Political Commentary

Frightening

This article says that most voters are clueless.

”Particularly significant is the fact that, on many issues, the majority is not only ignorant of the truth, but actively misinformed. For example, 61 percent believe that there has been a net loss of jobs in 2004, 58 percent believe that the administration sees a link between Saddam Hussein and 9-11, and 57 percent believe that increases in domestic spending have not contributed significantly to the current federal budget deficit.”

It’s amazing that Bush is doing as well as he is, when you consider this.

I doubt that this is a new phenomenon, but I’m concerned (as always) about this big push to get people to vote (like the foolish “motor voter” law) without an accompanying push to educate them to the point that they can do so responsibly. Fortunately, most of them still don’t make it to the polls.

War Commentary

Banana Republique

Claudia Rossett (who deserves a Pulitzer for her reporting on the Oil for Palaces and Weapons scandal) has some appropriately ungenerous words for Kofi Annan.

Alas, such dignity may come as cold comfort to the French, given that Mr. Annan did not actually deny that the Chinese, Russians and French had taken big payoffs from Saddam. Mr. Annan merely disputed that the Chinese, Russians and French would have delivered anything in return for the bribes. In other words, they may be corrupt, but at least they weren’t honest about it.

Space & Campaign 2004

Space Flip Flops

No, that’s not the footwear inside a space hotel–it’s more vacillation and issue straddling from the Kerry campaign, this time in the person of Lori Garver, his space advisor. Keith Cowing (a Kerry supporter) has the story. And as Jeff Foust points out, this just demonstrates how unimportant space is as a political issue, even to strong space supporters like Keith–despite the fact that a Kerry presidency would probably be disastrous on the issue, he remains a Kerry supporter, due to other issues that he thinks more critical.

Space

More Good MSM Suborbital Coverage

David Chandler (who interviewed me a few years ago for a similar article) has a piece in the Boston Globe that provides a good overview of the fledgling commercial space passenger industry, with a suitable cautionary note at the end:

All of this growing interest and activity could still be thwarted, though.

Last week, a bill that had been painstakingly negotiated in Congress for more than a year was suddenly about to be amended at the last minute. Instead of helping to enable the new space tourism business, as intended, a new provision would have required safety standards comparable to a mature industry like the airlines. The bill is still in backroom negotiations and might be salvaged in the lame-duck congressional session.

It would certainly be ironic, said Boston-based aerospace engineer and consultant Charles Lurio, that if, as enthusiasts gather next month to celebrate the human and engineering triumph in Mojave, the industry it might have spawned was being strangled in the halls of Washington.

Henry Vanderbilt at the Space Access Society has more on the ongoing legislative crisis. An important point:

Don’t assume because you didn’t read this until a week or two after we sent it out that it’s no longer urgent. The window for effective action
on this will likely be open well into November. Stay tuned for further word; we’ll report as soon as we know anything. Meanwhile – fax and call!

Administrative

Major Spam Problem

I was hit by over four hundred of these nasty things last night, and for some reason MT Blacklist is deleting them, but not rebuilding the pages. I had to do it manually for about a hundred this past weekend, but I just don’t have the time, which means that I have to rebuild the entire site. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is?

General

Back From The Cape

I know, I know, I didn’t tell my three long-suffering readers that I had gone up to the Cape, but I did, this morning. Early.

Not a bad drive. Only two-and-a-half hours from north Boca.

It’s amazing how much the state changes both culturally and demographically just north of the Palm Beach/Martin County line. South lies the southern annex of New Yawk/Jersey. Italian restaurants and steak houses prevail. Seafood may be found, but generally only at the steakhouses.

North lies the south. Seafood shacks, fried stuff, barbecue, grits.

We used to say in Michigan that Detroit was the only place in the US (well, outside of Alaska) that you can look south and see Canada (go look at Detroit and Windsor, Ontario on a map). Well, Florida is the only state in the US where you have to drive north to get to the South.

It goes suddenly from quite urban to quite rural, with long stretches of nothing but swamp and pine forest–no sign of man except for the freeway itself, upon which one traverses them, up through Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River Counties. They and their suffering inhabitants were ground zero for both Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, in the space of two weeks, only a few weeks ago. Both storms made land in almost exactly the same location, somewhere between Vero Beach and Fort Pierce.

I was surprised to see little damage. Or, I should say, I saw little damage to nature, but perhaps that’s because I’m not attuned to recognize it. The angles of the trees on the hammocks in the glades may have been altered, but I wouldn’t have known.

Man-made stuff is another matter. I saw many billboards absent both bills and boards, nothing but a frame, a skeleton, remained, appropriate for the upcoming season. Stopping for gas in Fort Pierce, I saw a Golden Arch ungilded, frame only, bereft even of the plywood upon which to place the gold, but with a stalwart handwritten sign below: “We’re Still Open.”

Had I more time, I’d have toured A1-A along the barrier islands, where I suspect the damage was both more extensive and obvious.

The Cape was in good shape, all considered. I was in a meeting at Boeing, in a conference room with a lovely view of the Indian River, and the Vehicle Assembly Building across it, off in the distance.

It looked closer than it was, as it always does, because there’s no sense of scale to indicate that it’s one of the largest buildings in the world. It lost some panels in the maelstroms, but neither of the storms were the ones that would put NASA out of the manned spaceflight business. That’s one of the reasons that the Cape was chosen for the premiere launch site. Historically, that region has been largely hurricane free, at least when it comes to Cats 3 and above. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. They dodged two bullets this year.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!