Consider this a bonus Quote of the Week, but since it’s not climate/science/weather related I didn’t give it top billing for QOTW this week. That honor went to a study from the Max Planck Institute.
You are probably thinking though that I’m going to write about something related to satellite sensing or NASA GISS. Maybe with Jim Hansen or Gavin Schmidt as topics? No, there’s even more FAIL than those two can muster. It’s about their boss.
h/t to a zillion people who wrote in, but borrowing a bit from Russ Steele at NCWatch:
Charles Bolden, head of NASA, tells Al Jazeera in a video that:
…the “foremost” task President Obama has given him is “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.”
Thus, NASA’s primary mission is no longer to enhance American science and engineering or to explore space, but to boost the self-esteem of “predominantly Muslim nations.”
I can think of a few satirical images I could create to illustrate this folly, but they’d probably start a Jyllands-Posten style jihad.
Exploring space didn’t even make the top three things Obama wants Bolden to accomplish. The other two are:
…”re-inspire children to want to get into science and math” and “expand our international relationships,”
See the video below if you find this quote unbelievable.
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This has passed beyond a question of left and right to one of absolute incompetence and idiocy. I always felt Ayn Rand’s antagonists were somewhat over the top, I guess I was wrong (shudder.
I may write on this later, it’s so moronic it hurts. There is just too much wrongthink in this world.
So, WUWT? Is Hansen et.al. going to Koran-school now?
Well, you can’t say that he’s not honest about what his marching orders are.
How well that fits with what NASA’s actual capabilities are or with what the public expects is the question.
Maybe that task would be more appropriately placed in the Education Department as opposed to a research agency.
And what is the White House complaining about wrt coverage of this buffoonery? That people are paying attention, and have the audacity to pipe up and say “Excuse me, but. . .” over the incident.
As the entire administration has been giving a new emphasis to Not Ready for Prime Time, maybe that’s all that NASA is good for, these days. We mustn’t put too much of a strain on the poor dears.
You wanted a change – you’ve got it.
I can’t believe he was serious. This must surely be pure propaganda or NASA might as well close down and save the USA a lot of Dollars. As a European, spending the first five years of my life under German occupation, I have always held USA in high regard regardless and saw Uncle Sam as my ultimate garantor of my freedom during the Cold War. I deplore the downward slide of this great country and do hope that at some stage The United States will regain its former strengths in science, engineering, business and entrepreneurship. The World needs a strong USA.
Beyond belief that once proud NASA is now just a political water boy for Obama. It seems like every effort is used to destroy the fabric of the United States of America. Every day yet another insult.
I’m with Jeff.
If I launched into a full-bore rant right now…I’d wind up getting banned.
There’s a bunch of folks in the Federal government that need to lose their jobs.
A whole bunch.
Hey, those guys gave us the abacus, so don’t knock ’em. I wouldn’t be without mine.
It is so sad to see an organization so totally lose its direction. I’m old enough to remember Skylab, the Viking probes and the promise of the space shuttle. I wanted to become an American so I could work at NASA!
What a tragically pathetic end to an organization that once inspired the world.
Name the next rocket Al Pollo. Ooops, forgot, they’re not in the rocket business anymore.
Without the video, I never would have believed it.
We’ll end loving Hansen and their funny trains.☺
Ahh, yes. Let’s have a rocket scientist exchange program. Give them even better technology than they can get from N. Korea or Pakistan. That’s the ticket. If I were Bolden, I’d know exactly where to send my next rocket.
I can’t wait to hear what Neil Armstrong has to say. Once he gets his head glued back together after the explosion, of course.
It is my understanding Iran wants a rocket with which they can reach Israel.
I take the space program has too much science in it for comfort.
Are Hansen and Schmidt not very busy these days?
How sad. Seems the whole West is on a race to the bottom. No doubt the experience they have gained in fabricating global warming science will stand them in good stead for fabricating Islamic history as well.
Unreal. I would not believe it had I not seen it. Amazing. Please vote in November and in the mean time write your elected officials. I am stunned.
NASA’s original mission was to push the limits and put a man on the moon. This was what they were and they did the job well. Next they were given the mission to be bus drivers to low orbit. They did it but not as well. Now they are given the mission to be diplomats. Want to bet on how well they will do this mission?
You commentators have it wrong. Obama et al are not just incompetent and idiotic. It is worse. Every thing done by them in policy formation and legislatively is intentional, maliciously so. E.G. see Paul Driessen’s (10/5) essay on todays ICECAP.com, “Obama’s Deliberate Katrina”.
Obama is in the process of creating and substituting a socialist tyranny for our constitutional government. He cannot be more clear about his motives and objectives. He repeats the regularly. Wake up everyone before it is too late.
America: 1776-2010 It was a good run.
The way you inspire children is by doing fun and exciting things like going to the moon. The space program inspired me as a child
In the rankings of what inspires children, presidential speeches come right near the very bottom. Suicide bombers, shoe bombers, underwear bombers, bus bombers, plane bombers, school attackers and hotel attackers rank even lower.
Congress ordered and funded the Yucca waste repository. Now several judges say Obama doesn’t have the authority to close it. Congress will have to rule on it. The President doesn’t negate legislation.
I am not sure Congress is ready to dismantle NASA.