By I’m sure some of you may have already heard about this, but I just couldn’t believe it when I read it:
You’d be hard-pressed to find an American who doesn’t know that the “S” in NASA stands for “Space.” Since the race to the moon in the 1960s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been one of the most storied agencies in the U.S. government. Now, under President Obama, its mission is changing — and space isn’t part of the story.
“When I became the NASA administrator, [Obama] charged me with three things,” NASA head Charles Bolden said in a recent interview with the Middle Eastern news network al-Jazeera. “One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me 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, math, and engineering.” [San Francisco Examiner]
So the top three responsibilities of NASA as outlined by the President has nothing to do with space exploration, so why have a space program in the first place?
1:12 am on July 9th, 2010 1
You realise that a number of the leading and founding scientists for the USSR space program were muslim. I imagine there are a number of displaced arabic and muslim scientists out there at the moment, somewhat like the number of German and German/Jewish scientists that were floating around in the 1930s. Why shouldn't The US cultivate relationships with Muslim Scientists the way it did German Jews – look at the advances that came of that.
I understand the point that the papers and you are making and there is a a bit of a disconnect there, but I'm just sayin'….
1:42 am on July 9th, 2010 2
"When I became the NASA administrator, [Obama] charged me with three things,” NASA head Charles Bolden said in a recent interview with the Middle Eastern news network al-Jazeera."
Remember, these are political appointments.
The real scientists try to do the best with what they are given.
Agreed… it is morbidly painful to watch the Obama administration cut everything space-related that seems productive and emphasize everything political that probably isn't… but, relax. In 2.5 to 6.5 years, things will turn around… 2.5 if the Republicans can find anyone with a heartbeat and a hint of charisma.
1:54 am on July 9th, 2010 3
Stafford—It seems that you missed the entire POINT. I don't see the listing of scientist from these areas as the point.
As for you "assuming" there "might" be a number (1, 2, 10???) of arabic/muslim scientist "out there". Well, in the military I was instructed to never Assume.
That is not what BO intended . BO is attempting to make it a "race issue", not a scientist issue. You seem to have missed that. Bit of a disconnect? Yea! You could say that. I tend to think of it in much stronger terms than "disconnect". Good job on your part for attempting to make less of it.
He isn't trying to cultivate relationships with individual "scientists".
It is the "race" that he is trying to make "feel good". America didn't give a damn how the Germans felt. Only the Scientist. And then only for what they could do for the program. Results, not "feelings" were what counted.
What BO is doing has NOTHING to do with results. In fact it is counter productive and a waste of time, effort and manpower.
BHO is no JFK or MLK. I'm sure that both are rolling over in their graves.
2:06 am on July 9th, 2010 4
President Obama announced his new goal of landing men on the SUN – but wisely, he will order the journey to be at night, when it's not so hot. The SHOCKING deets are at:
http://spnheadlines.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-czar…
Peace!
2:59 am on July 9th, 2010 5
More proof that the Obama Administration is a joke.
4:26 am on July 9th, 2010 6
This is what you get when you place an unqualified person in a position of responsibility. And of course those who defend this idiot are blacks and muslims.
6:40 am on July 9th, 2010 7
Welcome to the Obamanation
7:19 am on July 9th, 2010 8
Bolden is a man that has came a long way and earned respect. What he said and how he said it may have came across a little strange; but when a straight shooter like him tries to convey political jargon from a guy like Obama it may not always come out right.
10:18 am on July 9th, 2010 9
"Charles Bolden said in a recent interview with the Middle Eastern news network al-Jazeera."
In light of who he's talking to, I wouldn't take the 3rd goal too seriously. I would imagine he's just pandering to the audience.
10:38 am on July 9th, 2010 10
"You’d be hard-pressed to find an American who doesn’t know that the “S” in NASA stands for “Space.” Since the race to the moon in the 1960s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been one of the most storied agencies in the U.S. government. Now, under President Obama, its mission is changing — and space isn’t part of the story."
Hmm, so NASA isn't supposed to be used for diplomacy…
http://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/coldWarCoO…
12:21 pm on July 9th, 2010 11
teadrinker, so your saying that the Muslim countries have just as much to offer in active space programs today that Russia had back then? Really?
I would like to hear more about these programs! What module or equipment did they add to the ISS? Obviously I missed it. I had no idea that they were even interested in space.
4:13 pm on July 9th, 2010 12
Retired GI,
That's not the argument that's being made, is it?
"You’d be hard-pressed to find an American who doesn’t know that the “S” in NASA stands for “Space.”"
I guess those who don't know anything about history are far more common.
But, really…All this to say that I question the intelligence of those who are unable to grasp the the nature the comments made during the interview (hint: lip service).
PS. Muslims have oil.
5:48 pm on July 9th, 2010 13
What is the Muslim race?
6:55 pm on July 9th, 2010 14
I guess the Obama administration reckons we need more barbarism, head chopping, bronze age beliefs and the filthy stench of ass in space. We'll just have to pay the Russians to send the Muslims to space.
7:35 pm on July 9th, 2010 15
The Muslim race is closely related to rats and roaches.
9:15 pm on July 9th, 2010 16
"The Muslim race is closely related to rats and roaches."
That's just not funny.
9:22 pm on July 9th, 2010 17
"I guess the Obama administration reckons we need more barbarism, head chopping, bronze age beliefs and the filthy stench of ass in space. We’ll just have to pay the Russians to send the Muslims to space.
"
Oh, come on. Barbarism, murder, mumbo jumbo and BO is not foreign to Americans.
10:23 pm on July 9th, 2010 18
Muslims invented all modern science (according to themselves), so NASA needs all the help it can get.
11:53 pm on July 9th, 2010 19
@17 "Oh, come on. Barbarism, murder, mumbo jumbo and BO are not foreign to Americans."
I have to agree with that. But those items are not foreign to ANY country. The human condition. Some countries and their cultures do embrace them more strongly.
Those countries and cultures are Muslim in politics and faith.
"The muslim race is more closly related to rats and roaches."
"That's just not funny"
I don't believe Lemmy intended it to be funny. I agree with him.
Interesting that a Liberal from Canada would come to the defense of muslims. Don't you understand that they don't like YOU. Not going to tolerate you. Doesn't matter to them how nice you are. Doesn't matter that you say your not a liberal or that your from Canada. You are not one of them. Are you going to do like the Korean Christians and become muslim to save your head. You would still be only a second class person to them.
Your very well educated. You said so yourself. How can you not understand. Or do you believe that you will be able to "talk" to them and they will listen and leave you in peace. Is that what you think? Maybe you know that big brother America will keep them away for the foreseeable duration of your life and are unconcerned for that reason.
But then again, maybe I'm wrong. It happens. Perhaps they are a very kind and giving group these muslims. Filled with love! Perhaps they are just misunderstood, yes.
All we need to do is make them "feel better" about themselves and they will stop sending suicide bombers around the world. They might even learn to shave, no?
PS: We have oil. Sadly we also have climate and nature freaks. More sad, we listen to them. (I don't like lip service) Say what you mean and mean what you say. Lip service is for cowards and weak men. But then again, could an appointy of this administration be anything but. Question my intelligence as you wish. Your time would be better spent looking for spelling and grammer mistakes.
12:05 am on July 10th, 2010 20
#18
They didn't invent all of modern science. They did appreciate, maintain and develop the sciences they found from the Greeks, Egyptians, Indians and possibly the Chinese, during the Dark Ages when the Christian church was spurning science.
However, there came a turn around, and they are now in their own sort of scientific Dark Ages.
2:44 am on July 10th, 2010 21
He should have said Arabs instead of Muslims. Arabs were far more advanced than Europeans at the time in science, math, astronomy, and medicine. Muslims belong to a religion and aren't a race. I think in the bigger picture Obama is trying to reach out to the Muslim world on a different plane other than confrontation. But by saying Muslims, is he also reaching out to Somali pirates and those who still practice female genital mutilation? How about Black Muslims or, better yet, converts like the "Shoe Bomber". The Arabs who made so many early advances in the sciences just happened to be Muslims. If they had been Presbyterians, would NASA be honoring them? It seems a little off mission to have NASA pandering to the Muslim world. They should have said Arabs, and it should have been a different agency. Maybe something to do with education or science.
5:52 am on July 10th, 2010 22
Stafford 1 says, "You realise that a number of the leading and founding scientists for the USSR space program were muslim." Who were they, specifically? And were they really Muslims, i.e. did they beleive that there is one God, and that Muhammed is his prophet?
6:57 am on July 10th, 2010 23
I too would love to hear all about how Muslims were so instrumental in the USSR's space program. I didn't know many Germans (or Russians) were Muslim at that time.
8:53 am on July 10th, 2010 24
Wernher Von Braun
Hermann Oberth
Robert Goddard
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Isaac Newton
Johannes Kepler
Yuri Gagarin
Alan Shepard
John Glenn
Neil Armstrong
Buzz Aldrin
Tsygan and Dezik
Laika
Gordo
Able and Baker
No Muslims in this bunch that I know of.
Maybe the two bullfrogs launched by the Soviet Union in 1970 were Muslims.
10:10 am on July 10th, 2010 25
Here are some of the main Soviet space program folks. Who was Muslim? Why must anyone insist Muslims were involved? It doesn't earn them any more legitimacy. I want to see that statement backed up. Who were all these Muslims who were so integral to the Soviet space program?
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovskii
Sergey Korolyov
Mikhail Yangel
Valentin Glushko
Vladimir Chelomei
Vladimir Komarov
Friedrich Zander
Helmut Gröttrup
Kerim Kerimov
Valentin Glushko
Vasili Mishin
Valentina Tereshkova
5:03 pm on July 10th, 2010 26
"Some countries and their cultures do embrace them more strongly. Those countries and cultures are Muslim in politics and faith."
Huh, R GI, what's that little motto written on American money? "In Facts We Trust"? As for murder…
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-…
5:25 pm on July 10th, 2010 27
I wonder what the murder rate is for non-Muslims in Islamic countries.
I like statistics too: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/dem_gen_par_ind…
BTW RGI brought up some salient points that you studiously ignored.
5:27 pm on July 10th, 2010 28
"Interesting that a Liberal from Canada would come to the defense of muslims. "
Nope, I consider myself fairly conservative on some issues. Despite what the American media would have you believe, conservatives can be pragmatic and tolerant. But, I understand why you're confused. Canada is a social democracy, which means Canadian conservatives are very liberal by current American standards (I blame Fox News' anti-intellectual agitprop for that).
5:44 pm on July 10th, 2010 29
Uh… Teadrinker…
At the bottom of that chart of crime statistics, it said:
"Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence."
…just sayin'.
5:48 pm on July 10th, 2010 30
@Leon Laporte The main Muslim involved in The USSR program was its FOUNDER: Which I don't see on your list…Admittidly under the former USSR he technically had no religion, but I digress:
Kerim Kerimov – founder of Soviet space program, a lead architect behind first human spaceflight (Vostok 1), and the lead architect of the first space stations (Salyut and Mir)
Other prominent modern Muslim scientists include:
Farouk El-Baz, – NASA scientist involved in the first Moon landings with the Apollo program
OMG A muslim in NASA!!!!???
Amir Ansari is co-founder of venture capital firm Prodea Systems and main donor to The X Prize and his sister Anousheh Ansari, an engineer and 4th self funded Space tourist (OK not technically scientists but…)
Both Muslim.
Muslims activly promoting manned space flight. (Probably doing a better job than NASA actually)
Talgat Amangeldyuly Musabayev Test pilot and Cosmonaut.
Muslim
Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud STS 15 G (Shuttle flight) mission specialist
Muslim
Another Former NASA Engineer -Thery're everywhere!
And don't forget Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam Former Indian PM, Auronautics engineer and Chancellor of the India Space science and technology institute.
Muslim.
Need I go on? I've got plenty more…
Like I said in my first post I can see the disconnect between the political machinations and the aims of an agency like NASA. It is a shame that the way it was contextualised by the likes of FOX et al has yet again brought out the racist, ignorant, red-necks that make reading RoK Drop such a chore.
6:48 pm on July 10th, 2010 31
#29,
Often but not always. Did you even bother to look at the numbers themselves, not the rankings? Please explain to me why there are about 3 times fewer murders (per capita) in Canada than in the US.
8:39 pm on July 10th, 2010 32
Irony. Take a note from those who coined the phrase, 'A mind is a terrible thing to waste.'.. process that, and apply it. NASA minds are being wasted on stupid 'feel good' agendas.
11:22 pm on July 10th, 2010 33
Jimbo,
Actually, it's all about attracting young scientists and engineers.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp…
1:53 am on July 11th, 2010 34
@28 teadrinker, you can "consider" yourself conservative but you have never written or supported any conservative thinking since I've been visiting here. Or independent thinking either. So seeing yourself as one thing and at the same time supporting opposing viewpoints explains alot to me. As for Canada, it is beginning to remind me more and more of South Korea.
As for your guip about the American dollar, Good Luck getting anyone to take you seriously in america, if your an outspoken Christian. You should have known that teadrinker. My turn to question your intelligence.
32, PLEASE! List whatever source you want. It's not about "attracting young scientist and engineers". If it were, Obama would not have killed the Constellation program. Actions, not words. As you pointed out, Obama and his minions pay alot of "lip service". So their words cannot be trusted.
2:08 am on July 11th, 2010 35
"Actually, it’s all about attracting young scientists and engineers."
Yeahhhh… about that… I'm not sure that's such a great idea.
Look what happened last time we attracted guys who were interested in flying education.
Look what is happening as we let Them study nuclear science in our universities.
Imagine what could happen if They had knowledge of advanced rocketry.
Perhaps it's better to keep Them in the Dark Ages until they get their shyt together a little bit more.
"Please explain to me why there are about 3 times fewer murders (per capita) in Canada than in the US."
2:29 am on July 11th, 2010 36
Brian B. wrote:
In light of who he’s talking to, I wouldn’t take the 3rd goal too seriously. I would imagine he’s just pandering to the audience.
Bingo. Take a look at NASA's budget and actual plans and see how prominently #3 is in the whole scheme of things.
Teadrinker wrote:
Hmm, so NASA isn’t supposed to be used for diplomacy…
Jon Stewart has the best take on this. And at 2:15 he addresses what you cited.
1:19 am on July 12th, 2010 37
Muslims in the USSR space program is irrelevant to the issue at hand, but I will offer this, the Soviet space program has been based out of a primarily Muslim nation for decades:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome
As I pointed out the top three priorities for NASA from the President has nothing to do with space exploration. You would think the number one priority would be something related to space exploration and not Muslim outreach being the "foremost" objective of NASA. I have no problem with Muslim outreach but it shouldn't be the foremost objective of NASA. That is what the criticism is.
3:29 am on July 12th, 2010 38
stafford #30. Granted you were aiming at Leon, but I had to comment and thank you for making me look. That is, untill I saw your LIBERAL RANT at the end.
At least FOX did REPORT IT! Didn't hear about it on the local NBC network. I wonder why they didn't report it. As for the rest of YOUR racist ignorant rant, it is not worthy of comment other than to state that it shows the true level of tolerance that you Liberals have.
Anyway, at http://www.faroukelbaz.com it states that he is an Egypptian American. It makes no statement about him being Muslim or not a Muslim. Just to let you know, muslim is a religion. Not a race. Granted that those born to a religion often retain it to a greater or lesser degree. But based on his site I feel comfortable in saying his is a lesser degree. So—no muslim at NASA. OMG!!!!
Anousheh Ansari, left Iran at 16. Became an American. OMG!!! "Payed" to fly to space with the Russians.
Amir Ansari is the founder of Telecom Technologies and "Payed" to be part of the X-prize. Hell, if he gave me that kind of money, I would name my kid after him.
Talgat Amangeldyul Musabayew. Took me to a list of muslim astronaunts. About ten.
Most took a ride on the Shuttle as a "mission specialist". Talgat was with the USSR and a real Cosmonaunt.
Please continue with your list of all the "muslims in space" and their great contributions.
But give a reference please. Being retired, I have the free time. But I would rather do other things than track down Liberal Lies from the Liberal Left.
You have a nice Liberal day — YA HEAR.
6:00 am on July 12th, 2010 39
Along with some of the other words used this reaching out also includes using NASA's hardware to gather intellegence on Muslim countries – this is, in a way, reaching out.
7:30 am on July 12th, 2010 40
I really dislike it when my comments don't appear.
10:10 am on July 12th, 2010 41
#30 First off, before you call me a racist, ignorant, red-neck for not listing Kerim Kerimov, look at the ninth name on my list. Your venomous pro-Islam stance and hatred of me not withstanding, you could brush up on your reading skills. That aside, Kerimov was from Azerbaijan, I believe, but was he a Muslim? Did he ever describe himself as such? I'm from Texas, but I'm not a Baptist or even a Christian (likely have a hard time being a good redneck without a few bronze age beliefs).
First, I have no problems with Muslims at NASA (or the Soviet, or Russian program for that matter). Why would I? So, you named six Muslims. Out of 100,000's if not millions of people who have in some way participated or contributed to these space programs over the years. I'm sure there was an equally statistically insignificant number of people who were pedophiles, glue sniffers, red haired, Branch Davidians, Deists, fart sniffers and those who regularly dreamt of Jeannie. So what?
My point being that I'm just as against spreading all this Muslim love as I am (or would be) against the spreading of, say, Catholic love.
The main thing is all these people who feel they must jump to the defense of these noble savages, everything else be damned.
11:59 am on July 12th, 2010 42
Muslims in the USSR space program is irrelevant to the issue at hand
Yes I agree – irrelevant: Just answering one of those "Love the Muslims" Islam-o-fascists apologists postings. You know, one where bold statements are made which we are supposed to blindly accept as fact (of course if you call them on it, you're a racist scumbag).
…but I will offer this, the Soviet space program has been based out of a primarily Muslim nation for decades…
…and so what? Our space program was primarily based out of a location where alligators and river cows were prevalent, but I doubt they designed (or flew in) any rockets.
1:28 pm on July 12th, 2010 43
Retired GI 40, I was writing a comment at the same time as Leon LaPorte 42. His appeared and mine didn't. A bug in the blogging software? Favoritism by GI Korea? Hacking by Leon? I report, y'all decide.
1:33 pm on July 12th, 2010 44
Stafford 1 says, "a number of the leading and founding scientists for the USSR space program were muslim." Stafford 30 sets this number at 1. But Wikipedia says, "Kerim Kerimov was a Hero of Socialist Labour, laureate of Stalin, Lenin and State prizes of the Soviet Union, lieutenant-general of Soviet Army," so the true number appears to be 0. Stafford can prove me wrong by demonstrating that Kerimov believed that there is one God and that Muhammed is His prophet.
10:51 pm on July 12th, 2010 45
Glans your comment was sent to the spam que for whatever reason and is now posted. Everything I have read about Kerimov is that he was a non-practicing Muslim so he is probably a poor choice to champion as some great Muslim scholar.
@42 I point out the Baikonur_Cosmodrome because Muslims had to have worked at the location since it was in Kazakhstan, but many of them were probably of the Kerimov variety. However, once again let me emphasize this is all irrelevant to the issue at hand which is whether it is appropriate for NASA's "foremost" goal to be making Muslims "feel good"?
11:56 pm on July 12th, 2010 46
@Leon Laporte, Indeed, in amongst all those names number 9 is Kerimov. However I point to comments equating muslims with rats and cockroaches or saying they smell like ass and branding factual comments as "“Love the Muslims” Islam-o-fascists apologists postings" as evidence of racism and / or red-neckism endemic to a number of the posts above.
@Retired GI, I would hardly call myself a liberal. Given that you are retired I will stick my neck out and say you're probably old as well. The bi-polar Liberal/Conservative Left-wing/Right-wing dichotomy is pretty much dead in the world except for where it is slowly coming to an agonizing death like in The US. In most nations, while there are blocs that still vote along party lines most of the electorate votes with self interest in mind. Usually this means a fairly moderate centrist government, or coalitions that will make concessions to their partners one way or the other. It's not always a good thing – look at The Netherlands, they haven't been able to form a government for over a month now.
I guess what I am saying is your accusations of liberalism on my part are incorrect (you weren't to know of course – we've never met) but they smack of the usual knee-jerk reactions of those of your ilk clinging to a broken and ultimately useless paradigm of governance, thinking and living.
see the following since you have time for research:
Piper, J.R.,(1997) Ideologies and institutions: American conservative and liberal governance, Rowman and Littlefield, Oxford
Davis, J., (1995), CHANGEABLE WEATHER IN A COOLING CLIMATE ATOP THE LIBERAL PLATEAU: CONVERSION AND REPLACEMENT IN FORTY-TWO GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY ITEMS, 1972–1989, Public Opinion Quarterly 56:261-306 (This gives the counter argument)
How about coming up with a real argument? Well you made an attempt: I can't comment on Farouk El Baz – but just because he's an Egyptian American doesn't preclude him from being Muslim. You are quite correct that the Ansari siblings left Iran at early ages, however both are muslim and both are distinguished Engineers so much so that they were able to contribute to the XPrize. Indeed I'd do what they asked if they gave me that sort of money, but, getting back to the argument at hand, I was offering it as an example of two muslims trying to advance science. Anousheh Ansari has a Masters in Engineering from George Washinton University: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anousheh_Ansari Amir Ansari received his undergrad Engineering degree from George Mason: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Ansari
Payload specialists in the Shuttle Program are usually (but not always) PhDs in their field shttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payload_specialist Talgat in the Russian programme has a PhD in Technical sciences and is and Engineer and Flight Acrobat (don't ask me how those two go together) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/cosmonauts/english/…
With that I will humbly, and with cap in hand, acknowledge that your's is an ideological argument born of your experience and beliefs forged over a longer period than my own, and that despite our differing ideologies you don't seem to be all that racist in comparison to other posts above.
@Glans A cursory google with the terms "Kerim Kerimov" and "muslim" or "Islam" would give you a bajillion hits linking his name with the religion.
@GI Korea Under Communism Kerimov was officially an Athiest, in his book "Way To Space" he clearly states he is a muslim. Not clear is whether he was a practicing one. I tend to think he is as much a muslim as I am an Anglican, in that it has been a looooooong time since I have been to church. – Hopefully that answers Glans' question as well.
As to the relevancy of all this I have to take some of the blame I guess, my first comment was that reaching out to muslim countries and making them "feel good" about their historical contributions to science might end in NASA being able to harness nascent talent in said countries a la the late 30s / german scientist example.
Not a bad idea considering TV taught me as a child that we'd all be living on the moon by now.
Here's hoping this long one skips the spam folder.
11:57 pm on July 12th, 2010 47
my last comment got flagged as spam
doesn't appear.
10:05 am on July 13th, 2010 48
#43 YES. The all knowing, all seeing and all powerful Leon LaPorte was shaken by your comments therefore they have ceased to be. Usually, I sneak in GI Korea's window at night and sate him with cheap booze and medical marijuana. Afterward, I have access to the MASTER TERMINAL and delete all the comments I dislike (except for Tom's).
10:16 am on July 13th, 2010 49
#45 Like I said. Even if the Ruskies had launched from cosmodromes in your mommas ass, they would not have been referred to as Klingons. It's just that Muslims have owned vast tracts of land and did very little to improve those areas other than herd goats (we assume for their own carnal needs). They were also powerless to prevent the Soviets from using these lands and the Soviets loved them some secrecy. SO WHAT?
As far as NASA's foremost goal of making boy-f*ckers feel good about themselves, it has be "retracted". http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/12/white-…
But then again, there is this (which Stafford al Mecca ought to love!): http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66B62Z20100…
Yeah! Get down and roll in it.
2:35 pm on July 13th, 2010 50
Leon LaPorte 48, the reason why the Sovietskies launched from their "muslim" region was the same reason why we launch from Florida. The closer you get to the equator, the farther you are from the earth's axis, the faster you're moving before you even fire your rocket. That was especially important for early launch vehicles, which could barely reach orbital velocity.
2:42 pm on July 13th, 2010 51
GI Korea, suppose you're given a new command. The superior officer appointing you to it calls you into his office. He says, "GI Korea, I want you to accomplish three things in your new job: inspire children to seek military careers, expand our international relationships, and help Muslims feel good about their service." Do you now conclude that these three goals are more important than national defense? Or do you think that, dedicating yourself always to national defense, you're also supposed to look for ways to accomplish these additional goals?
2:45 pm on July 13th, 2010 52
@Glans – thats the most reasonable comment Ive seen on this thread.
(and my other comment is still in the spam
)
3:56 pm on July 13th, 2010 53
Glans wrote:
Leon LaPorte 48, the reason why the Sovietskies launched from their “muslim” region was the same reason why we launch from Florida. The closer you get to the equator, the farther you are from the earth’s axis, the faster you’re moving before you even fire your rocket.
I thought it was because the space above Florida is warmer than the space above, say, North Dakota.
4:35 pm on July 13th, 2010 54
#49 Hopefully someone learned from your post. I'm a huge space program fan (any and all, Muslim or not) so of course I'm aware the closer to the equator one can get, the better. But, also important is a broad swath of uninhabited (or sparsely inhabited) area where things that might go boom can land (as I mentioned).
For Florida, well, you have the Atlantic Ocean. For Tyuratam, you have the vast desert steppes of Kazakhstan.
6:48 pm on July 13th, 2010 55
i hear crickets chirping from korean peanut gallery, seeing that they can't yet 'imitate' a proper satellite launch.
11:36 pm on July 13th, 2010 56
@51 – First of all I have never had a commander ever say something as dumb as that much less make it the unit's "foremost" mission. The first thing I would do after that is make sure the priorities are written in my initial counseling statement and then ask my senior rater when counseled if that is their priority as well. The senior rater would probably have a quick phone call with the rater to rectify the situation.
I take it you probably have not served in the military because if promoting one religion over another became a unit's "foremost" mission that unit would have a flood of IG complaints.
As Leon pointed out the White House has already came out and said that the President didn't say what Bolden claimed in the interview. So you guys are defending a position that the White House doesn't even defend.
1:18 pm on July 14th, 2010 57
Stafford 46. You surprized me! Wasn't expecting such an eloquent reply.
I grant that there are some born into the Muslim faith that have gotten past their archaic belief system. But I don't believe THEY are the Muslims that Obama is trying to make "feel good". They are already there, without the condescending attempts of American "leadership".
I was wrong. Your not a liberal. Your articulate. A Progressive then. Your reality is, never the less, not mine.
Not related to your post, but it seems the WH has lied again.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/14/NASA-outreach...
Michael Griffin, NASA admin under Bush, said NASA in danger of becoming an "EMPTY SHELL".