Libertarian Goth artist in UK hates the Labour Party

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Punk Libertarian rails against UK's Nanny State

Polly Morgan is featured in the latest London Evening Standard. The title "Polly Morgan, Death becomes Her."

The art of taxidermist Polly Morgan is once-seen, never-forgotten stuff. Slightly sick yet eminently covetable, it has been bought by Kate Moss and Courtney Love, and promoted by Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst and Damien Hirst, whose gallery Other Criteria is selling her latest series of work, Resurrection, in which a balloon seems poised to carry off a bedraggled pheasant chick. Gothic yet strangely compassionate – such little bodies, so tenderly preserved – her work resonates with questions: who is this artist, and what dark secrets drive her?

Later on in the piece, her politic views come out, and they're more aligned with the libertarian bloc of the Tories, the UK Independence Party, or even the newly formed UK Libertarians.

An old-fashioned libertarian, she lets rip against the Labour government, health-and-safety rules, bland politicians and 'actress puppets who come out and say, "Don't put on your kettle" because their agents have told them they should be against global warming.'

Note - Photo of a recent showing of her works.

Free Market-oriented Center-right scores big victory in Hungary

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Pushes Socialist Party to status of minor party

by Clifford F. Thies

The center-right Civic Party registered an enormous victory in the first round of voting in Hungary, conducted on April 11th. Already assured of an absolute majority in the country's parliament, it is now poised, in the second round, to be held on April 25th, for the two-thirds majority that would be needed to effect fundamental, Constitutional-level change.

In the first round, the Civic Party received 53 percent of the popular vote, as opposed to the Socialists, with 19 percent; the far-right with 17; and, greens with eight. In terms of seats, Civic Party candidates won 206 of the 265 seats decided in the first round. The Socialists, which held 190 seats in the old parliament, won only 28 seats in the first round. Jobbik, the authoritarian, "anti-Semitic" and "anti-Roma" party, which had not formerly been represented in parliament, won 26 seats; and, the greens - the only other party that will be in the next parliament - a mere seven seats. The second round, in which only the Civic Party, the Socialists and Jobbik will be competing, will decide another 121 seats.

From the NY Times, "Hungarian Winner Vows Battle Against the Far Right"

BUDAPEST — Hungary’s incoming prime minister, Viktor Orban, vowed Monday to defend the country from the ascent of a far-right party and its black-clad paramilitary branch, which have railed against the large Roma community and dubbed the Hungarian capital “Jewdapest.”

Mr. Orban, 46, the leader of Fidesz, the party that defeated the incumbent Socialists in first-round parliamentary elections here Sunday, said he was deeply unhappy over the rise of the far-right party, Jobbik, which won 16.7 percent of the vote. It was the best performance by a far-right party in Hungary since the fall of Communism in 1989.

Mr. Orban, who became famous in 1989 when he called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary...

Protecting Borders Yes! but not at the expense of Individual Rights

A few comments are in order concerning Jobbik. There are elements of the Jobbik manifesto that are unexceptional. Hungary is, indeed, a homeland country for the Magyar people and, so, needs to stand up for the rights of Hungarians throughout the world and, if necessary, to be a place of refuge for any who find themselves persecuted. We, Republican Libertarians, accept the legitimacy of homelands, whether internal to nations as in the case of tribal reservations within the United States, or coincident with national borders, as in the case of Hungary, but always within the context of individual rights, free trade and open borders.

But, we ask, how can Jobbik issue a manifesto describing Hungary as a homeland for the Magyar people, who - over the centuries - have suffered as minorities in other countries, and not see the need for Israel to be a homeland for the Jews of the world?

Problem with Gypsys? Get rid of the Welfare State

As for Jobbik's anti-Roma, or anti-Gypsy positions, we have some sympathy, but not much. The welfare state practically invites people to adopt life-styles of petty crime, scamming, shiftlessness, and such, especially for this interesting population which has never been very fond of traditional work. One of the reasons we Libertarian Republicans oppose the welfare state is that it inevitably pits people with alternative-lifestyles against those with middle-class values. Inevitably, people will object to "providing" subsidies to those who choose not to work. Inevitably, there will be "individual mandates," as in the Obama health care legislation, and forced labor, as in several of the northern European states. In a socialist country, you are not free to not work.

Sloppy-headed liberals in counties in transition from a free economy with a private charity-provided social safety net to a full-fledged socialist economy can try to fool themselves into believing that they are not on the Road to Serfdom. They can proclaim that their goal is to have both individual freedom and what they describe as a well-developed system of social insurance. But, we notice the reality is different. It involves "do not treat" orders for the aged and the infirm, the use of abortion to restrict procreation by the lower classes, the forced sterilization and removal of lesser persons to labor colonies, and the end of alternative life-styles like that of the Gypsies.

We have a different solution to the Gypsy problem: abolish the welfare state.

Republican Susan Collins joins Comm. Chair Lieberman; Subpoenas of Obama administration on Ft. Hood shooting stonewalling

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Ultimatum!

Potential evidence Hasan was an AntiWar activist, and killed 13 US Soliders in revenge for Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

In what is being described as a further rift with his former Party, Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, is now threatening subpoenas of Obama administration officials to be issued on Monday, if more information on the Ft. Hood shootings is not immediately made available. He is joined by ranking Republican, and fellow New Englander Susan Collins of Maine.

From The Hill:

At a press conference Thursday, Lieberman said he would give the administration until Monday to release information about the shootings and, if it didn’t, would start subpoenaing.

Lieberman and ranking Homeland Security panel member Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said they would issue the subpoenas to the Defense Department and Justice Department under their own authority and would seek full committee approval to take the administration to court if the information isn’t released.

A stern Lieberman said he and Collins have been stalled for five months in their attempts to seek answers in the Nov. 5, 2009, tragedy at the Texas military base, in which 13 people were shot dead. An Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Hasan, is accused of the murders, which Lieberman and others have described as an act of terrorism because Hasan had been in contact with Islamic clerics and may have acted out of opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Further, Lieberman was quoted by the Washington Post:

"The painful fact is that 13 Americans died in the Fort Hood massacre," Lieberman said. "We owe it to them and their survivors and everyone else in our country to determine whether our government could have prevented their deaths -- and if so, why it did not -- so that we can make sure it does the next time."

Collins for her part accused the administration of "an inexplicable determination to stalemate and slow-walk our investigation."

Senator Collins, a staunch supporter of the US Military, has worked closely with her colleague Senator Lieberman before. They both co-sponsored the Collins-Lieberman Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act to codify recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. She has also been a tireless promoter of the Bath Ironworks in Maine, a Naval vessel restoration facility and shipyard. In 2003, she was one of the earliest Republican Senators to back President Bush's resolution to go into Iraq.

The pH Miracle Living Diet Can Change Your Life

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Plagued by a stubborn roll of belly fat that just won't disappear no matter how hard you diet?

Worn down by the daily grind of life, but your doctor only issues the standard "eat less, exercise more, and get more sleep" advice?

Maybe you need to take a long hard look at the pH Miracle Living Lifestyle and Diet Plan.

It's not really a diet at all in the usual sense, but more of a change in the types of foods eaten.

The idea behind it is to eliminate foods high in acid, like animal protein and dairy, and metabolic acids like lactic acid, estrogen and testosterone which causes the body to retain fat to buffer those dietary and metabolic acids.

Today scientists are concerned about the acidic effects of the acid estrogen (an acidic waste product from glandular function) on the health and well-being of the body. Read more...

Ayurstate for Prostate Care

Teen Drinking and Breast Cancer – Tech Jackal

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TopNews United States
Teen Drinking and Breast Cancer
Tech Jackal
A recent study done by Catherine Berkey at Harvard Medical School, states there might be a link to teen girls drinking, and developing breast cancer later ...
Teen drinking linked to breast disease risk in young womenExaminer.com
Teenage Girls Who Drink Face Future Breast Cancer RisksSmartAboutHealth
Girls Who Drink As Teenagers At Increased Risk Of Breast Cancer LaterVisit Bulgaria
Private Healthcare UK -The Money Times -Newsmax Health
all 77 news articles »

Arizona legalizes Concealed Carry thanks to Republican Governor

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Libertarian-leaning Gov. Janice Brewer signs bill into law

From Eric Dondero:

Janice Brewer entered the Governor's office nearly two years ago, unexpectedly. Democrat Governor Janet Napolitano was tapped by Obama to head Homeland Security. According to Arizona law, since there is no Lt. Governors office, the Sec. of State ascends to Governor.

We wrote here at LR on Jan. 23, 2009:

This is the truly one great thing to come out of the election of socialist authoritarian Barack Hussein Obama to President; Arizona got a libertarian-leaning Governor in return.

Desert Mouse blog wrote on the same day:

Due to Obama's appointment of Janet Napolitano to head the Department of Homeland Security, Arizona's Secretary of State Jan Brewer has become our governor. Brewer is no Goldwater, no Jeff Flake, but she is from that sparsely populated libertarian wing of the Republican Party nonetheless (and by that I don't mean she's a Virgil Goode or Ron Paul style paleocon), and we hope that she will amplify those tendencies in the Legislature...

Now Brewer has just signed an important piece of legislation into law that will warm the hearts of libertarians and hardline conservatives.

From USA Today - On Deadline:

In Arizona, it's now legal for (most) adults to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer just signed the legislation, putting her state in the same camp as Alaska and Vermont.

The state had issued 154,000 permits under the old law, which required background checks and instruction. Gun buyers still face federal background checks when purchasing weapons from a store.

Spring Bike Ride at Myakka River State Park

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A couple of weeks ago I loaded my bike up on my car and drove down to Myakka River State Park. My family used to go there frequently when I was a kid. I camped there several times, both with my family and with the Boy Scouts (Troop 12 of Bradenton).
I hadn’t visited the park [...]

Terri McCormick, Constitutionalist Republican for Congress – Wisconsin

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LR ELECTION ANALYSIS

From Eric Dondero:

In Wisconsin's conservative 8th Congressional District, seven Republicans are running to defeat Democrat Congressman Steve Kagen, a vocal supporter of Obamacare and a medical doctor himself. The 8th district's two largest cities, Green Bay and Appleton, are both Republican strongholds. In 2006 and 2008, Republican House Speaker John Gard lost to Kagen, but in 2006 he lost by less than two percentage points.

Republicans in the district are split on who they should select to be the nominee, with four people considered the major contenders. Of the four major players, former three-term State Representative Terri McCormick has been a darling of the state's small-but-growing libertarian Republican base and should also receive support from various Tea Party groups in the district. McCormick created Wisconsin's charter school laws and pushed legislation through to allow for more entrepreneurs to create small businesses in the tax-heavy upper Midwestern state.

As for Congressman Kagen (D), he supported both Obamacare (and used his status as a doctor to woo Blue Dog Democrats to vote for the bill) and the $17.5 billion Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (H.R. 2487), which enables the federal government to withold 30% of all capital flows leaving the country (see http://www.zerohedge.com/article/its-official-america-now-enforces-capital-controls). Kagen also voted for TARP and the stimulus bill. He voted in favor of Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade bill (see http://kerrythomas.com/Archives/Kimosabi.htm for details). Kagen has gotten a 7% rating (out of 100%) from both National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste. His largest contributors are unions.

One of Terri McCormick's main opponents is State Representative Roger Roth, who was elected to McCormick's Assembly seat in 2006 when she upheld her term limits pledge. Representative Roth is a darling of the Republican Party Establishment, which has a terrible record of electing Republicans in the state (see: John Gard vs. Steve Kagen, 2006 and 2008, for example). At a public forum with all of the Republican candidates in January, Roger Roth had the following to say about the U.S. Constitution:

"At the end of the day, it's just a piece of paper with a lot of words on it..."

(See YouTube Video)

In short, Roger thinks the Constitution is a flexible piece of paper, but that we "should elect people who believe in that!"

Learn more about Terri McCormick at http://TerriMcCormickforCongress.com/

NYC’s Libertarian City Councilman Dan Halloran goes International, meets with Bulgarian conservative delegation

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Halloran already seen as a "Top US Politician."

Dan Halloran, former Chairman of the New York Republican Liberty Caucus, and a longtime member of the Libertarian Party, won election to the New York City Council, representing an upper Queens district last November. Halloran was elected on both the Republican Party and Libertarian Party lines. He currently serves as the highest elected Libertarian Party member in the Nation.

Since being on the Council, he's been a lightening rod for tax relief and loosening of regulations on small business. Now, he's taking his hardline free market message international.

From the Sofia News Agency April 17 "Top US Politicians Vow Support for Bulgarian Conservatives":

The conservatives, led by party leader, Yane Yanev and party members, Atanas Semov and Zhivko Temelkov were met in New York by Dan Halloran, who is a Republican, Libertarian, Independence and Conservative member of the New York City City Council.

Holloran greeted the Bulgarian delegation with: “The Republican Party stands by you, by RZS and Yane Yanev. You can count on us any time!”

The meeting brought a conclusion to a series of intense discussions with high-ranking American politicians, including former US Defense Minister, Donald Rumsfeld.

During the conversation with Halloran, the parties have exchanged ideas about the need t change Bulgaria’s Constitution in order to provide citizens with more opportunities to control State and local power structures. Yanev had appraised the US Republicans with his party’s effort to call a national referendum for a new Constitution, a move strongly acclaimed by Holloran.

Dan Holloran had further accepted to visit Sofia in the summer and share his experience in constitutional law, municipal management, and campaign organization. The Republican leader has agreed to lead a training course for the RZS candidates for the local elections in 2011, and invited Yanev to send young leaders to New York for education and training that would be financed by the Republican Party and the City Council. Other high-ranking Republicans have further stated their readiness to serve as moderators along with their teams for the RZS election campaign.

Note - besides Halloran, Libertarians also serve on the City Councils in Indianapolis, Springfield, MO, Cedar Rapids, IA, and numerous other towns and cities nationwide, most especially California, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania.

Lightning on Saturn

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Cassini has taken images of lightning on Saturn and now we have the first movie of lightning on another planet.

I wondered why we never saw lightning there before; the video explains why.

Here is the Cassini story from JPL

You can see this video in HD at the source.


UPDATE

As I mentioned yesterday Obama’s “vision” for the future was not highly thought of.  I am starting to hear even more grumblings.  So it appears we might be taking a back seat to the rest of the world, but it sounds like nobody was talked into it.  However it’s still early and maybe there will be some more cohesive reaction tomorrow.

NCBI ROFL: Gee, I wonder why guys don’t like lipstick? | Discoblog

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2869514792_1714f29d83

Do cosmetics enhance female Caucasian facial attractiveness?

“This study sought to investigate whether cosmetics do improve female facial attractiveness, and to determine whether the contribution of different cosmetic products are separable, or whether they function synergistically to enhance female beauty. Ten volunteers were made up by a beautician under five cosmetics conditions: (i) no make-up; (ii) foundation only; (iii) eye make-up only; (iv) lip make-up only; and (v) full facial make-up. Male and female participants were asked to view the 10 sets of five photographs, and rank each set from most attractive to least attractive. As predicted, faces with full make-up were judged more attractive than the same faces with no make-up. Sex differences within the results were also apparent. Women judged eye make-up as contributing most to the attractiveness. Men rated eye make-up and foundation as having a significant impact on the attractiveness of a full facial makeover. Surprisingly, lipstick did not appear to contribute to attractiveness independently.”

make_up

Image: flickr/cliff1066™

Related content:
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Beer goggles proven to exist; “beer before liquor, get sick quicker” hypothesis remains untested.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Eye Tracking of Men’s Preferences for Female Breast Size and Areola Pigmentation.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Uh, no. Aunt Flo means no ho, bro!


Science only feed | Gene Expression

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I decided to create “science only” feed. Specifically, a feed which has only the posts which directly and primarily address natural science topics (obviously mostly genetics). I just added the category “Science” to all the posts which I thought were appropriate. Note that I exclude topics such as Creationism, or surveys of scientists, from this category, as well as my link roundups which mix science and non-science. It’s more like stuff I’d put into Research Blogging, though not always. Anyway, here’s the address:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/GeneExpressionScience

Also, if you don’t like RSS, this is the category address:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/category/science/

Obama’s Space Speech: We’ll Go to Mars in This Lifetime | 80beats

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444867main_201004150004HQ_fAmericans will go to asteroids, to Mars, and maybe beyond–and all in this lifetime, stated President Obama at Cape Canaveral this afternoon as he reassured Americans that space exploration will continue. Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center, where America launched its moon mission decades ago, Obama said he was “100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future.”

Obama’s proposed space policy (pdf) would increase NASA’s budget by $6 billion over the next 5 years, which he says will create 2,500 additional jobs at the Kennedy Space Center by 2012. Acknowledging criticism for some of his changes to NASA’s missions, Obama stated that the country must “leap into the future” and not “continue on the same path as before,” saying: “The bottom line is: Nobody is more committed to manned space flight, the human exploration of space, than I am. But we’ve got to do it in a smart way; we can’t keep doing the same old things as before” [The New York Times].

In his speech, the President declared that by 2025 the nation would have a new spacecraft designed to carry humans “beyond the moon into deep space.” He added that by the mid-2030’s America would also be able to send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth, adding “a landing on Mars will soon follow.” President Obama stated: “Space exploration is not a luxury, not an afterthought in America’s brighter future…. It is an essential part of that quest” [The New York Times].

For more details on Obama’s new space policy and what it means for NASA and the future of space exploration, head over to Bad Astronomy for Phil Plait’s post, “Obama lays out bold and visionary revised space policy.”

Related Content:
Bad Astronomy: Obama lays out bold and visionary revised space policy
80beats: Neil Armstrong Slams Obama’s Space Plan; President Will Defend It Tomorrow
80beats: Obama’s NASA Plan Draws Furious Fire; The Prez Promises To Defend His Vision
80beats: Obama’s NASA Budget: So Long, Moon Missions; Hello, Private Spaceflight
Bad Astronomy: Neil Tyson Sounds Off on NASA

Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls


Obama lays out bold revised space policy | Bad Astronomy

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[Update: I originally called the new space policy "visionary" in the title of this post, but after some thought I changed it. It's actually not visionary, it's pragmatic, so I took the word out. Other than that I haven't changed anything in this post since it originally went up.]

President Obama gave a speech at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center today to outline his new, revamped space policy.

You may remember that his last revamping caused quite a stir, with people screaming that it would doom NASA. I disagree. Canceling Constellation still strikes me as the right thing to do, because it was becoming an albatross around NASA’s neck. Mind you, this was also the recommendation of the blue ribbon Augustine panel. You may also note that NASA astronauts are split over all this, with Buzz Aldrin, for example, supporting Obama, and Neil Armstrong and many others disagreeing.

It’s a mess, and hard to disentangle what everyone’s saying. There’s been a huge amount of misinformation about it (with — shocking — Fox news leading the way; they spout so much disingenuousness, nonsense, self-contradiction, and outright stupidity that it makes me want to fly to their studios just to slap them). But Obama’s plan seems pretty clear.

The New Space Policy Plan

1) As before, NASA’s budget will be increased in the new plan. Let me repeat that: NASA’s overall budget will go up. And not just a little; we’re talking $6 billion over the next five years. A lot of that goes into scientific research. So far from it being doom and gloom, that’s good news.

2) A new heavy-lift rocket will be developed. Let me repeat that as well: funding is provided for NASA to create a new heavy-lift vehicle. So yes, Constellation will be canceled, but a new system will be developed that (hopefully) will be within budget and time constraints.

nasa_orion3) The Orion capsule, based on Apollo capsule legacy, will still be built. Initially it will be for space station operations as an escape module, but can be adapted later for crewed space missions.

4) He wants NASA to plan manned missions to near-Earth asteroids in the 2020s, and to Mars in 2030s, but no return to the Moon.

OK, so what do I think of all this?

My opinion on the new space policy

1) The increase in NASA’s budget is most welcome. Some of this goes to climate change studies (which the denialists will rant and scream about, but too bad). Some goes to science, some to education. All in all, given NASA’s minuscule budget, any increase rocks. And a lot of this goes into space science.

2) This new rocket proposal makes me very happy. As I have stated repeatedly, NASA keeps going from one project to another without a clear goal or a streamlined system of attaining it. The Shuttle, as amazing as it is, was a terrible project once it was realized — hugely over budget, hobbled massively from what it should have been able to do, and unable to provide cheap and easy access to space with a fast turnaround. Ditto for the Space Station; it became a political pork barrel project and instead of a sleek engineering wonder it became another bloated project with no clear goal.

Some people are complaining that we’ve already sunk $10 billion into Constellation, and we shouldn’t throw that money away. I think that’s a red herring. If Constellation was a waste of money, then we need to staunch that flow. I’m not saying it was, but I’m pointing out that you need to show me that the system was not a waste of money first before complaining that we can’t cancel it after spending that much.

As Elon Musk, head of Space X, said in a press release:

The President quite reasonably concluded that spending $50 billion to develop a vehicle that would cost 50% more to operate, but carry 50% less payload was perhaps not the best possible use of funds. To quote a member of the Augustine Commission, which was convened by the President to analyze Ares/Orion, "If Santa Claus brought us the system tomorrow, fully developed, and the budget didn’t change, our next action would have to be to cancel it," because we can’t afford the annual operating costs.

Mind you as well that this money already spent won’t be wasted. It’s not like we have a lot of rockets sitting around gathering dust. That money was spent on developing technology, knowledge, and experience that will go into any new system created.

I’ll note that the cancellation of Constellation means a loss of many jobs. This new plan should restore a lot of them. I’d be interested in seeing a balance sheet for that.

Another complaint with little or no merit (coming from a lot of folks, including the insipid talking heads on that Fox link above) is that once the Shuttle is over, we need to borrow a lift from the Russians to get to space. As much as I’d like to see us with our own, independent, and healthy space program, I don’t see riding with the Russians as entirely a bad thing. It’s cheaper than the Shuttle, by a large amount. The bad political decisions involving NASA for the past forty years have put us in this predicament, not anything Obama has done over the past 15 months.

And I’ll remind you that this predicament really started rolling when the Bush Administration and NASA decided to stop the Shuttle program with no replacement possible for at least four to five years after the last Shuttle flight. Even if Obama had done nothing; we’d still need the Russians’ help to get into space.

And it’s only temporary. Under Obama’s plan we’ll have a new rocket system around the same time Constellation would’ve gotten going anyway.

As far as relying on private space, I have been clear about that: NASA should not be doing the routine, like going to low Earth orbit. Let private companies do that now that the technology has become attainable by them. NASA needs to innovate. And I’ll note that NASA has relied on private space venture — Boeing, Lockheed, and many others — for decades. This is hardly new.

3) As an adjunct to everything I just wrote above, the Orion legacy capsule project will continue, underscoring my point. We’re taking the knowledge gained over the past few years and applying it to new technology. I rather like Orion, and I’m glad it’s not going away.

4) Well, here’s where I think the new policy falls short. I strongly support missions to near-Earth asteroids. These rocks are areal threat to life on Earth, and the more we know about them the better. Getting to them via rocket is actually easier in many ways than getting to the Moon, so these kinds of missions are cost-effective, and we can learn vast amounts from them. And we would also gain critical experience in visiting asteroids that could come in handy if one has our name on it.

I’m not as gung-ho on getting to Mars because I think the engineering and knowledge needed to put humans on such a long trip is not where it needs to be yet. So how do we get that knowledge? By going back to the Moon.

Obama specifically downplayed a return to the Moon, and it seems he said that we won’t be doing that. I think that’s a huge mistake. Yes, we’ve been there before, but that was a totally different set of missions. That was a race to win, not to stay. A lot of science was planned and obtained for the Apollo missions, but it wasn’t sustainable. Stopping now — especially with a heavy-lift vehicle on the horizon — is a tremendous waste of an opportunity.

Going to Mars depends critically on knowledge learned on going back to the Moon and staying there. So on this point I disagree with Obama’s new plan.

Conclusion

Obama has clearly been listening to both supporters and critics (imagine that!). It almost sounds like he’s been reading my blog (I wish). Bill Nelson, a Democratic Senator from Florida, was vocally opposed to Obama’s initial plan, but accompanied him to this speech. That indicates to me that they have been talking — certainly about the politics, but also about the nuts and bolts — about all this. Obama’s change in plans to continue Orion and more concrete plans for a heavy-lift vehicle clearly come from listening to his critics.

Certainly, this revamped policy the right political move for him; Congresscritters from NASA centers were pretty unhappy about that first policy of privatization. But it’s also the right thing to do.

Obama, in this speech, stated specifically he wants us to be the dominant world power in space. He says that under this new plan, we will actually be sending more astronauts into space in the next decade than we otherwise would have. If his plans are accepted by Congress, if they are funded at the levels requested, and if NASA can implement them, then I think the President is correct.

My overarching desire: that NASA have a clear goal, an actual set of specific, visionary destinations that will inspire the public and make us proud of our space program once again. Part of that desire is for this to have political support and funding to make it possible. Too often, NASA has been told to go do something but not given the money to do it, and that’s a major factor that we’re where we are right now.

Obama’s new policy, with one exception, will give NASA what it needs to be visionary again. That one exception — not returning to the Moon — is a strong one for me, and I will see what I can do to get it put back in. I’m just one guy, but I’ll talk to folks and see what trouble I can stir up.

In the meantime, I’ll also caution that at this moment, these are just words from the President. Good words, and hopeful ones, but just words. It will take deeds to see this through: a clear plan by the White House, cooperation from Congress, and a commitment from NASA to see this policy through.

If those things can happen, then for NASA, for America, and for humanity, then the sky is no longer the limit.

Per ardua, ad astra.


Meta News: Coverage of the ClimateGate Inquiry Reveals Partisan Passions | Discoblog

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computer-code-2A second independent inquiry in Britain has cleared climate scientists at the University of East Anglia of any wrongdoing. In the ClimateGate scandal last year, thousands of emails from the university’s Climatic Research Unit were hacked into and released, after which climate change skeptics mined the emails for evidence that the researchers were distorting scientific evidence related to global warming.

The independent inquiry into “ClimateGate,” however, found such allegations to be baseless. But it seems not everyone was convinced.

Here’s a roundup of headlines from some news outlets that covered the inquiries findings: Can you spot the newsroom with an ax to grind?

The New York Times: Britain: Inquiry Finds No Distortion of Climate Data

LA Times: Panel clears researchers in ‘Climategate‘ controversy

Huffington Post: Second expert panel shows “ClimateGate” was a ClimateSham

The Wall Street Journal: Panel Says Scientists Didn’t Act Improperly

Fox News: Top Climate Scientist Under Fire for ‘Exaggerating’

Image: iStockphoto