NASA rover 'Curiosity' lands on Mars

PASADENA, Calif. –  In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet's past.

Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Sunday after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built signaled it had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

"Touchdown confirmed," said engineer Allen Chen. "We're safe on Mars."

Minutes after the landing signal reached Earth at 10:32 p.m. PDT, Curiosity beamed back the first black-and-white pictures from inside the crater showing its wheel and its shadow, cast by the afternoon sun.

"We landed in a nice flat spot. Beautiful, really beautiful," said engineer Adam Steltzner, who led the team that devised the tricky landing routine.

Via: Fox News

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Obama says Amnesty is yours for $465

The Obama administration will formally begin granting some young undocumented immigrants legal status and work permits later this month under a controversial new policy first announced by President Obama in June.

The Department of Homeland Security today announced details of the application and approval process for the DREAM Act-like program, outlining specific eligibility requirements and a $465 fee. It will begin Aug. 15.

Illegal immigrants younger than 30 who came to the United States before age 16, have lived here for at least five years continuously, attend or have graduated from high school or college, and have no criminal convictions are eligible to submit requests for so-called deferred action (legalese for an official exemption from deportation).

Via: ABC News

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A New Era of Prohibition: The Rise of the Californian Nanny State

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his listeners that a man with a beam in his eye ought not to criticize another with a mere speck in his. The message: sort out your own crippling shortcomings before presuming to meddle in someone else’s. It’s good advice for an individual; it would be even better advice for the state of California. Good counsel, however, has a way of falling on deaf ears in the Golden State. While lawmakers have found themselves incapable of dealing with crippling budget deficits, a public-pension liability that hovers around a half-trillion dollars, and a business environment consistently ranked as the nation’s worst, they’ve decided that the state’s most pressing problem is its people—specifically, their culinary eccentricities.

On July 1, the state with the nation’s largest economy ushered in a new era of prohibition, banning the sale of foie gras, a French delicacy made out of the intentionally fattened liver of a duck or goose. As anyone who has ever patronized a Sacramento tavern while the legislature is in session knows, this is perhaps the first time in recorded history that state lawmakers regarded hepatic dysfunction as cause for alarm.

The ban was a long time coming. Like many of California’s logic-starved but passion-distended nanny state impulses, it traces its origins to the era of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the bill into law in 2004. As written, the law’s apologists point out, the statute isn’t quite an outright prohibition; it simply makes illegal within state borders the sale or production of foie gras produced by force-feeding the birds—the only method that has ever brought widespread success. The nearly eight-year window between passage and implementation was intended to allow time to develop alternative methods of production. Outlawing proven business models while waiting for a superior alternative to emerge from whole cloth is what passes for cultivating entrepreneurialism in California.

Via: CA Political Review

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NASA spacecraft speeding toward a landing on Mars

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — After an 8 1/2-month voyage through space, NASA's souped-up Mars spacecraft zoomed toward the red planet for what the agency hopes will be an epic touchdown.

The fiery punch through the tenuous Martian atmosphere at 13,000 mph Sunday night marks the beginning of "seven minutes of terror" as the Curiosity rover aims for a bull's-eye landing inside a massive crater near the equator.

The latest landing attempt is more nerve-racking than in the past because NASA is testing out a new routine. Curiosity will steer itself part of the way and end on a dramatic note: Dangling by cables until its six wheels touch the ground.

That's the plan at least.

"Can we do this? Yeah, I think we can do this. I'm confident," Doug McCuistion, head of the Mars exploration program at NASA headquarters, said Saturday. "We have the A-plus team on this. They've done everything possible to ensure success, but that risk still exists."

Via: CNS News

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Clint Eastwood endorses Mitt Romney (Updated)

"Dirty Harry" star Clint Eastwood, who made waves when he appeared in the "it's halftime in America" Super Bowl ad, was at a Mitt Romney fundraiser tonight, per a pool report flagged by POLITICO's Ginger Gibson.

Per Gibson's pool report, Eastwood deadpanned, "I haven't endorsed Gov. Romney," and then laughed.  He later added he was kidding. "I think the country needs a boost somewhere," he added.

UPDATE: Romney appeared pleased by the endorsement from Eastwood, whose Chrysler ad during the Super Bowl earlier this year was widely seen as a tacit nod to President Obama, even though he never said anything specifically about the campaign.

From Gibson's report, a transcription of Eastwood's ode to his film Mystic River and how it brought him to Romney:

Romney: "There is a guy here from the world of acting, who has pursed his dreams in a very unsuual way, he stood up to the industry and did things his own way."

Via: Politico

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SHUNNED!!

Tenn. Democratic Party disavows its own US Senate nominee

The Tennessee Democratic Party disavowed its own U.S. Senate nominee Friday, announcing that he is “associated with a known hate group” — in this case, a conservative advocacy organization.

Mark Clayton won Tuesday’s Democratic primary with 30 percent of the vote in a field of seven candidates.

“The only time that Clayton has voted in a Democratic primary was when he was voting for himself,” said the Tennessee Democratic Party in a statement. “Many Democrats in Tennessee knew nothing about any of the candidates in the race, so they voted for the person at the top of the ticket. Unfortunately, none of the other Democratic candidates were able to run the race needed to gain statewide visibility or support.”

“Mark Clayton is associated with a known hate group in Washington, D.C., and the Tennessee Democratic Party disavows his candidacy, will not do anything to promote or support him in any way, and urges Democrats to write-in a candidate of their choice in November,” the statement concluded.

Via: The Daily Caller
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Boehner: Obama Has “Never Even Had A Real Job, For God’s Sake”…

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) lashed out at President Obama during an interview Tuesday, saying the president has "never even had a real job, for God's sake."

Boehner was discussing the presidential election, and accusing President Obama's campaign team of using "over-the-top" rhetoric to distract from his economic record.

Sometimes I have to catch my breath and slow down because the rhetoric in this campaign is just so over-the-top," Bohener said during an appearance on "Kilmeade and Friends." "And that's because the president's policies have failed. Listen — 93 percent of Americans believe they're a part of the middle class. That's why you hear the president talk about the middle class every day, because he's talking to 93 percent of the American people."

Via: The Hill

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POLL FARCE: PEW OVERSAMPLES DEMOCRATS TO BOOST OBAMA

On what alternate universe will Democrats enjoy a D +19 turnout advantage over Republicans on election day? Well, that would be Planet Pew:

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted July 16-26, 2012, among 2,508 adults, including 1,956 registered voters, finds that, in keeping with his favorability advantage, Obama continues to hold a sizable lead over Romney in the election contest. Currently, 51% say they support Obama or lean toward him, while 41% support or lean toward Romney.

Except….

Sample Size:

459 Republicans

813 Democrats

599 Independents

In the best election season Democrats have enjoyed since Nixon resigned, 2008, the Democrat advantage was only D+8, but Pew is now attempting to hustle us into believing the turnout this  year is going to be D +19.

Via: Breitbart

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The Obama Lie Machine

        Obama tax calculator offers tax cuts for millionaires

The Obama campaign unveiled a new website Thursday as part of a major communications push to convince voters that Mitt Romney’s tax plan favors the rich.

The website includes a tax calculator that allows voters to compare their tax savings under President Obama’s and Gov. Romney’s competing plans.

However, the tax calculator seems to be doing some fuzzy math. President Obama has promised to raise income taxes on all Americans making more than $200,000 and all families making more than $250,000 a year. Obama campaign spokesman Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One earlier today, “If you’re a millionaire or billionaire, it’s probably not looking good for you in our plan, but otherwise, you’re great under our plan.  So we encourage people to go [to the calculator website].”

Via: The Washington Free Beacon

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ICE Agent Faces Suspension For Arresting Illegal Alien

A veteran Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is facing suspension after he refused to release an illegal immigrant who was not considered a priority target under the Obama Administration’s new immigration enforcement policies, according to documents provided exclusively to Fox News.

“They’re punishing law enforcement officers who are just trying to uphold U.S. law,” said Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council. Crane is a union representative acting on the unidentified officer’s behalf.The officer under fire is an 18-year law enforcement and military veteran.

On March 27 he and another officer were conducting surveillance on a vehicle in Newark, Del. with plates that were registered to a criminal alien target. During the surveillance, they observed an individual get into the vehicle. The person was detained, questioned and taken to an ICE office so that his fingerprints could be run through a federal database.

Via: Fox Nation

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Obama’s Racism-Obsessed Surrogate

Virginia state senator: 'I absolutely believe it's all about race'

The Obama surrogate who blamed the president’s falling poll numbers in Virginia on racist tactics by Republicans has a history of claiming racism.

State Sen. Louise Lucas (D., Portsmouth), told a radio host that Republican candidate Mitt Romney is “speaking to that fringe out there who do not want to see anybody other than a white person in a leadership position.”

“I absolutely believe it’s all about race and for the first time I’ve convinced my children finally that racism is alive and well,” she said.

Lucas appeared on the WHKT talk show in her official capacity as an Obama surrogate. The president’s reelection campaign refused to respond to media requests about the comment.

Via: The Washington Free Beacon

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