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Here in Georgia, Georgia Power has been very hostile to anything but coal, nuclear and as reluctantly been replacing coal plants in non-attainment zones (areas that violate the clear air act) with gas powered plants. They have been quoted as saying the sun doesn't shine enough in Georgia or that the wind doesn't blow hard enough off the eastern coast line in the Atlantic ocean. That said, what is most amazing is that Georgia Power it attempting to get a rule passed that states they are the sole provider for all sun derived power for the state of Georgia. Yes, that is correct. If you want to buy solar power from a 3rd party you can not do so in Georgia because only Georgia Power can provide your company solar power. You can put the panels up yourself but you can't enter into an agreement with a 3rd party to install and maintain the panels for you as a monthly business expense. Apparently in Georgia, Georgia Power owns the sun.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/10/21/2756402/georgia-public-service-commission.html
http://gareport.com/blog/2013/03/27/hb-657-georgias-solar-monopoly-bill/
http://www.gasolarutilities.com/index.php/news/130-solar-becomes-battleground-for-georgia-electricity-regulation

"I only want one, but I know there's other people that are going to want them, too," said Williams, who has a 7-year-old son..."You're using your money and authority to pay people for what you want, and that's wrong."

The URL got munged. here's a correction.

Recently the Supreme Court ruled against the wearing of masks during protests, mostly on the grounds that the constitution protects free speech, not anonymity.

It's been my experience that most people crying for anonymity on the internet are not big believers in freedom of expression. They are believers in freedom to not get punched in the mouth.

Realize that now one party controls the executive, legislative, and judicial branch of our government.

Do we have a Two Party System anymore? And if you think we still do, will we for very much longer?

We still do have a two party system. The Republicans control the elected branches because that is who the voters selected. And why are the voters going Republican? Because the Democratic party is going loopy and is in danger of imploding.

If the Democratic party does implode it will be their own fault for ignoring middle America and chasing after the looney left. Conservative Democrats are either bailing from the party, or backing Bush. A number of senior Democrats have seen the coming blow, are retiring because they don't want to sit in the minority, and thereby add to the snowball effect. The Democrats in Texas have failed in obstructing redistricting which also means more seats for the Republicans. So far it looks like the Republicans will pick up a bunch of seats in the House, a number in the Senate (no more filibusters?), and probably hold on to the Presidency. The only thing that will bring the Democratic party to its senses is to be bitch-slapped in the next election. Maybe once the Democrats sit in the minority for a while, like the Republicans had to for so many years, they will come to their senses.

Bush is Hitler?!?
We need the UN's permission to defend ourselves or our allies?
The US (and 40-50 other countries) acted unilaterally against Iraq?
We have to wait until the terrorists strike (and now many get killed??) before we do anything?
And on, and on, and on...

Good grief.

Yes, we have, and will continue to have a two party system, but it may not be much fun to be a Democrat for a while. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way I see it.

Ofcourse, you're handily dismissing the solar-powered airplanes that are under development which would also have this "stay up indefinitely" ability, in addition to not having to ride thermals to do it.

Riding thermals is pretty interesting though. See this story of someone who rode thermals with a parachute for almost 500 miles.

In several races with electronic voting machines, there were noticeable differences between pre-election polls and the actual election results. In Georgia, both Roy Barnes and Max Cleland led their opponents until the actual election.

Other Dieboldalical results (from a source found via Google) are here.

Chuck Hagel's opponent wanted a hand-recount, but by the terms of the signed contract, it was illegal for government election workers to review the votes.

Short form: what you describe happened, and you didn't even notice. (Final tinfoil hat moment - did we mention that there was a file named "rob-georgia" containing patches not tested by the state on the Diebold FTP site?)

Many of these types of projects (including this one) are the result of members of congress mandating that NASA spend money on specific projects in their districts. They're called "earmarks" and are a way to avoid the standard review and budgeting process that may weed out frivolous spending.

Here's a good article: Pork-barrel projects threatening NASA's core programs

That said, educational programs like this do serve a useful purpose - they can teach about remote sensing and Earth system science. NASA uses a suite of satellites to monitor the Earth continuously. Applications include mapping, land use/land cover change, global climate studies, atmospheric research, etc. Because the data are complicated, money is needed to process and evaluate it. Data, remote sensing, the electromagnetic spectrum, atmospheric physics, and cartography are all pretty abstract, and something concrete and possibly exciting (or at least interesting enough to attract the press) like the Lewis and Clark Trail is a good way to get people interested.

In any case, the data covering the trail (which the U.S. taxpayer already paid for) will end up being more accesible than otherwise. So it's not a bad investment.

A quick Google search produced these links:

http://www.iacenter.org/maj_1201balt.htm
http://www.sptimes.com/News/061501/Hillsborough/2_ GOP_workers_trigger.shtml
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/GOPCV_ protests000804.html
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/ news/special_packages/school_of_the_americas/21663 30.htm
http://www.appalachianfocus.org/global/600_world_b ank_protesters_arrest.htm

Many of those links refer to something recent when the IMF/WorldBank conviened in Washington, D.C.
Just because it's legal to do it doesn't mean someone's not going to illegally detain you all the same. Happens all the time.