 January 27, 2012 - 4:11pm | I do not even want to try to tell any Americans (I am one too) who to vote for but the Newt has promised if elected he will make sure we have an American Moonbase by the end of his second term. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 January 27, 2012 - 4:24pm | Sounds like a promising the moon gag. Promise us a base on Mars, then we'll talk. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 January 27, 2012 - 4:48pm | Seriously? With the current deficit? Promise the moon, mars or Io it ain't going to happen in eight years. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 27, 2012 - 6:51pm | "Technically" it could happen. But there is definitely no motivational force to convince anyone to pay for it. :( Maybe if the Chinese launch a moon mission in the next few years the US will find it's 'will to compete'. And done right it might reap economic benefits undreamed of right now... |
January 27, 2012 - 7:58pm | Motivation is a Big part of it. In the Sixties America managed to get to the Moon in less than ten years on President Kennedy's promise. The Space Shuttle program was supposed to be the first step to a Moonbase. (2nd was the Space Station 3rd special spacecraft docked at the Space Station 4th Moonbase) Of course NASA did say it would take them 25 years to get to Mars under the Bush administration. If the budget and public support were there maybe both could be done in record time. Anyone holding their breath? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 27, 2012 - 8:28pm | Corporations have worked out how regular trips can be made for $1m dollars each. With further development, they may even be able to get it down within a few tens of thousands of dollars. The reason it has cost so much in the past is because they completely deconstruct the vehicles down to the last bolt, clean every last washer and bearing and then reconstruct it in a vacuum. The corporations are talking about reusable vehicles that don't require deconstruction. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 January 28, 2012 - 4:25am | As long as it is a private sector venture, it's certainly plausible. Otherwise, government intervention --- none of which they truly have any business intervening with in the first place, mind you --- has a generous history of being like King Midas' evil twin: everything they touch instantly turns to crap. |
January 28, 2012 - 6:37am | Saddly the space shuttle was an overpriced pick up truck on lifesupport that couldn't do the job it was needed to do. Sad fact was that a big damn rocket that you throw away can be vastly cheaper then the space shuttle. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 28, 2012 - 10:02am | I'm cynical with any political promise, so when politicians promise the moon, I go "yeah, whatever", but when Old Newtur actually promised the moon, I was like:  "That is the most ironically honest thing he has ever said!" |
January 28, 2012 - 10:36am | Sadly, Newt was known for being a pig headed one man show, and there is little surprise that his colleagues in Congress have not come out to endorse him. I didn't want to support Mitt but if the choice is a bull headed jackdonkey or Mr. What Color spots are fashionable this week? I'm at a loss for who to support. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 28, 2012 - 11:47am | I'm at a loss for who to support. He's the only one lacking any baggage, and as such it forces the opponent into switching from standardized smear tactics to actually relying on his (not)record. |
January 28, 2012 - 12:12pm | Santorum. Sure if he wins the primaries. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 28, 2012 - 12:42pm | Santorum. Sure if he wins the primaries. We can only hope. Doesn't seem likely, but I can't support the other guys. Of course, whatever his chances, I'll vote for him. |
 January 28, 2012 - 1:38pm | Saddly the space shuttle was an overpriced pick up truck on lifesupport that couldn't do the job it was needed to do. Sad fact was that a big damn rocket that you throw away can be vastly cheaper then the space shuttle.
I admit that the space shuttle is a problematic machine. However, we have to admit that in the late 1970's and early eighties the creation of such a program was pretty awesome. However, we should have never let it be a thirty year program, it should have been advanced years ago into a better platform or replaced bya better platform. But the space shuttle is still awesome, just old. |
January 28, 2012 - 3:23pm | Sure if he wins the primaries.
Well, what better time to start offering support?  |
January 28, 2012 - 5:16pm | Actually AZ the diss on the space shuttle is something I heard from a NASA official, financially it had been long realized that they should have kicked it to the side and reverted back to rockets but they couldn't so they kept spending money to fly it. It was cool when I was still a massive Star Trek fan and they named one Enterprise. My hopes are that the next generation of vehicle will be cost effective and get the job done. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 28, 2012 - 7:16pm | I read a book back in '92 about the cost of the space shuttle vs the cost of rockets. They have known for a long time that it was not cost effective to run the space shuttle. The problem with the shuttle is it was too cool. I still have framed pictures of it in a box in my garage. We all thought it was cool and frankly it still is. But, for the people who put up money for NASA, they wanted something that would get the voters attention, and yes the space shuttle did just that. So as government does, it will spend money the wrong way to acheive a goal we all really want and tell us that is the best way. I wonder if the government has some type of different bean counter than the private sector? |
January 28, 2012 - 8:31pm | While reading up on Newt's space comments I found this interesting article : http://motherboard.vice.com/2012/1/27/deathmatch-on-mars-an-interview-with-warren-ellis-on-newt-gingrich-space-realism-and-future-america Hey, does anyone else think Newt looks like "President Man" from Invader Zim? "I am Mr President Man, I come from President-Land". :-) |
January 28, 2012 - 10:16pm | I wonder if the government has some type of different bean counter than the private sector?
They do have a different kind of bean counter. It's called "borrow, tax, and spend spend spend". |
January 29, 2012 - 1:51am | By the way, am I the only one who sees the weird irony with the fight between Newt and Mitt? To me, I see Newt as the poster-boy for the corrupt and self-serving side of Congress, while Mitt is the unabashed poster-boy for the 1%. Seeing big government and big business - who would otherwise be getting it on like a Greek orgy - hashing it out in this political microcosm just seems... A little... Well, too damn funny!  |
January 29, 2012 - 6:28am | @ Malcadon: Hear! Hear! I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 29, 2012 - 1:28pm | Well I wasnt going to weigh in on the politics, but what the heck. I don't like either Newt or Romney, I get kind of sick thinking about either one of them running the show. But I tell you what, I never was given a vote on Obama care, He just decided it was best for everyone and that was just the way it was gonna be and so it was. No vote, no debate, just rammed that piece of legislation right down our throats or up or collective @$$ without so much as a thank you for your support. While right now we really don't feel the effects in a few years the actual legistlation takes effect then you have a choice pay for the government health plan or get fined. At this time in my life I have chosen to for-go having any kind of health insurance so I can afford to make sure my the child support is paid and my daughter has insurance. But this my choice, and as a free american citizen it should always be my choice. No one should ever have the ability to bypass the constitution and choose for me or make a law that abridges my rights without due process. Due process in this case woudld have been a vote. If everyone would have voted for Obama care then I would have nothing to say about it because the people had spoken. However, since no one voted on Obama Care my position is clear. Any Candidate regardless of how slimey is better than Obama. That's my rant and I'm stickin to it! |
 January 29, 2012 - 3:05pm | Guess I may as well chime in too...since the thread's here. :) I'd really rather see Santorum win the primary because he seems like the best guy left at this point. But I have serious doubts that that is going to happen. I see Romney being very much the same as Obama. Those in our country that really like what Obama has been doing to us are hoping and praying that Romney gets the nod because in that case, even if Romney wins against Obama he'll not really undo anything Obama has done to us. It's as close to a win-win situation as they could hope for. I see Newt as being ALMOST as bad as Romney. I think he'd undo some of the crap that Obama's done to us. But there's no guarantee that he'll not then turn around and do something equally bad. None of our choices in the upcoming election are any good and we really needed someone that was really good to get us back on track. It would seem that since WWII the population of the planet failed to remember the lesson that was taught back than. Harsh times I fear, are in our near future. I draw that opinion based on recent headlines: 1) One in five youth in Germany have no idea what the significance of Auschwitz is. 2) Germany is currently pressuring Greece to cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner. This has also been floated concerning all of the EU nations incidentally. 3) Something like 41% of the population of America is on some form of public assistance - aka, government vote buying scheme. 4) Obama has seen fit to spend more money so far in his administration than the combined totals of all the previous administrations up to and including Bush Sr (he may have surpassed this statistic by now too, I'm just too lazy to try to track it down right now). 5) The 'Arab Spring' hailed by (and eagerly supported by) the political leadership here in the US and abroad has seemingly turned out to have been a power grab by the Islamic Brotherhood - who is on very friendly terms with various terrorist organizations. The list goes on and on and on of very similar examples. The entire world is in a very precarious position at this point. All I see our current leadership doing is digging the hole deeper domestically thereby drastically reducing the strength of America and increasing the odds that very bad things will happen in the near future. At this point I find myself wondering if I should vote for Santorum knowing I'm tossing away my vote to a guy that's going to loose so that I can look at myself in the mirror the next morning (because he's the best guy for the job that's left in the race), or vote for Newt hoping that that will help him win because he's marginally better than Romney. Cripes I can see 2008 from my 2012! The only difference is that this election is quite possibly the most important election that I'll ever participate in. And here I'm left with a huge pile of crap on one side and a slightly smaller pile of crap on the other side. Sad. I don't have to outrun that nasty beast my friend...I just have to outrun you!  |
January 29, 2012 - 4:50pm | santorum looks ok. anyone but obama |
January 29, 2012 - 5:16pm | But I tell you what, I never was given a vote on Obama care, he just decided it was best for everyone and that was just the way it was gonna be and so it was.
Fixed that for ya. Let's try not to massage his messiah complex anymore than the media already does. |
January 30, 2012 - 4:00am | They all look lame. The Republican Primary is just a big game show, where the constants fight to see who is more appealing to their own political base. Whoever wins is just going to be the biggest looser, because not everyone in the US are über social conservatives, nor should the country only accommodate to social conservative ideals. As much as Obama's supporters are getting weary of his policies, I also see a growing resentment of Republican policies on all sides. That is, Republicans say they want "less government," but overreaching polities like the Budget Managers in Michigan, the Personhood Initiative (which could cause women to get charged with murder if their child miscarriage - which is a common thing in nature), or proposals to end gay mirages, even if States allow them. People are also figuring-out that Reaganomics and deregulation do not work as promised, and people are getting sick of accommodating a spoiled bunch of ungrateful yuppies. As for the growing resentment of Obama supporters, they see him as a political pushover, way too accommodating towards big business, and have not lived-up to a number of key political promises: ending drone-strikes, greater transparency/not busting whistle-blowers, not busting pot-grower in California, and universal healthcare (what is call "Obama Care," are proposals the Republicans along with the healthcare industry proposed back in the '90s, when Clinton proposed universal healthcare - the Health Insurance Mandate alone was originally proposed by Bob Dole - with additional provisions by them). Of course, there have been a lot of criticism on the right over Obama's policies, but its hard to weight-in when they came-off sounding crazy, paranoid and hysterical. Its hard to see who will get into office at this point - anything could happen! A new Republican might came out out of nowhere and win-over moderates. The Democrats might endorse a new guy (or girl) to take Obama's place. Folks might get so tired of both sides, they vote independent. Or it would be Obama vs The Biggest Looser. So yeah, it feels like no matter who wins, we all loose.  |
January 30, 2012 - 4:22am | Health care in America is a very broken thing but fixing it is something no one seems to know how to do. No one seems to want the government to take over the system or socializing healthcare but that system seems to work in Europe and China (anyone from there want to chime in). The other part is the devastating effect socializing healthcare would have on the American Economy. Healthcare and Insurance are huge industries (for profit businesses). If the system went from current standards to socialized large segments of the current industry would be but out of business (who needs 100 health insurance companies if no one has health insurance any more). On the flip side it could help out with the rural physician problem. Cities in America tend to be overserved with multiple hospitals and clinics and private practices, while out in the country you can't find an ambulance withing 30 minutes. Think of it like this in New York City try going 1km without finding a McDonalds or Burger King or Wendys or the like. Now drop down to Smiths Station, Alabama and see what you can find in the way of fast food joints. Get to the rest later. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 30, 2012 - 10:48am | Health care in America is a very broken thing but fixing it is something no one seems to know how to do. No one seems to want the government to take over the system or socializing healthcare but that system seems to work in Europe and China. There are many people - mostly on the left - who would like socialized healthcare, but those on the right and big business like it privatized. I hear lots of pundits throw-out anecdotal horror stories about the healthcare systems in Canada, Europe and Asia, but they always sound like isolated incidents then an overall problem. The funny thing is that there are lots of healthcare systems across the globe, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and we can learn from them, then use what works. The only thing stopping us form doing so are the healthcare lobbies and their supporters. Yes, socializing healthcare could kill the health insurance industry, but how they been running things, who needs Death Panels? They let too many people suffer and/or die needlessly so their executives can live vary well, so I have no sympathy towards them - let them suffer! |
January 30, 2012 - 1:22pm | Health care in America is a very broken thing but fixing it is something no one seems to know how to do. No one seems to want the government to take over the system or socializing healthcare but that system seems to work in Europe and China (anyone from there want to chime in).
Simply put, there is NO language in the Constitution mandating that government should run health care. Or schools. Or passenger trains. Or postal/courier services. Or retirement packages. Or anything else that has absolutely nothing to do with national defense. Protecting our borders is the one thing that actually is spelled out in that document, and consequently the one thing that this current administration has ignored completely while meddling in everything else they have no business in, in fact it can be argued that relinquishing our borders has been the goal in that regard: http://www.youtube.com/embed/tsH8xvjTAlo As for what works in other countries...it can't be working THAT good, considering how they still flock here for medical care. |
January 30, 2012 - 4:32pm | Health care in America is a very broken thing but fixing it is something no one seems to know how to do. No one seems to want the government to take over the system or socializing healthcare but that system seems to work in Europe and China. There are many people - mostly on the left - who would like socialized healthcare, but those on the right and big business like it privatized. I hear lots of pundits throw-out anecdotal horror stories about the healthcare systems in Canada, Europe and Asia, but they always sound like isolated incidents then an overall problem. The funny thing is that there are lots of healthcare systems across the globe, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and we can learn from them, then use what works. The only thing stopping us form doing so are the healthcare lobbies and their supporters. Yes, socializing healthcare could kill the health insurance industry, but how they been running things, who needs Death Panels? They let too many people suffer and/or die needlessly so their executives can live vary well, so I have no sympathy towards them - let them suffer! The only problem of universal health care is by it own very definition if precludes the vary basis of freedom. Okay, everybody gets heathcare from the government...yea (scarcastic). But what if you don't want the government healthcare. Well that's okay its universal you get it anway like it or not and you can even pay for other people's health care too through your taxes...and not just the folks who deserve some help with their sever ailments who can no longer work, you get to help pay for everyone. So that dumb @$$ down the road that has watched too many mountain dooo comercials and does a header off his bike with no helmet while jumping off the vending machine....yup you get to pay for his MRI and rehab too. If I don't get to choose then I want no part of it. |
