Tag Archives: Climate change deniers

Rocket $cience? NASA may dip into ads & naming rights

Business, National, ,

Another bad idea crawled out of the swamp of stupid inhabited by Trump and his appointed department secretaries and administrators. Trump’s recently appointed head of NASA Jim Bridenstine is reportedly exploring selling advertising and naming rights to U.S. space program rockets and other spacecraft. That’s right — the United States space program, once the pride of the nation and envy of the world, may now sell off advertising rights for “extra cash.”

The NYTimes.com on Jim Bridentstine’s “vision”: “Is it possible for NASA to offset some of its costs by selling the naming rights to its spacecraft?” he asked during a meeting of a council that advises NASA. “Or the naming rights to its rockets? I’m telling you, there is interest in that right now.”[…] Mr. Bridenstine has asked a committee of the NASA Advisory Council to explore whether it might be done, despite regulations or laws that seem to prohibit such activities. He also raised the possibility of allowing NASA astronauts to sign endorsement deals.adonthemoon

So who is Jim Bridenstine, the new head of NASA? Well…Bridenstine is a former US Navy pilot, executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and a three-term Tea Party GOP congressman from Oklahoma. He had a little ethical lapse while in Congress — “called on the carpet” you could say. The issue surfaced in 2015: Bridenstine was involved in an ethics controversy when it came out that in May 2013 he and nine other members of Congress and some staffers took a trip to Azerbaijan that was found to have been paid for by that country’s government-owned oil company. Bridenstine also received two rugs, one valued at $2,500 and another at $3,500. He ultimately returned the rugs. On top of that as a Tea Party congressman he holds many extreme rightwing positions including anti-LGBT views, and until recently climate change denial. “I heard a lot of experts, and I read a lot,” he is quoted as saying after joining NASA.

But here’s the best part of his biography as far as NASA is concerned and it may even hold the key to his vision of the future for NASA. In 2007 while working for defense contractor Wylie Laboratories on aircraft instrumentation systems, [h]e also became involved in a speculative Rocket Racing League. The idea was to race rocket planes in a setup patterned after the NASCAR stock car racing circuit. One demonstration run was made in 2010, but nothing else came of the league.

Sadly, Bridenstine is just one of Trump’s “best” people, the horrible multitudes supposedly working away in the federal government to MAGA: Make America Greedy  — er, “Great”  —  Again. And nothing says greatness to the entire world more than commercializing our space program for “a little cash.”

Alabama Congressman: “…less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up”

National, , ,

“Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn’t happen.” So said comedian Steve Wright, who as most people can tell was joking!

GOP climate change denier  Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks (GOP Tea Party) was not joking when in a Congressional committee he  expressed his skepticism that ocean levels were rising due to human activities — in terms similar to those of comedian Steve Wright. A jackass

Said Alabama’s finest about rising ocean levels due to warming temperature and ice melt: “What about erosion?” Brooks offered during the exchange. He added: “Every time you have that soil or rock, whatever it is, that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise because now you’ve got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up.”

There was speculation Brooks might again try to run for one of Alabama’s US Senate seats. Should he do so and win, the bottom would truly be moving up. But it is evident the level of the US House will never move up if it remains filled with GOP tea party jackasses like Alabama’s Mo Brooks.

The climate around Phil Scott

local/regional, , , ,

scottbalanceRepublican Phil Scott is doing his bit for the party to promote carbon tax hysterics on climate change this week.

One of his many recent tweets,(Team Scott must not have heard that marketing studies show that after three tweets,engagement dramatically decreases.) a “news” story from Vermontwatchdog.org  warns of an alleged carbon tax apocalypse.

Vermont Watchdog is the local franchise mouthpiece of the Franklin Center for Government, a nationwide organization said to be at the forefront of right-wing efforts to thwart action on climate change and blur the distinction between statehouse reporting and political advocacy.scottwatch

Watchdog dutifully prints a Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee  ad in part of the article, but if you peel away the hysterics, the gist of the piece is centered on a series of  VPIRG’s proposals. Their proposal to fight climate change (and yes, Phil it is real) suggests a series of tax changes, instituting a global warming impact tax (carbon tax), starting an energy investment fund, and also energy rebates and tax cuts.

But this post isn’t exactly about the complicated carbon tax issue, but rather the policy crowd Scott runs with to get elected — his “in crowd.” The Vermont Watchdog is actually a “local” outlet, but also funded by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a 501c3 non-profit. Much of its funding is reported to be fueled with money from various hard right sources including the infamous Koch Brothers’ climate-change-denying organization.

Former Reuters chief White House correspondent Gene Gibbons didn’t mince his words in a 2010 report on the Franklin Center:

“For the most part, the people in charge of these would-be watchdog operations are political hacks out to subvert journalism in their quest to grab and keep power using whatever means they have to do so.”

The keynote speaker at a Franklin Center Watchdog.org  training session in 2012 was none other than right-wing  provocateur and ACORN “sting” artist James O’Keefe

So,what was it, only a couple weeks or more ago that Scott actually made it clear…well sort of that he thought climate change science was real ?

And now he is tweeting support for Koch Brothers-sponsored  “news” stories about climate issues.This doesn’t exactly fit with his own claims that his view “evolved.” Lie down with Big Carbon, get up covered in soot.