How bad journalism works: the history behind the utterly false story that Brett Favre was being considered for “Dancing With the Stars?”
Bad news for freedom: An Austrian court today convicted Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff for speaking out against Islam. Key quote:
It seems the case turned on the judge’s reasoning that her statement that Islam’s prophet Mohammed was a “pedophile” was defamatory since his child bride Aisha (age six at the time of marriage and nine at the time it was consummated) remained his wife when she turned 18.
More details at Gates of Vienna.
The war over NASA pork begins: Congressman Bill Posey (R-Florida) condemned Obama’s NASA budget today for not giving the program-formerly-called-Constellation more money.
The sleepy kitten awakes! The Sun released its most powerful solar flare since 2006 last night.
USA Today calls Obama’s budget cuts lame.
That a mainstream newspaper like USA Today is calling for more cuts than Obama suggests strongly that the Republicans in Congress have all the momentum and should push hard for every cut they can.
The chances of a government shutdown increase. This is good news, as far as I’m concerned.
It’s a tie after the first round of Jeopardy!’s computer vs human competition.
This should be fun: Tough-talking Chris Christie to speak in D.C. tomorrow. Key quote:
Like Christie himself, the message he’ll deliver Wednesday at the conservative American Enterprise Institute is unorthodox and straightforward: he accuses both parties, Democrats and Republicans alike, of “timidity” in the face of the coming fiscal calamity.
Squealing from government-financed “journalists:” NPR thanks Obama for proposing an increase in their budget.
Concerning Obama’s proposals for NASA’s 2012 budget, a closer look by me since yesterday has caused me to reconsider my earlier post. I think I spoke too soon, before I had time to review the Obama budget proposal entirely.
Though the Obama administration has pulled back somewhat from its initial 2011 budget proposals for commercial space, it does appear that they are not abandoning that effort as I had thought at first. Their 2012 proposal ($850 million per year) is still significantly higher than what Congress had authorized ($500 million), which suggests a willingness to fight for this program.
As for the program-formerly-called-Constellation, however, it does appear that this pork program is going forward. Instead of trying to cancel it like last year, the administration now appears to have become resigned to its existence, and this year includes significant funds for its construction.
Regardless, considering the insane state of the federal deficit, it seems to me both unrealistic and foolish to fund either of these programs at this time. Pork politics unfortunately will probably help keep alive the funding for the program-formerly-called-Constellation, while the lack of a powerful constituency for commercial space leaves these subsidizes very vulnerable to Congressional trimming.
Await the squeals from scientists: The journal Science notes the differences between the budget proposals coming from the House Republicans (cutting funds to science) and Obama (increasing funds to science) and hopes for the best. (You can also get a good idea about the increases to science that Obama proposes by going to this ScienceInsider story and scanning down the various articles.) Key quote:
Both conservatives and liberals agree: the main pressure pushing the federal deficit is entitlements; the discretionary budget is dwarfed by mandatory Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending. And yet neither the House of Representatives Republican appropriators’ proposal to tackle the deficit starting in 2011 nor Obama’s new budget for next year tackles the real challenge of entitlements. Instead, both pick and choose the discretionary cuts they want to start with.
From my mind, we should accept the cuts from both sides, then go after the entitlements.
The first images from Stardust of Comet Tempel 1 have been released. More to come later today.
Update: some glitch is delaying the download of the images. Instead of arriving as programmed, they are arriving in the order taken.
Another critical look at Obama’s budget proposal, this time from liberal Dana Milbank at the Washington Post! Key quote:
Obama’s budget proposal is a remarkably weak and timid document. He proposes to cut only $1.1 trillion from federal deficits over the next decade – a pittance when you consider that the deficit this year alone is in the neighborhood of $1.5 trillion. The president makes no serious attempt at cutting entitlement programs that threaten to drive the government into insolvency.
And here’s another: “Steep cuts?” Even the left Is starting to notice.
A critical look at Obama’s overall budget proposal, by the numbers.
How to watch Stardust’s Comet Tempel 1 flyby tonight.
To avoid confusion, I want to clarify why I consider Obama’s commercial space budget proposal today to be a decrease, not an increase, from past budget proposals. The history of this budget goes like this:
It is almost certain that Congress will trim these numbers. Meanwhile, the amount of money to the program-formerly-called-Constellation goes up.
While politicians argue budgets here on Earth, the NASA probe Stardust is zooming in on its flyby of Comet Tempel 1 tonight.
Update: See my partial retraction here.
The NASA budget announced today by the White House proves how right I was when I stated back on July 8, 2010 that I had no faith in Obama’s new-found commitment to private commercial space. The new budget reduces the funds for private commercial space while putting the bulk of its support behind the unbuildable program-formerly-called Constellation. First read what I wrote in July:
The problem is that I simply do not believe the Obama administration. Everything I have learned about the current President, including the specifics (or lack thereof) of his proposal, tells me that none of his promises are going to be fulfilled. » Read more
Obama sends Congress his $3.73 trillion budget proposal.
Note that today is budget announcement day in Washington. The Obama administration is releasing its proposed federal budget for 2012, available for Congress to accept, revise, reject, change, or ignore. More shortly on what this means for NASA.
Debt now equals total U.S. economy. And that’s according to the Obama administration!
Astronauts on the Russian Mars500 simulated Mars mission simulated a Mars landing on Saturday. Key quote:
Three astronauts on the Mars500 simulated mission will make a simulated walk on the Mars “surface” Monday. After working 30 days on the simulated planet, the crew will then embark on a simulated 240-day return trip to Earth. Officials said the 520-day Mars500 mission is designed to test how humans cope with the physical and mental stresses of a long space flight.
It ain’t enough but I like the trend: Obama’s new budget to be released tomorrow will promise $1.1 trillion in deficit reduction over next decade.
Bernanke to Congress: We’re much closer to total destruction than you think. Key quote:
One way or the other, fiscal adjustments sufficient to stabilize the federal budget must occur at some point. The question is whether these adjustments will take place through a careful and deliberative process that weighs priorities and gives people adequate time to adjust to changes in government programs or tax policies, or whether the needed fiscal adjustments will come as a rapid and painful response to a looming or actual fiscal crisis.
House Republicans propose even deeper NASA cuts.
The government free ride is ending. If you want us to go into space, you better consider buying a ticket.
Keep those cuts coming! The House GOP today released its 2011 spending bill, claiming to include $100 billion in cuts. It seems that everyone gets hit, even defense. Worst hit, however, is EPA, with a 29% reduction from its 2010 budget.
You can see the summary here. [pdf]
