Photo, left: Yutu (Chinese: 玉兔; pinyin: Yùtù; literally: "Jade Rabbit") is an unmanned lunar rover that forms part of the Chinese Chang'e 3 mission to the Moon. It was launched at 17:30 UTC on 1 December 2013, and reached the Moon's surface on 14 December 2013. The mission marks the first soft landing on the Moon since 1976 and the first rover to operate there since the Soviet Lunokhod 2 ceased operations on 11 May 1973. The rover encountered operational difficulties after the first 14-day lunar night (after about a month on the Moon), and was unable to move after the end of the second lunar night, however it is still gathering some useful data.
       Moon rabbit in folklore is a rabbit that lives on the Moon, based on pareidolia that identifies the markings of the Moon as a rabbit. The story exists in many cultures, prominently in East Asian folklore and Aztec mythology. In East Asia, it's seen pounding in a mortar and pestle, but the contents of the mortar differ among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean folklore. In Chinese folklore, the rabbit is often portrayed as a companion of the Moon goddess Chang'e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her; but in Japanese and Korean versions, it's pounding the ingredients for rice cake.
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com. Dr. David M. Livingston, The Space Show.
 
Hour One
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 1, Block A: Charles Burton, professor at Brock University, in re: The American ambassador to South Korea was attacked in Seoul: a man wielding a razor slashed him in the face.
What to watch at China's NPC  China's lawmakers gather in Beijing this week for a two-week confab ("the Two Meetings/Two Sessions") where previously-decided policies are announced and communist officials make rare public speeches. In the Chinese parliament, the National Peoples Congress,  4% of the delegates have an avg net worth of $2.3 billion – vastly more than held by US Congresspersons.
Much will be predictable: There'll be thunderous applause in the Soviet-style Great Hall of the People as Premier Li Keqiang reads out his government work report; scrums of photographers will seek snaps of celebrities such as Jackie Chan or Mao Zedong's grandson; and journalists will jostle for seats at the hottest press conferences, including one by People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan.  Other issues are less certain. Here's a few to watch at . . . [more]
Predict: A 7% GDP growth in the coming year. Reform of the state sector for mkt efficiencies & increased expenditure on public goods such as health care and education. Create 10 million new jobs in cities?  Not enough . . . and 39  members of NPC not attending because they’ve been purged for corruption.  People are terrorized and imprisoned; assets seized; families sanctioned and deprived of businesses.  A dangerous situation. Purges continue among senior military figures. 
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 1, Block B: Sarah Cook, senior research analyst for East Asia at Freedom House, in re: Tencent video, social media king – 136 milli0n views or more; the video rebuke of State governance didn't occur because it was about environmental pollution.  Govt admits it's a big problem; "Even the police have children whom they worry about." The coming Two Sessions/Two Meetings . . . This cd be seen as an attack on CNPC (China Natl Petroleum Corp), previously directed by Zhou who was urged; alternatively, the producer travelled to the US for birth tourism in case she has to flee.  However, her current child has a tumor, so it’s a very personal story.  It maybe that the State can’t do much about this because they all have to breathe the air. 
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102468543
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/27/us-china-security-idUSKBN0LV19020150227
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 1, Block C: William Harwood, CBS News/Kennedy Space Center, in re: the SpaceX launch "by the light f the waxing Moon." on a clear night with 9 engines firing at once. Spectacular.   Money saved by Boeing using ion propulsion system, so cd launch two satellites at once (both primary payloads) for a bargain-basement price.  Falcon9 is a low-cost booster to start with, so it’s a remarkably economical flight.  Utilsat and the other company paid $30 mil each, which is a low cost for this.  Geosynchronous orbit:  22,300 mi above the Equator.  Elon Musk speaking of an upgrade of Falcon9.  Highly elliptical orbit – from ~2,000 too ~20,000 miles (supersynchronous transfer orbit). Ion propulsion motors have very low thrust but run continuously.  / Looking for an electrical short; JPL:  last Friday, Curiosity rover was doing a drill op on _____ and shook the powder into a sample tray, but there was a short, which triggered a fault monitor.    .. . .  The drill both spins and is a percussive hammer.  In April, 25th anniversary of the Hubble launch. Kepler is the miraculous NASA probe with the exoplanet bunty.   
Wednesday  4 March 20 15  / Hour 1, Block D: Michael Auslin, AEI, in re: Amb Mark Lippert, US amb to South Korea, was attacked some hours ago in a restaurant in Seoul by a madman with a small knife; Amb Lippert exited the restaurant clutching his forehead. Attacker screamed that he wants the Koreas united.  Pres Park has called this an attack on the US-Korea alliance.  The attacker has already served jail time for having attacked the Japanese ambassador.  Irony that the amb was at a breakfast umbrella mtg on unification.  What could happen is that an incident like this could snowball into mass protests. . . . Korea is very much a split society on the matter of unification; elders remember unity, youth food not, Amb Edwin Reischauer was attacked in 1966 by a deranged man.  Why was there no security around Amb Lippert? State Dept has done a bad job in protecting US representatives.
 
Hour Two
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 2, Block A: Harry Kazianis, editor of RealClearDefense and senior fellow for Defense Policy at the Center for the National Interest, in re:  China is become a predatory state, ahs the largest defense expenditure on the planet: $145 billion. Of curse, we don’t know he real budget, which clearly is greater than that . It's a 10.1%  increase; shows that the Chinese military now has increasing political power, and the senior officers have pledged personal fealty to Xi Jinping. China is building islands in the South China Sea in international waters to chip away at the intl order – slowly; Machiavellian moves.   Scarborough Shoal; the rise of its military might.  The ADIZ launched 18 mos ago; deploying oil rigs in Vietnam's territory;  to dominate Asia.  Islands aren't large, but are big enough for an air or sea base.  What the US has done for 200 years is defend the freedom of  navigation.   No one can draw a line around a large body of water – the global commons.  China's 9- or  10-dash line of claimed space. With these islets China could enforce its new claims.  Each island serves as an aircraft carrier.  Over time, routine to consider that China dominates the region. Note that while the US has an enormous defense budget, its spread over he planet, whereas China is sending al this on relatively local actions.
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 2, Block B: Rick Fisher, senior Fellow on Asian Military Affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, on this: No substantive cooperation between US and China because the Congress has forbidden, but Pres Obama is eager to do so anyway so has sent US experts to brief China.  Congress most concerned about weaponization of space.  Space warfare:  Bill Getz points out that Pres Obama's arms-control mentality prevents US from being able to defend it s space assets. US has the most to lose in that realm, is dependent on low-Earth orbit, while China has dvpd multiple ways to take down US asses and also is building high warfare, US cannot attack satellites as Pres Obama has forbidden the use of DOD dollars wither to attack or deter a space attack.  China much increases its space weaponry while tying down the US with arms-control agreements.  On the first day of a war we'd lose most of our assets; China would dominate space and win the war on Earth. The Obama Administration as made no statement abt the possibility of Chinese-Russian cooperation. China wants to sign the Russians up for nuclear warfare coordination.   Russia wants to sell technology to China (needs hard currency).  US won't – and now – can't defend itself in space. 
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinas-space-weapons-threaten-us-satellites/, especially our ability to shoot down enemy satellites.
China Could Target U.S. Comm Satellites, Disrupt Military Communication: The country wants to become the number one space power.
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 2, Block C: Steven L Herman, Southeast Asia Bureau Chief/Correspondent, Voice of America; in re:  Kim Kee-jong, the assailant who slashed Amb Mark Lippert with a 10-inch-long knife several hours ago; was a professor, then set himself on fire, then threw things at the Japanese ambassador. Was convicted, given a suspended sentence; the North Korean media then criticized Seoul for "oppressing" Mr Kim.  Security around the US ambassador has been much heightened. 
Bangladesh: A Bangladeshi-born American blogger, known for his outspoken criticism of Islamic religious fundamentalism, was hacked to death by machete-wielding attackers in the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday night, police said. Abhik Roy, US blogger, was lured with his wife to a literary festival, then was hacked to death in front of his wife.  Apparently because of Roy's humanism.  The Rapid Action Battalion of Bangladesh arrested an Islamist blogger.  Bengalis are the intellectuals in that part of the world – poets, philosophers, litterateurs.  Attacker was busted twice for Islamist threats and violence.  A lot of bus passengers were roasted to death recently for he same problems.  "The battling Begums."
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 2, Block D:  Bruce Bechtol, Angelo State, author, The Last Days of Kim Jong-il: The North Korean Threat in a Changing Era, in re: South Korean attacks US ambassador in Seoul. DPRK will endeavor to use this act for propaganda. Fired SCUD missiles a few days ago in reaction to a large US-ROK military exercise; usually do something provocative at the beginning and the end of such exercises (missile launches, et al.; things planned well  in advance).  DPRK will say that this attack shows that the citizenry don’t want the US imperialists on the peninsula. South Koreans will not agree, as most of the populace is center-right. The lunatic left is a small but significant minority.   Left is more xenophobic than the right is, and more anti-Western.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 3, Block A:  Monica Crowley, Fox, & Washington Times Online opinion editor; in re:  Caught Off Guard by Disclosure of Emails, Democrats Rally to Clinton's Defense   The revelation that Hillary Rodham Clinton conducted government ... The report on Mrs. Clinton's emails, published by The New York Times late Monday   House committee subpoenas e-mails from Clinton's personal account    House committee subpoenas Clinton emails in Benghazi probe
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 3, Block B: Monica Crowley, Fox, & Washington Times Online opinion editor; in re: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/414519/some-uncomfortable-questions-democratic-candidates-mona-charen?target=author&tid=1838
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 3, Block C:  Mona Charen, NRO, in re:
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 3, Block D:  Jason McGorman, Bloomberg Intelligence, in re: Supreme Court arguments on the Affordable Care Act and tax subsidies, Bloomberg Intelligence has some great data and analysis. According to senior health care analyst Jason McGorman, a ruling could hurt hospitals and insurers if states don’t compromise on running exchanges. BI has explored a number of potential outcomes and can discuss the effects on hospitals, insurance companies, the states involved and of course patients. 
 
Hour Four
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 4, Block A:  Avik Roy, Manhattan Institute, in re: http://www.amazon.com/Medicaid-Fails-Poor-Encounter-Broadsides/dp/1594037523 (1 of 2)
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 4, Block B: Avik Roy, Manhattan Institute, in re: http://www.amazon.com/Medicaid-Fails-Poor-Encounter-Broadsides/dp/1594037523 (2 of 2)
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 4, Block C: Timothy Kane, Hoover, in re: The Economic Effect of Immigration  Critics of the president’s executive actions on immigration reform go too far when they claim that immigrants are harmful to the US economy. Simplistic appeals to economic logic, gilded with nativist assumptions, hint that the arrival of millions of immigrant workers cannot help but compete for a finite number of American-based . . .
Wednesday  4 March 2015  / Hour 4, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: methane on Mars, and Yutu.