Phasers not included

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What happened to X-37A? Photo credit: USAF/Vandenberg Air Force Base

The Air Force is getting ready to launch the X-37B sooper-secret space plane Friday, March 4, 2011, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.  (Actually, it’s launching from the next-door Cape Canaveral Air Force Station)  It’s a big secret, though, so don’t expect launch-to-landing coverage on NASA TV for this puppy.  Unmanned, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound….  oops, sorry, I mean able to remain in orbit for up to 270 days, the new ship is a test platform for something.  What that something is, or what those somethings are, remain a secret.  So while the X-37B is a secret space plane, it’s not a secret, but what it does IS a secret.  Or something like that.  Read all about it at Space.com.  Well, not ALL about it.  Just something about it.  If we told you the rest, they’d have to kill you. And maybe us.  So let’s not go there.

Huckabee fuels ‘Kenya’ lies

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Mike Huckabee

“Thou Shalt Not Lie”

Exodus 20:16 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” KJV

Former Arkansas Governor,  Southern Baptist minister, and potential 2012 Presidential candidate  Mike Huckabee recently fueled the “birther” lies that President Obama was not born in the United States, and is ineligible to be President.  In an interview with New York radio station WOR, Huckabee said  “One thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, (is) very different than the average American,” pointing to Obama’s decision in 2009 to return a bust of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.  He failed to note that the bust was only on loan to the United States, sent to former President Bush by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair after the 9/11 attacks, and was replaced by President Obama with one of Abraham Lincoln.

Barack Obama did not visit Kenya until he was 26 years old, and only visited his sister there for one month.

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Republicans Are Insane

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The place:  Georgia (the State, not the European country)

The evidence:  HB 1

The author:  Rep Bobby Franklin (R)

What he’s done:  has introduced a 10-page bill that would criminalize miscarriages and make abortion in Georgia completely illegal. Both miscarriages and abortions would be potentially punishable by death: any “prenatal murder” in the words of the bill, including “human involvement” in a miscarriage, would be a felony and carry a penalty of life in prison or death.

The result:   Under Rep. Franklin’s bill, HB 1, women who miscarry could become felons if they cannot prove that there was “no human involvement whatsoever in the causation” of their miscarriage.

See the Mother Jones article, here.

First it was redefining rape.  Then changing the designation of domestic-abuse victims to “accusers”.  Now if you can’t prove your miscarriage was natural, they want to charge you with murder.

Insane.  Completely, totally, over-the-edge, insane.  Anyone who can in good conscious be a Republican must simply not understand what their party stands for these days.  The elephant has lost it’s mind.

Busy Day for Marriage Equality (via Queer Visalia)

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Busy Day for Marriage Equality A flurry of activity today regarding marriage equality: The Department of Justice has released a statement saying they will no longer defend cases currently in court, or future cases that may be filed, where citizens have sued over the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.  In the opinion of the President and the Attorney General, Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional, and will no longer be defended by the Justice Department.  The Hou … Read More

via Queer Visalia

Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach Gets Good News

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I Want YOU - For The US Air Force!

On December 22, 2010, I posted this picture and a link to NOH8’s website where it and others of military men affected by Don’t Ask Don’t Tell could be found.

Now the latest news about the status of Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, the Air Force officer in this picture:

The South Bend Tribune reports that the Air Force has informed Lt. Col. Fehrenbach that he will be retired with his full rank and pension on October 1, 2011.  This effectively cancels the discharge proceedings that were in progress since he was involuntarily outed in 2008.

“It was a great sense of relief. I didn’t expect it,” said Fehrenbach, 41, a 1991 University of Notre Dame graduate, in a telephone interview with the Tribune Tuesday from Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.

For nearly three years, Fehrenbach has been in a battle to save his career because of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy — a policy that was overturned in late 2010.

With no further explanation, the military in January sent Fehrenbach new orders: Effective Sept. 30, he will be retired from active duty at his current rank and with his pension. He’ll serve out the remaining months of his military duty at his current desk job at the base in Idaho.

Visalia Couple Do The “Impossible” – for 35 years (via Queer Visalia)

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Visalia Couple Do The "Impossible" - for 35 years One of the most common untruths, especially in the religiously fundamentalist worldview, and even among many in the gay community, is that homosexual men are unable to form long term, stable, loving relationships.  “Studies”, using information from 50 years ago (and concentrating only on men – apparently lesbians are invisible in these “studies”), are used to support the lie that gay men are emotionally damaged, fragile, and unable to love.  Well … Read More

via Queer Visalia

A Valentine’s Day Special Interview (via Queer Visalia)

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A Valentine's Day Special Interview Coming this week at QueerVisalia: 35 years and still each other’s Valentines. Slade and Ralph share their story in an interview with QueerVisalia. We often hear from those opposed to equality that gay men are not capable of forming long term committed relationships. Slade and Ralph are just one of many couples who put lie to those claims. Read their love story here soon, just in time for Valentine’s Day! … Read More

via Queer Visalia

Newlyweds Billed For Announcement Never Published (via Queer Dallas)

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Newlyweds Billed For Announcement Never Published Meet Mark Reed-Walkup and Dante Walkup.  They’re the Dallas couple recently wed in a novel method, using Skype, the Internet, and an officiant located in Washington, D.C. After the wedding, Mark and Dante tried to get their wedding announcement printed in the Dallas Morning News.  The newspaper refused, sayi … Read More

via Queer Dallas

The things they ask us…

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21 year old Robert Michelson of Farmington, Connecticut called 9-1-1 to ask if he would get in trouble for having a marijuana plant.  The 9-1-1 call can be heard at KFSN TV ABC30’s website, here.

The answer was “yes”.  He has the right to remain silent.  He should have availed himself of that right before calling 9-1-1.  Apparently Robert is not one of the brighter lights of the Farmington area.

He might have gotten away with it, if he’d only used a pre-paid or basic model cell phone.  Those can’t be traced.  He used, apparently, his wired phone at home.  We know EXACTLY where those phones are…

Think of the dumbest question someone might ask a 9-1-1 operator (other than the one Robert asked), and I can assure you someone has already asked it of a dispatcher recently.  You’ve heard about the chicken nuggets lady, I’m sure.  Or the Whopper not done his way guy.  People will call about anything.  Most do not end up in jail.

The oddest thing I’ve been asked on 9-1-1?

“When is the fog going to be turned off?”

What’s YOUR emergency??

 

NASA Geek: Discovery on the pad

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Shuttle Discovery on the pad at dawn, 2/3/11 Photo: NASA

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