X Prize adopts NASA guidelines for protecting lunar heritage sites, Buzz Aldrin punch averted

NASA hopes that one small step by Google's Lunar X Prize will eventually lead to a giant leap in protecting historical sites on the moon. The X Prize Foundation announced that it will adopt guidelines released by the space agency last year to help preserve lunar heritage sites. The move comes at a crucial time as a new space race increases the possibility of an imminent moon landing, according to NASA. Google's Lunar X Prize alone currently has 26 contestants worldwide vying to land a robot on the lunar surface by 2015. NASA stressed that their recommendations aren't law and "do not represent mandatory U.S. or international requirements." Examples include approach and landing guidelines to minimize disturbance, contamination and degradation of Apollo mission sites. That certainly sounds more reasonable than, say, plopping some dude in a spacesuit at a lunar outpost to shoot trespassers with a plasma shotgun while yelling, "Get off my property!" In the meantime, feel free to mosey on over to the PR after the break.

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X Prize adopts NASA guidelines for protecting lunar heritage sites, Buzz Aldrin punch averted originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 00:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Senate "Fire Department" seeks to ease partisan rancor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Call it a humble effort to douse the flames of dysfunction and paralysis in the U.S. Senate.

Frustrated by an inability to get much done amid the partisan rancor in what has been called "the world's greatest deliberative body," two senators - Republican Lamar Alexander and Democrat Mark Warner - have decided to quietly reach across the political divide.

They helped pull together a loosely organized group of senators - dubbed the "Volunteer Fire Department" by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham - to have private dinners and try to build relationships to help quell conflicts.

"The idea is basically this: When the Senate runs off the track, when there's a fire, when there's a problem, somebody rings the bell and everybody who can shows up to try to fix it," Alexander told Reuters. "Then we all go back to our usual role."

For months, small groups of senators have been meeting regularly for dinner at the exclusive Alibi Club, in a 19th-century town house in downtown Washington.

Alexander and Warner are members of the 100-year-old club, a place where presidents, senators, and other power brokers have socialized for generations.

If it all sounds a bit too naive and idealistic in an election year when bitter partisanship is the norm and a huge showdown over taxes, spending and debt is looming at the end of the year, consider this: It might be working, at least a little.

Senators who have attended at least one of the dinners credit the events for encouraging Democratic and Republican leaders to work through an impasse over scheduling votes on the confirmation of federal judges.

The dinners also helped prompt Democrats who lead the Senate to commit to a standard appropriations process this year and schedule votes on individual spending bills, rather than vote on one massive bill that would have little chance of approval, the senators said.

Whether that will improve the chamber's ability to produce a comprehensive spending plan is unclear. Last week, Republicans complained that Democrats are abdicating their responsibility to get a budget plan through the Senate.

It is also not certain whether efforts such as the Alibi Club dinners will make a dent in easing tensions in the big legislative battles ahead.

But, Warner and Alexander say, they have to start somewhere.

Beyond being a search for moderation and compromise in an increasingly polarized Senate, the "Fire Department" dinners amount to a recognition that most members of Congress simply are not as close to one another on a personal level as those from past generations.

Most members no longer live in Washington year-round.

Many head back to their home states on weekends, making it difficult for lawmakers to get to know one another and form the kinds of friendship and understanding that had long helped members of Congress bridge differences and pass legislation.

Many of today's lawmakers are the products of state redistricting plans that legislatures designed to make congressional districts more solidly in favor of one party or the other.

That has helped to reduce the number of politically moderate lawmakers in Congress - the ones who typically help to foster compromise.

'PURELY A SOCIAL EVENING'

At the "Fire Department" dinners there are no staff members, no lobbyists and no hangers-on. Just senators, although spouses occasionally have joined the group.

About 75 of the 100 U.S. senators have attended at least one of the four dinners, by Warner's count. The guest lists are strictly bipartisan - half the guests are invited by Warner and the other half by Alexander.

"It's purely a social evening," Alexander said. "We sit around a big table and we talk about the work we're doing and have a good time getting to know each other better."

Graham called the dinners a way to spend some "down time" with colleagues and to get to know them in a way that "I just think is going to pay dividends."

Under Senate rules, a lone member can slow down deliberations on a bill and essentially bring the chamber to a standstill. The Senate can spend weeks in contentious debate on bills that never pass.

"There have been several times where the Senate spirals out of control, people get mad and in the heat of the moment they start pushing some pretty controversial things," Graham said.

He cited heated procedural dispute last year between Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell over a bill on currency manipulation by China. Reid angered Republicans by using an unprecedented maneuver to thwart an effort by McConnell to force votes on some amendments that were not relevant to the bill.

The frustration over such conflicts was evident earlier this year when Senator Olympia Snowe, a Republican who is among the dwindling number of lawmakers who could be considered politically moderate, announced that she would not seek re-election in part because of the increasing polarization in the Senate.

"We'll still have our disagreements on policy issues," Alexander said. "But we want to have a chance to bring important bills up, to debate them and amend them and, whenever we can, get a result."

The dinners at the Alibi Club, he and Warner said, can only help.

"We have great conversations and great evenings, and hope to continue to do more," Warner said.

Alexander said he does not want to exaggerate the role of the group, calling it a "modest step" toward improving relations in the Senate.

"If we overstate its importance," he said, "it will get less done."

(Editing by David Lindsey and Mohammad Zargham)

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China to spend $27 billion on emission cuts, renewables

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HBT: Red Sox activate Youkilis from DL

With six outfielders on the disabled list and Kevin Youkilis coming off the shelf the Red Sox have gotten creative for tonight?s game against the Orioles, shifting Adrian Gonzalez to right field so Youkilis can play first base and Will Middlebrooks can remain at third base.

Gonzalez, Youkilis, and Middlebrooks are batting 4-5-6 in Boston?s lineup versus left-hander Brian Matusz.

Gonzalez is a three-time Gold Glove winner at first base, but he?s previously started five games in right field and the Red Sox are more comfortable using him out there than a banged-up Youkilis. Middlebrooks is hitting .297 with five homers, six doubles, and a .906 OPS in 18 games overall and Boston?s lineup can?t afford to lose another capable bat by sending him back to Triple-A.

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Inquiry hears of wider Secret Service misbehavior

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The lawmaker leading an inquiry into the Secret Service prostitution scandal reported dozens of "troubling" episodes of past misbehavior Wednesday and appealed to insiders to come forward with what they know as investigators try to determine whether a culture of misconduct took root in the storied agency.

"We can only know what the records of the Secret Service reveal," Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman said in opening the first Senate hearing into the matter. And those records, however incomplete, show 64 instances of allegations or complaints of sexual misconduct made against Secret Service employees in the last five years, he said.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, speaking to the inquiry, apologized for the behavior of the employees in Colombia. But his assertion that the agency has a "zero tolerance" policy on such conduct did not convince the lawmakers, who brought more allegations to light.

Lieberman cited three complaints of inappropriate relationships with a foreign national and one of "non-consensual intercourse," which he did not elaborate on. Sullivan said that complaint was investigated by outside law enforcement officers who decided not to prosecute.

Sullivan also told the committee an agent was fired in a 2008 Washington prostitution episode, after trying to hire an uncover police officer.

Many of the other complaints cited by Lieberman involved agency employees sending sexually suggestive emails.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told the hearing several small groups of Secret Service employees separately visited clubs, bars and brothels in Colombia prior to a visit by President Barack Obama last month and engaged in reckless, "morally repugnant" behavior.

Collins said the employees' actions could have provided a foreign intelligence service, drug cartels or other criminals with opportunities for blackmail or coercion threatening the president's safety.

And she challenged early assurances that the scandal in Colombia appeared to be an isolated incident. She noted that two participants were Secret Service supervisors ? one with 21 years of service and the other with 22 years ? and both were married. Their involvement "surely sends a message to the rank and file that this kind of activity is tolerated on the road," Collins said.

"This was not a one-time event," said Collins, the senior Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "The circumstances unfortunately suggest an issue of culture."

Lieberman didn't go that far, saying a historical pattern cannot be established from what is known so far.

But he said: "It is hard for many people, including me, to believe that on one night in April 2012 in Cartagena, Colombia, 11 secret service agents ? there to protect the president ? suddenly and spontaneously did something they or other agents had never done before; that is to say, gone in groups of two, three or four to four different night clubs or strip joints and drank to excess and bring foreign national women back to their hotel rooms."

The misbehavior became public after a dispute over payment between a Secret Service agent and a prostitute at a Cartagena hotel on April 12. The Secret Service was in the coastal resort for a Latin American summit before Obama's arrival.

Collins said several small groups of agency employees from two hotels went out separately to clubs, bars and brothels and they "all ended up in similar circumstances."

"Contrary to the conventional story line, this was not simply a single, organized group that went out for a night on the town together," Collins said.

Senators focused on whether the Secret Service permitted a culture in which such behavior was tolerated. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has testified previously that she would be surprised if there were other examples, but senators have been skeptical.

Sullivan told senators the behavior in Colombia wasn't representative of the agency's nearly 7,000 employees. "I can understand how the question could be asked," Sullivan said, calling his employees "among the most dedicated, hardest working, self-sacrificing employees within the federal government."

He also told senators that Obama's security was never at risk. The officers implicated in the prostitution scandal could not have inadvertently disclosed sensitive security details because their confidential briefing about Obama's trip had not taken place.

"At the time the misconduct occurred, none of the individuals involved in the misconduct had received any specific protective information, sensitive security documents, firearms, radios or other security-related equipment in their hotel rooms," Sullivan said.

Sullivan has survived professionally so far based on his openness about what happened. Senators were not expected to ask for his resignation, and the acting inspector general for the Homeland Security Department, Charles K. Edwards, gave Sullivan high marks for integrity.

Edwards, who estimated that the early stages of his own investigation would be finished before July 2, said the Secret Service "has been completely transparent and cooperative."

"The Secret Service's efforts to date in investigating its own employees should not be discounted," Edwards told senators. "It has done credible job of uncovering the facts and, where appropriate, it has taken swift and decisive action."

The White House on Tuesday reasserted its confidence in Sullivan. Obama "has great faith in the Secret Service, believes the director has done an excellent job," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "The director moved very quickly to have this matter investigated and took action very quickly as a result of that investigation."

A dozen Secret Service officers and supervisors and 12 other U.S. military personnel were implicated. Eight Secret Service employees, including the two supervisors, have lost their jobs. The Secret Service is moving to permanently revoke the security clearance for one other employee, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing. Sullivan told the lawmakers that two employees who originally resigned now are fighting to get their jobs back.

Prostitution is legal in Colombia, but Sullivan quickly issued new guidelines that made it clear that agents on assignment overseas are subject to U.S. laws.

Sullivan said he directed Secret Service inspectors to investigate reports of similar misconduct in San Salvador. After 28 interviews with hotel employees and managers, State Department officials and others, "no evidence was found to substantiate the allegations," Sullivan said.

This week the Drug Enforcement Administration said the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General was investigating possible misconduct by two or more agents in Colombia. Collins revealed that the case involved at least two DEA employees who entertained female masseuses in the Cartagena apartment of one of the DEA agents. The investigation is unrelated to the Secret Service scandal but is based on information provided to the DEA by the Secret Service.

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?The Cafe Versailles of Broward? stages Facebook party | RedState

The first Facebook Family and Friends Meet-Up at Wings Plus on April 30^th went pretty well. ?Despite four straight days of rain, three NBA playoff games, two NHL playoff games, an earlier Miami Marlins game, and Dancing with the Stars on ABC, they still managed to have 141 people turn out.

Generally known as the ?The Cafe Versailles of Broward? or the place ?where the politically elite meet,? Wings Plus is the perfect Northwest Broward venue to stage a meet and greet for their social network of friends and family.

In recent months, Presidential candidates Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich have all visited Brian Walsh at Wings Plus.? Mitt Romney visited in 2008 and George W. Bush visited when he was President of the United States.

With so many friends and family between the social networks of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, MySpace, Meetup, Yelp and myLife, Brian Walsh has decided to stage another Facebook Friends and Family Meet-Up at Wings Plus in Coral Springs.

Many of their Facebook friends wanted to attend but could not because of the rain. ?Many wanted the first event to be rescheduled.

Despite the sports playoffs, television shows, and torrential downpours throughout South Florida, the event was not canceled but went on as planned.

With that said, Wings Plus is planning a ?make-up? event. ?If you missed the first party on April 30th, please consider coming out on Tuesday, May 22nd for an even bigger event.

Based upon the success of the May event, Brian Walsh is considering a monthly ?Facebook Party? on the fourth Tuesday of the month through the election cycle and Christmas.

?I?m glad to see so many new faces,? said Brian Walsh, the longtime owner of Wings Plus.? ?Between the local and national elections, we have certainly seen a lot of increased activity around here.?

Wings Plus has hosted hundreds of state, local, and national candidates for public office in the last two decades. Numerous charity fundraisers also find a home at Wings Plus.

The Facebook Friends and Family Meet-Up will be held Tuesday, May 22nd from 6pm until 9pm at the Sample Road location of Wings Plus. ?Please attend and meet your Facebook friends in person.

Let?s see if the power of social media is really effective and jam pack Wings Plus the evening of May 22nd.

To RSVP on Facebook, please go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/208703802580252/

To learn more about the Wings Plus at 9880 West Sample Road in Coral Springs, please visit them at www.wingsplus.com.

?Don?t forget to bring the kids,? concluded Walsh.? ?We have a surprise in store for them.?

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