Monday, February 03, 2003

Oh Yeah, and You Too

Yet more celebratory Islamic crowing about the Columbia disaster this week, this time from London. Abu Hamza al-Masri, Muslim cleric and suspected terrorist, went one further than other anti-America, anti-Israel leaders, calling the shuttle mission "a trinity of evil because it carried Americans, an Israeli and a Hindu." How considerate of his fellow Muslims in Pakistan. People in Iraq only managed to hate the Americans and Israeli austronaut Col. Ilan Ramon, while al-Masri correctly remembered that Dr. Kalpana Chawla had been born in India. Now that’s multiculturalism at its finest.

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Sunday, February 02, 2003

March On, Christian Democrat Soldiers

Anti-war sentiment in Germany may not be nearly as strong as most people thought. Yesterday’s elections were a “crushing defeat” for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s Social Democrats and their policy of opposing any military intervention in Iraq. Schroeder, in the reverse of the policy leftists accuse President Bush of employing, has attempted to draw attention away from a faltering economy by focusing attention of his party’s staunch refusal to confront Saddam Hussein. It doesn’t seem to be working.

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Saturday, February 01, 2003

Requiescat in Pace

According to Hiawatha Bray, tech columnist for the Boston Globe, people are already trying to sell debris from the Columbia shuttle on eBay. The good folks at eBay, however, are deleting listings as soon as they are made. Fortune hunters with no respect for the dead might be their own worst enemies, however, as the NASA has already warned people not to handle any bits of wreckage. From the Fox News website: “The Army's 1st Cavalry Division sent a helicopter search-and-rescue task force from Fort Hood, Texas. NASA also asked members of the public to help in its search for debris, but warned people not to touch the pieces because they might be contaminated with toxic propellants.”

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The Last Images

Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz has posted several photos from the last mission of the space shuttle Columbia, including shots of first-ever Israeli astronaut Col. Ilan Ramon. Americans and Israelis are joined in mourning by the people of India, in lamenting the loss of Indian-born astronaut Dr. Kalpana Chawla.

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The Surly Bonds of Earth

Accounts of the loss of the shuttle Columbia are here: Associated Press, United Press International, and Washington Post. Reuters is reporting the inevitable claim from Iraq, that the death of the seven astronauts was divine retribution for U.S. misbehavior.

Also, Declan McCullagh has posted an intriguing email from a woman who was apparently fired from NASA two years ago for complaining to administrators about safety concerns. Writes Dian Hardison: “I F-ING WARNED THEM. I told them that the technicians and engineers were overworked. I told them that there were too many managers and too many meetings and ‘dog-and-pony’ shows. I told them that their senior ‘face time’ play games, while they spent all their time plotting how to give each other pay raises, and left the guys on the floor to struggle day to day with obsolete and overpriced and unqualified equipment, was going to result in another Challenger.”

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