Forget about vision; get a clue.

Remember, once upon a time, in a far away land (also known as a month ago), when NASA was supposed to be getting man back on the moon?  Do you also remember that the Obama administration cut the funding and the projects that would, in fact, get us back to the moon and started to turn NASA into a global-warming - er, excuse me, climate change - monitoring agency? 

Apparently, this has a few of the fine congresscritters up on the hill a bit miffed.  With NASA.  Not the administration's budget, oh, no, but with NASA.  Yep.

NASA needs to go somewhere specific, not just talk about it, skeptical U.S. senators told the space agency chief Wednesday.

 President Barack Obama's proposed budget kills the previous administration's return-to-the-moon mission, sometimes nicknamed "Apollo on steroids." That leaves the space agency adrift without a goal or destination, senators and outside experts said at a Senate Commerce science and space subcommittee hearing, the first since Obama unveiled his new space plan this month.

 On top of that the nation's space shuttle fleet is only months away from long-planned retirement, an issue for senators from Florida, where NASA is a major employer. And while the new NASA plan includes extra money — $6 billion over five years — for private spaceships and developing new rocket technology, NASA shouldn't be just about spending, the senators said. It should be about John F. Kennedy-like vision.

Um, Earth to dumbasses:

more...

Posted by: Ember at 02:09 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Color me a little skeptical

The Daily Mail is reporting that a US Soldier stationed at Ft. Lewis has been accused of waterboarding his 4 year old daughter because she couldn't recite the alphabet.

The link they attempt to draw is that his service made him do it -

Police have not revealed Tabor's military service, but his base is home to units that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm a little skeptical. First, I haven't heard this reported on local news so I kind of doubt the story in general. Second, Parents abuse kids everyday and it has nothing to do with military service so this is a cheap shot at the military.

Posted by: chad98036 at 07:58 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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We're going to the happiest place on Earth! Tijuana!

Via Tim Blair we see that there's a threat against one of the world's great resources, Dutch bestiality pr0n! They're working on making it illegal.

This will just drive it underground and all sorts of wrong things will start happening. Like underage mules and unconsenting chickens getting fucked.
Oh the human...errr...bestiality!

I'm not sure why, but this made me laugh.
precise figures on animal pornography video sales are difficult to find.

Heh, I bet.
As an aside, I shudder to think of the searches that hit this post.
Further aside, I really just wanted to post something in "I'm afraid I can't blog that" category.
Further, further aside, I'm getting sick of scraping snow off my satellite dish every 45 minutes so I can watch TV.

Posted by: Veeshir at 10:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hope you can't believe in!

Hot on the heels of Big O deciding to turn NASA from a space agency to a global-warming tracker, Iran is announcing that Kavoshgar-3 (translated as Explorer-3) has been successfully launched into space with a mouse, a couple of turtles, and some worms on it. 

Why, do you ask, does this matter, when many other countries have done the same thing with more advanced species?

Well, aside from the implications of Iran having a fully functioning space program on national defense and security (if you can send a ship to space, you can send a rocket just about anywhere), there is our own standing in the world as a strong power in technology and space to consider.  While Iran continues to push forward with nuclear technology that we definitely don't like, they also plan on having a man in orbit within the next ten years.  Meanwhile, we've decided to stop working on spacecraft that have the potential to take a man beyond orbit.

Space travel is about the first half of Obama's campaign platform - hope.  About the hope and desire of mankind, and Americans, to make an impact, not just on our earth, but on the universe.  To know what's out there and what it's like, to learn new things about the marvels around us, and, to get a little Trekkie on you, "to seek out new life and explore strange new worlds." 

But, I guess, that's just not the kind of hope that Obama was talking about.

As usual.

Posted by: Ember at 09:40 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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