Category: Government

A good reason why the Government needs to get OUT of the Space Business!

(Via Insty)

The problem:

The problem was that after the ISS was complete, without the Shuttle, the U.S. would have no capability to reach it, and there would be a “gap” in capability until some sort of replacement was developed. At the time of the announcement, the “Crew Exploration Vehicle” (CEV) was the proposed means, but it wasn’t expected to be ready until 2014, resulting in a “gap” of at least three years, and probably longer. When Mike Griffin replaced Sean O’Keefe in 2005, he rolled out a concept called Constellation, which included the CEV, renamed at that time Orion. It also included a new rocket for it, that had not been anticipated in the original Bush plan, called Ares I, despite the fact that existing rockets, such as the Atlas V or Delta IV, could have done the job. Griffin even originally claimed that his plan would reduce the gap, being ready by 2011.

Unfortunately, the design chosen was flawed, and ran into technical difficulties immediately, increasing its costs and stretching its schedule. Because there had not originally been plans for a new launcher, there wasn’t sufficient budget to support it, and other budgets, in science and technology, and the hardware actually needed to get back to the moon, were raided to feed the rocket disaster. The schedule was slipping more than a year per year, and by 2009, when the Augustine Committee was convened to evaluate the situation, it moved rightward to 2017, with only a low probability of hitting that operational date.

[…]

Next year, it will be a full decade since Columbia was lost. And judging by the pathetic state of space policy discussion we’ve seen over the past few days, with Mitt Romney hiring Mike Griffin, the man who caused this policy disaster, to advise him, it’s likely that we’ll still be floundering and earth bound, despite the billions we’ve spent and continue to spend.

via PJ Media » Nine Years Of Space Policy Disaster.

The Solution:

The United States of America needs to get the hell OUT of the space business! Period! End of Discussion. It has been proven time and time again that NASA is nothing more than a wasteful, hazardous, big Government bureaucracy. Let private companies do the research, the development and the deployment.  The question is this; how many more astronauts are going to have to be killed, before we realize that the United States Government is not good at space exploration?

This is the entire problem with Neoconservatives or big Government Conservatives; they rail against Big Government, but when it comes to programs like space exploration — they are all for it. Wake up guys! Big Government is Big Government! Either kill the space program and let private companies do the job or stop calling yourself small Government advocates, because you look like absolute hypocrites. This is not some off-the-wall Ron Paul sounding stuff either. It is simply common sense, something that is sorely lacking in the world of politics and Government today.

It is time that Republican and Conservatives started talking and really acting like that which they claim to be. Either we believe in small Government or we don’t. Pick a position please. We do not have the money to be the leader in space exploration anymore. We need to fully privatize that industry. The Russians are no longer a threat to our society, the cold war is over, finally. So, why do we care what the Russians do?

This is the stuff here, that separates me from the rest of the “right” in the Blogosphere. The rest of these guys believe in small Government, except when it comes to space programs. History proves that Government space programs are dangerously misguided; Challenger, Columbia, Apollo — all of them.

We need to stop it, before more people are killed.

 

Obama runs up another trillion dollar debt

Unemployment is at 10% and what happens? The President runs up more debt.

The story:

The government faces a fourth year of trillion-plus deficits in 2012, according to new projections released Tuesday—numbers which also show little relief in the future unless Washington comes to grips with needed changes in its tax and spending policies.

Like Aunt Cassandra coming down from the attic, the Congressional Budget Office steps squarely into the 2012 campaign season with the 147-page report which might have been subtitled “It’s not just the economy stupid, it’s also the debt.”

The $1.079 trillion deficit now projected for this fiscal year ending Sept. 30 is a step backwards from what CBO had predicted in August. And to punch home its message, the non-partisan agency outlines an especially grim scenario in which Congress not only extends all the current Bush-era tax cuts but pulls the plug on the $1.2 trillion in sequester set in motion by the Budget Control Act last summer.

Under this scenario—which can’t be ruled out politically—deficits would stubbornly hover just under $1 trillion through 2017, adding another $4.7 trillion altogether to the mounting federal debt.

Under the more prudent—and many would say unrealistic— scenario of ending tax breaks and implementing cuts, the cumulative deficits would be $1.72 trillion or $3 trillion less from 2013-2017. But even this path comes with a warning from CBO: that debt service costs are already on the rise and will command an ever greater share of the annual budget.

“The federal budget remains out of balance throughout the decade,” the report reads. “The resulting accumulation of debt, along with rising interest rates, drives up the cost of financing that debt; in CBO’s projections, net interest costs grow significantly from 1.4 percent of GDP this year to 2.5 percent in 2022.”

via Congressional Budget Office projects trillion dollar deficits through 2017 – David Rogers – POLITICO.com.

This is insanity, if I were the Republican candidates, I would be emphasizing this point to the high heavens! This is madness and we have to correct this in 2012.

Welcome to the depression: CBO says Unemployment actually at 10%

Makes you want to run right out and vote for Democrat, no? 😛

Via Drudge:

What do the NAR, Consumer Confidence and CBO forecasts have in common? If you said, “they are all completely worthless” you are absolutely correct. Alas, the market needs to “trade” off numbers, which is why the just released CBO numbers apparently are important… And the fact that the CBO predicted negative $2.5 trillion in net debt by 2011 back in 2011 is largely ignored. Anyway, here are some of the highlights.

2012 Deficit: $1.1 trillion; 2013 Deficit: $0.6 – yes, we are cackling like mad too…

Unemployment to remain above 8% in 2012 and 2013; will be around 7% by end of 2015; to drop to 5.25% by end of 2022.

This forecast is utterly idiotic and is completely unattainable unless the US workforce drops to all time lows and the US economy generates 300,000 jobs a month for 10 years

Needless to say, CBO assumes the best of all worlds in this meaningless forecast

But here is the kicker: “Had that portion of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that is attributable to neither the aging of the baby boomers nor the downturn in the business cycle (on the basis of the experience in previous downturns) not occurred, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 would have been about 1¼ percentage points higher than the actual rate of 8.7 percent” translation: CBO just admitted that the BLS numbers are bogus and real unemployment is 10%. Thank you

via Latest Congressional Budget Outlook For 2012-2022 Released, Says Real Unemployment Rate Is 10% | ZeroHedge.

Welcome to the real world folks! I could write about this; but I already have here.

San Francisco occupy protester strangles his parents

Unreal.

The Story:

Friends and relatives said Susan Poff and Robert Kamin of Oakland were the perfect pair to adopt a foster child.

They had dedicated their careers to helping others escape poverty, she as a physician assistant in a city-run clinic in the Tenderloin and he as a clinical psychologist for inmates in the San Francisco County Jail system.

But now, less than a decade after they adopted, their 15-year-old son stands accused of strangling both Poff, 50, and Kamin, 55, then hiding their bodies in the back of the family’s PT Cruiser.

Police were called to the family’s home on Athol Avenue on Friday by a co-worker who was concerned when Kamin did not show up for work.

[…]

Initially the son, whose name is being withheld because of his age, denied any involvement, but later told officers what had happened, authorities said. He was arrested on suspicion of murder Saturday and is being held at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro.

Co-workers said Poff and Kamin were having some arguments with their son, some of it having to do with him spending too much time in the Occupy Oakland encampment, but nothing that sounded beyond the scope of typical teenage rebelliousness.

Yup, Just like the tea party.

Nancy Pelosi herself said it!

youtube placeholder image

I’m sure she is really proud.

Others: The Gateway Pundit, moonbattracker.com/wordpress, Verum Serum and Jammie Wearing Fools

A very nice article on the decline of the left

This comes via InstaPundit.

An article by Walter Russell Mead in the American Interest on decline of liberalism in America; some highlights:

“The blue model is breaking down so fast and so far that not even its supporters can ignore the disintegration and disaster it now presages. Liberal Democrats in states like Rhode Island and cities like Chicago are cutting pensions and benefits and laying off workers out of financial necessity rather than ideological zeal. The blue model can no longer pay its bills, and not even its friends can keep it alive. Our real choice, however, is not between blue or pre-blue. We can’t get back to the 1890s or 1920s any more than we can go back to the 1950s and 1960s. We may not yet be able to imagine what a post-blue future looks like, but that is what we will have to build. . . . There are a lot of reasons to be nostalgic for the old days (especially for the white males who were, far and away, the biggest beneficiaries of the old system), but there are also good reasons to bid the blue model good riddance.”

Please, go read the rest of that; because in a sense, this article says much of what I have written in the past on my old blog. Basically, that the left went off the rails years ago; along with organized labor, when they shifted from offense to defense. Since then, they have gotten worse and worse.  A perfect example was in 2008, that whole thing with Hillary and Obama was a perfect manifestation of the class warfare between Man and Woman, Black and White; it all got to be a bit too much for me. Which is why I left them.

The sad thing is, the left, as it were, got even crazier after Obama was elected. It was as if the arrogance of the left went through the roof; they had the media, the white house, congress —- everything — and what did Obama do with all that favoritism? He blew it! I believe the grassroots left knows they were played; the establishment left does not really care, they are getting paychecks; but the people I know, the bloggers, are not happy.

Which brings me to my last point; I really wish this process between Newt and Romney would finally end and the Republican Party would get behind one of them. This whole populist versus establishment fighting is wearing very thin with me. It has nuances of the left’s class warfare; which I really do not get into at all. Do not misunderstand me here; I am all for airing someones dirty laundry and misdeeds, but to wrap it up in a package that the left would approve of, is not a way to fight a battle.

In other words; Florida’s primary cannot come quick enough!

 

Video: Friday Evening Thoughts

Just a video of my thoughts.

Please note: In this video, I mistakenly refer to the Washington Times; I meant Washington Post. Oops. 😳

References:

Quinnipiac University: Romney Pulls Ahead In See-Saw Florida Gop Primary, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Men Shift From Gingrich To Romney — Memeorandum thread

Washington Post: Ron Paul signed off on racist newsletters in the 1990s, associates say

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online: No One Left to Lie To

Jeffrey Lord / American Spectator: Elliott Abrams Caught Misleading on Newt

Roundups: Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway, NationalJournal.com, The Caucus, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD’S …, Sunshine State News, Washington Post, Firedoglake, Don Surber, Florida Times Union, The Strata-Sphere, The Moderate Voice, The Other McCain, American Spectator, Presidential Power, Hot Air, Mail Online, Reuters, GOP 12 and Post on Politics, The Atlantic Online, The Hill, Little Green Footballs, The Political Carnival, US Politics, Hit & Run, Boing Boing, Gawker, Daily Kos, Hot Air, YID With LID, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Dish, The PJ Tatler, GOP 12, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Political Mojo and Shakesville, National Review, Riehl World View, Guardian, Big Journalism, The Atlantic Online, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Eunomia, RedState, Power Line, The Reality-Based Community, The Daily Caller, JOSHUAPUNDIT and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Nitpicking Megan McArdle a bit

Megan McArdle is a good writer that makes a whole bunch more money writing than I do.

She writes a very good blog entry about the President’s State of the Union address. In it, she writes the following, that I feel the need to comment about:

The harsh way to put it is that the speech was an extended whine about how all the rich bankers and George Bush have screwed everything up.  That was fine campaign rhetoric when he was a Senator.  But it’s pretty weak when he’s been in charge for most of a full term–two years of that with a majority in congress.

You see this is the entire problem; the Democrats lead by President Obama, continue to perpetuate the outright lie that the President George W. Bush and the cabal of rich bankers caused the Wall Street crisis and that drove our economy into the ground.  This is nothing more than outright historic revisionism.  The truth is the so-called “bankers” took advantage of the situation.  As I have written on this blog and my previous blog, in 1973, the Democrats passed the community reinvestment act.  In 1993, the Democrats added the subprime clause to that act, which created the ability for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack to sell high-risk, adjustable rate mortgages to those who, under normal circumstances could not even remotely be qualified to get them.

There was one thing that did exacerbate the situation, that was the removal by Congress and not by Bush; the regulation that was supposed to prevent predatory lending conditions.  Furthermore,  The Republicans in Congress at the time, can be blamed for backing off an investigation, when the then President of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played the race card in response to a warning from the Bush White House that the housing market was about to crash.

Now the question as to the morality of the bankers is another story entirely.  However, the very idea that somehow a cabal of banks actually brought the economy down is weapons grade conspiracy theory nonsense.  The only thing that “The Bankers” and Wall Street did was take advantage of a situation created by the very socialists who are blaming the banks for the situation in the first place.

 

Videos: Pelosi “I know something about Newt” — Newt: “Spit it out!”

I find this to be mildly amusing; for the record, Pelosi did this about month ago and basically got told the same thing then, “Either put up or shut up.” So, this is just more of the saber-rattling from the left.

Here is Pelosi rattling her sabers: (Via TownHall – H/T HotAir.com)

youtube placeholder image

…and here is Newt telling Pelosi, “Spit it out” (nice nuanced sexual metaphor there Newt! 🙄 ) (via Taegan Goddard – H/T HotAir.com)

youtube placeholder image

Money Quote:

She lives in a San Francisco environment of very strange fantasies and very strange understandings of reality. I have no idea what’s in Nancy Pelosi’s head. If she knows something, I have a simple challenge: Spit it out.

Again, the nuanced sexual metaphor aside; I cannot honestly say that I really disagree with his assessment of Pelosi really. However, I do believe he just lost the San Francisco voters. Either way, I believe is Pelosi does actually have anything, that she should dish; because I would like to know what it truly is myself.

Also, Byron York reminds everyone that the IRS did investigate Newt and he came out looking rather nicely:

Nothing happened with the Justice Department and the FBI, but the IRS began an investigation that would stretch over three years.  Unlike many in Congress — and journalists, too — IRS investigators obtained tapes and transcripts of each session during the two years the course was taught at Kennesaw State College in Georgia, as well as videotapes of the third year of the course, taught at nearby Reinhardt College. IRS officials examined every word Gingrich spoke in every class; before investigating the financing and administration of the course, they first sought to determine whether it was in fact educational and whether it served to the political benefit of Gingrich, his political organization, GOPAC, or the Republican Party as a whole.  They then carefully examined the role of the Progress and Freedom Foundation and how it related to Gingrich’s political network.

In the end, in 1999, the IRS released a densely written, highly detailed 74-page report.  The course was, in fact, educational, the IRS said. “The overwhelming number of positions advocated in the course were very broad in nature and often more applicable to individual behavior or behavioral changes in society as a whole than to any ‘political’ action,” investigators wrote. “For example, the lecture on quality was much more directly applicable to individual behavior than political action and would be difficult to attempt to categorize in political terms. Another example is the lecture on personal strength where again the focus was on individual behavior. In fact, this lecture placed some focus on the personal strength of individual Democrats who likely would not agree with Mr. Gingrich on his political views expressed in forums outside his Renewing American Civilization course teaching. Even in the lectures that had a partial focus on broadly defined changes in political activity, such as less government and government regulation, there was also a strong emphasis on changes in personal behavior and non-political changes in society as a whole.”

The IRS also checked out the evaluations written by students who completed the course. The overwhelming majority of students, according to the report, believed that Gingrich knew his material, was an interesting speaker, and was open to alternate points of view. None seemed to perceive a particular political message. “Most students,” the IRS noted, “said that they would apply the course material to improve their own lives in such areas as family, friendships, career, and citizenship.”

The IRS concluded the course simply was not political.  “The central problem in arguing that the Progress and Freedom Foundation provided more than incidental private benefit to Mr. Gingrich, GOPAC, and other Republican entities,” the IRS wrote, “was that the content of the ‘Renewing American Civilization’ course was educational…and not biased toward any of those who were supposed to be benefited.”

The bottom line: Gingrich acted properly and violated no laws.  There was no tax fraud scheme. Of course, by that time, Gingrich was out of office, widely presumed to be guilty of something, and his career in politics was (seemingly) over.

So, having said all of that; if Pelosi has something of moral or ethical interest, she should dish on it or otherwise, shut up.

 

Video: Thoughts on the GOP and Newt

References:

Roundup: The Other McCain, Wizbang, Don Surber, neo-neocon, The Enterprise Blog, Eunomia, JustOneMinute, The Gateway Pundit, Ricochet Conversations Feed and ProfessorBainbridge.com, Ballot Box, The Politico, CNN, Daily Kos, 2012 Decoded, The PJ Tatler, COURAGE IN AMERICA, Political Insider, Stinque, The Caucus, Don Surber, The Mahablog, GOP 12, The Daily Caller, Hullabaloo and Wake up America, Washington Post, CNSNews, Wonkette, The Gateway Pundit, The Star-Ledger Editorial Page, Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, Mad Kane’s Political Madness, Daily Kos, National Review, Connecting.the.Dots and Campaign 2012,

 

 

John Kerry’s injury is symbolic of his party.

Ouch.

Alternative Headline: “Why old people should not play rough sports.” The real kicker or punchline here? Kerry was playing the position of “Right Wing.” Oof.

The Story:

WASHINGTON — The secret is out: John Kerry is a right winger.

The Globe uncovered the news after inquiring why Kerry was sporting two nasty black eyes today at a White House ceremony in which President Obama feted the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.

It turns out he got whacked playing hockey. And his sporting position might come as a surprise to the constituents who elected the senior Democrat from Massachusetts to his fifth term in 2008.

Kerry’s office said the pair of shiners were the result of a busted nose that the 68-year-old politico sustained on the ice when he was smacked in the face with a hockey stick during a game with friends and family over the holidays.

“A broken nose, two black eyes,” his spokeswoman Whitney Smith confirmed in an e-mail.

Of course she couldn’t resist taking her own partisan slapshot in this highly competitive political season.

“He must feel like Mitt Romney after South Carolina,” she quipped, referring to the former Bay State governor and now-embattled GOP presidential contender.

via John Kerry, on the right wing, breaks nose – Political Intelligence – A national political and campaign blog from The Boston Globe – Boston.com

Poor man, I will refrain from the silly puns and such as  to the hockey position he was playing.  I have to tell you, I have been whacked in the nose before; and that stuff hurts like bloody blazes.  🙁 I never broke my nose; but I have come close to do doing so.  So, I feel for the man.  A note of personal disclosure: I voted for John Kerry in 2004.  Of course, that was back in the day when I still rooting for that team.  I have changed my views much since then.

Which brings me to my point, I always hear and read about people asking, “Where did Barack Obama come from?” and “Why did the Democrats put Obama out front?”  Well, to answer that question you have to know your history; and I happen to have a rather long memory.  President Obama was pushed out front, by the Democratic Party leadership —- because of what happened in 2004.  In 2004, the Democratic Party pushed out an out of touch, elitist, slightly aloof, and very rich white person and expected the grass-roots to fall in love with him.  In short: The dude was stiffer than a board.

The results were, of course, disastrous and Bush beat Kerry by a country mile.  At the time, I was heartbroken.  I remember thinking, “Four more years of Bush?”  Looking back on those four years, compared to what we have now in the White House; I would say those years were pretty darn good.  Sure, the economy was lousy; at least around here.  However, with President Bush, as a Nation, actually knew what kind of a President we actually had and we, always where he stood.  In other words, Bush was a leader.  This is more than I can say for that piss poor excuse for a President that we have now.  Just to put a finer point on it; I would rather have a neoconservative war hawk in the White House and know that he is a leader, than to have an internationalist Democrat who is afraid to even stand for America In addition, this has nothing to do with race, this has to do with leadership.  President Barack Obama has proven himself a lousy leader. Because of it, our nations standing in the world is greatly diminished —- and that my friends, is a problem.

Of course, I should be fair and point out that my personal political positions have changed greatly since I was rooting for people like John Kerry.  To be fair, I do not ever recall actually “rooting” for the man.  I just did what every other working class person around here did.  I pulled the level and went back to work.  Honestly, before my tenure as a blogger, which started in 2006 originally, my “involvement” in politics was going to vote on Election Day.  I did not even vote in the primaries.  I figured what was the point; the party was going to select whom they wanted anyhow.

My politics changed for the most part, because I came to realize that the Democratic Party was all about strife and resentment among the races and classes of people.  They proved that when Hillary and Obama had their little battle in 2007.  Furthermore, the Democrats wanted to blame Bush for everything.  Bad economy — blame Bush.  Kid got a cold, blame Bush.  In the democrat’s eyes, everything was Bush’s fault.  This at some point started sounding very ridiculous.

I hope that when the Democrats lose this time around, they will have learned their lesson.  That choosing race over common sense is not always a good idea.  I mean, I am quite happy that America finally elected a black President.  I am not happy that his polices that were supposed to put people like me, back to work — failed.  In addition, I am not saying that a white person could have not been any better either.  Hillary would have done some of the very same things and they too would have failed.  I tend to believe that Hillary would have straightened out the economy first and would have waited to see if it rebounded or not.  If not, she would have not pursued healthcare reform.  This is where Obama missed the ball; he pursued healthcare and did not do the economy first.  This is why we are in the place we are in now.  I hope that the Democrats will learn also that overreach does not work and because of it, you pay the price.  However, with this current crop of Democrats, I doubt that lesson will be learned at all.

In a sense, Kerry’s nose is a representation of his party.  As they have cut off their nose, in spite of their face.