September 7-14, a very big week . . .

September 15, 2009 by Gee Carol · Leave a Comment

It began with Labor Day. To be sure, the week felt markedly like a transitional one. During the week President Obama spent a great deal of time at the podium, making a number of very significant speeches. NASA watched over its STS-128 mission and released a number of spectacular images on Wednesday from the newly refurbished Hubble telescope. On Friday, the anniversary of 9/11/01, the President and First Lady spent time giving service to the community, as did thousands of people across the nation marking a National Day of Service. The week’s news was full of stories about the politics of health care reform in a Congress now back to work, opinion about the growing divide amongst the electorate, and uneasy reports about the future of the war in Afghanistan, as well as the future of the U.S. space program.

What has changed, if anything? There is a bigger divide between members of the two major parties, evident in the behavior of Republicans during the President’s speech Wednesday evening to a joint session of Congress. There seems to be growing opposition among many Americans, as well as rank and file Democrats, to the war in Afghanistan and its climbing casualty figures. This may have caused President Obama to say in his 9/11 speech at the Pentagon that he does not want Americans to forget the true nature of al-Qaeda, reports Scott Wilson of the Washington Post.

Opposition to health care reform has now grown to the point that organizers were able to stage a 9/12 march on Washington. Tens of thousands (according to the Washington Post estimate) of a loosely organized coalition of conservative “tea party” protesters marched on the nation’s capitol Saturday. Jeff Zeleny of the NYT, summarized the tone:

Their anger stretched well beyond the health care legislation moving through Congress, with shouts of support for gun rights, lower taxes and a smaller government. But as they sang verse after verse of patriotic hymns like “God Bless America,” sharp words of profane and political criticism were aimed at Mr. Obama and Congress.

At the same time a crowd of over 10,000 people came to enthusiastically stand and cheer at President Obama’s health care rally at Minneapolis’ Target arena. The President told the crowd that now is the time for action and warned against the scare tactics being employed by the opposition, reports Reuters.

What has stayed the same? A year later, little has changed on Wall Street, according to the New York Times‘ Alex Berenson. Big banks have not really restructured, financial stocks are on the rise, complex derivatives remain in play, few hedge funds have closed and executives are still pulling down huge bonuses. For instance, “30,000 Goldman Sachs employees will earn an average of $70,000 this year.” Worst of all the Obama administration’s proposed regulatory changes have gone nowhere in Congress. And the passage of time decreases the chances of significant crisis-driven reform.

The space shuttle Discovery completed another highly successful mission to resupply the International Space Station Friday, landing safely at Edwards AFB in California after battling bad weather in Florida for a couple of days. To quote Reuters:

Discovery had carried more than 7.5 tons of food, laboratory equipment, science experiments, spare parts, a new treadmill and crew quarters for the space station. The outpost is a $100 billion project involving 16 nations, which is nearing completion after more than a decade of construction.

NASA is turning over crew transport to the station to Russia, at a cost of about $50 million per seat, as it begins phasing out the shuttle. The space agency is also considering hiring U.S. commercial firms to ferry its astronauts. . . NASA has six flights remaining to finish outfitting the station and then plans to move on with development of a capsule and rocket that could ferry crews to the moon. Barack Obama considers the results of a study that has determined NASA’s lunar ambitions exceed its budget by about $3 billion a year.

What could change – “Humans aren’t going to Mars — or anywhere else — without more money,” is the story from Wired-Science (9/8/09). Another headline, “Panel’s report threatens NASA’s mission,” comes from The Hill (9/10/09) via Twitter. The article opens:

A report suggesting that NASA’s space travel goals are too ambitious for its budget is imperiling efforts by Florida and Texas lawmakers to win more money for the agency’s budget.

“The full Final Report is still being prepared and will be released when complete” is also via Twitter from NASA_HSF, the U.S. Human Space Flight Committee. Look for it to be released in early October.

What will not change is the mainstream media’s fascination with conflict, who is winning or losing, with outrageousness and with the mistaken idea that any old lie is merely the other side’s point of view. The week of September 7-14 saw President Obama seeming to regain his stride and the right-wing crazies more determined than ever to keep him off stride. The election in Afghanistan remains undecided and more and more war casualties occur. Nor has the President decided the future of the U.S. space program. Congress has its hands full with health care reform, and has no time (nor perhaps the stomach) for financial regulatory reform. Maybe it would be a good idea for everybody to take an occasional day off and catch their breath.

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