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.
crackle.. hiss…. Mecca, the Camel has landed on the crescent moon…..crackle..hiss.. one small step for man, one giant stumble for womankind!
“Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic ‘spiritual principles’ in order to protect the environment.
In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man’s destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions – but particularly those of Islam.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1285332/Follow-Islamic-way-save-world-Charles-urges-environmentalists.html#ixzz0qVedA7z5
[REPLY – God Save the Queen! (For a long, long time.) ~ Evan]
When I was a kid, way back in the sixties, when NASA was NASA, I loved watching the moon landings, rockets going up, coming back. Then, later on we had the space probes, still sending us images, then we had the space shuttles, Mars programme etc etc. Then we had Obama telling us ‘YES WE CAN’, now telling us ‘NO WE CANNOT’ go to Mars, and I believe, soon, we will not be able to go even into earth orbit. But Nasa is, on the other hand, opening up to the Muslims. What on earth is happening to NASA, to the USA. I am not American, but European,however I had always considered the USA as the world’s protector of freedom and liberty and the protector of our right to do the right thing. The US saved the world three times from the beast, last century, th efirst world war, the second time from a Nazi takeover and the third time from a red take over. Now the USA is turningitself into a nothingness, an irrelevance and is losing fast. I wonder who would protect the world when the next would-be world dictator comes into being. When Obama turns the US into a military irrelevance, then the next global evil power will raise its head. Or has this already occured?
When I was a kid, way back in the sixties, when NASA was NASA, I loved watching the moon landings, rockets going up, coming back. Then, later on we had the space probes, still sending us images, then we had the space shuttles, Mars programme etc etc. Then we had Obama telling us ‘YES WE CAN’, now telling us ‘NO WE CANNOT’ go to Mars, and I believe, soon, we will not be able to go even into earth orbit. But Nasa is, on the other hand, opening up to the Muslims. What on earth is happening to NASA, to the USA. I am not American, but European,however I had always considered the USA as the world’s protector of freedom and liberty and the protector of our right to do the right thing. The US saved the world three times from the beast, last century, th efirst world war, the second time from a Nazi takeover and the third time from a red take over. Now the USA is turningitself into a nothingness, an irrelevance and is losing fast. I wonder who would protect the world when the next would-be world dictator comes into being. When Obama turns the US into a politcial and military irrelevance, in his great ‘save the planet from climate change’ leap forward, then the next global evil power will raise its head. Or has this already occured?
Well, I’m pretty sure this will cost the Dimocrats the Florida vote (certainly all the Space Coast, and I’ve got word from Orlando that folks there were fuming over the cut of the rocket program. LOTS of tourists
comecame to watch rocket launches…Oh well, China once dominated the world oceans, then burned the fleet. We’re just doing the same. And it didn’t hurt China much, only set it back for about 500 years…
So, no worries. China has a space program now, as do the Russians and the Japanese. Even India. We can always hitch a ride with one of them. If they have pity in their hearts or need a propaganda coup. And just think, we’ll likely make it back to space again in about 2510 or so… If they will let us.
If Obama had simply made a speech about science in which he had mentioned historical developments such as the Arab/Muslim contribution then that would have been fine. I’m all for people learning more about history but when people give credit to the Arabs they often forget that they got much of their knowledge from Nestorian Christians whose contribution should also be acknowledged.
I doubt if anyone would seriously object to NASA having educational goals but it is obviously quite bizzare to set them above anything to do with space. As a British teenager in the 1960s I remember how thrilled I was by the space missions of NASA and the Russians, especially the manned flights but also the unmanned inter-planetary missions. I’m glad that European nations (with the European Space Agency), Japan, China and India and some other countries participate in space research today.
The early American and Russian missions must have inspired an interest in science in countless thousands of people around the world. I first learnt about the Arab/Muslim contributions to science by reading books about astronomy. However despite the propaganda aspects of space research if Kennedy (or Kruschev) had given their scientists and engineers the same sort of instructions that Obama is supposed to have given NASA (I find it difficult to believe that he could be so daft as to say what he is supposed to have said) then, far from inspiring children and young people the effect would have been to weaken interest.
It would not have destroyed interest – space research was for too exciting for that – but it certainly would not have helped.
Patrick, I see that you’ve been very active in this thread but your position is in error.
It is NOT the job of the President to promote favoritism toward ANY religion. Past Presidents have gone out of their way to “eraticate” Christianity, entire bodies of the government exist to remove traces of religion in ALL forms.
Why, then, is this president obsessed with islam? Why is he tasking NASA, or ANY government body, with mending fences with a RELIGION???? ANY religion! It’s against almost everything the USA stands for, and it’s WRONG.
There is no “islamic” science, or Christian science, or to go back 60 years, no “Jew science”. There is science, and there is religion. The two are not connected, and not to be connected. Doing so is beyond wrong, it borders on ludicrous, and possibly treasonous. It seems to me that this administration is going out of their way to do everything possible to be wrong.
It doesn’t matter if the person who invented or discovered this, that or the other thing is islamic, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or a goat worshipping heathen. Is their science good? Are they right? Are their proofs in place and their conclusions well supported? I personally don’t care if people in another part of the world are being “represented” by a particular branch of the US government, and neither should anyone else.
NASA = Not About Space Anymore
Anthony, I am very disapointed to read the anti-Muslim rants in this thread. This is not up to WUWT’s usual very high ethical standards which, to me, has set WUWT apart from lesser blogs. I would be just as disapointed if people were having uncalled-for pops at Presbyterians or Episcopalians.
Had NASA not been involved, it never would have been a topic here, but this was so off the wall total epic FAIL that it deserved to be posted.
But yes I agree. We’ve heard enough ranting. Thread closed.