Gingrich: Wright May Be Deliberately Trying to Hurt Obama

Political Radar: Gingrich: Wright May Be Deliberately Trying to Hurt Obama

I Love Newt... he tells it like it is.... [This Post Continues after the jump...]

School Silencing Dr. Gray Over Global-Warming Views

Where's the uproar about "Academic Freedom" ?

oh...wait.. that only applies if you are liberal...

FOXNews.com - Hurricane Expert: School Silencing Me Over Global-Warming Views - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Wright to Obama: 'Coming after you'

Now this is interesting. Wright seems to be saying that he expects Obama to make the changes Write has been preaching on for years. Obama has heard all of these and to some degree agrees with them. Otherwise he would have naturally left the church long ago. So it's hard to think Obama will not try to implement sopme of what Wright preaches.

Therefore is is NOW a legitimate campaign issue. Obama IS going to be pressured to implement all the stuff he's tacitly agreed to all these years. So Wright has just made the last 20 years of his sermons legitimate targets. What has Wright preached on? What issues keep coming up? What is the tone of those sermons. Etc etc etc..

Wright to Obama: 'Coming after you' - Mike Allen - Politico.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Parents Who Prayed as Daughter Died to Face Murder Charges

This is disturbing. The girl died from an UNdiagnosed condition. She was healthy except for the last two weeks of her life. Some could call this poor judgment by the parents, but I won't even go that far. It was a mistake, yes.... but not 2nd degree murder.

I suspect it will not go far...

FOXNews.com - DA: Wisconsin Parents Who Prayed as Daughter Died to Face Murder Charges - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Supreme Court upholds photo ID law for voters

Well, this is good news.

I've never understood the silly arguments against this.
I can't board a plane without showing a photo ID, I can't buy a beer without one, heck I'm not even allowed to drive a car without one.

But vote? Sure, just show up and vote, we don't care who you are....

Utterly ridiculous, and now the Supremes agree...

Supreme Court upholds photo ID law for voters in Indiana - Yahoo! News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Chinese Nationalism

Chinese Nationalism and Tibet | Newsweek The Council on Foreign Relations | Newsweek.com

This is good reading, but I don't know enough about Chinese history to know if this is bias or not. It's too easy to pick and choose historic events to make your point.

The reads as if the Chinese government if just doing the best it can to move the country forward.

I support the right of the Chinese people to demonstrate against American or French actions, I just wish they had the same right to demonstrate against their OWN Government's actions without being shot. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Renewable energy cannot make a dent in fossil fuel usage

Can renewable energy make a dent in fossil fuels? | Green Tech blog - CNET News.com

Well, it's officially hopeless. If Al Gore is right, then were all doomed. Because there is nothing we can do to quickly stop carbon emissions.

So I for one hope he was exaggerating a little... [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Police not guilty in groom's death

Police not guilty in groom's death - CNN.com

I always struggle with cases like this. Police have to have the ability to defend themselves without be second guessed by armchair quarterbacks like me.

On the other hand, the great power and authority we give police offices MUST be balanced by great responsibility. Therefore an officer must be held accountable for bad decisions EVEN if they have a dangerous job and EVEN if they feared for their life. If you can't take the heat... don't be a NYC police officer.

One of the officers fired 31 times without stooping to reassess the situation. He though the guy had a gun, but didn't seem to notice no one was shooting back. He thought they were trying to use the car to run him over, but didn't simply get out of the way. Instead he reloaded and kept shooting.

Added to all of this, the police officers were in PLAIN CLOTHES. If a normal looking guy pulls a gun on me in New York. My first though is not going to be "Oh, he's a police man who just wants to ask me a few questions". No!! If I'm already in or near my car, I'm going to jump in it and try to get away.

I honestly don't know how to balance all of this. But I do think the guy that fired 31 times should be held accountable for his foolish and unnecessary action that night. At a minimum, he should no longer be allowed to carry a gun in NYC because he simply can't be trusted with one.

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California gay marriage ban ready for Nov ballot

Well Florida and California will both be voting on gay-marriage this fall. I'm not sure who that will help in the Presidential race this time, but similar amendment in 2004 supposedly help Bush get reelected.

Backers of Calif. gay marriage ban ready to submit petitions [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Establishing the Vision for Space Exploration

Good reading for any NASA fan or space buff....

Establishing the Vision for Space Exploration | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference [This Post Continues after the jump...]

GREEN & SMART

GREEN & SMART - New York Post

I HAVEN'T been able to get very excited about the big global-warming debate - but I am excited about some solutions to global warming.

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David Walker - Big Numbers and they're all Bad.

Some great videos from David Walker - Until last month, he was the Comptroller General of the US.

This guy knows (or should know) his stuff and he's concerned about our financial future. We simply CANNOT keep going at this. Social security and Medicare are going to swamp us if we don't change something.

By something, I mean ANYTHING but what we are doing. If we want socicial security and social health insurance, that's an option, but we have to actually PAY for it. We must stop borrowing and deficit spending. If it's the "right thing to do" as some claim, then they must support raising the taxes to pay for it. You can't have it both ways like we've been doing.





Here's a 60-Minutes video of Mr. Walker
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Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them

Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them

Well, this is interesting. I honestly wonder what secular society will do with this info. Assuming it pans out and allow some normal time for it to sink in, what will we conclude from it? Science basically teaches us that this is "no god" and now it is saying there is "no you" either. What's left?

If you believe this, then the fact that you have your personality and I have mine is of no more significance than the potato chip that looks like Mickey Mouse or cloud formations that look like a car. In those cases nature makes random patterns that we interpret as meaningful. Now we ourselves are the random patterns that are misinterpreted as meaningful.

My Opinion: When you leave God out of the equation, this world and our lives ARE indeed meaningless. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Soviet Space Shuttle moves to German Museum

Space Fleet: Buran Space Shuttle Floats Along the Rhine



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Why China is the REAL master of the universe

Why China is the REAL master of the universe | the Daily Mail

Wow, this is scary... not so much who rules the world, I never knew why it was so important to rule the world. But now I realize that ruling the world was what made or prosperity possible. We weren't and still aren't perfect, but I think we did a better job than China will.

But I think China has their own internal problems that will destroy it from within. Assuming the "west" keeps the pressure on for human rights and freedom and democracy. But it seems we are loosing our will power as quick as we are loosing economic and political power in the world. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Board rejects Daily Bread expansion plan

Board rejects Daily Bread expansion plan | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY

I don't know enough about this to make an opinion. Certainly what "Daily Bread" is doing is admirable and unfortunately, necessary. And it has to be done SOMEWHERE...

But the "not in my back yard" mentality is hard to break.

But the soup kitchen is ALREADY there. They just want to build a better facility. I guess the problem is the new facility is BIGGER and could possibly attract more people. I don't know if I buy that. Is the current building SO BAD that hungry people are staying away and going hungry? Is the new facility SO NICE that people will move to the area just to go there?

Sill, would I want this near my house? Would I go out at night near a place like this (if it were in a business/entertainment district)?

I simply don't know enough about it all. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Shuttle successor flawed and dangerous

Shuttle successor flawed, dangerous, GAO report finds -- Laws, Kennedy Space Center, NASA -- OrlandoSentinel.com

I always thought putting a 2nd stage on top of an existing booster was too simplistic. The booster just doesn't have that much power, it burns for what about 2 minutes, but it takes the shuttle 8.5 to get to orbit. So they've added a segment to the booster and a significant "2nd stage" to get the Orion vehicular to orbit. The orion weights much less than the shuttle, so it needs less energy to get to orbit, but assuming the existing booster design (plus one segment) would be the best first stage was guess work. Now we're stuck with it and are learning it is underpowered and vibrates too much.

I never understood why this was going to be easier than man-rating an existing rocket like the Deltas or Atlases.

Plus, although I understand the rationality and practicality of it, the whole "capsule" design is just uninspiring to me. Something like the proposed Russian Kliper would be more emotionally satisfying to me. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

McCain shies away from religion talk

This is going to be an interesting election season. With both the democrats talking more about their religous beliefs than the Republican... go figure.

But Clinton or Obama "talking" about their religion is a far cry from getting people to vote for them BECAUSE of their religion. Liberals and Democrats have complained for so long about Republicans doing that with the "Christian Right". So McCain can take the high ground on the issue and make the Dems either ignore religion like they usually do, or make them talk about it TOO MUCH about religion which will make them hippocrits.

I can't get away from my belief that McCain is the right man at the right time.

McCain shies away from religion talk - Jonathan Martin - Politico.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Did You Know - SHIFT happens

WATCH THIS... take the time to WATCH THIS

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USA 2008: The Great Depression

This is a foreign newspaper account of what's going on in the US. So it's probably a little sensational, but the facts speak for themselves.

USA 2008: The Great Depression - Americas, World - The Independent

What strikes me is two things
1 - how many people are on "food stamps"
2 - how easy it has become.

People are dependent on this and it's so easy that they is little need to get off of this assistance. I'm sure there are many people that really need this, but making it easier and making it have less of a stigma associated with it, is just asking for abuse.

So is this increase due to increase need? or better advertising (making more people aware of it), or making it easier, or making it stigmatizing. Leave comments with your views.. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

High School Graduation Rates Plummet

I haven't read all of this yet, but this is one of the factors that contributes to my "doom and gloom" feeling. American society is, I fear, on the verge of collapse. Our economy is based on "consumerism" not manufacturing or anything high tech, or anything "real" (it's based on make money, spend money, and have nothing real to show for it in the end). Our education system is failing our children (this topic), and we have massive debt at all levels (from government down to personal debt).

I can't figure out what is holding this system up!

FOXNews.com - High School Graduation Rates Plummet Below 50 Percent in Some U.S. Cities - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News [This Post Continues after the jump...]