All posts by Rand Simberg

Space

Too Cramped?

As a result of an MRI, Derek Lyons has some thoughts about the near-term future of the space tourism industry.

As big a space nut as I am, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to go myself, at least soon, because I have a tendency to claustrophobia also.

Political Commentary

Cutting Another Anchor Chain

Apparently the Kerry campaign has finally tossed Joe Wilson overboard. Check out what happens when you go to RestoreHonesty.com.

Down the memory hole.

Somehow, I suspect that, even after getting rid of Berger and Wilson, he’s still got a lot of ballast to dump if he wants to win this fall, and he won’t be able to do it without alienating the base. And his judgement (or lack thereof) in embracing them in the first place is one of the reasons that I’ll have to hold my nose and vote for Bush this fall.

Satire

New Bush Scandal

Iowahawk has the scoop:

Daschle also called for immediate Senate hearings into the deepening Timingate affair, chaired by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. The proposal brought a tepid response from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), prompting many to suspect that congressional Republicans were coordinating a ‘stonewall’ campaign to contain further scandal damage to Bush.

It is unclear how long such stonewalling efforts will succeed, as press interest in the scandal has picked up momentum over the past 48 hours. On Thursday, the CBS Evening News reported over 20 separate allegations of suspicious GOP behavior, while the New York Times is set to release a 20,000 word piece on Sunday detailing recent cases of suspicious GOP timing, with timelines showing a suspicious pattern of suspected charges of suspiciously timed alleged charging.

While space constraints limited coverage of the actual charges, Times editor Bill Keller promised the report will be “Pulitzer bait.”

“The article is important because it illustrates how the Republican smear machine uses dubiously timed charges to manipute a gullible press in order to further its political agenda,” said Keller. “It also importantly illustrates how the Kerry campaign is reached at 1-866-455-3779, and also gives vivid details how [a] contribution to it will be highly appreciated, and provides readers with insight about how their donation can be charged to Master Card, Visa or American Express.”

Space

Good News On The Regulatory Front

Emailer Jon Goff points out an article by Alan Boyle indicating that the logjam over HR 3752 has apparently been broken. It looks like the legislation can be passed this year. At least this will help things move forward on the private front (which I think is more promising anyway) even if the president’s new vision doesn’t get funded.

It looks like he’s not going to make a public fight for it, since he didn’t take the opportunity of the Apollo anniversary to say anything about it. But he may still try to twist arms behind the scenes.

[Update at 10:30 AM PDT]

Here’s an interesting development. According to space.com, the president is threatening to veto the appropriations bill if it doesn’t fund the new vision. Hard to know whether or not this is bluff. It would substantiate the Cowing/Seitzen thesis that the president truly wants this if he actually does veto this bill, because it would be the first bill that he’d have vetoed in his presidency. Of course, the fact that he’s never vetoed a bill yet takes away some of the credibility of the threat if he’s only bluffing. A president has to choose battlegrounds carefully to maintain clout, because he doesn’t want to get into a position from which he has to back down.

Political Commentary

A Dose Of Reality

You may or may not be surprised to learn that the Commission doesn’t agree with Michael Moore’s foolish and libelous characterization of Bush as being “too frightened to do anything without his handlers” after learning of the second aircraft strike. From pp. 38-39:

The President was seated in a classroom when, at 9:05, Andrew Card whispered to him:

Political Commentary

More Trousergate Thoughts

There are reports that, among other things, Berger “inadvertently” requested that the rules be suspended for his visits to the archive and have monitors removed, so he could “inadvertently” have private phone conversations from the room in which the documents were held. I can’t imagine this is normal procedure.

But he also reportedly took many unescorted bathroom breaks while going over the documents. Perhaps he has a medical problem that would account for this, but one has to wonder if he also found a way to “inadvertently” dispose of inconvenient documents while not even having to leave the facility.