oracle
02-03-2003, 11:27 AM
Clinton & NASA's Fall (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5926)
By Lowell Ponte
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 3, 2003
<center>PONTEFICATIONS</center>
AS WE WATCHED SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA'S FIREBALL falling earthward Saturday on America's news channels, my wife Ellen said, "Well, at least we can assume that no more space shuttles will be given names that begin with the letter 'C.' Seven astronauts died aboard the Challenger in 1986. And now seven more have died aboard the Columbia."
Scientists in their rational minds reject all such notions of jinxes, bad omens and superstition. But I remembered when, as Roving Editor for Reader's Digest, I was among those who might have been selected "the first journalist in space." Scientists like other human beings have emotions, and I would today feel uneasy stepping on board a third shuttle with a name such as the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter.
"One good thing about this," I told her. "We'll probably never have a shuttle or other American spaceship named after Bill or Hillary Clinton."
Nor should we. The Clinton Administration did more than gut America's defense budgets and devastate our military as no foreign enemy has ever done, tempting terrorists to exploit our weakness.
Presidents Bill and Hillary did more than choke off America's intelligence budget, greatly reducing our ability to detect what potential enemies were preparing to do to our World Trade Center and Pentagon. Bill and Hillary Clinton deserve a large share of responsibility for the destruction of the World Trade Center and the deaths of more than 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001.
The Clintons also targeted NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, for massive budget cuts. They left our space program so damaged that American companies turned instead to Communist China to launch their satellites -- and in the process apparently transferred vast amounts of classified rocket technology know-how to China's ruling Red Army.
Communist China thereafter, of course, rewarded the Clintons by buying America's Democratic Party with many brown paper bags filled with millions of dollars in cash. Today, as a result, we should regard the Democrats no longer as an "American" political party, but as the wholly-owned subsidiary of a foreign power.
But what share of blame should the Clintons bear for Saturday's tragic loss of space shuttle Columbia and its brave crew?
By 1995 the Federal Government's General Accounting Office (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/fl_gao_010119.html) (GAO) had begun what would be repeated warnings that Draconian Clinton cuts in NASA's shuttle workforce budget could pose risks by overworking those who maintain, repair and fly the shuttle fleet. GAO noted a serious lack of needed NASA shuttle professionals in avionics, mechanical engineering and computer systems.
"The shuttle requires an awful lot of nursing," warned Charles Vick, space analyst for the Federation of American Scientists, noting that the GAO "says the potential for failure is still staring us in the face."
...
Click here to read more (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5926)
By Lowell Ponte
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 3, 2003
<center>PONTEFICATIONS</center>
AS WE WATCHED SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA'S FIREBALL falling earthward Saturday on America's news channels, my wife Ellen said, "Well, at least we can assume that no more space shuttles will be given names that begin with the letter 'C.' Seven astronauts died aboard the Challenger in 1986. And now seven more have died aboard the Columbia."
Scientists in their rational minds reject all such notions of jinxes, bad omens and superstition. But I remembered when, as Roving Editor for Reader's Digest, I was among those who might have been selected "the first journalist in space." Scientists like other human beings have emotions, and I would today feel uneasy stepping on board a third shuttle with a name such as the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter.
"One good thing about this," I told her. "We'll probably never have a shuttle or other American spaceship named after Bill or Hillary Clinton."
Nor should we. The Clinton Administration did more than gut America's defense budgets and devastate our military as no foreign enemy has ever done, tempting terrorists to exploit our weakness.
Presidents Bill and Hillary did more than choke off America's intelligence budget, greatly reducing our ability to detect what potential enemies were preparing to do to our World Trade Center and Pentagon. Bill and Hillary Clinton deserve a large share of responsibility for the destruction of the World Trade Center and the deaths of more than 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001.
The Clintons also targeted NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, for massive budget cuts. They left our space program so damaged that American companies turned instead to Communist China to launch their satellites -- and in the process apparently transferred vast amounts of classified rocket technology know-how to China's ruling Red Army.
Communist China thereafter, of course, rewarded the Clintons by buying America's Democratic Party with many brown paper bags filled with millions of dollars in cash. Today, as a result, we should regard the Democrats no longer as an "American" political party, but as the wholly-owned subsidiary of a foreign power.
But what share of blame should the Clintons bear for Saturday's tragic loss of space shuttle Columbia and its brave crew?
By 1995 the Federal Government's General Accounting Office (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/fl_gao_010119.html) (GAO) had begun what would be repeated warnings that Draconian Clinton cuts in NASA's shuttle workforce budget could pose risks by overworking those who maintain, repair and fly the shuttle fleet. GAO noted a serious lack of needed NASA shuttle professionals in avionics, mechanical engineering and computer systems.
"The shuttle requires an awful lot of nursing," warned Charles Vick, space analyst for the Federation of American Scientists, noting that the GAO "says the potential for failure is still staring us in the face."
...
Click here to read more (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5926)