Asteroid Heading for Earth, May Hit in 2014

[FlashHarry]

And they say our media is scaring us unnecessarily!

Reuters story here.

The story is too short to snip, so you'll just have to click on the link!

On edit: Are you 'geddon' it? Armageddon-it!

[Ohio Dem]

1. This is Clinton's fault.

Everybody knows he was soft on asteroids.

[FlashHarry]

3. LOL! The Clenis™ Strikes Again!

I thought Tucks Medicated Pads were 'soft on asteroids.' Oh, wait. Never mind.

[Best_man23]

4. Clinton's Penis shoots ray, destroys Asteroid

After all, it is the most powerful weapon in the known universe.

[conservdem]

10. I thought many at this site wound be blame it on the Bush admin.

[FlashHarry]

22. Huh?

"I thought many at this site wound (sic) be (sic) blame it on the Bush admin."

No, most of us realize Bush is a puppet, and only Cheney has the power to alter massive pieces of cosmic debris.

[BeHereNow]

24. Oh Flash Harry!

You know that we DUers are all just silly paranoids
running through cyberspace in our tinfoil hats!
It's not like the world has gone to HELL since Bush
was propped up on the throne.
And if you're going to tell the poster about Cheney,
you might as well tell them about Poppy Bush too.
Poppy drives the bus and Cheney dangles the puppet
out of the window as they careen wildly across the planet.
BWAHAHAHA,
BHN

[Bake]

41. No no, not Cheney, it's ROVE!

He's the real puppet master.

Bake

[damnraddem]

35. No, we'll sit and wait for the Neocons to blame it on Clinton.

Damn, we shoulda built Project Orion, after all.

How about this for a campaign slogan in 2004: "Who do you want planning for Asteroid 2003 QQ47?"

[Kbowe]

55. They may be off by 2 years...Myans calendar ends 2012

Hmmmmmm....

[malachi]

2. Asteroid Heading for Earth, May Hit in 2014

Not soon enough.

[TolstoyAndy]

20. Damn straight

good riddance to bad rubbish (humanity).

Too bad for all those animals who aren't killing off the world, though.

[The Zanti Regent]

51. ASTEROID COLLIDING--NEED MORE TAX CUTS!

After all, aren't more tax cuts ALWAYS the GOP answer??????

[soleft]

5. So the Mayans were 2 years off

I'm suing

[nolabels]

13. The government or the Mayan's ?

http://www.mayanmajix.com/art268.html
The Missing 13th Amendment

David M. Dodge, Researcher
Date 08/01/91

In the winter of 1983, archival research expert David Dodge, and former
Baltimore police investigator Tom Dunn, were searching for evidence of
government corruption in public records stored in the Belfast Library on
the coast of Maine.

By chance, they discovered the library's oldest authentic copy of the
Constitution of the United States (printed in 1825). Both men were stunned
to see this document included a 13th Amendment that no longer appears on
current copies of the Constitution. Moreover, after studying the
Amendment's language and historical context, they realized the principle
intent of this "missing" 13th Amendment was to prohibit lawyers from
serving in government. So began a seven year, nationwide search for the
truth surrounding the most bizarre Constitutional puzzle in American
history -- the unlawful removal of a ratified Amendment from the
Constitution of the United States.

Since 1983, Dodge and Dunn have uncovered additional copies of the
Constitution with the "missing" 13th Amendment printed in at least
eighteen separate publications by ten different states and territories
over four decades from 1822 to 1860. In June of this year (1991), Dodge
uncovered the evidence that this missing 13th Amendment had indeed been
lawfully ratified by the state of Virginia and was therefore an authentic
Amendment to the American Constitution. If the evidence is correct and no
logical errors have been made, a 13th Amendment restricting lawyers from
serving in government was ratified in 1819 and removed from the U.S.
Constitution during the tumult of the Civil War. Since the Amendment was
never lawfully repealed, it is still the Law today. The implications are
enormous.

The story of this "missing" Amendment is complex and at times confusing
because the political issues and vocabulary of the American Revolution
were different from our own. However, there are essentially two issues:
What does the Amendment mean? and, Was the Amendment ratified?
Before we consider the issue of ratification, we should first understand
the Amendment's meaning and consequent current relevance.

MEANING of the 13th Amendment

The "missing" 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
reads as follows:

"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or
retain any title of nobility or honour, or shall without the consent of
Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument
of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power,
such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall
be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or
either of them."
(snip)

[dawg]

6. Ah-ha! Now the Bush economic policy makes sense! n/t

[Karmadillo]

7. The asteroid wants another tax cut for the rich and it wants it quick or

else it's heading right for earth! Honest! And it doesn't want anyone mentioning Bush's desertion during his time in the Nat'l Guard or his insider trading or his failed foreign policy during the coming election. Really. It doesn't. Don't push the asteroid on these issues. It's not kidding.

[htuttle]

8. I thought we didn't negotiate with asteroids

They say it only encourages them.

[Ivory_Tower]

9. Now here's a creepy thought...

Suppose we had the technology to nudge a threatening asteroid away from Earth (we're close, but not there yet), or to destroy it completely. Let's say it was a sure thing that a particular asteroid would hit the Earth in the near future. Would the end-timers, the Rapturists (and all those in power who appear to be bringing about the Second Coming) actually welcome this news? Would they try to prevent the rest of us from try to destroy/alter the asteroid?

Just feeling creepy.

[ewagner]

11. You're right!

That is a creepy thought............

I even know some people who would proclaim it as "God's will" and resist any attempt to divert it.

[joshcryer]

12. Ack, that's crazy talk!

And scary because it's potentially true.

[iam]

15. The really creepy thought is...

Electing a person who believes the Earth will end in fire who also has his finger on the button to do just that. NEVER vote for a christian or he/she will make prophecy come true and vidicate/validate thier religion forever.

[Selwynn]

18. That remark deeply offends me...

Saying something so unbelievably wreckless and painting all people professing Christian faith with the same brush is just about as bad as calling somone a racist name or any other form of extreme prejudice.

When you go to vote for President, vote for someone who isn't a arrogant, uneducated, power mongering, totalitarian, paranoid xenophobe. I can think of plenty of professing christians who would be terrible at the job and I can think of plenty of christians who would be wonderful at the job. There are many, many people of christian faith who are not apocalypticists, and/or who do not believe in or do not subscribe to the conservative dispensationalist interpretation.

If you would have said "never vote for a Jew because" - you're remark would have gotten you banned from the boards. You know racial prejudice is bad, but reall all kinds of stereotypical prejudices are...

I think you ought to apologize, cause I'm sick of seeing so much wreckless bitterness and stereotyping on these forums. We ought to be better than the tactics of the people we disagree with.

Anyway, /rant off I guess - that comment offends me, that's the long and short of it.

[maxsolomon]

19. too bad

fundies are giving all the monotheisms a black eye.

if you're a believer & don't like to hear the truth (odd, that), then take back your religion from them. all the evil of the last 2000 years of history stems from their fear & ignorance.

[Selwynn]

67. I don't need to worry about anything but....

"fundies are giving all the monotheisms a black eye. if you're a believer & don't like to hear the truth (odd, that), then take back your religion from them. all the evil of the last 2000 years of history stems from their fear & ignorance."

I don't need to worry about anything but trying to love other people and work hard to be more compassionate than I am, getting angry less, and feeling empathy more. The depth and sincerity of my own joy and peace does not rest in my ability to "take back" an instution from those who use a spiritual label - Christian or otherwise - to spead fear or hate or guilt or violence. If there are any ways possible I can oppose the works of such hateful people I want to do everything in my power to do so. But my personal joy and freedom the tenderness I feel towards other people is not ofuscated by the fact that there are bad people out there doing bad things in the name of faith.

There is a difference between not liking to hear the truth and not liking to hear people that are supposed to be more intellectually sophsticated, in touch with the people, and for equality, freedom and justice make sweeping generalizations about all men and women of a particular faith. Its the very definition of prejudice, its wrong, and its completely unbecoming here.

There is noone more aware and heartbroken over bad men and women doing evil thigns in the name of christian faith than I am. It's not too unlike bad men and women doing evil things in the name of the party in control of the executive branch of a nation supposedly conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. And yet at the same time, because I dislike the specific actions of George Bush, or the specific actions of specific people speaking for or acting on behalf of his administration doesn't mean I assume every man and women working at every level of the executive branch is an evil person, or as an even better example, that ever republican in america is an evil, anti justice, anti compassion, anti liberty Machievalian tyrant. That would just be stupid.

Not unlike the comment I inititially responded to.

Sel

[BeHereNow]

21. Congratulations Selwynn...

and welcome to DU.
It did not take you long to comment on the hypocrisy
here when you wrote:

"If you would have said "never vote for a Jew because" -
you're remark would have gotten you banned from the boards."

Just so you know...
This rule applies to everyone EXCEPT Christians at DU.

You can bash x-tian fundies day long, but don't even think of
pointing out that the extremists in other faiths are just as
whacked out and misguided.
Just take what you can use and leave the rest...

A Fellow Christian,
BHN

[BlackRhino]

47. I state here and now...

...that Israel's Judeofascists, and much of the Muslim world's Islamofascists, are just as bad as - and in some cases, worse than - America's own Christofascists.

Now, by your account, I should be banned. Let's wait and see.

[Ivory_Tower]

23. For the record

I was NOT posting that speculation as an invitation for Christian-bashing. I was referring to extremists who have undue influence over the rest of the society.

Just wanted to make sure that nobody mistakes me for a typical Christian-basher. (Just covering my butt...)

Personally, I would say "NEVER vote for an extremist". That's an extremist anything.


(back to work...)

[BeHereNow]

25. Now THAT I can agree with...

It just so happens that these particular extremists
have chosen the cloak of FALSE Christianity...but I can't
help but notice PLENTY of approval and support for them
from some OTHER extremists who have covered themselves
in the false cloak of another faith.
POINT is- they are all extremists and therefore deceptive and
dangerous.
Thanks for your clarification-
MUCH appreciated.
Peace,
BHN

[Suspicious]

26. Aside from the distasteful blanket condemnation

of Christians, are you insinuating that GWB is a fundamental Christian who believes the Earth will be destroyed by fire? In my opinion, one would have to be terribly naive to believe that.

* doesn't have a spiritual bone in his body; he worships two things: power and money.

[damnraddem]

36. There are end-time nutcases who think that way.

But most Christians do not. If you can't tell the difference, I suspect that you're as wacko as the rapturists.

[Bake]

43. Actually, I believe MOST of our Presidents have been

professing Christians. Can anybody name a Jewish President? How about an atheist? Any Buddhists? Kennedy was the first Catholic, but not the first Christian President.

Bake

[bobthedrummer]

16. There are such folks around in BFEE

creepy indeed.

[Terran]

37. Someone already made a bad sci-fi flick about that

Ice-T was in it, just saw it the other day (title escaping me).

[electricmonk]

39. That was a movie plot

So once again Hollywood beats reality to the punch.
Saw it late night on HBO a month or two ago but I can't remember the name of it now.

Here it is Judgment Day, man I love the internet movie databsae.
Judgement Day

[Ivory_Tower]

42. Dang, thought I had an original idea...

I remember the title "Judgement Day" but never knew anything about the plot.

(Yeah, IMDB can be a godsend sometimes. IMDB, Google and Snopes are probably some of the most useful references sites for me.)

Oddly enough, the film I thought of after I posted was "Contact", where a religious zealot bombs the "contact" device.

[Capn Sunshine]

50. Feeling creepy? That's a bestseller plot

I'm registering this as we speak.
HELL-OOOOOO NYTBestseller list

[qb]

14. "chances of a catastrophic collision are just one in 909,000"

This is like publishing a headline that says "You MAY win the lottery!"

[Davis_X_Machina]

17. I'm not panicking unless..

...and until Halliburton is given the contract to nudge the asteroid out of the way.

[MrMonk]

38. Study that sucker right out of the sky!

from the article "astronomers say that any risk of impact is likely to decrease as further data is gathered."

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

27. if there's a republican in the white house in 2014

anyone who opposes him on any issue will be demonized as pro-asteroid and wanting to treasonously ally themselves with the asteroid forces that want to destroy our freedom

should help the gop hold congress that year

[phgnome]

28. Arguing about trivial things

I find it amazing that we're arguing about stupid trivial things like religion and making political jokes about something so serious. It's something that can wipe everything off this planet and we're talking about political correctness and Christianity? Amazing...

[Ivory_Tower]

34. Earth-crossing Asteroids are not a recent discovery

I've assumed that people have been well aware of the potential hazards of such objects for a while now. In fact, there was a minor media panic a couple of years ago when an astronomer released a preliminary reports about an asteroid that he predicted had a much better chance of striking the Earth (additional data later showed it would miss us).

Such an impending cataclysm (sp?) is SO major, and there is SO little we can do about it right now, that there isn't much we can do on this board except speculate and make wise-cracks. We can't protest an asteroid into a different orbit. :)

If I'm not mistaken there is still a group that is lobbying Congress to increase funding to get a plan in place to protect against such a catastrophe. In fact, there might even be a small group at NASA working on this. Of course, potential earth-crossing asteroids don't speak in accents or wear funny hats, so I suspect it's hard to get Congress to pay much attention.

Personally, I would love to see more of an effort made by the government to get a plan in place and investigate technologies that could detect and divert potentially devastating asteroids. At the same time, my speculation above (while more of a fictional musing) was semi-serious -- I'm not referring to the current crop of crazies in power (I'm not convinced that they're THAT crazy), but none of us can predict the future, so a scenario such as the above is not an impossibility. Unlikely, yes, but so is the chance that the asteroid in question will strike us (909,000:1, right?).

And don't take this wrong way, but I also have a feeling some people might object to religion being characterized as a stupid trivial thing. :)

[phgnome]

69. religion

We can do even less about "god" than we can about an asteroid. At least we've proven the existence of an asteroid. But anyway, I'll not rant about religion. To each his own.

Call me cynical but somehow, I don't think they'd tell us if were about to be hit by an asteroid, though...it would cause widespread panic.

I fear asteroids more than anything I can think of. More than war. Definitely more than ol' beardy himself. It's the sheer massiveness of it and the uncertainty of what will happen tied to that massiveness. I know it's very unlikely but the laws of probability always seem to work against me -- things that are the least likely to happen always happen to me. So, I sometimes fear, with my luck, the asteroid will come in my lifetime just because I'm scared of it (yeah, I know it sounds stupid). Talk about talking yourself into self-induced hysteria! :crazy:

[Ivory_Tower]

70. Fear of the unknown, and a sense of helplessness

I fully understand where you're coming from.

We still haven't identified all of the earth-crossing asteroids yet, so one of them may very well have our name on it. On top of that, many people argue that we're overdue for an large asteroid impact. And there really isn't much we can do about it at the present time. That makes for a real bad combination, sort of an astronomical Sword of Damocles.

But we have to keep reminding ourselves that the odds of such a strike are still pretty large, and it's far from a certainty that it will happen in our lifetimes. After all, we're only finding these things because we're looking for them. I wonder how many other times in the past 100, 500, or 1,000 years these asteroids have come close to Earth.

If you want a sense of doom, remember that in about five billion years the Sun is going to swell up and swallow the Earth anyway. And that's a pretty sure thing. :)

[Corgigal]

29. Good

so I can now pay the mininums on all my credit cards after all.

[JPace]

30. Its a republican conspiricy......

Rove has the comet wired to hit only
democratic districts.

Anything to increase the repug base.

[FlashHarry]

31. Nah. 2014 is a mid-term election year.

You'd think they'd save it for '08, '12 or '16.

[damnraddem]

40. That's why they're so anxious to see what happens in Texas.

So they'll know where it should hit there. But they may just send it to New Mexico, instead.

[Beetwasher]

32. Bush to Asteroid: BRING IT ON!

n/t

[Minstrel Boy]

33. lol - thanks, I needed that!

[Catherine Vincent]

44. Bush to Asteroid: It's a major league ASSteroid!

Cheney: Yeah, big time!!

[Deja Q]

45. Whatever, the way Bushbastard* is "running" things,

we'll be in a position where we'll WANT the asteroid to hit.

The national debt is getting much worse becaue of him*.

His priorities are all wrong.

He caves to corporate and religious interests rather than trying to run the country for WE, THE PEOPLE.

Let it hit. I'm sure there are worse fates.

[regnaD kciN]

46. Oh, s***...

...we're all going to DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

;-)

At the moment, though, it would be a tough call as to what posed the greatest danger to humanity: the asteroid or the Ashtercroft...

[htuttle]

48. Well so far, Humans have been a pretty big waste of thumbs...

Do we have time left to prove our usefulness to the biosphere?

I don't know. I just don't know.

If this asteroid is actually on course to hit us, then no, it's too late.

[LoneStarLiberal]

49. It's Obviously Clinton's Fault

Since President Hillary Clinton will be in her second term in office about that time.

Or it's Wesley Clark's fault.

[drummerjohn]

52. I'm not too worried about....

the asteroid in space

I'm more worried about the hemorroid
in the white house, and the damage
being done.

[kainah]

53. I saw this today

and all I could think of was the great segment in "Bowling for Columbine" when he's talking about all the constant fear we're fed by our "news." It's something I've been screaming about for years. The local stations with all their -- everyone's trying to cheat, hurt, destroy you. So now it's a giant asteroid in 2014. Luckily, I expect to have gone up in the Yellowstone Volcano (which, unfortunately, is all too real) long before that.

[Suspicious]

58. Exactly what I thought of

when I read this particular article (just watched "Bowling for Columbine" this weekend - my apolitical husband's rage was finally awakened after watching it with me...he actually filled out his voter registration card the very same day).

I've been aware of the fear mongering taking place in this country for a long time - on a subtle level, and on a grosser, more intelligence-based level - but watching that particular segment of the film, where the various "news" clips were compressed into mere moments, really drove the point home for me.

I refuse to be victimized by our media - it's like a pride thing for me. Not to mention the fact that they're plainly full of crap, for the most part.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

54. Care to notice that all preceding posts have a element of humor...

Interesting how people use humor to deflect the real and scary prospect of death. 1 in 909000 odds is NOT too high for me. Hell, this isn't too much better than being struck by lightening or winning the state lottery.

This serious issue deserves serious discussion...

Sorry to be a buzzkill.

JB

[htuttle]

59. Here's a buzzkill

Humans are decades away from having any hope of deflecting an incoming asteroid.

Much of the work of the N.E.O. tracking project is done by amateur volunteers (though heck, sometimes they get lucky and find comets, too). The NASA component of it is primarily to act as an information repository. This project could use a LOT more funding, but it's not very 'sexy'. N.E.O. estimates that there are hundreds and hundreds of earth orbit crossing asteroids who's location we aren't even aware of. The inner solar system is full of all sorts of debris.

I wasn't actually joking in reply #48. In a very weird sense, for years I've felt that one of the human species primary 'jobs' for the biosphere is to find a way to deal with incoming asteroids (who's impact on the earth lead to the rise of mammals, opposable thumbs, and you and I).

If this one in 2014 is actually aiming for us, we're doomed. It's too late to do anything about it (short of trying to 'Hail Mary' some life at Mars or a 'Silent Running' type thing for reseeding later). Hopefully, it will miss, but the more people start thinking about this type of scenario, the better. Not only is it important to life itself, but it's a fine project to get everyone on the planet in on.

How was that? :)

[Mz Pip]

56. We get what we deserve

The universe is pissed.

MzPip
:dem:

[Emperor_Norton_II]

57. The universe does not have feelings

The universe does not care about politics.
The universe does not care about war.
The universe does not care about Bush.
The universe does not care about you.

If there's a rock out there with our name on it, and we are unable or unwilling to stop it - which, right now, we are - then it will hit, the chips will fall as they may, and the universe will go on without a large percentage of us. Possibly completely without us.

[homelandpunk]

60. good.

[LightTheMatch]

61. Thank goodness.

If Jeb Bush is in his second term by then, I hope it does hit, 'cause we might as well all go at that point! :)

[stickdog]

62. It's high time for

our pre-emptive strike!

[Fridays Child]

63. Somebody should tell the bushistas that it's loaded with oil.

Maybe they'll attack it and lay off killing humans for a while.

[sam sarrha]

64. Bring It On !!

:nuke:

[Cronus Protagonist]

65. Carnac predicts Bush's solution will be more TAX CUTS!

Tax cuts can solve EVERYTHING.

Click Here To See Fair & Balanced Buttons, Stickers & Magnets!>

[gate of the sun]

66. i "geddon" it !

who knows? and what does it mean? who knows????????

[Not a robought]

68. Save us Halliburton!

[emad]

71. Gravity is a myth, the earth sucks?

?????????

[liberalpress]

72. They way things are going...

...that should be during Jeb's Administration!