When it comes to the International Space Station resupply business, these firms are competing with governmental operations from Russia and Japan. Congressional defenders of the old-school government-operated space service are curiously disdainful of American entrepreneurship and eagerly point out how these foreign solutions can fill our needs while we compel NASA to build a Space Shuttle replacement. What these critics miss, however, is that every dollar going to one of our domestic firms stays in the U.S., creates serious jobs, and makes the most of America’s entrepreneurial advantages. Funding this investment in America’s future follows in the steps of successful Federal investment in jumpstarting industries that have included the transcontinental railroad, the Internet, and GPS. Such visionary investments have produced big economic returns that increased government revenues for decades.
Director Alfonso Cuaron’s ultra-realistic tale of disaster and survival in near-Earth orbit is easily the best movie about space exploration since “2001: A Space Odyssey.” It’s also the most spectacular and awe-inspiring cinematic experience in recent memory.
I think it’s because they are idiots. And as Glenn notes, if they tried this some place where guns were legal, they’d have likely been shot, with full justification. Which might have a tendency to discourage this kind of idiocy.
It would, I believe, be grounds for declaring the President a usurper and illegitimate, fit not only for impeachment, but for having all of his actions disregarded from that point on; it could be the trigger for something like a civil war. I think the White House agrees, which is why they aren’t buying this argument put forth by law professors with more ingenuity than political sense.
The White House decided to pursue the time-tested “Washington Monument strategy” of inconveniencing tourists for political gain, and promptly ended up with egg on their faces. One of those monuments turned out to be the World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington, which has no turnstiles or special admission access; it’s open 24 hours a day simply by walking into it.
The first day of the shutdown, though, the National Parks Service tried closing the memorial down to a group of World War II veterans who had traveled to Washington to see it, claiming that the shutdown cut off access to it. Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), who accompanied the veterans, asked the White House to back off, only to get the brush-off himself. Instead, Palazzo took down the barricade himself to give the veterans access to the memorial honoring their own service in a park that is open to everyone anyway.
Did the White House learn a lesson from this PR debacle? Apparently not. As Elizabeth Scalia points out, the President could have met veterans at the memorial the next day to express his appreciation for their service and toured the memorial with them. That would have given Obama some much-needed positive coverage and an opportunity to pressure Republicans into retreat without having to enter negotiations himself.
Instead, the National Parks Service spent Day 2 of its supposed shutdown by hoisting more barricades with forklifts to surround the memorial before more octogenarian and nonagenarian veterans could arrive. That took seven NPS security personnel, which Washington Examiner reporter Charlie Spiering noted was two more people than the Obama administration committed to security for the consulate in Benghazi a year ago.
Instead of a photo op for President Obama, GOP Reps. Michele Bachmann and John Carter arrived on the scene to breach the barricades yet again. NPS at first tried claiming to CNN that they couldn’t spare anyone to react in case CPR was needed, but the widespread images of the bulldozer, barricades, and security personnel hanging signs on them finally forced NPS to invite other members of the Greatest Generation to visit the memorial to their dedication and service.
.