Category Archives: Political Commentary

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

The Wisdom Of Astronauts

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MSNBC actually has a pretty well-balanced story on the new policy, and some (but not all) of the old-guard astronauts’ opposition to it (more here — I’m disappointed to see my old boss Glynn Lunney on the list — I need to call him and straighten him out). That’s probably because Alan Boyle was involved. Unfortunately, so was Jay Barbree, who still thinks that SpaceX is the only potential commercial provider for human spaceflight.

Clark Lindsey is appropriately unimpressed with the opponents’ arguments (such as they are). I agree with him that they denote a lack of seriousness, and attention to what’s been going on. I’m working on an op-ed for AOL News along the same lines to coincide with tomorrow’s festivities at KSC.

Business, Political Commentary, Space

John Tierney

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…on the new space policy. And he graciously cites my piece in The New Atlantis from last summer. He also has a report from the Cape today. It’s interesting that no one has mentioned yesterday’s Gagarin and Shuttle anniversaries. I actually worked them into my Popular Mechanics piece, but they were edited out, presumably because they seemed a little tangential. I imagine that next April 12th, on the fiftieth and thirtieth anniversaries, respectively, people will make a much bigger deal of them. And I hope by then we’re seeing some real progress in the new direction.

[Both Tierney links via Clark Lindsey]

Political Commentary

We Had To Pass The Bill

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…so we would know what was in it:

In other words, theoretically the law kicks them out of the federal health plan now in order to force them to join insurance exchanges … that don’t exist yet. Looking forward to tomorrow, when we’re inevitably told that they meant to do that. Exit question for lawyers: Who would have standing to sue to force the federal health plan to drop Congress now? Any citizen, or is it more refined than that?

I can’t wait until they try to pass a bill to fix that one. If it’s not filibusterable, nothing is.

[Tuesday morning update]

Legislate in haste, repent in leisure.

It’s an incumbent protection plan! All those Evil Republicans who thought they would sweep into power next fall will think twice, now that they know the job comes with no health benefits.

I can’t stop laughing at these morons, and the imbeciles who voted for them and defend them, and told us how these wise solons knew exactly what was in the bill and that we were fools for not understanding it.

[Lte morning update]

Maybe they should complain to the White House. After all, the president told us all that “if you like your current plan, you can keep it.”

Hilarious.

Political Commentary

Repeal Looks Like A Winning Issue

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Even without “replace”:

Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters believe repeal of the health care bill will be good for the economy. Thirty-three percent (33%) disagree.

Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Republicans and 54% of voters not affiliated with either major party favor repeal. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Democrats are opposed. Republican support for repeal is up eight points from a week ago, while Democratic opposition is down seven.

Not a good trend for the Donkeys. But as is general with such trends, it’s good for the country.

Political Commentary, Space

An Interesting Fear

77 Comments

I often have a sense that opponents of the new policy fear it not because they are afraid that private enterprise isn’t up to the job, but because they are afraid that it is. Here’s an example of what I mean, over in comments at the Lori Garver interview:

Simply speaking the reset button has been hit again and once more our astronauts are left standing on the pad with no ship to take them to where no man has gone before. We will one day get back to the moon, but my only fear is that the landing will be covered live by a CNN crew who landed on the last Virgin Galactic flight.

This is an interesting comment, and I’d like to understand more. First, what does the commenter mean by “we”? Does he (or she) mean the nation? Does he mean NASA? Does he mean literally himself and others?

And does he fear it because it is a non-American company? Or because it’s a private company?

If he means that his fear is that NASA will get to the moon, but be (as I’ve noted in the past) greeted by the concierge at the Lunar Hilton, why does he “fear” it? Do any of my readers have such a fear? If so, why? Do you think it a rational fear (in the sense that it is actually something to be feared, independent of how likely it is to occur)?