Aug 26 2012

The American Decline

Published by at 11:48 am under 2012 Elections

Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are the second coming of Jimmy Carter – no doobt about it. I have never felt this country has been in decline like I do this year. We have incompetent government run amok, and in the few areas where government has shined, the fools in DC have decimated the good performers to provide financial cover for huge bureaucratic missteps.

Take NASA for example. 4 years ago we had a vision of returning to the stars, exploring the solar system in a manner that would set the stage for exploiting its riches (instead of just staring at said riches through robotic cameras). We had just finished almost two decades of planning, designing and building the International Space Station, and we were poised to build efficient new crew vehicles that would allow greater access and exploitation of this 1st wonder of the modern world (a permanent human outpost in space for science).

But this President gutted the one area in government that was performing its mission (and on a shoe string budget). Obama’s annual deficits have been running around $1.3 trillion per year, but NASA spends a paltry ~$18 billion a year to perform its wonders (representing 0.48% of the federal budget and 1.4% of the annual deficit). Right now the United States of America cannot launch its own astronauts to the very space station we spent two decades building. We have not been in this situation since the days before Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.  Since I was born in 1960, America could send its astronauts into space.

Thanks to Obama, Reid and Pelosi we now outsource this to job Russia, while US engineers and their myriad of support staff are out looking for jobs. Instead of a high speed, expensive train from/to nowhere in the farmland of California, we could have been poised to launch our new crew vehicles in the coming two years. But no, Obama, Reid and Pelosi crippled our exploration of the final frontier.

I bring this up today because of the passing of an American hero, of a Human hero – Neil Armstrong.

First moonwalker Neil Armstrong’s death at the age of 82 marks the passing of a “reluctant American hero,” as well as the dimming of the Space Age’s brightest moment.

His death followed complications from heart-bypass surgery he underwent this month, Armstrong’s family said today in a statement released by NASA. The first public report of Armstrong’s death came via NBC News’ Cape Canaveral correspondent, Jay Barbree, a longtime friend.

Armstrong has been immortalized in human history as the first human to set foot on a celestial body beyond Earth. “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” he radioed back to Earth from the moon on July 20, 1969.

LJStrata and I are second generation space cadets since both our fathers worked to explore the universe (my father on Gemini & Apollo, hers in the Shuttle era).  I have had the pleasure, when I was younger and working on the earlier version of the Space Station (Space Station Freedom), to work under people like Fred Haise and Gene Kranz. I have a great picture of my father with Alan Shepard back in the early 60’s.

Some may call this biased, I see it has insight and first hand knowledge. I know NASA can screw things up and waste money, but  compared to the rest of the federal bureaucracy only the Military performs at the same level of competence and success. The rest of the bloated government could only hope to be half as good once  year.

The question for America in 2012 is whether we are done experimenting with liberal insanity and ready to hand this nation back to its people to run and live their lives as they see fit? I think the answer will be a resounding “Hell Yes!!” come November 6th.

8 responses so far

8 Responses to “The American Decline”

  1. TREGONSEE says:

    I worked for NASA in the early 1980s. Probably the nadir, until lately. As you would expect, most of my friends from that period are big Obama supporters. Recently, I have taken to reminding them that candidate Obama during a primary debate said that NASA money for other than applied research should be directed to the Department of Education. So far as I know, he only said it once. No doubt his handlers reminded him that NASA has a special place in most Americans hearts, whatever their politics.

  2. Redteam says:

    Well, I never worked for NASA, but they were one of the better things that the US government did. The US got more benefits from that program than from any other the government ever ran, possibly with the exception of the military. If I were elected president, I would upsize NASA and get the benefits.

  3. cj_thespook says:

    It is with great sadness Americans must watch this administration initially destroy what makes America so great. I remember as a child growing up and wanting to be the first female to go to space. For hours I would gaze at photos while fantasying, like millions of other kids, what is out there beyond that black mass of infinite stars. Now all we are left with is like AJ said, photos taken by mechanical hands instead of the human; ones so many like AJ were designing, planning and plotting. All of these dreams are now gone because of the foolishness of the man calling himself Obama. America’s greatness is in danger of being no more, if this man is reelected. I believe whole-heartedly, this man is purposely trying to destroy America with the desire to build it resembling a communist country. I further believe that this has been planned for many years by the very rich such as George Soros who has spent millions if not billions of dollars to unite all nations under one global flag. It all sounds mad but it is very real. How do we relay this to the American people in order for them to understand the gravity of what he is attempting to do? The fate of America is could never be as dire as it is now. Will we end in revolution as some are predicting? Why is the government buying billions of rounds of ammunition, especially hollow point bullets which are only used to kill, not wound, nor use for target practicing? Why would Democrats give Islamic speakers who have known ties to radicals a platform at the DNC, yet decline a famous catholic bishop’s (Cardinal Dolan) offer to lead the ceremony in prayer? Is he purposely attempting to play on the majority belief that he is a Muslim? If America gives Romney a landslide win (which I believe will happen), will Obama do something in order to declare Martial Law in order to prevent passing the wand to Romney? Folks something evil this way comes and this is not coming from someone’s paranoid delusions. Where does our military stand should they be ordered to fire upon American citizens? My husband, who is preparing for retirement from the AF said, the military will uphold the constitution, not a mad man’s orders to murder innocent people for his tyrannical dream of one world order. The next few weeks will be scary to watch and one that may see us in a possible 3rd world war. Israel could possibly attack Iran within a matter for a few weeks. If they do, this will be a game changer. Any thoughts?

  4. Layman says:

    Just to put things into perspective:

    A charity running at 90% effciency is considered incredible. Over 70 percent is good and over 50 % typical. Less than that it is probably a scam.

    The DOD runs at 60-80% efficiency, depending on how you look at it. NASA is similar: 60-70% depending on how you look at it.

    The thing to remember with both of them is that you actually get something real and useful out the tailpipe, so even 60-70% is relatively good.

    Someone tell me what we get out of the Department of Education?

  5. AJStrata says:

    Layman,

    Dep of Ed is -100% (going backwards)

  6. momdear1 says:

    Obama is just another African dictator, who has looted his country and will leave it destitute and in debt. Remember Idi Amin and the other African leaders who did the same? It must be in their genes. Why else would the first African American President we elect borrow so much money and have so little to show for it? Reminds me of the south after the First Reconstruction. Billions in debt for projects never built and nobody knew where the money went. Only Obama has added Trillions to our debt. Isn’t it time we put an end to this Second Reconstruction and treat all our citizens like they were equals, instead of catering the special interest victims groups? It took the south 100 years to pay off the First Reconstruction debt. Will it take that long to pay off todays debt?