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Onward! Forward to backwardness! An update on this story. "Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists 'bombed Abuja police HQ'," from BBC News, June 17: An eyewitness told the BBC everybody was scared after the bombing There's that subheading again. And yes, bombs will do that. The Islamist group, Boko Haram, says it carried out Thursday's bombing of Nigeria's police headquarters which left at least six people dead. The attack comes days after Nigeria's police chief visited the north-eastern town of Maiduguri, where Boko Haram is based and vowed to defeat the group. The police say one of those who died was a...

Progress Toward the Dream of Space Drives and Stargates by Paul Gilster on May 23, 2011 by James F. WoodwardI first wrote about James Woodward’s work in my 2004 book Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration, and have often been asked since to comment further on his research. But it’s best to leave that to the man himself, and I’m pleased to turn today’s post over to him. A bit of biography: Jim Woodward earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics at Middlebury College and New York University (respectively) in the 1960s. From his undergraduate days, his chief...

MIAMI (AP) -- President Barack Obama says that a slight dip in the unemployment rate to 8.9 percent is a sign of continued progress but that keeping that momentum going is important to the economic recovery. The government reported Friday that February's jobless rate had fallen to a two-year low, down from 9 percent in January.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2011 – Continued hard work will lead to sustained progress in Afghanistan this year, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force there told his troops in a letter dated today. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus addressed his comments to ISAF’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and civilians. They and their Afghan counterparts “did tremendous work in 2010,” Petraeus wrote, terming their progress “impressive.” ISAF’s core objective in Afghanistan is to ensure that country never again becomes a sanctuary for al-Qaida or other transnational extremists, Petraeus wrote. Achieving that objective requires “a comprehensive civil-military campaign” aimed...

In Batavia, Ill. — just west of Chicago — you can walk along trails through a thousand-acre restored prairie filled with rare species like compass plant and rattlesnake master. From the edge of the prairie, you can see, as well, a four-mile ring of concrete and steel. That is the berm above the Tevatron, a high-energy subterranean racetrack for particle beams and the heart of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab. Since 1983, scientists have been using the Tevatron to create spectacular collisions between subatomic particles whose ghostly traces have helped reveal the fundamental constituents of matter, like the...

Measuring Spiritual Progress – (http://www.thatchristianwebsite.com/articles/progress.html)Our society is fascinated with measuring things. As early as kindergarten, children are taught to use a ruler and think about measures. Physicians measure height, weight, circumferences, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, blood counts, and more. Sports organizations measure kicks, throws, shots, jumps, running speeds, arm and leg strength, and scores. Humans are also fascinated with measurements in the weather: humidity, highs and lows, dew points, rainfall, and wind speed and direction. In business all kinds of things are measured: sales, quotas, employment, terminations, production, etc. And let’s not even get started on how many things the...

This 4-minute video dramatically depicts the global trends in health and wealth, from poor and sick to well and rich.

The motive to reform Islam from within is weaker than the motive of those like Martin Luther, as Islamists can point to the decline of Christian belief and assume the same would happen to Islam. It had not occurred to Protestant theologians who had been trying to “liberalize” and “modernize” Christianity … that they were thus undermining the very religion they were seeking to buttress “scientifically” … When the “protective covering” [of faith] is removed, no one should any longer be surprised to see [Christianity] quickly dry up. — Curtis Cate, from Friedrich Nietzsche. When the 21-year-old Friedrich Nietzsche, who...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that a peace agreement does not guarantee the existence of peace, which is why he insists on security arrangements.

In the early 1950s the same thought occurred to many people at once: things are improving so fast and so regularly, there might be a pattern to the improvements. Maybe we could plot technological progress to date, then extrapolate the curves and see what the future holds. Among the first to do this systemically was the US Air Force. They needed a long-term schedule of what kinds of planes they should be funding, but aerospace was one of the fastest moving frontiers in technology. Obviously they would build the fastest planes possible, but since it took decades to design, approve,...

The Two Faces of Feisal RaufWhat's wrong with What's Right With Islam. This is part two of a two-part series. You can read part one here.The problems with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s book What’s Right with Islam begin with the title. As Andrew McCarthy noted on National Review Online, the book, whose full title is now What’s Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West, was previously called What’s Right with Islam Is What’s Right with America; before that, it was published in Malaysia as A Call to Prayer from the World Trade Center Rubble: Islamic Dawa in the Heart of...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Sunday hailed reductions in violence in Iraq and said he believed Iraqis would resolve the impasse in their attempts to form a coalition government. "The trend lines have been steadily declining violence. Even after we left the cities, what you've seen is lower and lower levels of violence," Obama said in an interview with NBC News. "The Iraqi security forces are functioning, at least as well, if not better, than any of us had anticipated." Obama will deliver a nationally televised speech on Tuesday that will highlight what administration officials say is his fulfillment...

KABUL, Afghanistan (July 7) - An International Security Assistance Force official said today that progress continues is being made in establishing security in southern Afghanistan. German Army Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz, ISAF spokesman, acknowledged that that the situation in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar has been difficult. But he stressed that the ISAF and Afghanistan National Security Force are working hard to put a stop to the violence. “We’ve reached a milestone this week that we believe will improve security in the South, denying insurgents the ability to use Kandahar as a safe haven and point of attack,”...

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2010 – Coalition forces are making steady progress in Afghanistan, and the coalition and government are regaining the momentum from the Taliban, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command said today. Video But Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, who commands the corps-sized group, is not sanguine about the progress. “The situation remains serious, and we still face a tough and resourceful insurgency,” he said in a teleconference with Pentagon reporters. “But the momentum is beginning to shift to the Afghan forces’ advantage.” The influx of 40,000 more U.S. and coalition troops this year...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia-us-russia-business-summit Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 24, 2010 Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia at the U.S.-Russia Business Summit U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 3:08 P.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, good afternoon, everybody. It is a pleasure to be here with my friend and partner, President Medvedev, and I want to thank him again for his leadership, especially his vision for an innovative Russia that’s modernizing its economy, including deeper economic ties between our...

I suspect that human capability reached its peak or plateau around 1965-75 – at the time of the Apollo moon landings – and has been declining ever since. This may sound bizarre or just plain false, but the argument is simple. That landing of men on the moon and bringing them back alive was the supreme achievement of human capability, the most difficult problem ever solved by humans. 40 years ago we could do it – repeatedly – but since then we have *not* been to the moon, and I suggest the real reason we have not been to the...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2010 – Although it has come more slowly than expected, progress is, nonetheless, being made in Afghanistan, the top Defense Department civilian and military officials said today. “I do not believe we are bogged down,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said of U.S. operations in Afghanistan. “I believe we are making some progress. It is slower and harder than we anticipated. I think we are moving forward.” Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took questions from reporters in a Pentagon news conference. They expressed support for President Barack Obama’s strategy...

The Obama administration told congressional leaders in a letter on Monday that it has made "significant progress" implementing the health care overhaul, including a load of consumer friendly provisions that could ease negative perceptions of the plan among a skeptical public. The letter is part of an administration campaign to convey the impression that the debate is over and the health care train is leaving the station.

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2010 – Stability in Afghanistan is no longer on the decline, and most Afghans believe that despite increased violence, security actually has improved since this time last year, according to a new report Pentagon officials sent to Congress today. The congressionally mandated Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan attributes the 87 percent increase in violence from February 2009 to March 2010 largely to increased U.S., coalition and Afghan national security force activity, particularly into areas where they previously had not operated. The report, which covers the situation on the ground from Oct. 1 to...

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2010 – As the troop drawdown continues in Iraq, the top U.S. commander there said he’s convinced the Iraqi security forces are ready to take over more responsibility, and that the sacrifices the United States has made to get to this point will prove worthwhile.Video “I think we have an opportunity in Iraq we might never get again,” Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of U.S. Forces Iraq, said during an interview with Soldiers Radio and Television’s Gail McCabe.As Iraq builds on the security, economic and diplomatic progress made to date, Odierno said, it stands to enhance...