The John Batchelor Show

Monday 5 November 2012

Air Date: 
November 05, 2012

Photo, above: Artist's rendering of the Giant Magellan Telescope in the Chilean high desert.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Monday 905P Eastern Time (605P Pacific Time):   .David Drucker, Roll Call, in re: the election tomorrow.

Monday 920P Eastern Time (620P Pacific Time):   Larry Johnson, No Quarter, and Thomas Joscelyn, FDD and Long War Journal, in re: Benghazi

Monday 935P Eastern Time (635P Pacific Time):   Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Lara M Brown, Villanova, in re:  Romney stops in Pittsburgh tonight. His having stayed away till now kept OFA from running oceans of negative ads.

Monday 950P Eastern Time (650P Pacific Time):   Jim McTague, Barron's Washington, and Mona Charen, NRO, in re:  Twenty electoral votes in Pennsylvania.   "Pennsylvania? It's All Over but the Vote Counting," and, "Obama, Romney Deadlocked Ahead of Vote."  Catholic bishops – who usu back relatively left social programs – have become deeply alarmed at the Federal demand that Catholic organizations support abortion;  have sent a letter to be read in all Catholic churches in Pennsylvania: This administration no longer believes that inalienable rights come from the Creator; rather, holds that inalienable rights come from bureaucrats. Further, that now we can no longer count to freedom of religion. Pennsylvania is a very religious, Christian state, I hear that Protestant churches are getting similar messages. In Virginia, in Fairfax, thousands had to be turned away from a Romney campaign stop where the access of enthusiasm was amazing. JMT: I expect Romney to win PA tomorrow. 

Monday 1005P (705P Pacific Time):   John Fund, National Review; John Avlon, CNN and Newsweek Intl and The Daily Beast; Taegan Goddard, Political Wire (whose power is on a generator tonight), in re:  Everybody's watching how we [the US]  conduct ourselves. Fifty contests in the coming hours.  Ohio provisional ballot: eligibility of the voter in question; for the first time, Ohio being [picky];  200,000 people have asked for absentee (advance) ballots, and everyone who's provisional will have to have his identity vetted.  Examinations will probably take ten days.  Turnout has been high in Ohio.

"One striking thing about today is that both Obama and Romney are in states they HAVE to win rather than WANT to win. Obama is in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Iowa -- the firewall states. And Romney hits Florida, Virginia, Ohio, and New Hampshire. Yesterday was about luxury (Obama in Florida, Romney in Pennsylvania); today is about necessity. By the way, as NBC's Justin Kirschner observes, both Obama and Romney will conclude their 2012 campaigns where it all began for them. For Obama, his final rally is in Iowa the state that launched his 2012 presidential bid. And for Romney, his last rally will be in New Hampshire, where he launched his 2012 campaign and where he owns a home."

Monday 1020P (720P Pacific Time):   continued.  Taegan Goddard: If Obama wins NC, OH, PA or FL, he'll have won.  John Avlon: Consider also NH, WI, NV. The RNC is dominated from the top down by people from Wisconsin.  JB: Citizens United permitted political group to join forces with many kinds of organizations to call door to door everywhere rather than only on their members. 

Massive investment of money by 501(c)4s.   Pennsylvania is an Inchon landing that Romney is trying.  Obama was very canny in Ohio; however, in PA, zero money was spent on attack ads, so in a quick strike Romney will speak on Tues in Pittsburgh. If he wins PA, he wins.

Monday 1030P (730P Pacific Time):   Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Mahafs: Never mind what I say today; it’ll change tomorrow.  Yassir Arafat buried in a parking lot; will be exhumed, underwear removed, by Swiss to see how he died. Could just as well have asked the Parisian physicians attending him when he died.  Lawfare:  "The UDI doesn’t benefit the Palestinian people, but we can bring suits against Israel."  Will it be Nov 15, or Nov 29, Palestinian Solidarity Day? Turkey: Erdofgan says he intends to visit Gaza, now he says he won't; he sort of intends to do so some day.  Erdogan bombed Kurds today: criticizes Israel for rocketing Hamas in Gaza but at he same time crosses intl borders to bomb Kurds. London writes that Iran says it'll stop enriching to 20%; now it says it will not stop.    New naval base opening in Strait of Hormuz for a new launching ground vs allied or US ships in the Gulf.  Khamenei says he won't be pushed around; Jarrett reports on what she wants in the negotiations but Iran is more recalcitrant than she expected. Syria: more Islamist and Salafist suicide bombers. Also hit HQ in Damascus, and near State Security HQ. The fight for Damascus is a fight for life by Assad.  Fighters have been train in Islamist al Q schools and are more skillful than the rest of the fighters. Kurds continue to be anti-Assad but have broken with the Free Syria Army.   Analysis of Israeli voting: Lock in Liberman by the  and to ensure that they have the largest number of persons in the Parliament..]

Saudi King Abdullah has named Prince Muhammad bin Nayef the new interior minister, Al Arabiya reported on Nov. 5. As third-generation princes step into leadership roles over the next several decades, family unity -- a pillar of the family's rule that has allowed it to weather a variety of crises and challenges -- will be uncertain, and the princes' ability to balance religious and tribal structures while deftly handling foreign policy will be put to the test.

Monday 1050P (750P Pacific Time):   Jed Babbin, American Spectator, in re: Romney for president, and why.

Apollo 8, Christmas 1968.  The Apollo program included a large number of uncrewed test missions and 12 crewed missions: three Earth orbiting missions (Apollo 7, 9 and Apollo-Soyuz), two lunar orbiting missions (Apollo 8 and 10), a lunar swingby (Apollo 13), and six Moon landing missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17). Two astronauts from each of these six missions walked on the Moon (Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Charles Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Gene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt), the only humans to have set foot on another solar system body. Total funding for the Apollo program was approximately $20,443,600,000.

Monday 1105P (805P Pacific Time):   . Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: 1. The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the making of its mirrors: 7 8.4-meter mirrors assembled, each one ground/made at University of Arizona under Stewart Observatory. Facility is under the Arizona Wildcats football team, has concrete support abt ten meters apart. They melt the glass to make the mirror shape, then polish it to infinitesimal specs. Have completed the first mirror, the hardest, because it's not symmetrical being in the outer ring. When a certain number of mirrors are done, they’ll reach "first light." Will go to Chile, where they've already started blasting the mountaintop in the high desert. Will have an array of seven mirrors, each one 27 feet across. Have to close down an Interstate on one side to truck these on flatbeds. Will assemble telescope abt five years hence, start science by 2020. Roger Angell in charge. The whole point of astronomy is to gather the light; photons.  2. A comet – Regenwasser - is breaking up into four pieces, and you can watch! It releases a lot of dust and ice, so is very bright. 3. The X-37b – the resusable pick-up truck the Air Force has built - launch has been delayed again.

Monday 1120P (820P Pacific Time):   .continued. Space and politics:  1. Genesis, just released as an e-book, and the importance of politics for space exploration: without knowing the political background, you can't understand why the 1960s space race happened.  2. Which leads to tomorrow's election and its influence on the future of the American space program.

Monday 1135P (835P Pacific Time):   Alan Feuer, NYT, in re: what is to be done to prepare New York for high water in the future?  

Monday 1150P (850P Pacific Time):   Reza Kahlili, author, A Time to Betray, in re: Jarrett and the secret negotiations at Doha.

Monday/Tues 1205A (905 Pacific Time):   Eric Trager, Washington Institute, in re: Morsi and the US election: lessons learned, and what about youthful Moslem Brothers and the US?

Monday/Tues  1220A (920 Pacific Time):   Paul Berrett, Bloomberg Businessweek, in re: what is to be done about superstorms and climate change come to New York?

Monday/Tues  1235A (935P Pacific Time):   Steve Greenbaum, NYT, in : GOTV by public unions in Wisconsin, teaming with MoveOn and Planned Parenthood and the NAACP.   

Monday/Tues  1250A  (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.   John Ortiz, NYT, in re: the threat to move to Canada after the election - how to do it? why? 

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The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)- the product of more than a century of astronomical research and telescope-building by some of the world's leading research institutions - will open a new window on the universe for the 21st century. Scheduled for completion around 2018, the GMT will have the resolving power of a 24.5-meter (80 foot) primary mirror-far larger than any other telescope ever built. It will answer many of the questions at the forefront of astrophysics today and will pose new and unanticipated riddles for future generations of astronomers.

Music (using New York City broadcast times)

9 hour: Cowboys & Aliens

10 hour: Ides of March, Game of Thrones

11 hour: Star Trek, Starship Troopers, The Taking of Pelham 123, Game of Thrones

12 hour: The Expendables

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