NASA has had some stunning successes in unmanned missions over the last decade and Phoenix has been no exception. The Phoenix lander recently recorded images of snow falling over the Mars polar landscape. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
Too bad Bush's half-hearted effort to refocus NASA's efforts towards a return to the Moon have been a dismal failure. The next administration, McCain or Obama, is most likely going to have to give NASA the shaft on funding in light of our current economic climate. Oh well, maybe the Chinese will have the spare change to take along an American when they go.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Losers
I was thinking about something other than the financial markets today. What the hell has happened to all the Democrats that lost out to Bush? When was the last time you heard anything from John Kerry or Al Gore? Other than the convention stuff (and John Edwards little escapade) they have been conspicuously absent from this campaign. If I were either of those guys I'd be shouting as loud as possible about how bad the Bush administration has fucked things up. Just seems odd....you don't even see much mention of the Clintons these days. I mean Hillary is still a Senator right? Where is her commentary on this whole bailout mess, I haven't heard a peep.
Bigger fish to fry I guess.
Bigger fish to fry I guess.
You're in big trouble
Little Sarah got in trouble with Principal Couric so Daddy had to come and have a little sit down.
Are you fucking serious? First, they wouldn't let her talk to anyone. Then once they did she looked like a total loon on national television. Now she can't even be trusted to be interviewed without McCain sitting RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO HER? She's so dim that in order to know what she has to agree with he has to be right their to spin the bullshit that is coming out of her mouth as it happens.
Are you fucking serious? First, they wouldn't let her talk to anyone. Then once they did she looked like a total loon on national television. Now she can't even be trusted to be interviewed without McCain sitting RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO HER? She's so dim that in order to know what she has to agree with he has to be right their to spin the bullshit that is coming out of her mouth as it happens.
Free advice
Here's a great article about our current financial mess. It's no wonder that Bush/Paulson wanted to shove this bailout through as rapidly as possible...it was never a good idea, it was just away to keep all the balls in the air a bit longer. They fueled the economy by building houses and selling them to people that could not afford them, now there is a gross oversupply of houses that no one can afford dragging down the entire economy.
Some people have been screaming that Congress should give that $700 billion to people to help pay mortgages that they can no longer afford (even if they never should have been able to get in the mortgage in the first place). This is no better than the Wall Street bailout, you're just throwing the money into a different bottomless hole.
Why not use that money for some modern version of Roosevelt's "New Deal"? Re-Form an organization like the WPA and use it the same way it was used in the 30's and 40's. With $700 billion dollars you could afford to pay every unemployed person in this country $25,000/year for the next three years....and put them back to work in some way. Pay these people to build enough wind farms, solar fields, hydro and geothermal plants to tell the rest of world where they can put their oil.
It may be regarded as Socialism but what would you call the Nationalisation of Financial Institutions? Not exactly the harbinger of Democracy.....
Some people have been screaming that Congress should give that $700 billion to people to help pay mortgages that they can no longer afford (even if they never should have been able to get in the mortgage in the first place). This is no better than the Wall Street bailout, you're just throwing the money into a different bottomless hole.
Why not use that money for some modern version of Roosevelt's "New Deal"? Re-Form an organization like the WPA and use it the same way it was used in the 30's and 40's. With $700 billion dollars you could afford to pay every unemployed person in this country $25,000/year for the next three years....and put them back to work in some way. Pay these people to build enough wind farms, solar fields, hydro and geothermal plants to tell the rest of world where they can put their oil.
It may be regarded as Socialism but what would you call the Nationalisation of Financial Institutions? Not exactly the harbinger of Democracy.....
Monday, September 29, 2008
Check please.
Well, looks like it's time for Wall Street's "come to Jesus moment". I'm going home to clean my guns.
Sign of the times
Right now the news is dominated by the 2008 Election and our economic meltdown/government bailout. There was some brief mentions of the Chinese space walk mixed in with the financial doom and gloom. It's sad that most of the major media has completely ignored this story but a private US company, SpaceX, has succeeded in reaching earth orbit with their rocket system. This is the first time that a private enterprise has been able to achieve that goal. This success opens the door for future missions such as launching satellites and potentially having a capsule/passenger system within a few years.
The privatization of space is going to be a big deal in the next decade, it may be the only bright spot for US space exploration. I have no doubt that NASA is going to face serious troubles with Orion both from a technical and a financial perspective. All this debt from the Wall Street bailout is going to effect ALL government budgets and I doubt NASA will get enough funding in the near future to do anything dramatic.
The privatization of space is going to be a big deal in the next decade, it may be the only bright spot for US space exploration. I have no doubt that NASA is going to face serious troubles with Orion both from a technical and a financial perspective. All this debt from the Wall Street bailout is going to effect ALL government budgets and I doubt NASA will get enough funding in the near future to do anything dramatic.
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