WYD 2008

Young people from around the world are gathering with Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day events, energizing Faith in Christ in the "Land Down Under" and around the world. Amy Welborn provides a list of links and blogs for the event.

Tony Snow, RIP

Tony Snow, former White House Press Secretary and political talk show host and commentator, passed away after battling cancer at age 53.

I recall seeing Tony Snow speak last year at a conservative conference in DC. He was gifted with combining strong advocacy with gentleness and humor and his strong Catholic Faith. In addressing graduates of Catholic University, he said:

And pretty soon you are thinking about God. Don’t shrink from pondering God’s role in the universe or Christ’s. You see, it’s trendy to reject religious reflection as a grave offense against decency. That’s not only cowardly. That’s false. Faith and reason are knitted together in the human soul. So don’t leave home without either one.

Dr. Michael DeBakey, RIP

The man who did so much to advance heart medicine has passed away at age 99.

Happy Independence Day!

(This post I made last year is just as relevant today.)

As we join in the festivities of the Fourth, let's strive to keep to the values proclaimed in the Declaration that make it worth celebrating.

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.

Power Line Blog links to a speech given by President Coolidge on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration and highlights a paragraph very relevant to the social and political issues in today's society.

About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.

ADDITION: 7/4/08: Check out this powerful video and remember those who are sacrificing for us.

This Anniversary is a Real Blast

Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the explosive arrival of a large object from space in Siberia on June 30, 1908. The issue of detecting asteroids or comets in the vicinity of Earth's orbit around the Sun, known as Near Earth Objects (NEOs), and responding to, preferably by deflection, of those that threaten to impact our planet, has gained attention in recent years. The B612 Foundation has as its purpose development of NEO deflection methods. Also, the citizens' space agenda organization Prospace (of which I am a member of the Board of Directors) included NEOs in this years 'March Storm' agenda.

It Ain't Over'Til It's Over

John Fund explains why, despite the conventional wisdom, there's no certainty of an Obama inauguration next January.

The McCain campaign can't expect to win the election on the strength of their man's personal appeal or character. He is most likely to win by engaging Mr. Obama on the issues, and forcing debates over competing visions of foreign policy, and the size and scope of government. Tackling concerns about energy and food costs are key.

Here Mr. McCain has an opening. On many core issues, the country still leans right of center. In last week's Washington Post poll, 50% of voters favored a smaller government with fewer services while 45% wanted a bigger government with more services - the same percentage breakdown as in June 2004.

Second Amendment Ruling

One doesn't have to have a big interest in guns to applaud an occasion when the Supreme Court (albeit by a narrow 5-4 vote) bases a decision not on foreign law, an "emerging national consensus", nor "the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life", but on the US Constitution. What a concept!

Michael Reagan celebrates this week's Supreme Court ruling striking down the DC handgun ban, but ends on a cautionary note.

The Supreme Court ruling has been greeted by the American people as a welcome sign that many of their rights long threatened by out-of-control judges who make or misinterpret laws, rather than enforcing them, are now at last being safeguarded by the High Court.

That’s a dangerous misconception. The new decision was a 5-4 ruling. That tiny majority, often reversed in other rulings that defy the meaning of the Constitution, will vanish if the liberals manage to elect Barack Obama and give his party sufficient control of Congress to guarantee that future Court vacancies will be filled with activist liberal justices who will turn the Constitution upside down.

Water Ice and More on Mars

Phoenix mission scientists last week announced that material observed disappearing from a trench dug by the robotic lander was frozen water that evaporated after being exposed by the digging. (See the amazing evidence here.)

Since then, the mission team has begun to use the Phoenix lander's chemical analysis capabilities, which are already yielding quite interesting results.

Tim Russert, RIP

The Nation and the world are remembering Tim Russert for his contributions to journalism. He was known for asking tough questions, but probably more than many in today's media, was fair to people on all sides. Tim Russert's passions went beyond journalism and politics, as he was known for his devotion to his family and his Catholic faith.

I learned earlier in the week that a friend I'd grown up with from grade school through college had recently passed away. These two instances of people passing in the prime of their lives are a reminder to me that we each don't know how much time we have in this life and that we should be mindful of the next life.

Discovery Returns

The STS-124 mission completed this morning as the Shuttle Discovery landed in Florida after its highly successful mission to the International Space Station. The next mission to fly is the one I'm involved in supporting, the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope in October. Here is an impressive video preview. (Hat tip to NASA Watch.)

MARS Rising

Orbital Sciences Corporation has confirmed its selection of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island, VA for launching the company's Taurus II launch vehicle. The rocket will demonstrate cargo resupply of the International Space Station along with lofting satellites into orbit.

As I've already noted, having an emerging major spaceport will be an exciting development for this region.

UPDATE 6/10/08 Here's the round-up of links from Spacetoday.net.

Year of the Potato

Almost halfway through the year, I've learned that the United Nations is honoring one of my favorite foods by observing 2008 as the International Year of the Potato. The observance highlights the spud's contribution to agriculture and mitigating world poverty. (Hat tip to Dr. Astropixie.)

Hi-Def Space History

This Sunday night the Discovery Channel starts it's spectacular series When We Left Earth showing (some never before shown in public) scenes from NASA's video vault covering the epic history of the US space program. Check out the spectacular video preview trailer.

Lab Delivery

The Kibo Lab has been successfully installed and opened up by the ISS/Discovery crews.

Discovery in Orbit at ISS

NASA/Jerry Cannon, George Roberts

Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off Saturday afternoon on its mission to the International Space Station (where it arrived today). Highlight will be the installation of the large Kibo Japanese laboratory module.

Update on Rachel's Field

In September 2006, I posted a short piece with links regarding Rachel's Field, an effort by some local prolife friends to establish a memorial to unborn babies lost to abortion. For the latest on the twists and turns on this amazing ongoing effort, please check out the Rachel's Field web site.

It's Fun to go to the I-S-D-C!

Yes, that's a take-off of a Seventies song, but the International Space Development Conference 2008 is being held here in DC tomorrow through Sunday, and that's where I'll be.

Phoenix Makes Landfall on Mars

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Timely image of Phoenix suspended from its parachute descending to the surface taken from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter


NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Icy, patterned ground on Mars, imaged by Phoenix after landing.

The Phoenix lander arrived in the northern polar region of Mars last evening. A number of spectacular images have already been released. In a few days, controllers will start commanding the robotic lander to begin digging into the permafrost and conduct experiments on the frozen water deposited there. The results may provide indications on the possibility that microbial life was or is present on this region of Mars.

Another Venture on Mars to Begin Sunday

The Phoenix lander will land on the northern polar region of Mars on Sunday. There the NASA spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, will investigate the significant presence of frozen water at this region and what it could mean for the past or present possibility of life on Mars.

Here is the Phoenix Mars Mission home page, which I've also added to my side bar.

Personhood in Colorado

A prolife group in Colorado says on Tuesday it will turn in more than enough signatures to qualify an initiative on the state's November ballot recognizing the personhood of unborn human beings from the moment of fertilization. The initiative potentially sets up a challenge to the 1973 Supreme Court decisions which imposed abortion on demand in the United States and will highlight the visibility of abortion during this year's elections for president and other offices.