Let’s give partial credit where it is due. Apparently the Obama administration argues that al-Awlaki was a legitimate target because he is a member of an enemy engaged in hostile conduct against the United States. At least Obama has figured out that the war on terrorism is in fact a war, and that it is not limited just to Afghanistan. We should be thankful that Obama officials have quietly put aside the arguments they made during the Bush years that any terrorist outside the Afghani battlefield was a criminal suspect who deserved his day in federal court. By my lights, I would rather the Obama folks be hypocrites in favor of protecting the national security than principled fools (which they are free to be in the faculty lounges both before and after their time in government).
Sorry, but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for this woman:
…the situation has pitted Ms. Douceur and her family against Raytheon Polar Services, which manages the station through a contract with the National Science Foundation. Both Raytheon and the science foundation say that it would be too dangerous to send a rescue plane to the South Pole now and that Ms. Douceur’s condition is not life-threatening.
“During the winter period, extremely cold temperatures and high winds make an extraction dangerous for all involved, passengers as well as crew,” said Jon Kasle, a Raytheon spokesman, “and such an extraction is considered only in life-threatening conditions.”
So, here’s my question. NASA was recently considering abandoning the International Space Station because they didn’t have a reliable lifeboat to extract astronauts in an emergency. But Amundsen-Scott is inaccessible for half of the year, every year, and yet people winter over there. Why isn’t the NSF spending billions to develop an Emergency Crew Extraction Vehicle for the south pole? Or, why are astronauts’ lives worth so much more than those of Antarctic researchers? Or is the research they’re doing on ISS worth so little that they’re unwilling to risk lives on it?
This to me is a perfect example of the irrationality of our space policy.
…had been pooping on police cars, stealing soap from local businesses and flooding their bathrooms, shutting down the Air and Space Museum on a Saturday while attacking its guards, preventing anyone from moving in downtown New York for days? Especially if they were as white as these leftist clowns are? Can you imagine the hyperventilating by the media over the violence and racism? And hey guys, if you really want to show you’re opposed to Wall Street, why not go over to Lafayette Park and demonstrate against President Goldman Sachs?
Over at John Boot’s review of the latest hairball to be hacked up by George Clooney and Hollywood, check out comment #25:
This web site has delved into sickness. How can anyone with any compassion attack George Clooney? He is a great man who works tirelessly to help the less fortunate. I read this article and was so blown away by the author’s ignorance that I felt compelled to call my Life Coach. I needed some immediate advice and direction. Sasha told me to channel my feelings toward the source of my anger, but to do so in a creative way that, hopefully, will penetrate the thick ignorant armor of my instigators. So here is my attempt to reach all of you through that ancient poetic art form of Haiku:
Crazy neocons
destructive and hateful
gay killers
never bi-curious
haters of life
snuffers of hope
negro president?
destroy!
mocha cappucino?
HATE!
Please take the time to digest this. I’m really hoping that it will reach some of you before your hate engulfs us all.
I can’t decide if it’s serious or a gag.
Which reminds me. A commenter at Space Politics named Grondine keeps talking about how the “neocons” have screwed up NASA. I repeatedly ask him what he thinks a “neocon” is, and to provide some examples, but he never does so.