The Election of 2012

I am predicting the outcome of the 2012 Presidential election already.

Many people do not realize that they do not, and never have, and never will, vote for a President. When they vote, they vote for an elector, who gets to vote for President. Kinda messed up, huh?

Below is an image of the Electoral College as I see it as of the time stamp of this posting.

(Click to Enlarge)

As the Electoral College vote changes, I will write future posts.

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A Spaceport With It's Hands Tied

In what can only be described as, well, I don't really know. I'm actually kinda speechless right now.

In her most excellent article, journalist Jeri Clausing wrote about why Spaceport America is not, well, booming.

"Locally, officials blame the lack of new business on the Legislature's refusal to pass laws that would exempt spacecraft suppliers from liability for passengers should the spacecraft crash or blow up. When New Mexico was developing Spaceport America in partnership with Virgin Galactic, it passed a law to exempt the carrier through 2018, but not parts suppliers. Colorado, Florida, Texas and Virginia have adopted permanent liability exemption laws for both carriers and suppliers. 

The laws, called informed consent, are much like those that exempt ski areas from lawsuits by skiers, who waive their rights for claims when they buy a ski pass. Spaceport officials emphasize the carriers and suppliers would not be exempt from damage on the ground, or in cases of gross negligence." (emphasis mine)

Wow. Just... Wow. I'm speechless. I had always thought it was technical issues that stopped Space X, for example, from operating out of the Spaceport. Now I find out that it was actually the NM legislators that stopped Space X (and others) from operating out of the Spaceport  The Spaceport would have been booming by now, and getting bigger. How much revenue has the state lost? Not to mention the historical nature of having launched the first commercial spacecraft to a NASA space station.

Someone famously asked What's the Matter with Kansas? A better question is What's the Matter with New Mexico?

To paraphrase Mark Twain: If I ever find out the world is going to end, I'm staying in New Mexico. They're 20 years behind the times.

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Space. The I-Don't-Want-To-Pay-For-It Frontier

Here is my take on politicizing Spaceport America. Going where no one has gone before (sorry) is a dream as old as humanity itself. Human literature is replete with the ideas of distant places. NM even has its very own profound impact on space history.

So what's the problem here? We should be getting this space business thing right, given our vast experience dealing with it. I mean, we're trying to shake down the very people that are going to eventually lease the joint in the first place? Are you kidding me? They're already investing. For example, the money-person behind the very expensive spaceship, Sir Branson, recently announced that he's building a hotel at the Space Port (and make a tidy little profit as well).

There's an old saying in the space business: "No bucks, no Buck Rogers" (OK, it was in the movie The Right Stuff, but who's counting?). What the saying is trying to say, is, you got to invest in order to get a return. You gotta problem with that?

People that are willing to cough up $200,000 per spaceflight will bring family and friends with them to watch them fly into space. Everyone will have to stay at someone's hotel, and eat at someone's restaurant, and drink at someone's microbrewery, and wear someone's t-shirt, ... Right? Not to mention putting all those NM voters taxpayers back to work. BTW, how much is the sales tax on $200,000? What about that amount going to public education?

NM would also be famous for charting a new course in human history (now, how many states get to make a claim like that, huh?). Isn't it worth a few extra bucks to get to have that kind of bragging rights? Especially when you get paid back?

Now that's how you slip the surly bonds of earth (sorry).