Physicist Elected to Congress

Physicist Bill Foster was elected in a special election to Congress in the 14th District of Illinois. In a bizarre form of torture which only our political system could have devised, his term ends at the end of the year and the district will have to vote again for Congress in November. Both party nominees are running again.

In the Chicago suburbs at the eastern end of the district, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is (until later this year) the world's largest proton-antiproton collider. The machine, which is over a mile in diameter and shown in an image from Mr. Foster's website below, is on spectacular grounds including a prairie restoration project and a buffalo research station. It is headquartered in Wilson Hall, shown above. Mr. Foster was involved in the building of giant particle detectors shown below.

The picture below of CDF ot Fermilab doesn't do a good job of showing how impressively huge it is. The detector is about six stories high- when you walk out on the catwalk over it and look down inside, there is miles and miles of wiring and thousands of boxes of electronics in cabinets.

The proton decay experiment is shown with a diver, which gives an idea of the size of the tank. This experiment was built in a salt mine near Cleveland where thousands of feet of rock could shield the experiment from nearly all exterior sources of radiation. A flash from a proton decay in the tank would be picked up by the array of photomultiplier tubes in the background and the experiment electronics would pinpoint the location of the decay and find information about the energy and decay products. They didn't see any proton decays, but the detector also detects neutrinos, particles which have almost no interaction with normal matter and so can pass through the entire Earth. Out of trillions of neutrinos passing through it from a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, in 1987, the detector recorded 13 events in the only detection of an astronomical neutrino source other than the Sun.

You've got to wonder- after working in this environment, which looks like a facility a James Bond villain would have, isn't Congress kind of a step down?

From campaign website:

Over the last 25 years Bill has played a leading role in several groundbreaking experiments in elementary particle physics. He also managed several multimillion dollar accelerator construction and research projects, and led teams of engineers and physicists to help build the latest round of Fermilab's giant particle accelerators. Along the way he has designed and built equipment using a number of advanced technologies, including high speed electronics, superconducting magnets, analog and digital integrated circuit design, and high power electronics. Bill has received several awards for these technical developments.

Science at Fermilab The bottom of the picture is a computer-generated display of the Top Quark using software that Bill Foster wrote in about 1990.

The IMB Proton Decay Detector

In 1979, Bill joined the IMB (Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven) collaboration as one of the key members who designed, built and conducted research. The IMB detector was a 60-foot cube of ultra-pure water constructed in a salt mine underneath Lake Erie. The water was surrounded by 2000 light-sensitive phototubes, designed to detect proton decay. The experiment became famous for the observation of the neutrino burst emitted by a nearby Supernova (exploding star).

A diver takes a swim in the IMB detector.

CDF - The Collider Detector at the Fermilab Tevatron

In 1984, Bill moved to Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois and join one of the largest and most exciting experiments in the world. The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) is the first and largest detector at the Fermilab Tevatron, the world's highest energy particle accelerator. The goal of the experiment was to discover the identity and properties of the particles that make up the universe and to understand the forces and interactions between those particles. Bill designed and built significant parts of the original equipment, and Bill and his equipment participated in the discovery of the Top Quark, the heaviest known form of matter.

The Collider Detector at Fermilab, being rolled out of the collision hall after the discovery of the Top Quark. Bill was responsible for a good part of the electronics and cables in this picture

Bill's Integrated Circuit Designs

In the early 1990's Bill led the team that designed a new type of integrated circuit (computer chip) that allowed particle physics collisions to be measured with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Bill's design is still being used at high energy physics experiments being built today.

Photograph of one of Bill's integrated circuits. The silicon "chip" is about 2mm (3/32nd of an inch) in size and contains many thousands of transistors. A typical particle physics experiment will use thousands of these specialized chips.

Bill and Fermilab's Particle Accelerators

In 1994 Bill began working on Fermilab's giant particle accelerators. During this time he managed several multi-million dollar accelerator construction and research projects. Bill was the co-inventor of Fermilab's Recycler Ring, the newest of Fermilab's giant machines. Each time Femilab's machines operate, the particle beams go through over 500 magnets that Bill designed and led the teams that built them.

Bill's Antiproton Recycler Ring is located in one of Fermilab's long circular tunnels. The Fermilab High-rise is at left.		The inside of the 2-mile long tunnel. Bill's Recycler magnets are the green objects at top.

Read More:

What is Fermilab? http://www.fnal.gov/pub/about/whatis/index.html

What is Particle Physics? http://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/matter/index.html

Physics at Fermilab: http://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/physics/index.html

Fermilab's Chain of Accelerators: http://www-bd.fnal.gov/public/index.html

The CDF experiment: http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/physics/physics.html

The Particle Adventure: an interactive tour of quarks, neutrinos, antimatter, extra dimensions, dark matter, accelerators and particle detectors:
http://particleadventure.org/index.html

FARC "Dirty Bomb" Claim Is Worst Bullshit Ever

The Colombian government is claiming they fired at a FARC camp inside Ecuador from inside Colombia, that none of their people entered Ecuador, and that they recovered a laptop from the destroyed camp. Apparently they used a two-kilometer long thingy to pick it up.

They claim FARC was trying to build a "dirty bomb" out of uranium. Uranium is barely radioactive. People handle heavy bricks of it (painted to prevent direct contact) with their bare hands. In fact, typical soils contain a few parts per million of uranium, which means there are a few grams of it in a ton of bricks. We haven't had to evacuate all areas around brick walls because of it.

The supposed "documents" also claim FARC was buying uranium at 2.5 million dollars a kilo. A quick Internet search shows that the price on commodities markets for uranium oxide ("yellowcake") is $76 per kilo. The writers couldn't even get that right.

However, the mainstream media doesn't seem to be running headlines saying "Colombian Government Is Totally Full of Shit." Apparently making such a basic judgment wouldn't be "fair". Why bother having a media at all if they can't point out such obvious lies?

Somali Tribal Elders Demand Cows From Hillary

It appears that the flap over the silly picture of Obama in a Somali outfit has spread to Kenya, with Somali tribal elders demanding that Hillary apologize for the affront to the Somali nation and make a compensation payment in cows. Didn't anyone think that insulting a Muslim ethnic group could potentially weaken the image of the United States in the Muslim world? Or is this just a case of some staffer thinking that was less important than the awesome task of insuring that the wrong person does not become the Great Leader:

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL29354901.html

Clinton faces Kenya cattle fine over Obama photo

Fri 29 Feb 2008, 16:24 GMT

[-] Text [+]

(Recasts, adds details, quotes)

By Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI, Feb 29 (Reuters) - Kenyan elders may impose a fine on U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, payable in livestock, after a photo of her rival Barack Obama in robes dragged their people into the race for the White House.

The picture, which appeared on a U.S. Web site, showed the Illinois senator in a white headdress and traditional Somali attire during a 2006 visit to Wajir in Kenya's remote northeast.

Obama has battled a whispering campaign by fringe elements who wrongly say he is Muslim and his aides accused Clinton's campaign of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering" after the photograph was published.

Wajir elders resolved to file an official complaint with the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, dropping earlier plans to hold a protest after Friday prayers.

They said they would also convene a traditional Somali court to investigate the matter. It can impose fines that are payable in cattle, goats or camels.

"We will go ahead with this case whether Senator Clinton or Democratic party leaders turn up or not," said Mohamed Ibrahim, a member of the clan that hosted Obama during his trip. "But this whole thing can be avoided if only an apology is made."

The late father of the Democratic frontrunner was from western Kenya.

Many in the east African country support Obama the way the Irish idolised U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s -- as one of their own who succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

"The clan he was with have every right to be offended," said Hussein Ali, a 32-year-old unemployed man outside the main Jamia Mosque in the capital Nairobi.

"Obama's enemies are trying to portray him as a terrorist, saying all Muslims, and especially Somalis, are dangerous men."

MOLLIFIED LOCALS

Clinton's campaign denies authorising the release of the controversial photo but says that, with 700 staffers, it could not be certain someone had not sent it out unofficially.

That has not mollified locals in Wajir, a small desert town near the Somali border, who demanded Clinton "clear her name".

Other Kenyans questioned the timing of the picture's publication, days before make-or-break votes in Ohio and Texas next week.

For many Americans, Somalia conjures up disturbing images of dead U.S. troops being dragged through Mogadishu's dusty streets during the "Black Hawk Down" battle of 1993.

The U.S. military launched air strikes on the Horn of Africa country last year in its hunt for al Qaeda, including suspects wanted over the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1988.

"We suspect the intent behind releasing this picture now, just before Tuesday's very critical vote," said Omar Jamal, head of the St Paul, Minnesota-based Somali Justice Advocacy Centre.

His lobby group, which works with Somali immigrants in the United States, has also demanded an apology from Clinton's camp.

"They are trying to make a link between a man who could be the next U.S. president and a country with al Qaeda terrorist activities. They're trying to tell citizens, look who you might be voting for," he told Reuters by telephone.

"Everyone is very upset. It's outrageous and undermining." (Additional reporting by Noor Ali in Isiolo; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Israeli Official Makes Worst Choice of Words Ever

Wow!

The Times of London reports:

"An Israeli minister gave warning today that the army may unleash a “holocaust” on the Gaza Strip if Islamists there do not end their daily barrages of home-made Qassam rockets and their increasing use of Iranian-built Grad missiles.

"The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," Matan Vilnai, the Deputy Defence Minister said."

Now we know Zionism is dead, and morally bankrupt. An official of a state supposedly founded so the Holocaust can never happen again has actually threatened people with a "holocaust".

To be fair, some observers say that the term "shoah" in Hebrew can be used to refer to disasters other than the Holocaust. But isn't it obvious that in an atmosphere of racial conflict like this, that it's inflammatory to use that word?

The Tennessee Republican Party Leaps off the Deep End!

This is amazing- this is not from Ann Coulter! This is not from some nutty right-wing radio talk show host! This isn't even from some nebulous 527 paid for by some eccentric Republican billonaire! This appeared on the web site of the actual Republican Party of Tennessee as an actual press release. They tried to modify it after the nasty reaction, but Google has the original in its cache! Now, we can see what they actually put on their OFFICIAL Web site! Unfortunately, the cached copy highlighted my search terms. Edits in the current copy are described below [in brackets]:

By the way, this same dolt who wrote this was fired from his last job for posting a "Mohammed Blows" cartoon on his blog. Apparently the Tennessee Republican party either doesn't know how to use Google, or more likely, they're a bunch of racist jerks who dig this kind of thing.

[photo of Obama in silly Somali outfit was removed from the article]

ANTI-SEMITES FOR OBAMA

NASHVILLE, TN - The Tennessee Republican Party today joins a growing chorus of Americans concerned about the future of the nation of Israel, the only stable democracy in the Middle East, if Sen. Barack Hussein Obama is elected president of the United States.

["Hussein" was removed.]

“It’s time to set the record straight about Barack Obama and where he really stands on vital issues such as national security and the security of Israel,” said Robin Smith, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “Voters need to know about two items that surfaced today which strongly suggest that an Obama presidency will view Israel as a problem rather than a partner for peace in the Middle East.

On Sunday, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan on Sunday likened Obama to a new messiah, calling him “the hope of the entire world.” That’s the same Louis Farrakhan who has a history of making openly anti-Semitic statements, calling Judaism a “gutter religion,” and suggesting that crack cocaine might have been a CIA plot to enslave blacks.

Farrakhan, addressing 20,000 people at the annual Savior’s Day celebration in Chicago, praised the Democrat presidential candidate, calling Obama “The hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better.”

He also compared Obama to the founder of Islam, remarking that both had a white mother and black father, according to the Associated Press. “A black man with a white mother became a savior to us,” Farrakhan said. “A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.”

Obama, (pictured dressed in Muslim attire in a 2006 visit to Africa) has on the campaign trail pledged to rapidly remove American soldiers from Iraq regardless of the resulting instability and the creation of opening that would be filled by Islamic extremists, like Al Qaeda, in Iraq’s government and military.

[reference to the photo in previous paragraph has been removed]

Obama has pledged to hold a Muslim Summit to determine Middle East policy with the very leaders that have as their goal to remove Israel from the map, referenced Jews to be “dogs” and “pigs,” among other vile references.

Over the weekend, news reports surfaced casting more disturbing evidence of Obama’s anti-Israel leanings.

The board of a nonprofit organization on which Obama served as a paid director alongside a confessed domestic terrorist granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a “catastrophe.”

The co-founder of that organization, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, who also has held a fundraiser for Obama, is a harsh critic of Israel and has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror. Khalidi reportedly has worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was involved in anti-Western terrorism and was labeled by the State Department as a terror group.

The Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant in 2001 to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, for which Khalidi’s wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002. Obama was a director of the Woods Fund board from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund’s website. Tax records show he was paid $6,000 per year for his service in 1999 and 2001.

Also serving on the Wood’s Fund board alongside Obama was current University of Illinois-Chicago professor William C. Ayers, who was a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.

“You don’t even have to go outside Obama’s campaign to find advisers who are anti-Israel,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “Robert Malley, a principal foreign policy adviser to Obama, has advocated negotiations with the Iranian-funded radical terrorist group Hamas and urged that Hamas – which sends suicide bombers to kill innocent women and children - receive international assistance.”

According to DiscoverTheNetworks.org, an online guide to the political Left, Malley “consistently condemns Israel, exonerates Palestinians, urges U.S. disengagement from Israel, and recommends that America reach out to negotiate with its traditional Arab enemies.”

“Nothing in Barack Obama’s history or his choice of advisers suggests he will be a friend to Israel,” said Hobbs. “On the contrary, supporters of Israel should view a possible Obama administration with extreme caution, as America’s ally is being put in the cross-hairs by the anti-Jewish left.”

A Spry Farrakhan Sings Obama’s Praises
Associated Press
http://www.breitbart.com/print.php?id=D8V13IMO1&show_article=1

Farrakhan: Obama is the ‘hope of the entire world’
Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/811444,CST-NWS-farr25.article

Islamic Links on Obama Web Site Stir Criticism
CNS News
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200802/NAT20080225a.html

Robert Malley
DiscoverTheNetworks.org
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2310

-30-

[here the Republican Pary added a snide remark on their correction under pressure from the IslamoHippie oppressors: "*Clarification: This release originally referenced a photo of Sen. Obama and incorrectly termed it to be “”Muslim” garb. It is, in fact, Somali tribal garb, hence, we have deleted the photo. Also, in order to diffuse attempts by Democrats and the Left to divert attention from the main point of this release - that Sen. Obama has surrounded himself with advisers and recieved endorsements from people who are anti-Semitic and anti-Israel - we have deleted the use of Barack Obama’s middle name."]

Bill Hobbs
Communications Director
Tennessee Republican Party
2424 21st Avenue, Suite 200
Nashville, Tennessee 37212
Phone: (615) 269-4260
Email: billhobbs@tngop.org

Comtempt of Congress: The Republicans Who Voted Yes

On the straightforward question of whether Harriet Myers and Josh Bolten are in contempt of Congress (the correct answer is yes), only three Republicans voted in favor of contempt of Congress. The three Republicans were Wayne Gilchrist, Walter Jones, and Ron Paul. These are also the three antiwar Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This is very odd. Apparently fighting the war in Iraq requires corrupt US Attorneys. And despite losing the majority in 2006, having a president who has a 24% approval rating, a Republican nominee-apparent who appears to be badly trailing his most likely opponent in the polls, and signs that the next elections will be as disastrous for Republicans in Congress as the last one, every single Republican except these three continues to march in lockstep off Bush's cliff. It makes you wonder if they're afraid of being anthraxed.

1979: When Barack Obama was Right On