Historic pictures sent from mars

A Nasa spacecraft has sent back historic first pictures of an unexplored region of Mars.

The Mars Phoenix lander touched down in the far north of the Red Planet, after a 680 million-km (423 million-mile) journey from Earth.

The probe is equipped with a robotic arm to dig for water-ice thought to be buried beneath the surface.

It will begin examining the site for evidence of the building blocks of life in the next few days.
A signal confirming the lander had reached the surface was received at 2353 GMT on 25 May (1953 EDT; 0053 BST on 26 May). The message took 15 minutes to travel to Earth from Mars at the speed of light.

Wait just a minute! What? "A signal confirming the lander had reached the surface was received??? At the speed of light???" How in the world can a signal be sent 423 million miles without some kind of signal booster? I mean, even the phone company has to have signal boosters. On top of a "signal" confirmation, there were phenomenal pictures, with high quality even! How can this be? Can someone explain this to me???

Is Bush going to attack Iran???

From The Jerusalem Post

The White House on May 19th flatly denied an Army Radio report that claimed US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term. It said that while the military option had not been taken off the table, the administration preferred to resolve concerns about Iran's push for a nuclear weapon "through peaceful diplomatic means."

Army Radio had quoted a top official in Jerusalem claiming that a senior member in the entourage of President Bush, who visited Israel last week, had said in a closed meeting here that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action against Iran was called for.

The official reportedly went on to say that, for the time being, "the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic.

The Army Radio report, which was quoted by The Jerusalem Post and resonated widely, stated that according to assessments in Israel, the recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah has established de facto control of the country, was advancing an American attack.

Bush, the official reportedly said, considered Hizbullah's show of strength evidence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's growing influence. In Bush's view, the official said, "the disease must be treated - not its symptoms."

However, the White House on Tuesday afternoon dismissed the story. In a statement, it said that "[the US] remain[s] opposed to Iran's ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon. To that end, we are working to bring tough diplomatic and economic pressure on the Iranians to get them to change their behavior and to halt their uranium enrichment program."

It went on: "As the president has said, no president of the United States should ever take options off the table, but our preference and our actions for dealing with this matter remain through peaceful diplomatic means. Nothing has changed in that regard."

In an interview last week in the Oval Office, Bush told the Post that "Iran is an incredibly negative influence" and "the biggest long-term threat to peace in the Middle East," but that the US was "pushing back hard and will continue to do so."

He noted that "Iran is involved in funding Hamas and Hizbullah, and it's that Iranian influence which I'm deeply concerned about. But there needs to be more than just the United States concerned about it."

Bush said: "We take [seriously] this issue of [Iran] getting the technology, the know-how on how to develop a nuclear weapon."

"All options are on the table," he said, but, "Of course you want to try to solve this problem diplomatically."

Asked whether the Iranians would be deterred from their nuclear drive by the time he left office, Bush told the Post: "What definitely will be done [before I leave office will be the establishment of] a structure on how to deal with this, to try to resolve this diplomatically. In other words sanctions, pressures, financial pressures. You know, a history of pressure that will serve as a framework to make sure other countries are involved."

Days later, in his address to the Knesset, Bush said that "the president of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages" and "America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions."

"Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," he said.

... and even more poll numbers!!!

38% of Democrats Want Clinton to Drop Out

From Rasmussen Reports

Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Democratic voters nationwide now believe that Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race for the White House. That’s up slightly from 34% in late April, 32% earlier in April and 22% in late March.

However, if Clinton does not win the Democratic Party nomination, 29% of Democrats say she should run an Independent campaign for the White House. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats disagree. Clinton supporters are evenly divided on the question.

As for Barack Obama, 25% Democrats say he should drop out. That’s down from 22% following the Pennsylvania Primary, 26% earlier in April and unchanged from 22% in March.

Six percent (6%) want both candidates to drop out and 43% aren’t ready for either to leave.
Obama supporters, by an 84% to 8% margin, believe their candidate would be the stronger general election candidate.

By an 82% to 5% margin, Clinton supporters say the same about their candidate.
Rasmussen Reports has stated that the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination is effectively over and that Obama will be the nominee. Rasmussen Markets currently suggests that Obama has an 91.7 chance of winning the nomination. Obama is essentially even with Republican John McCain in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

By a 67% to 20% mark, Obama supporters say that Clinton should leave the race. But, just 4% of those who support Senator Clinton agree. Forty-four percent of Clinton supporters believe Obama should drop out while 42% disagree.

The national telephone survey also found that 76% of all Democrats now believe it is at least somewhat likely the Democratic nomination will remain unresolved until the Democratic convention in August. That’s down nine percentage points over the past two weeks. Forty-one percent (41%) of all Democrats believe that a decision at the convention is Very Likely. That’s down ten points since the previous survey Republicans are now evenly divided as to which Democrat they see as the tougher challenge in the fall. That is little changed from the late April survey. Earlier in the year, Republicans were far more likely to see Obama as the stronger Democratic candidate.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.

The Rasmussen Reports ElectionEdge™ Premium Service for Election 2008 offers the most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a Presidential election.
Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.