Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
Monday, March 31, 2003
Hugh Hewitt imagines the current LA Times, as well as other lilly liverered media organizations, reporting World War II as they are reporting the War against Saddam.
"Hedgerow Hell: Allies Stall in Fields of Normandy"
"Cherbourg Out of Reach --Eisenhower rushing reinforcements. Did Ike underestimate the Nazis?"
"Caen: Montgomery's First Day Objective Still Under Nazi Control"
"Only Rumors of Rockets--No 'Secret Weapons' in Early Fighting"
"St. Loo in Ruins--Hundreds of French Civilians Dead As Historic Village Leveled"
"No Signs of Jewish Revolt in Warsaw--Paris Does Not Rise Up on News of Invasion."
"Germans in Berlin rally to their Fuhrer."
Ralph Peters examins the role of special ops warriors in the war against Saddam. The Rambo Hollywood stereotype is very wide of the mark.
Sunday, March 30, 2003
Is there a reporter in all the world more arrogant and clueless than Peter "Lord Haw Haw" Arnett? In earlier times, this sort of thing, rendering aid and comfort to an enemy in time of war, was called treason.
Update: For his service to the Republic of Iraq, NBC has given Arnett the Order of the Boot.
Update: For his service to the Republic of Iraq, NBC has given Arnett the Order of the Boot.
Michael Moore, that fat fraud who managed the unprecendented feat of getting booed at the Oscars, is plotting another atrocity. More proof that the Left is self destructing.
Also, Rod Dreher admonishes Mel Gibson for getting in bed with Michael Moore. Now there's a subject for an interesting conspiratorial documentary. How does one one Hollywood's leading religious conservatives get hooked up with one of the world's most obnoxious socialist jackasses?
Also, Rod Dreher admonishes Mel Gibson for getting in bed with Michael Moore. Now there's a subject for an interesting conspiratorial documentary. How does one one Hollywood's leading religious conservatives get hooked up with one of the world's most obnoxious socialist jackasses?
Saturday, March 29, 2003
Friday, March 28, 2003
Dr. Paul Spudis had some remarks about lunar ice estimates over on the Space Policy forum:
There are several things in this piece that are not quite correct. Our work merely re-estimates, based on modelling, the true amount of permanent shadow near the poles -- we did not re-estimate the amounts of water. The water quantity estimate is from the LP neutron spectrometer team, who, on the basis of the NS signal, estimate an aggregate amount of TEN (10) billion metric tons of hydrogen (total, at both poles). However, the LP neutron data only senses the upper 30 cm of the Moon, so I imagine that the actual amounts are really much greater -- the Clementine bistatic experiment used S-band radar (13 cm wavelength) and it senses roughly a couple of meters deep or so.
The second thing wrong is the quote attributed to me. I never said anything about mining "precious metals" -- the Moon has no large concentrations of such (as far as we know). My argument was that the water at the poles was valuable enough, both for life-support and for rocket fuel. I also argue for a government-sponsored Lunar Return, an R&D effort with the object of learning how to use off-planet resources. That's a slightly different position than the one attributed to me in this article (about which, by the way, nobody called or talked to me).
The real significance of the increase in the darkness estimate is to increase the POTENTIAL for much greater amounts of lunar water; it does not prove they exist. In any event, we need a series of new, reconnaissance missions to document exactly how much ice there is, where it occurs, what its purity and concentration is, and its physical, chemical, and isotopic make up. This requires at least one new orbital mission and one new landed mission, carrying the appropriate instruments.
Thursday, March 27, 2003
The Canadian Parliement has voted to call for the indictment of Saddam Hussein and his cronies for war crimes. Am I to assume that Canada will shortly join in Allied efforts to apprehend these war criminals?
Along with our Canadian friends and our Nowegian friends, we now have the German Friends of America.
Ralph Peters describes the horrendous battle fought by the 3rd Squadron of the 7th Cavalry against Iraqi fanatics.
Several readers, by the way, have asked about my reference to Garryowen in a previous post. Garryowen is the title of the regimental song, chosen over a hundred years ago by it's then commander, one Colonel George Armstrong Custer. It goes like this:
Several readers, by the way, have asked about my reference to Garryowen in a previous post. Garryowen is the title of the regimental song, chosen over a hundred years ago by it's then commander, one Colonel George Armstrong Custer. It goes like this:
Let Bacchus' sons be not dismayed
But join with me, each jovial blade
Come, drink and sing and lend your aid
To help me with the chorus:
cho: Instead of spa, we'll drink brown ale
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to jail
From Garryowen in glory.
We'll beat the bailiffs out of fun,
We'll make the mayor and sheriffs run
We are the boys no man dares dun
If he regards a whole skin.
Our hearts so stout have got no fame
For soon 'tis known from whence we came
Where'er we go they fear the name
Of Garryowen in glory.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Former Senator and UN Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan has died. Albeit a Democrat, Moynihan was a true statesman and , unlike most pols of either party, not only read books but actually wrote a few of them worth reading.
Passed on by reader Steve Johnson, one of my favorite iconoclasts Dennis Miller has some words of wisdom:
TRYING TO HELP...BY DENNIS MILLER
ALL THE RHETORIC ON WHETHER OR NOT WE SHOULD GO TO WAR AGAINST IRAQ HAS GOT MY INSANE LITTLE BRAIN SPINNING LIKE A ROULETTE WHEEL. I ENJOY READING OPINIONS FROM BOTH SIDES BUT I HAVE DETECTED A HINT OF CONFUSION FROM SOME OF YOU.
AS I WAS READING THE PAPER RECENTLY, I WAS REMINDED OF THE BEST ADVICE SOMEONE EVER GAVE ME. HE TOLD ME ABOUT THE KISS METHOD ("KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!) SO, WITH THIS AS A THEME, I'D LIKE TO APPLY HIS THEORY FOR THOSE WHO DON'T QUITE GET IT. MY HOPE IS THAT WE CAN SIMPLIFY THINGS A BIT AND RECOGNIZE A FEW IMPORTANT FACTS.
HERE ARE 10 THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN VOICING AN OPINION ON THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE:
1) BETWEEN PRESIDENT BUSH AND SADDAM HUSSEIN ... HUSSEIN IS THE BAD GUY.
2) IF YOU HAVE FAITH IN THE UNITED NATIONS TO DO THE RIGHT THING KEEP THIS IN MIND, THEY HAVE LIBYA HEADING THE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND IRAQ HEADING THE GLOBAL DISARMAMENT COMMITTEE. DO YOUR OWN MATH HERE
3) IF YOU USE GOOGLE SEARCH AND TYPE IN "FRENCH MILITARY VICTORIES," YOUR REPLY WILL BE "DID YOU MEAN FRENCH MILITARY DEFEATS?"
4) IF YOUR ONLY ANTI-WAR SLOGAN IS "NO WAR FOR OIL," SUE YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR ALLOWING YOU TO SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS AND ROBBING YOU OF THE EDUCATION YOU DESERVE.
5) SADDAM AND BIN LADEN WILL NOT SEEK UNITED NATIONS APPROVAL BEFORE THEY TRY TO KILL US.
6) DESPITE COMMON BELIEF, MARTIN SHEEN IS NOT THE PRESIDENT. HE PLAYS ONE ON T.V.
7) EVEN IF YOU ARE ANTI-WAR, YOU ARE STILL AN "INFIDEL!" AND BIN LADEN WANTS YOU DEAD, TOO.
8) IF YOU BELIEVE IN A "VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY" BUT NOT IN THE DANGER THAT HUSSEIN POSES, QUIT HANGING OUT WITH THE DELL COMPUTER DUDE.
9) WE ARE NOT TRYING TO LIBERATE THEM.
10) WHETHER YOU ARE FOR MILITARY ACTION OR AGAINST IT, OUR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN OVERSEAS ARE FIGHTING FOR US TO DEFEND OUR RIGHT TO SPEAK OUT. WE ALL NEED TO SUPPORT THEM WITHOUT RESERVATION.
I HOPE THIS HELPS. D.M.
Looks like the Medina Division of the Elite Republican Guard is headed toward the 7th Cavalry.
Garryowen!
Garryowen!
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Reader Mark Reiff offers the following fable on American ingenuity:
Bush and Osama decided to settle the war once and for all. They sat down and decided to settle the whole dispute with one dog fight. They would have 5 years to breed the best fighting dog in the world and whichever side's dog won would be entitled to dominate the world.
Osama found the biggest, meanest Doberman and Rottweiler female dogs in the world and bred them with the meanest Siberian wolves. They selected only the biggest and strongest puppy from the litter, and removed his siblings, which gave him all the milk. After 5 years, they came up with the biggest, meanest dog the world had ever seen. Its cage needed steel bars that were 5" thick and nobody could get near it.
When the day came for the dog fight, Bush showed up with a strange looking animal. It was a 9 foot long Dachshund. Everyone felt sorry for Bush because there was no way that this dog could possibly last 10 seconds with the Afghanistani dog. When the cages were opened up, the Dachshund came out of its cage and slowly waddled over towards Osama's dog. Osama's dog snarled and leaped out of its cage and charged the American Dachshund---but when it got close enough to bite, the Dachshund opened its mouth and consumedOsama's dog in one bite. There was nothing left of his dog at all.
Osama came up to Bush, shaking his head in disbelief, "We don't understand how this could have happened. We had our best people working for 5 years with the meanest Doberman and Rottweiler female dogs in the world and the biggest, meanest Siberian wolves."
"That's nothing,", said Bush. "We had Michael Jackson's plastic surgeons working for 5 years to make that alligator look like a weenie dog."
Meanwhile the United States Senate has voted to declare war on the people they obviously consider the real enemy, the American tax payers. Hopefully this atrocity will be fixed in conference.
Monday, March 24, 2003
Friday and Saturday, the media had the war all but won. Sunday and now going into Monday, it looks like the same media wants to declare defeat. Ralph Peters offers some expert, common sense analysis to cut through that fog.
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Micheal Moore, that fat fraud, lived down to everyone's expectations at the Oscars. He was. surprisingly, actually booed.
By contrast, Peter O'Toole was the personification of class when he thanked the United States for all the country has done for him.
By contrast, Peter O'Toole was the personification of class when he thanked the United States for all the country has done for him.
Saturday, March 22, 2003
There are some Norwegians who like us too.
Now wouldn't it be wonderful if groups like this and the Canadian one below could spread to other countries? Even to France?
Now wouldn't it be wonderful if groups like this and the Canadian one below could spread to other countries? Even to France?
Looks like not all Canadians hate America:
You're very welcome.
Dear American Friends,
I apologize for the anti-American statements which have come from some of my countrymen and my government as of late. There are plenty of Canadians who back your efforts to rid the world of the scourge of Al Qaeda and the viciousness of Saddam Hussein.
Canada and America share the common destiny of the New World.
I appreciate that you have honoured Canada's sovereignty and her distinct traditions while sharing the longest, undefended, border in the world.
You were our allies against Nazism and Fascism during World War II, and contributed to democracy in Japan and Germany.
I appreciate that you took the threat from Communism seriously and contributed to increased freedom and stability among our neighbours in the East.
I appreciate the marvellous American contributions to the world's art, literature, music and movies.
I appreciate the amazing American innovations in science, technology, medicine and business.
I marvel at your generosity and willingness to shoulder so many of the burdens of the world.
I admire your leadership of the world's fight against Islamic terrorism and murderous dictators.
I'm proud of the friendship between Canada and the USA. Whatever I can do to strengthen, deepen and broaden the great bonds between our nations I will do gladly, with open heart and hand.
Signed,
Your Canadian Friends
You're very welcome.
Friday, March 21, 2003
Courtesy of the NRO's The Corner, a list of members of Congress who have declined to support the Commander in Chief and our soldiers in the current war:
The Nays:
Conyers
McDermott
Towns
Honda
Rangel
Waters
Jones (OH)
Scott (VA)
Watson
Lee Stark
Present:
Brown (OH)
Jackson (IL)
Paul Brown
CorrineJackson-Lee (TX)
Payne Carson (IN)
Johnson, E. B.
Rush
Clay
Kilpatrick
Sabo
Cummings
Kucinich
Schakowsky
Davis (IL)
Lewis (GA)
Watt
Doggett
Meeks (NY)
Farr
Owens
While the new and improved Patriots are knocking Iraqi missiles down with satisfying regularity, it is worth noting that twenty years ago President Reagan brought the idea of missile defense into the public policy discussion and in so doing charged the history of the world.
Shock and awe have begun and even so whatever is left of Saddam's regime is still defiant. Meanwhile liberated Iraqis in Safwan are cheering the Marines.
Thursday, March 20, 2003
John Carter McKnight expands on the difficult task of getting a variety of people and organizations to work in harness to see through the goal of spreading human civlization beyond the Earth. Rest assure, the Curmudgeon will be doing his part in times to come and will be posting here in due course some suggestions of how to proceed and what initiatives could be useful.
People who want to cut space spending in order to fund social programs are even more silly in 2003 than they were in 1973.
Once again American men and women are marching into battle to set other men and women free. 2003 will be one of those years, like 2001, 1944 and 1864, when tyranny and slavery will disolve in a torrent of fire and blood. We will pray for those who must give the last full measure of devotion in this war. But unlike a certain senile Senator from West Virginia, we shall not weep. Our country and the world will be a safer and better place when the fighting is done.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
George Will suggests that Saddam Hussein is not the only pol who will be destroyed in the coming war.
Done Deal is reporting that Robert Rodat will be writing the screenplay for the movie version of Ton Clancy's Red Rabbit. Red Rabbit relates the hitherto unknown role of Jack Ryan in stopping the attempted assasination of Pope John Paul II in the early 1980s. Rodat's previous credits include Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Thanks to T. L. James for posting this message about a new push for space settlements coming from a coalition of groups and people who in the past have spent a lot of time arguing with one another.
Tom Daschle has just been compared to Charles Lindbergh. And not in reference to the flying across the Atlantic thing.
As a historical note, Lindbergh later repented of his insolationism and appeasement stances. I doubt that Daschle will have the manhood to do the same.
As a historical note, Lindbergh later repented of his insolationism and appeasement stances. I doubt that Daschle will have the manhood to do the same.
The biography of Neil Armstrong is over a year away and the excitement is already beginning to mount.
Janet Reno, arguably the most stupid person ever to be Attorney General, says that might doesn't solve problems. Waco and Elian were acts of passivism, one supposes.
Monday, March 17, 2003
Michael Moore, the original stupid white man, has said pretty much what one might expect about the up coming war against Saddam. Fortunately Rand Simberg has given him a damn, fine whipping.
John Carter McKnight suggests that space advocates cut to the chase and propose what we all really want: space settlements.
The United States will, at least initially, rely on the private sector to rebuild Iraq after the liberation rather than international relief organizations. I can already hear the howls of outrage.
Sunday, March 16, 2003
For an example of someone who found out too late what it really means to be a "human shield", let us point to the case of Rachel Corrie, who died after interposing herself between an Israeli bulldozer and a Palestinian building selected for destruction to make the fight against terror easier. This combination of naive high mindedness, mind numbing stupidity, and clueless support of criminals (in this case Palestinian terrorists) would likely get the late Ms. Corrie a posthumous nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. However I should like to nominate her instead for the Darwin Award, for the one person in 2003 who, through idiocy, took herself out of the gene pool.
Newsweek thinks that basically the United States and her allies are right to hammer Saddam and liberate Iraq and that the Europeans and others who are protesting are silly for going into such fits about it. Yet, it's still all America's fault because we're being-well-insensitive.
Stuff and nonsense. The Europeans are by and large living in a fool's paradise in which they think the need for military force is no longer valid. They are envious of American power because they have no will and probably no capability to match it. They hate America because the history of the last hundred years has consisted of European screw ups, starting with the First World War, being straightened out with American blood and American treasure.
Basically I would prefer not to hear about European (particularly French) complaints about American "hyper power" until Europeans grow up and learn to take some responsibility. The cliche is that somehow Europeans are the sophesticated, worldly wise adults and Americans are the brash, bullying teenagers. The opposite in fact is true. Europeans are whining adolescents who don't want to face up to their problems and resent the adults (read Americans) who do.
Stuff and nonsense. The Europeans are by and large living in a fool's paradise in which they think the need for military force is no longer valid. They are envious of American power because they have no will and probably no capability to match it. They hate America because the history of the last hundred years has consisted of European screw ups, starting with the First World War, being straightened out with American blood and American treasure.
Basically I would prefer not to hear about European (particularly French) complaints about American "hyper power" until Europeans grow up and learn to take some responsibility. The cliche is that somehow Europeans are the sophesticated, worldly wise adults and Americans are the brash, bullying teenagers. The opposite in fact is true. Europeans are whining adolescents who don't want to face up to their problems and resent the adults (read Americans) who do.
For all of you Gladiator fans or just folks with an affection for things Ancient Roman, a treat. The novel by George Shipway The Imperial Governor has been reissued. The novel is about the Roman Governor of Britannia, Seutonius Paulinus who crushed the revolt by Queen Boudicca during the reign of the Emperor Nero. Shipway also wrote a number of other historical novels, including The Knight and The Paladin, and a hilarious dark, political satire called The Yellow Room.
As early as the late 70s, "peace" protesters have occassionally thought it was fun to sneak on to military bases and commit acts of vandalism. However, unlike the town of La Habra, the authorities at Vandenberg Air Force Base have decided that in the post 9/11 World, this kind of nonsense is no longer protected free speech. However, the "peace movement" remains defiant.
This reminds me of the bravado of those idiotic "human shields" who went to Iraq, took one look at what it ment to be a "shield", and fled. I suspect they'll be singing a new tune the moment one of them gets shot as a suspected terrorist.
The policy will not deter protesters, said Peter Lumsdaine of the Vandenberg Action Coalition, one of the organizers of the planned trespassing.
"I think it does underline that people in the nonviolent resistance movement are willing to take some risks," Lumsdaine said.
This reminds me of the bravado of those idiotic "human shields" who went to Iraq, took one look at what it ment to be a "shield", and fled. I suspect they'll be singing a new tune the moment one of them gets shot as a suspected terrorist.
Saturday, March 15, 2003
George Will says that the good people of California should be forced to live with their choice to reelect Gray Davis as their Governor. The idea is that Davis will make them so angry that they will dump Barbara Boxer from the Senate and give California's electorial votes to President Bush next year.
And-I might add-elect someone like Condi Rice governor in three years.
And-I might add-elect someone like Condi Rice governor in three years.
Friday, March 14, 2003
Newsmax.Com has sent a list of French products and enterprises to boycott until such time as France comes to its senses:
** Air France. Air Liquide. Airbus. Alcatel. Allegra
(allergy medication). Aqualung (including: Spirotechnique,
Technisub, US Divers, and SeaQuest). AXA Advisors.
** Bank of the West (owned by BNP Paribas). Beneteau
(boats). BF Goodrich (owned by Michelin). BIC (razors,
pens and lighters). Biotherm (cosmetics). Black Bush.
Bollinger (champagne).
** Car & Driver Magazine. Cartier. Chanel. Chivas Regal
(scotch). Christian Dior. Club Med (vacations). Culligan
(owned by Vivendi).
** Dannon (yogurt and dairy foods). DKNY. Dom Perignon.
Durand Crystal.
** Elle Magazine. Essilor Optical Products. Evian.
** Fina gas stations and Fina Oil (billions invested in
Iraqi oil fields). First Hawaiian Bank.
** George Magazine. Givenchy. Glenlivet (scotch).
** Hennessy. Houghton Mifflin (books).
** Jacobs Creek (owned by Pernod Ricard since 1989).
Jameson (whiskey). Jerry Springer (talk show)
** Krups (coffee and cappuccino makers).
** Lancome. Le Creuset (cookware). L'Oreal (health and
beauty products). Louis Vuitton.
** Marie Claire. Martel Cognac. Maybelline. Méphisto
(shoes and clothes). Michelin (tires and auto parts).
Mikasa (crystal and glass). Moet (champagne). Motel 6.
Motown Records. MP3.com. Mumms (champagne).
** Nissan (cars; majority owned by Renault). Nivea.
Normany Butter.
** Parents Magazine. Peugeot (automobiles). Pierre Cardin.
Playstation Magazine. ProScan (owned by Thomson
Electronics, France). Publicis Group (including Saatchi &
Saatchi Advertising).
** RCA (televisions and electronics; owned by Thomson
Electronics). Red Magazine. Red Roof Inns (owned by Accor
group in France). Renault (automobiles). Road & Track
Magazine. Roquefort cheese (all Roquefort cheese is made
in France). Rowenta (toasters, irons, coffee makers,
etc.). Royal Canadian.
** Salomon (skis). Sierra Software and Computer Games.
Smart & Final. Sofitel (hotels, owned by Accor).
Sparkletts (water, owned by Danone). Spencer Gifts.
Sundance Channel.
** Taylor Made (golf). Technicolor. T-Fal (kitchenware).
Total gas stations.
** UbiSoft (computer games). Uniroyal. Universal Studios
(music, movies and amusement parks; owned by Vivendi
-Universal). USFilter.
** Veritas Group. Veuve Clicquot Champagne. Vittel.
Vivendi.
** Wild Turkey (bourbon). Woman's Day Magazine.
** Yoplait (The French company Sodiaal owns a 50 percent
stake). Yves Saint Laurent.
** Zodiac Inflatable Boats.
Mr. Sterling, the TV series about a US Senator who apparently walks on water, heals the sick through his touch, and somehow resembles Jumping Jimmy Jeffords is about to sign off into television history. As I predicted it would.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
More evidence that China has big space ambitions.
And here's a fact which should be a cause for shame in the West.
I think we had better get busy.
China intends to reach the moon by 2010. Some here belittle the American moon landing in 1969, proclaiming they will do more than "plant a red flag and pick up rocks," as one space planner put it.
Officials say they aim to exploit the moon's resources. They covet its apparently abundant supply of helium-3, a rare isotope on earth that some scientists believe may prove to be a clean fuel of choice when used in special nuclear fusion reactors that would have to be developed.
"We've got to seize this moment when other countries have no comprehensive plan to return to the moon," Luan Enjie, the head of China's National Space Administration, told the official New China News Agency this month.
And here's a fact which should be a cause for shame in the West.
Barring a quick breakthrough in NASA's review of what happened to the Columbia, the American shuttle fleet could still be grounded when China becomes the third nation to send its own astronauts into orbit, providing an extra jolt of publicity that the Chinese believe will add to the prestige of the mission.
I think we had better get busy.
Yet another film project about America's first battle with trouble making Moslems is in development.
Vandalism may be protected free speech in La Habra. But, perhaps, not assault. That's a comforting thing to reflect upon.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Scientists are about to test an artificial hippocampus. The hippocampus is the part of the brain which stores new memories.
Wayne Smith makes the case for building an Orion space ship, which would be propelled by the detonation of nuclear bombs.
Congressman Jim Moran's remarks about Jews is just the latest in a series of boorish statements and behavior.
According to Variety Magazine, actor/director Clint Eastwood has acquired the film rights to a new, authorized biography of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon. The film, when made, would be Eastwood's second foray into space, as he previously made and starred in the superb Space Cowboys.
Update: The book, upon the film will be based, is called First Man and will be out next year.
Update: The book, upon the film will be based, is called First Man and will be out next year.
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
"Anti war" protesters ripped apart and trashed a 9/11 memorial in the town of La Habra. That's not the biggest scandal. The biggest scandal is that the police stood by and did nothing, even though they observed the crime being commited. Why? It seems that vandalism is a protected free speech right, at least in La Habra.
I wonder what other crimes could be considered free speech?
I wonder what other crimes could be considered free speech?
James Moran, a Democrat Congressman from Virginia, seems to be in trouble for blaming the Jews for the coming war with Iraq. Like Marcy Kaptur, who slandered the founders for comparing Osama bin Laden to them, he should resign in disgrace. But, as he is not a Republican, I doubt he will.
Dennis Wingo reflects on the problems NASA has keeping and attracting skilled employees. He agrees with me that the crux of the problem is having interesting and useful things to do.
Dennis Wingo reflects on the problems NASA has keeping and attracting skilled employees. He agrees with me that the crux of the problem is having interesting and useful things to do.
Paul Blase, of Transorbital, talks about efforts to launch the first commercial mission to the Moon.
Last Friday we saw Tears of the Sun, Bruce Willis's latest action film. It is not, I dare say, the usual escapest fare. The film has certain things to say about modern Africa, where genocide is accomplished by men weilding edged weapons, and of the meaning of that oft quoted saying by Edmund Burke about evil only triumphing when good men do nothing. Bruce Willis leads a SEAL team comprised of very good men and what they see in a Nigeria of the near future moves them to do something heroic and noble. I cannot recommend the film more highly.
Sunday, March 09, 2003
Saturday, March 08, 2003
Marcy Kaptur, who slandered the Founding Fathers by comparing Al Qaeda to them, digs herself into a deeper hole. She should resign from the Congress. Her fellow Democrats should demand that she do so.
But of course she won't and they won't.
But of course she won't and they won't.
Friday, March 07, 2003
George Will finds the presumption that France should be taken seriously absurd. However this is quite serious, as it places France among those who support terrorism and tyranny.
How much you want to bet that Marcey Kaptur is not driven from public life for comparing Osama Bin Laden to the founding fathers? Democrats can say and even do anything and get away with it.
Thursday, March 06, 2003
High School "anti war" protesters make the case for peace by looting and rioting. Oddly enough the service station they sacked turned out to be owned by a middle eastern gentleman.
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
NASA may soon face a shortage of rocket scientists as older employees reach retirement age and the space agency has difficulty attracting young people. Oddly enough, the reason obvious:
So it seems to me that the solution is obvious. Give people things that are interesting and productive to work on and they will come.
NASA's trouble recruiting college graduates may be as a result of the perception that NASA no longer is on the cutting edge of space research, said Bruce Mahone, director of space policy at the Aerospace Industries Association.
"They're not doing a huge number of shuttle flights a year. They're not going beyond low-Earth orbit. I think a lot of [the shortage of young workers] has to do with the program. It is a good shuttle program, but we aren't moving forward," he said.
In addition, the shuttle program is a money pit that makes investment in other research difficult, said Howard McCurdy, an American University professor of public affairs who studies NASA's history and culture.
"We weren't supposed to become transfixed with developing the shuttle program for 30 years. NASA should have moved on," he said.
So it seems to me that the solution is obvious. Give people things that are interesting and productive to work on and they will come.
"McCarthyism" is a term much overused by the Left ever since the real McCarthy was terrorizing folks back in the fifties. Now some Hollywood anti war folks are raising that bloody shirt again because people are getting ticked off by actors and rock stars campaigning against a war against Saddem Hussein. Clearly, the theory goes, Martin Sheen and Mike Farrell are just inches away from being put on a black list and being forced to spend their declining years doing avant guarde theatre in France.
Of course this is silly. Though if ratings for The West Wing take another nose dive, leading to it's cancellation, I should be very entertained to hear the yelps of outrage.
The ironic thing about all this is that it is an open secret that there are many conservatives in Hollywood who are afraid to speak out, lest they be denied jobs and parts. Maybe the Hollywood Left should show a little more tolerance toward other points of view before yelping about a few angry e-mails.
Of course this is silly. Though if ratings for The West Wing take another nose dive, leading to it's cancellation, I should be very entertained to hear the yelps of outrage.
The ironic thing about all this is that it is an open secret that there are many conservatives in Hollywood who are afraid to speak out, lest they be denied jobs and parts. Maybe the Hollywood Left should show a little more tolerance toward other points of view before yelping about a few angry e-mails.
Faced with the need to reach a consensus in the face of a coming war in Iraq, Islamic countries have decided to attack each other with the style and ferver of grade school children.
A few years back, before 9/11, the folks who bring us South Park attempted a sit com based on the daily trials of President George W. Bush. "That's Our Bush" was short lived and not very funny, since it stuck to the stereotype of the President as a clueless doofus. Now, the actor who played the President in that series, Timothy Bottems, will reprise his role in a much more serious vein in a film DC 9/11, depicting the events of that day from the point of view on the White House staff. Penny Johnson, who appears as the scheming ex wife of President David Palmer in the series 24, will play Condi Rice. George Takai, of Star Trek fame, will play Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta. Yet to be cast are the roles of Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and Colin Powell.
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
In a review of The Life of David Gale, an anti death penalty screed disguised as a movie, the reviewer suggests that the title charecter deserves to swing.
More on China's lunar ambitions. If the Chinese do go to the Moon and we are not there to greet them, then the eternal shame is ours.
According to Newsmax.Com's Left Coast Report, not everyone in Hollywood is getting on the appeasement bandwagon:
Although Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon and Janeane Garofalo have been dominating the anti-war airwaves of late, some stars with differing points of view have decided to speak up.
Bruce Willis, Brian McKnight, Kid Rock, Rob Lowe and Jean-Claude Van Damme are saying things that are undoubtedly making the anti-war crowd steam. On the other hand, the celebrity rhetoric that's coming out of these guys is warming the hearts of the kick-Saddam's-butt bunch.
According to the New York Daily News, Willis seriously thought about enlisting in the U.S. armed services.
Singer Brian McKnight told MSNBC, "If we do go to war ... I'm going to support whatever President Bush decides to do."
Kid Rock colorfully expressed his views by saying, "We got to kill that mother-[bleeper] Saddam. Slit his throat."
Rob Lowe, Sheen's former co-star on "The West Wing," told Fox News Channel that Americans should support our armed forces, and that the best way to do that was to support our commander-in-chief.
And action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme told Globe magazine, "Some of those in Hollywood are part of the axis of ignorance!"
Monday, March 03, 2003
Just when you thought things could get get any weirder. According to Drudge, Vanity Fair is about to publish an article which claims that Michael Jackson paid a voodoo priest $150,000.00 to lay a curse on media morguls David Greffen and Steven Speilberg in order to kill them. Apparently, even though at last report both gentlemen were very much alivem 42 cows gave the last full measure during the ceremony.
The Chinese, like the Washington Post, may be thinking of the lessons of Zeng He. I think the Post is wrong to apply the example of Zeng He's treasure fleet to the shuttle. The shuttle is not about exploration or expanding frontiers in any real sense. It's about going around in circles.
Sunday, March 02, 2003
For an example of what Peggy is talking about (see below) Teddy Kennedy, by inciting a jihad against Miguel Estrada, is leading the Senate judicial confirmation process into ruin and chaos.
Peggy Noonan describes in her usually superb way how the Democrats have gone freaking nuts. And since they are, I'm not sure that they'll heed her advice about how they can recover from their thirty year vacation from sanity and decency.
Will Houston be a center of nanotechnology business in the 21st Century. Could be, but the technology is just one of the challenges standing in the way.
The nabbing of one of Al Qaeda's biggest bad guys is a serious blow against the drive for power of-the Democratic Party. The Democrats have been trying to tell us that the War onTerror has been neglected in favor of the War on Iraq (as if they were not part of the same conflict.) Now I wonder what they have to say.