To The Moon, Barry!

We learn of Barack's vision for NASA:

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.

..."When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering," Bolden said in the interview.

Mr. Bolden was engaging in a feel-good interview with Al-Jazeera, not working on his five minutes.

In other news, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Popular Science, explained that chief among her priorities was helping Barack achieve his vision of putting a man on Mars.  Assuming, of course, that Dick Cheney is willing to go.

Comments

[Cecil Turner]

Good grief. Is there anything that isn't about race? (And we ain't talkin' "space race" here.)

[Jim]

Now, if we can only find a 7th century rocket....

[JM Hanes]

Jim:

It looks like the Chinese have a lot to apologize for too:

The earliest documentation of fireworks dates back to 7th century China where they were first used to frighten away evil spirits with their loud sound and also to pray for happiness and prosperity.

[Extraneus]

OT, but Drudge's red headline for this story right now is:

WASHPOST: White voters leave Obama...

Even thought the real headline at this time is: Democrats hope Obama 2008 model will help stem midterm losses.

[LouP]

But just think of all those NASA $$$ that can be used to level the playing field and distribute the wealth...

[Danube of Thought]

Interesting stats in that WaPo article about Obama's standing with whites being the same as Bush's was two years ago.

[Cometh the hour cometh the man (or lady)Dr.W]

London's busy(Dr Who).

We have three goals:

He should make this a new agency mission and put his name on it and every year we can celebrate his genius, like Kennedy.

Science and math is Kerry. Real big on that. He orders his agencies around like he's CiC and there are two wars or something. Sorry guys, we can't handle him anymore. He gets to play with the soldiers.

[LouP]

Just put me down as having an acute case of Obama-cynicism. What do you expect from the Community Organizer in Chief? He sees no advantage in continuing to support space exploration, but see's no advantage - invoking the Chicago Way - of simply disbanding the organization.

No, he merely changes the mission (space exploration is not even among the priorities of the new mission). And instead of re-programming the funding - he'd have to go through Congress for that, wouldn't he? - he lets it continue with a completely new mission. And hey, he might even get those out-of-touch white folk to go along with it for a while as long as there's still a NASA.

Community organizing, the Chicago way!

[Janet]

foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science

Sure, I guess this makes sense...help them feel good like they helped us feel good. Remember when they did that?

and what exactly was the religion of Islam's historic contribution to science? Is NASA gonna do this to Hindu nations, or Buddhist nations, or Christian nations?
I thought we were all about the separation of church & state?

[Melinda Romanoff]

Cometh-

Some will stick to cel technology for that desired end.

[Pasadena Phl]

Here in CA, we are about to re-elect the first governor in space, Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown and Ohio put the first senator in space with John Glenn. Wouldn't be great of Obama became the first president to visit Mars?

For once, he could claim to be the first at something that doesn't start with "black".

Send us a postcard eh? I hear golf balls travel much farther there and there is no wait at the tee.

[Danube of Thought]

I got a hunch Moonbeam ain't gonna make it this time.

[Pasadena Phl]

Moonbeam looks more and more like a lock. The androgynous Meg Whitman is running a terrible generic campaign. Moonbeam is coming off as the "law and order", fiscally-responsible candidate coming off of his stint as mayor of Oakland.

Tells you plenty about the GOP that Whitman is the best they do. Californians didn't want her but the alternative was just as bad. Whitman would be at least as bad as Moonbeam.

[narciso]

Come on, Phil, you haven't plumbed the levels of ordure that would come about with a Brown
return to the State House, Whitman would probably rank up there with Deukmejian or Wilson, not exciting, but better then the
current office holder

[fdcol63]

The Muslim world is credited with giving us the concept of "zero".

Obama is the proof.

[BobS]

".....returning Science to it's rightful place"

[Clarice]

Hey, don;t those countries often use the crescent moon as their symbol? Surely there's a direct connection to NASA

[fdcol63]

And "moonbat" has an obvious lunar connection. LOL

[Janet]

Perhaps each government agency could by paired with a different religion?
Let's help the self-esteem of all religions!
LUN is the list of federal government departments and agencies.

[BobS]

I think you're on the something, Clarice. Maybe this is all about reclassifying Pluto as a planet again to justify a value added tax.

Maybe it'll be something like, "our solar system can no longer sustain the failure of the last eight years to recognize Pluto's rightful place as a planet. The previous administration's misguided thinking led to an unprecedented change in the Force that led to the collapse of our economy. My administration's decision to install a value added tax will right the ship and return us to a nation of prosperity."

[Danube of Thought]

Rasmussen June 10:

"Meg Whitman’s mega-win in Tuesday’s Republican Primary has thrown her into a virtual tie once again with Democrat Jerry Brown in the race to be the next governor of California.

"A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in California, taken last night, shows Brown with 45% of the vote, while Whitman earns 44% support. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

"Brown led Whitman 45% to 41% late last month but the two have been tied three times in surveys stretching back to September. Brown’s support in the match-ups with Whitman has remained in the narrow range of 41% to 45%. Whitman, in those same surveys, has earned 35% to 43% of the vote."

[Charlie (Colorado)]

and what exactly was the religion of Islam's historic contribution to science?

Janet, you don't actually want to start that one. There's a good reason "algebra" and a very large proportion of the navigational stars have Arabic names.

[MarkO]

I don't want Moonbeam without Ronstadt. Actually, I want Ronstandt-----in 1980. Get the wayback machine.

As to Obama, his every move, even with NASA tells us what really matters to him. None of it relates to American values or security.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

The Muslim world is credited with giving us the concept of "zero".

No, actually, that's the dots-not-feathers Indians. śūnya, zero, is part of the Sanskrit number system.

[Danube of Thought]

Not to mention Arabic numbers.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Actually, I want Ronstandt-----in 1980.

Me too. Hubba hubba.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Not to mention Arabic numbers.

Well, they didn't invent them; they did have a lot to do with positional number systems making it past Persia, though.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

By the way, Rand Simberg will have a piece in PJM about this, I think tomorrow.

[Immortalmonster]

Dyspeptic Curmudgeon

NASA == No Americans in Space Anymore

Unmanned space has always been the answer. It's cheaper and more effective.

[matt]

1- Jerry Brown ain't seen nothing yet. The man is not only an incompetent, but a crook with some serious ethical issues.LUN.

2 - It seems every day I wake up to a parallel Spock universe lately, today, literally. Can that moron at NASA be serious? Muslim outreach is NASA's most important mission? Will we re-name one of the Shuttles Barack, which was the name of Mohammed's horse? Is that what is behind this assclownery??

They are already either hedging their bets by extending the Shuttle lifetimes or trying to do a CYA in that they have no heavy lift capacity for at least 5 years to come. Let's just make Islamic rocketry our focus instead. This really is Alice in Wonderland stuff.

With the Russian supply rocket somewhere on its way to Pluto at this point, they do not inspire the most confidence in the world, either.

Remain calm. All is well.

[PD]

Janet, you don't actually want to start that one.

Ah, we are no longer allowed to solicit information.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Chaco-

Not to split hairs, but there are distinctions between Arabic(nomadic), Byzantine, Islamic, and Persian mathematics. One of the four was particularly good at usurping other ideas as its own. And Byzantine is out for being able translate ancient Greek.

Now who does that leave with a habit of stealing ideas, recasting them as their own and a tad skimpy on the discovery side?

[narciso]

most of this was to be charitable nearly 800 years ago, the Wiki segment on Arab astronomy
really does stretch, as a long time space exploration buff it's very distressing

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Ah, we are no longer allowed to solicit information.
Was that a solicitation of information? Or did she mean it the way it read idiomatically, as "I don't believe there were any."

Not to split hairs, but there are distinctions between Arabic(nomadic), Byzantine, Islamic, and Persian mathematics. One of the four was particularly good at usurping other ideas as its own. And Byzantine is out for being able translate ancient Greek.

Mel, aren't you simply reiterating the history of knowledge moving from India via the Macedonian and Persian empires from say -300CE to 1300CE? Still, positional numbering started in India with sunya, an awful damn lot of original mathematics came out of Bagdad and Islamic Persia (eg, Omar Khayyam, who was an even better mathematician than poet), and it was Arabic translations of the Greeks that first got to Europe.

[Melinda Romanoff]

narciso-

There are overlaps, but not with Islam.

And how old is Islam, that religion of the assimilator, Muah'Maud?

(Yes, I know that will draw some unusual "responses", sorry.)

[narciso]

I was not aware of Al Bittani among others, what clearly happened is that after the fall
of Rome, there was certainly a theocratic caste to things, as the Church assumed more
authority in the West, there was a flourishing
in part to do to the recovered Greek texts,
what did happen that around the 13th Century
there was that same trend in the Moslem world
and it has progressed exponentially since then

[Charlie (Colorado)]

most of this was to be charitable nearly 800 years ago, the Wiki segment on Arab astronomy

Pythagoras was 2600 years ago. It's just a fact that the Islamic Golden Age preserved and extended science when post-Roman Europe was having trouble with basic sanitation.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

And how old is Islam, that religion of the assimilator, Muah'Maud?

That's sprt of a trick question, since according to Islam, Islam subsumes Judaism and Christianity... so it's as old as the Old Testament at least. The Qu'ran was finished in 632CE.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Chaco-

No, I'm not, but I explained myself poorly, and am tired. The history of this is still guesswork , at best, and will remain so until tomorrow, in my mind, when I get up to face intellectual stimulus after four days of none.

{and yes, I'm going to have to teach myself API coding, thanks for the pointer.)

G'night, all.

[Ann]

Politically, it is bone headed. Who cares what they have contributed? I know the American people know what they contributed to and it is 9/11.

Why are we reaching out to Islam to make them feel better about themselves? I think we are spending enough in Afghanistan with our blood and treasure.

From Byron York

At the same time, Bolden gave a bleak assessment of the space part of NASA's mission. More than 40 years after the first moon landing, he told al-Jazeera, the U.S. can no longer reach beyond Earth's orbit without assistance from abroad. "We're not going to go anywhere beyond low Earth orbit as a single entity," Bolden said. "The United States can't do it."

What happened to "Yes, We Can"? This needs to be seen, as it is, my the majority of American people... Obama bending over, kissing butt with our money to a religion that wants us dead.

The Tea Party needs a new sign:

The Wrong Stuff: Barack Obama

[narciso]

We can't build the wall, or close the border,
'armies and navies never solved anything in the long run, he's kind a stone cold bummer

[Ann]

Krauthammer Bashes Obama's Infantile NASA Muslim Outreach Program

"This is a new height in fatuousness," Krauthammer said. "NASA was established to get America into space and to keep us there. This idea to feel good about their past and to make achievements is the worst combination of group therapy, psychobabble, imperial condescension and adolescent diplomacy."

[Danube of Thought]

Interesting that algebra was pretty much as far as the Arabs went on their own. Calculus was a European development, and it occurred just about simultaneously with the beginning of the ebb tide of Arab (Islamic) advancement via the sword. All downhill from 1700 on.

[Dave (in MA)]

Men are from Mars, Obama's from Venus.

[Rick Ballard]

"Obama's from Venus."

I always tell progs he's from Uranus. Or thereabouts.

[PD]

OT:

So, on "Leverage" last week (which I just watched), the episode with the Steranko security system, was that a little inside-joke reference to Jim Steranko?

[PD]

Was that a solicitation of information? Or did she mean it the way it read idiomatically, as "I don't believe there were any."

So you don't know then.

[narciso]

Apparently, PD, at least how Wiki takes it, it's one of my favorite shows

[BR]

Where are transvestites from?

[BR]

From a Science and Technology site, Lunatique,
ha, listing NASA.

[Ann]

Rick:

You made a great comment on another thread:

When Congress unfortunately reconvenes on July 13 there will only be 18 business days left before they leave town again. The Reps can do "just say no" on everything else (including Kagan and FinReg) without qualm.

If we could just make the Congress stand still for eighteen days we might see some light. What should we do?

I think this might be the most important eighteen days of our lives. Starting with the Civil Rights hearing tomorrow that Jane has highlighted and rightfully trumpeted and this stupid NASA directive, not to even mention the oil flood (why do they still call it a spill?) it looks like we have a lot of ammo put no one except Sarah Palin to combat it with.

Sorry but this NASA thing has me up late mad as hell.

Anyone have a list of reps and Senators that are on Twitter? I blasted Scott Brown today, asking him to just say NO until November.

[Ann]

LOL, well, this is a good start:

[Im mortal]

Light sabres. Lucifer is explained by most religions and this might have been the idea. We all dream and this may be the explanation.

5 year mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations........Spock came from a hot planet and has pointy ears. So, what are they exploring other than lucifer in creation?

What are agencies and what is O? CELs were used for the WiFi? Sleepy, going to bed.

[JM Hanes]

Ann:

"Sorry but this NASA thing has me up late mad as hell."

Don't know what they're showing on the movie channels out your way, but Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 just got rolling on one of the HBO channels chez moi. Coincidence? I think not. LOL.

[Ann]

Forest Gump endorses Obama for Pres:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68CKnirCxak ">Not my box of chocolates

Nice editing, wonder what else he said?

[Marcia in Phoenix]

NASA =

Never
Alienating
Sharia's
Acolytes

[bunkerbuster]

DoT proclaims: ``All downhill from 1700 on.''
Indeed, that's how it looks to me too. Don't tell Mark Steyn, though. He's made a career out of bogeymanning Muslims, saying they've taken over Europe and are poised to do the same in the U.S. But who takes him at his word? I get a sense that even his fans know he's speaking in code, just generating hate and fear by any means he can...

[daddy]

Ann,

I agree. This is completely stupid, but will soon probably start popping up in our Elementary School Curriculums via directions from the Department of Education.

Will be interesting tomorrow to see which pundits and journalists try to spin this as wonderful news, a brilliant example of outreach, or whatever other nonsense they can spew in order to prop this moron up and try to make him look good. My bet is David Brooks, and God's gift to Religious Journalism, Sally Quinn.

[daddy]

John F Kennedy revised:

"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, not of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth, but rather of finding a way to reach out to Muslim nations and help them feel good about their historic contribution to science...and math and engineering. No single space project in this period would be more impressive to mankind than a moon landing, or more important for the long-range exploration of space, and none would be so difficult or expensive to accomplish, but instead I've instructed NASA that their foremost mission is to make Muslims have self esteem."

[Neo]

For some irony, Hillary Rodham Clinton said :

KRAKOW, Poland — Intolerant governments across the globe are “slowly crushing” activist and advocacy groups that play an essential role in the development of democracy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday.

She cited a broad range of countries where “the walls are closing in” on civic organizations such as unions, religious groups, rights advocates and other nongovernmental organizations that press for social change and shine a light on governments’ shortcomings.

And for a double dose of irony, President Obama’s office:

[T]he United States is particularly concerned about “the spread of restrictions on civil society, the growing use of law to curb rather than enhance freedom and widespread corruption that is undermining the faith of citizens in their governments.”

[peter]

OT, Bill Clinton's eulogy of Bobby Byrd, deconstructed. LUN

[Captain Hate]

Slick should stick to doing crossword puzzles while discussing politics or other carny tricks to wow the rubes in the MFM. Kleagle Byrd's "fleeting association with the Klan" was much more extensive than Clenis's relationship with the facts of any matter. Somebody must've pulled the hook on him before he started recounting how Bobby B was helping to rescue people from the burning black churches in Arkansas that he remembers so well.

[Jane]

As Ann said, big day today. The hearing at the civil rights commission starts at 9:30. If anyone can figure out a way to hear it, I'm giving a prize.

And it's radio day starting at 11:00 Livestream at the link on You Too.

Oh, and Good Morning! It's 100 degress!

[AL]

Couple of nuclear-powered satellite-based laser guns geostationary placed over ME indeed could improve US relationships with muslim nations.

[Janet]

according to Islam, Islam subsumes Judaism and Christianity... so it's as old as the Old Testament at least. The Qu'ran was finished in 632CE.

Islam subsumes some of Judaism & Christianity...that's why reading the Bible is discouraged or forbidden...hence the need to burn Bibles written in the native tongue.
....and Muhammad was born in 570AD, so I don't think he had many followers before that date.

[Jane]

NASA = Not A Space Agency

[Janet]

Yeah, it is apparently a self-esteem agency for the religion of Islam now.
Since Islam means submission, I wonder if NASA will eventually have to submit?

[narciso]

I thought Rand's piece would bring light on the matter, but he is so pathologically anti
NASA, which I admit I haven'r been impressed
lately with, that it really does no such thing

[narciso]

I'll LUN it anyways, maybe I'm wrong about it.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Jane-

The USCCR meeting is open to the public, but I don't see a webcast.

And by the look of it, it takes them months to put up a transcript of a meeting.

[Janet]

OT - More promising news about adult stem cells. LUN
Too bad California limited its spending of billions on embryonic stem cells.

The whole stem cell brouha is a great example of the MFM's crap reporting....never differentiating between adult/blood/bone/etc. stem cells vs. embryonic stem cells.
Just the blanket lie that religious conservatives were against all stem cell research. And rarely pointing out where there was success vs. just wishes & dreams.

[Jane]

Yeah I saw that Mel. Well Pajama's media is all over it, so I bet they have people in attendance. I can't quite figure out where it is being held but I assume Washington.

[narciso]

I know Janet, California spent billions with that bond chasing a chimera, wasting the opportunity of years od research, but it did
elect McCaskill among others, the bitter taste
still hasn't left me

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 17 at Raz today.

[Danube of Thought]

Don't tell Mark Steyn, though. He's made a career out of bogeymanning Muslims, saying they've taken over Europe and are poised to do the same in the U.S.

Steyn would (and does) agree 100% that it's been all downhill for Islam in making achievements in math and science, which is what we've been talking about. That is irrelevant to the demographics of their European population, which will give them majorities in many European countries sometime after mid-century. The result will be nothing less than the end of the European civilization we know.

[MayBee]

Indeed, that's how it looks to me too. Don't tell Mark Steyn, though.

Tell me, bb, can a less advanced culture take over (or overwhelm) a more advanced society?

[Rocco]

Good Morning all and a belated Happy 4th. Don't be surprised if Bolden now thanks The Nation of Islam for their scientific contribution to society...The Mother Plane and Ezekiel's Wheel.

[Sue]

Ralph Kramden. As qualified to be president as the buffoon in office.

"You're a riot, Alice Obama. You're a regular riot. Hope they like those jokes on the Moon 'cause that's where you're goin'. To the moon, Alice Obama.

[narciso]

In some of the same vein, HBO is providing a new 'nuanced' view of AQ, gag me, in the LUN

[Rick Ballard]

Ann,

Cantor Picks Up BOzo's Gauntlet

The refusal by the cowards of the Dem insane clown posse to pass a budget is going to bite them on their scrawny butts right through the loss of their majority in November.

[Sue]

http://www.michellesmirror.com/2010/07/aprons-red-glare.html>MOTUS

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Did anyone watch Obama's address to the troops? Did he really misquote Jefferson? I can't find a transcript.

[Ignatz]

I'm convinced bunkerbuster is either a conservative plant intended to make conservatives and libetarians feel good that the opposition is full of complete and profound idiots or, a liberal plant intended to make conservatives and libertarians over confident because the opposition is full of complete and profound idiots.
Nobody can actually be that stupid and still string words together coherently.

[Sue]

http://www.necn.com/07/04/10/Obama-Iraq-withdrawal-on-schedule/landing.html?blockID=265865&feedID=4215>Obama: Iraq withdrawal 'on schedule'

President Obama, in stressing the ties between the ideals of America's Founding Fathers, quoted Thomas Jefferson's work in the Delcaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Declaration of Independence

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

[PDinDetroit]

Ignatz - the Truth is generally stranger that Fiction...

[Captain Hate]

narc, I wouldn't be so quick to turn a thumbs-down on that. Wright's book is very good and I can't imagine him allowing any pulling of punches regarding the history of AQ. Also HBO tends to do a good job on their productions.

Wasn't "The Looming Tower" also the source for the ABC miniseries that Slick was so upset about (and which ABC has never replayed iirc)?

I've often thought that the troll is a bgates production to boost TM's traffic.

[Captain Hate]

Speaking of Slick, does Meghan's Law require in Chelsea's upcoming nuptuals that the groom's guests be notified in the wedding program that a sexual predator is in their midst?

[Sue]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." --Declaration of Independence as originally written by Thomas Jefferson, 1776. ME 1:29, Papers 1:315

Apparently, Obama was actually quoting Jefferson, not the Declaration.

[narciso]

No, Wright is great, his profile of Zawahiri was invaluable in shaping my view on Salafism, but Gibney specializes on demonizing
America, Enron (but not the cap n trade scheme), Abramoff (but not his contribution to Obama and Reid), I'm sure BP is somewhere down in the queue,that's kind of my concern

[Clarice]

Citing preemption, DoJ will challenge the AZ law on the basis that it will report too many aliens and create a burden for the feds. I'm not kidding.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/06/AR2010070600061.html> Don't bother us with work

[Neo]

Bored and unsupervised, five highly paid electricians working for the city of San Francisco spent years allegedly stealing from taxpayers during a remarkable binge that investigators say involved sex parties with prostitutes, moonlighting on city time and fraudulent billing to pay for their suburban lifestyles.

They allegedly charged the city hundreds of thousands of dollars for personal purchases, including BMW tires, lease payments on a truck and even remodeling a home in Contra Costa County's tony Blackhawk subdivision. The men are accused of running a private contracting business on city time, collecting government paychecks while working on unauthorized jobs and billing the costs to taxpayers as well.

[Mark O]

"inherent and inalienable rights." Obama just read whatever was put on the prompter. He would have no idea whether this was from private papers or the Declaration. He really would not care, because he didn't mean anything he said.

He is a stupid as I thought. The story of his rise through the Harvard Law School and on to the Presidency, clearly unqualified for either, will be a best seller at some point. In the meantime, he is affirmatively dangerous, not just for us but for the entire world.

I wish someone with some stature, as if there were someone like that now, would take on this task of defrocking him.

[Danube of Thought]

From what I have read of the cases thus far, I think the AZ law is going to fall. I will try to put an analysis together in the next few days and post it if a thread devoted to the subject comes up.

[DebinNC]

More on the Don't Bother US with Work front, MS is now bypassing the feds and buying/building their own oil skimmers (LUN)..."They're state owned, so they're state controlled." Go Haley!!

[Janet]

Amen Mark O. The biggest fraud in American History - Barack Hussein Obama.
Or perhaps the culmination of decades of fraud by the left & their propaganda machine the MSM.

[Clarice]

I look forward to reading that DoT because I think the don't bother us with work argument is a loser..the govt can always decline to act.

In any event it is rather laughable..I suppose this is desperation creativity to cover the ass of the AG who spoke before he read the law, argued against it for political reasons and has no good arguments against it.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for more anti-Muslim bigotry from the wingnuts. It's just amazing that we wingnuts don't see honor killings done in the name of Islam as part of the Sufi struggle with internal being having nothing to do with violence. I can just imagine that those misunderstood Religion of Peace practitioners who engage in honor killings want to do nothing more than chant Rumi poems while gazing at tapestries of the Heavens, and are forced to defend their honor by wingnuts. Oh wise bunkerbuster, if only we could ascend to your being level so we could see the light!

[Ignatz]

Despite the pronouncements from on high the fact is many if not most of the Islamic contributions to science and math were by nominal muslims who were either converts or forced converts from Zoroastrianism, Sabians, Assyrian Christians, Byzantines, etc.
A few generations of the full imposition of sharia and the koran inevitably diminishes or smothers invention.

[Jack is Back!]

Celebrated the 4th in Belgium by watching the Tour de France come through my wife's home village of Brasschaat (Ekeren-Donk).

It was the first stage of Rotterdam to Brussels. After crossing the Dutch border with Belgium they came straight down what we call the Kapellensteenweg (Stone Chapel Way). The crowds started to gather around 2:00pm but the races wouldn't be here until sometime after 4:00pm. First come single cars of the press, officials or team support with bike racks on the roof. Then you get motorcycles with photogs riding on the back. Then comes the various sponsors and partners in crazy looking vehicles advertising their products or services. Some of them throw out things like flags, caps, lanyards, big foam hands, etc. The kids all race around picking up the varieties. Then there is more officials, police (Belgian, Dutch and French), more team cars, more motorcycles - all this building up the excitement of the crowd in anticipation of the riders.

Then it really starts to get thick with motorcycles, team cars, vans, police, helicopters (over 5 by my count) - so you know they are close. Then all of sudden comes the break-a-way, 3 riders - one from Belgium, one from Spain, one from Holland. They are surrounded by motorcycles and cameramen. The crowd goes nuts, the riders whiz by. You know from the big scene TV at the block party at Patio Donk (name of the village near Ekeren) that the peloton is 1 minute 45 seconds behind. So you wait, the crowd is now so thick they have narrowed the road to 20 feet across for over a 150 bike riders to pass through.

Lots of Flemish and American flags - a group of American families (probably live and work in the area) are lined up along the road. Then comes the peloton and in a flash of 10 seconds or less they are gone chasing down the breakaway. After the peloton come all the team cars, more police, more vans, more press. Finally, a couple of stranded riders come pushing hard to catch up to the peloton. Then more vans and finally, finally there is nothing - only the sound of the music at the Patio Donk and everyone just looks around and starts to leave. Thats it. 2 hours wait and less than 10 seconds of blazing colors pass through.

If you go to LUN, you will see all the photos we took of the tour passing through. At DSC_152 you will see a rider in red shirt and red helmet - that is Lance Armstrong riding now for the Radio Shack team.

[Army of Davids]

The Jones Act and OSHA rules have both had definitive effects on the Gulf cleanup.

The time for excuses and blame is over.

The job needs to be done. It is not being done.

[Danube of Thought]

The preemption case doesn't depend on the "don't bother us with work" argument.

If I can make the time available today I will gin up a memo on it for JOM.