hmm.. warning...?

This is angry, bitter, annoyed, and slanted to only what I know thus far and my own bias. Meh. feel free to read and respond.

Apparently the space program has cost 17 lives. Watching ABC News - they're asking why we continue this and if it's worth the cost.

Okay, first of all, if we didn't send our astronauts into space in a craft that's already been up there 20+ times, maybe a piece of foam wouldn't have flown off and the landing gear wouldn't have gotten messed up. Why do they have to reuse the shuttle? 'Cause NASA is freakin' poor. The space program only gets 1% of the national budget ($15 billion) and has been cut 40% since 1999. And when something like Columbia happens, the budget gets cut more and the program is threatened.

Where were all these grand ideals about cost of life vs. technological advancement when Chinese people were building your damn railroads? A white guy dies during construction and I bet it was all "oh, no! Let's stop and get him buried!" Chinese guy dies and they just build right over him.

And I'm sorry, but FOAM?! Anyway, this is only the second accident to occur. Considering we're going to space and reentering the atmosphere, it's not that bad. The highway has a higher death rate. We still cram groups of men into a tin-can submarine even though there have been numerous sub accidents.

"Why should we go to space?" Earth resources are being used up at an insane rate. When it's bled try, what then? We just sit on this dust ball and rot? Space is where we need to go.. to spread our human pollution (but that's another rant all together). If nothing else, maybe we could build some kind of space station or colony on the moon. Hell, terraform Mars, I don't care. We won't be able to stay here forever and no politician or egotistical leader will be able to change that.

As for all this media coverage - like I said, I didn't even know Columbia was up there. If not for the accident, I doubt I would have even known it came down. They're "heroes" now because they died in a huge ball of fire thousands of miles above Earth. Would they really be heroes if they landed safely with their little experiments and token monority? I doubt it would even make page 3.

Hmm.. forgot where I was going with this... *shrug* Just a rant I needed to get out anyway.

Note to self:

Buy Stuff magazine because:

David Anders will appear in the March 2003 issue of Stuff Magazine along with some of his Alias co-stars. The layout will appear in the fashion section of the magazine: the 'Men of Alias.'

Men of Alias? I'm there, baybee.

*hee* Watching Daily Show. Jon Stewart calls for a National Day other than Sad.... suggesting National Day of Horny. *snicker* And Navy using seals.. real seals.. and may be deployed in our war on Iraq. ::blinks:: I fear our military.

The Daily Show site has tons of video clips.. but I can't figure out how to download the streaming files with my streambox.. the link is weird... I've tried all the tricks and still.. glargh.

Time for bed. Eye=tired.

SUCO Weekly Broadcast

Apparently Ice-T is supposed to be on campus to give some kind of lecture. Today the Broadcast says:

NOTE: Due to the shooting scheduling of Law and Order SVU The Ice-T Lecture has been moved to Monday, Feb. 17 at 9:30p.m. in the Hunt Union Ballroom.

It's only funny to me because we're a backwater little town and somehow managed to get Ice-T here to so a lecture. May go just to say I was there.

In other campus events:

Wed. Feb 5
CU-WACK MOVIE NIGHT 8:00P.M.
“The Adventures of Pulto Nash”
4 Self-Proclaimed Movie Critics, One Horrible Movie
Non-Stop Laughs

Um. Right. 'Cause I would normally go and this would make me want to go even more.

Speaking of movies, I should call Southside and see if they got the special "Two Towers" reel. In additon to the 4 minutes from "Return of the King," I hear there may be an extended "X-Men 2" teaser. Sweeeet.

Hrm.. okay, back to pretending I'm working.

Buffy: Killer in Me

( Spoilers for Buffy: Killer in Me )

Random political stuff

Bush Unsure He's Been to Space Center:

"To the president's recollection, he thinks he has been there," his spokesman said, adding that Bush's staff from Texas also thought they recalled such a visit.

The spokesman said Bush has never seen a NASA launch or landing, in part because there are so many other beautiful things to see in the country that he has yet to explore.

International ANSWER: February 15-16: STOP THE WAR Through Mass Resistance and Protest in New York City, Chicago & San Francisco and Around the World

Vote to Impeach Bush: includes list of 10 impeachable offenses committed by Bush & his administration

White House was warned of Shuttle Safety:

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush had not seen the letter written to him on Aug. 25, 2002, by former NASA safety engineer Don Nelson expressing concerns over shuttle safety. "Your intervention is required to prevent another catastrophic space shuttle accident," he said.

He cited specific safety incidents including a 2000 inspection of Columbia which found 3,500 wiring defects, as well as charges such as a July 2002 inspector general's report that the shuttle safety program was not properly managed.

War Blogging: Civil Liberties in Perpetual War: Index of Evil, Padilla Count, and Dead or Alive Count

Don't Misunderestimate Bushisms: They include the so-called Bushisms; misunderestimate (to seriously underestimate), embetter (to make emotionally better -- the opposite of embitter), resignate (as in "They said this issue wouldn't resignate with the people") and foreign-handed (as in "I have a foreign-handed foreign policy").

And a convo illustrating ( the ignorance of our society... )

Who knew people could be that ignorant...

fyrdrakken!

and anyone else interested:

SNL Superbowl Halftime Special featuring Chris Kattan as Gollum (from TORN)

Very funny. Worth the 12mb download.

Think I'm gonna go restart this beast of a machine and burn some CDs for people. Yeah. And then bed. Sleep.