New Arab Sympathetic Association (NASA)

If Alfred Korzybski were alive today, he would certainly have a stroke over how we have butchered the language. Not only do we inappropriately use words and concepts, we intentionally engage in disinformation. I just started reading a book based on Korzybski's general semantic theories. It's called: "Dare To Inquire: Sanity and Survival for the 21st Century and Beyond" by Bruce I. Kodish. I haven't gotten too far into the book yet and will report on the read when I finish but so far, it appears that Mr. Kodish would find good company with Ayn Rand, Nick Gillespie (Ed. in Chief, Reason Magazine), W. F. Buckley, both of the Pauls and many other thinkers like Gore Vidal who seem to defy easy definition but who are thoughtful at any rate. Mr. Kodish's book is a kind of guide to understanding and dealing with the mass of gobbledygook we are fed daily from all media sources. An example (Not from the book.) might be, the opposite of white isn't black, it's Afro-American. But this post isn't about this or semantics, it's about NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I don't know why people have trouble understanding that we either move forward scientifically or we stagnate. It's cruel but in science and all other areas, we either progress and develop newer and better tools and methods or we limit ourselves on every level. Experimental science is a hard sell in the best of times. We have to consider ourselves lucky that John Kennedy not only reacted to the threat of Soviet space dominance but actually had a vision that went beyond simply "beating" the Soviets. His vision was broad, long range and, at the time, completely beyond our capability. That's the kind of vision that gets results.

Of the presidents since Kennedy, only Reagan had such vision. Clinton came close but he was thwarted by his own monsters. Bush 41 did not have any vision as far as I could tell and Bush 43 was hampered by the attacks on 9/11. Carter's vision was so meager that he couldn't even enthuse himself. Nixon might have been a visionary but he had a meager soul. Ford. . . Ok, a place holder who could have been good but never rose to the occasion. Johnson was a political wheeler-dealer but like a used car salesman, had the puny vision of the next sale. Obama has ideology but no vision unless his vision is to destroy some fundamental American institutions, like the Constitution.

In fact, Obama has killed the space program. He killed it with a shot to the head that sent brains splattering. "Oh," his supporters intone, "He actually added money to the budget." That's great. He took a space program and turned it into a workfare program: The end goal is not exploration or developing the next generation of heavy lift vehicles or transit/landing craft. What is the goal for NASA under Obama? It's to reach out to Muslim (Primarily Arab countries.) and somehow get them to "feel good" about their historical contributions to science.

I don't know who thought up this incredibly innovative idea. Maybe it's the product of the new head of NASA; Charles Frank "Charlie" Bolden, a political appointee who, it appears, has even less vision than his boss but who knows how to implement PC programs that "feel good." Bolden might be a political appointee but he is a NASA veteran and he served with distinction. He was involved in several shuttle missions: STS-31 (Pilot), STS-45 (Commander), STS-60 (Commander), STS-61 C (Pilot). So he is not hostile to NASA and the space program in general. However, he is no visionary like Willy Lea. One of the first directors, Lea had a vision of using rockets for all kinds of work beyond just space travel. He actively promoted manned space flight and in an incredible twist of fate, died just days before the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969. But a visionary he was in every respect. Of the astronauts, Aldrin is a great visionary as is Edgar Mitchell. Mitchell founded the Institute for Noetic Sciences. Like Aldrin, he landed on the moon. His vision was endless and he was committed to the exploration of new and alternative ways of looking at the same things. But what are Bolden's visions for NASA? He has three that he delineated in a speech in June of this year: 1) Inspire children to want to get into science and math 2) Expand NASAs international relationships and 3) Reach out and engage the Muslim world. By the way, the way to inspire people is to have a mission and goals they find interesting. How do you get kids to get into math? Have programs, like those on NASA TV that show how math works and how it is used in space flight. But overall, people want to be working towards some end that is bigger than themselves. It's hard to get people interested in higher math to make money in investing but tell people that they can use math to help plot the course of an asteroid and change its direction, and you have something they can hang all their work on. You see, it turns out that money alone is a poor motivator.

Notice that there is no mention of any kind of space flight, exploration, missions, programs or new development. NASA has become a psuedo-educational facility where social policy can be forced down the throats of staff, employees and the American public. How could this have happened? NASAs charter was to develop the equipment and methodology to explore space and land man on other planets. Now we have a director who wants to turn it into a pre-school.

I mentioned the NASA redirection to a retired teacher who happens to be a friend. He is an avid Obama supporter and conversations with him have become tiresome. We can't even discuss Obama's missteps because every utterance is met with the following statement: "At least he isn't Bush." He thinks the space program is a total waste of money, time and energy. He thinks we should take the NASA budget and use it to force people to accept government solutions to things like poverty, homelessness, drug addiction and a host of other programs with no clear resolution and lots of opportunity to appear to be solving problems. In other words, as long as there are human problems, we shouldn't be wasting money on space. This is not an uncommon sentiment in the black. . . oops, African-American (Another complete waste of a hyphen.) community. Even though my friend is white, I know people of all ethnic backgrounds who think the space program is actually too small and should be expanded. Add whatever ethnic group in front of the hyphen you want but there are a large number of Americans who take pride in America's accomplishments in space exploration. If anything, people complain about NASAs monopoly but that is being addressed by private sector entrepreneurs.

So in light of the new director and his absolutely wrong-headed vision, I propose we change the initialization of National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the New Arab Sympathetic Association. I think that more closely identifies the current lack of a clear mission.

We are being led by self-serving boneheads who see not. This administration is unaware, cannot lead, motivate or inspire. They are the worse products of American left-wing, statist thinking. Thank God we have a constitution that guarantees that Obama and his ilk can be thrown out of office through election. And we must throw him out and all the people who support his self-centered lack of direction.

FB