Ted Cruz to Chair Committed on Space, Science, and Technology

[Bakinpacman]

The problem with space flight is that it's not immediately profitable, which is apparently all that matters now. Never mind the plethora of amazing technology and economic growth that NASA has historically produced.

So we would need to hit the materialistic limit of objects on earth to improve our funding into finding new materials not local to earth that are required to further the advancements we make scientifically.

[Vyxn]

Maybe its has something to do with the fact that the earth has not warmed any in the last 15 years, or could it be the fact that the earth has warmed and cooled from the beginning of time even before we had humans roaming around on it, or could it be the fact that global warming alarmist scientist keep getting caught in lies and presenting skewed bias junk science

[Welgard]

Honestly it doesn't matter which party is in office, it's just more of the same.

There is a low priority on the space program because space is full of just empty space. There is way too much distance to cover between the clumps of matter floating around. The top priority should be creating a more effective way of getting people into space, and eventually of building ships in space (to save on the ridiculous cost of launching massive ships into orbit). The problem is, until the entire world is united and stops wasting resources squabbling and fighting wars, you will never see a truly strong space program.

Climate change is a rough issue because there is a massive amount of data on both sides to just argue all day. Global temperatures are actually down, but temperatures in populated areas are up. I think climate change exists, but I also think that the people that champion the cause have not come up with any widely-supported feasible strategies that wouldn't completely bottom out the economy. Our goal should be to drill as much of our own oil as possible while investing the savings into alternate energy research. The government is horribly inefficient with just about everything though, so have private companies compete for new ways to power the future.

Climate change becomes a political issue because of jobs and the economy. Researching new battery technology at Groom Lake doesn't create a ton of jobs like the coal or natural gas industries do. The US didn't sign the Kyoto agreement, and I'm glad. Capping emissions and taxing companies for them would have crippled the economy horribly. Until you have the technology in place to replace high-emissions manufacturing, you cannot possibly hope to penalize them for having high emissions. Otherwise, say goodbye to what is left of our steel industry and other manufacturing, and say hello to significantly higher electric bills.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Maybe its has something to do with the fact that the earth has not warmed any in the last 15 years, or could it be the fact that the earth has warmed and cooled from the beginning of time even before we had humans roaming around on it, or could it be the fact that global warming alarmist scientist keep getting caught in lies and presenting skewed bias junk science

[breadisfunny]

Why does Congress insist on putting anti-science blowhards on scientific based committees? This is so fucking frustrating.

probably cause they gave them sweeter backroom deals.

[Wells]

Oh good ol' American politics:

http://time.com/3663439/ted-cruz-sen...nasa-congress/

This situation brings two questions to the forefront of my mind:

1. Why do people (on both sides of the isle) put such an astonishingly low priority on the space program (at least in the US)?

2. Why is the denial of anthropogenic climate change a political issue? What feathers does it ruffle on the American right to take such hard stances against it?

Thank you lowest voter turnout in like 70 years!

[taliey]

Ted Cruz is going to be the DNC's greatest fundraising asset.

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Maybe its has something to do with the fact that the earth has not warmed any in the last 15 years, or could it be the fact that the earth has warmed and cooled from the beginning of time even before we had humans roaming around on it, or could it be the fact that global warming alarmist scientist keep getting caught in lies and presenting skewed bias junk science

You could have save time and effort by saying liberal bias vyxn.

[Adam Jensen]

Maybe its has something to do with the fact that the earth has not warmed any in the last 15 years

False. It's gone up about a degree. https://www2.ucar.edu/climate/faq/ho...last-100-years

or could it be the fact that the earth has warmed and cooled from the beginning of time even before we had humans roaming around on it

Climatologists are aware of this fact and they are aware of the Sun's influence as well. Even taking those factors into account, global warming exceeds what natural forces should be doing. The amount that the earth is warming fits perfectly well with the amount of CO2 humans are putting in the atmosphere

global warming alarmist scientist keep getting caught in lies and presenting skewed bias junk science

Says the guy who's first sentence is either a lie or a falsehood.

[Teebone]

Oh god... I suppose there were worse choices. No... there's not. Tea Party Money Puppet™ is exactly the worst possible choice for this position.

This scientific report brought to you by Koch Industries... keeping old white rich people rich for almost 100 years!

[taliey]

False. It's gone up about a degree. https://www2.ucar.edu/climate/faq/ho...last-100-years



Climatologists are aware of this fact and they are aware of the Sun's influence as well. Even taking those factors into account, global warming exceeds what natural forces should be doing. The amount that the earth is warming fits perfectly well with the amount of CO2 humans are putting in the atmosphere



Says the guy who's first sentence is either a lie or a falsehood.

Global warming has been debunked because it snowed.

[Wells]

or could it be the fact that the earth has warmed and cooled from the beginning of time even before we had humans roaming around on it,

People have died for thousands of years officer, who are you to say this bullet riddled corpse is evidence of murder!

[breadisfunny]

Oh god... I suppose there were worse choices. No... there's not. Tea Party Money Puppet™ is exactly the worst possible choice for this position.

This scientific report brought to you by Koch Industries... keeping old white rich people rich for almost 100 years!

well we could have had.....sarah palin.

[Adam Jensen]

well we could have had.....sarah palin.

I guess she's a worse pick than Ted Cruz.

Sigh.

[Gsara]

At least they did get budget hike for this year.
http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/12/14...d-by-congress/
http://www.crainscleveland.com/artic...or-nasa-glenn#

[Garnier Fructis]

This guy and Inhofe in the Senate.

I can't wait for the shit we'll see these 2 years. I'm hoping some of it will rival the sheer hilarity of this gem from the 70's:

… But we mathematicians are unique in our propensity to commandeer everyday words (e.g., imaginary, compact, group, series, …) for our own purposes. Our patron saint is Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”

We are so used to this practice that we tend to forget what a stumbling block it can present to a nonmathematical audience. Reuben Hersh has written an excellent short article on this subject, so I will just add one anecdote. On April 9, 1975, Congressman Robert Michel brandished a list of new NSF grants on the floor of the House of Representatives and selected a few that he thought might represent a waste of the taxpayers’ money. One of them (on which I happened to be one of the investigators) was called “Studies in Complex Analysis.” Michel’s comment was, ” ‘Simple Analysis’ would, hopefully, be cheaper.” I shudder to think of what might happen if certain members of the current Congress discover that the NSF is supporting research on perverse sheaves.”

Republicans being bad at STEM since 1975.

[ringpriest]

You're complaining about the low priority on the space program in the US in particular, where we have had the most developed space program in the world?

The US space program has done some amazing things, both manned and unmanned, and what's currently going on beyond cis-lunar space is unmatchedly breathtaking. But programs like Cassini, Dawn, New Horizons, and many others have very long lead-times - years from greenlight to launch, and more years from launch to arrival. What's currently been green-lit? One Mars mission. That's it, afaik. We've been coasting, enjoying the fruit of previous decades, without putting in the grunt-work for future programs.

Manned flight looks to be in a similar boat - lots of "this awesome thing will be rolling in just a couple years" but nothing actually flying now.

For some reason, many conservatives feel threatened by science. It may have something to do with Darwin. But also, it comes down to science and particularly environmental science tends to want the government to tell people what to do. Governments are one of the best ways to avoid the tragedy of the commons, after all. But conservatives are philosophically opposed to governmental interference whenever they can get away with it. What this means is that there has always been a distrust between the conservatives and the environmentalists. The environmentalists feel that the conservatives are selfish and destroying the planet we live on (as they often are). The conservatives feel that the environmentalists are overzealous overreaching big government people (which they sometimes are).

All that predisposes conservatives to be distrustful of environmental agendas. This is amplified for climate change, where the agenda essentially says we have to completely change our way of life and give up some of the lower costs or luxuries we've become accustomed to or we're going to have apocalyptic catastrophes.

You're leaving out one of the biggest reasons "conservatives" (what do they conserve, exactly, anway? ) are opposed to global warming: the giant amounts of campaign cash (and classic US post-facto bribery) they get from energy interests that contribute massively to anthropogenic global warming (and often get government subsidies to boot).

[Orbitus]

Because the Republican party is the party of authoritarians, and authoritarians usually aren't very bright. That's why they're so comfortable letting others do their thinking.

Don't you mean they are paid to think what the Oil Companies say they should think?

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Maybe its has something to do with the fact that the earth has not warmed any in the last 15 years, or could it be the fact that the earth has warmed and cooled from the beginning of time even before we had humans roaming around on it, or could it be the fact that global warming alarmist scientist keep getting caught in lies and presenting skewed bias junk science

Vyxn, why do you keep posting on things you know NOTHING about? I mean it is good comedic value, but damn seriously OPEN A DAMN BOOK.

[Reeve]

You're leaving out one of the biggest reasons "conservatives" (what do they conserve, exactly, anway? ) are opposed to global warming: the giant amounts of campaign cash (and classic US post-facto bribery) they get from energy interests that contribute massively to anthropogenic global warming (and often get government subsidies to boot).

The advertisements those campaign contributions purchase have to pander to something that exists in the American public though. They have to tap into existing anxieties, fears, frustrations, or aspirations. You can't rile up that which isn't there already.

[Garnier Fructis]

Maybe its has something to do with the fact that the earth has not warmed any in the last 15 years, or could it be the fact that the earth has warmed and cooled from the beginning of time even before we had humans roaming around on it, or could it be the fact that global warming alarmist scientist keep getting caught in lies and presenting skewed bias junk science

Air temperature warming =/= all warming. Most of the warming has been in the oceans for that duration. No contradiction, all the heat is still there roughly as predicted.

[prwraith]

You're complaining about the low priority on the space program in the US in particular, where we have the most developed space program in the world?

Most developed? Sure

Where it should be? Not by a longshot

We should be investing heavily into longterm plans involving spaceflight. Orbital elevators, solar collectors, asteroid capturing / mining mechanisms. The world as a whole lacks the balls to really work towards something amazing.