From BBC NEWS:

The UN draft treaty would establish who should be in charge in the event of an asteroid heading towards Earth, who would pay for relief efforts and the policies that should be adopted.

In addition, it would set out possible plans to deflect the object.

Ideas could include hitting the asteroid with a spacecraft or rocket to deflect its orbit.

Other less destructive proposals include a "gravity tug" that would simply hover over the asteroid and use gravity as a "towline" to change its path.

But any decision to deflect an NEO could come with its own set of conundrums for the UN, as changing its path may simply alter its final target.

"It's important to understand when you start to deflect an asteroid that certain countries are going to have accept an increase in risk to their populations in order to take the risk to zero for everyone," said Dr Schweickart.

It is difficult decisions like this which can only be addressed by the UN, the Association of Space Explorers believes.

1. I didn't realize we actually had tractor beams yet.

2.  So which country(ies) is going to be asked to accept the risk?  With the UN in charge, I know what my guess would be.

3.  "Only be addressed by the UN."  Right.

4.  The likelihood of this actually happening is very small.  However, just one more mark on the chalkboard to keep tally of the utter arrogance of the United Nations.

UPDATE:  The Nose On Your Face comments.

At Free Constitution.

Technorati Tags: second amendment, rkba

UPDATE:  Okay, the party's over, folks.  I don't know where all you freaks are coming from but it's getting annoying that you keep leaving comments here apparently addressed to Zumbo.  This blog has no connection with him whatsoever.  Comments are also being made that show the intellectual acumen of a second grader.  Comments are closed on this post.

I don't read Outdoor Life, so I've never heard of this guy, but he apparently is a regular writer for that magazine and is considered some kind of hunting guru.

He reveals himself to be a total elitist who has not only drunk the "sporting use" kool-aid, but seemingly mixed it and dispensed it.

Sorry, folks, in my humble opinion, these things have no place in hunting. We don't need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them, which is an obvious concern. I've always been comfortable with the statement that hunters don't use assault rifles. We've always been proud of our "sporting firearms."

This really has me concerned. As hunters, we don't need the image of walking around the woods carrying one of these weapons. To most of the public, an assault rifle is a terrifying thing. Let's divorce ourselves from them. I say game departments should ban them from the praries and woods.

It's good to see that the vast majority of commenters have reamed him a new one.  If I had been a reader of that magazine, I would be no more.

What concerns me is that the ranks of "those who should know better" have been infiltrated by such an elite Brady shill like Zumbo.  Disgusting.

He also misspelled "prairies."

Via Xavier.

UPDATE:  Blogswarm.

UPDATE 2:  Thought I might mention that the cable channel affiliated with Outdoor Life magazine is NOT the Outdoor Channel (which carries Shooting Gallery, Shooting USA and Guns & Ammo Television).  The channel to contact and/or boycott is Versus, which was previously known as Outdoor Life Network.  And which I apparently never watch anyway, since they don't carry any of the shows I mentioned. Not entirely accurate.  He did have a show on the Outdoor Channel, so theoretically either/both channels could have been targets for boycotts.  It's all pretty much moot now, since the show has been dropped.

UPDATE 3:  Zumbo apologizes.  Many commenters over there aren't buying it.  I am prone to give him the benefit of the doubt due to my generous nature, however, he spent his entire life building up to his belief that EBRs are bad and should be banned.  It's hard to believe he completely changed his mind overnight.  Still, all those comments on the original post did add up to one big two-by-four.

UPDATE 4:  His last line is "I'm sorry for inserting my foot in my mouth."  Not "I realize now that I was wrong and that what I said may have caused enormous damage to the RKBA movement."  But "I'm sorry I said something that everyone else thrashed me for."  Hmph.

UPDATE 5:  The War On Guns receives confirmation that Remington has terminated its association with Zumbo.  One step closer to driving the golf cart at Walmart.

Technorati Tags: rkba, second amendment, jim zumbo