Meet the next REPUBLICAN Congresswoman from Washington’s 3rd CD – Jaime Herrera

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From Eric Dondero:

Washington State held its multi-party primaries yesterday. The 3rd Congressional district had a multitude of Republicans, many libertarian-leaning and affiliated with the Tea Party. The winner on the Republican side was Jaime Herrera.

Pundits see this seat as the absolute best shot the GOP has of picking up a Congressional seat in WA. The seat is currently held by retiring Democrat Rep. Brian Baird. The district which includes Olympia and Vancouver, in southwestern Washington, leans conservative.

Back in December of last year, when Baird announced his retirement, we wrote here at LR, "Yet another bigtime incumbent Dem calls it quits; Rep. Brian Baird (WA) faced increasingly tough Reelection":

Already announced for the seat is Republican State Rep. Jaime Herrera of Battle Ground. She's been known as a "Jobs First" legislator, and a staunch fiscal conservative. Back in April she criticized Gov. Gregoire's budget (Vancouver Business Journal):

"The only thing I'm proud of with this budget is that Republicans fought against tax increases on working families and employers, and won. However, this budget does not fix the fundamental problem that got us here -- overspending.

Herrera is now the overwhelming favorite to win in November. Here's a breakdown of last night's vote totals. The combined Republican total is far ahead of the lone Democrat. From The Olympian:

With 69 percent of the expected vote counted Tuesday night, Democrat Denny Heck led with 31 percent of the vote. Coming in a close second in early returns was Herrera, who had 27 percent. Republicans David Hedrick and David Castillo trailed with 14 percent 12 percent, respectively. The top two vote getters in the primary advance to the general election, regardless of party.

Contribute JaimeHerrera.com

Dart Strikes Map: An Interview with Tony and Thomas

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Berlin
At The Berlin Wall: Germany 2007

1. On your blog’s home page, it states: “In 2007, Tony and Thomas decided to quit their jobs, leave the security of sedentary life behind, and travel the globe full time.” The three of us know there is a more important back-story. Was this the main reason why you decided to travel?

…You are right that there is an important back-story that strongly contributed to our decision to go nomadic.

What we say on our blog is true. One day, we simply decided we had had enough of sedentary life with all its complexities, complications and, most importantly, monotony. But you are right that there is an important back-story that strongly contributed to our decision to go nomadic.

Thomas and I are a bi-national gay couple. We have been together for over 17 years and this time has been filled with a series of legal and cultural hurdles, which have strongly contributed to our identity as contemporary nomads. For our first 8 years together, there was no real legal option for us to live together in the same country. We created our own solution by bouncing around between Africa, Europe, the U.S., and Central America.

After the laws in Germany changed, Thomas and I settled in Berlin where we attempted to establish a more grounded, traditional life. We quickly discovered our unconventional history made life in Germany quite a challenge. Imagine going into a job interview and trying to explain, “Well, I have had to bounce around the world to bypass visa restrictions which would have made my relationship with my partner impossible.” Not an easy sell, especially in Germany.

Rather than begging for acceptance and understanding, Thomas and I began to yearn for the freedom and sense of liberation that travel provides. We began to realize that we needed to return to our nomadic roots and, once again, we decided to create our own solutions. Our solution was to free ourselves from the limitations of any one country.

2. Dr. Lisa M. Nunn (San Diego University; San Diego, California) has been documenting your lives over the past 8 years in her “Excluded: Immigration Struggles of a Gay Bi-National Couple” video. Do you feel this venue has been helpful in getting the word out about the disparity in the U.S. immigration regulations?

Absolutely. The documentary follows us from the U.S. to Germany to Cambodia and details how our struggle evolved along the way. We discuss unjust immigration policies in the U.S., the pain of leaving my family in California behind, cultural challenges in Germany, and ultimately why we chose to go nomadic. We hope the documentary will help educate people on bi-national same-sex couples and, perhaps, challenge assumptions about controversial issues such as gay marriage and immigration policy.

You can view the documentary online at: http://www.excludedthemovie.com

3. What advice do you have for others in your situation?

I would say, for the immediate future, don’t sit around waiting for people to save you, save yourself.

I would say, for the immediate future, don’t sit around waiting for people to save you, save yourself. Once you and your partner are in a stable place, speak out and work to change unfair policies. However, always remember that this is your life, so make it as good as possible while you are working for change.

Nepal
Gokyo Valley: Nepal 2007

Starting ContemporaryNomad.com was our way of bounding over the hurdles in one great leap. Actually, we don’t really discuss our immigration issues on ContemporaryNomad.com. Our web site and blog are about adventure, culture, travel, wildlife and the environment. It’s a space where we can define ourselves with exciting topics rather than dwell on the injustice we have experienced. It is our escape from all the garbage that we left behind. We are discovering it provides an escape for many other people as well.

4. Is this your first long-term trip or have you traveled through other parts of the world together?

I have always loved to travel. As a student, I studied and traveled in France, the Soviet Union, China, Morocco, and Taiwan. Thomas also did the classic InterRail trip through Western Europe as well as studying in the U.S.

When Thomas and I first met in 1993, we took off on an extraordinary 18-month overland journey from Germany to South Africa via Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It was this trip that really cemented our love for travel and defined us as serious adventurers. We crossed the Sudan in mid-summer, explored post-communist Eritrea and Ethiopia, witnessed the atrocities in Rwanda from the neighboring countries of Uganda and Zaire, and saw the final remnants of apartheid crumble in a newly independent South Africa. It was an amazing and life-altering journey.

Namibia
With the Himba Tribe: Namibia 1995

In 2001, we spent five months in Central America traveling between Belize and Nicaragua. In 2003, we spent three months in Madagascar, a country we had desperately wanted to visit during our trans-Africa trip. In addition to these longer trips, Thomas and I have traveled extensively in the U.S. and Europe.

I have traveled to 78 countries and Thomas has traveled to 57 countries. But these numbers are rather meaningless to us. What we are truly proud of is the depth of our travels. We have spent large amounts of time in many of the countries we have visited and have had the opportunity to explore some of the world’s most remote regions. For example, we spent 15 months in India criss-crossing the country detailing its diversity on our blog. Moreover, we have visited many countries several times taking in new regions on each visit.

5. Having traveled through several countries, has the bi-national gay couple relationship created additional problems for either of you?

We have experienced the most obvious anti-gay sentiment in the U.S. One of our worst experiences took place in Wyoming. We were stopped by police in a speed-trap for going two miles an hour over the speed limit. The police realized we were a couple when they discovered the car was registered in both our names. The police became quite threatening and we were seriously worried for our safety. It’s a long story, but we made it out of there in one piece.

Interestingly, in the Islamic world and conservative India, we experienced very few problems because men traveling together and sharing rooms is such a normal part of the cultures.

On a couple of occasions in Central America, we were denied hotel rooms, but that wasn’t a huge problem. Interestingly, in the Islamic world and conservative India, we experienced very few problems because men traveling together and sharing rooms is such a normal part of the cultures.

And we experienced an interesting bi-national problem organizing a trip to Tibet, which had nothing to do with being gay. While we were in Kathmandu, we wanted to make a quick return trip to Lhasa. At that time, the Chinese government was requiring people to join escorted tours, but bizarrely they would not allow people with different nationalities to join the same tour. They wanted us to hire two separate jeeps, two separate drivers, and two official Chinese “guides.” In a weird twist of irony, heterosexual bi-national couples were having the same problem.

6. Changing “horses” – what has been the highlight of your travels thus far?

Wow, that’s hard to answer because we have had so many incredible experiences. We were exceptionally lucky to be able to explore the Omo region in southwestern Ethiopia right after the country opened up for independent travel. We are both very into wildlife so the mountain gorillas in Zaire, tigers in India, and whale sharks here in the Philippines are all major highlights. In 2007, we managed to travel to Mount Kailash in western Tibet, which was the realization of a twenty- year dream for me. All of our Himalayan treks qualify as highlights: trans-Zanskar, the Annapurna Circuit and the Everest region. I think we have a hundred highlights.

7. Where do your journeys lead you from here?

Good question, we have no idea where we are going to be next month.

Diving
Wreck Dive in Puerto Galera: Philippines 2010

8. Thomas: Which one of you is the better diver? (LOL! Trick question.)

I want to say I am, but I have recently been called an air-sucking pig during a forum discussion about the pros and cons of a certain dive shop. I have to agree that Tony uses less air, but does that make him a better diver?

9. Tony: Same (trick) question.

Clearly I am :) Although Thomas has an amazing ability to spot perfectly camouflaged scorpion fish. And he found an amazing black frogfish the other day that I NEVER would have seen!

You can follow Tony & Thomas (or Thomas & Tony, take your pick) at ContemporaryNomad.

Editor’s notes: All photographs courtesy of ContemporaryNomad.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. |
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Republican, Independent-Conservative for Congress in Florida, come out strongly against Ground Zero Mosque

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From Eric Dondero:

Six different candidates are running against incumbent Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Allan Boyd in North Florida. The seat is seen as one of the most likely of all Republican pick-up opportunities, in this staunchly conservative area of the State.

GOPer: "Islam is against everything America stands for"

One candidate, self-described "Reagan Republican" Ron McNeil recently spoke at a forum to local high school kids. During the Q&A the subject came up of the proposed Ground Zero Mosque. From the Panama City Herald, Aug. 17:

“I’m totally against it. If I had my way, it would pretty much be over my dead body... That religion is against everything America stands for. If we have to let them build it, make them build it nine stories underground..."

One student challenged McNeil on his stance. He responded:

“This religion’s plan is to destroy our way of life.”

Girls forced to wear "hot burqas," not "showing any kind of skin."

Dianna Berryhill, is also in the race. She's a longtime Republican activist, officeholder, and a backer of Marco Rubio. But she is not in the primary. Rather she will be on the ballot as an Independent in November. At the forum she had a stern warning:

“If we were under Muslim law, you girls wouldn’t be sitting here showing any kind of skin. You would be in hot burqas and … you wouldn’t be sitting in school,” she said.

At her website Berryhill exclaims:

In the war on terror, nothing should be off the table. This is a war against radical, religious jihadists. We should ensure that our enemies know that we are a greater threat to them than they are to us.

Rand Paul announces opposition to Ground Zero Mosque

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Gary Howard, a spokesman for Rand Paul for Senate issued a statement to Politico this morning.

From Politico, "Mosque debate strains tea party, GOP":

“While this is a local matter that should be decided by the people of New York, Dr. Paul does not support a mosque being built two blocks from ground zero,” Howard said in the statement. “In Dr. Paul's opinion, the Muslim community would better serve the healing process by making a donation to the memorial fund for the victims of Sept. 11.”

Paul was also quoted directly in an interview at Liberty Maven, released yesterday, as saying:

While this is a local matter that will be decided by the people of New York, I do not support a mosque being built two blocks from Ground Zero. In my opinion, the Muslim community would better serve the healing process by making a donation to the memorial fund for the victims of September 11th.

Pertussis Epidemic 2010

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Bordetella pertussis is the bacterium that causes whooping cough – the main clinical feature of which is a severe lingering cough that can last for weeks or even months. Right now we are in the midst of an epidemic of pertussis cropping up in pockets throughout the US, most notable California. According to the CDC:

During January 1– June 30, 2010, a total of 1,337 cases were reported, a 418% increase from the 258 cases reported during the same period in 2009. All cases either met the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists definitions for confirmed or probable pertussis or had an acute cough illness and Bordetella pertussis–specific nucleic acid detected by polymerase chain reaction from nasopharyngeal specimens.

In addition, if the trends continue through the end of this year, which they are likely to do, this will be the highest incidence of pertussis in almost 50 years. These numbers are not in question, but there is some discussion about what, exactly, is causing it.

The tempting conclusion is that pertussis is making its way back into the population due largely to vaccine refusal and anti-vaccine propaganda. However, there is yet no data to support that conclusion. It may or may not be the case – we will know once a more thorough analysis is done of the individual cases of pertussis. And in any case, there are many factors at work.

First, pertussis has a natural tendency to cycle every 5 years or so, and this year is the peak of the cycle. This is certainly a significant part of the increase this year, regardless of other contributors.

In addition, the lack of vaccine-induced immunity is also playing a role, but not necessarily from vaccine refusal. Pertussis is a very contagious illness, partly because people are often contagious with it for days or weeks prior to knowing they have it, or that their cough is not just a common cold. Prior to vaccination pertussis was a significant cause of childhood death, causing about 8,000 deaths a year in the US alone. After the wide availability of vaccination against pertussis there has been on average about 10 deaths per year.

The current vaccine is an acellular pertussis vaccine (part of the DTaP injection, which included diphtheria and tetanus). The aP vaccine is a toxoid vaccine – it contains inactivated toxin proteins which are themselves harmless. It is therefore  a very safe vaccine with few side effects. Prior to 1996 the whole-cell pertussis vaccine was used – this was similar but still contained entire bacteria (although inactivated) and had a higher incidence of side effects. The DTaP vaccine is actually less effective than the older DTP vaccine, but a little bit of efficacy was traded for increased safety.

The childhood vaccine schedule requires 5 injections between 2 months and 6 years of age. Young infants are therefore most susceptible to pertussis because they have not yet had time to get vaccinated and develop immunity. Immunity does last for years, but wanes in teenagers and older adults. Therefore periodic boosters (with a vaccine called Tdap) are recommended to maintain lifelong immunity. Incidentally, immunity from the vaccine is not much different than immunity from the illness itself:

A review of the published data on duration of immunity reveals estimates that infection-acquired immunity against pertussis disease wanes after 4-20 years and protective immunity after vaccination wanes after 4-12 years.

The factors, therefore, that are contributing to the fact that the current epidemic is likely to be the biggest in 50 years are – the natural cycle of pertussis, a lower degree of immunity from the current DTaP vaccine vs the older DTP vaccine, and waning immunity in older children and adults with low rates of booster shots to maintain immunity.

Two other factors are currently under investigation. One is the rate of undocumented aliens in California that may not have been vaccinated. The CDC reports:

Incidence among Hispanic infants (49.8 cases per 100,000) was higher than among other racial/ethnic populations. Five deaths were reported, all in previously healthy Hispanic infants aged <2 months at disease onset; none had received any pertussis-containing vaccines.

So early indications are that the Hispanic population is disproportionately getting pertussis. But the burning question is – are there pockets of low vaccination rates among vaccine-refusers, lacking herd immunity, that are also contributing to the epidemic? A recent New York Times article by Tara Parker-Pope argues that vaccine refusal is likely not a contributor because there is no association between county-wide vaccine rates and pertussis incidence. However, this argument is not valid. Counties are a mostly arbitrary political boundary, not a meaningful population or social boundary. There are small pockets of low immunization rates in communities that have been centers of vaccine-preventable diseases in the past, and it is still possible (even probable) that pertussis is having an easier time spreading through these populations as well.

Further – we are on the cusp of a new school year. Once children go back to school, the pertussis epidemic may get into full swing. There are schools that, because of their culture and policies, have very low vaccination rates. We will have to see what happens with pertussis in these schools once the classroom doors open.

Conclusion

What we can say at this point for certain is that 2010 is an epidemic year for pertussis, and this cycle will be the worst in half a century. We know that vaccination with DTaP is safe and effective, but requires booster shots as adults, and that not enough people are getting this booster shot. This epidemic is still nothing compared to the pre-vaccine era of pertussis, but it highlights the ongoing need for vaccination and herd immunity against contagious and deadly diseases like pertussis.

Whether vaccine refusal is playing a significant role has neither been confirmed or rejected by current information, but eventually this data will be available. And unlike the anti-vaccine crowd, we will base our conclusions on the evidence, not rhetorical expediency.


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Matt Mead wins Wyoming Republican primary for Gov.

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Easy pick-up for GOP in the Fall

From Eric Dondero:

Dissapointing news out of Wyoming for libertarian Republicans. Matt Mead edged out the two candidates endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus for Governor, Rita Meyer and Ron Micheli. Meyer, an Iraq War Vet, was also backed by Sarah Palin.

Mead is a rancher from Teton County, and former U.S. Attorney for Wyoming.

Finals (via Fox):

Matt Mead 29%
Rita Meyer 28%
Ron Micheli 26%

Mead is held in some suspicion by the GOP's libertarian wing, on the drug war, and on taxes. He has said he would be open to an energy tax for the State. Though, he does say that he supports, "protecting gun rights, our state’s rights and private property rights." From his website:

At times it seems the federal government treats Wyoming as a colony with a great big park, with a great big fuel pump. I want self-determination and a greater voice in our future.

He looks certain for victory in November. The total number of votes on the GOP side was roughly 110,000. In the Democrat primary, only 21,000.

This will be a Republican pick-up, as the current Governor is a Democrat.

Privatizing Marriage: A Libertarian Solution

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By: Wes Messamore

"The argument over gay marriage, like many arguments in America, has been falsely presented as a single, binary issue: one is either for or against legalizing gay marriage.

On one side of the dichotomy are the "social conservatives" who believe that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman, and that the law should reflect that reality.

On the other side are gay marriage proponents, who believe that two people of the same gender have every right to disagree with social conservatives about what marriage is, and that our nation's laws should include their definition of marriage as well.

But one thing that pundits, activists, and politicians often fail to consider is that the legal debate over gay marriage is distinct from the philosophical debate.

Whatever your view of the nature of marriage, it is not necessary to legally force that view on the rest of us.

Instead of legalizing gay marriage, what if each state de-legalized straight marriage? Why after all, should the state define what many consider to be a private, religious question?"

Democrat Rep. in Illinois says without Social Security old people would be eating out of garbage cans

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From Eric Dondero:

The DCC put out an advisory to all Democrat House candidates nationwide last week, urging them to attack Republicans as wanting to privatize Social Security. We now have a candidate using the tactic.

From The Hill, "Dems plan to attack GOP on Social Security," Aug. 9:

House Democrats are planning more than 100 events around this week’s anniversary of Social Security to attack Republicans who want to reform the popular entitlement.

Democrats and interest groups on the left have scheduled “birthday parties” and other events to highlight Saturday’s 75th anniversary of the program signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt.

A Democratic leadership aide said Republicans are “highly vulnerable” on both Social Security and Medicare.

“This is a party that said they want Medicare to wither on the vine and want to privatize Social Security,” the aide said.

Dems cry Don't throw Grandpa out on the Streets

From the Daily-Herald, "14th Congressional candidates jump into Social Security debate" Aug. 18:

Incumbent Democrat Bill Foster joined AARP representatives at the retirement home to pledge a fight against the privatization of Social Security and a defense of the funds against any raid to balance the national deficit.

With some residents of the community topping 100 years of age, Foster contrasted the creation of Social Security in the era of the Great Depression to fears about the programs solvency following the recent recession.

"During the Great Depression there was a lot of human misery," Foster said. "We had millions of people not being able to eat or eating out of garbage dumps. That is not happening now. And the reason it's not happening now, to a large extent, is because we have safety nets in place."

"Evil Republicans" will make Grandma beg for food

Meanwhile, the Green Party candidate also jumped in with criticisms of Republicans. Continuing:

[Dan] Kairis said he's particularly wary of Republican plans to privatize parts of Social Security given how the leaders of major financial institutions always seem to make money no matter how bad the economy gets.

"The Republicans are good for making money for their buddies, not so good for making money for regular people," Kairis said. "Privatization is good in some circumstances, but for a program like Social Security the government does a much better job."

See our article from last week here at LR, "Yes Democrats, we Republicans actually do want to Privatize Social Security." The article was linked by the Senior Editor for AOL News Andrea Stone, "Social Security Turns 75: How Healthy Is It?"

Conservatives, never happy about government-run anything, have sought to change Social Security by adding personal retirement accounts. President George W. Bush tried to make that a centerpiece of his second term but was forced to drop it when Democrats refused to go along.

However, Stone mistakenly referred in the article to "conservative" efforts, rather than identifying those of us who want to privatize Social Security as libertarian Republicans.

For Women with Itchy Psoriasis Skin, Beer May be Culprit – CBS News

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dBTechno
For Women with Itchy Psoriasis Skin, Beer May be Culprit
CBS News
New research from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston indicates that drinking beer can increase the risk of psoriasis by more ...
Study suggests beer could give women psoriasisChicago Sun-Times
Beer may be the cause for increased risk of psoriasis in womenExaminer.com
Beer Linked to PsoriasisWebMD
MSN Health & Fitness -Health Jackal -FitSugar.com (blog)
all 100 news articles »

Medical Schools in US News College Rankings – eMaxHealth

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FOXNews
Medical Schools in US News College Rankings
eMaxHealth
In addition to the College, Harvard is comprised of 13 other schools and institutes, including the top-ranked Medical School. In 2009, total medical school ...
2011's Top Ten Online CollegesPR Web (press release)
Best Value Colleges Give Big Scholarships, Deep DiscountsU.S. News & World Report
Emory & Henry College tops local college rankingsTriCities.com
Huffington Post (blog) -Prime Writer News Network
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What’s Truly at Stake in the Ground Zero Mosque Debate – Huffington Post (blog)

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The Hindu
What's Truly at Stake in the Ground Zero Mosque Debate
Huffington Post (blog)
We do have religious freedom. I know the wounds are still very open, me myself included but you have to look at the big picture. You can't practice these ...
Editorial: Question site, but don't halt mosqueNews-Herald.com
GOP Seizes on Mosque Issue Ahead of ElectionsNew York Times
Ground Zero mosque must be allowedChicago Tribune
CQPolitics.com (blog) -Big Journalism (blog) -Washington Post (blog)
all 3,715 news articles »

Enter the Trojans

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In astronomy, a Trojan is an asteroid or moon that shares an orbit with a larger asteroid or moon, but does not collide with it.  The Trojan orbits within one of the Lagrangian points of stability ahead or behind the main body.

Usually the asteroids which accompany Jupiter around its orbit come to mind when you mention the Trojans.  The Jupiter asteroids were the first discovered, and are believed to be almost as numerous as those in the asteroid belt.  Since the Jupiter Trojans were discovered, scientist have found “Trojans” in the orbits of Mars, Neptune, and Saturn.

Discovered in Jupiter’s orbit in 1906 (588 Achilles was the first one), there have been 4,076 Jupiter Trojans found so far.  There are believed to be over a million Jupiter Trojans larger than 1 km in diameter.  As in the main asteroid belt, the Trojans form asteroid “families”.  Currently, most scientist believe the Trojans are “captured” Kuiper Belt Objects.  Sometimes the “capture” appears to imperfect.  The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is believed to have been one such imperfect capture.

Currently there are only four known Mars Trojans, and seven around Neptune.  There may be many more Trojans than those recorded so far; we’re just not in a position to see them yet.  Perhaps when New Horizons passes Neptune…

Martian Trojans, image by Andrew Buck, all rights reserved

There is some speculation that the Trojans are a source for new short-period comets and Centaurs.  Considering the four discovered around Mars, that puts them in our very near back yard.

I have it on good authority my voice makes its cable TV premiere tonight | The Loom

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weeds440I have a strange job. A few weeks back I was wandering through the aisles of the local Walmart, searching for bug spray, when my phone rang. A very excited Robert Krulwich was calling. As I drifted past the potato chips and plasma-screen TVs, he declared to me with great excitement that I was going to be on the cable series Weeds.

Now, I’m pretty sure that if I had actually auditioned for the show, I would remember it. Or at least I could find some trace of the experience over on IMDB, searching for my name in the role of Pothead #8. So there I was at the store, getting totally lost trying to figure out what Krulwich was saying.

Gradually, the story emerged: a few months ago, I joined Krulwich and his partner in radio crime, Jad Abumrad to tape a couple segments for their fine show, RadioLab. In one of those segments, I describe the glories of parasites, focusing on one surgically fiendish wasp. Apparently the people at Weeds are RadioLab fans and sometimes work bits of it into their own show. And apparently, they are using my ramblings–at great length, I’m reliably informed–in the season premiere. What deeper meaning that Jad, Robert, and I could bring to their show, I can’t say–in part because I don’t have cable TV, so I’m not a regular viewer.

Suffice to say, it was a very long bug spray run. The new season airs tonight. If anyone sees it, fill me in! And if I can get my mitts on the clip, I’ll post it.

[Update: We've got it]


Astronomers Announce Priorities: Dark Energy, Exoplanets, Cosmic Origins | 80beats

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LSSTThere is a lot of space to explore and a limited amount of money to spend. So every ten years the National Research Council’s “Decadal Survey“ recommends which astronomy and astrophysics projects should get first dibs. Last week, the committee released their recommendations for 2012 through 2021. The projects that got the thumbs-up from astronomers would tackle big tasks, like hunting for dark energy and seeking out new exoplanets.

Though funding agencies (like NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy), Congressional committees, and the scientific community often use the survey to select the observatories on which to focus attention and resources, some were skeptical about this report given the 2001 survey’s recommendations and results.

Although these reports have always been influential—policymakers like scientists to rank their needs—only two of the seven major projects that appeared on the wish list in the 2001 survey have been funded, leading astronomers to wonder if the exercise is as useful as they’d like it to be. Previous surveys have also been faulted for providing unrealistic cost estimates, as low as a fifth of what certain missions have ended up costing. As a result, there has been considerable pressure on the committee that authored [Friday's] report to prioritize projects more effectively and estimate costs better. [Science Insider]

This time, the committee hoped to avoid these budget underestimates by evaluating the financial and technical risk of each project.

“I think at the time of the previous decadal survey, people didn’t appreciate the importance of taking a second look at the cost of things and not just taking the word of the people submitting the projects,” says astronomer Claire Max of the University of California in Santa Cruz, a member of the final survey committee. This time around, the panel hired an outside expert to help estimate the funding and technical risk of each project. [Nature News]

Nature News outlines the survey’s funding recommendations for a wide range of projects, but two observatories–one in space and one on the ground–seem most promising to the committee, fitting with the survey’s major three priorities.

The committee highlighted three main areas of science, none of which should be too surprising to those who follow the field: Cosmic Dawn, New Worlds and the Physics of the Universe. Or, how did all of this get here, are there planets like Earth nearby, and what makes up the universe? Projects that are well suited to answer these questions, as well as technologically feasible, were given high recommendations. [Discovery News]

In Space

The survey recommends the most funding for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), a joint project between NASA and the Department of Energy, which has an estimated cost of $1.6 billion. After an expected launch in 2020, WFIRST will record light from distant supernova among other things, and hopefully provide insights into the universe’s expansion and dark energy. Committee members also believe the telescope may help in the hunt for exoplanets.

“WFIRST not only gets at all the dark energy [priorities], but it also has significant capability in exoplanet science and will do outstanding work in infrared survey science,” Michael Turner, a cosmologist at the University of Chicago and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics told physicsworld.com. Turner, who served on the 23-member committee for the decadal survey, also notes that the survey did not reject the idea of a possible collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) to combine its planned Euclid dark-energy mission with WFIRST. [Physics World]

On the Ground

The survey also recommends support for the $463 million Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (pictured above). When completed, the telescope will survey the entire sky every week with a three-billion pixel digital camera to help researchers understand dark matter, dark energy, supernovae, near-Earth asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects.

In placing the LSST atop its priority list, the report highlighted the telescope’s technical readiness and its “compelling science case and capacity to address so many of the science goals of this survey,” including exploring the fundamental physical makeup of the universe by probing the nature of dark matter and dark energy. [Scientific American]

The DISCOVER blog Cosmic Variance has more on all this: 
The Next 10 Years of Astronomy explains what the Decadal Survey means to astronomers 
The Next Decade of US Space Astronomy
The Next Decade of US Ground Based Astronomy

Image: LSST Corporation