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Panich52

(5,829 posts) Fri Mar 13, 2015, 01:54 PM Mar 2015

NASA Administrator Gives Ted Cruz An Epic Lesson In How Science Works

ThinkProgress

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Cruz (R-TX), who is chair of the Senate Space, Science, and Competitiveness Subcommittee, addressed his concerns at a hearing Thursday on the $18.5 billion budget request for NASA’s fiscal year 2016. There, he asked NASA Administrator Charles Bolden what Bolden thought NASA’s “core mission” was.
“Our core mission from the very beginning has been to investigate, explore space and the Earth environment, and to help us make this place a better place,” Bolden said.
Cruz wasn’t satisfied.
“Almost any American would agree that the core function of NASA is to explore space,” he said. “That’s what inspires little boys and little girls across this country … and you know that I am concerned that NASA in the current environment has lost its full focus on that core mission.”
But Bolden defended NASA’s work here on Earth. NASA compiles data on the planet’s air pollution via satellite, engages in research on new forms of energy, and is a key agency for climate change and ice melt data. Bolden alluded to the agency’s study of climate change in his response to Cruz, saying that the agency can’t do any of its work — on the ground or up in space — “if the Kennedy Space Center goes underwater and we don’t know it.” That’s not a hyperbolic worry — scientists have warned that sea level rise is putting the Kennedy Center, which is located in Florida, at risk.

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/13/3633354/ted-cruz-nasa-mission/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tptop3&elq=~~eloqua..type--emailfield..syntax--recipientid~~&elqCampaignId=~~eloqua..type--campaign..campaignid--0..fieldname--id~~&elqaid=24964&elqat=1

13 replies

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NASA Administrator Gives Ted Cruz An Epic Lesson In How Science Works (Original Post) Panich52 Mar 2015 OP

Do you like modern conveniences such as your cell-phone and the watch on your wrist? mrdmk Mar 2015 #1

No, you can thank the minute man missile program for them N/T Throckmorton Mar 2015 #2

There are a lot of modern conveniences we can thank NASA for mrdmk Mar 2015 #4

My grandfather was an engineer. hunter Mar 2015 #5

My Father worked on the Apollo project also. And your right, the ones that did were very proud. Lochloosa Mar 2015 #7

Literally breath taking! BrotherIvan Mar 2015 #13

Science/NASA - 1 hifiguy Mar 2015 #3

He's stupid like a fox. WaitWut Mar 2015 #10

it's embarrassing that these nasa folks have to even speak to cruz...let alone be lectured by him spanone Mar 2015 #6

Message auto-removed Name removed Mar 2015 #8

And more...Talk about keeping your head down and working on... jtuck004 Mar 2015 #9

Take a close look at Cruz's mind on NASA. Unknown Beatle Mar 2015 #11

I've seen most of those clips hifiguy Mar 2015 #12

mrdmk

(2,943 posts)

1. Do you like modern conveniences such as your cell-phone and the watch on your wrist?

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 02:29 PM

Mar 2015

Last edited Fri Mar 13, 2015, 07:23 PM - Edit history (1)

You can thank NASA for those...

K & R because Cruz is a first class jerk

Throckmorton

(3,579 posts)

2. No, you can thank the minute man missile program for them N/T

Reply to mrdmk (Reply #1)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 02:32 PM

Mar 2015

mrdmk

(2,943 posts)

4. There are a lot of modern conveniences we can thank NASA for

Reply to Throckmorton (Reply #2)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 02:48 PM

Mar 2015

Last edited Fri Mar 13, 2015, 07:22 PM - Edit history (1)

NASA is doing a lot for the military, no doubt.

I suspect it is about 50/50 civilian/military, that is not the discussion on this thread.

hunter

(38,317 posts)

5. My grandfather was an engineer.

Reply to Throckmorton (Reply #2)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 02:54 PM

Mar 2015

I'm certain he did plenty of military stuff, he was a retired Army Air Force officer, but the work he was most enthusiastic about, and proud of, was work he did for NASA, especially the Apollo Project.

I was reading about the F-35 in other threads and I was thinking that building it has got to be a job that sucks. Sure, for most engineers, it's satisfying to solve engineering problems, otherwise they wouldn't be engineers, but wouldn't it be more exciting to create tools of exploration, or medicine, or even sparkly consumer products, than build something that is an expensive, already obsolete, fat turkey of a war machine and grotesque pork barrel project?

(No offense if you're still in that business... we all gotta eat.)

Lochloosa

(16,066 posts)

7. My Father worked on the Apollo project also. And your right, the ones that did were very proud.

Reply to hunter (Reply #5)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 03:09 PM

Mar 2015

and that one big ship..

?w=640

BrotherIvan

(9,126 posts)

13. Literally breath taking!

Reply to Lochloosa (Reply #7)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 07:41 PM

Mar 2015

Space exploration is one of humankind's great achievements. The fact that Senator Cruz is the head of the Senate Committee overseeing the brain power at NASA is an offense to all logic and decency.

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)

3. Science/NASA - 1

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 02:42 PM

Mar 2015

Cruz/Stoopid - negative googolplex.

What I don't get about Cruz is that he can NOT be this dumb IRL. I attended and graduated from Harvard Law and I never saw any stupid people there. Some first class assholes, to be sure, but not even that many of them. Repeat, I NEVER EVER saw a stupid person there, not even one that could be called anything even close to stupid.

This has to be an act to play to the mouth-breathing, bottom-feeding evolutionary throwbacks that make up the base of the Repuke electorate and/or he's parroting the inane medieval bullshit that his owners want him to say.

WaitWut

(71 posts)

10. He's stupid like a fox.

Reply to hifiguy (Reply #3)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 04:20 PM

Mar 2015

I watched him campaign in Texas. Every single question he was asked during the debate and interviews, he quickly brought to a soundbite for a Republican talking point. It was scary how good he was and how perfect he was at solving every problem with securing the borders, lowering taxes, reducing government waste and increasing domestic production of energy.

Question: How should the federal government address the Texas Drought conditions?

Answer: Well, it's a complicated issue, with many nuances that need to be address, first would be securing our borders to protect our vital natural resources. Then lowering taxes so that those resources could be fully utilized so that we could decrease the government over reach on the how the people of Texas choose to use those precious resources.

It was like his hair, it never wavered. Do not underestimate him. He saw an opening for a Tea Party Republican in an mid-term election and played the script perfectly.

He scares the bee-geebers out of me.
Waitwut
(the other one)

spanone

(135,844 posts)

6. it's embarrassing that these nasa folks have to even speak to cruz...let alone be lectured by him

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 02:56 PM

Mar 2015

fuck ted cruz

Response to Panich52 (Original post)

Name removed Message auto-removed

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)

9. And more...Talk about keeping your head down and working on...

Reply to Name removed (Reply #8)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 03:57 PM

Mar 2015

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bolden#Administrator_of_NASA

This is why we need to invest government funds to hire black folks who cannot get jobs in the racist sector.

Maybe when we get leaders in a government who are more concerned about the working people instead of pretending to a lower deficit...

Unknown Beatle

(2,672 posts)

11. Take a close look at Cruz's mind on NASA.

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 04:35 PM

Mar 2015

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)

12. I've seen most of those clips

Reply to Unknown Beatle (Reply #11)

Fri Mar 13, 2015, 04:42 PM

Mar 2015

and they always make me thing the same thing.

"I'm done bein' a double-naught spy, Uncle Jed. Now I'm gonna be one o' them astro-nauts."

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