Rasmussen Polls Bring Hope to McMahon, O'Donnell Senate Bids

Rasmussen has some good news for a pair of long-shot Republican Senate candidates. They are Linda McMahon, the former pro wrestling magnate running in Connecticut, and Christine O'Donnell, who needs no introduction, running in Delaware.

Jonathon Coppersmith makes thew bizarre argument that Obamaspace, which features massive subsidies to "commercial" space firms, including Boeing, is not socialism.

Addendum: Rand Simberg agrees that government financed "commercial" space is "not socialist."

Jeff Foust examines the current thinking concerning "flexible path." The upshot, missions receding into the far future, under funded, and likely vulnerable to cancellation. In other words, more "unsustainable" than Constellation ever was dreamed of being.

Flexible Path is like a mortgage, he argued, that breaks a huge purchase into a large number of smaller payments, even if it means taking longer and spending more than if you bought the house with cash. “The beauty of the mortgage is that it lets you buy it a piece at a time, and that’s the gist of Flexible Path,” he said.

Such an approach, though, requires patience, since by fitting human exploration into a tight budget, it pushes missions out well into the future. Flexible Path, he said, “puts Mars decades away, many decades away.” That creates, more than ever, a need to develop a rationale for human space exploration that can be sustained and supported by multiple administrations and Congresses—a challenge that could prove far more formidable than any technical obstacle to human spaceflight beyond Earth orbit.

'Dexter' Season 5 Episode 1 'My Bad'

"Dexter" Season 5 Episode 1 "My Bad" begins the very second that the last episode of Season 4 ended, with Dexter finding Rita, the one woman who had reached that shriveled core
of humanity within him, bled out in the tub.

'Mad Men' Season 4 Episode 10 'Hands and Knees'

In "Mad Men" Season 4 Episode 10 "Hands and Knees," it looks like the firm is going to get a big, fat contract with North American Aviation. Unfortunately, along with the contract comes mortal peril for Don Draper.

'Boardwalk Empire' Season 1 Episode 2 'The Ivory Tower'

In "Boardwalk Empire" Season 1 Episode 2 "The Ivory Tower," the consequences of the hijacking of the liquor shipment for Arnold Rothstein continue. Some people will just not let go a little banditry and murder.

Jim Lovell on the future of human space flight.

Rand Simberg on the fiftieth anniversary of the first Kennedy Nixon debate poses an interesting question.

If Nixon had won instead of Kennedy, would we still have done Apollo?

One has to remember the historical context. JFK had done a serious of rookie mistakes in foreign policy, particularly botching the Bay of Pigs invasion. Nixon would not have held back the air support, if he had gone through with the invasion at all. Of course, things might have gone worse...

The space situation by the Spring would have been the same. The Soviets would still have launched the first man in space and our own Mercury program would have stalled.

Nixon would have had to do--something to reassert American superiority. What it might be is open to speculation, so I will speculate. What about an early space station/space shuttle combo the way Von Braun (who would still have been around) envisioned? That would have kind of fit Nixon's thinking in our time line, building something that could ensure routine access to space with some place for it to go. Von Braun could have build some kind of Saturn V to deploy the space station while something winged (Dyna Soar? An X 15 follow on?) becomes the manned space craft.

Now here is the next question. How do JFK and Lyndon Johnson, who are the Senate in this scenario, react? Do they get on board? Attack the proposal as too much? Too little.

Also remember, under Nixon, no Great Society, probably no big Vietnam escalation. Plenty of money for a space effort focused on showing up the Soviets and doing something permanent.

Addendum: Stacy Bartley emails and makes the following suggestion, "I think a better question is whether Nixon would have gone ahead with the Nova booster. Or perhaps even have eschewing the atmospheric test ban treaty Kennedy favored opted for Dyson's Orion..."

Oh, be still my heart. Or, perhaps, someone should write an alternate history story.

UN Appoints Mazlan Othman, Malaysian Astrophysicist, to Be Alien First Contact Coordinator

The United Nations has prepared for a visitation of aliens on Earth by selecting a designated "first contact coordinator." Her name is Mazlan Othman, a hitherto obscure Malaysian astrophysicist.

Stuxnet Cyber Attack Launched Against Iran

At least thirty thousand computers in Iran, including some controlling the soon to be online nuclear power plant at Bushehr has been infected by a computer worm called Stuxnet designed to take over systems of industrial plants.

Happy belated birthday to John Young, commander of Apollo 16 and STS-1 among other things. He turned eighty yesterday. His recent thoughts on why we must expand into space.

'The Good Guys' Season 1 Episode 10 'Vacation'

"The Good Guys" Season 1 Episode 10 "Vacation" was the first new episode since the summer and had Dan doing his usual dumb but macho thing by pursuing a purse snatcher in a commandeered car while blinded by pepper spray.

Andrew Breitbart Appears on 'Real Time with Bill Maher'

I had not planned to watch the second fall episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher", thinking my duty had been dispatched by watching the first. But I heard that Andrew Breitbart was going to be on, which piqued my interest.

Wayne Hale has made what will likely be historic blog post about what really went wrong with Constellation. It was not a flawed design, nor the evil machinations of Mike Griffin, or anything else but the lack of money. This is something the adults have been saying for quite some time.

Then there is this in the comments:

I’m not sure it is so much the internet as the total inability of the social media world to have give and take conversations rather than flame wars. Compromise is the genius of the democratic system and we seem to have lost that. There were plenty of debates about how to structure the space program in the 1960s and they were furious at times but rational decisions were made and almost everyone agreed that the selected way forward – if not their first choice – was at least acceptable. Today nobody seems to be able to accept anything less than total agreement with their position. The internet has contributed to that but it is an attitude hardening of positions that is the biggest problem.

No truer words were ever spoken. When the next President contemplates putting back the pieces of our shattered space program, I hope that he or she selects Wayne Hale as one of the advisers.

Pete Olson (R) Texas has an Oped about the current mess that our space program has been turned into by the Obama administration. A couple of observations:

The last two Congresses — one controlled by Republicans, the other by Democrats - endorsed NASA's current path. Unfortunately, they failed to provide the necessary funding. This Congress must meet our commitment to NASA. We must stop bailing out the past in a seemingly endless stream of bailouts and instead start providing for our future.

That is all too true. However, realizing the problem, neither the House nor the Senate has moved to fix it. The Senate NASA bill and the House NASA bill are fairly close, but are deficient in one aspect. They are about three or so billion dollars short to accomplish what they say they want to accomplish.

Then there is this:

He would divert $6 billion in taxpayer dollars, much to companies that have no track record of putting a human in space, let alone ferrying cargo. That is not only wasteful, but potentially reckless. NASA has a nearly 50-year record of human space endeavor.

This is something that really gets that Internet Rocketeer crowd's collective back up. That is because none of them understand business and how it works. NASA, as a potential customer, certainly has a right to ask of companies like SpaceX and Boeing whether they can actually provide the service they say they can for the price they are asking. Every other customer of a good or service asks this if they follow the principle of caveat emptor (i.e. let the buyer beware.) But advocates of the Obamaspace subsidies to commercial space companies want to just assume that private space will do what it has never been able to do before, to bet a lot of money on that assumption and, oh yes, end space exploration for all practical purposes for the foreseeable future.

I always thought that the Bush era COTS approach was better, with time tables, goals that had to be reached, and consequences for failure, as well as a plan B in the form of Ares 1/Orion just in case the commercial space firms could not deliver on time. That way we don't bet billions of dollars and the future of manned space on commercial space companies who might or might not be able to perform.

'Night of the Living Trekkies' - the Trailer (Video)

Bill and Ted Part 3?

Excellent!

Christopher Coates Testifies About Race-Based Justice at the Obama Department of Justice

Christopher Coates, the former voting chief for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division,testified under oath, in defiance of Attorney General Eric Holder, to the Civil Rights Commission on the Justice Department's race-based prosecution methods.

When the Institute for Liberty came out against "Space Pork", many including your humble corespondent wondered what was meant by that. Rand Simberg interviews Andrew Langer of the IL and, while we still have no real definition for "Space Pork", we do have at least a nuanced view of things that is not automatic Obamaspace koolaid drinking.

No, I agree – the new plan has ill-defined goals. But that’s all the more reason why we shouldn’t be adding in more funding into the approps process. We believe in setting defined goals, recognizing the reality of innovation in the year 2010.

Assuming for a moment that the goal should be landing men on Mars by a date certain (and we wouldn’t presume to suggest a date), it isn’t going to be the government, or big-box, staid contractors that are going to solve the problems of how to get there. Those solutions are going to come from the high-tech sector, and we believe that space policy ought to reflect that.

IFL’s core mission is small business and entrepreneurship, and while we are not suggesting that a small firm will get us to Mars, we believe that America’s entrepreneurs will.

As for the “flexible path” – again, if you’re uncertain about where you’re going, the only thing that is certain is that you’re never going to get anywhere.

There is actually a lot that can be said for that concept, though I would focus more immediately on the Moon than on Mars.

It is refreshing to see someone who weighs in on space policy to enunciate what he is for as well as what he is against. Along the lines of a "commercial solution" to space exploration, I have written on that very subject here.

Addendum: How about this as a model for a human return to the Moon? Let's see, NASA provides the HLV and an Orion, some firm like Armadillo builds a lunar lander, Bigelow provides the lunar base, we bring in a lot of students to design experiments and hook up with the lunar explorers via VR technology, add in a lot more public participation, and then we maybe have a new Moon program than might even satisfy the nay sayers in the Internet Rocketeer Club.

Stephen Colbert Testifies Before Congress -- What Could Go Wrong?

For reasons that surpass understanding, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, Zoe Lofgren, invited Stephen Colbert to testify on immigration.

Addendum: The Audacity of Jokes.

'Bones' Season 6 Episode 1 'The Mastodon in the Room'

"Bones" Season 6 Episode 1 "The Mastodon in the Room" finds our intrepid heroes, seven months after the tender leave-taking in the airport, in some peril at opposite sides of the world, as well as back in Washington.

Ahmadinejad Utters 9/11 Truther Nonsense at the UN General Assembly

The annual meeting of the UN General Assembly has been the occasion for third-world thugs to get on the podium and behave outrageously. Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not disappoint as he suggested that 9/11 was "an inside job."

Houston Heights Walmart Controversy Reaches a Turning Point

HOUSTON — In a decisive move that may well end an ongoing fight by neighborhood groups in the Houston Heights to keep out a Wal-Mart store; the Houston City Council has passed an economic incentive package for the developer of Wal-Mart.

Sarah Palin - the White House--or Playboy? (Video)

A human powered aircraft that uses flapping wings

Mark's Bonny Chocolate Lassi

The reaction to the House compromise authorization bill is fascinating to behold. The Internet Rocketeer crowd has lunged the length of its chain. No compromise! No quarter! Senate bill or death! They also seems to be seeing things in the House bill that others can't, such as "24 separate restrictions on commercial crew, and opens the door to continuing Ares I." The most I and others have been able to find are ten, all of them quite sensible. And it seems very unlikely that an Ares 1 that can loft 70 metric tonnes can be built.

More discussion at Space Politics.

The House bill is something I can live with. The funding for commercial space is at a more sensible level. SpaceX and Boeing will have to look for private investment to build their space ships. Like the Senate bill, it is short by about three billion for the exploration part. But things are put into place so that the next President can more easily clean up to Obamaspace mess and maybe get the country back on track to the Moon and beyond.

Will the House bill pass before adjournment? Your guess is as good as mine, gentle reader.

Addendum: Simberg is saying that the Senate is standing fast and is taking an "our way or the highway" stance. We'll see who blinks first. Maybe no one, which means no NASA authorization this year and chaos continues to reign. This is what happens when one tosses a grenade into the American space program and has nothing credible to replace it with.

Addendum 2: A side by side comparison between the original House bill and the compromise language.

Addendum 3: Ferris Yalyn, over at Daily Kos, puts a partisan liberal spin on it. I wonder if Ferris knows that the House is still controlled by Democrats or that Bart Gordon is a Democrat.

'Undercovers' Season 1 Episode 1 'Pilot'

"Unndercovers" Season 1 Episode 1 "Pilot" is the latest in a number of hip spy dramas in the same vein as "Burn Notice" and "Covert Affairs." The show is a creation of J.J. Abrams, whose previous show, "Alias," also concerned spy adventures.

SpaceX's Elon Musk Goes to Washington, Demanding Money

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has traveled to Washington to lobby Congress for subsidies to build his Dragon space craft, envisioned to be launched by a heavy lift version of SpaceX's Falcon 9 to the International Space Station.

'Pledge to America' Rolled Out by Republicans

The Republicans have released "The Pledge to America," the 2010 version of the famous 1994 "Contract with America." The Pledge is interesting in what it lacks as much as what is included within it.

Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows Part 1 (Trailer)

Elon Musk takes time off from growing his rocket business to go to Washington with his hand out.

Then there is this:

Since 2003, Musk has given about $300,000 to federal candidates, divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, according to records compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. In the first six months of 2010, however, Musk donated nearly $71,000 to Democrats, compared with less than $7,000 to Republicans from him or his company's PAC, the data show.

Considering who will likely be running Congress this year, that may not be the soundest investment Musk has made.

Musk also says that the reluctance on the part of some in Congress has diminished his faith in government. Perhaps as a cash cow.

Anticipating a return to the Moon, Futron conducted a market study for private lunar transportation. For now the study is academic, since Obama has declared the Moon off limits and whatever unmanned missions may still happen are not going to be enough to create a viable commercial market. One of the requirements is a Nasa funded Lunar COTS.

I seem to remember someone suggesting that a while back.

Glenn Reynolds does a video interview of Rand Simberg about space policy. Most of it is what one would expect coming from Rand (i.e. NASA bad, commercial good.) Rand defends something that he says is in the Obama space policy that really isn't in it. The Obama space policy does not, strictly speaking, support commercial space like COTS does; it takes it over with huge subsidies. Under Obamaspace no eccentric millionaire (it would take a billionaire in any case) is going to take us back to the Moon or anywhere else.

By the way, the huge subsidies that lenn and Rand support are going, in part, to that small, struggling, entrepreneurial space firm called Boeing. Talk about space pork.

There is an interesting suggestion by Rand, not original, for a "Space Guard" that handles things like asteroid diversion and space rescue. Question: Would the Space Guard have to ride around in commercial ships or will they, like the Coast Guard, have their own?

Rand also contradicts himself about the proper role of NASA. At a point or two he suggests that he would like to devolve it to a kind of space going NACA, limited to research and development. At another point he suggests that NASA should buy rides on commercial space craft. But a NASA like NACA would not do that.

No role for NASA in going back to the Moon, to Mars, or anywhere else of course. Nothing about what to do with ISS. Lots of running down of Apollo, which seems to me to be like running down Columbus or Lewis and Clark.

Rand and Glenn were indulging in a kind of libertarian fantasy that somehow remakes the space agency into not what it is, having grown into that over decades, but into something it cannot be. Taylor Dinerman wrote about the folly of attempting this very eloquently. For better or ill, NASA is an agency designed to do Apollo like programs. This is not a bad thing because, given a clear direction and resources, NASA can do that sort of thing very well. NASA cannot become a conduit for subsidies to favored space companies. That is a waste of money and it is a corrupting influence on the private sector.

Houston Schools scramble to aid children of laid off NASA, aerospace workers

'Fire from the Heartland' Trailer (Video)

The Persecution of Molly Norris

Molly Norris was the person who was behind the "Everyone Draw Mohammed Day" in protest of the treatment by the Comedy Channel of the "South Park" creators in censoring two episodes that depicted Mohammed.

Molly Norris is now, upon the advice of the FBI, in hiding, having changed her name in fear for her life. This is due to death threats issued against her by Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born Muslin cleric now hiding in Yemen.

Barney Frank's House Seat May Be in Peril

Is Congressman Barney Frank now in trouble? A poll conducted by OnMessage, quoted by Ed Morrisesey, suggests that the entrenched incumbent from Massachusetts may well be in peril of losing his seat to Republican Sean Bielet.

A group calling itself The Institute for Liberty has come under the common delusion that pork is spending I do not like. The IFL does not say what exactly the "Space Pork" is that it is exercised about. But it does have this point:

While people continue to be enthusiastic about the nation’s space program, they want that money spent wisely, on concrete and measurable goals that will be historic.

That would suggest that this organization is against the Obama space plan as well. Or at least should be.

Obama on Threat of Terror Attack: 'We Can Absorb a Terrorist Attack. We'll Do Everything We Can to Prevent It, but Even a 9/11, Even the Biggest Attack Ever . . . We Absorbed it and We Are Stronger.'

One of the revelations from the Bob Woodward book "Obama's Wars" concerns President Obama's attitude toward the possibility of another 9/11-style terrorist attack. The revelations show an emotional detachment that is bone-chilling.

One wonders if the Internet Rocketeer crowd knew back in February that this was going to happen, if they still would have supported Obamaspace. Quite possibly, since many of them have an antipathy for a government space agency of any kind. Unfortunately the nascent commercial space sector may be wrecked as well.

Jesse Jackson Jr. Faces More Federal Allegations

A federal investigation has uncovered evidence that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. offered to raise money for former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in exchange for being appointed to the US Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.

Woodward Book 'Obama's War' Reveals White House in Disarray Over Afghanistan, President Reluctant to Pursue Victory

Bob Woodward is on the verge of publishing his latest book, titled "Obama's Wars," which describes a White House consumed with infighting and turf battles while President Obama desperately looked for a way to exit Afghanistan.

Union Hires Non Union Protesters to Picket Walmart (Video)

Frank Sietzen, who co-wrote a book with Keith Cowing on the return to the Moon program and writes and comments about space has suffered a stroke and is in the ICU at George Washington. Prays and best wishes for his speedy and complete recovery.

Republicans Surge in West Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania

One of the astonishing aspects of Election 2010 is how Republican candidates are surging in hitherto blue states. Recent polls that have come out in West Virginia, Wisconsin,
and Pennsylvania suggest a nationwide tsunami in progress.

Is obesity caused by a virus?

Bob Truax RIP

Rand Simberg, like many commercial space advocates, has attacked the Iran Nonproliferation Act (now including Syria and North Korea) as being ineffective and harming commercial space operations. The INKSNA states that it is illegal to purchase goods and services from Russia so long as that country technical assistance to countries like Iran that are developing nuclear weapons. The ACT has not stopped Russia from doing these things, is honored in the breach insofar as ISS support goes, and has harmed commercial space, according to critics.

But now Rand seems to be imply support for INKSNA as a means to attack the House version of the NASA authorization bill. The theory is that by denying subsidies to commercial space companies, the House forces us to continue relying on the Russians for access to ISS, which apparently now do--what?

Mind, there are troubles with relying on the Russians for access to ISS, but stopping them from supplying assistance to rogue countries is not one of them. Russia will do it anyway.

The better option would be to go back to the Bush approach, never well funded, to give sensible support for commercial space firms while building a public option in the form of Ares/Orion.

Addendum: Being called a liar by Rand Simberg is rather rich. I suspect that he will play Clinton-like word games by saying not "attacked" but rather "expressed reservations" or "was dubious about" or even "mildly amused by." Since it seems so important to him, I'll give him that.

And, actually, I get very little if any traffic from Simberg's blog, even when he explodes with rage, fury, and blind hate against some imagined slight by me. Believe me, it is not about him. It bespeaks of a remarkable ego that he would suggest such a thing.

ITAR, which he mentions in passing, is the International Traffic in Arms regulations that date back to the Cold War and has also been criticized for inhibiting commercial space. Yes, I do know that ITAR is separate from INKSNA.

I also know the difference between free enterprise and government subsidies which Rand, being an Obamaspace supporter, does not.

And, as usual, Rand misses the point about the above post. Whether we buy Soyuz rides or not does not effect Russian behavior. A commercial space craft could be created today with a magic wand and the Russians would go on behaving as they have. Thus, his article makes no sense whatsoever.

Addendum 2: Just in a way of clarification, the reason some commercial space interests have chafed at the INKSNA is the following section of the Act.

Dual use export prohibition.--Denial of licenses and suspension of existing licenses for the transfer to that person of items the export of which is controlled under the Export Administration Act of 1979 or the Export Administration Regulations.

There are, of course, a lot of items that can be considered "dual use" in the aerospace business.

Addendum 3: Asked directly what his actual position on INKSNA is, Rand finally had this to say:

I fully support INKSNA, I have always fully supported INKSNA, and I have no idea where you get your delusions that I have ever done otherwise.

Well, then I retract the above statement stating his opposition to the law and regret the error. However, the more important point about how INKSNA has nothing to do with the House authorization bill stands. If Rand wants to obscure that point by exploding with insults and histrionics,then it is on his head.

Bumped

Is John Dingell in trouble?

Barack Obama and Sarah Palin appear in the Archie Comics? The mind boggles.

Young People Break Up with Obama (Video)

Sarah Palin Touts the Tea Party--and Sarah Palin (Video)

Harry Reid Refers to Fellow Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as 'Hot'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed his appreciation for US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in a very strange way. In a private business setting, if a male were to refer to a female associate in such a way, it would spark a trip to Human Resources.

'House' Season 7 Episode 1 'Now What?'

"House" Season 7 Episode 1 "Now What?" begins just as the previous episode ended, with House and Cuddy falling in love in the ruins of House's bathroom. All things considered, it is one of the strangest lovemakings ever depicted on TV.

'Castle' Season 3 Episode 1 'A Deadly Affair'

"Castle" Season 3 Episode 1 "A Deadly Affair" begins with Castle inside a room filled with mirrors getting shot at. He flees through a door into an alley to be confronted by Beckett with a gun. A gunshot ensues.

'The Event' Season 1 Episode 1 'Pilot'

"The Event" Season 1 Episode 1 "Pilot" is a show which, like "Lost," reveals what it is really about in driblets and drabs, with tantalizing clues. Like "24," the series seems to be ripped from current headlines.

What Prospect of Returning to the Moon by Commercial Means?

A Response to 'Space Program Launch Grounded in Congress' by Jack Kennedy

Jack Kennedy, not the President returned from the dead but rather a member of the board of directors of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority., published an oped in the Roanoke Times on the impasse on the NASA authorization bill in the Congress.

Lunar water, good for lunar settlers, bad for lunar astronomers.

A look into the heart of darkness that is the Christine O'Donnell opponent Chris Coons.

Christine O'Donnell's First General Election Campaign Commercial (Video)

More Voters Agree with Sarah Palin Than with Barack Obama -- Rasmussen

Rasmussen has published a poll that indicates that while 52 percent of the electorate believes that their views are "closer to Sarah Palin than to Barack Obama," only
40 percent of the electorate have views closer to the President's.

Christine O'Donnell Used to Practice Witchcraft

Christine O'Donnell is trying to laugh off the controversy surrounding the revelation in a 1999 episode of Bill Maher's old show, "Politically Incorrect," that she "dabbled in witchcraft" apparently while in high school.

Jeff Foust discusses space tourism and space policy.

Jack Kennedy (no, not that one) calls upon the Virginia Congressional delegation to oppose the House NASA authorization bill and support commercial space. His oped contains this howler.

Some argue that the Obama administration has abandoned the American space program by opting to make human treks to near-Earth asteroids a new target instead of a government-sponsored human return to the moon redux. In reality, the president's space policy brings closer the prospect of Americans returning to the moon by commercial means while pushing the government civil space program to focus on the new frontier: asteroid exploration and impact defense.

The White House and the Senate see the expansion of humans to the moons of Mars and on to the surface as NASA's long-term goal with advanced propulsion technologies.

There is nothing, in fact, in the President's space policy that enables a commercial return to the Moon. In fact, President Obama specifically ridiculed a return to the Moon because "Buzz has already been there." There are not any commercial space firms that envision returning to the Moon with astronauts.

Jack Kennedy is either confused or is being dishonest.

Obama Leaves Out 'By Their Creator' in Quote from 'Declaration of Independence'

'Boardwalk Empire' Season 1 Episode 1 'Boardwalk Empire'

Another story about the "dark side of the American dream" begins in "Boardwalk Empire" Season 1 Episode 1 "Boardwalk Empire." The story, of course, involves gangsters, corruption and murder. It's a theme as old as "The Godfather."

'Mad Men' Season 4 Episode 9 'The Beautiful Girls'

In "Mad Men" Season 4 Episode 9 "The Beautiful Girls," the problems of Don Draper are starting to mount. And he is not the only one beset by life. Joan's husband is now in Vietnam. And Peggy is being haunted by some of her Greenwich Village friends.

Charlie Bolden's mission to the Muslims continues.

Colin Powell bails on the One.

Congressman Mike Pence Wins the Values Voters Presidential Straw Poll

While Presidential straw polls taken at meetings over two years before an election are for all intents and purposes meaningless, Congressman Mike Pence's win by a small plurality at the Values Voters Summit is of interest.

Fight Over NASA Space Funding Reaches Impasse in the Congress

Mike Griffin's Revenge
The Washington Post is reporting that the clash over the future of the US manned space program is reaching a new stage in the Congress, with a resolution—or not—expected sometime this week.

Bone's Emily Deschanel Discusses the 'Jersey Shore' Episode (Video)

Democrats Stage Palin, Beck, and GOP Candidate Adam Kinzinger as Hitler Rally (Video)

Lisa Murkowski Launches Write-in Campaign to Retain Her Alaska Senate Seat

Senator Lisa Murkowski, who was defeated in the Alaska primary by Sarah Palin and Tea Party backed political newcomer Joe Miller, has decided not to go quietly
into that good night and instead launch an independent write in campaign.

'Real Time with Bill Maher' Returns to Shock, Astound, and Offend

The first new episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher" since the beginning of summer started with the host bounding onto the stage, ebullient, his trademark sneer in full display, as the studio audience went wild.

Sarah Palin Speaks at the Reagan Dinner in Iowa (Video)

Christine O'Donnell Speaks at Values Voters Summit (Video)

Wellesley, Massachusetts Public School Students Pray at a Mosque (Video)

'Zero Taxes, Zero Gravity' -- a Better Way to Support Commercial Space

The debate raging about how best to support the growth of a commercial space sector seems to focus around how much money should be spent on subsidies for commercial space firms. But perhaps the tax code provides a better answer.

Reason Magazine decries "Big Government" Republicans for opposing Obamaspace, totally missing the point.

Obamaspace is not a wonderful, pro commercial space policy. In smothers commercial space with billions of subsidies instead of standing back, supporting commercial space at an appropriate level, but forcing it to develop private sources of capital and private markets.

Obamaspace also cancels any hope of human space exploration beyond LEO for the foreseeable future, which is something that should be opposed regardless of anything else.

My lament is that why the phony libertarians in the Internet Rocketeer Club keep failing to understand that?

Nevertheless, I tend to favor the Senate version of NASA authorization over the House version, but for different reasons. The House bill seeks to preserve Constellation, but doesn't fund it properly. The Senate bill at least preserves some options for the next President when he (she) will have to clean the mess Obama has made. Neither bill does commercial space satisfactory. The Senate spends too much and the House spends too little.

Even though Obama has placed the Moon under quarantine, some people are still working for the day people with live there. Case in point: a lunar garden.

'Rally to Restore Sanity' to Meet 'March to Keep Fear Alive' in Washington, Oct. 30

In an example that imitation is the best form of flattery, late night comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will lead dueling marches on Washington, called "Rally
to Restore Sanity" and "March to Keep Fear Alive," respectively.

Christine O'Donnell, as it turns out, is a Tolkien fan and suggests that his female characters could serve as role models. Since the feminist think Tolkien is a misogynist (but then what male writer is not in their opinion) one suspects that much will be made of this too. Here is the essay.

Addendeum: Latest Scandal from Delaware Senate Race -- Christine O'Donnell is a Tolkien Fan

The latest scandal surrounding the candidacy of Christine O'Donnell's run for the United States Senate surrounds a 2003 essay in which she wrote about gender roles of some of the female characters in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Andrew Sullivan tells a bald faced lie when he suggests that the GOP wants to "disenfranchise" gay people. But it is fascinating that one of Christine O'Donnell's warmest supporters is her lesbian, Wicca practicing sister.

Jim Geraghty has this to say about the Kosmas/Adams Race.

Sandy Adams has a lot of factors going in her favor in her race against Suzanne Kosmas in Florida’s 24th district, but probably none more powerful than the district’s sense of betrayal. Kosmas ran as a fiscal moderate and was helped by an Obama wave; in 2008, the Democratic presidential candidate was pledging to save manned spaceflight. Kosmas defied her district by voting for health-care reform, and many figured she had traded her vote to the Obama administration for some sort of deal to save Space Coast jobs. Instead, President Obama’s space-policy changes are effectively ending manned spaceflight*, disastrous news for workers in her district.

If Kosmas traded her vote for health care reform for space coast jobs, clearly the administration has stabbed her in the back. Rand Simberg, of course, disagrees that Obamaspace is ending human space flight.

Simberg may be right and the commercial folks will be able to step up, I suspect despite rather than because of the Obama regime's attempts to be "helpful." But we have to remember that the past thirty or so years is filled with bold promises of the next entrepreneur who was going to open up the high frontier of space, only to fail. It will happen eventually, but I am queasy about the idea that the government is going to pour money into commercial space to make it happen by a date, sometime in 2015, certain.

Besides, we don't know what is going to eventually come out of the congressional sausage making machine. Congress is quite capable of coming up with a worse plan and, as usual, not funding it properly.

In any case it is without question that Obamaspace has ended space exploration beyond LEO for the foreseeable future. Barely a few months after Obama's "bold" call for a look but don't touch mission to an asteroid by 2025, a NASA study pushed it back to 2031.

Just as the Bush administration refused to properly fund Constellation, the Obama regime will not properly fund its own plan. And so it goes.

Barack Obama is not only an anti colonialist but also, oddly, a neocolonialist. The problem is, the United States is the colony.

New Issue in Delaware; O'Donnell Opposes Masturbation

A new issue seems to have arisen, as it were, in the Delaware Senate race. It seems that, in the 1990s Christine O'Donnell opined, on an interview on MTV no less, that masturbation is a sin. When asked about it now, O'Donnell has wisely demurred.

The Tea Party comes to Australia. Can't wait for John Birmingham's take on this.

Now Stephen Breyer says that Koran burning is legal.

John Holdren, Obama Science Czar, Advocates 'De-development' of the United States Through 'Free Market Economy'

John Holdren, President Barack Obama's Science Czar, has hit upon a new way to accomplish an old goal of his. Holdren, in the 1970s, was an advocate of what he called the "de-development" of the United States, among other things.

Chris Coons, Christine O'Donnell Opponent in Delaware, Became 'Bearded Marxist' in College

While much has been made about Christine O'Donnell's past troubles with the IRS and other dubious dealings, very little has been written in the mainstream media about her Democratic opponent, Chris Coons.

'Hope!' Aka Springtime for Obama (Video)

Cthulhu Wants You to Use Old Spice--Or Else (Video)

Deep fried beer. Most likely it will be banned under Obamacare.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer -- Burning Koran May Not Be Protected by First Amendment

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Stephen Breyer has opined that burning a copy of the Koran may not be protected speech. Justice Breyer bases this reasoning on a principle articulated by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Jon Goff has an actually very interesting and imaginative vision for what space might look at in 25-30 years. It is certainly fare more expansive and compelling than that of Lori Garver.

'Covert Affairs' Season 1 Episode 11 'When the Levee Breaks'

"Covert Affairs" Season 1 Episode 11 "When the Levee Breaks" begins with an elderly but kindly professor of chemistry named Dr. Anton being snatched from his Hong Kong
private school by a gang of masked, heavily armed, and plainly nasty men.

'Covert Affairs' Season 1 Episode 10 'I Can't Quit You Baby'

At the beginning of "Covert Affairs" Season 1 Episode 10 "I Can't Quit You Baby," a gentleman is caught at the airport with rough diamonds in his box of medical supplies. Stupidly, he actually tries to run.

Christine O'Donnell Beats Mike Castle in Delaware

Christine O'Donnell has convincingly beaten Mike Castle to be the Republican nominee for US Senate from the state of Delaware. The Tea Party is ecstatic. The Republican Party is aghast. The Democratic Party is beside itself with glee.