8 February 2008 - Friday perspective
Has it really been a Super Week???
Yesterday afternoon, I was watching the launch of space shuttle Atlantis with all of the enthusiasm of when I was a little boy. (Assuming that I actually WAS little at one point.) I flipped back and forth between the NASA channel and Fox News Channel, before I settled on 360 (Fox). Why? Well, they had this really cool ticker on the bottom. It showed, left to right, the elapsed time, the speed in feet per second and the distance down range in feet. In addition to the video provided at the launch site, including the various telescopic views is incredible, that camera mounted on the external fuel tank is amazing. I LOVE THIS STUFF. So for me, this was REALLY SUPER!!
Here is the problem. Since the time of Richard Nixon, and exacerbated under Jimmy Carter, NASA has not been funded well enough to achieve more. The shuttle program specifically has been a joke. The concept was to cut the costs of space exploration and discovery. Never happened. And like a typical government program, they just threw more money at it rather than replace it.
So now, the new program will make its first manned moves about 45 years after we landed a man on the moon. Too late.
Here is what I had suggested years ago. Offer up contracts for a return to the moon and to go to Mars to the top aerospace companies in this nation. As part of the contracts, include provisions for royalties to be paid back to NASA for products that become commercially profitable as a result of the contracts given by NASA. Teflon is the first of many examples that comes to mind. In a sense, it privatizes NASA....more private money anyway. The companies don't agree, go to someone else.
Just a thought. And I think that recycling of capital would get me my flying car before I am 60. OK guys, 22 and a half years to get this done.
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Of course, I need to comment on Willard calling it quits.
Remember me talking about the rewriting of history last week? Well, that is sort of what we are hearing from the all of the conservative pinheads. Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity are among the worst. They are examples of the Johnny-come-lately's who are expressing their sorrow over Mitt Romney leaving the race.
They jumped on his bandwagon about five seconds before hit suspended his campaign. Their verbal tears have all the sincerity of Bill Clinton.
The one who really pisses me off is Dr. James Dobson. Dr. Dobson, with all due respect.....and I mean with all due respect...you are allegedly a minister. HOW ABOUT BEING A MINISTER AND SHUT THE **** UP????!!!!??? Dr. Dobson, YOU are what is wrong with the Republican party today.
Dr. Dobson, how about a little "Focus on the SHUT THE HELL UP"!!!!
OK, so I am coming across as a little angry. I am NOT really angry. I just think that fools like Dobson, Pat Robertson, the late Jerry Falwell and others abuse the power given to them by their flock. Billy Graham has had my respect by showing his respect for the office and staying out of the electoral process for the most part. I have NO respect for the others.
Don't get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Hell, that is how I make my living. But some people are so damned full of crap that you just don't want to hear them anymore. On the left, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Spicoli and others from the Hollywood crowd are included. On the right, these alleged "men of God" are included.
The real problem is that these are a bunch of hypocrites. NOT just Dobson, but Hannity, Ingraham, Limbaugh, Coulter and others. Does ANYONE really believe that these folks are going to vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Really, John McCain is scarier than Hillary?
Say what you will about John McCain, positive and negative, but to these folks he is clearly the option that better fits their alleged beliefs.
But maybe they have been a bunch of damned liars all along.
Can you see why I have no respect for them?
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Comment as you see fit.
