The summer countdown is almost over, as Congress prepares to resume session this Monday. During the August recess, many Republicans stayed in Washington to stage untelevised protests on the House floor, demanding that Democrats return to discuss offshore drilling and a workable energy plan.

Now that the time has finally come to resume bipartisan debate, Democrats are beginning to get the spin rooms up and running.

"American families and businesses are demanding a comprehensive energy policy that increases our domestic supply and encourages investment in clean, renewable energy," says one Pelosi press release. "But time and again, Congressional Republicans have voted against our efforts to expand domestic drilling, to release oil from the nation's stockpile to bring down...

Every two years, we are all forced to remember that no matter how much progress we have made, no matter how much we are drawn closer in an increasingly interconnected world, there is one thing we will never agree on. A woman's right to choose will never be made compatible with a fetus's right to life. They are this generation's Odd Couple. (You can decide which one is the messy one.)

So for an issue with intractable battle lines drawn on both sides, one would think that in the interest of unity, we would not talk about it so much. And in the interest of unity, maybe our duly elected leaders would stop pouring rhetorical salt in painful wounds.

In election years, many people just do not care about unity. Some of them are called the Bush administration. New rules, according to The...

Those addicted to the comical Showtime series Weeds will recall a scene in which the gangster named "U-turn" purchases a fleet of hybrid-electric Toyota Priuses so he could use their stealth for drive-by shootings in South L.A. But the dark comedy in the vehicle's quiet ways is no laughing matter for some California state legislators who worry these types of cars are too dangerous for blind people.

State Senator Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach, CA, is trying to enact a bill aimed at making these four-wheeled eco-saviors louder. Lowenthal believes that at present, the cars don't make enough noise to be heard by the blind and visually impaired as they are trying to cross the street.

Unfortunately, there's no data to support or reject Lowenthals claims that...

Commercial buildings consume nearly one fifth of the nation's energy. But that could change dramatically if by 2025 all new office and retail buildings generate as much energy as they use.

That's the goal of the U.S. Department of Energy's Zero-Net Energy Commercial Building Initiative, announced earlier this month. The efforts support the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 , which calls for spending up to $200 million per year by 2013 to accelerate the development of high-performance green buildings.

A federal judge ignited the medical marijuana debate further yesterday after upholding a lawsuit brought by the city of Santa Cruz and various marijuana growers against federal drug enforcement agents that seized their crops in a 2002 raid.

In 1996, California voters approved by referendum a new law allowing individuals to grow and use marijuana with their doctor's approval. But federal drug agents and prosecutors have failed to recognize California's right to pass such a law, and have continued to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries and seize all products.

The U.S. Supreme Court have upheld the actions of federal officials in the past, but U.S. Federal District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel said the plaintiffs in the current case may be able to show that the federal government...

NASA found itself once again saying, "Houston, we have a problem," when it announced Friday that it has terminated a Houston-based contract to develop a new line of high-tech of spacesuits. Responding to a competitor's complaints, the space agency said it will reopen the bidding on the $184 million contract.

Perhaps taking a note from the recent Boeing/ Northrop Grumman contracting debacle, which resulted in a months-long lobbying war, NASA has asked two rival companies to make "limited" revisions before resubmitting their proposals.

The winner will become the first outfitter for the nation's astronaut corps since the 1980s, when suits for use aboard the space shuttle were introduced.

With plans to return to the moon by 2020 and establish a lunar base, astronauts...

As the headlines will tell you, Americans are driving less these days. But should you care? Absolutely.

While the drop in demand is good news for future petroleum pricing, it spells bad news for federal and state budgets that rely on income from gasoline taxes to pay for public infrastructure projects like road and bridge repair.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Americans drove 12.2 billion miles less in June than they did a year earlier. Undoubtedly, the decrease stems from the elevated cost of gasoline, which was up over a dollar since 2007.

The decline in miles driven represents the eighth straight month that Americans have opted to keep their cars in park more frequently. Since November 2007, Americans collected drove 53.2 billion miles less than they did the previous...

The Associated Press reports that the Bush Administration plans to bypass Congress and gut the Endangered Species Act (ESA) much in the same way a predator may gut an actual endangered creature.

Currently, federal agencies wishing to go forward with construction and development projects must submit to independent reviews by scientists, in order to make sure they would not be violating the ESA. However, a draft of new rules would only require agencies to review their own case and decide for themselves if their proposed action would damage endangered wildlife or their habitats.

Previous attempts to implement similar deregulation have failed to survive the Senate (in 2005) and courts (in 2003). Imagine the Bush Administration as the child who asks his mother for permission and is denied, who...

In the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, Batman utilizes sonar technology to look through walls and floors of a building while saving hostages. The U.S. Army Communications- Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center is developing a similar product called Sense through the Wall Technology (STTW) that will one day give U.S. soldiers a similar advantage.

With STTW, soldiers will be able to identify and locate enemy forces and equipment hidden behind walls, doors and other obstructions in an urban terrain. The technology gives the advantage of locating enemies and engaging them with the element of surprise.

STTW uses radio waves that it bounces off buildings and people, and can determine a person's heart rate, respiration and where they are located inside a building.



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As Congress wrapped up for the month-long summer recess last week, Democrats and Republicans squeaked out debate over one last age-old question: a woman's worth.

Although the wage gap between men and women has narrowed since the passage of the landmark Equal Pay Act in 1963, Democrats contend that that legal loopholes have allowed too many employers to avoid liability for engaging in gender-based pay discrimination.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women only make 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. The Institute of Women's Policy Research found that this wage disparity will cost women anywhere from $400,000 to $2 million over a lifetime in lost wages. Many industry experts believe the pay gap stems not just from old fashion views that men, as the primary family bread...