Late Night: Is There Life on Mars?

Posted: August 5, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

As Dakinikat wrote this morning, NASA scientists have found evidence of liquid water on Mars.

New images of the craters of Mars may be the best evidence yet of flowing, liquid water, an essential ingredient for life on the planet.

The findings, published in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, came from extremely high-resolution images taken by a powerful camera called HiRISE aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the planet since 2006.

A sequence of images from MRO shows long, brown streaks in the Martian spring and summer. In the colder seasons, these streaks disappeared, suggesting that they could be the flow of briny water.

“We haven’t found any good way to explain what we’re seeing without water,” lead author Alfred McEwan of the University of Arizona said during a press briefing Thursday.

There are some amazing photos of the surface of Mars at the above Wapo link above–be sure to check them out.

The notion that there could be life on Mars is part of our culture. I’m sure most of us have seen scifi movies or read scifi novels involving Mars at one time or another. I vividly recall watching the 1953 movie War of the Worlds as a kid and being terrified. But I had no idea that human fascination with Mars went back to 3,000 BCE, when Egyptian astronomers first discovered the red planet.

You can read more highlights of the history of our fascination with the planet Mars in this article at The Independent UK, by Steve Conor: Why we can’t get enough of The Red Planet.

The reason, of course, for this obsession with liquid water on Mars is that it raises the prospect of life on a planet that has captivated generations of schoolboys and science fiction writers. Planetary scientists are agreed that extraterrestial life almost certainly requires liquid water to exist, just as it does on Earth.

[….]

Life may not automatically follow from the discovery of flowing water on Mars, but it certainly brings the prospect closer. And the discovery of life on another planet, no matter how primitive and microbial, would certainly amount to one of the greatest scientific finds of all time.

It would mean, for example, that life has originated at least twice in a single solar system – provided we can eliminate the possibility that any Martian life forms were somehow carried there from Earth. Two planets with life in a single solar system would indicate that the origin of life is a fairly common event, and that our galaxy, composed of billions of solar systems, must therefore be teeming with extraterrestial life forms.

A universe where life is so common would presumably be governed by the same rules of Darwinian evolution that produced intelligent, conscious human beings here on Earth. Discovering even the simplest life form on Mars, therefore, would almost certainly mean the existence of advanced, intelligent aliens in other solar systems with civilisations comparable to our own on Earth.

Isn’t it amazing? To celebrate I dug up a few movie clips and some music to put you in the “life on Mars” mood.

First, here’s the trailer from the 1953 movie that scared me as a kid, War of the Worlds (based on the H.G. Wells novel). The star of the movie was Gene Barry. Remember him? And it was produced by George Pal, one of the greatest schlock meisters of all time.

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Here’s a scene that shows the Martians.

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Cool huh? I couldn’t bring myself to watch the remake. I didn’t want to ruin my memory of the original.

Of course there was the famous 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds by Orson Welles. The one that caused panic in the streets.

…the radio play, narrated by Orson Welles, had been written and performed to sound like a real news broadcast about an invasion from Mars.

Thousands of people, believing they were under attack by Martians, flooded newspaper offices and radio and police stations with calls, asking how to flee their city or how they should protect themselves from “gas raids.” Scores of adults reportedly required medical treatment for shock and hysteria….

“Audiences heard their regularly scheduled broadcast interrupted by breaking news,” said Michele Hilmes, a communications professor at University of Wisconsin in Madison and author of Radio Voices: American Broadcasting, 1922-1952.

Stations then cut to a live reporter on the scene of the invasion in New Jersey. “By the end of the first half of the program, the radio studios themselves were under attack,” Hilmes said.

Here’s a scene from a more recent and very funny movie about Martians, Mars Attacks.

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Now for some Mars music.

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What’s your favorite book, movie, or song about Mars?

Suing Donald Rumsfeld

Posted: August 4, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , , | 16 Comments

There’s been little justice for innocent folks scooped up as enemy combatants in the never-ending, costly War on Terror.  Who could forget those pictures of US marines dragging naked men around by dog leashes? Instead of opening the sordid affair to daylight, the Obama administration adopted the posture of putting it all behind us.  This includes defending Donald Rumsfeld.  Rumsfeld is one of the architects of enhanced interrogation techniques. He recently has been out on the talking head circuit with a book and an image boosting tour.  News today says that he may have retired by he can’t run away from his decisions as Secretary of Defense. A judge has allowed an US Army veteran to sue Donald Rumsfeld over torture. The veteran claims that he was tortured and unjustly imprisoned. The man was a translator and is unnamed in the law suit.

Lawyers for the man, who is in his 50s, say he was preparing to come home to the United States on annual leave when he was abducted by the U.S. military and held without justification while his family knew nothing about his whereabouts or even whether he was still alive.

Court papers filed on his behalf say he was repeatedly abused, then suddenly released without explanation in August 2006. Two years later, he filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington arguing that Rumsfeld personally approved torturous interrogation techniques on a case-by-case basis and controlled his detention without access to courts in violation of his constitutional rights.

Chicago attorney Mike Kanovitz, who is representing the plaintiff, says it appears the military wanted to keep his client behind bars so he couldn’t tell anyone about an important contact he made with a leading sheik while helping collect intelligence in Iraq.

“The U.S. government wasn’t ready for the rest of the world to know about it, so they basically put him on ice,” Kanovitz said in a telephone interview. “If you’ve got unchecked power over the citizens, why not use it?”

The Obama administration has represented Rumsfeld through the U.S. Justice Department and argued that the former defense secretary cannot be sued personally for official conduct. The Justice Department also argued that a judge cannot review wartime decisions that are the constitutional responsibility of Congress and the president. And the department said the case could disclose sensitive information and distract from the war effort, and that the threat of liability would impede future military decisions.

At the heart of the suit are personal damages claim against Rumsfeld for approving interrogation methods of US army at Camp Cropper.

District judge James Gwin rejected those arguments and said US citizens were protected by the constitution at home or abroad during wartime. “The stakes in holding detainees at Camp Cropper may have been high, but one purpose of the constitutional limitations on interrogation techniques and conditions of confinement even domestically is to strike a balance between government objectives and individual rights, even when the stakes are high,” he ruled.

In many other cases brought by foreign detainees, judges have dismissed torture claims against US officials for their personal involvement in decisions over prisoner treatment. But this is the second time a federal judge has allowed a US citizen to sue Rumsfeld personally.

District judge Wayne Andersen in Illinois last year ruled that Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel, Americans who worked in Iraq as contractors and were held at Camp Cropper, could pursue claims that they were tortured using Rumsfeld-approved methods after they suspected the security firm they worked for of engaging in illegal activities.

The US supreme court sets a high bar for suing high-ranking officials, requiring they be tied directly to a violation of constitutional rights and must have clearly understood their actions crossed that line.

There may be little chance for justice for all the victims of the enhanced interrogation program.  I am sure this will again stir up the hornet’s nest of how fascist methods are justified in the face of unmitigated acts of terrorism.   I’m not a lawyer so I can’t really speak for the merits of the case itself.  I do, however, feel that Benjamin Franklin said it best.

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

BTW, I hope you noticed that Mittens Romney has hired the torture lawyer Steven Bradbury along with the nasty Robert Bork as campaign advisers. Romney also went to Harvard Law School.  Haven’t we had enough Harvard idiots already for one century?

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Returns to Vote

Posted: August 1, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: | 13 Comments

A standing ovation was given to recovering shooting victim Rep. Gabrielle Giffords from Arizona.

Republicans won the vote, but Democrats stole the show when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., appeared on the House floor for the first time since a January shooting.

There was no hint of what was about to happen, when suddenly, as the debt-ceiling vote was proceeding, Giffords could be seen being escorted onto the floor by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., a close personal friend.Giffords, wearing close-cropped brown hair and glasses, walked with a slight limp and wore a glove on her right hand.

Of course, Joe Biden has to make it all about him.

Vice President Joe Biden, with a big smile on his face, walked to the House floor and said, “I came to see Gabby, that’s why I’m here.”

In the hallway just outside, Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly was all smiles as well.

“It feels good,” he said as his wife was casting her first vote since the tragedy. “Great actually.”

Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin told Tucson Weekly in an email that “the congresswoman insisted on participating.”

“Congresswoman Giffords has been following this debate closely over the past two weeks,” she said. “Like the vast majority of Americans, she is extremely disappointed at Washington’s inability to confront the debt ceiling issue in a timely and thoughtful manner.”

Escorted by her husband and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., Giffords exited the House floor slowly, giving a small wave to people as she left. She left the Capitol in an SUV shortly thereafter.

When Biden was asked about what he spoke with Giffords about, he joked, “She’s now a member of the cracked head club like me.”

Breaking … Boehner Postpones House Vote on Debt Plan

Posted: July 28, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: just because | 13 Comments

House Speaker John Boehner has postponed a planned vote on his plan to raise the Federal debt ceiling by 1 Trillion in return for around 1 Trillion in spending cuts. Here is the official announcement to House members, from Think Progress:

**Members are advised that the House GOP Leadership has postponed the votes on the motion to recommit and final passage of S. 627 – Speaker Boehner’s Short Term Default Act (amending the Faster FOIA Act of 2011). Following general debate on S. 627, the House will consider the eight bills listed for consideration under suspension of the Rules.

Looks like he didn’t have the votes. From Talking Points Memo:

Despite a days-long push to force their conservative members into line, and sneak Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) debt limit bill through the House of Representatives, GOP leadership has postponed a scheduled vote on the legislation — a sign that their efforts have thus far failed.

This evening, members were alerted that Boehner and his leadership team were delaying the vote, which had been scheduled for 6 p.m.

According to TPM, it’s still possible the bill could come up for a vote tonight after other issues are dealt with. It sounds unlikely though.

I’ll update in the comments with anything else I find. Hope you’ll do the same.

Live Blog: Our Fearful Leader Speaks

Posted: July 25, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: just because | 93 Comments

How Obama sees himself?

Oh boy, another Obama speech! What will he say? Will he explain why he wants to cut every federal program that helps the poor, the elderly, children, and the middle class? Will he tell us why he wants to hand over our Social Security funds to Wall Street? Or will he do what everyone now knows he can do unilaterally–invoke the 14th Amendment or tell Congress he’ll veto everything except a clean vote on the debt ceiling?

I’m expected some passive aggressive whining, and of course multiple lies. But you never know. I could be wrong. Maybe tonight will be the night that President Obama at long last decides to do the right thing. I can dream, can’t I?

Bloomberg has a pretty good summary of the Boehner and Reid plans as of tonight.

Boehner’s plan would require $1.2 trillion in spending cuts in the first phase and up to $1.8 trillion in the second step. A committee would be created to identify cuts, and Congress would be required to vote by the end of this year on a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.

{sigh…}

Under Boehner’s proposal, Congress could face a replay of the debt-ceiling drama early next year if it didn’t reduce the debt by at least $1.6 trillion this year.

Won’t that be fun? Another round of kabuki in just a few months!

The $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade would be achieved through statutory caps on discretionary spending. If the caps were exceeded, there would be across-the- board cuts.

The measure would tie the second installment of borrowing authority to enactment of a deficit-cutting package that slashed up to $1.8 trillion from the debt. If the debt-reduction plan stalled in Congress, Obama would face another debt deadline in February or March.

Now that’s a really bad plan!

Reid’s plan cuts $2.7 trillion and raises the debt limit by 2.4 trillion, giving Congress and the President until after the 2012 election to get ready for the next battle royale. Cuts will come from defense and other discretionary spending and leave Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone–for now. The plan also includes the “committee” to identify further cuts (i.e., Catfood Commission II on steroids).

Supposedly President Obama has endorsed the Reid plan, but if he is true to form, he’ll cave and give the Republicans everything they want except for the ridiculous balanced budget amendment and (one would hope) the idiotic spending caps.

We shall see. Please use the comments to document the atrocities if you can bear to watch and/or listen. I plan to listen to the speech on the radio for as long as I can bear.

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