1) Court rules crucifixes in Italy violate freedoms... Europe/Anti-Christianity
2) Israeli Navy Seizes Lebanon-Bound Ship Allegedly Carrying Arms to Hezbollah... Israel/Terrorism
3) Louisiana shale could change fate of U.S. energy supply... Oil/Energy Independence
4) Judge Orders Runaway Christian Convert To Return To Ohio Islamic Parents... Islam/Christianity
5) Tracking Your Taxes: The High Price of Nuclear Waste... Nuclear Power/Energy Independence
6) Traditional marriage now 31-0... Homosexuality/The People
7) Graham: Obama 'Screwed Up' on Closing Gitmo... Obama/Terrorism
8) Space Tourism a Reality by 2012... Interest/Science
9) Unemployment tops 10%... Obama/Economy




1) Court rules crucifixes in Italy violate freedoms... Europe/Anti-Christianity
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-11-03-Vatican_N.htm

11/4/2009
ROME (AP) — The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools violates religious and education freedoms, prompting an angry reaction from the Vatican and government officials.

The ruling could force a review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools across Europe, but it stopped short of ordering Italy to remove the crucifixes, which are common in Italian public schools.

The court ordered Italy to pay a $7,390 fine to a mother in northern Italy who fought for eight years to have crucifixes removed from her children's public school classrooms. The Italian government said it would appeal.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said the crucifix is a fundamental sign of the importance of religious values in Italian history and culture, and it's a symbol of unity and welcome for all of humanity — not one of exclusion.

He said a European court had no right to intervene in such a profoundly Italian matter. "It seems as if the court wanted to ignore the role of Christianity in forming Europe's identity, which was and remains essential," Lombardi said.

"Religion gives a precious contribution to the formation and moral growth of people, and it's an essential component in our civilization," he said in a statement. "It's wrong and myopic to try to exclude it from education."

The Strasbourg-based court said the crucifix could be disturbing to non-Christian or atheist pupils, rejecting arguments by Italy's government that it was a national symbol of culture, history, identity and secularism.

The court said secular, state-run schools must "observe confessional neutrality in the context of public education," where attendance is compulsory.

The case was brought by Soile Lautsi, a mother of two who claimed public schools in her northern Italian town refused eight years ago to remove the Roman Catholic symbols from classrooms. She maintained that the crucifix violates the secular principles the public schools are supposed to uphold and the right to offer her children a secular education.

She filed her case with the European Court of Human Rights in July 2006 after Italy's Constitutional Court dismissed her complaint.

Lautsi, who is of Finnish origin, and her husband, Massimo Albertin, said they were satisfied.

"We believe the ruling is a positive signal from Europe to Italy, which seems to increasingly lose its secularism," the ANSA news agency quoted Albertin as saying. "The crucifix creates discrimination."

The government maintained the crucifix is a symbol of Italian and European history and tradition. "In our country, nobody wants to impose the Catholic religion, let alone with a crucifix," Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said.

The court ruling said the presence of the crucifix "could easily be interpreted by pupils of all ages as a religious sign, and they would feel that they were being educated in a school environment bearing the stamp of a given religion." It said the presence of such symbols could be "disturbing for pupils who practiced other religions or were atheists."












2) Israeli Navy Seizes Lebanon-Bound Ship Allegedly Carrying Arms to Hezbollah... Israel/Terrorism
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,571548,00.html

November 04, 2009


JERUSALEM — Israeli commandos seized a ship Wednesday that defense officials said was carrying hundreds of tons of weapons from Iran bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas — the largest arms shipment Israel has ever commandeered.

The Israeli military said an Iranian document was found on board, showing that the arms shipment originated from Iran, although the paper was not shown to reporters. Rear Admiral Roni Ben-Yehuda, the deputy Israeli navy commander, said that despite its size, the shipment of weapons was "a drop in the ocean" of arms being shipped to Hezbollah.

"It's a cargo certificate that shows that it was from a port in Iran," military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich said. "All the cargo certificates are stamped at the ports of origin, and this one was stamped at an Iranian port."

The Israelis boarded the ship before dawn in the waters near Cyprus. Israel has long accused Iran of arming its enemies.

Ben-Yehuda told a briefing that "hundreds of tons" of weapons were found on the ship, giving a much higher estimate than an earlier one of more than 60 tons.

Containers had Iranian shipping codes in English — "IRISL" on one side and "I.R. Iranian Shipping Lines Group" on the other. Some of the hundreds of crates lined up on the dock were open, revealing dark green missiles with English-language designations painted in black.

But hours after the seizure, Israel had not provided proof that the arms were meant for the Lebanese guerrillas.

Israeli military officials said the ship's journey started in Iran, and it arrived a week ago in Beirut. The next stop was Damietta, Egypt, where the weapons were loaded, they said. Ben Yehuda said the ship was headed for Latakia, Syria.

In Tehran, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem dismissed Israeli allegations the ship carried arms.

"Unfortunately, some pirates sometimes take action in the name of inspection and prevent the saling of commercial ships," he was quoted as saying by the state IRNA news agency during a visit Wednesday. "This ship was carrying goods from Syria heading to Iran and was not carrying weapons making materials."

It was unclear why al-Moallem said the ship was headed in the opposite direction of that claimed by Israel. Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment in Damascus.

Iran and Syria are close allies and Hezbollah's principle backers. Israel accuses Syria and Iran of supplying Hezbollah with weapons using air, sea and land routes — including through the port of Latakia.

If true, Israel's claim would bolster allegations that Syria has been complicit in getting weapons to Hezbollah.

An Egyptian government official said it was "illogical" to think that Egypt is shipping weapons to Hezbollah. The official, who would not be named because he was not authorized to discuss the case with the media, could not confirm or deny if the ship entered Egyptian ports. But he said it is not possible to search every ship that enters Egypt's ports.

Egypt's relations with Hezbollah have been strained following the arrest in April of 26 people suspected of working for the group. The group is on trial in Cairo accused of spying for a foreign group, planning attacks against tourists and shipping in the Suez Canal, and sending operatives to Gaza to help militant groups there.

In the southern port Israeli city of Ashdod where the ship was towed and docked, hundreds of rockets and piles of boxes of grenades were stacked on the shore as Israeli forces unloaded the cargo, a process that was expected to take hours.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a bitter war in the summer of 2006 that ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire, but occasional flare-ups occur.

Wednesday's seizure was bigger than a similar haul in 2002, when Israeli military confiscated a vessel with 50 tons of missiles, mortars, rifles and ammunition headed for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

The presence of Iranian proxies in the Mideast have combined with worries over Tehran's nuclear program and arsenal of long-range missiles to make Iran the Jewish state's most formidable foe.

Israel shares the West's fears that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons, despite its assertions to the contrary. Neutralizing the Iranian nuclear threat remains Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top priority and Israel has not ruled out a military strike against Tehran's nuclear facilities.

Ben-Yehuda said weapons, including Katyusha rockets, were stashed on a commercial vessel operating under the guise of an aid ship, captained by a Pole and flying an Antiguan flag.

Based on intelligence reports, a naval unit patrolling the area intercepted and boarded the vessel without incident, defense officials said.

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said the crew was not aware of the cargo's contents. The ship, the Francop, is operated by United Feeder Services, a Cyprus-based shipping company that said it picked up the cargo in Damietta, Egypt.

An employee of the company's chartering department who would not identify himself said the ship had been bound from Egypt to Cyprus and from there to Lebanon and Turkey. He said the company did not know what was inside the containers or where the cargo originated.

The employee asked that his name not be used because the company had yet to formulate an official response.

UFS' niche is bringing cargo to small ports not called by big container ships.

A senior Lebanese army official refused to comment on the Israeli report, saying it happened outside Lebanon's national waters. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he did not want to speak publicly to the media, said the Islamist movement had no comment on Israel's claim.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the interception "another success against the relentless attempts to smuggle weapons to bolster terrorist elements threatening Israel's security." Netanyahu said the arms supply "was intended to hit Israeli cities."

The Lebanon-Israel border has been largely quiet since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, although Israel has long warned that Hezbollah fighters have been rearming and now possess some 40,000 rockets.

Gaza militants also have dramatically reduced their rocket attacks on southern Israel since a bruising winter war. But militants continue to smuggle in rockets and components through underground tunnels with Egypt, the Israeli military says.

On Tuesday, the head of military intelligence said Gaza's militant Hamas rulers recently test-fired a missile capable of striking Israel's largest urban center, metropolitan Tel Aviv.

Eli Shaked, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, said the growing arsenals of Hamas and Hezbollah are changing the balance of power between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant groups.

"The situation is becoming more and more complex because the weapons they are acquiring are more and more dangerous to civilian targets in Israel," Shaked said.














3) Louisiana shale could change fate of U.S. energy supply... Oil/Energy Independence
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6696966.html

Nov. 1, 2009


GRAND CANE, La. — Two miles beneath northwest Louisiana's patchwork quilt of forests, cotton fields and pastures, dozens of drill bits are grinding their way toward what may be the nation's energy future.

The region around Shreveport has known oil and gas exploration for decades, but it's now buzzing anew as companies try to capitalize on one simple fact — locked into cement-like shale formations thousands of feet underground are potentially huge quantities of natural gas.

The gas found in the area's Haynesville shale and in other shale formations throughout the country has changed the nation's energy outlook in just a few short years.

Some see abundant North American natural gas as the gateway to reduced dependence on foreign oil and a bridge toward carbon-free energy sources since gas is the lowest-emission fossil fuel.

Others say the surge in next-generation gas production isn't paying off as promised and threatens local water supplies.

Some even see it as another speculative bubble, driven by hype that will never deliver the fuel it promises.

What is happening in Haynesville is typical of what has happened and will likely occur in the other shale regions — millions of dollars in investment, plenty of lawsuits against the drilling companies and concerns about the safety of the drilling techniques being used.

Until just a few years ago, the story of natural gas supply in the U.S. had been one of decline. Dozens of liquefied natural gas terminals were on the drawing board in the earlier part of the decade to help import the fuel from overseas.

But the marriage of two long-used drilling techniques — hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling — is showing potential.

For years, companies have used hydraulic fracturing — injecting water into underground formations to break apart rocks and release more oil and gas. The Woodlands-based Mitchell Energy perfected the techniques in the Barnett shale formations in North Texas. But it wasn't until Devon Energy acquired Mitchell in 2002 that engineers added horizontal drilling — turning the drill bit at a 90-degree angle to tap into a larger section of the strata.

Suddenly these dense formations that companies thought too expensive to drill are economically feasible.

And since companies have been drilling through them for decades to get at conventional oil and gas formations, the locations of the shale formations are well-known, said Rusty Braziel, managing director of Bentek Energy.

“You may as well drop the ‘E' from E&P,” Braziel said, using the common abbreviation for exploration and production. “They don't explore, just produce.”

In just two years the country's estimated natural gas resources rose 39 percent, from 1,320 trillion cubic feet in 2006 to 1,836 trillion cubic feet, according to the Potential Gas Committee, an industry think tank.
Climate change debate

The natural gas industry is using this boom as ammunition in the debate over climate change and energy security. They say the fuel is ideal for replacing coal to run power plants because it produces half as much carbon dioxide and note it also can run cars and trucks with modified fuel tanks and engines.

The Barnett shale formation around Fort Worth has been the busiest in recent years, followed by the Woodford and Fayetteville shale formations in Oklahoma and Arkansas, but Haynesville is now seeing its day.

Companies have scrambled over the past two years to lease as much acreage as possible. In 2008, oil and gas exploration companies in the Haynesville shale paid out about $3.1 billion in lease payments to property owners and $93 million in royalties, according to a survey done for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. That figure is considered conservative since only 70 percent of the companies responded.

State and local governments also collected about $56 million in state and local taxes related to the drilling and leasing.

The activity in the region is particularly clear from the air. Dozens of drilling-rig towers project above the treetops while acre-size red squares of freshly overturned earth mark future drill sites.Pathways cleared for new pipelines cross the region, with some pipelines recently buried and others exposed, their unconnected parts neatly arranged like hundreds of green drinking straws.

At a drilling site in rural Desoto Parish, Larry Strasheim, a drilling superintendent for El Paso Corp., says he has worked a lot of big prospects over the years, drilling in all kinds of formations. “But there's something special about this one,” he said.

Haynesville shale is deeper than many other shale formations, but the wells tend to produce more gas upon start-up than in other fields, often five times more.

That's why the new gas gathering and processing system CenterPoint Energy is building for Shell and EnCana's Haynesville production will be twice as large as a typical gathering system. The pipes running from the wellhead will be 24 inches in diameter instead of the standard 12 inches.

“The wells produce a lot more up front,” said Kerri Selsor, vice president of engineering and construction at CenterPoint.

“They are all working on an aggressive schedule and a very short time frame because they often have just three years to drill before leases expire.”

Not everyone is pleased with the boom.

Ben Wheeler, a retired truck driver in Desoto Parish, said he and his neighbors were among the first approached by natural gas companies in late 2007 about selling their mineral rights.
$125-$30,000 an acre?

He says the companies gave them a hard sell, saying everyone around them had signed up and that they had better do the same. Wheeler was offered $125 an acre.

Less than a year later Wheeler and his neighbors, who had agreed to sell for even less, were hearing of other landowners who had been offered up to $30,000 an acre. And the royalty payments have been more like a trickle than the torrent many were promised.

“If they had paid everyone a fair market value instead of taking advantage of us, we wouldn't have had all this,” said Wheeler, who is among landowners suing the owner of the gas well in their neighborhood.

Some are also skeptical that the boom in leasing and drilling in shale plays will deliver as promised. Houston energy consultant Arthur Berman likened the shale rush to speculative bubbles seen in financial services, real estate and technology in the past.

And famed energy investment banker Matt Simmons — a proponent of the “peak oil” premise that says the world already has reached its maximum oil production levels — has doubts about predictions that wells will continue to produce for years after their initial burst.

“In the past 40 years I don't think I've seen anything promoted as hard as shale in the oil and gas business,” Simmons said.

But investment in shale continues. Just last month Chesapeake Energy told analysts it expects to spend as much as $4.7 billion on drilling next year, a 40 percent increase over this year's budget. Plenty of others are following suit.
















4) Judge Orders Runaway Christian Convert To Return To Ohio Islamic Parents... Islam/Christianity
http://www.wftv.com/news/21285687/detail.html

October 13, 2009


ORLANDO, Fla. -- Religious runaway, 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, is headed back to Ohio. An Orlando judge said Tuesday afternoon that Bary, who had been staying in Orlando, should return to Ohio under the care of the state's child protective services.

The case of Rifqa Bary has been a long, drawn-out battle, since Eyewitness News broke the story in August. That's when Rifqa Bary said her parents threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Bary told investigators that she took a Greyhound bus and headed to a pastor's house in Orlando for protection.

Eyewitness News learned that there's still some debate over whether Rifqa is in the country legally. Her parents haven't provided documents showing otherwise, which they were ordered to do.

If she's put on public transportation, she could be caught and deported back to Sri Lanka. The judge needs the documents before she leaves Florida.

Inside the juvenile justice center in Orlando was a courtroom full of attorneys and state officials and on the phone, another court full of legal experts in Ohio. The issue was who should have jurisdiction over the case involving the religious runaway.

Bary wants to remain in Florida, but after much discussion and some fierce arguments, the judge ultimately decided to send her back to Ohio.

"Unless you want to be held in contempt, you will stop," a judge said in court.

Judges in both states agreed the case belongs in Ohio.

However, Judge Daniel Dawson said before she's transferred to Ohio two conditions must be met.

First he needs documents showing that her online education can continue in Ohio, and second her parents must provide immigration documents showing Bary is in the U.S. legally. Otherwise there's concern she could be sent back to Sri Lanka.

Currently, her documents show she's an illegal immigrant.

Rifqa has maintained she wants to remain in Florida because she fears for her safety due to her religious conversion. Her parents have maintained she will not be hurt or punished and a Florida Department of law Enforcement investigation showed no evidence of violence against her.

The Orlando judge set a hearing for October 23 if the aforementioned conditions have not been met. If they are met before that time, it's possible Bary could head back to Ohio sooner.

Previous Stories:

* October 13, 2009: Another Hearing Scheduled For Runaway Convert
* October 12, 2009: Ohio Judge Will Not Take Jurisdiction In Convert Case
* October 9, 2009: Religious Runaway Meets With State, Parents
* September 28, 2009: Religious Runaway Speaks On Conference Call
* September 22, 2009: New Ohio Court Date Set For Religious Runaway
* September 22, 2009: Religious Runaway Staying In Orlando For Now
* September 17, 2009: Christian Convert Declares Belief On YouTube
* September 15, 2009: Report: Teen Convert May Have Been Lured
* September 11, 2009: Governor: Keep Runaway Convert Case In Ohio
* September 4, 2009: Runaway Christian Convert To Stay In Orlando
* September 2, 2009: Mosque Denies Runaway Convert's Allegations
* August 21, 2009: Judge Decides Runaway Convert Will Stay In Fla.
* August 12, 2009: Cops Question Christian Convert's Story












5) Tracking Your Taxes: The High Price of Nuclear Waste... Nuclear Power/Energy Independence
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/04/tracking-taxes-high-price-nuclear-waste/

November 04, 2009
While closing Yucca Mountain made for good campaign politics in Nevada, it leaves the U.S. with nowhere to store a growing stockpile of radioactive waste. Roughly 70,000 tons of waste sits in temporary pools and dry storage canisters in 100 reactor sites around the U.S. -- each one requiring an army of guards and millions in electronic surveillance.

After 30 years, five presidents and $13 billion dollars, the Obama administration is pulling the plug on Yucca Mountain, the federal government's proposed storage facility for America's nuclear waste.

For a candidate who said he wanted to get politics out of science, critics find the president's decision hypocritical and shortsighted, at a time when nuclear energy is making a comeback.

"They have no solution to the problem. They've taken tens of billions of dollars from rate-payers and now they are talking about scraping the whole thing," said Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste.

For 2010, the administration dramatically reduced Yucca Mountain's budget, just enough, a spokesperson said, to answer questions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Energy Secretary Stephen Chu told Congress earlier this year that Yucca Mountain is "not an option," and a spokesperson for the Nevada Facility told Fox News that the site is closed. The number of employees is down from a high of 4,000 to 50, according to a lawyer familiar with the repository.

The decision was not un-expected. President Obama campaigned hard in Nevada and promised voters there in January 2008 "I am against yucca. I have repeatedly said I am against Yucca."

But what made for good campaign politics in Nevada leaves the U.S. with nowhere to store a growing stockpile of radioactive waste. Roughly 70,000 tons of waste sits in temporary pools and dry storage canisters in 100 reactor sites around the U.S. -- each one requiring an army of guards and millions in electronic surveillance.

The federal government agreed in 1982 to build a permanent storage site for radioactive waste and signed contracts to begin accepting it by 1998. Failure to meet that obligation has already cost the government $565 million in settlements and the Department of Energy estimates it will cost another $11 billion over the next decade in court costs and judgments.

"For every summary judgment, for every litigation, that they lose, for every settlement they have to pay, that is money coming out of the taxpayers pocket," Paige told Fox News.

Many in Congress are also angry with Obama's decision to close Yucca Mountain. "Many a utility facility across the country is going to have to close down if we don't get a handle on it because waste is piling up in those communities with reactors," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, (R-Calif). Lawmakers like Lewis and Sen. John McCain say with no long term repository for America's nuclear waste, the re-licensing of existing plants and construction of new ones is in jeopardy, just as the nation reconsiders nuclear energy as a clean and dependable source of electricity.

In the meantime, the nation's utilities have asked the federal government to suspend the nuclear waste disposal tax -- now running about $750 million a year -- and may want a refund for the money already spent on the now failed yucca facility. So far, officials representing the department of energy have said no.
















6) Traditional marriage now 31-0... Homosexuality/The People
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=752804

11/4/2009
PORTLAND, Maine- Voters in Maine have rejected an effort by lawmakers there to impose homosexual "marriage" in that state.



Gay marriage has now lost in every single state -- 31 in all -- in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine -- known for its liberal-minded electorate -- and mounted an energetic, well-financed campaign. With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, proponents of traditional marriage had 53 percent of the votes.



"The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation," declared Frank Schubert, chief organizer for the winning side.



Read Renewed momentum for federal marriage amendment?


Gay-marriage supporters held out hope that the tide would shift before conceding defeat at 2:40 a.m. in a statement that insisted they weren't going away. "We're in this for the long haul. For next week, and next month, and next year -- until all Maine families are treated equally. Because in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for," said Jesse Connolly, manager of the pro-gay marriage campaign.

At issue was a law passed by the Maine Legislature last spring that would have legalized same-sex marriage. The law was put on hold after conservatives launched a petition drive to repeal it in a referendum.

The outcome Tuesday marked the first time voters had rejected a gay-marriage law enacted by a legislature. When Californians put a stop to same-sex marriage a year ago, it was in response to a court ruling, not legislation.

Five other states have legalized gay marriage -- starting with Massachusetts in 2004, and followed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Iowa -- but all did so through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote. In contrast, constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have been approved in all 30 states where they have been on the ballot.

The defeat left some gay-marriage supporters bitter. "Our relationship is between us," said Carla Hopkins, 38, of Mount Vernon, with partner Victoria Eleftherio, 38, sitting on her lap outside a hotel ballroom where gay marriage supporters had been hoping for a victory party. "How does that affect anybody else? It's a personal thing."

The contest had been viewed by both sides as certain to have national repercussions. Backers of traditional marriage desperately wanted to keep their winning streak alive, while gay-rights activists sought to blunt the argument that gay marriage was being foisted on the country by courts and lawmakers over the will of the people.

Had Maine's law been upheld, the result would probably have energized efforts to get another vote on gay marriage in California, and given a boost to gay-marriage bills in New York and New Jersey.

Earlier Tuesday, before vote-counting began, marriage traditionalist Chuck Schott of Portland warned that Maine "will have its place in infamy" if the gay-rights side won.

Another Portland resident, Sarah Holman said she was "very torn" but decided -- despite her conservative upbringing -- to vote in favor of letting gays marry. "They love and they have the right to love. And we can't tell somebody how to love," said Holman, 26.

In addition to reaching out to young people who flocked to the polls for President Barack Obama a year ago, gay-marriage defenders tried to appeal to Maine voters' pronounced independent streak and live-and-let-live attitude.

The other side based many of its campaign ads on claims -- disputed by state officials -- that the new law would mean "homosexual marriage" would be taught in public schools.

Both sides in Maine drew volunteers and contributions from out of state, but the money edge went to the campaign in defense of gay marriage, Protect Maine Equality. It raised $4 million, compared with $2.5 million for Stand for Marriage Maine.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, voters in Washington state voted on whether to uphold or overturn a recently expanded domestic partnership law that entitles same-sex couples to the same state-granted rights as heterosexual married couples. With half the precincts reporting, that race was too close to call.

In Kalamazoo, Michigan, voters approved a measure that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation.












7) Graham: Obama 'Screwed Up' on Closing Gitmo... Obama/Terrorism
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/04/graham-obama-screwed-closing-gitmo/

November 04, 2009
With less than two weeks before the Obama administration announces where the conspirators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be prosecuted, Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News that there is a war within the White House on what to do.

A senior Republican who has supported President Obama's goal of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison by January now says the president has botched the plan.

With less than two weeks before the Obama administration announces where the conspirators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be prosecuted, Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News that there is a war within the White House on what to do.

"And let me just say, the president, quite frankly, has screwed this up," he said. "You know, he announces on the first day of his being inaugurated that he's going to close Guantanamo Bay and he didn't do the hard stuff. Graham added that he's been talking with Obama for months about the plan, telling him he has to think it through.

While not responding directly to the senator's criticism, a White House aide said progress is being made. The aide also suggested their work is handicapped by chaotic records left by the previous administration.

"The previous administration succeeded in prosecuting only three detainees in more than seven years," the aide said. "This administration is committed to pursuing swift and certain justice wherever possible for those at Guantanamo who have killed Americans, committed acts of terrorism or enabled others to do so."

The Obama administration is scrambling to meet its self-imposed deadline of closing the prison by January as it tries to sort out the cases of the more than 200 inmates remaining at the facility.

The Obama administration has pledged to maintain the facility's controversial military tribunal system to try at least some Guantanamo detainees. Several detainees are facing charges, including five men accused of organizing the Sept. 11 attacks.

In 12 days, the Obama administration is promising a decision on where the self-described architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators will be tried.

Graham supports military trials for the case and is proposing an amendment to keep the men out of federal court because he says criminalizing the Sept. 11 attacks will make the country less safe.

The White House has recently insisted no decision has been made.

A Pentagon spokesman said Defense Secretary Robert Gates is working to resolve the issue.

"We are very much in the midst of this discussion, hoping to come to a conclusion to it shortly and it is not helpful to that process in the estimation of the attorney general and the secretary of Defense for the Congress to be limiting our options there," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.












8) Space Tourism a Reality by 2012... Interest/Science
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,571787,00.html

November 05, 2009


The latest trend in eco-tourism is completely out of this world ... and right around the corner.

Routine commercial travel to outer space may be the norm as soon as 2012, as the next generation of spacecraft — designed by private sector firms like Virgin Galactic, Orbital Sciences Corp., Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and others — transport adventure-seeking civilians into low-Earth orbit.

There, they can see the sun rise many times a day, and experience the breathtaking curve of planet Earth that only NASA astronauts such as Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin have previously seen. If they want to extend their stay, they can check in to the solar system’s first orbiting hotel, The Galactic Space Suite Hotel, set to open in three years.

"There are more projects like this going on than most experts even know about," Doug Raybeck, a futurist and an emeritus professor at Hamilton College in New York, tells FoxNews.com. "There are a lot of people developing this technology under the radar and they want it that way."

As NASA retires its space shuttle fleet in the coming years, these next-generation ships will also launch science experiments and satellites into space, or to the International Space Station (ISS).

Here's just a sampling of cutting-edge spacecraft:

• WhiteKnightTwo is a jet-powered carrier that will launch the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft; the two vehicles form a two-stage manned launch system, and Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has already ordered a pair of WhiteKnightTwos. The ships will form the basis for Virgin Galactic's suborbital fleet, which will charge space tourists $200,000 a head for a 2-hour space flight. The first services will operate from Spaceport America in New Mexico, though other spaceports may open in the U.K. or Sweden.

• The Dragon, a free-flying, reusable spacecraft is being developed by SpaceX for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. Developed in 2005, the Dragon spacecraft consists of a pressurized capsule for personnel and an unpressurized trunk for transport of cargo.

• The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle is NASA’s next-generation spacecraft. It will transport crews to and from the International Space Station, the moon and Mars and is being developed by Lockheed-Martin and Orbital Sciences Corp.

Some technologies, still in the concept stage, are even more mind-blowing, including spacecraft powered by "solar sails," which harness solar winds to travel between galaxies a thousand light-years apart. Thousand-year-long flights may seem absurd, but rocket scientists have a solution for that, too. More on that topic in a minute.

"These technology entrepreneurs are on the verge of creating a new economy, just like Bill Gates did with the PC in the 1980s," says Patricia Hynes, director of the NASA New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, and organizer of an annual conference on commercial space flight, recently held in Las Cruces, N.M.

The Burgeoning Industry

Space buffs have talked about commercial space for decades; President Reagan had an office of commercial space in his Department of Commerce 20 years ago. But a number of factors have converged, of late, to make the visions something that can be achieved quickly.

First, experts tell FoxNews.com, new materials and space propulsion technologies are enabling developers to build these spacecraft more cheaply than before. Next, the federal government — facing unprecedented debt from the Obama administration’s stimulus spending — is hardly keen about funding NASA’s dream projects.

To keep its long-term systems planning going, the space agency is working more in partnership with private-sector firms, which can use money from investment bankers to get launch vehicles and spacecraft going more quickly and cheaply than the government. "The smartest thing they ever did is reach out to the business community," says Raybeck, the futurist. "There’s money in them there hills."

This has given the U.S. a "five-year lead on the Chinese, and other nations, in terms of the commercial space industry," says Hynes. "They can't compete with us technically, financially or in terms of regulatory structure."

The federal regulatory aspect emerged, publicly, for the first time at the 60th International Astronautical Conference in South Korea. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. government agency that regulates air flight, is now charged with licensing space launch companies in the U.S.

George Nield, associate administrator of the FAA, space transportation initiative, spoke at the show about these new rules.

"This is a very exciting time for commercial space transportation. There are some very dramatic and far-reaching changes that are coming. Up to this point, government agencies have dominated human space flight efforts. Over the next few years, I expect that private industry will play a key role in low-Earth orbit and suborbital space flight," Nield told conference attendees. "This will require a launch license from our office at the FAA. We are on the threshold of a new era in space transportation…suborbital space tourism."

The FAA is working with "half a dozen space companies" on this now, Nield indicates. There will be "hundreds" of commercial space launches every year in the coming years, he adds, and that will "change the way we think about space."

How Much Will It Cost Me?

According to the president of Virgin Galactic, Will Whitehorn, his company is planning to carry people into orbit two times a day when it is operational in the coming years. "This will be the experience of their lives," Whitehorn indicates. Hundreds of people have already booked for the first flights on Virgin.

Initially, tourism will be very expensive, around $200,000 per passenger. "But costs will go down," John Lindner, a professor of physics at the College of Wooster in Ohio, tells FoxNews.com. "And services will evolve."

For example, passengers may be able to travel out to visit asteroids, speculates space engineer Greg Matloff, a professor at The City College of New York, in an interview with FoxNews.com. "But for interstellar, and inter-solar system travel, you'll have to use the resources of the solar system to make it viable," Matloff says.

Matloff reckons that those solar sails could be constructed out of nano-technologies that would soak up solar wind and gamma rays for power. Going to another galaxy would be quite difficult, however. Robots would have to power the ships, as the trip would take well over 1,000 years. For humans to take such a voyage, they would have to start off as cryogenically frozen zygotes, says Matloff, and brought to life as the spacecraft neared its final destination.

American firms are not the only ones exploring this technology niche, though they seem to have a big lead now. The Russians and the French are eyeing future commercial space transportation too. Mario Delepine, a spokesman for Parisian commercial launch company Arianespace, tells FoxNews.com that his firm is already "starting to think about the next generation of launch technology. This must be ready by 2025, roughly."

Though the global economy has hit a rough patch during the last year or so, the space sector has grown 9 percent a year over the past decade, more than three times faster than the economy as a whole during that time. "We’re creating a new economy," says Hynes.














9) Unemployment tops 10%... Obama/Economy
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/06/unemployment-rate-tops-percent-million-people-look-jobs/

November 06, 2009
Nearly 16 million people can't find jobs, the Labor Department said Friday, pushing the unemployment rate over 10 percent for the first time since 1983.

Just hours after the government announced that the jobless rate topped 10 percent for the time since 1983, President Obama signed new legislation to provide additional unemployment benefits to Americans thrown out of work.

At a news briefing in the White House Rose Garden on Friday, Obama said the sobering national unemployment number -- 10.2 percent -- is regretful, and pledged to work hard to restore the struggling economy.

Nearly 16 million people are unemployed and the economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October -- less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September -- the Labor Department said Friday. August job losses were also revised lower, to 154,000 from 201,000.

"History tells us that job growth always lags behind economic growth," Obama said, noting a government report last week that said the economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the strongest signal yet that the economy is rebounding.

Obama said the $24 billion economic stimulus bill will extend jobless benefits for up to 20 additional weeks -- an extension that will help over one million Americans, he said.

He added that the bill will also extend tax credits for all home buyers, adding that his economic team is evaluating other options to create jobs and get the economy moving.

"I promise I won't rest until America is prosperous once again," he said.

The loss of jobs last month exceeded economists' estimates. It's the 22nd straight month the U.S. economy has shed jobs, the longest on records dating back 70 years.

Counting those who have settled for part-time jobs or stopped looking for work, the unemployment rate would be 17.5 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.

The jobless rate rose to 10.2 percent from 9.8 percent in September. The jump reflects a sharp increase in the tally of unemployed Americans, which rose to 15.7 million from 15.1 million. That was much larger than the net loss of jobs, which is based on a survey of businesses.

Economists say it could climb as high as 10.5 percent next year because employers remain reluctant to hire.

"You need explosive growth to take the unemployment rate down," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for New York-based investment firm Miller Tabak & Co.

Greenhaus said the economy soared by nearly 8 percent in 1983 after a steep recession, lowering the jobless rate by 2.5 percentage points that year. But the economy is unlikely to improve that fast this time, as consumers remain cautious and tight credit hinders businesses. In fact, many analysts expect economic growth to moderate early next year, as the impact of various government stimulus programs fades.

Many economists also worry that persistently high unemployment could undermine the recovery by restraining consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

One sign of how hard it still is to find a job: the number of Americans who have been out of work for six months or longer rose to 5.6 million, a record. They comprise 35.6 percent of the unemployed population, matching a record set last month.

The employment report showed that job losses remain widespread across many industries. Manufacturers eliminated a net total of 61,000 jobs, the most in four months. Construction shed 62,000 jobs, down slightly from the previous month.

Retailers, the financial sector and leisure and hospitality companies all continued to reduce payrolls. The economy has lost a net total of 7.3 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

The average work week was unchanged at 33 hours, a disappointment because employers are expected to add more hours for current workers before they begin hiring new ones.

There were some bright spots in the report. Professional and business services companies added 18,000 jobs. And temporary employment grew by 33,700 jobs, after losing positions for months. That's a positive sign because employers are likely to add temporary workers before hiring permanent ones.

Still, economists expect jobs likely will remain scarce even as the economy improves. Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, said that small businesses, a primary engine of job creation, still face tight credit and don't have the cash reserves to support extra workers.

And many companies are squeezing more production from their existing work forces. Productivity, the amount of output per hour worked, jumped 9.5 percent in the third quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday.

That's the sharpest increase in six years and followed a 6.9 percent rise in the second quarter. The increases enable companies to produce more without hiring extra people.