The Sage Forge

Because virtually the entire plant is used for fiber or cellulose production hemp has been cited as an efficient carbon sink. Additionally, all portions of the plant are amenable to fermentation into ethanol by processes which are less dependent on fossil fuels than the more frequently cited use of corn for ethanol production.

It is time to end these outdated, neanderthal "protections" by an overzealous government.

http://www.thehia.org/news_reports/hemp_is_hip.html

http://www.biofuelsforum.com/biodiesel_news/1073-nd_ag_commissioner_candidates_talk_hemp_ethanol.html

Opinion Journal gets it right.

http://opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=110009507

This article by Dorothy Rabinowitz from last Thursday's Wall Street Journal paints a picture of what happens when we leave it to government to take care of justice for society.

Michael Nifong has become the posterboy of government abuse of power recently, as he flagrantly used a horribly flawed rape case against privileged white college boys to campaign in a predominantly black community. Such justice by populism has propelled abuses in the past as well, destroying the lives of people still held in the torture of government's careless grip.

Rabinowitz also cites the case of Gerald Amirault, who has spent eighteen of the last twenty years in prison for child rapes which never occurred. Though Amirault's conviction has now been commuted his life still is a shambles because the state of Massatchusetts requires that he be treated as an incorrigible child offender, registered with the state and required to wear a monitor bracelet around his ankle at all times.

This reinforces our conviction that Massachusetts is a beacon of those things that should terrify all Americans. Sadly, North Carolina seems to have begun to take that beacon of caution for a goal.

Daylight Comet

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070114/sc_space/amazingcometvisibleinbroaddaylight

Robert Roy Britt, Senior Science Writer for SPACE.com , in an article posted Sun Jan 14, 11:30 AM ET, writes of the Comet McNaught, which has become the brightest comet in more than forty years. If you can actually see blue sky (we may be snowed in in Texas today) it is apparently possible to see the comet in broad daylight with some sensible precautions. In the northern hemisphere the comet should be visible on the sun's left (on the right for you australites). Use a building to shield yourself from the bulk of the sun's glare.

Be safe! Those eyes are the only two you get!

Rocket Science is Hard

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070115/sc_afp/japanspacemoon_070115105227 and

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070115/ap_on_sc/japan_moon_mission

The space program of the United States is often singled out for severe criticism for problems getting people and materiel into space. The space program of Japan has recently had a number of setbacks that made it clear how hard this process can be.  The latest blow is the suggested cancellation of a robotic mission to explore the origins and evolution of the Moon.  The probe, built ten years ago, has so deteriorated in disuse that it must be replaced if the mission is to go forward.

Our space program is due some criticism, but much of the complaining we hear these days is just ignorant harping.  Everything about space exploration is hard.