Clipmarks | Rustee's clips

Airman May Receive Medal of Honor

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:16:01 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

The 2009 defense authorization bill contains a section that would authorize Etchberger’s Medal of Honor. It passed in the House of Representatives in May, but still must be passed by the Senate before Bush can sign it into law.

This September a monument will be dedicated at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., to Etchberger and the 13 other men who died at Lima Site 85 in Laos.

Clip Source: www.militarytimes.com

Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger may receive the Medal of Honor 40 years after he died on a Laotian mountaintop. Etchberger was working in Laos at a top secret radar station responsible for locating hundreds of North Vietnamese bombing targets.

In March 1968, more than 1,000 North Vietnamese soldiers surrounded the station, named Lima Site 85. Etchberger was the last to board the rescue helicopter dispatched to save the U.S. troops fighting off waves of mortars and artillery. An armor piercing round ripped through the bottom of the helicopter, hitting Etchberger.

He bled to death, but not before he was credited with saving the lives of three men he worked with.

Air Force officials recommended Etchberger for the Medal of Honor, but President Johnson couldn’t award it without revealing U.S. troops were stationed inside neutral Laos. Instead, Etchberger’s family received his Air Force Cross during a secret ceremony inside the Pentagon.

Tags: military, air force

Independence in 1776 to Dependence on 1,776

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:02:05 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: www.cato-at-liberty.org

I recently updated data I presented last year on the total number of federal subsidy programs.

As the chart shows, the number of subsidy programs has increased 25 percent since 2000.

It turns out that the federal government currently operates 1,776 subsidy programs. These include subsidies for states, cities, individuals, non-profit groups, and businesses.

Tags: government, taxes

What to Celebrate on Independence Day?

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:34:47 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks: Duh.

Clip Source: capmag.com

"Independence Day" is a critically important title. It signifies the fundamental meaning of this nation, not just of the holiday. The American Revolution remains unique in human history: a revolution--and a nation--founded on a moral principle, the principle of individual rights.

The Declaration of Independence was a declaration against servitude, not just servitude to the Crown but servitude to anyone.

What we hear from politicians, intellectuals, and the media is that independence is passé, that we've reached a new age of "interdependence."

We hear demands from trust-busters that successful companies be punished for being "greedy" and not serving society. But this is not the message of America.

To the Founding Fathers, there was no authority higher than the individual mind, not King George, not God, not society.

Independence is what should be celebrated on Independence Day.

It is a legacy we should keep, not because it is a legacy, but because it is right and just.

Tags: history, government

Shapeshifting Sun

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:47:11 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: virtual.finland.fi

Tags: photography

Magnetospheric Audio

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:29:59 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: science.nasa.gov

The space around the atmosphere is alive and dynamic, not empty and still. Our planet is connected with our sun with more than light.

Clip Source: science.nasa.gov

About 100 years ago, people in England heard some strange noises on their newly developed telephones.

The people in England listening on their telephones during an aurora similar to that shown, might have heard something like this ...

Very Low Frequency Saucers Audio Clip

Clip Source: science.nasa.gov

The next reports of strange sounds came during World War I.

Here is what the soldiers may have heard....

"Whistlers" Audio

Clip Source: science.nasa.gov

From Voyager 1 we also found "chorus"; one of the first kinds of natural radio waves described by telephone operators at earth.

Jupiter's "Chorus" Audio

Clip Source: science.nasa.gov

When Voyager 2 got to Saturn, it found a similar kind of radio noise.

Voyager 2 Saturn Audio

Clip Source: science.nasa.gov

When Voyager 2 got closer to Saturn, it picked up this signal....

Saturn's "Hiss" Audio

Clip Source: science.nasa.gov

Voyager's Pass through the Rings of Saturn Audio

Tags: science, astronomy, physics, nasa

Believing Global Warming

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:43:16 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the mass hysteria phenomenon known as global warming. Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it's time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in.

The real place where discussions of global warming belong is in the realm of belief, and particularly the motives for belief.

The first is as a vehicle of ideological convenience.

Take just about any other discredited leftist nostrum of yore – population control, higher taxes, a vast new regulatory regime, global economic redistribution, an enhanced role for the United Nations – and global warming provides a justification.

A second explanation is theological.

A light carbon footprint has become the 21st-century equivalent of sexual abstinence.

Finally, there is a psychological explanation.

What's remarkable is the extent to which penance sells among a mostly secular audience. What is there to be penitent about?

Canadian Healthcare Architect Abandons His Own Creation

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:02:07 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

If Claude Castonguay is abandoning ship, why should Americans bother climbing on board?

Clip Source: www.ibdeditorials.com

Back in the 1960s, Castonguay chaired a Canadian government committee studying health reform and recommended that his home province of Quebec — then the largest and most affluent in the country — adopt government-administered health care, covering all citizens through tax levies.

Castonguay's work triggered a domino effect across the country, until eventually his ideas were implemented from coast to coast.

Four decades later, as the chairman of a government committee reviewing Quebec health care this year, Castonguay concluded that the system is in "crisis."

"We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."

Years ago, Canadians touted their health care system as the best in the world; today, Canadian health care stands in ruinous shape.

Tags: government, healthcare, canada

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - On a Stellar Scale

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:31:58 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

PSR 1257 is too faint to see...It's so tiny that you couldn't even see it from its planets.

Clip Source: stardate.org

Here on Earth, Nature recycles rocks, dead plants and animals, and just about everything else. But out in the universe, it may recycle entire planets.

An example is a system known as PSR 1257+12 -- the first confirmed planets discovered outside our own solar system. The system contains three planets that are roughly comparable to Earth -- fairly small, and probably made of rock.

The original star was a supergiant -- much bigger, heavier, and hotter than the Sun. It lived a short but dazzling life, then blasted itself to bits as a supernova.

The star's core collapsed to form a neutron star -- an object that's several times as massive as the Sun, but no bigger than a city.

When the star exploded, any distant planets might have been hurled away at breakneck speeds. But planets at close range would have been pulverized. So the planets in the system today weren't always there. They probably formed from the debris left over from the blast -- a case of recycling on a gigantic scale.

Tags: science, astronomy

Iroquois Blueprint for the U.S.

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:00:40 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

Our constitution has many Iroquois features. Iroquois lawmakers didn't go to war. Civilian and military rule was separate.

The Iroquois had no royalty -- no hereditary rule. Their nations could naturalize new citizens. The League didn't just conquer other nations. It could also admit them to membership.

We didn't adopt the Iroquois unicameral system. They had only one council. Franklin fought for that. Because he lost, we have both the senate and the house.

Franklin also wanted to let soldiers elect their own officers. That's what the Iroquois did. He lost on that one, too.

Still, our constitution is a fine piece of engineering design. We looked at the European kingdoms we'd left behind. And we looked at these people who'd governed themselves so well for so long.

In the end Canassatego and the Iroquois tipped the scales in shaping our way of life. And we can be very glad they did.

Clip Source: www.uh.edu

In 1744 the Iroquois leader Canassatego spoke at the Indian-British assembly in Philadelphia. Dealing with 13 administrations in 13 colonies was impossible, he said. Why didn't we form an umbrella group? Each colony could keep its sovereignty. Yet the 13 could speak to other nations with one voice.

He offered a model. During Europe's Middle Ages, Hiawatha had founded the League of Iroquois Nations. The Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras formed the League.

Historian Jack Weatherford says few colonists were ready to listen. But one was. Ben Franklin had studied the Indians. Later, he became the Indian Commissioner. As early as 1754 he wanted to try Canassatego's idea. Later, he and others built that idea into our constitution.

Each Iroquois nation ran its internal affairs with a council of elected delegates. They also sent delegates to a grand council. It ran affairs among nations. It was a pure federal system.

Tags: history, government

ABC Touts Recession

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:21:12 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: www.mrc.org

In the span of three days, the ABC program has eight times proposed cures in its "Recession Rescue" segment. On June 24 alone, GMA fretted about the "recession" five times. This is despite the fact that America hasn't had one quarter of negative growth, let alone the two necessary for there to be a recession.

On Tuesday, teasing a story on how bad credit can keep people from getting a job, co-host Robin Roberts previewed "important tips in our Recession Rescue."

Chris Cuomo promised "our Recession Rescue" would give credit advice designed to keep viewers from not missing out on a job. Later in the show, he touted another story on how to save for retirement and labeled it as, that's right, "a good Recession Rescue." Now, certainly, the economy has been struggling and many people are having difficulty, but do words not mean things to the reporters and producers at GMA? Or would they simply shrug their shoulders and say, "Close enough?"

Tags: media, economy

Perspective on Temperature

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 01:02:04 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

Many questions remain to be answered regarding the real significance of anthropogenic carbon dioxide as a climate forcing factor and related rising sea level consequences projected by the I.P.C.C. First, there is no incontrovertible evidence to support contentions that pre-industrial carbon dioxide levels were consistently lower than the 380 ppm recorded now. More than 90,000 published measurements carried out between 1812 and 1961 indicate that atmospheric levels were actually rising before the Industrial Revolution. They reached about 440 ppm in 1820, dropped to about 390 ppm by 1855, and rose back to about 440 ppm by 1940.

Clip Source: www.energytribune.com

Cyclical, abrupt, and dramatic global and regional temperature fluctuations have occurred in observable patterns over millions of years, long before humans invented agriculture, capitalism, smokestacks, and carbon trading schemes. To appreciate just how lucky we are to live in the present, consider climate cycles from a historical perspective. Over the past 400,000 years, much of the Northern Hemisphere has been covered by ice up to three miles thick, at regular intervals lasting about 100,000 years each. Very brief interglacial cycles lasting about 12,000 to 18,000 years, like our current one, have offered reprieves from the bitter cold. From this perspective, there can be no doubt that current temperatures are abnormally warm.

The average temperature of our planet has been gradually increasing on a fairly constant basis over the past 18,000 years or so since it began thawing out of the last ice age.

Tags: global warming, climate change

Rich Dictator, Poor People

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:52:37 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

Chávez imposes his Bolivarian curriculum, which intends to promote Chavista ideology and eliminate the democratic history of Venezuela. Instead of focusing on educational standards, schools today are becoming miniature military boot camps. It is no surprise that literacy rates are dropping.Children with green uniforms and red berets are handling guns and shouting, “Fatherland, Socialism or Death.”

This horrifying phenomenon is fueled by Chávez’s determination to condition the Venezuelan youth into believing his own skewed interpretation of history, through which they will likely become little soldiers for his cause.

Clip Source: www.energytribune.com

Chávez has claimed to be the savior of the poor. In reality, he has used them as a political tool to gain power. His neo-communist and militarist model continues to be funded by oil wealth that belongs to all Venezuelans.

Before Chávez took over in 1999, when oil was selling for about $10 per barrel, PDVSA was the world’s second-largest energy company and one of the leading foreign suppliers of crude oil and refined petroleum products to the U.S. Under Chávez, with oil selling for over $100, Venezuelan oil production has fallen almost 50 percent.

Never in Venezuela’s history has there been such rampant and shameless corruption. According to Domingo Maza Zavala, former director of the Central Bank of Venezuela, “Now, in Venezuela, there is more poverty than there was before Chávez.”

In March 2003, the Chávez government adopted what they called “socialist” innovations in healthcare, but completely failed to maintain basic medical functions.

Tags: hugo chavez, socialism, venezuela

U.S. Confidence in Various Institutions

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:50:59 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, come on down! You've made history.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

At the bottom of the heap, displacing HMOs as our worst institution, one finds the second branch of government, our Congress, at 12%. The Gallup folks noted it is "the worst rating Gallup has measured for any institution in the 35-year history of this question." Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, come on down! You've made history.

Hard to miss as well is that just below the military's high-confidence interval comes, of all things, the cops.

What the U.S. military and the police have in common is successful self-reform of their institutions.

Many institutions are caught between a divided politics pulling hard at opposite ends of the rope. The public's sourness is just a symptom of this tension. Peace of mind – assuming people truly want that – won't come until voters decide whether the future direction of their country should be set mainly by the institutions of the private sector or by institutions of the public sector.

Tags: economy, government, polls, opinion

Houston, We Have No Problem

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:10:03 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

In May, the unemployment rate in the nation's sixth largest metropolitan area was a measly 3.8 percent. In the past year, Houston-based companies, which include 26 Fortune 500 firms, added 71,000 jobs to their payrolls. The local United Way closed out its fiscal year with a record $76.1 million in donations.

Pessimists are as rare as Birkenstock sandals, or OBAMA '08 stickers in ExxonMobil's parking garage.

At Houston's port, the second busiest in America, cranes are loading ships with industrial equipment. Exports rose 25 percent in 2007, to $72 billion.

Houston has 70,000 engineers and architects (a concentration 60 percent higher than is typical for the United States).

The residential market, which avoided a bubbly run-up—thanks to endless supplies of land and a lack of zoning laws—has remained buoyant. Development is rampant, from $200,000 single-family homes in suburban planned communities to $1.4 million town houses that have replaced student apartment buildings near Rice University.

Tags: houston, texas, economy

Happy 233rd Army!

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:29:46 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks: The picture shows Fort Riley Soldiers representing the Army from the Revolutionary War to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the enlistment of 10 companies of riflemen in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The next day, George Washington was appointed commander in chief of this “grand American army.”

And thus the U.S. Army was born.

Clip Source: www.army.mil

Two hundred and thirty-three years ago, the United States Army was established to defend our Nation. From the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terror, our Soldiers remain Army Strong with a deep commitment to our core values and beliefs.

Their willingness to sacrifice to build a better future for others and to preserve our way of life is without a doubt, the Strength of our Nation.

Tags: military, army