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What's New | 2 Sep 2005 20:11

[BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday September 2, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 2 Sep 05   Washington, DC 

1. THE WAR: PRESIDENTIAL WANNABES GET "THAT OLD-TIME RELIGION." 
Senator John McCain made it clear last week that he too can read
polls.  In an interview with the Arizona Daily Star, McCain said
"all points of view" should be available to students studying the
origins of mankind.  WN was unable to reach Senator McCain for
clarification, but by "all" we think he means just evolution and
intelligent design.  Or maybe he hopes to corner the votes of
those who worship "the giant frog from whose mouth the river of
life flowed."  McCain's appeal to evolution deniers came just
four days after Senator Frist made a pitch to the scientifically
challenged http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN05/wn082605.html.  

2. THE POLL: INTELLIGENT DESIGN IS IN THE RIGHT PEW   FAR RIGHT. 
The respected Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that
64% of Americans favor teaching creationism along with evolution
in public schools.  A scary 38% want to REPLACE evolution with
creationism.  The tiny glimmer of hope for civilization was the
number of inconsistencies in the responses, suggesting confusion
over the meaning of the terms.  There is room for education.

3. THE SCIENCE ADVISOR: IS THERE A WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE ADVISOR? 
Actually, no.  The President didn't consult his science advisor
about intelligent design because he doesn't have one.  George W.
Bush eliminated the job when he named John Marburger Director of
the Office of Science and Technology Policy.  Previous OSTP
directors held both titles, and WN always referred to Marburger
as "Science Advisor."  We were wrong, but not alone.  We Googled
"science advisor"   and  got 597,000 hits on a nonexistent job.
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What's New | 9 Sep 2005 22:15

[BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday September 9, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 9 Sep 05   Washington, DC

1. KATRINA: THE COST OF THE HURRICANE RECOVERY KEEPS GROWING. 
The New York Times today estimated the recovery costs at more
than $100B.  So far, Congress has approved $51.8B in spending. 
Meanwhile, there have been huge tax cuts for some of us.  So the
focus of today's What's New is on unanticipated expenditures.

2. ZERO-POINT ENERGY: KATRINA REVIVES A STRUGGLING INDUSTRY.  
Even as gas approaches the price of bottled water, Katrina has
cut oil production in the Gulf and shut down key ports.  Drilling
in the ANWAR faces a key vote, and the President has ordered oil
released from the strategic reserve.  So where is the free-energy
industry?  Right on schedule.  The San Francisco Chronicle had a
rather skeptical article in the business section this week about
a "clean, inexhaustible energy source."  However, we don't do
perpetual-motion in the 21st Century.  Nowadays we tap zero-point
energy http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN02/wn080202.html, and
Magnetic Power Inc says it's "on the verge" of it.  "We are still
having trouble making it repeatable," the CEO said. "All we know
is that we're seeing more energy output than input, what else
could it be?"  Is this sounding vaguely familiar?  The Air Force
sank $600,000 in the company.  Last year, the AF was investing in
teleportation http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN04/wn102904.html. 
Any time now we can expect to hear new claims for cold fusion.  

3. HYDROGEN ECONOMY: "NEW CATALYST PRODUCES HYDROGEN FROM WATER."
Well, not exactly.  The prospect of a hydrogen economy hinges on
the ability to produce hydrogen economically.  Thirty years ago,
an inventor named Sam Leach claimed to have invented a car that
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What's New | 16 Sep 2005 21:39

What's New Friday September 16, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 16 Sep 05   Washington, DC

     Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
     of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
          The "Establishment Clause" of the
          First Amendment to The United States Constitution

1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: McCARTHY ERA CHANGE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. 
A federal judge in Sacramento ruled Wednesday that reciting the
Pledge in public schools is an unconstitutional endorsement of
religion.  The ruling was immediately denounced by conservative
religious groups, and is certain to be appealed.  U.S. Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales vowed that the Justice Department will
fight to overturn the ruling.  As a substantive issue, the Pledge
ranks right up there with flag burning.  Congress added the words
"under God" in 1954 at the suggestion of President Eisenhower. 
This was at the height of the communist witch hunt, at which time
the public equated communism with atheism.  A half-century later,
we might note, the chief enemies of freedom are far from Godless.

2. PLEDGE OF RESTORATION: COST OF KATRINA RECOVERY MAY TOP $200B. 
President Bush last night began by declaring "a faith in God no
storm can take away."  He told the nation "We will do what it
takes, we will stay as long as it takes," to rebuild.  That was
the right thing to say, but after the Iraq screw-up, the Katrina
screw-up, and the tax-cut screw-up we're in for hard times.

3. INTELLIGENT DESIGN: DOVER SCHOOL BOARD UNABLE TO STOP TRIAL. 
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Harrisburg, PA denied the Dover
Area School Board request for a summary judgement.  The trial
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What's New | 23 Sep 2005 22:12

What's New Friday September 23, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 23 Sep 05   Washington, DC

1. THE POISON PILL: MOON/MARS PUT ON THE KATRINA-RELIEF HIT LIST.
Last week, WN characterized NASA's plan to return to the moon in
2018 as an impossibly expensive and pointless program that some
future administration would find it necessary to cancel, thus
sparing the Bush administration the blame for ending human space
exploration.  Yesterday, the NY Times printed an expanded version
as an op-ed  http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/opinion/22park.html .   
Meanwhile, the Republican Study Committee, a group of fiscal hawks in the 
House,launched Operation Offset to strip unnecessary spending from the
national budget to offset the cost of rebuilding after Katrina. Moon/Mars 
is high on their list of things to cut, but the list is 23 pages long.  
Terminating the ISS, for example, is not on the list, which includes things 
like delaying Medicare drug benefits, eliminating increases to the global 
AIDS initiative, cutting off federal money for the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting, and numerous other soft fuzzy programs.  

2. NASA: GRIFFIN SAYS NEXT SHUTTLE LAUNCH WON'T BE BEFORE MAY. 
Just a month ago the NASA Administrator was saying the shuttle
would not fly before March 4.  But the Stennis Space Center,
which is responsible for testing the engines, is just 45 miles
East of New Orleans, and many of the employees are without homes.

3. NORTH KOREAN NUKES: IS THIS BLACKMAIL, OR IS IT CONFUSION?  
On Monday, it was announced that six-nation talks in Beijing had
reached an agreement under which North Korea would scrap its
nuclear arms program in return for something to feed its citizens
and perhaps a little respect.  By Tuesday, North Korea said it
would start to dismantle when the U.S. gave it a light-water
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What's New | 1 Oct 2005 17:52

What's New Friday September 30, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 30 Sep 05   Washington, DC

1. NASA: SO THE DAMNED SHUTTLE WAS A MISTAKE, WHAT DO WE DO NOW?
This week, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told USA Today that
both the space shuttle and the International Space Station were
mistakes.  His candor is admirable, but after all, these were not
Bush initiatives, and Griffin's opinion of them was known before
he was tapped for the top job.  What is disturbing is that
Griffin pledged to complete the ISS before the shuttle is retired
in 2010.  There are no plans to send a shuttle to service the
world's greatest telescope, but the schedule calls for 18 shuttle
flights to finish the ISS, plus 10 ISS supply missions   that's
an average of 5.6 shuttle flights per year.  Anyone who would bet
on getting 28 flights out of these rickety-old jalopies has been
living on some other planet.  Even with a crew of just five,
that's 140 rolls of the dice.  That's a big gamble to support a
space station that is now acknowledged to be of little value. 

2. FIRST AMENDMENT: CAMPAIGN TO DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION LAUNCHED. 
Yesterday, a group of the nation's leading scientists, clergy and
legal scholars announced the formation of the Campaign to Defend
the Constitution, an online grassroots movement to combat the
threat posed by the religious right to American democracy, public
education and scientific leadership http://www.defconamerica.org.
The Campaign's first "DefCon Alert" is a map showing the nation's
top ten "islands of ignorance," where science education is under
attack - including, of course, the Dover school district.

3. DOVER: DISCOVERY INSTITUTE WATCHES GLUMLY FROM THE SIDELINES. 
The first week of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District got
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