Martian soil appears able to support life

"Flabbergasted" NASA scientists said on Thursday that Martian soil appeared to contain the requirements to support life, although more work would be needed to prove it.

Scientists working on the Phoenix Mars Lander mission, which has already found ice on the planet, said preliminary analysis by the lander's instruments on a sample of soil scooped up by the spacecraft's robotic arm had shown it to be much more alkaline than expected.

"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life whether past present or future," Sam Kounaves, the lead investigator for the wet chemistry laboratory on Phoenix, told journalists.

"It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard, you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. ... It is very exciting for us."

http://news.yahoo.com/...

What does this mean?

Terraforming.

Barack Obama has responded to the pseudo-theologian radio talkshow host James Dobson today.

"I think you'll see that he was just making stuff up, maybe for his own purposes."

http://news.yahoo.com/...

We all know that John S. McCain III, just like George W. Bush, was blessed enough to be born into the right family with the right name.

Not only was his father a famous four-star US Navy admiral (John S. McCain, Jr.) but so was his grandfather (John S. McCain, Sr.)

Now, I do not begrudge anyone because of thier luck of being born into a dynastic family.  

Even though the Founders rid us of ancient heraldric birthrights of peerage and royalty, wealthy and powerful families continue to provide for thier decendents generations after their deaths.

We have plenty of examples in American history besides Bush and McCain like Kennedy, Roosevelt and many others.

But the McCain name goes a little further back than Admiral McCain Sr.

This is a momentary reprieve from Cloud 9 that is the Barack Obama nomination.

Without a doubt, there is no better sports town in America than Boston.

Home of the World Series Red Sox, dynastic powerhouse Patriots (Foxboro is just down the road) storied Celtics and Bruins (getting there, again).

This is becoming ordinary now for us, we have another chance for another hometown team champion.

Bo Diddley has died today.

He was born on December 30, 1928 as Ellas Otha Bates in McComb, Mississippi and later adopted and renamed Ellas McDaniel.

He was also known as "The Originator" and was an influential American rock and roll singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

A key figure in the transition from blues to rock and roll, he introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound. He was also known for his characteristic rectangular guitar.

Senator James Webb of Virginia is the best possible Vice Presidential Democratic nominee due to his military experience.

He could serve as a shield and sword against John McCain and Republican "Swiftboat-like" attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism.

A 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Webb served as a Marine Corps infantry officer until 1972, and is a highly decorated Vietnam War combat veteran.  Webb served as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, then as Secretary of the Navy.

h/t to Tuscany

The Republicans are not trying to secure the Jewish vote in the states of Florida or New York by being super duper pro-Israel and just aching to totally obliberate seventy million Iranians into fine radioactive glass.

This is a wink and nudge over to the hoards of American Evangelical Christians that have been attracted to the language of hope and promise of Senator Barack Obama.

There is a Biblical interpretation that is held today by many conservatives placing emphasis on prophecy of the end times having to do with Israel.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee and the long candidate wars that have raged since early 2007 is now over.

Within 60 to 90 days, both party nominees will select vice presidential nominees.

I suspect that John McCain will pick either Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee or Charlie Crist.  I really have no interest in who he picks at all so I will not dwell on it.

What is of interest to me is who Barack Obama will select.

I am hoping for Senator Jim Webb because he can connect with those "hard-working whites" that Hillary Clinton claims to own.  He also counters John McCain's military and national security credentials and lays to rest the questions of "patriotism".  Most importantly, he places Virginia in play.

Most cities in this country were built around the automobile, and in many places public transportion is now almost non-existent, even in large cities.

Public transportion that existed prior to the automobile were dismantled by the emergent automobile industry in a move that came to be known as the Great American Streetcar Scandal; General Motors managed to remove over 100 streetcar systems nationwide by 1950. By the time antitrust investigators could go to work, the deed was done. American mass-transit was "dead".

Great American Streetcar Scandal

Hillary Clinton cannot win the 2008 Democratic nomination.  It is too far gone for her now.

The problem is not that Hillary Clinton is still in the race. She has every right to be. It is that she is running the kind of race that she is. Having failed to convince voters of the viability of her own candidacy, she is now committed to proving the unviability of his.

Hillary once said it takes a village to raise a child. Now she seems determined to destroy the village in order to save it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/...

Why is Hillary running?  

It is not for herself, but to save Bill Clinton's legacy.  

Why will she not drop out?  

Because this campaign has further damaged that legacy and they are now doubling down on the table.

Rome grew from a small agricultural settlement on Italian hills to a world superpower through expansion, military conquest, economic dominance and political assimilation.  It lasted for over 1200 years and evolved from a city-state kingdom, to a democratic republic, to an autocratic empire. Rome's culture and self identity was molded and inspired by the older culture of Ancient Greece.

America has grown from small agricultural settlements along the North American eastern seaboard to a world superpower through expansion, military conquest, economic dominance and political assimilation.  It has lasted 400 years since the Virginia and Massachusetts colonies and has evolved into a vast continent-stretching republic.  America's culture and self identity has been molded and inspired by the older culture of Great Britain.

A smart political operative said within earshot of me yesterday that if Hillary has more metaphorical bombshells to drop on Obama — and this operative has heard secondhand that she does — she'll do so between April 16, the date of her next debate with Obama, and April 22, Pennsylvania's primary day. The timing, of course, is so she doesn't get asked about it by the moderator or confronted by Obama.

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.c...

I know it is from National Review and we should consider the source but it does look like the Clintons are following the Mutually Assured Destruction path because her own campaign is now spinning around the drain.

What could this be?

Remember when Hillary whispered something to Edwards after a debate about Barack's past?

A historical narrative to follow..

I love YouTube, that video sharing website where users can upload, view and share silly video clips.  Created in mid-February 2005, it has forever changed media.  Democratizing and internationalizing it.  

So, who is winning the YouTube primary race?

Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the lone Republican senator to vote against the Iraq war, calls Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton one of the "Democratic Bush enablers" who failed to stand up to the president.

In a new book, Chafee, who is backing Clinton rival Sen. Barack Obama, skewers Clinton and other Democratic White House hopefuls who said they were duped by Bush into voting for the war.

"Being wrong about sending Americans to kill and be killed, maim and be maimed, is not like making a punctuation mistake in a highway bill," Chafee writes. "They argue that the president duped them into war, but getting duped does not exactly recommend their leadership. Helping a rogue president start an unnecessary war should be a career-ending lapse of judgment, in my view."

http://news.aol.com/...

First, I have to say that Barack Obama has already won the Democratic nomination and is very well on his way to becoming our next president.  

This is exciting not because Obama will replace Bush but it will be the end of the age of conservatism that has dominated both parties (i.e. Zell Miller, Joe Lieberman and the DLC gang).

What does that mean for us, down here in the local municipalities and school departments?

I am working on a letter to the editor.  I would love feedback and input before I send it in.

The New Republic reports that Michigan "plans to get out of its uncounted delegate problem by announcing a new caucus in the next few days."

Said the source: "They want to play. They know how to do caucuses. That was their plan all along, before they got cute with the primary."

"Michigan Democrats had originally planned on caucuses after the legally permissible Feb. 5 date, but then went along with top elected Democrats, including Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who pushed for an early primary."

The Hotline confirms the story.

http://politicalwire.com/...

Senator John McCain is now officially the Republican nominee for the 2008 Presidential contest.

Looking at the red/blue divide of 2004 and it looks like John McCain has a better than 50/50 chance of winning the White House for the Republicans for a third time in a row.

George W. Bush is no where on the ballots so his radioactive disapproval poll numbers will not really matter come November.