Interesting Items
Monday, June 7, 2010
Alex Gimarc
[email protected]
Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue:
1. Falcon 9
2. Blockade
3. Blowout
4. Haley
5. Videos
1. Falcon 9. Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched its new, larger rocket,
the Falcon 9 into orbit on June 4. The test flight was the first of a planned
three flights this year. The rocket carried a dummy payload intended to
simulate the Dragon capsule which will double as a cargo carrier and eventually
a manned spacecraft. The launch was significant as it included an on-pad abort
after engine start some 75 minutes before the second and successful launch
attempt. Nobody in the industry has the ability to do this sort of a quick
turn from fire in the hole, on-pad shutdown, and eventual successful launch
less than an hour and a half after the abort. Texas Senator Kay Hutchison and
Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, both representing states with large government
funded NASA facilities, both gave suitably condescending statements following
the launch. The Falcon 9 is the largest of the newSpace new launch vehicles,
potentially capable of
putting people into orbit. It is a Delta-IV / Atlas V class vehicle. SpaceX
landed a $1.6 billion contract for space station resupply. All development
money was private. They have created a new launch vehicle complete with new
rocket engines from scratch. Their Dragon capsule is already under
development. They are doing this with a total workforce of 1,000 people –
development of the vehicle, the rocket engines, and the Dragon capsule. In
contrast, LochMart has over 1,000 people working on the NASA-funded Orion
capsule – just the capsule. This difference in manpower starkly demonstrates
the difference between civil and entrepreneurial space. It is the reason NASA
can no longer affordably fly people into space. It is a demonstration why the
private sector must and will lead this nation off this planet.
2. Blockade. Things got a lot more dangerous in the Middle East last week
after Israeli commandos stopped a flotilla of Hamas-friendly ships on the way
to deliver supplies to Gaza. The lead ship was packed with at least 40 Al
Qaida that attacked the Israeli commandos as they rappelled their way onto the
deck of the ship. Ten of the vermin ended up dead. The ships were chartered
by an Islamist “charity” based in Turkey. The Turks claimed that they had no
control of the NGO before the flotilla sailed. After the boarding and
violence, the Islamist friendly government of Turkey claimed it was their 9-11,
with the Israelis in the role of Al Qaida. The Turks are now threatening to
send the next fleet of boats with protection by the Turkish air force and
navy. Unfortunately the Turks have swung Islamist over the course of the last
decade, setting the stage for a conflagration in the Middle East in the not so
distant future. The Obama WH,
as usual took the side of Hamas, the Turks and Al Qaida, blasting the Israelis
for their use of violence. The UN took a vote less than 24 hours after the
event, basting Israel for defending itself. Fortunately, videos taken by the
Israelis on scene and confiscated from the terrorists showed a very different
event from what has been reported. Reuters got into the act by air brushing
out all evidence of weapons wielded by attackers on the ship. This event is
the first of what promises to be a very hot summer in the region as Iran has
armed Hezbollah with long range rockets, potentially chemical munitions, and
Egypt lifted its blockade of the southern border of Gaza so that they might
rearm themselves more completely. As of this writing, it looks like Israel is
on its own; that is until we change our government over here.
3. Blowout. Oil started hitting the beach in Louisiana and Florida last week
as BP continued to try to stop the flow from the ocean floor. BP did have some
success by cutting the riser pipe which will allow them to more easily install
a capture device for oil and natural gas exiting the well pipe. At weeks’ end,
they are starting to capture an ever increasing percentage of oil out of the
pipe. The Obama administration finally gave permission for Louisiana to start
constructing a few of the barrier islands to keep the oil spill out of the
marshes and wetlands in southern Louisiana; a mere four weeks after Louisiana
Governor Bobby Jindal requested permission to construct them. As of this
writing, approval for less than half of the artificial islands was
forthcoming. Jindal also requested over five million feet of hard booms for
the surface oil over a month ago. To date, he has received less than 800,000
feet. Late in the week, the NYT
reported that Carol Browner had briefed Obama in late April of the magnitude
of the impending disaster. The briefing said that the blowout would not be
controlled until a relief well was drilled in August. If Obama and his
administration knew about this from the very beginning, why did they slow-roll
the regulatory and approval process? Why have they delayed construction of
artificial barrier islands? Why have they delayed delivery of barriers?
Limbaugh made a comment midweek that he believes that the WH has some internal
polling that tells them that this will help them achieve their green agenda,
and this is the reason for the delay. The only surprise here is that Jindal
has waited on the feds rather than calling out the dredges on his own. Toward
week’s end, the jackbooted thugs of Holder’s (In)Justice Department announced
they were launching a criminal investigation into BP. In response, BP lawyered
up. I wonder what the
response would be if BP dropped all mitigation efforts, walked away, and
started saying they were too busy preparing for the impending court cases
brought by the Obama administration against them.
4. Haley. South Carolina politics is ugly. There is a lady running for the
Republican nominee for Governor in SC named Nikki Haley. She is among the most
conservative of several candidates and is currently leading in polling for the
state primary tomorrow (June 8). Over the last couple weeks, she has been the
target of some pretty vicious personal attacks orchestrated by the current SC
LtGov, who has financial ties to a blogger that accused her of infidelity –
essentially calling her a whore. As Haley (like Bobby Jindal) is of Indian
descent, she has also suffered from the predictable name calling and not so
thinly veiled race-based accusations. It is a real outrage when this sort of
thing happens on the right. On the other hand, like NJ, apparently the good
old boy network in SC was deeply entrenched, as corrupt as the day is long, and
is not going down without a fight. The only good news is that should Haley win
the primary
tomorrow, the democrats are not going to be able to throw anything at her that
she hasn’t already seen in the primary.
5. Videos. Ed Morrissey in Hot Air Friday wrote about a growing problem in
Maryland and Illinois – law enforcement taking exception with being filmed
while performing their duties. We live in an age when anyone with a digital
camera or a cell phone can make a video of anything. As a result, it is
becoming harder and harder for anyone to commit an illegal act in public and
get away with it. There has been a flood of YouTube and Facebook videos
portraying abuse by law enforcement officers in pursuit of their duties. As a
response, in at least three states, with Maryland being one, it is now illegal
to make a video of a policeman doing his duty in public. The legal fiction is
based on wiretap and eavesdropping laws that do not allow a conversation to be
recorded unless both parties agree that it can be recorded. In Maryland,
Illinois and Massachusetts, you cannot make a video unless the police consents
beforehand. Of course, nobody is
limiting the police from making videos of traffic stops from their cop cars.
In reality, there is an exception that allows making videos in public locations
where no expectation of privacy exists. In practice, this exception is not
being recognized in any of the three states listed above, which have been
regularly arresting people who make video recordings of police actions. They
seem to hide what they are doing. Nothing could be closer to a police state.
Interesting that all three states are democrat bastions – heavily blue states.
More later -
- AG
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not
your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your
chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen."
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia
State House, August 1, 1776.
Note: Interesting Items can be found at the following locations:
The Alaska Standard http://thealaskastandard.com/
MatSu Valley News http://www.matsuvalleynews.com
District 28 http://www.dist28.com/
subscriber and supporter Elbert Collins at http://thatselbert.wordpress.com/
and the home page: http://home.gci.net/~agimarc
Rod Martin's The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column:
http://www.thevanguard.org/
To read Alex Gimarc’s columns, go to http://home.gci.net/~agimarc/
To stay abreast Pro Life news, go to http://www.listcast.com/x?oid=20000g
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