Well, OK, not the cavalry, but the teddy bears (or dogs, or whatever the heck they are), have decided to forgive me and help out with fundraising for the Kickstarter project, which has raised only a third of the needed funds. Go to the link to click on the video (on the image of the ISS).
…isn’t the 2008 McCain campaign.
The 2012 Obama campaign seems to be run by Wile E. Axelrod, Sooper Genius. But wait! Wasn’t he involved in 2008, too?
I have never bought into the prevailing media myth, which is part of the media myth about Obama in general, that the 2008 campaign was brilliant, or even competent. Obama beat Hillary not because he had a great campaign, but because a lot of Dems were looking for an alternative to the “inevitable” Hillary, and they could avoid not being a sexist by not voting for her by being not a racist by voting for him (race trumps gender among Democrats). He won in the general, again not because there was anything good about his campaign, but because:
Few of those factors will apply this year. He’s no longer this inspirational charismatic cipher, but a failed president. They got voting for a black guy out of their system four years ago, and no longer feel a need to do it again to prove they’re not a racist (fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me). And in particular, the Romney campaign is going to take the gloves off (as they showed in the primaries). Not to mention that we’re heading into another downturn going into the election. I think that Obama’s toast.
…on Obama. And the ego remains monumental. Now the the guy’s an expert on Judaism? Really?
Media Matters is whining about media bias against Obama. Hilarious.
And (slightly off topic) speaking of Godwin’s Law, is there anyone involved in either campaign who resembles Hitler more than David Axelrod? If I were him, I’d shave the ‘stache.
This is just pathetic:
Now CNN is put in the unenviable position to be, at best, second on a story involving harassment of one of their own people. Cripes did they hire the same news director as that Newspaper in Norfolk that didn’t find the beating of their own reporters newsworthy?
None of this was necessary. In fact if CNN and the other media entities made the choice to report the news rather than serve as a filter for stories the left wanted killed, not only would it have ratings, but there would be no FOX or Drudge etc because there would have been no market for them.
Instead you have a network so pathetic that Donald Trump is making fun of CNN’s ratings on their own network. I don’t blame him, when a news organization becomes incapable of recognizing a story then that news organization will be a laughing-stock, and rightly so.
Apparently, as with the New York Times, their loyalty to their leftist ideology trumps staying in business. They really could compete with Fox by simply reporting all of the news (not just what they want us to hear), and doing it better, but as long as they insist on being filters in the service of the state, they’ll continue to leave the field to their competitor.
[Update mid morning]
Wouldn’t it be great if the Tides Foundation (among others) lost their tax-exempt status over this? Of course, it won’t happen with this administration’s IRS, but there could still be some interesting congressional hearings.
There isn’t much of one, and never was:
…in essence, the media — by creating all this “notoriety” via false storylines not supported by the evidence — have hurt Zimmerman’s chances for fair treatment in court. Nice work, folks.
He should sue, starting with NBC, for defamation.
At GLEX, I just asked Mike Griffin from the floor what the payload was which demanded to be sent up in a single launch that demanded a Saturn-class vehicle. He responded by saying that this wasn’t the place to debate it, and then with a straw man about sending things up screw by screw. Buzz had previously softened him up with a comment about the need for more innovation and fewer jobs programs for the launch vehicles. He initiated the discussion with a slam at propellant depots.
[Update later evening]
I typed that from my phone. Here’s a fuller story. Mike (without prompting) stated that heavy-lift is the highest priority for space exploration, and that depots would be useful, but not immediately so. Ian Pryke agreed with him. Buzz responded (from the second row) as noted above. I then asked the panel (not Mike specifically) from the back of the (full) room the question above. His response (from memory, not an exact quote):
Rand, we’ve been arguing about this for years and this isn’t the place to debate it. It’s possible to break a vehicle down to individual nuts and bolts, and launch it that way. But there is a reason that we deliver crude oil in large tanker ships and [several more examples of large vehicles delivering stuff]. I don’t understand why space transportation is different than any other kind of transportation. We can argue about this forever, but at some point we just have to rely on common sense.
My response (here): Note that he didn’t answer the question, nor did he explain why a quarter of a million pounds was the right answer. The nuts and bolts thing is a strawman. Surely there is some optimimum, some happy medium between one fastener at a time, and a Saturn V delivering everything at once, fully fueled.
The reason that space transportation is different (at this time) than other kinds is because it is a new industry with a limited market, and there is insufficient traffic to amortize the development of such a large vehicle that will fly so rarely. It makes sense to build dozens of oil tankers to carry millions of tons of oil. For a vehicle that will deliver a hundred-plus tons once or twice a year, not so much. The first practical airplane, from an airline standpoint, was a DC-3, not a 747. There are other reasons it is different, but that one by itself should suffice.
Briefly, I refuse to concede to Mike’s condescending (and insulting) claim that he has a monopoly on common sense. And I understand that it wasn’t the right place for a debate. In his mind, there is no right place for a debate because a) he thinks there is no need for a debate and b) he knows that if he were ever to have one with me, he’d get creamed (at least judging by the last round between Space News and Competitive Space). Plus, he would never dare legitimize me or my arguments by debating me, just as Michael Mann and Briffa and Jones and Hansen refuse to come to the Heartland conference to debate.
[Bumped]
I haven’t covered this ongoing story at all, but I do think that bloggers need to come together to protect our own against leftist terrorists like this, particularly since the media and current legal establishment seems to want to cover for him.
[Update a few minutes later]
More here.
You know what, Fedex?
If UPS would run an ad saying, we don’t do singing animals and sustainability — we just get your package there on time at a lower cost, I’ll use you every effing time. Unfortunately, I had to get something somewhere after three on Saturday by Monday, and only Fedex could do it.
Think about it.