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Star Wars is no longer a dream for many. The laser actually works today and is very successful in all the testing it's been used for.

To know that we have this kind of power here in the U.S. should help us feel a bit safer right? Well, anyone that knows even just the movie. Take this and put it in the hands of an Evil ruler and it would seem we all would have a major Empire to fight.
This is a very cool piece of technology. I guess at this point it couldn't have come at a better time.

clipped from www.cbsnews.com U.S. Navy Successfully Uses Laser to Shoot Down Drones The U.S. Navy has used a a laser weapon to shoot down four unmanned aerial vehicles in a test that rings up memories of Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense shield in the 1980s. The successful test of the Laser Weapon System off the coast of California was announced during the Farnborough International Air Show, which is taking place this week in England. clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk The weapon, mounted on a warship’s missile, shot down four unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in secret testing carried out off the California coast, The Daily Telegraph has learnt. The laser is mounted on a Phalanx close in weapons system that has a radar detection system. The targeting system was used in Iraq, to train fire from a Gatling onto rockets and mortars raining down on British bases. clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk He called the California tests ‘a great day for the laser.’ The Laser Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) produces a 50 kilowatt beam clipped from www.cbsnews.com

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Christian preacher arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin

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clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Mr McAlpine was handing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments or offering a 'ticket to heaven' with a church colleague on April 20, when a woman came up and engaged him in a debate about his faith Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships. The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Workington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God. Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.

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Dutch plan to let healthy elderly people commit suicide

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clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Healthy elderly people who are simply "tired of living" could be allowed to end their lives with a lethal injection under new euthanasia laws being debated by the Dutch parliament. The country's MPs will discuss the "right to die" proposals after a campaign forced a debate by collecting over 100,000 signatures in support. The influential Dutch "Right to Die" campaign, active since 1973, has launched new "vrijwillig levenseinde", or "of free will", demands to extend euthanasia beyond assisted suicide for terminally ill people. The group has proposed training non-medical staff to administer a lethal injection to healthy people over the age of 70 who "consider their lives complete" and want to die. Under the plans, the suicide assistants would be certified and would be required to make sure that patients were not temporarily depressed and had a "heartfelt and enduring desire" to die.

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