Tag: politics

Obama signs the NASA authorization bill

10:39 pm

Obama signed the NASA authorization bill today.

Update and bumped: This Spaceflight Now article includes this quote from Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida):

“What is in this bill is $11.5 billion over the next six years, anticipated, even though it’s a three-year authorization, for development and testing of a heavy lift rocket. Now if we can’t develop a new rocket for $11.5 billion, building on a lot of the technologies that were already developed in spending $9 billion (on the Constellation program’s Ares rockets), if we can’t do it for that, then we ought to question whether or not we can build a rocket.”

Based on NASA’s track record in trying to build a replacement to the shuttle, I remain very skeptical indeed whether NASA can build this rocket. I do hope, however, that my skepticism is proven wrong.

Note also that the funding for this authorization bill is as yet not appropriated. Plans to do so during the lame duck session of Congress after the elections remain fraught with problems.

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Physicist resigns for American Physical Society over climategate

4:38 pm

Physicist resigns from the American Physical Society over climategate. Key quote:

It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist.

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A Tea Party in Maryland

9:47 am

Last night I attended the most recent meeting of the Maryland Society of Patriots, a tea party group that was founded back in 2009. Attendance was pretty typical, with about fifty people filling the meeting room of the local library in Burtonsville, Maryland. As usual, Sam Hale, the founder of the group, had garnered a range of candidates to speak to us, including Eric Wargotz, the Republican candidate for the Senator, running against Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland).

Eric Wargotz speaking at MSOP meeting

For Wargotz, the questions got a bit heated at one point, as one member of the audience wanted to know his commitment to defending the Constitution.

What makes this group significant is that the majority of its members come from very Democratic districts. Yet, not only has attendance been high at almost every meeting, the membership has including a wide range of ordinary people, most of whom have never done politicial activitism in their lives.

Eric Cary, State Senator candidate

This is Eric Cary, who is running for the Maryland State Senate. I’ve included more pictures below the fold. » Read more

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White House arbitrarily gives healthcare law waivers to some companies

2:47 pm

The law for some but not for others: Threatened with a firestorm of protest just prior to the election because a number of large corporations were going to drop millions from healthcare coverage because of the new Obamacare regulations, the White House today arbitrarily waived for one year those provisions for 30 large companies.

This action raises three obvious points:

  • If the healthcare law was so wonderful, why is the White House suspending its inception?
  • Why should these companies get a break, and not others? In fact, if I was the owner of a company that did not get a waiver, I would sue.
  • This once again proves false the claim by Obama that the law would force no one to lose their healthcare plan. To me, the words “You lie!” come quickly to mind.

Ed Morrissey at hotair.com makes some additional good points about this absurd situation.

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