The Social Contract and the Republican "Class Warfare" Myth:

Elizabeth Warren explains it.

6 Ton Satellite Disappears:

I woke up this morning and rushed to the back porch to see if NASA's bus-sized satellite had parked itself in my backyard only to learn later that the thing is now a needle in a haystack. Nobody knows what happened to the space junk.

Speculation places parts of it in Canada, the Pacific Ocean, and maybe Africa. Most space junk, NASA says, ends up in the ocean. That's because more of the earth's surface is covered with water than dirt and rock.

So "the bus" sleeps with the fishes. (See Huffington Post article.)

What Travels Faster Than the Speed of Light?

Neutrinos, baby! Take that, Einstein! S0 much for your theory of relativity!

CERN clocked the little dudes doing 60 nanoseconds faster than light could keep up with, but the experiment has to be reproducible because science ain't like religion. You gotta verify your claims.

So before we sell our Corvettes and check out the neutrino dealership, we'll just have to wait and see if the folks in Switzerland can catch another one in the act of passing up the flash bulb.

What does this mean? Well, for one thing we now have an idea how Scotty managed to beam up Kirk. And you probably thought it was the magic of TV.

(See The Washington Post article.)

Republicans Cheer for Murder:

During the recent Republican presidential debate held at the Ronald (Ronny Rayguns) Reagan library in California (a state that spends more money on prisons than education), Texas governor Ricky Perry justified his record for having murdered more people than any other governor in modern times by glibly asserting that the highly flawed Texas justice system provided a "thoughtful" system that never made mistakes.

The Republicans sitting in the audience cheered vociferously. One could well imagine blood dripping from their maws.

For an intelligent analysis, complete with video and transcript, see Peter Catpano's New York Times' op-ed.

Oil Profits Should Hit Record Highs:

The price of a barrel of oil has dropped to $84, which should mean that gasoline at the pump should cost you less than $3 a gallon, but the price at the pump in most places is still around $3.50, and where I live it is above $3.65. (See The Washington Post article.)

Traditionally, the price at the pump has been tied to the price of a barrel of crude, but the major companies have seemed to realize that the average person has no idea about this relationship. And let's face it, the oil companies have congress in their back pockets.

Millions for Gadgets, Not a Dime for Education:

School districts that spend lavishly on gadgetry for the classroom are finding it impossible to demonstrate any positive results in the classroom. Oddly, countries like South Korea have been making dramatic progress in part as a result of incorporating advanced technology into classrooms. Why is there no progress in the U.S.? (See The New York Times.)