Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Houston We Have A Problem: NASA ‘s new goals



This has to be the zaniest thing I ever heard. Really, I mean that! 
Byron York, The Washington Examiner: In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation’s space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President Obama has ordered him to pursue three new objectives: to “re-inspire children” to study science and math, to “expand our international relationships,” and to “reach out to the Muslim world.”  Of those three goals, Bolden said in a recent interview with al-Jazeera, the mission to reach out to Muslims is “perhaps foremost,” because it will help Islamic nations “feel good” about their scientific accomplishments […]
Bolden made the statements during a recent trip to the Middle East.  He told al-Jazeera that in the wake of the president’s speech in Cairo last year, the American space agency is now pursuing “a new beginning of the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world.”  Then:

When I became the NASA Administrator — before I became the NASA Administrator — [Obama] charged me with three things: One was 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.
What in the sweet name of Jesus does any of this have to do with space exploration? Inspiring children and making nations feel good about themselves isn’t what put Neil Armstrong’s boots on the moon. We already throw away enough tax dollars on the Department of Education and the State Department; do we really need NASA to duplicate their roles?  

For the life of me, I certainly cannot understand the need for the extra attention to the Muslim world. The Muslim world is still oppressing women, brutalizing people who exercise free speech and cannot get control of its own religious fanatics, yet making them feel good about their ancient contributions to math and science is suppose to be a priority for our space agency? It seems pretty clear to me that the Muslim world has a few more pressing matters that need attention then their self esteem.

At first blush it would appear that Obama is completely clueless about what a space agency is for and is proving a classic example of loony left thinking, however Byron York serves up another little quote from Charles Bolden’s interview. 
Later in the interview, Bolden discussed NASA’s goal of greater international cooperation in space exploration.  He said the United States, more than 40 years after the first moon mission, cannot reach beyond earth’s orbit today without assistance from abroad:
In his message in Cairo, [Obama] talked about expanding our international outreach, expanding our international involvement.  We’re not going to go anywhere beyond low earth orbit as a single entity.  The United States can’t do it, China can’t do it — no single nation is going to go to a place like Mars alone.
Ah and there you have it, that re-occurring theme of a diminished America. Once again we have Obama putting America no longer at the forefront, but as just another member of the pack.   If Obama’s true aim is to make our space agency into an “also ran” then the goals set forth by Charles Bolden are sure to do the trick.

Below is the video of the full interview Charles Bolden gave to Al Jazeera.



19 comments:

LL said...

barack hussein obama is inept and he's dangerously foolish when it comes to weighty matters that need to be carefully considered. That he is a closet Muslim, is a forgone conclusion these days, but ...will the buffoonery NEVER end?

Theological Misfit said...

I've heard people make fun of Dan Quayle for once saying, "For NASA, space continues to be a priority." That doesn't sound so silly now that space is NOT a priority for NASA.

Anonymous said...

A few month ago I read an article about the similarities between the new NASA logo and the Islamic crescent moon. I thought it was a bit of a stretch, now I wonder.

trinity said...

Obama is systematically destroying the space program by appointing idiots, like Bolden, who are willing to promote his Muslim friendly policies. I seriously doubt they are teaching math and science in madrasas these days.

Just a conservative girl said...

This is how my hubby explains this stuff to me. The Arab culture is very male dominated and pride centered. There are people who believe that due to the fact that the Arab culture was once upon a time the leader in invention and moving societies forward and they are now very stagnate when it comes to these type of things, this is part of the root cause of terrorism. Obama is obviously one of the people who believes this.

He truly believes that if you start engaging the Arab communities to get back to past "glories" they will no longer feel the need to embrace terrorism. The problem is, many of the issues that they have is a battle between the Shia and the Sunni. They are still fighting battles that go back to the seventh century. We can't help them with that, they have to work those things out themselves.

yukio ngaby said...

Does anyone know any background on Charles Bolden or know where he came from prior to this?

Anonymous said...

So does that mean they will downsize it to a 3-men/women team costing about 500K per year? Or still stick with the [roughly] 8 billion a year budget for basically a PR task?

2nd Anonymous - who secretly start to believe the claims that Obama is the Manchurian Candidate trying to undo certain things that make USA rule, like, space domination and nukes for self-defense, but then again, I might just be another nut.

Joaquin said...

Unless you are a full-blown socialist, this entire administration, from to to bottom is a DISASTER!

Tyrone said...

On one hand this makes me so glad I didn't pursue my dream of working for NASA (I wanted to be a scientist astronaut, or at the very least work on space-related projects). On the other, I am greatly saddened. People were still walking on the moon the year was born, and I remember the first shuttle flight. And now the space agency is turned into some feel-good kumbaya department? I can't say I am surprised.

Anonymous said...

Ronald Reagan wanted Star Wars Obama scaps space missions and wants to give our precious technology to the Muslims so they can really blow the U.S. up and outsource any remaining tecnology to the freakin Russians! Wow, the world is definatly upside down now. Armageddon is here...

Anonymous said...

"it will help Islamic nations “feel good” about their scientific accomplishments"

What accomplishments? Their imams current teaching about the earth flatness? Or maybe the Itex Gold Medal for research about the use of camel urine to cure cancer?

Janelle said...

Men without souls. The suits don't matter. Even worse are the women without souls. Vote them in and out on a regular basis.

Quite Rightly said...

Zany, and dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

spc said...

I'm glad I'm seeing this on a political site- Read about it earlier this week.

Here are the concerns I have:

NASA has technology to create rockets. Other countries (especially in the Muslim world) have nothing we need- would we be trading them technology under the guise of the scientific and peaceful exploration banner?

My other concern is that NASA hordes a lot of money and has an allotment in the budget that may be considered 'epic'. If you remove the organization the money disappears. However, if you realign their goals and keep everything on the surface the same, you essentially have a gigantic new extremely well funded organization to promote your agenda, and you didn't have to go through Congress.

Think of any TV show where a host is infiltrated by a parasite, or biology where a virus invades a cell. The virus or parasite get to exploit the resources of the host (or shell organization) and no one knows about it until the host of the pernicious influence dies.

This could be very bad. I would love to see an Israeli response to any actions this 'new' organization may take. I wouldn't expect anything before the election, but the framework is being restructured and okayed, at least on paper at this point.

Quite Rightly said...

@ Yukio - He got a B.S. at the Naval Academy, was commissioned in the Marine Corps. Got an M.A. from the Univ. of Southern California. Became a test pilot, then an astronaut. Piloted the Space Shuttles Columbia and Discovery and commanded the Atlantis and the Discovery. Served as a Commanding General in Operation Desert Thunder in Kuwait, and later was promoted to Major General.

Go figure.

JMK said...

A LOT of profoundly dumb things have been said and done by this administration, but to date, THIS may well be the DUMBEST!

Anonymous said...

I remember the NASA PR team came to my high school saying their mission is to "boldly go where no man had gone before."

I guess the new mission is "boldly go where Muslims are."

2nd Anonymous

Hot Sam said...

Begging the pardon of Sarah Palin, this is completely retarded!

It tops the Nobel Prize-winning physicist suggesting everyone paint their roofs white.

MJenks said...

I'm sorry, I thought Middle Eastern contributions to science were done thousands of years before Islam became a religion, performed mostly in empires that no longer exist (Persia, Babylon).

And they accuse Texas of rewriting the history books incorrectly...

Related Posts with Thumbnails