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1. WI-FI REFUGE: UNITED STATES NATIONAL RADIO QUIET ZONE.
A 34,000-km2 rectangle of land straddling the border of Virginia and West Virginia surrounds The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, the world's largest fully-steerable radio telescope. The site was chosen partly because the Allegheny Mountains block the horizontal propagation of radio signals, but mostly because Robert C Byrd (D-WV) was one powerful US Senator. Radio transmission in the zone is either limited or banned outright. In addition to radio astronomers, the quiet zone has also attracted a colony of people who say they suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). They certainly suffer from something, but EHS is not medically recognized in the US. In a BBC News interview last week, I suggested that the appropriate treatment for a non-ailment such as EHS would be homeopathic medicine.
In a move that could end deep-space exploration, Congressional budget cutters left off the $15 million needed to restart the production of Pu-238. Pu-238 is not bomb stuff; it's a non-fissile isotope used to supply heat for thermoelectric generators (RTGs). With no moving parts, RTGs are one of the simplest and most reliable technologies ever devised. They generate electrical power to operate long-duration space missions too distant from the Sun for solar panels. Let's see, that will cut a $300 billion budget by 0.0005%. Well, it's a start.
NB. I HELD THIS ISSUE UNTIL 9/18/2011 SO I COULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.
3. TAX WAR: OBAMA IS EXPECTED TO CALL FOR "THE BUFFET RULE."
The New York Times says that on Monday President Obama will call for a new tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year. It would require them to pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers. Republican politicians lost no time in declaring this to be the opening shot in a class war. It's been a class war all along. All that's changed is that the war is no longer undeclared. Obama's proposal comes a month after Warren Buffett wrote in the Times: "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice." Why shouldn't those who benefited most from our system be willing to return more.
4. CLASS WAR: NOTHING IS CERTAIN BUT DEATH AND TEXAS.
The audience at a recent GOP presidential debate applauded the observation that Texas Governor Rick Perry, an Evangelical Christian, has presided over a record 234 executions, more than any other governor in US history, with another one scheduled for Thursday.
Image Credit: Erik Dunham (via Flickr)
