Several Interesting Articles
Keith Cowing argues for considering other options to save the Hubble Space Telecope from a premature end.

Also, four new articles at The Space Review today. Among them, Phil Smith argues that President Bush's new initiative is the wrong approach. This article really does lay out a broad vision of the human future of developing and settling space, largely through the private sector. I wouldn't necessarily agree that the Bush plan precludes this vision, only that the plan, broadly defined so far, only addresses NASA's role in cutting edge exploration. What is needed is a complementary plan to involve the private sector and enable it to follow the explorers outward.

Jeff Foust looks at the Near Earth Asteroids as a third option. What I noticed about W's address, is that he only laid out a schedule as far as establishing a presence on the Moon with related infrastructure by 2020. Beyond that, the President spoke of "human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond", without providing a timeline. Whether knowingly or not, he leaves the door open for the nation to head to the asteroids ahead of Mars if the opportunity, or especially the threat, is deemed more important at that time.

Missing the Big Story
If 100,000, perhaps 200,000 people, especially a largely young crowd, marched through the streets of Washington to address a serious public issue, the major media organizations would surely provide abundant coverage and analysis, right? Well, in case you missed it last week, check out here and here for an explanation.

No Work Today
My day job, anyway. Did some real work this morning, shoveling snow. Then spent some time catching up on web articles.

Even with the New Hampshire Primary tomorrow, I suspect the most watched analyst around here the past 24 hours was not a political pundit, but the Weather Channel's winter storm expert, Paul Kocin.

One Giant Leap for my Blog



This image shows one of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's first breathtaking views of the martian landscape after its successful landing at Meridiani Planum on Mars. JPL press Release

This is an experiment to show that I can display a picture on my blog. The catch is that I can't post pictures directly on to my blog, since I'm using the free version of Blogger. This image will remain only as long as JPL maintains the link to this picture at the URL I've posted. (NASA imagery is public domain.)

Opportunity Bounce
Opportunity has landed, bounced and is rolling to a stop while maintaining communication. CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former VP Al Gore and a couple of congressmen are in the control room congratulating the team.

Indication of '+Y Petal Down', still modulating signal could indicate continued rolling.

Apparently, vehicle is now stationary, laying sideways with its signal to Earth 'multipathing', giving the appearance of continued rolling. Sideways position is not a problem. When petals open, the vehicle will be uprighted.

Opportunity is set to explore the Meridiani Planum region of Mars, rich in the mineral hematite, a strong indicator of the presence of water at some point in the region's history. For ongoing updates on Opportunity's post-landing activities and Spirit's recovery activities, go to the JPL project web site.

Mars Exploration Update
Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are troubleshooting the serious operational anomalies affecting the Spirit rover, while also preparing for its sister ship Opportunity to arrive on the other side of the planet late Saturday. Follow the latest developments at JPL's project web site.

Meanwhile, the European Space Agency reports that its Mars Express orbiter has confirmed the presence of water ice in the south polar cap of Mars.

Still Trying to Party like It's 1992
Joel Rosenberg writes that public attitudes on abortion are changing, but the Democratic presidential candidates just don't seem to get it.

Conservatives should know better...
...than to uncritically accept supposed 'facts' sensationalized in the Old Media. However, some conservatives have criticized President Bush's space initiative as fiscally irresponsible, based on the assumption that it would be a 'trillion dollar' effort. The criticism might be valid if that figure were true, but Jim Oberg explains that it would not be nearly that costly.

Citizens of any political persuasion can support making the effort more affordable with a greater payoff by advocating for a greater involvement of the private sector so that it can follow the explorers outward.

A Part of Our Childhood
Bob Keeshan, aka Captain Kangaroo, has passed away at age 76. His show started in 1955, the year I was born.

Speaking Truth to Power
This was my eighth March for Life, but I am still awed by the power of meeting so many nice people who've taken the time and effort to come from many places to stand for life in the nation's capital.

The memorable events began last night with the packed, standing-room-only National Vigil Mass at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This morning started on Capitol Hill where I expressed my point of view to Senators Mikulski & Sarbanes (via filling out a form in their office lobbies). In the same Hart Senate Office Building, I then heard one of the most stirring prolife addresses ever, delivered by Father Frank Pavone. (Hopefully, a transcript or, better yet, a video will be available soon.)

The March itself was, as always, such a powerful experience. Near the end of the March, as Constitution Ave. ascends Capitol Hill, looking back at the sight of a sea of people and banners stretching many blocks distant gives a real sense of the power of this movement.

After attending a couple of post-March receptions, at 6 PM I started back toward Union Station to catch the Metro, but had one more stop. In front of the Supreme Court were two groups. One was a pro-abortion group chanting the same old tired slogans ("Not the Church, not the state, blah, blah, blah, blah!") At the other end of the plaza, an event called Silent No More, where women described the searing experiences of past abortions, and the healing and forgiveness they've felt in coming to terms with them. One group still in denial, the other 'silent no more'.

A long day, where the inspiration more than makes up for the tired legs and feet. I am quite hopeful about the future.

Why We March

This Thursday, January 22, marks the 31st anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court decisions which imposed abortion-on-demand in the United States. Once again, concerned citizens will gather for the annual March for Life, which in recent years has usually drawn more than 100,000 participants. Now, why do so many people consider it so important to take time on a weekday to come to Washington, DC at the coldest time of the year to make their voice heard on this matter?

Before I go on any further, I need to say a couple of things. First, nothing in this article is meant to condemn anyone who has had an abortion or has been involved in abortion in some way. Far from condemning those with an abortion in their past, the people in the prolife movement are about healing and forgiveness, and want it to be clear that there is hope after abortion. Post-abortion counseling can be found through many church denominations and pregnancy counseling centers.

And second, while the prolife movement consists largely of people with strong religious convictions who feel called by God to defend the defenseless, that doesn’t make the protection of human life a narrow, religious issue. The facts that the defenseless exist and that they deserve protection in the human family can be persuasively advocated by non-religiously reasoned arguments.

First, let’s start with a little scientific background (from the Science for Unborn Human Life website) about how each of us began our lives as unique human beings. A new human being is conceived when a sperm fertilizes an egg. The sperm has 23 chromosomes and so does the egg. But the fertilized egg has 46, half from each parent, and is genetically unique. These 46 chromosomes, which are fixed at conception, establish the child's sex and are a blueprint for how it will develop, both during pregnancy and after birth.

Blood vessels start to form very early, about 13-18 days after fertilization. Then, on about the 20th day - nearly the end of the third week - the foundation of the brain, the spinal cord, and the entire nervous system is established. The heart begins to beat on about the 22nd day after conception, circulating blood throughout the child. The arms begin to form on about day 26, followed by the beginnings of the legs on day 28, the same day that the mouth opens for the first time.

Both the eyes and ears are developing rapidly during the seventh week after conception. At this time, the thumbs, neck, heels of the feet and all of the fingers are also present. Taste buds begin to form during the eighth week after conception. All parts of the limbs are apparent at this time. In addition, the fingers and toes have lengthened and are completely separated.

By the end of the eighth week the overwhelming majority (several thousand) of the body's organs, structures and systems have already begun to develop. Few, if any, new structures begin to form after this time. During the remainder of the pregnancy, development consists mainly of growth and maturation of the parts of the body that are already present.

Isolated arm, leg and backward head movements begin at about 7 to 10 weeks after conception. During the ninth week, a regular pattern of breathing movements is observed, with a median frequency of about 30 breaths each hour.

These are just the highlights of how you developed during the first 2-3 months of your life. Now consider that a majority of abortions are performed during the tenth to twelfth week of gestation. Some are performed much later in the pregnancy, when the child has grown larger and any unbiased observer would recognize a baby when they see one.

So why if the evidence so clearly indicates that a unique human life begins at conception, how did the deliberate and violent destruction of that life come to be imposed as a ‘constitutional right’? Time does not permit describing the whole history of abortion or the intertwining influences of the eugenics and population control movements. Let’s start with the socially turbulent late sixties when a growing pro-abortion movement subversively exploited the legitimate aspirations of women for greater rights and participation in society.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, former abortionist and co-founder of the pro-abortion group NARAL, has since changed his mind and heart and is now a leading prolife advocate. He points out the disinformation at the heart of the pro-abortion campaign.

- “The statistics that we gave to the American public about illegal abortions annually; the statistics we fabricated regarding the number of women dying from illegal abortions annually; all of these matters were pure fabrication and still persist to this very day.”

- “We spoke of 5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year. I confess that I knew the figures were totally false. It was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics?”

- “We in NARAL were in the business of coining slogans principally for the media . . . we scattered catchy slogans for them . . . to use . . . in their stories. Slogans like “reproductive rights,” “freedom of choice,” “pro-choice.” For many years we’ve known them to be hollow and meaningless. They’re just catchy and, essentially, without substance.”

The movement made rapid progress. California, New York and a few other states passed ‘liberalized’ abortion laws (though some other states rejected them). But what embedded abortion in American law were two Supreme Court cases, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, pronounced on January 22, 1973. The combined effect of the two decisions was to effectively impose abortion-on-demand throughout the nine months of pregnancy. Since that time, over forty million human beings have been exterminated by abortion in the United States.

Aside from the grave issue that was decided, the finding that abortion is part of a constitutional ‘right of privacy’ is considered an overreach of judicial power even by some legal scholars who describe themselves as ‘prochoice’. The ‘reasoning’ was based on ‘penumbras’ the justices claim to have seen in the constitution.

Did you know that the two plaintiffs in the Roe and Doe cases, Norma McCorvey and Sandra Cano, have filed affidavits to the effect that they were manipulated into their roles and that the decisions should be overturned? You would think that this development would be considered unprecedented in Supreme Court history, but I guess Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, the New York Times, etc. forgot to inform you.

One fact that is becoming evident that abortion-on-demand is not such a great thing for women. Abortion has left many women emotionally and sometimes physically scarred. Campaigns such as Silent No More and Women Deserve Better are tapping into this hidden anguish.

Also evident is the effect on our society, with conflicting attitudes on how we treat not only the unborn, but also the sick, disabled and elderly. Abortion has torn marriages and families apart, and led to a hardened and increasingly violent culture.

So, we have had for the past thirty years, a culture that in some ways has grown cynical, forgoing the promise of a hopeful future for instant gratification, or more often, the resignation to unimaginative “solutions” that pit mother against child or people against the planet. One is reminded of a quote from the great Irish poet William Butler Yeats:

“The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere a ceremony of innocence was drowned.”

These Supreme Court abortion decisions were assumed to have ‘settled’ the issue in our society. Yet much to the consternation of the pro-abortion establishment, the movement of concerned citizens to protect life has only grown in strength over the past thirty years. The prolife movement has pursued multiple paths: educating the public, lobbying and litigating for change, participating in politics, and especially reaching out to help women with unplanned pregnancies.

Particularly significant is that the change in public attitudes on abortion is most striking among young people (who’ve lost peers they’ve never met). This is manifested in polling results and an upsurge of prolife activism among college students, much to the consternation of their professors and, in some cases, their parents. Sort of adds a new twist to some lyrics from the sixties by Buffalo Springfield:

“Young people speaking their minds, Getting so much resistance from behind.”

So the buses are starting to roll, as thousands from distant states once again journey to Washington, where many will gather in prayer the night before or the morning of the March. Then we will rally and march, knowing that those we are trying to defend would some day defend our nation, write great literature, cure disease, compose stirring music, and explore and begin to settle the Solar System.

But more than for their potential accomplishments, we speak out for them simply because of the inherent dignity of each of their lives. In so doing we are responding to a great calling as individuals and as a civilization. And we’ll continue to speak and march and work and pray, confident in the hope that, one of these years, we won’t face the cold winds. Instead, we’ll gather on a warm spring day to celebrate the inclusion of the youngest in the human family within the protection of the law.

"A Time Set Apart"
President gave the State of the Union message. Some highlights included continuing the War on Terror, Patriot Act, making tax cuts permanent, several health care related items and defense of marriage, by constitutional amendment if necessary.

Dems Pelosi & Daschle gave their response. Mostly criticizing W's policies on Iraq, taxes and health care.

The results are in...
...from Iowa. Kerry and Edwards are the big winners. Third place Dean is defiant. Fourth place Gephardt bowing out. Of course, I'm sticking with the incumbent.

Wow!!!
Just this evening saw the LOTR finale, The Return of the King, at the Uptown in DC.

The Inside Story of President Bush's Space Initiative
All three parts of the report by Frank Sietzen Jr. and Keith Cowing are now online, so I'll provide the links here for Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

Apogee Books will publish a book this summer which will further expand on these reports titled New Moon Rising: The Making of George W. Bush's Space Vision and the Remaking of NASA. Should make for quite interesting reading.

W hits another homer this week.
President Bush has made a recess appointment of Charles Pickering to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Watch for squirming Democrats and a howling and shrieking pro-abortion lobby.

Hubble Servicing Cancelled
NASA announced today that there would be no more servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope. The decision was made by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and was based on the additional post-Columbia safety provisions that would have to be made for Hubble servicing, which would take place in a different orbit than the International Space Station. The Hubble telescope will probably remain operational for several more years, depending on the health of the vehicle's gyroscopes and batteries. Flight software modifications are being developed to enable limited science observations to be conducted with as few as two functioning gyros.

One year ago today,...
...it appeared to be a perfect launch of the STS-107 Columbia mission. Only the engineers reviewing the post-launch videos had any clue that something might have gone wrong...

The Bush Space Initiative
Reaction continues to pour in from around the nation and the world. (See SpaceToday.Net.)

A few notable commentaries:

Mark Whittington says it's about time we pick up where we left off thirty years ago.

Rand Simberg urges a 'Space Program for the Rest of Us'.

Frank Sietzen and Keith Cowing report on 'The inside story of President Bush's space initiative. Part 1 of 3'. This is a very interesting and revealing report. The President expressed a strong awareness of the importance of developing an effective space strategy:

"Bush told his aides the outcome of the processes needed to mean something. It could not be just a stunt or some large spending effort. His new space vision had to emphasize scientific, technological, economic and social importance."

Spirit is on a Roll.
The Rover rolled off the lander this morning and is on the Martian surface. Here is today's JPL press release.