@7 @8 of course, that's because the larger meteor flyby is an observational check by our Dinosaur Overlords to see if we've created enough Global Warming for them to invade. Not ... quite ... there. Give it 30 years, max.
Sequestration is going to be horrible for the economy. Why can't they just cancel the damn thing? It was put in place because of a manufactured crisis over the debt ceiling. The whole thing is a fake crisis.