I do not believe, knowing what I do about the history of our shuttle system, that I would set foot in any of our current shuttles — not only as these airframes are old and tired, but because of the continuing culture of not only NASA but its numerous contractors, as illustrated by the deaths of fourteen of our finest astronauts — most recently the STS 107 mission on February 1st of 2003 wherein chunks of material insulation sloughing off the main propellant tank holed the shuttle Challenger and caused it to burn up in the atmosphere. All seven astronauts perished in, I can only assume, the horrible fires of Hell.

Now, Tuesday’s launch of Discovery occurred in fair skies:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – The U.S. space shuttle Discovery roared off its Florida launch pad on Tuesday on a voyage to the International Space Station, a mission whose failure would likely ground the shuttle fleet permanently.

Discovery, carrying seven astronauts, lifted off from the seaside launch site at 2:38 p.m. EDT (1838 GMT) and soared into sunny skies, jettisoning its booster rockets about 2 and a half minutes into the flight. It reached orbit safely about 9 minutes after launch.

Not a bad beginning but, of course, there is more:

Up to six pieces of debris that could be foam insulation fell off Discovery’s troublesome external fuel tank minutes after liftoff Tuesday, a top NASA official said. Officials cautioned, however, that it was too soon to know whether the debris struck Discovery and that the pieces came off later than would normally endanger the shuttle.

Columbia’s demise in February 2003 was caused by foam insulation that peeled off 70 seconds after liftoff and struck its heat shield.

“About two minutes and 47 seconds give or take (after the Discovery launch), we saw three perhaps four pieces come off (the fuel tank),” said shuttle program manager Wayne Hale, adding that it was unclear whether it was foam or “something else.”

“We also saw another piece or two come off at about four minutes 50 seconds,” he told reporters at the Kennedy Space Center.

He cautioned, however, that it was “very raw, preliminary data” and would have another report later Tuesday.

But Hale said the debris came off the fuel tank later than officials fear it could damage the shuttle’s heat shield.

This certainly appears to me, at first blush, a most similar and sinister replay of the STS 107 Columbia disaster of February 1st, 2003. All seven astronauts perished.

As you no doubt recall, the shuttle Challenger exploded back on January 28th, 1986, the result of an O-ring failure when the craft powered up only 73 seconds into its flight. Engineers at Morton Thiokol (manufacturer of the solid rocket boosters) knew that the colder temperatures at launch were outside of the design range of the O-rings. They strongly objected to the launch, but were overruled by senior Thiokol management. NASA, of course, “went along” with the decision of MT.

T+68.000 seconds:
CAPCOM: “Challenger, go at throttle up.”
Scobee: “Roger, go at throttle up.”

A massive investigation occurred via the Rogers Commission, wherein Richard Feynman famously demonstrated, during a televised hearing, how the O-rings became less resilient and subject to seal failures at ice-cold temperatures by immersing a sample of the material in a glass of ice water.

He was so critical of flaws in NASA’s “safety culture” that he threatened to not sign off on the report unless it included his assessment, which appeared as Appendix F. He pointed to the discrepancy between management claiming a 1 in 100,000 chance of serious failure and the engineers claiming 1 in only 100, a risk one thousand times greater. The commission worked for several months and published a report of their findings.

Feynman was clearly the hero on this commission.

If this is the best we can do as a nation, then we either need to completely redesign and rethink our expensive space transportation systems or abandon our space program altogether. There are clearly more pressing issues back on the planet.

Simply: let’s do it right, or not at all.

I fear for our astronauts on the shuttle Discovery. There is much riding on this mission. And there are only three remaining shuttles available for use: Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor.

Discovery has already made 32 flights since the program’s first flight in 1981.

Don’t you think that is sufficient?

BZ

From the enlightened Netherlands:

From Amsterdam, this country’s capitol:

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk has introduced a bill that would require some Dutch citizens to pass a test of what some call as “Dutchness.”

Since March of 2006, immigrants arriving from non-Western countries have had to take the exam, whcih covers the history of the Netherlands, the Dutch language, and Dutch culture.

In addition, Verdonk’s bill would extend the requirement to those who came to the country earlier, even people who have lived and voted in the Netherlands for decades.

Opposition leaders denounced the bill as clearly discriminatory.

But Verdonk said that Dutch society had a “legitimate interest” in drawing a distinction between native-born and naturalized citizens.

If the bill does in fact finally pass, 500,000 people, primarily Muslims, will have to take the test.

The Dutch are finally addressing the Muslim issue but only because they were dragged there, kicking and screaming, due to the uproar about Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and the murder of Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh and — now — the exile to America of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Dangerous persons and situations all.

Once the most liberal of all countries, the Netherlands appear to be stepping back and re-examining their positions and, of course, like most Euro countries, they are facing their own Population Deficit — as opposed to Paul Ehrlich’s prognosticated Population Bomb.

The Left isn’t always Right.

BZ

America is in fact a wonderful country. People reading my blog cannot ever deny this.

And I would suggest that perhaps it’s time to reflect not only on our independence but on the means and manner in which we currently keep our independence:

The American Soldier.

These few sentences bear repeating:

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. — Charles M. Province

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty. — John Fitzgerald Kennedy

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. — Dwight David Eisenhower

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. — Ronald W. Reagan

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory. — Douglas MacArthur

The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking… the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. — Albert Einstein

In Flanders fields the poppies grow; Between the crosses, row on row; That mark our place, and in the sky; The larks, still bravely singing, fly; Scarce heard amid the guns below. — John McCrae

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you’re reading this in English, thank a soldier. — American Axiom

May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won’t. — General George S. Patton, Jr.

_________________________________________

May you all have a safe, happy and healthy 4th of July.

God bless America — because other than its occupants, no one else will.

BZ

What Happened To My Country?

I awakened one morning and found some things amiss. . .

______________________________________

I found my politicians no longer supported my homeland;

I found my news outlets no longer supported my homeland;

I found that those who espoused their devotion to my soverign soil didn’t really place their support there, despite their written leanings;

I found my enemy more clearly delineated than ever; at the same time I found my country’s ability to glean this enemy more muddled than ever;

I found the flag of my country was minimized, put aside and, on the other hand, its burning placed above other more pressing issues;

I found the maximization of Islam throughout my country, at the sacrifice of the diminization of Christianity;

I found the sacred male-and-female-in-a-marriage vow minimized and diminished, governmentally and societally to the point where persons would wonder: “what is the benefit?”

I have found other blogs displaying negative and unproven events as though they were fact though they are NOT;

I have found little boys discriminated against;

I have rooted out the feminization of our society to the detriment of our future;

I am a white male.

Get over it: I will not be dying in the next ten years.

As opposed to my brethren, I do not carry any amount of overeducated white male guilt.

One reaps what one sows.

BZ

My good friend A Jacksonian has an excellent post which I recommend you click on at this point, before going further.

In the meantime, I wondered what the affect would be on our military personnel upon hearing or reading of the new SCOTUS decision. From Polipundit:

Thursday, June 29th, 2006(FLASH) Instrument of Surrender Signed by SCOTUS

This morning, the United States of America signed the instrument of surrender with al Queda and all affiliated terror organizations. The signatories representing the United States were Anthony Kennedy, Steven Bryer, John Paul Stevens, Ruth Ginsburg and David Souter.

The reason for this unconditional surrender was that while the Supreme Court Justices “support the troops” and particpate in drives to send old magazines to soldiers, they do not “Trust the Troops.”

In addition, this was a total rebuke of Chief Justice John Roberts whose lower court ruling was overturned.

Justice Stevens wrote the opinion. Terrorists have Geneva protection.

I only wish that this was sarcasm. These individuals have no idea what they have done.

I wasted 12 months of my life in Afgahnistan for this.

Support by the military in the GWOT is going to collapse.

UPDATE: This opinion will go from a ripple to a wave throughout the uniformed military. We were slapped by John McCain last December. Today, we are slapped by the Supreme Court. This afternoon, I am removing myself from the volunteer list at Human Resources Command-St. Louis to re-deploy. I will not be the only one.

There were also e-mails to PP, which included:

“$%^& the supreme court. They have no idea what we are going through. Major xxxxxxxxx”

“My third tour for what? SHIT!!! Captain xxxxxxxxxx”

“I want to go home to my family now. Master Sergeant xxxxxxxxx”

The Corner’s Andy McCarthy said:

Make no mistake: if this happens, the Supreme Court will have dictated that we now have a treaty with al Qaeda — which no President, no Senate, and no vote of the American people would ever countenance. (Compare this.) The Constitution consigns treaty-making to the political branches, not the courts, but a conclusion that Geneva protects Hamdan (and, by extension, his fellow savages) would ominously mean that the courts, under the conveniently malleable guise of “customary international law” can rewrite treaties to mean whatever they like them to mean.

I know that some have said “Wait BZ, calm down, all is not lost; the President has said nothing will yet occur though the law will be obeyed — and that perhaps it will ‘merely’ take Congress to make the right moves to satiate the SCOTUS.”

I still fear for my country, my fellow citizens and the brave American soldiers overseas.
ALREADY this ruling is having an affect on their morale and, moreover, their willingness to sacrifice for this country.

And I cannot now blame their reticence.

BZ