The TSA makes us all feel safer! “He said there was something suspicious hanging from between my legs.”
In competition with the Orbital/Virgin Galactic proposal I mentioned yesterday, Boeing has submitted its own proposal to provide crew and cargo ferrying service to ISS.
Considering the federal budget debt and the political winds for reducing that debt, I have great doubts the subsidies for these proposals will ever arrive. Nonetheless, with the end of the shuttle program and nothing to replace it, the United States has a serious need for a system to get crew and cargo into space. And in a free society, fulfilling that need means profits, which is why these proposals are beginning to appear, and will get built, regardless of whether Congress funds them up front or later buys the services.
Lockheed has won a $171 million NASA contract to pack cargo for ISS through 2017.
My question however is this: How do they plan on getting the cargo into space?
Two stories on the recent attempts of the EPA under the Obama administrions to create new climate regulations. First, a federal appeals court decided Friday not to block the new EPA climate regulations. Second, the war between Texas and the EPA over the EPA’s effort to regulate Texas industry continues unabated.
The Wall Street Journal has pulled the highlights from today’s ruling against Obamacare. Key quote from the ruling:
“The unchecked expansion of congressional power to the limits suggested by the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers.”
Repeal the damn law! A judge today ruled that the Obamacare mandate is unconstitutional. More here.
Eight observations from the Cancun climate conference. I like this quote the best:
“The enterprise is pompously and risibly dedicated in equal parts to wealth redistribution and self-perpetuation, as a platform for, and along the way, engaging in visceral anti-Americanism.”
Read the whole thing. Very entertaining, in a depressing sort of way.
Repeal this stinker! A new poll says that the number of people who want Obamacare repealed continues to grow.
Oink! Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cut.
Defund them! Will GOP take the P out of NPR?
It appears the climate meeting in Cancun has ended without much success. Unable to get an renewal of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, the diplomats instead agreed to create a $100 billion “Green Climate Fund” that is mostly funded by the First World nations but is mostly distributed by the Third World. See the notes at 10:45 am on this blog and at 12:20 am on this blog. Key quote:
[The fund] will have 25 members of developing countries on its board, compared to only 15 for developed countries. This gives developing countries a much stronger role. The World Bank is a trustee.
The real question is whether the new Congress in the U.S. will appropriate any money at all to this scam.
Court to rule on the constitutionality of ObamaCare on Monday. Key quote:
Normally, all comprehensive laws contain a boilerplate severance clause: it says that if any portion of the law is found to be unconstitutional, that portion is severed from the rest of the law — that is, the rest of the law stands. But ObamaCare contains no severance clause. Virginia is asserting that if it prevails on its substantive claims, the whole law is unconstitutional. (If Virginia does not prevail, any one of the twenty-plus legal challenges have the same severance argument available.)
This really isn’t the best way to get rid of this idiotic law, but we should also take any bone we can get.
More squealing, this time from Republicans: several GOP congressmen claim earmarks are necessary for budget negotiations.
The illegal imprisonment of Joel Rosenberg.
More TSA absurdity, with video: Indian ambassador given full patdown by TSA.
The Obama administration’s $30 billion cash pledge at last year’s climate summit is in doubt.
Not only do I think this is good, I continue to wonder how any administration (not just Obama’s) can make such a pledge in the first place, considering the fact that under our Constitution all such allocations must first be approved by Congress.
The new colonial movement, in space! South Africa joins the race, launching its own space agency.
Want to follow the Cancun climate summit come to an end, for good or ill, on this its final day? Check out this blog.
Repeal this stinker! Poll finds that almost half of all doctors plan to retire or close their practices as Obamacare is phased in.
It ain’t about science: WikiLeaks cables confirm worst fears of climate skeptics.
Maybe I’ll be able to eat corn again instead of putting it in my car! Corn ethanol tax credits on the way out?
Another airport is considering dumping the TSA.
And these are the people who want to tinker with the climate: Cancun climate summit attendees eagerly sign petition to ban “dihydrogen monoxide,” which in plain language is nothing more than water!
This will make things chilly in Cancun: More than 1000 scientists dissent over man-made global warming claims.
Oink! Oink! The wind industry warns of job losses without federal grants.
“Gore effect” strikes Cancun Climate Conference 3 days in a row.
Firestorm over arsenic microbe continues to grow. Now the leader author of the paper responds to the criticisms from other scientists that have been popping up on the web.
The continuing space war: A draft version of NASA’s budget suggests that the lame duck Congress will more or less follow the recommendations of the authorization bill passed in September.
Cool news! India said Wednesday that future climate negotiations would be unlikely if the Kyoto protocol is not extended in some manner this week at the climate summit in Cancun.
