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On Dec. 21, humans can witness something not seen in nearly 800 years. That’s right, during the upcoming winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will line up to create what is known as the “Christmas Star” or “Star of Bethlehem “Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to be to one another,” Patrick Hartigan, astronomer at Rice University, told Forbes. “You’d have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a...

6.4 off Oregon Coast

CEDAR RAPIDS — There’s no denying the bond that develops between people and their pets. A miniature schnauzer in Cedar Rapids proved that nothing, even distance, can break that bond. Nancy Franck and her two miniature schnauzers, Sissy and Barney, live in southeast Cedar Rapids. Franck, however, has been staying 15 to 20 blocks away at Mercy Medical Center following a surgery. She’s been in the hospital for about two weeks. Last Saturday Nancy’s husband, Dale, was devastated when Sissy unexpectedly ran away from home “We looked up and there was this dog just that was just running across the...

Adorable. Beluga Whale teases kids

A showdown is developing between a sizable number of Connecticut state police officers and the politicians who passed into law highly restrictive gun control, gun bans, and bans on high capacity magazines. Gun rights legal expert and activist David Hardy reported Friday that 250 law enforcement officers in Connecticut have signed an open letter stating that they will not enforce the new anti-gun and magazine laws, which they consider to be a violation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Three Charts to Email to Your Right-Wing Brother-In-Law Monday 29 August 2011 by: Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed Federal spending dramatically increased under former president, George W. Bush and it has not increased much under President Obama. (Photo: Eric Draper / White House) Problem: Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about "Obama spending" and "Obama deficits" and how the "Stimulus" just made things worse. Solution: Here are three "reality-based" charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened. Spending Government spending increased dramatically under Bush. It...

Presented almost without comment, here is the recently unearthed gospel album by Republican 2012 contender and pizza mogul Herman Cain.

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Feeling discouraged and reminiscing about Reagan, I started looking up quotes from our latest great President. Here are a few of my favorites: 1. I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born. 2. Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States. 3. Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement. 4. Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty. 5. Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. 6. Government exists to...

Welcome to the Singles Thread and welcome to Spring! Spring is here, spring has come!The bird is on the wingMy, my how absurd, I thought the wing was on the bird! I thought at first our thread could be about Spring! But when I think of Spring, all I can think of are silly spring poems. So instead, anyone else know any silly poems?