Political Commentary, Space

Our Noble Leaders

7 Comments

Clark Lindsey has a report on today’s Senate hearing on the new space policy. Are they really this ignorant, or are they just lying? You’d think that their staffs would at least have a clue. Either way, it’s depressing. It doesn’t sound like Bolden holds up well under fire, either. And the guy’s a Marine general.

[Update a few minutes later]

A tweet from Jeff Foust:

Sen Bennett takes issue with Bilden statement that Ares 1 demonstrated reliability is 0; hold up Time mag proclaiming it invention of year.

Sigh…

And as is usually the case with space policy, the ignorance and stupidity is bipartisan.

[Update a few minutes later]

Another tweet from Jeff:

Shelby and Obama do have something in common: both have pronounced Orion OR-ee-on. See, common ground!

Once again, when it comes to space policy, the ignorance is bipartisan. I was amused at the speech when the president at least twice mispronounced Suzanne Kosmas’ name as “Cosmos.” Maybe he thinks that corpsemen will be going up in the OReeon.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Comedy Central’s Cowardice

6 Comments

Some thoughts:

…note how entirely real radical Muslim threats and violence are treated as just part of the weather — something you have to adapt to — while nonexistent Tea Party violence is an existential threat to the Republic.

Watch out what kinds of behavior you reward, and what kinds you punish. You’re likely to get more of the former, and less of the latter.

[Update a few minutes later]

I liked this comment at Ann Althouse’s place:

Obama is reaching out to Muslims. Maybe he wants to learn the secrets of their success in shutting people up.

It sure looked like a threat to me. I’m sure the Department of Justice will get right on it.

[Update a while later]

Krikorian’s Corollary To Sullivan’s Law: “All organizations that are not actually anti-jihadist will over time become dhimmified and accommodate themselves to jihadism.”

Sounds right to me.

Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society

Save The Planet

6 Comments

…cut back on the recycling.

…some national recycling experts have begun calling for government restraint in trash recycling, which can be more costly and environmentally damaging than dumping.

“We just assume recycling is always better,” said J. Winston Porter, president of the Waste Policy Center, an environmental consulting and policy organization. “But there’s a point at which you shouldn’t just recycle for recycling’s sake.”

I think we’re well past it. It’s become the new secular state religion.

My cynicism over it peaked a few years ago when (as I related in a blog post, but don’t want to look for it right now) I watched the recycling truck come by, and unceremoniously dump the contents of my yellow paper bin and my blue plastic and cans bin into the same repository on the truck, completely negating all of my entropy reduction efforts in sorting them. I do notice now, on my return to CA after five years, they’ve at least ended that fraud, and just have one big blue recycling bin.

Either way, give it up for Earth Day.

Political Commentary, Space

Is It Dead?

10 Comments

…or just resting? Bill Nelson is trying to resuscitate heavy lift. As many commenters point out, it makes no sense, and is fiscal madness. And he’s probably doomed to failure.

[Update a few minutes later]

Particularly idiotic is Nelson’s attempts to tie continued Ares development to national security, for at least two reasons: the DoD has no need for solids of that diameter and if it did, there would be cheaper ways to get it. Not to mention that if it’s for national security, the money should come out of the Pentagon’s budget, not NASA.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!