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Washington Post:FBI Investigates Democrats on Steele's Credit Report Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two Democratic Party researchers in Washington illegally obtained the credit report of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele as they conducted opposition research on the likely Republican...

Going Up?...all the way to Geosychronous Orbit

A couple of articles on a concept found in science fiction from Arthur C. Clarke and others: a tethered orbital elevator system! At first glance if one is unfamiliar with the concept it sounds like something from a hallucination - but the physics works, and with recent new developments in materials technology, the means are also now available.

The big advantage: CHEAP cost to orbit, especially compared to rocketry. Check these articles out: one from this weeks Sunday (London) Telegraph, and the other from none other than the big gorilla of the blogosphere hisself: Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds writing on Tech Central Station.

Click on image to enlarge. (Image from liftport.com)

Stairway to heaven

The race is on to build the first "space elevator' - long dismissed as science fiction - to carry people and materials into orbit along a cable thousands of miles long.

In a significant step, American aviation regulators have just given permission for the opening trials of a prototype, while a competition to be launched next month follows in the wake of the $10 million (£5.6 million) "X Prize'', which led to the first privately developed craft leaving the Earth's atmosphere, briefly, last year.

Folks, this isn't pie in the sky conceptualizing - it's going into the engineering phase - that's about as concrete as it gets!

Space Program: Looking Up

I've written here in the past about NASA's work on space elevators, and on the new leaner, meaner, prize-oriented approach favored by NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. Now there are some signs of real progress on a number of fronts. As I noted earlier, NASA was offering prizes for space elevator research. That's still going on, but there are some new studies suggesting that space elevators may be closer to practicality than previously thought.

Indeed!

'Corpse Bride' Stares Us Cold in the Face

The new movie "Corpse Bride" is getting great reviews. And it's probably destined for a pretty good take at the box office. But it could have been much more. If it had been more faithful to its source material, it would have been a profound film, not just an entertaining diversion. Indeed, if "CB" had been truer to its cultural and sociobiological roots, the film would have also made a signal contribution to Western Civilization.

Hollywood stuff is not generally the type of thing that the Chief is inclined to pay a lot of attention to, but Jim Pinkerton's comments concerning Tim Burton's newest flick are worth reading and pondering.

Check it out.

Stephen Vittoria is producing a movie about South Dakota's most famous son....

According to our friends at Clean Cut Kid, Republicans are too ridgid to tolerate any dissent in their ranks. Well, this is how the Daily KOS, an extraordinarily popular blog, deals with a heratic among the Democrats. On a day...

From the Associated Press: WASHINGTON - Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D, is returning to political life with a new political action committee and an upcoming appearance in Iowa. Daschle has quietly eschewed most publicity since his defeat to...

Todays Hotline:The FEC charged the Club for Growth for violating campaign-finance laws, specifically for raising and spending at least $4M more than the soft-money limits for 527s allow (Dinan, Washington Times, 9/10). From the suit: The Club itself has repeatedly...

Mitchell Daily Republic:A new billboard in Mitchell is raising debates as well as eyebrows. The billboard, located on North Sanborn, reads: ?Jesus cares for the poor - So Do We.? At the bottom, the billboard states, ?Democrats Make America Stronger.?...

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