Temple Laiti blog

Republicans speak at CPPAC

Congressman King wants to be directly involved with all the candidates so he can make his own evaluation,” said Ann Trimble-Ray, a CPPAC staffer, adding that King also wanted to provide more opportunities for the candidates to visit the state and give people “one-on-one time with them, because that’s what we prize here in Iowa.”

Voters, Trimble-Ray said, want to meet candidates in person: “look them in the eye, shake their hand, and ask them questions.”

The conference features likely presidential candidates Newt Gingrich, Michelle Bachmann, Haley Barbour, John Bolton, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum. But those potential candidates not in attendance may cast a longer shadow.

Tim Pawlenty, the only person considered to be a top-tier candidate who has yet declared, had to decline because he “had previously scheduled activities this weekend that he was not able to rearrange,” according to Trimble-Ray, who said the former Minnesota governor was “grateful for the invitation.”

Also not attending is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, considered to be as much of a frontrunner as the race has at the moment. After an embarrassing upset in the state in 2008, when he took a distant second to Huckabee, Romney hasdecided to all but forego Iowa, where he does not seem to have any chance of winning.

Noticeably missing is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucus in 2008 and continues to lead inthere.

“We found that interesting too,” Trimble-Ray said of the fact that Huckabee declined the invitation.

Perhaps the most prominent absence, however, is Mitch Daniels. Daniels has not yet committed to a run and as Governor of Indiana, is currently dealing with a conflict with the Indiana legislature. But at the last presidential forum in Iowa, Daniels’ presence loomed large despite his absence. Daniels’ call for a “truce” on social issues became a central theme at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition forum earlier this month, with many of the candidates and presenters attacking the idea.

The call for a “truce” seemed to make Daniels an untenable candidate in Iowa. But the landscape potentially changed Friday when the Indianapolis Starthat Dick Armey, head of FreedomWorks and a power player in the tea party movement, said that he would “absolutely” endorse Daniels were he to seek the Republican nomination.

“Mitch is exactly the kind of candidate that our folks across the country are looking for,” Armey told .

Iowa has thus far presented itself as a state whose support for any candidate will hinge on social issues, but if Armey’s support turns Daniels into the tea party candidate, social issues could be put on the back burner and diminishing Iowa’s role in the debate.

It remains to be seen what the other likely candidates, and the conservative groups in attendance Saturday will make of Armey’s statement.

“It probably does create buzz,” says Trimble-Ray, who suggested that the other potential candidates might mention it. She recalled King’s statement at the Iowa Faith and Freedom forum that “If we get the culture right, the economy will be right eventually.”

“That gives you an idea of where he stands,” she said. “We’ll see if those who are coming to the event agree.”

Many of the likely candidates appear perfectly happy to cater to that sentiment. Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour denounced the idea of a truce Friday morning, speaking to conservatives in West Des Moines, Iowa. He proudly proclaimed his pro-life credentials, attacking abortion, and spoke of religion. Pawlenty, Santorum, Gingrich, and Cain took similar tacks at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition event.

But Trimble-Ray explained that it was not the only important issue to voters in the state.

“I believe social issues are always relevant to Iowans,” she said. “The measuring sticks used here are many and varied; they are part of the overall picture, however.”

She said that some Iowans “are exclusionary and believe that if the candidate isn’t right on the social issues they don’t deserve their support. But others look at the bigger picture,” she continued, “and that’s what makes Iowa a great place for the first in the nation caucus.

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Sri Lanka rise to England challenge in W.Cup quarters

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara hopes fit-again spinner Muttiah Muralitharan rises to the challenge of a World Cup quarter-final against England on Saturday.

Sangakkara said the 38-year-old off-spinner, who will retire from international cricket after the tournament, was fully fit for the R. Premadasa stadium clash.

Muralitharan, who has a world record of 530 one-day wickets, injured his hamstring during Sri Lanka's impressive 112-run win over New Zealand last week, but has since recovered.

The wily off-spinner is the only survivor of Sri Lanka's historic five-wicket win over England in the 1996 quarter-final -- one of Sri Lanka's two wins over their opponents in eight World Cup matches.

Muralitharan took two wickets in that match in Faisalabad before Sri Lanka went on to capture their only World Cup title.

"Muralitharan is a hundred percent fit. He is a guy who rises to the occasion and we are confident about what he can do for us in this crucial match," said Sangakkara on Friday.

Sangakkara refused to believe that the pressure will only be on Sri Lanka, playing before a packed 35,000 crowd.

"I don't think the pressure will only be on us. All sides feel the intensity and pressure of a big match with the incentive of a semi-final place involved," said Sangakkara, whose team finished runners-up to Australia in 2007 World Cup held in the Caribbean.

Sangakkara said England have proven their worth in the group stages.

"England are one of the best sides and they have proven it in the tournament so expect nothing less than their best," said Sangakkara, praising England's batting and bowling.

In Jonathan Trott (336 runs) and captain Andrew Strauss (329), England have two quality batsmen but their bowling has been a weak link.

The Ashes winners, who have yet to win the World Cup, opened the tournament with a tied match against India, lost to both Ireland and Bangladesh but still beat South Africa to qualify for the last eight.

With Graeme Swann (12 wickets) and James Tredwell, who took a match-winning four wickets in the decisive Group B win over the West Indies, England have two quality spinners.

"If we do progress in this tournament, we've got to be a lot better than we have been. We're not going to hide from that," said Strauss.

England have suffered a stream of injuries in the tournament having seen ace batsman Kevin Pietersen (hernia), pacemen Stuart Broad (side strain) and Ajmal Shahzad (hamstring) forced out.

All-rounder Michael Yardy then pulled out due to depression, forcing England to bring in leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who won't make it from the Caribbean, where he has been touring with the England second-string, in time for the match.

England will also hope Tim Bresnen recovers fully from a calf niggle.

If not, medium pacer Jade Dernbach, flown in as replacement earlier this week, could get a chance.

The winner of Sri Lanka-England quarter-final will meet the winner of the South Africa-New Zealand clash in the first semi-final in Colombo on March 29.

India and Pakistan meet in the second semi-final in Mohali on March 30.

Iraq diverts F-16 budget for food rations

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq has postponed the planned purchase of 18 F-16 fighter planes from the United States this year and diverted the funds to feeding the poor, an official said on Monday, amid growing protests that have been inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

"The F-16 contract has been postponed this year and the money has been diverted toward improving food rations" for the poor, government spokesman Ali Dabbagh told AFP.

"Mo more fighter contract," he added.

"In the new draft budget for 2011 that was presented to us, $900 million was earmarked for the purchase of F-16s, which will be used to finance rations and social benefits," confirmed Mohammed Khalil, a Kurdish MP who is a member of parliament's finance committee.

"We had to make choices because of the budget deficit," he added.

This year's draft budget projects spending at $81.86 billion and revenues of $68.56 billion, leaving a $13.3 billion deficit.

In an interview with AFP this month Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that six million Iraqis possessed food ration permits, entitling them to the full quota of subsidised essentials. He said his government would increase the total amount spent on food rations for the needy from $3 billion to $4 billion.

For more than a year, Iraq has been engaged in talks with the United States for F-16 fighters to protect its airspace after the planned departure of US forces at the end of this year which will leave Iraq without air cover.

Brigadier General Jeffrey Buchanan, the spokesman for US forces in Iraq, told AFP this month that the full package of the F-16 deal was worth $3 billion, and the version on offer was the Block 52 model.

"The long-term value of the offer for the 18 aircraft was $3 billion, including the aircraft, ammunition, spare parts, training and everything else, including avionics and electronics," Buchanan said.

Protests over irregular deliveries of rations and lack of basic services like electricity have sparked protests around Iraq that have multiplied since uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt toppled entrenched dictatorships in those countries.

Former N. Ireland leader Paisley gets pacemaker

BELFAST (AFP) – Former Northern Irish first minister Ian Paisley has had a pacemaker fitted after falling ill, his son said Tuesday.

The 84-year-old titan of Northern Irish politics, who now sits in the House of Lords, fell ill at a meeting in the upper house last Wednesday.

The firebrand preacher was treated by parliamentary paramedics before being taken to a London hospital where the pacemaker was put in place.

"It was very successful, he had it fitted and was discharged on Friday," said his son Ian Paisley Junior, who holds his father's old North Antrim seat in the British parliament's lower House of Commons.

Paisley senior was at home at the weekend and is now back at work.

The founder of the Protestant, conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was dubbed "Doctor No" for decades of intransigence in negotiations with Catholic rivals, before taking the helm of a power-sharing government in May 2007.

The hardliner, who also founded the Free Presbyterian Church in 1951, stepped down as first minister in June 2008 and sits in the Lords as Lord Bannside.

Nautilus X MMSEV Is More Outside-the-Box Space Thinking from NASA

Lack of money or direction has not caused some at NASA to decline to dream big. In that spirit, two engineers at the Johnson Spaceflight Center, Mark Holderman and Edward Henderson,

Nautilus X MMSEV is a NASA acronym for Non-Atmospheric Universal Transport Intended for Lengthy United States X-ploration Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle.

The Nautilus X would be able to support a crew of six for missions ranging from one month to two years. It would be assembled in low Earth orbit with between two and three launches of the planned shuttle derived heavy lift launcher and a variety of commercial launchers (Falcon 9, Delta 4, and Atlas 5.)

The Nautilus X would consist of a variety of ridged and inflatable modules, solar dynamic arrays, any of a number of mission specific propulsion modules, a manipulator arms, docking ports for Orion or commercial space craft such as the SpaceX Dragon, landing craft for destination worlds and (this is the key) a centrifuge that would simulate partial gravity to maintain the health of the crew for long duration space missions. There would be logistical modules, a radiation mitigation system, facilities for a hydroponic farm, and hangers for landing craft and EVA pods.

The centrifuge would consist of inflatable modules in the shape of a donut. A version of the centrifuge could be attached to the International Space Station for testing and use as a low gravity laboratory and a sleep module for the crew.

The initial mission of the Nautilus X would see its deployment at the L1 Lagrange point where the gravity of the Earth and Moon cancel out. The Nautilus X would serve as a way station for astronauts headed for the Moon. An Orion or commercial space craft such as the Dragon would take a crew from the Earth to the Nautilus X. After an initial check out, a crew would take a landing vehicle to the lunar surface either for exploration missions or extended stays at a lunar base. Crews would depart from the Moon after their missions have been completed, dock with the Nautilus X, then take the Orion or commercial space craft the rest of the way to Earth.

Later, an advanced propulsion module can be attached to the Nautilus X and it can be used as a true, reusable space craft, taking astronaut explorers to an Earth approaching asteroid or to Mars.

The price, according to Holderman and Henderson, is about $3.7 billion spend over sixty four months, about five and a third years. Even alloying for NASA accounting, that is impressive.

Will Nautilus X ever become reality? It does constitute good, outside the box thinking. Much depends on money and leadership, both of which is lacking currently.

Holderman, as an aside, is familiar with outside the box thinking. In the early 1990s, when the design of the space station was still in flux, he developed a concept for a space station called Geode, which would have consisted of a space shuttle external tank with various modules and solar panels attached to it. It would have provided far more volume than any space station design, including the one eventually chosen. Sadly Geode was never seriously considered.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.