O.C. congressman takes a stand against threatening asteroids

Talk about timing.  Only a day before Southern California residents reported seeing a giant fireball streak across the sky, Orange County Rep. Dana Rohrbacher once again warned about the threat posed by giant asteroids, comets and other "near-Earth objects," reports the Orange County Register's Science Dude.  Rohrabacher, a Huntington Beach Republican,  issued his statement on the 100th anniversary of the Tunguska Event, when a giant asteroid exploded in the sky above Siberia in the largest asteroid impact in modern history.

"I was once told the chances of being killed by an asteroid were the same as getting a flush in Las Vegas.  Well, I’ve actually gotten a flush in Vegas, a royal flush.  So needless to say, as a member of the House Committee on Science and Technology, and former chair of the Space Subcommittee, I have taken a special interest in these near-Earth objects that could pose a threat to the Earth and introduced HR 4917, the Near-Earth Object Preparedness Act."

If the congressman ever speaks on the threat posed by a giant earthquake, just plan on being out of town the next day.

—Jesus Sanchez

Photo of the Hale-Bopp comet in 1997 by Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times