Gene Healy doesn’t think much of the manned space program.
Category Archives: Political Commentary
What In The Hell…?
Thompson, along with former Illinois governor Jim Edgar (R) and former Iowa governor Chet Culver (D) are part of a bipartisan coalition that has endorsed the National Popular Vote that would go into effect if states representing 270 electoral votes pass legislation.
The National Popular Vote bill has been signed into law in seven states — Maryland, Hawaii, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont and the District of Columbia — representing 29 percent of the necessary votes for the compact to go into effect.
I’m very disappointed that he seems so unaware of the purpose of the Electoral College, and is so willing to subvert the Constitution.
But he still would have been a better president than Barack Obama.
Thirty Years Of Innovation
[Via the Von Mises Institute]
Caylee’s Law
Why it’s a really bad idea.
As the old saying goes, hard cases make bad law.
Lies From The AP
The news service is attempting to rewrite history (again):
The administration of former US President George W. Bush had hastily linked Saddam Hussein, the ousted Iraqi dictator, to the 9/11 attacks.
That was one of the justifications for the 2003 US-led invasion, but the argument has since been widely dismissed.
No one in the administration claimed that Saddam was involved in 911, despite ongoing leftist lies to the contrary at the time, for which AP and others were happy to (and apparently remain happy to) be stenographers. The administration claimed operational links between Saddam and Al Qaeda, which did in fact exist.
The irony, of course, is that the reporter perpetuates this historical lie in the service of accusing Leon Panetta of a “gaffe.”
Calling My Representative
I’d like to call my representative and tell her to help fix the NASA appropriation disaster, but I don’t have one, because she resigned a few months ago.
There’s a special election to replace her tomorrow, though, and I want to encourage everyone to vote for Craig Hughey, a libertarian/Tea-Party type who managed to come in second in the free-for-all primary a few weeks ago, which pits him against the long-time LA County political hack (from a long-time family of political hacks), Janice Hahn. It should be a walk-in for her, given the way the district is carved to favor Democrats, but it’s actually a close race, partly because of internecine bitterness from the Democrats who supported Debra Bowen, but who came in third due to nasty attacks by the Hahn campaign. It’s entirely conceivable that Bowen supporters will either sit out the election, or actually vote for Hughey, in the hope that Bowen will get another shot at the seat next year (it’s unclear what redistricting will do, particularly in light of the new, supposedly less partisan plan to do so). Zombie has a lot more detail on the race, and Jim Geraghty has the rundown on the Hahn corruption, including her aiding and abetting LA gang members. On the other hand, she and her supporters may have turned off the black community in LA as well.
It will be very interesting to see the outcome, but as Geraghty notes, the weird circumstances won’t really tell us anything about general Republican prospects next year, even if Hughey pulls it off.
[Update a while later]
Taking a vet’s name in vain?
An Even Scarier Jobs Chart
Remember the one I showed this weekend? Well check this one out:
I remember when James Carville demagogued Bill Clinton into office in 1992 with continuous lies that it was “the worst economy in fifty years.” Well, folks, this is the worst economy seventy years. And it won’t improve until we remove from office the people determined to keep wrecking it, who first took power five and a half years ago. There are a lot more scary charts at the link, if that’s not enough for you.
Stealing You Blind
…How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off You
A new book on corruption and rent seeking by my colleague at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Iain Murray, launches today.
[Update a few minutes later]
An explanatory editorial from the author.
…my new book, Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You, doesn’t just talk about the excesses of government pay. It looks at how the modern American state has rigged the rules to support itself at our expense. The Internal Revenue Service is allowed to ignore the Constitution. Regulations cost our economy more than the federal deficit without anyone batting an eyelid, as they turn ordinary Americans into criminals. Worst of all, our education system has ceased to educate our children and now only works to benefit the education establishment—unionized teachers and administrators.
And teach them to allow the statists to continue to rob us blind.
Worse Than The Nixon Justice Department
Yeah, I’d say that Holder is the new champion, when it comes to corruption and coverups.
Space Political Action Alerts
As a result of the disastrous initial markup of the House appropriation for NASA last week, the Space Access Society, the Space Frontier Foundation, and Tea Party in Space have all put out alerts for everyone to call your Congressman (extra points if your congressman is one of the chairs of the appropriations committee or subcommittee, Hal Rogers or Frank Wolf).
Briefly, to summarize, the top line of the NASA budget has been cut back to pre-2008 levels (no shock, except to those living in denial), but the real problem is where the cuts are, and aren’t. The Webb Telescope was canceled, which was probably necessary given how out of control it was, but Commercial Crew and space technologies were severely chopped back as well, putting off further the day that we will no longer be reliant on the Russians for ISS, and that we can start moving humans beyond LEO. Instead, the Senate Launch System and Orion-by-another-name earmarks were actually increased, though there is still insufficient funds to build them in any timely manner, and no missions described or funded for them. Go follow one or more of the links, where there are useful instructions as to who to call and what to say. And as always in these matters, be firm, but polite. You have until tomorrow to make a difference.
[Update a few minutes later]
One other disastrous cut, though it’s small, is the CRuSR program. It’s only fifteen million, but it could really help jump start the suborbital industry. Given the trivial amount, it can’t really be about the money. I would guess that it’s pressure from the traditional sounding rocket people, who stand to be put out of business by low-cost reusables.