Rumor has it that President Bush intends to announce a major expansion of the US manned space program including a return to the Moon and a manned mission to Mars.
As much as this announcement excites me as a vigorous supporter of manned space exploration, an announcement of an ambitious program does not mean that such a program is forthcoming. Just look at what happened with Reagan’s "Orient Express" program – a program for an orbital spaceplane which has not yet reached even the test vehicle phase.
This is certainly an exciting announcement, but it will remain to see if Congress and NASA have the political will to go forwards with such an ambitious program. However, if Bush’s vision holds, this could be the beginning of the next great leap in manned space exploration. With the unimaginable scientific, technological, and economic benefits waiting in deep space, there’s much to be gained by returning to a more ambitious space program.
If I summarize the news you find important today, you have:
-an hypotetical announcement of a space trip
-a doll that really sucks
-a political statement that is only related to the next election, but that will obviously never reach anything real
-a comment on a funny and successful other blog
yeah no doubts, you’re really high on syrup.
If I may submit a few ideas for comments:
-the carnegie report that I personnally found very interesting, even though I could have write it myself a year ago.
http://www.ceip.org/files/Publications/IraqSummary.asp?
-the clash over anti-semitism in europe: jewish organisations accused the European Commission of Anti-semitism for two reasons totally independant of them (the poll showing that Europeans thought Israel to be the greatest threat to world peace, and the report on anti-semitism in Europe by an independant body). Finally, the Chairman of the Governing Board of the World Jewish Congress, Israel Singer ensured Romano Prodi of its trust in the European Commission, and rejected the notion that criticism launched at the state of Israel is labelled as anti-Semitic, adding that Israel faces criticism in its own parliament.
-the authentification of the tape of Ossama Bin Laden. This information is not crucial, but since you stated that it surely was a fake while others rejoiced over the fact that Mr Bin Laden was most probably dead by now, I think it’s important to fix things straight just so that everyone realize how wishfull thinking is an important part of your theories.
-the situation in Haïti where the population is trying to get rid of a corrupt dictator who is drug trafficking, oppressing opponents and stealing the money of the country for himself under american protection.
But I mean, the doll of “Lord of the rings” is also an important issue related to conservatism and attitude 😉
Some people publish erratums when proven wrongs. You obviously cannot do that, otherwise your blog would only be a very long list of erratums.
I didn’t wanted to be so harsch for the first comment of the year, but there are some information you cannot “miss” while criticising others (moveon.org for example) for their blind and stupid partisanship.
Here is a news item you may want to add 😉
Hi Janek,
still got your corrosiv sense of humor;-))
I have a question for you: how did you manage to find this article (and this website)???no, seriously?
(the good thing is that this website is full of other fascinating articles to report on like:”Firm sells out of Turkey & Gravy flavour fizzy drink” !!!!!!! sells out???)
Jay, since you usually like to talk about economical stuff, maybe the IMF has something to say today…
The IMF has never been “anti-american” so don’t even try this door. This is pure economic evaluation and just like Mr Bush, it’s not that bright…
Well, there are plenty of issues I don’t blog about but could – for instance, Parmalat, Edger Bronfman’s statement that the EU is doing little to combat anti-Semitism (supported the EU’s own report and the reason for Singer’s mea culpa to Prodi, the continuing weakness of the German and French economies (which are running structural deficits even bigger as a %age of GDP than ours with little signs of ending), or any number of things.
The reason I don’t is because I only have so many hours in a day. If someone wants to pay for this blog to become a full-time job I’d blog more. In the meantime, I discuss what I want when I want, and if you want opinions on other topics, there are plenty of blogs in my blogrolls who are probably discussing that topic right now.
As for the Carnegie report, there’s nothing new there. Yes, there’s been little signs of WMD in Iraq, mainly because if there were Saddam had months to hide it or move it to Syria or anywhere else. We’ll see what the final Kay Report reveals.
As for the IMF report, again, there’s nothing new there. I’ve said repeatedly that Congress needs to constrain spending in order to cut the deficit. The Bush tax cuts increased tax revenues to the government by 2.8% (and that’s not with the recent economic growth that will push revenues higher this year). However, Congress increased spending by 5.4% which is mainly due to an incredible 24.7% growth in non-defense spending. This is not sustainable, and the Bush Administration needs to get serious about reducing spending levels. They’re already developing plans to halve the deficit, and if economic growth continues the deficit will disappear as quickly as it did in the 1990s. The IMF is right, if nothing is done it would be a disaster – which is why electing a tax-and-spend Democrat would be a worldwide economic disaster.
I thought a really interesting Jay blog would have been on how the Bush administration is telling employers how to circumvent the overtime changes that they said would be so beneficial to working people.
But, predictably, Jay is silent on the issue.
Been there, done that.
Huh? Maybe you could show me where what you linked to talks about this:
http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2004/01/06/build/economy/overtime.php?nnn%20=%201
OK, let’s assume you’re an employer, and you have to deal with the overtime expansions to the FLSA. Either you give your employees the option of working more hours at their same wage using the Labor Dept. recommendations or you cut back your labor force. You have to give businesses the option of doing this or any expansion of the overtime rules means that businesses will have to shed workers. You can’t dictate that a coffee shop or a shoe store that’s barely making money as it is suddenly increase their labor costs and not expect them to have to cut costs somehow.
So, you either give workers the option of accepting the new rules or not having a job. (Or not working overtime, which is what many workers have to live with already.) It’s basic economics. You can’t arbitrarily raise costs for small businesses and expect them to stay alive.
Half of all workers in this country are employed in small businesses, many of which are barely scraping by. Implementing a change in the rules which would dramatically increase their labor costs would lead to hundreds of thousands of lost jobs unless you provide a way of offsetting those costs. It’s basic economics, and while it may not seem fair, losing your job because your boss can’t make payroll because of increased coverage under the FLSA isn’t particularly fair either.
The Labor Dept. is doing their job, which is to inform employers and employees of what options they have. There’s nothing in the memo that forces employers to take these steps, and many will only continue to restrict their workers to 40 hour weeks to avoid the headache of overtime pay as they have for years.
Your lame rationalizations aside, Jay, this is just the Bush adminstration talking out of both sides of their mouths. They can hardly claim to be instituting rules that will mean more money for low-income workers and then turn around and tell employers how to avoid that very outcome.
Lame?
What’s lame is the assinine attitude of people who don’t know shit about what it’s like to run a small business. What’s lame is that half the American workforce is getting systematically raped by ever-growing government.
I don’t give a rat’s ass if you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or whatever. 2+2 does not equal 3. A business’ labor costs + extra overtime costs sure as hell doesn’t equal the same overhead they had before. If a business loses $1,000 a month due to rule changes to give more people overtime, where the hell do you think that money is going to go? Either someone loses their job, everyone takes a pay cut, or prices get raised. The last option isn’t even valid, as that usually means fewer customers and less money in the end.
If liberals would stop this idiotic touchy-feely crap and start thinking they’d see that a public policy based on the nanny state doesn’t work. They realize that liberal methods can never achieve liberal ends. You can’t tax your way to prosperity no matter how good it makes you feel. You can’t force business to jump through every kind of regulatory hoop and expect them to hire more people. You can’t make the cost of things magically go down because some pencil-pushing prick in some government office in DC says it should. No state that has ever tried these things has been sucessful and those states that have even tentatively tried them are realizing that at the end of the day they just don’t work.
Being a liberal is like masturbating. All it does is make the person feel better for a little bit and leave a sticky mess for everyone else to clean up.
Thus ends my rant for the day.
What’s lame is the assinine attitude of people who don’t know shit about what it’s like to run a small business.
You mean, like, the President?
Explain to me what the purpose of these new overtime regs were if they’re just going to turn around and tell businesses how to ignore them. Do workers get paid more, or don’t they?
Being a liberal is like masturbating.
I’m sure you tell yourself that as you enjoy your weekend at the end of your 40-hour work week.
Also, on small businesses:
Can we assume you were lying/drunk when you said:
It’s unlikely to affect smaller businesses.
And that you realize Mark was correct when he predicted:
the devastating costs of doing business you claim are squeezing small businesses into pulp can take on these extra labor costs without any problems.
Looking back on the discussion you linked to it’s becoming very clear indeed that the worst fears of Democrats on this issue are coming true. These overtime changes were such a bad idea that even Bush’s own Labor Department is trying to undo them.
Oops, I missed a part of Mark’s predicition – the important part at the end where he says “I’m not buying it.”
For some reason it’s quite difficult to cut-and-paste from your archive.
OK Poor Mr. Small Business Man, I work for a living too. Just how many hours a week do you think I should work for free. Would 20 hours a week satisfy you, how about an extra 40. I know maybe we should just bring back slavery. That would solve all of your problems wouldn’t it.