Anyone for a TEA Party?

Americans are beginning to be fed up, so much that they are beginning to protest the ruling elite’s grasp of power in the streets. TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Parties will be happening in about 500 locations in every state across the nation. The largely non-partisan, grassroots events are the common person’s response to a government completely out of control. The protests are focused on the federal level, but government can also be shown to be out of control on state and local levels, too. Just how much government we want to pay for and the range of their powers has become a huge debate in the US, even as the president’s approval ratings continue at high levels.

I had bet a friend of mine that after 100 days in office (May 1) President Obama’s approval rating would be below 50%, climaxing a tremendous fall from grace only eclipsed by President Bush’s ill fated adventure to Iraq (remember how the world was behind us when we went into Afghanistan post 9/11, then did a 180 degree turn when we headed for Baghdad?). Although I am getting close to my prediction I am ready to admit defeat. As of today Obama’s approval rating is at 55%, down 10% from the day after his inauguration. Perhaps a better bet would have been the Strongly Approve/Strongly Disapprove ratio. According to the Rasmussen organization, the 35/33 ratio provides only a 2% gap, not healthy for any president.

The bottom line is Americans in large numbers are waking up to a larger government spanning more and more of their lives with no end in site for its voracious appetite. Obama's government expansion program is fueling the fervor. People who earn their way in this world are now tired of seeing their treasure taken to be given to those who have not earned it. In real capitalism, not the twisted variety we see debated, people exchange value for value to their individual benefit. In such an honest trade there can be no provision for giving the unearned. This is precisely what the liberals will be learning; and that there are many who feel strongly that their earned treasure should be theirs to use as they see fit.

Below is a list of federal government businesses that should no longer be part of the federal government. Feel free to add to the list. Some are obvious.

• Publishing (the largest publisher in the world is the US Government)
• Trains (Amtrak)
• Insurance (my favorite, AIG, and others)
• Banking (too many to name)
• Automobiles (GM and Chrysler)
• Automobile parts
• Package delivery (US Postal Service, competing directly with for-profit companies)
• Satellite and other Space Delivery Systems (NASA)
• Economic Statistics (couldn’t these be done by competing for-profit companies, without political influence)
• FDA (Same as Economic Statistics)
• Roads, Bridges and other infrastructure
• Schools (should not be a governmental function at the Federal level, for sure, since there is no Constitutional provision for it, but also not at state or local levels, either)

Help me out. These were off the top of my head.

Happy TEA Party Day!

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NASA, part 4

5-4-3-2-1-ignition. . .

The Shuttle went up on March 15. I was six miles away on a causeway along the Banana River, which is the closest viewing place for the general public. In a world where the news is whatever horrific event happened most recently the Shuttle shines as a beacon of wonder and hope.

The Shuttle program is almost 30 years old and has only 7 more missions before it is shut down permanently. I remember the first Shuttle, back when I was in college. The lift off was spectacular; my whole dorm was watching in a group television room--everyone held our collective breath--when it landed. The cheering was nothing short of raucous.

Here are a few interesting facts about the Shuttle:

• At launch the Shuttle weighs 4.5 million pounds of which 3.8 million pounds are propellants, which are consumed in 8.5 minutes.
• The orbiter travels at 17,500 miles an hour, or 5 miles a second.
• The external tank (the big center orange one) holds 500,000 gallons of a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
• The two Solid Rocket Boosters consume fuel at a rate of 10 tons a second and finish burning the fuel in 2 minutes and 4 seconds.

There is a sound suppressor system in place. It consists of a 4 foot pit under the Shuttle, which is filled with water. The water absorbs the sound, but once the engines begin firing it vaporizes the wqter. To keep the sound suppressed NASA pours 400,000 gallons water into the pit (most of the smoke you see on take offs is actually vaporizing water). After launch only about 1,000 gallons are recovered.

Why do they do this? Because the alligators don’t like the sound? Nope. The sound from the engines is so great that if they didn’t do this the sound shock wave bouncing off the landing pad would destroy the Shuttle. The water dampens the shock wave enough to allow the Shuttle to clear it. Even with the sound suppression system if you are 800 feet from the launch pad the sound shock wave would kill you.

Who thought of that? What minds were at work with such details? I was constantly amazed at the whole effort to get the Shuttle up. Man’s mind at work for a really big purpose. It was really, really cool.

Here’s another fun fact that you wouldn’t want to launch not knowing. Have you ever heard launch control say, “Throttle down”, then “Throttle up”? Here’s the thing. You want to know Max Q. It is the maximum dynamic pressure on the spacecraft--go beyond that point and the Shuttle would collapse like an aluminum can. Think of it this way. If you have a really big sponge and push your hand into it slowly the sponge yields a little and folds toward your hand a bit. Punch it harder and the sponge folds around your hand more. Punch it at 10,000 mph and the sponge would totally envelope your hand. Sort of like that. Once the air density at higher altitudes is less they throttle up to reach escape velocity. Like I said, you want to know this before you take off, but how did they come upon this? What brilliant people work at NASA--they are truly a cut above.

Here are two things I expected but didn’t see. I was looking for the big digital clock doing the countdown, but that is further down the shore in the section reserved for the astronauts’ families and VIPs. I also was waiting to hear Mission Control and the countdown but there was no PA system in the public area--probably in the same area.

What we did see was the following. At 7:43 (remember, the launch was at 7:43:46) the entire area hummed with anticipation. The air was thick with anticipation. Everyone was waiting for a magnificent show. Everyone had their digital time keeping devises out (phones, watches, cameras, GPS) and were staring at the seconds slowly ticking by. At T-minus 6.5 seconds there was a brilliant white spec of light, followed 6.5 seconds later at precisely 7:43:46, by two more brilliant white lights. These were the ignition sequences of the main engines followed by the two solid rocket boosters. Then a big, white ball formed, followed by the actual lift off. As the Shuttle lifted off it looked as if the flames from the engines were still attached to the earth. They just kept growing until suddenly, the Shuttle was clear and on its way. The Shuttle is actually quite small, but the flame coming out of the engines to move that machine was 2-3 times its length.

About 15 seconds after we saw the silent lights the sound started rumbling under our feet. Sound moves slower than light and it took that long to travel the six miles to our place. It was a beautiful, intense sound and you knew, just knew, what it must have felt like strapped into that beautiful machine. Some seconds later we heard the “flapping” sound of the orbiter going into higher altitude. I can’t describe it better than a flapping sound, but if you have heard it you know what I mean.

The next day I planned to spend a couple hours at Kennedy Space Center and wound up taking the whole day--and wanting more. If you ever have a chance to go, plan to spend two days because there is so much to see. Take the kids!

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