Month: February 2010

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 RedState.

Health care reconciliation is an exercise in futility.

Ed Morrissey sums up his major counter-argument thusly to Andy McCarthy’s argument that progressive Democrats are ready to trade control of Congress in exchange for imposing health care rationing on the populace:

Andy may be right that Democratic leadership has made the decision that political oblivion is an acceptable cost for a one-time remaking of America that Republicans will find difficult to reverse in the next session.  However, I suspect that this strategy doesn’t account for the fact that the people who will actually have to end their careers may not appreciate getting forced into marching off a cliff while the leadership stays safely in their rear-echelon bastions of San Francisco and New York City.

…and I’d like to add my two cents: it won’t work anyway.  People like to talk about how government programs and agencies never die, once instituted, with the Great Society and the New Deal being the most used examples.  What’s not mentioned is that both of those programs were popular.  People wanted a Social Security program.  They wanted Medicare.  They do not notably want this monstrosity of a health care bill*.  And if the Democrats decide to (and manage to) force it down our throats anyway, Republican legislators will find a way to shut it down in January 2011.  The government has had over two and a quarter centuries to develop bylaws, operational procedures, codicils, and whatnot; there is always going to be a legislative fig leaf, suitable for framing and rationalization.

I consider this bill dead.  But if the Democrats are so determined to resurrect it, fine: we’ll just prune their internal power structure down to the roots in November and kill the bill again in January.  In fact, that sounds kind of fun.

Moe Lane

*They like individual aspects of the bill; but they don’t want the whole package.  But don’t let me stop anybody from advocating their particular religious beliefs.

Crossposted to RedState.

*Another* faux-populist Lefty group for potlatching money?

Is ‘potlatching’ even a word?

(Via Big Government) It’s interesting to see the difference between intent and result in this Washington Post article on a quote-unquote ‘Coffee Party’ that’s ready to take to the streets on behalf of the Left.  It’s not really quotable, but the gist of the article is that there’s this movement that showed up in reaction to the Tea Party folks and is trying to duplicate their success.  Slow going, but it’s early days – and besides, aren’t both groups looking for the same thing, really?

That’s intent.  The result is a tacit admission that the Tea Parties have pretty much brushed aside the existing, decades-old infrastructure of Lefty activist groups to become the standard by which community activism is judged.  I imagine that this would probably upset, say, somebody who’s been throwing money at groups like Moveon.org or CAP or the undead, unlamented ACORN; it must purely grate to know that all the funding in the world won’t create a genuine populist movement when there’s no true popular will behind it.  Not that these Coffee Party people are the answer, either: they’re just a bunch of reactionary defenders of the existing self-defined privileged class who are attempting to create a false revolutionary consciousness.

…You know, I wrote that out first as a joke; but that really is what they are, isn’t it?

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.