Iran reaches space

In an event that apparently caught most of the western press by surprise (except the New York Times, which downplayed it), Iran on Monday successfully launched a rocket into space for the first time.

The rocketship is capable of carrying satellites and is probably the first of many launches to come, as Iran also unveiled a fully built and stocked space center.

The government of Iran has assured the world that there is no need to fear such technological achievements on the part of the Axis of Evil state, as the space center will only be launching “research satellites.” The Associated Press has duly picked up the line that Monday’s launch was only a “research rocket.”

Boy, I feel better. I sure am glad Iran isn’t a nuclear threat or anything. …

L.A. liberals vs. the Navy

Apparently this is a theme this week. …

Monday, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper overstepped her constitutional authority and ruled that dolphins and whales are more important than national defense.

In an ongoing case brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the judge ruled that the Navy, despite an order signed by the president, may not be exempted from a ban on the use of sonar in Southern California waters.

The environmentalists have been trying for years to get the Navy to stop using sonar, which is vital to detecting submarines and other watercraft. They protest that the sonar hurts whales and dolphins by confusing them and causing injury to their brains.

The Navy, which has used sonar for decades and has had numerous research programs involving dolphins and whales, has never found any examples of injury to sea life because of sonar use.

As usual when liberals start talking science, logic and evidence have nothing to do with it.

Judge Cooper was given back the case by the Ninth Circuit after the president signed an order exempting the Navy from the National Environmental Policy Act and a court injunction on the use of sonar.

In essentially reaffirming her previous decision, Cooper is placing the NEPA and the judicial branch above the chief executive’s constitutional authority as commander-in-chief.

Make no mistake, this is a liberal power move from the get-go. Cooper is a Clinton appointee who cut her teeth under the tutelage of former Judge Arthur Alarcon, who himself went on to join the Ninth Circuit as a Jimmy Carter appointee.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is one of the numerous radical groups trying to subvert the United States under the guise of environmentalism. Its primary fight these days is involving global warming, but anything to hurt U.S. interests will do.

The NRDC is a powerhouse, with more than $55 million in fundraising and $93 million in assets in 2004. Much of its funding comes from the usual suspects who are pushing the global warming scare, including: the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Educational Foundation of America, the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, the Heinz Family Foundation (as in Teresa Heinz Kerry, Sen. John Kerry’s wife), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (of Hewlett Packard fame), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the New York Times Company Foundation (but the media aren’t liberally biased, no, no), Open Society Institute (one of George Soros’ monster children), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (HP computers again), the Rockefeller Brothers and the Turner Foundation (Ted Turner), among others.

And just to add insult to injury, the NRDC also receives funding from the EPA. That’s right, our own government pays an organization that sues another arm of our own government (although in 2004 they used an estimated $2.6 million of EPA funding for anti-Bush campaign activities).

This, of course, is the dirty secret of our government. Unelected liberal activists have so thoroughly infiltrated all branches of government that they now use their influence to push the left-wing agenda even at the expense of the safety (and wishes) of the public.