…who screamed at the “murder” of the noble Rachel Corrie, when something like this happens? Somehow, I don’t think that there will be any memorials set up for this and worshiped by the moonbats. Or protests of Caterpiller about it.
Chilling
Kerry Country points out one of the potential effects of the SCOTUS ruling:
This has to be a godsend for towns and cities that have been stymied so far in their attempts to shut-down any businesses, corporations, or private groups of which they disapprove. Private gun ranges, airfields, RV tracts, hunting preserves, fishing resources, minority religious congregations, newspapers — all are now fair targets for seizure and closure “for the economic benefit of the people.”
I think they’re right. To hell with stare decisis (particularly in a 5-4 vote). This is a ruling that should be overturned, or at least narrowly restricted, as soon as we can replace at least one of the justices who voted in favor.
An Anti-Hurricane Device?
It’s getting to be the time of year in south Florida to hope that this will work.
Just one of several items in the latest Technology Quarterly from The Economist.
Unimpressive
I’m reading the space policy paper by (former JSC Director George) Abbey and (former Clinton Science Advisor Neal) Lane.
It gets off on the wrong foot, in my opinion, right in the preface:
Space exploration on the scale envisioned in the president
Why, Yes
…yes, this decision is another blow to freedom, and property rights, and is another travesty by this court. At least Scalia voted the right way this time. This is one of the worst terms in my memory.
The Rest Of The Story
Keith Cowing has now posted a transcript from the Q&A portion of the Griffin talk on Tuesday. It’s quite interesting, with good questions (and answers) from Keith himself, Jim Muncy, Klaus Heiss, Lori Garver, Debra Lepore (of Kistler), Mike Lounge from Boeing, and others.
A Gitmo Primer
Lileks explains:
Q: What is Gitmo?
A: Contrary to what some suggest, it does not stand for “Git mo’ Peking chicken for Muhammad, he wants a second portion.” It stands for “Guantanamo,” a facility the United States built to see if the left would ever care about human rights abuses in Cuba. The experiment has apparently been successful.
It gets better.
Do You Have To Be Psycho
…to be successful in business? Here’s an interesting article about your boss, the potential psychopath:
…cynics might say that it can be an advantage to lack a conscience. That’s probably why major investors installed Dunlap as the CEO of Sunbeam: He had no qualms about decimating the workforce to impress Wall Street. One reason outside executives get brought into troubled companies is that they lack the emotional stake in either the enterprise or its people. It’s easier for them to act callously and remorselessly, which is exactly what their backers want. The obvious danger of the new B-Scan test for psychopathic tendencies is that companies will hire or promote people with high scores rather than screen them out. Even Babiak, the test’s codeveloper, says that while “a high score is a red flag, sometimes middle scores are okay. Perhaps you don’t want the most honest and upfront salesman.”
The Billy Mitchell Of Space
Bernie Schriever has died.
Nice Straw Man
Does Mark Whittington want to name names, or provide credible examples from serious people?
This may annoy some people who, on the one hand, preach libertarian cant and, on the other hand, demand government pay money up front, before the promised hardware is even built, not to mention delivered.
Most “libertarians” that I know have been demanding that the government only pay for progress, when achieved. Mark’s straw man notion has in fact been the standard government approach with the big contractors for years, with dismal results.