Oh, I am so sorry to hear that! He was from right here in my neck of the woods, though I never met him in person.
Rest in piece, Libby Gone!

As long as he doesn't take a double dip, I'm good with it...

From what I'm seeing in the media, the first ass would be (unbelievably!) Dick Cheney's!
Seriously! Is that the liberal consensus?

Heh...me, too!

Hi Maggie!

Kevin Jennings would like that...

...and the Natural Guard.

The health care "debate" is a good example of the work of the social engineers currently en vogue as government employees. It is entirely the existence of third-party payers that has created the rising health care costs and the engineers' method of fixing it? Subsidize and expand it! All of the unintended consequences of this "fix" will be astounding and will inordinately affect the people who SHOULD be running this country: the middle class. All to appease a small minority of individuals/families (maybe ten per cent) who can't afford health insurance or choose not to spend their money on it.

Fix it by taking out the middle man (insurers) and setting up HSAs and focusing on catastrophic health insurance to cover those who can't afford anything cheaper. The very poor already are covered by our extensive welfare system.

Priorities? Sheesh!

There has never been a level of risk aversion approaching NASA's over the past twenty-five years or so. With that sort of hedging, it's a wonder anything gets accomplished. Private activity would and should change things but in this economy-and with these social engineers in charge of our response to this economy-it seems iffy that much private enterprise will be developed to turn things around.

If the Russians and Chinese were and are doing great things in space, as communist nations, it is in spite of their politics (and because they are not welfare states, in spite of their communist labels). Cooperation with these countries as they exist today is not in the best interest of the US.
Is Russia our ally? When they cooperate across the globe in aiding rogue nations and terrorists with weapons and technology? I think not. If Iran is close to becoming a nuclear power, it is directly because of Russia and China. That goes for NoKo, too.
I guess we should all hold hands with our "allies" and work together for world peace. Then when the first country to put a man on Mars turns out to be Communist, it just might also be the US. But at least big old bad war will be conquered.