Friends, we at WaddyIsRight -- so, me, myself, and I -- hereby convey our good wishes to NASA and Boeing, as tomorrow marks the first scheduled launch of that company's problem-plagued and much-delayed "Starliner" craft. The destination? The international space station. If all goes well, Starliner will duplicate the manned spaceflight services already provided by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Why do we need Starliner? We probably don't, but we've spent so many billions on it that we might as well get a little satisfaction from its first launch... The outsourcing of manned space flight is, in itself, a major milestone, of course. Above all, let's hope that this development will put wind in the sails of space exploration, in general, and the U.S. space program, in particular. There is still much glory to be had by pushing the boundaries of man's knowledge of, and access to, space. It's high time that we cut through the red tape and seized that glory for ourselves, before the Russians, Chinese, Europeans, Indians, Japanese and others commandeer it and relegate us to the status of galactic pipsqueaks.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Free enterprise has long since proven itself the best system for providing human economic well being. Competition is an indispensable part of it. Widespread prosperity is just and systems yet promising it in doctrines condemning free enterprise have been incalculably catastrophic in practice. Boeing's travails and their sometimes tragic consequences are disturbing; that company has been a mainstay of the outstanding American aviation industry. One must earnestly hope their prolonged development of their spaceship manifests quality and reliability in the end. America continues to lead the way in the exploration of deep space, even beyond the solar system into nominal interstellar reaches. For we who have watched the development of space travel from its beginning, its an unending source of astonishment and wonder. Near space , including the moon, is a big place and its inevitable that many nations will be attracted to it (Wales!). The resulting competition should foster ever more fascinating developments. Just hope Boeing got it right.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO JACK
DeleteAlthough I am not as enthusiastic as I should be about our space program, your comments are appreciated. Well written, and especially the references to Boeing.
RAY TO DR. WADDY
ReplyDeleteGlad you are enthusiastic about our space program. Sorry to say I am not, but so what. Would be interested in why you think it is so important, and how it will benefit The U.S.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: On Fox I'm hearing commentary from Congressmen advancing the idea of denying Federal funding to erstwhile "universities" which the totalitarian America hating far left dominates. The appalling present revelation of its detestable antisemitism must be taken with utmost seriousness. Of course there is no chance of this Federal administration, captured as it is by that faction, taking any action against doctrines with which they sympathize. But with this revealing insight into the astonishing neonaziism of the belief moving the anarchic campus brats ,we are afforded in this election season an opportunity to bring America to full awareness of it in all of its murderous advocacy. A vote for the Dems is a vote for the continuance of forced taxpayer support for radical cadre posing as teachers, for "university" administrators to which decisive remedy for this presumptuous and contemptuous injustice is unthinkable and for continued cynical misuse of callow, tragically naive
ReplyDeleteyouth to destroy the country which benefits them. Oh yes and they want us to pay off the college loans of these ingrates. Enough!!! - - - - - PP (this is the best I can get this contraption to do in separating paragraphs). Why ever should we countenance this? Let us first enable it to motivate us to stand against the dem party in this election and if American government is restored, then make it a priority to enact relief from this by stopping these Marxist reeducation camps from doing their treason on our dime. Let them look to their endowments, that is after they have been taxed properly. This is an opportunity to land a staggering body blow on a stronghold - the American academy - of the antiamerican leftists who purpose our country's punishment and destruction. Those who administer these shamefully compromised institutions, some of them elected officials in the case of "public" (some public ehh?) campuses, exemplify with their tepid protestation of the neonazi carnivals they host the certain fundamental far left essence of these outrages.
Yes, Jack, I too wish Boeing success, because it's hard to imagine that we could ever have a robust U.S. space program without their contributions... And I second your comments about competition. Competition, albeit between the U.S. and the USSR, was what got space exploration humming to start with, and now competition, among nations, among companies, and among self-satisfied billionaires, may finish the job. A flaw in this model, however, is the difficulty in commercializing many aspects of space exploration. Unless you can get a government contract or a steady stream of space tourists, what's in it for the private sector? Partly for this reason, we still need governments to step up with seed money and with strategic vision, if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see federal defunding of higher ed, but that's infinitely less likely than, say, federal defunding of NPR or the NEA, which conservatives have never been able to arrange, despite years of brave talk. Remember, technically, we already "control" the House, from which all money bills emanate. Thus, it is literally impossible for a single dollar of federal funds to reach any university without Republican concurrence. And yet...when have Republicans ever successfully defunded ANYTHING??? Draw your own conclusions.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Just got a letter from the VA thanking me for my service and offering VA training for combating "sexual harassment". First, I wonder if only some vets got such a letter. The Secretary of Veterans'Affairs is of course a Biden appointee thoroughly versed in the strict requirements of wokeness. Perhaps only we of a proscribed class received a missive like this. Having been thru such indoctrination while a NYstate employee I can just imagine the content: First: caustic lectures from vindictive representatives of "classes" presumed to be by definition , victims; second:"Struggle Sessions" featuring forced abject and lugubrious submission by all of proscribed "classes "of their consummate guilt; third , grudging release from punishment upon groveling promise to make amends. I think I'll pass. So, Veterans' Affairs legislation and administration is the latest setting for antiamerican leftists presumption and preemption of our governmental institutions to prepare our country for "fundamental tranformation", yes! I never have bought their cynical and disingenuous apparent refrain from their visceral antipathy to our military pioneered by them inthe '60s, some "prolix"20 years after DDay and Leyte Gulf.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: And of course I must wonder when in the near future it could be, from a redeemed dem junta, mandatory for all recipients of VA benefits to endure this leftist dictate, as the active duty military does now.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Today I saw in a perhaps a little more woke town in our common sense area the display of an upside down American flag. I do not know the person or their convictions who displayed this message. Last time I saw it it was a distress signal at sea. Was what I saw meant to be a warning that America is in this decisive year at great hazard from the antiamerican left which disdains all traditional American values ? Or was it a scarce seen in our area expression of great concern over DJT and Maga's perhaps to be successful repulse of the America haters? Will the upside down flag be the latest symbolic casual preemption by the antiamerican left of their hatred for our country?Their antics in the antisemitic "protests" (ehh, what could be be more protestable than a present day eruption of that execrable ANCIENT curse and its indescribably evil manifestation in the '30s - - - :WHAT I PRAY!?) we behold now in immeasurably disgraced settings throughout our wounded country, all courtesy of our domestic far left!
ReplyDeleteThat's exciting news, Jack! You have a golden opportunity to get your "struggle session" out of the way now. I'd jump at it. The terms which our woke overlords offer you, oh, a year from now may be significantly less generous!
ReplyDeleteJack, I know the upside-down American flag was utilized by some leftists suffering from TDS during the Trump presidency. Perhaps they are once again fretting maniacally? Insofar as Trump has a very good chance of winning the election, their anxiety might even be (partially) justified. In this, as in so many things, they might find that anti-depressants are the only real solution (not that they solve much, but they mask the anxiety, or so I hear).