Blogs / Bad Astronomy

I just moved to Boulder, Colorado, and decided to check on my new Senators and Representative. What do I see on the news section of Representative Mark Udall’s site?

While I respect NASA Administrator Griffin’s right to express his personal views on global warming, I don’t agree with him. I think climate change and its impacts cannot be ignored. In that regard, NASA has a vital role to play in gathering the data and supporting the research that will provide information needed by policymakers. Unfortunately, however, the current Administration has not given NASA’s Earth Science program a high enough priority. I think that needs to change.

(The back story is here.)

Wow. A Representative that actually represents me? And one that takes a stand, the right stand, and is clear and unequivocal about it?

Golly.

Then, I looked at my Senators’ pages. Hmph. Neither says much of anything, to be honest (in fact, I had not even heard of either of them before). One of them, Wayne Allard, seems to go out of his way not to say anything. I looked at his stem cell page, where he talks about the use of adult stem cells, but only mentions embryonic stem cells in passing. If you read between the lines it’s clear he’s against it (he’s a Republican from CO, duh), but he doesn’t actually say what he stands for. The other Senator, Democrat Ken Salazar, doesn’t seem to have a list of issues with his stance, just press releases.

Why can’t politicians hire web designers who can make it easy to, y’know, use their websites?

And you know what else is funny? I have looked at many, many politicians’ sites, and very few — if any — actually say what party they belong to. This is perhaps the most basic thing they can state, and it’s nowhere to be seen. Weird.

Well, goading people into action is something I like to do on occasion. I’ll investigate these guys more and see what’s what. Which leaves me with one final thought here: US citizens, when was the last time you looked into your own reps?

You may have heard that the next Shuttle launch is scheduled for Friday, June 8, at 7:38 p.m. Eastern time. You may not have heard that the United Space Alliance Space Shuttle workers may go on strike the day before the launch.

This won’t affect the launch, since these workers apparently don’t work on that aspect of the Shuttle (according to the artile linked above, they provide "various support services such as machinists, electric technicians, air-conditioning mechanics, painters and elevators technicians"). The rhetoric is standard: the union says the deal offered by USA is substandard, while USA says it’s fair, blah blah blah. I never trust press releases or quotations in matters such as these, and prefer to assume that everyone is being a jerk until evidence turns up otherwise. I guess I’ve had too much background in both labor and management — this isn’t science, where ideas get a fair shake, but PR, where people jockey for position and try to make themselves look good. A skeptical — nay, jaundiced — eye is required.

Anyway, STS 117 is go for launch on Friday, and I’ll blog about it when/if it happens, and I’ll use my Twitter page to live update it!