70 assaults per day

So, on TV here in Houston just the other night, the "newscasters" were pushing a rally to honor our military "heroes."  

"Come out and say 'thank you' and honor all those who serve!" is the pitch.

Same day, we learn that, throughout the year 2012, there were an average of 70 sexual assaults per day committed in the U.S. military.   70 sexual assaults per day!!

Tell me again about all of these "heroes"?  

It's quite obvious that "we" don't really want to have a discussion about 70 sexual assaults per day.   I imagine that most of these assaults are conducted by men against women.  And so when are we going to discuss how many MEN are being raped by other men every day in the U.S. military?

What?  You don't think that's happening?

Military Sexual Assaults Spike Despite Efforts To Combat Epidemic

Sexual assaults occurred at an average of more than 70 per day in the United States military during 2012, according to anannual report released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Reports of sexual assault in the military rose during October 2011 through September 2012 by 6 percent from the prior year. A total of about 26,000 service members said they experienced unwanted sexual contact in 2012, nearly 7,000 more than in 2010, when about 19,300 members of the military reported inappropriate sexual contact.

The report released Tuesday by Defense's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) follows the Sunday arrest of Lt. Col Jeffrey Krusinski, head of the Air Force SAPRO program, under allegations of sexual assault of a woman. Krusinski, arrested in Arlington, Va., has been officially removed from duty pending an investigation.

"We're all outraged and disgusted over these very troubling allegations," Hagel said in a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, announcing a SAPRO strategic plan for 2013 that aims to enhance commander accountability, improve response to victims, and assess the military justice system.

"We may very well be nearing a stage where the frequency of this crime and the perception there is tolerance of it could very well undermine [the mission]," Hagel warned. "That is unacceptable to me and the leaders of this institution, and it should be unacceptable to anyone associated with the U.S. military."

the rest here.

Sanford wins

No one really expected Elizabeth Colbert-Busch to win that US House seat in South Carolina.  It is heavily GOP already.  And with Sanford piling on the Biblical references, well, how can you turn your back on an imperfect man of God?!  

It is reported that one Sanford supporter approached Mark and said, "You look a lot like Lazarus."  (Retch!)

The Talking Dead

10 years?!

We've been on "vacation" for the last week, and we come back to this weird story about the three girls that were kidnapped 10 years ago ... and were found ... alive.

The neighbor who saved them is amazing.  Take a look.

May stargazing

There's a blur

in the sky

on the glass

in your eye

Are they aliens?

Or family?

May Stargazing

Closing In
Hubble Space Telescope snapped this image of Comet ISON on April 10, when the comet was 394 million miles from the Sun. The comet will pass less than one million miles from the Sun in late November.

Texas Legislature Honors Observatory's 75th AnniversaryOn April 23, the Texas House of Representatives and Senate honored The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory for 75 years of discovery. The observatory's 75th anniversary is coming up in May 2014.

Venus returns to evening skies this month, shining as the "evening star" quite low in the west at nightfall by month's end. By that time, its only rival in the night sky, brilliant Jupiter, is dropping toward the Sun and getting ready to exit the evening sky. In the meantime, one of the signature constellations of summer, Scorpius, skitters into view in late evening, preceded by the scorpion's long-lost claws, the stars of Libra, the balance scales.

More stargazing information »

Support StarDate: Help us keep our date with the stars by making a tax-deductible donation to StarDate. If you give $20 or more, we'll send you a digital copy of our Sky Almanac 2013, full of stargazing tips and other timely info for the entire year.

May 1-5: Stars galore. The skies of a neighborhood a few thousand light-years from our own are filled with a bounty of stars, and we'll tell you why. We'll also tell you about some models of our own solar system and much more.

May 6-12: Recalibrating. It takes a lot of work to compare observations of stars and galaxies made many years apart — even if they're made from the same telescope. This series of StarDate radio programs May 6-8 profiling the work of Texas astronomer Fritz Benedict and colleagues will explain why astronomers never throw away old observations, and why they must constantly recalibrate telescopes to keep their observations consistent.

May 13-19: Blasts from the past. We'll peer into the history of astronomy and space exploration this week with tales of two missions, plus a man who gave us a whole new set of constellations. Join us for this, plus a look at the celestial strongman.

May 20-26: Moon meanderings. The Moon passes a bright star and an even brighter planet this week. It also starts a new cycle of eclipses — one that will last for almost 13 centuries. Join us for this plus a meeting of three planets in the evening sky.

May 27-31: Evening encounter. Venus and Jupiter, the brightest planets in the night sky, swing past each other early this week, while a slightly fainter third planet looks on. Join us for this plus the beautiful northern celestial crown.

May program schedule »

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In our May/June issue, StarDate brings you feature-length excerpts from new books in astronomy. In Paul Murdin's Are We Being Watched? find out why he thinks ET will be found in this century. William H. Waller explains how why we think we know our galaxy's shape from our place inside it in The Milky Way. And find out how one physicist is trying to change how scientists see time in Lee Smolin's Time Reborn.

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Wherever your summer travels take you, use the StarDate Telescopes Guide to find an observatory, planetarium, astronomy club, or other group that offers views of the night sky through a telescope. We've added more than 40 locations to our listings, bringing the total to 75, spread across most of the states, from Maine to Hawaii. Many are free, while others charge only a nominal fee.

View the Guide »

We've expanded the StarDate Black Hole Encyclopedia with profiles of a galaxy with an unusually "fat" black hole at its center, another in which two black holes are merging to make one, and a small black hole that recently ate a small but spectacular snack.

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