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Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’ to land early Monday
August 5, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
From the Washington Post, Mars rover Curiosity set to land in ‘7 minutes of terror’ on Monday:
After a journey of 354 million miles, a spacecraft approaching Mars at 13,200 mph is on course to land inside its sweet spot early Monday.
The landing is one of the riskiest ever tried, and the descent is what NASA officials call “seven minutes of terror.”
Nonetheless, the spacecraft carrying the Mars rover Curiosity is on target “to fly through the eye of the needle” and touch down within its five-by-13-mile landing elipse, said Arthur Amador, mission manager of the Mars Science Laboratory. “We’re . . . in as good shape as we could hope for.”
Yet with so much riding on the $2.5 billion mission, he said at a news conference, “we’re often reminding each other to keep breathing.”
The spaceship is on course to enter the Martian atmosphere at 1:24 a.m. Eastern time on Monday.
Because the rover is so much larger, more complicated and more ambitious than earlier models, it has to land in a new and far more hazardous way. The landing, which could never be tested in full on Earth, includes a hovering rocket stage, a kind of sky crane, to lower it to the ground. NASA’s chief scientist John Grunsfeld has said that because of that heightened landing difficulty, in addition to the unprecedented sophistication of the instruments on board, Curiosity is “the most important NASA mission of the decade.”
Anxious engineers and scientists will be waiting for a touchdown “beep” — which comes as computer code — that will report a safe landing. It could come as early as 1:31 a.m.
Several hours of silence from Curiosity are quite possible, officials said, since the rover’s signals can be received only if the Mars orbiters that will relay its messages are in precisely the correct location.
But if nothing is heard from the orbiters or through the Deep Space Network after about 18 hours, said MSL deputy project manager Richard Cook, then it’s time to start worrying about the fate of the mission.
The Curiosity landing is shaping up to be an international spectacle. Formal “landing” parties have been scheduled from South Australia to Rome, from Israel to Crete; and in the United States from Atlanta to Seattle, Milwaukee to Honolulu.
NASA also has helped organize a landing gathering in New York’s Times Square, which will feature a large screen that will beam the streaming news from atop a building and high above the crowd.
Reaching, orbiting and landing on Mars is notoriously hard. In addition to the European Space Agency, nations including the United States, the former Soviet Union, Russia, China and Japan have sent missions to Mars since the late 1960s, but only about one-third of them have succeeded.
The United States is the only nation to land a vehicle on Mars and complete its mission, having done it six out of seven tries.
NASA’s confidence in the mission is reflected in the aggressive way it’s trying to bring it to the public, from landing-based X-box games to those many parties.
Saturday Editorial August 4th, 2012
August 4, 2012
In the flurry of news and opinion gusting out of our computer screens and smart phones, it is easy to become ‘news blind’ – so focused on the flakes and flurries that we forget where we are headed. We stumble confusedly ahead with no map to our destination. It’s easy to get lost in the storm.
I personally read almost every news source in Arizona – and keep up with national reaction to our politics, as well – in bringing to readers of BlogForArizona the Arizona Donkey Feed, which appears on our right-hand sidebar every day (you may also have the Feed emailed to you daily). So I, too, often find myself in that blizzard without a map.
I decided I might like to sit down once a week and take some time to look around, and identify what I think are the most significant landmarks around where we stand now. It might not be a map that will tell us where we are headed, but maybe I can get some idea of where we are. Over time, perhaps it will become a map of sorts. You can even look back to all the editorials I have done so far, which isn’t that many, yet…
I would also like to let you all know that Cam Juarez, candidate for Tucson Unified School Board, will be guest-host at Drinking Liberally in Tucson. Come down to the Shanty of 4th Avenue this Wednesday at 6pm and enjoy a beer with Cam.
This week, I write about:
An excellent peice of must-see political television presided over by Jim Nintzel,
The Chik-Fil-A culture war comes home to Arizona,
Brewer’s decision on Medicaid expansion will be a matter of life and death for Arizonans, and
The Best New Thing in Arizona Politics has something to do with Ben Quayle…
See it all after the click…
Conservative Super PAC to use GOP Southern Strategy of race-baiting
August 4, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Things are about to get ugly — a new Conservative Super PAC plans to use the GOP Southern Strategy of race-baiting in ad campaign. Will reporters in the "lamestream" media ask Willard "Mittens" Romney to disavow this racist strategy and to publicly condemn this douche-bag, Stephen Marks? New SuperPAC, FightBigotry.com, Smears President Obama For ‘Racism Against White Folks’:
FightBigotry.com, a new Super PAC registered with the Federal Election Commission this week, makes no bones about its aim. It intends to run an attack ad that it says will hit President Barack Obama for “his disturbing, yet crystal-clear pattern of tacitly defending black racism against white folks before and since being elected president.”
FightBigotry.com’s founder and treasurer is Stephen Marks, a well-known Republican opposition researcher whose 2008 book Confessions of a Political Hitman detailed his work in what he called “the dark side of politics.” In 2000, he launched an attack ad under the misleading name “Americans Against Hate,” attempting to tie Al Gore to controversial comments by Rev. Al Sharpton. Another Marks spot in 2004 attempted to link John Kerry to convicted murderer Willie Horton. He was forced to retract a claim in the book about then-Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ), acknowledging that “the information was not accurate.”
Harry Reid uses ‘rope-a-dope’ strategy against Romney
August 4, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have to admit that I find what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is doing a bit disconcerting. Someone in his position of authority who is going to need to negotiate with the GOP leadership some major legislative jujitsu later this year during the lame duck session should not be the point man for going after Willard "Mittens" Romney for refusing to disclose his tax returns to the American people.
I don't have any special insight into the senator's reasoning, but Harry Reid is a fellow Mormon, he represents Nevada where risky gambles in Las Vegas are a way of life, and he is a former amateur boxer.
Reid is using Mohammad Ali's famous "rope-a-dope" strategy against George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle." Ali purposely baited Foreman, provoking the latter to attack and to force Ali back on the ropes where the ropes absorbed most of of the force of Foreman's punches. When Foreman punched himself out and became tired, Ali regrouped and ended up winning the fight.
This week, the Majority Leader raised eyebrows when he said “The word is out that he hasn’t paid any taxes for ten years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn’t”, referring to his recent conversation with an undisclosed source, a former investor in Bain Capital, who claimed Romney paid little or no taxes for the last ten years. Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney 'Didn't Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years'. One thing us certain, if Harry Reid says he has a source, he does; whether his source is credible is the great unknown.
Harry Reid baited Mittens Romney, and sure enough, Romney took the bait. Romney responded to a question from Sean Hannity that “It’s time for Harry Reid to put up or shut up,” referring to Reid's undisclosed source. (Romney wants the source's name so his supporters can engage in the politics of personal destruction against the source). This only invited more baiting from the Majority Leader. "C'mon! Hit me, you big dope!"
Harry Reid isn't running for president, Mittens – you are. Romney is punching down against President Obama's corner man in the ring, always a mistake. Romney looks ridiculous when he tells Harry Reid to “put up or shut up” when it is Romney who must "put up or shut up" to support his own unverified claims about paying his taxes by releasing his tax returns to the American people.
Court hearing on ‘top two primary’ today
August 3, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
This is a Howard Fischer report, so take it for what it is worth. State judge not buying arguments by foes of open primary ballot measure:
A state judge on Friday questioned efforts of foes of an open primary system to keep it from ever going to voters.
The opponents contend that the proposed constitutional amendment illegally deals with too many disparate subjects. Attorney Mike Liburdi said that makes putting it on the November ballot improper.
But during a hearing Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark Brain suggested he was not buying all of Liburdi's arguments that the measure, if approved, would change too many unrelated things.
Brain also was skeptical of Liburdi's contention that a 100-word description of the measure, included on each petition, did not comply with legal requirements that it be solely a factual description of what would change if approved.
The attorney argued that proponents improperly used the description to convince people to sign. But Brain told Liburdi that under his interpretation of the law, there is no way anyone could accurately describe a ballot measure within 100 words.
* * *
The measure initially was fought largely by Republicans who currently dominate Arizona politics. But on Friday, Brain agreed to a request to add two Democratic officials to the legal challenge.
Rep. Steve Gallardo of Phoenix said his concern is that the change could result in fewer Hispanics being elected.
Gallardo lives in a heavily Democratic and largely Hispanic district. And he said most Hispanics are registered as Democrats.
He said that pretty much ensures that the Democratic nominees will be either Hispanic or at least candidates that Hispanics think represent their interests. And given the Democratic registration edge in the district, that makes the Republican nominees pretty much irrelevant by the time the general election comes around.
Under this proposal, he said a single non-Hispanic candidate might face off in the primary against four Hispanics. Gallardo said if the Hispanics split the ethnic vote, that means only one might survive to reach the general election.
All that, however, is legally irrelevant to the court fight over whether the issue gets on the ballot in the first place.
The law according to Howard Fischer? Have you got a source besides your own opinion, Howie?
AEI rethinks conservative ‘austerity’ orthodoxy
August 3, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: It's about damn time! Austerity lovers of the world take note: Cutting government spending hurts the economy and it's not just the Paul Krugmans of the world that say so. merican Enterprise Institute: U.S. Austerity Measures Hurting Broader Economy: The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, has some data out indicating … Read more
Someone should modify this ad to run against Rep. Trent Franks
August 3, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Hotel executive Jim Graves, the Democratic opponent of the Minnesota Loon, Michele Bachmann (R-MN), has launched a web video directly comparing her to former Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI):
“I have a message for Rep. Bachmann: it’s nothing to be proud of,” Graves said of his opponent's fundaising in an email to supporters Thursday. “That money was the direct result of a hateful and dangerous witch-hunt that viciously smeared a dedicated public servant. It echoed of a dark time in our nation’s history that we thought was behind us.”
“McCarthyism was dangerous then. It’s dangerous now.”
Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) is one of the Minnesota Loon's four cohorts in this religious bigotry McCarthyism.
Video below the fold.
Update: Tea-Publican tyranny in Michigan – state Supreme Court orders emergency manager referendum on the ballot
August 3, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
It looks like asking the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene lit a fire under the Michigan Supreme Court. The court in a closely divided 4-3 decision ruled today that the petition drive met the requirements and should be certified for the November election ballot. Supreme Court: Emergency manager repeal must go on November ballot:
The Michigan Supreme ended a dispute over font size today when it ruled in a 4-3 opinion that the proposed repeal of the state’s emergency manager must be placed on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Justice Mary Beth Kelly, a nominee of the Republican Party, wrote the majority opinion. Her opinion strikes down an earlier opinion that found “substantial compliance” with petition details such as the size of the font used on the petition should not keep an otherwise valid voter petition off the ballot. Kelly’s opinion said the petition must fully comply with requirements such as font size, which are spelled out in Michigan law.
But in breaking with her fellow Republican nominees, Chief Justice Robert Young Jr. and Justices Stephen Markman and Brian Zahra, Kelly ruled that the Stand up for Democracy petition did comply fully, because type printed in a 14-point style will produce letters that measure smaller than 14-point.
“It is clear that the point size of all the required text refers to the size of the type and not the individual letters,” Kelly said in writing the majority opinion.
Three justices nominated by the Democrats, Michael Cavanagh, Marilyn Kelly and Diane Hathaway, did not agree with all of Justice Mary Beth Kelly’s reasoning, but voted with her to get the contentious question on the ballot.
The opinion ends a long legal fight and is a victory for opponents of the law toughened by Gov. Rick Snyder and the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2011.
