This will get the fundie freaks' underwear in a wad

[stevedeshazer]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/10/07/on_the_south_lawn_white_house.html?wprss=44

On the South Lawn, White House Readies for a 'Star Party'

<snip>

By Joel Achenbach
President Obama, having spent much of the day pondering Afghanistan, spent a few seconds Wednesday night looking through a telescope at a double-star system roughly one quadrillion miles away.

The South Lawn of the White House was littered with some 20 telescopes and what might be called portable planetariums -- inflated tents with images of the universe projected on the ceiling. This was the Obama "star party," a night for astronomy with 150 Washington-area students.

It was 400 years ago, the president told the students, that Galileo built his first telescope and began probing the universe.

"Galileo changed the world when he pointed his telescope to the sky. Now it's your turn," Obama said. "Don't let anyone tell ya that there isn't more to discover."

[saltpoint]

1. Them liberal science-types are tryin' to lure the younguns away from

God.

All that outer-space razzmatazz...

[scheming daemons]

2. It was 400 years ago, when the GOP's forebears locked Galileo up for daring to study the stars

....and report his findings.

[hfojvt]

12. well he was placed under house arrest in 1633

not for reporting his own findings but for advocating the theories of Copernicus, and also for mocking his friend the Pope Urban VIII who had encouraged him to write the book he got in trouble for. The trouble was not that severe, as wiki writes

"After a period with the friendly Ascanio Piccolomini (the Archbishop of Siena), Galileo was allowed to return to his villa at Arcetri near Florence, where he spent the remainder of his life under house arrest, and where he later became blind. It was while Galileo was under house arrest that he dedicated his time to one of his finest works, Two New Sciences. Here he summarized work he had done some forty years earlier, on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials. This book has received high praise from both Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. As a result of this work, Galileo is often called, the "father of modern physics.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei#Church_controversy

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. Look for the Headline in the NY Post or Drudge: "Once Again Obama Administration Panders to Stars"

[stevedeshazer]

5. DUzy.

:rofl:

[Swamp Rat]

4. I hope they point their telescopes toward the Moon.

:D

[stevedeshazer]

6. Good one!

:hi:

[Swamp Rat]

7. It probably doesn't make any sense

unless one has read the "NASA to bomb the Moon" thread. :D :hi:

I left a little space to add something else, but I am too tired to work on it anymore... :)

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Hey Swampy...you "home" now?

[Lucy Goosey]

8. Indoctrination! Teaching kids science will turn them into Hitler Youth!

Or communists! Whatever! I'm outraged, and I don't care why!

[hfojvt]

10. I hope he is not pushing the idea that Galileo invented the telescope

that would be wrong.

[EmilyAnne]

11. Makes sense. Outer space has a liberal bias. And its socialist since its spread all around.

[Enthusiast]

14. Excellent observation, EmilyAnne. nt

[Beaverhausen]

13. pics from the event here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8689132

[ellie]

15. How fun!

I wish I could have gone.

[TorchTheWitch]

16. knickers in a twist, panties in a bunch

so many abused undergarments

[Cass]

My child's school had one of those portable planetariums set up in the school library last year.

It was great fun and the kids loved it, so did the parents!

I love Pres Obama's quote to the students -- "don't let anyone tell ya that there isn't more to discover."

[piratefish08]

17. "Look at dem edumucated libruls with all their fancy shmancy devil scopes!"