People Wishing for American Failure Prior to SpaceX Launch – While waiting for the historic launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket today, spaceflightnow.com was running a live web chat where viewers could ask questions and make comments. Among the comments I saw were: “I hope it blows up”, “SpaceX sucks”, “F**k Obama”, and “My husband works at NASA and they’re having a good laugh because it won’t work.” After the successful launch and insertion of the the SpaceX capsule into orbit, all those types of comments suddenly stopped. As the moderator of the website remarked, “All those haters are eating Falcon feathers.”
– Jim
Fox News Lies About SpaceX Being Given Federal Funds – Fox News reported after the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch: “Also, this is important to note, I can tell you that, ah …, SpaceX was awarded federal funds, about 1.6 billion dollars back in 2008, close to two billion dollars, and the government, by giving it out, that the company, that amount of money, said to a degree, it had great confidence.” The Fox lie starts at about 3:20 into the video at the link above.
SpaceX won a NASA Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract – The truth is that in 2008, SpaceX won a NASA Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract for resupplying the International Space Station, but no money was paid to SpaceX by the U.S. government, and NASA will only pay SpaceX after the completion of successful missions. The development of the Falcon 9 and today’s flight was totally paid for by SpaceX. The worth of all 12 planned cargo deliveries to the ISS is $1.6 billion. CRS involves legally binding contracts, which means the supplier (SpaceX) would be liable if it failed to perform.
And $1.6 billion is only 80% of $2 billion; not close enough for rocket science, but, apparently close enough for Fox News.
Rick Perry’s School Finance Record
* The “margins tax†Perry created was supposed to pay for education, but it turned out to be a windfall for oil and gas producers, who paid $78 million less in taxes under the new business tax in 2008 than they paid under the old tax in 2007. (Source: Houston Chronicle via Off the Kuff)
* Perry’s school finance scheme also froze state funding for education at 2006 levels. While oil companies profited, many Texans paid more as many local districts were forced to lay off teachers, cut class offerings, and raise local taxes. Since Perry’s tax scheme took effect in 2006, 230 Texas school districts have been forced to raise local property taxes. (Source: Houston Chronicle)
* In 2008, Perry’s tax scheme fell $1.4 billion short of projected revenue collections, leaving a gaping hole in the state budget that was only rescued by the federal stimulus funding Perry opposed, funds Democrats used to pass a Democrat-driven school finance bill during the last legislative session. (Source: Brownsville Herald)
The $1.4 billion shortfall that Texas Democrats temporarily fixed in 2009 is expected to double in size to $2.8 billion in 2011. The Republicans have no plan to fix that shortfall, and both Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison are signing a bogus anti-tax pledge, guaranteeing they will continue to do nothing to solve the school finance crisis.
The following three gifts are from Conservatives [without conscience] and unregulated free enterprise:
South Pole Has Warmest Year on Record – The South Pole experienced its warmest year on record in 2009, according to newly released data from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The previous record high was minus 54.4 F (minus 48 C), recorded in 2002.
Greenland Rising Rapidly as Ice Melts – The ice is melting so fast in Greenland that the giant island is rising noticeably as the weight is lifted. In some spots, the land is rising 1 inch per year. A vast ice cap covers much of Greenland, in some places up to 1.2 miles (2 km) thick. The ice, in place for eons, presses down the land, making the elevation at any given point lower than it would be sans ice. Scientists have documented on Greenland and elsewhere that when longstanding ice melts away, the land rebounds. Even the European Alps are rising as glaciers melt.
2nd Deepest Lake Now Warmer Than in Past 1,500 Years -Lake Tanganyika, the second oldest and the second-deepest lake in the world, is warmer than it has been in more than 1,500 years, a new analysis released today finds.
Regards,
Jim
Andy Hailey