A fox guarding the hen house.

January 12, 2015 4:31 PM

Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas, global warming denier, and (attempted) NASA funding slasher, has been appointed to chair the Senate subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness. In other words, he will be overseeing NASA.

Cruz: "The Senate Must Not Sacrifice Funding for NASA's Core Mission to Continue Expanding Climate Change Funding"

"I’m disappointed that Democrats on the Commerce Committee have chosen to ignore the fiscal realities that we live in today. It's vital we continue to expand our capabilities for space exploration, and NASA has made admirable progress opening up space activity to the private sector. But the Senate must abide by Budget Control Act limitations, and it must not sacrifice funding for NASA’s core mission of space exploration to continue expanding climate change funding."

Bonus: "Meet the climate deniers who want to be president"

posted by brundlefly (108 comments total)

.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 4:35 PM on January 12, 2015 [4 favorites]

I would like to earmark my taxes next year to contribute solely to climate research and space.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:36 PM on January 12, 2015 [7 favorites]

Finally, he will fulfill mankind's ancient desire to destroy the sun
posted by The Whelk at 4:37 PM on January 12, 2015 [67 favorites]

.
posted by Dashy at 4:37 PM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?
posted by lydhre at 4:38 PM on January 12, 2015 [49 favorites]

I swear the "NASA" link was working fine when I posted.
posted by brundlefly at 4:39 PM on January 12, 2015

It's already started.
posted by phaedon at 4:40 PM on January 12, 2015 [11 favorites]

The man works fast, I'll give him that.
posted by davelog at 4:40 PM on January 12, 2015 [4 favorites]

It seems too understated to use

.

to represent an entire planet.

Yet, here we are.
posted by nfalkner at 4:41 PM on January 12, 2015 [20 favorites]

At last, Lamar Smith will have a worthy adversary in the battle for the title of Worst Head of a Science Subcommitee in the Legislature.
posted by ChuraChura at 4:41 PM on January 12, 2015 [6 favorites]

Time to trot out my favorite H.L. Menchen quote: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."

Thanks for making that happen, good people of Texas!
posted by mosk at 4:42 PM on January 12, 2015 [13 favorites]

Just to fuck with us some more, the GOP will give the guy who runs Marlboro the keys to C. Everett Koop's old office.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 4:44 PM on January 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

Guys, guys, its fine. Remember? Both sides are the same.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:45 PM on January 12, 2015 [80 favorites]

Senator Accuses Top Space Scientists Of Heliocentricity
posted by BitterOldPunk at 4:46 PM on January 12, 2015 [36 favorites]

Now... Are we actually certain the GOP has anyone who is less anti-science?
posted by Artw at 4:49 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Congress to overturn Laws Of Thermodynamics. "we don't know who drafted them, but we're making sure they don't hurt real Americans." immigrants, single moms to still experience conversation of mass, entropy say sources.
posted by The Whelk at 4:50 PM on January 12, 2015 [40 favorites]

It seems too understated to use

.

to represent an entire planet.

Yet, here we are.

India and China still have space programmes. I believe the ESA may even still be a thing.
posted by Artw at 4:52 PM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

You know, bread and circuses is supposed to involve actual food and entertainment.
posted by eriko at 4:52 PM on January 12, 2015 [49 favorites]

Brilliant. Well done.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:53 PM on January 12, 2015

This will end well.
posted by dazed_one at 4:53 PM on January 12, 2015

O
posted by dabug at 4:54 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

DIGGER, WERE GOING TO THE MOON!
posted by clavdivs at 4:55 PM on January 12, 2015

I heard that it's traditional to give this position to a member from Texas or Florida, which would make sense, although I'm not sure that it's true (all I could find was the committee members as of last year - since Cruz was the minority ranking member, this move seems unsurprising). Given that so many NASA employees are his constituents, I wonder how willing he'll be to crap on their jobs?
posted by naoko at 4:55 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Draft Elizabeth Warren
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:57 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

He wants to focus on space exploration rather than climate science, not disband NASA. It's not too unreasonable since that is generally understood to be their job. I'd be more concerned about continual wasting of money on manned programs than spending on climate research, but for the most part it's going to be business as usual at NASA. This post is ridiculously editorialized and the responses kind of over the top.
posted by Drinky Die at 4:58 PM on January 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

Puttin' the ass in NASA
posted by hal9k at 4:59 PM on January 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

this is like letting a toddler choose their own bedtime
posted by poffin boffin at 5:00 PM on January 12, 2015 [11 favorites]

Finally, someone willing to find us Space Jesus. (Lyrics and topic NSFW)
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:00 PM on January 12, 2015

NASA just picked up the Queen of Spades. My guess is they'll literally (not figuratively) try to shoot the moon now.
posted by nikoniko at 5:00 PM on January 12, 2015

"This will end well"? [nope...]

"This will end well"? [sigh]

"This will end"? [hm, almost got it]

"This swill." [ah, there we go]
posted by psoas at 5:00 PM on January 12, 2015 [5 favorites]

I'm actually rather surprised to learn that Ted Cruz believes in space.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 5:02 PM on January 12, 2015 [65 favorites]

Ok, but Buzz Aldrin gets one free shot.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:02 PM on January 12, 2015 [14 favorites]

this is like letting a toddler choose my bedtime
posted by Wolfdog at 5:02 PM on January 12, 2015 [48 favorites]

> Given that so many NASA employees are his constituents, I wonder how willing he'll be to crap on their jobs?

Ted Cruz (R, Lockheed)
posted by at by at 5:02 PM on January 12, 2015 [4 favorites]

He wants to focus on space exploration rather than climate science, not disband NASA. It's not too unreasonable since that is generally understood to be their job.

Given that they are using spacecraft in their climate research I don't think it's outside of their job description in the least.
posted by brundlefly at 5:03 PM on January 12, 2015 [10 favorites]

Yeah. Seriously, Space X is fucked, they're not a defense contractor.

Well, we're all fucked.
posted by eriko at 5:05 PM on January 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

I was thinking "This isn't so bad, he's not gonna screw NASA per se, just push to focus less on climate change, which is stupid, but isn't horrible."

Well, we're all fucked.
posted by eriko at 8:05 PM on January 12 [+] [!]

Shit.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:08 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

maybe time to start a petition on change.org to remove Cruz as chair. I'm Canadian so I can't. I'm sure it would be tough to ignore thousands of people demanding he resign. Just a thought.
posted by Pr0t35t3r at 5:10 PM on January 12, 2015

This bodes poorly for my insane notions about a comet hurtling towards earth on the 18'th.
posted by angerbot at 5:10 PM on January 12, 2015

I'm Canadian so I can't.

Well, could you please invade and annex us?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:11 PM on January 12, 2015 [16 favorites]

Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas,

Aarg.

global warming denier,

Aaaaaaaarg.

and (attempted) NASA funding slasher,

Aaaaarg.

has been appointed to chair the Senate subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness. In other words, he will be overseeing NASA.

Gaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Aarg.
posted by gwint at 5:11 PM on January 12, 2015 [6 favorites]

"And yet it moves"
posted by Divine_Wino at 5:13 PM on January 12, 2015 [9 favorites]

It's really hard to maintain the presumption of good faith in the face of shit like this.
posted by feloniousmonk at 5:16 PM on January 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

this is what happens when you people turn your backs on the old gods

to right this terrible wrong we must begin construction of the wicker man
posted by poffin boffin at 5:17 PM on January 12, 2015 [26 favorites]

/wonders how ISS will do without Russia OR the US.
posted by Artw at 5:18 PM on January 12, 2015

Jus' sayin': if Texas secedes, Ted Cruz will lose his senate seat.
posted by wormwood23 at 5:20 PM on January 12, 2015 [8 favorites]

The rest of the world and the private sector are doing a pretty decent job of continuing our exploration of space, and likely this nitwit will only hold the job for, at most 2 yrs, but just ponder the other positions he might have been given.
posted by OHenryPacey at 5:21 PM on January 12, 2015

Medieval Times is no longer just something you can go to to watch actors in costume ride horses and throw meat around, it's now much of the United States, what with the catastrophically angry, bitter, assholes who will bugger public health, the public good, and knowledge and reason in general to serve their own ridiculous fantasies.
posted by juiceCake at 5:24 PM on January 12, 2015 [11 favorites]

YE'AH!
posted by clavdivs at 5:30 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

This post is ridiculously editorialized and the responses kind of over the top.

Facts are not editorializing and in terms of being over the top, are you not familiar with Ted Cruz?
posted by juiceCake at 5:30 PM on January 12, 2015 [5 favorites]

I've been keeping my mouth shut regarding the new Congress, mostly because I'm afraid that if I begin to rant or weep, I will not be able to stop. Reagan sucked and screwed things up, a lot. W. sucked and screwed things up, a lot. And Clinton and Obama both had to struggle with obstructionists determined to keep them from doing any good. Maine elected a Republican governor who's a malicious jackass. And Canada won't give me any immigration points for having Canadian grandparents.
posted by theora55 at 5:32 PM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

a worthy adversary in the battle for the title of Worst Head of a Science Subcommitee in the Legislature

Different category, but over here in the UK we have a contender in the form of David Tredinnick (MP for Narnia) who sits on the Science and Technology Select Committee despite being a promoter of astrology, psychic healing and homeopathy. We don't have much of a space program for him to monkey about with however...
posted by sobarel at 5:36 PM on January 12, 2015 [6 favorites]

Well, could you please invade and annex us?

Alas, the Canadian conservatives in charge have quite a head start on anti-science villainy.
posted by Celsius1414 at 5:36 PM on January 12, 2015 [10 favorites]

I'm pretty sure there's no Senator I like less than that McCarthy-looking motherfucker.

Ugh.
Ugh.
Ugh.
posted by notsnot at 5:37 PM on January 12, 2015

Facts are not editorializing and in terms of being over the top, are you not familiar with Ted Cruz?

Describing it as a "Fox guarding the hen house" and tagging it "wtf" is editorializing. Describing him as someone who wants to slash the NASA budget when what he was trying to do was keep the budget in line with the bipartisan negotiated sequestration President Obama signed into law is deceptive framing. If we are doing an across the board cut, NASA space toys are the LAST thing that should be exempted when things like social service cuts are still on the table. The responses in the thread are just recreational outrage aimed at Republicans.

Cruz is a scary person, he is wrong about climate change. I have described my personal reaction to him speaking as feeling as if he is a caricature of a movie villain preacher that is secretly the anti-christ, but he is going to have no serious impact on NASA.
posted by Drinky Die at 5:51 PM on January 12, 2015 [5 favorites]

Drinky Die: "The responses in the thread are just recreational outrage aimed at Republicans. "

Given how things have been going with our so-called Federal Government and the voters who elect them these past several months (years?), I think that recreational outrage is about all we can expect in response.
posted by fireoyster at 5:56 PM on January 12, 2015

He wants to focus on space exploration rather than climate science, not disband NASA. It's not too unreasonable since that is generally understood to be their job. ... The responses in the thread are just recreational outrage aimed at Republicans.

I have to conclude that you don't fully understand the value and importance of NASA's Earth Observing Systems programs. Satellites like AQUA/MODIS, GRACE, AVHRR, and Landsat are absolutely crucial in the vast majority of global-scale climate and ecology research. Whole research wings of my department would have to shut down without their data. Halting climate change research at NASA would halt an alarming proportion of global change research, and our ability to predict and monitor global environmental change would be severely damaged.

Ending these monitoring programs and failing to fund their maintenance and replacement would be like taking all of our early-warning systems offline just as we head into an era of near-unprecedented ecological instability. The climate change research made possible by these satellites is arguably much more important than space exploration, and ending these programs would be a huge mistake.
posted by dialetheia at 6:07 PM on January 12, 2015 [88 favorites]

If we are doing an across the board cut, NASA space toys are the LAST thing that should be exempted when things like social service cuts are still on the table.

As dialetheia observed, these "space toys" are incredibly important to our future and our children's future. Social service cuts shouldn't be on the table either, but to write off these tools as unimportant misses the point entirely.
posted by brundlefly at 6:12 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

For the record, I can see the "wtf" tag as being biased. Fine. But, given Cruz's own biases, I think the fox/hen house bit pretty accurately describes the situation. YMMV.
posted by brundlefly at 6:14 PM on January 12, 2015

Who needs intellectual pursuits, anyway?
posted by Spatch at 6:15 PM on January 12, 2015

Wikipedia on the subcommittee:

The Subcommittee's jurisdiction includes oversight of NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. For the 111th Congress, the Subcommittee gained additional jurisdiction on science matters from the former United States Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation.

If anything this post is undereditorialized by focusing on NASA. Those are an awful lot of science-related agencies for a denialist to be in any position of authority. I am extraordinarily frustrated that putting this ignoramus in charge of the NSF's funding is going to be met with less outrage than it deserves over fears of 'partisanship'. And in the short term I'm afraid for all the Earth-sensing missions that NASA operates that are sure to be under his ax, since they are a major component of understanding global warming.

My outrage is professional, precisely-targeted, and entirely deserved. The last time Republicans were in charge of funding science they made sure the government kept paying us, but stopped listening to us. Earth's situation is too close to the wire for that to happen again.
posted by traveler_ at 6:16 PM on January 12, 2015 [22 favorites]

Plus NASA doesn't only play around with "space toys." NASA is integrally involved with a lot of fundamental research on things like the atmopshere, climate change, planetary evolution, etc. - things that require some modicum of appreciation for and understanding of the scientific process. Someone who on the record doesn't believe that climate change is a thing really should not be in charge of a committee funding NASA and other scientific pursuits. See also: Marco Rubio in charge of the NOAA subcommittee. Ridiculous.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:19 PM on January 12, 2015 [4 favorites]

Also, NSF funding and the review process! Already under threat from the House. Ted Cruz in charge of it on the senatorial side? It makes my poor little evolutionary anthropologist heart quiver in fear.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:21 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Plus NASA doesn't only play around with "space toys." NASA is integrally involved with a lot of fundamental research on things like the atmopshere, climate change, planetary evolution, etc...

Not to mention biological and medical research.
posted by brundlefly at 6:25 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

My fellow Americans, welcome to the reality of our new Congress. (This shit is gonna get far worse before it gets better, I fear.)
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 6:32 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Try to look on the bright side; the new coal-powered space shuttles will have all sorts of colorful logos on them, just like NASCAR!
posted by drinkyclown at 6:33 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

If it's any consolation, I doubt Cruz will attend many subcommittee meetings past June or so, given his presidential ambitions and the copious free time and/or executive privilege enjoyed by his chief GOP rivals.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 6:39 PM on January 12, 2015

That's nothing. Jim Inhofe just reclaimed his old chairmanship of the Senate Environment and Public Works Comittee, so you might want to think about selling that beachfront condo in Miami:

“My point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous” - Sen. Jim Inhofe
posted by seymourScagnetti at 6:54 PM on January 12, 2015 [8 favorites]

And to follow up on seymourScagnetti's comment above:

Senator Marco Rubio, Republican from Florida, was named chair to the subcommittee on oceans, atmosphere, fisheries and coast guard , which oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the protection of oceans and marine life in US jurisdiction. Rubio has said he does not “believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate”, which is a more lenient position than the new chair of the environment committee, Jim Inhofe, who denies climate science outright.

I'd find this wildly funny if the consequences weren't so dire. As it is, I guess I'll just take up heavy drinking.
posted by RedOrGreen at 7:03 PM on January 12, 2015

Can someone provide an Australian with a summary of what powers someone who's a "Senate subcommittee chair" has? I mean, Cruz isn't a cabinet secretary. He's not running NASA. What does he do? What *can* he do? Does he, individually, have the power to say "Right, we don't need no MODIS anymore"?
posted by Jimbob at 7:04 PM on January 12, 2015

Under the U.S. separation of powers, the executive branch (president) is in charge of running most of the government programs. But the congress is in charge of funding them. This is called the "power of the purse-strings" and means if the Senate doesn't want MODIS anymore, they can pass a budget that says "zero funding may be spent on MODIS" and it's against the law for the government to fund MODIS.

The yes/no question on funding this stuff happens in floor votes in the Senate and the House of Representatives, but the specific details of what line items are and aren't in the spending bills are negotiated in these committees and subcommittees. By chairing this committee Cruz will have a large amount of individual power over a narrow portion of what the government does through these specific agencies.
posted by traveler_ at 7:10 PM on January 12, 2015 [5 favorites]

I don't really derive much comfort knowing that Cruz has yet to go on record to tie his shirtsleeve ideology to "prudently trimming the fat" (or whatever euphemism they come up with) at NASA. I don't think that we lack for evidence that he will be a profoundly poor steward of everything within his purview in his role with this committee.

The last hearing the committee held was Leading the Way: Adapting to South Florida's Changing Coastline. If they revisit that subject, it'll probably be in an attempt to ban further research. Honestly, a fox in the hen house never had it so good. This is like if the farmer showed up, saw the fox and said "you know what, why can't those lazy chickens defend themselves?! They deserve to be eaten!"
posted by feloniousmonk at 7:28 PM on January 12, 2015

I would like to earmark my taxes next year to contribute solely to climate research and space.

If taxes worked that way, and individuals could fill in a pie chart to show where they wanted their tax dollars to go, it's not impossible that the budgets for defense and education would reverse overnight.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:32 PM on January 12, 2015 [4 favorites]

Fight every single cut. Trust absolutely nothing that comes out of the mouth of Cruz, Paul, Ryan, Imhofe, etc.. Make no long term deals, nothing that can't be reverted easily should the Republicans loses the House and/or Senate in 2016. Veto, veto, veto.
posted by benito.strauss at 7:35 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ursula Hitler: "I would like to earmark my taxes next year to contribute solely to climate research and space.

If taxes worked that way, and individuals could fill in a pie chart to show where they wanted their tax dollars to go, it's not impossible that the budgets for defense and education would reverse overnight."

Cool, I'm in. Wait, was that statement against or in favor of the idea?
posted by notsnot at 7:37 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

"On comparing the costs of sending a man to the moon to the cost of defunding Obamacare: 'The moon might be as intimidating as Obamacare'

Remember this gem?
posted by clavdivs at 7:39 PM on January 12, 2015

Cruz now chairs a subcommittees of the Commerce Committee, which is responsible for oversight and policy. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies is responsible for the NASA budget (and NSF and NOAA, IIRC). My personal bias is such that I loathe the Republican Party and most things it claims to stand for, including Ted Cruz, but his subcommittee does not control their budget. He and his staff can still do a lot of damage by redirecting or eliminating programs, and once staff and resources leave the agency in response to such changed they can be hard to recover later. But I think we need to focus on the actual responsibilities of the committee, rather than on those of other committees.
posted by wintermind at 7:50 PM on January 12, 2015

For everyone here who is horrified by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio heading these committees (personally, I'm more concerned about Rubio f*cking with the environment) my advice is to email them. Let them know your concerns about how they may damage NASA and the environment. Tell them that you'll be watching their actions, then follow up with emails every. single. time. they do something that causes damage.

It may or may not make a difference, but we might as well use the tools we have to register our displeasure.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 8:14 PM on January 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

Ground control to Major Ted
Ground control to Major Ted
Take your crazy pills
Tin helmet on your head

Ground control to Major Ted
Obstructing Congress
Kills it dead
Check attrition
And may GOP’s love be with you

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff

This is Ground Control
To Major Ted
You’ve denied climate change
NASA’s budget you’re intent to rearrange
Now it’s time to lead this program
If you dare

I hear Major Ted call Ground Control,
And my hope is through the floor
Don’t want to live on this planet anyway
Since the weather’s very different today

For here
We are hostage to a mean man
We’d like to save the world
We turn our eyes to you
But there’s nothing good you’ll do

Though he’s past
The point of proof and shame
He keeps on standing still
And the country tears apart when we say “go”
Tell the US it’s been fun but now
It blows

Ground control to Major Ted
Your circuit’s dead
There’s something wrong
Inside your head
Can you hear me, Major Ted?
Can you hear us, Major Ted?
posted by ilana at 8:34 PM on January 12, 2015 [8 favorites]

Brandon Blatcher: "Well, could you please invade and annex us?"

Harper would shut the whole thing down the first time some NASA scientist talked to the press without permission.
posted by Mitheral at 8:51 PM on January 12, 2015 [5 favorites]

This Neil DeGrasse Tyson speech from a few years ago needs to be required watching for all members of Congress. In it he lays out the immense scientific and cultural benefits of the space program.
posted by bstreep at 10:05 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

scientific and cultural benefits

Well, they don't really like any of those things.
posted by Artw at 10:11 PM on January 12, 2015 [6 favorites]

Oh FFS.
posted by homunculus at 10:28 PM on January 12, 2015

That's nothing. Jim Inhofe just reclaimed his old chairmanship of the Senate Environment and Public Works Comittee, so you might want to think about selling that beachfront condo in Miami

Meet the US Senate's most important anti-environmentalist: James Inhofe believes climate change is a hoax; he even wrote a book saying so. What does Inhofe actually think, and what will it mean for the future?
posted by homunculus at 10:43 PM on January 12, 2015

In better news, there's this guy:

Pope Francis’s edict on climate change will anger deniers and US churches

Pope Francis plants a flag in the ground on climate change
posted by homunculus at 10:58 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

I also will trot out my favorite Mencken quote in response to this:
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
posted by doctoryes at 1:42 AM on January 13, 2015 [4 favorites]

exactly what to do about those who owe ZERO [i.e. getting refunds] and how their interests would be represented in this

An assumption, but I believe the working folks who do get refunds but are essentially poor do pay a tax in one form or another. These could be calibrated in. The metrics are, well, beyond me. But dang that's neat.
posted by clavdivs at 1:51 AM on January 13, 2015

exactly what to do about those who owe ZERO [i.e. getting refunds] and how their interests would be represented in this

Why not let them nominate which spending categories have to cough up? "Gimme $2,000 from defence, and $500 from Agriculture." Fun and fair!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 2:16 AM on January 13, 2015

Wait, was that statement against or in favor of the idea?

In favor. It chaps my ass that my tax dollars helped pay for the Gulf War.

But I recognize the potential problems. It could well be that your stated wishes wouldn't make a damn bit of difference, and Washington would still spend your money however they saw fit. It could also be that way too much money would get put into the wrong stuff. Maybe Americans would intentionally neglect NASA, for instance, and put even more of their cash into bombs and guns.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:18 AM on January 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Your vote counts.

Your not voting also counts.
posted by tommasz at 6:17 AM on January 13, 2015 [6 favorites]

Mod note: A couple comments from earlier deleted; please save the meta complaints for Metatalk. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:39 AM on January 13, 2015

And to think there were actually people who, after the midterms, said that the Republicans wouldn't do anything too crazy, for fear of jeopardizing their chances in 2016. Yet, in the first week or two of the new Congress, it's become perfectly clear that the crazy is in full-effect and is only going to ramp-up to higher and higher levels as the next two years plod on.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:08 AM on January 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Well, we'd better not let DSCOVR's launch date slip any more, or it'll get grounded AGAIN by climate science deniers.
posted by circleofconfusion at 7:53 AM on January 13, 2015

brundlefly: "Meet the climate deniers who want to be president"

All GOP candidates, from now until it's undeniable to even their dumbest voters, at which point they'll blame it on the Democrats.

Next?
posted by IAmBroom at 9:57 AM on January 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

The responses in the thread are just recreational outrage aimed at Republicans.

No they're not. Any outrage (and I don't see any but perhaps those posts have been deleted) is hardly recreational and is aimed at cruel, nasty, mean, completely unreasonable, disingenuous full of shit politicians gaining influence over things they clearly don't want to understand or pretend to not understand. The only upside is that sometimes these despicable people don't do anything when they're in power except spout absolute bullshit.

Let them know your concerns about how they may damage NASA and the environment. Tell them that you'll be watching their actions, then follow up with emails every. single. time. they do something that causes damage.

They'll be unread and if read at all, dismissed. Good idea to have reasonable concerns on record. Though that may suffer in the future as well.
posted by juiceCake at 11:18 AM on January 13, 2015

My idea is this: Pick an appropriately high-level set of spending categories

I like this but I'm not sure if people would know enough to make the right choices, and that could have major consequences. But probably we aren't spending correctly anyway. I have been kicking around a related idea which might be a good precursor to yours: Come up with a new standard format for pay stubs that breaks taxes down further by spending category. So instead of SS tax, federal, state, etc. you have military 18%, science 1% and so forth, translated into $6.23 or whatever the dollar amount is for each person's monthly/weekly paycheck. Make Paychex and the other big payroll firms print stubs in that format (which should be a nice easy-to-read breakdown) and send the updated percentages each year. I think most people, including me, have no idea about how much is spent where even if we occasionally read an article about it. This would put it in the face of everyone who has a job and we'd all then be better informed.

Plus hopefully people would realize how dumb it is to be outraged by the 2 pennies or whatever that goes to the NEA.

GENIUS AMIRITE
posted by freecellwizard at 12:49 PM on January 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Back on topic, the wtf may be a bit much, but it seems like Ted Cruz as chair is insane regardless of party. I'm a computer guy in the IT department. Are there people who don't like the IT guys? Sure. Would it be reasonable for the company to put a guy in charge of the IT department (or its budget) who hates IT, doesn't understand its value, and actively wants to reduce or eliminate the IT department? Especially a guy who hates IT because he's Amish or something and is philosophically opposed to computers?

He's not qualified.
posted by freecellwizard at 1:09 PM on January 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

NASA'S primary mission should be space exploration...period. This should not be a partisan issue. It would be great to have unlimited funding for all these other things but that is unrealistic.
posted by republican at 1:18 PM on January 13, 2015

That is NASA's primary mission. In order to fulfill that mission, they have to do a pretty breathtaking amount of research. Do you not understand this?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:21 PM on January 13, 2015 [4 favorites]

The fact that NASA has a primary mission doesn't preclude other missions. Those missions can include incredibly important things that NASA is uniquely qualified for.

Come up with a new standard format for pay stubs that breaks taxes down further by spending category. So instead of SS tax, federal, state, etc. you have military 18%, science 1% and so forth, translated into $6.23 or whatever the dollar amount is for each person's monthly/weekly paycheck.

I like this. An itemized receipt.
posted by brundlefly at 1:25 PM on January 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

I mean that's like saying the Army's primary mission is to shoot people, they shouldn't be doing any medical research.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:26 PM on January 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Subcommittee's jurisdiction includes oversight of NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

I guess we won't be switching to metric anytime soon?

NASA'S primary mission should be space exploration...period. This should not be a partisan issue. It would be great to have unlimited funding for all these other things but that is unrealistic.

Developing satellites to study our own climate could come in handy for studying the climates of other planets, don't you think?
posted by Thoughtcrime at 3:44 PM on January 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Developing satellites to study our own climate could come in handy for studying the climates of other planets, don't you think?

It's funny. I've argued the reverse of this (that studying the climates of other planets could come in handy in studying our own climate) when talking to environmentalist liberals who think we shouldn't be spending money on space exploration.
posted by brundlefly at 4:14 PM on January 13, 2015

I'm sure there's some overlap between climate change funding and space exploration funding but this is mostly just bureaucrats trying to justify their existence. Let NASA focus on its core mission. If we had more realists like Cruz then perhaps we wouldn't be relying on the Russians as our space taxi to the ISS.
posted by republican at 4:19 PM on January 13, 2015

...realist?

Cruz denies that climate change is a thing. How is that realism?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:02 PM on January 13, 2015 [3 favorites]

"If we had more realists like Cruz..."

*spittake*
posted by brundlefly at 5:03 PM on January 13, 2015 [6 favorites]

*spittake*

One of the slimier mushrooms varieties.
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:31 PM on January 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

brundlefly: ""If we had more realists like Cruz..."

*spittake*"

Yeah, exactly. That is some trolling fail, right there.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 8:16 PM on January 15, 2015