Bar stool Pundits Sippin' Tea

Aah, those red states have given way to Tea Parties and no longer joke about the red Kool-aid. No one should underestimate the power of those of the conservative bent to call forth more venom and hate.
The bar stool pundits would have average Joe or Jane that the purpose of the "parties" was to push forth the idea that our taxes "are way too high" and that all concerned should join in the rallying against Prez Obama's economic program. The sad truth is the trickery of it it all. At the top of the "Tea Party" call for revolution stands Robert Murdock and a well-funded organization known as FreedomWorks which brags a membership of over 700,000 activists . The right-wing rhetoric spewing forth is the same old sound good bytes about cutting taxes and deficits, and of course the same old chestnut about cutting taxes to the rich, and while you're at it "deregulate the damned economy". Now the new hue and cry is to bring and end to the estate tax. (Lest we forget the estate tax has been raised to $10,000,000 instead of the old $7,000,000)

The months the angry propaganda on talk radio and Fox News (Owner Robert Murdock) brought forth the April 15th "tea parties. Yes, the gullible of all stripes came and heard the same untruths and the subtle call to revolt. The program directors had the audacity to compare their whiny complaints to the events that led to the American Revolution. What an insult to our history! What an offensive display of the 1st Amendment....assemblage to promote the causes of the wealthy.

A Serious Question to All Out There

From the "I Need to Know" category, can someone educate me about recirculated air such as on commercial jets, trains, etc. Are they highly filtered to reduce the spread of viruses?
If this is a stupid question please forgive. Your response could help me determine whether or not I should consider a future trip.

It's A Bird, It's a Plane, It's.......A Spy Blimp Near You (Maybe)

It's hard to imagine a world without Agent Bond...James Bond. It's hard to visualize a planet without the super powers of our beloved friends Superman, Batman, and Wonder woman but here in the real world we will lose all of them to DARPA.


By real world I mean that sci-fi has become real-truth in that our supposed friends at the Pentagon has ready for delivery a blimp destined for a 12 trip into space so that it hover over just any old place and spy on just about any person, place, or thing that brassy guys in uniform so determine.

The Pentagon says this new balloon can stay in one place for days, weeks, months, and years just for the purpose of reconnoitring. Under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) the Pentagon has found yet one more way to watch just about any group it deems necessary to place a lens over. This $400 million project is set to launch one of these surveillance vehicles around 2014.

It's okay to run up into the attic and get those scary books that made us think, surely you remember them: Brave New World, 1984, and Animal Farm.