"To Infiniti and Beyond!"

Currently, America is facing some budget problems, as you already know. Republicans, as you also know, seem to think, for some strange reason, the way to fix this is lower taxes, cut spending, ban abortion, ban gay marriage, and lessen education spending. Which makes it extra surprising that Newt Gingrich, a Republican, has stated that he wants to get a colony on the moon. He wants to make the moon the 51st state of America! Now, I support space exploration. But having a lunar colony in 8 years? It's just no feasible.

On top of that, it would be ridiculously expensive. Newt Gingrich wants a base on the moon before China gets there. Last I checked, China does not feel the need to spend money on a very difficult-to-obtain goal that obtains nothing. Nor do I, and nor should the American government.

Friedersdorf, Conor. "To the Moon, Callista! Newt Gingrich Promises Lunar Colony by 2020" The 
     Atlantic — News and Analysis on Politics, Business, Culture, Technology, National, International, and 
     Life — TheAtlantic.com. 26 Jan. 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2012.
     <http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/01/to-the-moon-callista-newt-gingrich-promises-
     lunar-colony-by-2020/252025/>.

Krauss, Lawrence. "Newt Gingrich's Moon Colony and Mars Plan - Slate Magazine." Slate Magazine - 
     Politics, Business, Technology, and the Arts - Slate Magazine. 27 Jan. 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2012
     <http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/01/newt_gingrich_s_moon
     _colony_and_m ars_plan_.html>.

Sopa the Second

Sopa the Second is a massive bill known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). And ACTA is a hell of a lot worse. Suddenly, there is an international ban on generic drugs! So Tylenol would be able to stop Walgreens from making the same drug, even though the patent has expired. And only one brand of drugs means higher prices, of course. Even if the drug saves lives, it can be withheld. On top of that, it forces internet service providers to police their customers. Everything that you do on the internet would now be visible to internet service providers and the government. Copyrighted seeds would be disallowed. So if I'm a farmer, planting seeds, and one of them by random chance (wind pushing seeds around) is from Monsanto, I can't plant any seeds anymore. Now I'm completely dependent on Monsanto. Even worse than it is now.

Countries can join voluntarily. The European Union, Japan, America, Canada, and other nations plan on joining.

On top of that, developing nations were excluded from the discussions. So most of Africa had absolutely no say in this, a bill that could help shape their future.

The members of the World Trade Organization have raised concerns over trade problems caused by this bill.

Copies of the bill have been distributed only under non-disclosure agreements. These copies were given to Google, eBay, Intel, Dell, News Corporation. Sony Pictures, Time Warner, and Verizon.All pertinent information is "classified." The main source of information on ACTA is a leaked document. Of course, after early drafts were leaked, governments decided to put out an official copy.

About 10,000 people took to the streets in Poland to protest this. It'll be nice to see others follow their example.

ACTA circumvents the democratic process because the negotiators are members of only a select few countries, and they are not elected representatives.

ACTA needs to be stopped. Spread the world.
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"Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement | Electronic Frontier Foundation." Electronic Frontier      
     Foundation | Defending Your Rights in the Digital World. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.
     <https://www.eff.org/issues/acta>.

"BBC News - Thousands March in Poland over Acta Internet Treaty." BBC - Homepage. 25 Jan.
     2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16735219>.

Gee, Sue. "SOPA and PIPA Shelved But Is ACTA Unstoppable" I Programmer - Programming, 
     Reviews and Projects. 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.
     <http://www.i-programmer.info/news/81-web-general/3649-sopa-and-pipa-shelved-but-is-acta-
     unstoppable.html>.

Rose, Michael. "OpEdNews - Article: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) Removes Any
     Need for SOPA or PIPA. It's WORSE." Opednews.com Progressive, Liberal United States and 
     International News, Opinion, Op-Eds and Politics. 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.
     <http://www.opednews.com/articles/Anti-Counterfeiting-Trade-by-Michael-Rose-120123-
     260.html>.

8 Votes

8 votes is all that ended up separating Rick Santorum from Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney won it. Funny thing: The Associated Press, Google, and NPR are all reporting on more votes than the Iowa Caucus 2012 website (well, as of writing this).

Now, what will be interesting to see is if Santorum can keep this up in the next caucuses. Personally, I would have to say no. but I guess we will see.

Also, Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman got very little support, as expected. Rick Perry also fared poorly. The 3 of them will most likely drop out of the race soon, when they realize they have almost no shot at winning. And if they don't realize it, their corporate sponsors will. The field will (finally) be heavily narrowed down.

"AP Results: Iowa Caucuses : It's All Politics : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, 
     World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. 03 Jan. 2012. Web. 03 Jan. 2012.
     <http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/01/03/144593901/ap-results-iowa-caucuses>.

Iowa Caucus 2012. 03 Jan. 2012. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://iowacaucus.com/>.

EDIT: RICK SANTORUM HAS NOW BEEN DECLARED THE WINNER BY 34 VOTES.
However, I still don't think he can keep it going.

Money in Politics

That's a corrupted Ben Franklin on the $100 bill

More Christian Than the Pope

For a long time now, the Roman Catholic Church has accepted the theory of Evolution. Yet Republicans cannot seem to understand that Evolution is fact. I get it, not all of our Republican "candidates" are Catholic. HOWEVER, the Pope, whose job is to do do various religious tasks, understands that Evolution and Creationism (or, as the Republicans say, "Intelligent Design") are not mutually exclusive. And one would think that Republicans could talk about more pressing issues, like the economy, the environment (sorry, forgot, Global Warming is a lie according to Republicans), education ("we must teach unsupported theories alongside theories that have actual evidence behind them!" seems to be the Republican view), and the budget ("no taxes, no spending!" cause that has apparently worked).

Jon Huntsman is the ONE Republican candidate who has come out and said that Evolution is a fact. And he points out that as Republicans continue to oppose scientific fact, they only make themselves look more and more stupid (Chivers).

And what's amusing and depressing is people try to refute Evolution by saying it is only a theory. Technically, Gravity is "only" a theory. Theories are highly tested hypotheses that have never been disproven, yet Republicans say they are not credible. And they can get away with it in America. Not even Italy, the country with the Vatican it, by the way, has this kind of religious idiocy.

Also, I offer two pieces of evidence to disprove Intelligent Design:
1. Michele Bachmann
2. The people who support Michele Bachmann

Chivers, Tom. "Jon Huntsman, the Lone Voice of Scientific Sanity in the US Republican Presidential
     Race — Telegraph Blogs." Telegraph Blogs. 08 Sept. 2011. Web. 03 Jan. 2012.
     <http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100103801/jon-huntsman-the-lone-voice-of-
     scientific-sanity-in-the-us-republican-presidential-race/>.

Irvine, Chris. "The Vatican Claims Darwin's Theory of Evolution Is Compatible with Christianity - Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. 11 Feb. 2009. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/4588289/The-Vatican-claims-Darwins-theory-of-evolution-is-compatible-with-Christianity.html>.

"Pope: Creation vs. Evolution an Absurdity - World News - Europe - The Vatican - Msnbc.com."
     Msnbc.com - Breaking News, Science and Tech News, World News, US News, Local News - 
     Msnbc.com. 25 July 2007. Web. 03 Jan. 2012.
     <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19956961/ns/world_news-europe/t/pope-creation-vs-evolution-
     clash-absurdity/>.