Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockstar
I think you might want to read up on what he means by Russia shutting down the U.S. space program. Doesnt have anything to do with shutting down the Department, Trump, bible thumpers or cronies. 
NASA's budget is already trimmed to the point that it must totally rely on the Russians to get U.S. astronauts into space. So, unless you are willing to invest a substantial sum of money into NASA or have the patience to wait for private enterprise to develope vehicles. The Russians being the only source of transportation for U.S. astronauts are very capable of shutting down the U.S. space program (not NASA). |
Oh, I am very aware of what was meant by Neal's post; his comment does, indeed, have nothing to do with "the Department, Trump, bible thumpers or cronies" and I never intended my comments to so indicate. Yes, the Russkies can very easily shut down manned NASA projects simply by parking the bus. My comments are meant to address the fact past history has proven the decline of NASA is more due to domestic neglect and that much of the impetus for the woeful state of NASA has been due to the efforts of those parties who, for philosophical or fiscal reasons, have sought to, and have mainly succeeded, in paring down arguably the most productive, dollar for dollar, entity in the US...
The Far Right is already going after their usual bugaboos like Social Security (which no less a notorious Lefty than Ronald Reagan declared to have no impact on the deficit), family planning, and all the other usual suspects. I have heard, on various Right radio shows and TV broadcasts murmurings about dredging up such dead issues as school prayer, flag burning and "Under God/In Go We Trust" amendments, and there appears to be a renewing effort to launch yet another decency/anti-porn push in Congress (you would have thought the Meese Commission Report, Tipper Gore's music clean-up crusade, among others, would have been the end of that dead horse). Almost without exception, none of the proposed efforts would pass the requirements for amendments and if they did, would not pass SCOTUS Constitutional review, regardless of how stacked a bench they might seek. What the US populace must be wary of is the sideshows that spring up whenever an extreme faction of any party tries to wrest control and enact narrow partisan agendas; will we be distracted by the folderol of the Far Right while they move to do harm to the basic standards of the Constitution? Misdirection, distraction, bellicose denunciations, and more are the tolos and stock in trade of those,of any party stripe, who do not necessarily want you to know they may not be working in the general best interest. It very often is very important to pay attention to the man behind the curtain and ignore the bellowing Great Oz; if you do, you might just find the reality of your situation...
The soon to be Great And Grand Wizard is someone of whom 56% of the voters did not have the confidence enough to vote for and that is important because the popular vote is truly the will of the people: one person, one vote. The Electoral vote may be the one that matters as far as the political game is concerned, but the popular vote, particularly if it goes against an office holder, or soon to be office holder, is an ominous sign for their party and, in particular, for those all-important mid-term elections...
As a perspective, in 2012 Obama reelection effort garnered a total of 65,915 795 popular votes; by contrast, Trump garnered 62,979,879 popular votes, 2,935,916 popular votes short of Obama's 2012 total, not very much of a bell ringing achievement. No matter how you slice it, Trump is not in a position to claim high popularity or approval, much less a mandate from the people of the US...
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