Author: Pat Chiles

An expatriate Southerner in the Midwest, writing about writing and whatever dadgum else interests him. Author of the science fiction thrillers FROZEN ORBIT, FRONTIER, and ESCAPE ORBIT, published by Baen Books.
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The Day After

Surprise! We didn’t get our preferred outcome yesterday, but the sun came up this morning anyway. And I don’t have any more thoughts (intelligent or otherwise) on the Obamacare ruling.

Fortunately, Dr. Krauthammer does. Taking a sober look at the long view, he explains how this was Justice Roberts’ “Nixon to China” moment:

It is clearly the most significant piece of social legislation in decades. Roberts’s concern was that the court do everything it could to avoid being seen, rightly or wrongly, as high-handedly overturning sweeping legislation passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president.

…

Assign yourself the task of writing the majority opinion. Find the ultimate finesse that manages to uphold the law, but only on the most narrow of grounds — interpreting the individual mandate as merely a tax, something generally within the power of Congress.

Result? The law stands, thus obviating any charge that a partisan court overturned duly passed legislation. And yet at the same time the commerce clause is reined in.

…

Law upheld, Supreme Court’s reputation for neutrality maintained. Commerce clause contained, constitutional principle of enumerated powers reaffirmed.

That’s not how I would have ruled. I think the “mandate is merely a tax” argument is a dodge, and a flimsy one at that. (The “tax” is obviously punitive, regulatory and intended to compel.) Perhaps that’s not how Roberts would have ruled had he been just an associate justice and not the chief.

I’m waffling between feeling this is “just about right” vs. “pretty thin gruel”. But don’t take my word for it – read the whole thing.

20/20 HINDSIGHT UPDATE: Well, my BS meter went clear past “pretty thin gruel” to “CRAP SANDWICH”. This is a stupendously convoluted decision that defies logic, particularly from a Chief Justice who claimed to be a constitutional originalist.

To wit: on the very first day of oral arguments, the court ruled that ACA was specifically not a tax. This was the entire reason the rest of the case was heard, because if it they’d determined it to be a tax, then the case would’ve been booted until at least 2014. This is because one cannot claim damages from a tax until it’s actually been collected.

So from that initial judgment, how does one arrive at the conclusion that ACA is something they’d previously determined it isn’t?

If that were really the case, then shouldn’t the entire decision have been stayed (or whatever the legal  beagles call it) until the full law went into effect?

Such is the pretzel logic of the credentialed elite.

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Fly Me to the Moon

Suborbital hops into space and back not enough of an adrenaline surge? Bored with flying in circles aboard the space station? Clearly, you are a discerning traveler who can be satisfied with nothing less than the most unique experience.

Or maybe you’re just a gold-plated pain in the @$$. If you’ve got the money, it don’t matter.

So how about a trip to the Moon? If that doesn’t light you up, then you must be dead. And please, hold the “no, but I’d be dead by the end of the trip” jokes to yourself, thankyouverymuch.

As with suborbital passenger hops, two companies are vying to offer different variations of the same amazing journey. In this case, each wants to be the first to send paying passengers around the Moon.

IRONY ALERT! Forty-three years after the US won that race, both plan to return by using – wait for it – Russian spacecraft.

Soyuz was originally intended to be the Soviet’s moonship, so it’s not too much of a stretch to think it’s still up to the task after 40 years of production and design improvements. It’ll require a better heat shield, life support, and nav/com, but these likewise have the benefit of 40+ years experience.

First up, let us dispense with what I believe to be the dark horse in this race: Excalibur Almaz. They’ve essentially salvaged 1980’s Russian military space station hardware to spiff up, attach to an Earth-departure booster, and put into lunar orbit. It would be reusable, as would the re-entry vehicles they bought to service it.

Hey, I didn’t make it up – that’s what they said. If they can pull it off, great. The idea of a small space-station-sized passenger vessel that regularly transits between Earth and Moon is a terrific idea. Heck, it might even make for a really good book.

The catch? Ion propulsion. Not only is their trans-lunar injection (TLI) stage based on technology that’s not really off-the-shelf ready yet, the low thrust means a long orbit – like six months round trip. It would actually take its passengers farther away from Earth than any other humans have ever been, according to their own information.

Now I’m all about traveling the scenic routes, but there ain’t that much to see on the way to the moon unless you’re pointed right at the thing. That’s an awfully long time to be cooped up in something the size of a school bus, eating freeze-dried food and inhaling your shipmate’s farts.

And did I mention this experience can all be yours for only $150 million?

Now for the one that I take more seriously: Space Adventures. This is the same outfit that’s arranged for several trips into orbit on Soyuz, including week-long stays at the International Space Station. They’ve long since learned how to suppress the giggle factor amongst the nonbelievers, and seem to have this jaunt planned out fairly well. To my layman’s eyes, it looks like a recreation of the original plans to send a crewed Soyuz into lunar orbit. Considering the price tag and exclusive clientele, they’ve also seen fit to purchase an extra hab module which will go up with the TLI stage. I would imagine it’ll work out to one pax in each module, with the pilot in the other. Which will probably work just fine for a 10-day trip, because this one uses good old-fashioned chemical rockets.

One seat has already been sold, supposedly to filmmaker James Cameron. And if I had that kind of money, I’d be right behind him in the ticket line.

Did I mention someone ought to write a book about this?

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Nothing political going on here. Move along. All is well!

Not.

Okay, I can’t not post something about the Obamacare ruling. This is stunning, not to put too fine a point on it. I had tried very hard not to get my hopes up too much, because it just doesn’t do any good to try and make predictions about such an opaque institution. The Justices frequently take positions that are 180 degrees from what we might expect. And a lot of people figured Roberts would vote to uphold only if he saw the verdict going that way regardless, in order to be able to write the majority opinion. This would’ve allowed him to set the boundaries of this law and hopefully limit the damage.

No joy – he ended up being the swing vote. I mean, really? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?

My old man was a judge, so that plus watching Law & Order is the extent of my legal education. I suppose they have the authority to say the individual mandate can be considered a tax, though I think that’s a load of crap: if the government’s attorneys weren’t willing to make that argument, how can the Justices infer it on their behalf?

If there is any solace to be found in this, it’s that the mandate was rejected under the Commerce Clause. That is, the Congress can’t force us to buy something just because they think it’s good for us (unless they call it a tax, I guess).

Justice Roberts did qualify his opinion: “Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness.” And Rand Simberg posted this money quote from Roberts on his blog: “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”

Dadgum straight, that. Frakkin’ A, bubba. So we lick our wounds, pick ourselves up, and get on with the serious business of returning this country to some form of a Constitutional, representative Republic.

What’s never mentioned enough in all the jackassery that surrounds the health care issue is that the Left insists on imposing a 100% solution to a 10% problem.

I’m all for helping out people who are in real trouble, but that’s never been what this is really all about. Just because something sounds like a nice thing to do doesn’t make it constitutional.

I pray we are not yet completely at the mercy of the low-information voters, because there’s no shortage of political animals who view health care as something else entirely – that is, an opportunity to exert control.

We are increasingly ruled by tyrants. Plan and vote accordingly.

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T-Minus Eight Years And Counting

Spaceship One. Credit: Scaled Composites

It’s been eight long years since SpaceShipOne became the first privately-built spacecraft to actually fly into space, thus earning the title of…spacecraft.

OK, so that’s redundant. My kids have been making me watch too much Austin Powers (allow myself to introduce…myself).

Not being content with making history just once, Rutan and Co. went on to make two more flights with ballast equivalent to two passengers, thus earning the $10 million Ansari X-Prize.

Naturally I was geeked out over the whole thing when it happened. It also gave me the impetus to start writing Perigee, which had already been flitting about inside my cranial region for some time. I figured now that someone had actually done it, and another really rich guy was bankrolling a whole new airline on the concept, that my own wild ideas wouldn’t feel so…science-fictioney.

Yeah, that’s a word. Trust me, I’m a writer. Continue reading “T-Minus Eight Years And Counting”

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Aw, Screw It

I’ve spent enough time on the internet to become absolutely convinced that the world is ending, and that The Man isn’t telling us about it. Seriously.

Might be a zombie outbreak, might be an unavoidable collision with some wandering celestial body, or maybe it’s some combination of the two: that is, alien invasion!

When a respectable foreign policy journal (coincidentally named “Foreign Policy”) posts an article about stuff DARPA’s working on that could fight off an alien attack, well then…you just have to wonder. Or not.

I mean hot damn, what’s not to like about that action? All the opportunities for mass mayhem, without the guilt of shooting creatures that might look like your neighbors. Or, you know, might actually be your neighbors. If they hadn’t gone all zombie-undead and everything. Sorry man, but I like my brain right where it is, thankyouverymuch.

And then some hoity-toity scientist just has to go and blow holes in all of it. Geez. They’re spoiling all of my apocalyptic plans. What am I going to do with all these hollow-points and tactical bacon?

In the meantime, it gives me an excuse to link to awesome artwork like this:

Lord Vader has found your lack of faith disturbing.
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Yawn of the Dead

They’re baaack…

Impending zombie apocalypse stories abound in the news this week after that face-eating freak show in Miami.

What does this mean? An unbelievably good excuse to buy more shootin’ gear, just in time for Father’s Day! I mean, really, could the timing be any better?

Firearms are, of course, useless without ammo. Luckily, Hornady has been pimping their “zombie max” line of hollow points for a few months now. Almost like they knew this day would arrive. No word on similar promos from the Twinkies people.

As a great man once said, “Thank God for rednecks!”

And I’ll need bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. Good thing they make it tactical style in a peel-off bulk can.

The final nail in the coffin -ahem – CDC duly denies an imminent zombie outbreak. Of course they would – that’s how civilization-killing plagues always start, don’t ya know?

Time to face facts: The Walking Dead isn’t just a TV show, it’s a training film.

Or a clever marketing gimmick…

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Chasing the Dragon

Splashdown!

The SpaceX Dragon has successfully completed its first demonstration mission to the International Space Station.

Wish I had time to opine more, but for now get thee to this here link for pictures and details.

UPDATE:

Here’s a shot of Dragon waiting for its ride home:

“Here there be Dragons” (Via SpaceX)

The significance of this mission cannot be overstated. From my layman’s perspective, it was pretty much flawless – and did I mention this was only the second flight? There’s been a lot of skepticism about the whole Commercial Crew program from politicians and others who are ordinarily pro-free market, but when seeing their NASA cash cow starved, begin to freak out and insist on throwing more money at an agency which has not demonstrated that it can successfully develop a new spacecraft in the past thirty years. Continue reading “Chasing the Dragon”

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The View From Up There

ISS Cupola, courtesy NASA

A really nice photo essay from astronaut Don Pettit, who blogs for Air & Space Smithsonian when he’s not busy on the International Space Station. This is a shot of the cupola, which I used as a focal point for action on the ISS in Perigee.

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