Speaking of people who belong in an asylum, it looks like Atlantic City Democrat politics is cut throat. Literally.

It's not surprising (see below) that a majority of Palestinians favor the anniliation of Israel. But that brings to mind a question: Upon what basis do these people deserve a state?

Of course, the West Bank is too big to constitute an asylum.

The Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace has a report on what is contained in text books used to teach Palestinian children about Jews, Israel, and the history of the Middle East. The EU, the UN, and even the United States are paying for this swill which, in my opinion, even Goebels couldn't have dreamed up.

Leonard David has a piece about asteroid strikes. He suggests that even a "small" strike (i.e. one which does not destroy the world) could be mistaken for a nuclear strike, which could have horrible consequences. This problem was the subject of an old science fiction story, entitled Triggerman if I'm not mistaken.

Incidentally, I published a piece in Space Policy Digest some years ago on the problem of asteroid detection. How to Stop the Sky from Falling suggested that amature astronomies be given an incentive for searching for Earth approaching asteroids. Such people would be given ownership of every asteroid they discover. This would constitute potential wealth in the trillions of dollars, for instance, for a nickel-iron rock.

Naturally I also proposed an excemption from liability should someone's asteroid hit the Earth and leaves lawyers alive.

On of the points I like to make is about the role that the American Left played in the gutting of the American space program in the early 1970s. The Left actually believed that every dollar spent on sending men to the Moon was literally bread taken out of the mouths of the hungry. Their point of view largely prevailed in the 1970s and all of those plans of space stations, lunar settlements, and missions to Mars which would have occured by the mid 1980s were deferred.

The terrible irony is that the social ills which the Left complained about were not alleviated by increased welfare spending. As Dr. Charles Murray documented in his classic study of welfare, Loosing Ground, social welfare programs actually made matters worse. An entire generation was cheated of the Moon and Mars so that drug addiction, homelessness, illegitiment births, and school drop outs could increase.

When I point this out, a lot of people dig in their heels in denial. It was Nixon. It was the inevitable result of fullfilling Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon. It was anything but what it was. It was naked, partisan politics which crippled the US space program. The consequences reverberate even today, in my opinion. A lot of the NASA bureaucracy and the way it behaves stems from the shock of the post Apollo cut backs.

This is, by the way, one of the themes of Children of Apollo. For those who don't know already, my novel is set in an alternate history in which the space program was not crippled.

Finally, for your outrage, an example of what I've talked about. It is brought to us from sci.space.policy courtesy of B. Chan. It's a 1960s style protest song. The difference is that the song does not protest the Vietnam War, or racism, or the Establishment. It protests the Apollo program.

WHITEY ON THE MOON
from the album _Small Talk at 125th and Lenox_ (1970)
Written and performed by Gil-Scott Heron

A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)
The man jus' upped my rent las' night.
('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's uppi' me?
('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
I wuz already payin' 'im fifty a week.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
An' as if all that shit wuzn't enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face an' arm began to swell.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Was all that money I made las' year
for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here?
(Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)
Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll sen' these doctor bills,
Airmail special
to Whitey on the moon)

Jonah Goldberg, who's apparently on a roll about Mars, says that the cure for bureaucracy and bloated government is to start exploring and settling Mars,

I guess that being a Kennedy no longer means that one can get away with stuff.

Perhaps if the British still ran India we wouldn't be looking at nuclear war over there.

Now how in the same of heaven does the Washington DC Police Department miss a shin bone from the Chandra Levy crime scene? What utter incompetence.

Jonah Goldberg thinks that exploring and colonizing Mars would make splendid opportunities for women (and maybe men too) to become the Lewis and Clarks of the space age.

Come to think of it, I have always thought that it is a blot against humanity that women and minorities have yet to walk on the Moon. It is a blot I would have wiped out as soon as possible. In the meantime I imagine just that happening in Children of Apollo.

Fifty eight years ago today, on the 6th of June, over a hundred thousand men, brave and true, hurtled themselves against Fortress Europe. They gave of their todays for all of our tommorows.

The Israelis have departed Arafat's compound for the time being. Unfortunately they did not take Arafat with them. A word of advice to Israel. This kind of forebearence is not working. It's past time to carry off Yassir in an iron cage. Don't exile him, though. Put him on trial for crimes against humanity.

With great guile, Hollywood has found a way to inflate the take for the live action version of Scooby Doo. The first trailer for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will show before the giant, cowardly pooch.

Congress is headed toward doubling the budget of the National Science Foundation. Not good enough suggests former Speaker Newt Gingrich. He wants NSF's budget tripled.

President Bush has disavowed a report put out "by the bureacracy" suggesting that global warming is caused by man made causes. Well, that being the case, he might be well advised to purge the bureuacracy of people who think such things.

David Kopel & Professor Glenn Reynolds has a fascinating proposal. They suggest it's time to scrap the clause of the Outer Space Treaty which forbids nations from claiming celestrial bodies as national territory as a Cold War relic. This is so the protection of the United States Constitution can be extended to future space settlers and tyrannies-they mention both China and the UN-can be restrained from extending their tyranny beyond the Earth.

As I write this, Rush Limbaugh is going nuts over a story of an obscure White House environmental report sent to the UN which suggests that global warming is real and is caused by humans. True this is based upon a New York Times account and not on a reading of the actual report. However, Rush is going just a little over the top when he compared GW Bush to Al Gore. The global warming report, whatever else it says, does not suggest that any measures to combat it will be practicable. Al Gore would have demanded all sorts of draconian measures.

Therefore, all of this is meaningless.

Jim Pinkerton agrees with me that we had better get into a space race with the Chinese or else be left-literally-in the dirt. Pinkerton also gives the back of his hand to environmental extremists who want to make the Moon a national park.

The National Space Society has endorsed Nick Lampson's Space Exploration Act of 2002 HR 4742. Here are the co-sponsers so far:

Representative Nick Lampson (D-TX)
Representative Gene Green (D-TX)
Representative Ken Bentsen (D-TX)
Representative Brad Carson (D-OK)
Representative Ralph Hall (D-TX)
Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX)
Representative Martin Frost (D-TX)
Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX).

Notice that they all but one come from Texas and all but one are Democrats.

George Will inveighs against America's law suit culture, which seems to be undermining all common sense for the benefit of greedy trial lawyers. Fortunately a new organization, called Common Good has some ideas to change all that. Its board contains such diverse illuminaries as Newt Gingrich and George McGovern.