NASA's new congresscritter...

Now that the Texas republicans have taken gerrymandering to a
whole new dimension, it will be interesting to see what the fallout will
be. On a space related note, Tom "the hammer" DeLay is now the prougd
representative of the Johnson Space Center. The JSC was formerly in the
9th district of Nick Lampson. Unfortunately, he was a Democrat. So his
district was eliminated and DeLay's 22nd district will pick up the JSC.
As the Houston Chronicle reports today, the Texas Medical Center is likewise
being stripped from a Democrat and handed to another prominent Texas
Republican, John Culberson.
The incorporation of the JSC into DeLay's district is seen as an
attempt to butress his "safe" district, which has been hit by the sagging
economy and business migration outward. Now the powerful House Speaker has
a directly government-reliant consituency that will depend on him for
dollars from Washington. Republicans say that moving JSC to the HOuse
Leaders district will help NASA and keep NASA money coming in state. It will
also allow DeLay to tap the "cash cow" of relatively affluent and politically
knowledgeable NASA employees.
I'm not certain if this will have any long term effects for NASA
funding. DeLay is considered to have a "safe" seat -- but look at the fall
of Newt Gingrich. On the other hand, acquiring JSC is one way to avoid taking
such a fall. DeLay is a "traditional fiscal conservative" who hates spending
when it is spent on anything outside his district. It remains to be seen,
however, if how much of his considerable political capital he will expend in
efforts to protect or increase JSC funding.

regards,
-------------------------------------------------------------

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 21:36:58 +0000 (UTC), in a place far, far away,
Steven James Forsberg made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

I'm not certain if this will have any long term effects for NASA
funding. DeLay is considered to have a "safe" seat -- but look at the fall
of Newt Gingrich. On the other hand, acquiring JSC is one way to avoid taking
such a fall. DeLay is a "traditional fiscal conservative" who hates spending
when it is spent on anything outside his district. It remains to be seen,
however, if how much of his considerable political capital he will expend in
efforts to protect or increase JSC funding.

That's bad news, particularly for any prospects of reforming the
center.

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

Just for the record, Tom Delay is House Majority Leader, not Speaker
(yet, in any case.)

Delay has always been a supporter of NASA spending, so the effects of
redistricting will have no discernable effect on how much or little
NASA gets to spend. I suspect, this kind of thing aside, NASA is in
for a new mission--beyond LEO exploration--and a steady increase in
it's budget. I tend to regard this as a good thing, if for nothing
else that it steers the space agency away from LEO operations and into
an area that plays to its strengths. Those people whose sole space
policy is "NO!" may disagree, of course.

On 18 Oct 2003 22:21:01 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Mark Whittington) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

I tend to regard this as a good thing, if for nothing
else that it steers the space agency away from LEO operations and into
an area that plays to its strengths. Those people whose sole space
policy is "NO!" may disagree, of course.

Who would that be, Mark?

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message ...
On 18 Oct 2003 22:21:01 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Mark Whittington) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

I tend to regard this as a good thing, if for nothing
else that it steers the space agency away from LEO operations and into
an area that plays to its strengths. Those people whose sole space
policy is "NO!" may disagree, of course.

Who would that be, Mark?

Anyone who opposes every new proposal without offering any serious one
of their own. (And by serious, I do not mean anything that begins
with, "First, we abolish NASA", a thing that will not happen in the
real world.)

On 21 Oct 2003 15:16:20 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Mark Whittington) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

(Rand Simberg) wrote in message ...
On 18 Oct 2003 22:21:01 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Mark Whittington) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

I tend to regard this as a good thing, if for nothing
else that it steers the space agency away from LEO operations and into
an area that plays to its strengths. Those people whose sole space
policy is "NO!" may disagree, of course.

Who would that be, Mark?

Anyone who opposes every new proposal without offering any serious one
of their own. (And by serious, I do not mean anything that begins
with, "First, we abolish NASA", a thing that will not happen in the
real world.)

Can you name names, or just offer forth caricatures of real persons'
positions?

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers:

h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message .. .
On 21 Oct 2003 15:16:20 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Mark Whittington) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

(Rand Simberg) wrote in message ...
On 18 Oct 2003 22:21:01 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Mark Whittington) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

I tend to regard this as a good thing, if for nothing
else that it steers the space agency away from LEO operations and into
an area that plays to its strengths. Those people whose sole space
policy is "NO!" may disagree, of course.

Who would that be, Mark?

Anyone who opposes every new proposal without offering any serious one
of their own. (And by serious, I do not mean anything that begins
with, "First, we abolish NASA", a thing that will not happen in the
real world.)

Can you name names, or just offer forth caricatures of real persons'
positions?

Don't be defensive, Rand, it's not specific to you. There's lots of
shortsighted talking heads out there.

Tom Merkle

On 22 Oct 2003 13:33:28 -0700, in a place far, far away,
(Tom Merkle) made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:

I tend to regard this as a good thing, if for nothing
else that it steers the space agency away from LEO operations and into
an area that plays to its strengths. Those people whose sole space
policy is "NO!" may disagree, of course.

Who would that be, Mark?

Anyone who opposes every new proposal without offering any serious one
of their own. (And by serious, I do not mean anything that begins
with, "First, we abolish NASA", a thing that will not happen in the
real world.)

Can you name names, or just offer forth caricatures of real persons'
positions?

Don't be defensive, Rand, it's not specific to you. There's lots of
shortsighted talking heads out there.

Of course it's not specific to me. Riiiggghht.

I'm sure that's why he made exactly the same comment at my weblog.
Just coincidence...

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Swap the first . and @ and throw out the ".trash" to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers: