Obama administration kills 23K space-related jobs in Florida.


So they can spend that money right here on Earth:

Revised projections now show that about 23,000 workers at and around Kennedy Space Center will lose their jobs because of the shuttles’ retirement and the new proposal to cancel the development of new rockets and spacecraft.

That sum includes 9,000 “direct” space jobs and — conservatively speaking — 14,000 “indirect” jobs at hotels, restaurants, retail stores and others that depend on activity at the space center, said Lisa Rice, Brevard Workforce president.

…(via Geraghty) more accurately, so that they can spend that money right here on Earth, and in districts that aren’t R+4 and that aren’t represented by a Democrat who voted against health care rationing.  I mean, seriously: they would have eventually killed the space program anyway.  But being able to do it in a way that would get maximum revenge against an apostate?  That’s just gravy.

Moe Lane

PS: You know, if we absolutely had to elect a Democrat President, it’s a darn shame that we didn’t at least elect the one who said (bolding mine):

We cannot cede our leadership in space. That’s why I will help close the gap and ensure that our space program doesn’t suffer when the Shuttle goes out of service by working with Senator Bill Nelson to add at least one additional Space Shuttle flight beyond 2010; by supporting continued funding for NASA; by speeding the development of the Shuttle’s successor; and by making sure that all those who work in the space industry in Florida do not lose their jobs when the Shuttle is retired – because we cannot afford to lose their expertise.”

Oh, wait. We did.

PPS: I had a nice chat with Republican FL-24 candidate Tom Garcia at CPAC, including some discussion of space issues.  Just saying.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.


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It's amazing

majorkong Saturday, February 27th at 3:12PM EST (link)

to watch someone lie so effortlessly. Of course having a lap-dog media at your beck and call helps immeasurably. The mounting damage this guy is doing is jaw dropping. Keep your eyes on this one, too:

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/83961-forthcoming-cybersecurity-bill-to-give-president-new-powers-in-cyberattack-emergencies

Obama has asked Bolden to...

lurker9876 Saturday, February 27th at 10:27PM EST (link)

have NASA work with the Muslim countries and help them develop their own satellite systems.

My first though on that one is Clinton’s blueprints to Iran and look what that brought us…a nuclear weaponized Iran.

I can picture those Muslim countries to use their own satellite systems to destroy us.

Can you?

Bolden, btw, has found a way to fund the shutdown of Constellation program so the local companies in Houston have already begun to move their employees elsewhere.

And, yes JSC is very worried about losing its critical skill base of employees and contractors.

 

It really is amazing...

justpassingby Saturday, February 27th at 11:12PM EST (link)

to watch someone lie so effortlessly.

http://www.space.com/news/081104-nasa-shuttle-retirement-cbo.html

Be sure to read the date on that. You know you can all rail on the other side for lying and being deceitful but remember to look in the mirror once in a while huh?

Sure did read the date on that..

walter Monday, March 1st at 8:35AM EST (link)

And how many times did it read, “CBO” who allocates those dollars? Who was running the congress in 4 Nov 2008? Yep, I read the date.

In the article posted, I see “Money shifted from NASA to Federal Employees job growth bill in Democratic congressional districts.” And also, “New Shift For Taxpayer Dollars to aid SEIU and the UNIONS”

It’s called reading between the lines.

Why are there no politicians speaking about firing 25% of the extremely overpaid government workforce that produces NO value what-so-ever?

 
 
 

Craig Miller recently announced his candidacy...

jmimac351 Saturday, February 27th at 3:13PM EST (link)

against Kosmas in FL-24. Red Meat!!! :)

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33352.html

 

Going to happen anyway

SteveLA (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 3:15PM EST (link)

Moe,

King Obama has done many things, but the decision to retire the Space Shuttle has been in the works for a long time, dating back to President Bush I think. This is sort of the same argument that has gone on with the F22, lots of these decisions were made longer ago than the beginning of the reign of King Obama.

Consider for a minute that even if Constellation, or what ever NASA is calling it now days, had not been canceled, there was going to be some amount of job loss by United Space Alliance and the other folks down in Florida before the new program spun up. The Shuttle Fleet is getting rather old and was going to be grounded at some point in time, that’s just an engineering fact, and the job losses, that’s the nature of the business sadly.

______________________________________

Competency over ideological purity and litmus tests

Yes, thank you, I'm aware that the shuttle fleet was old.

Moe Lane (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 3:41PM EST (link)

What does that have to do with the fact that the President broke his promise to keep FL-24 space jobs from being cut, several months after the Congresswoman from that district defied the President on health care?

 

Yes it was going to happen anyway

Lloyd Davis (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 3:48PM EST (link)

The shuttle is old and needs to be replaced. Obama doesn’t want that to happen so he can spend more on his dangerous social programs that will doom the United States as we know it.

The space program is an example of American exceptionalism. Obama can’t have that. According to him we are not better than any other country in the world. This is the greatest country on the face of the earth.

Cutting the budget of NASA and turning its focus to the environment is an insult to the people at NASA and the American people.

For Obama to use it for political points as being budget conscious is disgraceful.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
- Ronald Reagan

The mistake a lot of politicians make is in forgetting they’ve been appointed and thinking they’ve been anointed.
- Claude Pepper

Kosmas followed up with a no on the Debt Ceiling increase

GregInFla (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 9:45PM EST (link)

As a first-termer, she has little clout. Sen. Nelson here is one with huge rotten egg on his face.

For an example of how space research can pay dividends, (besides the calculator) read about
Bloom Energy Stock and Stock Price Among Bloom Box Buzz: Fuel Cell …?


– A true evolutionist would let endangered species die off. Think about it.
– The sign outside the courthouse said no signs allowed. So I took it down.
– Atlas Shrugged is now on the non-fiction aisle at Amazon.

oops

GregInFla (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 9:48PM EST (link)

Mine was a reply to Dave’s note on Kosmas


– A true evolutionist would let endangered species die off. Think about it.
– The sign outside the courthouse said no signs allowed. So I took it down.
– Atlas Shrugged is now on the non-fiction aisle at Amazon.

You are right, Greg

Dave_in_Fla (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 11:21PM EST (link)

This could kill Nelson. He looks like he was used now.

“If they were merely incompetent, then at least SOME of their actions would have been to the benefit of the country.” – Joe McCarthy

 
 
 
 

Not correct, Steve

Dave_in_Fla (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 8:41PM EST (link)

The Constellation program was on track to bridge the gap. We would not be launching (which was one of the dumbest examples of planning of all time), but the technical skill base would be retained. Now we are going to cede an important technical base.

The most important point is that the alternative offered is unworkable. Commercial spaceflight won’t take on the burden of manned flight into orbit because of the insurance liability.

This will also backfire. Kosmas is now in deep trouble (as I pointed out the day the budget was released). She now has no reason to support anything on the Dem agenda, and her only chance for political survival is to actively stop his agenda.

Her only chance of survival is to find a way to save Constellation.

“If they were merely incompetent, then at least SOME of their actions would have been to the benefit of the country.” – Joe McCarthy

Maybe so, but...

SteveLA (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 9:25PM EST (link)

Dave

I’m not agreeing with King Obama’s actions here or the political motivations, but Constellation and NASA has quite a few issues There’s been lots of news coverage on the goings on with Constellation and NASA, and it’s not all that favorable.

Universe Today in July of 08 did some reporting.

Then there’s NASA Watch, which has a lot of on going coverage.

But again, I’m probably biased in that I’m more in the camp of wanting more money for unmanned exploration/science without all the expense of man rated systems and tend to not side with the manned space crowd.

King Obama is not coming down in favor of unmanned ether.

______________________________________

Competency over ideological purity and litmus tests

You are believing things in the media?

Dave_in_Fla (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 11:20PM EST (link)

Come on, you are from Louisiana, you should know better.

Constellation was delayed, due to Government contracting screw ups (what a surprise). However, the tech is solid and the first flight of the test rocket was a resounding success.

The real point isn’t about the program or platform, it’s about the human brain trust. The Space Coast has a tremendous technical synergy, which will be destroyed when they are forced into unemployment, and move into other engineering fields.

Sometimes, you just can’t get the band back together. The skill set for manned missions is much different from unmanned, I should know I’ve been working satellite systems for years now. And there are real tangible benefits from manned programs that you can’t get from unmanned.

“If they were merely incompetent, then at least SOME of their actions would have been to the benefit of the country.” – Joe McCarthy

Congressional Budget Shenanigans

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 8:53AM EST (link)

Media reports of NASA cost overruns, budget woes, etc., are also entirely wrong.

Congress has NOT been giving NASA adequate budgets over the years, which forces NASA to delay certain parts of Constellation.

Compare the budgets JFK allocated to NASA versus what NASA’s getting today.

Dave in Florida is absolutely right about the skill set for manned space flight.

 
 
 

Safety will be sacrificed

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 8:32AM EST (link)

Commercial spaceflight won’t take on the burden of manned flight into orbit because of the insurance liability but also because of the rigorous safety requirements set by NASA.

They’ll never have enough money to develop their own space vehicles to meet the space safety requirements.

Both manned and unmanned. Why put a 2 million dollar Hubble replacement in one of those commercial space vehicles that are not safe?

 
 
 

Obama will use this as an example that he is

throwback59 Saturday, February 27th at 3:16PM EST (link)

shrinking the size of government. Next in line: the military, the CIA, the border patrol, any goverment arm dedicated to advancing or protecting our interest.
We will now have to go on bended knee to the Soviets, excuse me, the Russians, and pay them to get us into space. John Bolton is right, Obama is the first “post American President.”

Exactly

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 8:35AM EST (link)

Watch IOUSA. Google it. It explains one of the biggest concerns about the rising national debts. As long as we pay more into the entitlement programs, the non-entitlement programs are being pushed out to eventual non-existence.

We will be paying MORE to Russia for use of Soyuz and Progress to ISS once the shuttle fleet retires.

I seriously doubt that we will see commercial manned space flight for at least five years; yet, Constellation is set to send one up in 2014. That is only a few years away.

 
 

I'm betting on one business right near NASA that'll pick up 'a bit more' than they are already.

Kenny Solomon (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 3:17PM EST (link)

It’s a company named KelTec.

Look it up.

no result for KelTec/nt

larryp Saturday, February 27th at 3:53PM EST (link)

Here ya go.... a link.

Kenny Solomon (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 4:20PM EST (link)

http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com

And yes, I’ve ‘supported’ the company – several times now.

Good stuff.

 
 
 

There's likely a bigger impact there.

phxg (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 3:26PM EST (link)

It’s not like a government projection on impact has been anything but grossly under reported.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. –Aristotle

 

What is another 23,000 jobs to Obama

Lloyd Davis (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 3:33PM EST (link)

he’s just getting started. Look at the jobs that have been lost and tell me if you think he cares.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
- Ronald Reagan

The mistake a lot of politicians make is in forgetting they’ve been appointed and thinking they’ve been anointed.
- Claude Pepper

Many of those KSC jobs are union jobs

GregInFla (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 10:02PM EST (link)

But that must not worry The One.


– A true evolutionist would let endangered species die off. Think about it.
– The sign outside the courthouse said no signs allowed. So I took it down.
– Atlas Shrugged is now on the non-fiction aisle at Amazon.

 
 

An Interesting Contrast:

Joe Cor (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 3:34PM EST (link)

Bush’s Scientific Objectives: Human exploration of the universe.

Obama’s Scientific Objectives: Vivisection of human embryos.

They keep saying that Obama is the smartest

Lloyd Davis (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 3:57PM EST (link)

man in the room.

I still don’t see it.

He must spend a lot of time alone.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
- Ronald Reagan

The mistake a lot of politicians make is in forgetting they’ve been appointed and thinking they’ve been anointed.
- Claude Pepper

Liberals made fun of George W. Bush

Duane White (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 2:05AM EST (link)

because he got C’s in college. No one knows what kinda grades Obama got because all the records are sealed.

I personally think he failed lunch.

“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant;
it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” — Ronald Reagan

 
 
 

Obama exploration...

larryp Saturday, February 27th at 3:55PM EST (link)

worst of society

 

Obama doesn't care about lost jobs in Florida

Dave Saturday, February 27th at 3:56PM EST (link)

…or anywhere else in America.

As many on the left see it, more unemployment will ultimately benefit them at the voting booth, as the more desperate people become, the more willing they are to trade their freedom for security.

-Dave

Our elected representatives have failed us.

Yeah

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 8:46AM EST (link)

So if Congress rejects Obama’s plans for NASA, we will still benefit at the voting booth as their jobs came close at threat. Many of them are slowly to move away from Obama.

Thought he said three years ago that he wanted to eliminate NASA entirely?

 
 

remember what he said

tngal (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 4:05PM EST (link)

Remember at the summit, the last thing he said was if you don’t like how things are going to turn out …well ” that’s what elections are for”. Of course he meant health care specifically, but in reality it could be any one of a number of shortsighted things he’s done. And, pres we do know we do know what elections are for.

So do the out of work engineers, math geniuses, science geeks, and other types of rocket scientists who keep the aerospace industry running. I guess they could pick up some work at Burger King, except burger kings will be drying up around there too,

But hey, on the flip side the pres has asked for National Endowment for the Arts to get $161.3 million. The same as last year. National endowment for Humanities also gets $161m . (I know little drops in a big bucket.)

 

Speaking of Obama killing jobs...

Dave Saturday, February 27th at 4:08PM EST (link)

Here is what a dying private sector looks like:

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html

(Be sure to hit the play button)

I wonder what that graphic will look like three years hence?

Obama is systematically dismantling our private sector economy, and he is going to be doing it for almost three more years, as there is absolutely NOTHING the republicans can do to stop him.

-Dave

Our elected representatives have failed us.

Wow, stunning graphic.

qixlqatl (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 5:13PM EST (link)

Really put’s what you all ready know in perspective

“Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying,
Streams like the thunderstorm against the wind.”

George Gordon Noel Byron

Double-Wow!

GregInFla (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 9:54PM EST (link)

wow… More contagious than H1N1


– A true evolutionist would let endangered species die off. Think about it.
– The sign outside the courthouse said no signs allowed. So I took it down.
– Atlas Shrugged is now on the non-fiction aisle at Amazon.

 
 
 

If government spending makes sense as a "stimulus" in any context, space exploration is it

JSobieski (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 5:24PM EST (link)

Like the fundamental scientific research, the payoff for the private sector investment is doubtful. Moreover, the investment threshold required for space exploration is far greater than what is required in many non-applied sciences.

Money for SEIU and ACORN to destroy the US from within, but no cash for NASA?

Democrats and their “investments”! Every investment to them is a political investment—they wouldn’t know an economic investment if it launched a rocket up their pants!

My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.

STOP THE MADNESS!

A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!

There are only four areas in which federal expenditures...

rbdwiggins (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 6:07PM EST (link)

are justified: Defense, Intelligence, Justice and State.

NASA should be rolled into the Department of Defense, and DoD’s budget should be increased to at least 6% of GDP.

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.” – Ronald Reagan

Note the word "if"

JSobieski (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 6:35AM EST (link)

My point is that NASA spending is from an “investment” point of view, far better than 99% of what the stimulus was about

Also note that the word “investment” is in quotes.

My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.

STOP THE MADNESS!

A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!

Tough decisions lie ahead...

rbdwiggins (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 10:16AM EST (link)

I was getting ahead of myself. So, let me go back a little.

I agree with your clarification.

I was looking for a way to save NASA’s original mandate, which is manned space exploration.

Obama’s Keynesian economic policies have pushed us passed the point of no return. He could have fixed the economy early last year, and by now, we’d be on the slow road to recovery. However, Obama, aided by Democrat control of Congress, decided to pursue the left’s wealth redistribution scheme, and by the end of March we should have an idea of just how bad it’s going to get. Two things are certain: The economy is not recovering, and the” fix” is going to be extremely painful, economically and politically.

Aside from Social Security, Medicare and our current debt obligations, federal expenditures must be limited to the aforementioned areas… Defense, Intelligence, Justice and State.

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.” – Ronald Reagan

 
 
 
 

Wait... let me get this straight

RedBeard Saturday, February 27th at 5:52PM EST (link)

Obama promised something, but is now reneging on that promise? I’m shocked. He is usually so totally honest, open, transparent, ethical, and always follows through on his promises.

This is most distressing. It’s as though Superman got caught knocking over a liquor store. I might have to become a cynic now.

Standard-bearer for grouchy curmudgeonry since, oh, 1975 or so.

 

ISS scheduled to burn up in 5 years

snopercod Saturday, February 27th at 6:09PM EST (link)

That’s right, the plan now (under review) is to abandon the ISS and let it burn up in the atmosphere in 5 years. What else can they do? After the shuttle goes, there will be no way to bring up replacement parts.

Dumbest planning by government I've ever seen.

Duane White (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 2:27AM EST (link)

I have to admit, I believe some of the blame for this fiasco should be placed at the feet of George W. Bush.

We’ve known the shuttle fleet was getting old for a long time. We knew they couldn’t keep flying forever. We also knew that there was going to be a period of “down time” before the replacement program was ready to fly.

So my simple question is this: Why didn’t we plan for this by building one or two more shuttles 5 years ago. The technoloyg is obviously there. Seems to me that since we’ve put so much money into the ISS, making sure that we had a reliable way to get there would have been money well spent.

Even Obama had time to fix this. We could have started building another shuttle last year so that it would be completed by the end of this year.

Now we’re going to rely on the Russians to get our people into space. That should give everyone a nice warm and fuzzy feeling. Of course the Russians are good business people. They discovered that they had the market cornered on space travel and have increased the cost per ticket.

Russia will now charge the United States $51 million per seat for NASA to bum a ride on the Soyuz spacecraft. Yet they only charged space tourist Charles Simonyi $25 million for the same flight. No word on what NASA has been charging Russia for a seat on the space shuttle.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/13/russia_raises_rocket_fare/

“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant;
it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” — Ronald Reagan

For the same reason we can't build new Saturn V's

Ketih W Monday, March 1st at 10:15AM EST (link)

Why didn’t we plan on building new shuttle or two 5 years ago? For the same reason we can’t build new Saturn V’s the tooling for them no longer exists. After we lost Challenger, there where some structure spares and some tooling left to build Endevour. But that was it. They tried to put funding in for extra parts but that was cut. NASA has wanted to replace the shuttle for years. Several programs where started and later canceled, X-38, which was more of a lifeboat for the Station than a true shuttle, the X-33 Venturestar from LM, which tried to be too ambious, tried too many new tech at once and began to fall behind schedule and over budget, they should have gone with the McD Delta Clipper design, then we ‘might’ have some viable replacement flying now. Before Constellation there was the Orbital Space Plane program, which hadn’t progressed very far, don’t remember all the details on that one. NASA has been wanting to replace/retire the shuttle,just that Congress wasn’t willing to fund it.

Just my $0.02

Keith W of St Louis

Not Racist
Not Violent
Just No Longer Silent

 
 
 

the reality is

billonesty (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 6:41PM EST (link)

As fun as space exploration is, lets face reality. These are government jobs.The sauce program probably has lots of private sector spinoffs where business that actually makes a profile has benefited from the science. It would be interested to see an economic analysis to so if it has been a net gain or loss. Lets look forward to private enterprise taking over.

Space Exploration: MAObama Says Let The Russians and Chinese Finally Overtake The U.S.

Ausonius (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 6:54PM EST (link)

America has NO RIGHT to be the leader.

Although an American astronaut now at MIT begs to differ:

“The latest plasma rocket represents the vision of Franklin Chang-Diaz, a former NASA astronaut and founder of the space company Ad Astra. His Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) is slated for launch to the International Space Station three years from now, where it can undergo additional testing and even help boost the space station, to maintain its orbit.
Chang-Diaz told Technology Review that discussions have already begun with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences about possible launch on one of their vehicles. An actual spacecraft mission that uses the plasma rocket would require a long-term electric power source as well — Chang-Diaz is leaning toward nuclear.”

See:

http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-10/plasma-rockets-could-make-pit-stops-mars-and-beyond

Assuming his and other private companies are not taxed, red-taped, or simply legislated out of business, there is still hope.

Ausonius: 310-395 A.D. Teacher, Poet, Consul, General, Farmer.

Personal Tutor to the future St. Paulinus of Nola and to young Gratian, heir to the throne during the turbulent final years of the Western Roman Empire. When his former student Gratian was assassinated, Ausonius threw up his hands and retired to his farm in Gaul. Rome was captured by barbarians 14 years after his death.

Cato@rock.com

 

Nope, private enterprise won't work in this case

Dave_in_Fla (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 8:46PM EST (link)

Just like we can’t let private enterprise take over national defense. The liability issue alone makes privately funded manned spaceflight untenable.

BTW, these jobs lost are not government workers. The Government workers get to keep their jobs. Of course, they are all managers, they have no technical skills to speak of.

“If they were merely incompetent, then at least SOME of their actions would have been to the benefit of the country.” – Joe McCarthy

NASA and private contractors

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 9:05AM EST (link)

Obama and Charles Bolden wanted commercial space vehicles.

What???

Constellation vehicles were going to be built by private contractors. Not just one but several companies.

What’s the difference? Constellation will be built with safety of both unmanned and manned flights and no insurance liabilities.

Obama and Charles Bolden wanted NASA to get out of project management and get into R and D.

What????

That makes no sense. We already do R and D.

Obama asked Charles Bolden to work with the Muslim countries to help them develop their own satellites.

That is a threat to national security.

NASA was created because of defense and national security. So NASA remains needed for defense and national security but I agree in making NASA part of the DoD along with an increase in GDP percentage.

 
 

No...

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 9:10AM EST (link)

Almost ALL technical work are done by private sector hired by NASA.

NASA is a one huge project management and decision making entity with very few technical jobs.

But Charles Bolden wants to get rid of project management and replace it with R and D.

The job loss effects private sector more than it will affect NASA.

When RIFs take place in the NASA community, the RIFs affect private sectors first before the government jobs take the hit, which is almost NIL.

 
 

ot but interesting

ahffgeoff (Diary) Saturday, February 27th at 6:54PM EST (link)

You heard it here first.

Obama’s New Social Secretary Has Strong Ties to Norman Hsu and Was Obama 2008 Fundraising Chief

http://tiny.cc/JGJOm

Former WH Soc Sec Desiree Rogers did do two “unprecedented” things for a WH Soc Sec:

1. Get run out under a cloud of scandal (party crashers)
2. Have the WH officially invoke executive privilege regarding her testimony to Congress.

AND, the new lady, Ms. Julianna Smoot, is also unprecedented:

1. Never before has the Chief Fundraiser for the Presidential campaign became WH Soc Sec
2. Never before has the WH Soc Sec been a total campaign insider like Smoot, who has worked for (get ready for it): John Edwards, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Jay Rockfeller, Tom Daschle and of course the Democratic Senate Campaign cte (2006) prior to joining team Obama in late 06-early 07

:)

AHFF Geoff
www.centristnetblog.com

 

What about Houston?

dfwpike Saturday, February 27th at 9:29PM EST (link)

How many jobs will be cut at the Johnson Space Center?

JSC Impacts

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 8:58AM EST (link)

I’ve heard between 5400 to 7000 jobs will be lost due to the cancellation of Constellation. That’s on top of the number of jobs lost due to the shuttle fleet retirement.

The JSC community alone is still small so greater the impact.

Since the announcement of the Constellation cancellation, we are already seeing people attempting to leave the JSC community, commercial sector, or other NASA projects that are still alive for another year or two.

 
 

The Left Has ALWAYS Been Hostile To Space Exploration

Ausonius (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 7:56AM EST (link)

Ralph Abernathy of the NAACP back in the 1960′s and 1970′s led silly protests at Cape Canaveral/Kennedy, and claimed that the money for space should be spent on the poor.

Exploring outer space means that one is adventurous, ambitious, and inquisitive: you will be standing out from the dull herd by your participation or your support.

Space exploration lifts a country upward psychologically and economically, including the poor! Not to mention militarily!

It is obvious why MAObama wants to prevent the U.S. from remaining dominant: it is part of his “Teach America A Lesson” program to cut us down to the importance of a 19th-rate nation because of racism, sexism, capitalism, and any other -ism the Left considers a sin.

Ausonius: 310-395 A.D. Teacher, Poet, Consul, General, Farmer.

Personal Tutor to the future St. Paulinus of Nola and to young Gratian, heir to the throne during the turbulent final years of the Western Roman Empire. When his former student Gratian was assassinated, Ausonius threw up his hands and retired to his farm in Gaul. Rome was captured by barbarians 14 years after his death.

Cato@rock.com

 

What will space do for us in 2010?

newfreedomblog (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 8:08AM EST (link)

While losing 24k jobs is never a good thing. This is perhaps one of the most wasteful programs we have in our country. Obama may know that a basically republican district is a good place to make cuts, we should be watching to see if he is going to take this money saved, and put it against our greatest threat, the deficit.

The entire budget should cut spending by at least 50% in my opinion. What good is a space program or all the jobs if the rest of the country is lying dead due to all the debt anyways?

This is the type of spending that caused George Bush II to be thrown out of office. Hopefully Republicans have finally learned their lesson well from those 8 years of astronomical spending. If not, their tenure in charge is short lived.

Contact@newfreedomblog.com

Um

Neil Stevens (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 8:16AM EST (link)

George Bush was never thrown out of office.

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"George Bush was never thrown out of office"

newfreedomblog (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 8:28AM EST (link)

You are absolutely correct, Um. He wasn’t, but the 2008 election was all about George Bush and his preceeding 8 years in office. The major spending that Bush and the Republican controlled Congress did during that time allowed for someone like Barack Obama to sway the votes in the last election.

If Republicans do not get back to their fiscally conservative roots once and for all they shall fail. There is no doubt in my mind about that at all.

Contact@newfreedomblog.com

Pop quiz

Neil Stevens (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 8:35AM EST (link)

Which years did Republicans control the Congress, and what was the annual real growth rate in discretionary non-defense spending during that time, versus when Republicans didn’t?

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Republican Controlled Congress in 2003

newfreedomblog (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 9:01AM EST (link)

In 2003, the 108th Congress, Republicans effectively controlled. While they did not have the majority that we see now with the Democrats, they did control both the House and Senate until 2006.

So far as spending, one only needs to look at this breakdown.

In the twelve years that a Democrat has sat in the White House, spending has increased at an average rate of 1.29% per year; during the 22 years of Republican presidencies, government spending has risen at an average rate of 2.12%. In other words, spending has grown 64% faster when a Republican sits in the White House than when a Democrat does.

During the 20 years Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress, spending has grown at an average rate of 1.84% per year, more than double the average rate of 0.89% per year during the six years the GOP ran Congress. (During the other eight years, when control of Congress was split between the two parties, spending grew at an average rate of 2.52%. The split-control years all occurred during Republican presidencies.)

When Democrats controlled the White House plus both houses of Congress, spending grew at 1.70% per year, slightly below the average growth rate of 1.83% for the entire period.

The slowest spending growth occurred when a Democrat sat in the White House and Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. Spending rose by an average of just 0.89% during the six years of this situation, which all occurred with Bill Clinton as president and Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House.

During the 14 years Republicans controlled the White House and Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, spending grew at an average annual rate of 1.92%. During the eight years with a Republican president and a split Congress, spending grew at 2.54% per year.

This is also a good graph or chart which shows the breakdown since 1975.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms

You can talk non-discretionary versus discretionary all you want, but Republicans as a whole have spent more in the past 30 years than Democrats. The question is whether it is due to a Democrat controlled Congress versus the President in office at the time. I believe the majority of the spending cannot occur unless the Congress first passes the spending measures, which are clearly Democratically controlled. But, we must also elect Presidents who will veto those budgets as well.

Contact@newfreedomblog.com

No actually you didn't answer my question

Neil Stevens (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 9:19AM EST (link)

When did discretionary non-defense spending, the real waste and junk, grow? Under Bush with Democrats with the power of the purse, or under Bush with Republicans with the power of the purse?

It’s a simple question. I happen to know the answer, having written a diary on the subject a while back, when a bunch of simple minded fools were pushing for “divided government,” but…

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Answers

newfreedomblog (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 9:27AM EST (link)

Does it really matter who it is that is in control, Neil, if the spending is simply out of control to begin with? You mis-understand my point that both Demcorats and Republicans have put this country in a situation of astronoimical debt we may never recover from as a country. Period.

Contact@newfreedomblog.com

Ah so y ou're here to bash Republicans?

Neil Stevens (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 10:07AM EST (link)

You do realize this is a Republican site, right?

What are you, a Ronulan?

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Sorry, I am a Conservative

newfreedomblog (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 11:25AM EST (link)

Apparently you did not visit our site, Neil. Let me post a link to make it easier for you to understand who and what I stand for.

http://www.newfreedomblog.com

I am not here to bash Republicans, but I will hold them equally responsible for our current situation with the national debt. I am a Repubican that believes in cutting spending by at least 50% at this time across the board. Including Defense spending as well.

If that puts me more in the camp of your so-called Romulans, then so be it. But it is also what I believe is in our best interest at this time. You can’t call for change, and then keep doing what has been done for the past year or even 9 years. It will come across as totally fake by the voters in this country.

The only way we shall pull this country out of the economic ditch which Bush and Obama have driven this country into will be through major cuts in spending. I am confident of it. Cut spending by 50% and then cut taxes by 30%. If you do not agree you are simply “spreading the wealth” just like Obama.

Contact@newfreedomblog.com

Cut federal spending 50%? Yeah, riiiggghhhtttt!

Achance (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 12:39PM EST (link)

The dead giveaway for somebody who knows nothing about govenment and governing is their saying that the solution to whatever is to cut (or increase) spending by some flat percentage. What you’re saying is that you’re willing to see everybody in office who votes with you defeated or that you’re willing to let the ‘crats decide what gets cut.

If a bunch of peasants with pitchforks won’t give an NEA dominated school board the tax increase it wants, the school board says it is going to have to cut out football, band, and field trips and they get their money. Now, no school board is actually going to cut football, band, and field trips because it would cost them the next election. Likewise if the rich, self-interested property owners won’t go along with a property tax increase, the mayor and the city council say they’re going to cut police and fire and everybody comes to heel. There’s no way they’d actually do it, but the ruse works almost every time. If you try to cut the federal budget by 50 or 5%, the ‘crats are going to threaten to, or maybe actually, take that cut in the most visible and painful – for you – place and you or your supporters are either going to lose your ardor for that cut or they’re going to endure you until the next election and then defeat you by mobilizing the constituencies that you cut and allying them with the squishy middle of the electorate that doesn’t like bad things to happen to people.

You run and get elected on program. The first program is to make the government more efficient and thereby save money. Everybody ALWAYS wants to save money; they just don’t want to save it on anything they like. So you save it on the government itself. The first way you make it more efficient is by reorganizing it so a Republican/conservative can run it by eliminating as much of the political management as possible and re-organizing into functional units under far less political level management. This eliminates the internal constituency for programs. Government is kept big and growing bigger by the unholy alliance between political management and the constituencies they serve. Removing the political management makes you electorally subject only to the constituency itself and if you’ve picked right, they weren’t going to vote for you anyway. Then you can begin an electoral program in concert with the party, your supporters, and other candidates in which you campaign on the elimination of specific functions that you can assemble a majority on. The federal government took over 200 years to become the monster it is today; you simply are NOT going to change it much in just a whack and if you run on an “I’m going to cut” agenda, everybody with their hand in the till will coalesce against you.

In Vino Veritas

Heck, if we could "cut" baseline increases by halfit would be a major miracle

JSobieski (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 1:02PM EST (link)

nt

My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.

STOP THE MADNESS!

A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!

 

Federal spending cuts won't be made voluntarily...

rbdwiggins (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 2:50PM EST (link)

They will be made out of necessity.

What Bernanke does in the next thirty days will determine the severity of our pending economic collapse. How much federal spending gets cut, how fast it gets cut and when those cuts begin are the outstanding questions that must be answered. That there will be massive cuts in federal spending is no longer open to debate.

Bernanke has promised to end Quantitative Easing by the end of March. Realistically, he can’t, because it will shut down the federal government and bring the economy to a screeching halt.

If he continues to monetize the debt, foreign demand for US Treasury securities will collapse, because demand is already at record lows. Which means a sizeable increase in Quantitative Easing will be required to fund the federal government and meet our current debt obligations.

40% of our existing debt, approximately $2.8 Trillion, matures next year and must be refinanced. Are we going to attempt to monetize that much more of our own debt? If so, market forces will ensure the collapse of the dollar, and hyper-inflation will occur. I’ve seen estimates that predict an annual inflation rate of about 60%. Personally, I think that is too low.

Jimmy Carter must be smiling from ear-to-ear.

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.” – Ronald Reagan

 
 

I don't care about your site

Neil Stevens (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 1:05PM EST (link)

I haven’t visited your site and have no intention of doing so.

But we’re activists, not whiners.

Quit whining. Especially when you’re just making up stuff instead of using actual facts.

RS contributing editor, technical administrator, and “a hardy variety of crabgrass.”
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Ah a Progressive Republican, I should have guessed

newfreedomblog (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 1:15PM EST (link)

Clearly a progressive Republican. Well enjoy yourself Neil, enjoy.

Contact@newfreedomblog.com

Not hardly, to borrow a phrase from Big Jake (nt)

RedBeard Sunday, February 28th at 1:36PM EST (link)

Standard-bearer for grouchy curmudgeonry since, oh, 1975 or so.

 

G'bye

Neil Stevens (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 1:49PM EST (link)

Yeah, if you’re going to mock our mission, then get out.

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newfreedomblog, I didn't visit your site but I while I was walking Franz

mbecker908 (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 1:16PM EST (link)

I found your brain in our back yard.

I don’t know how it got there, but if you want it back let me know quick. Mrs908 is sending it to her sister.

 

"equally responsible" is a bunch of bunk

JSobieski (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 1:29PM EST (link)

The Republicans on the whole are NOT equally responsible for this mess.

Individual republicans are a different story.

My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.

STOP THE MADNESS!

A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!

 

I believe the word is Ronulans

RedBeard Sunday, February 28th at 1:41PM EST (link)

Look, your intellectually vacant assertion that Republicans are as bad as Democrats causes folks to dismiss everything else you say. Can you not see that?

Standard-bearer for grouchy curmudgeonry since, oh, 1975 or so.

 

You need to step away from Beck TV

Scope (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 2:30PM EST (link)

for awhile. Apparently he has convinced you that the Republicans are equally as bad as the Democrats. He drove it home again this week, despite the flaps he caused among Republicans/Conservatives in driving the same point at CPAC.

Cutting spending by 50% was the exact amount he used in his test of what party people really are a part of. The way the 10 questions were worded drove one to his Libertarian leanings, weather they belonged there or not.

 
 
 

Translation: "It was the Democrats..."

Moe Lane (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 10:15AM EST (link)

“…but I won’t give Neil the satisfaction of admitting that.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

You're asking the wrong question.

Brian Hibbert (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 8:21AM EST (link)

It’s not “What will this do for us in 2010?” It’s “Is this decision the right one of the good of the country?” Frankly, I don’t know. I like to see government programs cut but this one, rather than being the most wasteful, has actually been a program that has produced some useful items. Most government programs produces nothing but paperwork, waste and abuse.

And your hope that he puts the money saved against the deficit is just wishful thinking. This President has spent more money faster than any other President ever. If you give him the space budget, he’ll spend it on some hair-brained progressive idea that will create yet another bureaucratic monster that can never be killed.

Candidate for Trustee of Illinois Central College
Socialism doesn’t work. It looks nice on paper, but it’s been tried and it’s failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.

Take back our party!
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Most wasteful program?

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 9:00AM EST (link)

NASA?

I think NOT. Not especially when compared to the massive entitlement programs.

How many products have the entitlement programs created for commercial use?

Compare THAT to the products NASA has produced for commercial use over the years!

Wasteful or not?

newfreedomblog (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 9:23AM EST (link)

Yes you are correct that NASA is very low on the budget poll as to spending versus entitlement programs. Yes we spend nearly $98 dollars collected on social welfare programs versus $1 dollar spent on NASA projects in comparison.

The space program has brought us GPS. Rather than reading a map, I can have a computer like voice tell me where I should turn rather than looking at a map.

I can sleep on memory foam in my bed, a direct result of NASA engineering.

We can shoot for the stars, and spend countless dollars in space and hope we get something of use like memory foam as a result, but at this time, is that money well spent? I simply think it isn’t.

The question that begs to be asked is could the same dollars spent on research for sending another manned mission to the moon do anything to stop cancer? Find a cure for diabetes? or increase the test results of our children?

Or, is that money better spent on programs that benefit the majority right here on earth? I personally would like them to take this money to find a way to use hydrogen as a means for powering our cars and trucks. I am confident the science is not far from accomplishing this goal rather than putting another man on the moon for what purpose? Just so we can say we did it again?

Contact@newfreedomblog.com

No question ever begs to be asked

Scope (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 2:46PM EST (link)

the person asking the question is begging for the answer he thinks he already knows the answer to.

From your previous posts, I wondered if you were a Paulbot. With this latest post, you have explained exactly what you are, a Greenie Progressive. Using the space program money for programs that benefit the majority right here on earth? Progressive Give all space control over to the Russians and Chinese, they will love us then? Progressive More federal money to schools/teachers? Progressive Use the money to find a way to use hydrogen to fuel our cars? Greenie

 

How about NOT confiscating the taxpayers property in the first place?

nessa (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 3:11PM EST (link)

I don’t need the gov’t deciding what will benefit me, I’m capable of that on my own. Personally I think the gov’t should continue the space program, exploration is a proper purview of the gov’t, within reasonable amounts. Lewis and Clark for example. If we’re going to cut gov’t spending how about not taking our money in the first place, rather than finding something “more beneficial?

Science isn’t far from solving the hydrogen for power issue. How does that become the government’s problem to solve? The gov’t doesn’t produce anything, contrary to what they would tell you.

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams

Contributor to Unified Patriots

teh twitter

 

Need to work on your trolling/Moby skills

Raven (Diary) Monday, March 1st at 11:59AM EST (link)

I doubt you’ll ever read this since you’re already gone, but this post shows that you allowed yourself to get flustered and reveal your true colours.

Earlier you were saying this money needs to be used against the deficit.

Now you just want it spent on something else.

Add that to “Obama may know that a basically republican district is a good place to make cuts” and we have here a Democrat in love with The One.

“If you do not have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”
Luke 22:36

 
 
 
 

This isn't so much about the space program itself

RedBeard Sunday, February 28th at 8:54AM EST (link)

It’s more about Obama lying about the space program. Like he lies about everything. Constantly. Pathologically.

Standard-bearer for grouchy curmudgeonry since, oh, 1975 or so.

 

It's going to be worse

aeaeren Sunday, February 28th at 10:55AM EST (link)

This is my home but I do not work out at Kennedy nor is my job dependant on NASA. I have put off buying a house due to the inflated Florida market and now I am waiting for the mayheim to commence because if Obama gets his way this place is going to be ghost town.

I am still blown away how people DID NOT listen to Obama about the space program. He said during the election he was going to gut it.

aeaeren- Like so very very many other things

Scope (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 2:52PM EST (link)

Some idiots only heard what they wanted to hear, not what he was actually telling everyone. He told us he was going to push for socialized medicine also, though he never used the word socialism. Even though we all knew that was what it was, McCain banned the word in his campaign.

 
 

I don't have a link for the info but

Xasteius (Diary) Sunday, February 28th at 5:22PM EST (link)

I hear through a friend that Congress is proposing funding for Constellation, landing on the moon in the mid-2020s, and continued use of the shuttle until 2015.

Don’t leave the party, hijack it back!

The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box.

I don’t want to be Reagan. I want to be a Chance/Soros hybrid.

 

The shuttle fleet can't last

lurker9876 Sunday, February 28th at 10:46PM EST (link)

that long.

But that would be great news if Congress could fund Constellation, landing on the moon in the mid 2020′s.

If only we still had the technical skill set of expertise that built the shuttles could build a couple of new shuttles while we’re at it so that the new shuttles could like til 2015….

 

Mixed Feeling on this

Ketih W Monday, March 1st at 10:45AM EST (link)

I knew that Obama, was going to cancel the Moon mission. I remember hearing a speach earily in the Campaign, about how he was going to delay Constellation 5 years to fund his Education plan. But I didn’t realize he would go that far!
I am for going back to the Moon, but was never thrilled with the Ares 1 launcher, thought it was unsafe. Before they settled on the Ares 1 or the ‘Stick’ as its sometimes refered as. There was talk of using existing Commerical launchers to launch the Crew Capsule, Lunar Lander and the ‘Earth Departure stages’ for each, seperately and then have them dock, together in orbit. Which I felt was a more workable plan.
I am for Commerical development of space and that at some point that NASA should be purchasing rides to orbit from Commerical rockets as they become available, but would have had NASA develop a new vehicle in the interm. Space X is the only Commerical Company that is the closest to have a rocket and capsule ready to fly, which they say they were developing from the ground up to be ‘human rated’ safe for launching people.

Just my $0.02

Keith W of St Louis

Not Racist
Not Violent
Just No Longer Silent