Political Commentary

Misreporting History

Ramesh Ponnuru points out a puff piece in the WaPo about Tom Daschle, with the reporter crying in his beer about the loss to the nation of this noble statesman.

But he also points out this strange rewriting (or miswriting) of history:

…Daschle and Lott believed that conservative House Republicans had gone too far by impeaching the president for essentially lying about his affair in a civil proceeding, and they worked successfully behind the scenes to avert a conviction.

Ramesh notes that there was never a chance of a conviction, but I think that’s wrong. The real point is that the reporter fails to point out how Daschle conspired with Lott–they worked behind the scenes to make sure that there was no real trial. They allowed no witnesses, with only videotaped testimony of key players. If all of the evidence that the House members had seen (resulting in the impeachment vote) had been shown to the public, it’s actually quite unlikely that Clinton would have remained from office.

In addition, Clinton wasn’t just accused of “essentially lying about his affair in a civil proceeding.” There was witness tampering and witness intimidation as well. These are serious federal felonies–the stuff of mafiosi, regardless of the subject matter.

Science And Society

No Imagination

This is an interesting breakthrough in organ preservation–wood frogs that freeze solid in the winter, and then thaw without apparent damage in the spring. They’re attempting to apply it to donor organs.

Scientists say they don’t see any immediate potential for putting an entire human body in a science fiction-style deep freeze…

Well, it seems like a significant step in that direction to me.

Political Commentary

Another Reason To Think We Made The Right Choice

Ignorant Europeans are unhappy about the results of the election.

Especially inclined to have an unfavorable opinion of Bush in those countries were people between ages 18 and 24.

Well, there’s an informed and thoughtful demographic.

The polls suggest an increasing lack of understanding about Americans in Europe, rather than a surge of anti-Americanism, said Corman, who studies public opinion trends in Europe.

Yup. You don’t even have to look very hard to see it here in my comments section.

Space

O’Keefe Out?

That’s the rumor. Jeff Foust has the story here and here, as does NASA Watch.

I find this a little surprising, given that he’s just gotten the budget go ahead for the new exploration initiative. I would have thought that he’d at least want to see the program off to a good start (though perhaps he thinks it already is).

What’s most surprising is where he’s going–to academia. There were rumors throughout his tenure at NASA that he was being groomed to replace Rumsfeld in a second term. Either those rumors weren’t true, or the fact that Rumsfeld is staying for now has thrown a wrench into them, or the administration is unhappy with him for some aspect of his job performance (Columbia? The Hubble fiasco?).

In that case, it’s sort of like the old “up or out” philosophy for military brass. Get passed over for your next scheduled promotion, and you might as well take your retirement.

Fortunately, with the new initiative and the budgets, it’s a more appealing job to many competent people than it’s been in the past. In previous vacancies, the running joke was that the administrator had to be someone smart enough to do the job, and dumb enough to take it. That may not be the case any more.

[Monday morning update]

A commenter wants to draft Pete Worden. Now Keith Cowing is reporting that this is, indeed, one of the names being discussed. I wonder who the “well-known millionaire” is. Dennis Tito? Paul Allen?

It would certainly be an interesting appointment, and reasonable payback for the shabby treatment (in my opinion) that he got from Don Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. If it were to happen (it seems unlikely to me), NASA would for the first time have as administrator a member of the alt.space movement.

Space

O’Keefe Out?

That’s the rumor. Jeff Foust has the story here and here, as does NASA Watch.

I find this a little surprising, given that he’s just gotten the budget go ahead for the new exploration initiative. I would have thought that he’d at least want to see the program off to a good start (though perhaps he thinks it already is).

What’s most surprising is where he’s going–to academia. There were rumors throughout his tenure at NASA that he was being groomed to replace Rumsfeld in a second term. Either those rumors weren’t true, or the fact that Rumsfeld is staying for now has thrown a wrench into them, or the administration is unhappy with him for some aspect of his job performance (Columbia? The Hubble fiasco?).

In that case, it’s sort of like the old “up or out” philosophy for military brass. Get passed over for your next scheduled promotion, and you might as well take your retirement.

Fortunately, with the new initiative and the budgets, it’s a more appealing job to many competent people than it’s been in the past. In previous vacancies, the running joke was that the administrator had to be someone smart enough to do the job, and dumb enough to take it. That may not be the case any more.

[Monday morning update]

A commenter wants to draft Pete Worden. Now Keith Cowing is reporting that this is, indeed, one of the names being discussed. I wonder who the “well-known millionaire” is. Dennis Tito? Paul Allen?

It would certainly be an interesting appointment, and reasonable payback for the shabby treatment (in my opinion) that he got from Don Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. If it were to happen (it seems unlikely to me), NASA would for the first time have as administrator a member of the alt.space movement.

Space

O’Keefe Out?

That’s the rumor. Jeff Foust has the story here and here, as does NASA Watch.

I find this a little surprising, given that he’s just gotten the budget go ahead for the new exploration initiative. I would have thought that he’d at least want to see the program off to a good start (though perhaps he thinks it already is).

What’s most surprising is where he’s going–to academia. There were rumors throughout his tenure at NASA that he was being groomed to replace Rumsfeld in a second term. Either those rumors weren’t true, or the fact that Rumsfeld is staying for now has thrown a wrench into them, or the administration is unhappy with him for some aspect of his job performance (Columbia? The Hubble fiasco?).

In that case, it’s sort of like the old “up or out” philosophy for military brass. Get passed over for your next scheduled promotion, and you might as well take your retirement.

Fortunately, with the new initiative and the budgets, it’s a more appealing job to many competent people than it’s been in the past. In previous vacancies, the running joke was that the administrator had to be someone smart enough to do the job, and dumb enough to take it. That may not be the case any more.

[Monday morning update]

A commenter wants to draft Pete Worden. Now Keith Cowing is reporting that this is, indeed, one of the names being discussed. I wonder who the “well-known millionaire” is. Dennis Tito? Paul Allen?

It would certainly be an interesting appointment, and reasonable payback for the shabby treatment (in my opinion) that he got from Don Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. If it were to happen (it seems unlikely to me), NASA would for the first time have as administrator a member of the alt.space movement.

Space

Off To The Cape

There aren’t very many things that I find appealing about living in Florida, but being able to see launches is one of them. The inaugural flight of the Delta IV Heavy is scheduled this afternoon. For those not living as close to Cape Canaveral as I do, Boeing will have a webcast, starting about 2 PM EST.

[Update in the evening]

Yes, the launch was scrubbed, for weather. Apparently winds aloft.

We don’t have time to drive up there and back every day until they get it off, so I guess we’ll miss it. But we did have a nice day. We saw some birds up in the Merritt Island Refuge, and took a leisurely drive back down the coast along A1A. The hurricane damage from Frances and Jeanne along the coast in southern Brevard and St. Lucie counties (which were basically ground zero, in terms of being on the northern eyewall for both storms) remains impressive. Many houses along the shore were gutted, and we saw lots of tarps on roofs.

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