Free Republic

136108 Haumea — one of the strangest worlds of them all — was introduced into the solar system menagerie about ten years ago. Discovered by Mike Brown (@Plutokiller extraordinaire) and team in late December 2004 from the Palomar Observatory, Haumea (say HOW-meh) received its formal name on September 17, 2008 along with its dwarf planet designation. Haumea is a fast rotator, with a ‘day’ equal to about four hours. We know this due to periodic changes in brightness. Haumea also has a high albedo of about 80%, similar to freshly fallen snow. Models suggest that Haumea is about twice as...

Despite all the talk about curbing tax breaks for corporate jets and big oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the largest dollars in President Barack Obama's proposed deficit-reducing tax hikes ($293 billion over ten years) come from limiting the value of itemized tax deductions claimed by the better off. While it's gotten little notice on the mainland, Obama's birth state has just raised its taxes on the well off in much the same way. Last month, Democratic Governor Neil Abercrombie signed S.B. 570, making Hawaii the first state in the nation to place a dollar cap on the itemized...