politics

I'll include interesting space images from time to time, but I'm more interested in the political aspect of being a 'planetarian.'  What are the most effective forms that such political participation could take?

snapshots from an apocalypse

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/opinion/sunday/gorgeous-glimpses-of-calamity.html?ref=global-home

perseid

http://www.space.com/22311-promising-perseid-meteor-shower-will-peak-soon.html

curiosity

Short update on the doings of the Mars rover Curiosity one year after its amazing landing on the surface of the Red Planet:

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/08/05/science/100000002374272/a-year-on-mars.html

a republican case for climate action

I think this is huge news:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/opinion/a-republican-case-for-climate-action.html?smid=tw-nytimesscience&seid=auto&_r=2&

Four former EPA heads-- all Republicans appointed by Republican presidents, going back to Nixon-- have come out with this statement affirming the reality of climate change:

"There is no longer any credible scientific debate about the basic facts: our world continues to warm, with the last decade the hottest in modern records, and the deep ocean warming faster than the earth’s atmosphere. "

It's hard to see how this statement could be ignored in future FEP (Flat Earth Party) primaries and national elections.  In the face of this, candidates will no longer be able to sluff this issue off as some kind of leftist hoax meant to 'take away our freedoms.'