Private Spaceflight is the Future

Even as the fight for more shuttle flights continues in genuine bipartisan fashion, something truly important for the future of exploration occurred yesterday. The SpaceX Dragon launched from Cape Canaveral and landed.

As I have noted before, many of those politicians fighting so hard for socialized space exploration are completely hypocritical as they preach about the need to cut government spending. Yes, the government should have a role in space exploration, but after losing two shuttles and dragging our feet on significant advancements for the past four decades, it is clear to me that private spaceflight is the way of the future.

The only bright side I saw to the extension of shuttle flights was that it could bolster Suzanne Kosmas' chances of re-election. That didn't pan out. But with a new Congresswoman, one who hails from a movement all about the free market, I would like to ask now that the focus of Space Coast politics shift a little bit more toward assisting companies interested in exploration.

I hope Rep.-elect Sandy Adams, who comes into office weeks after SpaceX made it in and out of orbit safely, sees this shift as a positive one. The same the death of Disney's Orlando animation offices gave birth to a thousand locally-owned animation companies, so could the loss of the shuttle program create enormous private sector opportunities in the Cap Canaveral area.

If I were a benevolent dictator, I would maintain government operation of space ports like the Kennedy Space Center but completely privatize space exploration. If the government still kept a small fleet of space-capable vessels, or if the military ever had a genuine national interest to promote separate from exploration, the facilities of course would remain available the same way Air Force One can land in any airport in America. But the bulk of space exploration in the future needs to be done by private interests, not public ones.

The only reason this approach lacks political popularity is that it is marked with fear of the unknown. Until now, there hasn't been a lot of faith that SpaceX and other companies could pull off successful missions outside of Earth's atmosphere. Perhaps that will change after today. We will see.

But there is every reason to believe that the end of the shuttle program will bring with is more job opportunities than it costs. Private launches open the possibility of space tourism, and allow for more flights and more research being done by far more companies that currently can save space in the cargo bay.

Private companies will create more vessels than the handful of shuttles launched since the 1980s. Will there be crashes and tragedies? Of course. There are airplane crashes and automobile crashes now that cost us many lives every year, far more than the 24 astronauts who died serving as part of an elite but far-too-small force. But those tragedies will be met with swift responses, not the 30-month stop after the Columbia disaster or the 32-month delay after the Challenger explosion.

My point is not that space should become to frontier of careless profiteers. This new industry must be regulated heavily from the start, the same way airlines have to abide by strict protocols and regulations. But this is a new and exciting industry, one that should bring enormous economic growth to Florida, Texas and California.

And what an exciting industry at that.

A Bad Deal

Never has a primary challenge for Barack Obama seemed as viable as it has this week.

Larry Summers is daring suggest that failing to extend unemployment along with giving more tax cuts to the rich would bring on a double-dip recession. I say giving the tax cuts to the rich in the first place were why we had the first dip, and doing it again would be absolute folly.

All of this is fueled, of course, by the fact that the Obama White House cut a deal with the GOP at a time when the Democrats in Congress were doing just fine dealing with the problems of the day. As noted here last week, the Democrats passed a tax-cut for the middle class without the tax cut for the rich. The machinations of the Senate may have made such a feat harder there. But the fact is, no deal was necessary.

So let's figure what would happen if votes were held to extend unemployment and tax cuts for the rich, but through the use of the filibuster and other legislative shenanigans, nothing became law? Then the GOP would get the credit for blocking any stimulus effort.

Then come January, the House would turn red, the GOP Senate minority would grow, and the public would know full-well that any problems legislatively would be coming from the right, not the left.

Instead, with a lame-duck session in which Barack Obama will enjoy majority control of both chambers for the last time in his first term if not his entire presidency, he has capitulated when no such action was warranted. Want the GOP agenda forwarded so badly? Wait until Congress convenes next year. They will screw this economy good then. Just wait.

My point is, any double-dip in the recession which results from poor decisions in Washington will be on the shoulders of the GOP. Frankly, I don't think an economic recovery is nearly as dependent on Washington right now as many in the Beltway would have us think. So I don't think the political risk that comes with good policy, especially a risk taken two years before the next federal election, is too great.

But an extension of such deplorable policy as zeroing the estate tax even while tax increases take place for the poorest taxpayers would do tremendous structural damage long-term for an already broken American economy.

Obama came in with a plan to fundamentally change the financial system in America so it longer punished the middle-class to benefit the rich. But since taking office, he has moved closer to Wall Street and further from America.

Democrats should save the White House from its own madness. Our House members and Senators need to reject this deal. If that means unemployment extensions have to wait until January, so be it. Let's see how serious Republicans are then about saving this economy once they have to govern instead of choosing to obstruct.

Listen to Jeb on Immigration

It truly is a shame when a Republican speaking sense is a clear sign he isn't running for president. But Jeb Bush joked this week that his opposition of irrational immigration reforms were a sign he was not running for office.

His prospect-ending position? That Hispanic people not be required to carry proof of citizenship to the grocery store.

Via the Denver Post:

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While (Bush) is sympathetic to the plight of Arizona officials forced to deal with all the problems linked to a porous frontier, he believes there are solutions other than a law criminalizing illegal immigrants, he said.

"It's the wrong approach," he said. "The net result is not much has been done."

Read more:In visit to Denver, Jeb Bush says he doesn't agree with Arizona's immigration law - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16782092#ixzz17MpxdM1U
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

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That's the problem with Jeb Bush in the eyes of the ideological right. He looks at results. The Arizona law is a racist in its generation and impractical in its execution. Certain elements in the law allowing citizens to sue if cops aren't being racist enough make it morally, and probably legally, detestable.

Of course, when Bill McCollum said "We don't need that law in Florida" it won only suspicion and scorn from the tea party-dominated Republican primary electorate. Full-throated support of the law won Scott attention on the right, and ultimately got him into the governor's mansion. All indications are that a new law will be passed by the Legislature this year that looks more like the Arizona law than anything else.

But it would be nice if the Republicans in the Legislature paid some heat to Jeb Bush. He worries such a law would be so broad his own children couldn't walk around without being deemed suspicious. In a state where so much of the Hispanic population hails from Cuba, and who are therefore legal by right of standing on dry land, shows why this law makes even less sense in Florida than it does out West.

We will see if one of the leading conservative thinkers in Republican policy still has enough pull in a state where he served as governor for eight years to stop this so-called reform.

The Omission of Oversight

The future of government is Florida is pretty bleak right now, and I think some readers are correct to anticipate legislation like the teacher pay bill will be coming back in the coming session. Now, I don't know that everything will return in exactly the same form, but the bigger problem we face as citizens in Florida is that this go-round there will be virtually no scrutiny on lawmakers as they play with our government.

I think the teacher pay bill will come back, but it is telling the Legislature did not simply override Charlie Crist's veto last month when they were in special session. Other high-profile legislation, such as the abortion bill, also were passed over, but I think the Legislature this year will simply do something even more Draconian.

This is a Legislature where right-wingers have unprecedented control over the lawmaking process, and one where leadership is already spitting in the eye of dissent. See, for instance, the early remarks of Speaker Dean Cannon. He attacked both the courts and Congress as he boldly stated Republicans the Florida House were new kings of the universe.

Via the Miami Herald:

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Cannon criticized ``government run amok'' in Washington and blasted Congress for ``taking over banks and financial institutions . . . socializing medicine . . . and trampling the property rights of citizens and the sovereignty of states.''

He criticized the Florida Supreme Court for striking three constitutional amendments crafted by the Legislature from the November ballot, saying the work of lawmakers was ``demolished by five unelected justices on the Supreme Court.''

Cannon, a lawyer who personally defended the Legislature's substitute amendment for two redistricting referendums backed by Democrats, called the court decisions to strike down the proposals and congressional actions ``just a few examples of threats to freedom,'' but added ``there are many others.''

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/16/1929602/8-crist-vetoes-overridden.html#ixzz17G0l8XJm

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Notice, this isn't just judicial activism anymore, but apparently legislative activism but higher legislative bodies. No branch of government dare trounce on the will of the House representatives.

To describe a Legislature-generated constitutional amendment intended to undermine the voter approved Fair Districts referenda as a "freedom" under threat is the ultimate in hubris.

But why focus on all of this. 'The elections are over, Jake,' you say. 'Now we need to focus on issues.'

Sadly, politics is the biggest issue facing the state right now. We have no minority party with any standing to act as even a speed bump in the legislative process. We have a governor with no interest in moderating legislation, and no power to do so even if he wanted. And we have lawmakers already planning to challenge Roe v. Wade, gut teacher pay and block federal healthcare reform. Those hated courts are the only left to stop legislation, and judges will only stand in the way of the most heinous over-reaches.

That means the top priority of progressives in Florida right now is not trying to block legislation passed this session. It is to convince voters throughout the state that we need to reverse some of these acts. Our biggest legislative focus on the next two years has to be on getting a fair shake in the redistricting process, and sadly, our best options there may also be within the courts. While I doubt Fair Districts will have an enormous effect on the process, it at least offers a judicial release valve. We need to fight for decent redistricting both in Legislature and in the state and federal courts.

But most of all, we need to prep for 2012. A president will be on the ballot then who will do what he can to activate the Democratic base statewide, and we need to make sure local parties and Democratic candidates all the way down the ballot are prepared to fight for votes. We need to be able to take back seats in the state House and Senate which were lost this year, and take a few back that never managed to get into play.

Florida is a state where Democratic voters far outnumber Republican ones, but where Democratic lawmakers are a dying species. And every year, those Dem voters become a little more liberal. WE must convince those voters that what is happening in Tallahassee is just as important as what takes place in Washington, D.C., if not more so.

We face tremendous challenges as progressives in Florida, but we also are faced with an opportunity. We will learn in the next two years what one-party rule truly means in the Sunshine State. We will see what happens when one extreme end of the political spectrum is allowed to run amok in the halls of the state Capital. And we need to seize the change to bring about change.

This cannot be done by Barack Obama. It cannot be done by the few Democratic lawmakers allowed to step foot on the floor of the state House and Senate. It must be done by us. It must be done by grassroots, netroots and the average Democratic voter.

And that is why I continue to focus on politics. All we have left is ourselves.

At Last, I Hate Allen Boyd (and now Ron Klein)

Update: To be fair, Boyd did end up voting for the Middle-Class tax cuts when they hit the floor for a final vote. The test vote I refer to below was held in advance, which is when Boyd and others tried to stop this vote from even happening. He was among 13 Democrats who voted against this in the test vote, but then switched his vote.

BTW, does it seem strange that Ginny Brown-Waite and Adam Putnam missed this vote entirely? Maybe Putnam is in transition mode for Agriculture Commissioner. But has Brown-Waite just completely checked out already?

Update 2: Omigod, Ron Klein ended up voting Nea? Even when Boyd flipped? Perhaps I need to send some vitriol toward the East Coast as well.

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Right after the elections were done, I noted that I wished I hated Allen Boyd as much as many liberal bloggers hated the Blue Dogs. If so, perhaps it would have softened the blow of losing every single competitive Congressional race in Florida.

Today, I say happily that Boyd has given me enough reason to spew venom his way. Boyd was among 33 Democrats who crossed party lines to vote against a test vote on the tax cut for the middle class. Combined with his recent railings against Nancy Pelosi, I have lost all respect for the outgoing Democratic congressman.

It is one thing to be conservative on gun rights and other social issues which simply don't play well with Panhandle voters. Heck, I can even believe Boyd holds those views sincerely. But today, he voted against the interests of his constituents. And if he really cares about keeping taxes low, he missed the chance to reduce them for 98-99 percent of those living in his district.

Of note, other Democrats who supported extending all the Bush tax cuts still ended up voting for this legislation. For example, Suzanne Kosmas supported all of the Bush cuts. But she wasn't about to vote against extending them just for those making up to $250,000 so she could hold out for the top 2 percent of Americans. She is in exactly the same situation as Boyd now, having cast very centrist votes but still getting punished by Republicans on Election Day.

Of course, Kosmas will likely have a chance later to vote in favor of the tax cuts for the rich. Fine. So will Boyd. But today, he said he wouldn't help the middle class unless he was certain the rich got theirs.

Congressman Boyd, you will not be missed by many Democrats in Florida. Don't believe for one second that you can come back in two years and run as a Democrat. Your plan to be a Republican in Blue Dog clothing finally backfired in November, and as your legacy, you have dropped all pretense of being a Democrat at all. The middle-class tax cuts passed despite your objection, so all you earned with your 'no' vote was a helping of shame.

But at least you have made otherwise difficult-to-stomach election results a little easier to swallow.

Drilling Ban Extended for Seven Years

This is very promising.

Ken Salazar today announced the White House is supporting a ban on drilling in the Gulf for the next seven years. It's about time.

Via CNN:

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Obama's decision effectively reverses White House plans announced at the end of March to open the Gulf region -- along with other large swaths of U.S. coastal waters -- to oil and natural gas drilling.

Under the plan, roughly two-thirds of available oil and gas resources in the eastern Gulf would have been opened to drilling. Areas located within 125 miles of the Florida coast would have remained off limits.

Salazar said the seven-year ban is being imposed as a result of lessons learned from the April 20 explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf, which killed 11 people and triggered one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.
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I hope this ban is serious, not like when the White House post-BP announced a moratorium but continued to issue drilling permits. I have been irritated by Obama's squishiness on drilling for a while. Considering most Republican leaders don't care to touch this issue, regardless of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, I think it is a wise political move as well.

But only if Obama is serious and sticks to his guns.

Is Florida a Priority for Scott?

Perhaps I shouldn't harp too much upon it as 14 other GOP governors are doing the same thing today, but I find it a bit discouraging that before even taking office, Rick Scott is in Washington, D.C., pushing a right-wing federal agenda with John Boehner. Politico reports the governor-elect is one of the power players which Boehner wants advancing his agenda from outside the Beltway.

Politico also refers to Scott as a GOP "star," which makes me cringe, but I digress.

What saddens me, even if it doesn't surprise me, is that Scott's obsession with Obama's policies still seems to be driving his public actions. Discussions today apparently will touch upon repealing ObamaCare, something Scott openly advocated on the campaign trail, even though that discussion should not involve governors at all.

Floridians, myself included, should be trying right now to put aside the heated campaign rhetoric that accompanied a super-tight election this year. But I am concerned Scott sees his role not as chief executive for the state of Florida but as the primary campaign leader in Florida against the Obama White House entering the 2012 elections.

If riling Obama is the top priority for Scott, then I fear he will squash high-speed rail Kasich-style just out of spite. I suspect federal stimulus funding, programs which whether he agrees with them or not do not burden state government one iota, will be rejected at the cost of state jobs.

Rick Scott this fall rode a wave of discontent with the status quo to a narrow election victory. While I didn't care for his rhetoric, I cannot blame him politically for keeping the discussion focused on forces outside of Florida. In a perfect scenario, Alex Sink and state Dems would have been able to focus the conversation onto the specifics of the governor's race rather than on the state of Democrats' unpopularity nationwide. But keeping the right angry and the left depressed made sense for Scott.

Now though, he has a real job. He cannot keep campaigning against the Obama and the Democrats in Washington if he expects Florida to "get to work." He better get to work himself on some real governing, and that probably means spending a little more time in Tallahassee and a bit less in D.C.