You may not have heard much about it, but last Friday an asteroid almost hit our big blue marble.  It seems a chunk of space-rock came within just 8,700 miles of Earth.  Putting that in perspective, it’s 30 times closer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away.

To make matters worse, scientists only had 15 hours of warning.  That’s not even enough time to get Bruce Willis off his oil rig, let alone suit him up and put him on a shuttle.

Before you get to panicky, though, it should be pointed out that the asteroid in question was only 23 feet across – not a planet-killer by any stretch of the imagination.  So, despite the apocalyptic headline, unless you were standing right near it’s impact point, you probably wouldn’t have died.

Still, the fact that no one saw it coming until it was too late is a bit disturbing.  What’s going to happen when a big one sneaks up on us?

Four years ago, Democrats in Congress charged NASA with the responsibility of protecting us against near-Earth objects.  Then, however, the same Democrats refused to fund the program.  Maybe while they’re handing out Billions to banks, car companies, and social projects, all of which will be destroyed if we ever really get hit, they could throw Nasa the measly $300 Million it would take to find and track these objects.

Just a thought.

- Robert Laurie

P.S.  Here’s a nice piece about the lack of funding for near-Earth object detection, thanks to NPR

Ladies and gentlemen, White House Communications Chief Anita Dunn has left the building.   Hang on, I mean “resigned.” 

Dunn became famous for a remark where she indicated that her “favorite political philosopher” was the violent Chinese Communist, Mao Tse Tung.  She stayed famous by leading the Obama administration’s painfully ill-conceived war on the Fox News channel, whose commentator, Glenn Beck, had been gleefully quoting her Mao opinions.

This is the second administration official seemingly brought down by Beck.  The first, White House Environmental Czar Van Jones, “resigned” after his self-proclaimed status as a radical communist was exposed and promoted by the same show.

Who will be next?  I’m hoping it’s White House Science Czar, and advocate of forced female sterilization, John Holdren.

Time will tell but, for now, at least Anita’s all Dunn.

We’re Dunn with Anita?

Anita’s Overdunn?

O.K., I’ll stop.

- Robert Laurie

As Bill Clinton spends his week running around Washington, telling people that a failure to pass Obamacare will ensure a Democrat defeat, we get this piece of news.  According to Gallup, Republicans are now in the lead for the 2010 elections.

The question was the generic one: “If the elections were held today, which party would you vote for?”  Republicans beat out Democrats 48% to 44%.

Last July, Republicans trailed by six points when the same question was asked.   

So, in just under five months, almost all of which has been spent trying to ram health care down our throats, the Democrats have put themselves on the losing end of a ten point swing. 

Passing the measure in the House hasn’t helped their cause, leading us to wonder just how many of the Senate Dems will be eager to act on Clinton’s advice….

- Robert Laurie