The brave Moonbat Extraordinaire Bruce Gagnon (who Thomas James keeps a close eye on, so we don't have to), has exposed the ongoing Nazi conspiracy at the heart of our nation's space program.

How bizarre, even for a rabid radiophobe like Gagnon. As if, somehow, Project Paperclip wasn't already widely known. Perhaps he could've read up on it from a source less prone to paranoid ravings, then he'd have gotten his facts straight.

- Eric.

Remember that old, old them song they used to pitch Dr. Pepper?

"I'm a Nazi, you're a Nazi wouldn't you like to be a Nazi too?"

Gagnon's campaign to prove that he's the biggest ignoramus on this planet continues......

Please join me in posting commentaries to his site.--ZR

Unfortunately, he keeps removing comments from his site that he doesn't like. I have posted about the link between Nazis, the CIA, and extraterrestrials, and he has removed it.--ZR

I'd be a lot more impressed if Gagnon's comments were in some way new and insightful. They're not.

More than one person has noted Nazi German contributions to rocket science. Good grief, there's an exhibit at NASM that raises similar points -- only a lot more thoughtfully.

I know I have, from time to time, made comments about the way we conduct space (and a variety of other kinds) research in this country. I try to explain the positives and negatives. Just ranting about Nazis is no help at all.

No, I'm not going to get into a debate with Gagnon. I've got better things to do with my time.

According to the new parliamentary rule from yesterday, Bruce has already lost the debate.

I like when he says something the direct opposite of sensible so he coalesces opinion against him.

In economics, there is the concept of the anti-dictator. Everyone does the opposite of what he says.

I read the Nick Cook Book, "Hunt for the Zero Point", which is the basis of Bruce's Nazi connection piece. Its an interesting book and, descriptions of anti-gravity aside, actually debunks many urban myths like the Philadelphia experiment, the T.T. Brown effect being anti-gravity (its not, ita an ion-wind effect), and other such stuff.

Operation Paperclip was real and we got alot of technology and people from the Nazis this way (like the V-2 rocket and Verner Von Braun). This was only rational in that the Nazis did develop alot of technology and why let it all go to the Soviets.

Nick Cook obviously believes that anti-gravity technology is real and that the Nazis took the first steps to develop it (but didn't get very far). He believes that the DoD has had secret programs to develop it and that they have had mixed results.

Where I believe that Nick Cook goes astray is that he over estimates the capacity of government-funded bureaucracy, especially that which is protected from any kind of oversight or audit, in successful innovation. Anyone who has worked in the NASA contracting and defense contracting melieu can tell you that the kind of innovation that Nick hints at is simply not possible in such a bureaucratically driven melieu.

The reason for Nick Cook's world-view may simply be cultural. He is from the UK. And as with most people from the U.K., believes in sosialism and the efficacy of government bureaucracy, in general. Hense, the conclusions of his book.

In any case, the book is still very interesting, especially on the history of various Nazi programs, and is well worth reading.

"I have posted about the link between Nazis, the CIA, and extraterrestrials, and he has removed it.--ZR"

I liked that one. Sadly, when you wrestle with a pig, it's a waste of time and the pig likes it.

Cook took a flyer with an idea. I think he ended up going orbital, with no re-entry plan. But Gagnon is purely hyperbolic in his trajectory. No mass of realism is going to recapture this dude.

Read him for amusemement, or when your neck needs stretching from all that waggling back and forth, but why waste a pixel of concern?

John - "why waste a pixel of concern?"

Because these loonies often get presented to the public by (guess who) the MSM as experts. Case in point - not long ago the History Channel had a show on conspiracy theories, which unfortunately was not very balanced, there was little time spent on the skeptical case. They did present David Ickes as a conspiracy expert. They did NOT tell viewers that his conspiracy theory involves space alien lizards doing mind control on the population, an idea that IMO he stole from a delightful SF short story called "Eight O'clock in the Morning". Maybe that would have affected his credibility? I don't know, but I think it would have. It may seem like gun + barrel + fish, but I think that these people do need to be debunked.

"I have posted about the link between Nazis, the CIA, and extraterrestrials, and he has removed it.--ZR"

Is that 'ZR' as in Zeta Reticuli?? OMG, they feel safe enough to post openly on our Internet!! That must mean their plan has reached Phase number ... **distant hum of mind erasing ray**

... what was I saying?

- Eric.

It is possible for the government or other big bureaucracy to do a research project relatively quickly if they actually want to. They grab some of the best, put them in some secluded place, give them lots of room to manuever and enough resources. That's it. That was what Bell Labs did, and they worked fine inside a big monopoly bureaucracy.

That was the way the V-2, atomic bomb, SR-71 were made. A separate structure was made pretty much outside the regular bureaucracy to achieve the required task.

Just remember that the best designers of bleeding edge technology are not usually the best people to design a low-cost mass market product. But after the bleeding edge is done the mass-market product can ensue.

Regarding space, the current problem is lack of mass-market product even if you just use the current technology available. This should be done in an open and competitive market.

I did not read Nick Cook's book yet, but that should prove interesting. I do not believe anyone has anti-gravity technology or that it has been usefully worked on since WWII. If it did, the lid would have blown off long ago. There is no way someone could have kept something like that secret for decades.