Happy New Year. May this one be better than the last one.

Debate: To expand into space or to stay home on Earth

Hansel and Gretel Are Hunting Witches

NASA faces lack of leadership, direction, and funding for 2013

What's Ahead for NASA and Space in General for 2013

Texas Convicted Murderer Wins Right to Kosher Meals in Prison

Piers Morgan, Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out

The Tea Party Has Not Yet Begun to Fight

Best way to recycle a Christmas tree ever.

Sexual Tension: How 'Castle' Compares to Shows like 'Moonlighting' and 'The Avengers'

Origin of Neil Armstrong's 'One Small Step' speech revealed

The Emancipation Proclamation Turns 150 Years Old

Supporters of Brownsville SpaceX space port seek support from Austin

It is a sad commentary when a court in France is more sensible about government overreach that the United States Supreme Court. Anyway, Via Le France!

Hiring proceeds apace for XCOR space facility in Midland, Texas

NASA's Mars Curiosity to head for Mount Sharp in the middle of Gale Crater

NASA's NEXT Ion Engine Achieves 43,000 Hours of Continuous Operation

Jesco von Puttkamer, NASA engineer, Star Trek technical advisor, has died

Proposal Floated to End Natural Gas Tax Exemption in Texas

Russia's Energia finishes design of space craft capable of travel to the moon

Republican Senators Assert Themselves Against Obama, Weaker Than He Thinks

Norman Schwarzkopf: The Architect of America’s Greatest Victory Since WWII

Texas School Choice Proposal May Include Vouchers, Will Spark Political Fight

Study: Human Evolution Will Continue on Multi-Generation Voyages to the Stars

A Weary and Battered Republican Party Turns to -- George W. Bush?

Hillary Clinton Has Become a Problem for Barack Obama

Farewell to Gerry Anderson, Who Sent the Moon Out of Orbit in 'Space 1999'

Also Gerry Anderson's space adventures included 'UFO' and 'Space: 1999'

Stratolaunch Eyeing Kennedy Space Center for 2017 Test Flights

A liberal senator gets a damn fine thumping from a real reporter when he tries to tap dance about the fiscal cliff.

Phil Gramm's Proposal to End Wind Subsidies Could Hurt Wind Industry in Texas

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to Advance Conservative Agenda in Texas Senate

Piers Morgan: No One is Deported Just for Being Obnoxious

Latest NASA Orion Parachute Drop Test Succcessful

Further proposals to build a 'Death Star'

Fears of Bioengineered Salmon Need to Be Dealt With

Traffic Laws Need to Evolve with the Advent of Self-Driving Cars

NASA, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic Make Progress Creating Next Generation Spacecraft

For your Christmas viewing pleasure, a documentary on the making of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," one of the best TV Christmas specials ever. One interesting factoid: the network hated Linus quoting from the Book of Luke, but not for the reasons one might think. Remember, it was a different era.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Ron Paul Opposes Both Armed Security at Schools and Gun Control

David Gregory's Gun Control Hypocrisy So Very Blatant

Iowa Dental Assistant Getting Fired for Being 'Too Attractive' Unfair

Could Ben Affleck Stop Scott Brown's Return to the Senate and Would He?

Larry King, of 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' Fame, Dies at 83

Report: Medical Requirements Needed for Future Space Tourists

The Taliban are Enemies of Humankind, Especially Women and Children

Now some crazy person wants President Obama to withdraw from the Outer Space Treaty and claim the moon as sovereign American territory.

Addendum: The 'Claim the Moon' White House Petition - Why I Did It

Addendum 2: Rand Simberg, whose own ill-considered space property rights proposal was such an embarrassment, screams and leaps.

Addendum 3: Bob Zimmerman is much more supportive.

Bumped

After the Mayan Apocalypse, the next end of the world draws nigh

For your listening pleasure...

Skylab II: A NASA 'Back to the Future' Concept to Open Up Space Exploration

'Tar Sands Blockade' Thus Far Ineffective in Efforts to Stop Keystone XL Pipeline

'Burn Notice' Season Six Ends: The Day the Running Stopped

The Mayan Apocalypse was Fun While it Lasted

Fiscal Cliff 'Plan B' Bill Collapse Shows Incompetence of Political Class

Gingrich: I Would Have Done Better Against Obama

School Choice Proposal in Texas Includes Tax Credits Instead of Vouchers

NASA's Bolden Backs Away from Obama's Asteroid Mission

American Politician Spewing Anti-Semitic Rant on Sandy Hook on Iranian TV a Vile Act

NASA's Bolden: no 'immediate' fiscal cliff effect on space agency

Does 'Zero Dark Thirty' Promote Waterboarding?

Living the Last Day Well

New version of "Buzz Aldrin's Race for Space" game coming soon

Tau Ceti Has Planets, Including, Perhaps, an Earth-Like World

The connection between 'Star Wars' and the Mayan Apocalypse revealed

Texans Join in Gun Debate in the Wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary Massacre

Chinese Study Linking Obesity to Bacteria Has Public Health Policy Implications

Results of Benghazi Investigation Likely to Hurt Hillary Clinton

An Appreciation of Robert Bork, Who Should Have Been a Supreme Court Justice

Malala Yousafzai is the Real Person of the Year 2012

'Oblivion,' 'After Earth' Set on Future, Desolate Earth Coming Soon in 2013

Gerard Depardieu, Tax Rebel

Sarah Palin, Sandy Hook Elementary, and the Problem of Pain

California man making money off of the Mayan Apocalypse

How the Tea Party Will Save the Republican Party and Then the United States

Why Little Boys Should Get an Easy Bake Oven

NASA sends GRAIL EBB and Flow crashing into the moon; Sally Ride honored

Season Seven of 'Dexter' Ends with a Choice Between Family and the Right Thing

'Homeland' Season Two Ends Literally with a Bang

Ways to Stop a Sandy Hook Without Gun Control

Former NASA astronaut: don't go to an asteroid, bring an asteroid to lunar orbit

Debunking the Mayan Apocalypse almost a full time job for a NASA scientist

Sandy Hook Elementary: People Behaving Badly

Vicki Soto Gave the Last Full Measure of Devotion at Sandy Hook Elementary

Chinese space probe Chang'e 2 passes 3.2 kilometers from asteroid Tautatis

'The Hobbit' Take Us on 'An Unexpected Journey'

The Slaughter of the Innocents at Sandy Hook Elementary

Susan Rice Tossed Overboard to Save Obama from Benghazi Scandal

Harry Belafonte Demonstrates the Inherent Fascism on the Left

Nacogdoches, Texas, Judge Lifts Restraining Order on Keystone XL Pipeline

Space Historian Andrew Chaikin Urges Rebirth of Space Exploration

The Man from Mars -- Chapter Six

'Fiscal Cliff' to fall heaviest on NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center in Houston

Get ready for the pain of Obamacare.

Study Confirms that Older People More Likely to Be Defrauded

White House 'Build a Death Star Petition' reaches 25,000 signatures

House Science Committee Finds Problems but Few Solutions for NASA

NASA: Cassini discovers 'mini Nile' filled with liquid hydrocarbon on Titan

Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Opposes Entitlement Reforms

Two Members of Congress Show How the Rules Are Different for Them

Hillary Clinton's Bowing Out Leaves a Weak Democratic Bench for 2016

While North Korea Launches ICBM, the United States Air Force Launches X-37B

Texas Gov. Rick Perry to Seek Abortion Restrictions Past 20th Week

NASA releases an after the Mayan Apocalypse video early

Former congressman proposes that NASA sell naming rights to space craft

For your edification, the complete 1980s miniseries "Amerika" which depicted the United States under Soviet occupation. It was, to say the least, controversial and has not be aired since. But it is now apparently available in 13 parts thanks to YouTube. The series starred Kris Kristofferson as a John Kerry like Senator who is put in the American Gulag and Sam Neil as a somewhat sympathetic KGB agent.

Democrats Belatedly Discover that Medical Device Tax Kills Jobs

Union Mob Violence Over Michigan Right to Work Shows Double Standard

Vatican astronomer. Jose Funes, debunks the Mayan Apocalypse

Golden Spike's Private Moon Venture Met with Skepticism

Texas Judge Temporarily Halts Keystone XL Pipeline in Nacogdoches County

Union thugs engaged in violence and terrorism, which will no doubt be blamed on some video or perhaps Sarah Palin.

Fracking is Coming to Great Britain Despite Environmental Objections

Tea Party Triumphs in Stopping State Health Exchanges in Tennessee

In which I respond to Glenn Reynolds piece Obama's free market space exploration success with Obama's 'commercial' space program less free market than meets the eye.

Proof positive that Sarah Palin still terrifies the left, coming for 2013, an alternate history novel called "Christian Nation." Here is the blurb:

“They said what they would do, and we did not listen. Then they did what they said they would do.”

So ends the first chapter of this brilliantly readable counterfactual novel, reminding us that America’s Christian fundamentalists have been consistently clear about their vision for a “Christian Nation” and dead serious about acquiring the political power to achieve it. When President McCain dies and Sarah Palin becomes president, the reader, along with the nation, stumbles down a terrifyingly credible path toward theocracy, realizing too late that the Christian right meant precisely what it said.

One is chillingly reminded of the persecution of non Christians that occurred in Alaska when Palin was that state's governor...oh, wait a minute. That didn't happen. In any case, it is hard not to laugh at such fancies when one is living in a real life dystopia run by left wingers.

Sierra Nevada Prepares for Flight Tests of Lift Body Dream Chaser Spacecraft

Texas Gov. Rick Perry Speaks His Mind on Obamacare

Ayn Rand's John Galt as a secular Jesus Christ?

Manipulating the Tax Withholding Rates May Be a Disaster for the Obama White House

Jamie Foxx's 'Kill All the White People' Statement Unsetttling

NASA: the world will not end on December 21, despite Mayan calendar

Ron Paul Joins Dennis Kucinich to Demand Obama Drone Documents

Sir Patrick Moore, Astronomer, Author, Host of 'The Sky at Night,' Dead at 89

Why Hillary Clinton Should Not Run in 2016

Bill Maher Hates ... Andy Williams?

Jim DeMint's Leaving the Senate May Benefit Ted Cruz

Petition to Build a 'Death Star' May Not Be so Fanciful After All

Obama Cracking Down on Legal Pot Smoking Shows Typical Political Hypocrisy

Here's Hoping George Zimmerman Takes NBC to the Cleaners

Meteor creates fireball over Texas

Now some libs think that Obama might "cave," though it seems to be a unique definition of the term.

A movie based on the life of Arminius, the German warlord who ambushed three Roman legions and thus destroyed the Roman Empire's power in Germany beyond the Rhine is now in development. It is said to be kind of like "Braveheart," but with legionaries instead of English knights.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul Heads for a Lucrative Retirement

Apollo Astronaut Harrison Schmitt Advocates Return to the Moon

You Can't Keep Karl Rove Down for Very Long

Michigan Right to Work Law Provides Hope for Conservatives

What if Apollo 17 had not been the last expedition to the moon?

Some further thoughts.

Today is the anniversary of two events, one horrible and the other magnificent albeit bitter sweet.

I wrote Meditations on Pearl Harbor Day four years ago and Pearl Harbor Birthed Modern Super Power in America two years ago.

Two years ago, I wrote about Apollo 17 which departed to the moon 40 years ago, No one has been back since.

Will Golden Spike build Newt Gingrich's lunar base after all?

Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt proposes new deep space exploration agency

Golden Spike Company Plans Private Missions to the Moon by 2020

Dead Pig Found at Cypress, Texas, Mosque in Suspected Hate Crime

Prospect of Syrian Sarin Gas Attack a Serious Escalation in Civil War

Harry Reid Rejects Obama's Fiscal Cliff Proposal, Exposing it as a Fraud

Star Trek: Into Darkness Trailer

NASA Announces New Mars Exploration Program with Repeat of Mars Curiosity

Longtime Texas Congressman Jack Brooks Dies at Age 89

National Research Council finds fault with Obama NASA asteroid exploration goal

Is Anna Wintour Really a Good Fit to Be an Ambassador?

Rubio, Ryan Must Articulate That Conservatism is Inherently Compassionate

Count Me in on the Small-Government Republican Party

Zurich to Institute Drive-Through Prostitution

Former President Bush Calls for Immigration Reform at Dallas Conference

Space Foundation proposes stability in NASA programs, funding, and leadership

Some production footage from "Game of Thrones" Season Three:

NASA's Planned Deep Space Station Does Not Have Obama Approval

Obama Playing with Fire with Fiscal Cliff Brinkmanship

Sarah Palin: Leader of the Opposition

'The Walking Dead' Ends the Year with One Enraged Governor

NASA rereleases vintage PSAs touting space program spin-offs

Proposal Made to Make NASA's Goal Settling Space

Texas Teacher Tying Bathroom Breaks to Good Behavior Results in Student 'Accident'

NASA's Mars Curiosity findings interesting but not 'earthshaking'

'Insourcing' Trend Could Be Blocked by Obama Green Energy Policies

Obamacare Could Die the Death of a Thousand Legal Cuts

Currently reading the following:

My call for a new tea party uprising is starting to bear fruit

Opposition to Obamacare fueled the Tea Party wave of 2009-2010. The next wave will include continued opposition to Obamacare, along with other fiscal issues, The Tea Party tsunami at the gates. The fight over Obamacare as a law ended when Chief Justice John Roberts enganged in mental gymnastics to uphold the law under Congress’ taxing authority, and then again when Obama’s reelection removed any possibility of complete repeal. The fight over Obamacare now is over implementation. There are inherent problems in the law itself which will raise popular ire, but the battle now is over exchanges and other aspects of implementation. One of the first orders up is whether states will implement the Obamacare exchanges, or let it default to the federal government, which will have a difficult time doing so. Only 13 states have taken steps to set up the exchanges, and 17 state governors have declared an intention not to set up exchanges. One state where there is a disconnect between the population and the governor is Tennessee, where Governor Bill Haslam is wavering. The Lt. Governor has come out against implementation. In response, a variety of groups led by local Tea Party organizations are organizing rallies for December 5,

Golden Spike Co. may announce private lunar expedition at December 6 event

Engine breakthrough by British company points the way to single stage to orbit

Bill announced to name NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center after Neil Armstrong