Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

The Martian Flagpole

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While it’s not one of the main topics I usually write about, I’ve always loved space exploration (too many hours watching Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid). I follow the exploits of NASA, the ESA, the RFSA, and other space-faring agencies—public and private—with great interest.

The big news from space this week is that the Phoenix Lander has successfully landed on Mars (and you thought the big news was the toilet failure on the International Space Station). Mars is a particularly interesting planet, in that more than 50 percent of attempted missions to Mars end in failure—a much higher failure rate than you find in missions to any other planet or body in our solar system. Personally, I think somebody is shooting them down . . . but that explanation usually gets incredulous looks from the people I share it with.

Regardless, parts of the blogosphere are already noticing a curious feature in some of the photos being sent back from Mars by the lander. In browsing the gallery at the Phoenix Lander web site, I noticed the same curious feature (here and here). From a distance, it looks like a flagpole. Closer in, it looks either like a rock formation drastically different from those that surround it . . . or, dare I say, something artificial. Whatever it is, it doesn’t match its surroundings, and it has already gotten the attention of curious scientists (and space-watchers) around the world.

Scott McClellan Tells All

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The big news in political circles this morning is the new book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan which paints a not-so-pretty portrait of President Bush, especially related to the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina. This is notable, in my opinion, in that it is the first book (that I’m aware of) accusing Bush of intentionally misleading the public in the lead-up to the Iraq war by somebody who was actually in a position to have known what was going on. All such books previously have been conjecture-based hatchet-jobs by the political opposition.

I have no reason to doubt that McClellan is telling the truth—or, at least, what he believes to be the truth. Having said that, I must be perfectly clear that nothing I have read so far regarding McClellan’s book changes my opinion about the war in Iraq, since using a propaganda machine to sell the war with bad data does not mean that Iraq didn’t violate 17 U.N. Security Council resolutions (they did) or that military force was not justified (it was). Further, even if McClellan’s book is 100 percent accurate, lying to the public is not an impeachable offense any more than me lying to you would be a criminal act. Immoral, yes, but not criminal—unless, of course, the president had been under oath (he wasn’t).

So, despite the left-wingers salivating over this ‘evidence’ with which the president can supposedly be impeached, please, calm down and read your Constitution. McClellan’s revelations may rightfully cause outrage, and may be politically devestating for Bush (and for the Republican Party), but remember to keep it all in perspective—and remember that bad arguments and bad decisions don’t necessarily discredit our entire enterprise in Iraq.

Feeling Better (FINALLY); Mario Kart Wii!

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I’m finally starting to feel a bit better, which is good because I think I just bankrolled Vicks’ existence for the next six-months-plus. As many of you know, I generally shy away from medicines since they generally just treat the symptoms (which, in many cases, actually help to kill the virus). But, after the first week or so, I gave in and have been ingesting a steady diet of chicken soup, Dayquil, and Nyquil.

Let me state, for the record, that the phenylephrine decongestant they’ve put in most medicines to replace the now-tightly-controlled pseudoephedrine (in a classic example of ‘punish everybody for the sins of a few’ syndrome) doesn’t work even half as well. It is worth the annoying trip to the pharmacy counter to get your hands on the old-fashioned stuff, even if you ludicrously have to show ID and be entered in a database for it. Nyquil D, most especially, was the only thing that let me sleep and stay somewhat sane over the last week.

Anyway, we actually left the apartment for part of the afternoon today, including a trip to Target where we picked up Mario Kart Wii. That should keep us occupied for a while now ;-). And I should be getting back into a regular pattern of posting now that I’m conscious again.

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Democrats and Our Enemies

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Independent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman (CT) has long been among the politicians I respect the most. He does not hesitate to state what he believes, no matter whether it is in-keeping with the current beliefs of his party, and no matter what effect it has on his political stature. That, my friends, is the mark of a statesman, not a mere politician. We need more statesmen in both major parties.

Due to my illness, I’ve been sleeping rather than following the news the last few days, so I have to give many thanks to Melissa’s brother Michael for sending me a link to this column. Appearing in Wednesday’s Wall St. Journal, ‘Democrats and Our Enemies‘ by Senator Lieberman is destined to condemnation from today’s Democratic Party of Howard Deans, Hillary Clintons, and Barack Obamas. It states the truth for what it is: the Democratic party used to stand for freedom and was willing to use military force, when necessary, to advance it. Today it does not.

Lieberman, unfortunately, seems to be about the only Democrat that sees the war on terror (including the war in Iraq) as the urgent matter of national security that it is. The fight against radical Islam is not a law enforcement issue, it’s a war against a dangerous ideology bent on world domination—just like Communism before it, and Nazism before it. It’s a fight we must fight, and must win.

Sick (Still? Again?)

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I’ve gotten lots of really interesting emails in the last few days; I’ll reply soon I promise. Unfortunately whatever bug I got almost two weeks ago now has either come back with a vengeance, or—perhaps more likely—my weakened immune system has succumbed to a separate, unrelated virus. That’s almost two full weeks now of feeling terrible, then feeling better, then feeling almost normal, then immediately feeling terrible again.

~sigh~

Anyway, I’ll probably be home from work tomorrow if I feel anything in the morning like I do right now. That will give me a chance to bang out all these interesting replies to all these interesting emails.

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.