The GOP has identified the number one threat to our "Fredoms"...

by Renzo Gasolini

And evidently it is fiendishly disguised as a 260 mph train

Because the Chinese have one, and we don't. And by God the Republicans are going to make damn sure it stays that way

China unveils 260mph train line

"A new high-speed rail line has been opened in China amid boasts from officials over the use of domestic technology to set world records...

...The China-made CRH380 train has been clocked at almost 262 mph - a world speed record - though it will usually operate at a maximum speed of 220 mph...

The line was opened as China prepares to have 10,000 miles of high-speed rail in operation by 2012...

Ten Thousand Miles of of High Speed Rail (HSR) by 2012? Holy fucking yikes!!

continued at Daily Kos....

Good and bad moon shots

by DWG

Thomas Friedman makes the case for an Apollo program to develop electric cars and get off oil in an editorial in the New York Times. He makes that case with a contrast between two large public investments in China and the US. China is investing trillions in modernizing its air transportation sector, creating a web of high speed trains, creating research and development infrastructure for biotechnology, and focusing on a growth industry for the future - electric cars.

Beijing just announced that it was providing $15 billion in seed money for the country’s leading auto and battery companies to create an electric car industry, starting in 20 pilot cities. In essence, China Inc. just named its dream team of 16-state-owned enterprises to move China off oil and into the next industrial growth engine: electric cars.

And the U.S. moonshot?

Not to worry. America today also has its own multibillion-dollar, 25-year-horizon, game-changing moon shot: fixing Afghanistan.

Ouch.

continued at Daily Kos....

The climate bill is dead. Long live the climate bill!

by lipowg

Months after the Waxman-Markey/Kerry-Lieberman bill died Harry Reid and environmentalists have finally admitted it is dead, and may even be ready to remove its rotting corpse from the living room and give it a decent burial.

Though the death was clearly murder by Republicans and "centrist" Democrats, malpractice from mainstream environmental groups helped kill a chance for the climate that a different treatment might have saved. The fundamental error was to try and pass a bill via deal-making rather than grass-roots pressure, partially on the  assumption that the Obama administration shared environmentalist priorities, and would spend political capital to pressure reluctant Senators and Congress members to support the bill. This fundamental error led to pre-compromising the legislation, making concession after concession in hopes of attracting support.

The rest below the fold, x-posted from Grist .

continued at Daily Kos...

Asteroid collision Averted ... with a Large Assist from the Sun

by jamess

Asteroids can Kill.  No doubt about it.

Just ask the Dinosaurs!

Anyone unfortunate enough to be stuck in the path of one --
doesn't really stand a chance.

Unless that "Someone" happens to have the Intellect,
to channel, and re-direct the immense power of Nature,
towards a Better Outcome.

That someone, should be Us.

Mirror satellites 'could divert asteroid'

The best way to divert an asteroid from a potentially catastrophic collision course with Earth is to deploy a "swarm" of mirror-bearing satellites to focus a beam of sunlight onto its surface, scientists say.

Is there a bigger lesson here?

Archimedes said:

"Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth."

Of course Archimedes was well versed in the principles of Physics,
and the prime mover in the concept of ... Levers ...

continued at Daily Kos....