Full funding for NASA 2009
About the Author
Are you interested in science and technology? How can we organize to get a commitment from our Party to include projects such as the Moon Base in our party platform for 2008 and 2009?

On the NASA home page, I found two interesting interactive features. The first is a JPL study into climate change. The second is a history of NASA itself. Give it a try!

http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html

 We would do well to increase NASA funding in the 111th Congress.

Space policy made a pretty decent splash at Netroots Nation. We had an excellent panel on space policy, and an excellent platform meeting. For those of you who don't remember, we had Andrew Hoppin moderating, and Chris Bowers, Lori Garver, Patricia Grace Smith, and George Whitesides all speaking. You can about the panelists here.

Join me over the fold to read, and see it

 

   Read More »
Hey Everyone,

I figured now would be a good time to remind everyone (again) about some upcoming space events, that would be worth going to. We have a couple of major events this week, as well as future events upcoming. I promise reports to any and all I attend, and I suggest that you attend as well   Read More »
I was told my a mentor of mine that two of the greatest gifts of striving for emotional or spiritual health are Gratitude and Forgiveness.

I have been struggling this past week with a vexing chronic illness, and spent 4 full days at Univ. of Washington Medical Center getting tests: one C.T. scan, 2 MRI's, lots of blood work and eight different doctor appointments.

Despite my occasional whining about my illness, I am very grateful to be alive and intact in 2008. I am always grateful after spending a day in the hospital: to patients I meet who are worse off than me and inspire me with their courage; to UWMC for being a World Class teaching hospital and for having Medical Insurance which makes wellness possible for me.

I am very grateful to the Democratic Party in 2008:   Read More »

This is being re-posted from my diaries over at dailykos

In many of my past diaries, I commented on Senator Obama, and his lack of a space policy, and the concern that he is anti human spaceflight. These diaries have ranged from long explanations, to something that was probably close to a rant.

However, today I want to talk about something that, Senator Obama can do, which doesn't require massive new spending, but would show an openness to the idea of manned spaceflight, and would fit well within his comments and concerns about having a coherent space policy. Senator Obama, please bring back the National Space Council.   Read More »
I am a Deaniac. I was an enthusiastic campaign volunteer for Dean in 2003/04 in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. My moniker on his DFA site was "Jake4Dean".

I made life-long friends on that campaign. There was something so exciting and heady to be in the campaign that first demonstrated the power of the internet and small individual donations. There were so many innovations. The blog was INCREDIBLE.

Dean for America is now Democracy for America, and I belong to that site as well. After Dr Dean became Chairman Dean, I put his name on a google alert so I could read every day his interviews across the country as he travelled for his 50-state strategy.

Dean was never popular with the press. They went as negative on him as they went negative on Hillary this election cycle. Even after the 50-state strategy was so successful in 2006, the pundits gave the credit to Rob Emmanuel. Now I like Emmanuel enough, but it was simply a lie that he was responsible for the Dem wins in congress in 2006.

Now in 2008, the successful local candidates supported by the 50 state strategy are able to step into statewide elections and Federal elections. It was a brilliant idea that Dean had.

Here's my confession: I was so disappointed when Dean lost the primaries, that I didn't vote for Kerry, who used most of Dean's talking points without ever giving him an ounce of praise or encouragement. Dean told us to work for Kerry, but I didn't. I moped. I bitched. I railed against the Universe. And the worst part of my confession follows: I didn't vote at all in the Presidential election of 2004. I sat it out, and the day after the election I had a talk with a good friend and started feeling really awful for not voting. I mean, I vote in EVERY election, even school board special elections. But I sat out 2004, depriving not only Kerry, but the down ticket candidates who could have benefited from my vote.   Read More »
To begin at the beginning, my #1 favorite friend at PartyBuilder is "Letitrip". She keeps me humble when needed and always is there with a shoulder to lean on when I'm down. I also admire her easy, fluent writing style. She knows she's my fave, I've told her many times.

Following are other favorites of mine. To me, these people are all true Party Builders, as they build the Democratic Party, not tear it down. My motto on my blog is "Democrats of all types, all stripes" I love and cherish the diversity of our Party.

Here goes:   Read More »
This is a re-post of a blog entry I published elsewhere

It discusses the the emerging space economy, and the impact it can have. We need to be aware of this, when we are determining space policy, since it can be (should be, and I would argue must be) of a major positive impact, and help the economy grow. It is a few months old, but by and large, the arguments are still valid, as are the links.

If you haven't already, please click here to read part #2   Read More »
Be wary of bloggers who claim to be Hillary supporters but who have only recently arrived on this site. The last thing the RNC wants is for Hillary to be the Veep candidate of a dream team. These self-proclaimed "hillary supporters" do nothing but incite controversy and consequently make Hillary look bad through their behavior.

We were told months ago about the RNC's "operation chaos" which is an attempt to forestall Democratic unity.
McCain has told us he is not strong on economic issues. He is so right. The following comes from factcheck.org regarding his fantasy plans to cut $100 billion from the federal budget in FY09.   Read More »
June 21, the first day of summer, has been proclaimed Unity Day by our friends at DFA. It is going to be an awesome day focused on registering new Democrats! For local and national campaigns, we CAN win, with the unprecedented registration of a million new voters. Heck, let's go for two million voters!

So go over to the DFA site, click on EVENTS and find the Unity Day event near you. Volunteer, get involved, give that 1 hour that Paul talks about: give it to your party and the future of Mother Earth!   Read More »
NASA link

This is a great site for anyone into science and/or space. For instance I learned today that the full moon coming on in the next 2 days will be an example of a "moon illusion". It will appear to be enormous, about 20 times its usual size, just as it rises. The site has times/by/city to watch the sky in the next two nights, Tue and Wed. Wed is the official full moon. It is significant to New Agers and spiritualists as it occurs just before the Solstice, and significant to Medieval Christians as the Christus Moon, when Jesus is most readily available via prayer and meditation, to help one enjoy one's Summer life.   Read More »
As I am a new Obama supporter, I spent a couple hours this afternoon reviewing his stand on issues on his website. I have heard over and over that Obama and Clinton have very similar takes on the issues of the day, and I wanted to find out for myself. Although I am not a one-issue voter, this year I place a high priority on the candidates' views on science and particularly on funding for scientific research, as I feel the USA is falling behind. I was happy to read the following statement:   Read More »
This a compelling reason why Florida and Michigan should not be counted as it stands now.

** The Democratic Party said they would not count, and names were pulled from the ballots.

** Results from incomplete ballots are not true indicators of candidate support, giving a Skewed picture and robbing many of their voice.

** Counting these skewed, invalid results would make this problem even worse.

** When a candidate wins, there should be no doubt. Taking these results as they are will leave BIG Doubts.
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THAT SAID...   Read More »
President Bush issued more Signing Statements today, this time on the "National Defense Authorization Act". Essentially he signed the laws into effect and the turned around and said "But I'm not going to follow some parts of this law"
Here is a list of the provisions that will be "ignored":   Read More »

Contrary to the Republican propaganda, repeated by members of PartyBuilder, that Senator Clinton has an undistinguished record in the Senate, she has done very well. In fact, as a newcomer to the Senate, one might call her record sterling.

Hillary Clinton is well-known and well-respected on both sides of the aisle for her advocacy for children and families and has been a national leader on homeland security and national security issues.

Senator Clinton is the first New Yorker ever to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where she has worked tirelessly to ensure the USA's military has the necessary resources to protect our national security. She has visited the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, where she has learned first-hand the challenges facing our combat forces.

   Read More »
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