You are browsing the archive for October 2009.
This week the Ares I-X rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral. It was a new beginning in the storied history of American Spaceflight. The I-X is a prototype of the Ares I, which is expected to see test launches in 2012 and begin launching crews into low Earth orbit and supplies to the International Space Station in 2014. Ares I-X is now giving engineers valuable data for making tweaks to their design. It consists of a solid rocket booster very similar to the rocket boosters you see on either side of the space shuttle, except that it is a little taller and the nozzle throat is a little bigger. Stacked on top of that is the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fueled second stage which utilizes an engine derived from the Saturn V (the second stage was empty for this test flight). The rest of the rocket, which will someday include a crew module and abort system (pointy thing at the top), was nothing but dumbed-down avionics and mass mockups of components that will eventually be used in Ares I and beyond. If you haven’t already, take a look at the flight video. You can go here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index.html The video is on the right hand side. Note the shock wave.
Take it easy on Obama’s war making decisions. As I reminded people constantly during the Bush eras, there are a
whole mess of big-picture facts we don’t hear from the news. He also gets security briefings every day – or at least Bush did.
The Vietnam lesson was to not micromanage a war based on politics and a strategy of containment.
If Obama is wrong we aren’t all fucked. We’re Americans. After Obama tries his experiments someone else will fix what he broke and we’ll move on. If he’s right, economic theory will need some revision.
The “HAPPY” bill, congress people propose all kinds of laws like this. And as far as proposed laws go, you can find worse. Take a look: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bssQuery/?Opt=t&Db=111 And as far as wasted time, I consider that a productive use of a congress man’s time. Hell – he’s legislating isn’t he? And there’s not much he can do about the health care bill, unless he wants to support it with Snow.
Indeed something will likely get passed, regardless if it’s some diluted ineffective waste of clean paper, or something
that makes everything worse. But the market won’t destroy healthcare, it will just keep cutting people out, tightening standards, and reducing services to stay viable. Medicine improves, and so becomes more expensive every day. And people seem to be getting fatter and more prone to disease every day – yet are living longer and longer. Hell – today I was at Meijer and saw three of those scooters coming down the isle. And they weren’t piloted by old people and weren’t a group. Or maybe it was four…
I’m just kidding. Of course I see a solution. It’s the common government solution. The way they will make a combination of reform ideas work is with hundreds and hundreds of pages of complicated exceptions, concessions, fancy rules, and arbitrary sums – like the cap n/ trade bill. This will result in a thick inefficient bureaucracy, a new area of specialty law, and all kinds of forms and long waits. In other words, the fixes that make reform possible could easily suck up any gains the reform its self made.
Indeed, it sounds like something out of a satirical skit, or a paranoid Libertarian’s therapy session. We’ve known Obama is sensitive to criticism. For the longest time he simply didn’t have any. Everyone thought Hillary was a certain bet for the nomination so the mainstream media felt free to shower him with adoring coverage.
I’m glad the healthcare debate has been stretched out this long. Many of our congress people are finally showing signs of a limited understanding of this issue. However, no one seems to be aware of the 800-pound gorilla standing in the room. I’m not sure if it’s being ignored, or if congress simply doesn’t recognize it. I just know no one is discussing the fact. The Democrats talk about all the bananas being eaten and the Republicans point to the huge piles of poop. But no one is saying, “Look, we have a gorilla in here!” Or perhaps in this case, “gorillas” might be more appropriate.
The idea that the US is a bully or a colonialist is a fallacy America haters like to propagate, like those idiot leaders you’re talking about – the oppressive dictators Obama is reaching a hand out to. Military has ALWAYS been the LAST option. And nothing America does is colonial. The US system is the antithesis of colonialism. Our military doesn’t govern the countries it’s in, it serves there at their pleasure. We don’t draw wealth out of our partners – we pump money in. So that premises is just false.
We will get healthcare reform. If Congress can’t destroy it first, the market will destroy healthcare for us. Something will happen.
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