be the scene on what is possibly the most extraordinary world to have been discovered by astronomers: the first truly Earth-like planet to have been found outside our Solar System. The discovery of the planet, designated Gliese 581c, was announced today by a team of European astronomers, using a telescope in La Silla in the Chilean Andes.

The Earth-like planet that could be covered in oceans and may support life is 20.5 light years away, and has the right temperature to allow liquid water on its surface. The new planet, which orbits a small, red star called Gliese 581, is about one-and-a-half times the diameter of the Earth, and is located in the constellation Libra.

Astrobiologists refer to a climate zone known as the Goldilocks Zone, where it is not so cold that water freezes and not so hot that it boils, but where it can lie on the planet's surface as a liquid. In our solar system, only one planet - Earth - lies in the Goldilocks Zone. Venus is far too hot and Mars is just too cold. This new planet lies bang in the middle of the zone, with average surface temperatures estimated to be between 32 and 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Lakes, rivers and even oceans are possible.

It is not clear what this planet is made of. If it is rock, like the Earth, then its surface may be land, or a combination of land and ocean. Another possibility is that Gliese 581c was formed mostly from ice far from the star (ice is a very common substance in the Universe), and moved to the close orbit it inhabits today. In which case its entire surface will have melted to form a giant, planet-wide ocean with no land, save perhaps a few rocky islands or icebergs.

The surface gravity is probably around twice that of the Earth and the atmosphere could be similar to ours. Although the new planet is in itself very Earth-like, its solar system is about as alien as could be imagined. The star at the centre - Gliese 581 - is small and dim, only about a third the size of our Sun and about 50 times cooler. The two other planets are huge, Neptune-sized worlds called Gliese 581b and Gliese 581d (there is no "a", to avoid confusion with the star itself). The Earth-like planet orbits its sun at a distance of only six million miles or so, travelling so fast that its "year" only lasts 13 of our days. The parent star would dominate the view from the surface - a huge red ball of fire that must be a spectacular sight.

It is difficult to speculate what - if any - life there is on the planet. If there is life there it would have to cope with the higher gravity and solar radiation from its sun. Just because Gliese 581c is habitable does not mean that it is inhabited, but we do know its sun is an ancient star - in fact, it is one of the oldest stars in the galaxy, and extremely stable. If there is life, it has had many billions of years to evolve.

The real importance is not so much the discovery of this planet itself, but the fact that it shows that Earth-like planets are probably extremely common in the Universe. There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy alone and many astronomers believe most of these stars have planets.

Interestingly, Gliese 581c is so close to the Earth that if its inhabitants only had our level of technology, they could - just about - pick up some of our radio signals, such as the most powerful military transmitters. What would happen if we received a signal from them is unclear.

"There is a protocol, buried away in the United Nations," says Dr Shostak of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in California. "The President would be told first, after the signal was confirmed by other observatories. But we couldn't keep such a discovery secret."

It may be some time before we detect any such signals, but it is just possible that today we are closer than ever to finding life in the stars.

An Open Letter to Senator Reid on His Declaration of Defeat

April 21st, 2007

The following letter was written by Lt. Jason Nichols, a Naval officer who is currently serving in Baghdad. He is also the head of Appeal for Courage, a group of American active duty and reserve service personnel who are appealing to Congress to stay and finish the war.

Senator Reid:

When you say we’ve lost in Iraq, I don’t think you understand the effect of your words. The Iraqis I speak with are the good guys here, fighting to build a stable government. They hear what you say, but they don’t understand it. They don’t know about the political game, they don’t know about a Presidential veto, and they don’t know about party politics.

But they do know that if they help us, they are noticed by terrorists and extremists. They decide to help us if they think we can protect them from those terrorists. They tell us where caches of weapons are hidden. They call and report small groups of men who are strangers to the neighborhood, men that look the same to us, but are obvious to them as a foreign suicide cell.

To be brief, your words are killing us. Your statements make the Iraqis afraid to help us for fear we’ll leave them unprotected in the future. They don’t report a cache, and its weapons blow up my friends in a convoy. They don’t report a foreign fighter, and that fighter sends a mortar onto my base. Your statements are noticed, and they have an effect.

Finally, you are mistaken when you say we are losing. We are winning, I see it every day. However, we will win with fewer casualties if you help us. Will you?

Respectfully,
LT Jason Nichols, USN MNF-I,
Baghdad

Well said, Lieutenant Nichols!

Hattip to Gathering of Eagles http://gatheringofeagles.org/?p=311

Treason in the Senate

Harry Reid, Nevada democrat and senate majority leader, has declared the war in Iraq is "lost." One hundred thirty-five thousand American soldiers, sailors and airmen are taking the fight to the Islamic fanatics, and winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, but Reid, in his most seditionist statement so far, pronounces the war is lost.

So egregious is his statement that soldiers have expressed their shock and revulsion in emails sent throughout the country. In raw and emotional language from the bloody front lines, Cpl. Tyler Rock, of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, skewered Reid for being far removed from the patriotism and progress in Iraq. "Yeah, and I got a quote for that [expletive] Harry Reid. These families need us here," Rock vented in an e-mail to Pat Dollard, a Hollywood agent-turned-war reporter who posted the comment on his Web site, www.patdollard.com. Good on ya, Corporal!

Reid, in his blind hatred of the president and thirst for democrat party power, has let politics trump his patriotism. And that graciously assumes he had any to begin with.

Harry Reid. One despicable individual.

Flying Imams vs. John Doe

Remember those 5 Imams who made a big scene by praying publicly in the terminal at the Minneapolis airport recently? And during the flight they continued to pray loudly and moved about in the passenger cabin. Clearly trying to incite negative attention in order to use politically correct laws against those who reported their suspicious behavior, they've now sued both USAirways and the unknown passengers who reported their shenanigans, named in the complaints as certain "John Does."

Tired of this nonsense? Join up. Rep. Stevan Pearce (R-NM) drafted a bill to protect such John Does from liability. Here is Rep. Pearce's press release:

Today, United States Congressman Steve Pearce introduced H.R. 1640 the "Protecting Americans Fighting Terrorism Act of 2007." If passed, this legislation would protect individuals from being sued for reporting suspicious activities to law enforcement and security personnel.

The language of the Act comes as a direct response to a recent incident in Minneapolis. As reported in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the imams engaged in a variety of suspicious behaviors while boarding a US Airways flight, according to the airport police report. Some prayed loudly in the gate area, spoke angrily about the United States and Saddam, switched seats and sat in the 9/11 hijackers' configuration, and unnecessarily requested seatbelt extenders that could be used as weapons, according to witness reports and US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader.

As a result of the aforementioned behavior, citizens contacted airline authorities and the pilot informed law enforcement to have the suspicious parties removed from the aircraft. The original incident occurred in November of 2006; now the group has filed suit against US Airways and the
Minneapolis - St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission on 17 different charges. Included in the lawsuit as defendants, are "John Does" described as citizens who called authorities to report the suspicious behavior of the Imams.

Rep. Pearce commented on introducing the bill: "It is a sad day in America when our own institutions of freedom are being used against us in the battle against terrorism. When I first heard about the lawsuit brought by the 'imams' in Minnesota, it was clear to me that this was an injustice against Americans who were simply trying to protect themselves. These brave citizens should be recognized as heroes for their efforts to report suspicious activity, particularly activity that has been associated with previous terror attacks.

"As Americans, we must not allow ourselves to be bullied by individuals who seek to disrupt our way of life. We can not allow the sympathizers of terrorism to make Americans wonder if they could be sued before reporting possible terrorist activity. Whether it is an intimidation tactic or a full scale attack, Americans have the right and responsibility to protect themselves and their fellow citizens. I introduced this legislation to protect Americans and keep all citizens alert and vocal as they serve on the front line in our battle against terrorism here in America."

Finally some sanity. Terrorism, by definition, includes low-conflict situations like e-coli in our produce, rat poison in Rover's dog food, and certainly intimidation tactics like this ridiculous suit. And any judge who is worth his robes should immediately dismiss this suit - with extreme prejudice.

Some folks I've talked to have a better solution. They call it SOS. It's not a call for help, however. It means Shoot On Sight.

Have a nice day.

Hattip to Michele Malkin and the guys at Powerline

More Iraqi Progress

Tired of the propaganda about Iraq? Take a look in the paper, on the news, and all you'll see countless stories about casualties and destruction. But progress is being made in Iraq, and it's noteworthy. Here are just some of the achievements being made by US and coalition forces that you will not see in AP, NYT, WaPo, or the LA Times:

• The liberal media isn't going to report the fact that 3,100 Iraqi schools have been renovated, 364 are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are under construction, and 38 new schools have been completed
• The liberal media isn't going to report that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers
• The liberal media isn't going to report that 96 percent of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations
• The liberal media isn't going to report that 47 countries have reestablished their embassies in Iraq
  

Don't believe it? These facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site: http://www.defenselink.mil/.

Cassini's Eye on Saturn

Named for the 17th century Italian astronomer and mathematician Giovanni Cassini, the NASA probe bearing his name sent back some astounding images of Saturn, which were released by NASA Thursday. The images show a different perspective of Saturn's rings from a more polar orbit. Taken from a distance of only 800,000 miles, the images show distinctive ring shadows on the surface, and some interesting blue and gold coloration of the planet. The moon Dione can be seen orbiting in the background.

In other cosmic events, aside from the coronal mass ejections emanating from the sun, this evening the moon will rise in full eclipse. As it happens, a lunar eclipse and an opposition of Saturn and Neptune are in the cosmic cards this week. Combined with some bearish market fundamentals, that should keep the world's biggest stock market under a cloud, financial astrologer Arch Crawford wrote to clients. That means stay out of the casinos for a while.

Anyway, it's a good night to look up at the heavens and ponder the majesty of the universe that we've only begun to explore. It'll keep things in the proper perspective.

Solar Activity Threatens Telecommunications

Over the next three years, scientists expect that solar flares will increase in activity and intensity, potentially creating havoc with space-based telecommusications systems. Cell phones and GPS systems are vunerable as satellites are bombardard with radiation from these solar magnetic storms.

Markus Aschwanden, a solar physicist at the Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, has said, "The solar flares are expected to be at its maximum intensity by the year 2010. These solar flares and Coronoal Mass Ejections from the sun have the ability to travel all the way to the earth and create a blackout of cellular phone services and navigational systems like the GPS. If a solar flare or a CME collides with the Earth, it can cause a geomagnetic storm."

Aschwanden added that large geomagnetic storms have caused electrical power outages and damaged communication satellites. A few years back, these solar flares destroyed the satellite Galaxy 4.

Solar fares and coronal mass ejections occur when magnetic energy built up in the sun's atmosphere is suddenly released. These flares carry a huge amount of energy, and travel very fast, reaching the Earth in a matter of hours. The geomagnetic pulse in 1998 that killed Galaxy 4 caused widespread loss of pager service and other telecommunications problems.

Update: A Man With A Gun

Update: Now the news comes out that the Bosnian-born shooter at the Salt Lake City mall was indeed a muslim. But don't wait for the MSM to report this fact.