I was absolutely thrilled by the advent of manned space exploration. It was an exciting time. I followed the program in minute detail. I still know the names of every Mercury astronaut and most of the Gemini astronauts as well. I can name virtually every crew of every flight right through Skylab and the first several shuttle missions. I built a Gemini capsule simulator in my parents’ basement complete with proper instrument panels and toggle switches. Alan Shepard sent me a letter. Along with the country I wept for the Apollo 1 astronauts and was shocked at the losses of the two orbiters, especially as they were lost for stupid monetary concerns.
There is a brief history of NASA here.
Dogs have always been an integral part of my life and as much painful as it is, one knows when the time has come to end suffering. As much as I have loved NASA for almost all my life, I feel it is time to end its suffering. NASA is suffering and it is heartbreaking to watch. Barack Obama promised to save NASA, but as we all know too well, Obama promises are pure horse manure:
“So let me be clear: we cannot cede our leadership in space. That’s why I’m going to close the gap, ensure that our space program doesn’t suffer when the shuttle goes out of service. We may extend an additional shuttle launch. We’re going to work with Bill Nelson to add at least one flight after 2010 by continuing to support NASA funding, by speeding the development of the shuttle’s successor, 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 cant afford to lose their expertise. But more broadly, we need a real vision for the next stage of space exploration….”
Barack Obama weaponizes some government agencies for political persecution and politicizes other government agencies, perverting their mission purpose, and he has done just that to NASA. NASA has been reduced to political arm of the Democrat National Committee, its mission now is seek out liberal life and liberal worlds, going where political correctness has gone before.
The end started to become clear when Obama decided that NASA’s mission would become a “Muslim outreach” organization, to help make Muslims countries “feel good” about their contributions to our space program:
It’s not really surprising that President Obama told NASA administrator Charles Bolden that his highest priority should be “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science … and math and engineering.” It fits with so much that we already knew about the president.
It is consistent with his wildly exaggerated concept of governmental and presidential power and competence. Samuel Johnson wrote: “How small, of all that human hearts endure, that part which laws or kings can cause or cure.” Obama believes the opposite — that his presidency can be a transformative moment not just for the nation, but for the world. He will halt global warming and stop the rise of the oceans, transition America to a green energy future, prevent the “cycle of boom and bust” in the economy, provide universal health care while spending less than before, cushion “underwater” mortgage holders without rewarding profligate borrowers, increase taxes on the “rich” without harming the middle class, solve the problem of excessive public debt by amassing more public debt and so on.
So how was that to work? We’ll boost their self-esteem:
How in the world would NASA help Muslim nations to “feel good” about themselves? Would NASA hold science fairs in Tripoli or Tehran? Produce and circulate propaganda films about Great Muslim Men (careful, never women) of Science? Stress our global debt to Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, the father of algebra? (That’s risky, since al-Khwarizmi reportedly learned his math from the Indians.) How would Obama’s NASA chief undertake to alter the civilizational self-esteem of a billion people?
Of course, it’s entirely possible (pace Bernard Lewis) that the Muslim world does not lack for self-esteem on the matter of science or anything else. Certainly, scientific know-how has not been lacking in nuclear-armed Pakistan or (would be) nuclear Iran. Besides, hasn’t Obama heard? The whole self-esteem myth has been exploded. Though millions of tax dollars and God only knows how many wasted instructional hours have gone toward making American kids think they are really, really special, it turns out that there is zero correlation between such drilled self-esteem and academic performance. (See Scientific American, January 2005)
Now Obama turns NASA into a left wing activist organization, focusing on the coming “collapse of Western civilization”:
Few think Western civilization is on the brink of collapse—but it’s also doubtful the Romans and Mesopotamians saw their own demise coming either.
If we’re to avoid their fate, we’ll need policies to reduce economic inequality and preserve natural resources, according to a NASA-funded study that looked at the collapses of previous societies.
“Two important features seem to appear across societies that have collapsed,” reads the study. “The stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity and the economic stratification of society into Elites and Masses.”
In unequal societies, researchers said, “collapse is difficult to avoid…. Elites grow and consume too much, resulting in a famine among Commoners that eventually causes the collapse of society.”
As limited resources plague the working class, the wealthy, insulated from the problem, “continue consuming unequally” and exacerbate the issue, the study said.
Meanwhile, resources continue to be used up, even by the technologies designed to preserve them. For instance, “an increase in vehicle fuel efficiency technology tends to enable increased per capita vehicle miles driven, heavier cars, and higher average speeds, which then negate the gains from the increased fuel-efficiency,” the study said.
The researchers used what they termed a Human And Nature DYnamical (HANDY) formula to reach their conclusions. The formula uses factors such as birth rates, resources, and income classes to create a mathematical equation to project outcomes.
Unequal outcomes. Economic inequality. NASA.
And just today in an email:
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Humanity must act now if it hopes to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, NASA chief Charles Bolden says.
Climate change is not some far-off, nebulous issue that future generations will have to confront, Bolden told reporters Thursday (May 8) during a discussion of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment report here at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Rather, it’s happening right now, and people all over the world are already feeling the effects.
“The world is different from the way it used to be,” Bolden said. “Climate change is a problem we must deal with right now.”
It’s enough to make you vomit.
It breaks my heart to watch this and I know that it’s time to put an old friend down before Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Al Sharpton decide NASA’s next mission will be to teach Common Core math to illegal aliens.
Images courtesy of our friends at The People’s Cube
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.