That’s what a plurality of voters think that government programs do. I’m with them.
[Update a few minutes later]
In reading more carefully, that’s a survey of “adults.” I’ll be that likely voters would be higher, especially this year.
Category Archives: Political Commentary
And That’s A High Bar
Barack Obama’s worst judicial nominees yet.
The Tingle Is Over
Are You Better Off…
…than you were four years ago?
It will be useful to remind the voters that the Pelosi and Reid have been in control of Congress since 2006, when things started to head downhill, economically. And for the administration, I’m assuming that the recent attempt to Alinskyite Boehner is a desperation tactic, because after being gone for two years, blaming Bush doesn’t work any more. It’s also stupid, because to the degree that people know who the next Speaker is, it just serves to further nationalize the local races, which is the last thing the donkeys need.
Communism Is Dead
…but the Cubans remain shackled to the corpse.
The Latest Lies
I rarely link to Mark Whittington any more, because I see no need to give him the traffic for which he seems to troll, but I’ll make an exception in this case, because it’s so blatant and stupid:
Rand Simberg, like many commercial space advocates, has attacked the Iran Nonproliferation Act (now including Syria and North Korea) as being ineffective and harming commercial space operations.
I have never “attacked,” or even criticized INKSNA, nor do I know anyone else in the commercial space community who has, so he is either making this up out of whole cloth, or he doesn’t understand the difference between INKSNA and ITAR. I guess the latter interpretation is more likely, and more charitable, since he understands little about space and technology policy in general.
[Afternoon update]
Mark has updated his post to continue his fantasies about me:
I suspect that he will play Clinton-like word games by saying not “attacked” but rather “expressed reservations” or “was dubious about” or even “mildly amused by.” Since it seems so important to him, I’ll give him that.
I have done none of the above. I have rarely, if ever, discussed INKSNA prior to that piece yesterday. He needs to adjust his meds, either up or down.
Manslaughter By Police?
…in Las Vegas. This is a very disturbing story, including what appears to be a cover up, with the unwillingness to release the video. Some of the comments are equally disturbing.
The Congressional NASA Battle
Henry Vanderbilt has the latest:
HR.5781 is not on the House calendar for this week. Our sources tell us that at least in part due to a significant number of constituent calls late last week, the House Leadership probably (no guarantees, of course) won’t put HR.5781 on the calendar this session (at least not in its current form). We hear that negotiations with Senate Authorizers continue, with the outcome (if any) now more likely to be based on the Senate bill. So, the battle is going well — to everyone who made a contact so far, thanks! But the battle over this NASA Authorization continues. We need to keep the pressure on, with the general message being, NASA Exploration R&D (including Commercial Crew and Cargo) is a good thing to fund, while NASA in-house booster developments (see numbers in the Generic reason below) are very likely to be massive wastes of scarce funds. Those of you who’ve already contacted your Representative might want to contact your Senators now too. Those of you who haven’t yet made a contact, why not? More when we know more.
For much more background detail, see Space Access Update #117 and Space Access Update #118.
Let’s keep the pressure up.
[Update a while later]
OK, Henry notes in comments that there’s an even more recent link, which also includes this:
We generally avoid taking partisan positions, as tending to be a distraction from our overall goal of cheap access. We will occasionally mention partisan matters that are actually relevant to our goals. Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R CA) is a long-time member of the House Science Committee who on space matters over the years has pushed in what we think is the right direction considerably more often than not. Notably so in this year’s NASA funding fight, where he’s been on the correct side of some very muddled party lines, standing up for sound NASA policy over local partisan pork.
We understand he’s interested in becoming Chair of the Science Committee in the event the Republicans become the majority party in the House. We think that he would make a good Chairman for our purposes. He has a new website that is among other things concerned with helping him campaign for that post within his party. We’re passing word along so that if you’re so inclined, you can take a look and decide for yourself whether to help.
Having Dana as head of the Science Committee would be great news for those of us seeking a more enlightened space policy.
NASA And Iranian Nukes
My latest piece at AOL News, on how the House seems determined to continue to undermine the non-proliferation regime with its porkfest of a NASA appropriations bill, is up now.
Glenn Beck
“In Delaware, we have an avowed Marxist against a witch. The only question: is she a good witch or a bad witch, because there’s no such thing as a good Marxist.”
That’s what I say, too.