For Dems only.

[HuskyCaucasian]

haha what a b**** slap

[lostfan]

Kinda like the 100 year war "myth"?

Every single day that statement is blown TOTALLY out of context... if he doesn't wish he never said it, he should be. He probably thought it was ok to put that qualifier on the end but he should've known better in this sound-bite driven media.

[lostfan]

I think McCain has a pretty good grasp on how to handle the war on a tactical level, i.e. Iraq and Afghanistan in the short term, but I am not really convinced he has an overall strategy that will accomplish anything, much like the Republican Party's been doing in Bush's second term. Just... uhh... stay the course and... well we'll cross that bridge when we get there ok guys? And IMO that's the reason McCain's statement(s) is(are) a cause for concern. Militant Islam isn't some unified world movement that we can just confront one-on-one like the Cold War, and hell, even that wasn't actually working like that under the surface. These are things I'd hope a leader would know and if McCain is elected I hope somebody sets him straight because I don't like the alternative.

 

For the record I think the reverse is true for Obama, he has a good overall understanding of the "big picture", who the players are, how to engage/confront them, and what the desired end state is but he doesn't really know the ins and outs very well.

[NorthSideSox72]

I think McCain has a pretty good grasp on how to handle the war on a tactical level, i.e. Iraq and Afghanistan in the short term, but I am not really convinced he has an overall strategy that will accomplish anything, much like the Republican Party's been doing in Bush's second term. Just... uhh... stay the course and... well we'll cross that bridge when we get there ok guys? And IMO that's the reason McCain's statement(s) is(are) a cause for concern. Militant Islam isn't some unified world movement that we can just confront one-on-one like the Cold War, and hell, even that wasn't actually working like that under the surface. These are things I'd hope a leader would know and if McCain is elected I hope somebody sets him straight because I don't like the alternative.

 

For the record I think the reverse is true for Obama, he has a good overall understanding of the "big picture", who the players are, how to engage/confront them, and what the desired end state is but he doesn't really know the ins and outs very well.

Excellent post.

 

[StrangeSox]

Excellent post.

 

Yep, summed up my feelings on them better than I had them in my own head.

[lostfan]

*pats self on back*

[Balta1701]

Oh for crying out loud you've got to be kidding me.

Scientists plan to put one of the twin Mars rovers to sleep and limit the activities of the other robot to fulfill a NASA order to cut $4 million from the program's budget, mission team members said Monday.

 

The news comes amid belt-tightening at NASA headquarters, which is under pressure to juggle Mars exploration and projects to study the rest of the solar system.

 

The solar-powered rovers Spirit and Opportunity have dazzled scientists and the public with findings of geologic evidence that water once flowed at or near the surface of Mars long ago.

 

Both rovers were originally planned for three-month missions at a cost of $820 million, but are now in their fourth year of exploration. It costs NASA about $20 million annually to keep the rovers running.

 

Last week's directive from NASA to cut $4 million means Spirit will be forced into hibernation in the coming weeks, said principal investigator Steve Squyres of Cornell University.

 

"It's very demoralizing for the team," Squyres said.

 

Spirit is parked on a sunny slope for the Martian winter and was going to gather atmospheric measurements before the budget cut. Instead, it will now stay in sleep mode for most of the winter and stop all science gathering.

 

The funding cut was announced in a letter delivered Wednesday to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. JPL, which manages the rovers, plans to appeal the cut.

 

The cut comes at a time when the robots are in the midst of an extensive exploration campaign, said deputy principal investigator Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis.

 

"We're not done. There is still a lot to explore," Arvidson said.

 

Besides resting Spirit, scientists will also likely have to reduce exploration by Opportunity, which is probing a large crater near the equator. Instead of sending up commands to Opportunity every day to drive or explore a rock, its activities may be limited to every other day, said John Callas, the Mars Exploration Rover project manager at JPL.

 

"Any cut at any time when these rovers are healthy would be bad timing," Callas said. "These rovers are still viable capable vehicles in very good health."

Seriously. JPL, pass the hat. I'm good for a chunk.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Oh for crying out loud you've got to be kidding me.

Seriously. JPL, pass the hat. I'm good for a chunk.

 

That is absolutely boneheaded. To save $4 million let's mothball working vehicles that are already on-site and exceeding even the most wildly optimistic of predictions.

[HuskyCaucasian]

I just came up with a great McCain commercial...

 

 

[Balta1701]

A little bit of relief...I think. Still nervous that this even came up.

NASA officials are denying earlier reports that budget cuts could spell the end of one of JPL's famed Mars rovers.

 

Mission team members said earlier Monday that they planned to put one of the rovers to sleep and limit the activities of the other robot to fulfill a NASA order to cut $4 million from the program's budget.

 

But a spokesman from NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said late Monday that the cuts, while real, would not affect the rovers' mission of gathering evidence of past water on the Red Planet.

 

"The rovers will not be on the table," said the spokesman, Dwayne Brown. "The rovers program will continue and not one rover will be impacted by this budget challenge, period."

 

The solar-powered rovers Spirit and Opportunity have dazzled scientists and the public with their resiliency and stunning imagery of the Mars surface.

 

Both rovers were originally planned for three-month missions at a cost of $820 million, but are now in their fourth year of exploration. It costs NASA about $20 million annually to keep the rovers running.

 

The Mars rovers program received its latest extension, $22 million, in fiscal year 2008 and has used up half the money.

 

But the latest directive from NASA to cut $4 million of the remaining funds would have forced Spirit into hibernation in the coming weeks, said principal investigator Steve Squyres of Cornell University.

[YASNY]

Mark my words. Within 6 months one of the rovers will become nonoperational.

[kapkomet]

Mark my words. Within 6 months one of the rovers will become nonoperational.

It just all of a sudden stopped working, YAS! Dammit!

 

 

[YASNY]

It just all of a sudden stopped working, YAS! Dammit!

 

What are the odds? :rolly:

[Balta1701]

Mark my words. Within 6 months one of the rovers will become nonoperational.

Considering their original lifetime was 90 days...and they landed what, Dec/Jan of 03/04, it wouldn't be surprising at all. The work they've done so far though has been quite impressive.

[mr_genius]

Considering their original lifetime was 90 days...and they landed what, Dec/Jan of 03/04, it wouldn't be surprising at all. The work they've done so far though has been quite impressive.

 

Definitely. Those bots are proven to by very durable.

Edited March 25, 2008 by mr_genius

[BigSqwert]

This story makes me angry. How does this happen??? Edited March 27, 2008 by BigSqwert

[BigSqwert]

McCain’s Foreign Affairs Speech Plagiarizes 1996 Address By Adm. Timothy Ziemer.

[HuskyCaucasian]

McCain’s Foreign Affairs Speech Plagiarizes 1996 Address By Adm. Timothy Ziemer.

Just words?

[YASNY]

Just words?

 

Yes. McCains words. Check that link lately?

 

UPDATE: It appears that Ziemer’s speech may have been plagiarized from McCain. According to the McCain campaign, the senator used these lines before Ziemer — in 1995. We regret the error.

 

UPDATE: As a blog that strives to maintain credibility and transparency, we would like to explain our mistake. When we were alerted to the tip that Adm. Ziemer gave a similar speech in 1996, we searched LexisNexis and McCain’s campaign site for whether the senator used the disputed phrases before that time. We did not find anything. After we published the post, the McCain campaign contacted us and pointed to a speech given by the senator in 1995, which appears on McCain’s Senate site. As soon as we were alerted to the error, we rushed to publish a correction. Once again, we regret the error.

[Balta1701]

Normally I'm not sure I'd even bother posting a "5 former secretaries of state ask next President to immediately close Gitmo" article, because I feel like I've heard the refrain before. But what caught my eye on this one was a couple of the names.

 

Madeline Albright

Warren Christopher...ok, expected, both served under Clinton.

 

Colin Powell...Well, he didn't like it when it opened, but that one is pretty surprising.

James Baker...the Bush family fixer and Sec state under Bush 1. Ok, surprising also. Both of these loyalist types essentially saying Bush was wrong.

 

And #5:

Henry Kissinger. (Jaw drops).

 

When Henry Kissinger is signing on to letters saying that we should do things to appease the rest of the world and improve our reputation (and mind you, I believe he'll still be arrested for war crimes if he travels to the wrong country)...I think that's starting to send a message.

[bmags]

interesting.

[Mplssoxfan]

This story makes me angry. How does this happen???

This happens when the people in power are incompetent. It also happens when the people in power are contemptuous of government.

 

Both of which are hallmarks of this administration.

[bmags]

This story makes me angry. How does this happen???

 

NY Times has had a pretty awful couple of years but props on getting this story. I wish someone would write a huge collective story on the contract mess that, for me, has defined Iraq.

[lostfan]

NY Times has had a pretty awful couple of years but props on getting this story. I wish someone would write a huge collective story on the contract mess that, for me, has defined Iraq.

On the old Fans GB81 actually posted a pretty long one last summer.

[HuskyCaucasian]

NY Times has had a pretty awful couple of years but props on getting this story. I wish someone would write a huge collective story on the contract mess that, for me, has defined Iraq.

I heard a story from a guy at my church who has served in Iraq twice that money is thrown at a problem.. it is done poorly and fails... so they throw more money at it to fix the problem that they caused by poor work.