Government Dependence

[mrsleeve]

No really sure, I assume it could be to get money from them............................

A few days ago, in Cairo, Bolden told Al Jazeera that when he became the NASA administrator, President Obama charged him with three things: "One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and engineering — science, math and engineering."

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/07/white-house-nasa-defend-comments-about-nasa-outreach-to-muslim-world-criticized-by-conservatives/

Earlier in 2010 NASA gets an additional 2.4 billion in NEW budget resources for Climate Change.

And now the White House has unveiled plans to give NASA's Earth science programs $2.4 billion in new money over the next five years. That's an increase of more than 60 percent.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125507009

Priorities can and have changed. It seems I consed that, the point was that the O mans mission for NASA changes every 6-18 months. So while right now for his 2012 Campaign it seems a Kennedy like, What can you do, space program was needed to help win over those of us that think NASA is important.

Whats is NASA's mission going to change to by this time next year and do with all the new funding, I got it Obama Garmin's for everyone.

[rwh11385]

actually statements from the O man and the head of NASA them selves using the same urgency inducing pretext as used in your quotes............ Circa 2009-2010 IIRC

What?

What does Muslim relations have to do with missions on the far side of the moon?

[mrsleeve]

Seriously,dude. Red herring much?

actually statements from the O man and the head of NASA them selves using the same urgency inducing pretext as used in your quotes............ Circa 2009-2010 IIRC

[Farbin Kaiber]

The over-hyped Obama phone (not an Obama program actually, as it originated in the '90s) aside...

It actually originated in 1984 with Regan, but was for landlines, and the cellphone addition was in 2008 under Bush II, but was not brought into widespread knowledge/circulation until the Obama Administration.

[mar1t1me]

So......

Wall Street, and the big banks which neither create nor manufacturer any tangible items, play games which result in their further enrichment, but lead to economic meltdowns. These same banks, freed from the need to offer loans to businesses for revenue by the repeal of the Glass-Steagal act, now refuse to extend credit to small businesses, which are the biggest employers in the country. Because access to growth capital is curtailed, businesses cannot grow, and thus, cannot hire. The threat of unemployment results in lower consumer confidence, lower demand for consumer products and the resultant layoffs, thus even higher unemployment numbers.

So who's really at fault here? Are we really surprised the numbers forced into looking to their government for relief? The over-hyped Obama phone (not an Obama program actually, as it originated in the '90s) aside, and constant focus on the numbers of welfare abusers and unions as somehow solely being the reasons the system is strained are distractions.

Still waiting for some accountability here.

[rwh11385]

No. Nothing like climate change and Muslim relations though

Seriously,dude. Red herring much?

[mrsleeve]

No. Nothing like climate change and Muslim relations though

[rwh11385]

It is quite possible that the overall mood is "working for nothing", or working just to pay off debt with low motivation on a nation-wide scale. In other words, the president can't set any goals as motivation for society to help pull the rope towards those goals.
I think this was mentioned before in relation to the end of the manned space program.

I will repeat again, the what?

http://www.space.com/18550-nasa-moon-outpost-mars.html

Beyond the moon

But the main reason to set up a manned outpost at EML-2, Hopkins said, is to lay the foundation for human missions to even more far-flung destinations.

In 2010, President Barack Obama directed NASA to work toward getting astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s. EML-2 would be a good stepping stone along the way, Hopkins said.

[...]

"We just recently delivered a comprehensive report to Congress outlining our destinations which makes clear that SLS will go way beyond low-Earth orbit to explore the expansive space around the Earth-moon system, near-Earth asteroids, the moon, and ultimately, Mars," NASA deputy chief Lori Garver said at a conference in September.

"Let me say that again: We're going back to the moon, attempting a first-ever mission to send humans to an asteroid and actively developing a plan to take Americans to Mars," she added.

Definitely not setting high goals at all...

[joshh]

For everyone who has a job and likes to bitch and moan that the "freeloaders" are out there sitting on their asses, collecting checks and food stamps and free cell phones, I pose to you a challenge:

Quit your job. Give away all your savings and assets. Sell your house and move in to a small, spartan apartment in a bad neighborhood. Then try living on welfare and food stamps for 2 years.

Report back to us in Nov 2014 and let us know how "easy" it was.

The degree of difficulty the average welfare recipient has in day to day life is now equal to the degree they deserve the welfare. Is that correct?

Do you see the irony in the fact you support entitlements to the degree you do but that you voted for Gary J? It's fucking hilarious.

[BraveUlysses]

Not paying into the pool, and taking out of the pool are two totally different things, your statement is invalid.

No, my statement is not invalidated--I know and understand the distinction.

It is your failure, and that of people like mitt romney who do not make the distinction between the two.

For everyone who has a job and likes to bitch and moan that the "freeloaders" are out there sitting on their asses, collecting checks and food stamps and free cell phones, I pose to you a challenge:

Quit your job. Give away all your savings and assets. Sell your house and move in to a small, spartan apartment in a bad neighborhood. Then try living on welfare and food stamps for 2 years.

Report back to us in Nov 2014 and let us know how "easy" it was.

Or if freeloading was as good as they pretend it is, why aren't they already doing it?

[Farbin Kaiber]

One of Reagan's crowning achievements was restructuring the tax tables so that the working poor did not have to pay income taxes.

Now the working poor (who are too poor to pay income taxes) are derided by shitheels like mitt romney as being dependent on government.

Not paying into the pool, and taking out of the pool are two totally different things, your statement is invalid.

[CorvallisBMW]

For everyone who has a job and likes to bitch and moan that the "freeloaders" are out there sitting on their asses, collecting checks and food stamps and free cell phones, I pose to you a challenge:

Quit your job. Give away all your savings and assets. Sell your house and move in to a small, spartan apartment in a bad neighborhood. Then try living on welfare and food stamps for 2 years.

Report back to us in Nov 2014 and let us know how "easy" it was.

[BraveUlysses]

I think he was saying the field should be leveled to where everyone is paying in, not those who now pay will pay more.

One of Reagan's crowning achievements was restructuring the tax tables so that the working poor did not have to pay income taxes.

Now the working poor (who are too poor to pay income taxes) are derided by shitheels like mitt romney as being dependent on government.

[rwh11385]

It is quite possible that the overall mood is "working for nothing", or working just to pay off debt with low motivation on a nation-wide scale. In other words, the president can't set any goals as motivation for society to help pull the rope towards those goals.
I think this was mentioned before in relation to the end of the manned space program.

The what? http://www.nasa.gov/offices/c3po/hom...T_ROUND_2.html


Otherwise, I kinda agree. You can thank the nation's parents who told their kids to go to college, get whatever degree, and work a job to be "successful". There's a lot of "quarter-life crisis" going on, even among the young people with jobs because they aren't passionate about it. And then there are those who didn't study anything worthwhile to companies and are underemployed compared to their capabilities. When the recession occurred, there was a lot of people who lost their jobs who didn't really like them, and ended up with no real direction. Fortunately, some have found opportunities to re-direct to their passions or serve the market with clever small businesses or engage in world-improving social enterprise... but clearly we need more people who have high goals and pursue the necessary skills to make it possible. And yes, we need the leadership of the country to provide targets to achieve. But aiming for something doesn't make it happen - we need a population who enable themselves to do it, not just talk about it. And not people who expect the path to success to be paved for them by others or the government - even if suggestions of where to direct their efforts are provided.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/02/04/grand-challenges-21st-century

One of the goals of the President’s strategy is to harness science and technology to address the “grand challenges” of the 21st century in areas such as health, clean energy, national security, and education and life-long learning.

http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/challenges.aspx

Here are the Grand Challenges for engineering as determined by a committee of the National Academy of Engineering:
Make solar energy economical
Provide energy from fusion
Develop carbon sequestration methods
Manage the nitrogen cycle
Provide access to clean water
Restore and improve urban infrastructure
Advance health informatics
Engineer better medicines
Reverse-engineer the brain
Prevent nuclear terror
Secure cyberspace
Enhance virtual reality
Advance personalized learning
Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

But another big problem as discussed in thread where holmes talked about education is the HS dropout rate in America. If the mentality wasn't sending everyone to college even if it didn't connect with them, then perhaps we could still provide people with passion for what they do in a technical skill. Building and creating can be rewarding and can tie people to career instead of boring them with standardized tests and cookie cutter coursework.


I think that a hand-up is better than a hand-out and we are in need of skilled workers, so like Reagan and Clinton did, http://www.nber.org/papers/w4428 let's hope people can provide opportunities for those with need to learn skills that can provide companies with workers to fill gaps. Michigan has worked hard to get former auto workers into chemicals, and other have done the same towards nursing.

Fortunately, private industry is doing it too: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...-jobs/1695935/

There's some organizations who are teaching people how to grow vegetables hydroponically which can help the unavailability of fresh produce in urban areas. Hopefully Michelle with her garden can help support and promote such.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/08/urban-farming-thrives-in-_n_1411037.html

http://archisacres.com/page/vsat-program

http://blogs.usda.gov/2012/05/11/military-veterans-the-next-generation-of-organic-farmers/

[Fusion]

It is quite possible that the overall mood is "working for nothing", or working just to pay off debt with low motivation on a nation-wide scale. In other words, the president can't set any goals as motivation for society to help pull the rope towards those goals.
I think this was mentioned before in relation to the end of the manned space program.