Category Archives: Political Commentary

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Popular Culture

Tom Hanks

36 Comments

Unhinged?

…the most disturbing phrase of all was Hanks’ suggestion that the Japanese wished to “kill,” us, while we in turn wanted to “annihilate” them. Had they developed the bomb or other such weapons of mass destruction (and they had all sorts of plans of creating WMDs), and won the war, I can guarantee Hanks that he would probably would not be here today, and that his Los Angeles would look nothing like a prosperous and modern Tokyo.

You’d have thought that someone who seems so interested in history, particularly of the space program and the war, would be better informed about it. But there just seems to be something in the water in Hollywood. America — racist and evil, America’s enemies — justifiable behavior as a reaction to our evil racism and imperialism.

This is, in fact, still the popular media narrative for the current war, in which if we’d just leave those poor Muslims alone, and apologize for fighting back in the Crusades, they’d stop trying to kill us infidels and establish a new caliphate.

Political Commentary, Space

Advice For The President

34 Comments

Clark Lindsey has a suggestion for what he should say in Florida on Tax Day:

First give a clear account of the reasoning behind the new budget and the arithmetic that drove it. Then explain that the only way to save NASA’s human spaceflight program is to make spaceflight much less expensive. And the only way to make it less expensive is to encourage commercial companies to compete with innovative approaches. Lower cost spaceflight will not only enable NASA to do great things but also lead to lots of new jobs, new technologies, and new opportunities in space. This approach may not satisfy the local audience but I think it would play well with the broader public and with Congress.

Of course, if it doesn’t please the local audience, then it doesn’t make sense to give the speech there. It would be better done from DC. But it probably is important that he say something to support the new direction. It might work since, unlike most of his policy speeches, it will actually make sense.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

John Shannon Responds

9 Comments

For those who have been following the foofaraw about Shuttle extension, and the supposed “conflict” between what Lori Garver has said versus John Shannon (Shuttle program manager), he has responded in comments over at Space Politics. Part of the issue is nomenclature, and what Shuttle “extension” really means. If by that you mean continue operations into the future at the current flight rate, there’s not enough money in the world to do so, so Lori is correct in that regard. If you mean instead to not shut down the program, and waste lots of money keeping the standing army in place, and hope that they don’t lose their edge, while you’re waiting two or three years to get tanks produced again, then yes, you could “extend” the Shuttle, but I’d call that more something like, hibernate and resurrect it. Either way, there is no way to avoid reliance on the Russians in the near term (and the same would have been true with the Program of Record). Once the decision was made to shut down tank production a couple years ago, the die was cast. And there is no real conflict between what the Deputy Administrator and Shuttle PM are saying.

I would note that opponents of the decision have decided to make Lori the focal point of their anger, and will grab any cudgel that comes to hand to beat her, imagining somehow that if they can just dispose of their newfound enemy, that the realities of the budgetary situation will go away, and that all will be well in Aresland again. As they have been for years, they are in denial.

[Update late morning, in fact, after the one that follows this, so I don’t screw up the flow over the fold]

It occurs to me that there’s an aspect of Shuttle extension (or continuation, or whatever) that hasn’t been discussed. One of the reasons to shut down Shuttle in 2010 was to save money that could be then diverted to VSE. But another one (and particularly after Constellation was born) was to free up pads 39A and B to be converted for Ares operations (plus to make other KSC facilities available). If Ares isn’t being developed, the urgency to get the Shuttles off the pads goes away. I’m not sure that’s sufficient reason to keep flying it, but it’s one more issue to be considered. I continue to think that continuing to fly Shuttle is a huge opportunity cost of the available budget, and that if Congress wants to do so without increasing the budget, they’ll have to decide what they want to give up. To give up the best near-term and nearest-term alternative (commercial) would be a travesty.

[Update a few minutes later]

There are a lot of comments to wade through there, so I hope Jeff won’t mind if I just repost the Shannon comment here to make it easier to find and relink (it would help if he had Space Politics set up to provide individual permalinks for comments, as I do here). Continue reading John Shannon Responds →

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society

The Climate Hoax

10 Comments

Like Joe Katzman, I don’t think that’s too strong a word for it any more. Steve Hayward has an extensive roundup of all the problems at the IPCC (though I could have done without the naked Al Gore picture).

Also, remember how we were told, even by warm mongering commenters here, that the CRU data didn’t matter because we had GISS?

Nope.

The NASA scientists also felt that NASA GISS data was inferior to the National Climate Data Center Global Historical Climate Network (NCDC GHCN) database.

These emails, obtained by Christopher Horner, also show that the NASA GISS dataset was not independent of CRU data.

Further, all of this information regarding the accuracy and independence of NASA GISS data was directly communicated to a reporter from USA Today in August 2007.

The reporter never published it.

Of course not. Didn’t fit the template.

Hansen should be drummed out of the global “science” community, if they want to regain any credibility.

[Update a few minutes later]

As I’ve noted before, this isn’t just a science scandal, it’s a media scandal. If they were fooled by these charlatans, it’s because they wanted to be.

[Late morning update]

More from Chris Horner — three of the four data sets are irrevocably tainted. But the faithful will not waver in their religion.

[Early afternoon update]

A video interview with Chris Horner — the climate cover up spreads to NASA.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

Just In Case The House Dems Are Stupid Enough To Believe Harry Reid…

36 Comments

The Senate Republicans have the votes to prevent “fixes” via reconciliation.

What’s important for people to understand (including the wavering House Democrats) is that once the Senate bill passes the House, Obama can simply sign it, and the war is over. They have no incentive to keep their promises. Or at least not enough to do so. And even if they want to, as noted above, they won’t be able to. So it has to be stopped now.

[Update a few minutes later]

For those who comment without following the link (far too many), let me provide a couple quotes to make it clear:

“There are a lot of things they want to see fixed that are going to be subject to parliamentary point of order in the Senate,” Kyl said during an interview on Fox News. “And we believe we have the votes to sustain those points of order, which means that those things will come out of the legislation.”

“…It is a very risky proposition for those Democrats in the House who are nervous about their reelection, and are banking on the Senate banking [sic — I assume he means “bailing” — rs] them out,” he said. “It’s probably not going to happen.”

That’s the way I’d bet. But maybe they think that “transforming America” is more important than keeping their seats. I hope not.

[Thursday morning update]

Michael Barone says that the Dems have put themselves in a no-win situation. Well, since their victory is the Republic’s defeat, good.

It’s beginning to look like the goal of health-care legislation was a bridge too far. There’s a reason it’s hard to pass unpopular legislation on party-line votes. It’s not the Senate rules. It’s called democracy.

Unfortunately, the misnamed Democrats don’t appear to believe in that.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

The Coming Fiscal Disaster

48 Comments

The latest CBO report:

According to CBO, the Obama budget plan would run up much larger budget deficits and pile up even more debt than the administration reported in February.

Over the period 2010 to 2020, CBO expects the Obama budget would run a cumulative deficit of $11.3 trillion — $1.2 trillion more than the administration predicted. By 2020, total federal debt would reach an astonishing $20.3 trillion — up from $5.8 trillion at the end of 2008.

The president likes to say he inherited a mess. He did in fact enter office during a deep recession that sent deficits soaring on a temporary basis. But his policies have unquestionably made an already difficult medium- and long-term budget outlook much, much worse. The problem is that President Obama is a world-class spender. He wants to pile massive new commitments on top of a bloated and unreformed government. He is willing to raise taxes to pay for some of his wish list, but far from all of it. For the rest, he plans to run up the nation’s debt with reckless abandon.

Fortunately, the people are finally on to him.

[Mid-morning update]

More from Veronique de Rugy. Look at the graph.

Political Commentary

The “L-Word”

12 Comments

Matt Welch, with thoughts on the president’s ongoing estranged (if he ever had a serious one) relationship with the truth.

When Carney confronted a White House spokeswoman with the falsehood, she conceded nothing. “As the President said,” she wrote, “we have turned away lobbyists for many, many positions.” Just not all of them.

As such defiance suggests, this was no isolated slip of the tongue. The president, who promised in both word and style to usher in a “new era” of Washington “responsibility,” routinely says things that aren’t true and supports initiatives that break campaign promises. When called on it, he mostly keeps digging. And when obliged to explain why American voters are turning so sharply away from his party and his policies, Obama pins the blame not on his own deviations from verity but on his failure to “explain” things “more clearly to the American people.”

What is amazing is not that his approval ratings are so low, but that so many remain enthralled with such a huckster and charlatan.