Frightening

This article says that most voters are clueless.

”Particularly significant is the fact that, on many issues, the majority is not only ignorant of the truth, but actively misinformed. For example, 61 percent believe that there has been a net loss of jobs in 2004, 58 percent believe that the administration sees a link between Saddam Hussein and 9-11, and 57 percent believe that increases in domestic spending have not contributed significantly to the current federal budget deficit.”

It’s amazing that Bush is doing as well as he is, when you consider this.

I doubt that this is a new phenomenon, but I’m concerned (as always) about this big push to get people to vote (like the foolish “motor voter” law) without an accompanying push to educate them to the point that they can do so responsibly. Fortunately, most of them still don’t make it to the polls.

Banana Republique

Claudia Rossett (who deserves a Pulitzer for her reporting on the Oil for Palaces and Weapons scandal) has some appropriately ungenerous words for Kofi Annan.

Alas, such dignity may come as cold comfort to the French, given that Mr. Annan did not actually deny that the Chinese, Russians and French had taken big payoffs from Saddam. Mr. Annan merely disputed that the Chinese, Russians and French would have delivered anything in return for the bribes. In other words, they may be corrupt, but at least they weren’t honest about it.

Space Flip Flops

No, that’s not the footwear inside a space hotel–it’s more vacillation and issue straddling from the Kerry campaign, this time in the person of Lori Garver, his space advisor. Keith Cowing (a Kerry supporter) has the story. And as Jeff Foust points out, this just demonstrates how unimportant space is as a political issue, even to strong space supporters like Keith–despite the fact that a Kerry presidency would probably be disastrous on the issue, he remains a Kerry supporter, due to other issues that he thinks more critical.

More Good MSM Suborbital Coverage

David Chandler (who interviewed me a few years ago for a similar article) has a piece in the Boston Globe that provides a good overview of the fledgling commercial space passenger industry, with a suitable cautionary note at the end:

All of this growing interest and activity could still be thwarted, though.

Last week, a bill that had been painstakingly negotiated in Congress for more than a year was suddenly about to be amended at the last minute. Instead of helping to enable the new space tourism business, as intended, a new provision would have required safety standards comparable to a mature industry like the airlines. The bill is still in backroom negotiations and might be salvaged in the lame-duck congressional session.

It would certainly be ironic, said Boston-based aerospace engineer and consultant Charles Lurio, that if, as enthusiasts gather next month to celebrate the human and engineering triumph in Mojave, the industry it might have spawned was being strangled in the halls of Washington.

Henry Vanderbilt at the Space Access Society has more on the ongoing legislative crisis. An important point:

Don’t assume because you didn’t read this until a week or two after we sent it out that it’s no longer urgent. The window for effective action
on this will likely be open well into November. Stay tuned for further word; we’ll report as soon as we know anything. Meanwhile – fax and call!

Major Spam Problem

I was hit by over four hundred of these nasty things last night, and for some reason MT Blacklist is deleting them, but not rebuilding the pages. I had to do it manually for about a hundred this past weekend, but I just don’t have the time, which means that I have to rebuild the entire site. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!