Back to Basics

From the UK Independent:

It is the second-lightest element in the Universe, has the lowest boiling-point of any gas and is commonly used through the world to inflate party balloons. But helium is also a non-renewable resource and the world’s reserves of the precious gas are about to run out, a shortage that is likely to have far-reaching repercussions.
Scientists have warned that the world’s most commonly used inert gas is being depleted at an astonishing rate because of a law passed in the United States in 1996 which has effectively made helium too cheap to recycle.
The law stipulates that the US National Helium Reserve, which is kept in a disused underground gas field near Amarillo, Texas – by far the biggest store of helium in the world – must all be sold off by 2015, irrespective of the market price.
The experts warn that the world could run out of helium within 25 to 30 years, potentially spelling disaster for hospitals, whose MRI scanners are cooled by the gas in liquid form, and anti-terrorist authorities who rely on helium for their radiation monitors, as well as the millions of children who love to watch their helium-filled balloons float into the sky. . . .

I’m on the run early today, but I didn’t want the morning to slip by without putting this up for discussion. In a somewhat surprising move, Arizona Governor Brewer vetoed the “birther” bill. Two-thirds of the Arizona legislature would now be required to override:

(CNN) — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill late Monday that would have required President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove they were American citizens, born in the United States, before their names could have been placed on the state ballot.

The so-called “birther bill” got final approval in the state House last week. Now that Brewer, a Republican, has vetoed it, the bill will not become law unless legislators vote to override her veto.

“As a former Secretary of State, I do not support designating one person as a gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically-motivated decisions,” the governor wrote in a letter addressed to the Arizona House speaker.

Under the measure, if there were any dispute about whether a candidate had proved he or she had been born in the United States, Arizona’s secretary of state would have the final say.

“This measure creates significant new problems while failing to do anything constructive for Arizona,” she added.

Mitt Romney just dodged a bullet. Whew!

More from Fox Phoenix:

As for her decision to veto this bill, Gov. Brewer said in part: “I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for President of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their ‘early baptismal or circumcision certificates’… this is a bridge too far. This measure creates significant new problems while failing to do anything constructive for Arizona.”

The governor explained her veto to Greta Van Susteren last night:

Brewer also vetoed SB1467, the “guns on campus” bill.