Daily Archives: October 7, 2011
House Democrats Call for Investigation of Justice Thomas
On Thursday, 20 House Democrats, led by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY), called for an ethics investigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for allegedly failing to report that his wife was paid $700,000 for her work at the Heritage Foundation between 2003 and 2007.
The Democrats issued a letter requesting that the Judicial Conference determine whether the matter should be referred to the Justice Department to decide whether Thomas violated the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. The Act mandates that all federal justices disclose spouse’s or dependent’s place of employment and financial holdings.
An Open Letter to Climate Change Deniers
Check it out:
OK, you have fought hard to deny or challenge the realities of climate change, perhaps because you are afraid of the policies that might have to be put in place; or are afraid of the possibilities of increased government intervention; or you don’t think it will be that bad; or you think it will be too expensive to do anything about; or you don’t understand the science; or you don’t trust scientists, including, by the way, every national academy of sciences and every professional scientific organization in the geosciences… or whatever.
Separation of Church and State is Not Separation of Churches and State
Where I grew up election were held in firehouses and public schools. I seem to remember the same being the case in Boston. But here in the Midwest, you go to a church to vote, and that is very annoying.
Equally annoying is a public school having its graduation in a church:
Continue reading Separation of Church and State is Not Separation of Churches and State
Largest Shark Sanctuary Declared
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is now home to the world’s largest shark sanctuary. The Nitijela, the Marshallese parliament, unanimously passed legislation this week that ends commercial fishing of sharks in all 1,990,530 square kilometers (768,547 square miles) of the central Pacific country’s waters, an ocean area four times the landmass of California.
It’s huge. You could see it from space. If you could see it.
NASA’s Moon Twins Going Their Own Way
Remember the gravity mapping project on the moon?
NASA’s Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)-B spacecraft successfully executed its first flight path correction maneuver Wednesday, Oct. 5. The rocket burn helped refine the spacecraft’s trajectory as it travels from Earth to the moon and provides separation between itself and its mirror twin, GRAIL-A. The first burn for GRAIL-A occurred on Sept. 30.
“Both spacecraft are alive and with these burns, prove that they’re kicking too, as expected,” said David Lehman, GRAIL project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “There is a lot of time and space between now and lunar orbit insertion, but everything is looking good.”
Nobel Peace Prize: Sirleaf, Gbowee, Karman
Three women who have worked for peace and women’s rights in Liberia and Yemen have been awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, it was just announced at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee and Yemeni protest leader Tawakkul Karman are being honored.