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Ted Cruz To Oversee NASA and US Science Programs
romanval sends word that U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) will become the new chairman of the subcommittee that oversees NASA and government scientific research. Cruz has both spoken in favor of NASA and attempted to cut its budget, but he's most notable for his opposition to the science supporting climate change. From the article:
His vociferous opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and his support of extreme budget cuts could spell trouble for NASA's less prominent programs, such as its own climate research and sophisticated supercomputers. His role on the front lines of the 2013 government shutdown, which critics say had lasting negative effects on public safety, NASA research and EPA scientists' ability to visit contaminated sites, also suggests at best a narrow focus on NASA's largest projects and at worst a disregard for agencies that require science funding.
Hello pork projects for Boeing.
Joel Osteen to head committee on Evolution?
This is what democracy is all about.
If this wasn't so sad, it'd be funny. NASA's new prime directive: find evidence that God created the Earth 6,000 years ago. :(
Why do we keep putting people who have a history of being enemies of the scientific community to the scientific subcommittees in Congress? This does nothing productive except give people like Jon Stewart more material.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
All part of our new program to send a rocket to heaven! It's what Jesus and Pat Robertson would want.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
After some thought, I think that would in fact be better than Ted Cruz. All we would have to do was tell him the commies are building X and we would get funding to build X twice as big.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
> Also, explain to this Canadian why NASA is researching climate.
Studying climate generally requires lobbing things into the sky.
That's covered by the ASA part of NASA.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Nigeria is laughing at us. I'm waiting for other nations to start sending us foreign aid.
Surely, next time I look up the definition of irony in the dictionary, it will contain the quote "Ted Cruz heading Science Committee" -- or perhaps that's an oxymoron, like "Military Intelligence" or "Jumbo Shrimp".
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
But we see yet again that the ignorant, superstitious, anti-science, theocratic throwbacks are concentrated in the Republican party, and have driven everyone with an IQ over room-temperature out. "Conservative" is clearly a subset of "stupid."
Republicans in charge of NASA's budget. What could go wrong?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
As most people don't realize that Muslims have contributed extensively to the sciences during the medieval age.
Who amongst us is the biggest bible thumper?
That would be Ted Cruz..
Good, he has the job.. Now we can blame all of the stuff Nasa doesn't do on Obama in the next election and cut Nasa funding at the same time!
But wait, you say, This is Obamas last term, he can't run again..
But you also forget, Jeb Bush is going to try to run for president so the republican mandate is to screw up as many things as they can while Obama still is president so the right wing can do what it has been doing since 2008, which is to blame anything and everything on Obama.
It does not matter that anything remotely scientific is so far out of Cruz's wheelhouse to be ridiculous.
I want out of this idiotic country!
NASA also has a hand in a variety of satellite projects which, while pretty uncontroversially 'space', mean that NASA data, if not necessarily scientists they directly employ, end up in terrestrial research fairly frequently. Lots of neat stuff you can efficiently keep tabs on from orbit, especially if you have coverage in a suitably broad assortment of wavelengths.
To the average American, NASA is just a huge portion of the budget (Billions! of dollars) spent to put some clown in orbit a couple of times a year. This is, in fact, exactly what they want based on their knowledge of what NASA does. All the technology gained by what NASA has learned over the decades by doing the hard and impossible things is entirely lost on Joe Sixpack. And, unfortunately, government / private interaction is not an efficient (in the economic sense) sense, so that the effects of cuts won't be felt where the average person lives for 20 years. It's our own damned fault for living in a country filled with morons.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Not everything under the sun.
Everything above the earth.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
"Conservative" is clearly a subset of "stupid."
You've just put down 35% - 50% (depending on definition of 'Conservative') of your fellow countrymen. Good job.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
You might not be excited about it, but Senator Cruz is ready to get to work! He's going to start by tasking NASA with finding where all those letters and numbers go when the teachers wipe them off the whiteboards, and if Obama is involved somehow.
Space flight happens because we want to study things from space. NASA is the "host" for principal investigators who often work outside of NASA. In fact, a major NOAA installation was constructed right across the street from NASA - Goddard (in Greenbelt, MD) to allow closer interaction between the two because their missions are so closely aligned.
The aeronautical and aerospace research NASA does isn't in a vacuum; it's meant to ultimately serve a useful cause, and that includes studying the planet. It does do wind tunnel research; it does explore other planets; it does advance optics, and thermal management, and fluid flow, and all the myriad pieces which go into spaceflight and airborne hardware requirements. And much of it happens to flow down to terrestrial uses.
And this is more about Ted Cruz, who doesn't believe that they do anything useful, in charge of their mission. Imagine if they put Aunt Jemima in charge of the Canadian strategic maple syrup reserve. Yeah, it's that crazy.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Just because he doesn't want the EPA running around making overbearing rules that help no-one, doesn't mean he has anything against further NASA climate research and ESPECIALLY means nothing about being against a bank of supercomputers, which can you realize be used for any purpose?
The very fact he;s spoken in favor of NASA before is a GOOD THING. It didn't have to be that way and there are plenty (Democrat and Republican) that would not be nearly so favorable of NASA.
Bad press you see around Cruz in generally farmed up by people trying to prevent him running for president.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This is what democracy is all about.
You get what you pay for - oh, you're not paying? Then you're probably not getting. Welcome to the Corporatocracy (tm).
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Oh really? NASA is useless?
“It’s critical that the United States ensure its continued leadership in space,” Cruz said.
> I'm waiting for other nations to start sending us foreign aid.
You can stop waiting. Foreign aid is most commonly in the form of loans. We've been borrowing from China for decades. As Slash would say, "First we did a little, but a little wouldn't do, so the little got more and more."
Also, explain to this Canadian why NASA is researching climate. Isn't NOAA supposed to be the agency for that?
When I worked at a US Geological Survey office that also archives all the US Govt satellite and aerial imagery, there was a memo that was sent out around 1993 or so. All research projects had to show how they were helping the study of global climate change. If they didn't, they were candidates for having their funding cut. The only exceptions were the ones that were being paid by external agencies or governments. So NASA is researching it for the same reason other agencies are: they have some expertise that can be useful and the funding keeps other projects alive.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
What can anyone (republicans, libertarians, etc.) have to gain from this choice? Couldn't they have put, literally, anyone else in this spot? Even Ted Cruz has to understand that defunding science hurts everyone. Is the goal to just make everything shit over the next two years?
Fuck this. I'm sick of it. All we seem to be doing in politics anymore is just trying to piss the other guy off and it's infuriating. Can't we strive for ANY sort of progress that isn't to just oppose the other guy, or is that too much to ask?
I smell a big Carly Fiona moment coming...
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Ever wonder why people who say climate change is not happening are so hell bent on making sure no one studies it? If they are right, the science would back them up. Clearly the only logical conclusion is that they know they are wrong.
Unfortunately this is one of the reasons for all the cuts. Allowing NOAA and other agencies to commit heretical measurements whose results contradict both Industry and God is one of NASA's crimes, with their "satellites" and their "high altitudes" and their "data".
Tyson / Nye 2016! WRITE IT IN! Bring science into the White House before we all die from some easily avoidable global disaster.
As most people don't realize that Muslims have contributed extensively to the sciences during the medieval age.
And so did the Catholic church. Between the two of them Muslim scholars and Catholic monks are pretty much single handedly responsible for salvaging much of the collective knowledge of the classical world.
How far they have fallen.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
So NASA's core mission was held hostage, unless they dedicated resources to climate research? Does that sit well with anyone?
The fall of the Roman Empire brought about the medieval age in the 5th century. The mulsims didn't arrive until the 8th century.
Worse, their political leaders insist on blaming outsiders for the collapse of their civilization rather than turning inward to rebuild their civilization.
Gotta be the guy to say it. So what? We don't live in the medieval age. We live now, and how are they making out pushing the knowledge frontier forward today? I find it difficult to give reflected credit to anyone for what their long dead ancestors did, especially if they are not making further progress or are engaged in hindering the same.
NASA won't get shut down. Rather we will just see peer reviewed science squeezed out to fund more pork-barrel spending of the type created by Roger Wicker, who forced NASA to complete the construction of a tower-vacuum chamber at the Stennis Space Center for $350,000,000 that was then mothballed the day it was completed. The modern GOP have become what Lysenko was to Soviet Biology, where ideology becomes paramount to actual fact and science.
You'd think plutocrats would be helpful to NASA.
Table-ized A.I.
The reason that NASA and just about every other scientific organization in the world is now focusing on climate change results from the fact that the rate at which the Earth is now heating is 36 times faster than it was during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, some 55 million years ago, when in just a mere 10-30,000 years, Wyoming went from having redwood forests to having palm forests and nearly entire mammalian fauna in the Northern Hemisphere died out and was replaced by other species. Keep in mind that the current 36 times rate is just the current rate, which is increasing exponentially. Based on simple extrapolation, by the end of the century with just an increase of 1.5 deg C, some 1 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide will be released by melting permafrost and another trillion tons will be released as a result of increasing peat and coal seam fires more than tripling the annual production of human generated greenhouse gas, which is now about 33.5 Gt/yr. In some areas such as Indonesia, where slash and burn agricultural practices have caused peat deposits to combust spontaneously, such fires already account for about 7-10% of greenhouse gas production.
The good news is that this won't raise the global mean temperature much beyond 4-7 deg C in the next fifty to hundred years, but it will increase the temperature beyond that by about 7-15 deg C in the second hundred. If this news wasn't bad enough, with most molecules of carbon dioxide going into the oceans, the pH of the oceans will likely become about 30% more acidic than they are now, having increased hydronium ion concentrations about this much over the past 150 years. This rate of change should worry everyone, since humans derive about 50% of their protein from the world oceans. As if this weren't bad enough news, in 200 years temperatures of the relatively shallow arctic sea will begin to reach the point at which the 10-11,000 Gt of methane will be released from marine clathrates, where it is presently stored in cold sediments, so that in as little as 300-500 years, global mean temperatures will accelerate towards those seen on Venus if present trends continue unabated.
At least all those biologists wandering around will have something to study, the greatest extinction on planet Earth since the Permian. So no, it isn't just you, there are plenty of uneducated people out there. The good or bad news, depending on how you look at it, is that there will be plenty of seats at the School of Hard Knocks.
There is a very good reason that virtually every science organization on the planet is now focusing on the effects of climate change, namely the rate at which the climate is changing is now far faster than ever seen in the history of the planet.
Its worth repeating what I said earlier.
The reason that NASA and just about every other scientific organization in the world is now focusing on climate change results from the fact that the rate at which the Earth is now heating is 36 times faster than it was during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, some 55 million years ago, when in just a mere 10-30,000 years, Wyoming went from having redwood forests to having palm forests and nearly entire mammalian fauna in the Northern Hemisphere died out and was replaced by other species. Keep in mind that the current 36 times rate is just the current rate, which is increasing exponentially. Based on simple extrapolation, by the end of the century with just an increase of 1.5 deg C, some 1 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide will be released by melting permafrost and another trillion tons will be released as a result of increasing peat and coal seam fires more than tripling the annual production of human generated greenhouse gas, which is now about 33.5 Gt/yr. In some areas such as Indonesia, where slash and burn agricultural practices have caused peat deposits to combust spontaneously, such fires already account for about 7-10% of greenhouse gas production.
The good news is that this won't raise the global mean temperature much beyond 4-7 deg C in the next fifty to hundred years, but it will increase the temperature beyond that by about 7-15 deg C in the second hundred. If this news wasn't bad enough, with most molecules of carbon dioxide going into the oceans, the pH of the oceans will likely become about 30% more acidic than they are now, having increased hydronium ion concentrations about this much over the past 150 years. This rate of change should worry everyone, since humans derive about 50% of their protein from the world oceans. As if this weren't bad enough news, in 200 years temperatures of the relatively shallow arctic sea will begin to reach the point at which the 10-11,000 Gt of methane will be released from marine clathrates, where it is presently stored in cold sediments, so that in as little as 300-500 years, global mean temperatures will accelerate towards those seen on Venus if present trends continue unabated.
The fact is that humanity needs to pour just about all its resources toward addressing the consequences of climate change while it still has time, time which will surely run out in about 200-300 years at the current projected rate of warming. Human survival depends upon it.
You don't even have to look at "socialists". Just look at GOP senators like Roger Wicker, who was instrumental in assuring over NASA's objections that $350,000,000 was spent to complete the construction of a vacuum chamber tower at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, MS, which was immediately mothballed the day it was completed. NASA won't see its budget shrink, it will just see more politically motivated pork projects push aside those based on science.
Between the two of them Muslim scholars and Catholic monks are pretty much single handedly responsible for salvaging much of the collective knowledge of the classical world.
THIS. This is the only use I can think of for religion, in saving knowledge for the future. (See? It's not totally bad!)
"[In the time of] the classical world" - So, what have you done for me lately?
(Yes, cap-Science isn't enough all by itself either. The real Golden Rule works, too. But I'd still rather all of us try to figure things out than assume everything was completely determined for us millennia ago.
Of course, that's the trick: science is how all of nature and the universe works, religion is how humans should live and relate with each other. Completely different domains. Guess that's why I'm an introvert!)
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
NASA could send Ted Cruz to Mars.
"Saving?" They didn't just save, they actively advanced. Who do you think was at the forefront of medical, technological, scientific, and mathematical research in the middle ages? Who was it that was actively trying to understand how nature worked, because they believed it to be the way to get closer to god?
weinersmith
I find that very hard to believe, especially given the obvious focus of hte USGS on studying geology, not the climate.
Did the memo say that non-climate change programs were candidates for having budgets cut, or was that the office scuttlebutt?
Did the memo go out to all of the USGS or just the library?
What happened afterwards - did all non-climate change programs have their budgets cut? Most? More than average?
Or is it possible that some climate scientists wanted to know what input the USGS could give to their work and sent a memo around to get an idea what was out there?
Nobody said "the science is done" -- they said; "the alarm has been sounded."
A fire alarm goes off in your house -- do you wait for the research to be conclusive or do you look for smoke, get a fire extinguisher, call 911, leave the building or do something useful to deal with it? The research into; "what do we do, the alarms are going off?" Is underway.
>>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
This was true until a sultan decided arbitrarily that science was no longer useful to his sultanate and order it to be stopped. It is one of the problems with monarchies, and also why it was the Spanish and not the Chinese who conquered the Incas and Aztecs (with some evidence that China had reached South America before the famous voyage of Columbus and definitely sailed past modern-day South Africa).
It is the end of this period of enlightenment that should be of concern, as it shows even some very intelligent people who made some amazing contributions to the knowledge of mankind as a whole could have essentially that whole sub-culture destroyed due to the whims of just a very few people... or even just a single person. In other words, it should be a cautionary tale how Muslim science was destroyed.
I voted for Kodos.
The joke story posts are early this year.
What, you mean this is not a joke post?
"I'm learning Chinese" said Werner Von Braun.
It may. Homeland Security is an enormous pork barrelling operation that could take over that role from NASA.
No more a victory for the USSR than covering your balls with honey, poking a stick in an anthill, then sitting on it is a victory for the ants.
Which went into Turkey and Italy - oh wait - they didn't did they, because there had been a backdown.
Instead of warming up a lost argument I suggest you apologize to Microlith for your hypocritical attack. "Pavlovian response"? You really can hand it out but can't seem to take the slightest criticism yourself.
Also, explain to this Canadian why NASA is researching climate.
It's their job.
"102(c) The aeronautical and space activities of the United States shall be conducted so as to contribute materially to one or more of the following objectives:
..."
(1) The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space;
(2) The improvement of the usefulness, performance, speed, safety, and efficiency of aeronautical and space vehicles;
(3) The development and operation of vehicles capable of carrying instruments, equipment, supplies and living organisms through space;
- National Aeronautics and Space Act (1958)
It's the very first job they are given.
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
The government funded SETI program was terminated 20 years ago (1995). Since then it's been a private research program.
--
For the AC who replied to you,
The SETI program should have terminated [...] about a decade ago
So he thinks it should have been funded for ten years longer than it was?
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
There's a HUGE difference between anti-deficit and anti-science.
Here's the link - his post not mine:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=6666339&cid=48770271
Whatever worth that opinion has aside they are not my words so we have a shameless liar building a strawman on our hands.
What an utterly pathetic person. You owe me and Microlith an apology. You made some noise about being old enough in 1962 to know more about the political situation than everything I've read about it, so why act like a poorly raised ten year old?
Well in the interest of accuracy and comedy
http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
Removal of the missiles from Cuba was a major strategic setback for the USSR
(Dbills reply: Bullshit - it was tit for tat posturing and it was most likely over before any missiles could even get off the boat
.
http://news.slashdot.org/comme...
Precisely, that is my point - despite the vast superiority Kennedy caved in which is an illustration of the nuclear threat not deterring the USSR anywhere near as much as is assumed by soundbite history.
I have to wonder what you are going to do next to top this ?
You might want to learn how to make a hyperlink that works.
So me quoting you is supposed to be me expressing my view? Who are you trying to fool with that stupidity? Please apologize now for your blatant lie.
Also what's wrong with using a URL in a post on the internet?
Also, explain to this Canadian why NASA is researching climate. Isn't NOAA supposed to be the agency for that? Isn't it National Aeronautics and Space Administration, responsible for air and space flight, not everything under the sun?
NASA's mission includes increasing our understanding of stuff in space. That includes studying the sun, the planets, moons and anything else in the solar system and beyond it. Not only is NASA responsible for everything under the sun, but everything beyond it as well. This doesn't change just because we happen to live on one planet. Through the EOS program, NASA funds quite a bit of research for better understanding the Earth and the processes occurring here. Climate change would fall under that category and is one of the more high profile areas.
Also, explain to this Canadian why NASA is researching climate. Isn't NOAA supposed to be the agency for that?
When I worked at a US Geological Survey office that also archives all the US Govt satellite and aerial imagery, there was a memo that was sent out around 1993 or so. All research projects had to show how they were helping the study of global climate change. If they didn't, they were candidates for having their funding cut. The only exceptions were the ones that were being paid by external agencies or governments. So NASA is researching it for the same reason other agencies are: they have some expertise that can be useful and the funding keeps other projects alive.
What utter crap. NASA receives funding for research because they build, launch, and maintain the satellites used for research. This includes weather, climate, and space research.
~X~
Of course, let's not forget what Cruz's role in the shutdown was: here's the voting roll where he voted against ending the funding process while the Democrats voted for shutdown.
http://www.senate.gov/legislat...
Seriously?
Asking the president to remove a senator? That's an amazingly blatant violation of the fundamental checks and balances of our government.
It's a live by the sword, die by the sword sort of thing. Any programs that rely on political decision making for their funding will sometimes find themselves on the wrong side of politics.
And then scientific programs are left feeling pressure to influence the political process to keep the politics headed in the programs' preferred directions, thus bringing the politicization of science.
This isn't really about Cruz or the Senate--they're just doing the job of a legislative body. This is about the bigger matter of the link between science and government, and why we should be more suspicious of that closeness.
Your comment has evidencist bias. Their (stated) point of view is that they're right and science will not back them up, because the very essence of science is deception.
You can't trust your senses; they will lie to you. Listen to the voice in your head.
While you're probably right that they're liars, they claim to be merely batshit insane.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
And since then? What have Muslims contributed to the sciences since the medieval age? Honest question. I have been told over and over again about the substantial contributions to science from the Muslim world back in the "Long ago time" but where did that go? Why did it go from world-leading and brilliant to a slow trickle and then dry up almost completely?
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
Even in Canada, we have had some crazy political appointments that made little sense, and are pretty embarrassing.
Off the top of my head we've had a Education Minister that never graduated from High School, a Science and Technology Minister, who was a creationist and believed the world was 5,000 years old, a Minister of the Environment that was a a right wing business talk show host, etc... Though some of that might be a mix of both Federal and Provincial governments.
So why are people running around proposing solutions? We don't have workable climate models yet that can predict new observations without tweaking. And yet there are people waving treaties around, claiming that they implement the solution and no further studies need to be done.
Its like your smoke alarm went off in the middle of the night. And you don't know whether its the car on fire in the garage or someone left a chicken pot pie in the oven. But everyone is prepared to dive out the windows into the snow.
Have gnu, will travel.
The NASA budget sounds like a lot of money, but it is very small (about 2%) compared to say military.
Some of the big ones (http://useconomy.about.com/od/usfederalbudget/p/nasa_budget_cost.htm):
DOD $756.4 billion
Health and Human services $73.7 billion
Education $68.6 billion
NASA $17.5 billion
Okey, so it is more than department of interior ($11.5 billion) but not by much.
you just gotta look, and geeks like numbers.
No, that's 'we the people' removing him from a committee.
A few months ago, I was having lunch with two of my coworkers. Let's say their names are "Sean" and "Nate". Nate is a seriously hard core conservative; I'm guessing he's a Tea Partier, but he may be just your typical Republican.
At one point, Sean notices Nate is wearing a jacket in the style of a uniform from the original Star Trek - a blue one. Sean asks, "Why blue?". Nate replies, "Science officer."
Sit, Ubuntu, sit. Good dog.
"Actually, I was born in Canada, I just *work* in outer space."
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Cruz was born in Canada, his mother was American, his father was Cuban. Obama was born in Hawaii, his mother was American, his father was Kenyan.
Cruz's father only became a US citizen a few years ago, and Ted was at least talking about giving up his Canadian citizenship because of all the right-wing ranters, though I'm not sure he followed through.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Nowadays us, the Western countries, such as the EU countries, the USA, Canada, etc are building our future on top level innovation, another source of income is attracting outside talent and students. A good example of that is my country, Holland, a pretty solid revenue for our universities are students from all over the world who come here to study and this means not only benefits for the universities but also for the rest of the economy, from housing to shopping.
But more importantly than that maybe is being able to create an environment that attracts both foreign talent and companies and this too works in synergy with the universities.
Large prestige operations such as ESA, CERN, etc are not only important for the scientists and basic research, they are important because they serve to showcase the level of infrastructure of a region and it's ability to house other projects and companies and the interest of these regions in maintaining and nurturing innovation.
With two radical anti-scientists such as Jim Inhofe and Ted Cruz in charge of institutions like NASA and similar the USA have already suffered a mayor damage to their image, just by their presence. And I am afraid that international talent will not be very attracted to your country if the conditions for them to work there are not attractive enough. Not to speak of possible reductions to agencies such as NOAA for instance given the hate this two fellows have against climate science and with disregard to the fact that predicting weather and climate is vital for the physical safety of your country.
Pity, but I take the opportunity to recall everybody that here in Good Old Europe we are open for business, and learning Dutch or German is still easier than learning Chinese ;)
-- 29A the number of the Beast