Now you can google Mars

This is very cool stuff. Google has a new section up featuring imaging and VR views of the red planet.

Space buffs can now visit Mars and feel what it must be like to explore the towering mountains, layered canyon walls and meandering channels of the Red Planet without having to worry about its freezing temperatures and tenuous atmosphere.

With the help of Google Mars (mars.google.com) it is possible to soar over the grandest canyon in the solar system, Valles Marineris, visit the giant volcano Olympus Mons, which is three times taller than Everest, or inspect the landing sites for the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

The available imaging is from Arizona State University and NASA’s Jep Propulsion Laboratories. This is much more than just pictures of Mars. Check it out.

C couple of other informative items concerning Wafa Sultan noted in an earlier posting from the L.A. Times. This time it is the New York Times in it’s glory who has taken notice. Their piece is longer, and a bit more informative that the L.A. one. Also, MEMRI has the video clip of her al Jism Jazeera appearance that has attracted some notice from the Islamothugs and their *spit* so-called spiritual leaders.

New York Times Front-Page Profile March 11, 2006: Dr. Wafa Sultan

“Three weeks ago, Dr. Wafa Sultan was a largely unknown Syrian-American psychiatrist living outside Los Angeles, nursing a deep anger and despair about her fellow Muslims.

“Today, thanks to an unusually blunt and provocative interview on Al Jazeera television on Feb. 21, she is an international sensation, hailed as a fresh voice of reason by some, and by others as a heretic and infidel who deserves to die. “In the interview, which has been viewed on the Internet more than a million times and has reached the e-mail of hundreds of thousands around the world, Dr. Sultan bitterly criticized the Muslim clerics, holy warriors and political leaders who she believes have distorted the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran for 14 centuries.

There’s much more, of course.

The Video clip is located at MEMRI also:

Arab-American Psychologist Wafa Sultan: There Is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century

Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America

FOr YEARS, the Prophets (Presidents on steroids) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) have taught and counseled their flock, and anyone else who cared to listen, to accumulate and maintain in good usable condition, a year’s supply of essential foods and commodities.

With the current flap about the bird flu and a possible pandemic, the government is getting on the same train (of thought to some extent). What comes to the Chief’s mind is the old one (paraphrased) about “Nothing focuses one’s attention quite so intensely as the prospect of being hanged.”

The Chief being Mormon, has a healthy appreciation for the whole idea, from whatever source it comes. Like the Boy Scouts say: “Be Prepared”!

Islam Fatally Flawed, Says Voice From Corona via Al Jazeera

This modern version of a “man bites dog” story definitely raised the Chief’s eyebrows when he read it. Ms Wafa Sultan is a psychologist (waiting on US certification) who has looked at the ship of Islam and condemned the whole thing as being unseaworthy.

In a blunt interview on Al Jazeera television last month, Sultan harshly criticized Islam as violent and unfavorably compared Muslims with Jews. In remarks Sunday at her Corona home, Sultan, who said she left the faith after witnessing an act of religious extremism, went even further, saying Islam was beyond repair with teachings that exhorted Muslims to kill non-Muslims, subjugate women and disregard human rights.

Note that she spoke up on al Jism Jazeera IN ARABIC unlike many so-called critics who say one thing in English for the west’s befuddlement, and an altogether different message in Arabic for “dar al Islam”.

“I don’t believe you can reform Islam,” Sultan said. Saying Islamic scriptures are riddled with violence, misogyny and other extremist ideas, she declared, “Once you try to fix it, you’re going to break it.”

Sounds like it’s already broken – but why quibble – she’s GOT to be a brave woman!

Read the rest – she has quite a story and message!

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE POSSESSION OF A MACHETE

This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. At least no one can say that the moonbat libDonks up there are not pushing for consistancy here in their S.B. 1384:

Any individual who requires a machete for the purposes of cutting vegetation shall register the machete with the local police department on an annual basis and, upon payment of an appropriate annual registration fee as determined by the local granting authority, shall be issued a permit authorizing him to possess the machete solely for the purposes of cutting vegetation.

Their gov’t site doesn’t give information on the status of this example of legal genius (sarcasm alert!) – one would HOPE that even Massachusetts isn’t THAT far gone around the bend, but unfortunately these days, one never knows.

If it is making into their law books, then you just have to wonder what’s next? Licensed baseball bats, kitchen knives, carpet knives, multi-tools, screwdrivers, the list is endless. Why the Chief has even seen ball-point pens used as deadly weapons in movies, and you know, it would work too!

As an added incentive to the moonbat legislooters, the annual license fees for all these dangerous items could be the biggest addition to government looting tax revenue since the income tax. (Shhhhhh! Don’t give ’em any more ideas!)

H/T to Kim DuToit’s Other Side on this piece of legislative crapola.

CAIR: Islamists Fooling the Establishment

Pondering the header on this article brings to the Chief’s mind the observation that “you can’t rape a willing soul”. The MSM and others of that ilk are generally more than willing to genuflect in the direction that CAIR (Council for Angry American Islamofascist Islamic Revolt Relations) dictates.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), headquartered in Washington, is perhaps the best-known and most controversial Muslim organization in North America. CAIR presents itself as an advocate for Muslims’ civil rights and the spokesman for American Muslims. “We are similar to a Muslim NAACP,” says its communications director, Ibrahim Hooper. Its official mission-“to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding” -suggests nothing problematic.

But there is another side to CAIR that has alarmed many people in positions to know. The Department of Homeland Security refuses to deal with it. Senator Charles Schumer (Democrat, New York) describes it as an organization “which we know has ties to terrorism.” Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat, Illinois) observes that CAIR is “unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect.” Steven Pomerantz, the FBI’s former chief of counterterrorism, notes that “CAIR, its leaders, and its activities effectively give aid to international terrorist groups.” The family of John P. O’Neill, Sr., the former FBI counterterrorism chief who perished at the World Trade Center, named CAIR in a lawsuit as having “been part of the criminal conspiracy of radical Islamic terrorism” responsible for the September 11 atrocities. Counterterrorism expert Steven Emerson calls it “a radical fundamentalist front group for Hamas.”

Of particular note are the American Muslims who reject CAIR’s claim to speak on their behalf. The late Seifeldin Ashmawy, publisher of the New Jersey-based Voice of Peace, called CAIR the champion of “extremists whose views do not represent Islam.” Jamal Hasan of the Council for Democracy and Tolerance explains that CAIR’s goal is to spread “Islamic hegemony the world over by hook or by crook.” Kamal Nawash, head of Free Muslims Against Terrorism, finds that CAIR and similar groups condemn terrorism on the surface while endorsing an ideology that helps foster extremism, adding that “almost all of their members are theocratic Muslims who reject secularism and want to establish Islamic states.” Tashbih Sayyed of the Council for Democracy and Tolerance calls CAIR “the most accomplished fifth column” in the United States. And Stephen Schwartz of the Center on Islamic Pluralism writes that “CAIR should be considered a foreign-based subversive organization, comparable in the Islamist field to the Soviet-controlled Communist Party, USA.”

CAIR, for its part, dismisses all criticism, blaming negative comments on “Muslim bashers” who “can never point to something CAIR has done in its 10-year history that is objectionable.” Actually, there is much about the organization’s history that is objectionable-and it is readily apparent to anyone who bothers to look.

This article has LOTS of links, and footnotes that fully document everything that they lay out. DEFINITELY worth some time if you want to get to know more about our enemies within.

Entertainment as indoctrination…

This piece has some very good comments on the corrosive effect of much of what passes these days for entertainment, said comments being stimulated by the recent Oscar (Yawn! Ho hum.) awards.

Ah yes, the Academy Awards gala-that annual confab of Hollywonk glitterati promoting silly hair and partial wardrobes-has come and gone. In its wake, there is good news and bad news.

The good news first: Despite the ignorati, er, glitterati balloting for the best films of the year, the only votes that really mattered were those Americans cast at the box office.

In Hollywood’s estimation, the “Best Picture” nominees were Brokeback Mountain (26th), Crash (49th), Munich (64th), Good Night, and Good Luck (89th) and Capote (100th), in order of each movie’s box office gross-in other words, America’s opinion of these pictures. In all, Hollywood’s Fab Five grossed $235,643,912 and averaged $26.3 million in profits.

On the other hand, the top five picks according to the rest of America were Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), War of the Worlds and King Kong. These films grossed $1.41 billion and averaged $125.4 million in profits.

You’ve got to love it! On the other hand:

…here is the bad news: entertainment is the subtlest and most effective means of ideological indoctrinating. It creates a psychological opening through which cultural messages bypass the intellectual filters that arrest most input for critical analysis. Because the context for these messages is “entertainment,” they get a free pass into the mind’s cultural context, where they compete, at a subconscious level, with established ethical and moral standards. Those at greatest risk for this form of indoctrination are adults, whose behavior is strongly characterized by their emotions (you know who you are), and all children.

There’s more to this discussion, & it’s well worth taking a look at, and giving it some thought.

Video Games Can Save Your Life

Historically this reminds me of the time when the English & Welsh yeomanry were well practiced at archery from endemic poaching er…hunting, etc. and their skills were put to good use by Henry V in shooting the crap out of the French mounted nobility at Agincourt.

The U.S. Army has discovered a remote control gun turret that works, and cannot get enough of them. The army wants over 9,000 CROWS (common remotely operated weapon stations), but is only getting 15 a month. There should be about a thousand CROWS in service by the end of the year.

OK. So the advantage here is…

The gunner is inside the vehicle, checking out the surroundings on a computer monitor (with night vision and telephoto capabilities). CROWS also has a laser rangefinder built in, as well as a stabilizer mechanism to allow more accurate fire while the vehicle is moving. The CROWS systems cost about $260,000 each, and can mount a variety of weapons (M2 .50 caliber machine-gun, MK19 40-mm automatic grenade launcher, M240B 7.62mm machine-gun and M249 5.56mm squad automatic weapon).

…and G.I. Joe has already trained himself for this before he even joined the military!

The guys operating these systems grew up playing video games. They developed skills in operating systems (video games) very similar to the CROWS controls. This was important, because viewing the world around the vehicle via a vidcam is not as enlightening (although a lot safer) than having your head and chest exposed to the elements, and any firepower the enemy sends your way. But experienced video gamers are skilled at whipping that screen view around, and picking up any signs of danger. Iraqis are amazed at how observant CROWS is. Iraqis tend to just wrote this off as another example of American “magic.” But the troops know better. Video games can save your life!

H/T to Instapundit.

The Three Stooges:
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Howard Dean

Lots of Donk talking heads are expressing lots of optimism for the upcoming election cycle. According to this rather scathing description of the quality of their leadership (from deep within belly of the lib-MSM), they may have a bigger problem than they think.

According to the latest CBS News poll, George W. Bush’s approval rating hit a personal worst of 34 percent in February, making him the most unpopular president since Nixon during Watergate. Thanks to the Abramoff scandal, confidence in the Republican-run Congress is only two points higher. Such numbers naturally provoke Democratic fantasies about doing in 2006 what Republicans did in 1994, taking both houses in a historic sweep. Conditions seem ripe in many ways. But Democrats do not have a charismatic schemer like Newt Gingrich to lead the way. Instead, they have Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Howard Dean.

…Since assuming their positions, the three of them have shown themselves to be somewhere between useless and disastrous as party leaders. Individually, they lack substance and policy smarts (Pelosi); coherence and force (Reid); and steadiness and mainstream appeal (Dean). Collectively, they convey an image of liberal elitism, disarray, and crabbiness.

One can only hope that the Donks unify behind their current leadership!

Record Set for Hottest Temperature on Earth: 3.6 Billion Degrees in Lab

This one really caught the Chief’s eye, since he teaches about the sun’s hottest core temperature is in the range of 15 million K, temperatures in the BILLIONS is truly mind-blowing!

Scientists have produced superheated gas exceeding temperatures of 2 billion degrees Kelvin, or 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit….They don’t know how they did it.

Yet!

The feat was accomplished in the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories.

Click on image to enlarge
An electrical storm lights up the surface of the Z machine, an accelerator built to simulate what happens during a nuclear explosion. The electrical discharges result from powerful electric fields that the experiment produces.

“At first, we were disbelieving,” said project leader Chris Deeney. “We repeated the experiment many times to make sure we had a true result.” Thermonuclear explosions are estimated to reach only tens to hundreds of millions of degrees Kelvin; other nuclear fusion experiments have achieved temperatures of about 500 million degrees Kelvin, said a spokesperson at the lab.

There’s more detail in the article on how this device does it’s little thing, but the REALLY interesting bit is this:

One thing that puzzles scientists is that the high temperature was achieved after the plasma’s ions should have been losing energy and cooling. Also, when the high temperature was achieved, the Z machine was releasing more energy than was originally put in, something that usually occurs only in nuclear reactions.

Hello? “…releasing more energy than was originally put in…” Uh, that is the whole point of the research at achieving controlled fusion. Maybe this is a new pathway towards that sort of energy supply. Time will tell, but IMHO these results could be EXTREMELY significant in a number of scientific and technical areas.

Bush Signs Renewal of Patriot Act

A day before parts of the USA Patriot Act were to expire, President Bush signed into law a renewal that will allow the government to keep using terror-fighting tools passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Bush’s signature came two days after the House gave final approval to the legislation over objections that it infringes on Americans’ privacy. The president said the law has been vital to protecting Americans from terrorists.

After months of political foaming at the mouth, most of the rabid libDonk/RINO opposition to the renewal of the Patriot Act evaporated like spilled water in the Arizona sun. Even hard-core opponents in the final analysis could do little except regale us with more tales of the evil machinations of the Tyrants of the VRWC having their way.

Now, if they would only get serious about border security…

A couple of items concerning the fundamentalist Kansas church that has been traveling around the country protesting at military funerals
of Iraq war dead. This has stimulated a number of states, including South Dakota passing laws restricting their access: keeping it to a distance, etc.

Their STATED response:
Kansas church won’t break picketing laws

A small Kansas church known for its anti-gay protests said Wednesday it will still picket on the day of soldiers’ funerals but won’t violate new state laws that limit when and where such demonstrations take place. “We’re not going to get arrested. We obey the law,” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, an attorney and member of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, a fundamentalist congregation headed by her father, the Rev. Fred Phelps.

Westboro Baptist has outraged mourning communities across the nation by showing up at soldiers’ funerals with signs that read “God Hates Fags” or “God Made IEDs,” a reference to roadside bombs. Members of the congregation contend soldiers are being struck down by God for defending a nation that tolerates homosexuality.

OK.
Meanwhile, at a military funeral:

Bikers on guard at war funerals

The sound of outraged patriotism is echoing across the American heartland like rolling thunder. Mounted on earth-trembling Harley-Davidsons, a volunteer army is shielding grieving families from Christian fundamentalists claiming that the deaths of US soldiers are punishment from God for homosexuality.

Marshalling more than 200 bikes for a military funeral in hardbitten Kokomo, the Indiana “state captain” of the Patriot Guard Riders, Richard Wilbur, was loathe to discuss the protests….But he acknowledged that its turnout was greatly increased by the expected presence of pickets from the fanatically homophobic Westboro Baptist Church.

Meanwhile back at the church:
Hmmmm. Legislation AND 200 bikers as an honor guard? (Think, think.) It’s sure a good thing that those laws give us a way to back out of these protests – so we don’t have to worry about those bikers!

Dubai Firm to Transfer Ports’ Control

With the coffee they have in the Persian Gulf region, the UAE definitely showed that it was fully awake, and had a fully adequate sense of situational awareness by stating its intention to divest the US operations of P & O. (The Chief really liked the name of the Brit outfit: “The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company” – it just reeks of the stories of Joseph Conrad, Kipling, the Sun Never Setting on the British Empire, & all that – very evocative!)

Recognizing the political reality, the Shieks decided to end the controversy, hopefully in the interest of maintaining a cooperative relationship in the Terror War.

It’s hard out here for a wimp

Anne Coulter at her best taking note of the events of Oscar night:

In case you missed the Oscars last Sunday night, here are the highlights:

* Best song went to a musical tribute to the overseers of human sex slaves, an occupation known as “pimping”;

* best picture went to a movie about racism in Los Angeles;

* best supporting actor went to the movie about how oil companies murder people; and

* best supporting actress went to the movie about how pharmaceutical companies murder people.

Curiously missing from Oscar night’s festivities was any reference, even in passing, to the 150,000 brave Americans currently risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. On behalf of red state America, let me be the first to say: “Screw you, Hollywood.

The Chief heartily seconds that emotion!

She then goes on with a statement of optimism and the basis for it:

Although I must tell you, overall, this Academy Awards ceremony was a major strategic retreat by Hollywood. Despite all their Bolshevik bluster about how Democratic politicians won’t stand up to Republicans, the Hollywood left is as scared of decent patriotic Americans as the Democrats are.

Definitely worth the read!

Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing

Shocking, Simply shocking to the WaPo!

This is like reporting that most Americans had a negative view of Germany in 1944.

As the war in Iraq grinds into its fourth year, a growing proportion of Americans are expressing unfavorable views of Islam, and a majority now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The poll found that nearly half of Americans — 46 percent — have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than in the tense months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, when Muslims were often targeted for violence.

This is another no-brainer to anyone with normal thought processes. Of course, if your brains have been carefully washed by P.C., this might not be the case.

Conservative and liberal experts said Americans’ attitudes about Islam are fueled in part by political statements and media reports that focus almost solely on the actions of Muslim extremists.

Oh, it’s just negative press reports “focused almost solely on the actions of Muslim extremists. Helloooo, WaPo? Have you noticed that it’s Muslim extremists that are making the terrorist attacks around the world, including places like North Carolina along with the ones in north Iraq, north Israel, north India, north Pakistan, etc.
Perhaps the reportage just can’t find examples of Christian extremist attacks on the Religion of Piss “Peace” to present a “balanced” view.

The article goes on to cite some anecdotal support of the poll results, with the usual P.C. inference that it’s a bunch of ignorant yokels that are tilting the attitudinal balance against the Islamos.

Saudi meeting eyed for WTO violation

U.S. and Israeli officials are concerned that Saudi Arabia may be breaking the promise it made when it entered the World Trade Organization last year by hosting a meeting next week on the Arab economic boycott of Israel. “I think this is a bit too much,” said Itzhak Levanon, Israel’s ambassador to the WTO, noting it has been only three months since Saudi Arabia was admitted to the organization on terms that require it to treat Israel like any other WTO member.

The only surprise here is that anyone can be surprised that this is happening. I mean, this is just the kind of stuff that they do – thier Wahabi flavor of Islamofascism won’t allow them to to anything BUT this.

Unfortunately, the other non-surprise is that the US administration will have zero response, except for some mealy-mouthed expressions of concern. It would be really nice if this was NOT the case, but based on prior experience, the Chief WOULD be surprised if anything more was done in response.

Hamas Leader Khaled Mash’al on Arab TV: “There Will Be No Concessions”

A Ham-ass mouthpiece has proclaimed “NO CONCESSIONS!” This shortage of snack supplies for their soccer matches…what? Oh. THAT kind of concession! Sorry, I’m just looking forward to the new baseball season.

Seriously folks, like who would have ever EXPECTED any of those pesky political concessions out of Ham-ass anyway, given their history & openly stated (and repeated) hope to move the infidel Israelis into the Mediterranean.

New Animal Resembling Furry Lobster Found

This wierd critter was found living on deep-sea thermal vent in the Pacific. Although it does have hair, it seems to lack eyes. A furry lobster? What’s next?

A team of American-led divers has discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blond fur, French researchers said Tuesday. Scientists said the animal, which they named Kiwa hirsuta, was so distinct from other species that they created a new family and genus for it.

The divers found the animal in waters 7,540 feet deep at a site 900 miles south of Easter Island last year, according to Michel Segonzac of the French Institute for Sea Exploration.

It brings to mind the eternal question: do blondes really have more fun?

Key U.S. senator seeks overhaul of foreign deal

The Chief is generally unimpressed with the legislative behaviour of Sen. Susan Collins (RINO-ME), but in this instance she has gotten together with Sen. Jos. Lieberman (D-CT) to frame a proposal to change the regulatory structure that vets foriegn investment deals.

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said she and the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, will introduce legislation next week to overhaul the process and give the lead to the Department of Homeland Security. In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Collins said national security agencies need a bigger voice in the process, which is now led by the Treasury Department.

This is something that is a step in the right direction. If the process is driven by Treasury Dept. bean-counters, money talks, and security walks, in far too many cases.

Carter Seeks Vote in U.N. Against U.S.

In one of the biggest exercises of pure unmitigated bovine manure, Jimmuh Peanut Carter, the all-time worst foriegn policy president in American history, is unhappy with the US for trying to reform the UN Human Rights Commission to make it more responsive to…well, human rights!

According to the Georgia peanut-vendor, this move to limit such luminaries of individualism as Cuba, Pakistan, and Egypt from advocating their version of human rights from within the UN (dis)Organization is NOT a good thing!

President Carter personally called Secretary of State Rice to try to convince her to reverse her U.N. ambassador’s position on changes to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the former president recalled yesterday in a talk in which he also criticized President Bush’s Christian bona fides and misstated past American policies on Israel.

Carter has left the world of the moonbat far behind him, and by working for a newspeak world where police-state dictatorships set the “standard” for individual rights (or the lack thereof) he has become what the Chief can only consider to be a truly evil person.

He has also appointed himself to be a sort of Protestant Pope, with the authority to issue ex cathedra proclamations of orthodoxy or heresy against those who fail to follow HIS personal version of Christianity.

Asked yesterday about his views on religion, Mr. Carter said, “The essence of my faith is one of peace.” In a clear swipe at Mr. Bush’s faith, and to a round of applause, he then added, “We worship the prince of peace, not of pre-emptive war.” Mr. Carter then went on to attack American Christians who support Israel.

The very NERVE of any Christians to support those Jews! Can’t they remember who killed Chr…never mind.

He also reiterated his known view that most of the problems in the Israeli-Arab front derive from Israel’s settlement policies and its building of a defensive barrier in what he insisted on calling “Palestine.”

Once again it seems, it’s the evil Jews behind all the problems of world peace! Oh darn – if only those pesky Israelis would stop defending themselves, then there would be the final solution once and for all!

If this sort of attitude isn’t EVIL, then what is?

F.E.T.E.

Court Upholds Campus Military Recruiting

SCOTUS jabbed a finger in the eye of some moonbat academics who were trying to prevent US military recruiters from being able to work on their campus. Ruling unanimously, they said in effect – no recruiters, no more Federal grant money – take it or leave it!

Since the academics would have to work a lot harder for their living without funding transfusions from Uncle Sam, it’s a safe bet that recruiters will not be banned very frequently, if ever in the future. Of course, the court did note that other means of protest were still allowable, but NOT exclusion.

S.D. Governor Signs Abortion Ban Into Law

Gov. Mike Rounds signed legislation Monday banning nearly all abortions in South Dakota, setting up a court fight aimed at challenging the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The bill would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman’s life. It would make no exception for cases of rape or incest.

Although the Chief would have preferred to see additional exceptions for cases of rape and incest – at least if it errs, it errs on the side of life, unlike the death culture pre-natal infanticide advocates like Planned Parenthood and the rest of the feminazis.

Now the legal game’s afoot – and how it ultimately ends will be up to the newest version of SCOTUS, with recently appointed Justices Roberts and Alito.

Two-Stage-to-Orbit ‘Blackstar’ System Shelved at Groom Lake?

This is definitely going to be grist for the mill of the late-night Coast-to-Coast AM show’s UFO and conspiracy buffs! (But hey, just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t really out to get me, right?)

SPACEPLANE SHELVED?

For 16 years, Aviation Week & Space Technology has investigated myriad sightings of a two-stage-to-orbit system that could place a small military spaceplane in orbit. Considerable evidence supports the existence of such a highly classified system, and top Pentagon officials have hinted that it’s “out there,” but iron-clad confirmation that meets AW&ST standards has remained elusive. Now facing the possibility that this innovative “Blackstar” system may have been shelved, we elected to share what we’ve learned about it with our readers, rather than let an intriguing technological breakthrough vanish into “black world” history, known to only a few insiders. U.S. intelligence agencies may have quietly mothballed a highly classified two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane system designed in the 1980s for reconnaissance, satellite-insertion and, possibly, weapons delivery. It could be a victim of shrinking federal budgets strained by war costs, or it may not have met performance or operational goals.

This is highly interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, the fact that we have the technology on-line to do this is a good thing. Secondly, it’s interesting that this large of a program can be implemented and funded effectively “off the books”. Finally, the Chief has to wonder, what do we have NOW, since we can affort to abandon THIS program just as we did with the SR-71 Blackbird when this one came on line.

The speculation is fun to do: maybe the rumored Aurora space plane is a better solution to the same technological need in the form of an SSTO (single-state to orbit) vehicle using a hybrid turbojet/scramjet/rocket package. One can only hope so!

We should fear Holland’s silence

This is sobering and somewhat shocking account of the sad state of affairs in what was formerly known as Europe, and is now becoming Eurabia. Read it and weep – and beware of trends in this direction that are present in the US!

“Would you write the name you’d like to use here, and your real name there?” asked the girl at reception. I had just been driven to a hotel in the Hague. An hour earlier I’d been greeted at Amsterdam airport by a man holding a sign with a pre-agreed cipher. I hadn’t known where I would be staying, or where I would be speaking. The secrecy was necessary: I had come to Holland to talk about Islam.

Yikes! That reminds me of something that would be from Tom Clancy on bad acid, or maybe cyberpunk science fiction – but from the Times of London????

READ THIS ARTICLE! You will hardly be able to believe how bad it’s getting over there.

Europe is shuffling into darkness. It is proving incapable of standing up to its enemies, and in an effort to accommodate the peripheral rights of a minority is failing to protect the most basic rights of its own people.

The governments of Europe have been tricked into believing that criticism of a belief is the same thing as criticism of a race. And so it is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous to criticise a growing and powerful ideology within our midst. It may soon, in addition, be made illegal.

What else can be said? DEUS VULT!

U.S. Plans to Modernize Nuclear Arsenal

One of the under-reported problems with the nuclear test-ban regime is the matter of future reliability of the US strategic weapons stockpile. This is a real problem, since nuclear weapons do naturally experience nuclear decay – lowering their reliability. This looks to revise our weapons construction and handling infrastructure in a positive way to deal with this.

The Bush administration is developing plans to design and deploy refurbished or replacement warheads for the nuclear stockpile, and by 2030 to modernize the production complex so that, if required, it could produce new generations of weapons with different or modified capabilities.

A study by NNSA for restructuring the aging weapons complex, which includes dealing with facilities that dismantle retired weapons, should be sent to Congress this spring, Brooks said. Although there is some updating and modernizing of the present complex, “full infrastructure changes . . . will take a couple of decades,” Brooks said. The first step in the long-range plan is focused around the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program that was approved last year. That program contemplates designing new components for previously tested nuclear packages that would make the resulting bombs and warheads safer and more reliable over the long term than older stockpiled weapons that are being refurbished.

Venezuelan middle class flees Chávez rule of hate

To the Chief’s eye it looks like that old deja-vu all over again. Just as happened with the solidification of the Castro regime in Cuba, the Venezuelan middle-class that is able to, is voting with their feet to go almost anywhere other than where they are now.

Venezuela’s once-thriving middle class is packing its bags and fleeing the country, afraid for the future as the socialist president, Hugo Chávez, calls on the slum-dwelling masses to rise up and seize wealth from those better off than themselves.

Growing numbers of professionals, business owners and shopkeepers are fed up with the climate of hostility that the Left-wing president has encouraged in his effort to boost his populist credentials.

It says something that the narco-terrorized Colombia looks like a place of refuge from Venezuela:

Marcial Rivera, a 30-year-old business graduate, packed his bags and left for neighbouring Colombia this week. He believes that it is a more stable place to live, despite its own huge problems. “I’m all torn up,” he said. “I would like to stay but I don’t want to be here when the big bang comes and I think it will be very soon.”

The situation in Venezuela is like watching a slow-motion economic and social train wreck.

All British (and US) soldiers to be out of Iraq in 12 months

Looks like the Telegraph is scooping the US MSM yet again, if this report holds up.

All British and United States troops serving in Iraq will be withdrawn within a year in an effort to bring peace and stability to the country.

The planned pull-out from Iraq follows the acceptance by London and Washington that the presence of the coalition, mainly composed of British and US troops, is now seen as the main obstacle to peace.

One wonders how this meshes with the following report from Fox News:

Talabani: U.S. Troops Will Stay as Long as Needed

Iraq’s president said Saturday that he had been assured that American troops will stay in his country as long as needed, while at least 14 people were killed in explosions and gunfire nationwide as vehicle restrictions were lifted in Baghdad.

A top U.S. general, meanwhile, said he was “very, very pleased” with the response of Iraqi armed forces in containing recent sectarian bloodshed, disputing critics who said too little was done to quell attacks that killed more than 500 people the past week.

The Chief thinks that the last paragraph above has the key to the situation: if we declare the Iraqi “New Model Army” to be competant, then we can go home, or at least where needed elsewhere.

How we duped the West, by Iran’s nuclear negotiator

The Sunday Telegraph comes through again, with reports from a former Iranian negotiator, on how Mullahstan has systematically and deliberately concealed it’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons, while claiming to have no such intent.

The Chief puts this report into the “DUH!” category – but it’s educational to have the whole process actually laid out in daylight by one who was there and actively involved.

The man who for two years led Iran’s nuclear negotiations has laid out in unprecedented detail how the regime took advantage of talks with Britain, France and Germany to forge ahead with its secret atomic programme.

OK. Get it now? THIS is why we shouldn’t bother to get too exercised about the libDonk and other moonbats’ pleas to trust in negotiations to solve the problem.

He boasted that while talks were taking place in Teheran, Iran was able to complete the installation of equipment for conversion of yellowcake – a key stage in the nuclear fuel process – at its Isfahan plant but at the same time convince European diplomats that nothing was afoot.

Their task of deception was no doubt enabled by the willingness of dhimmified Eurabians to believe what they wanted to in spite of evidence to the contrary.

“From the outset, the Americans kept telling the Europeans, ‘The Iranians are lying and deceiving you and they have not told you everything.’ The Europeans used to respond, ‘We trust them’,” he said.

The context of these reports is interesting. Apparently the Iranian in question was trying to justify himself before the mullahs where there was concern that he was too accomadating to the Euros. He assured them that no, while he was pulling the wool over the Eurocrats’ eyes, on the other hand they were proceeding apace with the deveopment of their facilities to purify fissile materials.

He told his audience: “When we were negotiating with the Europeans in Teheran we were still installing some of the equipment at the Isfahan site. There was plenty of work to be done to complete the site and finish the work there. In reality, by creating a tame situation, we could finish Isfahan.”

Check out the piece for more of the context and background, especially of current interest since the breakdown of negotiations with the Euros last week, and the referral to the UN (dis)Organization that starts next week.

New Mexico Inks Spaceport Funding Package

More progress towards setting up the infrastructure for extending private spaceflight.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has signed new pieces of legislation—bills that push forward work on New Mexico’s spaceport. In addition, the state has set in motion a potential investment deal to attract a space entrepreneurial firm to work in the area. As a result of a legislative session last month, New Mexico is now able to invest $110 million in building what’s labeled as the world’s first “purpose built” spaceport to be located in Upham, New Mexico.

There are a number of areas where the Chief has big problems with NM the former Clintonista Donk Gov. Bill Richardson, but on this he is spot on, and is doing a real service to his state, and to the nation.

If policy agendas count in ’08 race, Romney’s a winner

Kondracke (Roll Call, Fox News, Jewish World Review, etc.) takes note of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and sees a good placement for ’08 based on issues.

This begs the questions over how much the issues will actually matter when the biggest flap is the decision-making on American Idol, but one can’t have everything.

It’s worth a look-see at any rate, and Romney has one HUGE advantage over Dubya – he’s a strong advocate for border enforcement!