Thursday, May 21, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gyrocopter-pilot-faces-years-in-prison/

Gyrocopter pilot could face years in prison
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS
May 20, 2015

Video -- Gyrocopter Pilot Shares His message About Democracy

Doug Hughes, the Florida man who flew his gyrocopter into Washington, D.C. and landed it on the west front lawn of the Capitol building last month, was formally indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday. Facing six charges, Hughes could be sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison.

FAA Chief: Gyrocopter "indistinguishable" from birds, kite

The grand jury indicted Hughes on two felony charges: operating as an airman without an airman's certificate, and violating registration requirements involving aircraft. The remaining charges are misdemeanor counts: three counts of violation of national defense airspace and one of operating a vehicle falsely labeled as a postal carrier.

The two felony charges each carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison and potential fines. The misdemeanor charges of violations of airspace each carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison and potential fines, while the last misdemeanor charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and fines.

Hughes, 61, is scheduled to be arraigned in D.C. federal court on Thursday afternoon.

The resident of Ruskin, Florida claims he flew his gyrocopter onto to the Capitol lawn on April 15 to bring attention to the issue of campaign finance reform. His flight started in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, according to the government's evidence, taking him through three no-fly zones. Hughes was employed as a U.S. postal carrier, but he did not have authorization to use the U.S. Postal Service emblem on his gyrocopter.



http://thedemocracyclub.org/?page_id=92

The Civilist Papers
Reform Congress Now!

The Civilist Papers is the joint project of Mike Shanahan and me, Doug Hughes. We endorse an approach targeting the 2016 election with the objective of a bi-partisan majority in the US House of Representatives who have endorsed reform without evasion – reform defined by the greater movement – not the candidates.

Because only a third of the Senate is up for election every two years, we can’t establish a majority in the Senate in 2016, but a strong showing in Senate races plus a majority of reformists in the House is the biblical ‘handwriting on the wall’. “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin.” (Google it, dude.) To survive, the old guard of the Senate must support reform.

Civilism is Mike’s idea, but we distilled a broad concept down to four specific principles built around the goal of energizing democracy. We came to our conclusions BEFORE we heard about Rootstrikers and the greater movement. Without getting into details, which are on the site, those principles of The Civilist Papers are:

1) Free and Fair Elections (without fraud)
2) Shutting down the control of Special Interests and Lobbyists
3) End profiteering by Congress while in office
4) Campaign Finance Reform

Our strategy is to bird-dog 435 House races and 34 Senate races. Yes, we’re talking about a 50-state strategy and less than 2 years to do it. If the incumbent won’t fully endorse reform, we’re going to recruit someone who can win and WILL fully endorse. In a lot of cases, this will mean a candidate of the same party as the incumbent and an upset in the primary election. This is NOT a partisan Trojan horse conspiracy to undermine either party.

In my opinion, there are plenty of potential candidates for Congress, democrats and republicans who wouldn’t touch national politics with a ten-foot pole. These are candidates with education and proven management skills who know how dirty politics in Washington is. They would enter the cesspool of congress if they saw any way they could remedy the institutional corruption – but there’s no way just one one honest man or woman can change the way things are done. Again, this is opinion, but I think a strong electoral movement, meaning LOTS of voters demanding honesty now, can create a climate where these proven leaders will volunteer to real public service in a historic moment.

“All politics is local.” – Tip O’Neil. Candidates, no matter how well tied they are to the party machine, campaign fund sources, and big-name endorsements have to convince the voter at HOME – that he or she is the best candidate. I think there’s an alliance between the national media and supporters of the corrupt status quo. That’s the political parties and the ad money they command and the election industry which runs 365 days per year. The NATIONAL media is sold out.

Local media, particularly newspapers, are struggling to survive. ‘Local’ and ‘newspaper’ are used together so often, they’re almost synonymous – and remember- ‘All politics is local’. US House of Representatives are elected by voters from small districts. Newspapers and local TV haven’t been cut into the big bucks and they have enormous clout in elections to Congress. If the local print media is to survive, they can (potentially) get a huge shot in circulation and ad revenue by becoming more relevant on issues the national media won’t and can’t cover.

Out of fairness, I used the phrase ‘can’t cover’ when I said national news ‘can’t cover’ local scandals. National media can’t devote any detail to the implicit corruption of 435 US House races when almost every member will support corruption while pretending opposition. A local paper can do a detailed story about the recent retired members of Congress cashing in – the national media can’t justify even a minute of national exposure to an obscure retired congressman.

Fact – Nearly half of the retired members of Congress are employed as lobbyists at multi-million dollar salaries. How did they vote in Congress and who are the clients who now reward them so lavishly. With HUNDREDS of retired congressmen participating in legalized, institutionalized bribery, it will take the LOCAL, especially newspaper media, to expose each case and discuss the reforms to address it.

Eventually, Congress has to go home and pound the pavement locally before the next election. No candidate who stonewalls the local media should be allowed to be elected on ads funded by anonymous sources. Make candidates do interviews and ask the question on corruption and don’t let them give a weasel-worded endorsement of generic ‘reform’ without a commitment to REAL reform – as defined by the general movement. The national media has captured the money, but the local press still has the power.

I believe that a coordinated non-partisan effort can overcome the Party Machine Candidate. There are more independent voters than there are either democrats or republicans. That statistic means even a well-funded incumbent is vulnerable if he won’t endorse real reform and his opponent will. An Independent voter has announced that he has rejected the Party Machine by checking the ‘Independent’ box. My opinion is – that HUGE chunk of Independent voters leans heavily for reform and has for many elections – they’ve never had the option to exercise their power.

We carved out a unique niche when we invented The Civilist Papers. The approach of Wolf PAC includes a 50-state strategy to persuade 34 state legislatures to call for an Article V Convention to pass a Constitutional Amendment. But they aren’t promoting an electoral strategy. RepresentUS has a legislative solution, but no plan to build a 50-state organization to recruit and elect a majority in Congress.

Both groups are correct in what they are doing, and we at The Civilst Papers won’t hamper their efforts at all. This isn’t by design. :) We came up with our ideas before we knew of theirs. I’ve studied both groups and I’m convinced we all three have to pursue our separate strategies concurrently for any of us to succeed. I’m not suggesting we can’t or shouldn’t coordinate when circumstances warrant it but most of the time, let each group do their own thing.

I see this as my life’s work. Assuming the flight doesn’t kill me, and I don’t get a lengthy prison term. I’m 61 now, but the median age of members of the Senate is 70. Over the next decade or so, I want to be a part of reform, first at the national level, and hopefully later in state campaigns to replicate enforceable standards that require elected officials have no option except to represent the people to the best of their ability. Close the opportunities for politicians to sell us out – legally – for their own personal gain.

That won’t make for neat, clean politics. We still won’t agree on a LOT of issues. Democracy is loud, messy, contentious and imperfect. Democracy is founded on the idea that nobody will always get everything they want. I can live with that if what I get is the best effort of representatives of the people doing their level-best to work for the benefit of the people.




I hope the court gives Hughes some leeway. The penalties totaling some ten years are too high in my opinion for a kind of crime that is essentially harmless. Hughes wanted to “call attention to the issue of campaign finance reform,” an issue that is a real threat to our freedom in that under that case, the voting rights of individuals are being watered down through the unfair influence of corporations and very wealthy people like the Koch brothers. Hughes’ actions, unfortunately, were not likely to succeed in producing a bill that would undo the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, and it was dangerous in the same way that high speed police chases are – innocent people could be injured and national security may be endangered by flights through the No Fly Zones. However, compared to crimes like child sexual abuse, rape and wife abuse, which may only carry a sentence of several years in prison, this likely sentence of ten years is very harsh. Hughes is not a registered Democrat, but he is an independent patriot, and I agree with his point about campaign finance. In fact, his article above from the Democracy Club website is well reasoned and well written. He’s intellectually competent and not, as far as I can see, a radical, either. He may be, as I am, simply very much concerned about the trend in our country away from its’ republican and democratic roots. In the website “theconservativetreehouse.com/” he is quoted as saying that both Democrats and Republicans are “all crooks.” He probably has views that I wouldn’t condone, and I do favor the generally progressive stance on matters before the legislature that most Democrats follow, but I think he is no criminal, and he’s 60 some years old. Fine him, give him some time in jail and be done with it. Our individual political views have not yet been made illegal.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawmakers-move-on-research-tax-break-bill-research-development/

Lawmakers move on research tax break bill
AP May 20, 2015

Photography -- Researchers explore new battery technologies at Argonne National Laboratory. ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY

WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to make permanent a generous tax credit that rewards businesses for investing in research and development, setting the stage for another showdown over taxes.

The tax credit is part of a package of more than 50 temporary tax breaks that routinely expires every year or two, only to be renewed by Congress.

The entire package expired at the beginning of the year. House Republicans have been working to make selected tax breaks permanent, over the objections of many Democrats.

"Research and development is the lifeblood of manufacturing, driving growth through increased productivity and new product development," the National Association of Manufacturers said in a letter to lawmakers. "The lack of a permanent R&D tax credit creates uncertainty as manufacturers do not know if the credit will be around for the entire length of their R&D projects."

The House passed the bill by a vote of 274-145. It now goes to the Senate.

The White House threatened to veto the bill because it would add $182 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade. President Barack Obama said he supports making the popular tax break permanent but wants to offset the cost by eliminating other tax breaks for businesses.

"As with other similar proposals, Republicans are imposing a double standard by adding to the deficit to continue and expand costly tax breaks, while slashing investments and programs that serve middle-class and working Americans in the name of fiscal rectitude," the White House said in a statement.

House Republican leaders say Congress should not be forced to offset the extension of existing tax cuts by raising other taxes.

"Why does the president want to ship America's research jobs overseas?" said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who sponsored the bill. "He knows both parties in Congress have supported this measure on a temporary basis without raising taxes. So stop making excuses and stand up for American jobs and American innovation."

The House voted twice last year to make the tax break permanent, but both bills died in the Senate. In December, Congress passed a bill renewing more than 50 temporary tax breaks, including the credit for research and development. Obama signed the bill, but it only extended the tax breaks through the end of 2014.




The House voted Wednesday to make permanent a generous tax credit that rewards businesses for investing in research and development, setting the stage for another showdown over taxes. The tax credit is part of a package of more than 50 temporary tax breaks that routinely expires every year or two, only to be renewed by Congress. The entire package expired at the beginning of the year. House Republicans have been working to make selected tax breaks permanent, over the objections of many Democrats. …. The White House threatened to veto the bill because it would add $182 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade. President Barack Obama said he supports making the popular tax break permanent but wants to offset the cost by eliminating other tax breaks for businesses.”

There is an ongoing need for bills that support R & D projects. I would like for the bill to specify which research projects would be encouraged, however, such as those that would improve our environmental situation from saving the honeybees to reducing the use of fossil fuels rather than new ways to extract oil. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but when all the Democrats including the president are blocking a bill it makes me wonder what the fine print shows.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/21/408306843/avian-flu-outbreak-takes-poultry-producers-into-uncharted-territory

Avian Flu Outbreak Takes Poultry Producers Into Uncharted Territory
PEGGY LOWE AND SARAH BODEN
MAY 21, 2015

Photograph -- Men in hazardous materials suits load dead poultry to be buried at Rose Acre Farms Inc., just west of Winterset, Iowa, on May 11.
John Gaps III/AP

An avian flu outbreak is sweeping across the Midwest at a frightening pace, ravaging chicken and turkey farms and leaving officials stumped about the virus's seemingly unstoppable spread.

Now reaching to 15 states, the outbreak has been detected at 174 farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Because there's no vaccine, infected and even healthy birds must be killed to try to stop the virus, forcing the killing of 38.9 million birds and counting, the USDA says.

The particular strain of avian flu, highly pathogenic H5N2, was first confirmed in a backyard flock in Washington state. While chickens and turkeys are highly susceptible to it, it is considered a low risk for transmission to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now officials are scrambling, trying to figure out how to dispose of millions of dead birds. Most of them are in Iowa, the largest egg producer in the U.S. and the one hardest hit by the outbreak. At one farm alone, Rembrandt Enterprises, some 5.5 million birds had to be destroyed.

"I've been in the landfill business probably 26 years, and I've never ever seen this kind of volume," said Randy Oldenkamp, director of the Northwest Iowa Area Solid Waste Agency. "And I hope I never do again."

Oldenkamp is accepting 100 loads of the birds for disposal at 15 tons a load. But other landfill managers are turning away the birds, fearing contamination and neighbors' complaints.

"It is a catastrophe," said Billy Duplechein, who works with Clean Harbors, the contractor hired by the federal government to do the cleanup. "Nobody wants to see this kind of stuff, but something has to be done."

The USDA believes the virus was brought to the Midwest by migratory water fowl via the Mississippi Flyway. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has admitted that the ongoing and quick spread could be "laterally spread" by people.

"We've had circumstances recently where folks have been using pond water, for example, to feed and to water their birds. Well, that's a problem because the pond water could be contaminated," Vilsack said. "We've had situations where folks are supposed to shower before they go into the facility, but the shower doesn't work, so they go in anyway."

"No trespassing" signs are posted on the edge of a field at a farm operated by Daybreak Foods near Eagle Grove, Iowa, which has been designated "bio security area," on May 17.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the poultry industry is in uncharted territory. The virus is "doing things we've never seen it do before," so scientists' understanding is very limited, he says.

"Influenza viruses have thought in the past to be transmitted by birds to birds in close contact and that it was only through that kind of transmission that we need to be concerned," Osterholm says. "Now we surely have a very dynamic situation in the Midwest. It's also a situation where we no longer can assume it's just migratory birds."

Other theories on the virus's rapid transmission include small rodents infiltrating facilities, contaminated feed and water or that the virus could even be airborne.

Vilsack and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad took to the media this week, begging landfills to take the birds before any more can be exposed. Farms are also buying the birds, composting them with wood chips and corn stover and burning them in five large mobile incinerators brought in by Clean Harbors. Officials are also considering taking mobile incinerators from farm to farm.

Northwest Iowa is hardest hit, thanks to its large egg-laying operations, and workers in white and yellow Tyvek suits, protective gear with a respirator, could be seen discarding the birds from barns.

Neighbors in the remote rural communities say they have noticed more trucks at the farms. And they've certainly noticed the putrid smell.

Dawn Cronk lives just a mile and a half south of Sunrise Farms, near Harris, Iowa, and drives home at midnight from her job working the late shift at a nursing home.

"I have the window down and all of a sudden there's just that distinct dead animal smell," she says. "And it's not just one dead animal, it's like you walked into a ... a decomposing lot. It's just that strong."

A huge incinerator is being set up at the Cherokee County landfill, and officials there plan to fire it up this week and have it burning for 24 hours a day. Although some hold out hope that the outbreak will die down this summer, when its harder for the virus to live in hot temperatures, others guess that states could be cleaning up for months or even years to come.

"That's the million-dollar question," Duplechein says. "We really don't know."

This story comes to us via Harvest Public Media.




"The particular strain of avian flu, highly pathogenic H5N2, was first confirmed in a backyard flock in Washington state. While chickens and turkeys are highly susceptible to it, it is considered a low risk for transmission to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. …. Oldenkamp is accepting 100 loads of the birds for disposal at 15 tons a load. But other landfill managers are turning away the birds, fearing contamination and neighbors' complaints. …. The USDA believes the virus was brought to the Midwest by migratory water fowl via the Mississippi Flyway. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has admitted that the ongoing and quick spread could be "laterally spread" by people. "We've had circumstances recently where folks have been using pond water, for example, to feed and to water their birds. Well, that's a problem because the pond water could be contaminated," Vilsack said. "We've had situations where folks are supposed to shower before they go into the facility, but the shower doesn't work, so they go in anyway." …. "Influenza viruses have thought in the past to be transmitted by birds to birds in close contact and that it was only through that kind of transmission that we need to be concerned," Osterholm says. "Now we surely have a very dynamic situation in the Midwest. It's also a situation where we no longer can assume it's just migratory birds." Other theories on the virus's rapid transmission include small rodents infiltrating facilities, contaminated feed and water or that the virus could even be airborne. …. Vilsack and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad took to the media this week, begging landfills to take the birds before any more can be exposed. Farms are also buying the birds, composting them with wood chips and corn stover and burning them in five large mobile incinerators brought in by Clean Harbors. Officials are also considering taking mobile incinerators from farm to farm. …. A huge incinerator is being set up at the Cherokee County landfill, and officials there plan to fire it up this week and have it burning for 24 hours a day. Although some hold out hope that the outbreak will die down this summer, when its harder for the virus to live in hot temperatures, others guess that states could be cleaning up for months or even years to come. "That's the million-dollar question," Duplechein says. "We really don't know."

So, have you read The Stand by Stephen King? In that story the “superflu” was manufactured by the US government for germ warfare purposes, but sometimes nature can do things that are as scary as intentional evil. This is, among other things, a cautionary tale against the huge corporate farming ventures that have concentrated so many animals together that the spread of disease may be impossible to stop. I miss the days when farms were mainly small and farmers lived a life “close to the earth.” It was a time of simplicity that I look back on with nostalgia.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/20/408253236/fda-wants-to-pull-back-the-curtain-slightly-on-farm-antibiotics

FDA Wants To Pull Back The Curtain, Slightly, On Farm Antibiotics
Dan Charles
May 20, 2015

Photograph -- Cattle that are grass-fed and free of antibiotics and growth hormones are seen at Kookoolan Farm in Yamhill, Ore.
Don Ryan/AP

Farmers and public health advocates have been arguing for many years now about the use of antibiotics on farm animals, yet that argument takes place in a fog of uncertainty, because a lot of information simply isn't available.

The main source of information about antibiotic use on farms, an annual report from the Food and Drug Administration, simply shows the total amount of antibiotics, broken down by antibiotic class, that are sold by drug companies for use on the nation's farms. It contains no information about how those drugs are used, or on which types of farms.

This leads to some curious discrepancies. Tyson Foods, the nation's largest producer of chicken meat, recently said that its poultry producers have cut their use of antibiotics (at least those also used in human medicine) by 80 percent over the past two years. Perdue, another large poultry company, has also announced large cuts in antibiotic use. Yet the FDA's national totals for all animals show a steady increase in antibiotic use, at least through the most recent report, which includes data from 2013.

So what's going on? Is antibiotic use declining in poultry, but rising in other animals?

The FDA wants to find out. Under a new proposal, drug companies would have to disclose whether the antibiotics they sell are intended for use in cattle, pigs, chickens or turkeys.

Even the FDA, however, admitted that this new information would not answer the most important question: whether, and where, the use of antibiotics by farmers is increasing the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant microbes that could threaten humans. The agency says it lacks the authority to demand the data that might start to answer this question.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., wants to fix that with a new law called the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act. This law would require large farms, rather than drug companies, to report details of their antibiotic use.

Denmark and the Netherlands already collect information on how antibiotics are used on each farm. Scientists use that information to identify farms where drug use is high. They then work with those farms to figure out better ways to prevent animal disease and avoid drug use in the first place.




"The main source of information about antibiotic use on farms, an annual report from the Food and Drug Administration, simply shows the total amount of antibiotics, broken down by antibiotic class, that are sold by drug companies for use on the nation's farms. It contains no information about how those drugs are used, or on which types of farms. This leads to some curious discrepancies. Tyson Foods, the nation's largest producer of chicken meat, recently said that its poultry producers have cut their use of antibiotics (at least those also used in human medicine) by 80 percent over the past two years. Perdue, another large poultry company, has also announced large cuts in antibiotic use. Yet the FDA's national totals for all animals show a steady increase in antibiotic use, at least through the most recent report, which includes data from 2013. …. Even the FDA, however, admitted that this new information would not answer the most important question: whether, and where, the use of antibiotics by farmers is increasing the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant microbes that could threaten humans. The agency says it lacks the authority to demand the data that might start to answer this question. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., wants to fix that with a new law called the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act. This law would require large farms, rather than drug companies, to report details of their antibiotic use. Denmark and the Netherlands already collect information on how antibiotics are used on each farm. Scientists use that information to identify farms where drug use is high.”

It seems to me that farmers would do better to stop lobbying against much needed government regulations. The purpose of those regs is to prevent disaster, not cause the farmers to lose some of their profitability. When one of those diseases springs up that causes widespread human deaths, so often we have no antibiotic that is still effective against it.

Hooray for Perdue and Tyson, who have done the sensible thing and greatly reduced their use of those antibiotics that are also used on humans. Stories about the subject have been in the press for years now. One of the problems with the amount of autonomy for big business that exists in our country is that when a case of the needs of the society as a whole comes up, our USDA and similar groups have trouble handling the matter effectively. That seems like foolish government policy to me, and not worth the amount of money growers gain by having fatter and meatier animals. No rights are absolutely guaranteed, and the right to a larger profit shouldn’t be either.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/air-force-spaceplane-takes-off-on-secret-mission/

Air Force spaceplane takes off on secret mission
By WILLIAM HARWOOD CBS NEWS
May 20, 2015

Photograph -- An artist's concept of a generic X-37B spaceplane in orbit with its solar array deployed from a compact cargo bay. NASA

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral Wednesday, boosting an unpiloted military spaceplane into orbit for a secret mission. Hitching a ride on the Atlas were 10 small CubeSat spacecraft, including an experimental "LightSail" satellite provided by the Planetary Society to test the feasibility of using sunlight for propulsion.

The 206-foot-tall Atlas 5's Russian-built RD-180 first stage engine ignited on time with a rush of fire at 11:05 a.m. EDT (GMT-4), generating some 860,000 pounds of thrust and pushing the towering rocket away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Mounted inside a protective nosecone fairing was one of the Air Force's two Boeing-built X-37B spaceplanes, a compact delta-wing craft equipped with a payload bay, a solar power boom and sophisticated computer control systems enabling long-duration, autonomous flights.

Three previous missions logged a combined 1,367 days in orbit, roughly a month longer than NASA's space shuttles accumulated over 135 missions. The most recent X-37B flight lasted 674 days. But the Air Force provides little advance information and does not reveal mission objectives, orbital parameters or mission duration.
In a departure from past practice, the identities of two secondary payloads aboard the current mission were acknowledged: a NASA materials science experiment and an advanced thruster that will be tested in space. And the Air Force agreed to launch the CubeSat spacecraft from a deployment housing attached to the base of the Atlas 5's Centaur second stage.

But no details about the X-37B mission were revealed or whether the flight will end with a landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., where all three previous flights ended, or at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where Boeing has taken over two shuttle processing hangars for the X-37B program.

Joan Johnson-Freese, a space policy analyst at the Naval War College, said the spaceplane appears to be what the Air Force says it is, a technology demonstrator and testbed, but she said the secrecy surrounding the program likely will continue fueling concern among potential adversaries.

"What's interesting to me is it's being done in such an opaque manner," she said in an interview. "If the Chinese were doing this, oh my God, there would be congressional hearings on a daily basis and programs being ginned up to respond to it. It has capabilities that other countries aren't sure about, and so they're going to be very nervous about them. If it's a highly maneuverable space vehicle, that has some pretty significant implications."

In any case, the Atlas 5 put on a spectacular show, majestically climbing away from Cape Canaveral atop a jet of brilliant exhaust, arcing away to the east and quickly disappearing from view over the Atlantic Ocean. Dramatic "rocketcam" shots looking back toward Earth showed Cape Canaveral, the Florida peninsula and the limb of the Earth in the background, even the 3-mile-long shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center where the X-37B might eventually land.

The RD-180 engine shut down as expected about four-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, the first stage fell away and the hydrogen-fueled RL10C-1 engine powering the Centaur second stage ignited to continue the climb to orbit.

In keeping with past practice with mostly classified military missions, United Launch Alliance ended its running commentary of rocket performance, altitude and velocity shortly after stage separation.

But the remainder of the ascent apparently went well. In statements released well after the launching, the Air Force called the flight a success, confirming "the Atlas 5 rocket carried into low Earth orbit an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle making the fourth space flight for the X-37B program."As for the CubeSats, all 10 satellites were released from the base of the Centaur second stage about two hours after launch.

Measuring roughly 4 inches a side, CubeSats are widely used for low-cost, relatively modest experiments launched by college students, private companies and government agencies.

The 10 launched aboard the Atlas were mounted in a housing known as ULTRASat. According to ULA, the National Reconnaissance Office sponsored three Naval Academy CubeSats, three were provided by the California Polytechnic State University, one by Near Space Launch and the Air Force Research Laboratory and two provided by the Aerospace Corp., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and eSpace.

The NRO-sponsored CubeSats were designed to test a variety of technologies, ranging from space-based internet data relay to small-scale propulsion systems and communications.

NASA sponsored the LightSail, made up of three CubeSats bolted together.

Funded by members of the Planetary Society, a non-profit space advocacy group founded by Carl Sagan and colleagues, the LightSail is the first of two spacecraft designed to test the feasibility of using the pressure of sunlight on large, lightweight sail-like panels to provide propulsion.

The goal of the initial mission, which cost the Planetary Society $4.3 million, is to test the mechanism that will deploy four sail-like Mylar panels from the spacecraft, to evaluate control software, communications and power systems.

The panels making up the solar sail are not expected to deploy for several weeks, after the cluster of CubeSats launched Wednesday have time to drift well away from each other.

The LightSail spacecraft will not be high enough for any significant solar sailing but if all goes well, a second mission in 2016 will do just that.

"Today is an extraordinary day for the Planetary Society, our members and space enthusiasts around the world: LightSail successfully launched into orbit," Bill Nye, the "Science Guy" and CEO of the Planetary Society, said in a statement.

"While we celebrate this step, LightSail's biggest tests are still ahead. Over the next days, we will be monitoring our CubeSat as we prepare for the big show: the day LightSail deploys its super shiny Mylar sails for flight on sunlight. Stay tuned; the best is about to happen."

Nye told reporters Tuesday that solar sails offer a low-cost way to move instruments and other payloads across the inner solar system. While such flights would take longer -- a month to reach the moon instead of a few days with a traditional rocket system -- solar sails would be much less expensive.

"You can trade money for time," Nye said. "If you have time, you can send a solar sail to the moon, to Mars, to an asteroid. The other really practical application of solar sails is to get in an orbit between Venus and the Earth and keep station with the Earth.

"The two things that I envision are keeping track of solar weather. When there's a coronal mass ejection on the sun, you would know about it a few hours earlier. And the other thing is looking for asteroids. If you had a spacecraft there between the orbit of Venus and the orbit of Earth, you could look for Earth-crossing asteroids. That would be of great practical value. You would absolutely be able to find them. So it's cool!"

The Planetary Society first attempted a light sail mission in 2005, but the Russian rocket used to launch the spacecraft failed. NASA launched a CubeSat-class solar sail in 2010 to test re-entry systems for small satellites.




“A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral Wednesday, boosting an unpiloted military spaceplane into orbit for a secret mission. Hitching a ride on the Atlas were 10 small CubeSat spacecraft, including an experimental "LightSail" satellite provided by the Planetary Society to test the feasibility of using sunlight for propulsion. …. . But the Air Force provides little advance information and does not reveal mission objectives, orbital parameters or mission duration. In a departure from past practice, the identities of two secondary payloads aboard the current mission were acknowledged: a NASA materials science experiment and an advanced thruster that will be tested in space. …. "What's interesting to me is it's being done in such an opaque manner," she said in an interview. "If the Chinese were doing this, oh my God, there would be congressional hearings on a daily basis and programs being ginned up to respond to it. It has capabilities that other countries aren't sure about, and so they're going to be very nervous about them. If it's a highly maneuverable space vehicle, that has some pretty significant implications." …. Funded by members of the Planetary Society, a non-profit space advocacy group founded by Carl Sagan and colleagues, the LightSail is the first of two spacecraft designed to test the feasibility of using the pressure of sunlight on large, lightweight sail-like panels to provide propulsion. …. Nye told reporters Tuesday that solar sails offer a low-cost way to move instruments and other payloads across the inner solar system. While such flights would take longer -- a month to reach the moon instead of a few days with a traditional rocket system -- solar sails would be much less expensive. "You can trade money for time," Nye said. "If you have time, you can send a solar sail to the moon, to Mars, to an asteroid. The other really practical application of solar sails is to get in an orbit between Venus and the Earth and keep station with the Earth. …. "The two things that I envision are keeping track of solar weather. When there's a coronal mass ejection on the sun, you would know about it a few hours earlier. And the other thing is looking for asteroids. If you had a spacecraft there between the orbit of Venus and the orbit of Earth, you could look for Earth-crossing asteroids. That would be of great practical value.”

The effect of science fiction on the development of science and technology has been tremendous. When I was in the third grade or so I read a children’s fiction book about a visit to “the mushroom planet,” and I just found it on the Internet. It is still in print and available on Amazon. Check it out: “The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet,” From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, was written by Eleanor Cameron in 1954. The planet, appropriately, is called Basidium. I found it absolutely fascinating and it stimulated me to continue reading for pleasure rather than to get a school grade -- a very good habit. This particular bit of science, a LightSail in place of fossil fuels may be the savior of mankind if our Earth is ever despoiled to the point that humans can’t live here anymore, as some other SciFi stories have suggested may happen. Who knows, we may need to send a permanent colony to Mars to save our species.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-questions-do-al-qaeda-applicants-have-to-answer/

Questions from the al Qaeda membership application
By REBECCA KAPLAN CBS NEWS
May 20, 2015

Joining al Qaeda may be quite a bit like applying for a school or any other job, if one document recovered from Osama bin Laden's compound is to be believed.

Among the trove of documents recovered during the raid on his compound and declassified Monday was a form called, "Instructions to Applicants" that might have been used to vet aspiring jihadis.

The application begins with instructions ranging from, "please write clearly and legibly" to "Please refrain from sharing the information you provide on the application with each other because it is a trust to Almighty Allah."

After some demographic information (family names, occupations, address), the applicant must answer several questions to establish their interest in and connection to Islam. Questions include: "How much of the holy Qur'an have you memorized?" "Do you know any workers or experts in chemistry, communications, or any other field?" and "Do any of your family or friends work with the government? If so, would he/she be willing to cooperate with or help us?"

There are some questions that are surprisingly mundane, such as asking applicants to list their level of education, proficiency in various languages, whether they have a criminal record, and travel to foreign countries (they also have to answer if they know anyone who has traveled to Western countries).

"Al Qaeda was trying to recruit from a select group of individuals, often looking for westerners...those who have not come to the attention of law enforcement," said CBS News Senior National Security Analyst Juan "They also wanted to weed out spies; they were very worried about infiltration by intelligence services so that explains part of this. It also reflects the fact that al Qaeda, not unlike the Islamic state, is actually very hierarchical, bureaucratic. They have lines of communication, lines of authority."

One query on the application reads, "Any hobbies or pastimes?"

Then there are the more specific questions one would find only on an al Qaeda application: "What objectives would you would like to accomplish on your jihad path?" and "Do you wish to execute a suicide operation?"

And in case the answer to that question is "yes," there is an additional query: "Who should we contact in case you became a martyr?" And lines for address and phone information follow.




“Among the trove of documents recovered during the raid on his compound and declassified Monday was a form called, "Instructions to Applicants" that might have been used to vet aspiring jihadis. The application begins with instructions ranging from, "please write clearly and legibly" to "Please refrain from sharing the information you provide on the application with each other because it is a trust to Almighty Allah." After some demographic information (family names, occupations, address), the applicant must answer several questions to establish their interest in and connection to Islam. Questions include: "How much of the holy Qur'an have you memorized?" "Do you know any workers or experts in chemistry, communications, or any other field?" and "Do any of your family or friends work with the government? If so, would he/she be willing to cooperate with or help us?" …. "Al Qaeda was trying to recruit from a select group of individuals, often looking for westerners...those who have not come to the attention of law enforcement," said CBS News Senior National Security Analyst Juan "They also wanted to weed out spies; they were very worried about infiltration by intelligence services so that explains part of this. It also reflects the fact that al Qaeda, not unlike the Islamic state, is actually very hierarchical, bureaucratic. They have lines of communication, lines of authority." …. "What objectives would you would like to accomplish on your jihad path?" and "Do you wish to execute a suicide operation?" And in case the answer to that question is "yes," there is an additional query: "Who should we contact in case you became a martyr?" And lines for address and phone information follow.”

It is more than a little shocking to me that a brutal endeavor like jihadi activity is handled in such a businesslike and unemotional way. The degree to which the human mind can be conditioned to total coldness is always shocking to me. Of course, our American KKK is a similar group, in that it shows the same lack of human warmth that a suicide bombing does.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/waco-shootout-wife-of-biker-inmate-says-some-arrested-are-innocent/

Some bikers jailed in Waco are innocent, wife of inmate says
CBS/AP
May 20, 2015

Photographs -- This combination of booking photos provided by the McLennan County Sheriff's office shows people arrested during the motorcycle gang related shooting at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas on Sunday, May 17, 2015. Top row from left; Jonathan Lopez, Richard Luther, Michael Lynch, Sandra Lynch, Eleazar Martinez and Tom Mendez. Middle row from left; Marshall Mitchell, Diego Obledo, Danny Oehlert, Larry Pina, Jerry Pollard and Jimmy Pond. Bottom row from left; Clayton Reed, Rolando Reyes, Sergio Reyes, Kyle Smith, Jimmy Spencer and Blake Taylor. (McLennan County Sheriff's Office via AP) AP

WACO, Texas -- Bullets ricocheted around the parking lot of Twin Peaks, the Waco restaurant where a motorcycle gang shootout left nine dead, just minutes after Theron Rhoten pulled in on his vintage Harley chopper for a regional motorcycle club meeting, according to Rhoten's wife.

Katie Rhoten told The Associated Press that her husband ran for cover and was later arrested, along with antique motorcycle enthusiast friends and other "nonviolent, noncriminal people." Authorities swept up around 170 bikers who had descended on the restaurant for what one club member described as a gathering to discuss laws protecting motorcycle riders.

"He's good to his family," she said. "He doesn't drink; he doesn't do drugs; he doesn't party. He's just got a passion for motorcycles."

McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara and Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton declined to comment Tuesday on allegations that innocent bikers were arrested. Police have said the gathering of five biker groups was to resolve a dispute over turf.

Katie Rhoten said her husband, a mechanic from Austin, called her from jail and said that he and two other members of Vise Grip Club ducked and ran for cover as the violence that left 18 people injured raged around them.

Police said the melee started with a parking dispute and someone running over a gang member's foot, and that an uninvited biker group also appeared. Preliminary autopsy results indicated that all of the dead were shot, some in the head, neck or chest. Police have acknowledged firing on armed bikers, but it is not clear how many of the dead were shot by gang members and how many were shot by officers.

The arrested bikers have all been charged with engaging in organized crime and each is being held on $1 million bonds. It is unclear how long they will remain in custody.

"Unless they try to make some other arrangement to move them through it more quickly, it could be weeks and possibly months" before the jailed bikers have bond-reduction hearings, said William Smith, an attorney who has met with several of the inmates.

It's also unclear whether the McLennan County district attorney will require outside help to prosecute all those arrested Sunday.

The eight members of Theron Rhoten's group, the Vise Grip Club, specialize in building and riding vintage and antique motorcycles, particularly pre-1970 Harley Davidson big twin choppers, according to spokesman Brian Buscemi.

Buscemi disputed the police claim that the meeting was to resolve a turf war, saying groups had planned to discuss laws protecting motorcycle riders at the meeting, which he said has been going on bimonthly for 18 years.

"Yes, there was a problem at this scene, and it was absolutely horrific, but there just also happened to be a significant amount of people there who had nothing to do with it," Buscemi told the AP.

Jimmy Graves, who described himself as an ambassador for the gang known as the Bandidos, said his group had no intention of engaging in a scuffle.

But he acknowledged that differences with other groups, such as the Cossacks, have been "simmering and brewing."

Retired ATF agent William Queen, who wrote a book about going undercover with a biker gang called "Under and Alone," told CBSN's Jeff Glor that the dispute between two of the gangs -- the much-smaller Cossacks, which has ties to the Hell's Angels, and the Bandidos, currently one of the largest biker gangs in the world -- was like "David and Goliath."

"The Cossacks were getting tired of being pushed around and pretty much 'called it' on the Banditos. There wasn't violence that was going on, but it was kind of building up," Queen explained. "And they were there to kind of talk about this thing at that coalition meeting, and it led from a parking space dispute to [a] full-fledged gun battle."

The U.S. Justice Department said in a report on outlaw motorcycle gangs that the Bandidos "constitute a growing criminal threat." The report said the group is involved in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana and in the production and distribution of methamphetamine.

Another biker named Johnny Snyder also said he was at the restaurant for a scheduled meeting to talk about legislative issues.

Snyder, a long-haul trucker, declined to describe what he saw inside the restaurant, saying he was only concerned with "not getting shot."

He is vice president of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club in Waco, a group that Snyder says does charity events and family gatherings and is not a criminal gang.




“Katie Rhoten told The Associated Press that her husband ran for cover and was later arrested, along with antique motorcycle enthusiast friends and other "nonviolent, noncriminal people." Authorities swept up around 170 bikers who had descended on the restaurant for what one club member described as a gathering to discuss laws protecting motorcycle riders. "He's good to his family," she said. "He doesn't drink; he doesn't do drugs; he doesn't party. He's just got a passion for motorcycles." “Buscemi disputed the police claim that the meeting was to resolve a turf war, saying groups had planned to discuss laws protecting motorcycle riders at the meeting, which he said has been going on bimonthly for 18 years. "Yes, there was a problem at this scene, and it was absolutely horrific, but there just also happened to be a significant amount of people there who had nothing to do with it," Buscemi told the AP. …. The U.S. Justice Department said in a report on outlaw motorcycle gangs that the Bandidos "constitute a growing criminal threat." The report said the group is involved in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana and in the production and distribution of methamphetamine. Another biker named Johnny Snyder also said he was at the restaurant for a scheduled meeting to talk about legislative issues. Snyder, a long-haul trucker, declined to describe what he saw inside the restaurant, saying he was only concerned with "not getting shot." He is vice president of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club in Waco, a group that Snyder says does charity events and family gatherings and is not a criminal gang.”

I must say that any bunch of men who are behaving in a “gang-like” manner look like criminals to me. In much the same way all black men of a certain age look like “thugs” to lots of whites. I do see the unfairness in the fear-based judgment, and this article draws some very good distinctions between the individuals at this wild west style shootout. The problem with that much Testosterone getting together in one place is that bad things tend to happen even without anyone’s intending to become violent. Hopefully the police and court system in Waco will make good judgments about who were the aggressive ones and who weren’t. Personally, I could easily do without the presence of motor cycles for the rest of my life and not feel deprived.





http://www.npr.org/2015/05/20/407968529/chipping-away-at-the-mystery-of-the-oldest-tools-ever-found

Chipping Away At The Mystery Of The Oldest Tools Ever Found
CHRIS JOYCE
MAY 20, 2015

Photograph -- An ancient stone tool unearthed at the excavation site near Kenya's Lake Turkana. It's not just the shape and sharp edges that suggest it was deliberately crafted, the researchers say, but also the dozens of stone flakes next to it that were part of the same kit.
MPK-WTAP

A scientific discovery in Kenya, first reported in April, challenges conventional wisdom about human history, say the scientists who made the discovery and are now releasing the details. The scientists say the collection of stone tools they turned up near Lake Turkana were made long before the first humans are thought to have evolved.

This week the scientists unveil the details of their discovery in the journal Nature.

"The magic is being able to touch these stone tools for the first time, after 3.3 million years," said Sonia Harmand, archaeologist, Stony Brook University.

What's remarkable about the find is that, up until now, scientists widely believed that humans invented stone-tool making. In fact, anthropologists call the earliest humans Homo habilis — meaning handy man.

The toolmaking technique associated with humans involves whacking rocks together in just the right way to fashion sharp tools. Until recently, the evidence — fossil bones and very old tools — has suggested this talent emerged about 2.5 million years ago.

But a team led by scientists from New York's Stony Brook University discovered stone tools that are much older than that, in a desert area west of Kenya's Lake Turkana. The tools are now in a museum in Nairobi.

Archaeologists Sonia Harmand and Jason Lewis, of Stony Brook University, examine stone tools. Initially, she says, the scientists didn't realize the tools they found dated to hundreds of thousands of years before the first humans.

Team leader Sonia Harmand says Sammy Lokorodi, a Kenyan goatherd and fossil hunter on the team, found the first stone tool on the surface. Harmand knew it was old but at first didn't quite know what they had.

"We were very, very excited," she says. "But at that time, we didn't know, at all, we were going to have these stone tools begin at 3.3. million years ago." That's hundreds of thousands of years before humans evolved from apelike ancestors.

Reliably confirming the age of this assemblage of stones was just the start. The researchers also had to prove that the sharp rocks had actually been crafted by hand and weren't just stones accidentally shaped like tools by natural forces — wind or water, for example.

"The jumping up and down lasted a couple of minutes in the field," says Jason Lewis, another archaeologist and member of the Stony Brook team. "We very quickly had to put our nose to the grindstone to put everything together to convince the rest of the world."

What convinced the team (and other scientists who have seen the tools) was the fact that there was a whole stone-tool-making kit right there — all in one place. The kit was just like the ones the first humans used; it included big core stones, flat anvil stones and sharp flakes.

To make a tool, you place the core stone on the anvil stone and strike it hard with another rock, Lewis says. Certain marks on the stones found in Kenya confirm they were manipulated this way.

"It's clear that the intention was to hit the stones together in such a way as to break off a series of sharp flakes," says Lewis.

And they found lots of these sharp flakes at the site. These are the "knives" of the Stone Age. They might have been used to cut meat off bone, or perhaps to cut up vegetable matter. In all, the team found more than 140 toolmaking artifacts at the site. While they weren't as sophisticated as tools that have been associated with the first humans, they were definitely crafted intentionally.

And at least one of the flakes actually fit perfectly into the grooves of one of the core stones. Harmand says that was the cherry on the cake — further evidence that someone had worked on these rocks at the site.

"The magic is being able to touch these stone tools for the first time, after 3.3 million years," she says.

So who made these tools? Certainly, chimpanzees can use stones as tools, to hammer and open nuts, for example. Chimps also fashion sticks to fish out termites from nests. But they don't manufacture stone tools like these.

The Stony Brook team says the maker of these tools might have been an apelike creature called Australopithecus, or perhaps a lesser known primate of the period, Kenyanthropus. Australopithecus is known from the famous fossil Lucy, about 4 feet tall, and living in trees, as well as on land.

But even if humans can no longer lay claim to inventing stone tools, it's worth considering whether toolmaking would have been a regular part of the Australopithecus skill set.

"The question, I think, is not could they have, but would they have done so repeatedly," says Erin Marie Williams-Hatala, a paleoanthropologist at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, who studies stone tools.

She says the wrists and hands of Australopithecus — which included long fingers and slender thumbs — were adapted to grasping tree branches. Sure, maybe these hands could also make tools, Williams-Hatala says, but it probably would have been a chore.

"And maybe," she says, "because it took them so long to do it, it didn't make sense for their subsistence strategy — for the way that they lived their lives."

Making tools probably didn't become a part of everyday life, she says, until the evolution of the first human hands, which had big strong thumbs that could connect with the fingertips in a tight grip and offered better fine motor control. Also, says Williams-Hatala, the human wrist is much more flexible in a way that enabled an efficient tool-cutting motion.

"When our hands and wrists changed to a sufficient degree," she says, "it began to make sense for our ancestors to engage in these behaviors in a new way, and probably more frequently" — maybe frequently enough to give humans an edge in the competition for survival.




"A scientific discovery in Kenya, first reported in April, challenges conventional wisdom about human history, say the scientists who made the discovery and are now releasing the details. The scientists say the collection of stone tools they turned up near Lake Turkana were made long before the first humans are thought to have evolved. …. "We were very, very excited," she says. "But at that time, we didn't know, at all, we were going to have these stone tools begin at 3.3. million years ago." That's hundreds of thousands of years before humans evolved from apelike ancestors. Reliably confirming the age of this assemblage of stones was just the start. The researchers also had to prove that the sharp rocks had actually been crafted by hand and weren't just stones accidentally shaped like tools by natural forces — wind or water, for example. …. What convinced the team (and other scientists who have seen the tools) was the fact that there was a whole stone-tool-making kit right there — all in one place. The kit was just like the ones the first humans used; it included big core stones, flat anvil stones and sharp flakes. To make a tool, you place the core stone on the anvil stone and strike it hard with another rock, Lewis says. Certain marks on the stones found in Kenya confirm they were manipulated this way. …. In all, the team found more than 140 toolmaking artifacts at the site. While they weren't as sophisticated as tools that have been associated with the first humans, they were definitely crafted intentionally. And at least one of the flakes actually fit perfectly into the grooves of one of the core stones. …. The Stony Brook team says the maker of these tools might have been an apelike creature called Australopithecus, or perhaps a lesser known primate of the period, Kenyanthropus. Australopithecus is known from the famous fossil Lucy, about 4 feet tall, and living in trees, as well as on land. But even if humans can no longer lay claim to inventing stone tools, it's worth considering whether toolmaking would have been a regular part of the Australopithecus skill set. "The question, I think, is not could they have, but would they have done so repeatedly," says Erin Marie Williams-Hatala, a paleoanthropologist at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, who studies stone tools. …. "When our hands and wrists changed to a sufficient degree," she says, "it began to make sense for our ancestors to engage in these behaviors in a new way, and probably more frequently" — maybe frequently enough to give humans an edge in the competition for survival.”

One of my video tapes of Jane Goodall and her group of wild chimps did show a female chimpanzee stripping the leaves off a switch to poke down into a termite hole for fishing out the tasty insects, and another using a thick tree branch to crack nuts. Why not a rock? There is no doubt that their intelligence is high enough to do it.

When I was in college and took a great anthropology course, scientists were skeptical about the ape hands for grasping tools and their brains in using language. Their mantra was that “the opposable thumb” was the hallmark of mankind. Chimps thumbs are not as good as those of humans, but they still manage to grasp things closely. It is one more proof that the gradation from a more apelike to a more humanlike creature was gradual, and psychologists in labs have proven that apes can understand human words even if they can’t say them. The impressive scifi movie Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) was not so very far from the truth in the basic capabilities of apes.

Both monkeys and apes have been tested in their ability to respond to human language, perform human tasks like – in the case of the bonobo Kanzi – wrapping a piece of raw meat in aluminum foil and placing it , or rather throwing it, onto a fire to cook. Kanzi and a number of other apes have even been taught sign language, in which they can make comments as well as answer questions. The fascinating home-raised gorilla Koko even “told” her handler that she had a pain in her mouth, described it as a number nine on a scale of ten, and as a result was taken to a dentist to have the tooth removed.

I think the original animal from which both modern primates and humans developed had an ability to use some form of language and tools. A female psychologist studying monkeys made audio tapes of the sounds they made and under what conditions. When predator animals were around the monkeys made a particular sound, according to the nature of the situation. The same sound was made for a bird of prey circling above and another one for a snake, and both cries caused the troupe to head up the trees for safety. They can’t use human sounds, but they do recognize specific sounds to warn of specific dangers. To me, that’s a “word.”





http://www.npr.org/2015/05/19/407935375/jewish-group-makes-broader-connections-to-students-but-not-all

Rabbis Diversify To Connect To Students; Just Don't Bring Up Israel
MONIQUE PARSONS
MAY 19, 2015

Photograph -- Rather than only focusing on religious prayer, campus rabbis are embracing other cultural foundations, like traditional Passover Seder food and ethical values, to connect Jewish students to their roots.
Alexander Smolianitski/Flickr

Rabbi Evan Goodman runs Hillel, the campus Jewish center, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In recent years, he's had to rethink his job.

"Years past, when I was in college," he says, the Jewish organization "was a rabbi at a campus that put up a schedule of classes ... and drew the same 10 students to everything all year."

These days, chances are good that half the Jewish students he works with have a parent who's not Jewish. One in three of them says Judaism isn't his or her religion.

The number of young Americans with no religious affiliation continues to grow, recent studies show. A record 36 percent of young millennials say they don't have a faith.

For clergy who work with college students, these are challenging times.

"Our model is very different now," Goodman says.

Campus rabbis are finding new ways to connect Jewish kids to their roots and to each other.

"So if Israel is a connection, that's great," he says. "If Shabbat services are a connection, that's great. If the kosher food here is a connection, that's great."

That means less prayer, more food; less Torah and Talmud, more cake decorating, open mic nights and service projects.

"We call it tikkun olam in Hebrew — perfecting the world or improving the world. If that ethical foundation is what they want to do, then any of those are great options as to how to be connected."

At a recent service marking the end of Shabbat, anyone who showed up got a coupon for a free dinner. Goodman's broad strategy seems to work: Forty percent of the university's 2,500 Jewish students attended a Hillel event last year.

But it's clear not everyone feels welcome. And Goodman says that's caused tensions.

Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald is one of the Catholic Church's top experts on Islam. He has served the Vatican in places such as Tunisia, Uganda and Egypt, and now is promoting interfaith understanding by teaching Jesuit students in Cleveland about the Quran.

Christians In U.S. On Decline As Number Of 'Nones' Grows, Survey Finds

"Our tent is broad," he says. "It spans from the left to the center to the right, but it's not infinitely broad."

The tensions are not about religion. The issue is Israel. Grad student Emily Schneider founded the Santa Barbara chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that supports boycotts against Israel to protest treatment of Palestinians.

"I felt that if he were to find out what I believed or some of the work that I've been involved with, that it would be a very tense and awkward interaction," she says.

Hillel International guidelines say its 550 chapters shouldn't host speakers that support sanctions or partner with groups like Schneider's.

"This is what was always emphasized in my Jewish upbringing," she says, "to make the world a better place, to care about people who don't have the same rights as me and to do everything I can to make sure they do have the same rights as me. So, standing up for Palestinians just seemed like an extension of those Jewish values."

But the sanctions movement feels hostile and anti-Semitic to Jewish students like Alyssa Scott, a Santa Barbara sophomore. Scott wants peace in the Middle East, but she fought a student resolution to sanction Israel.

"I have a lot of friends at other schools that say once it's passed, they don't feel as safe, they feel singled out," Scott says. "And nobody should have to feel like that on their campus. Their campus is supposed to be their home and where they feel safe and where they can be themselves."

Hillel staff members stood by her side to defeat a resolution in the student Senate this spring, calling for the University of California to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

They were also there for her last Memorial Day weekend, when a gunman went on a bloody rampage and killed six students near the campus.

The tragedy put Hillel leader Goodman into an old, familiar role as pastor.

He opened Hillel as a crisis center for the entire university. At an interfaith memorial service in a packed stadium, he gave the opening prayer:

"May each one of us be a blessing to each other, and by doing so may we give the lives of these six precious souls everlasting meaning and purpose. Amen."

He says several Jewish students came up to him after the ceremony, including kids he'd never seen at Hillel. They told him they were glad he was there.




"Years past, when I was in college," he says, the Jewish organization "was a rabbi at a campus that put up a schedule of classes ... and drew the same 10 students to everything all year." These days, chances are good that half the Jewish students he works with have a parent who's not Jewish. One in three of them says Judaism isn't his or her religion. The number of young Americans with no religious affiliation continues to grow, recent studies show. A record 36 percent of young millennials say they don't have a faith. …. At a recent service marking the end of Shabbat, anyone who showed up got a coupon for a free dinner. Goodman's broad strategy seems to work: Forty percent of the university's 2,500 Jewish students attended a Hillel event last year. But it's clear not everyone feels welcome. And Goodman says that's caused tensions. …. The tensions are not about religion. The issue is Israel. Grad student Emily Schneider founded the Santa Barbara chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that supports boycotts against Israel to protest treatment of Palestinians. "I felt that if he were to find out what I believed or some of the work that I've been involved with, that it would be a very tense and awkward interaction," she says. Hillel International guidelines say its 550 chapters shouldn't host speakers that support sanctions or partner with groups like Schneider's. …. Hillel staff members stood by her side to defeat a resolution in the student Senate this spring, calling for the University of California to divest from companies with ties to Israel. They were also there for her last Memorial Day weekend, when a gunman went on a bloody rampage and killed six students near the campus. The tragedy put Hillel leader Goodman into an old, familiar role as pastor. He opened Hillel as a crisis center for the entire university. At an interfaith memorial service in a packed stadium, he gave the opening prayer: "May each one of us be a blessing to each other, and by doing so may we give the lives of these six precious souls everlasting meaning and purpose. Amen."

To me that prayer exemplifies what religious belief should be about – generosity, rational thought, fairness and inclusion rather than greed, dogmatism and war. When I read the words of Jesus it was clear to me that his goal was to have humans live in peace and to include the poor under the umbrella of prosperity. I think lots of young people these days agree with that viewpoint rather than joining a group based on exclusion and confused beliefs such as the Virgin Birth. Classic “organized religion” may be dropping away, but cohesion based on the Golden Rule is coming back in. The truth is that rational religion benefits society, but irrational and often hostile beliefs do not.





http://www.npr.org/2015/05/20/408306045/energy-companies-step-in-to-fund-stem-education

Energy Companies Step In To Fund STEM Education
Aaron Schrank
May 20, 2015

Many public high schools lack funding for STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Math — programs. Energy companies worried about finding future employees are donating to schools.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

It's a common refrain from policymakers, business leaders and parents - more STEM, as in more science, technology, engineering and math. But strong STEM programs are often too expensive for schools, and energy companies are increasingly footing the bill. Wyoming Public Radio's Aaron Schrank reports.

AARON SCHRANK, BYLINE: At Pinedale Elementary School in Western Wyoming, fourth graders are busy building small cars out of what look like high-tech Lego pieces. Andy Jones swipes through instructions on an iPad to make sure his car is just right.

ANDY: We're going to put an egg on it, then we're going to roll it down a ramp. It's probably going to crack, so then we can make adjustments to it so it doesn't crack.

SCHRANK: This activity and these materials are all part of an engineering curriculum called Project Lead the Way launched here last year. Liz David helps teach the program.

LIZ DAVID: It's giving the kids the opportunity to really expand and do what an engineer does - propose something new.

SCHRANK: The program is available for students from third grade through high school. Middle schoolers here are learning 3-D modeling software in computer-aided manufacturing class. And students at the high school down the road can take a class called Principles of Engineering.

BRU'N: If you ever think about going into, like, engineering, it'd be nice to take this class so then you could either decide if it was for you or not.

SCHRANK: That's Pinedale High School junior Bru'N Tribbit. Most of his classmates are building truss bridges out of balsa wood, but he's opted to build the machine that will calculate the forces applied to those bridges.

He rolls out a heavy-duty toolbox filled with robotics parts.

BRU'N: It's like a kit that they send that's part of the program.

SCHRANK: Programs like this exist at about 10 percent of high schools in the country. Superintendent Jay Harnack says when it comes to engineering classes, Project Lead the Way is known as the very best.

JAY HARNACK: They don't call it the gold standard for nothing. It's expensive.

SCHRANK: Two-hundred thousand dollars - way too expensive for his school district to afford with state funds alone, so that's why Harnack turned to the private sector. QEP Resources, a major player in the area's natural gas industry, put up all the money for the program this year. Harnack is grateful but says he'd like to see more of that money coming from the state.

HARNACK: I get a message from the governor that says I want a particular kind of graduate with these skills. You can't have that expectation and a model that doesn't align with that expectation.

SCHRANK: But big energy's labor needs do align with these expectations. Shanda Vangas is QEP's corporate contributions adviser.

SHANDA VANGAS: It's hard to find the people with the skill set we need now to fill the jobs that we have, and we know we have an aging workforce. We need to be investing in our future workforce.

SCHRANK: QEP hopped on the STEM bandwagon last year, giving more than a million dollars to programs in states like Wyoming, North Dakota and Utah. Most big energy companies have upped support for STEM in recent years. Chevron will shell out $30 million this year, mostly to schools in California, Texas and Pennsylvania. QEP's Vangas says industry is really leading the STEM charge.

VANGAS: We can't just sit around and wait for other people to figure out how we improve schools. Like, we need to be a partner and help to make that happen.

MINDA BERBECO: Anytime the industry is involved in science education, they have their own interests.

SCHRANK: Minda Berbeco is with the National Center for Science Education. So far, she says, there doesn't seem to be problems with these energy-backed STEM classes promoting bad science or lopsided ideology. But parents and teachers should pay close attention.

BERBECO: We need to be really conscious of what that looks like, though, to make sure that it's really aligning with the science and making sure that educators feel confident teaching the science and don't feel like there's any undue influence because of where the money is coming from.

SCHRANK: Thanks to the oil and gas downturn, QEP says it's making some cuts to the Pinedale program next school year. But research shows these programs are probably good investments for energy companies. Nationwide, high schoolers who took a Project Lead the Way class were three to four times more likely to study engineering in college. For NPR News, I'm Aaron Schrank in Laramie, Wyo.





“It's a common refrain from policymakers, business leaders and parents - more STEM, as in more science, technology, engineering and math. But strong STEM programs are often too expensive for schools, and energy companies are increasingly footing the bill. …. SCHRANK: This activity and these materials are all part of an engineering curriculum called Project Lead the Way launched here last year. Liz David helps teach the program. LIZ DAVID: It's giving the kids the opportunity to really expand and do what an engineer does - propose something new. SCHRANK: The program is available for students from third grade through high school. Middle schoolers here are learning 3-D modeling software in computer-aided manufacturing class. And students at the high school down the road can take a class called Principles of Engineering. …. Programs like this exist at about 10 percent of high schools in the country. Superintendent Jay Harnack says when it comes to engineering classes, Project Lead the Way is known as the very best. JAY HARNACK: They don't call it the gold standard for nothing. It's expensive. SCHRANK: Two-hundred thousand dollars - way too expensive for his school district to afford with state funds alone, so that's why Harnack turned to the private sector. QEP Resources, a major player in the area's natural gas industry, put up all the money for the program this year. Harnack is grateful but says he'd like to see more of that money coming from the state. …. QEP hopped on the STEM bandwagon last year, giving more than a million dollars to programs in states like Wyoming, North Dakota and Utah. Most big energy companies have upped support for STEM in recent years. Chevron will shell out $30 million this year, mostly to schools in California, Texas and Pennsylvania. QEP's Vangas says industry is really leading the STEM charge. …. MINDA BERBECO: Anytime the industry is involved in science education, they have their own interests. SCHRANK: Minda Berbeco is with the National Center for Science Education. So far, she says, there doesn't seem to be problems with these energy-backed STEM classes promoting bad science or lopsided ideology. But parents and teachers should pay close attention.”

I agree with Berbeco that “bad science” such as climate denial or creationism, which are more closely linked to right wing political views, is always a danger when the fossil fuel industry is funding the program and calling the shots, but I must say there is a growing need for scientific education to be stressed again. What I really believe in, though, is a well-rounded education including science, history, social sciences, the arts and good literature studies should also be taught. This article sounds as though the STEM coursework is all that is being stressed. I want to see a population with good skills in all ways, and an enlightened ability to participate in a gentle and democratic society. Science is good, but don’t forget the civilizing studies. I would like to see high schools prepare all citizens for life including practical knowledge on which a real job can be based, with those who are sufficiently intellectually inclined going to college to study science, law, medicine, engineering, etc. Those people will not necessarily be well-to-do, so college scholarships will still be needed.