This is my favorite quote by Thomas Jefferson, "That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves."Thomas Jefferson Quotes - The Quotations Page

Barbra "Babs" Streisand, on the other hand, likes this one she found and published as part of a rant on her...blog. It is part of a letter Jefferson wrote to John Taylor Philadelphia on June 4, 1798. She conveniently ignores the entire thrust of the letter, which advises Philadelphia to stay the course--continue the struggle for independence from England as a united republic composed of the original 13 colonies. Jefferson writes, "But who can say what would be the evils of a scission, and when & where they would end? Better keep together as we are, hawl off from Europe as soon as we can, & from all attachments to any portions of it. And if we feel their power just sufficiently to hoop us together, it will be the happiest situation in which we can exist."

Perhaps all those Hollywood and media types who are screeching about secession from the U.S. can read Jefferson's advice and just--stifle themselves.

"Solar sails" have been popular concepts in science fiction for years. Finally, a solar sail experiment is in the works that may lead to the use of the technique in future missions to Mars.