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A judge has ruled that JPL had no right to displine five scientists for sending emails at work protesting the security measures taken by the Bush administration after 9/11.

A judge has ruled that JPL had no right to displine five scientists for sending emails at work, protesting the security measures taken by the Bush administration after 9/11.

I have no problem with this decision, and in fact I applaud it, as I think it completely inappropriate for JPL to discipline anyone for expressing their opinions about the politics of our time. I contrast this ruling however, which essentially celebrates the freedom of JPL employees to attack the policies of a Republican administration using government resources, with the case of David Coppedge, who was fired by JPL because he happened to express conservative religious opinions while working at JPL. In the case of Coppedge, the courts ruled that it was okay for JPL to fire him.

The contrast illustrates the double standard of our time. In modern America, you are always allowed to express liberal or Democratic Party values, anywhere, anytime, and with whatever resources you can take advantage of. Freedom insists that you have that right. Should you express conservative values, however, be careful. You can be punished for doing so. For some reason (political I suspect) freedom does not permit the expression of these ideas, in all circumstances.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

One comment

  • Edward

    To say that there is a double standard is to suggest that there is a second standard.

    There does not seem to be an identifiable standard for Democrats. Republicans are held to their own (conservative) standard, and should a Republican err in any way he is disciplined by fellow Republicans but persecuted relentlessly and mercilessly by the Democrats.

    Observation shows that Democrats are not held to any standard. Democrats may behave in any way that they desire, even violating “rules” that they insist others follow (do as I say, not as I do). There seems to be only two reasons that a Democrat draws discipline from members of his own party: 1) a political correctness (PC) rule changes and the Democrat, failing to note the change, continues to behave according to the previous rule, or 2) the Democrat’s behavior draws too much media attention and embarrasses the party. Neither of these is part of a standard that can be reliably known or followed.

    When I was in school, there was a complaint by some students that there was no “PC Magazine” (other than one for computers) to clarify each month what the new rules were. The PC rules seemed to change with the wind, making compliance difficult.

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